USMCrebel

i thought the termy's were aluminum block....the is no such thing as an automatic mustang

Stanger89

ok, my bad. I thought the mach 1had the same engine as the cobra w/ out the supercharger and higher compression. And maybe the cobras ive been pricing are high b/c people think of them as collector cars. but going on ebay and autotrader they both were around 15-18k with good miles.Are there anychanges that make the mach more reliable for a DD?

USMCrebel

ok i found it, shows how much i know about the new mustangs... everything i've ever delt with is 20-40yrs old.
http://www.austinsvt.com/cobra/0304data.html

96GT226410

Um... What?

USMCrebel

**** it didnt put my smiley on there **

Mark99GT

No its just that the manual Machshave the forged steel crank and theautomatics have the weaker cast one...

Fobra

this is not necessarily true, it depends alot on your goals and your usage. The teksid also has gasket issues that I wont go into, however the reason i mention this is the means of production of an aluminum block... the teksid block can hold alot of power, and hold alot of heat.. however aluminum gets its strenght from being heat cycled, this is a process they factory goes through... ok so now if you are building an extreme drag racer - the teksid might not be for you..why? b/c everytime you expose the teksid to a high heat temp, it loses strenght.. not so true with an iron block (this is the part of reasoning for the switch to an iro block for the 03 cobra).. now does that mean that I shouldnt use a teksid? No, the teksid can be re-heat cycled to increase its strength (this is how it holds 1500-2000 hp) and this is an expensive aftermarket process, however it max hp limit is impresive for stock. Now, heres the other side, the iron block as you know is not a keen on temp changes like the alumium block, however you can bore an iron block making an upgrade in bore easy... alumium block can be re-sleved, but there are issues with that, i wont go into. Now aluminum block can be repaired, that is a plus for a hardcore drag racer.. but the expense and trouble most likely wont be an option for most of us... at the end of all of this debate is the fact that the iron block will hold over 1000hp, plenty for just anybody and its cheap, so if youve got money to burn go with a teksid, its lighter... but the iron block can assomplish the same goals for the most part

Stanger89

Im still confused if the mach has a iron or aluminum block, but I think im leaning for the older car anyway. I dont plan to use the car for drag racing. I want to use it for a daily driver, andI definitelydont have money to burn. I would be happy with a car that runs high 12's or low 13's in the quarter. So, if I were to go w/ the 98 or so cobra, would 400hp (flywheel) be hard to get without spending tons of money? I was thinking starting out w/ full exhaust and intake, and 3.73's or 4.10 gears. I would hope that would put me in the mid 13's but I dont know.Then later on a blower w/ around 5lbs of boost, that should get me to 400 right? thanks...

Mark99GT

The mach has an aluminum block and stock for stock will outrun a 96-98 cobra in the 1/4. The mach runs low 13s stock.

Fobra

mark is right, but ive been doing my homework on this and the cobra B heads (96-98 cobra motors) are very good way to go, all oyu have to do is remove the imrc plates (a restrictor in the heads... this is easy to do) and you have heads that flow equal to and in some app greater than the 03-04 cobra heads, due to the cam profiles at 6500 rpm and above (im still collecting dyno sheets to validate this, but it is proven that the b heads with the delte flow within 5cfm +/- of c heads)