2006 - 2007
Early 2006 while the 87 was down due to a broken transmission I didn't do much with the car. Only major thing I did was to change out the front bumper cover with one from a junk yard, for the time being I left the Saleen airdam off. I also put the original trunk deck back on the car with out the wing. The reason was when I started sanding on the deck the wing was mounted to I discovered it had a LOT of body filler in it and it also wasn't drilled out straight.
One of the engine parts I had purchased before my move was a complete Explorer GT-40 intake for motor I was planning. I had a thought of putting it on my car for the trip just to test it out, but I had heard that the intake was too tall to fit under the factory hood of a Fox body Mustang.
Then I thought my hood was cracked at the latch and I would be replacing it soon why not put it on. If it didn't fit under the hood, I had a couple 1979-83 Mustang hood scoops, I would just cut the hood and add the scoop for clearance till I could get some sort of cowl hood. One thing I did have working in my favor was I had previously installed convertible 5.0 motor mounts on my car slightly lowering the engine.
So working through the night I installed the Explorer intake, the only issue I had not planned for was the ACT sensor. So for the mean time I left it unplugged. I started the motor up and everything seem to be working fine.
One thing I was happy to hear and I was surprised at was the exhaust tone of the car sounded a lot deeper and powerful. Then came the real test, I lowered the hood slowly and it latched with no clearance issues at all! I drove the car that way for 3 days before my trip to make sure the intake would be ok. Everything ran fine so I decided to spray a quick coat of white primer on the hood so it would match the nose of the car and I was on my way to TN.
2 days there, 3 coming back, 3600 miles round trip averaging 24 mpg. I did notice though on the return trip the car seam to lack some power and I would get a check engine light in the higher colder altitudes. I knew this was from running the car with out the ACT sensor. Other than that I proved all the doubters wrong, my car with almost 300,000 miles on the original motor, and a transmission I rebuilt was very dependable.
At first I had few clearance issues with them in the front on full turns they would rub the inside of the wheel well on the rear back edge. What I eventually did to fix this was install some 5/16" spacers on the front. Not only did it stop the rubbing but it pushed the front wheels out where they ran more inline with the rear wheels
They also where rubbing the front of the fender/Saleen airdam a bit on turns, I thought I would have to get the 1991 - 93 fenders because those years had an extra 1" clearance. When removing my fender extensions I noticed it gave me more room between tire and fender. Measuring the difference it came out to 1"! So reattaching the Saleen airdam to the bare fender 2 things where very noticeable. 1)The airdam fit perfect (it was a 91 - 93 style airdam) and no longer had to be forced into place, 2)There was no more rubbing between the tires and the airdam at all.
The only other problem I had was the center caps. Because of the SVO/Lincoln style 5-lug conversion I had chosen the bearing hub & dust cover pushed out too far for the flat center caps even with the 5/16" spacers. So to get around this I had to get creative. I like the looks of the spinners they where using on the new 05 and up Mustangs. So I purchased a set from e-bay, drilled out the center of the cover, modified and attached the spinners to the center caps. I wasn't too sure how they would look when finished but I was very pleased with the end result. I have even had other Mustang owners ask me where did I find them and what brand they where.
Another change I made at this time was installing the Cobra grill insert. It was very easy to install and I really like the look of it over the basic LX grill. Course now with all this done to the car I was really wanting a new hood.
When selecting the right hood I had a lot of choices. As early as 2000 I wanted a Mach1 style ram air hood because I like the look of it on my 73 Mach1 and there was a kit to make it a functional cold air hood. But after seeing a lot of those around on other Fox body Mustangs I wanted something less common.
My next thought was a shaker hood, but the shaker kit was more than a new cowl hood and required you to use your factory hood so that choice went away quick.
The next choice was a stock height hood with a centered SVO scoop very clean look. Then there was the next step up from that, the cowl Cobra R with a centered SVO scoop. I had my heart set on this hood for about 2 years and almost ordered it till I went to the track and there where 2 other cars there that night with this hood.
The final hood that I settled on and other than on a couple different Mustang boards I have yet too see on any 87 - 93 Mustang even as I write this was a Cobra R hood that had the 2000 Cobra R bulge. So with my mind made up and having the money in hand I ordered my new hood.
One of the selling points for this hood to me was the fact it used the O.E.M. hardware to install. While I don't know what the actual difference in weight is, it was very noticeable to me as I had to remove the old hood and install this one by myself.
I was hopeing to find a shorter 1.5" cowl but all I could find in this style was the 3". It took a little getting use too at first but it really didn't cut down on my vision any and now I don't even really notice it.
I will be cutting open the hood to make the extractors functional. I got a first hand look at an actual 2000 R Cobra and took a lot of mental notes on how his hood was opened up, and the cover that he had for the inside of the hood.
Visually the only other real change was getting my tail lights striped like the SVO & 1993 Cobras. Now I was close to the blend of Saleen and Cobra I was wanting to achieve, so I am happier with the visuals of the car. I do needed to replace the rear valance as it is too wavy to paint.
