Cobra Make, Engine: ERA 289FIA 2131, 331 stroker by Dan Dalena with 48 IDAs by Jim Inglese, AC Cars AC8 "Rosso Chiaro" (PPG Nexa code FG39) by Connecticut Custom
Posts: 443
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Hey Allen-
I was up at ERA Wednesday and Peter P was raving about your car, so I decided to check-in here and see what's what. I think it looks absolutely great as is and wouldn't change the color or the stripe. The only knock is that they are Lotus colors, but, who cares? It is unique and looks great with the black wheels, hardtop and fog lights.
Thanks to everyone for the comments...and Jeff, thanks for the feedback and for checking in. I had actually referenced you when speaking to Peter while at Carlisle..of course he knew who you were. It's awesome to get the kudos from the ERA gang and I look forward to journeying up there at some point to visit the shop.
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA140, ERA 267, ERA GT2038, ERA FIA 2045, ERAGT2077 ERA2893000EXP
Posts: 1,117
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If you make the trek to New Britski, timing is everything. Make sure Peter is not going to be off racing with his son Peter B. try to get there before 11:00 am when the roach coach arrives for morning "break time." Hang around until 2:00 pm and go to lunch with Peter at Paradise Pizza (or one of the other food emporiums). And it never hurts to take peter a "burnt offering", say some supra sod and a little rat cheese. ...and remember that the shop is around the corner on Dewey St., not East Main. ...and there is no sign out front either.
One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about being around these cars, or the car hobby in general, is the people you meet along the way, and yesterday was one of those days when I got to meet some new people and share ERA2124 with them. My visitors were Mike (289ERAkit) and Jill Mooney from New Hampshire. Mike contacted me last week and said that he and Jill would be in my area visiting Jill’s relatives and would like to stop by to see the car. Mike and Jill are the owners of ERA2115 which is presently in the build phase and wanted to get that last little push of inspiration to get the build finished. After going over details of my car and discussing items related to his, it was time for a ride. Jill was first in the passenger’s seat, and expressed enthusiasm over the sound and handling. Mike gave positive comments over the functionality of the LeMans hardtop and leg room. It was great sharing that time with them and as they were getting ready to head off, they pulled out a bag of fresh sweet corn as a token of appreciation. Can’t beat that with a stick….thanks Mike and Jill - it was great meeitng you!
Allen - are you running the stock shocks and springs? Any rubbing on the fenders either front or rear? Am interested if you have ever checked the shock travel in max bump on the auto course?
What acts as the stop - fender, surrogate, shock etc. ?
I am messing with mine and am wondering about your set up with the larger dia tires?
Yes, this set-up you see in the pic is just stock springs and bars. Wheels are 17" from Vintage Wheel running 295/315 Hoosier A6's frt/rr. They were backspaced according to Bob's recommendations, however at the ride height I'm running with the taller 275/60 road tires on the 15" wheels, there is a bit of kissing of the wider 315 tire against the inner top part of the rear fender at full compression. Over a hard bump, the shocks will go against the bump stops with the road tire set-up, but I haven't found that to be a problem as it's only upon occasion. The biggest autocross improvement I would like to move towards is the addition of power steering on a quicker ratio rack. The Factory Five guys have a wider front track than our ERA FIA's, and are always kicking my butt with their quick ratio power steering.... My DD is the one that see's most of the autocross action these days, and I might only autocross the cobra once a year which matches well with my intention to keep the car in more "period correct" trim.
Allen - I realize it's been awhile, but I am hoping you can answer some questions. I am getting ready to reassemble my front suspension. Parts went to powder coat this morning. I tried to go back and read as much as I could but I may have missed something.
Things I am interested in
1) Did you ever rub?
2) How much bump travel did you have front and rear?
3) I assume you hit the body before the shock limited.
4) Did you have to bump stop it?
5) Were you able to run the lower front control arms flat?
6) What was your ride height front & rear?
7) Did you ever increase the Spring rate?
8) Do you think we need more rear bar? You stated you were at the adjustment limit.
9) Diameter of the tires?
10) Toe?
11) Caster?
12 Camber?
13) Is it possible we have too much front bar?
Allen - I realize it's been awhile, but I am hoping you can answer some questions. I am getting ready to reassemble my front suspension. Parts went to powder coat this morning. I tried to go back and read as much as I could but I may have missed something.
Things I am interested in
1) Did you ever rub? – Yes, with the 295 frt and 315 rr A6’s there was a bit of rub inside top portion of the lip on the rear fender, and a bit on the rear inside of the front at full lock. The minor rubbing in the Rear could be solved with ride height adjustment, which I didn’t do b/c of not wanting to disturb my “street stance”. With the Front, I found that my RH hard brakeline was a bit deformed at the frame rail connection point, but I suspect this happened with low-speed maneuvering and not during auto-x transitions
2) How much bump travel did you have front and rear? – Honestly, I’m not sure. I never got that measurement-specific
3) I assume you hit the body before the shock limited. – Never saw this in the front, but in the rear due to my rear ride height.
4) Did you have to bump stop it? – Just used what is stock with the Spax dampers.
5) Were you able to run the lower front control arms flat? - I would have to double check this, but I believe my current ride height results in the LCA’s being “flat”, yes.
6) What was your ride height front & rear? – No sure. As I never got that measurement specific. I basically ran what I thought was aesthetically pleasing with my street tire set-up. I go for a more tucked in, lower ride height in the rear while a bit raised in the front, making the car look like it’s launching forward and at speed from the side profile. I believe to get better traction to the front, which the car desperately needs, it should have a bit of forward rake to move bias towards the front.
7) Did you ever increase the Spring rate? – no…thought about it a bit for the rear to help in rotation, but never went that far.
8) Do you think we need more rear bar? You stated you were at the adjustment limit. – yes, that is true, but it could be any combination of things to balance the car to get more grip at the front.
9) Diameter of the tires? – Hoosier says the 295-35/17 and 315-35/17 are 25.3” and 25.6” respectively
10) Toe? – Never played with this. The owner who had the car before me had an alignment performed per the standard street settings ERA recommendations. I’ve not changed any of it.
11) Caster? – Street settings as recommended per ERA
12 Camber? – Street settings as recommended per ERA
13) Is it possible we have too much front bar? – I suppose it’s possible, but I never unhooked it to see what the result was. A6 tires cover up a multitude of chassis and driver sins, so to fully uncover these details, it would be good to iterate adjustments in a controlled environment on street tires. I just never took the time to do that and sadly haven’t autocrossed the car for over two years. The drag of schlepping big fat A6 tires combined with the fact that I was about 2 sec faster in my STi on street tires vs the Cobra sent my focus in other places. I wish I could be of more technical help to you, but all I can offer from my experience is that power steering and more focused chassis set-up are two areas that the car could definitely have benefited from. As for now, that’s on the back burner for me.
Good luck with your own ambitions, Cliff, and please feel free to bounce things off of me whenever you wish.
I try to make it out to this event each year as it’s such a special one. With this having been the 32nd annual, over $3 Million has been raised for the Allegheny Valley School and the Autism Society. It’s a very special series of events that occur over a 2wk period ending in a 2day Vintage Grand Prix on the public streets and stone wall-lined lanes of the Schenley Park Golf Course in Pittsburgh, PA…lovely atmosphere to say the least and the weather this year, while being quite rainy, was a lovely departure from the hot/humid conditions of the year prior.
This year, we packed the Cobra, and started out on the 300 mile round-trip journey on a Thursday evening. We arrived at our B&B that night, had a relaxing Friday tooling around Pittsburgh in the Strip District, visiting the Church Brew Works, and having a generally relaxing time. Saturday, the first day of the GP brought rather rainy conditions, so we didn’t make it to Schenley Park until the early afternoon when the weather let up, then after a 2hr or so dry spell, the rain started up again, so it was back to the B&B, downloaded the “Lyft” app and off to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.. That was my first Lyft experience, and it was pretty conveniently-fantastic. Sunday brought much dryer conditions, so the vintage racing and car show weekend ended on a high note leaving us once again looking forward to next year.
Here are some of the pics I took during the event. Sorry for the quality of some of them.
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