ERA 753 - Final Assembly in Progress

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

Fkemmerer Realy looks great Fred. Where did you get the throttle linkage from? That is better than what I was looking at. You have private mail also. Rick L.

Thanks Rick. The bracket and linkage on the footbox are ERA standard items. The cable is a Lokar 36" Hi-Tech throttle cable kit. The end for the TWM bellcrank had to be ordered from TWM.

- Fred

[jagxjr5012]

Fred
The car looks really fantastic !!! Keep posting the updates !! Conratulations !!
Mike

[fkemmerer]

Well my wife and I just completed 9 straight days of work on on ERA Cobra. At this point, the engine and trans are fully installed and everything is hooked up except for the cooling system, alternator, and the EFI wiring. We did alot of odds and ends today including testing the fuel system (and fixing a few leaks), removing the distributor to prime the oil system and reinstalling it, wiring the starter and fully testing the electrical system, bled the hydraulic clutch system and adjusted the clutch, and did a little bit of wiring work on the EFI system. Here's a few pictures of the mostly complete engine:





We'll be working weekends now to finish up our project. The electrical work on the EFI harness will take some time. We are going to build that from scratch.

- Fred

[fkemmerer]

We spent the day getting our alternator and explansion tank on our ERA. After getting ERA's offset alternator bracket setup, I was able to adapt my 100A 1-wire Powermaster alternator to the car. I have a Shelby aluminum water pump which forced me to fabricate custom spacers and brace bars to get everything to fit properly with my water pump. I used a March 2V (dual grove) pulley set with an overdrive water pump pulley. I had a local machinist remove the rear groove on the water pump pulley to improve the appearance of the final setup. I have about 1/2" of cleareance at the back of my alternator with this setup and after a trip to the local auto parts store to find an appropriate length belt, I am in business.





I am going to remove all of the parts tomorrow to machine some custom length aluminum spaces and have all of the support brackets chrome plated. Should look pretty nice when its all done.

- Fred

[Kramer]

Hey Fred,

Awesome Cobra!!!!! Since you seem to have way more experience that I do I have a question for you. I am running the larger TWM airhorns on my car as well. For now, I had AL at thor motorsports help me mill the the horns on the bottom to be able to place a screen between the throttle body and the horn. My Question for you is...are you planning on running any filters. If so, what are thinking...I have found anything I really like yet that looks good, breathes right, and fits under the ERA hood. Any thoughts would be appreciated as it looks like you have the larger horns as well.

Great looking ride,

Kramer

[iwantacobra427]

Very impressive!

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by Kramer

Hey Fred,

Awesome Cobra!!!!! Since you seem to have way more experience that I do I have a question for you. I am running the larger TWM airhorns on my car as well. For now, I had AL at thor motorsports help me mill the the horns on the bottom to be able to place a screen between the throttle body and the horn. My Question for you is...are you planning on running any filters. If so, what are thinking...I have found anything I really like yet that looks good, breathes right, and fits under the ERA hood. Any thoughts would be appreciated as it looks like you have the larger horns as well.

Great looking ride,

Kramer

Hi Kramer,

I had a set up mesh screens made that go between the horns and the throttle bodies. This will keep the big stuff (small stones, etc) from getting into the motor. Given that this is a limited use car and will not be driven in dusty places, me experience is that this will be OK. You'll also notice the tennis balls shown in my previous post. These are mostly to protect the motor when the car is sitting or when I'm working on the motor.

Here's a picture of the screens that I am using.



- Fred

[Chaplin]

Fred-
Could go sandwich a very thin piece of foam filter between two mesh screens? I changed the air filter in my lawn tractor yesterday and it uses a very thin foam filter with mesh on the back as a "pre-filter" before you get to the main air filter. I think something like that would work pretty well.

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by Chaplin

Fred-
Could go sandwich a very thin piece of foam filter between two mesh screens? I changed the air filter in my lawn tractor yesterday and it uses a very thin foam filter with mesh on the back as a "pre-filter" before you get to the main air filter. I think something like that would work pretty well.

Chaplin,

Problem is that an FE intakes alot more are than a small engine which can use foam filters. My guess is that an FE would pretty quickly swallow the foam?

- Fred

[DonC]

Fred:
How about placing the thin foam on top of the screens to keep them from being sucked in?
DonC

[fkemmerer]

Well, there are others on this board than may have better insights than I du but I would guess a big block would draw enough are to just stred the foam. I think that TWM dies make some horn covers that use a somewhat less restrictive filter material. It probably would be a good idea to give them a call and discuss it before trying anything. The last thing that you'd want to do is to suck the foam into your motor.

- Fred

[Chaplin]

I agree a FE would suck in the foam, that is why I suggested sandwiching the foam between two pieces of mesh.

[madmaxx]

It just keep getting better!!!! Wow, incredible.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by madmaxx

It just keep getting better!!!! Wow, incredible.

Yep, this is one of those "super builds" that comes along every couple of years. Kinda reminds me of Turk's....

[Metal-morphous]

Fred its just OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!! Its one of the most impressive ERA's I have seen and like Madmax said " It just keeps getting better"

Ron

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by Metal-morphous

Fred its just OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!! Its one of the most impressive ERA's I have seen and like Madmax said " It just keeps getting better"

Ron

Hi Ron,

Thanks! You'll be happy to know that I tried to hood on the car will the engine in and all of the accessories on. It looks like we are fine with the shelf under the scoop the way it is. The most forward injector stack seems to have a clean flow of incomming are (just barely). We'll be sure when I can drive the car but it looks like we're going to be OK.

- Fred

[Kramer]

I have similar screens b/t my airhorns and my throttle bodies but that's it. For when the car is sitting, I also used the tennis balls but I have moved to small round filters I cut out of a humidifier filter (they look like little biscuts I push into the horn). Again, I only use them for storing the car. I have accidently started the car when they are in and they seem to quickly pop out.

If anyone has any ideas for some kind of "sock" like filter that is heat resistant and looks good, I am in.

Apologies for highjacking the thread Fred...Again the car is AWESOME.

Kramer

[Traveller]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Yep, this is one of those "super builds" that comes along every couple of years. Kinda reminds me of Turk's....

Yeah, it does.

I hope you keep yours a little longer than he did.

[fkemmerer]

Well we reached a milestone in building our ERA today. All of the work to fully install and connect the motor is done! Progress since the last update includes:

1) Installation of the headers and sidepipes
2) Installation of the expansion tank, heater/radiator hoses
3) Filling and bleeding of the cooling system
4) Correction of a problem with the gas gauge (the pickup tube in the tank was interfering with the sender and causing the gauge to stay on empty - had to drop the tank and R&R to sender to adjust the tube)
5) Powder coated the alternator brackets we fabbed and installed the alternator for good.
6) Polished the exahust head shield aluminum covers and reinstalled them.
7) Reinstalled the hood.

Here are some pictures of the car just prior to and after installing the hood.





Ron, this is the picture that we've been waiting to see. The motor in the car with the metalized hood installed. It sure looks great!



Now its on to the electrical work for the EFI. I'm going to start building the custom EFI harness tomorrow. ERA also fabbed a nice custom switch setup to hide some extra control switches under the dash. I'm going to expand it to include switches for the following functions:

1) Battery cuttoff
2) Red Dash Light = Service Engine Soon Indicator/Shift Light
3) Fuel pump automatic/high speed
4) Launch rev. limit enable
5) ECU Data Recorder/Electronnic Traction Control 1/4 Mile Mode Enable

Peter, you gotta find me a set of rear wheels!

[tuska]

Looks great! Where did you get your header tank from? Is it brass? could you chrome it? cheers glen