LaserSVT 2003 Cobra Progress thread

Wow those are some seriously cold plugs....geeze.

Now that I know what your running, you can put timing to 23*s safely @ just 13PSI, as long as the A/F is 12.0-1 or richer. My car was running 12-13PSI when I got it and running 22*s of timing.....on 91 octane :)

However every car is a bit different, so here is what I suggest. Dial your tune in, set timing to 22*s.....go out and play with it and do several pulls. Go home and check your plugs. No peppered look or silver specs (ie detonation) on the porcelain, kick it up to 23*s and repeat. If there are no signs of detonation, your fine....and there shouldnt be, but thats the safe thing to do.

Once temps get over 85-90*s and its getting to summer, I would back off the timing to 22*s and then repeat the whole process again @ 22 and 23*s in 100* weather and see how it acts. Also be sure the car is to full temp when doing these tests. If there are still no signs of detonation, you will be fine on that tune year round. Going to 24*s really isnt worth the risk....23*s is MBT spark I believe, so that should roughly make maximum power.

My car for example has a summer tune and a winter tune....im on my winter tune now @ 22*s timing....summer will drop it to 21*s.
 
Cool, Willie is working on mine now. We pretty much got the fuel tuned right. Stays on the leaner side of storich under part throttle and no throttle and goes up niceley as the revs go up. WOT a any RPM will run to full rich but there is no detonation and no hesitation. It accelerats better then it ever has since I have owned it and we are still at 18* timing :nice: I dont know if Willie is gonna lean out the WOT setting or not. It backs off full rich as soon as I let off the gas and there is no poping like it used to so it may be just about right.
Now I know about the narrow band A/F and all but I have run this thing for a year and know how it normally looks in any condition. I know how to read the gauge pretty well, also it gets its reading from the drivers front O2 so I feel confident in it :shrug:


Now on to todays work. I am completly sore, the IRS brace is a major PITE to install! But I got it in. My plan was to make a new diff seal too and take off the RTV I spread on it a year ago when the diff had a small leak. Problem is everyone says it needs to sit for 24 hours to cure right in these cars. Since I have to take it back to the body shop tomorrow it couldnt sit long enough so I didnt do it. Its not pretty but it dont leak :shrug:
The exhaust was pretty filthy so I scrubbed it down before I put it back in. I forgot to take pictures of it clean and its too dark now. I really want to pressure wash the whole underneath of the car but will wait till it comes back cause it may be driven back in the rain.
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And in addition to the other issues to be brought to the body shops attention, I see whit primer on my passenger rear wheel :notnice: and while I was touching up my front passenger calipers paint that they scratched to hell, I see that wheel was put on with an impact gun and chipped and scratched it around the bolt holes. They will be buying me a new wheel :mad:
I told the owner as well as three of his workers (the ones that appeared to be working on the car) that they CANNOT use an impact on them. The other three wheels (the ones I mounted) are not scratched at all. Really pisses me off :mad:
I am also gonna point out how lousy the front air dam stripe looks. This shop has really gone down hill :(
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Can we say small claims court!!!!

I would be sooooo pissed that getting drunk would not help:mad::mad::mad:
Your avatar freaks me out, I am forever right clicking on it and clicking "show picture" in the hopes that it will :(

Anyway, hopefully they will just take care of it with no hassel. The owner is a very stand up guy and very friendly. I believe he just has a batch of lousy employees right now. My friend used to work there and him and 3 other guys all walked out at the same time. I used the shop a few times when they were there and the work was always excellent. Now its a bunch of new guys. Two do not speak english and the other seems like a nice dude but is just out of high school. Not the artists they once had :(
I am sure he will take care of it. Now I have to hunt the wheels down again.
 
Well the car is at the shop and they really hopped on it. The nose is already off getting the squeak taken care of and the stripe fixed. The front wheel already went out for re-powdercaoing. Down side is that white spot on the rear wheel is a wheel defect so I am waiting for the shop to call me back where I bought them. Should get the car back soon and he has been real appologetic (the shop owner) and has called three times to let me know whats up. They really have made mine the priority car now. They will make it right, I have faith :)
 
Good luck laser and this time i'm sure it'll be correct. So how long have you been running the dronemasters? I've been thinking about changing mine to bassani. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. Sometimes I love them but most of the time I hate em.
 
Good luck laser and this time i'm sure it'll be correct. So how long have you been running the dronemasters? I've been thinking about changing mine to bassani. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. Sometimes I love them but most of the time I hate em.
Really I think the best bang for the buck is MACs :nice: They sound similar to the Flowmasters but without the drone and a bit deeper tone. The nicest sounding car I ever heard was an 04 Cobra with BBK longtubes, Pro Chamber and MAC 3" cat back. It was such a nice deep tone it was just intoxicating :drool: Mine is alot closer now with the new tune, it dosent pop as much when I let off the gas.
My buddy has the MAC O/R H-pipe and Bassanis and his car is obnoxiously loud IMO. It sounds nasty and authoritave but its just so freaking loud! I had an O/R X-pipe and SLP straight pipes on my old Cobra vert and it was quieter then his :rlaugh:
But what I really want is the Pro Chamber and the quieter series of Borlas like 04sleeper has. Since you can see so much of the exhaust on the Cobra, to polish it up like his is a very nice and substancial touch :nice:
 
keep the bottom of the tank clean too, you'd think on such low cars you couldn't see all that pretty real estate under there. or maybe it's just everyone else being so far behind us
Yeah, I always scrub it when I wash the car. I havent washed it in over three months though :(
But that is a very visable piece on these cars.
 
Yeah, I always scrub it when I wash the car. I havent washed it in over three months though :(
But that is a very visable piece on these cars.

other day when i had it jacked up working on the wheel stud i went ahead and cleaned all of that area and ran polish over the pipes, i only have chrome tips, the rest is aluminized but it brightened up somewhat too


just think of it as not needing washed :nice:
 
Cobra wont be ready till Monday. Here is why, the wheel place decided against redoing the wheel because of the rivits and that they cant match hyper black. The shop offered to eaither A) Clean up the lug holes and pay for the retinting of car ($175) and I really couldnt see the chips unless my face was a foot or closer to the lug holes. If he cleaned it up like he said he did then nobody will ever notice it. Or B) they will buy a new wheel ($200) and it will be perfect.
I hate the tint and dont wana wait for the wheel so I told them to do the tint then.
Car will not be ready till Monday :(