[Jim Downard]

Hey Snake,

I just remembered a few more kinks in the armor that would be better to know during construction than after.

1) If you use the heater box that CR sells the heater core has rather long extension tubes (mine were about 4" long) that have a tendency to flex. This can, and did on my car, cause a crack where the tube is welded to the core. This in turn makes the passenger floorboard very wet and stinky. Simply have a radiator shop braze a support between the two tubes halfway between the core and the end of the tubes. Mutual support is a good thing. On the other hand, before cutting holes in your firewall for the fan, talk to DV and get one of the heater boxes he puts in his cars. I'll gaurantee it'll be easier to assemble.

2) The wiring set up for the electric fan has been troublesome as I have heard of several other CR cobra owners having the same troubles. Again DV can help you with this. I ended up dumping the thermostat control that came with the fan and purchased one from Jeg's that actually has a thermostat that fits into your radiator drain. I then has a relay with a control knob that you can attach to your frame. This is a much better setup that I used at DV's recommendation.

3) Body alignment. The book doesn't explain very well how critical it is to make sure your body in setting SQUARELY on the car. The CR manual I think says to set the body on and pull it back to the firewall, then bolt down. Measuring between the back of each rear tire to the edge of the rear fender, I have a difference of 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Because my body is skewed, hard braking into a left turn caused my left front tire to rub the back of my left front fender. I had to shim the lower control arm strut pushing the lower control arm forward and switch to 235/60-15 tires to remedy the problem. Again, ask DV about how he makes certain his bodies are on square.

Hopefully the problems I had you can avoid making your build a lot less stressful.

Jim Downard

P.S. I just finished the final touches on mine last night after pulling my 351w and installing a 393w stroker. All I can say is HOLY FU@#*&% SH#$. I didn't even take it over 3000 rpm as I'm still in break in mode, but I can already tell it has WAY MORE than my old 351. Can't wait for 500 miles to pass so I can take it to around 6500 and see what she's got.

Take care.