1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Dyno Run Reveals Underrated Engine's Power

It makes more torque at the wheels than Ford's figure at the flywheel.

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Chris Bruce

By: Chris Bruce

Apr 21, 2020 at 10:36am ET

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The Fox-body Ford Mustang went out with a bang in 1993 by introducing the SVT Cobra for just one year for this generation before an overhauled pony car arrived in 1994. Late Model Restoration got ahold of a great-looking, stock example, and put it on the dyno.

The SVT Cobra packed a tuned version of the 5.0-liter V8 with a factory rating of 235 horsepower (175 kilowatts) and 280 pound-feet (380 Newton-meters) of torque. The company used the Mustang GT's 5.0-liter V8 as a starting point but added a variety of components to boost the performance. The engineers replaced the cylinder heads with higher flowing GT40 pieces. It also had different cams and a revised intake manifold. There was also an upgraded suspension and vented disc brakes at both ends. The only gearbox choice was a Borg-Warner T5 five-speed manual transmission.

Gallery: 1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Dyno Video

Ford famously underrated the Cobra engine's output. This dyno definitely shows this to be true. At the wheels, the vehicle makes 222.35 horsepower (165.8 kW) at 4,620 rpm and 280.83 lb-ft (380.8 Nm) at 3,790 revs.

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Compared to the factory's flywheel numbers, this means the horsepower driveline loss is just five percent, which is far less than we generally see. The torque rating at the wheels is actually a little more than what Ford says the engine makes at the flywheel.

According to Ford Performance, contemporary testing from Road & Track showed that the SVT Cobra was able to reach 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in 5.9 seconds. The pony car covered the quarter-mile in 14.5 seconds a 98 mph (158 kph).

Sources: Late Model Restoration via YouTube, Ford Performance