So you want to get a Terminator?

ill step up and offer my solid rear for your IRS. youre welcome killy

but suspension technology straight from ceasar's time period is hard to turn down!

mransr said:

and keep in mind internet message boards aren't exactly "fair and balanced"...you'll hear/read FAR more from people with problems than from those that haven't had any issues...

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exactley, so i wouldnt worry about it. A doubt you'll ever brake your stock terminator even treating it bad once in a while.
On a side note this sound made my ears bleed, the sound of death for an engine http://www.sengehighperformance.com/headtick.wmv

a solid axle swap isnt THAT much money really.

IIRC the weakest link in the termi motor is the pistons. and even then, there are plenty of poeple over 500, 600rwhp on stock motors.

i WISH i coudl afford a terminator. but that would have doubled my loan and monthly payments, which im not about to do

We've all had problems with our cars, and like it was even mentioned previously in this thread you're looking at bad things which have happened.

No one ever posts about all the great times they've had in their cars, other then a few passes at the track.

I've had problems ... many ... but once it's running again it feels like it's worth every penny.

With that said, these cars are amazing and a true joy to own. I used to own an '02 GT which is awesome. All the bolt ons making just under 280rwhp felt like a rocket at the time. And then I was able to track down a Terminator with an equal amount of work done to it. I took it to the dyno within the first week of owning it to get a check of health and it put down a safe 501 / 500 with more or less a ported blower and all of the standard mods.

I would have been scared to death going over 400rwhp in my GT with all of the horror stories with the powdered rods and hypereutectic pistons.

Check this out:

A few months into owning this car I blew my Eaton (Steig Stage III - 17psi) up making a top end run, I was only going 150mph into 5th gear ... motor was under load ... I beat this Porsche to a pulp so on the way down around 100mph coasting there was a HORRIBLE griding noise.

I turned off the engine and coasted a for a little bit off to the side of the freeway (1am). The grinding didn't go away until I put it in neutral. At that point we thought it was the transmission until we came to a stop. The motor wouldn't turn over we later found out because the blower was grinding itself alive inside. WTF?





I'm cutting out a lot of the details but within a few weeks I had it back on the road with a Whipple. It felt like a lonnnnnng time, and several thousand dollars later it was awesome to have back. Since then I've installed the LDC Head Cooling mod, Whipple, 26 Spline Input Shaft, bigger clutch and several iterations of a tune.

Put a Centerforce DFX in, broke it in properly and just after that period the weights in the center went nuts and I had to have it replaced. Had a horrible clicking noise, and it was about ready to lockup according to the transmission tech who replaced it for me. Went to a SPEC Stage III + and love it.

A few weeks after that I went to the track and snapped my half shafts at the line. Was towed home on the last day of the season so I never got a real full out pass in the car.

The fuse on my intercooler pump blew once, so it ran hot down the TRACK and busted a few spark plugs and ran on 6-7 cylinders. Called it a day and babied it home.

I have a handful of other micro stories, but when you have a car making nearly 600rwhp you have to learn to deal with things breaking. There is no way around expecting a car with that much power to not have problems. Considering they were "rated" 390bhp, to suddenly make around 700bhp on a stock longblock with no upgrades is amazing!

I love this car ... Even though it's cost me a few bills it's a joy.

Definitely not a car to own if you're not able to shell out some cash to support it. Because it most certainly demands a lot of it. I could never go back to the anemic 2v.

Shame to hear so many stories with the Terminators. I almost bought one. A good friend of mine has a Sonic Blue 03, and it's spent more time getting fixed than being on the road. Had the tick at around 20k miles, so Ford replaced the entire engine. Half shafts snapped twice on him. Now just recently his tranny is shot. This is all at 45k miles! When I told him I wanted to get one, he even told me to keep the GT, since I could probably make it just as fast (if not faster) with less money. And it all boils down to the fact that it's still a Mustang...a very expensive one at that.

Anemic 2V? Well I guess if you're looking at sheer HP then maybe so. A conservatively blown 2V such as mine is netting better track times than some modded Terminators...even my Cobra friend has admitted he'd be worried to line his car up against mine. That is of course once he get's enough money to fix it!

I personally think the terminators are great cars, but they are not bullet proof. Some people have great luck with their terminators running more boost than ford built the car for and others have problems. When it comes to buying one do the research first before complaining. In my opinion when I see 800+rwhp on a stock longblock turbo 03-04 cobra I am nothing but impressed, considering its doubling the factory output the car was designed to reliably make.

You will not scare me out of my KB Cobra, Trout!

you got to pay to play sometimes man. they are great cars but some preventive maintence well help some times. just get a diff brace and irs bushing if you so worried about blowing your rear and what not. stuff is always gonna break.

this is a good heads up thread for a few mods to consider and stuff to know, but im still getting a 03-04 Cobra

Watch out K.T.!

anyone here familiar with the curse of dave?

and 5l5, that's what almost ALL of the roads look like. pothole galore!