How much hp does the 99 cobra really have?

yesterday while me and my buddy were making runs. i pull next to this old guy, about 40 years old in a 99 cobra, all black convertible looked nice.

me: what year is that?
him: 99 cobra
me: so what is that... 320hp?
him: i had it dynoed at 385hp, they say its 320 for insurance purposes.
me: right, i know how that works
him: the 2007 is gonna have 450hp
me: thinking to myself (450? i would think they would try to outpower, or atleast match the power of the future Z06)
him: thats better than fucking having sex buddy

i give him the thumbs up and he takes off.

what do you guys think about a 99 cobra having 385hp, thats like 65hp more then what they claimed

I heard somewhere that they were overrated as opposed to underrated...well that's what I heard :confused:

They dyno at about 250rwhp. And run low 14s if you can get a launch without so much fucking wheel hop.

They dyno at about 250rwhp. And run low 14s if you can get a launch without so much fucking wheel hop.

Sounds about right. I figured they had more power than that though, more like 270 RWHP, but I don't own one.
Dude sounds like he was wishing it was an 03/04 Cobra.

Nah, they had a big problem with the ecu/intake manifold/exhaust. That's why there was no 2000 cobra...ford was too busy fixing all their 99s.



BTW: Mr Luos..I'm looking into trading my shit in for an LS1. :devil:

BTW: Mr Luos..I'm looking into trading my shit in for an LS1. :devil:
Darkside eh??? :icon16:

What happened to the blower project??

Well, I always wanted an LS1. And I see a chance to with the money I'm going to spend on my blower project. Plus a cam'd/bolt ons LS1 will run just as hard.

can he still use his S/C he has for an LS1? if your build your own S/C kit aren't some of the parts interchangeable?

Ohh god damp in an LS1? his ego is allready huge can we handle him in an ls1?

Nope. And I already have a buyer for that. :wave:

Nope. And I already have a buyer for that. :wave:


Ohh i allways thought the pipeing and the actual forced induction piece were interchangeable. For example, t3/t4 turbo chargers TONS of people put those in thier cars. Do they need to be manufactured differently for each car? Damp has got me all confused now.

Wait..you mean just the actual supercharger? I don't know..probably. I could probably ghetto fab some piping and shit but it wouldn't be worth it.

Sounds about right. I figured they had more power than that though, more like 270 RWHP, but I don't own one.
Dude sounds like he was wishing it was an 03/04 Cobra.

It's funny this thread comes up, because i pulled up to a cobra at a light the other day with my friend in his jetta and i roll down the window.

me: "hey man, nice car, what year is that?"
him: "it's a 99"
Me: "nice, how much horsepower does it have?"
him: "last time i got it dynoed at 390"
me: "at the whee.."
him: "no, at the crank"
me: "oh what do you have done to it?"
him: "i had the head rebuilt..." blah blah
me: "sweet car man" :thumbsup:

guy was in his forties but as soon as i heard 390 i was like of corse, i shouldve known.

yeah, i think there just wishing they had a 03 cobra

I don't get why anyone would ever lie about their car being faster. I always lie about it being slower. :shrug:

Dampachi, you gotta drive up here and race me before you sell your GT.

Sorry man. If I decide to sell it..it'll be gone before the next time I'm up there. But, if you'd like..I can drive out there this summer in the f-body and run you. :) But..if I keep the GT..same offer.

Lol yea, I figured you might drive up during the summer some time.

They dyno at about 250rwhp. And run low 14s if you can get a launch without so much fucking wheel hop.

how are they running low 14's when the mustang gt's are runing low 14's?

actually check this out

http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/tb_mustang.jpg

For '99, Ford has equipped the Cobra with its first independent rear suspension, which does wonders for the car's handling, but hurts the Mustang's dragstrip performance.

Dump the Stang's clutch with too many revs and its halfshafts wind up, causing enough wheelhop to hack the wax from your ears.

What works best is to come out of the hole just off idle and allow the DOHC V8 to bog a bit. This way, you take the rear suspension completely out of the equation. The Cobra's tires hook up, and it's all up to the engine's torque to pull the car.

And pull it does. The engine revs slowly and it's geared tall. The engine falls flat at 6200 rpm, 600 short of its redline, so we made our two gear changes on that mark. That's right, two gear changes. The Cobra goes through the traps at 103.45 mph in Third gear, which is odd. Every other car with a manual transmission, except the Mitsubishi, finishes in Fourth.

Shifting the Cobra is a snap with its strong clutch and short throw shifter, and full-throttle powershifts reward the driver with rubber in Second and Third.

This car's definitely one of the quickest Mustangs of all time, but it would be quicker with shorter gearing and a live rear axle. And we'd love to see what it could do with the Lightning's blown V8.

Test Summary:
Ford Mustang Cobra

* Base price: $27,995, Price as tested: $28,190
* Engine: 4.6-liter/280.0 cu.-in. DOHC 32v V8
* HP: 320 @ 6000 rpm, Torque: 317 ft.-lb. @ 4750 rpm
* Trans: 5M, Drivetrain: front engine/rear drive
* Rear axle: 3.27:1 limited-slip w/8.8-in. ring gear
* Curb weight: 3430 lb, Weight/HP ratio: 10.7
* Horsepower per liter: 69.6, Tires: 245/45ZR17
* Acceleration: 0-30 mph: 2.25 sec. 0-60 mph: 5.41 sec.
* 1/4 mile: 13.51 sec. @ 103.45 mph


maybe your at really high elevation, i see you ran a 14.6 maybe the cobra's were your at run 14.0 cause of crazy high elevation.
from what i've known, they run mid 13's

no. i live in baltimore. and no, 99 cobras will not run mid 13s. they were all recalled because they put down nowhere near the rated 320hp. GTs run low 14s putting down about 230rwhp with a solid axle. Those cobras run low 14s putting down around 250rwhp due to the IRS. I read a whole write up about how awful they do at the drag strip. The best the magazine managed was a 13.9@99mph after they iced the intake for about 20 minutes.

oh, so these guys are lying and they never did this test?

they ran everyother car at the right time. maybe thats just a factory freak ha?

its possible, i'll do more research for my own understanding

from what i checked out they are running high 13's

i checked mustangs sights and just lots of diff sights i use for drag times, and high 13's is the usuall.

i seen some low 14's and i seen one mid 13's but most info i seen say, high 13's, so you werent far from the truth. i thought those things were faster.

If that was one of the early cars, yes..it ran those times. Pretty much all of the test cars were on par. But something happened between the test cars and the production cars and something went horribly wrong. You gotta be one hell of a driver to get 13s in those cars.

385 is total BS. I don't think hardly any car will dyno 65hp over the claimed at the wheels. Especially nowadays I think car makers lie even more.

The only exceptions I can think of are the srt4 which dynos around 225whp, and stock is extremely close to that. That I would call underrated.

Ls1's I've heard are underated.

My brothers viper dynoed 416whp with smooth tubes as the only mod (450 is claimed so either they have great trannies which they do or they are underated).

Another exception would be Japanese cars who swear by the gentlemens agreement (Supras, skylines, NSX-R's, GTO) who I've heard dyno right at what they claim from factory.

Aren't all japanese sports cars rated at 250hp for insurrance reasons?

Aren't all japanese sports cars rated at 250hp for insurrance reasons?

I think it was more of an agreement that the japanese cars companies had. I remeber reading it somewhere, i think it was SCC when they were talking about the new supra concept and how they were breaking the agreement the car companies had.

Yeah the Jap companies have an agreement with the government to not build cars ver 300hp. That's why all the skylines are rated at just below that but are usually 20-50hp higher.

They were actually rated to 276 hp. While in the US the 300zx and 3000gt were rated at 300 and 320 hp respectively, in Japan they were only rated to 276. Even Skylines were only rated at that.

Actually the Japanese car companies had a gentlemand agreement with each other not to start a Horsepower war, and keep all the cars at 276hp....but everybody knew that most of the cars rated at 276hp were alot higher...The agreement officially ended with Acura's RL which that put at 300hp

Actually the Japanese car companies had a gentlemand agreement with each other not to start a Horsepower war, and keep all the cars at 276hp....but everybody knew that most of the cars rated at 276hp were alot higher...The agreement officially ended with Acura's RL which that put at 300hp

Well, if you wanna get technical, the agreement is actually made between the manufacturers amongst themselves as well as with the japanese government.

Actually the Japanese car companies had a gentlemand agreement with each other not to start a Horsepower war, and keep all the cars at 276hp....but everybody knew that most of the cars rated at 276hp were alot higher...The agreement officially ended with Acura's RL which that put at 300hp
i'm pretty sure it was the STI that broke the gentlemens agreement.

back to the original post, the cobras have never really been made to compete with corvettes, especially Z06's.

back to the original post, the cobras have never really been made to compete with corvettes, especially Z06's.
2003/2004 Cobras will give a Z06 fits.

But you are right, no Mustang was ever built (at least IMO) to try compete/take down a Corvette. They were focused at Camaro and Trans Am.

i'm pretty sure it was the STI that broke the gentlemens agreement.

Well the official one was the Acura which was not even rated at 276. Remember the USDM STi is 2.5L unlike the JDM one which is 2.0L which is rated at around 276hp. But they've been breaking the agreement long before, they just never officially broke it by rating their cars at over 300hp. Remember, the Skyline GT-Rs have been coming off the factory floor and dynoed at 320ish for ages now (along with some others).

The whole thing is pretty stupid if you ask me, in the end they're only tricking the uninformed consumer who more likely than not will never discover they have 50 more hp than they thought they had.

not the 2006 cobra(or whatever year the new one is) that thing will give vettes a run for there money. good luck to chevy if they ever want to bring back the camaro, gonna be hard to make a maro thatll compete with a stang yet still be slower then the vette.

dampachi you trader, buyin an ls1 j/k i wouldve gotten one too but too much $$ for me at the time.

yeah i mean straightline it will, but handling?

yeah i mean straightline it will, but handling?


handling the cobra 07 will be good for a solid axle but it wont handle with a vette probably. but change out the underdrive pulley and some minor stuff and you got yourself a 550hp motor with it.

I changed my mind on trading in my mustang. I like it too much. And TheStang00..aren't the 07s going to be blown? Who underdrives accessories on a blown motor???