1993 Cobra Registry

My 93 Cobra has a 2.1 KB, meth injection, and supporting mods (i.e. Injectors, fuel pump, maf etc...). The engine itself has never been opened. Well... Tonight I was out enjoying it and I kinda gave it the beans through a couple gears. Then I smelled a strong odor of oil and smoke came through the vents. I looked in the mirror and saw a lot of smoke. Obviously I blew a gasket,probably a head gasket. The car just rolled 100k miles. It's garaged and well taken care of. I clean the engine and undercarriage on a regular basis; just to give an idea of the care I give the car. The paint is original and looks great too.
My delima is: should I go ahead and swap the heads and cam when I have the car repaired, or return to stock? Or leave it how is and simply repair the gasket? I have never raced it and don't intend to. I just enjoy driving it on nice weekend days and occasionaly give it a little exercise, but far from abusive driving. The car was completely stock when I bought it and I have the parts still, and will keep whatever other parts I mod, if I do. This is a fork in the road gents.

For me, I like a stock "time capsule" 93. BUT, I have other fun cars with a lot more horses to go play with. If the 93 was my only fun car, I'd be tempted to up the power. 235 hp is quite anemic by today's standard.

For me it's kinda opposite. I have the Terminator that is mostly stock and very low miles and the 93 is my "fun car". Without a full restoration a 100,000+ Mile 93 cobra is probably about the same as a modded one IMO. I too like the time capsule aspect, but i have the stock parts if/when the restoration begins. My quandary is how far is too far with mods before the car loses it's identity, so to speak?

Tk1299 wrote:My 93 Cobra has a 2.1 KB, meth injection, and supporting mods (i.e. Injectors, fuel pump, maf etc...). The engine itself has never been opened. Well... Tonight I was out enjoying it and I kinda gave it the beans through a couple gears. Then I smelled a strong odor of oil and smoke came through the vents. I looked in the mirror and saw a lot of smoke. Obviously I blew a gasket,probably a head gasket. The car just rolled 100k miles. It's garaged and well taken care of. I clean the engine and undercarriage on a regular basis; just to give an idea of the care I give the car. The paint is original and looks great too.
My delima is: should I go ahead and swap the heads and cam when I have the car repaired, or return to stock? Or leave it how is and simply repair the gasket? I have never raced it and don't intend to. I just enjoy driving it on nice weekend days and occasionaly give it a little exercise, but far from abusive driving. The car was completely stock when I bought it and I have the parts still, and will keep whatever other parts I mod, if I do. This is a fork in the road gents.

I'd rebuild the motor with the mods and keep the car looking bone stock...a nice sleeper.

I'd have the all the original stuff reworked (heads & intake ported/polished), swap out the stock cam for something that would benefit the blower a little more, and then button it all back together. Just maximize what you already have.

It's an interesting question, as I've sort of in the same situation, less a hurt motor. Me knocks on wood!

Anyway, my red car has 109k on it. Nice driver, I have the original drive-train, yanked it all in favor of the good stuff, (R block, stroker, TKO,etc.) and shoved the stock stuff in the corner. Enough said.

The black car is a different though. It was purchased by a collector and by all means is cherry. It still smells new, always been garaged, etc. It's awesome. A previous owner added the mods, but kept every stock nut and bolt, all of which I have, uncut exhaust included. My initial reason for purchasing the car was to return it to stock, sell the parts and call it a day.

So the day after it arrives on a car hauler, I give it the once over. All the work was performed by a speed shop out of Georgia and it's a very clean install. Very nicely done with some custom pieces and seriously looks stock. It's a blast to drive around town, and as you know, that KB whine is something to be heard when the RPMs come up. I by no means beat on the car and mainly just putter around with it a few times a year. If I want to go fast, my red car takes care of the fix.

But here it is, 7 years later and all the stuff is still bolted to it. Do I put it back to stock, or keep the mods? LOL, I dunno man, it's a tough call. I think I like the fact that I know I can put it back to stock, so there's no pressure for me to do so. It still has less than 15k on the ticker, so I think it makes sense to put it back to stock, but there are plenty of other lower mileage stockers out there, so what's the point?

I say either fix what you have, or toss in a cheap longblock and put the original in the corner for a rebuild/refresh some day.

buddha wrote:The black car is a different though...All the work was performed by a speed shop out of Georgia and it's a very clean install. Very nicely done with some custom pieces and seriously looks stock.

What custom work was needed to make everything work?

1986Browns wrote:

buddha wrote:The black car is a different though...All the work was performed by a speed shop out of Georgia and it's a very clean install. Very nicely done with some custom pieces and seriously looks stock.

What custom work was needed to make everything work?

Oh, nothing of any real need. They bent up some nice stainless tubing to replace the factory thermocator tube for the smog equipment and a few other little things to just make for a cleaner looking install. Just a nice touch is all.

Buddha, it's a good point to make that there is no pressure to return it to stock. I think I have decided to just replace the gasket and keep it how it is. It's modified, but not to a point that it's unattractive. Thanks for the input from those who responded.

Just curious, how much power are you making with your setup with the meth? Or is it there mainly for an added layer or protection?

It is mainly for protection, but it dynoed at 387rwhp and 400tq with a 3" pulley after the meth was installed (11.5#'s of boost). I would have to get the car's folder out to see the previous dyno before the meth kit, but it wasn't quite that high. I recently installed a 2.76" pulley which gave it 14.5# of boost. It's scheduled to be retuned on the dyno in a few weeks. The meth does a good job of cooling. The KB still gets hot, but before water would sizzle if sprayed on it after running it and now I can touch it.
Are my numbers similar to yours?

I would have expected more power at 11.5 lbs of boost.

Z282SLO wrote:I would have expected more power at 11.5 lbs of boost.

Still impressive from an engine that made 235 crank!

Goose17 wrote:

Z282SLO wrote:I would have expected more power at 11.5 lbs of boost.

Still impressive from an engine that made 235 crank!

Absolutely. Never said it wasn't.

I think the centrifugal superchargers are what make the bigger hp numbers on a dyno, especially with 11#. But the torque is where the KB shines. That's a lot of grunt for these cars which is what attracted me to go with the twin screw set up. I am positive ill be over 400hp when it gets retuned in a few weeks. I will be close to the max the stock engine can handle. That's plenty to make me grin ear to ear whenever I drive it.