I put my Terminator Cobra Motor in today! - FFCars.com : Factory Five Racing Discussion Forum

THEDON · 06-24-2012, 03:54 AM

Had Jim Hicks from this forum and another friend come over and we shoehorned in my 2003 cobra motor. I had already got the roadster driver panel and was surprised how well it fit. I will need to use some spacers on the motor mounts, and the alternator is touching the steering shaft.
I PMed Wayne Presley to see if he had a solution that would keep my AC and PS.
Otherwise all fits great with lots of room up front.

flajctype65 · 06-24-2012, 04:32 AM

Congratulations! You're moving along. This thing should be a beast with that motor.

Russ Thompson · 06-24-2012, 03:21 PM

Wow, Jims correct, BEAST! I'm sure you will solve those issues and please keep us posted, wicked looking project.

THEDON · 06-25-2012, 12:58 AM

Thanks for the motivation guys.
I am buying steel spacers to lift the TKO into the right place on the trans mount and was going to add some .5" spacers to space the motor mounts off the block to put them in the right place. Only problem is this exacerbates the alternator steering clearance issue. That might be a tough one to resolve.
Just trying to knock out the issues one by one.

theboppshop · 06-25-2012, 12:06 PM

Mike,

I guess that you are "leader of the pack" as far as putting one of those motors in a coupe. It will be an awesome performer, for sure! Will hood clearance be an issure? Best of luck on a very unique build.

Garry

cChrisM · 06-25-2012, 12:15 PM

Congrats on your progress.

I'm not sure how different mounting the motor is to the roadster. There are a couple of options with getting it all to fit in the roadster, so see what may help your fitment with the Terminator.

Sergio, put a U-joint to make the steering shaft go around the alternator. He was also using the FFR headers. I fabbed up this solution at first but when I flipped the exhaust manifolds around they occupy the same space as the alternator. I then saw Wayne put in his X-Terminator and moved the alternator to the passenger side. I got one of his brackets and moved the alternator to where the AC goes. If you are keeping AC, this is not a solution for you.

Moving the Alternator to the passenger side you get to keep a straight steering shaft without mod. The alternator is close to the 4" frame rail and I tilted the motor raising the passenger side for clearance. I believe Wayne used a smaller diameter alternator on his build which also helps.

When I tilted the motor the steering shaft hit the exhaust manifold. I had to grind down a little of the exhaust manifolds and now it all fits perfectly. Using poly motor mounts will keep everything in place without interference.

I am using the stock exhaust manifolds flipped around with cats due to NJ emissions. Also in NJ, we can not have anything below the frame rails so I used the Whitby spacers plus a couple of washers to get the Northracecars oil pan flush with the bottom of the frame rails.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Chris.

THEDON · 06-25-2012, 01:05 PM

Thanks Chris!, Yes it does help.
I really would like to keep the AC since its on the motor already and I live in Miami. I guess I will add another steering joint. I am making the spacers for the motor mounts and I will definitely have to look into the oil pan since I see it sits well below the frame rails and this maybe the speed bump capital of the world it seems.
I'll go look at Sergios build pics again.
Mike the hood clearance is an issue with a sensor on the intake of the supercharger. I have seen a few solutions for that.
This motor is incredibly huge for a 281ci! wider taller than a big block it seems.

John Dol · 06-25-2012, 05:15 PM

Very nice, update us with pics on your fixes!

John

Jetsbaby · 06-26-2012, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theboppshop

Mike,

I guess that you are "leader of the pack" as far as putting one of those motors in a coupe. It will be an awesome performer, for sure! Will hood clearance be an issure? Best of luck on a very unique build.

Garry

It has been done before..He posted build pictures here before and his car should be done by now..

loki32v · 06-27-2012, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEDON

Thanks Chris!, Yes it does help.
I really would like to keep the AC since its on the motor already and I live in Miami. I guess I will add another steering joint. I am making the spacers for the motor mounts and I will definitely have to look into the oil pan since I see it sits well below the frame rails and this maybe the speed bump capital of the world it seems.
I'll go look at Sergios build pics again.
Mike the hood clearance is an issue with a sensor on the intake of the supercharger. I have seen a few solutions for that.
This motor is incredibly huge for a 281ci! wider taller than a big block it seems.

Good to hear you're going ahead with the project. You called me a while back about our Terminator coupe build. I'm not sure why you need to put sapcers on the MMs, Ours bolted right in and we kept the AC and PS with no modifications. The AIC (MMR sells a remote kit we modified to work)was hitting the hood on our motor without mount spacers so you will probably have other height issues. For the clearance on the oil pan we ran a FFR supplied Champ pan, well above the frame rails and clean fit. I'll get you some pics when I get a chance.

bbk347 · 06-30-2012, 09:53 AM

RE63 recently put this engine into a MK III (same steering shaft location as your coupe) and I believe he relocated the alt to the pass side fairly easily. Get in touch with him for parts needed. I wouldn't put any more universals in the steering shaft assembly. I think the engine compartment is longer in the coupe then a roadster by a few inches but not sure if/how this would effect your install. A couple of pics:

as you can see it also sits pretty low as compared to say the top of the footbox so you shouldn't have too much of a height issue. Can't wait to hear your driving reports. It is quite an engine.....very quiet most of the time but a bark like you couldn't imagine! Talk about beauty and the beast!

THEDON · 06-30-2012, 02:32 PM

BBK347 If you dont use AC you can swap the alternator to that location but I'm trying to keep it.
I got the motor aligned properly with washers as spaces, and longer MM bolts. Less than 1/2" used. I will have spacers made for the final engine install. I will have to see where the steering/alternator is after the trans is in and the engine level.

And I got my fuel cell delivered and installed the -10 feed. Worked until 11pm to fab up the cross-member for it. It will tuck up 3-4" higher than normal, and be pretty much invisible.
The difference between -10 and -8 is really significant.

Also ordered a spec stage 2+ clutch so at this point the drive line is actually all in house.

loki32v · 07-02-2012, 05:08 AM

Here are a couple of shots of our engine installed. As you can see we have plenty of room for the Alt and also on the other side for the AC compressor. Again we used no spacers and didn't modify the MMs at all.

This is the best picture I could find of the steering shaft. We have two joints total. One right out of the footbox (pictured) and another coming out of the rack. Also notice the remote oil filter, that is almost a must since there is no room for the stock set up and makes oil changes much easier. Hope these help.

THEDON · 07-02-2012, 02:01 PM

Looks good Loki,
What yesr is your kit? Mine is a 2009 i bought off a guy who never got it started. Not sure if the year makes a diff with the MMs.
Also my oil pan and SFI Lakewood bellhousing sit well below the frame rails. Guess I'll be out 500$ for an oil pan I hadn't budgeted but not sure what to do with the bellhousing, I may need to cut it off and weld in a flat plate if that doesn't interfere with anything.
I have already bought the Ford oil relocation plate and will ebay my oil cooler.
Right now with the engine sitting all the way down in the MMs the steering is clearing. Hey I'm a poet and I didn't even know it

Going to pull the engine out enough to slip the TKO in and check pinion angle. Had to trim the tail housing to fit the frame.
We'll see how everything sits then.

THEDON · 07-05-2012, 04:09 PM

Installed a new fuel cell while waiting to put in the trans (missing some bolts).
It ends up being about 3" higher than then factory mount location, and will use all -10 for feed and -6 return.

New Crossbar welded in.

Fuel cell brackets thru-bolted to existing and new 3/4" sq tubing.

Overview.

THEDON · 07-07-2012, 02:02 AM

First BIG issue. I decided to mate up my trans and engine and do some measurements for ordering lines etc. I ran into this problem;
Then engine is sitting correctly in the motor mounts and level the trans is 3/4" from mating up but will slip off the rear trans support if I move it forward anymore.
I dont know if the engine needs to come back or move the trans forward and extend the rear trans mount.
I'll PM some of the guys with 4.6's in their coupes I guess.

mn12 · 07-07-2012, 03:44 PM

Part of the 4.6 option pack for the roadster is a trans mount adapter. I purchased this pack with my coupe and so far all parts have fit he coupe frame. Long story short yes you need to adapt the trans mount.

THEDON · 07-07-2012, 03:51 PM

Thanks mn12 that's really good news I hope they have it on their site so I can buy it or I will build it by adding a 1/4" plate with slots and bolting it to the factory location to extend forward. That makes much more sense than the motor being in the wrong place.
Ok custom mini driveshaft added to the build list.

Anyone want to buy a TKO/351 coupe driveshaft gloss black powdercoated?

mn12 · 07-07-2012, 04:25 PM

My coupe has a 2002 4.6 and stock 3650 5 speed and my shaft came out at 10 5/8" center of the ujoints. If you have a terminator I am assuming you have the 6 speed which is a little longer. The advice given to me by the driveshaft shop was to insert the yoke all the way then back it out 1 inch and measure center of u joint to center of ujoint.

loki32v · 07-08-2012, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEDON

First BIG issue. I decided to mate up my trans and engine and do some measurements for ordering lines etc. I ran into this problem;
Then engine is sitting correctly in the motor mounts and level the trans is 3/4" from mating up but will slip off the rear trans support if I move it forward anymore.
I dont know if the engine needs to come back or move the trans forward and extend the rear trans mount.
I'll PM some of the guys with 4.6's in their coupes I guess.

Mike our engine sits almost exactly 8" also so you're good there. We're running a T56 so it was way long and I had to fabricate a complete new mount. I see from the pics you have a TKO so it's gonna be short. Extending the mount would be the easier route.