crower

I swapped my 65 Chevelle with a 96 Cobra. The car has not been used at all, its spotless. It runs the first time, sounds super cool and clutch is new... Has like 20k miles on it. The car is not fast as I expect it to be. Of course my other car could do 12,4s on street tires, had a 468 LS-6 clone on it but still....I think my particular car has a problem....

Now the car has good torque to up until 3500-4000rpm then it goes kinda numb... As far as I reckon this engine should come awake after that particular rpm and even go faster, no? The engine should give me 305hp in stock form but I dont think it does. Now its torquey and all but I am definitely not fast!

I have friends that run shops so I went to one that has most experience with Cobras and we logged the car on it gave us couple of errors. One was a part that is inside the intake manifold which operated a part that worked like an ex-up system on a bike or more like Corolla GTs intake as far as I understand, changing the way air goes. We changed it, which should have done the trick but nothing has changed...

More to the equation I installed a BBK throttle body and K&N ram air intake then, nothing has changed, I feel no change in horsepower at all. We plucked out the cats and installed simulators. I am getting no errors I think, I will go get the car checked tomorrow after a bit of driving...

In the meantime I need help! Please give me ideas, there has to be someone out there who may have had the same problem. The engine runs great, 15psi vacuum no problems! Just no top end power....

slobra1

if i am not mistaken, the 96 dohc engine in the cobra should have it's peak hp at higher rpm. im pretty sure that the hp peaks above 5500 rpms. my 94 peaks lower, but still seems like it has a powerful top end.

JD1969

If you can put it on a dyno or run it at the track, that way we could compare it to other cars that we know to be running right. Also you went from a car that had a TON of torque to one that has realtivly little low end power.

Black04COBRA

WTF????? You got rid of a 65 chevelle for a 96 COBRA????????


Silly Boy.

C/Note

hey man but some nos on it ,,im fixing to my 99 cobra ..was going the s/c way again but dont drive much ,,i know the kits are higher than other kits..but hey use it only when you got too,,will have pics of my cobra motor down soon,,,,getting new pistions and rods...

OneGearhead

i agree 100%.........but yeah.....youre probably just used to all the torque from the Chevelle. i hate to say it, but, i drove my friend's sisters Cobra, and it felt SLOW. pristine condition. babied........i think my car would hand her her a$$ on a silver platter. the cars way a ton, and maybe theyre just high revvers(which i didnt do cuz i didnt wanna break it), but, its probably just cuz youre used to a lot faster car.....get the codes worked out, then drive it again/some more and you might be able to tell a diff...........check the pcv valve..........it might be clogged somewhat.....when was the oil changed last ? last time it had a tune-up ? just check the simple things

94Cbra

Im not a big fan of N/A 4.6 Cobras. Seems like you have to really stomp on them to get anything out of 'em. I was in the market for one until I drove my 5.0 Cobra. You see what I'm driving .

I would go with some 4.10 gears, and juice the hell out of it. You should be goin pretty quick after that.

UhadMEatGT

I like chevelles, but nothing special about a 65 to me. I would have traded too, even though I am a muscle car freak. It isnt going to have the torque of the big block you had, but still have respectible stock times. I am betting that it needs tuned since it has such low miles.
Here are the stock specs: 1996 Ford Mustang Cobra 5.5 14.00 You should easily jump in the 13's with simple bult on and a tune. When I bought my 97 GT, it was only driven 6,000 miles a year. It felt like it ran just fine, never showed any codes, but I knew it should be quicker. I ripped through it : Seafoamed the motor, changed thermostat to a 180*, radiator cap, gatorback serpentine belt, platinum plugs, wires, EGR, all new 0'2 sensors (4), Mobile 1 tranny fluid and filter change, rear Mobile 1 fluid change, Mobile 1 oil change, K&N FIPK system, and probably some things I am forgetting. It was night and day. Everyone hops into mods without fine tuning their cars first. I would rip through it with a major tune and maybe a new X or H pipe just to make sure your getting good flow. Also, reset your computer after each MIL or mod you do so the computer can learn the changes. Good luck.

crower

I've had the Chevelle for 10 years so I was really tired of it. I invested so much time and effort in the thing I felt weird when I drove it... So I managed to put up with it for 10 years. The car was gethering an inch of dust lying in my Garage doin nothing so I just got rid of it. I did not even wait for the best offer just dumped the thing...

We compression tested the dohc engine and found that 3 pistons were running low on 120psi normal should be 180-190. We suspect dirty valves and/or busted seals. We will clean up the car and check the fuel regulator. They should do the trick.

Chevelles 454 got the power over 5000rpm to 7000 because it had hot cams on it. Lift was like .590 or smthng. I dont remember too well, its been a while... Chevelle also got rusty on top end, most definitely abresions on the valve stem where its not polished. Hopefully we will sort it out....

I will drive the cobra NA for a while to drift around. Then when I decide to race around I will add a blower. A vortech unit is reasonably well priced and reliable. I will opt for one with an intercooler and pump like 9psi of boost...

We installed a bbk throttle body and a ram air. Now we put off road pipes and flowmasters on it. low end improved a bit but I cant feel the difference since the thing doesnt wanna rev. I will post as we sort it out so people suffering from same faith have a guideline...

Please continue guessing....

slobra1

nice mustang 94cbra... looks just like mine except mine still has a pony in the grill