They are extremely small. Ford needs to pull their collective heads out of their collective asses and put some more cubes into the car, which I think they will do shortly (5.0 is the rumor). The '03 Cobra is no slouch, though even with a tiny 4.6. The 4V heads LOVE the boost, and with just a headers--back exhaust, pulley change, and couple other bolt-ons they'll lay down mid-upper 400s (rwhp) on the dyno. Stock is about 350-370rwhp (SAE).

 

ya..didnt they make a 5.0 for the 96 body style cobra? they shoulda kept that on the line

 

No. 5.0 Cobras were made in '94 and '95. Those are both SN-95s, and the last 5.0s produced. In '96, Ford switched to the mod-motor. '96+ Cobras are DOHC 4.6s rated @ 305 or 320bhp depending on the year. '96+ GTs get the SOHC 4.6, and make either 215, 225, 260, or 265bhp depending on the year.

Personally, I prefer the 4.6 DOHC to the 5.0, but I wound up with a SOHC GT, which oddly enough I still prefer over the 5.0.

The 4.6 DOHC has the potential to make 300+rwhp with bolt-ons and run low 12s with bolt ons, gears, and slicks. In fact, several of the DOHC cars have run in the 11s on STOCK LONGBLOCKS (T/B to oil-pan). The major advantage is the gearing. These cars rev to 7K+ and can easily use 4.56 and even 4.88 gears so they come out of the hole like crazy!

The 4V DOHC also LOVES boost. I had a bud with 12-13psi of non-intercooled Vortech boost on a '98 Cobra, and it laid down 490rwhp with the S trim a few other bolt-ons and a tune.

The DOHC heads also work excellent on the 5.4 blocks, and have run almost into the 10s in 'street' type cars (built DOHC 5.4, some other stuff, and 420rwhp @ about 7K rpms).

Edited for grammar. I think I'm falling asleep at the keyboard!

 

Thanks for reviving a 4 month old thread. You guys must have nothing to do.