I'm going to buy a 99 Cobra this week. My question: How much power can the stock Cobra motor handle? I know they are 320HP at the crank stock. I'm trying to figure out before I slap my blower on the car. Thanks...

 

320 at the crank and 290 RWHP..

I asked my tech that very question.. He said the weak point in the 99-01 Cobras are the rods.. They will handle up to about 400 RWHP before you better start to look at changing them out.. I'm sure there are people running more then that w/ the stock rods but I trust my tech.. This guy knows his stuff.. That 400 # is probably a safe number that you can run all day long and not tear anything up..

He went on to say Ford knew of this problem and upgraded the rods on the 03-04 Cobras seeing they are supercharged..

Hope it helps..

 

My workout friend has a 99 cobra with a Vortech SQ aftercooled system on his stock bottom end. He also has long tubes, CAI and a Bassani exhaust. He is running 10 lbs of boost and it dynoed at 466 rwhp. He also hs about 40,000 miles on the motor. I definitely would not recommend runnning over 10 lbs of boost on a stock 99/01 cobra. They are very strong with bolt-ons!