Eastman Kids Cobra Build - Complete Kit

[Serenity]

We have 6 kids and unfortunately I had been sick for a long time and was unable to get a diagnosis. 5 years ago I was finally diagnosed with Celiac Disease which is an auto-immune disease. I haven't been able to do as much with my kids as I would've liked, so I was looking for a project to make memories with them - something they would remember. My older sister passed away from cancer shortly before I was able to receive a diagnosis. My uncle also passed away from Covid relatively early on in the pandemic. I desired to build a Factory Five Roadster for a number of years, but never saw this becoming a reality. During a dark time, my wife was OK letting me accelerate this project so we could build it together (me and the kids). We have 6 kids with ages between 4 and 15 (we homeschool). My job requires a lot of travel, so I'm generally not around a whole lot, but due to Covid, there is a narrow window that my traveling will be reduced (for a bit).

Here is what we are going to build -
Complete Kit
IRS
Engine TBD
Powder Coated Chassis
Power Steering
Stainless Side Exhaust
Vinyl Dash w/ Glovebox
Heated Seats (Cobra Heat)
Russ Thompson Turn Signal
Russ Thompson Gas Pedal
Breeze Cockpit Storage Cubby
Breeze Radiator Fan Shroud + upper/ lower mounting kit
Breeze Engine Compartment Battery Box
Breeze offset mounting for Power Steering Rack
Breeze Installation Kit for Classic Seats
Mechanical Throttle from Mike Forte
....plus lots more that I'm forgetting...
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Since I live in Southern California, I opted not to do air conditioning or heat, however I will add heated seats. I was debating whether or not to create a build thread since there are so many excellent ones, but since I'm enjoying following so many other builds right now, it seems like a good thing to do. My intent is NOT to build a show car, but something fun, and something my kids can help with. For me, this is about making memories with them. I couldn't think of a username, and since I'm a fan of the tv series Firefly, I opted to use Serenity for my name.

Kit was ordered on 4/28/21 and took delivery on 11/18/21.

[Serenity]

On September 29th, we decided it was time to get the jack stands ready and to build the body buck. I wanted the jack stands to be on wheels so I could move the car around as needed and I saw someone else build something similar, so I decided to do the same thing. Reagan helped me get the jack stands ready and yes, we did strap them down for safety as seen in later pictures.
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Carter was ready to tacks the Body Buck, and since this qualified for his math lesson for the day, I let him go for it. Reagan helped, too!
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[Nigel Allen]

G'day Serenity,


That build sheet ticks all the boxes for me, if I was to build again. Plenty of fun times ahead.

I just saw your modified jack stands in your second post. I am concerned about the casters not being spread wide enough. In the picture, the caster is rotated so that it is pretty much directly under the stand, indicating that the stability is poor. Modifying jack stands is risky and although the idea has great merit, I just don't think they are safe.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Serenity]

In following some of the other builds, I saw that some attached wheels to the body buck, and that seemed like a good, idea! Reagan tackled that project using the casters from a moving dolly we no longer needed:
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I went and looked at the body buck the following day and the foam around the top was melted... It took me another week to figure out what happened, but the window on the side of my house reflects the sunlight directly where I had the car positioned. Thankfully I saw this and moved the car into a different position so the fiberglass shell wouldn't endure this reflection for an extended period of time. I'm not sure if it would hurt the body or not, but regardless, I'm thankful to have caught this early-on.
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[Fman]

Congratulations, looking forward to following your journey. What a great experience for your kids they will definitely learn a lot during the process.

[Serenity]

G'day Serenity,


That build sheet ticks all the boxes for me, if I was to build again. Plenty of fun times ahead.

Cheers,

Nigel

Thank you, Nigel! I saw you went with the Coyote. I gave that some serious consideration and would have loved that, but in the end I decided to go with the 347. I think it will be more inline with my skill set....well see...

[Serenity]

On October 22nd, we decided that the body buck should be painted, so everyone pitched in. The younger ones helped for about 2 minutes until they decided it wasn't so fun anymore, but the other kids stuck with it until it was finished. I started with just black spray paint, but wasn't happy, so we primed it and then used Behr house paint "Race Car Red". Seemed appropriate....
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[Serenity]

The car was finally delivered on 11/18, and we were pretty excited. It was either going to be delivered on the 17th or 18th, and unfortunately I had video conference calls scheduled for most of the 18th, but this was the perfect excuse to miss those calls. My kids, dad, and neighbors were there to help, so it was great! The driver was fantastic and couldn't be happier.

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[Serenity]

On November 20th, it was time to remove the body, and Kadence helped remove the necessary hardware for this. This required the help of my wife, Kadence, and Carter. Yes, having some extra hands for this process was very helpful.
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[Serenity]

Kadence & Carter helped me label and identify all of the panels. This is helpful familiarizing ourselves with the different panels, but in the end I don't think we needed to label everything. We labeled everything with the panel item# as well as whether it was "over" or "under" another panel. I took a lot of pictures so I can reference them later and maybe this will be a good thing. We completed this as part of our inventorying....

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[Serenity]

Well, there was a lot of reasons that I couldn't do this prior to the car arriving, but if we are going to build a car, we definitely needed to look like we knew what we were doing. My neighbor's garage is soooo clean and organized and he has 2 classic cars and a lot of neat neon lights & decor. My garage has been, well, a garage. It's where I used to park our cars, but I never spent much time in the garage other than for small projects. On December 8th we decided it was time to make some changes.
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I even put up some Christmas lights:
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Regan has been spending a lot of time with me going to Home Depot and just running errands. It's been great spending some time with her, too! That's what this project is about - making memories.

It wasn't all roses. In addition to setting up the pegboard, I also painted the garage, patched the holes in the drywall, and ran conduit, installed 4 new outlets and 4 overhead lights (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Unfortunately when I was installing the conduit, I sliced my finger and ended up at Urgent Care. I was told it was a 2hr wait, but a surgeon called me within minutes of me sitting down. Apparently I was the only patient with a laceration, so he had me on my way in about 20min. He gave me option of 4 stiches or he could glue it back together. I opted for the glue, but typing was truly difficult for the next week.
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Overhead lights finished:
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[Serenity]

Since there were a lot of back-orders, we decided to start on the aluminum panels. I had never used cleco's before, so it was kinda fun. I've seen picture of them, but never knew how they worked. Carter, Marcus, and Reagan all helped with drilling, cleco's, etc. I'm sure I'll make some mistakes along the way, but this isn't going to be a show car, so I'm good with everyone helping! All of us are learning as we go...

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[Serenity]

Kadence has been helping quite a but, so it's been an enjoyable project.

Kadence marked the Firewall panel and picked the location for the rivets:
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Center punch & drilling the panels:
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Drilling the chassis while Carter removes the screws holding the panels:
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Looking good so far:
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Transmission tunnel....ok, mabe we got a little carried away with the drilling and cleco's.....
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[Serenity]

I had really toyed with either powder coating the panels or using a bedliner type spray. I really did like the raw aluminum and didn't wan't to cover it all up, so I experimented with different patterns, etc.... I had already scratched up the panels pretty good by being careless, and I swear, Aluminum scratches just by looking at it. I knew I would have my work cut out to clean up my carelessness....
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In the end I decided that I really like a brushed look. It was relatively easy to do and then I would coat the panels with Shark Hide. We used a large piece of wood as a guide for brushing the aluminum so the strokes were consistent:
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F Panel test - to see if we liked the finished look:
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This is with the Shark Hide coating and I think it looks great. Now only about a dozen more panels to do....
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[Serenity]

Well, we received a backorder for the Rear Upper & Lower Control Arms and Toe Adjustment Arms. I'm still missing part of the Toe Adjustment Arms, so Kadence helped me identify and assemble what we could:
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[Serenity]

Kadence ran over to Home Deport with me where we purchased 7/16-14 threaded rod, nuts, jam nuts, and coupling nuts. Unfortunately they didn't have any 1" or 1.5" bolts, so I used 1.5" threaded rod with a jam nut + nut. For final assembly I was thinking about using blue loctite on the nuts, but let me know what you think. This seem like it should work OK, but who knows, maybe I'll just buy a bolt from McMaster.

Cleaning up the threads:
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Rear view:
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Under the car view:
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Any concerns regarding this installation?

[Serenity]

Kadence was my big helper for this project and it was more difficult that I anticipated. Yes, I read that I should probably have installed the rear differential first as the control arms might get in my way, but I'm a glutton for punishment, so we pressed on. I'm still waiting for the bushings to mount the rear differential anyways.

As you can see below, things don't exactly line up and I'm not strong enough to flex this steel to make it work:
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I also purchased threaded rod for this exact scenario which I had read about from other informative builds. Unfortunately, every time I would expand the opening, the wrong side would expand:
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It just took a little more creativity to make everything align just right:
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I was concerned about the zerk fittings being sheared off if the lower control arm dropped all the way, so while it is kinda difficult to see, I zip tied the other & lower control arms for the time being. I had read some build threads where these were installed upside down, so between constantly checking the manual & pictures, I also made sure the zerk fittings were facing down.
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Everything pretty well until I got to the upper control arm on the passenger side and I could only get the bolt (closest to the cockpit) "most" of the way in. I was just misaligned enough that I could NOT make it align. I ended up using a wratchet strap to pull it down just enough so I could hammer it in. Again, it just took a little but more creativity and finesse.

[jts359]

Hi, just friendly advice "Safety Glasses " Ed

[John Ibele]

Hey Serenity, welcome to the fun, and kudos for doing a build thread and most of all, including the kids in the build. What a great idea! If you get tired of doing the build thread you could always share that duty with the kids ... although with 15 posts in 2 days I think it's pretty clear you don't tire easily.

I have to make a comment about safety, and please understand it's well intended and written out of concern for you and the kids. I'm new to this kind of work but I've spent plenty of time under my car on a creeper by now, and I would never do what you've done with the floor jacks. I'm gonna cringe whenever I see a photo with one of your floor jacks in the picture. One recent example - I was using a pickle fork to pick up the tail of my transmission to put spacers under it. I needed leverage. After a few attempts I realized I had braced my foot against the base of the rear PS floor jack, and was pushing pretty hard on the bottom. It wasn't budging but the point is I did it without thinking, and I shudder to think of what would have happened with wheels below the jack.

Just my opinion, and far from the most experienced opinion on this forum. No one will be bashful about chiming in if they think I'm off base.

Back to the good stuff ... good choice with the SharkHide. Painting the panels is something I wouldn't do if I were building again. And your threaded rod "convincer" ... only needed for a brief time in the build, but when it's needed there's no substitute!

Keep those updates coming ... you'll be done by the time I post my next build update

[Serenity]

Hi, just friendly advice "Safety Glasses " Ed

Thank you, Ed! Yes, I actually went out and bought 6 pairs of safety goggles and 50 dust masks!
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I think I look pretty good, too! We'll be wearing masks/ goggles when drilling from now on.
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[Serenity]

Hey Serenity, welcome to the fun, and kudos for doing a build thread and most of all, including the kids in the build. What a great idea! If you get tired of doing the build thread you could always share that duty with the kids ... although with 15 posts in 2 days I think it's pretty clear you don't tire easily.

I have to make a comment about safety, and please understand it's well intended and written out of concern for you and the kids. I'm new to this kind of work but I've spent plenty of time under my car on a creeper by now, and I would never do what you've done with the floor jacks. I'm gonna cringe whenever I see a photo with one of your floor jacks in the picture. One recent example - I was using a pickle fork to pick up the tail of my transmission to put spacers under it. I needed leverage. After a few attempts I realized I had braced my foot against the base of the rear PS floor jack, and was pushing pretty hard on the bottom. It wasn't budging but the point is I did it without thinking, and I shudder to think of what would have happened with wheels below the jack.

Just my opinion, and far from the most experienced opinion on this forum. No one will be bashful about chiming in if they think I'm off base.

Back to the good stuff ... good choice with the SharkHide. Painting the panels is something I wouldn't do if I were building again. And your threaded rod "convincer" ... only needed for a brief time in the build, but when it's needed there's no substitute!

Keep those updates coming ... you'll be done by the time I post my next build update

Thank you, John! I certainly appreciate your feedback. It has been well received. The car is pretty solid, but I'm only planning to keep it as-is until I get ready to put the engine/ transmission in. I'll throw my Quick Jacks under it before too long. It's been really nice being able to move the car around in the garage, so I'm going to leave it as-is for the time being. The windshield leaks on my Jeep and there are 6 days of rain coming up, so it's nice being able to push the car over and park my jeep in the garage (if needed).

[Serenity]

OK, I decided to was time to order some of the other components I'll be needing:
http://www.norcal-cobras.com/store/r...uss_garage.htm
Ordered the Drop-Trunk Mod from Russ Thompson

https://www.breezeautomotive.com/
Ordered the following from Breeze Automotive:
70648 Big Bore Vent Check Valve Kit
70772 Radiator Fan Shroud
70551 Lower Radiator Support Kit
70558 Heavy Duty Hinged Radiator Shroud
70561 Engine Compartment Batter Mounting Kit
70602 Installation Kit for New Steel Frame Classic Seats
20360 1/8" All Aluminum Rivets

I also bought a LockNLube Pistol Grip Grease Gun, too! I've never had great luck with zerk fittings and I really like how this attaches to the zerk fittings and how it is easy to remove. I had an older grease gun that I've had for years, and when I pulled it out of my drawer, it had leaked grease everywhere making a huge mess. I didn't want to buy another cheap one, and this seemed to have good reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My radiator also arrived from Factory Five today, so I'm pretty excited about that, too! It's looking like I'll be needing to add another pegboard to my garage to hold additional tools as I've pretty much maxed out my existing space, but I'm loving how I can see all of my tools and grab what I need when needed. It also makes cleanup so much easier.

[John Ibele]

Classic shot with the headlamp and safety gear! Nice!

Relieved to hear the background on the Quick Jacks. Sounds like a solid plan.

[jts359]

My Daughter used to help me restore cars and at 31 years old if I need help she will come over and give a hand , Anyway she would autograph unseen parts of the car and years later I have got a couple of calls from people who now own the cars who found the autographs , Ed

[GoDadGo]

Welcome Aboard & Welcome To The Factory Five Family!

.................You all just embarked on an amazing journey!

[Serenity]

My Daughter used to help me restore cars and at 31 years old if I need help she will come over and give a hand , Anyway she would autograph unseen parts of the car and years later I have got a couple of calls from people who now own the cars who found the autographs , Ed

I love that! I'm hoping that I'll have the same relationship with my kids as they grow up!

[Serenity]

Welcome Aboard & Welcome To The Factory Five Family!

.................You all just embarked on an amazing journey!

Thank you! I've enjoyed following your build and different threads. You've had quite the experience and I've learned a lot just by following your threads...

[GoDadGo]

Thank you! I've enjoyed following your build and different threads. You've had quite the experience and I've learned a lot just by following your threads...

Take a look at Edwardb's (Sir Paul B.) two MK-4 build threads and you'll see how things really should be done.
Any advice given to you by Mr. Paul, 65 Cobra Dude, Erik Treves, or Jeff Kleiner is advice worth taking.

Good Luck & Happy Wrenching!

[Serenity]

Take a look at Edwardb's (Sir Paul B.) two MK-4 build threads and you'll see how things really should be done.
Any advice given to you by Mr. Paul, 65 Cobra Dude, Erik Treves, or Jeff Kleiner is advice worth taking.

Good Luck & Happy Wrenching!

Thank you! Yes, I have so much respect for you as well as the other's you mentioned. I've been following Edwardb's build thread, and it has been helpful. I probably shouldn't have installed the rear upper/ lower control arms until I installed the rear differential, but I'm a glutton for punishment. I'll stick to primarily working on the aluminum until I get more parts...

[Serenity]

12/23/21
I haven't had as much time as I would've liked, so progress is slow. Was trying to wrap up some work projects before Christmas and spending more time in the evening with the kids. We took the kids to Bainbridge Circle last night to see the Christmas lights, and it is impressive as always. I'm taking my time working on the aluminum panels since there is little else I can do right now. I should have some parts arriving next week that I'm looking forward to.

The kids also helped me organizing the tools again. I installed more pegboard since I ran out of room, and unfortunately I managed to make that project twice as hard as it should've been, but it came out pretty well....just had to do some extensive drywall repairs....🙄. There are a few more tools I'm looking to add to my collection, including a welder...

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[Serenity]

12/24/21
Received the Drop-Trunk Mod from Russ Thompson today and Carter and I decided to go tackle it. If I didn't over think it so much, it would have been relatively straightforward. I was hesitant to cut into the trunk, but after measuring 3x, we started it. Hopefully we'll finish it tomorrow or over the weekend. We had an earlier Christmas Eve dinner tonight, so I wasn't able to work on the car as much as I would've liked, but trying to err on family time! Carter did just about all of this project with my supervision, so far!
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[Serenity]

I finished assembly of the Drop-Trunk using silicone and riveting the box together. I've always enjoyed fabrication, and this was no exception. On the other hand, I also managed to make this the most difficult install ever. Russ Thompson's directions are great, but add the human factor, and there I am. In the end, I'm actually quite happy and I'm glad I did this....it'll be well worth it once the car is finished. I still need to trim the opening a little more, but maybe I'll tackle that tomorrow.

Let's see...Carter and I greased the Rear Upper/ Lower control arms using my new LockNLube grease gun and I LOVE it, as much as you can love a grease gun. Night and day difference from other grease guns I've used.

I was lamenting awhile ago how some garages have cool neon lights/ decor, but my garage is pretty plain. Knowing I would never buy it myself, my wife and the kids bought me an awesome neon light and a neon clock for Christmas. I didn't take a picture of the cool clock, but I'm sure it'll show up in a future post.

Anyways, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

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[jiriza84641]

Build is looking great, The kids are doing an outstanding job.

[WIS89]

My Daughter used to help me restore cars and at 31 years old if I need help she will come over and give a hand , Anyway she would autograph unseen parts of the car and years later I have got a couple of calls from people who now own the cars who found the autographs , Ed

Ed-

Thanks for sharing this story; I love it!! What a cool thing for your daughter to have done, and pretty cool that folks call you about it years later. Kids are awesome!!

Regards,

Steve

[WIS89]

Serenity-

I have enjoyed reading about the progress of you and your family! What a wonderful experience to share with your kids, and I know they will become cherished memories!

Thanks for allowing us to follow along, and I wish you nothing but continued success. I know the memory of this build will sustain you long after the build is complete!

Awesome!

Regards,

Steve

[Serenity]

12/26/21
Drop-Box Adjustment & Mounting Panels

I squared up the opening for the Drop-Box trunk. Everything is more square and better aligned....that section is done for the time being.
Siliconed and riveted both F Panels, A-Wall (transmission), firewall, and started assembling the passenger footbox. It doesn't look like we accomplished much because I probably spent half the time cleaning up and double-checking things. To start with, I applied silicone to the wrong side of the first F-Panel....😳. Cleaned it all up and started again. I've learned that Windex and alcohol are excellent for cleaning up wet silicone.

The instructions are slightly vague as to using 1/8" short or 1/8" long rivets. From what I can tell, people are using 1/8" short rivets for panel to panel and small cross member attachments and 1/8" long for attaching panel to larger metal beams. I've generally been using 1/8" short rivets with a few exceptions.

I'm loving my pneumatic riveter! So much fun.

Carter spent quite a bit of time with me today and Kadence popped out for a bit, too! Everyone else has been sick for the last few days with fevers, sore throats, and runny noses. Levi was 103.5 last night with Tylenol, so no one is sleeping great.

As I'm following some other builds, I was every slightly discouraged at the quick progress of some of the other threads, but then I reminded myself that this isn't a race, and my goal is to spend quality time with my kids on this project. My goal is for my kids to do as much of this build as possible....hence the slower progress...and I'm ok with that. I also have very limited time during the week and weekends to work on this. With 6 kids + homeschooling + working full time, I don't have a lot of free time.

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[Serenity]

Passenger Footbox is almost done. Carter is sick with a fever and Kadence is better, so she helped me tonight. Did some work on the passenger footbox, so slowly making progress. Oh, I also picked up a 20 ton hydraulic shop press, too! This will come in handy later in the build. There is something satisfying looking at cleco's 😎 and who doesn't love riveting? There won't be any rattles in this car 😂. I might need to buy some more rivets though...lol...jk...

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[Serenity]

January 13, 2022
We'll, I'm returning to the land of the living. Rough day yesterday, pretty severe joint/ muscle pain and fatigue, but finally well enough to make it back to the garage. Still working on aluminum panels, and Kadence and Reagan helped drill holes, cleco, silicone, and rivet. Reagan's learning the tools and how to cleco and rivet, too! So cool!!! I get to supervise! Carter had a bit of a relapse and spent most of the day in bed with fatigue.

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[Serenity]

1/15/22
Kadence, Carter, Marcus, and Reagan all spent quite a bit of time in the garage helping button up the passenger seat aluminum. We are ready to start working on the driver's seat area, too. We spent quite a bit of time measuring/ marking the driver seats floor so we are ready to start drilling/ riveting. We also tentatively mounted the front upper/ lower control arms. I know a lot of people have had difficulty installing the ball joints, so I wire brushed the paint off the threads as noted and had no issue threading it in. Applied blue loctite to the ball joints. My girls picked up some signage for the garage at Hobby Lobby while they were shopping today. Made me happy 😁. We'll be spending tomorrow with my parents/ nieces/ nephew. We haven't gotten together since Thanksgiving due to illnesses, so glad we're all recovered and can spend some time together.

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[egchewy79]

i think the manual calls for red loctite on the upper BJs. just make sure you put a witness mark on the BJs so you can see if they're backing out or a tack weld if you have that available.
glad to hear that you and the fam are recovered.