After 5 DSM's and many hours on NABR I sold my last FP Red powered DSM in 03'. The replacement after a couple of months was a 03' cobra. Fun car, but big and really it's no different from any other 99' up mustang except for the built engine. I sold that car in 04'.

The wife, kids, and I are closing on a new home in June and it's time for another car. After watching Chris' EVO maul some 600rwhp cobra's the 4g63 itch has come back, plus the wife doesn't want to spend a ton of savings on a sports car.

I've searched for diff. failures, TC failures, etc and have not found that much and since NABR focuses more on DSM's I figured I would pose the question here.

1. How common are drivetrain failures and at what power level do they become prevalent?

2. Are there any upgrades to help fix the problem?

3. 2003,2004,2005 any major differences if your plans are to drop in a stroker anyway?

Thanks.

 

I work on these car daily and have seen very few failures in driveline parts. I have seen some failures due to hard launching and lack of lubrication. This could be due to people not using the proper oil and not filling the t-cases correctly. As for the years in vehicles 05 models come with active center diffs. ( Not sure yet what kind of abuse they will stand up to) but great for road racing and auto xing. As far as the engines they are pretty much the same, if there are any differences the are very minute and will probably be changed when you do a 2.3 and supporting mods. Obviously you will be able to get a 03 much cheaper than a 05. Just my 2 cents

 

TC's fail most of the time due to wrong fluids put in them. Or hard launches or clutch drops at 6k with an aftermarket clutch. Ive seen many evos go 10's on stock tranny and tc which are very strong if you take care of it and do the correct maintenance