snake hunter
Active LVC Member
I've got a set of gen 1 kooks headers that I want to put on my 97 Mark VIII and not sure if anything needs to be altered on them to make work on my gen 2
I'm going to do the 96-98 cobra intake swap and the kooks headers at the same time and don't want to run into any surprises that will keep the car off the road any longer than needed or have it sit at the muffler shop while I'm waiting on unexpected parts that will be needed. I found this post that I think will tell me what I need for the intake that I will list below but not sure about the headers?
**This is the info I found for the intake swap. Please check it out and make sure I'm going in the right direction
**For you guys planning on this swap for a Gen2, I just want to give you some facts about the install. So here they are:
*You WILL need 6 bolts of a different length in order to bolt down the Cobra intake;three on either side. They are 8mmX 1.25 pitch 70s. The bolts for the fuel rails and up front will be fine.
*The cruise control module in the driver's side wheel well has to be relocated closer to the engine compartment. In its original position, the cruise control cable (which also serves as throttle return) is nowhere close to reaching. I adapted a throttle return spring on mine and am basically not using the cruise control function at this point. To be able to get the cruise control cable to work on the cobra intake with the new location of the stock bracket, I believe it has to be modified or manipulated in some way. Using a throttle bracket from the Cobra may have made this part easier, but I couldn't get my hands on one. The Mark VIII throttle body has to be flipped upside-down for this part of the swap and the wires for the TPS have to be extended because the connector will not reach.
*The stock intake tube will NOT work with the Cobra intake and it's not even close. It points towards the radiator, lol. I used the 03/04 Cobra intake tube. It is shorter, and as a matter of fact a bit short of the stock airbox location so expect to be purchasing a MAF adapter, spacer, and cone to make it work even with the Cobra tube. Otherwise, an aftermarket CAI setup like JLT or others may work but you should be sure it will fit. The CAI setup I have now utilizes the panel filter and a section of the old box. It is janky in a major way, but works for now until I get the CAI setup this next weekend. I simply wasn't prepared with the above mentioned items and my ideas of how everything would fit were off a bit lol. The wires for the IAT have to be extended so the connector reaches the new location on the Cobra tube.
*The Mark VIII gaskets for the IMRCs will work fine with the Cobra intake because the port design is identical. The Mark VIII iac valve is also a direct swap.
*I have yet to tidy up the vacuum lines under the hood, so this part of the swap I can't really get into detail yet, but what I can say is that the vacuum ports on the upper lid of the Cobra intake are in all new locations compared to the stock intake so some vacuum lines and "tees" and/or "elbows" are needed. Vacuum lines need to be re-routed and extended in most cases. As long as all of your vacuum lines are being utilized on the upper lid, you're golden. The challenging part is rerouting them all and making everything look "stock" but it's not that tough if you put some thinking power into it.
* I used the stock fuel rails, but it was a very tight fit. The fuel pressure regulator on the driver's side butts up against the egr delete plate. If you are utilizing your EGR valve, you must use the Cobra rails, and in that case some splicing of the fuel lines is required and my buddy was hesitant on that. For now I am holding onto them and may use them in the future.
I'm going to do the 96-98 cobra intake swap and the kooks headers at the same time and don't want to run into any surprises that will keep the car off the road any longer than needed or have it sit at the muffler shop while I'm waiting on unexpected parts that will be needed. I found this post that I think will tell me what I need for the intake that I will list below but not sure about the headers?
**This is the info I found for the intake swap. Please check it out and make sure I'm going in the right direction
**For you guys planning on this swap for a Gen2, I just want to give you some facts about the install. So here they are:
*You WILL need 6 bolts of a different length in order to bolt down the Cobra intake;three on either side. They are 8mmX 1.25 pitch 70s. The bolts for the fuel rails and up front will be fine.
*The cruise control module in the driver's side wheel well has to be relocated closer to the engine compartment. In its original position, the cruise control cable (which also serves as throttle return) is nowhere close to reaching. I adapted a throttle return spring on mine and am basically not using the cruise control function at this point. To be able to get the cruise control cable to work on the cobra intake with the new location of the stock bracket, I believe it has to be modified or manipulated in some way. Using a throttle bracket from the Cobra may have made this part easier, but I couldn't get my hands on one. The Mark VIII throttle body has to be flipped upside-down for this part of the swap and the wires for the TPS have to be extended because the connector will not reach.
*The stock intake tube will NOT work with the Cobra intake and it's not even close. It points towards the radiator, lol. I used the 03/04 Cobra intake tube. It is shorter, and as a matter of fact a bit short of the stock airbox location so expect to be purchasing a MAF adapter, spacer, and cone to make it work even with the Cobra tube. Otherwise, an aftermarket CAI setup like JLT or others may work but you should be sure it will fit. The CAI setup I have now utilizes the panel filter and a section of the old box. It is janky in a major way, but works for now until I get the CAI setup this next weekend. I simply wasn't prepared with the above mentioned items and my ideas of how everything would fit were off a bit lol. The wires for the IAT have to be extended so the connector reaches the new location on the Cobra tube.
*The Mark VIII gaskets for the IMRCs will work fine with the Cobra intake because the port design is identical. The Mark VIII iac valve is also a direct swap.
*I have yet to tidy up the vacuum lines under the hood, so this part of the swap I can't really get into detail yet, but what I can say is that the vacuum ports on the upper lid of the Cobra intake are in all new locations compared to the stock intake so some vacuum lines and "tees" and/or "elbows" are needed. Vacuum lines need to be re-routed and extended in most cases. As long as all of your vacuum lines are being utilized on the upper lid, you're golden. The challenging part is rerouting them all and making everything look "stock" but it's not that tough if you put some thinking power into it.
* I used the stock fuel rails, but it was a very tight fit. The fuel pressure regulator on the driver's side butts up against the egr delete plate. If you are utilizing your EGR valve, you must use the Cobra rails, and in that case some splicing of the fuel lines is required and my buddy was hesitant on that. For now I am holding onto them and may use them in the future.
