Its Cobra week

[C0braed]

Well I have finished all my customers work and now its Cobra time.
Plan is to have the car on the road by 1st or 2nd of July and their is a fair bit to do.
Saturday afternoon
Start at the rear and work forward. I started with the fuel tank by hitting it with some rust converter just to etch where the unprotected surfaces were and left it outside for a pressure clean, while im waiting for the aicd to do its stuff Ill fit the numberplate bracket and the new boot handle, bracket was easy except for the neighbour who has a suburu rally car that isnt running very well so bit of a discussion and I tell him to go put a condensor on it and all will be fine. Back to the bott handle rip out the old one in with the new EASY not. The new handle bolt spacing is about 2mm wider and the old one was screwed in with rivnuts. After a search for a bit of scrap alloy and some more consulting with the neighbour about jetting his car its onto the mill to make a horseshoe bracket that the handle can be bolted to. After about an hour with more interuptions the boot handle is fitted but still doesnt latch properly, job for Monday. Mate rings to see where Im at cause hes at my place waiting for me as we have a bucks party to go to so thats it for today.
Monday heres the plan
Remove the drivers seat and get the two seats reupholstered.
Finish cleaning the tank and a quick coat of paint.
Change the new filler neck hoses for the right size and get a chunk of alloy for the cap adapter.
Jack up the car and sort out the handbrake and fit the tank if all is ok.
Lets see if it all goes to plan

[C0braed]

10:30 first distraction, but its all good the Summit order has just arrived, new rocker covers air filter and trans pan.

[400TT]

Good luck with it mate and lets hope there are not too many distractions.

I always feel like a kid at xmas when I get orders from Summit.

[C0braed]

why cant people get the hint IM trying to get my car going so leave me alone PLEASE. Its bloody 14:30 and all I have managed to do is pressure clean my fuel tank 10 minutes worth and they just keep on coming in and not getting the hint.
Ok im alright now so ill have lunch and get back to it.
The only good thing is that the new manifold and carby turned up.

[boxhead]

Close the roller door.

[C0braed]

Well its Tuesday and the engine and gearbox are out (finished at 8:30 last night) so today will be cleaning and painting and the best part fitting all the new bits.

[boxhead]

Good luck and keep the roller door down.

[C0braed]

Ok 1:00 pm and the engine is apart further than I originally planned but they dont like sitting around so quick freshen up and back together. Rings, bearings, timing chain and gear set, timing cover and water pump, oil pump and drive and it looks like a new cam as well.

[hogster]

Hey Ed, is that why you've got the mobile switched off.

Let me know when you are going to degree your cam, and I will come in and pass you cold beers and $50-00 notes to do mine as well.

I still think it's unfair.........

Cheers

Hogster

[C0braed]

Well thats it for Tuesday as we have roast for dinner so thats the end for today
Trans cleaned and new pan and filter fitted ready for a lick of paint tomorrow.
The block is cleaned bnut requires more cleaning in the water jacket.
All parts have been ordered and with a bit of luck should start going back together on Friday (will have to degree Hogsters cam in the 289 at the same time as he needs a lift, unless his injection turns up then he'll be ok for another week)
at least the customers left me alone today and as long as the kids dont want to eat next week all's good

[400TT]

Sounds like things are going well.

Yeah, might as well give the engine a quick freshen up while you are at it. This is going to be a very nicely sorted & finished Cobra by the time you finish.

Good luck with it tomorrow.

[C0braed]

Nearly all the parts are here just waiting on rings and timing cover. todays task is finish cleaning pistons and balance and put a coat of paint on the trans.

[C0braed]

Ok today wasnt to bad. the rods have new bolts and have been balanced ready for new pistons. the heads have been stripped, guides look good so down to the machine shop for acid bath and touch up the seats should be ready friday. Trans is painted and ready to go back in.

[stephen low]

Hey hey CObraed it's hump day, all down hill from here.

Keep that gone fishin sign hanging on the roller door and before you know it Skycity here we come!!

Cheers

[C0braed]

Well its the next Monday and their is just no way that this is going to be finished for the v8 week end
So Friday was not very productive and the new inlet valves were the wrong ones so have reordered today and should be here tomorrow (Tuesday 1st July) the bloody pistons have not yet arrived (would have quicker to order them from the US) so apart from a few customers holding me up all I got done today was small tidy up of the ports and cleaned some stuff out of the assembly room so as I clean things can go into their for assembly. Hopefully tomorrow will be more constructive

[boxhead]

With no engine bits on hand you could be cleaning up the engine bay and either line it in Aluminium of give it a coat of paint?

[C0braed]

Still have a few things to do to the block and heads and then if the new parts dont arrive then its into the engine bay, The radiator is the first job as it need to come out for a severe flush if the junk in the block and heads is anything to go by.

[C0braed]

Ok so I didnt make it for the v8s. The pistons were sent road so they havent arrived yet and have had a busy week doing other things (work so I can feed the kids) I have to do my stock take next week and that should only take two days and then back onto the Cobra. At the moment the cranks in the mill losing weight

[Merv and Sharon]

What is the best way to clean the block inside the water jacket?

Merv

[C0braed]

I take the bare block to an engine shop for a hot caustic bath. When I get it back to the workshop I hit with some degreaser and a good pressure wash. When its dry I coat the entire engine with RANEX Rustbuster (available from bunnings) give the water jackets a good soaking and let sit for about half an hour (use a spray bottle for best coverage) then resoak the entire block again with RANEX and pressure clean after about five minutes let dry and coat again with RANEX and then coat with degreaser and then pressure clean air dry and apply CRC, WD40 or INOX do this before any machine work and make sure to polish your lifter bores and clean any machined surfaces that are not going to be machined during the rebuild. Also a warning when using RANEX use a dust filter when spraying and dont breathe the vapours they are very strong and will leave you not feeling very well feels like an ashma attack