Instead of waiting till after Easter to pull the motor out of my Cobra and going thru it I ended up buying a built shortblock off of craigslist. It too is an original Cobra block but this guy upgraded the powdered metal rods with Manley H beams and put low compression diamond pistons in place of the stock hyper pistons. Since I don't want low compression for my centrifugal supercharger (they are better for roots/screwchargers) I already planned to swap out the slugs for flat tops. It came with ARP head and main studs which sweetened the deal too.

So with help I stripped it down in preparation for the trip to the machine shop.

The stock 96-98 Cobra engine is 32 valve with 281ci. Pistons are a briggs and stratton size, just 3.552" in diameter. Stroke is small too. However.... The OE block is aluminum. Cast by Teksid of Italy who does all the Ferrari blocks. It's fully skirted with 6 bolts on the main caps. 4 vertical and 2 cross bolts. Although debatable some people claim the stock block is good for 1500hp. Ford didn't skimp on the crank either. They put a nice forging in the car from the factory with 2 more flywheel bolts than more pedestrian 4.6 motors. Although debatable like the block, some say the OE forging will take 1200hp.

Even if we cut those numbers in half thats still more than I would dream a stock mopar small block taking. Granted both are in a completely different league. Tenchnology is wonderful but doesn't usually go hand in hand with simplicity. I'm intimidated a bit.

chris, is the cobra going to be as "on the edge" as the duster was?