[Wbulk]

When I was seventeen a friends dad referred to the sound of my Corvette Stingray as a washing machine. I think he was right.

Back to the Subject:
I think the Cobras saved the FE engines; at least it seems that way. I remember in 1974 reading an article in one of the magazines about it becomming a dinosaur and a boat anchor. I built a ton of them and never really liked the design. Parts have improved and things have changed. They now garner a lot of prestige. But the weight is a negative to handling. For my next project I have done a lot of reading on Coyote installs on the FFR cars, and there is considerable more work to the installation. It appears all the bugs have not been worked out. The total cost for all the parts is running around 10K if you do it all yourself. Between those two choices I think I would choose the 390 FE as the way to go for ease of the project and you will retain the prestige. I agree with your approach for a mild build. I have too many friends that don't drive their cobras because their engines are too radical for the street.