| 2001 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - Common problems/questions/etc. | ||
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 My 2001 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra This is a characteristic of the TR-3650 transmission that's fitted into the '01 Cobras, as well as half year '01 and later GTs, and also the '01 Bullitts. The 3650 is notorious for grinding into 2nd and 3rd gears, especially while cold. Many guys are running Redline D4 ATF synthetic fluid in the transmission, and say that it has cured the notchy shifting, and quieted a lot of the gear noise from the transmission as well. I used a Steeda Quick Release clutch quadrant and firewall adjuster to help with my shifting problem. I also filled the transmission up with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF (which made the problem WORSE during cold driving). The Steeda parts made the shifts a bit smoother, but I will be stepping up to Redline D4 ATF in hopes of eliminating the shifting problems. A few of the '01 Cobras have a problem with pinging in factory stock condition. These cars should be avoided like the plague if possible. There is a update for the electronics to eliminate the problem, but it does not always do so. My suggestion to those with pinging problems is to drive the car into the ground and hope the car blows the engine before the warranty is up. Just be careful not to over rev the car, as Ford will see that as a reason to void the warranty If you have a '01 Cobra (or any 4.6l Cobra for that matter), and hear a tick in the engine, don't be alarmed. It is not a serious problem. A small tick is most likely the injectors firing. If you have a louder tick, then its most likely a fault (minor) in the driver's side head. There is a Technical Service Bulletin fix floating around for this that involves replacing the driver's side cylinder head. Pop From Rear of Car While Backing on a Hill If your IRS equipped (99+) Cobra exhibits a "pop" or "clunk" noise from the rear of the car while backing on a hill, there is a TSB out on this problem too. Basically, it entails re-torquing all of the IRS bolts. You can take your car to a dealer for a fix, provided the warranty is in place. Clunking While Shifting/"Getting Into It" in 5th Gear/Pressing the Clutch in at Low Speeds This is a fault of driveline slack. Many straight axle Mustangs exhibit this problem also, but its much more severe in the IRS equipped cars. This is a normal "fault" of IRS, and is no cause for alarm. Corvettes even come with an explanation of what this noise is in the owner's manual. If your windows squeak while going up or down, particularly while wet, then either lubricate the weather stripping, or take the car back to Ford for them to lubricate it. LOTS of Mustangs are affected by a condition where they won't properly retract the seatbelts. This is most likely because of a broken part in the seatbelt mechanism, and you should take the car back to Ford for warranty replacement. There is an unspoken warranty on the seatbelts to (I believe) 80,000 miles. HP & Torque - 320hp 317lbs-ft torque Common RWHP #s - 265-275rwhp 0-60 - 5.2 1/4 Mile Time - 13.4 1/8 Mile Time - 8.6 60-0 - Skidpad - These cars love short gearing. The stock 3.27s are way too tall to allow the deep breathing, high revving 4.6 DOHC to perform its best. I say that 4.10s are the best gearing for the "average" Cobra driver, or for a Cobra that will see nitrous or a supercharger. Those that want better NA performance should opt for 4.30s or 4.56s. Some guys are even running 4.88 gears. The 4.6l DOHCs make all their power at high rpms, and need a good exhaust system to make the most of it. The stock cat-back should be the first to go. Many guys are putting in Bassani and Magnaflow cat-backs, as well as a few guys going with Dynomax, Flowmaster, and Borla. Any cat-back you pick should be better than stock, and you can see gains of up to 10rwhp with just the cat-back. Next in line for the exhaust is the mid-pipe. Depending on your choice of cat-back, you need to decide whether a X or H pipe will do best for your car. The Bassani, Magnaflow, and other straight through design cat-backs sound best with an X pipe, whereas Flowmaster and chambered style cat-backs sound better with the H pipes. The X and H pipes are usually available in catted and non-catted versions. The catted versions will help in pollution controlled areas. The last part of the exhaust is the headers. Long tube headers are considered the way to go on the DOHC 4.6s. They will increase the midrange torque of these cars. Look to get around 5rwhp peak, and up to 15rwhp under the curve. Lets face it. The stock tires are barely adequate at keeping the stock car from spinning at launch. With gears and a few modifications, the traction becomes an even greater problem. A good set of tires will help here. Take a look at BFG KDW, BFG KD, BFG Drag Radials, Nitto 555 ZRs, and Nitto 555 R Drag Radials for better traction. A larger size of 275/40/17 will help a little more. If you're looking for the best performance on the track, then take a look at Mickey Thompson ET Drags or ET Streets. You'll have to get them in a 16" size to fit on the rear of the IRS Cobras, though. The stock shifters in these cars aren't known for their precise, short, or accurate shifts. If you're looking to improve on your shifting time, check out Steeda's Tri-Ax, the Pro 5.0, and other such aftermarket shifters. Again, any of these should be better than the stock piece, but the Tri-Ax and Pro-5.0 are considered the best. There is a debate on Cold Air Induction systems. Many guys say that they won't make more power, many say they will. The truth of the matter is that with the stock MAF sensor, idle quality will be reduced with any CAI that has an elbow right before the sensor. The best way to go for these systems, is to pick up a Pro-M MAF sensor that is calibrated for these types of elbowed kits. You should see ~5-8rwhp gains with a good CAI system. There are different sets of springs available for these cars, from those that will totally slam the car to the ground, to those that drop no more than 1", but provide a very stiff base for a nice handling car. To put your car in the weeds, look to H&R's Super Sports, and Eibach's Sportline kits. For a smaller drop, and factory like handling, look to the Eibach Pro-kit. For a small drop and stiff, but good handling, look to H&R's Race springs, or Maximum Motorsport's Coil-Over kits. If you change the springs out for a stiffer aftermarket set, then you'll need a set of good shocks and struts to compliment them. Not only will the handling be improved, but the ride will be smoothed out quite a bit by a good set of matched shocks and struts. Call Maximum Motorsports or some other respected suspension experts for their recommendations on shocks and struts to match your springs. If you own an IRS Cobra Mustang, you have surely noticed the horrible wheel hop these cars have when spinning. This is due to several things with the IRS. The #1 cause of wheel hop is the horribly soft IRS subframe bushings. Maximum Motorsports sells a kit to replace these *SOFT* bushings with a set of hard poly urethane bushings. These will greatly reduce your wheel hop. Other wheel hop fix parts to look to are a good set of shocks, stiffer springs, re-enforcing the rear subframe mount, and Steeda's IRS differential mount bushings. |