HemiSnake Press Release

[HemiSnake]

For Immediate Release, July 29, 2005

Sid Becomes First Passenger in the Hemi Cobra

HIGHLAND PARK, IL - Sid Siddalingaiah and Mark Treschl mounted the seats, put back in the steering column, tied up the battery in the trunk with bailing wire and proceeded to back out of the garage in what some ear witness say sounded like a train.

"Today, Mr. Treschl and Mr. Siddalingaiah tore through the neighborhood, leaving a trail of small white flakes, better known as freshly drilled out fiberglass shavings." one eye witness said.

Sid and Mark proceeded to get the car a little sideways before they both agreed to return to the garage and stop laughing at just how ridiculous the car is. The only obvious issue was a few drops of oil that trickled down one of dual filters, but hey there's 8.5 more quarts in there right? Sid and Mark were later joined by Rich S., who proceeded to help out with a quick tune of the idle screw before jumping in the passenger seat for a nice tour around the block. All parties considered the evening a success and will continue to support the build until completion. All parties are available for comment.

More information about the project is available here: http://www.mtdesign.com/cobra

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Thanks again to all in the WCCC for helping me get this far. - Mark

[FUNFER2]

Awesome build & great site !
Kevin

[got snake?]

HIS CAR IS FREAKIN REDICULOUS!!! I MEAN REALLY SICK! Border line RETARDED! "Too Much Power is just enough!" His car puts this phrase to shame! Pushing the envolope...He pitched the envolope over a freakin cliff!!!! I still can't get over it...I need a big block or a HONKIN supercharger!

BTW his wife summed it up..."You guys are morons."

SID

[red]

His wife knows us already

[cobrashoch]

Various combo's of Hemi power have been in Cobras over the last 15 years in several Cobras. Heck, I'm a sorta mopar guy and have a megga block sitting in my garage and think about it from time to time too. The reality is they are not any faster than any other BB engined Cobra out there, and when they are in a Cobra if they are sold they usially come out in favor of conventional engines. In those cases most times you can sell the engine and re-coup the cost of the car itself. This is just a nice way to say that most non-Ford engines usially effect resale of these cars. That said, they are neat, a few years back I rode in a 572 Hemi in a Cobra. That car now has a 512 Ford and the engine is in a 71 Challenger convertible and that Challenger clone is worth more that most repoduction Cobras too.
cobrashock

[Tom Wells]

Nice Car!

Hate to say it but that rollbar looks a bit low. It'd be better if it stuck up about 2"-3" above your helmeted head.

With all that power it'll be good to be prepared for the worst...

[clayfoushee]

Originally posted by Tom Wells


Nice Car!

Hate to say it but that rollbar looks a bit low. It'd be better if it stuck up about 2"-3" above your helmeted head.

With all that power it'll be good to be prepared for the worst...

Tom, can you tell us more about what it feels like to be upside down in a Cobra ......or do you remember?

[HemiSnake]

Originally posted by cobrashoch


The reality is they are not any faster than any other BB engined Cobra out there, and when they are in a Cobra if they are sold they usially come out in favor of conventional engines. In those cases most times you can sell the engine and re-coup the cost of the car itself.

You don't really think I built this car for resale?? It's a Hemi block sitting on Corvette chassis with a replica Ford/AC body on it - can't see much of an aftermarket. To be honest, I started the project with a Cadillac Northstar V8 in mind. Then I went for a 426 crate HEMI, but to save weight I went for the 528 because of the aluminum heads... and less cylinder wall I never intended to build it to be faster or have more HP than anything else, I’m just not into those sort of debates. I just wanted something fun on the track that is 180 degrees from the low HP AWD German car like I normally take. I’ll be lucky to use 1/2 of the ft-lb of torque on this car. It's all for that first time when I pull up to a stoplight and the guy next to me says "You got a HEMI in that thing?" and I can "Yes" right before I light 'em up and melt his door panel with the flames from my side pipes.

[Excaliber]

As much as I like 427 FE's, I can find no fault with a Hemi under the hood. Well done!

[Tom Wells]

what it feels like to be upside down in a Cobra

Hey Clay,

Ask Cliff. He may remember. I was in shock with the powdered arm at that moment and don't remember that at all.

The E-M dual roll bars worked perfectly for both of us. I just got a light helmet scuff. My bars are several inches above the helmet line, which is my hope that HemiSnake will see to for his car. Lots of sanctioning bodies require that bit of extra height anyway, so maybe it's a moot point. Unless something happens on the street - but that's another discussion


Tom

[got snake?]

The pics HemiSnake has of him in the car are really off. He was sitting on a wooden seat! When we put the real seats in we sunk in pretty deep in that car. Well under the rollbar. Helmet will be no problem.

Sid

[HemiSnake]

Thanks Sid, I couldn't figure out what Tom was talking about until you reminded me that he was most likely looking at the pics from the website. You are right about the height of the bar and that those pictures were taken when I was sitting on a 2x6 framed wooden seat. The leather seats are a good 3" shorter, depending on how many doughnuts I eat before I sit. Yesterday, I sat in the car and put a board across the bar and windshield and had about 2-3" above my head. Usually the "broomstick" rule applies to SCCA stuff, but if I do that, I'll also need a cross brace bar into the pass foot box, like the one in the middle of this page:

http://www.mtdesign.com/cobra/emerson.html

Thanks for the feedback though Tom. I spent many hours thinking about this bar and working with E-M and Emerson to make sure it's the correct height and still fully functional.

See you at the poker run Sid. If you or Rich can spare the “sid-seat” for a few legs, I’d take you up on that. My dad is coming with me and I’m bringing the Audi, so it would be a nice treat to jump in a Cobra now and then.

[bulletbrown]

Congratulations on your Hemi snake, I thing some are missing the
point , not that its a Hemi, but you over came all the install problems and you made it work. Simple put, I couldn't have done it. Again Congratulations !!!!!!!!

[Barn$nake]

Ya, Hemisnake
It is a close race. I do not know what is more
impressive. The car or the web site!
WAIT!. Its the car.! But the web site is pretty awesome too!
Ed Paz

[got snake?]

I got a spare seat...

[HemiSnake]

Some recent pictures of the car; hopefully shows the rollbar at a better height:



Updated my homepage with a few other angles:

http://www.mtdesign.com/cobra/index.html

See you guys Sunday!

[RichMusson]

HemiSnake,
I just have one question.
How did your wife know? Heck I was not even there that night!
Rich

[jeffko]

Hemisnake...Now that's got to mean a snake with the fangs coming out of the center of its head! As I was talking to Rich & Sid later that night they confirmed just how poisonous this snake is. Cool build site. Where is the picture of the oversized shoehorn?

[got snake?]

Mark when are we allowed to come over to drink your beer and pretend to help you?

Sid