New member and Cobra owner for the past three years. Purchased an old(er) replica ('88 NAF 427 street) before I realized what I had gotten myself into. Drove it for a (short) while, patched it up here and there, then decided (more like forced) to rebuild the engine and re-gear.
Did a little research and discovered that I was the fifth owner; car was originally built for amateur competition (drag and auto-cross?) and optioned with "competition" suspension and brakes (have the original invoice). Chassis, coil-over suspension (four link rear w/ panhard bar) and brakes (front discs and rear drum) are all in excellent condition. Body and trim are in very good to excellent condition with low miles (about 7500) and the car drives well, but the engine was trashed from a combination of high rear-end gears, abuse and lack of proper maintenance (found a split roller lifter tip and needle bearings in the pan).
At this point, have almost completed rebuilding the engine (need to locate some old FMS J302 aluminum cylinder heads as machine shop damaged mine), installed a remote
oil filter and Mocal cooler, reworked the cooling system, re-geared from 4.11 to 3.55 (transmission is a small shaft Toploader) and re-plumbed the fuel system (not to mention numerous other maintenance chores and minor upgrades).
Before the cylinder heads gave up their ghosts on the dyno, the engine made 380 hp @ 5900 rpm and 397 ft/lbs torque @ 4600 rpm with a replica Cobra intake, Mallory ignition and untuned Holley 650 HP carb. Bottom-end is a "0" balanced, forged 331 ci, 10.3:1 cr stroker equiped with a Canton
oil pan, block girdle, and windage tray, and a blueprinted high volume Melling
oil pump. Am running a small hydraulic roller cam (Comp 35-425-8, XR282RF-HR) with a duration of 230/236 @ .050 and .513/.529" lift.
Looking forward to completing the rebuild and getting it sorted out -- my wife is antsy and ready to go for a ride! Once the engine is completed, will tackle some other "finishing" issues (weather striping, bumper and rollbar grommets, brake duct and oil cooler screens, re-carpet the cockpit and refinish the trunk).
See ya'll out on the road... soon!
Dave