On April 11, 2003 I purchased this car from the previous owner in California. Car had 15,454.5 miles on it at the time of purchase. The previous owner had sent the car out to Texas to have some work done on it, mainly to have a head gasket issue resolved and some GT-40 heads to be installed. The person who did the work ended up doing more than was agreed upon, installed what he claims is a Cobra R IRS with a 4.10 gear, a T56 tranny and a few other minor things. It definately has a IRS in it, not sure if it is a Cobra R or not, it also drives like it might very well have a 4.10 gear in it. The tranny however is not a T56, just a stock T5. The supercharger was pulley'd back down to 8lbs and unsure presently if it has GT-40 heads or just some stockers on there. The car ended up being impounded due to the unathorized work and the mechanic basically trying to get a mechanics lien on it and grab the car for himself. Once the previous owner finally got the car back via the court systems, I was storing it for a few days before they arranged to ship it home. After looking over the car a good bit, I decided to make an offer on it in hopes of getting it, fixing the few things I found and using this as my daily driver for awhile. I recieved the car with shot brakes, needs the fluid flushed and new pads all around, but plan to probably upgrade the front brakes to Cobra brakes. The heater core might be bad, it is bypassed for some reason. The rear fenders were rolled a little too much and the paint there needs to be touched up. Beyond those little things it really needs no work, other than maybe a bit of paint over some of the welds when the IRS was installed.

April 27, 2003, pulled off all the wheels to replace the brake pads but found that the pad life was rather good on all corners. Went ahead and replaced the front pads and flushed the brake fluid out of the system. Did not do the rear pads due to time constraints. Finally got to drive the car for more than a few blocks. Discovered that it is bad to assume the person helping you tightened the lug nuts because they might assume the same thing about me. So after getting gas and limping home, tightened the lug nuts and went back out to test the brakes, all is good. Only complaint is the rear tires rub some in certain turns, thinking of maybe going to a 245/45/17 tire on the back to see if the rubbing will lessen or go away completely.

May 4, 2003, took the car out to a buddies shop so could put it up on his lift and inspect the underside better. Had been told one brake line fitting was leaking in the back but we could not find any signs of this. Everything looked fine from front to back of the car. Was able to verify that no external fuel pump as been added as well. The car definately has some 4.10s in it and develops a vibration at 90mph and higher speeds. The Flowmasters are way too loud around 2k rpms for my ears, going to have to find a better muffler to put on there and fix the Magnaflow tailpipes at the same time. Tires are also rubbing a little too much for me when the car hits bumps, going to probably try a 245 on the back, but might just get some different wheels if a deal can be found.

May 21, 2003, finally got some 245 Khumo's on the back of the car and now no more rubbing or only minor rubbing and in very extreme bumps. Have some 3.31 gears on order for the car and hoping to install in the upcoming weeks, also have a Walbro 255 intank pump coming to replace the 190 intank, just to be on the safe side. Also finally got around to smogging this car and surpisingly it is probably the cleanest running car we have right now.

February 10, 2004, car had been very reliable up until recently. As it turns out there is a brake fluid leak, a very slow one that took up until now to even expose itself via the pedal feel. The same week the brakes exposed themself, the car blew the driver side headgasket when causually going into 5th gear. Best we can tell the 7 and 8 cylinders were starving for fuel due to the 190 intank pump still being in the car along with stock rails and 42lb injectors. Replaced the heads with my Dart Sr heads, will be running the stock intake for now and installed the 255 intank pump. Also put in some Autolite 23s with a .033 gap, new 9mm FMS wires, MSD cap, Ford rotor, Ford fuel filter and a new Pro-M air filter. Planning to get Murillo Motorsports to redo the chip but might wait until some new intakes are purchased.

February 23, 2004, Drove the car up to San Antonio to have Murillo Motorsports install the 3.31 gears, 255 intank pump and do a chip for the car to replace the chip burned at Swanson Performance. Found out that the IRS is from a 1999 Cobra via the spline count on the half shafts. Also had them install a new set of Autolite 24 spark plugs before getting it dyno tuned. Car made roughly the same power with the new chip as it did for the previous owner. Though have no idea what the AFR was on the runs for the previous owner, had a nice safe tune done on the current chip. The car's gas mileage has increased greatly, burned a 1/4 tank less of gas getting home. No complaints at all about how it drives and performs, it is a world of difference going from the 4.10 gears though. If a Saleen intank can be found for sale, will probably upgrade the intake. The JBA shorty headers will eventually be replaced with some nice long tubes, the shorties just are not the best fitting pieces and the car would really wake up with a better flowing exhaust. Also took the car to the Turbo Mustangs shootout to visit some people, was quite surprised at the amount of compliments the car recieved while there and the few offers from people to buy it, but as usual never an actual $$$ offer is made.