[SuperHart]

Just throwing in my two cents worth here but I agree with building a rather stock FE power plant for a street driven Cobra for many reasons, mainly cost savings and reliability. I don't mean to step on toes, but over the years I have read so many posts from guys who spent a whole lot of money building a high powered exotic power plant for their cars and ending up having trouble with breakage, leaks, difficulty tuning, not running up to par and other assorted problems. The wild motors are fun to listen to but not so much fun when they break.

A street driven Cobra roadster is a light car and with even a stock 390FE in well thought out stock bottom end trim will have more than enough power and torque to satisfy most drivers. I would, of course, lighten things up with aluminum heads and intake but would top it off with two Holley #8007 390 cfm carbs after tweaking the jets a little just for the WOW appeal. For street performance they will give more than enough breathing room for a stock motor.

I admit I am partial to a manual gearbox in a Cobra but would try and opt for a super duty close ratio T-5 rather than a top loader because of the nice 5th gear for cruising (1750 RPM at 65 mph with a 3.50 rear). A setup like that should give plenty of enjoyment without causing another recession.

If this was my choice, I would opt for the stock rebuildable short block and have my own machinist go over it thoroughly and have him make recommendations about machine work and build-up parts stressing reliability rather than exotica.