The 03 Cobra Zinc Build

[Zippy]

Hey everyone. Wanted to share a Cobra Build ZR & I did back in late 2020.


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Our Customer Mike brought us a recently purchased 03 Cobra Convertible.
The mods before it came in was...
- Pulley & Tune
- BBK Long tubes w/ magnaflow catback
- MGW Shifter
Rest was bone stock.

Mike wanted more power and a car that handled on rails.
We gave him just that.
Stay tuned ... more to come...
:highfive:

[Zippy]

More Power

We went with a 2.3whipple on this car with a 3.25pulley. Will make 17/18psi of boost and a healthy 590-61x horsepower on 94.
Leaving the crank pulley stock size to make it reliable forever.
Supporting mods go as followed...
- BA3000 Maf
- ID 1050 Injectors
- Lethal Budget return fuel system
- Metco Idler Snubber
- Afco Heat Exchanger with fans
- NGK TR6 Plugs


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The Suspension

We went all out in the suspension department. Bought all the coolest of the cool stuff for this Cobra build.
Went with very conservative spring rates to make it ride like a cloud on the street.

In The Front...
- Maximum Motorsports K member
- Maximum Motorsports A Arms
- Maximum Motorsports Steering Shaft
- Maximum Motorsports Rack Bushings
- Maximum Motorsports Caster Camber Plates
- Maximum Motorsports Strut Tower Brace
- Koni Double Adjustable Struts
- Maximum Motorsports Coil Over Kit
- Maximum Motorsports BumpSteer Kit
- Steeda Full Length Subframe Connectors
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For the rear...
- Full Tilt Boogie Racing Complete Bushing Kit w/ Drop Mount & Upgraded Toe Links
- 3.73 Ford Racing Gears
- Billet Flow Aluminum Diff Cover Brace
- New Diff Fluid w/ Addictive
- Bilstein Shocks w/ Groove
- Maximum Motorsports Coil Over Kit

All Cobra's on planet earth should have Full Tilt Boogie Racing Bushing kit installed in the IRS
It isn't cheap, but it is by far the best mod to do to a Cobra!
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To go fast... you must stop fast.
We went with the Ford Racing Brembo package and upgraded the pads to EBC Red's.
Kit comes with Stainless steel lines and ordered a matching rear set.

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It doesn't seem like a lot of parts till they arrive... boxes ontop of boxes... with lots of goodies inside...

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Can't have a modded car without gauges.
03/04 Cobra's do not have a volt gauge in them, we highly recommend putting in a aftermarket one as it's a great tool to have when keeping an eye on your car.
And with the blower upgrade... we need a boost gauge! Also a great gauge to have to make sure the car is running properly, if it's holding vacuum you're good to go!
The customer also is planning to take this car to the drag strip here and there, he wanted a shift light!
Raptor's shift lights are the best in the business. Super clean install with minimal wires for a good price.
Went with the Autometer white faced gauges.
For placement, these will go on the driver's A Pillar as that is what the customer desired.


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[Zippy]

So the plan of attack for the build was pretty simple... take it all apart and put it back together with new and improved parts
Decided the long way was the short way with this one... fully dropped the drive train out of the car.
Valve covers we're sweating so we decided to pull them off and re gasket them.
Painted up a ton of bolts/nuts on the motor.
Painted the lower intake to make it look fresh again.
It's also dramatically easier setting up the RST clutch on the floor vs. in the car. Makes taking the transmission in and out a bunch of times much easier.
Also pulling the motor made it dramatically easier to set up the K member for square as well as deal with the headers.
Here are some before... during... and after pics.

Dropping the motor out!
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Engine on the floor getting ready for removal of trans!
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Engine bay wiped and detailed before the motor goes back in!
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Trans off, blower off... just about ready to strip the bellhousing & clutch + re & re the valve covers. Everything going back together really clean!
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The money pics...
New blower with a painted up lower intake with shiny new injectors...
A thing of beauty!
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Clutch in and set up properly.
Bell Housing cleaned up and painted.
Wires and O2 sensors tied up against the trans so they do not get burnt on the header.
K member bolted up to the motor after being squared into the car.
Valve covers pulled off and re-gasketed. Redid all the bolt grommets aswell as the plug hole gaskets.
At this time we also pulled off the headers and re-gasketed them as well.
When they were installed by another shop... used aftermarket gaskets and were already leaking. Only use MLS style gaskets on a Cobra for the manifolds/headers!
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It quickly came together... Here's what the final pics of under the hood look like.
Maximum CC plates in, Maximum Strut tower brace... everything cleaned up !
Came out freaking sweeeeeeeeet.
Will have some more pics in the next week or so.

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[Zippy]

Brembo Brake kit mounted
Stainless steel lines
New rotors
EBC red pads front and rear
New ATE Brake Fluid
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Mike's Cobra is finally all complete
(minus break in on the clutch and tune)
New 17x9 and 17x10 CCW wheels wrapped in Nitto tires on the car
Gauges installed
Volt, Boost & a Shift light
Cluster repaired (didn't have any lights on at night)
New Alternator
- Was recently replaced by another shop, they installed the wrong regulator on it

Looks pretty sporty with the top down !
This is definetely the tightest feeling vert in a new edge I've ever been in
All of the Maximum motorsport goodies and the amazing Koni DA shocks in the front with the upgraded bilsteins in the back...
It rides & handles like a dream.
Dyno in a few weeks... should make just under or just over 600 at the tire
:highfive:

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[Zippy]

Update on the Zinc build.

Customer put about 1,000kms on the car before hitting the dyno.
Did that to properly break in the clutch and make sure everything was good to go...
Bad news unfortunately on the dyno...
Car made 2 pulls on the dyno that went smooth as silk, as the tuner was loading in the revision for pull #3, on start up, the car was on 7cylinders.
Long story short, the car dropped a valve seat. (not the tuners fault, or anyone's for that matter)
Major blow
The motor has long since been pulled from the car and over to our machine shop (Beatty&Woods).

Mike, the owner of the car, has decided now is the time to do cams and some other upgrades inside the motor while the heads are being fixed.
Going with Crower stage 2 cams, upgrade GT500 rockers and TFS lash adjusters.
The good news in all of this is...
1. The tuner, DCT, realized what was happening and didn't continue with the dyno tuning
2. The valve did not hit the piston and cause anymore damage to the bottom end
3. No damage to the heads
4. the car was already at 560ish on the second pull with very very very low timing in it.
Obviously a big blow to everyone involved as the car was pretty much complete. We will be getting the motor back sometime in the next couple of months and will have the car reassembled for spring time.
This Cobra is going to be a ripper once completed. With the new cams and upping the boost, Mike should be in the 640-650 range once we get it back together.

Here is a photo of the driver side valve cover. If you can zoom in, the rocker arm is off.
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[Zippy]

Little update on the Cobra build
We took this apart way back in the fall... and the machine shop still doesn't have the parts they need to put the motor together.
I believe we are waiting for rings? for the pistons before they can start getting it back together.
It's really unbelievable that parts supply issues are getting even worse then what they were a year ago.
3 or 4years ago, this would be a 5 or 6week rebuild and it would be done. Now we are talking 5-6months+.
Insane.

Hopefully have this back soon and get Mike up on his feet and back to enjoying his car.

[Zippy]

Yes yes I know... I've been bad about updates... but here is one!

We have long since got Mike his car back with the new motor installed with the cams.
Life got in the way for Mike and he hadn't gotten around to put any kms on it! Well this spring he finally got the break in miles done on the motor.
Here are accouple of photo's of it in the shop about 3 or so weeks ago.
Side note, this might be the tightest Vert cobra we get the pleasure of working on. The subframe connectors, full tilt boogie, K members, coilovers... makes it ride and drive incredibly well. We often forget that these cars are 20+ years old at this point! Where does the time go?

Fast forward to today... DYNO DAY!

So to remind everyone...
2.3 Whipple
BBK headers with a CATTED X pipe
JLT Cold Air
Magnaflow cat back
Crower stage 2 cams with TFS lash adjusters & GT 500 roller rockers
Lethal budget return fuel system
Motor built by Beatty & Woods
Tuned by DCT

The car put down a wicked 618 @ 14lbs of boost in todays heat. IMPRESSIVE!
Mike is going to be floored when he hits it for the first time.
It has been a super long journey with the car... but we saw it through to the end.
Another badass Cobra created.
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[Zippy]

Video of dyno session in the next couple of days!

[Zippy]

Here is a link to DCT's facebook page

Video of the car putting the power down

https://www.facebook.com/DiagoCustomTuning/videos/284703190828697