Is Austin sleeping?

[Cobra Dude]

Am I missing something, or have all Austinites traded in their Cobras for some bowtie product?!?!

Seriously? I see posts about car shows, and some out-of-town activities. (Unfortunately, I have to pass on the out-of-town stuff for now). But what about our regular monthly Saturday lunches & cruises? Who's in charge of the next activity?

Peace out!

[renaissance man]

I was overruled for the May lunch (I'm doing May/June) to go to Fayetteville with the Houston crowd. April was at Carlos and Charlies. My car is in pieces as I'm putting in a new Griffin, water pump, oil cooler. Call me...we'll look over broken cars together.

[Ed Csoltko]

I think the 2002 Spring Meet zapped everyone in Austin, or else everyone took an extended vacation and they haven't come back to Austin. I haven't a clue why the Austin membership is so quiet. I realize everyone is working hard at their jobs, or even trying to find jobs, but it doesn't take too much effort to check in with everyone from time to time. The silence among the masses is weird.

As for weekend lunches or cruises, I'm always open and ready to do something early Saturday mornings. It's starting to get hot so my FFR only gets out in the mornings and evenings, mid day cruises are out for me.

[renaissance man]

I guess I need to get another batch of Homebrew going and have everyone over for BBQ and beer? Then I can coax everyone into helping me install all of my new stuff.!!!!

[Dennis Mosley]

Did someone say Homebrew???? Have tool box will travel.

As for your meetings, the reason I picked the 3rd weekend in May was so it would not screw up anyones regular meeting schedule.

We in Houston are still going to meet on the 2nd weekend.

Dennis
el Aggie presedente.

[Snakecharmer]

It seems so I've been really tied up trying to get this new company off the ground.....plus I still don't have a motor, even if I did have the time to drive.

Hey I just found out about an event for TCC in Cedar Park on Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day). Believe it or not, Cedar Park is hosting the first leg of the International GP circuit for shifter carts that weekend. There will be multi million dollar factory teams and some of the worlds top drivers (F1, Nascar, etc) competing all weekend in these 130 mph+ machines on the streets of Cedar Park!! This is a Star Tickets event with big sponsors like Budweiser. We've been formally invited to attend as a part of the "show" for Monday the 27th. They are going to showcase American Muscle Cars that day and want TCC to show racing fans the ultimate muscle car!! Of course it would be free for anyone from TCC and they'll have a designated area roped off for us and our families.

I'll send out more info and post this seperately very soon. The attendance will be in the 10's of thousands so this could be GREAT exposure for the club!!!

Charmer

[mustangmendez]

I am considered a Austin feller, even though I'm from the country ,
Yeah Ha ! Ren Man I think that is what it will take .HOME BREW
Ed , Jeff and I went on a small Cruz last Saturday 2 whole cars .
We had a fun cruzzz . I have that many Cobras in my Garage and another on the way . I think I saw the rest of the gang looking at the new GT40s.


Mustang Mendez

[Ed Hubbard]

Well, I'm out here working away!




-Ed
Round Rock, TX
FFR 3496

[Ed Csoltko]

Ed#2; Congrats on the FFR. When did you get it? Haven't heard from you in awhile. I need to come over and check out your progress. Call me at 288-0446 and let me know when the best time is for you.

[Ed Hubbard]

It all hit this week. I'm just going through the '98 now, trimming back the harness, vac connections, replacing the AC compressor with an idler from Ford Motorsports, etc. I'm also ordering parts like there's no tomorrow. My advice is to get fully invested in the market as I'm sure to move the GDP a 10th of a percent in Q2 all by myself!

Its my 7 year-olds birthday today with the party tomorrow so pretty busy until Sunday. I plan to be in the garage most of the day Sunday though if you want to come over. Can you drive your FFR, I could use a little more 'gawking' time at one close up.

[Gregg(What's his name)?]

Sorry Guy's,

I've been all over the country in last few weeks.

Just got back from the National Training Center late last night. My life might slow down at the end of June.

I will be needing some help on the cobra in the next couple of weeks. Any takers.

Gregg H

[Cobra Dude]

Ren -- sorry but can't help right now. Need to recover the finger first. But let me know about the beer -- I only need 5 fingers for that. Or no fingers and a straw

Charmer -- what's the scoop on your motor? Heard about a bearing problem. What's the full story and status?

Ed H. -- that looks like a 4.6 you're dropping in there. What were the deciding factors on that?

Ed C. -- call me when you head up to Ed H's -- I might tag along.

Cheers,
-"Nine-finger" Neil.

[Ed Hubbard]

I've owned & rebuilt a fair number of motors (mostly when I was younger - SB Chevy, BB Pontiac, SB Ford), but a couple years ago I decided to rebuild the motor in my '98 Cobra.

When you pull apart the 4.6 DOHC it becomes pretty clear what 20+ years of engineering advances bring to motor design. Lets do some highlights:

BLOCK
=====
First off, this is an aluminum block with 4-bolt mains & 2 bolts through the skirts of the block (1 each side) & into the main caps. Effectively you have a 6-bolt main, aluminum block that you can easily huff around the garage without a hernia. Holy crap - when I was growing up this was an Indy engine!

CRANK
=====
The crank is a work of art. The thing is a solid steel from the factory! Not cast. Not nodular. Repeat after me S T E E L! Oh, and how about a GEAR (really not a gear, but not sure what to call it) Oil Pump and a full WINDAGE TRAY - all stock.

HEADS
=====
All aluminum w/OH cams. The entire valvetrain length is about...zero! No 5" pushrod, big rocker or lifters - just a lash adjuster so you don't have to adjust the valves & a tiny roller rocker that is designed in such a clever way it doesn't need bolted down. Yes, I know its hard to believe, its even harder to describe, but once the damn thing is in place it gets sandwiched between the valve/spring, the lash adjuster & the cam. Viola, 8K RPMs with nothing holding it in place except the design!

Oh, and did we talk about the 4-valves / cylinder? Talk about flow, these things flow like race heads stock. Its relatively easy to make 300 - 320 RWHP with this motor naturally aspirated. I've seen 5.0's with blowers make the same #'s.

The rest of the motor is pretty reliable, but uses parts that aren't quite the race-ready parts the block, heads and crank represent. I will say though that the pistons & rods in these engines hold up fine to lots of boost if the mixture is controlled carefully. Here's an old dyno chart from my '98 4.6 DOHC Cobra with 10lbs of boost:

[digger18]

Sorry ya'll for not getting out. Had computer problems for awhile and now we're getting ready for the new addition to the family Griffin Heath Reed. Due any day now. So, I would love to hook up next weekend or any time during the evening hours for a ride or check out your work Ed #2. Ed H. sounds like you're in our neck of the woods. We're here in the Lake Point subdivision. Anytime you need a passenger or I can help with anything let me know. 263-7847.

Rob

[Gerhardt Gast]

Guys,

I sold my BRG FFR to a guy in Denver. The guy owned, yes, owned, a bank. Bought it sight unseen. Said he wanted to put it between his twin turbo Porsche and his Viper.

I'm going cold turkey. I'll try to make it to a few meetings anyway just to say hi. That is if you don't all go and rub it in. I'm working on getting the next Cobra.

Gerhardt