im looking about trying to buy and builda 96-98 cobra sometime early fall for a drag car/project car......i wanna try and start building it over the winter.i want to start out n/athen eventually go f/i.starting out i was thinking about building the rear-endwith 3.73swith 31 spline axles anddifferential and full bolt-ons.as for suspension ilooked atthe steeda drag pak, does anyone haveit anddoes it work good? then some skinnies and slicks. then sometime late next yeardo a new shortblock with heads/cams/intake. and id say somewhere along the way ill have to get a new tranny what would handle the abuse at the strip the best?

 

what kind of racing? bracket..etc if your going to be N/A just slap some 4.56's in that bitch, drag radials are just as good as slick, b/c your not putting down numbers in need of slicks, 31's are a must though, in the mach 1 section i've got a link to how suspension works, if you read it, it'll show you and teach you how the suspension works, and what parts need to be upgraded/ left alone. once you get the feel for the car and the new upgrades, then look into F/I.

 

the only bracket racing we have around here is on a 1/8 mile track and i like runnin the 1/4 which i think the bracket race at like 6 times a year so i guess its just gonna be a for fun drag car or whatever. if i go i/f wouldnt the 4.56's be a bit to low of a gear? i really dont wanna have to shift into 5th at the end of the track or would the extra 1k rpm in the 4v make it last threw out the track with 4th gear? ill for sure go read ur link on the suspension. as for the tranny what woud be the best choice i eventually want it to be around 600 hp or so.
thanks for the help

 

the 4.56's would only be while your NA, as soon as you go F/I i would drop to 3.90's 4.10's AT MOST especially at 600hp....as far as transmissions, i would go with the t-56 6 speed viper spec if money isn't an issue. if you racing for money there is a lot to consider, like auto tranny vs manual....another thing you might look into is a two step...im learning about these right now so im not gonna give advice on which and what rpm and all that....i forgot the block in the 96-98 is the teksid and and was cast by ferrari for ford, so you block is plenty strong, and i believe your crank is steel as well. if your going to run turbo/s/c dished pistons are good, but if your gonna go bottle baby get some flat tops, and any thing you can get that is reduced weight is more HP.

 

so with the block the only thing i will need to replace is the rods/pistons? and i would like to go with the viper spec t56 but aint it around like 4 grand. and i for sure want to go with a supercharger most likely a procharger. as for the pistons/rods where would be the best place to get some that will be plenty strong, and what cc piston would be the best? for weight reduction what could i do besides rear-seat delete take out spare and jack tubular k-member and a-arms.....and should i do a a/c delete?

 

the viper spec is close to that i think, but the normal t-56 will be plenty strong.

yeah, reuse the block, and maybe stroke it to a 298ci or something, i would use something like these for the rods...pistons something forged and dished, how big i dunno.

for weight reduction
tublar k member
aluminum DS/ spyder shaft
Light weight fly wheel
light drag wheels Cragar is good stuff but $$$ (draglites are good options as well)
tear out reaer seat, passenger seat, driver seat, carpet...driver seat should be aluminum
tear out all audio crap, and as much of the dash as possible, remove windows (100lbs) replace with a polycarbonate/ plexiglass (lighter and stronger)
any non essential electronics
remove gas tank, and go to a fuel cell

i can go on and on of things we tear out of my buddies circle track cars...his current race weight is 1400lbs with driver/ fluids/ and 100lb weight penalty on his CRX...

 

thanks for the help just as soon as i can find the car ill try and keep updates im goin today to look around and see what i can find thanks again for the help

 

no problem

 

oh and whatis the normal price range of one of these cars with like 40-60k miles