V8cobra99 Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I have a stock motor in my 1999 Cobra, and road race with NASA. With light boost, if a supercharger is installed, will the motor last? Anyone have long term experience? The typical races are 1hr long. I am looking to add another 50 to 75 RWHP/ Tq. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Unfortunately, no one I know (and I personally know of several) has been successful with the stock internals. If you are willing to get rid of the stock pistons and rods then you can make it work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwilson7 Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Why would you want all that extra weight over the front end of an already front heavy vehicle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Ginsberg Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Why would you want all that extra weight over the front end of an already front heavy vehicle? Not to mention the complexity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jim P. Posted December 27, 2004 Members Share Posted December 27, 2004 I say 'Go For It!' - Lesneski runs a blower, has done so for years, and you'll notice he has the track records for many tracks on the east coast... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racercosmo Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 I would say that Lester is not using stock internals, and he is definitely not using stock 4.6 connecting rods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 This thread is now splitting into two parts.... The original question regarding stock internals...no one I know has pulled this off on a 4.6l DOHC Cobra motor... And supercharging in general...Let me weigh in on that. I ran an SC track car for quite some time and 40K street miles spread over 6+ years. Getting good cooling (Coolant and air charge) took a lot of work. The tune took a lot of work. From personal experience I agree with those that want to avoid the complexity and it definitely puts the weight right where you do not want it on a mustang... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Ginsberg Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 And supercharging in general...Let me weigh in on that. I ran an SC track car for quite some time and 40K street miles spread over 6+ years. Getting good cooling (Coolant and air charge) took a lot of work. The tune took a lot of work. From personal experience I agree with those that want to avoid the complexity and it definitely puts the weight right where you do not want it on a mustang... Occasional OT use, coupled with street driving is vastly different then full on, door-to-door racing. IMO, it doesn't even belong in the same discussion. A stock '99 Cobra motor will have enough to deal with racing in AI. Adding a blower, regardless of how much/little boost, is just looking for a quicker way to scatter motor parts on the track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbolx Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 I took the turbo off my 5.0L when I decided to switch from OT to AI racing. Same reasons... complexity, underhood heat, engine cooling, chagre cooling, oil cooling, weight, lack of traction, and oh yeah... my power/weight was about 6:1. Awesome street and OT car, but I don't want to worry about the engine at all during an actual race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbasf Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 I have a stock motor in my 1999 Cobra, and road race with NASA. With light boost, if a supercharger is installed, will the motor last? Anyone have long term experience? The typical races are 1hr long. I am looking to add another 50 to 75 RWHP/ Tq. NO!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 I can't speak to the specifics of the 4.6 motor, but I literally hand-grenaded an LT-1 block when running my S/C during an OT event. IMHO you can make enough power in a dependable manner in AI with a normally aspirated motor and break other things instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbr96 Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 We have been running a full on blown 4.6 motor in WC with great success, good horsepower and reasonable life with rebuilds at 70-80 hours. However it cost just as much to make the engine live as it would to build a good normally aspirating engine for items such as pistons, rods, oil system (we went dry sump) cams and valves. The down side is keeping the air temp down and you gain extra weight all up front. If you run the stock engine its not “is” it going to break to "when" is it going to break. The question is what class are you going to run and how much power do you need. I'd put the blower money into headwork, pistons and rods. Put together the foundation first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8cobra99 Posted December 28, 2004 Author Share Posted December 28, 2004 Thanks all. It was just an idea I was considering. My spare engine is going to get rebuilt with race-type internals. I considered the S/C idea because I am having a harder time finding how to lose more weight at this point, now that I have gutted and cut most of the car...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbr96 Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Loosing weight is always a factor with building a car. It is much easier to do it the first time than trying to cut weight after the car is built. When I was running my race shop, the average weight reduction after a car was built was about $100 per pound, when we built alcohol dragsters it was more like $1000 per pound with drilled titanium bolts and other extremes. We went as far as to have a carbon roof made for the Mustang which lost 15lbs in just the skin, not to mention all the bracing was easy to get to at that point. (Shameless plug, I can offer roofs for sale.) If you looking for advice or help on your 4.6, feel free to contact me. [email protected] Good Luck, Paul Brown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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