Congratulations to Devin Kreinbring (FEP Username: dk5 cobra) and his 1979 Mustang Cobra as the Ride of the Month for January. The Cobra has been in Devin’s family since 1985 when his Dad first purchased the car. The Mustang was a running, driving car at the time, although it had a blown head gasket. Dad drove it for a few years during which time he installed an 8.8” rear axle with 3.73 gears. He also built the engine up a bit until he tore it down to restore in 1990. Unfortunately Dad ran out of time and money as so many projects do, the Cobra was put into storage as a shell until 2011 when Devin’s work on the Cobra began.

Devin’s original goal as a 16 year old was to get the car running, paint it, and drive it. That plan spiraled out of control once Devin started to learn more about what he wanted the car to be. In 2013 Devin realized that he wanted a car that would feel just as home on curvy mountain roads as it would cruising through town on a Friday night. Devin's build thread can be found here



Starting with a 1979 Mustang Cobra, Devin felt that most of the interior and exterior should be restored rather than modified. On the exterior this included OEM louvers, full restored body moldings, and NOS Tail lights. To spice up the interior a set of Recaros, Marshall Instruments center gauges, Hurst shift boot/plate, Kenwood head unit, and a Grant steering wheel were added. Now that interior and exterior had been taken care of it was time to spice up the Cobra to turn the car into Devin’s dream Mustang.



The front end of the Cobra received the full Maximum Motorsports treatment. This included K member, reverse offset control arms with poly bushings, caster camber plates, coil over conversion with 375 in/lbs springs, and sway bar. Devin also used a set of 2001 spindles and Koni shocks to round out the suspension improvements. The suspension improvements didn’t stop with the front either, Devin swapped out the 8.8 Dad had installed years before for a 1999 Cobra IRS. The IRS included a Mathis brace, 31-spline center section w/Torsen T2R differential, 3.73 gears, Ford Racing cover, 2003 Cobra half shafts, Delrin control arm bushings and poly differential/cradle bushings, MM cross axis joints, and Bilstein rear shocks with coilovers and 475 in/lbs rear springs.



In order to make the best use of the new handling suspension Devin needed to upgrade the drivetrain too. Devin started with a 302 punched out to 308 cid. The block wears a pair of 1969 302 milled and ported heads. The intake is an Edelbrock Victor Jr with a Holley 650 Double Pumper. The cam choice was a Competition Cams 292H full kit including roller rockers. All 237 HP are exhausted thru a set of Hedman ceramic coated long tube headers. The Hedman headers connect to a 2.5” H-pipe and then thru a SLP IRS catback system. The 237 lb/ft of torque flow thru a SN95 T5 transmission and a Hurst shifter which has turned a best quarter mile time of 14.1 @ 98 MPH.

Devin needed to upgrade the brake system to help corral all the horsepower. The front received a complete setup from a 2001 Cobra including Hawk HPS pads, and stainless steel brake lines. The rear brakes are stock 99 Cobra upgraded with stainless steel Maximum Motorsports brake lines. The upgraded brakes are wrapped in 03/04 SVT Cobra wheels with 255/40/17 BF Goodrich Rival tires. Due to the wider track width of the Cobra IRS, Devin milled an additional 4mm of the mounting pads to increase the wheel offset from 26mm to 30mm for additional clearance.



The biggest challenges for Devin in getting the Cobra to it’s current condition are the same that most of us face, Time, Money, and Knowledge. That fact that Devin started this build when he was just 16 years old just makes this even more impressive. Devin’s reasons for making the Mustang you see today is that he fell in love with canyon carving in his VW GTI and wanted the Mustang to be even more capable. The 1979 Mustang Cobra has been in Devin’s family since Dad first bought it back in 1985 and spent many years in storage until it’s resurrection began in 2011, but Devin has no plans on letting the Cobra sit anytime in the near future. Congratulations once again to Devin and his 1979 Mustang Cobra as the Ride of the Month!