['99 Cobra with 2000 Cobra R Front Bumper]

Although it was never my intention, now that it's finished it appears as though I've built my version of a New Edge Eleanor. 😲

['99 Cobra with 2000 Cobra R Front Bumper]

Side scoops installed as well as a small diffuser panel under the rear bumper.

[5.0 "tick"]

I've also seen youtube videos that claim some of the noise comes from the VCT (Variable Cam Timing) solenoid which is located in the driver side valve cover. Interestingly, on my '23 F-150 Tremor with the 5.0L there is a foam cover on top of that valve cover only (separate from the foam covers on the injectors) and that engine is worlds quieter than the one in my previous '18 F-150. It's also the Gen 4 Coyote vs the Gen 3 and I'm sure there are other more significant differences including cylinder deactivation.

 

When I was looking at '23 F-150s a dealer salesman told me that Ford had issues with noisy 5.0Ls in '18 and '19 F-150s but that was probably just BS in hopes that I would take less for my '18 on a trade.

['99 Cobra with 2000 Cobra R Front Bumper]

Found a set of used side scoops on eBay. Had to do a little finish work on them but they weren't too bad. They were flat black when I received them.

 

I'll have to do a color wet sanding to get rid a some minor paint issues and then spray one more coat of gloss black before they go on the car.

 

 

['99 Cobra with 2000 Cobra R Front Bumper]

On 3/19/2025 at 8:06 PM, fordmantpw said:

Looks good!

Thanks!

 

Here's a rear quarter view. Next change will be replacing the side scoops with a set from an '03-'04 Cobra and maybe a rear bumper diffuser.

 

Might as well go all out on the aero stuff at this point.

 

Another recent update was replacing the hood prop rod with gas struts from MRT.

['99 Cobra with 2000 Cobra R Front Bumper]

Finished project. The car also has some Roush body parts including their side skirts and side exhaust, rear bumper skirts and rear deck spoiler.

 

Also have some other progress photos here:

 

 

[USPS Idiots]

The fender brackets finally came today. It's only been 15 days since I ordered them.

Today I did what was hopefully the final trial fit before painting.

 

[USPS Idiots]

USPS tracking shows the brackets went from New Jersey to Connecticut and they are now back in Pittsburgh exactly one week after they left Pittsburgh the last time. 

 

After filling all the scratches, divots, etc. with spot putty and/or body filler and then lots of sanding, I sprayed the first coat of primer today.

 

[USPS Idiots]

Checking USPS tracking just now shows that the brackets are now in New Jersey...

[USPS Idiots]

This has nothing to do with the shipment of the fender brackets but it does involve the shipment of the bumper itself. When I received the bumper it was in a really small box compared to it's installed size. When I told the UPS driver that there was supposed to be a complete bumper in that box he just shook his head in disbelief. When he delivered another package two days later I showed him the actual size of the bumper and he was like there's no way that came out of that little box. The bumper is made out of polyurethane which is a high density synthetic rubber-like material. It took over an hour with a heat gun to get it back into the final shape. Believe me, I had my doubts that would ever happen. The reason the manufacturer (KBD) ships them that way is to avoid having to ship something that large via special truck and the accompanying freight charges. The box it came in is behind it in the first photo. As you can see I also stuffed round metal cans and pieces of wood in the openings so they would hold their shapes as they cooled. Talk about a WOW! moment.😗

 

This style of bumper is also available in fiberglass but I suspect this one will survive minor bumps and bruises without cracking the way 'glass might. I don't intend to race this car but I could certainly see the advantages of using something like this on a track car. 

 

Other than the fender brackets I'm also waiting on the special primer required to paint this stuff.

 

I also added some metal bracing under the larger opening as well as metal braces to attach the bottom of the bumper to the radiator core support/frame crossmember using the same mounting points as the original bumper. And I'm also re-using the original fog lights and their plastic housings.

 

[USPS Idiots]

I had our local postmaster verify that the package at least had the correct ship to address since that's not something I could see on the USPS tracking website. She also pulled up an image of the package which showed that it was a bubble wrap envelope. Her guess was that it probably got stuck in a larger mailing sack which then got filled with other mail for the west coast. No change on the tracking site from what I posted yesterday.

 

Regardless of the reason it's pretty hard to defend a package crossing the country at least 2.5 times and it still hasn't reached the destination.

[USPS Idiots]

My bad. It was actually in Santa Clarita, CA this morning. Not Santa Clara. You can't make this shit up!

 

I thought it was bad enough that they overshot the target by going too far east to Philly and then too far west to Pittsburgh.

 

It'll probably end up in Fairbanks, Alaska or maybe back in Texas before it ever gets here...😡

 

 

[USPS Idiots]

I decided to replace the front bumper on my '99 Cobra with a reproduction of one from a 2000 Cobra R. I had already installed a Roush body kit on the car several years ago and always wanted to get the front of the car down to the level of the Roush side skirts but I didn't want to use the Roush front bumper cover since it would lose too much of it's Cobra identity, IMO. The Cobra R bumper cover with its lowered splitter solves those problems. Unfortunately, the brackets that attach the ends of the bumper to the front fenders are pop riveted to the inside of the bumper and I didn't want to drill out those rivets on a perfectly good original bumper and they weren't included with the new bumper. Ford also no longer makes those brackets due to the age of the car.

 

However, Late Model Restorations (LMR) does make reproduction brackets. So, I ordered a pair of their brackets back on 2/26/25. LMR is in Waco, TX. According to the USPS tracking number, the package was in Pittsburgh, PA on 3/4/25. Because I live in west central Pennsylvania I assumed the package would have been here by now. Afterall, today is 3/7/25 and it was less than 100 miles away four days ago. Wrong. Can't do that. Guess where it was today? Santa f'n Clara, California! WTF? Musk can't DOGE these a-holes fast enough!

 

Here's a photo of the unpainted Cobra R bumper during trial fitting on the car.

 

 

[Ford CEO Farley Regrets Not Tackling Quality Issues Sooner]

My '23 F-150 Tremor has been very reliable with the only manufacturing glitches being a poorly installed wire connector for one of the front bumper sensors and the front door windows having the super annoying "bounce back" issue. Both were fixed under warranty.

 

The window thing is a bit of a mystery to me in that this seems to have been a known issue since well before my truck was built in Jan of '23. There have been multiple TSBs dating back to 2021 stating that the front window control modules (both sides) need to be recalibrated to change the sensitivity settings. My question is if Ford knew about this that long ago why did they continue building new trucks with the wrong calibration? Makes no sense.

[GTD documentary coming Dec. 10th]

So did Ford ever race at the 'Ring with the GT and if so what kind of lap times did it run?

[Logano's Third]

So Joey Logano just won his third NASCAR cup title and Team Penske just won their third title in a row. Anyone want to take bets on NASCAR moving the final race to somewhere other than Phoenix? 

[2025 Ford Maverick ST potentially spotted]

Never mind. You have to look under Future Vehicles. DUH

[2025 Ford Maverick ST potentially spotted]

This may have been asked and answered already and if so, my apologies. 

 

When will the 2025 Maverick Build & Price feature be available on Ford.com?

 

When I checked today it was still for the 2024 model year.

[Nascar Ford ID]

14 hours ago, Joe771476 said:

Does Toyota own NASCAR? It seems like it! I see some Ford and Ram truck drying vehicles  on the track during cautions and red flags due to rain, but there are also several Toyota Tundra track driers and the announcers say, "We see the air Tundras are drying the track." Really? What about the other brands?!!! The only TV ads are Toyota; I see no Ford or GM commercials.  Funny, since I have a list of rules from the 1960's and one rule was, "There will be no foreign brand race cars in NASCAR!"  Uh huh.

Money talks.

[Baby Steps]

Not quite ready for a Lightning yet but it's a start. I bought this to use mainly to get to and from my tree stands during archery season without making as much noise or stink. Greenworks 60V mini-bike. I also have multiple other Greenworks tools that use the same 60V batteries as this so it made perfect sense. 25 mph top speed and 20 mile range. 

[Coyote Oil Pumps?]

I would also like to know which type of oil pump is used on the F-150 Raptor R ???

[Coyote Oil Pumps?]

On 5/30/2024 at 9:46 AM, brucelinc said:

Many think the stock Mustang oil pump gear and crank sprocket are weak links.   It seems to be harmonics that can cause them to fail, specifically hitting the rev limiter repeatedly.   The general consensus among the techs I have spoken with is that the amount of power is irrelevant as long as you stay off the limiter.    When using the 10 speed which is preferred for drag racing, hitting the limiter is less likely.     When I had my Roush supercharged Mustang, Roush specifically said the upgraded gears were not necessary and they provided the warranty.    I drag raced it many times with the 10A shifting at 7400 rpm and never had any issues.    I never hit the rev limiter, though.

 

When installing the supercharger, replacing the gears is less labor intensive than doing it after the blower is installed.   It still is a big job and adds to the labor cost, though.    If I get another Mustang and have the Whipple installed, I would not do the gears but many others would disagree with that decision.

 

If you read the Roush supercharger kit warranty it actually states that their powertrain warranty would be voided if you did install aftermarket oil pump gears. I take that more as Roush not wanting to be held responsible for someone else's parts.

 

What did Ford do on the last GT500? Did the 5.2L Predator use the same oil pump gears and housing as a standard Coyote in a Mustang GT or were they upgraded?  

 

As far as the '21-24 5.0L F-150 variant, what has been the history on supercharged trucks? Have there been any oil pump or belt failures? I'm still on the fence as far as supercharging my '23 Tremor but so far I don't see the oil pump design as any reason not to do that. All I can say is that I would be a lot less hesitant if the truck were not my daily driver...

[Coyote Oil Pumps?]

Anyone know why Ford is still using the gear driven oil pump on the latest version of the 5.0L Coyote in the Mustang instead of the belt driven oil pump as used in the '21-24 F-150 5.0L? I have read that Ford engineers claim the factory belt driven design can withstand "over 1000 HP" output levels. If it's an upgrade in reliability wouldn't it make sense to use it on the model that is more likely to be modified? Or is there a problem with packaging? In other words, will the belt driven design even fit in a Mustang chassis? 

 

What prompted the question was an article on motortrend.com about Evolution Performance adding a Whipple supercharger on a '24 Mustang Dark Horse. Among the list of modifications was this: "The engine was enhanced with a set of Boundary oil pump gears to prevent failure."

 

Changing those gears is no simple task as the entire front of the engine has to be disassembled just to get to those gears.

 

https://www.motortrend.com/news/evolution-performance-2024-mustang-record/?eml=organic:eml:brz:20240529:evolution-:article:regstrd:owcst:mt&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=registered

[2024 Ford Ranger and Raptor Add Comfort, Capability and Performance to Midsize Pickups]

On 5/8/2024 at 4:42 PM, akirby said:

Only if I got rid of my workshop or the golf cart/future Porsche…. 
Neither is likely. 😂

So park the golf cart on the trailer when you don't need the trailer for anything else.

[2024 Ford Ranger and Raptor Add Comfort, Capability and Performance to Midsize Pickups]

On 4/30/2024 at 12:22 PM, akirby said:

I just read somewhere that it was confirmed there would be no Supercab.  At least not for 2025.  I guess I’ll either look to buy a used one at some point or maybe I can make the 5’ bed work with a bed extender and/or racks.

When I had my '07 Sport Trac I bought an Aluma utility trailer with a 12' deck. Short bed problem solved. I still use it today behind my F-150 Tremor. It not only works for hauling longer objects but it's also ideal for riding mowers, ATVs, etc. It has a registered gross weight of 2990 lbs. although I have exceeded that a time or two without any issues. With its all aluminum construction (approx. 520 lbs) I can also move the empty trailer around by myself when it's unloaded and not attached to the truck.