Man, what a project.
After I sold my Paxton, the car was plain boring to driveI almost bought the used trilogy kit (that justbob bought) but didnt pull the trigger in time. With all the Eatons available from Cobras that upgraded to Twin Screws, it made sense economically to go this route. I scored an Eaton with 9000 miles on it for $300 shipped. I got the lower intake and intercooler for $600 shipped, which is a good deal.
This originally started out with the intention of a custom intake I wanted made to bring the inlet up and over the blower (back to the drivers side.)
Of course 3 months of waiting went by without any progress (from the fab shop) so I scrapped that idea in favor of switching the inlet over to the passenger side. This actually worked out better, not only for fitment and air flow, but because this car is eventually getting the big bad engine with the Whipple 3.4 next year. Everything will be ready when that time comes.
The battery was going to be my biggest hurdle, because I needed to have the air filter and MAF as close to the blower inlet as possible. On my old Kenne Bell setup, I ran a long flex tube over to the drivers side (which I didnt care for asthetically)
Anyone else would have relocated the battery to the trunk, but I have a silent phobia of doing that (for reasons I cant explain)
Soooo.... I decided to move it over to the drivers side! I have to admit I wanted to do it this way mainly because no one else has done it yet!
After a trip to the local junkyard and 5 whole dollars later, I came home with a 2003+ Battery Tray from a Crown Vic. It needed trimming, but bolted right up; one bolt on the frame and one on the wheel liner. Its rock solid, even with the battery in place. The next problem was the battery itself. The posts would have hit the hood when closed, causing a bad welding situation
A quick trip to FLAPS and I found the correct battery and battery cable to hook everything up. I was able to remove the alternator cable from the passenger side, shorten it and hook it right up to the auxilliary wire that came attached to the new battery cable. SWEET! I ran the actual cable back to the passenger side and hooked it up to the fuse box post. (along with the starter wire and Stereo cable)
Its amazing how easy it was to source parts for this project. EVERYTHING is used, cheap and readily available in the classifieds on Mustang sites. The only components that would prevent anyone else from duplicating this are the belt tensioner and alternator relocation brackets. There were only 5 sets made and talks of making more are in the works. Problem is, the brackets alone would be $600 with bolts, nuts etc. It may seem pricey, but its far cheaper than buying the 03 Cobra front dress and nothcing the frame for the Cobra alternator. Basically, these are slightly different versions of the Trilogy brackets (because the blower snout is longer on a Cobra Eaton vs. the Trilogy Eaton)
I had to extend the MAF harness (easily accomplished with Trailer wire(4 wires)), IAC, IAT and TPS wiring. I made block-off plates for the EGR and stock IAT port. I relocated the IAT to the lower manifold like the 2 Trilogy cars Ive done.
The Fuel rail fitting needed to be bent toward the front of the car to clear the intake tube, no big deal.
For the intercooler system, I bought a heat exchanger from Frozenboost.com and made custom aluminum brackets to hang it out front. I bought a used IC pump with the stock cobra bracket, that I sheet metal screwed to the frame right under the battery tray on the passenger side. I wired it up with a relay exactly like the Trilogy manual says to. The reservior was also used and I made a simple bracket to mount that.
Before the pics, here is the cost breakdown:
Eaton:$300
Lower Manifold & Intercooler: $600
Billetflow Pullies and hub: $200
Cobra Intake Tube: $90
Throttle Bracket: $18
Lightning MAF and MAFia: $150
Lower LFP pulley kit: $250
New blower belt tensioner: $90
Battery, tray and cable: $100
IAT sensor and pigtail: $35
Heat exchanger: $175
IC pump: $50
Injectors and IC reservoir: $120
2 Belts: $60
Custom brackets: $600 (Thanks to _____, you know who you are)
Misc hoses and fittings: $50
Air filter and adapter: $100
Welding of misc things: $40
Total: $3028 (without dyno tune)
Not too shabby, huh!
Here are the pics:
Reply With Quote
"Damned if I do, damned if I don't!"
Originally Posted by trash
