CV2065 MKIV Build Thread - Graduated!

[cv2065]

We should all hook up!

[460.465USMC]

Now it wasn't all roses. I did have a little trouble getting the notches on both sides to seat. Probably sat the engine up and down off the mounts a half a dozen times, making little adjustments here and there. The focus was with the leveler. It really needed to be perfectly centered in the bay in order for it to seat 99% of the way. The passenger side always had no problem going in, but the driver's side kept hanging about 1/16" off. So, called my Bud Carl (Badasp), and gave me the idea to loosen the motor mount on that side. I did that, then took a 2x4 and tapped the mount into the place, then tightened the mounts back up (45 ft-lbs). Problem solved! Bolts from mount to frame tightened to 50 ft-lbs.

Hello Chad, really enjoying your build thread! This was a big milestone day for you. Very cool your son was part of it! Looking forward to catching up with the rest of your thread, as I've made a note of many of your good tips/lessons learned. I'm sure I'll have several more by the time I'm caught up.

P.S. Semper Fi! I saw your Marine Corps flag in a couple different pictures--have the same hanging in my garage.

Chris

[cv2065]

Hello Chad, really enjoying your build thread! This was a big milestone day for you. Very cool your son was part of it! Looking forward to catching up with the rest of your thread, as I've made a note of many of your good tips/lessons learned. I'm sure I'll have several more by the time I'm caught up.

P.S. Semper Fi! I saw your Marine Corps flag in a couple different pictures--have the same hanging in my garage.

Chris

Thanks Chris. I've gotten lazy with my thread but have some updates to it here shortly as paint day is on the horizon. Semper Fi as well Bud! Feel free to hit me on the PM if you need any details from the build thread.

[Blitzboy54]

Hey Chad,

Really digging your build. My plan is very similar to what your doing (in terms of using a lot of black and keeping things modern). It's cool as hell looking. I'm curious if you plan on using the Quick Jack Cover Plates, I really want to see what they look like, particularly powder coated. I am also would love to know how your music sounds while driving. Wondering how it holds up over the exhaust. So many great features.

Also let me be the next Jar Head to pass along a Semper Fi. Thinking of sneaking an EGA in mine somewhere.



Jesse

[cv2065]

Hey Chad,

Really digging your build. My plan is very similar to what your doing (in terms of using a lot of black and keeping things modern). It's cool as hell looking. I'm curious if you plan on using the Quick Jack Cover Plates, I really want to see what they look like, particularly powder coated. I am also would love to know how your music sounds while driving. Wondering how it holds up over the exhaust. So many great features.

Also let me be the next Jar Head to pass along a Semper Fi. Thinking of sneaking an EGA in mine somewhere.



Jesse

Thanks for the comments Jesse. I'm not planning on using the cover plates. I really like the raw look of the quick jacks. I'm trying to balance in-between modern and old style as much as I can, but giving a nod towards modern. Powder coating everything is a bit tedious and expensive, but worth the look IMO. The most challenging parts are the rear and front tail light bezels for different reasons. The way I have my music setup, sounds killer when the car is sitting. Driving down the road not so much. It's BT, so I'll probably have to wear an earpiece at highway speeds. That said, I'm not completely sure as I haven't had it out of the neighborhood yet. It's getting ready for paint now and just registered it a couple of weeks ago.

PM me if you have any other questions about the PC. Semper Fi to you as well. Can't go wrong with an EGA as the steering wheel emblem.....

[cv2065]

So it's been a while since I updated my build thread. I had to get a few pieces powder coated and ceramic coated and just kind of slowed the process down as I await paint. The pipes and windshield frame brackets were the last two pieces that I had to get blacked out. Again, the entire process is completely worth it, but it is very time consuming and expensive. There is only one ceramic coater around here who did an excellent job on my headers so took the pipes back and they turned out great. Really threw the BBQ paint thing back and forth, as this was not cheap, but went for the durability.



I also had to have the rollbar re-powder coated because of the scratches it got taking it in and out for fitment. Should have wrapped in tape, but got in a hurry and forgot. Gas cap also had to be redone as I got some overspray on it from another project. Denatured alcohol does a great job at cleaning, just go easy with the elbow grease. Anyhow, got those back. Reinstalled the gas cap but kept the rollbar off at this point, as I won't be doing much driving.

The windshield brackets were next and had them powdercoated. I am really glad that I bought the SS inserts from Whitbys for the windshield. As many times as I had those brackets off and on for screw fitment and powdercoating, I would have surely stripped out the included brass inserts. Crazy how different the car looks with a windshield.

Per the advice from the forum, I tapped and drilled my brackets. Very easy to do with the soft brass. I took Mike Everson's advice and drew a line straight down the middle of each windshield frame bracket with a florescent marker, so that I'd know when it was aligned in the middle of the brackets on the car to be marked.



Tapped and drilled:



I took the same support that I had made for the body when it was in the body buck, cut it down an inch or so and used it to hold the windshield up so that I could mark it. It's a must do when you are a one man show and worked perfectly. I had 27 1/8" of an inch on each side from door jam to the top screw on the windshield. Sat in it to make sure my head wasn't over the top of the windshield, but nope, fit perfectly.







Also made sure that the windshield brackets were not touching the body. Test fit the screws and made sure the rubber laid down across the car with no daylight. All looked good. The picture doesn't show the powder coated brackets, as that was my initial fitment, but they do look great.

[cv2065]

One thing I did run into by accident was the rev limiter. This was autoset by Blueprint at I'm going to guess around 5000-5500, so I never really messed with it. Out on a drive around the neighborhood one day to add to my whopping 50 miles on the engine, and the car would not rev above 2500. Somehow the wire had come out of its fastener in the engine bay and grounded itself while the car was running to 2500 RPM. Carl (BadASP) pointed this out and I reset it to the correct rpm. Thought I'd mention it as it wasn't my first guess when diagnosing and someone else may benefit.

[MSumners]

Looking great!

[cv2065]

Well, finally turned the page and sent this baby up for paint. Mike Bowen from Spotlight Customs has a great shop in Dahlonega, GA and will be doing the work. Carl (Badasp) did me a HUGE solid and brought his killer enclosed trailer down to pack things up (Thanks Dude!!). Here we are getting ready for the trip!





After a short 7 hour drive, we arrived. If I had a paint and body shop, it would look just like Mike's. And his 69 Camaro Pro Street in the background is stunning. Not sure if he's sold it yet, but I believe its on the market, so if anyone's interested....what a beautiful car! Hard to leave the Cobra alone after all this time together, but she's in good hands!





Shortly after drop off, Mike is getting involved. Sent me a couple of pics the first week and we're on our way!





Surreal that I'm at this point as I took delivery in July of 2018. Long time coming and glad its here. I plan on updating the thread as more pics are sent. Look how offset that hood cutout looks!! Optical illusion.

[RBachman]

Looking good. Nice pics! They'll be nice for your build album. Keep them coming!

[RJD]

Looking great! Please keep posting pictures of the paint progress - Mike at Spotlight has me scheduled for April as well.

[BadAsp427]

Wow, you got photos that soon... It was a fun road trip to get the car to GA. It looks like Mike is moving right along. LOL, your turning his work shop pink... look at the floor.

[cv2065]

Looking great! Please keep posting pictures of the paint progress - Mike at Spotlight has me scheduled for April as well.

That's awesome RJD! Mike is a great guy to work with. Asks a lot of questions and wants to get it exactly like you want it.

[cv2065]

Mike from Spotlight Customs provided another update today. He only works on one car at a time so progress is coming along! Doors, hood and trunk gapping is completed and body has come off for the final time. The chassis is now wrapped in a bag and placed on the lift for safe keeping until body and paint are completed.



Hood has been cut with holes drilled for button head screws and scoop. As Mike says, the doors and jams needed a little work which was expected.













More work on the body to come with a few more cosmetic corrections including the side pipe and louver cutouts and it will be ready for its first coat of primer. Mike says to start thinking about color in the coming weeks. Music to my ears!!

[BadAsp427]

This is great Chad. You and I should have our cars back about the same time... Well... maybe because unless you make other plans, you will get yours back when I'm ready to bring it to you... He He

[RJD]

Getting there! I'm anxiously watching the progress.

[Al_C]

Mike from Spotlight Customs provided another update today. He only works on one car at a time so progress is coming along! Doors, hood and trunk gapping is completed and body has come off for the final time. The chassis is now wrapped in a bag and placed on the lift for safe keeping until body and paint are completed.



Hood has been cut with holes drilled for button head screws and scoop. As Mike says, the doors and jams needed a little work which was expected.













More work on the body to come with a few more cosmetic corrections including the side pipe and louver cutouts and it will be ready for its first coat of primer. Mike says to start thinking about color in the coming weeks. Music to my ears!!

Ah, choosing color! Speaking for myself, that was harder than I anticipated! The car is looking good, Chad; I can relate to your excitement. At this point it feels like it is taking forever, but it will be done before you know it!

[cv2065]

Ah, choosing color! Speaking for myself, that was harder than I anticipated! The car is looking good, Chad; I can relate to your excitement. At this point it feels like it is taking forever, but it will be done before you know it!

Your car looks great Al! Just seems like yesterday you were here taking a look. It does fly fast. Mike is working at a steady pace so hopefully have it back before Christmas.

[cv2065]

More pics from Mike at Spotlight today. Moving into the first round of priming....





Forgot to add a couple of the side shots for door gapping. I'm not expert, but gaps look nice and tight to me!

[KDubU]

Good to know there is another painter in the SE now that I am in FL. Just have to build me a garage at the new place and then my order goes in. Funny thing when I first opened this thread I saw the latest pic and for a brief moment I thought, “yikes! He is going with pink!” Then I took another look and went whew.

Can’t wait to see her done. You’re going red with all black trim right?

[cv2065]

Good to know there is another painter in the SE now that I am in FL. Just have to build me a garage at the new place and then my order goes in. Funny thing when I first opened this thread I saw the latest pic and for a brief moment I thought, “yikes! He is going with pink!” Then I took another look and went whew.

Can’t wait to see her done. You’re going red with all black trim right?

Wife would have loved Pink, but that's a non starter... Plan is still to go Red with an all blacked out car. Carmine Red is the leader right now, but still have some time to make adjustments in color selection. Not much, but a little, so I've got to get decided. My mother lives on Amelia Island towards the Fernandina Beach side. They have a great car show there once per year that I might look into next year.

[KDubU]

Carmine will look nice and you can even name her Carmine! We are on the Fernandina Beach end too. The South part we looked at but too many HOA’s for my liking.

[Fman]

Awesome! Cant wait to see it all finished up!

[Jeff Kleiner]

Wife would have loved Pink, but that's a non starter...

Just wait...I’ll be showing you one in pink real soon!

Jeff

[Papa]

Just wait...I’ll be showing you one in pink real soon!

Jeff

Carl's color choice?

[cv2065]

Just wait...I’ll be showing you one in pink real soon!

Jeff

LOL...I'd love to see that!

[cv2065]

We've got color! Man does the Carmine Red pop! Black will be Ford Ebony 9700, which is a nice deep inky black for the stripes. No pinstripes, just basic stripes running down the hood, trunk and front quarters over the louver holes. It's going to be sweet!





Mike is telling me that the body is almost ready and will be going in for color shortly. Should be amazing! If you look closely, you can say hello to Mike in the reflection.

[BadAsp427]

That is amazing... I can not believe you have color on yours all ready.. Man I can't wait...

[RJD]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see the body painted.

[nuhale]

Nice! Looks like its coming along quickly!

[cv2065]

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! We did very little but I did manage to get to the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona Beach for a few hours. Really nice cars there. Saw only 2 Cobras out of the entire show. One was an FFR and the other a Backdraft. Both looked great, but was surprised to only see 2. Not a bad thing to be unique!!

Anyhow, Mike was busy getting the car closer to completion and sent some pics. Here we are in the final priming phase and initial color, which is a Porsche color, Carmine Red.





Fitting for the stripes. Typical cobra twin stripe down the middle with fender stripes as well (Backdraft design inspired). Not for everyone, but just couldn't resist.

[cv2065]

Black stripes are painted!.







Clear coat applied. Nice and shiny but will look stellar when the cut and buff comes in a few days.







A little optical illusion with the side stripes, as they look a bit distorted in the picture, but Mike assures me that they are straight and even from top to bottom!

[RJD]

Looking good!

[nuhale]

Looking good!! Excited to see it in person!

[Fman]

That red/black looks sweet, looking forward to seeing it all together

[KDubU]

Stunning! Love this colour combo and is very similar to what I had been considering for my next build. Great choices and can’t wait to see her all together.

[GoDadGo]

I Just Love Red Roadsters!

[Hacksaw84]

Looking great man. When are you planning to pick it up?

[cv2065]

Looking great man. When are you planning to pick it up?

Not sure yet, as Mike is wrapping up the painting and then has to reinstall, but thinking in another week or two. Definitely before Christmas.

[PeteMeindl]

Looks sharp, CV! Great to see it.