1999 Ford Mustang Cobra - 10-Second Weekend

Back at the track at the '04 Superstallions of the Net Fall Nats, Dave was ready for the scoreboard to light up a 10, but the rpm window switch went bad, which made the nitrous cut out going down the track. Plus, he broke the transmission once again on the way to a best of 11.05/121 mph. The half-track numbers showed the car should've run in the 10.8 range, but the malfunctioning rpm window switch, along with a broken T45 transmission, meant he would have to wait until the '05 Superstallions Spring Nats.

In preparation for his second quest for a 10, Dave decided to ditch going back to a T45. Instead, he purchased a G-Force T5 helical cut/synchronized gearset, a 9310 upgraded main shaft, and bronze shift forks from Astro Performance, then found a good T5 core and built the tranny himself with a lot of help from his girlfriend, Diana. He had also grown tired of taking out transmissions with the long-tube headers in the way, so he changed to a pair of JBA Shorty headers, a Bassani cross-pipe with cats, and Bassani mufflers. The MagnaFlow tailpipes remain from the previous exhaust combo. Oh, yeah-he also replaced the malfunctioning rpm window switch with a fully operational unit.

At the '05 Superstallions Spring Nats held at Cecil County Dragway, Dave busted the 10-second barrier not once, but twice. His first pass was a 10.95 at 125 mph, then he backed up that run with a 10.89, again at 125 mph. "I was so excited to get in the 10s," he says. But, true to form, he says the nitrous might be coming off because he'd like to have 10-second power all the time.

Before that happens, though, the car's going back to Spence at Rhodes Custom Auto to get a Wild Rides Racecars Battle Box setup to take care of a couple elongated lower-control-arm bolt holes. With Spence on hand to witness the 10-second passes, he knew there was more in it, and with 60-foot times in the 1.60 range, that meant Dave was spinning pretty bad. If anyone can reduce those times, Spence and the Rhodes crew are more than qualified to do so, and drag times should fall accordingly as well. Dave hopes to run 10.70s, maybe 10.60s, before removing the nitrous and deciding what his next power adder will be. What was that about leaving it stock?

It doesn't take much to build a fast 4.6 Cobra, and Dave proves this point easily. The engine is totally stock, even down to the throttle body. What Dave's Cobra does have, however, is a Nitrous Express wet nitrous kit, good for a 125hp boost. But Dave didn't neglect the necessary safety stuff, either. He also added an rpm window switch, a fuel pressure safety switch, and a bottle heater to maintain optimal bottle pressure. Kauffman's Performance tuned the car using an SCT Switch Chip, which enables Dave to switch between a naturally aspirated program and a nitrous tune-up. A built T5 resides in the tunnel, and the factory IRS is long gone, replaced by an 8.8 solid axle featuring 4.10 gears, Superior 31-spline axles, and a Ford truck 31-spline differential. Even though he was stuck in the 11.0s for a while, at the Superstallions Spring Nationals at Cecil County Dragway in Maryland, Dave ran a 10.95, then backed it up with a 10.89 at 125 mph.