Today I tasted the poisonous bite of a 03 Cobra. I went to my uncle's and for some reason he flet like taking his Termi out for a spin and let me drive. Now this isn't the first time I've driven it but now I feel like I have cheated on my sixxer and the only way to fix it is to move on up to a 4 valve. I have been saving for Bilstien shocks and struts, mm front coil-over kit, mm caster/camber plates, prothane bushings all around, lca's, and h&r race springs. Now I am at the cross road of

Option 1: Take the exhaust off my car and put it in my sister's 00' mustang or sell the exhaust and trade the car in towards either a Mach or a 99-01Cobra(I just love them).

Option 2: Keep the car as is let my girlfriend drive it or me use it as a beater.

Option 3: Keep the car, don't bother with a Mach or Cobra, and just use the money that would go towards monthly payments to mooding the sixxer even more.

Option 4: Go kick my uncle in the ballz and take his Termi(probably not going to go with this option, just throwing it out).

I know this always come up but oh well

 

Heh, I thought the same thing when I drove a friends termi the other day...

I would keep your car and save up for a 99/01 (my favorite also )

BUT, If you part your car out and sell it though, I call dibs on the exhaust and front bumper!!

 

Lol to make matter more interseting is yesterday my gf said "Have you thought about trading your car in".....and today after I went for my little dive(oh how I love how 3rd gear pulls and the whine of the eaton) I tell her I'm thinking of trading it in and she replies" I will support your choice". anyways IF I do decide to get the mach or the cobra then the front bumper w/bezels and fogs will be CHEAP.

 

Well let me just tell ya, nothing like havin a V8. I mean, i loved my sixxer but with the GT/Cobra/Mach, you're gonna fall in love with it everytime you start it up.

Also, you're g/f is awesome haha!

Save up for a clean Mach. Just wait like til summer and go find one. By then you can have one for maybe 11-12k clean

 

I agree my gf is awesome. She said go for it and my jaw dropped because she has been talking about marriage and stuff of that sorts. I will probably go for a CO Mach, black, torch red, or azure blue. And I favor a black cobra convertible or hardtop..so many choices lol.

 

OK, since I have a 99 Cobra I'll chime in on a few things here.

1.) 99 Cobras are known for their valve seat issues. Now Ford did recall them, so most of them were fixed, they also had cat problems, and intake flow problems. All of which Ford recalled, however if it wasn't fixed, then you could have a lemon. Even once fixed the new valve seats were still prone to failure, the new cat and intake design is solid though. The 99 Cobra also has just a basic exterior difference from the GT, and only leather seats with a Mach 460 stereo. Don't use mine as an example, aside from the side scoops and wing, mine has the 03/04 body on it (previous owner put it on the car).

2.) The 01 Cobras use a weaker block than the 99 Cobras, however do not have the valve seat issues. The 01 did not use the smoother shifting T-45 in manual form and as a result, some 01 owners have complained about stiffer shifting. The 01s gained a slightly better interior, but exterior still looks plain.

3.) Try to get an 03/04 for a steal (17K or there abouts). The Terminators have forged internals, premium interior upgrades, outstanding exterior apperance and stance, and lets not forget, the all powerful M-112 that can easily be upgraded to run more boost for a cheap $80 by swaping out the pulley. Not to mention if you perform other basic bolt ons. Keep in mind the Terminators also come with the beloved T-56 6sp manual transmission which is easy to shift, allows for excellent hwy driving, and holds up well to the added capabilities of the terminator.

4.) The 99/01 Cobras are a 4V design and respond very well to mods, however they are limited by their stock internals. So in short, it makes it much more difficult to just "drop in" an M-112, not to mention that there is more to the swap than just the S/C, plus it wouldn't be wise to run more than the stock 8ps of boost on stock internals.

5.) The 99/01s are fairly fast, however they suffer horrible lag when in gear/from a dig, they feel like they have no get up in go as compaired to an older 5.0, or the Terminator. Granted they're light years ahead of the 5.0, but the flat torque curve hurts performance in a dig, off the line they're amazing.

Hope this gives you something to think about. I chose the 99 cause I already have a boosted Mustang, and for the price they're asking for Terminators around here, and considering I got the 99 for $11,500, I couldn't justify spending 2X the amount of money for a Terminator, just couldn't do it.

 

Thanks jthorn. The main reason ive considered the 99/01 cobra is due to the price compared to the termi. I realize the 99/01 lack the forged goodys and thats why i considered the Mach 1 as the 5spd comes with a forged crank. I love the termi but idk if i can justify paying the 18k and more ive seen them for.

 

In the illinois rv auto sales publication there is a 01 i wanna say ,cobra with i think it said 90k for 7gs if im right something close to that might even been 6500

 

I actually found a 99/01 cobra with 54k miles bone stock and has had the recall work done for 10k, my g/f found another but its a vert for 9...all the choices making my head explode lol.

 

Your girlfriend is finding you mustangs?? Shes a keeper.