[JeffroEinstein]

Whats up, I recently found a guy on craigslist near me selling a 97 cobra motor right out of his car for 1500 bucks. It only hay 88k and runs great. My only question is what do I look for on the engine to make sure it is authentic and not a clone. What should the casting numbers consist of? Things like that. Can't wait to drop this baby in my 96 gt if it's real! I will keep all gt emblems so it's gunna be a real sleeper.

[97Roush]

well...it will be a DOHC..unlike a GT...it will have a huge intake that has a cobra emblem on it ,cobras have a signature plate on the air filter side right on the valve cover to show the builders name...the valve covers should be bigger as well i think

[JeffroEinstein]

Yea all these things I know... But it's so easy to do a pi swap and put a cobra intake on it and valve covers, no way to check the vin/castings? Call up ford with them maybe?

[tfofkyle]

a cobra intake (4v) wont fit pi heads (2v). and cobra valve covers (dohc) will not fit pi heads (sohc). this isnt a 5.0 were talking about here. cobra intakes only fit on 4v dohc heads. and gt intakes only fit on 2v sohc heads.

if you see the cobra intake and the valve covers look huge compared to your gt's - you can be pretty sure its a cobra motor.

[JeffroEinstein]

Yea I don't know why I was thinking pi heads were 4v. woops. Anyways i'm going to buy it. And check out this new intake manifold thats bringing b heads back in the game!!! Man I can't wait modularmustangracing.com • View topic - MMR RTS B-head manifold for 1996-1998 Modular Cobra / Mark 8

[BAD98GT]

[QUOTE=tfofkyle;2789416]a cobra intake (4v) wont fit pi heads (2v). and cobra valve covers (dohc) will not fit pi heads (sohc). this isnt a 5.0 were talking about here. cobra intakes only fit on 4v dohc heads. and gt intakes only fit on 2v sohc heads.

that is true, but you can always add some (4v) heads to your (2v)gt. downside is that the block will be from a gt

[JeffroEinstein]

Ok I decided to go PI guys so no more headache. I got a pair of romeo's for 170 from a very reputable company. Well another guy bought them from a reputable company and I got them from him for 170 he paid 370

[JeffroEinstein]

Anyone have any suggestions on an intake that would produce more airflow then the normal pi intake or shoud I just go with the factory PI? I will research this after I post this then compare what I have found to you alls knowledge.

[tfofkyle]

pi intakes are fine unless you wanna blow serious cash on a trickflow, p51, or logan. and only upside to a cobra block would be that its aluminum as opposed to iron, and (i believe) a slight gain in compression using 2v heads.

[Cobraman1024]

too bad the guy didn't have a dyno sheet on the engine. You'd never know otherwise if the engine was a 4V from a Mark VIII or if it were a true 96-98 Cobra motor just because it had a 96-98 Cobra intake and the SVT valve covers with the signature sticker.
A Mark VIII engine will show peak power around 5500rpm or so. A 96-98 Cobra motor will show peak power around 6000rpm.
Another thing to look at would have been if there were a flexplate or a flywheel installed. The flywheel might have a part/engineering number beginning with F5ZZ showing that it was designed for a Mustang. Mark VIII engines would only have a flexplate installed as they did not have a manual transmission option.

[97S281]

Originally Posted by tfofkyle pi intakes are fine unless you wanna blow serious cash on a trickflow, p51, or logan. and only upside to a cobra block would be that its aluminum as opposed to iron, and (i believe) a slight gain in compression using 2v heads.

Don't forget that forged crank.