🔧 BUILD FESTER665's 1993 Foxbody Cobra build - Coyote/Tremec incoming - 22 years in the making.

General Information

Of course as with most things, it's a slow build in progress. I will usually get comments ranging from "it looks great!" to "You're ruining that car!" but since you'll never make everyone happy, I just do what I want to do to it. :headbang:

Year: 1993
Make/Model: Mustang Cobra #235
Specs: Teal/Opal Gray leather
Numbers: 310 RWHP/308 RWTQ
1/4 mile time: 13.04 @ 104.6


I bought the car in 1998 with 24k miles on it. It now has 54k on it. It's a slow work of progress that I hope to have done in the next three years. I'm hoping I'll actually get to have it out this summer with the new motor in it, but it's depending on finances at this point.

Here's the car before I had any work done on it:
3810_1134151203210_2003795_n.jpg


Some people hate this, but it's been on so long I just leave it on:
bumper-1.gif


Put in white faced gauges and a 5" tach.... Debating going to a white faced tach, or changing the gauges back to black though..... Also ditched the horse on the dash and put a cobra there instead....
CobraInterior.jpg


Then I slowly made my way under the hood doing a few bolt-ons here and there.... My A/C compressor locked up so instead of replacing it I just moved the P/S to where it used to be.
Cobra4.jpg

FESTER665

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In 2000 or so I contacted Brian Tooley at TEA and had him send me a TFS TW package and I eventually had plans to add more cubic inches so I had him go with his Stage 2+ porting work. This was before their CNC program was up and going so they were all done by hand. They are around 192cc, which unfortunately turned the car into a dog in the low RPM's....

I just didn't expect it to be 10 years later before I could finally get a new motor... Buying a damn house got in the way. :lmao:

I decided to ditch the blackouts and go with a crystal clear headlight and foglight package....

Before:
cobraoldlights (1).jpg


After:
cobranewlights2.jpg



After that was done, I finally got my suspension put into the car (definite improvement over the 4x4 look of the first picture):

The jack JUST clears under the bumpers now:
jackbarelyfits.jpg


suspensionin1.jpg
 

FESTER665

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Finally I KNEW that I wanted to have a 351w based motor under the hood, and I didn't plan on spinning it to the moon, so I had aaron at 6061.com modify a Victor Jr. intake to be EFI and had him fab up a set of his fuel rails and elbows.....
CustomIntake.jpg


The original plan was to use this intake and elbow to fit everything under the stock hood. I have since ditched this idea and will be going with a 4150 throttle body instead and will have to use a cowl hood on the car....

So after having a "friend" rebuild my heads to see how his shop and work were, I had to go a different route. After reading so many great reviews on other sites and learning they were actually "local" to us I ended up going with Jim over at FordStrokers to have my new motor put together.

My original plan was to go with a 408w and to a new larger set of heads and see how it went. After talking with more people though, I decided my new route of action would be to reuse my current heads (yeah, they're a little small... LOL) and instead use all the money on a better bottom end...

Ended up with a big bore 427w instead. It's a Dart SHP block, and all 4340 rotating assembly....
Fordstrokers1.jpg


Fordstrokers2.jpg
 

FESTER665

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Got a few more items onto the engine, just need to get it onto my engine stand and keep putting more parts onto it....
EngineOnStand.jpg


I'm going to be getting an AEM EMS from Kurgan to control everything, so I will be needing to make a complete new engine harness to control the EPM you see and I will also be switching over to a LQ9 COP setup instead of the distributor and coil.

That's about where I'm at right now..... I'm still debating going to a tubular front end to make some room and also shed some more weight off the front since I went with a heavier motor. Between that, needing a cowl hood, needing a complete new exhaust setup, and having to buy the entire AEM setup, I'm stretching the budget as much as possible....

I'm also hoping to squeeze a TKO600 into the budget for this spring..... If I can't, I'll just have to try to get through the summer with the T5. I don't use a slick and rarely go to the track, so I should be able to baby it through this summer if I need to....

Future plans are to get the entire engine bay smoothed out and then get the entire car repainted, but that's another year away I'm guessing. I know it'll be nice to smooth the bay now while everything is out, but I just won't have the money to get it finished and I want everything to all match anyway, so it'll be better to have the entire car sprayed at one time....
 

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Thanks for the compliments guys.... It's definitely taking its time and adding up in a hurry...

I like how rare the car's are, but I'm definitely going to do what I want to do to it. If it were a teal/black cloth car I MIGHT consider leaving it alone, but since it's the least rare of all the teals, I'm not too worried about it. I hear the "You're ruining the car" daily on other sites, but it's in one ear and out the other now. This car is never going to leave me (except for in my will), so I might as well make it the way I want it so I can enjoy it while I'm here... :biggthump

I'm still waiting on the 'ol tax return to put towards the AEM from Bob, so hopefully that'll either cover it or take a good sized chunk out of the total so it'll be easier to buy. Once the valve covers get back I can add the LQ9 coils to it and then start making an entirely new engine harness...
 
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FESTER665

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Thanks guys..... I'm more waiting for funds to do each chunk of this damn project more than anything.... I need to find a roommate to pickup some of the mortgage or something... :lmao:

Nowhere near as sick as your project Mike..... If you ever need a hand on anything on your car just give me a shout and I'll give you as much help as I can.....

I'm definitely going to be using Buckley to get the new subframes in, and I'm thinking it'll be a good time to have him do the torque boxes and all that stuff at the same time.... The work he's been doing on your car is insane.....
 

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Completely forgot about this thread....

Still amassing parts, should have everything going in this winter/spring 2017 though....

Things waiting to go in:
Engine
2004 Cobra IRS
Pro-M complete standalone EMS with new engine harness
Maximum Motorsports Suspension (including tubular front end)
Complete MAC exhaust

Just purchased:
Fuel system stuff (braided lines, aeromotive pump, etc.)

Saving for:
T56 transmission
clutch
Hydraulic throwout setup


Took the entire front end off to make it easier to tuck the wires behind the dash and behind the fenders. Plan on smoothing the engine bay when it eventually gets all the body work done and repainted.


IRS is here, should be installed this winter. Have to decide if I'll be cutting up the frame and installing nuts so it can bolt in, or just welding the mounting brackets in place and being done with it...
IRSforCobra.jpg


IRSforCobra2.jpg
 

FESTER665

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What are you trying to make the IRS install reversible for future "numbers matching all original, etc" value... or just in case you don't like it?

Cuz dude it ain't never going to be OEM again. ...

Simply like you first mention, in case I for some reason totally hate it. I really don't see that happening though so that's why I'm contemplating just having it burned in.

One of the bolt holes lines up exactly where the quad shock should go, so it's one of those things where once it's there you're not really going back.

This car will never be a numbers matching all original anything ever again. I'm going to start selling all the extra crap off (like intake manifold) just to make room in the garage. :bowrofl:
 

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