my 79 cobra

[4foxes]

The car is running good and handles remarkably well. There are numerous rattles and whistling in old seals, and they will all get worked out. The oil pressure gauge works intermitently and coolant gauge is flat not working. the fuel gauge and alternator gauge are moving in the right direction. The speedo likes to shimmy and bounce, but the tach is steady. The turbo light shines on start up and the overboost light has not been tested. The heater blower motor growled the first couple of minutes and then went "Tango Uniform" and has done nothing since. The windshield has a crack at the top, all four tires are weather checked and the finish will need a lot of cutting and rubbing. It is all good though because its on the road and I have over 200 miles since Monday.

[SteveND]

congrats, very nice job...

[TopGear85]

I second that...congrats on saving a very cool car. All the work you did inside looks great btw. Almost looks like a different car from your original pics. Keep up the good work.

[4foxes]

OK here are some pictures

[4foxes]

And more pictures. The headliner is not in yet and still need to work on the finish. Have put a couple hundred more miles on the car and will be replacing the clutch here soon and maybe even rebuilt the tranny. But for now open road is calling!

[4foxes]

Going to the picnic! Going to the picnic! Going to the picnic!

[JTs Bikes]

Going to the picnic! Going to the picnic! Going to the picnic!

Woo Hoo!!

[4foxes]

Need help locating the part numper for the oil temperature sensor that triggers the warning light for the turbo. The current sensor has a broken electrical connector. The sensor is located on the engine right side in the back. Engine is a 2.3turbo from a 79. Any help with the part number will be appreciated.

[mustangxtreme]

4foxes, you might get a quicker response in the SVO/2.3 turbo forum.

[4foxes]

Thanks to 85GTTops, the NOS Parts man, for researching and finding the part number. Now just waiting to hear from the parts dealer for the sensor.

[4foxes]

Replaced the blower motor this weekend. It was the original motor as the date stamp was Feb 14 79. Also swapped out the control panel as the blower motor would not shut off when moving the lever from defrost to off. The second control panel was from the 79 Ghia the dash and radio came from. The radio has also been swapped out with an new AM/FM cassette player from EBay. Those 30 year old cassette tapes sure don't like to be used any more. Three tapes have already committed suicide in the cassette player. Well at least now there are tunes and the defroster/ heater works.

[neald]

Great job on the progress!

[4foxes]

Had a new exhaust system put on. The old set up was cobbled together to satisfy State Patrol inspection and was constricting and leaking. Now from the exhaust manifold to the turbo and 2.25" straight from the exhaust to the muffler and out the dual tailpipe tips. Sounds much better, can hear the turbo spool up and dumps it all out like it should. Not loud and very unassuming

[4foxes]

Found the noise in the clutch! Turned out the pilot bearing was toast and the end shaft was grinding on the flywheel. Also the previous owner had attempted to smooth the flywheel and left it wavy and gouged. Now I need to find a flywheel and and endshaft as both are toast. Now would be a good time to switch to a T5. The search is on!

[4foxes]

Went to the local j/y today and found a 93 mustang with a 2.3 and a T5. Pulled the flywheel, whole clutch with an almost new plate, the bell housing with fork, throw out bearing and cable. The T5 transmission and the drive shaft also made the return trip home with me. Hope I got all the parts needed to make the swap. My biggest concern is the clutch pedal quadrant and how the cable will adapt to the quadrant from the 79 clutch pedal. The only part bad on the 93 is the secondary cable from the reaction arm to the throw out bearing fork . The swaged end has pulled off. The previous owner was unable to shift. Hope the 79 starter will mesh with the 93 flywheel and the 93 drive shaft end will couple with the rear end on the 79. Many questions now and time will tell if this will all swap out. Any body have some experience with this type of swap?

[dbest]

Keep going,that might be light you see at the end of the tunnel!

[neald]

Your not going to reuse the 93' throw out bearing are you? Dont want to see you do all that work just to have to do it ALL over again.

[jangus]

Use the 93 flywheel and clutch with the 79 bellhousing and clutch fork. The T5 should bolt up to that bellhousing. Using the 79 bell/fork gets you away from that crappy dogbone cable on the 93 bell.

[4foxes]

Your not going to reuse the 93' throw out bearing are you? Dont want to see you do all that work just to have to do it ALL over again.

Definately not reusing the throwout from either the 79 or the 93. The problem initially was the pilot bearing was installed incorrectly or not at all. The initial install was botched by an inexperienced person to make it run and move it. That mistake will not be repeated! This is "my car" and will be treated as such!

[4foxes]

Have been busy with redoing the sway bar bushings and end link bushing since the car is up on blocks to replace the transmission. After researching the 5 speed transmission I found last fall, it turned out to be from a 1987 mustang. So now in the process of pulling the old 4 speed and replacing with the 5 speed. And since the brakes were fading last fall, I pulled all the wheels, disassembled all the brakes, had the front rotors turned and rebuilt the front calipers. Tore down the brake cylinders on the rear and honed them. If you "go" ya gotta "stop" and soon I will effectively be able to do both! Come on springtime and good driving weather!

[Cobra 1979]

Looking very nice, keep up the good work

[JTs Bikes]

Excellent! I need a 5 spd. too!!

[neald]

Awesome! Iam putting a T5 in my 79 as well. Let us know how it goes.

[4foxes]

Pulled the 4 speed tranny last night and barely avoided a shot of tranny fluid out the back end! Damn the brain farts!

[neald]

is the t5 you are putting in from a v8 or a 4 cyl car. I ask because there is a pretty big difference between first gear ratios between the two. the v8 trans has a 3.35:1 1st gear and the 4 cyl has a 3.97:1. the 4 speed you are removing has a 4.07:1 1st gear. just an f.y.i so you can set up your rear end gears accordingly.