By Steve

Before I begin I’d like to thank my buddy Cody for inviting me to his place and showing me the ropes on performing this kind of suspension overhaul. I learned a ton, and feel that if I had to get in there to change something I could do it myself. This was the first time I collaborated with another mustang enthusiast and it was really awesome seeing Cody’s sn95 GT in pieces in his garage. He’s in the middle of doing a PI head swap from a 99-04 and installing a bullit intake to top it off. Very impressive!

Thanks Cody! I hope we can find the time to cruise sometime. I’ll definitely be giving you a call soon when more parts start coming in.

I didn’t take pictures of the process of removing the previous parts unfortunately, but I’m sure there are plenty of those on the web and even worse all I got was a before shot of the car and no after picture! That will come soon enough.

11 year old stock suspension. Love that 4X4 look? Yeah, me either.

Replacing the shocks, struts, springs, and caster camber plates made an incredible difference. On the ride home I was smiling ear to ear. The cobra felt like it was on rails and the ride was very smooth and enjoyable. Even now I can’t wait to get behind the wheel again.

Before I went over to Cody’s I had a few hours to mess around with those LEDs I bought. I took the gauge cluster out and cleaned and polished the lens with that Meguiars gunk I picked up last week. It cleaned up the lens very nicely, though a lot of the scratches are still there, but a lot less noticeable. Here is a before and after of the gauges with the stock halogens, and the new LEDS.

Puke colored gauges no more.

In my world, everything would be blue.

I didn’t get to take out the HVAC controls to replace those. I did replace the license plate bulbs. One of the halogens was burned out and it just looked too pathetic to take a before shot.

I don't know why you'd want to make the license plate more readable on a cobra. I'll probably regret this.

Well that just about wraps it up. For my next mods I think I’ll install some HIDs in the headlights and fog lights and probably pick up a SLP Loudmouth Exhaust so the neighbors know I’m home.

God's gift to man, the SVT Cobra.

I’ll be dropping off the car tomorrow at a local shop to get the front end aligned. Pictures of the slammed stance to follow. Thanks for dropping by!

By Steve

All my parts have arrived and I’m ready to go! Hopefully I’ll be getting one of my fellow Mustang enthusiasts to help me install all these goodies this weekend.

I love hoarding Mustang parts...

H&R Super Sport springs

Tokico HP shocks and struts

Maximum Motorsports caster camber plates

Bullit pedals

194 LEDs

and new license plate bulb lenses!

For my retrospective I’d like to share some pictures and info on my old 94 GT. I had a 94 Atlantic Blue 5.0 Mustang GT that I bought stock, then with the help of a friend added the following modifications:

Suspension
Tokico Illumina Adjustable Shocks and Struts
Steeda Rear Adjustable Swaybar
Steeda Caster Camber Plates
Steeda X2 Balljoints
Eibach Pro Kit Springs
Maximum Motorsports Center Drilled Aluminum Rack Bushings
Granatelli Upper and Lower Rear Control Arms w/ polyurethane bushings
Front and Rear Polyurethane Spring Isolators

Drivetrain and Transmission
3.73 Rear End w/ speedo cal
Transgo Shift Kit
AODE Chip
B&M Hammer Shifter

Engine
BBK CAI with K&N Filter
BBK Polished Aluminum U/D Pulleys

Exhaust
SLP Loudmouth w/ 3.5 Tips

Interior
Pony Floor mats
Mach 1 Billet Pedals
Panasonic Head Deck w/ Mach 460 Stereo
Reverse Indiglo White Faced Gauges
Leather
Billet Headlight Switch
Billet A/C Knobs

Exterior
Clear Corners
3157 Titanium Dioxide Coated Bulbs
9007 Euro Dezigns Xenon Bulbs
898 Euro Dezigns Xenon Fogs
Ford OEM Cobra Headlights
1996 Black Cobra Taillights with Sequential Flasher
Reflective White Vinyl Bumper Inserts
79-93 5.0 Deck mounted Emblem
Blue Painted Brake Calipers

My first Mustang, Lauren

Turning heads on the East Coast!

Slammed.

I never thought I’d own another Mustang let alone a Cobra. I hope to keep my current blue beauty around for a long, long time.

Next up:  Before and after pics of the lowering!

By Steve

Over the past few weeks I’ve been slowly changing, repairing or upgrading some small parts while I saved up for my next big mod.

I bought a husky air filter at home depot and some 3/8 hose to create an oil separator like the kits that steeda sells. My kit cost about $20 to make, and it was fun putting it together. The filter runs between the PCV valve and the intake manifold and collects a good amount of oil that would other wise be gumming up my IMRCs which I’ll be cleaning up or deleting sometime this summer. On my first trip it managed to collect a few teaspoons of oil!

Next, I installed a cobra grille ornament and removed the pony which seems like a mandatory modification to any cobra. I went to go switch them out when I discovered a tamper proof torx bolt holding the pony in. I called around and not one of the local hardware/automotive stores had the right size bit (T-25) so I had to order a 20 piece set off ebay. I upgraded the stock plastic shift knob to a much larger and comfortable leather one from late model restoration and I also got a 4 piece bullit pedal kit. Unfortunately the clutch and brake pedals were used so I had to return it for a new set which still hasn’t arrived yet. wtf.

The next thing I did was order some special LEDs from:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

To replace the bulbs behind the instrument cluster and the HEV controls so that they’d glow blue instead of the hazy yellow green color.

Here is a link to the bulbs: http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/bulb_specs.htm

The bulbs I bought are part number:  WLED-CW5

The instrument gauges themselves are blue, but the stock bulbs are halogens so the yellow light causes them to glow that awful green color. I was going to buy a new instrument lens since mine is scratched and hazed but instead I bought some Meguiars PlastX clear plastic cleaner and polish to repair it. I’ll post some pics once everything is in. I also picked up two more bulbs to replace the license plate bulbs as those had gone out. I ordered a license plate lens replacement kit from LMR to complete the install. About a week or so ago I bought a blank black plastic license plate frame and some black bolt covers and a smoked license plate lens to spiff up the rear a bit. I wet sanded the frame then applied a few coats of krylon gloss black paint to finish it up.

Alix also reinstalled the correct module for the sequential taillights. Here is an old video where you can see the right one isn’t working quite right.

I did some further research on the suspension work I’ve been wanting to do and decided to go with H&R Super Sports and Tokico HP shocks and struts. I also picked up some Maximum Motorsport caster camber plates to top it off. Hopefully those parts will be going in this weekend and I can finally say goodbye to the awful ride and the dreaded 4X4 look. I’ll also be painting the calipers blue to match the car while they are off during the suspension overhaul.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post: I used AUTOLITE 764 spark plugs and gapped them to about .055…I think… I can’t quite remember.

Pictures coming soon!

By Steve

This is my first long over due post concerning my 1998 SVT Cobra. My plan was to document the modifications as I progressed through them for the sake of having a reference if I ever need to repeat a procedure and to inspire those who are not confident enough to work on their own cars. If I can do it, you can do it. Seriously.

Here’s the brief history so far. I moved down to San Diego in December 07 with the help of my loving (soon to be) mother and father in laws and when they departed they left me with their 1992 Dodge Caravan with somewhere near 210,000 thousand miles on it. I can’t even tell you how grateful I was. It had a peppy little 4 cylinder and along with squirrels and a built in aquarium it had soul. You can tell when it was really struggling and in many ways it reminded me of the little engine that could. It delivered me to my first of many job interviews and when I finally landed one I celebrated by blowing out both speakers (unintentionally) on my way home. It was a great little van, but soon after landing my dream job it was time to full fill another dream. I was cruising craigslist one day when I came across the work of art that is the 1998 BAB (Bright Atlantic Blue) Cobra Mustang.

I miraculously convinced my girlfriend that we (I) needed this 8 cylinder, gas guzzling, environment murdering,  sports car and a few days later I was the proud owner of my dream car.  Unfortunately, the car had seen better days. With 125K miles there are many imperfections in the paint, dings, dents, scratches, cracks in the hood, the list can go on forever…

It’ll take some time before it’s in the condition I’m aiming for, but it should be a fun learning experience along the way.

The first couple of upgrades I made included installing new Cobra head lights with clear (not euro clear) corners. I paired these with krypton bulbs for both the head lights and fog lights. I replaced the ugly amber bulbs in the corners with titanium dioxide coated ones which looks like chrome but still shine amber. I deleted the antenna with a billet aluminum replacement nub and Alix installed a sequential tail light kit. (Even Alix has fallen under the spell of modifying the Cobra)

Last weekend I installed and gapped new spark plugs, replaced the spark plug wires and installed a JLT True Cold Air Intake. It may not sound like much, but I have had no prior experience working on cars without the help of an experienced mechanic. I bought a new PCV valve and a fuel filter for the next oil change. I also plan on flushing the coolant and taking apart the intake manifold and either cleaning of deleting the IMRC’s. (More on this later) This weekend I’ll be buying the parts to build an oil separator that will be placed between the intake and the valve covers along the PCV line to prevent oil from entering the intake and gumming up the inside.

Unfortunately on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner the cluster gear snapped and we no longer had 5th gear or reverse. $2,000 later we had a rebuilt transmission with a Steeda Triax shifter, Steeda adjustable clutch cable, billet quadrant and a King Cobra Clutch installed while it was open. I wish I had just bought a new 6 speed transmission. *slams head on desk*

Alix and I also ran some seafoam through the PCV valve which created a cloud of smoke comparable to the blast from a small atomic bomb. I wish we had taken a video of that…

Next thing on the list is some H&R Sport Spring and some Tokico Hp struts and shocks to get rid of that nasty 4X4 look and to improve handling. Yes, the car has the original shocks and struts on it still. Yes, the smallest bump feels like an earthquake.

Stay tuned for more mustang stories.