[Paintwerks]

FWIW, I decided to go for a new motor and transmission (LS3-525hp and TKO600) in my forthcoming Cobra.

I wanted all new parts and didn't want to have to worry about potential issues with used parts. When buying used, you have no idea how it was driven and maintained. As you have identified, perhaps the original owner bagged the crap out of the motor every morning from cold, perhaps he took it to 'Dodgy Joes Mechanics' to get it serviced, maybe he delayed, or missed a service or two? Did he use the car for towing a big boat? Maybe he treated it like gold? You may be lucky.

But these are questions that you just don't have answers to when buying used parts out of a car you know very little, if any about. And that's too much of a gamble for me. $3K (extra) over a $55-80K build would be inconsequential as far as I'm concerned: I wouldn't care about spending the money on performance parts instead.... Let's face it, even a 350hp motor will make a 980-1100kg Cobra go like stink.

I'm more interested in not having to rip the failed motor and transmission out again, the associated down time and trying to make a warranty claim if there ever was a problem. That's far less likely to happen with new parts. Plus they're all nice and clean. The other bonus is that with a new motor and transmission, the '000000' on the odometer would be genuine, too.

Just my $0.03 (inflation adjusted!).