My Cobra Build Site

This was an awesome weekend, and made some pretty monumental progress, all things considered. Not that I really accomplished that much, but the actual things that did get done were pretty huge in the life of the project.

The weekend was spent preparing for, and executing the first start of the engine…the second time around. I actually did a test fire in the frame about a year ago, with temporary wiring and setup, etc. This time around, though, the engine is in and should stay in now. I managed to get the whole drive train in, engine, transmission, drive shaft (with safety loop), and all of the wiring connected from the chassis to the engine.

First “Real” Start

Most of the weekend work went towards the first start of the engine from it’s permanently installed position. I managed to get the engine dropped in, by myself with the help of my engine hoist, lift, ratcheting tie downs, and a lot of patience.

The length of the engine with transmission on it, combined with the relatively small engine bay made dropping the engine in by myself a bit of a challenge, but after a few hours, I managed to get it in place and mounted down. I was also able to get the transmission mount secured. After it was in place, then came hooking up the miscellaneous wiring (tach, coil, alternator, starter, etc.), and then getting all of the various tubing and lines hooked up (heater hoses, vacuum lines, etc.)

I was so excited to get the headers installed again and then the newly coated side pipes mated up to them. I was amazed at how well the ceramic from NitroPlate matched up, it looks like they were coated at the same time, and they look awesome! I elected to not get all of the high temp rtv on the header to side pipes for now, just in case I need to take things back apart to get everything aligned.

A bit of a surprise to me actually, not only did the motor fire on the first try after the fuel got pulled in, but the tach works, gauges all work right, and it worked pretty nicely.

Still a bit of work to be done with the engine, including the throttle cable, cleaning up the wire and hose routing, and then getting the timing set and carb adjusted to maximize power and throttle response.

Video:

Dropping in the Engine – as you can see in the video, I had forgotten that you can’t get the engine in from the front, it’s better on the side. I also needed to take the right front tire off so I could get closer to the chassis. The one issue I had was that I never adjusted my engine hoist so that I could maximize the angle of insertion. I ended up needing to use some ratcheting tie downs to get things where they needed to be. It worked out just fine, a couple of paint nicks in the firewall aluminum, but nothing a little touch up paint can’t handle. This is about 45 minutes worth of video condensed to 3 minutes. As you can see, lots and lots of fine tuning. I love the parts where I’m standing on the lift and using my foot to lower it. ;->

First Start Video:

Throttle isn’t hooked up, so I’m doing that by hand, and the clutch safety switch as well.

Pics:

Forte’s Drive Shaft Safety Loop:

This doesn’t seem to be a hugely popular option for these cars, but given that you’re right arm is resting directly above the drive shaft, and having seen pictures of the drive shaft coming up through that area, probably not a bad idea.

I had planned on drilling and tapping the holes for mounting the loop, but as I was looking a bit at my hardware drawers, I remembered that I had some self-drilling metal screws. I figured with 8 of them, considering that the loop is fairly light, these should be great.

I ended up drilling out 1/8″ holes on both sides (4 holes each side), then used the screw gun to get the screws drilled and screwed all the way in. I was impressed with how secure it all feels, and the process took about a 10th of the time drilling, tapping, and bolting them down would have.

The screws are normally aluminum colored, as you see in the pics, but I shot them with some black spray paint so they are less obvious.

This is the type of screw I used, but I’m not sure where they came from, probably Lowes.

Pics:

Clutch Pedal and Cable:

The routing and securing of the clutch cable is a bit of a challenge on these cars. I still haven’t addressed all of the issues (the cable is rubbing the adjustable quadrant), but I did manage to get the cable installed and also fabbed up some brackets.

One of the issues with the cable is keeping it away from the headers, and making it work smoothly. There are lots of options on where to mount the bracket in the engine bay. Many people simply mount it to the driver’s side F panel, which seems to work. Because where I mounted my brake fluid reservoirs, this wasn’t an option. I decided to use one of the accessory mounting holes in the driver’s side head instead. This worked well, and allowed for a nice and straight cable, between the fuel pump and oil filter, then straight under the motor mounts to the clutch fork. A little massaging was necessary to get it all lined out and not rubbing, as well as keeping it off of the oil filter itself. I’m still not 100% satisfied with how it’s riding against the fuel line, so I’ll probably fabricate an additional bracket to use the 2nd accessory hole in that head.

Another issue with the clutch cable is getting the clutch pedal aligned correctly when the clutch cable is in it’s “rest” position. With most adjustable quadrants, the clutch pedal will sit 3-4″ in front of the brake pedal (towards the driver), which would not only look funny, but would be annoying and potentially dangerous as you switch between the pedals.

The solution for this issue is to fabricate a “stop” so that when the clutch cable is adjusted, the pedal won’t go all the way forward. On the fox body pedal box, there are 2 holes (at least in mine) that sit under part of the pedal assembly near where the quadrant goes. I took a fairly low-tech approach, and made a “stop” out of 1/2 of an L bracket I had. I drilled 2 holes to attach the bracket, positioned the pedal where I wanted it to stop, and measured and cut the bracket to length to hold it in that position. My clutch pedal cover and the brake pedal cover aren’t quite aligned, so need to still fix that angle, but that’s pretty easy.

Pics:

Next steps in getting the car moving under it’s own power is getting the transmission filled back with fluid. Unfortunately, the upper fill “bolt” is frozen, and rather than risk breaking it off, I found out you can fill the transmission through the shifter hole, so I’ll give that a shot.

Attaching the throttle cable from the pedal to the carb is a bit of a challenge on these cars as well, so I’ll need to come up with a solution for that. I’m trying to avoid dropping $100 on a Holley throttle cable bracket. It’s possible to turn the carb around backwards as well, but I’m also trying to avoid that.

I’d love to get the wiring all buttoned up, zip tied, and taped, but I need to shake the car down a little bit first, just in case something shows up with the wiring. That way I can access everything without having to cut zip ties.

Moving right along!

Christmas came a 2nd time last week, and brought me my freshly coated Side Pipes, thanks to NitroPlate. Return shipping was a bit higher than getting it down there, but the guys put them in a nice sturdy box, so they made it back home safely. All in all, under $260 for shipping and coating. The other options I found were almost twice that price, and they look great.

As you can see by the pics, the hours I spent grinding the welds was time well spent, the connections are nice and smooth.

Pics:

Hidden Stereo Progress:

Part of finishing up the wiring includes figuring out the plan of attack for the stereo. I had already settled on doing a hidden stereo setup, utilizing my ipod touch, a main amp and sub amp to drive 4 full range speakers and 2 10″ subs.

Over the summer, I discovered this cool little docking station with an RF remote for my Ipod, and it occurred to me that since it’s RF, I can setup the ipod in the trunk, and run it from a little gum-sized remote, with everything hidden. I had already planned on having an inverter back there for utility, and I actually found one that has a 5V USB port on it. That will allow me to connect the docking station right to the inverter for power, and it’ll charge the Ipod while it’s running. I did a test hook up yesterday, and it worked great. I also have a 12v power port (3 of them actually), and a 3.5mm hidden jack that I can use up front, in case it ultimately proves to be a pain having the ipod in the back. Interestingly, the dock will wake up your ipod when needed, so you don’t have to get back into the trunk to turn it on.

If your interested in what I’m using (amps and Speakers are of lower quality, in a roadster with side pipes, sound quality is hardly an issue,) here is a list and links to amazon.

The Dock: Dock Station Ipod with rf Remote

4 Channel Amp: Legacy LA160 4 Channel 300 Watt Amplifier

2 Channel Amp: Legacy LA120 2 Channel 240 Watt Amplifier

Pyle 5.25″ Speakers for Under the Doors: PYLE-PRO PMDK102 – Heavy-Duty Aluminum Anodizing Dual Speaker Stand & 1/4” Cable Kit

Pyle 6.5″ Speakers for the Rear Deck: Pyle PL63BL 6.5-Inch 360-Watt 3-Way Speakers

Pyle 10″ Subs: PYLE PLW10BL 10-Inch 600 Watt Subwoofer

Pics: – The rest of these have quality that is pretty bad, my normal camera bit it, so time to find another one.

Electrical Progress:

Since it’s been several months since I’ve actually worked on the electrical system, it took me a little while to actually figure out what was what. I had made some pretty good drawings of my relay setups, but had neglected to label all of the wires, so I did end up having to do some tracing to figure out which wire went which component.

After getting everything mapped and labeled, I was able to make some more progress, and I’m nearing the completion of the electrical system. I still need to pre-wire for the linear actuators in the trunk and hood areas, and wire for the trunk popper, plus get the dash all wired in and tested, but fairly soon, the rough in will be completed and the engine can go back in.

Turn Signal Buzzer:

Since these cars were built prior to the days when all cars have self-canceling turn signals, and because mine will have a simple ON-OFF-ON (left, off, right) turn signal switch, there’s an inherent tendency towards that “little old lady” syndrome where you end up driving for miles with your turn signal on. You not only look like a moron, but if someone sees you coming with your blinker on, they may accidentally turn in front of you when you’re actually not turning, which is bad.

So, one solution, which has been done many times, is to put in a simple buzzer that will be activated when you put the turn signal on. The annoying “buzz, buzz, buzz” will serve as a reminder that the signal is on. Chances are, at speed, I’ll never hear it over the pipes, but when I make my way to the next stop, I will.

Here’s how I wired it:

Parts:

1) Piezo Buzzer – Radio Shack Version – Alternative Version

2) Wire to the Turn Signal Circuits
3) Diodes
4) Misc Connectors

Setup:

Basically, the buzzer is just wired into turn signal circuit. There are several ways to accomplish this, but since my harness already has a separate line for both Left and Right signals AND a separate wire for the indicators on both sides, I decided to just wire the HOT side of the buzzer into the left and right indicator circuits.

This meant splitting the incoming line for the indicator lights into 2 feeds, one FROM the harness, and one TO the buzzer. Since the buzzer only has one hot feed, that also meant that I had to connect both the left and right leads to it. This would normally lead to back feeding across that wire, so I added a diode to each side with the flow towards the buzzer. That means that power can go down one leg into the buzzer, but when it comes back up to the other side, the diode will prevent it from getting to the rest of the circuit and back feeding to the other indicator light or signal.

I tested everything and found that my indicator lights weren’t fully blinking. I could see the voltage drop, but not a full off and on. Thanks to the guys on the forum, I realized later that it is because the turn signal lights themselves are an integral part of the circuit, and without them, the voltage won’t drop like it should. I’ll test again with all bulbs in place, but I’m confident it’ll be fine.

Pics:

So…the next step is pre-wiring my leads for the LA’s and also getting the dash all wired up again. Until next time.

Thanks to the awesome guys over on the forum, I discovered a hidden gem for ceramic coatings in Tennessee. A little company called NitroPlate provides excellent service, and great coating for FAR less than others I’ve seen ($135 at the time of this writing, plus shipping, of course.) From the pictures and comments of other guys that have used them, I am expecting big things.

I spent the last couple of weeks prepping the pipes. Like my buddy Mike (don’t we all want to be like Mike?,) and others, I decide to go ahead and clean up the welds on the pipes. I can’t say that I’m still 100% happy that I did that. As it turned out, even if you’re careful, it’s a little too easy to grind through the pipe material.

I managed to hit a bad weld spot on one of the 4×4 corners, and the result was several frustrating nights of welding, and eventual resignation that I didn’t have the right skill or equipment to make it happen. I ended up getting a local shop to to a small patch for me with the TIG, which turned out great, and I just had a little clean up to do.

All in all, though, they came out great for the prep. I started with 80g sanding discs in my grinder, and ended up with 150grit stick on discs to finish up, and take out the deep gouges.

The shop will blast at 100g anyway, so my work with 150 should be just fine. The ceramic coating won’t hide many imperfections, so if you go this route, plan on getting them pretty dang smooth.

The advantage of the ceramic is durability, and heat reduction, so you lessen the chance of a snake bit burn, plus they look nice. Combined with my new chrome roll bars (which i got a smokin’ deal on too), it should complete the look.

Pictures: (not very clear thanks to my ipod):

Also got a chance to get the car back on the lift and crack open the rear diff. I’m 98% sure it’s leaking (could be the brakes), so I need to redo the seal.

Wow, March 28 was my last blog entry…what a terribly busy Summer/Fall I had! I guess when you decided to do an entire landscape redo mostly alone, drop an 8000 pound skidsteer into the pool, rebuild the pool, then build a couple of decks, patios, etc., it takes some time.

But…I’m working my way back into the shop, and I’m thinking about all kinds of aspects of the build. In particular, even though I still have a ton of work to do with the paint and body, I’m still trying to nail down my color choice. I had decided fully to go Silver, but now, I am rethinking that. The primary reason is that although I love the silver cars, they are less “in your face” than some of the brighter colors. It’s a super-car, more or less, it’s supposed to be in your face right? Still thinking about orange, but maybe a true orange instead of pearl, white stripes. Then there’s yellow, green, and an old standby, black…

So, this week, I’ve been working on cleaning up the welds on my side pipes, so that I can get them sent off to the coater in Portland, and Mike M can help get them back to me.

It’ll take me a week to figure out what my wiring is doing, I should have mapped it better. I did somewhat, but didn’t take all of the time to diagram my custom circuits. I’ll need to do that.

I’m also thinking about using linear actuators for the trunk and hood, just because I think it would be cool, despite being not only a little “ghetto” and totally not original to the time period. But, using those will help keep hands off the paint when opening the trunk and hood. I can also use a different setup for the latches then, perhaps borrowing an old “caddie” power latch or something.

Here we go!

With the Halloween weekend, not much progress, but did manage to get the front brake lines installed, which included a fairly complex set of bends to get the 60″ brake line from one side of the car to the other.

I got a little fancy and tried too many bends, so consequently, I broke the first line. I can pick up an extra one locally, so not a big deal, and the 2nd one went in without nearly as much frustration.

I also got my side pipes painted with Rustoleum Ultra BBQ paint. It’s more of a satin/semi gloss finish than the flat black, and looks awesome. It’s almost a perfect match to the black powder coating on the chassis and the roll bars too. So much so, I actually did some touch up work on the DS roll bar. It had some marks on it from shipping boxes. It all looks great.

Next will be the rear brake lines and fuel lines. It might be time to put the car up on the lift so I can run those a little easier, and I can also finish up the foot box bottoms from underneath.

Pics:

Pipes:

Before:

After: