The Brew City Cobra - 427W / IRS - Final Prep and Off to Paint

[Mike.Bray]

Love the way you did the anti-submarine belt!

[BrewCityCobra]

A quick update as the push to finish the chassis continues. With the cockpit effectively complete, finishing the trunk became the primary goal – namely – finalizing the carpet, getting the fire extinguisher mounted, finalizing the wiring, and re-mounting the charging port. I also took this time to mount the shoulder harnesses and drill the mounting holes for the roll bars before those bolts became difficult to access with the body on. Like the cockpit area, standard FFR black carpet was the name of the game.

As a side note, I am having some chrome covers made for the two access openings, but that is still an ongoing project. I will post some pictures after they are complete.

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The only part of the carpeting I was unsure about was how to finish the edges where the weatherstripping is located. I wasn’t sure if I should leave it overlapping (like it is shown in the picture) which hides the weatherstripping but is a bit unkempt, or trim the carpet back on that edge. I suppose in the end it will be effectively invisible given the location so maybe I’ll just leave it as is. Any advice is certainly welcome.

[BrewCityCobra]

A quick update as things start to kick into hyper drive on the build.

The goal over the next few days is to finalize the chassis and put the body on for the last time so the car can be finalized for paint. The first major step in that process is to finally address the body itself and coat the underside with Raptor Liner.

Before we started taping up the body for the actual spraying process, a tip of the cap to FFR as the MKIV body was in really good shape and very little – and in many cases no – trimming was needed to straighten everything out. The dashboard lip was addressed earlier in the build so we didn’t have to worry about that this time around.

At this point, the only major surgery was trimming back the wheel well lips and filing the resulting gap with HSRF. I used a spoon to give a smooth radius but unfortunately didn’t get any good pictures of that area. Probably not absolutely necessary (again, the MKIV was pretty well shaped in this area out of the box) but I do feel the trimming and filleting with HSRF makes for a better and more finished look.

With the wheel wells trimmed and filleted, we went over the entire underside with sandpaper to knock down any loose fiberglass and taped everything up. The spray process itself was surprisingly simple and straight forward. Even less overspray than I was anticipating. I was also very happy with the end result. On to the chassis!

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[cc2Arider]

Looks good Brew!

I like the idea of simply painting on the lawn. Did you use a paint gun with compressed air, or did you have aerosol cans of the Raptor?

Craig C

[BrewCityCobra]

Looks good Brew!

I like the idea of simply painting on the lawn. Did you use a paint gun with compressed air, or did you have aerosol cans of the Raptor?

Craig C

I used the provided spray gun and my air compressor.

In the end, the material was so heavy that there was very little overspray with no appreciable material on the lawn after we were finished. We did put a tarp below the cockpit area since we would be aiming in that direction but otherwise it made for a nice, easy to clean situation.

[F500guy]

I did not trim any of the edges at the top of the carpet, some places it barely went to the bulb seal flange, pretty invisible there.

[BrewCityCobra]

I did not trim any of the edges at the top of the carpet, some places it barely went to the bulb seal flange, pretty invisible there.

Yeah, in the end I ended up just leaving it overlapped a bit. Figure somebody would have to have quite the crane neck to see that area.

[PMD24]

Awesome thread! Noted several things for my build. Kit should arrive early November.

[BrewCityCobra]

Awesome thread! Noted several things for my build. Kit should arrive early November.

Thanks! and congrats on the kit. If you need any additional photos/description on anything just let me know.

[BrewCityCobra]

So the chassis is officially DONE!

Over the past few days my father and I went through the final “chassis checklist” to confirm that everything on the chassis was complete and ready to go. The goal being that once the body goes on it won’t be coming off again (aside for in the painter’s shop). Few things are more stress-inducing than having full access to nearly everything on the car for 2+ years, only to now have to finally make the conscious decision that you don’t want to mess with anything anymore.

Before signing off, we did a round of checks on the electrical, dashboard, trunk, brakes, suspension, and a number of other items we felt would be difficult to access once the body was on for good.

As a final “chassis graduation” of sorts we pulled the ole’ gal out onto the driveway for a few photos and a walk-around video to memorialize some of the work that will ultimately go unseen in the finished car. An exciting milestone.

https://youtu.be/dbbL82rHmV4?si=0_5WEPXN_-asH6Hu

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[cc2Arider]

Looks great Brew!

Craig C

[cv2065]

Looks and sounds great!! Congrats!

[BrewCityCobra]

BODY-ON

With the chassis complete it was finally time to get the body installed and to start the final pre-paint assembly of the build. As stated in an earlier post, we already did an initial fitment so the dashboard edge and trunk sheet metal were already trimmed. The current position appears to be a smudge too far to the rear, but I think we are close enough for the painter to take on any additional trimming that may be needed (if anything at all). My biggest fear at this point is taking too much material off – so I’m generally erring on the side of leaving things untouched and/or oversized. I don’t plan on doing much driving aside from an initial break-in so it is really just a matter of getting things assembled to make sure any holes and trimming is taken care of.

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As an aside, it was really exciting to see the dashboard and cockpit framed-in by the body. Really starting to pop.

HEADLIGHTS

With the body on, the first project was to get the headlights installed and wired-up. Like many on the site, I decided to ditch the lights provided by FFR and swap in some LED units. For my build I decided to go with the Holley RetroBright LED lights in the 5700K Modern White temperature (https://www.holley.com/products/rest.../parts/LFRB155). It’s a really nice unit, with a major advantage being that the whole assembly – bulb, driver, and lens - is effectively the same size as the standard halogen lights so no modification or extra wiring is required. A 1:1 replacement that gives out really good light.

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TURN SIGNALS

When wiring up the lights, I also decided to upgrade the turn signals as well. The main idea being that since the headlights and taillights were both LED, it made sense to make the turn signals LED as well for a consistent look.

The bulbs themselves are a 1:1 swap from superbrightLEDs.com (https://www.superbrightleds.com/led-...lb+color-Amber). As for the lenses, I went with a new set of clear lenses whose bezels were recommended by many on the board for fitting better against the body (https://jollyrogersmotors.com/store/...-Pair-New.html). Like the bulbs, the lens/bezel combo is a 1:1 replacement for the existing FFR unit. The base of the turn signal lights provided by FFR were ultimately retained.

[cc2Arider]

Lookin' good Brew!

Craig C

[BrewCityCobra]

Some quick updates on the build as we march closer to paint.

QUICK JACKS

After getting the headlights and tail-lights installed, the next major hurdle was installing the quick-jacks and locking down the body position for good.

For a quick rundown of the build specs, I chose polished stainless quick-jacks, the stainless quick-jack “sleeves,” and rubber grommets all from ”the company that shall not be named.” Underlying the entire assembly are 7/16”-20 stainless threaded rods to support the whole assembly from McMaster.

Starting in the rear, like many I choose early in the build to adopt the “Kleiner Mod.” Boy am I glad I did that now. MUUUCCHHH easier than the stock layout.

The biggest design point was to decide how far away from the body to position the quick jacks themselves. I found the stock FFR length to be a bit long for my taste and ended up shortening everything up a bit.

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One interesting point I didn’t necessarily appreciate when selecting the stainless sleeves, the larger diameter and corresponding grommet size required me to drill out the quick jack holes in the body. A step-drill made short work of that and in the end I think having the sleeve extend all the way through the body makes for a more finished look on the exterior.

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Another note, since the stainless sleeves actually have a larger outer diameter than the steel sleeves from FFR, I ended up using lengths of 7/16” ID by 5/8” OD PVC tubing to fill in the gap between the sleeve and the 7/16” rod (see above). The stainless sleeves are clearly intended to slide over the top of the steel FFR sleeves in practice, but I felt the PVC tubing would provide a bit of cushion and avoid any chance of rattling so I went that route instead.

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Lastly, the whole assembly was topped off with stainless acorn nuts.

The front was a similar story, using the same 7/16” Threaded Rod, PVC pipe, and stainless sleeve construction. Also like the rear, the actual quick-jack position was chosen by eye, shortening the length a little bit for what I feel is a better look.

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I did not polish the stainless sleeves before install but am still considering doing so to make the sleeve match the quick jack more closely. I’ll make sure to update the build thread with pictures showing the differences if I decide to do so.

HORN MOUNT

Taking a few steps back, I decided to re-visit the horn mounts. My original mounting location and layout just never really sat well with me. The horns seemed exposed and the mounting solution itself seemed prone to a future failure.

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NEW:

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In response I decided to fabricate something a bit more solid, swapping out the old FFR metal tabs for a 1/8” thick piece of 1.5” wide aluminum. The mount is not painted in the photo but I do plan on painting it black before graduation so it blends in a bit better. The horns themselves are just bolted directly to the mount itself being positioned so that the wire connectors serve to stop the horns from rotating. The mount also has the added advantage of hiding the wiring a bit better than the old layout.

[gbranham]

I dig that new horn mount. I don't love the way they are mounted per the manual, either. Might have to plagiarize your idea.

Greg

[BrewCityCobra]

I dig that new horn mount. I don't love the way they are mounted per the manual, either. Might have to plagiarize your idea.

Greg

Absolutely. The result is much more robust (at least I think so). The only thing I ran into is making sure to mount the bar far enough forward so you don't have to worry about clearance issues with the tire.

[OB6]

I did a similar thing with the horn. It's most likely a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, but I was looking to kill an hour in the garage one evening.

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[gbranham]

It's most likely a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, but I was looking to kill an hour in the garage one evening.

I relish these activities...solving problems that don't really exist. Garage therapy. It's partly why I'm somewhat slow-rolling my build. I don't want all those sessions to end.

Greg

[OB6]

I relish these activities...solving problems that don't really exist. Garage therapy. It's partly why I'm somewhat slow-rolling my build. I don't want all those sessions to end.

Greg

Exactly, and then the longer it takes, the more I change decisions and/or add things. Good thing Jeff isn't taking it for paint until 2026.

[BrewCityCobra]

I relish these activities...solving problems that don't really exist. Garage therapy. It's partly why I'm somewhat slow-rolling my build. I don't want all those sessions to end.

Greg

I can't agree more. I swear I've added a year to this build messing with items that were probably perfectly OK on their own.

Not sure what I'll actually do when this thing is done. Guess I'll have to find a new project.

[BrewCityCobra]

A few more quick updates on the build. I apologize for the lower quality photos – I’m a bit under the gun trying to get the car ready in time for my painter’s start date and haven’t been able to take my time to make sure I capture everything as thoroughly as I typically like. I'll supplement some of these posts with more photos in the future.

SIDE-PIPES

With the quick-jacks finalized and the body locked in place, it was finally time to address the side-pipes for (what I hope is) the final time.

For those of you who have been following the build, you are likely already aware that the side-pipe and header fitment has been an ongoing issue for some time. When the engine was originally installed using the stock FFR engine mounts, the passenger-side header location was so far off it was unusable and the driver side wasn’t much better. In response, I installed some Gordon Levy hard engine mounts to get the headers in a much more tenable position. The lower engine position and added flexibility in engine orientation provided by the mounts appeared to do the trick.

Today was the last step in this process, seeing if I could lock everything down using a combination of the “wedge spacers” sold by Breeze Automotive.

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I’m happy to report that after playing with a few different combinations and orientations of the Breeze wedges I was able to get the side-pipes installed and aligned on both sides of the car without having to enlarge the stock FFR apertures at all. This is a huge check-off for the build and really an end to what I considered the biggest “what-if” left on my checklist.

GAS TANK VENT

Another side-project was to finalize the end of the vent tube for the gas tank. Like many, I had always planned to put some type of activated charcoal filter on the end of the vent tube to help minimize gas vapor smells in the garage. While searching around the forum for details on the traditional PVC-style assembly, I stumbled across a post using a fuel filter body instead (sorry for whoever came up with this as I can’t find the original post to give you proper credit). I really liked the finished look this provided and decided to go in that direction instead.

I ended up purchasing the following fuel filter from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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For roughly $30 bucks it is actually a very well-built unit – all anodized and machined aluminum - and comes with press-in AN fittings that fit perfectly with the hose provided in the Breeze fuel tank vent kit. The body itself can also be completely removed from the included mount and disassembled for ease of maintenance.

Due to the time crunch, I ended up just installing the assembly on the car for now. I’ll include a future post on building out the interior itself to actually function as a filter.

WINDSHIELD

Another item I tackled was getting the windshield installed. There are plenty of videos out there that go into detail on how best to attack this so I won’t get into too much detail here. On a high-level, I did end up threading the windshield supports for ease of assembly which I would highly recommend. I also had a minor issue where one of the bolts wouldn’t thread into the window frame during assembly. I had to go to the hardware and get a slightly longer bolt to remedy the situation (and it was a bit terrifying tightening it in).

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[BrewCityCobra]

The car is officially aligned and off to paint!

It has been a busy couple weeks to finalize everything but the last “paint-essential” items were put on the car, the car was aligned, and then shipped off to Georgia to be placed in the expert care of Mike at Spotlight Customs.

Similar to my last post, due to the time rush my pictures aren’t the best but I’ll make sure to update these posts after the car is back to document some of the specific details of the build.

ALIGNMENT

First stop after getting the body and windshield on was to bring the car in for an alignment.

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I originally intended to do the first round myself, but between trying to get the IRS figured out and time ticking toward my paint appointment, I decided it was best to leave this one to the professionals. That said, the best part was getting to drive the car afterward. My initial alignment was so bad my first go-cart trip was a pretty slow and sketchy affair. Post-alignment was the first time I really got to give the car some pep and feel what the acceleration and handling was going to be like – and boy did it deliver. I’m hooked.

FINAL PRE-PAINT ASSEMBLY

After the alignment was complete I created a final “to-do” list, separating the remaining tasks into “before” and “after” paint. Greatly simplified, the pre-paint list effectively read – hood, trunk, roll bars, and doors. I choose not to mess with the wheel wells at this point as I assumed the body was still likely to move a bit at the painters. The same holds true for some final trim pieces – I’ll work with the painter to get those installed at the shop or once the car is returned and I’m going through final fit and finish.

A few pictures of the last elements going on the car:

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OFF TO PAINT:

And with that, the car was onto the trailer and off to Georgia. Amazing to think I’m actually entering the final stages of the build. Really exciting.

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[Blitzboy54]

Congratulations! Incredibly detailed and clean build. What color(s) or is that going to be a secret until the reveal?

[F500guy]

What was your shipping arrangement? I am trying to determine my path for final paint and body work, some options will entail hauling the car.