Brandon “Buddy” Werner Dreams Big with Mustang Cobra Build
Some people are branded by a passion. They love something so much that it becomes a part of who they are. And in special circumstances, you really can’t mention one without imagining the other. In a way, it’s like an automatic association by nature. Of course, we’re talking about a man and his car. For Brandon “Buddy” Werner of Avoca, Pennsylvania, he’s one of the lucky few to actually own his dream car: a 1997 Ford Mustang Cobra GT that he drives regularly and has been tinkering with the past few years. Werner purchased the car back in 2012 and has been hard at work besting himself on the track each year ever since.
Those who know Werner personally cannot so much as hear the nickname “Buddy” without automatically picturing the fourth generation Mustang Cobra. It’s something he carries with him like it’s part of his DNA. And this isn’t the first of the SN-95 Mustangs he’s ponied up for in his life.
“I always liked the 94-98 SN-95 body style. I’ve owned a total of five ‘94-‘98 Mustangs, but I always wanted a supercharged SN-95 Cobra. That was my dream car…They just always caught my attention. The body style is perfect…I went through Mustangs every few years until I got my Rio Red ‘97. I never once considered selling it. It didn’t meet my expectations at first, but I knew it was a solid car and worth keeping. It was my dream car,” shared Werner.
A Dream That Needed Work
But while Buddy may have finally found the car of his dreams, it still needed some elbow grease and fine-tuning.
“When I first got it, it had a built-bottom end with a forged rotating assembly. Only about 10k on the bottom end. That was a big plus. It also had a Vortech V1 S Trim Supercharger, which is air-water intercooled with supporting mods. Also a big plus… [But] it still needed some love. Stock trans Tremec T45 was original with 132k miles and it was … due for a rebuild. One of the first things I did was get the air-water system working again for the supercharger. Then had the stock weak transmission built with better internals. Next step, I had it dyno tuned by Frank Soldridge at PSI Speed Solutions in Palmerton, PA. It made 472 wheel horsepower with 14lbs of boost. The car ran a 12.5 in the quarter mile at 111 mph. I was a bit disappointed with those results and realized it needed more work.”
So, what do you do when you need to get more juice out of an already-supercharged Mustang? “More mods. The supercharger got rebuilt and upgraded. Bigger crank pulley and smaller blower pulley to get 20lbs of boost out of it. So then I took it to Frank again—big difference in power and track times. It made 550 wheel horsepower and best time to date is 11.49 at 117 mph with a 1.6 60ft. (after some seat time, suspension and gearing mods, of course),” he said.
Okay, A Dream Still In Progress
Though Werner was able to squeeze another 70 horsepower out of the engine, and shave a whole second off his track time—he still desired more. While putting his best efforts into knocking that elapsed time down to the low 11’s, he unfortunately wound up damaging third gear in his T45. Seeing as the transmission isn’t really cut out for the kind of abuse he’s throwing at it, Werner decided to move up to a built T-3650. He also found that at high rpm’s he had a slight miss. So while planning to pull the transmission out, he decided to address the engine issues as well. For that, he sent the transmission to Hanlon Motorsports in Elverson, PA. The engine went to MCRP in Easton, PA where it’s receiving new timing components, upgraded valve springs, head work, and new bearings. Everything is still in the process of being put together, but here’s the lowdown on Werner’s ’97 SN-95 Mustang Cobra build:
- 4.6L Supercharged
- Tremec T-3650
- McLeod Street Extreme 11in Clutch
- Team Z Upper & Lower Rear Control Arms
- Strange 10 Way Struts/Hocks all around
- 4:30 Differential Gear
- Moser 31 Spline Axles
- Detroit Truetrac Differential
A Dream That Keeps Growing
Werner’s relationship with his dream Mustang Cobra is a testament to what it takes to really be a part of this industry. It’s about setting goals and pushing onward to achieve them, no matter the setbacks. Werner said, “The goal for 2018 is about 600whp on VP C16 and some 10 second tie slips at Numedia Dragway this year.” We already know that he will hit the mark. As his track record shows, he’s the kind of guy who sets the bar high and raises it over and over by developing new skills. That takes a very special kind of person. And it’s without a shadow of a doubt that anyone stands to learn a lot from Brandon “Buddy” Werner.
