Kitsap Mustang Club Presents:

Mike Sanchez's 1997 Cobra

Mike bought this fine pony from a guy getting divorced and got it for a steal of a price.   Mike left the car stock for 2 weeks and found tech article after tech article about up grades so he began making a list.

The car had 1800 miles on the odometer, and was six months old when Mike came across it.   He documented every change along the way and kept every part he changed out. Sometimes Mike bought new parts to modify, as not to mess up the original stock parts. Mike started with small upgrades in February 1998, such as the air induction and the lowering springs providing a 1.5-inch drop. Next was a water temp gauge and then there was another thing, then another. 

One thing Mike learned was that the instructions for most of the upgrades were not quite clear on all the steps that needed to be done. Changing the header exhaust system took 3 solid weekends, 12-14 hours lying on his back trying to get the old header off and the new ones on. The other extensive job was putting the supercharger and after-cooler on. The instructions said it should take 12-16 hours for the weekend mechanic. It took Mike 80 hours plus.

Overall this is a fun car and something Mike will never get rid of. Mike would love to acquire a 69/70 MACH I or GT. That is somewhere in the future.

Things that Mike has modified include, but are not limited to the following: BBK caster/camber adjustable plate, BBK lowering springs, BBK bushing/pads, BBK upper/lower control arms, MAX MOTORSPORT panhard bar, Kenny Brown extreme matrix brace, KYB/AGX adjustable chocks, Ford MOTORSPORT 4:10 ring and pinion, Ford aluminum driveshaft, EATON 31 spline axles, EATON traction lok differential, Hurst short throw shifter, multi-spark discharge (MSD-DIS4) ignition, Ford MOTORSPORT 9.5 mm spark plug wires, BBK intake 190 liter per hour fuel pump, BBK fuel adjustable regulator, Ford MOTORSPORT 1 and 5/8 header, Flowmaster off-road x-pipe, Magnaflow mufflers, Magnaflow 3 inch chrome tip exhaust pipes, Vortech V2 super quiet supercharger, Vortech after-cooler, 7 Autometer gauges for engine monitoring, March under-drive pulley, Optima battery with holder for in trunk use, tune with a Super Chip for fuel management/fuel/air monitoring, MOTORSPORT rims, 17X9 for the front and 17X10.5 for the rear.

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