Four-Valve in a Fox
One of the pioneers of mod motor racing, Robert Hindman swapped a Four-Valve Cobra engine into his '87 GT and commenced to clean house in both NMRA and Fun Ford modular classes in 2001. Steve Ferguson,
Lupe Davila, Joe Charles, and Gary Youngblood all had amazing success with modular powerplants under the hood of their Fox Mustangs. Robert used an Anthony Jones
K-member to drop the Four-Valve between the fenders and added a MAC exhaust, a Dynomite C4 transmission, a stock Cobra computer, a C&L 80mm mass air meter, and an MSD DIS-4 ignition. With 4.56 gears in the 8.8 out back, he ran a best time of 11.92.
However, by the time you read this, Robert will have a new '01 Mustang based on a body-in-white to take into battle. The move was necessary to comply with Fun Ford Mod Motor class rules.
RPM=Power
When we compared an '01 Bullitt with an '01 Cobra, we also had a chance to run the two across the rollers at BBK/Brother's Performance. The results weren't surprising, as the Cobra possesses the superior power characteristics, especially in the upper-rpm range. Also not surprising was the Two-Valve showed superior numbers down low. But by 4,200 rpm, the Cobra politely waved bye-bye to the GT on the way to a peak 274 hp at 5,900 rpm. Peak torque from the Cobra arrived at 4,800, just 200 rpm lower than the Bullitt's 236hp peak.
So what's the purpose of showing this dyno comparison? If you choose the Four-Valve, you'll not only start out with more horsepower on tap, but also the results of your power-adder additions will pay excellent dividends.
| '01 Mustang GT
Bullitt | '01 SVT Mustang
Cobra |
| RPM | TQ | HP | TQ | HP |
| 2,600 | 252.8 | 125.2 | 271.3 | 134.3 |
| 2,700 | 253.8 | 130.5 | 247.5 | 127.2 |
| 2,800 | 252.9 | 134.8 | 242.2 | 129.1 |
| 2,900 | 251.5 | 138.9 | 241.5 | 133.4 |
| 3,000 | 253.3 | 144.7 | 240.3 | 137.3 |
| 3,100 | 254.9 | 150.4 | 240.6 | 142.0 |
| 3,200 | 257.2 | 156.7 | 241.8 | 147.3 |
| 3,300 | 264.0 | 165.9 | 242.7 | 152.5 |
| 3,400 | 267.2 | 173.0 | 248.7 | 161.0 |
| 3,500 | 267.4 | 178.2 | 257.1 | 171.3 |
| 3,600 | 267.3 | 183.2 | 262.4 | 179.9 |
| 3,700 | 270.5 | 190.6 | 260.2 | 183.3 |
| 3,800 | 272.1 | 196.9 | 261.5 | 189.2 |
| 3,900 | 274.4 | 203.7 | 264.0 | 196.1 |
| 4,000 | 274.8 | 209.3 | 267.8 | 203.9 |
| 4,100 | 274.2 | 214.0 | 274.2 | 214.1 |
| 4,200 | 276.2 | 220.9 | 278.6 | 222.8 |
| 4,300 | 273.8 | 224.2 | 276.6 | 226.5 |
| 4,400 | 270.6 | 226.7 | 272.1 | 228.0 |
| 4,500 | 267.8 | 229.5 | 274.3 | 235.1 |
| 4,600 | 266.4 | 233.3 | 236.9 | 242.5 |
| 4,700 | 263.0 | 235.3 | 277.2 | 248.0 |
| 4,800 | 259.2 | 236.9 | 278.8 | 254.8 |
| 4,900 | 255.3 | 238.2 | 278.8 | 260.1 |
| 5,000 | 248.6 | 236.7 | 276.7 | 263.4 |
| 5,100 | 243.7 | 236.6 | 271.0 | 263.1 |
| 5,200 | 238.9 | 236.5 | 270.8 | 268.1 |
| 5,300 | 233.9 | 236.0 | 257.1 | 259.4 |
| 5,400 | 225.0 | 231.4 | 252.5 | 259.6 |
| 5,500 | 218.5 | 228.8 | 253.0 | 264.9 |
| 5,600 | 214.9 | 229.2 | 247.2 | 263.6 |
| 5,700 | 208.9 | 226.8 | 247.0 | 268.1 |
| 5,800 | n/a | n/a | 243.4 | 268.8 |
| 5,900 | n/a | n/a | 244.1 | 274.2 |
| 6,000 | n/a | n/a | 239.4 | 273.5 |
| 6,100 | n/a | n/a | 226.3 | 262.9 |
| 6,200 | n/a | n/a | 221.5 | 261.5 |
| 6,300 | n/a | n/a | 220.8 | 264.9 |
| 6,400 | n/a | n/a | 211.3 | 257.4 |
| 6,500 | n/a | n/a | 202.8 | 251.0 |
| 6,600 | n/a | n/a | 195.8 | 246.0 |