Back when we used to pick my dad up from work, someone had a ‘03 white svt. Man I’m telling you seeing that car used to literally make my day. The svt Cobra will always be my dream car.
Lucky you. I wish I would’ve kept my first one ...my 2nd ...my 3rd and my 4th 😂😂 89 5.0 //99 gt//01 Saleen SC//12 gt500 I miss them and I wish I kept at least one. Stupid me. I’m going to be getting a terminator for sure
I respect this. I once had a terrible nightmare that my 02' satin silver caught on fire in a sinkhole. In the dream I jumped in the fiery hole after it with no fire extinguisher so I am not sure what dream me was going to do to thwart the blaze. I am pretty sure it was a premonition foreshadowing how I am going to die.
@@CashMoneyKC1 I think it's great that you had all those awesome stangs (minus the foxbody eww -jk but really) & even after a 2012 GT500 you want to go back to the terminator days. Something so pure about those machines. No extra frills or unnecessary luxuries. Just a suped up, lightweight Crown Victoria. those CV's were total workhorses. My 02 GT has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. & I beat the snot out of it because it likes it when I do XD My winter vehicle is a 2002 Ford Explorer with the 4.6l. I literally borrowed the battery out of the tank to put it into the mustang this last spring. The explorer engine was built in Windsor Canada & the Mustang engine was built in Romeo Michigan where my ex boyfriend was the plant manager at that location during the time New Edge's were being produced. He ended up going back there & getting me an untouched OEM crate engine with 0 miles, From the original factory! It was the best gift any man has ever gotten me. He was the one that got away. Sigh.
I also had a sonic blue 03, my dealership went from Ky to VA to get me one with the factory option of the chrome wheels. Sadly I sold it on eBay in 2005 with 13k miles. She is no longer in ky. I miss her.
I just wanted take a minute to thank you for the all the information videos you have on the 03/04 cobras. It's really helpful for folks outside the terminator community trying to research the cars.
One more thing that changed with the Cobra cylinder heads...late 03s and all 04s had the improved heads to avoid the engine "tick" defect of the early 03 Cobra driver side heads. Early 03 heads had a coolant flow dead spot at the rear(#8 cylinder) which caused excessive heat to build up ultimately causing valves to fail in that part of the head. After market coolant crossover sets are sold to repair the problem for those with earlier 03 Cobras. Although I don't think mine needed one, the previous owner installed such a crossover to be safe...makes me happy too! lol Great video Dan. Keep 'em coming!
My black '03 'vert is a September, '02 build and I picked it up on September 30, 2002. It didn't have the closing levers on the vents like my '99 does. I replaced the vents with earlier versions. My supercharger coolant pump still works. The thermostat finally went out last summer. We had to grind the nuts off of the housing to get it out. Being at the bottom of the engine exposes it to lots of water and road grime. The housing is not expensive to replace and is easier than trying to save the original one. I will leave this car to my nephew when I pass on. Hopefully a long time from now.
Wow such a BEAUTIFUL TERMINATOR! I've always wanted one of these. I've had a black 91 LX a Silver 90GT Vert and a Black 86 GT Vert. Now I'm paralyzed and want a Terminator so Bad! Thanks for sharing this info.
Nice run down of the Cobras. I don’t have one, but I would love to open my garage and see one sitting there begging to fire it up and hear that supercharger whistle.
Looks like my old 04 Termi. She was a Comp Orange coupe with spoiler and no front license bracket, bought new at Victor Ford in Wauconda, IL. I believe the cats were less restrictive in the 04 due to overheating of the cats in the 03s.
When I had a vortech v1 on my 98 cobra, when I bought it, my buddy forgot to tell me about the coolant pump for the aftercooler in the fender and I always wondered why the car go hotter than normal but I also live in Las Vegas. I just happened to see it one day when I was changing the headlights. He messed the power wire up for the pump and it would come on intermittently.
Learned the hard way on my 03 mustang about the 4 thread holes, blew 2 out on deceleration,, had to put a helicoil in it to put them back in,, learned to start checking them often after that..
@@dannyjohnsonsgarage ford should have recalled and eaither re tapped peoples heads, or replaced the heads,, but without a doubt they should have ate alot of tow bills and repair bills,, when i bought the car i bought it new,, i was a tech at chevy store,, the man owned both black mountain ford and black mountain chevy both next door to each other, long story on why i got the mustang,, but just went through a devorce,, needed a car immediately,, only had a couple Camero's on the lot at the time, both rag tops which i dont like nor the color,, no matter back to the point,, ford should have made that right not to just myself but to im sure a bunch around the country,,, thats great advise telling people to check the tightness of there plugs between oil changes,, but its horseshit too because nobody should have to be forced into being forced into such an inconvenience,, it should be a recall rather than just a bulletin,, sombody at ford payed there way out of that one for sure..
Denny Ramsey I agree- and the GTs spit plugs too. Ford has “known” for quite a while about it. I’m sure there was that one engineer at ford who knew, spoke up, and was silenced.
@@dannyjohnsonsgarage another problem they knew about and didn't do nothing about that costed people quiet alot was the mach system stereo,, all of them would go out and would be stuffed to the hilt with cd's when it did it to,, they had the 6 disk changer in em,, but most of them went out it seemed right after the warranty just ran out,, right around 5 year mark you could damn near bank on it..
My 2003 Oxford white cobra was a March 2003 build. The underside of the hood wasn"t painted. Just has the black fiber heat shield on it. Kinda wish it was painted to match the rest of the car. So much demand for these cars now. Mine just hit 45,000 kms and it seems everywhere I go here in Alberta with it I have guys asking me what it would take to get me to sell it to them.
My first mustang was a 97 V6. We got the 98 Cobra that lived near us if you haven’t seen that playlist yet ru-vid.com/group/PLIjr-uSYDZi4xKZjgjhr9yKlr7GMx-FD0
I enjoy reading all of the comments here. It seems that we all have had these aggravating issues, but they aren't enough to diminish the enjoyment of our Terminators. These problems include peeling paint on the hoods, stalling issue, head tick and cooling issues, spark plug thread problems, the Mach stereo head unit piece of junk, etc. There were also issues with dif covers that would leak. I have never had the cooling problems or any other head issue, just the stalling problem. I've made no engine mods and never had any plans to do so. The only mods for mine are a Centerforce clutch with a MM adjustable cable, MGW shifter and 3.73 gears. The car has been totally reliable since I bought it new in September of '02.
John Andrus Even though each car will have its minor issues, these cars are very enjoyable an offer great overall reliability. I noticed this especially after looking into a BMW M3 for my wife and found even a more “refined” car had terminal rod bearing issues that really can’t be fixed, and tearing the whole bottom end apart at european cost is necessary- and won’t give me peace of mind. These are very robust cars we have and I enjoy being able to find parts and wrench on them in my own garage
@@dannyjohnsonsgarage My best friend does all of my mechanical work. We are replacing the left rear axle seal this summer and also all new bushings in the rear at the same time. It already has MM urethane bushing for the housing, but the tie rods and other bushings need to be replaced. Probably a new heavy duty dif cover with an oil drain plug at the same time. Not too difficult or time consuming, really.
They also had a fix for a stall issue. I'm not sure when they finally fixed it in production, but the '03 Cobras had it. There is a label on the right underside of the hood if you have had the fix saying Ford Authorized Modifications and what was done.. For some reason, I can't post a pic of it here.
I got a 2003 mineral grey Cobra about 9 years ago give or take and god I miss that car! I had wanted one ever since I saw one on a street fire video back in the day before RU-vid was a thing lmao! Anyways I got it for $16,000 and had 73k on it. Unfortunately I always had issues with it and it was just a pulley/bolt on car that made 462/480 on a mail order Bama tune. I went through probably 4 alternators on that before just buying a heavy duty one and had that spark plug issue as you mentioned. I was all set to do a ported Eaton/E-85/N20 modification fest on it but to play it safe had my tuner do a compression test on the pistons and sure enough the valve journal for cylinders 2-6 I believe? Was shot and my choices were to get a new long block (since I didn’t have the updated ‘05 heads w/ 9 threads just made sense) or trade the car in... That Monday I had a 2006 Pontiac GTO that was okay and all but it was no Cobra and have been kicking myself ever since
Many of those differences are minor and could be changed if desired. I work on my 98 Taurus SHO and cuss Ford for the close space under the hood, but my engine bay is not as tight as in the 03-04 Cobra. Thanks for the info.
I also believe that the parchment interior was only available in the 03. I think there was a convertible top option that was similarly only available in 03 vs 04. Didn’t know about the Sat button on the radio or the expansion tank tho. Good video.
I have an 03 terminator convertible red fire with 9k miles, the tag on the door says built on May 03, the heads on the engine has the blue color line that indicates that has the upgraded heads, power tv mentioned about it when they had the episode for the cobras. I’m wondering if my car has the 4 or 9 threads spark plugs, never replaced them yet since is a low mileage car and where can I see the build date of the engine if there’s one indication on yhe car. By the way that is an awesome competition orange terminator. Thank you for your videos, I enjoy them also your brother as well. Stay safe
The sticker on the door jamb is the invoice date, and can vary from the build date. The engines were also assembled before the car in many cases, so here is where you can find the date on the actual engine. November 2002 and later are “revised heads” with better pressed in valve guides, but the heads were then changed to 9 thread as DB heads and the DC 9 thread with cooling revisions came after all terminators were built in 2005. Here is where the date is found ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zAEb6ML3Lxw.html
Neal Lance Conngrats! Just to clarify, the fox body ended in 1993, and the sn95 was 1994-2004. Yours is a sn95 New Edge. Very cool- I have a lot of videos on the terminator, so feel free to hit me up on any questions
damn thought it was fox body no matter told my son when the old man goes you have a 2003 convertible GT500, and dads favorite Beast 2013 GT500 thx for the info Danny!@@dannyjohnsonsgarage
Neal Lance no no, you have a 2003 Cobra. You do not have a GT500. The next GT500 wasn’t made until 2007. Shelby did NOT make the Cobra, SVT did. So, you have a 2003 Cobra Mustang. Not a GT500.
The early heads would suffer from loose valve seats due to the heating issue as the coolant dead ends on the driver side. There is a cooling mod that can be done, but the heads didn’t get an actual revision on cooling until the DC casting after the terminators were made ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8LQC8XXBl2Y.html
@Danny Johnson’s Garage my brother had a 04 seemed like a better car than the 03 it was faster stock configuration might be just one of those typical broke in perfect deals the guy's who worked on it were SVT dealership mechanics good friends of his saw this alot with the fox GTs some of them would just rip and others were dogs
What's the milage on the Comp Orange Cobra? It looks just like the one I tried to buy off an older gentlemen in Texas. When I saw it had 16,000 miles and was asking $35k for it. Immaculate Car!
You've got a couple of really nice Mustang's! ...And you're friend's Cobra is damned nice, too. Good info- I've always wondered what the differences were- or even if there WERE any differences...
I randomly remembered the other day that my 03 gt had that cargo net but my 03 mach 1 doesnt. And it doesnt even have that bulge there like this one. Very odd
Danny was that you and your brother Justin doing 160 mph when showing us a difference of the superchargers or was that videoyou got off the intetnet lol pretty cool if it was you and your brother LOL
It would be interesting to know how late in 2003 they are built. Just like the 9 thread heads are on the 2003 10th anniversary cars, but even my brother’s 10th has a black key hole. It may have been replaced at some time, could be a good indication a car has been repainted, and pictures might have glare making them look silver. Just a few thoughts. For the most part, the differences are generally what you’ll find but of course there are always exceptions
I'm putting a 98 cobra teksid 4v I had built into an 03 cobra shell with a turbo. It's going to be a unique vehicle. And I don't know why but white has been growing on me. I know there's not a lot of differences in the 98 and 03 as far as the sensors, but do you have any info on what I may need to change to do this. I know I have to get the COP valve covers and fdo coil packs now and change the timing cover, but what about the fuel system?
I would skip to a return fuel system and make sure to get a 03/04 cobra fuel tank since it’s a sump tank and you don’t want to have fuel starvation ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bteiCwIHuq8.html
The 4 thread heads were covered in this video and I went into a little more detail on head tick in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bPaJ8pYh3cQ.html
Love the content. Always wondered the difference and now I know. I plan to buy a 2001 Cobra convertible... do you think it is as reliable if not more reliable than the 03/04 Cobras?
If I'm not mistaken, the annoying shift light that is present in my 03 Oxford White with "parchment" (tan) top convertible isn't present in the 04's? Mine is extremely rare, as the original owner, for whatever reason ordered it with the spoiler delete! I finally had to bite the bullet and get an oe spoiler off of a wrecked Terminator...
ArcadeDude44 Both have it (my 2004 as well and my brother’s 2004 in this video has it). It was implemented to avoid the gas guzzler tax but it didn’t work. Only terminators have it though. You can change it to go off only at redline with a tuner
@@dannyjohnsonsgarage ok but his looks stock thanks bought my new in 04 has 20,000 miles on it shifter blower pulley Borla exhaust computer chip cold air intake just replace tires with fireStone great tires just turned 61 years old i drive it but I don’t run the piss out of it hand it down to kid some day have a good one brother 👍🇺🇸 I was offered 27 for it laughed at em
Bill Leitner People also remove them as they start to fray. Who knows if his car was ever modified and returned to stock as well. Lots can happen since 2004
Nice video very informative...and yes im not New Edge im a sn95 Cobra owner but anyway...can you do a video of the differences between a 1997 Cobra and a 1998 Cobra though??? Cuz from what I see there's no difference at all .......
Wheels are specific to 1998, cup holders are different, no clock on the dash (it’s on the radio now). Some minor differences. I believe the bottom part of the bumper (not visible) is different. Was on my 98 at least
Also the 96-97 had aluminum imrc (intake manifold runner control) plates which were changed to composite material to keep the butterfly valves from sticking in the 98 cobras.
On the driver side cam cover (aka valve cover) it will have a bar code with the manufacture date. If that’s gone, your best bet is to pull the plugs and see if they come out after only 4 revolutions (most 2003s) or 9 revolutions (some 2003s and all 2004s)
I don’t have one but it is the car I have always wanted. It seems the best year is the 2004, would you agree? I haven’t been able to find only convertibles, why is that?
Tq the plugs to 20foot pounds Ford's spec's are low there is a guy online who works on three valves with this issue and he stated to torque them to 20 foot pounds and you will never have an issue there is a guy online who works on through valves with this issue and he stated to talk them to 20 foot pounds and you will never have an issue I've done the same and never had one blowout again
I know this is an old video but in your opinion is it a cobra with 82k for 15000 a good deal? I don’t know if you still read these but if you do that would be awesome
Different front timing chain cover..??Forged dished pistons. Manley H-Beam Rods. Iron 4.6 truck block. Same heads (I believe). Not sure about the cams...?? I’m I wrong or they both have iron blocks with Manley H-Beam rods..??
The best way to find out on the spark plug thread count is to take the plug out (and count how many full revolutions it takes to remove it). It will be very apparent if it’s 4 thread (very few revolutions, should be 4). The stripe is controversial. It means something, but whether it made its way on the car during assembly as an update or as a recall after the car was sold.. who knows. It likely will still be a 4 thread head but may have had “the fix” which would only be new valve guides and seals. No cooling mods were done until 2005.
Leave it to Fraud to put Aluminum heads on a blower motor - stacking those plug holes, a whopping FOUR threads deep! The plugs in my Hellcat’s heads are TWENTY threads deep. Just sayin’....
Hans Landa The cobra shown as well as mine are 2004s and are 9 thread. That’s all you need. I agree the 2003 model with 4 thread was insufficient. It’s too bad Dodge is still behind in using a pushrod engine on your hellcat. If they had invested in DOHC technology you’d be closer to 1,000hp stock. Is your hellcat like the other Hemi’s with 2 spark plugs per cylinder? That’s really not necessary. Not sure why Dodge insists on that either