5.8 cobra

I just bought my first mustang, a 1979 cobra turbo. Now it has 5.8 emblems on the fenders, Are these real ? did they have a 5.8 mustang in 79? The car is in rough shape, no engine or trans. But it has the rear window louvers and rear spoiler, also a sun roof. It is a standard shift car. If they did have 5.8 's in them, Is a 79 cobra 5.8 turbo hatch back, stick shift, with sunroof a rare car? How many did they make in 79?

mattdel

79 mustangs came with 5 engines, i'm not sure about trim options associated with them.

2.3L 2bbl Turbo, VIN W
2.3L 2bbl NA, VIN Y
3.3L 1bbl Straight 6, VIN T
2.8L 2bbl V6, VIN Z
5.0L 2bbl V8, VIN F

5.8 is a 351, and tags can be bought for about $20/set on any aftermarket website. I'm pretty sure there wasn't any mustangs with a 351 option after 1973.

5.8 cobra

Ok thanks, the last owner had a 351 in the car, maybe he put the emblems on.

5.8 cobra

Will a 460 go in without to much trouble?

mattdel

It'll go in. With how much ease, I wouldn't know. But it's been done. Not a popular setup due to weight distribution.

5.8 cobra

how can I be sure that the cobra bages inside and out are not fake? Is there a number or letter in the vin that will tell me if it's a real cobra?

craig71springsport

Your VIN might be able to tell you something. If you can't look up proof of it being a cobra through the VIN, then it looks like the guy put more badges on there that weren't there from factory. But yeah no Mustangs after 73 came with 351s, with the exception of the 95 cobra R I think.

As for your question about a 460 swap, it takes alot of work. You have to essentially rebuild your engine bay around the engine, and have your transmission tunnel fit a c6(presumably) in it. Those cars were never made with even a slight thought of the 460 in mind. 460 swap headers themselves are pretty pricey.

I would just go small block, I believe you can go as big as 438 with a poke n' stroke on a 351w. Not too bad if you ask me.

DRAGUL

There probably is a letter in the vin that will designate it as a cobra. Google search for 1979 mustang vin numbers will probably tell you. Being your car is a hatchback and has the rear window louvers, it is possible it is real as they only made cobras in hatchback that year. Also as someone else stated they would only have come with a 2 barrel carbureted 5.0 . If I were you and it is a real cobra I would try to put it back together as close to original as possible. But that is just me.

Torch_Vert

There isn't anything in the VIN that will designate a Cobra car for '79. Unlike the later SVT Cobras, the '79 was basically just a hold over from the Mustang II "Cobra" era, and was mainly a graphics/appearence package.

More info here: http://mustangattitude.com/mustang/1979cobra.shtml

You could eliminate it as a Cobra with the VIN if the engine code doesn't indicate the 2.3L turbo or 5.0L V8 originally, but having one of those engines doesn't prove it was originally a Cobra

5.8 cobra

I want to order some parts for my 79 hatchback, but they want to know if it's a base model or a giah model, how can I tell which one I have?