Another 03 cobra story...

[henschman]

yes, used cars are getting cheaper because all of the domestic car companies are in big trouble right now and new car dealers are putting major discounts on their inventory to try to get rid of it. when it's easier to get a new car, used cars are going to get cheaper. I don't really know if they are discounting fast cars much though, so it might not really affect the price of used cobras and such.

OK, no, a BONE STOCK turbo buick running stock boost and all won't have much of a chance against a stock cobra. But just adding an adjustable wastegate and turning up the boost would give it a fighting chance, and if you go ahead and add a fuel pump, adj. pressure regulator, injectors, and chip, and maybe some better tires, you could probably get the cobra's goat. I think cobras are maybe capable of squeaking into the 12s stock (though most seem to run low 13s), and any buick that has even the basic level of mods that I'm describing should be in the 12s.

It only cost me a few hundred bucks to get those mods when i bought them (i buy pretty much all my stuff used on the forums), and we all know what turbo buicks are capable of if you sink just a little more into them! so considering the price difference between the two cars, i definitely wouldn't agree with turbogreg's assertion that the Cobra is an all-around better car. there are definitely things I think the Buick is better at. I don't know of many that beat the turbo buick as far as being able to go really fast for really cheap. Either car is capable of being a 10 second daily driver, but imo you could do it cheaper with the buick.

Even price nonwithstanding, I think the turbo buick is still a better all-around drag car, with its straight axle, auto tranny, and posi. Also, for any performance car, i prefer a turbo to a supercharger. its a lot easier to tune (no pulley swap), and its cheaper to upgrade. Since the Cobra has a roots blower and an integrated air-to-water intercooler, upgrading all that stuff costs a pretty penny, and its still a pain in the ass. parts for those things are pretty damn expensive imo.

Cobras have the advantage if you are one of those dudes who likes racing from a roll, and they are also undeniably better in the twisties. they also look really cool, and are a lot more likely to get the ladies, or to get you compliments in general. However, I'm not a big fan of racing ricer-style on the freeway, and I don't do circuit racing or auto-x (it might be fun, but its not my thing). my thing is racing stoplight to stoplight or dragging on an empty road, and maybe going to the track from time to time. In other words, the only kind of racing i really do is drag racing. and maybe its just because i'm a poor-ass law student and can't afford to do it any other way, but I really don't give a damn how good a car looks or whether people know its fast and give it "street cred." i actually prefer having something obscure, unassuming, or beater-looking that has lots of balls. So for me, the turbo buick is the perfect car. it's a bonus that i can actually afford one, unlike the cobra. plus, when you beat somebody with a buick, you always get the joy of saying, "it's not too bad for an 80s v-6, huh?"

[turbogreg]

henschman,
there's many of cobras that went 12's out the box on the same tires they came off the showroom floor with. what I was trying to get at is stock for stock there is nothing performance wise that the GN has over the 03/04 cobras. goes faster, stops better, handles better..anything can be made fast with enough $ thrown at it if you want to compare them with mods. I think people get the wrong idea with the turbo buicks until they build one up themselves. i'm not saying that in a mean way to anyone, so don't take any offense, but it's not as simple as doing a few bolt ons. if you want to go 12s all day then sure it's not too hard, but 11s and deeper will cost a couple of $'s. especially if you want it to be reliable. i'm going to have to disagree with you on the 10 second daily driver part. the driver is really what hurts the modded cobras from getting into the 10s certainly not the cars. plus your going to need race gas or alky, a built trans w/converter, and if you want to do it reliably the stock bottom end is going to need to be beefed up on the TB. the cobra will do it on pump gas, stock trans w/aftermarket clutch, and on stock block. I think the cobra $ for $ mod wise will go faster than the GN and it's a MUCH better daily driver than the buicks. the cobra parts really aren't all that expensive..plus the platform it comes with already is awesome so you'll save on trans builds and motor builds.
for the comment on racing from a roll, that's not really "ricer" racing to most. I think I've gotten less than 5 real dig races in any of my cars on the street but I can't count how many roll runs. just a lot easier to come across from my experiences.
I'm glad you love your TB, I enjoyed mine too, but it's tough to compare them to some of the newer cars that are just better in basically every category.

Greg

[JayC]

Cobras in Memphis must be weaksauce. We roll 600hp Cobras out of the shop on a bi-weekly basis and Ive seen them run mid 10s in street trim. Those cars are so underrated horsepower wise, its just disgusting.

[buttonfly]

When I worked for Ford we had a ton. Procharger is based right up the road, so we used to sell them thier cars and align them after mods. They were flat out bad ass. I was always impressed with them. The bottom end alone was worth it. Alot of them swap on a kenne bell and put some boost to them usually 18-20psi They make for a real nice car.

[JayC]

The new Whipple is the hot ticket for the Cobras. We havent had much luck with the KB stuff.. they tend to want to lock up.

[buttonfly]

Originally Posted by JayC

The new Whipple is the hot ticket for the Cobras. We havent had much luck with the KB stuff.. they tend to want to lock up.

What kind of power have you seen out of them? Those cars are sick, they are a modern day buick so to speak.

[JayC]

Originally Posted by buttonfly

What kind of power have you seen out of them? Those cars are sick, they are a modern day buick so to speak.

We've had stock bottom end Cobras roll out of the shop making 615-620 at the wheels on our dyno.. using SAE numbers. That's with the new Whipple on them.

We had a Cobra in here about a month ago with a HP Performance twin turbo kit that made over 700 at the wheels.

All of these cars are manuals, tho.. we had an 03 Cobra with a Hellion single turbo kit on it with a Lentech automatic that made 630 at the wheels.

The 03 Cobras are sick cars.. vastly underrated horsepower wise.

[Saladin45]

Yeah but here's hte question...

How many passes can they make like that before it breaks?

[buttonfly]

Originally Posted by Saladin45

Yeah but here's hte question...

How many passes can they make like that before it breaks?

The bottom end will hold no problem. At that power level you need to move from the IRS into a solid rear axle.

[JayC]

Originally Posted by Saladin45

Yeah but here's hte question...

How many passes can they make like that before it breaks?

We've only had 1 03 Cobra break and it burned a piston due to running out of fuel. We came up with our own fuel system we've been using on the cars and that's eliminated that problem.

[Black Power]

Originally Posted by JayC

We had a Cobra in here about a month ago with a HP Performance twin turbo kit that made over 700 at the wheels..

I know some guys with the HPP kit, those are pretty cool.

My buddy just got his 04 Mystichrome Cobra back from the shop. He blew up the 4.6 with the ported blower, so he bought a 5.4 Navigator motor and went with twin 67s. It was from HPH, so probably a little different as far as turbo location than the HPP one.



Here is his buildup thread if you wanna see some pretty big $$$ being spent It should do 1000 at the wheels easy.

Must be nice to be in the oil business.....

Texas Street Cars :: View topic - 5.4 DOHC Twin Turbo Cobra

[buttonfly]

Originally Posted by Black Power

I know some guys with the HPP kit, those are pretty cool.

My buddy just got his 04 Mystichrome Cobra back from the shop. He blew up the 4.6 with the ported blower, so he bought a 5.4 Navigator motor and went with twin 67s. It was from HPH, so probably a little different as far as turbo location than the HPP one.



Here is his buildup thread if you wanna see some pretty big $$$ being spent It should do 1000 at the wheels easy.

Must be nice to be in the oil business.....

Texas Street Cars :: View topic - 5.4 DOHC Twin Turbo Cobra

Wow!

[1chance]

Well i have a 03 Cobra, and a GN, but the GN hasnt beat the Cobras ET yet!

[Black Power]

Originally Posted by 1chance

Well i have a 03 Cobra, and a GN, but the GN hasnt beat the Cobras ET yet!

If you haven't beat down that Cobra with a 66 turbo, you aren't trying hard enough! Turn up the boost and put your foot through the floorboard!

[Turbo6Smackdown]

You can't make a stock buick do low 13's? Really? Someones mistaken...
And nitrous for launching? Actually, it works dam good, but so does a new maf pipe/air filter, exhaust cut out, and a MBC with some M/T tires.

And who says a turbo's not a bolt on? Since the advent of these new bb turbos on here recently, I've seen some SWEET deals on some Ta49's and bigger turbos, for REALLY cheap. I don't know about you guys, but I replaced my stocker, (with another stocker. my seals went) in NO time. I could have done it in my sleep.
For 450 bucks and 45 minutes, you can add a lot of HP. They're simple swaps. The difference between a bigger turbo and our stockers is MINUTE. Were talkin millimeters of diameter. Hardly a huge affair. To add a supercharger to an N/A car is NOT a simple bolt on. That's surgery there. You just don't go out to your local speed shop with a few hundred dollars, buy one, drive home, and 2 six packs of Newcastle later, you're pushin 100 more hp. No... not happenin. Super/Pro chargers are expensive. There's no way you're sneakin' that one behind the woman's back. That one takes approval by the finance manager (your wife) 450 dollars for a used turbo on here is nothin. Turbo swaps are simple bolt-ons for us. Throwin a S/C on a mustang is not.

Now, if you yanked the air box entirely, and mounted the maf in place,
gut the cat, and yank the mufflers off
crush the fpr
turn up the boost
box the control arms
yank one maf screen
yank the ic screen
block off the turbos inlet bell oil tube
bellmouth the compressor housing
port the exhaust elbow, and threw on your buddies mickey thompsons, and dumped in two cans of xylene with a few gallons of 94, you'd have a low 13 second car all day. i could do all of this to a factory buick for zero dollars.
It seems ghetto, but it's free, and yanks a half second off a 13.7 car. There you have it. I have a good friend (he doesn't own the car anymore) do this back in 87, and ran a 13.1 on a warm day. I could imagine on a fall night here in michigan, on a 40 degree night, he could manage a bit faster. None of these are additions but the tires and the plates on the control arms. Now obviously I wouldn't drive around like this, because some things are going to start to suffer, without any supporting mods, but for just a few passes at the track, it gets the job done. These cars are torque hiders. It's like ragu, "It's in there." All you gotta do is just let it out. Mustangs are very fast and respectable cars, but I see the buicks beat them every day. At least around here, I NEVER see a buick lose to a mustang. Never.

I'm currently in the process to see how quick I can make a stock motor/turbo/IC go. I'm going to squeeze every last bit of hp out of my stock stuff, and report my progress on here ( I only have a little time to do it, as I redeploy in 4 weeks)

Most mustangs may have more HP, but I'm telling you guys they cannot drive. They lose all the time. Sure, they beat us on the freeway, but racing on the freeway is gay. That's not racing.

[GNsnake]

How much power did that 5.4 cobra make?

[TARZAN]

I'm glad somebody on here knows what I'm talking about...

-Will

[turbogreg]

Originally Posted by Turbo6Smackdown

You can't make a stock buick do low 13's? Really? Someones mistaken...
And nitrous for launching? Actually, it works dam good, but so does a new maf pipe/air filter, exhaust cut out, and a MBC with some M/T tires.

And who says a turbo's not a bolt on? Since the advent of these new bb turbos on here recently, I've seen some SWEET deals on some Ta49's and bigger turbos, for REALLY cheap. I don't know about you guys, but I replaced my stocker, (with another stocker. my seals went) in NO time. I could have done it in my sleep.
For 450 bucks and 45 minutes, you can add a lot of HP. They're simple swaps. The difference between a bigger turbo and our stockers is MINUTE. Were talkin millimeters of diameter. Hardly a huge affair. To add a supercharger to an N/A car is NOT a simple bolt on. That's surgery there. You just don't go out to your local speed shop with a few hundred dollars, buy one, drive home, and 2 six packs of Newcastle later, you're pushin 100 more hp. No... not happenin. Super/Pro chargers are expensive. There's no way you're sneakin' that one behind the woman's back. That one takes approval by the finance manager (your wife) 450 dollars for a used turbo on here is nothin. Turbo swaps are simple bolt-ons for us. Throwin a S/C on a mustang is not.

Now, if you yanked the air box entirely, and mounted the maf in place,
gut the cat, and yank the mufflers off
crush the fpr
turn up the boost
box the control arms
yank one maf screen
yank the ic screen
block off the turbos inlet bell oil tube
bellmouth the compressor housing
port the exhaust elbow, and threw on your buddies mickey thompsons, and dumped in two cans of xylene with a few gallons of 94, you'd have a low 13 second car all day. i could do all of this to a factory buick for zero dollars.
It seems ghetto, but it's free, and yanks a half second off a 13.7 car. There you have it. I have a good friend (he doesn't own the car anymore) do this back in 87, and ran a 13.1 on a warm day. I could imagine on a fall night here in michigan, on a 40 degree night, he could manage a bit faster. None of these are additions but the tires and the plates on the control arms. Now obviously I wouldn't drive around like this, because some things are going to start to suffer, without any supporting mods, but for just a few passes at the track, it get