Motor Swap? 03 Cobra? Sean Hyland?

[dmalemodel]

OK EVERYONE HERES THE DEAL. I HAVE A 96 COBRA THAT IS GETTING A FACE LIFT. IM HAPPY W/ THE APPEARANCE OF MY CAR BUT MY GOAL IS TO HAVE A NEAR BULLET PROOF ENGINE THAT PUTS AT A CONSTANT 600 HP. NOW I WANT IT TO LAST ME MANY MANY YEARS AS MY STOCK ENGINE HAS SO FAR. NOW OFCOURSE MORE MAINTENECE WILL BE NEEDED TO KEEP UP A MOTOR W/ OVER 600 HP BUT I UNDERSTAND THAT. *****SO HERE'S THE QUESTION******
DO I TAKE MY MOTOR. THROW IT AWAY AND GO W/ A COBRA LONGBLOCK ENGINE BUILT BY SEAN HYLAND W/ A VORTECH SUPERCHARGER? OR DO I GO W/ A 03 COBRA MOTOR AND THROW IN SOME UPGRADED FORGED PARTS AND MORE BOOST? OR DO I WAIT TILL THE 05 SVT 5.0 CAMMER MOTOR COMES OUT AND SEE WHAT KINDA LUCK I HAVE W/ THAT? HONESTLY IM NOT LOOKING TO SPEND OVER $10K IF I CAN KEEP FROM IT. AND MY CAR SEES ABOUT 5K MILES A YEAR AS IT IS NOT MY DAILY DRIVER, BUT IT IS DRIVEN HARD. ONCE AGAIN KEEP IN MIND MY GOAL IS TO MAKE 600+HP AT THE FLYWHEEL ONLY!
OK GUYS GIVE IT TO ME.. WHAT DO YA THINK? IM WILLING TO TRY ANYTHING AS LONG AS I CAN BE PROVEN IT WORKS.
THANKS>>>D.J.<<<

[flynfink]

OK, but please learn to type w/ the caps lock off....

[smashedheadcat]

The only way you'll make a reliable 600 rwhp for under $10,000 is either going with a pushrod motor, or a nitrous fed mod motor.

Just a quick price list of a few things.......

03 cobra crate engine........ $7500-10000

I paid $7000 for my first rebuild, SHM rotating assy, labor, machine work, etc.......

I paid $4122 for my vortech kit with aftercooler......

Let's not forget, to make 600rwhp, it'll take cams, head porting, forged internals (for years of fun), fuel system, tuning, full exhaust, and driveline upgrades.

I'd go with an R-302 block, AFR 185 heads, a little port work, forged crank/rods/pistons, a victor 5.0 intake, AFM turbo Cam, and visit www.proturbokits.com and get yourself a turbo. Stuff that down into your car, and be done with it. :)

[tcrews]

The least expensive way to obtain your goal is to have your engine rebuilt with forged components, some cam and head work and a decent size blower or turbo. Turbo kits will be much much more expensive though as most are custom down and require new front suspension components (K-members).

Give Houston Performance a call and talk to Steve Drier. They rebuilt my engine and I'm making about 650+ flywheel hp (570 rear wheel) in my daily driven '97 Cobra. I've been running this since August of 2001 and I drive it every single day of the year (my only car). You'll want good forged components, maybe even go with a larger bore or stroker setup, cams, ported heads and some boost.

My suggestion..

Rebuild your block, 9.5:1 compression
.020 overbore
Blower cams
Ported heads
Vortech T-trim blower or Paxton Novi 2000RR
Powerpipe
adding an aftercooler/intercooler to the above would allow you to run more boost and keep then temps down.

Again, talk to Steve @ Houston Performance.

All your other choices (other than SHM rebuild) are much more expensive. Not only is the cost of an '03 Longblock $12,000 but you'd need to do a lot of fabrication to make it work and a lot of custom tuning.

It's easy to do, you just need to research and plan it out.

My rebuild was $6000 (plus shipping), blower setup would run about $4,000+ depending on brand and if you add an after/inter cooler.

[Mystic_Cobra]

I'm glad to see this thread. I expect that I'll be shopping for a motor sometime in the next couple years since I am getting ready to start racing my 129,000 mile 96 Cobra.

I, too, would like about 500+ hp. I'd have to do the math after I gut my car to see how much power I can make to stay under the American Iron 9.5 lbs/hp rule. . . . Ok, after a quick calc, 3300 lbs only allows about 350 RWHP. Maybe my project will be less $$ than I thought.

What route would you guys suggest for a ~400 HP (crank) motor that will be reliable and strong? My initial guess says the same thing as above, but without the blower???

[tcrews]

Yes, a good strong forged motor, I'd probably go with a big bore setup so you can turn some good rpms with it. The stroker kits aren't going to be as rpm friendly. Mild head work and some road race cams of some sort. Call a few shops to get some recommendations. The block is fine, the crank is fine, all the other stuff can take some improvements :)

[johnbasf]

Jimmy, call True Blue. They are workong on a "Road Race" engine as we speak. :thumbsup:

[smashedheadcat]

I agree. Call true blue performance up. I would go with a set of road race specific cams, and get some headwork done as well.