How many people work on their own Cobra?

[ct clint]

Was going to wash mine but not sure how to get water out of hose or what makes foamy stuff in bucket lmfao

[rms427]

I have done most of the work on my cobra since I purchased it in 1968. Car now has 80,000 miles on it. I have rebuilt the suspension, brakes and pulled the engine, trans and rear end. I rebuilt the engine once and then replaced it with a side oiler 427 which I rebuilt and then years later had someone rebuild it. I have also done body and paint twice.

[Luke427]

Originally Posted by mdross1

Have done near a dozen muscle car body off restorations, built my Cobra originally for racing now strictly street. My passion for over 10 yrs now has been restoring antique John Deere tractors and implements.

Nice. I'm also sharing time between high performance cars and old timers.
I'm just done with a WWII Willys and have started the saving of a 1929 Allis Chalmers orchard crawler. These are cool toys too

[Snake2998]

Originally Posted by Luke427

Nice. I'm also sharing time between high performance cars and old timers.
I'm just done with a WWII Willys and have started the saving of a 1929 Allis Chalmers orchard crawler. These are cool toys too

That brings back early teenage memories of helping my Dad in the early 1960's rebuild the Willys Side valve motor of his Jeep. I learnt to drive in the dunes of the Cape (Cape Town) in that car. He would throw me the keys to have fun whilst my mom & he were fishing. The worst damage I did was break a rear spring. I guess I was 13 at the time. One certainly learnt all about double declutching in that car.

[RET_COP]

Everything but body work. When I can't do it anymore I'll buy a Viper acr

[Ron61]

Not nearly as much as I used to. I used to work on all of my cars but now with chronic back problems and health issues I have really cut way back on doing much work myself.

Ron

[Dirty Harry]

I did most of it myself. A friend glassed in the trunk floor and fabbed a crossmember. I farmed out the paint and upholstery. I did the assembly, plumbing, wiring, the drivetrain and made about a wheelbarrow load of brackets. I set up the front suspension and drove it for 18 years before I had the front end professionally aligned.

I've learned a lot. I always been tempted to build another car and eliminate all the mistakes and do-overs from the first one.

[Dominik]

I built a few when I was younger. From scratch, but I would rather order the chassis then build another. Takes too much time if you don't have a fully equipped metal fabricator workshop. Even if your chassis brackets are all laser cut, the tubing takes a while.

I also used to build my own engines, until I found a shop who can do it much more efficient than I. Being self employed my own hours are not free anymore.

[G-Pete]

Originally Posted by michu

Does gas count?

Passing gas? No, don't count at all....

[wouter37]

Just pulled my engine out of my Cobra 😁

[*13*]

Built mine from kit form, body work & paint, engine work, Webers etc etc. had some help along the way, as well from other "hands on" cobra guys.

[jhv48]

Originally Posted by wouter37

Just pulled my engine out of my Cobra 😁

Does blowing the engine out of my cobra count?

If so, count me in.

[joyridin']

Lots of great replies! After reading so many posts on here over the years, you sometimes get the impression a lot of people just drop their car off somewhere when it needs repaired and tell the technician to fix it. Nothing against doing that if all you want to do is hop in the car and drive it.

[jhv48]

Originally Posted by joyridin'

Lots of great replies! After reading so many posts on here over the years, you sometimes get the impression a lot of people just drop their car off somewhere when it needs repaired and tell the technician to fix it. Nothing against doing that if all you want to do is hop in the car and drive it.

Don't know about you guys, but it's getting harder and harder to find a shop that is capable of working on these relics. Thus, the necessity of relearning how to turn a wrench.
Sure is embarrassing to have your car towed to a shop so they could fix what you screwed up.

[olddog]

I'm the third owner.

Intake was sucking oil in. Found heads were not tapped deep enough on the end holes, and bolts were bottoming out. A 0.005 feeler would slide under the bolt heads. Tapped heads, port matched intake while it was off, installed studs with stainless nut capped with Acorn nuts.

Removed oil pan and welded a factory pin hole. Added a wind-age tray while it was off.

Converted headers/side pipes from a slip joint to flanges.

Made adjustable links and replaced originals, so I could adjust pinion angle.

Rebuilt center section on 9" rear end, changed ratio, and replace wheel bearings. Short sentence for a lot of work and time.

Changed fuel gauge and mounting - old leaked fumes. Found tank rusty. Acid cleaned it and coated the inside. I drew up plans to make a new tank if the coating doesn't hold. Next tank will be welded aluminum.

Battery in trunk, was grounded to frame at rear. Engine grounded to frame in front. This put 500 amp through the frame, when starter was engaged. Ran a ground cable from the battery to the engine. Voltage was dropping under 10 when cranking, now it is above 10.5.

Presently working on tuning EFI, after changing Filter, ducting, and Mass Flow Meter and its location.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by rms427

I have done most of the work on my cobra since I purchased it in 1968. Car now has 80,000 miles on it. I have rebuilt the suspension, brakes and pulled the engine, trans and rear end. I rebuilt the engine once and then replaced it with a side oiler 427 which I rebuilt and then years later had someone rebuild it. I have also done body and paint twice.

You win - keeping a 48 year-old original on the road with your own hands would be hard to top.

[joyridin']

Originally Posted by jhv48

Don't know about you guys, but it's getting harder and harder to find a shop that is capable of working on these relics. Thus, the necessity of relearning how to turn a wrench.
Sure is embarrassing to have your car towed to a shop so they could fix what you screwed up.

We have quite a few specialty shops and Rod Shops that will gladly work on them. I do not know how good they are or anything, but they will fix them (make that attempt to fix them) if you want them to try.

I saw a BackDraft at a GM dealership a while back. It was getting the distributor gear replaced with just a few hundred miles on a brand new crate engine.

[Blue66]

I cleaned the fuel filter today !!! Thats it for me hopefully for a while

[Frank Messina]

I built mine


but a had Jeff Miller paint it.



I take care of whatever it needs which is darn little.
Frank

[michu]

Originally Posted by G-Pete

Passing gas? No, don't count at all....

Well, there goes half of your bragging rights!