Jim B in San Antonio 347 Mark IV Build Thread--Thermo Tec and Seat Mounts

[buttsjim]

After way too many years of dreaming, I’m finally starting my Cobra. Over those years, I’ve built at least 50 in my imagination; they all came out perfectly, but now that I’ve finally started one for real, I’m not so sure perfection will be the result. Accordingly, I'm going to try and post my progress and take advantage of the experienced builders on this site who are so helpful with their advice. As much as I’d like to, I doubt that I’ll be contributing much (other than how NOT to do things), but I’ll be taking a lot away. My hope is that the “pros” will be looking over my shoulder and keeping me straight. Selfish, but true.

My mechanical skills are moderate, and I’m comfortable with my ability to build the car—how well I’ll build it is the big question. This is my dream car; it’s capable of very high performance, and it’s expensive, so top quality workmanship is essential, and that’s going to be my big challenge. It’s humbling to see what others on this site have accomplished, and I’m not sure I can build to that standard. I hope to.

I got the complete kit configured for a Ford small block, with the expectation of ordering an injected 347 with TKX and hydraulic clutch from Blueprint. Notable options include:
Powder coated chassis
IRS
Leather seats
17” replica Halibrands
Heater
Standard Factory Five front brakes and 13” rears (busted the budget with the IRS, so forget the Wilwoods)
Powder coated rollbars instead of chrome (budget again)
Power steering
Deleted the headers & sidepipes (going aftermarket, but maybe a mistake to have deleted them)
No glove box
RT drop trunk, Breeze fan shroud, upper/lower radiator mounts, battery box and cubby, and Russ Thompson .090” firewall are all ordered and on the way.

I’m thinking about the mechanical throttle linkage and the RT turn signal mod. I want them but am already spending too much money. We’ll see. Buying the heater for the San Antonio climate may seem unnecessary, but my driving season will primarily be September through May—it’s too darn hot to drive a non-AC convertible around here in the summer. In the late 70’s my daily driver was an Alfa Spyder, and I remember having the summertime choice of either roasting with the top up or broiling with it down. I’m passing on that pleasure this time around and will use the heater to keep toasty warm while driving during the winter months. Snow isn’t an issue.

I received my kit on 29 August via Stewart Transport. Driver Jeff was very helpful, and together we got it all safely into the garage. We used my small garden tractor to pull everything up the long, steep driveway, rather than trying to pull the cart by hand. Inventory took about 10 hours—in addition to 40 or so items on the POL (lots of show-stoppers on that list), there were about 15 missing items, varying from fasteners to a roll bar.

So far, I’m about 30 hours, 4 beers, and 3 band-aids into the project. I’ve inventoried, got the body and sheet metal off, assembled the front suspension, except for some missing items, and modified the rear spindles. I’ll post all that stuff once I can post pictures, and then y’all can get busy, grading my work!

Wow. This is a long post. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far.

My First Question: During delivery, I could see sunlight through the molding seams (front fenders) when the body was suspended coming off the truck. Is this common? Will it need reinforcing from underneath? There are also a lot of variations where the panels don’t match perfectly, and a 2” diameter dimple in the hood. Is all that stuff typical?

[John Ibele]

Welcome, and congrats on the purchase, adventure, and the decision to do a build thread. You'll have plenty of folks looking over your shoulder. In answer to some of your items:

It is possible to make your own throttle linkage from readily purchased components, as one option. Not sure it leads to real cost savings, however.
David Hodgekins can change your status and ability to post pictures once he knows you're a kit owner. Send him a PM.
I would encourage the RT turn signal mod, but you've probably read that multiple times before. I remember being strongly focused on overall budget earlier in my build (and its been a looong build), and now think of it in terms of how much I spend on my hobby on a monthly or yearly basis.
I too got PC'd roll bars, but have decided that black is not my color either. I plan to talk to my painter about stripping them and painting them the stripe color, whatever that turns out to be. Just one alternative you may not have considered.

Someone else with more experience will have to chime in on the body appearance.

Looking forward to your pictures and updates, welcome to the fun!

[Chopper]

Hello and welcome!

I’m thinking about the mechanical throttle linkage and the RT turn signal mod. I want them but am already spending too much money. We’ll see. Buying the heater for the San Antonio climate may seem unnecessary, but my driving season will primarily be September through May—it’s too darn hot to drive a non-AC convertible around here in the summer. In the late 70’s my daily driver was an Alfa Spyder, and I remember having the summertime choice of either roasting with the top up or broiling with it down. I’m passing on that pleasure this time around and will use the heater to keep toasty warm while driving during the winter months. Snow isn’t an issue.

In VA I was required to have a defroster. Not sure what the rules are in TX.

If you are even considering adding any type of top in the future, you want to think about having a defroster. Also, on this note, it is possible to put AC in one of these. I know a lot of people have had success with various solutions, North Racecars also sells a kit (https://www.northracecars.com/heat_ac.html). I can't comment as to how well AC works in a roadster, but again, if you plan on adding a top at some point this may be a consideration. Typically in warm weather as long as you're moving it feels ok, but when you stop you really start to boil. As is pointed out by those wiser than me, the greatest fatigue comes from the lack of shade.

My First Question: During delivery, I could see sunlight through the molding seams (front fenders) when the body was suspended coming off the truck. Is this common? Will it need reinforcing from underneath? There are also a lot of variations where the panels don’t match perfectly, and a 2” diameter dimple in the hood. Is all that stuff typical?

The doors, hood, trunk are oversized and will not well off the truck. The body also will be tweaked when installed and aligned properly which helps.

[460.465USMC]

Hi Jim! I'm excited you get to build your dream Cobra car. What an awesome opportunity.

Regarding the RT turn signal mod, I went for it. Though I'm only in go-kart phase, I like the idea of the turn signal in a daily driver position. Plus, you get a bonus button at the end of the stalk you can use for some other function. In my case, I made it my high-low beam switch with help from Ididit relay module.

Yes, it's way too easy to go over budget! At first I had high ambitions of keeping mine to the basic build, but along the way couldn't resist many of the great improvements on display in other's builds. One thing to keep in mind if budget is a concern, unless you're going to complete your build within a few months, there is opportunity for the Cobra "slush" fund to recoup. As a slow builder with a budget, the time factor to rebuild the cash pot has been key.

Welcome aboard!

[TMartinLVNV]

Welcome to the madness Jim. I visit SA twice a year to visit family and will be there in the first week of Oct. I'd be happy to stop by if you would like. It would be a welcome diversion to doing honey do's around the house for my 79 year old mother.

You will probably regret deleting the F5 headers. They are good stuff.

[buttsjim]

Thanks, everyone, for your warm welcomes, and advice.

[sasteel43]

Jim, I'm in Schertz if you ever need a helping hand.

[buttsjim]

Jim, I'm in Schertz if you ever need a helping hand.

Thanks!

[buttsjim]

I was hesitant to start this blog knowing that I’m not good at documenting, or taking pictures of my activities. Turns out, I was exactly right—I’ve been busy at work on the car, and posting nothing, but I’ll try and catch up. Then, I’ll try and keep up.

The front suspension went well, as far as I could go. My Konis, flange nuts for the lower control arms, and tie rod ends are all POL. The ball joints screwed in surprisingly easily. I cut the ends off the rear A-Arm adjusters to be able to get the initial alignment setting. I torqued my spindle nuts to 250 ft-lbs, but will re-torque them when I eventually get my wheels on the ground. I have a ¾” drive Snap On dial torque wrench (got it for $11 on E Bay about 20 years ago—my best buy ever!), and I can slip a 24” breaker bar into its handle to get plenty of leverage. The problem with a dial type torque wrench is that my arms aren’t long & strong enough to enable me to read the dial when I’m applying the torque. I usually ask my wife to sit on the floor with her foot on the wrench head to keep the socket securely on the nut, and she tells me when I hit the torque requirement. So, we’ll do that before I put the dust caps on.

I’m using the FFR standard front brakes, which went together without problem. I was missing the caliper mounting bolts but ordered the proper Allen head bolts from Amazon. They’re a Chinesium Alloy, but rated as 12.9 grade, so I’m sure they’re plenty adequate. By the way, I just mentioned to FFR customer service that they were also missing when I was whining about my missing IRS fasteners, and I was surprised to received the proper bolts from FFR in the mail today. I don’t need them now, but that's great customer service!

The FFR power steering rack went in without much hassle. The bushings are a very soft rubber, and got distorted, so I think I spent as much time trying to get them properly seated as I did getting the rack in.

The front suspension is now complete, except for my POL items. My photography skills are horrible, but please take a look at what I’ve done—ball joints, A Arm orientation, etc. I think it’s all right (but then, I always think I’m right) but it’s much easier, at this point, to correct any mistakes that you can point out. So, any advice/criticism is much appreciated.

Questions: It seems like there’s not much space between my inner tie rods and the steering arms, and that the tie rods go down at a steep angle. Does this look right? I installed the steering arms angled out and down. I know out is correct, but should they also point down?

; ;;

[John Ibele]

Okay, I know you're better at photos than that

Contact David Hodgkins and ask him to bump you to Senior Member status. That should get you the power you need.

[buttsjim]

Okay, I know you're better at photos than that

Contact David Hodgkins and ask him to bump you to Senior Member status. That should get you the power you need.

OK, thanks. Actually, I'm not better at photos than this What should I improve when I get that my new powers? I want people to be able to see, so that they can help!

[buttsjim]

I assembled the rear spindles, hubs, control arms, calipers, etc. Everything is ready to hang on the chassis, but I don’t have the IRS Fastener Pack required for mounting any of it. Frustrating, but FFR is working on it.

I have a press, so I thought that replacing the lugs in the hubs would be quick and easy—that was a bad assumption. I opted to use the vise and hammer method proposed by FFR to remove the old lugs, it worked well, and I had all the lugs out in about 5 minutes. I then tried using the press to install the new, but I couldn’t get the lugs started straight. They’d go crooked, get wedged and stop, and I felt that I was using too much force to continue. Straightening them would cause them to fall right back out with no forward progress. I have a large ball joint separator that looked like the perfect tool for the job, but it had the same result. I ended up putting the lugs in the freezer, and afterwards using my impact wrench—it’s supposedly 500 ft-lb, but even with my compressor regulator at 140 psi, it still had to work its butt off to pull the lugs in. The build manual says to torque them at 100 ft-lbs, which is amusing, considering that I was using about 300 just to get them pulled in.

I must have stared at the portion of the assembly manual describing the spindle modifications for at least an hour—it was obvious from the picture what to do, but I just didn’t want to do it, thinking that I’d somehow cut/drill the wrong thing and screw up a high dollar part. I finally started cutting the mounting ears off with a hacksaw, to get a nice clean cut. Quickly realizing that this would take forever, I switched to a reciprocating saw with a short Milwaukee “Turbo” 16 tpi blade and lots of cutting oil, and quickly achieved a clean cut in both spindles. I used a Bosch black Oxide 5/8” drill to enlarge the two mounting holes, and that was a slow and slightly painful process, as the bit cut very aggressively and would frequently grab. Using the drill’s clutch to eliminate backlash didn’t work, as it always slipped immediately. I was concerned about getting off-centered as the bit seemed perfectly capable of blazing its own trail away from the original hole. However, the job turned out okay, but one of the bores isn’t very pretty. I switched to a more powerful corded drill to enlarge the front mounting holes in the center section and bored both of those in just a few seconds using oil, very light pressure, and moderate drill speed.

Despite not having the fastener pack, I wanted to get the center section off the floor and into the chassis, so I decided to get it in place and use a temporary method of keeping it there. I was especially anxious to install it, as I was doing the job by myself and knew that it can be problematic to get the diff into position—I wanted to get it over with. I have some kayak pulleys mounted in my garage ceiling that I formerly used to store my dearly departed kart, and their spacing seemed perfect to pull the differential up into place—this worked well, and I had it pinned in its proper mountings in about 30 minutes. I used some 5/8” tapered pins for the front mounts, and two quick jack bolts for the rear to keep it in place.

It seems like the differential should be a very tight fit, but I have about a ¼” clearance between the mounts and the chassis (which explains why it went in so easily). I emailed FFR, and Dan replied not to worry, that this is common. That advice was reassuring, but I don’t see how it all pulls together.





As soon as I receive the fastener pack, I’ll get it all bolted in and torqued fairly quickly. I think. I still need the half shafts and shock absorbers—both those items are POL.

[460.465USMC]

OK, thanks. Actually, I'm not better at photos than this What should I improve when I get that my new powers? I want people to be able to see, so that they can help!

Hi Jim. I think what John is saying is no photos were posted in your update. At least my laptop is not showing any. Once David resets your profile, you can embed photos into your thread by following his instructions here: How to use the Image Gallery to embed pictures in posts

P.S. nice job getting that IRS diff. prepped and installed solo. It's not easy IMHO.

[buttsjim]

Hi Jim. I think what John is saying is no photos were posted in your update. At least my laptop is not showing any. Once David resets your profile, you can embed photos into your thread by following his instructions here: How to use the Image Gallery to embed pictures in posts

P.S. nice job getting that IRS diff. prepped and installed solo. It's not easy IMHO.

Thanks. That's really weird--the photos all show up on my computer, including three that I added for the IRS. They also show up when I preview my posts. I followed David's instructions for posting, and I think that I had permission, but somehow they must be local to my computer. I'll ask David, and try to get it straight. Thanks again for letting me know--I'm not going to get much help without showing what I'm talking about.

I think I see what I did wrong--I set my album up as "private". Hopefully it's fixed.

[460.465USMC]

FYI: I'm seeing pictures now in post #12 above.

[Jeff Kleiner]

...My First Question: During delivery, I could see sunlight through the molding seams (front fenders) when the body was suspended coming off the truck. Is this common? Will it need reinforcing from underneath? There are also a lot of variations where the panels don’t match perfectly, and a 2” diameter dimple in the hood. Is all that stuff typical?

Hey Jim,
I missed your post until today so apologies for being late to the party! Fiberglass without gelcoat is translucent so it's not unusual or worrisome to see daylight shining through it along the mold parting lines (they aren't seams) where gelcoat is either thin or nonexistent. Not to worry. Panel match on either side of the mold lines is hit or miss---hit is good but lots of times it's miss. Either way it's all part of the bodywork. I'm going to assume what you're seeing and calling a "dimple" in the hood is one of the common low spots near the outer perimeter. If that's what it is these too are common---caused by the heat from the bonding agent between the inner and outer skins drawing the outer surface down---and also addressed as part of the normal bodywork process.

Front suspension looks good! Carry on

Jeff

[buttsjim]

FYI: I'm seeing pictures now in post #12 above.

Great, thanks!

[buttsjim]

Hey Jim,
I missed your post until today so apologies for being late to the party! Fiberglass without gelcoat is translucent so it's not unusual or worrisome to see daylight shining through it along the mold parting lines (they aren't seams) where gelcoat is either thin or nonexistent. Not to worry. Panel match on either side of the mold lines is hit or miss---hit is good but lots of times it's miss. Either way it's all part of the bodywork. I'm going to assume what you're seeing and calling a "dimple" in the hood is one of the common low spots near the outer perimeter. If that's what it is these too are common---caused by the heat from the bonding agent between the inner and outer skins drawing the outer surface down---and also addressed as part of the normal bodywork process.

Front suspension looks good! Carry on

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff!

I'm hoping my budget will allow doing some business with you about a year, or so, down the road!

[buttsjim]

I hesitate to post this because it’s philosophical, rather than mechanical, but the missing IRS fastener issue made me realize that I needed to make a major attitude adjustment regarding my project. The wife’s and my daily drivers are old (mine has 370K), and I’m the mechanic—they never go to the shop. So, when one breaks, I do whatever it takes to get it back into service as soon as possible, and I keep at the repair until it’s done. With that mindset, I got extremely frustrated looking for the fasteners for the Cobra’s rear suspension, not remembering that I hadn’t checked them off my inventory. I probably spent 2 hours up until midnight looking, re-looking, and re-re-looking through boxes for them, and finally sent a less than cordial email to Factory Five (not bad, but not cordial). Afterwards, I realized that I was completely defeating the purpose of getting the kit—it’s supposed to be fun! I bought the kit as much for the build as for the finished product, and there’s no rush to get anything done. I’m not under a timeline and can walk away from the Cobra whenever I want, so I decided no more goals; I won’t go out to the garage with the intention of installing this, or finishing that, I’ll just go out and work on it. If I get stymied by whatever I’m trying to do, I can stop and try again later. If I make forward progress, that’s fine. If it takes me an hour to mark and drill two holes, that’s fine too. This is a great project, and I plan on enjoying it.

I ordered my injected Blueprint 347 with power steering pump and TKX. I thought it was too early, and don’t have garage space to have it sitting around until I’m ready to drop it in, but I wanted to lock in on the price. Turns out, it was a good thing that I called them—there’s a 7-month backlog, and my motor won’t be delivered before next April. That timing seems like it’ll be just about perfect for me, and I’m glad that I didn’t wait to call about it. Learning from that lesson, I also ordered my Gas-N headers and Touring pipes. I think there’s about a 4-month wait for those. The only major item left for me to purchase is a set of tires.

[Jeff Kleiner]

...I got extremely frustrated looking for the fasteners for the Cobra’s rear suspension, not remembering that I hadn’t checked them off my inventory. I probably spent 2 hours up until midnight looking, re-looking, and re-re-looking through boxes for them, and finally sent a less than cordial email to Factory Five (not bad, but not cordial). Afterwards, I realized that I was completely defeating the purpose of getting the kit—it’s supposed to be fun! I bought the kit as much for the build as for the finished product, and there’s no rush to get anything done. I’m not under a timeline and can walk away from the Cobra whenever I want, so I decided no more goals; I won’t go out to the garage with the intention of installing this, or finishing that, I’ll just go out and work on it. If I get stymied by whatever I’m trying to do, I can stop and try again later. If I make forward progress, that’s fine. If it takes me an hour to mark and drill two holes, that’s fine too. This is a great project, and I plan on enjoying it...

You got it man! I've reminded a few guys of this when they have contacted me with similar feelings of frustration. There are only a few of us for whom this is a job, for everyone else it's supposed to be fun...a stress reliever, not a stress causer...a form of therapy! If it's not doing that shut off the lights and walk away

Jeff

[Ted G]

Congrats on your start! I am almost exactly six months in and have felt some of your frustrations as well. About a month ago, I received my last part off my POL from FFR (door latches), so now I have all parts from FFR!! Even though it seemed I was always waiting for a "crucial" part, I always found something else to do on the build that kept me moving forward and busy. I am now a roller and just waiting for my engine (about a month out). The block was the main delay after ordering it 10 months ago (DART 427 just arrived). I'm hoping to be go-karting by Thanksgiving. Here are some other things you can work on:

• Dashboard layout

• Brake lines

• Fuel lines

• Pre-fit all lights and LeMans cap to body before paint (or you'll be drilling through good paint)

• e-brake set up

• Radiator pre work (I installed mine, then uninstalled it till after engine goes in)

• Plan out any custom work you are doing (electrical, grab bars, seat heaters, etc.)

This is a great journey, enjoy!

[John Ibele]

OK, thanks. Actually, I'm not better at photos than this What should I improve when I get that my new powers? I want people to be able to see, so that they can help!

Sorry, please ignore my post Jim. There must have been a time lag or other glitch since no photos showed when I posted that note. They look fine now.

[buttsjim]

Sorry, please ignore my post Jim. There must have been a time lag or other glitch since no photos showed when I posted that note. They look fine now.

No, you were exactly right--I had my albums set to"private", and wouldn't have realized that only I could see the pictures, had you not pointed that out. Initially, I didn't understand your post, because the pictures looked fine to me. But, no one else could see them. Thanks for the heads-up!

[buttsjim]

Here are some other things you can work on:

• Dashboard layout

• Brake lines

• Fuel lines

• Pre-fit all lights and LeMans cap to body before paint (or you'll be drilling through good paint)

• e-brake set up

• Radiator pre work (I installed mine, then uninstalled it till after engine goes in)

• Plan out any custom work you are doing (electrical, grab bars, seat heaters, etc.)

This is a great journey, enjoy!

Thanks!
I am trying to keep moving with the items that I do have, but jumping around too much concerns me--it makes it easy to forget/overlook important steps. I do plan on enjoying this great journey, though. Good luck with yours!

[460.465USMC]

I hesitate to post this because it’s philosophical, rather than mechanical, but the missing IRS fastener issue made me realize that I needed to make a major attitude adjustment regarding my project....Afterwards, I realized that I was completely defeating the purpose of getting the kit—it’s supposed to be fun! I bought the kit as much for the build as for the finished product, and there’s no rush to get anything done. I’m not under a timeline and can walk away from the Cobra whenever I want, so I decided no more goals; I won’t go out to the garage with the intention of installing this, or finishing that, I’ll just go out and work on it. If I get stymied by whatever I’m trying to do, I can stop and try again later. If I make forward progress, that’s fine. If it takes me an hour to mark and drill two holes, that’s fine too. This is a great project, and I plan on enjoying it.

Well said, Jim! I've adopted the same approach to my build. Mostly, because I'm incredibly slow. But also because I want to savor the build process. The only goal I set is to try to get out to the garage on a regular basis, and try to do something (e.g. "mark and drill two holes") even if I only have 15 minutes.

[buttsjim]

This post is a catcher-upper. Althouogh I haven't made a whole lot of progress on the Cobra, I've made even less progress writing about it. I'll do multiple posts to catch up, rather than one long one.

Thanks to Terry from Las Vegas who found time to stop by last Friday evening, and give me some pointers, along with a good opportunity to quaff a couple of beers. Especially helpful was that Terry noticed that my steering arms were mounted upside down (something I’d wondered and asked about, but guessed wrong on). Turns out that the proper mounting was simple common sense, if only I’d noticed that the holes for the tie rods were tapered. Jeesh—I knew that!

The week before Terry’s visit was busy with non-Cobra stuff, so I didn’t find much time to work on the Cobra. I drilled/cut the firewall for the heater, and drilled and mounted the front cover panel, firewall, and the passenger side footbox. I originally cleco-ed all that sheet metal, but once everything was fit together, I decided to go ahead and silicone and rivet it permanently. I know a lot of people leave everything cleco-ed until much later in the build, but I didn’t see the point for these pieces. With an experience level of zero, I suspect I’ll soon see the point and regret my decision. I’ll probably leave all the other sheet metal cleco-ed form this point forward.

I had decided to use a natural satin finish on the exposed aluminum by brushing it with a sanding pad, and sealing with Sharkhide. So far, I’ve done the F-panels, the firewall, pedal box cover panel, and the right side footbox, and I’m second guessing myself. I really like the look, but many of the panels have scratches (some of which are by me) and etching, which my light sanding doesn’t cover. Even oils from handprints were difficult to remove using successive treatments of mineral spirits, acetone and lacquer thinner (I’m wearing latex gloves to avoid skin oils). I recently tried wet sanding one of the smaller pieces using Goo Gone as the lubricant, and that seemed to work well, with all the skin oils, and some of the etching disappearing. If I ever build another one (I wish!) I’ll go with a dark painted or powder coated finish, which will cover all the blemishes and show the motor better. I'll post some pictures in a future post.

I assembled and installed the pedal box, but without the clutch master cylinder. FFR sent a 5/8” master cylinder for the clutch, and are exchanging it for a ¾” unit, which is what Blueprint recommends and what my FFR inventory says I should have received. I also didn’t install the throttle pedal, as I’m not sure that I want to use that one with the Forte mechanical linkage.
I have too many key items on my POL and MIK lists to be able to progress in any type of order, so I’m not sure what I’ll do next. There’s plenty that I can do, I’m just not sure what makes the most sense.

[Windsor]

Even oils from handprints were difficult to remove using successive treatments of mineral spirits, acetone and lacquer thinner (I’m wearing latex gloves to avoid skin oils). I recently tried wet sanding one of the smaller pieces using Goo Gone as the lubricant, and that seemed to work well, with all the skin oils, and some of the etching disappearing.

Isopropyl Alcohol ("rubbing alcohol") at 91% or higher should do the trick.

Good to see update posts.

[buttsjim]

It’s been a long time since I posted, but that’s because it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything worthwhile—I’m mostly just doing odds and ends while I wait for back ordered suspension parts. I’ve been drilling and cleco-ing most of my sheet metal, and permanently riveting those panels that I think won’t be in the way of installing future items.

I assembled my gas tank components and temporarily installed the tank, but I’ll be replacing the fuel pickup with the Pro-M hanger and the Walbro 255 lph pump per advice in Blueprint Engines' FAQs. I was able to get the tank in place by carefully balancing it on my floor jack, and I was also able to use the supplied bolts to attach the straps in the front, although my poor arthritic thumbs were squealing with pain trying to push the strap up enough to meet the bolt.

I then removed the tank so that I could assemble the Russ Thompson drop trunk, which is a very nice unit. That part is assembled, the rear trunk floor cut out, and all mounting holes drilled, but I've removed all those panels from the chassis until I figure out the process for the fuel lines, brake lines and wiring harness. The more open the chassis, the better.

I think my beer-to-band aid ratio has improved to about 4 to 1 over the last couple of weeks, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the build. I’m already wishing that I could build another one.

[Railroad]

I might have missed it, but did not see mention of replacing the filler neck to tank grommet with the Ford brand part.
Please save yourself some grief and use the Ford part. It is not the installation process that creates the issue, but the quality of the material.

[buttsjim]

I might have missed it, but did not see mention of replacing the filler neck to tank grommet with the Ford brand part.
Please save yourself some grief and use the Ford part. It is not the installation process that creates the issue, but the quality of the material.

Thanks for looking out for me! As a matter of fact, I did replace the FFR gasket with the Ford part. BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your build thread a couple of years back, and took notes on several of your ideas!

[buttsjim]

Well, my front end is complete. On separate days I received the flange nuts to attach my lower A-arms, and then my Koni shocks. I had opted to buy the Moog tie rod ends, rather than wait for the backordered FFR units, so now the front end is all together. At least for a day or two—I decided to replace my steering rack bushings with the Breeze offset bushings, so the power steering rack is coming back out. Also, after spilling a drop of red paint on my front calipers I decided that the paint looked pretty good, so I’m going to take the calipers off and disassemble and paint them a semi-gloss black. I’m kind of just kicking around at present, waiting for the supply chain to catch up with me, so this would be a very good time to do that.

A question: I have my Breeze offset bushings, but they’re too tight—I’d have to drive them in with a hammer, if they were to go in at all. This won’t work--they need to be tight, yet loose enough that I can rotate them to adjust the rack. I plan to clean the paint off the inside of the rack mounts, which may be all that’s needed, but the question is, is this common?

[TMartinLVNV]

I didn't have that issue. You are correct, they need to be able to rotate inside of the housing. Hopefully, just some sandpaper scrubbing inside of housing will be enough to clean it up.

[buttsjim]

I didn't have that issue. You are correct, they need to be able to rotate inside of the housing. Hopefully, just some sandpaper scrubbing inside of housing will be enough to clean it up.

Yep, it was the paint that needed to be cleaned off. I used a sanding drum with a die grinder, and it took about 5 minutes. The paint came right off without cutting into the metal. I had measured beforehand, and the hole was .035 smaller than the bushing--it was all paint. By the way, I enjoyed your visit, and I bought the offset bushings after your explanation of their purpose.

[TMartinLVNV]

I had fun too. I love seeing other peoples projects and hearing what their plans are. I had a ton of people help me through mine. I'll be back in SA in about 5 months. I expect significant progress

[buttsjim]

I’ve been busy working around the house, working on my wife’s car, traveling, and being lazy the past few weeks, and haven’t spent much time on the Cobra. When I do work on it, I’m way out of sequence with the instructions due to missing items, and I think I spend more time looking at the car, thinking about what I want to do next, rather than actually doing anything. But, I enjoy it, nevertheless.

I assembled my radiator components using the Breeze shroud and upper and lower mounts. These pieces all went together very easily, and I really like the finished product. I used a sanding pad to give the shroud a brushed look to match the rest of the engine bay. The FFR radiator reservoirs looked pretty good, so I tried to polish them a bit before applying Sharkhide. It didn’t come out as good as I had hoped, but it looks nice--much better than this picture:


The radiator top mount instructions call for drilling through both sides of the ¾” tubing and tapping through both sides for a ¼” bolt. I thought this would only provide a total of about 3 or 4 threads for the bolt and had concerns about the strength of those joints. I decided to try tapping through for one fastener first, and if dissatisfied, I could enlarge the top hole and use a nutsert. I took great pains to keep my drill perfectly perpendicular to the tubing to ensure that the holes aligned properly, but during the tapping process, I managed to let the tap get misaligned so that there was no way of properly threading both sides of the tube. So, I used 5mm nutserts with stainless button head bolts, and am very pleased with the result.


After mounting the top portion, I ran a bungee cord across the chassis at the bottom of the radiator and let the radiator rest on the cord so that I could slide the cord back and forth to adjust the angle. That worked well. I may take the radiator back off when it’s motor installation time, but there’s no real need so long as I’m careful. On second thought, I guess I better take it back off.



Although I prefer to follow the sequence in the build manual, it’s impossible to do so due to missing/backordered items. However, I’ve made a list of workarounds that I can continue with, and I can always drill and cleco more sheet metal when I don’t know what else to do. I’m thinking of the Breeze battery box next.

[CaptB]

"Out of Sequence" is everyon's mantra when you're building these cars.

[buttsjim]

"Out of Sequence" is everyon's mantra when you're building these cars.

Yeah, I kinda figured that one out. I just wanted to be special.

[TMartinLVNV]

It was not necessary for me to take the radiator off when installing the motor. There is plenty of room. I followed the advice of several people on here and taped a piece of cardboard on the front side to keep anything dropped on it from bending the fins during the build.

[buttsjim]

I installed my Pro-M hanger/Walbro fuel pump assembly. Based on advice I’d seen in this forum, I used Perma-seal butt connectors to make the electrical connections between the hanger and the pump. I was under the mistaken impression that these connectors were the low-temp solder type connectors, in addition to being impervious to gasoline. They didn't have the solder feature, so I squeezed extra hard on my crimping tool to ensure they stayed put, and I expect they’ll be fine.

I didn’t trust the filter sock’s attachment to the fuel pump, so I cut a little groove in the circumference of the pump inlet with a hacksaw (it’s not nearly as deep as it looks in this picture). This made for a very sure connection, and I’m sure it’ll stay.


I decided not to use the clamp shown in the picture.

I then had a minor fit trying to get the hanger/pump/filter sock assembly to seat properly when inserted into the tank. The hanger and pump would seat without the sock, but with the sock it just wouldn’t sit flat. I marked the hanger’s orientation when it seated properly without the sock, but still couldn’t get it—the sock also needs to be rotated to just the right position on the pump before it will all go into place.

I eventually had to take the tank’s filler pipe and gasket back off so that I could look through that opening to see what was causing problems and be able to work everything into place. I was then able to get the assembly perfectly aligned (and it does have to be perfect—the hanger/pump to the tank, and the sock to the pump) so that it seated properly.


It’s funny how easy it is to spend 2 hours on a ten-minute job.

I used a 12V DC power supply to run the pump for a second to ensure that it worked properly, and then mounted the tank back on the chassis. I’m not sure if the tank will have to come back out (I’ve already done the Kleiner mod), but it only takes a few minutes to install if it does.

[460.465USMC]

It’s funny how easy it is to spend 2 hours on a ten-minute job.

Oh, boy. I wonder how many of these I've had on this project? I think I've decided I don't have any ten minute jobs.

I used a 12V DC power supply to run the pump for a second to ensure that it worked properly, and then mounted the tank back on the chassis. I’m not sure if the tank will have to come back out (I’ve already done the Kleiner mod), but it only takes a few minutes to install if it does.

I don't know if I'm alone on this, but I've dropped my tank too many times to count. Seems like there was always a need to move it out of the way. Like when I ran my rear wiring harness, etc. etc. Thankfully, my tank drops all occurred before I added fuel.

Keep up the good work and enjoy.