Eddie Ford is a self-described eBay addict. And the Georgia resident gets his other fix from the high-speed thrills of open-tracking and road racing. Seemingly unrelated obsessions, right? Apparently not in Eddie's case, as it was on eBay that he found a Canary Yellow GT for sale, one that looked to be just the car to satisfy his on-track cravings.
The '95 coupe was already prepped, with adjustable Koni Yellows at all four corners; Kenny Brown subframe con-nectors and jacking rails; Steeda/PBR 13-inch front discs; fat, relatively light Cobra R rims; a Tremec TKO tranny with a Pro-5.0 shifter; and "a new, tricked Downs forged 306 that netted about 300 hp at the wheels." So he bought it, or won the auction, or whatever the heck you call it on eBay.
Eddie then became serious, tossing out the airbags and the rear seat, and moving the battery to the trunk for better balance. Off went the stock driveshaft, to be replaced by a Ford Racing Per-formance Parts aluminum version with driveshaft loop. Then an order went to Indianapolis for a Kenny Brown Track Kit Plus Panhard system. With a set of 275/40 Kumho Victoracers wrapping the Cobra Rs, he headed off to Road Atlanta to try and live up to his "Fast Eddie" nickname, where he reports the car was "pretty much on rails but didn't quite have the grunt to out-lap the Z06 guys that could drive." This latter situation did not sit well with Eddie, whose ultimate goal for the car was to make it a "Z06 killer."
As luck would have it, the solution to that irksome problem also came via eBay, where one June evening in 2002, Eddie noticed an "'03 Cobra crate motor with all accessories and harnesses" listed with 23 hours left on the auction clock. At that time, Ford was busting its hump just to hand-assemble enough of these Roots-style blown cammers to fill the upcoming '03 Terminator's production demands, so Eddie was more than a bit surprised. He says the eBay seller's listing description included the following proviso about the engine: "Don't ask me where I got it, because I am NOT going to tell you." He figures that statement probably scared away most bidders, leaving Eddie the winner with a bid of-better sit down-$6,101.01. In case you haven't checked lately, the '04 FRPP catalog lists the Terminator assembly at $11,999.95. Apparently there are great deals on eBay.
So now Eddie had a pushrod '95 race car on one side of his garage and a potentially Z06-killing, not-even-released-to-the-public-yet blown Four-Valve '03 modular on the other. All he needed was someone with the know-how to merge the two. Without hesitation, he called Tim Matherly at MV Performance and arranged to have both pieces of this intergenerational puzzle delivered there the following Saturday. Guess they don't call him Fast Eddie for nothing.
Eddie's faith in MV Performance proved to be well founded-with the help of an ACCEL DFI Gen VII engine-management system and a wide-band O2 sensor, the company soon had the unlikely pairing working in perfect harmony. A Cobra R fuel cell was called into service, and a fuel return line was plumbed to the normally returnless DOHC. For the intended road-course use, a 7-quart Canton baffled oil pan, an '02 Lightning intercooler tank, and a Saleen dual-fan intercooler heat exchanger were also added. A Fluidyne aluminum radiator originally intended for a '96 Cobra was the final piece of the puzzle. This was the only radiator found that would work with the '95 chassis and the blown modular.
Afterward, MV rolled the project onto its Mustang chassis dyno, where 399 hp found its way to the rear wheels. But that was with the stock Cobra pulley, which Eddie has since replaced with a Lightning pulley, so he's guessing his rear-wheel horsepower to now be somewhere in the 450 range.