SC 540 Build Photos

[boxhead]

Mark,
I would be very sceptical that you would be able to fit a working airbag system and be confident that it will not go off on its own.
The sensor (how I understand it) genereally is mounted to the transmission tunnel, it has a spring loaded ball bearing in it, when the rate of deceleration reaches a pre determined level, the G forces on the ball bearing compress the spring, allowing the ball bearing to slide forward, when it does this it comes into contact with the end of the sensor and completes a circuit.
This is what triggers the airbags.
When they where first released into Australia I remember that some where going off due to the harsh bump when you hit some train lines.
With a 540 being a lighter vehicle than the Falcon that donated its brakes etc, then maybe under hard braking or hard braking combined with hitting a ripple strip or curving on a race track could be enough to trigger the air bags.
I am not saying it cant be done, but you would want to be pretty sure before you tried, also is the seating position the same in relation to the steering wheel/dash facia between the Falcon and the 540?

[wodahs]

dont know about the bf but the ba air bag sensors are across the front of the vehicle

i have been told that ford supply a blank to fit in both the steering wheel and passanger dash and when i inquired about this was never told that i have to run anything for the computers to read - yes there are three computers that talk to each other and the motor and box will run with only the ecu (engine bay comp) but it has to have the internal switches turned off as its not looking for the other two

now i dont know about other states but as i said in an earlier post here in w.a. the licensing group (dept planning and infrastructure) will not let me license a modified or kit car with working airbags (even if they seem to be set up correctly) unless i have the certificates and what ever (this means that the manufacturer or other needs to setup and crash an amount of vehicles at a.d.r standards) that under the proper situations they are going to work 100% correctly

maybe drb sportscars have already done this

[WKB]

The BA/BF sensor is inbetween the radiator and the grill for the front airbags and in the pillar between the doors and behind the trim for the side airbags.

There are 5 computers in the car and all need to comunnicate with each other to allow the car to start. They are
1. Main ECU
2. Body computer(BEM)
3. ABS
4. Climate Control(air con)
5. Air bags
There is no way that any of these can be turned of.

Wodas,

If you disable the airbags would this satisfy the dept of planning and infrastructure?

Warren

[Rob. Smith]

Daisy had a V10 sham you can't get one of those...maybe a 2nd hand viper motor although that's a truck motor. hahahaha.

[AC-460]

Check out these wheels ROH do them in 19 x 13

[IanG]

Hi WKB,
I and another tappet head up here would like to attempt a build such as yours.
Could we get more info on kit supplies from you?

Kindest Regards
SilverFox (Rockhampton)

[AC-460]

Talk to peter at DRB 0738072480
Cheers Mark

[WKB]

IanG

As Mark wrote, Peter Ransom from DRB is the man to talk to. Here is his web site.

http://www.drbsportscars.com/

Warren

[martrogers]

As I understand it the airbag systems in a modern car are complex, the computer monitors various parameters to stop false triggering and has circuitry which still fires them if power leads are cut during the crash. On my airbag computer a label implies that it has been calibrated for the particular model of car.

Also the airbag deploys with a lot of force, my mate had a number of scratches and abrasions to his face when his deployed. I am thinking it could injure your neck if the airbag shape is not well suited to your cobra.

I have decided to disconnect mine and replace each terminal (2 airbags and 2 seat pretensioners) with a capacitor and resistor to fool the computer that it is all installed, at present it is constantly informing me of a SRS fault...

Be careful when taking out the airbags, they store charge as mentioned above and I think they can still deploy with no apparent power applied.

[WKB]

Air bag's inflate as a result of a reaction of sodium azide (NaN3) with potassium nitrate (KNO3) to produce nitrogen gas which inflates the air bag.
The chemical reaction causes a extremely large volume of gas to inflate the bag up 322kph and inflation is achieved in about 1/25 second.

The airbags in the steering wheel and dash are a real concern(to me) as electrically they are still hooked up to SRS computer with only the sensors disconnected. The SRS computer needs to hooked up to the wiring, if not the car won't start.

I was going to connect the positive and negative wires of the air bags together to stop any spurious voltage spikes, but I am unsure if this would be 100% failsafe method. I was told by a company that sells airbags that if left diconnected that there is virtually no chance of it going off.

What I would like to do is to remove the inflation module completly, but finding anyone that works on airbags is not that easy.

Warren

[Rob. Smith]

Go to a wreckers. Those blokes fiddle with everything. Look for the bloke with bits missing (eye, teeth, fingers) he's either an airbag expert or a suspension expert.

[AC-460]

Hey Warren
Hows the build going????
Mine should be ready to be picked up early March I'm getting itchy feet cant wait Have you any up to date photo's????
Cheers Mark

[WKB]

Getting down to last couple jobs I can do. These should be finished in the next week or 2, then off to painter in April(I hope). I will post some pictures of the finished car before it goes of the paintshop.

Have your ordered all the other parts that were not included in the kit?
Do you know what chassis number you are getting? Are you going to pick it up or going to have it delivered.

If you can get a fuel tank grab one as they are as scarce as rocking horse p**p.

Warren Bassett

[AC-460]

Warren
Peter assured me He'd have all the rest of the bits in stock when I go up to pick the car up....At this stage I'll be building my own custom fuel tank...
I would like to try and make it taller and not come back as far to try an increase my boot size I'll have to step the pump down in the tank and put the filler in the side.... I'll post some photo's after I've done it
Cheers Mark

[AC-460]

Warren
I just emailed Peter
It will be end of march... My car number will be 54003200916
Just decifering this number I'd say its a 540 3 month 2009 car 16
Man these things must be taking off 16 cars in 3 months.... I wonder how long it will be before someone gets on the wagon and copies them
Cheers Mark

[WKB]

Mark,
When you build your fuel tank don't make it to tall and make sure you can get enough fall from the filler cap to the tank. I fabricated all the parts today I needed to get the fuel from the filler to the tank and there wasn't much fall on the filler pipe. Couldn't get any closer to the tank and really couldn't go much higher on the filler. I am happy I didn't need to put an unleaded filler adapter as I might have had a major problem.

Warren

[AC-460]

Warren
I suppose I'll find all these things out when I get the car... Does your fuel filler go down through the top of the tank or in through the side? It can go half way down the side of the tank as long as the breather comes out the top (of the end or on top 5/8 hose) the tank will fill fine. Which means you could probably take the tank right up to 100mm down from the top. Its also a good Idea to have another chamber tank built on top of the tank with a small hole ie.1/4 hole between the main tank and the chamber tank on top. The chamber tank also needs an air bleed in the top. What the chamber tank does is allow fuel to drain out of the filler neck into the chamber tank so you haven't got fuel right at the cap. As the main tank empties the chamber tank drains. All modern cars use this concept thats why when you fill the tank its full but then air comes back up and leaves the filler neck empty... unless you keep clicking it to fill it right up. The tank also needs a baffle in front of the filler entry point into the tank to stop fuel surging up the filler pipe.. It's even more nessecary when the cap isn't that much higher than the tank
Anyway it's all fun and games

Cheers Mark

[Tatsushige]

New to the Site.

I was looking up Custom Chassis on the net for a home project when I came across this build and I have to say I am impressed.

Very much so that I am interested in buying a kit.

I have built a AC Cobra in 1993 back in Perth, but now I have 2 problems


1) I live in Japan since 2003 (Own a Aussie Meat Pie Company here)
2) We do not have Ford Falcons here


So I like to know how easy would it be to custom the chassis to accept the parts of a Toyota Crown Majesta including a Toyota VVT-i 5.0l V8, a Getrag 6 speed gearbox etc.

[WKB]

Hi Tatsushige,
The kit uses most of the required the parts from a BA/BF Falcon. All the mounting points are in the chassis to accept the Falcon parts which includes suspension, complete drive train, dash, wiring harness.
Anything is possible with kitcars so modifing the chassis to accept local parts would be a challenge. The 5 ltr V8 toyota motor would be a nice engine to use.
DRB Sportcars builds these kits( www.drbsportscars.com ). Send them a email and tell them what you would like do to. There is a guy on the Gold Coast that gets wrecked falcons and sells them even in a stripped down version for the 540 ( http://clubcobra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94669 ).

What are the rules for kitcars in Japan like(emissions, design rules etc)

Warren

[Tatsushige]

G'day Warren,

Thanks for the information. Sent an Email off to DRBsportcars about the kit, no reply back yet.

I like the XR8 Dash so will try and see if I can find one on eBay, but the Sat Nav, Instrument Cluster, Climate Control etc would be from Toyota or Custom built.

Ordering in a Lamborghini Miura replica from the UK at the moment that will run a 3.5l VVT-i V6 through a 6 Speed Getrag transaxle, sorting out Toyota parts for that.

The 540 will be the next project so it gives me time to sort out customizing the chassis, if I can get one and have it shipped to Japan.



Kit cars in Japan are a pain, You can order built cars in from overseas as long as they are licensed in the country they came from and then there is no problems about emission or anything.

BUT if you build yourself you need to get a Manufactures license like what Toyota, Mitsuoka, Honda all hold, you have to have the chassis and body approved, it must meet Japan’s STRICT emission laws, You really need to jump through hoops here.

Back in 1996 when I was here, there were 3 USA Lamborghini Replica Companies who opened up their doors in Tokyo and within 18 months they all closed up shop. The cost of their Lamborghini Replicas were about $80,000 fully built; you could have brought a new Lexus LS400 for $60,000. So no one wanted to buy a replica with second hand parts when they can buy a new Lexus.




There are a lot of Cobras here in Japan all imported from the USA, and so many people believe they own a GENIUNE Shelby Cobra. Because the person that sold them it said it was. I have told 2 people they have REPLICAS only but they do not believe me…