[frankym]

The first cobra I bought had to have a big block. I bought a shell valley with a 427 center oiler. I was told it had 500hp but that's my own damn fault for believing a claim like that. Hell, attached to a 2500 pound car, it didn't seem out of the question after you get pinned to the back of the seat. Of course, after fixing the rest of the car, and then fixing it some more, it was plainly a tame rebuild. It was a pretty stock motor after all was said and done, and that was fine. I now own a superformance with the 396 SB windsor. Here are my personal opinions. The BB has a lot of low end torque, that, in a lite car, really doesn't help cornering, although it does keep the front end down. On my BB, and this is not the case for all BB by any stretch, after 3000 RPM, you really had to shift because the torque/HP curve was less enthralling than the rise to 3000. On the stroked SB, the power curve is beautiful, it pulls from idle to 7k rpm, it's got a nascar like scream to it. 396 vs 427 is not that different in terms of displacement, and the only thing I have found to be a negative on the SB issue is that the cobra will tend to feel a little lite up front, and that will take some getting used to. On a track, that tendancy might lead the car out of a turn if the front end is climbing in the turn. Go with what you want. I chose the stroker only because I didn't want to outgrow the 385hp. I spoke to Doug Reed last year and he said the 351/385 is plenty fast, great combo, but depending on how often you drive your cobra, eventually you'll become very comfortable with the driveability of it, and then might decide later that you want more power. I did come across the FFR article that promoted the 460's love for higher RPMs but never drove one. Talking to a former race car builder, he seemed pretty non-plused about the lincoln 460 block, loved the FE, hated the 406? and hadn't had a lot of experience with the small blocks. Funny how everyone says this is a dead horse issue, but it never stops people from chiming in! One thing I would say is that which ever motor you choose, make sure you build adequate cooling, and for god's sake, get a good puke tank, it just looks a little homade with an in-line hose filler for the water inlet. This is just my opinion, nothing more, it's mostly cosmetic, but the thing I love most about the SPF is how the parts were intended to fit together, from the custom cooling fans with custom channeled shroud and matching radiator, to those magical headers and simply perfect plumbing. Everything you need and nothing you don't. I don't know of any other cobra that has the engineered cooling setup with a custom made shroud, it makes a huge difference.

good choice in SPF, and if you look at the statistics, there are a small number of BBs as a percentage of all SPFs sold, so you can't get hurt. I say this because most ERAs get suited with BBs, so it's more of a valuation/resale issue on ERAs, again JMO.

fm