Well,...that Wasn't Fun.

I guess I'll make this my progress thread. I have so many threads going on about this car, I'm all over the place.

So,..I'll throw out a few stats real quick and catch it up to today.

Bought car for 11.7k. 89k mi. engine stock, has JLT CAI, offroad pipes Flowmaster flowchamber "H", flowmaster catback.

Clutch fragged, engine has multiple oil leaks at oil filter adapter, pan gasket, and rear main seal. Rear end also leaking. Brakes are toast, front rotors are shot. Car is very dirty, and has over 100 rock chips on leading edges of hood, and side scoops. Rear bumper has sustained a minor "bruise". The windshield has a 2" dent like it got hit by a baseball right in the drivers line of sight.
Headlights are beyond foggy, they are actually crusty .

Overall body is excellent,..w/ no dents,....paint is a 6 out of 10 due to the bazillion rock chips, and it's freakin filthy.
( Did I mention the car is dirty)?
Interior is very good w/ only the drivers seat showing wear on the seat cushion and the side bolster.
While it looks like it's led a hard life,...everything is stock and oe. It has ten year old belts, and hoses. The spark plugs are stock, and are sporting a .050+ gap.

My plans are to fix what's broke, replace what's old,..clean it up and paint what I can.

I start by removing the trans,..and find the flywheel (made of aluminum) is also crap. I learn that the thing came factory w/ an aluminum flywheel and it has been cut once,...after that you either send it to Mccleod for rebuilding,..or replace it.
Do I replace it w/ another aluminum unit?..........

No.

I substitute it w/ the highly coveted,...very rare cast iron unit. Built by, but no longer made by ford. (Think ......obsolete)

Trans out, and the downhill snowball of rationalization starts to roll. It starts like this:

Car is 2 feet up in the air,...lets take care of that rear end leak. I mean the car is up in the air after all.
Snowball gets going and get's a little bigger.........
Well,..the rear end is out,..might as well cut the rear coils, now that the rear end is out of the way,...I'll change out the fuel filter.....
It picks up a little more speed.
Well the lower body side moldings are trashed,.....no time like the present to remove them and sand and repaint them,......since the car is, after all UP IN THE AIR!!!

Now the ball is more like a snow boulder,......and starts to consume more rational thought:

"Why,....I haven't even looked at the front of the car,...I mean how hard is it to roll the creeper up there anyway? I am actually under the car fixing junk at the back of the car,....lets just take a quick look up front.......Oh,.....There is a leaking oil pan gasket!"
AND...........there is that ease of access thing. My Lucky Day!!!!

I'll just go ahead, and pull the engine.

That's the way its been since I bought the thing.

The engine is out to replace the oil pan gasket, and an oil filter adapter gasket. May as well replace the valve cover gaskets, and the water pump since the engine is out. Since the engine is out,....may as well do the much needed 7/8 head cooling mod.

But,..I digress.



I got a chance to work on the car this afternoon. Since the engine was out I also decided to change the silver painted valve covers to wrinkle black, since I had them off to put new valve cover gaskets on. I also changed out the 10 yr old spark plugs.
Yes,...I am deleting the PCV system,....these engines manage to suck a bunch of oil into the intake when they start making boost.



The recently scratched saddle as a result of my decision to install the engine w/ the trans attached. Note to self: Trans installed separate.


When I bit ch about people posting pictures of mods made when everything else around is filthy, this is what I'm talking about. This isn't show car clean by no means, but those Bilstiens have 90k on them,....and all it took was some purple power and a 99.00 pressure washer.




Another snowball,....the rear swaybar links are obsolete according to the ford dealership. Evidently,...the PO had an issue w/ one of them and replaced it. I don't know which one is stock,..but I replaced them both w/ these adjustable units from FTR.

Husky44 said:

While you're at it, why don't you replace that broomstick prop rod with some nice cylinders???

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Yeah,...you better hide under that chair. The broomstick is actually a shower rod if were getting technical. The actual "prop rod" is there,. but doesn't allow me to get the hood up high enough to get where I need to. But now that you mention it I do like the lift cylinders,...and since the car is up in the air.....

95BlueStallion said:

Mike, I love your decision on the valve covers. That looks nice all cleaned up and painted. Cant wait to see it back together (and what else you do in the process of putting it together).

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Thank you Iweegian. It's actually paint that you put in the oven and bake for an hour. Really hard and durable,......I was dinking around doing other things yesterday, and when I paid attention the fuel lines off the injectors were dripping gas, and had been long enough to make a little puddle. I just dabbed it up,..and the paint was still perfecto. So,....It's good stuff.

95BlueStallion said:

Do you have to bake it, or will it cure over time to that hardness? Sounds like good stuff for my rear end when I get around to it. And Im not talkin about Nair, you bunch of creative bastards.

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I suppose you don't have to bake it,..I was just reading instructions.

Related note though,...... doesn't it make sense to just wear pants? That's traditionally the best way to cover your rear end. And if you had to sit in an oven at 200 degrees for a hour,..... you'd just die.

I say stick with pants.




Unless there's more room in your garage for your blistered, smoking, 3rd degree burned up ass to hang from after you bail on that idea, and go buy another one of those too.

Or you could just wait.........

I'm sure sooner or later a wrinkle finish will occur naturally on your rear end.

But maybe that'll take too long.


You might just want to paint it after all.

VibrantRedGT said:

My kids are bugging me to buy an 03 Cobra so I'm watching this thread closely. Did you drive the car at all or rip apart they day of purchase? I only say this because of the other scattered threads. One picture was where you bought and like 2 days later it was getting torn apart. Looks great though, love the color.

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I am gonna sell it. I just can't seem to get all warm and fuzzy about it. I was at the Hot rod Power tour yesterday as a spectator,..and there was probably 4 or 5 of the things there,..I didn't even stop to sniff at one of them. The cars that I did stop to look at had either Boss headed 385 series or LS GM engines in them.
I did tear it apart day one,...the clutch was trashed, so it pretty much was mandated. Ignore the "what I bought it for" part though,...that does not apply to what it'll sell for.

Thanks for the kudos though,..whoever ends up getting this one, won't have to spend no money on it except for performance mods.

Old Skooler said:

If you went through all that to just clean up the engine bay, you sir have went right to the top of my most detail oriented anal people list!!! The list is long but you certainly earned it. If your intention is to sell it I wouldn't drive it much. I really enjoyed driving an 04.

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Well there I go again,...making the top of somebodies elses' top 10 list.

I wouldn't have it any other way. I "do" what I can to make something mine....and a greasy, dirty car would never sit well w/ me. Bottom line,, I never did all of this w/ the intention of selling it,...but it certainly won't hurt when that time comes.