If you've been reading Kit Car for the past few months and following our buildup of the Factory Five Racing Cobra replica, this final installment should bring everything home for you. The kit's completely finished and on the road, and the final questions are doubtlessly "What did it cost to build it" and "How does it perform?" In this story we'll answer both those questions and provide plenty of other interesting information about the car.
To recap for those who may not have followed the entire buildup, the Factory Five Cobra replica kit is designed and engineered as a single-donor project using an '87-'93 5.0 Mustang. The kit sells for $9,900, and aside from the multitude of donor car parts, it comes very complete and doesn't require you to add much more to finish the vehicle. As you'll see later, we added several items to the stock engine for greater performance, but they're not necessary to achieve satisfying performance or hot looks. The aftermarket is loaded with components for the Mustang drivetrain to further personalize and enhance the performance of your car.
On a freshly minted project, you'll want to take the finished car on a shake-down trip to discover any squeaks and rattles that only a road trip can reveal. Remember that we drove the completed chassis around a little before popping the body on just to make sure things were tightened and in place before they were hidden by the fiberglass. The suspension setup, with the three-way adjustable shocks set at their softest setting, seemed to work quite well for street use. The alignment specifications were 3 degrees caster and 1 degree of negative camber with 1/16 inch toe-in. The combination of BFGoodrich T/A Radials, 235/60-15 front and 295/50-15 rear, and the street set suspension worked comfortably and allowed reasonable traction for just driving around.
Our first time out was spent at lower speeds on bumpy roads, and we discovered several glitches--a loose knock-off, a rattling air tube, and an exhaust pipe mounted too low on the bracket. On subsequent short trips we also discovered a squeak in the right front which turned out to be a missing Mustang rubber seat on the coil spring mount pad in the lower control arm. A nonfunctioning speedometer was also a mystery; the car was fitted with optional Smiths gauges, and it turned out we needed a $52 reverse geardrive from XKs Unlimited.
FFR claims a finished car weighs less than 2,000 pounds dry. This replica hit the scales at 2,162 pounds full of fuel and fluids. The stock engine churns out 250 hp, but it still breaks the BFGs loose at will and certainly keeps your attention at all times. The FFR Cobra is kind of an Everyman's sports car that doesn't require a lot of fiddling and professional driving skills to make it perform. It has very forgiving traits, thanks to a lack of understeer and a well-balanced weight distribution. It's also a car that doesn't have temperamental tendencies, so it's reliable and can be driven regularly.
To make things interesting, we added a few options to the 5.0 engine to boost the horsepower. The stock intake was replaced with a Ford Motorsports Cobra manifold kit which improves the breathing and is good up to 400 hp. Also added were a set of Mac equal-length tubular headers and a set of Cobra valve covers.
So, how did this lightweight perform? Using a Vericom VC-2000 computer to compile the test results, the most impressive figure we arrived at was the 0-60 mph time of 4.98 seconds. That figure represents the average of three runs. Not too shabby for a small-block-powered car, is it? The tests were run on street tires and with the street suspension settings. Braking was also competent, with just a bit more brake pressure necessary than expected, mostly due to having converted the brake system from boosted to unboosted. The replica consistently stopped from 60 mph in 121 feet. Since any numbers we could come up with showing autocross performance would be ludicrous, suffice to say that the FFR Cobra goes where it's pointed and handles predictably.
As for what it cost to build the FFR Cobra replica, we've included a complete cost breakdown. Keep in mind that the prices of donor cars can vary across the United States, as can the condition in which they're found. You'll also see some areas where you can save some money. FFR has quite a few documented homebuilders who have built a complete kit for less than $15,000 by closely watching costs. Our donor was a wrecked 5.0 Mustang with only 46,000 on the odometer which didn't require any mechanical work. A side-hit Mustang is usually the best bet. We added quite a few options to this car, and there were no shipping charges, so our final cost was $18,029.
As you can see, the FFR Cobra kit is a sensible approach to building a replica of a very famous competitor--one that won't require a huge investment. It's also a car that gives away very little in terms of performance, handling and reliable transportation. KC