CV2065 MKIV Build Thread - Graduated!

[TMartinLVNV]

And now for the money shot of both cars in Carmine Red. Photos can be deceiving because of how this color dances differently in different light angles, but both are identical in color. The color of the striping and black vs. chrome can also deceptively change the color as well. The middle picture from up top gives a good color comparison.

These pics are great for builders deciding between the blacked out vs chrome accents. It shows off the different paths really well. Both cars look outstanding! Well done. Both of you have put your own unique visions on full display.

Terry

[Blitzboy54]

Complete work of art.

Man, My car can't get here fast enough.

[Traveller]

That looks great! I'm several months from paint and was leaning toward blue, but you have me thinking.....

[460.465USMC]

Thanks for sharing the photos, Chad! Your build gives me some inspiration. Enjoy!

[BadAsp427]

Wow, what a trip... 2660 miles in 6 days... I have to say, it was fun, except for the Covid part of it. Chad, you have built an awesome looking car. I'm sure we will get them together again in the near future.

[cv2065]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. It's been a journey!

[cv2065]

Wow, what a trip... 2660 miles in 6 days... I have to say, it was fun, except for the Covid part of it. Chad, you have built an awesome looking car. I'm sure we will get them together again in the near future.

Same to you Carl. Thanks again for the highway miles! Much appreciated. Next time, leave COVID at home and we'll grab some beer and burgers!

[cv2065]

Been very busy getting some odds and ends completed so that I can graduate! First thing was to get the car up on jackstands so I could clean up underneath. Red dust everywhere so it took me a good few hours to get it back to 'new' condition. My mother in law was visiting and came outside to look at the car. She says, I don't get it. You waited weeks to get it painted and now you take the wheels off again? What's your deal? LOL...Maybe she has a point.

Anyhow, I installed the splash shields. The rears fit in perfectly, but the fronts needed about 1/4" trim around the sides to fit. I drilled and tapped 1/4-20 holes with SS button heads for a clean install. All looks good. Calipers are now black instead of red. I thought they were red until the car is painted Carmine Red. Then the calipers really stood out and looked like orange. Couldn't have that so they were repainted.







Looking at Paul's (Edwardb) build thread, thought I'd also fabricate a filler panel for the areas right behind the seats and in front of the rear wheel wells. Not sure why FFR doesn't include an additional piece of aluminum here, as it looks very prone to spin all kinds of debris into that gap. Riveted them in and all good.



That concluded my paneling work for the build....Whew!!

[cv2065]

My trunk struts that I had were 17" long and 40lbs. Not sure about anyone around here, but I could not compress the 40 pounders by hand. Even attached, I couldn't get them to budge, so I ordered another set. Carl (Badasp) said that the FFR ones were 20" long and 20lbs. They don't open the trunk by themselves but they do easily hold it open. That's all that I needed so ordered the C16-08568 from Amazon. Installed and they worked as advertised.





Also got my door straps installed. I dyed them black long ago. Again, tapped all of my holes for 10-32 button heads. Came out great but snapped one of my tapping bits. Just an odd angle so easy to do. The instructions call to side mount on the 2" tube, which I did, but you could probably get another couple of inches door clearance by mounting on the face of the tube. All good.



Heat shields went on the side pipes next. These came from CobraStuff and were very easy to put on. I sourced some black washers from Lowes and took about 25 minutes to do both sides. I think they look great with the blacked out look! And of course, in the upper right hand corner you have the 427 badging. Used 3M Heavy Duty Red tape from Autozone. Works great as I've used it before on my Jeep. I don't think I'll have any emblems on the hood or trunk, just the steering wheel.

Speaking of sidepipes, the passenger side pipe was about 1/4" too far outboard, so had to get some spacers from Breeze. Mark is great with his recommendations. Bought a 1/2" wedge as well as 1 1/2" wedge. Put them together and it nets out 1/4". Exactly what I needed and worked great.

[Higgybulin]

Looks Great!!

[Jeff Kleiner]

Looking good Chad! That one photo of the passenger side makes it look like the pipes are touching...or nearly touching...the body at the top of the cutout. If so you'll want to correct that.

Cheers,
Jeff

[cv2065]

Looking good Chad! That one photo of the passenger side makes it look like the pipes are touching...or nearly touching...the body at the top of the cutout. If so you'll want to correct that.

Cheers,
Jeff

Thanks for looking out Jeff! I've got almost a 1/2" of clearance from pipe to body on the top on each side. Is that enough? The darker picture makes it look less...even in person until I measure.

[TMartinLVNV]

Thanks for looking out Jeff! I've got almost a 1/2" of clearance from pipe to body on the top on each side. Is that enough? The darker picture makes it look less...even in person until I measure.

I have two spots that are about 1/4". 4700 miles and the paint is doing fine.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Chad,
Half inch should be fine with poly mounts. I have 3/4” on the driver’s side with rubber mounts and still get contact...but I’m not exactly easy on it

Jeff

[cv2065]

Went out today to stretch her legs. First time out of the neighborhood and went about 40 miles. Stayed cool as a cucumber and was even asked what I do for a living at a gas station. LOL...If people only knew....Anyhow. A few observations:

1. Steering is a little 'sticky' meaning just a nudge moves it more than I'm used to in a 'modern' car. Not a lot, just different. Then again, I've always had manual steering in my classics, so point of reference is zero.
2. Lots of heat coming up through the channel under the door from the engine compartment. I'll be getting some expanding window foam for that gap as it may have gotten left off. Who needs heated seats??
3. Tires make a brief high pitched sound going fast around curves on the back roads. This is either because its a new road or I need an alignment. I'm going with door #2. That happens on Tuesday.
4. Thought I smelled something burning on the first part of the drive. I think it was my new ceramic coated heat shields heating up. Stopped the car to look around and nothing, then it went away. So I'll go with that.
5. Asked if this was a Porsche and if the 19 year old asking became an Engineer, can he get one too? I said of course.

It was a good day!

[cv2065]

This past Tuesday I was able to get my alignment. Funny thing is that I called around to some of the more recommended garages and they were booked. I had 100 miles on my car and didn't want to screw the tires up so I looked for alternatives and found a guy named Rafael Galvez that does mobile car alignments. I've never seen that service before, but Rafael comes out to your garage and does the alignment via laser equipment that BT's up to his laptop software. Overall I was VERY impressed and the results are excellent. All of the issues I mentioned above are gone and drives straight as an arrow. Company is called 'Cars Mobile Alignments'...top notch!

Also was able to get to some of the small things on my final bucket list. One was the sun visors. I used Jeff Kleiner's mod where instead of screwing the visor brackets into the windshield and risking cracking the glass, I used a 6mm SS square nut from McMasters that fit perfectly in the top channel, cut down 8-6MM SS screws and installed. Because my windshield is powder coated black, I also used some rubber spacers to keep the bracket from rubbing the metal.







I also installed the wind wings with side mirrors from The Dream Car Company. Terry is fantastic to work with and he even powder coated the mirrors for me before he sent them. Terry also sends black and SS hardware, depending on preference. Everything was very solid as a final product. One thing I will mention that for the wind wing set screws, the FFR instructions say to use a 3/32" hex to tighten down. This was not the correct size and the allen wrench started to spin as I tightened down further. Swapped over to a little larger 2.5mm hex and it was perfect.



A little glove box bling (Very subtle and 60'ish...



The cam BP puts into this 427 is healthy. I'm always shaking to the music at stops but smooths out really nice at any speed. Great job to BP so far. Had to get a vanity plate that matched the motion while giving a nod to the Ferrari GT 250 California plate in Ferris Bueller's Day Off...a favorite movie:



Coming to the end of it. I am waiting on front air vent and oil cooler mesh from Finish Line. Also need to put in my finishing metal and carpet at the door sills, get my wipers installed as well as the rear view mirror. It had an 'accident' during paint. Very close to graduation!

[cv2065]

Went on a drive today. I officially have 170 miles on the car so far. Just a drop in the bucket to some, but more to come. Quick vanity shot....

[BadAsp427]

it is so cool to see this coming all together. I really like the glove box bling. nice work.

[TMartinLVNV]

Went on a drive today. I officially have 170 miles on the car so far. Just a drop in the bucket to some, but more to come. Quick vanity shot....

You will be putting miles on your car faster than expected. You will probably make excuses just to take the car out. It is a wonderful feeling. I'm about to turn 5000 miles in 6 months of being legal. Your car looks great!

[Fman]

So sick! Great build... thumbs up on the custom plate. Wanted to ask how are you liking the Mustang GT brakes? are they getting the job done? I am also running them on my build.

[cv2065]

So sick! Great build... thumbs up on the custom plate. Wanted to ask how are you liking the Mustang GT brakes? are they getting the job done? I am also running them on my build.

I have manual brakes, so for what its worth. They stop well enough. Not on a dime like my old brake booster in my 67 Camaro, but good enough. LOTS of brake dust from those pads. I'm considering changing to Hawk sometime down the road.

[Fman]

I have manual brakes, so for what its worth. They stop well enough. Not on a dime like my old brake booster in my 67 Camaro, but good enough. LOTS of brake dust from those pads. I'm considering changing to Hawk sometime down the road.

I also have manual brakes... I did upgrade with Power Stop drilled and slotted rotors front and rear with upgraded pads. It will be interesting to see how they perform once I get the car on the road.

[FLPBFoot]

T
The cam BP puts into this 427 is healthy.

I am waiting on front air vent and oil cooler mesh from Finish Line.

Agree The cam BP uses in these 427s has a bunch of lope. Sounds great at idle.

I got AL mesh for the brake duct holes, oil cooler as well as the radiator opening. Took them in and had them anodized black....might be an option for your black-out theme?

IMG_7273.jpg

Steve

[cv2065]

Agree The cam BP uses in these 427s has a bunch of lope. Sounds great at idle.

I got AL mesh for the brake duct holes, oil cooler as well as the radiator opening. Took them in and had them anodized black....might be an option for your black-out theme?

IMG_7273.jpg

Steve

Looks good Steve. I'm going for the finer mesh, and placed an order with **********. Although just filed a suit with Paypal as I've received Nada...so we'll see how it goes.

[cv2065]

Put about 200 miles on the car over the MLK weekend. Everything went really well. Car ran great. Even got some highway miles which I now prefer over the back roads. I did make a carburetor mod where I upgraded the accelerator pump discharge nozzles. Carb came with a 31 size. Upgraded to a 35. Still chasing a very slight bog, so might go after a jet size increase in the near future. Plugs look nice and tan so I'm right on the edge of a close to perfect tune.

My Herb's Panels are in the doors now. I really wanted to just use velcro, but with the summer heat, didn't want to take a chance on them sliding in the future. Herb recommends using silicone in addition to the velcro. I'm sure that works great, just wanted to be able to remove if necessary, so I used 10-32 screws instead. Taped up the area to avoid flaking any new paint. All came out great and I used the plastic head caps from Lowes to finish it all off. I'm very pleased.





Also started with my door filler panels. These just fit right into place and are easy to work with. I'll probably have the carpet pieces bound on the ends to finish them, so it will be a week before I get the carpet mounted.

[Papa]

The car looks fantastic, Chad. All the black trim is a bit sinister looking. Perfect for a Cobra.

[GoDadGo]

Red Roadsters Really Rock!

...........Well Done, Very Well Done Indeed!

[cv2065]

Thanks guys! Almost there and have my cap and gown ready!

[Blitzboy54]

Went out today to stretch her legs. First time out of the neighborhood and went about 40 miles. Stayed cool as a cucumber and was even asked what I do for a living at a gas station. LOL...If people only knew....Anyhow. A few observations:

1. Steering is a little 'sticky' meaning just a nudge moves it more than I'm used to in a 'modern' car. Not a lot, just different. Then again, I've always had manual steering in my classics, so point of reference is zero.
2. Lots of heat coming up through the channel under the door from the engine compartment. I'll be getting some expanding window foam for that gap as it may have gotten left off. Who needs heated seats??
3. Tires make a brief high pitched sound going fast around curves on the back roads. This is either because its a new road or I need an alignment. I'm going with door #2. That happens on Tuesday.
4. Thought I smelled something burning on the first part of the drive. I think it was my new ceramic coated heat shields heating up. Stopped the car to look around and nothing, then it went away. So I'll go with that.
5. Asked if this was a Porsche and if the 19 year old asking became an Engineer, can he get one too? I said of course.

It was a good day!

I'm not sure what kind of power steering pump you're using but my Saginaw runs at 1200 PSI. This creates a twitchiness in the rack. I installed a reducer that brings the pressure down to 800 PSI. This smooths the steering considerably. I have not built my Cobra yet but have had this issue on other cars.

FYI

[cv2065]

I'm not sure what kind of power steering pump you're using but my Saginaw runs at 1200 PSI. This creates a twitchiness in the rack. I installed a reducer that brings the pressure down to 800 PSI. This smooths the steering considerably. I have not built my Cobra yet but have had this issue on other cars.

FYI

Thanks for the tip. My main issue was a bad alignment. Got that dialed in and was good to go!

[cv2065]

Well, I've got almost 400 miles on the car now. I keep telling myself that I need to finish up some of the final touches on the car, but find myself behind the driver's seat instead. As you all know, the reactions you get driving around are priceless. Almost time for my first oil change!

I will say that after changing the squirters on the carb to two sizes up, the car starts incredibly well. I just give it two blips of the throttle and I can say that it's scared me a couple of times. LOL...thing just roars to life.

Anyhow, got a couple other minor things done. Bought the weather seal for the doors and hood from Breeze. 24 feet worth of part #21086. Went on the doors very easily. I haven't put on the hood yet. The hood was fitted with the rubber grommets that came from FFR. Wondering if this weather sealing will be a little too giving for the hood versus the grommets. Guess I'll try it out. Here's the door fitting.



After my fiasco with ********** and not getting my parts, I decided to use the hood emblem for my steering wheel emblem. Actually came out really good and matches the floor mats.



Next up will be the license plate lighting connection and windshield wipers. Getting closer to the diploma....

[PeteMeindl]

looking good, CV!

[BadAsp427]

Looks great Chad, I guess I really need to get to work finishing mine up instead of driving it. I've put about 400 miles on is since getting it back from Jeff K in December. If it's nice enough weather to work in the garage, it's nice enough to drive it.

[Hacksaw84]

SUB LEVEL MAX!

[cv2065]

SUB LEVEL MAX!

LOL...You got that right Michael. See you on Saturday!

[Blitzboy54]

Chris I'm curious about your powder coat. On the body panels is that the same finish as your Wheels, windows and gas cap or did you go with more of a satin?

[cv2065]

On the body panels is that the same finish as your Wheels, windows and gas cap or did you go with more of a satin?

Body panels are a Satin and the wheels, window frames, etc. are gloss black

[Mattsvtcobra]

LOL...You got that right Michael. See you on Saturday!

Did you go to the DSCC thing yesterday?

Also, dude, the car is incredible looking. Let me know when you can meet up! I live in downtown WG.

[cv2065]

As I'm finishing up, I kept going back to my sound system. I know I know...the sound of the exhaust should be enough. But its NOT! So....I was looking at my pancake subwoofer that I installed and it's been screaming for mercy against the pipes. I can hear my highs and some mids, but bass has just been lacking. So, I said WTF, and upgraded my system again. This time, it's dedicated 10" Kicker Sub box and 300 watt RMS amp. And guess what....It's badass!! My entire car is now a subwoofer, and I'm digging it!! Who needs trunk space anyway???

And for those of you who are looking for a classy but somewhat old school thump but curios as to what fits, here's what I've got. Not expensive, but does the job. The box must weigh in at 25-30 pounds and is very stout. Kicker model is 44TCC104. It's a vented, thin profile slanted box, so is 7" at the top and 4" at the bottom...Just enough room to close the trunk and not touch the lid. I also added the Rockville RVA-M2 Monoblock Amplifier. Now I'm happy!

Oh and if I ever did want to recover my trunk space for a trip or something, it's a quick two wire disconnect to the sub.

[cv2065]

Well, finally at my 500 mile mark and put the car up for a quick looksie. Everything looks great...no leaks (Knock on wood). I also changed my oil using 10W30 Conventional as prescribed by Blueprint. Plug was a little sludgy, but that was to be expected. Magnet on this plug could pull a truck. Nothing in the pan but dirty oil, so all is good so far. Here's what the plug looked like....



Also got around to getting my brake hole mesh siliconed in. The 'eyebrow' metal supports in the front get in the way when trying to install these, so lots trimming of the mesh on one side is most certainly needed. Came out well though.



Wanted to get a drive in this weekend but the in-laws made a visit and it was cold and overcast, but there is always next weekend!