Owner built on a budget;

[Double Venom]

Ray,
You AND your crew are a "Breath of fresh air!"
DV

[PJ4myboo]

The silver frame really looks good! Great pictures of your crew, by the way. Having the kids working and learning is the best part of the build for me.

[Hray]

37 hours into , 5 days , 85 remaining

I think it was an ok day, got three coats of PPG primer surfacer on firewall, got most of it blocked out. could be ready for paint in another hour or two, but I think I will let it cure another couple of day, maybe paint it friday.

firewall pics with grey primer, blocked it for about an hour to open the pores of the primer and let it gas off more.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2624/...aa93d4e9_b.jpg


Got the electric fan shroud modified to fit better, just needed some shaving in a few places, then removed motor and sanded and painted it. Nothing could fit better unless designed from the get go.

Looks like I got mixed up last nite and posted same photo twice,
Here is yesterdays front end work
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2713/...c23a68f5_b.jpg

I spent about 2 hours on the hood hinge, looks like they cut them out with a plasma cutter and never ground smooth the edges. I was out of the 36 grit discs so smoothed it up with 100 grit, took a little longer. got it primed and painted, hanging to dry overnite

Here is front end shot tonite.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/...3d704b80_b.jpg

I am getting worried a little, I would have thought my new upper A-arms would have been here by now. Maybe a slow boat from china is bringing them.

Hope everyone has a good holiday coming up, we are celebrating ours on this sat with all the family, so tomorrow might be some good quiet shop time.

Ray

[Double Venom]

Ray,
Here comes another 2-cents for you. Actual testing by TRC (Honda's test track in Marysville, Oh.), actually showed (Time wise among other tests) that the front sway bar that CR's used is WAY to heavy for this car! Times, dropped and improved significantly WITH OUT the CR's front sway bar.

CR's used what was available from OEM for the front say bar in the late '70's. A Ford BRONCO - 4-wheel drive!"

Ride and steering is greatly improved by removing and NOT using the supplied sway bar!*

*Note - This post is NOT intended or should be taken as "A" front sway bar is not needed on a CR's Cobra! Make your own, SPEEDWAY sells all kinds of parts to make a bar that will work. Usually, even with a Big Block a 1/2 diameter bar will work just fine, but certainly not a bar that is over 5/8's in diameter!

DV

[Hray]

DV: That is more like 10 cents worth, and I was really wondering if this thing was over kill. While preparing that giant piece I was having second thoughts.

I think I have an orginal mustang II front sway bar. or a couple others thrown in the attic. I will check out summits as well.

And while I have your attention, I notice I have this cover that will fit over the large recess in the firewall to cover up the wiring harness where it come thru the firewall. Or is this intended to be a cover if a person does not use that connection. I was figuring to go ahead and use the square hole the previous owner cut out and prefit the harness into. tHen I thought about modifying this cover to place over it after the wiring was installed. Or I though about just leaving it off. I also thought about glassing it in and routing the wires much lower in the firewall so as to be more hidden.

Your 2-cents please. Will the sway bar go on and off with the radiator still in the car. Seems to me it might not make the turns to get in and out.

[Hray]

Happy Turkey Day to all, (even if it is almost over)

43 hours, day 6, 84 days to go.

I went out back to my private junk yard to scrounge for another front sway bar. I found several, took one up to lay against the other CR bar which is for the other CR. Seemed to be fairly close only weighs less than half the CR bar. I think is is from a mustang II that I parted out about 15 years ago.

Prefit it prior to derusting and painting, looked like it was gonna be ok. Cleaned it and painted it and installed on car. The only difference I can tell so far is that it seems to be about 3/4 inch shorter. This should not be a problem. Instead of mounting the threaded eye swivel inside the U metal fastener it will mount just in front of it. I will make a spacer to keep from squeezing the u fastener closed and mount it. I need to wait until the motor and trans are in the car and it is sitting on all fours again. This way i can determine if the downward bolt that connects the bar to the swivel eye needs to be longer or the same. I want the bar to be as close to parrellel as possible when connected and under weight of the vehicle.

This redo took about 3 hours total, then block sanded firewall some, then reprimed again, then in order to kill time I began to deburr the motor for a short time.

I will try to do some research to see if this is a mustang II bar and if so let you guys know, others might like to change over, but sounds like most people already have.

Ray

[Double Venom]

Ray,
Uh 0hh, here I go again. I'm assuming you don't have the Addendum for the CR bar, what they called for was about 3 - 1/4" washers on both sides of the heim to keep the 'U' bracket from being squeezed shut AND to allow the Heim to pivot on the shoulder bolt that was used....

Love to see pictures of the 'II' sway bar when installed! Might be a great option! Not sure if anyone has used one of those or not ???

Rolaids! Lots and lots of Rolaids this AM
DV

[Hray]

DV: you are correct in that assumption, I recognized that heim (thanks for knowing what to call it, to me way too many things are frakemizers, and thing a migs) would need some spacers on each side to keep it from moving back and forth and to allow the U bracket to be tight. I was going to cut some pipe spacers that would have accompolished this. Now I will make a spacer for the u bracket, then use a longer bolt, then install a couple small washers to allow the heim to pivot as needed. Once car is sitting on wheels with motor in I may, if needed make a new u bracket that will span across both those bolts holding down the strut rod if it appears the heim is too far away from the u bracket and would put too much torque on the u bracket.

Again, thanks for checking in on me.

I will get some pictures posted, maybe even with it fabed up now and a little mock up of how it will be when finished, this way we can possibly forsee design problems. If under the weight of vehicle the lower arm is close to parrellel to the ground then I know it will be fine, just do not remember how it was sitting prior to disassembly. I do not think I have any pictures of it prior to disassembly.

Ray

[Hray]

48 hours, 7 days down, 83 to go

I took some pictures of the sway bar, it is not totally done but I thought if I wait to take them when spindles are on that it might not be so easy to see everything.

Here is picture from head on, I did check the curve down on the bar and it seems to fit fine when i tried it on the body, it actually comes close to following the contour of the opening.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2513/...df1342c9_b.jpg


here is a photo of the sway bar in position of where I would like it when car is sitting on all fours with complete car weight on arms. you can also see the u bracket and mocked up bolts.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/...aa074dbf_b.jpg

this is from the top looking down on the sway bar and bracket.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2639/...e70015dc_b.jpg

I did set the spindle on the arm, and hooked up the tie-rod, all seems to be in good clearance for turns and movement.

Here is the sway bar with CR bolt and heim joint, it looks like that once arm is up pararrel to ground that i only need a couple inches longer bolt to make heim reach the u bracket

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2661/...cb869b3a_b.jpg


Aside from taking pictures the crew joined in again, tyler got all the spindles, rotors, and items with them painted today, Riley and I spent quality time on the transmission getting it ready for paint. The crew is excited about going home and showing the parents the pictures of them on the internet so here they are working away, they both stayed focused for about 4 hours with me.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/...1551290e_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/...2e6d1432_b.jpg

Tomorrow is our big feast with all the company coming, so shop will be a lonely place tomorrow without any activity, but it will be there when we get back to it. The firewall is all finished and ready for paint, hopefully that will be sunday.

Ray and Crew.

[James Stern]

Ray, I hope the "crew" will be given a ride when your car is done. I really liked the intensity on their faces while doing the work. That's the sort of experience that I wish that I had been exposed to as a child. (No male role models)

[Double Venom]

Ray,
You are definitely onto something with the II Sway-Bar!
Ditto what Jim, says!
DV

[rustyBob]

Ray you and the "crew" keep up the good work..........looks awesome.

[Hray]

Thanks for all the comments, the kids really do work, it is not just posed photos, they dig in and help clean, sort tools, and they do love to work on stuff. I let them do as much as possible. The paint stuff is completely done by Tyler, ever how it comes out is how it will get installed on car, but so far he is doing a great job. of course I have spent time with him showing him how to do it on other stuff before.

DV: I have come up with another possible way of connecting the sway bar and u bracket, i will mock it up next time in shop and share it.

Gotta run and play games with the kids now, tomorrow is house decorating so might be another short day in shop,

Ray

[Hray]

49 hours into final build, 9 days down, 81 to go.

Only got enough time to trial fit a another way to connect the sway bar to the lower arms.
Check out the picture below, prior to final assembly I would tig weld these bolts together. this would keep heim joing close to u bracket. or i could take a piece of half inch thick by three inch plate steel and drill and tap it to move it directly over the u bracket. i think I like this approach better that extending the u bracket to the front. What are others thoughts.

so far the sway bar is still at completed ride heights, but lower arm is still not positioned to ride heighth.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/...794cdc87_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/...924136c1_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2612/...8e0927d4_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2548/...38c114fd_b.jpg

[rustyBob]

hook it up to the upper control arm.................
i dont know how well it would work BUT the sway bar wont know the difference.........
what do you think DV........will it work????????????

[tcrist]

Ray,
You might want to think about cutting off the ends of the swaybar, make some offset pieces and weld it back up keeping the ends of the swaybar and the attachment point on the lower a-arm in line. If you try and offset the bolting position from the position on the lower a-arm everything might want to give/flex under the pressure.
If you do weld it just be sure to sleeve it so it is not just the welds taking the pressure.

Of course I could just have my head up my arse.

[Double Venom]

Ray,
Terry is on the right track, "sleeving" would be critical!

Can I borrow your smallest helper?

I need to close him in the trunk and drill the mounting holes for the trunk hinge for alignment! Then while inside he can mount the hinge!
DV

[Hray]

Hey Guys; i did think about cutting and sleeving and rewelding, not sure if I like that idea better or if i like making a new lower bracket and moving it directly under the sway bar mounting point.

i too was thinking about the torque problems of not being mounted directly below the connecting points. For normal driving I do not think it would be a problem, if I were into competition with cornering then maybe second thoughts on it.

I think it would be easier to make new lower bracket, plus the sleeve and welding would reduce some of the flex the sway bar would provide.

I will check with my local custom suspension shop, and the 4x4 off road shop to see what their engineers think.

Heading out to shop, today will be paint on the firewall.

Ray

[Hray]

Below are some pics of painted firewall, some with flash, some without flash, depending on flash and angle of light it changes color some.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2798/...7fcc61d7_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/...3d52f74c_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/...20a8ef90_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/...12f98be4_b.jpg

Good progress, just waiting for clear coat to dry out some more prior to moving things around in shop.

new tubular a-arms came in today,

Process used to paint it, block sanded cowl with 80 some, moved up to 180, then primed with lacquer primer, block sanded lacquer with 320 twice, primed with PPG PCL about 4 coats total, block sanded with 320, primed again, blocked with 500, then went with dust coat of base, then medium wet base coat, then another medium wet base coat, then immediately after last medium basecoat went with another dust coat on top of still wet coat to get even layout of metalics and color, let dry to get clearcoated, upon tack cloth prior to clear found too much dust in paint, waited another half hour then sanded basecoat, then did another medium coat with top dusting, waited 40 minutes, then medium clear coat, then after 20 minutes a heavy wet coat, and now it is painted. used 14ounces of sprayable basecoat total, used about 12 ounces of sprayable clearcoat. Used U-tech brand basecoat and used Transtar euro clear to topcoat.

I will not sand and buff the firewall, will leave it just the way it is.

This is sort of the exciting part, later Ray

[James Stern]

Damn Ray, Sounds like you've done this before. You have many talents sir. If you and DV would get together and restart CRII it would be a force to deal with.