what would you change on a Mrk II or III chassis ?

[the shadow]

I am new to the site and considering buying a used but in great shape ff cobra, I have only seen pics & specs so far, he is quite a distance away but his price is right for me. I believe the cobra was built in or around 2001-03? so I am not sure if it is a mrkII or mrk III chassis. when did the implement the chassis changes , what years?
anyway the car looks beautiful, it has all stock 88 mustnag parts as a donor parts, the engine (306) & trans have been recently freshened up. some of the things I want to change if I buy it are:
5 lug rear axels & new drums
5 lug front vented/crossdrilled rotors & better brakes
FFR 15" halirand style wheels
change the EFI out for a carbed intake & MSD set up
adjustable upper/lower rear control arms
3.55 rear gears & T/A girdle

other then those things can any of you suggest an other chassis changes that would make the car work better? can I (or should I) retro fit any chassis modifications from newer FF chassis's to the older chassis's. I hear alot about larger/stronger foot box's & lowered floor pans??? I am also open to spring & shock advise as well. this will be a weekend and or daily driver when nice but I do want it ot preform.

thanks,
Paul

[AJ Roadster NJ]

Sounds like a great plan, and welcome to the madness. FFRs have enough history around them now to where buying used is a great way to go.

One comment I'd make is the brakes. You won't be able to see the vented/crossdrilled rotors behind your new Halibrand replicas and even if you could, the venting and cross drilling can be trouble on a street car, and they add zero performance value. I'd go with Lincoln 5-lug rotors myself. In fact I did. :cool:

[CraigS]

It is probably not a MkIII. Get the serial number from the seller and we can tell you more. Mine is 5353 and was at the end of MkII as the original owner said he got a great deal since they had just released the MkIIIs so his kit was kind of a leftover. Somewhere in MkII production they added the backbone tubing to the trans tunnel and I think that is a major strength upgrade.
I agree w/ AJ, just get the Lincoln front rotors and you will have 5 lugs there. Get the rear axles from Oben or Forte and spend your brake money there since the car has drum brakes. So upgrade to discs. Best to do at the same time as axles because, if done later, the axles have to come back out again to swap over the brakes. Nicer to have to mess w/ the gear oil only once. And get Hawk HP+ pads all the way around.Snce you want to go to 355 gears, you may want to accumulate the parts as $ allow and do the whole rear axle upgrade at one time.
Think hard about 15 inch wheels.The problem is tires. Especially rear tires. 275/50x15 was the right size but no one makes them any more. 295s are available but are too big and cause rubbing problems. Here are good but inexpensive wheels.
http://www.americanmuscle.com/buwh1-9404.html
http://www.americanmuscle.com/dedibuwh.html
On the rear suspension be carefull about control arms. Stiff bushings are for drag racing but tend to bind up the suspension in corners. I had Ford Motorsport uppers which still have rubber but it's stiffer rubber than stock.
If it has Mustang rear springs and shocks a great conversion is coilovers. VPM has a Carrera setup that offers a great ride w/ the 200# springs

[the shadow]

awesome info guys, this is why I asked because I knew I would benifit from other that have been in that situation. I am sure I will be asking more questions in the future too. can any of ou comment on the foot box's, are they making them bigger now and could I modify mine to be bigger/wider as I have big feet and hope I have room for them down there? I have been reading about the re-use of the old FI return line on the carb set up as a means to stop vapor lock by keeping the fuel moving with a regulator an thoughts on that Also will I need to re-harness the car for the carb since I will be removing the efi/computor stuff, or can I salavage an of that existing harness to be re-used? My thinking now is to buy a painless harness and just ditch the old original mustang harness.
Paul

[CraigS]

A MkIV owner can confirm but I think I understood that they are wider. The MkIII or 3.1 were narrow as they decided to accomodate the 4.6 engines which are quite wide. W/ your big feet in mind, that might be a strong indicator that you should go w/ a traditional small block. i recommend a 351 vs a 302.
Re; harnesses. yes ditch the old harness and go new. The donor stuff is OLD now and no fun to deal w/. It's stiff, the plastic and insulation cracks etc. go new.
The thinking on return fuel lines seems to have changed over the last 3-5 yrs. I just retired from being a Lexus tech 4 months ago and I can tell you that the majority of them are running non-return systems.