[Barricade81]

Greetings everyone! I'm new to this board, so I hope I can find some good information and advice from everyone here.

My local Ford dealership just traded in a 1998 SVT Cobra coupe, canary yellow, black leather, every option in the book, it has 118,000 miles on the body, 60,000 miles on the engine. The engine was totally rebuilt by SVT when the previous owner heard a noise in the engine and he didn't want to risk it, so they totally rebuilt it for him. I was very impressed with the car during my test drive, and I'm thinking about buying it this coming Monday.

I talked to the previous owner, and he said it dynoed 346 horsepower at the wheels when he tested it recently. By my math, that's 416 at the crank! I asked what mods he had done, and he only mentioned a K&N filter he had added himself. He also said the owner before him mentioned putting in a Diablo performance chip on it. And according to him, those should be the only two modifications done to the car. Everything else, exhaust, gears, etc... being stock. I didn't notice anything else on the car that would be an obvious power adder.

So my question is this: I hate to call BS on this guy, but there's no way a K&n filter and a Diablo chip can add up to a 90 rear wheel horsepower gain, can it? I can see 30 or 35 gained, but not 90. Either he's BSing, or there's something else done to the car that he wasn't aware of before he dynoed it, or those Diablo chips give more power than they claim. I will admit though that when I test drove it, it did feel stronger than stock, so I wonder if there is something I'm blind to see on it.

Any thoughts?

 

[weems]

That car is not pushing that much hp bro. Sorry to tell ya but hes BS'in you. That car might have 275. And a chip/tuner wont net you but about maybe 10 or so hp with an intake..

 

[Barricade81]

That's what I figured was the case, but I just wasn't sure if there really was some amazing chip out there that can add that much power; didn't believe it but wanted to be sure. I might ask him if he has the dyno sheet from that "346 rear wheel" result. The guy was a cool customer on everything else about the car, so it's weird he'd be so way off on the mods giving that much power. No big deal though, I was still impressed with the car when I test drove it. Should pick it up on Monday afternoon.

 

[Doc8224]

Make sure you get on it a couple times before you take delivery and make sure it doesn't smoke on the top end.

 

[Barricade81]

Will do! I'll drive it thoroughly again Monday before I sign on the line; when I drove it this past week the traffic was really thick (the dealership is right by the university, so there's 20,000 college kids in camrys and accords running around) so I only had one chance to really punch it, but when I did, I ran it from 50 to 120 and it performed flawlessly and ran just as strong as it should have. Engine wise everything seems fine. The only thing that slightly worries me is that my current car ('01 V6 5 spd, few bolt ons) has only 38,000 original miles and it's performed completely flawless in the time I've had it. So I'm getting a car 3 years older with a lot more miles for a lot more firepower. But mechanically everything looks to me like the man took great care of it, so it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Barricade81]

Those of you still with me on this topic, I just got off the phone with the guy and I asked him if he still has the sheet of the dyno test where he claims 346 horsepower, and he said he does, and he'd be glad to drop it off at the dealership on Monday for me to check it out then. So now I'm really starting to believe his claims. I mean, unless the dynamometer he was using was totally screwed up, the things don't lie, right? And, if that is the case, then there MUST be some work done to this car that neither he or I am aware of right now. This is getting more interesting every day.

 

[weems]

Yeah if it truly does read that high then its either one of two things. Its not the car he is speaking of, or there are more mods involved. Check around the car really well, look for bracket holes in the trunk and such, he might have sprayed it.

 

[Barricade81]

Well I've already test driven it once, so I've seen it and know how it charges. It didn't feel like a stock '98 Cobra, but it didn't feel 400+ strong either. He assures me there's no mods other than the K&N and the chip the original owner installed. But I'll check it over again thoroughly before I buy the thing. Maybe there's a turbo hidden in there somewhere. haha

 

[Muscletang]

Hey Weems, what would the crank power be on this motor be around? The guy he is talking with is going to supply a dyno sheet backing it up. That would be incredible rwhp. Is it possible that after the rebuild it undertook that it would have been dynoed and at the crank produced the 346hp#?

 

[Barricade81]

I actually asked him if anything special was done by SVT when it was totally rebuilt. A friend of mine had a '96 Chevy truck and had his totally rebuilt, and they installed Covette LS1 heads on it during the rebuild, and when all was said and done, he had a 350 horsepower off road truck! BUT he assures me (again) that nothing out of the ordinary was done during the rebuild. More mystery to this situation.

 

[Doc8224]

you will know if its 350whp. Thats quite a bit. If it is or isn't then I wouldn't buy from someone who insists on lying about the car.

 

[weems]

Hey Weems, what would the crank power be on this motor be around? The guy he is talking with is going to supply a dyno sheet backing it up. That would be incredible rwhp. Is it possible that after the rebuild it undertook that it would have been dynoed and at the crank produced the 346hp#?

I guess they could do an engine dyno..

 

[Barricade81]

you will know if its 350whp. Thats quite a bit. If it is or isn't then I wouldn't buy from someone who insists on lying about the car.

Maybe it's just me, but this seems to be happening to me a lot in the past few weeks while I've been car shopping. A dealership in the St. Louis area had a very sharp '03 Mach 1 for sale, and I called and inquired about it, and the first thing I asked was if it had any mods or any other work done. They said, "Nope, it's a bone stock 450 horsepower Mach 1" So that's another case of someone who's either BSing to their customers or the car really wasn't stock and they didn't want to say what was done. I should have been a car salesman; i know more about the cars the majority of the time than the salesman do.

 

[Muscletang]

I know what you mean. I went and looked at an 04 GT I knew I wasn't going to buy just because I had time while out of town for a wedding. It was at a Hyundai dealership or something and the guy had no idea anything about it but he tried to act like he did. You have to watch people especially car dealers you don't personally know. It doesn't mean the cars are bad it just means the people are trying to make money in a shady way. So keep being patient with the search and ask people on here questions so you will have the upper hand over the dealer when it comes to each year and style of Mustang. They all vary a little and the dealers generally have no clue.

 

[ChrisJ]

With those two mods there is no way its 346rwhp...

 

[Doc8224]

I usualy tell the salesman that I know about the car and would kindly shut his pie hole about something he doesn't know about. When it comes to buying specialty cars like Mach's Cobra's shelbys. They will always talk em up hardcore and tell you how "rare" they are. Or how "powerful" they are. Just know what you are looking for and tell the guy "hey, I know it x amount of power stock, you say it makes y amount of power, tell me how or quit lying to customers." That usualy shuts em up.

 

[nHuman]

For the 98 cobra to be pushing the hp this guy claims it dynoed at would take alot of mods.

You have to remb you been driving around a V6 and now you got in a Cobra, so it seems real fast. When something seems like its not right, it probably isnt. Go find another cobra and drive to compare. However for him to get that much horsepower out of the cobra it would be some big mods(Big enough that ppl would mention it to help sale the car). The guy is actin like its stock, because ppl think if they say its modded then you will think its been dogged.

I say its stock and what makes it even worse is the guy is lying to push the car. All in all.. you might still have the 118k mile motor in it with a really good detail clean job, who knows. Dont jump the gun to get a car, I did it with my GT and got burned, did not make the same mistake with the cobra.

 

[Barricade81]

Thanks again for all the advice ladies and gents. Haha, I actually though about snapping back at that guy when he said "450 horsepower bone stock Mach 1" but I wasn't planning on buying it, so I let it go. It amazes me what some salesmen will say about the cars on their lots. They either don't know much about them, or they think they can get a bunch of numbers and figures they pulled out of their ass past the average joe, but thankfully guys like me know better. I don't have any worries about my salesmen though. He's the one who sold me my current 'stang and I've dealt with him for over 2 years now. He's as good and honest as they come.

Anyways, I'll be making the trip tomorrow around noon and I'll go from there and see what happens with it. You're right about being initially shocked by going from a V6 to a Cobra, BUT at the same time, I have test driven a ton of different cars in recent years, 400 horse GTOs, 300 horse 350Zs, 320 horse Camaro SS's, new Mustang GTs, etc...so I know how cars in that range can and should run. I'll give it another thorough test drive as soon as I get there and I'll check every nook and cranny. And hopefully Mr. Previous Owner remembered to bring in that dyno sheet for me to check too.

I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

[MikeD05GT]

it may have had a small shot of nitrous on the dyno and now the previous owner took it out...ask ?'s good luck

 

[Barricade81]

Sorry for the delay guys; I've been delayed the last few days and should be making my way there tomorrow instead. I was told the owner dropped off a lot of sheets for me to see. We'll see.