How to buy a 2003/2004 Mustang Cobra

[xjrguy]

If you are going to buy a Cobra, PLEASE before you start modding perform a "STAGE 1"

GO HERE AND READ: http://stangshiftergaskets.com/2003_2004faqs.htm

Find a service manual and get good tools. DO NOT be afraid to work on these cars, it will save you TONS of money and you will be a guru in no time. DO NOT use the service jack in the trunk to work on the car. Buy a quality 3 ton floor jack and get some rhino ramps.

STAGE 1 (assuming a leak down test is done and the car is in good shape. An oil analysis is a preferred option here too. See Blackstone Labs or Terry Dyson for details!)

New Plugs of proper heat range (recommend NGK Iridium)

Flush Brake Fluid (usually always overlooked)

Flush Diff Fluid (Again, most neglect this area) Use friction modifier with the refill!!

Flush Trans Fluid (Syncromesh works for me, opinions vary)

New Synthetic Oil Change with quality filter (Mobil 1, PurOne, K&N)

New Serpentine Belt

New S/C Belt

Check/replace Air Filter

Flush Power steering fluid (another wildly overlooked maintenance item)

Completely flush the radiator system PROPERLY!! and intercooler coolant.
Replace with quality coolant and do not use tap water.

Replace the fluid in the supercharger. Use the right fluid here. Ford and GM both sell this stuff cheap. You will need two bottles. I do NOT recommend just using 10w/30 syn like others. Eaton uses a special fluid from the factory, Magnusson Products (the ONLY licensed Eaton rebuilder in North America do NOT use anything other than the proper fluid)

DYNO the vehicle so you know where you are starting from power wise. That way you know what the power mods you install are adding to your power level.

END

Whenever I buy a used car, especially a hot rod like the Cobra I perform this procedure regardless of the records of the car. I maintain my vehicles with an almost anal retentive attitude. Assume the previous owner/dealer whatever skimped on these items.

Next before you go looking for the holy grail of ultimate power address the shortcomings of the car.

Buy an MGW shifter (This vendor is wonderful and actively supports the Viper, Cobra and Corvette communities)

Buy Cobra Bob's T-56 Cobra shifter gasket. (This man is a super super individual)

Buy a differential brace from Billetflow. (again another top notch vendor that bends over backwards for their customers)

Buy a Cold Air Intake

Buy subframe connectors

Buy a cat back system (and if you are inclined a quality midpipe) LISTEN to other Cobra's in person before you make a decision. Will save you $$ and disappointment later.

Find a local tuner and buy the Diablosport or SCT tuner the local garage uses. Become good friends with these people. Find a reputable tuner. Going half ass here is disaster.

I have a 453 RWHP Cobra and I have owned it for 3 troublefree years. I do not have a head cooling mod, but I do not perform top speed runs.

If you take care of the car, respect it and do not beat on it the car will be the most absolute fun, reliable car you could ever hope to have.

When you get all this stuff done (Trust me you don't want to skip these things if you want a baseline to start from) you can move to the next round of mods like pulleys, etc.

Good luck and welcome!

[Tetge]

Good list and sensible but I have not done any of those things except diff and trans fluids are always replaced each time I blow them up. Other than that I had to refill the intercooler after it caught a rock and all the juice ran out (fixed it with quick set epoxy) and I change the oil and filter every 5000 miles. I have used Mobil1 since the first oil change. Plugs are still original and have not been removed since they were gapped too .037 at 6500 miles. Naturally, your experiences may vary and I only have 76000 miles on my car so who knows? And, I have put some brake pads on it and I finally replaced the front rotors at 72000. They still were smooth and all but they were sort of thin from those metallic Hawk pads. I have never changed the brake fluid. I also had to get a battery about four months after the original 60 month battery started to get a bit weak and the red indicator started to show half way in the little window. I also had the original alternator repaired locally. It was only a diode and the fix was cheap. Tires? A few. Clutches and flywheels? Maybe some of those but, 600+ laps at the drag strip can cause things to wear out much faster than normal.

[xjrguy]

Good list and sensible but I have not done any of those things except diff and trans fluids are always replaced each time I blow them up. Other than that I had to refill the intercooler after it caught a rock and all the juice ran out (fixed it with quick set epoxy) and I change the oil and filter every 5000 miles. I have used Mobil1 since the first oil change. Plugs are still original and have not been removed since they were gapped too .037 at 6500 miles. Naturally, your experiences may vary and I only have 76000 miles on my car so who knows? And, I have put some brake pads on it and I finally replaced the front rotors at 72000. They still were smooth and all but they were sort of thin from those metallic Hawk pads. I have never changed the brake fluid. I also had to get a battery about four months after the original 60 month battery started to get a bit weak and the red indicator started to show half way in the little window. I also had the original alternator repaired locally. It was only a diode and the fix was cheap. Tires? A few. Clutches and flywheels? Maybe some of those but, 600+ laps at the drag strip can cause things to wear out much faster than normal.

DUDE!!

You need to come over and let me bleed your brakes!!!!

At the very least.....It's cheap and simple.

[Tetge]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my motto. Funny about the brakes since when my 1987 Guzzi went to the shop recently to replace the clutch I destroyed riding with Brakelate, I told the shop to check over the bike since it had not been tuned or anything in 20+ years. They ended up spooning the old brake fluid out and then they used their power bleeder and flushed the system for hours. They said that at first a gel came out but after a lot of work brake fluid was once again in the system. Then they muttered about replacing the stock OEM plugs. And the oil filter, which on my Guzzi is inside the pan, was found to be some ancient filter that had not been made for many many years. But the bike still ran even with a blown clutch as I rode it home from Ojai with a clutch that had major chunks missing out of the steel plate that the clutch material is bonded to.

So, the Terminator is only 6 years old and when the brake fluid gets low, I just go out to the garage and find that old partially used can of brake fluid and add some to the car. I have had that can of brake fluid for years and it still pours....

[xjrguy]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my motto. Funny about the brakes since when my 1987 Guzzi went to the shop recently to replace the clutch I destroyed riding with Brakelate, I told the shop to check over the bike since it had not been tuned or anything in 20+ years. They ended up spooning the old brake fluid out and then they used their power bleeder and flushed the system for hours. They said that at first a gel came out but after a lot of work brake fluid was once again in the system. Then they muttered about replacing the stock OEM plugs. And the oil filter, which on my Guzzi is inside the pan, was found to be some ancient filter that had not been made for many many years. But the bike still ran even with a blown clutch as I rode it home from Ojai with a clutch that had major chunks missing out of the steel plate that the clutch material is bonded to.

So, the Terminator is only 6 years old and when the brake fluid gets low, I just go out to the garage and find that old partially used can of brake fluid and add some to the car. I have had that can of brake fluid for years and it still pours....

HOLY SHIT MAN YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!!!

You know brake fluid attracts water?

Even in an open container!!!


There is probably water and shit and rust in your calipers. Didn't you flush the system when you did pads?

It's a testament to the Cobra that it still stops. Imagine how much better it would stop with fresh fluid.

Shit, I flush brake fluid every 2 years.

[Tetge]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my motto. Funny about the brakes since when my 1987 Guzzi went to the shop recently to replace the clutch I destroyed riding with Brakelate, I told the shop to check over the bike since it had not been tuned or anything in 20+ years. They ended up spooning the old brake fluid out and then they used their power bleeder and flushed the system for hours. They said that at first a gel came out but after a lot of work brake fluid was once again in the system. Then they muttered about replacing the stock OEM plugs. And the oil filter, which on my Guzzi is inside the pan, was found to be some ancient filter that had not been made for many many years. But the bike still ran even with a blown clutch as I rode it home from Ojai with a clutch that had major chunks missing out of the steel plate that the clutch material is bonded to.

So, the Terminator is only 6 years old and when the brake fluid gets low, I just go out to the garage and find that old partially used can of brake fluid and add some to the car. I have had that can of brake fluid for years and it still pours....

HOLY SHIT MAN YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!!!

You know brake fluid attracts water?

Even in an open container!!!


There is probably water and shit and rust in your calipers. Didn't you flush the system when you did pads?

It's a testament to the Cobra that it still stops. Imagine how much better it would stop with fresh fluid.

Shit, I flush brake fluid every 2 years.

You apparently worry too much. I just push the wheel cylinder pistons in with something I can pry with and pop the new pads in. This is called a pad slap, as I recall. I have never once turned any rotors in any machine and I never have on the Terminator. Of course, when you push on the wheel cylinders it raises the fluid level in the master cylinder so I use an old turkey baster that I have laying around and suck out enough of the old brake fluid so that it does not overflow. As time goes by, the level drops and additional fluid needs to be added which is why I got that container of brake fluid years ago. When I first started to drag race the car at LACR the little round red brake warning light started to flash one night and it just about made me crazy until I realized that the brake fluid has gotten low and it was alerting me to that. All the intense acceleration and braking at the strip caused the fluid to slosh around enough to trigger the alert light. My can of brake fluid, which was cheap at PepBoys because I got the one that cost the least, fixed the light issue.
And, BTW, I heard that story about brake fluid attracting water but I did not see any water when I used the stuff since I put the lid on tightly.....

[xjrguy]

You won't "see" the water in the fluid.

Oh and not to pick on you, but you do know that how you did pads is the absolute wrong way to do it right?

All that old shit fluid that is in the caliper is going to be pushed back out into the lines and into your brake system.

On a pad change, crack the bleed screws, and let the old SHITE fluid flow OUT of the waste end of the caliper OUT of the bleeder screws.

Then top up the reservoir with new fluid.

Do this for all four sides, and you will probably replace all the fluid in your system.

With the method you perform, you are really not getting any of the old crap out.

Again, not picking on you, but in a way, worried.

The other benefit of a brake bleed is that the pedal feel is UNBELIEVABLY better.

Seriously I'd be more than happy to help bleed your brakes. I bet you'd shit if you saw the color of the junk that came out, especially after sitting in there for 6 years.

[Tetge]

As I said, you worry too much. Brakes are way over rated anyway. If you use the final turnout, you could almost slow down enough to turn onto the return road without using your brakes. Rails and funny cars only have rear brakes as I recall and they do over 300 even in the 1000'. I did feel the anti lock once in my Cobra when someone turned left right in front of me but I was only going 20 at the time. Generally, I never use the brakes since if one drives sensibly one never really needs them. And, my brakes feel just fine as far as I can tell. But, then again, I am not one of those road racers who seem to be all wrapped up in braking and cooling and suspension settings and all that. They are not only compulsive, they are obsessed with strange details. Brakes just work no matter what since they are almost fail safe by design.....

[xjrguy]

As I said, you worry too much. Brakes are way over rated anyway. If you use the final turnout, you could almost slow down enough to turn onto the return road without using your brakes. Rails and funny cars only have rear brakes as I recall and they do over 300 even in the 1000'. I did feel the anti lock once in my Cobra when someone turned left right in front of me but I was only going 20 at the time. Generally, I never use the brakes since if one drives sensibly one never really needs them. And, my brakes feel just fine as far as I can tell. But, then again, I am not one of those road racers who seem to be all wrapped up in braking and cooling and suspension settings and all that. They are not only compulsive, they are obsessed with strange details. Brakes just work no matter what since they are almost fail safe by design.....

Brakes are not way over rated. LOL. Brakes are way overlooked, that statement I will agree with.

Think of the poor PBR calipers, lines, BOSCH ABS system, etc!

I bet there is rust in the calipers.

Brakes get bad over a long period of time, so you won't notice a pedal problem if you're used to spongy feel, etc.

Seriously, bleeding the fluid takes 30 to 45 mins, and will prolong the life of your components.

In Europe I think they even check brake fluid for MOT inspections. (I know we don't live in Europe, but it shows that maintaining this critical area of your car could be the difference between an accident and 10 feet)

[Tetge]

As I said, you worry too much. Brakes are way over rated anyway. If you use the final turnout, you could almost slow down enough to turn onto the return road without using your brakes. Rails and funny cars only have rear brakes as I recall and they do over 300 even in the 1000'. I did feel the anti lock once in my Cobra when someone turned left right in front of me but I was only going 20 at the time. Generally, I never use the brakes since if one drives sensibly one never really needs them. And, my brakes feel just fine as far as I can tell. But, then again, I am not one of those road racers who seem to be all wrapped up in braking and cooling and suspension settings and all that. They are not only compulsive, they are obsessed with strange details. Brakes just work no matter what since they are almost fail safe by design.....

Brakes are not way over rated. LOL. Brakes are way overlooked, that statement I will agree with.

Think of the poor PBR calipers, lines, BOSCH ABS system, etc!

I bet there is rust in the calipers.

Brakes get bad over a long period of time, so you won't notice a pedal problem if you're used to spongy feel, etc.

Seriously, bleeding the fluid takes 30 to 45 mins, and will prolong the life of your components.

In Europe I think they even check brake fluid for MOT inspections. (I know we don't live in Europe, but it shows that maintaining this critical area of your car could be the difference between an accident and 10 feet)

Really, my brakes stop the car at intersections. But, I will say that I am considering losing the stock OEM type front brake pads that I used with the new rotors and returning to the metallic Hawk street pads since they bite a bit more positively. The stock pads feel soft and although they are quiet and don't make much dust and don't eat the rotors one sort of gets used to the better feel of the Hawks. But, I am waiting for you to tell me that I need braided steel brake lines and better cooling. None of these things are necessary. There are 40 year old vehicles still running around with the OEM brake fluid unless they blew a wheel cylinder or master cylinder.