How difficult is the build of an ERA?

[J.Jensen]

I've been dreaming of building a Cobra kit since as long as I can remember - and I'm just about getting to a point in my life that makes it possible.
Just turned 30 and bought a house with a double garage.

How much space does it require and how mechanically difficult is the build? I briefly skimmed through the assembly manual they have online - but it didn't show most of the images - so I couldn't really tell if the manual was great or not.

I'm a certified aircraft technician, I can take a Bombardier aircraft apart and put it together again, but my car wrenching is limited to replacing brake and suspension parts and one engine rebuild - but it was only an inline 4. On the good side, my aircraft background would probably make me really really nitpicky with everything to get it as tidy as possible.

I live in Norway, and our amateur built vehicle regulations require the car to be assembled by the owner. Even a rolling chassis is a no-go.

Would you let the kids into the garage to help on the build? I have kids 6 and 9 years old, letting them take part would be a really nice way to keep, at least the oldest one, home for a few hours every weekend through his teens.

For those of you who built your ERAs yourself, if you were to build another Cobra, would you go ERA again?

Thanks in advance

[DanEC]

I just finished my ERA build and there is a long, long thread on the ERA board documenting it from the start. If building another I would definately pick ERA. It's extremely well designed and engineered. As far as the build, it depends what level of assembly you start frome. If you don't have ERA paint it then that will definately complicate your build and lengthen it out - depending if you do that sort of thing yourself or have someone locally do it for you. Even in their most elementary form, an ERA will arrive in a semi-assembled form with most of the major pieces factory fit and installed before being shipped. If not ordered as a roller it will arrive on dollies with a bunch of boxes for the misc parts. I ordered my rear end from them and they installed it with old wheels/tires and casters on the front - a semi-roller. But, I think you can arrange to have a rear end shipped uininstalled if a roller is strictly a no-no in Norway. They do not like to ship a car with the heavy rear suspension installed and riding on casters in the rear.

From your post it sounds like you would not have any problem at all with the technical part of the assembly. Most everything is so well pre-fit and engineered that classifying these things as a kit car is misleading. I would recommend having them powder coat the frame at least. It's kind of a toss-up as to if you want to have ERA bond and rivet the body for you. In their current form it's not really difficult or real time consuming to do yourself. If pulling the body completely off of the frame to paint the underside is in your plans then ordering an unpainted frame may be appealing.

Most of my time in building was eaten up by doing my own body and paint and then a lot of additional, optional work that was not really necessary in most eyes - vibration matting, insulation, variations to more closely mimic a street version. If you keep it straightforward and simple you can easily have one on the road within 12 months of painting working weekends and a few evenings.

I know several of the guys here have involved their kids in their build and assembly but I don't know to what extent. I guess it depends on their age and interest in the car.

[kevins2]

First, welcome to the forum - there is a lot of great information here to help you make your decisions.

I just finished my ERA build and, prior to that, had very little mechanical experience with cars. Other than oil changes, I put a new water pump on my '71 Camaro but that was about it. There were several reasons I chose ERA and one of them was the ease of the build. I got a manual in advance and read it cover to cover. I also read the manuals of two other manufacturers. The ERA manual isn't perfect, but is far better than the other two I read. My starting point was with the body professionally painted and bonded on the chasis and the rear-end installed. I wound up removing the rear and gas tank and re-installing them due to a bearing issue and learned that it wasn't that difficult to do. With the mechanical experience you stated, you'll have no difficulty with a build. The guys at ERA are a phone call away if you have any questions and were always very helpful. Great company to work with.

There are two albums of photos of my build in my profile and a thread here if you want to take a look.

First Pics of ERA #795

To answer your question, yes, I'd go with ERA again.

Kevin

[dallas_]

Originally Posted by J.Jensen

I'm a certified aircraft technician, I can take a Bombardier aircraft apart and put it together again,

Would you let the kids into the garage to help on the build? I have kids 6 and 9 years old, letting them take part would be a really nice way to keep, at least the oldest one, home for a few hours every weekend through his teens.

First off, welcome!

My experience isn't with ERA, but if you can work on aircraft you most certainly can build one of these cars.

There is no single step that you can't do, there are just a lot of steps.

I absolutely would let the kids help out. That's what we did. It's a great way to spend some time with them and they may even learn something along the way. It will probably take a lot longer to finish if they help but the memories are worth it.

Keep us posted!

John

[mr0077]

I've got no photos of mine, but my experience with ERA is similar to the above...GREAT!.

I had a lot of experience when I built mine 13 1/2 years ago, and it took 45 days from getting the body/frame (bonded together at the factory) back from the paint shop. IX'm not sure I would recommend you assembling a 427 FE without a fair amount of engine experience, but the rest of the car will be a snap for you. The ERA is VERY well engineered to go together with a minimum of problems.

As mentioned above, I ordered mine with the unpainted body bonded to a powder coated frame. It came on four casters and was an absolute pleasure to assemble. I had (let?) my then-14 year old son help me to teach him a bit about the inner workings of cars.

You can do it. Easy.

[J.Jensen]

Thanks for some very good replies.
DanEC: do you have a link to your build? I´d love to read it

The somewhat ridiculous Norwegian laws about self-building does not allow the body to be attached to the frame even. The bare frame needs to be inspected by the governing body doing the controls. I think I can get away with the pipes and those things attached to it, but it specifically states the frame is to be inspected prior to body assembly on it, but I think I would have the body painted by one of the shops ERA recommend.
I´ve done some sanding and body filler work on aircraft composites, but I hate it - and my skills with it does not match the finished result I´d want.

Are the FE´s trickier than other V8s?

[lippy]

I just finished ERA 797, and I did it with my three young kids (7/7/9, two girls and a boy). First, if you can take apart a plane, this will be no problem for you. My mechanical skills are not stellar and I had no problem. The ERA kits go together very well, and there is ample help available on this forum and from ERA. On the space required, all you need is one garage spot. A little room around the car is nice but you can do it in a fairly confined space. I would absolutely recommend having the kids involved. Mine loved it, though it was easier working one at a time vs all three. I would set things up beforehand and have a task ready so they could get to work and accomplish something solid in about an hour. It was one of the best things I've ever done. I also had a white board so I could explain things to them (and they would also draw pictures on it). My build log is: Lippy's ERA #797 build log

And yes, I would go with ERA again. It's not inexpensive, but you get a good quality product and support and will be happy with the results.

[mr0077]

I thought the FE was a little more demanding than the other (mostly Chevrolet) motors I had done, but it is very doable if you get a good book or two on them.

[PatBuckley]

I have built one (#535) and helped a lot on one more....

I would heartily recommend an ERA.

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by J.Jensen

Thanks for some very good replies.
DanEC: do you have a link to your build? I´d love to read it

The somewhat ridiculous Norwegian laws about self-building does not allow the body to be attached to the frame even. The bare frame needs to be inspected by the governing body doing the controls. I think I can get away with the pipes and those things attached to it, but it specifically states the frame is to be inspected prior to body assembly on it, but I think I would have the body painted by one of the shops ERA recommend.

You can have the body painted and ERA will temporarily bolt it to the chassis for shipping (it is ultimately bonded and rivited on). You'd obviously have to have space to carefully remove the body and would probably want to build a body buck or stand to hold it while off the car. ERA probably would have some good recommendations for that. You'll want to lift the body with 4 people, so 3 friends and a couple six packs of beer should do it (move the body first - then drink the beer)

The exhaust pipes are one of the last things to go on, so no problem with your laws there.

Kevin

[J.Jensen]

I´m loving the build threads, thanks guys

I should have specified, I meant the brake pipes that come preinstalled on the frame. The more I read the more certain I am of the kit being from ERA and not any of the others.

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by J.Jensen

I´m loving the build threads, thanks guys

I should have specified, I meant the brake pipes that come preinstalled on the frame. The more I read the more certain I am of the kit being from ERA and not any of the others.

Ahhh, brake lines. Yes, ERA pre-installs the brake lines so, as was suggested before, get them to powdercoat the chassis. If you ran into issues with the law, you could remove the brake lines, but hopefully that wouldn't be an issue.

Kevin

[mr0077]

And on my previous (first) kit Cobra, I rigged up a set of pulleys (block and tackle arrangements) on the ceiling of my garage so that I could lift the body off the frame while fiddling with the frame. You could do the same by lifting it by the four wheel openings, but check with ERA, I think their body is plenty strong enough to do that. The three friends and a couple of cases of beer can still be utilized, of course.

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by mr0077

... The three friends and a couple of cases of beer can still be utilized, of course.

We've gone from a couple six packs to a couple of cases of beer. The cost of this build is already spiraling out of control

[DanEC]

Here is the link to my build thread.

Progress on #782

Here is the link to my Photobucket album of the build.

http://s125.photobucket.com/user/dcl...42016951909128

I believe typically the ERA body is painted after bonding it to the chassis - but I don't know why it couldn't be managed later as Kevin said. Besides the epoxy bonded joints (which are hidden in the finished car) there are some rivets at the rocker panel to the frame and there are some rivets to the frame structure inside the nose area. These could be carefully riveted after painting and the rivets touched up with paint.

I hope your authorities don't require the body and frame to be separate upon arrival in port, because it probably takes most of a day to dissassembly the car back down to where the body could be pulled. And working with a painted body and being very careful - could be a 2 or 3 day effort. All the aluminum panels come fitted and partially screwed in place, so they all have to be carefully removed, bumpers pulled, dash and steering column pulled, doors pulled, etc.

Hope this helps.

Dan

[*13*]

I had era powder coat & bond the body to the frame, then send it from one coast to the other. They assembled the eRa rear assembly & shipped that on a pallet. I pretty much did everything else, including body, paint, assy & much of the engine work. There were a couple tricky parts. The a-arms were a tight fit & the wiring to the engine was a little vague but, nothing that a little ingenuity couldn't fix.
You might consider having them paint it. They have a local painter who knows these cars & does nice work. Fiberglass is never fun & probably not something you want to expose your kids to.
In the end, ERA has a really nice product. I didn't come across anything in the build where it seemed they had cut corners. The work is all high quality & the cars are beautiful. The only reason I would go ERA again, is if I made the jump to aluminum body.

[prp289]

J.Jensen I am building ERA2152, it's an FIA Body. I have just pulled the body from the frame, and so far it pretty straight forward. I was an in aviation for 12 years and an A&P an Inspector, you will not have any issues. Just take your time and ask questions.. This group is really helpful. DanEC question on the riveting in nose area... Does that pertain to FIA's also. Did not see any thing to drill out..

[DanEC]

I will have to look when I get home to refresh my memory. I know that on the upper inside lip of the oil cooler intake there was a shipping screw to the tube frame, that I riveted after bonding and added another rivet on both sides - 3 total. I can't remember any inside the grill area itself right now - I will need to check. I don't think there is any steel structure immediately around the radiator grill opeing except down at the bottom over the oil cooler opening. Amazing how the memory fades after 4 years.

You aviation guys are probably over-qualified to build one of these. You will be 3 years just drilling out and safety wiring every fastener on the car. (just kidding)

[J.Jensen]

What, the bolts are not pre-drilled for cotter pins and lock wires :O