Newbie
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 23
From: Az
Newbie
Hi guys, I just picked up a 99 Cobra and Im super stoked about it. I just came across these forums and figured I would see how they are and introduce myself. I hope to learn alot of things from this site because I know there are alot of people with good knowledge out there. Anyways.... Hi
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 23
From: Az
Thanks Guys!! I have a couple pics but when I uploaded them to my computer from my cell phone they came out terrible. I am going to get some better pics to post for sure! I am so excited right now, I have been wanting a cobra forever and it finally happened, sure its just naturally aspirated but Im still proud. And Tim the only mods it has done to it is Flowmaster 40 series exhaust. I dont know how good this exhaust is compared to other brands but I am pretty much ust starting from a stock stand point so if I find out they are no good then I will get another exhaust. One of the first mods I want to do is an Intake and a Diablo tuner. Ive heard good things of them.
Oh and the car is Black on Black. I think the color is hot!!
Oh and the car is Black on Black. I think the color is hot!!
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 23
From: Az
It does look good! I like the yellow on yours it looks sick! I have a question I was reading about a recall on 99 cobras due to the lack of horsepower because of the intake or something. Is there anyway I can tell if my car was fixed or not? Thanks
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 248
From: Iowa
Well, I would assume nearly every single 1999 Cobra has been fixed by now...reason being, it was free to do, and Cobra owners are going to be the guys that want power, so if they're not getting that power they'll have a problem with it and are more likely to actually do something about it. There's a reason people buy Cobras over the GT. Not saying that GT owners don't enjoy having lots of power, but more GT owners would probably over look or not pay attention to a service bulletin than Cobra owners, and to stereotype even more haha I would assume even more base model owners would be oblivious to a service bulletin or recall than the GT owners.
Anyways, on the top or lower portion of your intake manifold (not sure exactly where, although usually in the front I think drivers side) you should see a blue or green dot. When the 1999 Cobras went in to get the problem solved dealerships did a few different things.
- The intake manifold was either acid dipped, extruded honed, or simply replaced.
- They also changed the catback exhaust.
- Lastly, they reflashed the ECU.
A dealership should probably be able to find out with the VIN number if it's been done I think, although I'm not sure. Maybe try calling up Ford Racing or SVT, they can probably help too.
Anyways, have fun with the Cobra...I think you'll really enjoy it. When and if you get serious about more horsepower, they're going to be more welcome to modifications and reach your goals much faster than a 2v.
I don't want to hit you too hard with too much information, but I feel this is important if you haven't been around the scene for long. The 99 & 01 Cobras are a much different beast than the Terminators (03-04 Cobras). I assume if you've been shopping around you've noticed some differences, but I'm not sure on where you are in terms of knowledge on the cars. For one, they obviously aren't supercharged stock, but they also have higher compression ratio, internals, and several other different components. One high note in particular is that the 1999s have the Teksid block, which is probably one of the better engine blocks available...although that's all opinion.
Basically, what this information means is, if you ever decide to make even more crazy amounts of horsepower especially with forced induction, you'll want to pay attention to these circumstances, because you can't just take a 99 Cobra and copy the 03-04 guys. Again, it's nothing to worry about right now. I just don't want you to someday assume that strapping on an Eaton blower from a 03-04 Cobra is plug and play. But for now, go enjoy that Cobra for all that it is...you'll find people looking at you in a whole new way driving down the road and you'll get this weird increase in respect from other performance cars on the road (even those that are faster).
The Cobra truly is just a feared car. It's funny, I was with a buddy of mine who has a 600rwhp turbo Mustang GT and these kids in town would constantly rev up and stuff to him seriously trying to race with no idea what's under the hood. But whenever I pull up in my Cobra which is a far under powered car in comparison, but by no means slow, and a heavy 'vert as well, they don't want to race and they're like "but, you have a Cobra". It's really fun stuff, the SVT crowd is great! Be sure to check out SVTPerformance.com too, some great information over there.
Anyways, on the top or lower portion of your intake manifold (not sure exactly where, although usually in the front I think drivers side) you should see a blue or green dot. When the 1999 Cobras went in to get the problem solved dealerships did a few different things.
- The intake manifold was either acid dipped, extruded honed, or simply replaced.
- They also changed the catback exhaust.
- Lastly, they reflashed the ECU.
A dealership should probably be able to find out with the VIN number if it's been done I think, although I'm not sure. Maybe try calling up Ford Racing or SVT, they can probably help too.
Anyways, have fun with the Cobra...I think you'll really enjoy it. When and if you get serious about more horsepower, they're going to be more welcome to modifications and reach your goals much faster than a 2v.
I don't want to hit you too hard with too much information, but I feel this is important if you haven't been around the scene for long. The 99 & 01 Cobras are a much different beast than the Terminators (03-04 Cobras). I assume if you've been shopping around you've noticed some differences, but I'm not sure on where you are in terms of knowledge on the cars. For one, they obviously aren't supercharged stock, but they also have higher compression ratio, internals, and several other different components. One high note in particular is that the 1999s have the Teksid block, which is probably one of the better engine blocks available...although that's all opinion.
Basically, what this information means is, if you ever decide to make even more crazy amounts of horsepower especially with forced induction, you'll want to pay attention to these circumstances, because you can't just take a 99 Cobra and copy the 03-04 guys. Again, it's nothing to worry about right now. I just don't want you to someday assume that strapping on an Eaton blower from a 03-04 Cobra is plug and play. But for now, go enjoy that Cobra for all that it is...you'll find people looking at you in a whole new way driving down the road and you'll get this weird increase in respect from other performance cars on the road (even those that are faster).
The Cobra truly is just a feared car. It's funny, I was with a buddy of mine who has a 600rwhp turbo Mustang GT and these kids in town would constantly rev up and stuff to him seriously trying to race with no idea what's under the hood. But whenever I pull up in my Cobra which is a far under powered car in comparison, but by no means slow, and a heavy 'vert as well, they don't want to race and they're like "but, you have a Cobra". It's really fun stuff, the SVT crowd is great! Be sure to check out SVTPerformance.com too, some great information over there.
Last edited by dastangman; Mar 5, 2010 at 01:14 AM.
The Godfather
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 15,480
From: Temple, Texas
Welcome to the Mustang world, can't wait to see your pics. Yea, don't worry about the 99 thing, as you can see I have 2 stangs and the 99 is my daily driver (go figure pick the Cobra over the SC 5.0 lol). Point is, they're very reliable, fun to drive for a daily car, and get very good MPG for what they are as I recently went on a long 1000 mile trip and netted 26 MPG (97% highway). A friend of mine, who owns a V6 Lexius, was shocked, she asked me if my car had a V8 and I was like "ummm......yeah......." and she was like wow, you get about the same MPG as me if not better. I was happy to hear that, but mixed I get around 20-22 again, still not bad.
As stated, above the 99s were recalled, but most of them have been fixed and I would almost gurantee yours has been as well.
I'm not going to overload you with info, but the tuner is a good place to start, also consider a CAI or K&N drop in and remove the silencer (either way is sufficient) point is to compliment the exhaust which will allow for a few more ponies. A very basic mod, but a good starting place. Also, with the tuner, get an SCT. I owned a Diablo and while they're decent units, the SCT is better technology and tunes much more quickly as well as reads more engine codes. Keep in mind the power made with tuners is by advancing the timing and adjusting a/f ratios (which should not be done without the proper equipment and a dyno). As far as the timing goes I have no idea what is a safe number to advance the timing. My 5.0 has 10* of base timing, when I was N/A I bumped it up to 15* without detonation with 93 octane gas, car did quite well. With the S/C I backed it down to 8* base timing, but the car seemed a big laggy, so bumped it back to a stock 10* and even with 11 PSI, no pinging/detonation. Again, that's a 5.0 and we have Cobra owners have 4.6s, which is a totally different animal, but the same point applies, you can advance timing till you have pinging/detonation, but in general 3* is about all you should/can go with most cars. I believe a 3* timing bump (as long as you don't ping) will net around 15 rwhp. A dyno running the A/F ratios and using the tuner to get your a/f ratios at a perfect 12.8 with the proper timing will further improve hp and more importantly mpg and overall performance.
As stated, above the 99s were recalled, but most of them have been fixed and I would almost gurantee yours has been as well.
I'm not going to overload you with info, but the tuner is a good place to start, also consider a CAI or K&N drop in and remove the silencer (either way is sufficient) point is to compliment the exhaust which will allow for a few more ponies. A very basic mod, but a good starting place. Also, with the tuner, get an SCT. I owned a Diablo and while they're decent units, the SCT is better technology and tunes much more quickly as well as reads more engine codes. Keep in mind the power made with tuners is by advancing the timing and adjusting a/f ratios (which should not be done without the proper equipment and a dyno). As far as the timing goes I have no idea what is a safe number to advance the timing. My 5.0 has 10* of base timing, when I was N/A I bumped it up to 15* without detonation with 93 octane gas, car did quite well. With the S/C I backed it down to 8* base timing, but the car seemed a big laggy, so bumped it back to a stock 10* and even with 11 PSI, no pinging/detonation. Again, that's a 5.0 and we have Cobra owners have 4.6s, which is a totally different animal, but the same point applies, you can advance timing till you have pinging/detonation, but in general 3* is about all you should/can go with most cars. I believe a 3* timing bump (as long as you don't ping) will net around 15 rwhp. A dyno running the A/F ratios and using the tuner to get your a/f ratios at a perfect 12.8 with the proper timing will further improve hp and more importantly mpg and overall performance.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 23
From: Az
Thank you guys for all the information!! I'm sure I will have plenty of questions in the weeks, months, years to come! Like you were saying about the 03/04 Terminators they are a completely different beast for sure! That's actually what I wanted since I bought my first GT, but this car came available and I got a good price on it so I jumped on it and am happy with my decision so far! I'm just glad Ive never had the chance to drive an 03/04 because then I could never be happy with mine. But with the money I saved on getting this car over the SC ones I can afford to spend a little more on upgrades. Great info guys! Thanks for welcoming me in! Thanks, Chris
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 248
From: Iowa
Yeah the Terminators get a lot of glory, and rightfully so...but you'll find with the proper steps taken, you make your car eat up any stock Terminator. In my area, Terminators for the same year/mileage are roughly 5-6K more, could more or less in other areas.
You can do a lot to get into the same zone as a Terminator with that extra 6 grand, and a centrifugal supercharger is a great place to look for these cars because of the higher compression. But if you have a reputable tuner who knows his stuff, you could run a roots blower on that compression, but your margin of error is smaller.
Someone has to drive these Cobras out there, not everyone can have the Terminators, there's not enough of them to go around. In a few years, all of them will have a special value...but when you're ready and used to that power, there's always a way to get more.
You can do a lot to get into the same zone as a Terminator with that extra 6 grand, and a centrifugal supercharger is a great place to look for these cars because of the higher compression. But if you have a reputable tuner who knows his stuff, you could run a roots blower on that compression, but your margin of error is smaller.
Someone has to drive these Cobras out there, not everyone can have the Terminators, there's not enough of them to go around. In a few years, all of them will have a special value...but when you're ready and used to that power, there's always a way to get more.