Proud Cobra Owner - SP01862

[DriftingCloud]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to introduce myself to the group and ask for a little regional advice.

I bought my Superformance Cobra back in April. It's a 2004 roller originally built by Dynamic Motorsports in Ohio. It has a 351W and a Tremec 3550. The dyno run at the time of the build was 470 hp/435 ft lbs. I was actually looking for more of an enjoyable driver rather than the most extreme build I could find, so this was perfect. The car is everything I'd hoped for, but it's set a new bar for high maintenance as compared to any other sports car I've ever owned.

In fairness, I'm pretty clearly dealing with a lack of good maintenance from the previous owners. Even though the car only had 8,520 miles at the time I purchased it, eleven years of nothing can take it's own toll. In time, I plan to get it back in good shape.

Almost immediately after receiving the car, it needed a new water pump and a cam shaft (more radical than the original). One of the original cam's lobes was ground down from a bad roller. Also, it was originally running a 750 CFM Demon Street Demon carburetor (mechanical secondaries) that wasn't tuned well. At the same time as the other work, the Demon was switched to a 650 CFM Holley Street Avenger (vacuum secondaries). The car has hated this carb from the beginning. Two "experts" have worked with it and everything that can be tweaked (jets, squirter, power valve, springs, etc...) have been changed out, but the car still runs very poorly. It leans out terribly under hard acceleration and the power delivery is neither smooth nor linear, both on the primaries and the secondaries.

This brings me to the advice part... I live in Aiken, SC. I understand a lot about my car (mostly how much more I still have to learn), but I'd really like to find a very competent, detail-oriented shop to work with just to help me get it back to reliable running where I can take over. On the Georgia side, I know about Southern Automotive (in a transition currently?) and Cobra Restorers. On the NC side, I know about Olthoff's Racing. Am I missing any place? Does anyone have any experiences with these places that they'd be willing to share? Who would you trust your car with?

Thanks, and I'm happy to be part of the forum.