New JBL Cobra Daytona Coupe Street Version Build

[Clois Harlan]

What kind of junk do you have Mark? You can come down anytime and I will try and post some pictures this weekend. Waiting on a few parts so I can follow a logical build path. Having to buy a remote oil filter adaptor for the Coyote and a few other things.

[vector1]

My junk? Just a few years of sorting and getting things the way I like, a JBL comp roadster fully sorted and put together the way it was designed to work. Luckily Richard is patient or has a good sense of humor, or both. Don't mess with the man with the pen.

Did you get the sway bar? I'd like to see one of those. That has to be an outside the box one of few designed type deals.

[Clois Harlan]

Still missing a few things.

[Cashburn]

Hey Clois, what's up with the Coupe?

[Clois Harlan]

Well I have been reluctant to say anything but Mr Goins decided he was not going to build any more Cobra's, Coupes, because he wasn't making enough money. I went to pick up my "incomplete parts" about a year and a half ago and took them to another source who has made my doors and re-made several of the parts including my roll cage, fuel cell housing, rear of my chassis, completely re-made after re-sculpting the nose of my coupe as well as many other parts. I think I am 6 mos to a year away from having a really nice coupe. The nose is being laid up by a very well known Corvette Guy in this area that has done a magnificant job on the nose. At this point I am needing the headers and side pipes made and a new roll cage completed and installed. All other items except for a couple cosmetic items (fuel cap opening, side windows,door latches and hinges) have been addressed including the front control arms and rack and pinion placement. The chassis has been completely lasered and is perfect on all four corners. The bump steer has been addressed as have some of the less obvious features of the Coupe. When done it will be the best looking and performing $120,000.00 non original coupe on the road. For that price I could have had a Kirkham or SPF. I only wish that Tony Martin had gone ahead with his plans to manufacture a Backdraft Daytona Coupe 5 years ago. BD is top notch as are their USA reps. Hindsight is 20 20. Right?

My thoughts on JBL. Is they are an extremely well designed chassis and perform at a very high level. However, if the business leadership is not there and it isn't, then you must be willing to accept the disappointment that will be forthcoming. Factory Five, Backdraft, Kirkham, Shell Valley, ERA, Shelby and a few others are credit worthy operations that can full fill your cobra desires. The engineering behind JBL was second to none but the execution of the plans were left to an inept individual that was shy about working and in a constant self pitty mode.

[Wbulk]

Sorry to hear this Clois. Sometimes it would seem bad experiences far outnumber the positives ones. You know what I went through with my car, but in the end I gained a lot more skills and knowledge in the process. I am guessing you have major skills and knowledge now. It goes to show what a rare situation it is to have a company that can build a good product and stay in business.

[cycleguy55]

It is truly unfortunate your building the Coupe has been soured somewhat by these circumstances. Notwithstanding, it sounds like you're recovering from the experience and have a plan to get the build finished. Good luck and best wishes.

[twin turbo]

Clois, thank you so much for posting an update. Hopefully you will be able to get it all sorted out and enjoy it.

[dallas_]

Clois, really sorry to hear about that. That kind of experience can really suck the joy out of the hobby.

Did Matt ever get his done?

[twin turbo]

Clois, any update?

[Clois Harlan]

Sometimes things happen and your progress is halted but I am getting ready to resurect this thread since I am back on track with the coupe. I had some delays and re-do's but I believe I am ready to start putting out some pictures.

[dallas_]

Jeez, it's about time!

Good seeing you Saturday. Looking forward to watching your progress.

[Clois Harlan]

It's been a frustrating 3 years but it will get better and get done!

Good seeing you John.

[john chesnut]

I hope that you are doing well Clois. And, I hope that you get your JBL coupe on the road soon. I always was a fan of Richards chassis.

John

[Clois Harlan]

I hope all is well with you John and you are still building those fast little Dragons as before.

Richard is a great guy that has been a ton of help. Richard Hudgens is a very smart person that has spent years perfecting his design and drawings. I am looking forward to finishing this project. Hopefully this spring if my remainding parts get finished.

.

[Ron61]

Clois,

I am happy that you are back on track. I spent over 5 years with my Coupe at a so called builders who lied to me and every time I went to look at it he was conveniently out of town., I finally got a friend of mine who was a detective and made him take us to see it and in that 5 years plus, all he had done was ripped the wiring out from under the dash. It is completed now and I am enjoying driving it but I don't race any more as my age and physical condition have put a stop to that. I hope to see pictures of you on the track soon .

Ron

Originally Posted by Clois Harlan

It's been a frustrating 3 years but it will get better and get done!

Good seeing you John.

[Clois Harlan]

Here is where I am at: I had Roger Upton build my headers for my Coyote Engine and he also made some modifications to my hood to accomodate the bigger Coyote engine. Roger is resplashing the nose since he had to do a significant amount of cutting to bring everything into scale. I haven't received my new nose yet so those pictures will be forthcoming.

For the last week or so I have been sorting out the wiring, and vacuum lines in the Coyote which I have installed into the chassis, that has been bolted up to my Tremec T6060 six speed transmission and dual clutch. Some mods to the rear transmission mount had to be made to get everything into alignment.

Additionally, I had Roger Upton do a laser alignment on the entire chassis before we started making any changes to insure everything was perfect. The laser chassis involved minutely moving a couple of the pickup points on the suspension. At this point I believe the chassis and alignment are as perfect as they can be.

In the coming days I will post pictures of my progress on the wiring and plumbing of my coyote engine. Some compromises had to be made in order to accomodate some of the requirements of the Coyote and the addition of AC components.

I know everything is pretty vague right now but it will all come together in the coming weeks.

Clois

[vector1]

Keep on Clois, part of the success is the stressss

Surprised about the suspension, both my cars are really square, and flat.

[Clois Harlan]

In order to go forward it was necessary to deconstruct some of my previous progress so to right some wrongs. That probably doesn't make sense but it is true. In short I have been trying to complete my wiring and plumbing before taking any pictures.
I have yet to weld in my O2 sensors in my headers so I must pull those off and weld up the O2 sensors in the proper place. In order to get the proper length out of my Ford wiring harness I had to unwrap some of the factory wiring cover to gain a little more length. The way my headers are made it has made the oil pressure sending units location a bit of a challenge as well as the water temp sending unit. Also, some mods were made to accomodate the AC and Alternator as well as the steering column. Other problems I have been trying to resolve was the Degas tank and where to locate it so it would gravity feed into the correct radiator fill location. Bastard size hoses for the Degas tank and the fill location. Also, the location of my fuel regulator and the reducing fitting I had to use on the intake to accomodate the 1/8" vacuum line to the regulator. All this and more to come with answers and photo's.

[Clois Harlan]

Over the weekend I resumed running the wiring to the front of the car through the firewall. I made several trial runs but only drilled one hole thru the firewall. Additionally, I welded up the bungs in my headers for my oxygen sensors and wrapped my headers in some really cool Titanium Header wrap( I felt I needed all the help with heat I could get given how close my headers are to my AC Compressor and Alternator, hopefully one of my pictures uploaded: