Jesse builds a Cobra #10,008 - Full of hot air

[Namrups]

Looking forward to seeing it in person!

[Mike.Bray]

I like the underdash lighting, what did you use?

[Blitzboy54]

I like the underdash lighting, what did you use?

Thanks!

Standard 12v LED strip lighting. Very similar to this.

Geeon 4-Pack LED Strip Lights Red... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G628C18...p_mob_ap_share

[NYMike]

Congrats on getting the golden ticket! Can't wait to see some plates on it.

[JB in NOVA]

Very nice! Looks great, and congrats on making it street legal.

[Blitzboy54]

Legal





Paperwork is done and she is ready to drive on the open road. I ordered new custom plates so in a couple weeks I will replace this one, but she in the eyes of God and the state of NY she is fully legal to drive. In retrospect I basically flew through this project. I should have taken more time but I just got addicted to working on it. I started the paperwork April 30th and have plates June 8th.

I am going to try to find a nice place to take some proper glamour shots to show her off in all her glory (maybe this weekend). I will also post a graduation thread when I'm ready. A hearty thank you to everyone that helped get me this far. I love this forum and plan to stick around for a while.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Get out there and drive it Jesse! In fact let me suggest that your maiden voyage is to the Open House this weekend

Have fun man, you done good

Jeff

[460.465USMC]

Congrats, Jesse! Wahoo! Very excited for you to get out there and enjoy it! It really turned out nice.

P.S. if you're going to the F5 open house, I'll be there and it would be great to meet you. Not sure how far that is for you, but I vote for Jeff's suggestion!

[Namrups]

Great news Jesse! How exciting!

[Blitzboy54]

Get out there and drive it Jesse! In fact let me suggest that your maiden voyage is to the Open House this weekend

Have fun man, you done good

Jeff

Thank you Jeff!

I honestly didn't think I would have plates by now so I thought the open house was not going to happen this year for me. Unfortunately I made no plans to attend so I can't make it this year. I will be there next year for sure.

The car isn't ready for a long trip yet. For instance in my ride yesterday I learned 2 things

1. $60 to fill her up (ooph)
2. My transmission tunnel cover tries to lift off and fly away at 60 mph or more. lol Its really just sitting on there it didn't occur to me that the air pressure und the car would lift it. So I need to figure out a solution.

First of many things I will likely need to debug.

Congrats, Jesse! Wahoo! Very excited for you to get out there and enjoy it! It really turned out nice.

P.S. if you're going to the F5 open house, I'll be there and it would be great to meet you. Not sure how far that is for you, but I vote for Jeff's suggestion!

Chris I'm gutted. I would love to meet you, I really should have planned better.

[Blitzboy54]

First legal drive with the wife. She runs strong, but needs a tune up to smooth out the power band. Because our friend Terry from LV checked in to tell us all about his remote engine tuner I now have an appointment. Terry is even sending me his Sniper to USB cable to borrow for no other reason than he is awesome. I also have an appointment to get the front end aligned on the same day. I did my best to get her close but she pulls a touch to the right and the steering wheel is a little off center





I drove her to work today to because a really good friend of mine retired today.





He is a huge car guy and has been a big part of this journey for me. I was happy to be able to take him out for a big ride. He had that smile on his face the entire time. It was a really great afternoon.





I hope everyone is having a great time at the open house. Say Hi to Dave for me!

[KDubU]

Stunning! Great job, she is a beauty.

[NYMike]

Congrats Jesse. You killed it. It looks amazing. Enjoy your drives!

[Blitzboy54]

I've been both finishing up final bits and having an absolute blast learning how to drive her. I am still waiting on my custom plate so I am not quite ready to "graduate". Once I have that I will make it official. In the mean time I have been checking things off the list.

First was the engine tune. Terry in LV hired a guy to tune his sniper remotely. Thanks to him sharing his experience I had my appointment this week and could not be happier. The power curve has smoothed and it idles and starts beautifully regardless of being hot and cold. It was about 2 hours in the garage and on the phone. It was really cool watching him work and then he would ask me to rev the motor or he would lock the timing and have me check it with the light. I really enjoyed it.

I also figured out my brake setup. The issue I was having as it turns out was the instructions from Wilwood state rotate the bias toward the master cylinder you want to apply more bias to. The issue is that's not exactly right. What they mean is rotate the internal spherical bearing toward the master cylinder you want the apply more bias to. This is actually the opposite. So once I figured that out I moved my setup to all rear to the correct front/rear balance and she stops beautifully now.

I took a page out of Fmans book and purchased and indoor car/dust cover. I have a very old dusty garage and this is by far the best way to keep my car fresh and clean. I love cleaning her after a ride and putting the cover on. It's like opening a Christmas present every time I take the cover off.



The next big milestone was the alignment. I did my best but it wasn't very good. It pulled to the right and would hop all over the place at 70+ MPH. I had a lunch appointment today at a recommended shop and Oh NELLLY!!! what a difference. It's like driving a bullet train I **** you not. It's so nimble.





The wife and I have been taking her out and taking pictures whenever we find a nice spot. So the rest of this post and the next are just random pictures of my almost completed car. I hope you enjoy them.

[Blitzboy54]

[Chopper]

Looks great! I had a similar experience where I did a final corner scale alignment on my car and it really transformed the way it drove. Congratulations!

One thing to note: I cover my car every time after I drive it and put it up on the lift. I do a lot of woodwork and also have a dusty garage. When I had my car painted, my painter told me not to cover it for about 6 months to ensure the cover didn't print the paint. It may depend on what is used, but I think it is worth asking.

-Brandon

[Blitzboy54]

Looks great! I had a similar experience where I did a final corner scale alignment on my car and it really transformed the way it drove. Congratulations!

One thing to note: I cover my car every time after I drive it and put it up on the lift. I do a lot of woodwork and also have a dusty garage. When I had my car painted, my painter told me not to cover it for about 6 months to ensure the cover didn't print the paint. It may depend on what is used, but I think it is worth asking.


-Brandon

Thanks for looking out. Yes I had the same conversation and he said the same thing, however he said a breathable indoor cover was fine but to stay away from an all weather cover until winter. The camera doesn't pic it up but this thing is almost see through.

[460.465USMC]

Jesse, your build looks incredible! Well done. I hope you and the Mrs. get lots of great time together in your completed Roadster this summer driving season.

Couple questions: (1) where did you get your side pipe heat shields (were they already coated black?), and (2) I don't recall, did you PC your roll bar trim rings yourself?

[Blitzboy54]

Jesse, your build looks incredible! Well done. I hope you and the Mrs. get lots of great time together in your completed Roadster this summer driving season.

Couple questions: (1) where did you get your side pipe heat shields (were they already coated black?), and (2) I don't recall, did you PC your roll bar trim rings yourself?

Thank you sir, the co pilot and I just got back from a long drive. Learning what works and what doesn't every day. Today we learned to never leave without sun screen. My elbows and ears are pretty well fried. lol

Answers to your questions are

1. I picked them up at Iconic parts (they look out of stock at the moment but here is the link) https://www.iconicparts.com/stainles...ields-966.html . I ceramic coated them and the pipes at a local shop

2. I PC'ed all the trim rings and head light bezels myself.

[nucjd19]

Jesse...... DANG!!!!! It is beautiful man! You really made a unique and awesome rig! Something to really be proud of

[Fman]

The first and second pic are the money shots, beautiful car Jesse and such a great color choice. That has to be one of the best green colors I have seen.

Hope you get out and enjoy the heck out of it. I just got back from an evening drive myself tonight and damn these cars are fun to drive got my one hour fix, definitely needed it

[KDubU]

Agree with others, she’s stunning and the colour combo rocks.

[TBull]

Beautiful car. Hope you really enjoy it.

[JohnK]

Absolutely stunning! Well done Jesse.

[JB in NOVA]

Great job, Jesse!

[nucjd19]

Hey Jesse. Where did you get the car cover? I have roll bars on the passenger and driver side like you. Been thinking about a car cover to fit that situation. Thanks!

[GoDadGo]

That Is One Sinister Looking Snake!

We all know that our cars resemble that famous Shelby Cobra, which is one B-B-Bad Snake.
Down in the Deep South the Scariest Slithering Snake is the Water Moccasin. (aka: The Cotton Mouth)
This Car Embodies That Snake Because You Never Know Where It Is Or When It Is Going To Bight You!

Well Done, Well Executed & Super Sinister!

[Blitzboy54]

Hey Jesse. Where did you get the car cover? I have roll bars on the passenger and driver side like you. Been thinking about a car cover to fit that situation. Thanks!

https://www.carautocovers.com/full-b...ack-satin.html

I searched a coupon code online and was able to knock a few more bucks off as well.

That Is One Sinister Looking Snake!

We all know that our cars resemble that famous Shelby Cobra, which is one B-B-Bad Snake.
Down in Deep South the Scariest Slithering Snake is the Water Moccasin. (aka: The Cotton Mouth)
This Car Embodies That Snake Because You Never Know Where It Is Or When It Is Going To Bight You!

Well Done, Well Executed & Super Sinister!

Man I appreciate that. I'll have a small update later this weekend. My custom plates came in and wow are we on the same page.

[Straversi]

Congratulations Jesse. I love the choice you made for your build. It's hard to explain to people outside the community how much enjoyment comes from all the decisions you get to make when building one of these projects. I think if you look at my car and yours it's easy to see we made the opposite choice in almost every decision. You had a theme and I had mine, and in the end, I'd be happy to drive either. Well done! Enjoy the miles.
-Steve

[Blitzboy54]

Well, I guess I'm "done". I have 1000 miles now and I can not believe how much fun it is to drive. I used Andrew at projectgattago to remotely tune the EFI and I could not be happier. I get 2 miles per gallon better when I started and the engine is just so smooth. I had some drama with the drivers side door as things settled I needed to make a few tweaks to the door. I found out that it can get away from you if your not careful. I did eventually figure it out so all is well.

My wife and I did a Cobra run in Lake George and it was incredible. You get a lot of attention when you go from town to town in one of these. When you string 25 of them together it's a whole other thing. I felt like a Beetle. All day in the car was great. It's definitely more work than a daily driver but very comfortable and fun. That she likes it as much as she does makes it that much better.

Now there are a couple of things I wish I had done differently. First is the fuel pump. I purchased the Holley Sniper and have no regrets there but I installed the external fuel pump that comes with the complete kit. I mounted it under the passenger seat pan and quite frankly I hate it. I can't get that thing out of there fast enough. It's loud and it drones. You can't hear it over 40mph but when your just cruising it's incredibly irritating. It would have not cost any more (maybe less) to put a submersible pump in the tank and be done with it. I have purchased a submersible pump and waiting on the Pro M hanger then will make the change.

Second is the clutch. I did not install a performance clutch. This was a mistake. I have a pedestrian Mustang replacement clutch and its not strong enough. It's plenty for 90% but when I apply aggressive power it slips. This is a little embarrassing but it just didn't occur to me that would be an issue and I'm sharing it because maybe someone reads it and avoids the same mistake. The good news is I have a friend with a lift and all the toys so we will drop the T5 and put in a Centerforce clutch in September.

I really like the look of tire stickers. I thought about putting Good Year on the tires but I don't have Good Years and I really didn't want to put Nitto on so I decided do this. I like the way the white pops.










If I ever find the perfect picture I'll do a graduation post until then I'll continue to come to the forum every day....... Probably forever


So I guess that's it, I'm graduated.

[Chopper]

Congratulations on the graduation! Looking very sharp. That green is especially perfect in that lighting.

On being done, it's probably never done. It's graduated My car was completed in 2016 and I am still doing work upgrading and changing things!

[CaptB]

Nice job Marine.

[Namrups]

Fantastic build Jesse!

[CaptB]

Hey quick question Jesse, what color are your headers? I originally was going with the ceramkrome silver but went your direction (black). I'm concerned it will look wierd with a silver header connected to a black exhaust pipe.

[65BYBYE]

Looks great Jesse.....looking foward to seeing the finished product!

[Railroad]

That is one unique roadster. Lotsa Black. Very nice work on getting there.

[Chopper]

Hey quick question Jesse, what color are your headers? I originally was going with the ceramkrome silver but went your direction (black). I'm concerned it will look wierd with a silver header connected to a black exhaust pipe.

The transition happens right at the body, it's pretty difficult to see on either side (under hood or outside), unless you have the car up on a lift.

[Blitzboy54]

Hey quick question Jesse, what color are your headers? I originally was going with the ceramkrome silver but went your direction (black). I'm concerned it will look wierd with a silver header connected to a black exhaust pipe.

What Chopper said is correct. Mine are even a little more weird as I have silver ceramic coated 302 headers and raw steal catalytic converters. With the hood open you only really notice the headers and it makes no real difference. Unless it really bothers the builder or it's a show car it probably doesn't matter.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Happy Graduation my friend!

Jeff

[John Ibele]

Congratulations, Jesse. It looks simply fantastic, you did a great job. Thanks for taking us along on the build journey. Cheers, -- John