Carolina Cobras

Fuel-injected Mustangs are nothing new for brothers Jonathan and Jeremy Haymore, as both have had more than a few of the potent ponycars and their father, Jerry, has owned two Cobras himself.

Jonathan, the older of the two, purchased a Reef Blue '92 GT at the tender age of 17, but sold it when this '93 Cobra became available. "My friend Frankie James has had eight Mustangs," he says, "and I told him that if he ever sold the Cobra, I got dibs on it first."

When Jonathan purchased it, the two-owner snake had logged 68,000 miles and had received a Paxton SN-92 ball-drive supercharger. Looking for a few more ponies through a camshaft swap, Jonathan's ill-fated choice of mechanic left him with spun main bearings and globs of blue silicone gasket maker clogging up the oil pump pickup.

A few months passed before he contacted Drew Davis from Rotating Dynamics in Winston Salem, North Carolina, who cleaned up the stock block and bolted in a Probe Industries 347ci stroker assembly. A Ford Racing Performance Parts X303 cam with 0.542-inch lift and 224 degrees of duration at 0.050 was installed, and the short-block was topped off with out-of-the-box Edelbrock Victor Jr. cylinder heads featuring 2.05 intake and 1.60 exhaust valves, along with a ported stock Cobra intake manifold.

While the powerplant was being put together, Jonathan took the opportunity to fortify the suspension with Steeda and HPM upper and lower rear control arms, Lakewood shocks and struts, and a Competition Engineering rear antiroll bar. HPM subframe connectors were welded in, and the 8.8 was overhauled using an Auburn differential, a 3.55:1 ring-and-pinion set, and Moser 31-spline axles.

With the engine back from the machine shop, Jonathan hooked it up to a Tremec five-speed with a Spec Stage III clutch to transmit horsepower and torque to a pair of Weld Draglites and Mickey Thompson 28x11.50X15 ET Street tires. Draglite pizza cutters with M/T front runners point the ponycar down the track, while Jonathan uses the stock snake rims with Nitto 555R rubber for street duty.

The Cobra stopped the quarter-mile clocks in 12.10 seconds at 116 mph with this setup, but Jonathan was looking to pump up the boost. He purchased a Kenne Bell Blowzilla supercharger pullied for 12 psi of boost. "I was amazed by the torque and power this supercharger generated," he says.

And just like that, off came the Kenne Bell. A call to HP Performance netted one of its turbo-charger kits. Featuring a 60mm turbo and air-to-air intercooler, the kit delivered the low-end torque that Jonathan had become accustomed to with the Kenne Bell. With no tuning, it produced 565 rwhp and 632 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 rpm, with the pull being cut short due to a lean air/fuel ratio.

Jonathan installed Aeromotive's complete Mustang fuel system with 60-lb/hr injectors. He took the car to Randy Haywood at Haywood Speed Shop in Raleigh, North Carolina, where a safe, 9-psi tune with 18 degrees of total timing produced 520 rwhp and 608 lb-ft of torque. "The car drives just like a stocker, gets 17 mpg, and runs consistent 6.90s at 106 mph in the eighth-mile," Jonathan says.

He is quick to thank those who have given their time, support, and wrench hands to his ride, including his fiancee, Stephanie Fowler; his brother Jeremy; friend Frankie James; and his father. He also credits Drew Davis and Randy Haywood with providing a dependable yet powerful combination that generally keeps this Cobra ahead of his brother's.