Up and Down the Block!

[sspano01]

Awsome day today, first time out of the garage! Not finished yet, but major step forward! A few kinks with the clutch, but i think i have that figured out.

Thanks again to the folks who have helped with a few of my questions.

[rustyBob]

Its nice how the color of the letters on the tires matches the color of the car....hahaha
looks great.........

[sspano01]

thats a special touch - thanks!

[Speedwaypj]

Cool - That has to be a good feeling. Please keep up the posts, issues etc - I'm about 1 year away from my first drive. It would be helpfull to point out things to all of us in the build process to watch for. Real nice color.

[RET_COP]

Nice, keep up the good work

[sspano01]

Thanks! I have had the cobra on the road since May. It has been a great car to drive and gets alot of attention!

Here is a pic of it at Watkins Glen


watkins by sspano01, on Flickr

[sspano01]

and this is its "friend" that I am working on. I bought it in May as a 'complete' car that sat in a garage in South Carolina since 1985.


first unmasking after paint by sspano01, on Flickr

This is a 1966 model, now with a 289 and automatic.

[sspano01]

@speedway - a couple things i had issues with on the cobra

1) mounting the wipers. i actually had my own wiper mounts made. i drew them in a cad program and had them laser cut and bent. the standard wiper mounts just wouldnt fit and i didnt want to grind away too much fiber glass. i'd probably go with a windshield mounted manual wiper since the only reason i wanted a wiper was for inspection process to get a VIN.

2) Door alignment. very tough with just one person doing a build. i have a few better ideas on how to do it. should have called a friend to assist! this winter I have to adjust my passenger door and maybe make a new hinge plate for it. the drivers door is good, but the passenger door sits slightly at an angle.

3) get the light kit from factory five for all turn, parking, brake, and license plate lights. in New York, i needed to right down the SAE safety numbers from the lights on the form that I submitted to the state. Rather than make them up or copy them, i just bought the FFR light kit and replaced the lucas lights.

4) power steering with the march pullys. i bought the fancy march pully kit and put power steering in. i would probably stay with manual. i had to relocate the power steering pump to an area that would not hit the frame. i spent alot of time on it, and it still isnt 100% right yet. i keep thinking of going to a manual rack. i still may do that.

5) use a line pressure brake switch. the under dash switch that is supposed to activate against the brake pedal, it works, but the pedal return has to be perfect. if the pedal returns only 99% of the way, the brake light stay on! you can get a line switch from jegs/etc.

all in all, it went together pretty smooth.

[sspano01]

oh and then vent release for the rear end. do not put it on the center section/pumpkin like I did :P

it goes on the axle tube about 1/2 way towards the tire, facing up.

i could have sworn it was supposed to go on the center section...after about 500 miles i found out all of the gear oil was pushed out of the differential and it wrecked the pinion bearing. that has been fixed now of course - but what an oops :O

[sspano01]

oh yeah! also, see my other post on the front control arms. they have a large bolt that needs to be removed, loctited, and retorqued. i noticed on mine that the large bolts holding the control arms actually came out and were lost!!

the shop that makes the control arms for A&C said that they need to be loctited together.

very strange.....i put up a previous post on this topic