Building Tips

[prp289]

Just put a deposit last week for an FIA. I will be building the car myself. Any pointers you can give me as I begin my adventure. I have been looking through all the past threads, lots of info out there. Looking forward to it.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by prp289

Just put a deposit last week for an FIA. I will be building the car myself. Any pointers you can give me as I begin my adventure. I have been looking through all the past threads, lots of info out there. Looking forward to it.

Nice. What's the timeline for getting it delivered?

[lippy]

Don't keep track of the expenses. It's better to not know.

If you ordered from ERA, they make a good product. But add 6 mo to the initial delivery estimate.

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by prp289

Any pointers you can give me as I begin my adventure. .

Stick very closely to the manual and any questions, call Doug or Bob before coming here.

[prp289]

3 mos since I am doing the bonding and the assemble.

[lippy]

Originally Posted by prp289

3 mos since I am doing the bonding and the assemble.

I had them bond the body but I did all of the panels and footboxes. Six months

[DanEC]

If you have been watching this forum you probably have seen my build log for #782 which I'm assembling. There are lessons learned in there somewhere as well as a few personal foul-ups.

Don't worry about the bonding. The way they trial assemble the frame and body now makes it pretty hard to mess up. Everything will stay in alignment. It's just a matter of aligning the original clips and attachment holes and putting the assembly fasteners back in after applying the adhesive between the surfaces.

I would recommend getting an inexpensive air powered riveter from Harbor Freight. Probably keep you from developing carpo-tunnel injuries. Figure up how many rivets you guess you need and then multiply that by about 1.5.

If you can justify the cost, go ahead and get an inexpensive right angle drill for close quarters from Harbor Freight. There are a dozen or so rivet locations that are a little difficult to get to without one.

Bookmark McMasters on your computer. They have tons of stuff you will need and they ship fast.

Those Box of Rags at SAMs are handy. I've probably gone through a dozen of those for HD paper towels.

Are you planning to do the body work and paint yourself or have a shop do it? That's another whole volume of tips.

[tkb289]

Congratulations on placing your order!!!

One of the hardest things is the wait, but as many here can attest, it's worth it. Have Peter send you the assembly manual now, it makes for great reading while you are waiting. Take lots of photos and I hope you start a build thread … the peanut gallery is standing by ...

[LMH]

Start thinking about color now. If you're shooting for an original look, then color choice is easy but if not, you need to start now. You're going to change your mind before the color goes on.
Larry

[ERA 778]

One of the smartest things I did was to take tons of photos as I took everything apart. You think you can remember the little details, but you won't! ERA ships the car pretty much assembled, but first thing you have to do is take it all apart. Take photos of each area and part before you remove it. For example, the shrouding around the radiator and oil cooler is very complicated and you will save tons of time by capturing everything in photos as you remove each piece.
Bonding the body is not difficult at all; you just need a few friends to help lift it off and to put it back on. As was mentioned earlier, the front inner fender panels will help you align everything perfectly; just make sure you get the original holes to line up.
One thing I wish I had done was to drill more of the rivet holes before I took the car apart. This assures you of good alignment, but you must be careful since you will be drilling blind into round tubing - very difficult to get the alignment correct. Just take your time!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by ERA 778

One of the smartest things I did was to take tons of photos as I took everything apart.

That is really great advice. And not just for when you're putting it together, but for years from now. I have taken literally thousands of pics of my car over the years, and they have come in handy many, many times. In fact, just this past weekend I was reviewing seven year old pics of part of my car to see if something had changed that I was pretty sure had. As it turned out, it was just my imagination. It's hard to argue with a seven year old picture that shows something is exactly the same as it is today. Not to mention some of the mods/changes I've made over the years and, but for the copious notes and pics, can no longer remember....

[Jim Holden]

Do have ERA powdercoat the frame. Predrill all rivet holes, then remove body and clean off metal filings, caulk and bond per Bob Putnam's instruction manual.

You (with the assistance of three friends) can bond and rivet the body on... but don't make the mistake that I made... bring the beer out after the job is done.

Jim

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Great choice, ERA make a fine car. Just take your time and you will have a Cobra to be proud of. Good luck.

[prp289]

Thanks for the tips. Going to The Rolex Motorsport Reunion at Laguna Seca tomorrow, going to look at some race cobras and get some ideas for my build.

[cscobra]

Don't forget to paint the entire underside of the body when you have it off the frame. ERA recommended that I do this, and I'm glad I did (no pink anywhere). I used 500 degree satin black engine paint. It only takes a few minutes--no need to mask anything!

[prp289]

I do have a question on the ERA rearend. Does the Dana use a True-Track or Locker style spline. This will be a open track car first/ street car sorta... Ive always used Detroit locker and liked them, not a limited slip fan. Any one open track there ERA? Have three colors so far that I like. Viking Blue, Guardman Blue, Le Mans Blue...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by prp289

I do have a question on the ERA rearend. Does the Dana use a True-Track or Locker style spline. This will be a open track car first/ street car sorta... Ive always used Detroit locker and liked them, not a limited slip fan. Any one open track there ERA? Have three colors so far that I like. Viking Blue, Guardman Blue, Le Mans Blue...

The ERA rear comes with a Power-Lok LSD in it, but they'll pull it out if you don't want it in there.

EDIT -- I just remembered that Rick Lake runs a Detroit Locker in his ERA, and he tracks it a lot. He loves to talk as well. Do a quick search on here and his cell number will come up.

[prp289]

My last call to ERA, getting the 6 pin FIA wheels, 3:77 gears, and a little stiffer coils
for the track. Thinking of going a little darker on the blue for paint. Going to build a 331, have not decided on the heads yet, either edelbrock ,trick flow or RHS.

[marcalan]

Check out AFR heads as well. I like them better than the edelbrock. I am running a 289 with the AFR and a 302 with the edelbrock

[cscobra]

Another tip (or four!):

1). Have ERA drill all of the holes for you. Their charge for doing this was most reasonable, and they didn't miss many.

2). I found an attachment for my electric drill that pulled rivets nicely (a hand riveter was still necessary for areas with limited space). No need for an air compressor unless you really want one (or you decide to paint the car yourself).

3). After painting the underside of the body, permanently mount the body to the frame and then paint the body before permanently adding any other panels. You will want to temporarily mount the forward front wheelwell panels to help align the body, but then remove them afterwards (in fact, having them off simplifies mounting the hood to its hinges after installing the engine/transmission assembly). This way, you don't run the risk of paint overspray on the nice aluminum panels and masking is greatly simplified.

4). Best advice of all: When all else fails, follow the manual.