Kevin's Site

2001 SVT Cobra

2001 Cobra Total Production: 7,251
Coupe Production: 3,867
Convertible Production: 3,384
Mine is 1 of 146 (white/parchment combo)
Find yours here

For the Car & Driver review of the 2001 SVT-Cobra click here

Stuff that has had to fix:

My first '01 Cobra which was bought back by Ford.
Missing rubber body plug on the underside of the car, noticed when I brought it home from the dealer.
Detonation, the car is particular about fuel. Ford reflashed the PCM, but didn't really fix it. Ford considers it to be normal while no one else seems to think it should be. I was told by a Ford engineer that the PCM can't pull the timing fast enough. At least Ford gave me a 5yr 100K mile warrantly.
CD player wouldn't eject disks, replaced under warranty by dealer at 5,000mi.
Throw out bearing replaced under warranty by dealer at 25,000mi.
Steering squeeks, dealer "lubed steering shaft" at 30,000 mi.
Emissions valve in fenderwell needed to be replaced, 20,000mi.
Tie Rods replaced; squeeking like mad at 67,000mi.

Modifications:

Maximum Motorsports stainless steel front brake lines, Strut-tower brace, K-member brace, CC plates, rear 1" wheel spacers.
Steeda aluminum pedal covers: it's much easier to heel-toe. I also bent the gas pedal to help. It's easy to unbolt and put it in a vice to do this. Street Performance springs: Lower the car about 1.25" which will clean up the overexposed wheel wells and lower the center of gravity. I'd like to go stiffer, but this is my daily driver.
Global West Solid aluminum offset steering rack bushings. Helps fix the bumpsteer. My alignment shop figures it's a 80% cure. A bump steer kit would be 100%, but since I'm no Mario Andretti I doubt I'd notice.
Bilstein Struts (V36-4138-H1) and Shocks (BE5-2959).
Speedbleeders. Makes bleeding the brakes easy.
Cobra R power steering cooler.
2004 Cobra windshield wipers. They have an aerodynamic feature that better keeps the blade on the windshield at high speed. New blades wouldn't cure wiper skipping.
Exhaust modified slightly to allow better ground clearance.
Alignment Spec's:

Fire extinguisher mount:

Aluminum bar 3/4" x 1/8", bent and bolted to seat tracks.
A standard 2.5lb. extinguisher mount bolts on where you see the holes.
I sit with the seat all the way back so I have no interference issues.

The car handles well. The springs could be firmer, and it still understeers more than I'd like, but then the ride on the street wouldn't be as nice. A larger rear sway bar or stiffer rear springs would help get rid of the remaining understeer, but I'm too lazy to bother. Overall the Bilsteins alone helped tremendously in the handling department.