SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: SL55 vs 04 Cobra Convertible
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 533
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From: Los Angeles, Ca
2016 GLC300 sport
SL55 vs 04 Cobra Convertible
It was around 10:30am and I was just cruising along on the 210 freeway. I've got my top down just chilling. I spot an SL55 ahead and I let him know that I want some. I get his attention and he knows it's on. The road clears ahead and we both nail it at around 70 (I was in 3rd) I powershift to 4th, and run to the top of the gear (130ish) and let off. I've got 2-3 cars on him at this time and he wasn't catching up. After I let off he is about to fly past me, so I slam it into 5th and run another 10 mph or so to keep my lead.
We slowed down and chatted a little. His car was sweet! He had some big 19-20" rims and it sounded like some sort of exhaust. I think he said the car was stock, but I am not sure. The car was tectite gray or something on the lines of that, and it had plate on it from F1 (tuning shop in LA).
So we agree to run em again, and he nails the gas. I was still in 6th gear when he hit it, so I downshift as fast as I could, but I was at a bad mph for a race. I was going 60 which is too early for 3rd and too late for 2nd. So I throw it in 3rd and slam the pedal (he already has 1.5 cars on me before I even get in gear) I start to accelerate, but he is already ahead so I was attempting to play catch up. I grab 4th and he's about 2.5 cars ahead. I couldn't over come his inital jump especially when I was in a terrible rpm spot.
anyways so you guys know my modifications, they are a $150 intake, and a $350 exhaust. Thats all. I haven't dynoed but I am sure it's somewhere around 395-410rwhp.
So 1 for me, 1 for the SL55.
We slowed down and chatted a little. His car was sweet! He had some big 19-20" rims and it sounded like some sort of exhaust. I think he said the car was stock, but I am not sure. The car was tectite gray or something on the lines of that, and it had plate on it from F1 (tuning shop in LA).
So we agree to run em again, and he nails the gas. I was still in 6th gear when he hit it, so I downshift as fast as I could, but I was at a bad mph for a race. I was going 60 which is too early for 3rd and too late for 2nd. So I throw it in 3rd and slam the pedal (he already has 1.5 cars on me before I even get in gear) I start to accelerate, but he is already ahead so I was attempting to play catch up. I grab 4th and he's about 2.5 cars ahead. I couldn't over come his inital jump especially when I was in a terrible rpm spot.
anyways so you guys know my modifications, they are a $150 intake, and a $350 exhaust. Thats all. I haven't dynoed but I am sure it's somewhere around 395-410rwhp.
So 1 for me, 1 for the SL55.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2003
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From: South Florida
ML350
I had a 1999 Cobra and it had a couple of mods. Pretty quick. The new Cobras are way underrated. They list at 390HP but they dyno at around 20-50HP more STOCK!!! Easily modded to make around 500HP at the crank. Plus it weighs alot less than the SL55. The new Cobras can easily run the 1/4 mile in the high 11's when they have some mods.
thanks for the story
T
thanks for the story
T
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 533
Likes: 3
From: Los Angeles, Ca
2016 GLC300 sport
Originally Posted by Richard023
Nice run 
A local Mustang shop in my area; B&D Racing, from what I've heard and seen tunes some real wicked Cobras.
A local Mustang shop in my area; B&D Racing, from what I've heard and seen tunes some real wicked Cobras.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Yeah
Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch.
I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp
that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 .
I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch.
I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp
that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 .
I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
Originally Posted by dgussin1
It was around 10:30am and I was just cruising along on the 210 freeway. I've got my top down just chilling. I spot an SL55 ahead and I let him know that I want some. I get his attention and he knows it's on. The road clears ahead and we both nail it at around 70 (I was in 3rd) I powershift to 4th, and run to the top of the gear (130ish) and let off. I've got 2-3 cars on him at this time and he wasn't catching up. After I let off he is about to fly past me, so I slam it into 5th and run another 10 mph or so to keep my lead.
We slowed down and chatted a little. His car was sweet! He had some big 19-20" rims and it sounded like some sort of exhaust. I think he said the car was stock, but I am not sure. The car was tectite gray or something on the lines of that, and it had plate on it from F1 (tuning shop in LA).
So we agree to run em again, and he nails the gas. I was still in 6th gear when he hit it, so I downshift as fast as I could, but I was at a bad mph for a race. I was going 60 which is too early for 3rd and too late for 2nd. So I throw it in 3rd and slam the pedal (he already has 1.5 cars on me before I even get in gear) I start to accelerate, but he is already ahead so I was attempting to play catch up. I grab 4th and he's about 2.5 cars ahead. I couldn't over come his inital jump especially when I was in a terrible rpm spot.
anyways so you guys know my modifications, they are a $150 intake, and a $350 exhaust. Thats all. I haven't dynoed but I am sure it's somewhere around 395-410rwhp.
So 1 for me, 1 for the SL55.
We slowed down and chatted a little. His car was sweet! He had some big 19-20" rims and it sounded like some sort of exhaust. I think he said the car was stock, but I am not sure. The car was tectite gray or something on the lines of that, and it had plate on it from F1 (tuning shop in LA).
So we agree to run em again, and he nails the gas. I was still in 6th gear when he hit it, so I downshift as fast as I could, but I was at a bad mph for a race. I was going 60 which is too early for 3rd and too late for 2nd. So I throw it in 3rd and slam the pedal (he already has 1.5 cars on me before I even get in gear) I start to accelerate, but he is already ahead so I was attempting to play catch up. I grab 4th and he's about 2.5 cars ahead. I couldn't over come his inital jump especially when I was in a terrible rpm spot.
anyways so you guys know my modifications, they are a $150 intake, and a $350 exhaust. Thats all. I haven't dynoed but I am sure it's somewhere around 395-410rwhp.
So 1 for me, 1 for the SL55.
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Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 533
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From: Los Angeles, Ca
2016 GLC300 sport
Originally Posted by zouzou42
Yeah
Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch.
I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp
that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 .
I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch.
I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp
that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 .
I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
BTW, what are you mods to get you 525hp. Is that BHP or RWHP. With 525rwhp you should be running high 10's/low 11's in a cobra. I am running low 12's in my vert with 400rwhp or so.
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Joined: Dec 2004
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From: Irvine, California
'10 MB E63, '08 ML550 ('05 E55, '05 SL55, '08 E63 GONE)
Originally Posted by zouzou42
Yeah nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch. I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9. I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
(We're not all soccer dads here either...)
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 318
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From: Boston, MA
2004 C32 AMG
Originally Posted by Doctodd33
I had a 1999 Cobra and it had a couple of mods. Pretty quick. The new Cobras are way underrated.
Here is an article w/dyno results: 2003 Mustang Cobra - under-rated by Ford
http://dynoperformance.com/article_details.php?ID=20
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From: Fountain Valley, California
Whatever keys I grab first...
Originally Posted by zouzou42
Yeah
Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch.
I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp
that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 .
I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch.
I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp
that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 .
I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
Member
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From: Sydney, AUS
'19 GT 4 63s ,'17 Bentley Bentayga, '06 Ford GT
Originally Posted by IngenereAMG
I have run into plenty of Cobras on the road and the track............I call BS
Before you add your 'expertise' again Ingenere, you should do some reading on modularfords.com.
I am waiting for my '03 Cobra to come back on the road after lengthy suspension and other work. I can tell you my Cobra will eat my pullied SL55 for lunch. Now a standard '03/'04 Cobra will run reasonably close to a stock 55, however the all to commonly modded Cobra can trounce one. Modding of '03/'04 Cobra is huge, thanks to it being so straight forward and accessible. There are many out there who have spent a few grand and swapped blowers over to Kenne Bell units. Those cars at base level will put out 550 RWHP, let alone at higher boost up to 700 RWHP. I'm running 21# of boost, as yet undyno'ed and I can still tell you it put's me significantly over the 600RWHP mark. A tuner who does a lot of testing for KB ran a 9.94 quarter @ 140mph with their new 2.4l unit running 28psi recently...
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From: Irvine, California
'10 MB E63, '08 ML550 ('05 E55, '05 SL55, '08 E63 GONE)
Originally Posted by OzSL55
I am waiting for my '03 Cobra to come back on the road after lengthy suspension and other work. I can tell you my Cobra will eat my pullied SL55 for lunch. Now a standard '03/'04 Cobra will run reasonably close to a stock 55, however the all to commonly modded Cobra can trounce one. Modding of '03/'04 Cobra is huge, thanks to it being so straight forward and accessible. There are many out there who have spent a few grand and swapped blowers over to Kenne Bell units. Those cars at base level will put out 550 RWHP, let alone at higher boost up to 700 RWHP. I'm running 21# of boost, as yet undyno'ed and I can still tell you it put's me significantly over the 600RWHP mark. A tuner who does a lot of testing for KB ran a 9.94 quarter @ 140mph with their new 2.4l unit running 28psi recently...
~ Ian
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G55, SLS, smart eq
Originally Posted by IanSL55
I have no doubt that it's a fast car... faster than the SL55? Sure I can buy into that... But what escapes me is... why brag about it and then insult SL55 owners? Just my 2 cents.
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From: Los Angeles, Ca
2016 GLC300 sport
Originally Posted by IanSL55
I have no doubt that it's a fast car... faster than the SL55? Sure I can buy into that... But what escapes me is... why brag about it and then insult SL55 owners? Just my 2 cents.
~ Ian
~ Ian
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From: Sydney, AUS
'19 GT 4 63s ,'17 Bentley Bentayga, '06 Ford GT
Originally Posted by IanSL55
I have no doubt that it's a fast car... faster than the SL55? Sure I can buy into that... But what escapes me is... why brag about it and then insult SL55 owners? Just my 2 cents.
~ Ian
~ Ian
Geez, I thought I could represent a view from both sides of the fence here and breakdown the barriers a bit...
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From: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
2002 C-32 AMG Renntech
I had an '03 Cobra as a weekend toy car and dumped it for another Evo. Yes the car is fast and can be made very fast cheap...but who cares? They handle terribly and the biuld quality is crap. I thought the bottom end would be bulletproof but of course Ford neglected to provide adequate cooling to one side of the motor resulting in burned #7,#8, pistons with sustained high speed activity. For the money they are a good bang for the buck but it seems silly to compare them to an SL...
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From: Sydney, AUS
'19 GT 4 63s ,'17 Bentley Bentayga, '06 Ford GT
Originally Posted by JasonC32amg
I had an '03 Cobra as a weekend toy car and dumped it for another Evo. Yes the car is fast and can be made very fast cheap...but who cares? They handle terribly and the biuld quality is crap. I thought the bottom end would be bulletproof but of course Ford neglected to provide adequate cooling to one side of the motor resulting in burned #7,#8, pistons with sustained high speed activity. For the money they are a good bang for the buck but it seems silly to compare them to an SL...
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From: Irvine, California
'10 MB E63, '08 ML550 ('05 E55, '05 SL55, '08 E63 GONE)
Originally Posted by dgussin1
I didnt insult any 55 owners. Please go back and read who posted what.
Originally Posted by zouzou42
Yeah. Nice to meet another snake that had an AMG for lunch. I have an 03 cobra (see my post below) with 525 hp that runs the a 1/4 mile in 11.9 . I always love to see these soccer dads smoked.
~ Ian
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From: Irvine, California
'10 MB E63, '08 ML550 ('05 E55, '05 SL55, '08 E63 GONE)
Originally Posted by OzSL55
Ian, why the hell should it be an insult, because it's a lowly Ford? Come on, we're talking bang for the buck here and to be honest the Cobra is better appointed than most would think. It's a modifiers dream, it's not trying to be class leading luxury performance. So my Cobra will beat my SL in a race so what, that's not why I bought the SL, otherwise I would have just stuck with my Cobra! Geez, I thought I could represent a view from both sides of the fence here and breakdown the barriers a bit...
~ Ian
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From: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
2002 C-32 AMG Renntech
Originally Posted by OzSL55
How many times have I heard it doesn't handle..Give me $3000 and I can make an '03 Cobra handle no probs. Ever heard of Maximum Motorsports or Griggs Racing? Many people such as myself have full coilover susp. setups and addition chassis parts which bring to car up to a bonafide 'european' level of handling. Build quality is not that bad for a car in it's price range either. As for the engine, it has been rated by the aftermarket industry to support upwards of 900hp stock. I don't know where you get your data on burned pistons from but it flys in the face of hundreds of happy modified Cobra owners on both Modfords.com and SVTPerformance. I can count on one hand the number of posts I've come across about genuine engine problems (dgussin1 care to back me up here). At the end of the day for less than $12k of painless bolt-ons, I have achieved a car that out performs anything else I've driven and owes me less than 3rd of what my SL55 does...
Sounds like your happy with it, more power to ya
Gonna trade the SL for a Monaro while you're at it? 
Now go thow another shrimp on the barbie Crockodile Dundee :p
Just busting your chops
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From: Sydney, AUS
'19 GT 4 63s ,'17 Bentley Bentayga, '06 Ford GT
Originally Posted by IanSL55
Oz, I have nothing against the Cobra, the car, the snake, or otherwise... I do wonder why zouzou42 has to come on the board calling SL55 owners soccer Dads... bragging about his car... and that's what I'm referring to. Sorry for any confusion.
~ Ian
~ Ian
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 533
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From: Los Angeles, Ca
2016 GLC300 sport
Jason,
The cooling issue is not as bad as some make it out to be. Most anything can be fixed with a few simple mods. A heat exchanger, a larger radiator, a canton oil pan, and the head cooling mod...with these mods (>$1000) you have an engine that will easily run over 750rwhp before the pistons and their rings hang the gloves up. Outside of that, a simple piston swap will allow these motors to safely run up to 900+ rwhp.
As far as coil overs making the ride worse, they actually improve the ride. I am in the process of getting coil overs for my cobra right now.
As for you melting a couple of pistons, that is nothing a good tune can't take care of. I can assure you, you either didn't have the approiate mods to back up the power increase you made or your tune was ****. Most likely it was a combo of both. Some guys think making the most power out of a setup is key. I chose some reliability and some nice power (my car is faster now, since the race with the R230). But my car is slow.
Also the IRS, while it was an afterthought to this chassis, I can assure you that it can handle with the best of them. I had a friend clock his IRS cobra with $2500 in suspension slaloming over 72 mph, and his car rides better than any stock cobra I've ever been in. I don't think any benz can do that, short of a slr, which probably can't do that.
Ian,
That guy is indeed a troll, pay no mind to him. I have no affiliation what so ever with him. He most likely doesn't even have a cobra, let alone a car.
The cooling issue is not as bad as some make it out to be. Most anything can be fixed with a few simple mods. A heat exchanger, a larger radiator, a canton oil pan, and the head cooling mod...with these mods (>$1000) you have an engine that will easily run over 750rwhp before the pistons and their rings hang the gloves up. Outside of that, a simple piston swap will allow these motors to safely run up to 900+ rwhp.
As far as coil overs making the ride worse, they actually improve the ride. I am in the process of getting coil overs for my cobra right now.
As for you melting a couple of pistons, that is nothing a good tune can't take care of. I can assure you, you either didn't have the approiate mods to back up the power increase you made or your tune was ****. Most likely it was a combo of both. Some guys think making the most power out of a setup is key. I chose some reliability and some nice power (my car is faster now, since the race with the R230). But my car is slow.
Also the IRS, while it was an afterthought to this chassis, I can assure you that it can handle with the best of them. I had a friend clock his IRS cobra with $2500 in suspension slaloming over 72 mph, and his car rides better than any stock cobra I've ever been in. I don't think any benz can do that, short of a slr, which probably can't do that.
Ian,
That guy is indeed a troll, pay no mind to him. I have no affiliation what so ever with him. He most likely doesn't even have a cobra, let alone a car.
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From: Sydney, AUS
'19 GT 4 63s ,'17 Bentley Bentayga, '06 Ford GT
Originally Posted by JasonC32amg
I had a full Griggs setup on my '92 notch with about 550rwhp courtesy of an S-Trim, so yes...I've heard of them. There are a number of band aid fixes for the suboptimal IRS...unless you are saying that you ripped it out and replaced it with the Griggs 3-link (panhard and torque arm). What you have described is a kit car...not something available from the factory with warranty and the ride will be a bit compromised. As far as the cooling deficiency it is well known and if you are on those sites then you should be aware of it....as is the coating on the stock pistons coming off and leading to internal issues as well.
Sounds like your happy with it, more power to ya Gonna trade the SL for a Monaro while you're at it?
Now go thow another shrimp on the barbie Crockodile Dundee :p
Just busting your chops
Sounds like your happy with it, more power to ya
Gonna trade the SL for a Monaro while you're at it? Now go thow another shrimp on the barbie Crockodile Dundee :p
Just busting your chops
I did a quick look into piston issues on modfords and found this useful post listing all kinds of failure and why: link Out of the 33 cars listed. It appears to me that most piston damage was caused by improper tuning leading to lean cond. That's going to kill the best of engines. The pistons maybe the first part to go in the engine at high performance level, but that does not mean the stock ones are faulty or inferior.
Monaro/Pontiac GTO, now that's one waste of space of a car dude. Perhaps one of your elderly friends
over there in 'Death's waiting room' can take you for spin in theirs 
- he he
