Lightning mule spotted
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GT Member
Joined: February 2, 2004
Posts: 154
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Hey, I read on another forum that a Lightning mule beat a z06 in a race. I thought that was pretty interesting. One guy was saying they were doing wind tunnel testing to get the truck to do 165 mph...whoa. Take it with a grain of salt, but one guy did provide a pic of the mule.
Thread Starter
GT Member
Joined: February 2, 2004
Posts: 154
Likes: 0
Wow, it's only been like 3 hours. I'm busy here at work, so let me just post the links.
Here's the short story and pic:
SVT Lightning pic
Here's the full text and some other info (scroll down just a little):
More INFO
Here's the short story and pic:
SVT Lightning pic
Here's the full text and some other info (scroll down just a little):
More INFO
Cobra Member
Joined: January 31, 2004
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 0
Here's his post:
Very nice, indeed!
This may be a good indication of how well the new Cobra will perform.
Originally posted by TheGoaT
Well I live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia where they have a big Ford plant where they build F-150s. Well I get a call this morning from a good friend of mine who works at the plant, and this is what I hear, " you wanna see the new lightning? throw some clothes on and meet me right now" So I run out of my house and drive up to the plant with him. They have a gen3 prototype lightning in the bay that they are taking apart to see if they can buld them at the plant in Virginia. My buddy gets me in the plant and we walk up to check out the beast.
Now sadly, I wasnt allowed to bring a camera in to sneak any pictures, but I will try to relay into words what I saw.
First, the engine. Yes they stayed with the 5.4l DOHC blower setup. This thing is a freakin beast. CAN YOU SAY 4V HEADS?!? Yes I said that right, the mechanic taking it apart helped me wet my pants by showing me that this engine had not the 3v we were told, but 4v heads. The engine looked nothing like the concept engine picture I saw a while back. The overall layout of all the components was almost identical to the current gen2 setup. Modding will be just as easy. They have a new idler pulley setup that is much different that the current pulley arangement and more like a metco idler kit look. The lower crank pulley was much thicker and stronger than our gen2s. The blower was the best part. It was nothing like the concept blower Ive seen before that looked like a chromed out eaton. This was all smooth black painted with no badges on it at all. I think they dont want people to know who it was built from yet. It was smaller, more comoact than the current eaton, with a smaller snout. It looked like a mini kenne bell(not saying that it is). The blower pulley had a much deeper cut that the belt rested in quite snuggly. The intake didnt have the double intake scopes like we saw in the concept, but a small stout intake elbow about half the length of our current intake. Attached to it was a 2 port throttlebody much wider than our model. After that it had an intake elbow and airbox much like the current one mounted in the same exact spot with a fender hole.
The interior: This was my favorite part other than the engine. The interior was EXACTLY like the concept. The only difference was there was no stick shift boys, it has a center mounted automatic with a overdrive button mounted next to it. The interior looked awesome. It has two semi bucket seats, with a sweude cloth mix alot better than the current design and actual head rest. It had a center console, so no more bench seat. You wouldnt believe how much room was in there. The truck was not quite a regular cab. What I mean by this is that it only had 2 seats, but there was about a 1 and 1/2 foot deep area behind the seats to the rear of the cab. You can recline these seats a bit. They had a subwoofer mounted to the floor. It also had two very small side windows in this extra 'cab'. I think thats where the extra weight of the truck came from. The inside was much much more roomy than our trucks. The white faced gauge cluster looked freakin sweet and the speedo went to 170! the Tach redlined at 5500 rpm, and it had a 0-10 psi boost gauge. It had red highlights with svt across it. The plush bucket seats also had SVT across them. It was so comfortable, it was like sitting on your lazyboy at home.
The exterior: Now this is the part I didnt really like that much. But its ok I didnt, because they were making alot of changes and the outside was the part they said they were still experimenting with. They had the hood scoop design off of it, with just a orginally f-150 hood on it. The front grill and front fender were alot like the concept design. They had velco on the front half of the truck from the camoflauge they used, they only cover the front of the truck. The 2 side lightning badges were removed. It had no side skirts or ground effects mounted. In the bed that had some hard foam prototype ground effects they hadnt mounted yet. I couldnt really tell what they were gonna look like. It had a regular f-150 rear bumper and tailgate and bed setup. The bed is much much wider than our trucks. I couldnt almost get my hands around the tailgate. Its much wider and deeper than our current beds. It had 20 inch mag wheels on it(they arent going to be the production rims), and the current version of eagle f1 rubber on them. They had much beefier leaf springs than we have and a much lower rear stance. The exhaust was still a right passenger side exit, but it looked ungodly. After the muffler underneath it turned into 2 huge square funnel shaped exit cones. They were about 12 inces acros EACH and about 3 inches thick. I swear the whole exhaust exit was 2 feet long going down the side of the truck. I didnt like it at all. I hope they change that setup. It looked horrible.
I was very pleased with the engine and the interior of the truck, and once they finish the outside styling I think it will be one beautiful truck. The guy there told me they plan to sell it cheaper than the srt-10. He siad it wont go nowhere near a 46k sticker.
Well I live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia where they have a big Ford plant where they build F-150s. Well I get a call this morning from a good friend of mine who works at the plant, and this is what I hear, " you wanna see the new lightning? throw some clothes on and meet me right now" So I run out of my house and drive up to the plant with him. They have a gen3 prototype lightning in the bay that they are taking apart to see if they can buld them at the plant in Virginia. My buddy gets me in the plant and we walk up to check out the beast.
Now sadly, I wasnt allowed to bring a camera in to sneak any pictures, but I will try to relay into words what I saw.
First, the engine. Yes they stayed with the 5.4l DOHC blower setup. This thing is a freakin beast. CAN YOU SAY 4V HEADS?!? Yes I said that right, the mechanic taking it apart helped me wet my pants by showing me that this engine had not the 3v we were told, but 4v heads. The engine looked nothing like the concept engine picture I saw a while back. The overall layout of all the components was almost identical to the current gen2 setup. Modding will be just as easy. They have a new idler pulley setup that is much different that the current pulley arangement and more like a metco idler kit look. The lower crank pulley was much thicker and stronger than our gen2s. The blower was the best part. It was nothing like the concept blower Ive seen before that looked like a chromed out eaton. This was all smooth black painted with no badges on it at all. I think they dont want people to know who it was built from yet. It was smaller, more comoact than the current eaton, with a smaller snout. It looked like a mini kenne bell(not saying that it is). The blower pulley had a much deeper cut that the belt rested in quite snuggly. The intake didnt have the double intake scopes like we saw in the concept, but a small stout intake elbow about half the length of our current intake. Attached to it was a 2 port throttlebody much wider than our model. After that it had an intake elbow and airbox much like the current one mounted in the same exact spot with a fender hole.
The interior: This was my favorite part other than the engine. The interior was EXACTLY like the concept. The only difference was there was no stick shift boys, it has a center mounted automatic with a overdrive button mounted next to it. The interior looked awesome. It has two semi bucket seats, with a sweude cloth mix alot better than the current design and actual head rest. It had a center console, so no more bench seat. You wouldnt believe how much room was in there. The truck was not quite a regular cab. What I mean by this is that it only had 2 seats, but there was about a 1 and 1/2 foot deep area behind the seats to the rear of the cab. You can recline these seats a bit. They had a subwoofer mounted to the floor. It also had two very small side windows in this extra 'cab'. I think thats where the extra weight of the truck came from. The inside was much much more roomy than our trucks. The white faced gauge cluster looked freakin sweet and the speedo went to 170! the Tach redlined at 5500 rpm, and it had a 0-10 psi boost gauge. It had red highlights with svt across it. The plush bucket seats also had SVT across them. It was so comfortable, it was like sitting on your lazyboy at home.
The exterior: Now this is the part I didnt really like that much. But its ok I didnt, because they were making alot of changes and the outside was the part they said they were still experimenting with. They had the hood scoop design off of it, with just a orginally f-150 hood on it. The front grill and front fender were alot like the concept design. They had velco on the front half of the truck from the camoflauge they used, they only cover the front of the truck. The 2 side lightning badges were removed. It had no side skirts or ground effects mounted. In the bed that had some hard foam prototype ground effects they hadnt mounted yet. I couldnt really tell what they were gonna look like. It had a regular f-150 rear bumper and tailgate and bed setup. The bed is much much wider than our trucks. I couldnt almost get my hands around the tailgate. Its much wider and deeper than our current beds. It had 20 inch mag wheels on it(they arent going to be the production rims), and the current version of eagle f1 rubber on them. They had much beefier leaf springs than we have and a much lower rear stance. The exhaust was still a right passenger side exit, but it looked ungodly. After the muffler underneath it turned into 2 huge square funnel shaped exit cones. They were about 12 inces acros EACH and about 3 inches thick. I swear the whole exhaust exit was 2 feet long going down the side of the truck. I didnt like it at all. I hope they change that setup. It looked horrible.
I was very pleased with the engine and the interior of the truck, and once they finish the outside styling I think it will be one beautiful truck. The guy there told me they plan to sell it cheaper than the srt-10. He siad it wont go nowhere near a 46k sticker.
This may be a good indication of how well the new Cobra will perform.
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