Shelby Cobra Replica

August update

2011-08-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

July Has been a great month it`s been my birthday and my wonderful wife and family bought me some great gifts for the cobra. my wife found me an old motalita wood rim steering wheel from around 1985 brand new but it has been sat in an office for all that time so its kind of bleached the wood looks great, the girls also bought me a gear stick from Europa , I've also finished the gearbox tunnel so it was great to get the steering coll um in to fit the wheel and plonk the gear stick on.

The next job on the list was the pedal box i really didn't like the design of the dax one so i decided to fit a race style pedal box but of course it also needed some perfecting as you can see from the pictures i cut down the pedals as they were too tall. added a left foot rest and put some extra strengthening along the front. and also fitted the ac pedals ( i think they will have to come off for the IVA Test) but they do look great

also managed to get the steering collum fitted and welded up so the steering now works unfortunately the steering collum has a slight bend in it so i will have to find a new one before the test what a pain but it was cheap i should have asked more questions i think.

still more to go this time like i say been a great month for the build. Now that the mechanical parts of the chassis and body are fitted i have decided to start on with getting the body prepared ready to paint i plan to do this over Xmas this year so I've got a few months now of fitting doors and filling in holes and getting door gaps perfect, i have made a start today on the doors i have got both sides fitted bit of a pain job but not too bad in the end. I'm really glad you wont see the hinges in the finished product they would be perfect for a tractor. LOL

That's it for this build update next time i should have all the panel work on and i will be filling and sanding now till the cows come home. (off to Prescott hill climb tomorrow to watch the VSCC members race up the hill)

very excited update

2011-07-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of an exciting day today. the webbers arived for the engine although im not ready to build the engine yet i did need the gear box and engine back in the car so the wiring can be finalised and to see if the bonnet fits and all the plumbing so this afternoon i have quickly thrown the engine together and got it back in the car.

enjoy the pics i think they look great

May 2011 Update

2011-07-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well What can i say its already may, time just disapears when your having fun. its has been a rather hard month on the build front i have spent the entire month well saturdays anyway cladding out the engine bay as you can see i had to get the team in to get the job done.

Below is a selection of pics to bring you up to day

Emily helps with the engine bay

Now that the engine bay is finally finished its time to move onto replacing the gearbox tunnel, i have decided to make it completly removable so i can get to the gear box and rear brakes and diff if i ever need to.

As you can see below i have droped the gear box back in so i can line up where the shifter comes through

Well thats all for now will be back soon with another update

April build update 2

2011-04-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

Back again for another update had rather a productive month, after altering the body to suit the new vents i have been working on the engine bay so that i can fit the vents in properly. i am in the very fortunate position that i have access to an original cobra from time to time so i am able to take plenty of pictures and just make sure I'm being as correct as possible unfortunately the car is a MK 1 with a Ford 289 but still has many of the same features as the later 427 that I'm trying to recreate.
As you can see from the picture below the top of a cobra foot well is white and is made of fibreglass my next job in the engine bay was to recreate this.

Real Cobra Engine bay

Unfortunately the dax footwell is not sloped as it is in the real thing but i can at least get the right look with in reason, the gel coat on my body was in no way good enough to just paint white so i had to make some aluminium panels to go on to the top and then give them a lick of paint.

The panels in primer

The finished items

Hopfully as the engine bay progresses with the aluminium cladding as it were, they should begin to look as close as possible to the picture above of the real thing, I even intend to fit a reproduction chassis plate.

The next stage was to make 2 cover plates to go over some extensions in the side of the footwell pod the reason they are there is so the top of the foot well can be angled to give a little room for the headers i think but anyway another of those really tricky jobs but i think the out come will be really nice when the panels are fitted over the top and riveted into place .

The panels ready to go in the car

The finished item

As you can see a small amount of welding was required on these panels but most of the rest will be riveted just as an original would have been.

Time to get started with the main panels in the front of the engine bay now this will be a long process as i will have to make templates for all the panels as I'm going along then cut the aluminium then fold it shape it glue it with tiger seal and then finally rivet the panels together.

Template being made

The first of the panels gos in to the car

The finished passenger side

The finished drivers side

I think so far this looks really great a huge amount of effort to make all these panels,you can buy them from dax but 1 they are stainless so not correct cobras were aluminium and 2 they cost £560 plus vat. so far i have bought 2 8x4 sheets of 16 gauge aluminum delivered with the vat was only £117 quite a difference and i think the effect of the rivets is awesome .

i plan to get more panel work done this Friday so i will try and get another update done asap

April Engine update

2011-04-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Very exciting my new well second hand heads have arived and the very butiful inlet manifold ready for the quad IDA Webbers carbs. Cant wait for the rest

April Build update

2011-04-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

April Already i don't think I'm going to be finished by the summer. LOL

Now that the body is on the chassis and all glued and bolted down its time to get on with fitting out the car i am starting with the outside getting all the doors fitted bonnet boot side vents and so on, this is so that all the holes can be cut in the fibre glass, then as I'm going along i can put the aluminium paneling over the top to create the look I'm wanting, although i will be concentrating with the out side I'm going to be lining out the engine bay the boot and the gear box tunnel as part of this stage.

Below is a picture of the two side vents i have bought they are a recreation of an original set of vents made/sold by Europa spares i decided that i didn't like the dax option so i went for the more original look.

Cobra side vents

Vent opening

As you can see from the picture above dax have very nicely shaped an opening for you to fit a stainless item straight into but as i have already said i decided i liked a more original look.

To be able to fit the new vents I had to cut out the return from the fibre glass and then add some new fibre glass to make the hole 2/3mm smaller.

This was made even harder by the two sides of the body not being equal inside the engine bay so on one side i have had to cut out some of the wheel arch and on the passenger side i have had to cut away some of the foot well so a few repairs will have to be done the strengthen the body back up before the IVA Test.

The next stage was to use some filler to fill in the gaps both on the inside and out that the fibreglass doesn't get perfectly smooth, at this stage it is worth noting that i needed to sand both inside the body as well as the out side,the aim is to get a very thin area for the vent to sit in side of the body, because I'm trying to get an original look it was important to remember that the real cobras vent were fitted in much the same way but they were up against the inside of an aluminium panel not a fibre glass one it is there for impossible to get the fibre glass as thin as the aluminium would have been but you can get a reasonable finish if you take your time.

using a template to mark out where the vent will fit and of course the size the hole need to be taken out to leaving just enough so the vent sat just nice and flush with the inside edge.

Finished hole ready for paint

All primed up ready for the vent.

Vents are finally ready to be fitted they will eventually be held in place by the panelling in side the engine bay, as I'm sure you will agree i think they were worth all the hard work they look awesome and when they are painted i think they will look even better.

March Build update

2011-03-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

Its has been some time since my last update on the blog rather lazy I'm afraid on this front, but the COB is coming along nicely since last time i have completed the chassis with all the brake lines. below are some pics of the chassis so far.

Front over view with Brake lines installed

Front right Corner

Rear Brake assembly with first remote bleed nipple fitted

As you can see from the shots above i think the calipers look great now there all plumbed in, i have add some remote bleed nipples which i intend to fit in the boot to make bleeding the rear brakes much easier.

Its time to fit the body

The body Has arrived 20 years out in the weather has not improved the colour

Body on the chassis wow that's heavy

Me And Ashley one of the helpers enjoying a brew

That brings us up to date for now i will add some more detail as i go along

Rear suspension fitting

2011-01-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

Another really great day on the progress front today i have been fitting the rear suspension starting with the rear wish bones and torsion bars.

Fitting the first Wishbone a little help required from my trusty second pair of hands or it might be my stool, this really was quite a challenge i seemed to need about 4 pairs of hands to get all the spacers and rubber seals etc etc in place.

Second wishbone goes on again with my second pair of hands in assistance.

Torsion bar in place

Here is a picture of me lining up the rear shocks unfortunately the top mounting were not on the same centres as the bottom mountings so i have had to space the shocks out on the pins every thing seems to function OK but i think i will need to phone dax to check that i have assembled it all correctly, all seem fine when referring to both the jag manual and the build manual but i still think i will check to be on the safe.

Picture of the rear all built up with the shocks on and the anti spread plate for the fulcrum pins which i also made today.

As i said above a real jump forward today getting all the rear suspension parts fitted hop fully i should get the drive shafts back from chard and sons and the brake callipers are being picked up tomorrow to go and be reconditioned.

once all the rest of the bits arrive i can finally finish the rolling chassis(i dont half wish i had just bought a new one from the factory)

Diff rebuild and fitting 28.12.2010

2011-01-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

After having had a great Christmas definitely one of the best yet, i managed to find some time to get back to working on the Cobra. this time i have been working on the rear diff below are some pics and progress reports.

Above is a picture of the diff all laid out after painting and cleaning, it certainly looks better than it did a few months ago. as you can see its already to go back together now.

Out drive after rebuild (sorry about the picture)

Diff in the vice

final check of the internals

As you can see from the pictures above the diff is now completely rebuilt and i am fitting it to the chassis. while fitting the diff to the chassis you have to also align the fulcrum shaft mounting brackets to give perfect alignment in the the chassis mounting tubes. at the same time you must also shim the brackets to give you the correct amount of toe in for the rear wheels this is done with some slide in shims (from the Jag).

i suggest you make your own new ones i think the jag ones will fall out should the bolt decide to undo slightly.

I decided to make some from some very thin sheet aluminium i had lying around , i cut 4 or so squares out of the sheet about 50mm x 50mm then trapped one side in the vice and the other side with a clamp so i could drill all the shims at once i then cleaned up the shims to the shape a size i wanted this way they won`t fall out should the bolt loosen(in the jag they are prone to come loose).

Once all the shafts are lined up and the shims fitted you can torq up all the bolts with some blue lock tight, now all the bolts are in and tight time to lock wire (Another new skill i`ve had to learn) hop fully the picture above shows the lock wiring on the fulcrum brackets and the bolts holding the diff to the top of the chassis boss, it is important the lock wire is done correctly it should at all times work as if to tighten the bolts so be sure the wire runs the correct side of the bolt/bolts.

Next job will be fitting the bottom rear wish bones, unfortunately I'm still waiting for the front a rear callipers to be reconditioned and the gasket for the diff so the diff will be open for a while but i can still carry on with other jobs.

Chassis is finally finished

2010-12-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

18/12/2010

At last i have finished the chassis all the welding is done and painted with the last coat and it looks really great, I'm really pleased with the result, i have now moved on to reconditioning of parts, I have been doing this and finishing the chassis for the last few weeks but i think its about time i brought the blog up to date.
Below is a picture of the the diff before i started to recondition it i think it is a good picture to show you guys the condition of the parts as i have received them, they are all in this state so you can imagine i have been spending hours stripping parts down and then shot blasting and rebuilding a huge task as I'm sure you can imagine, I got very close to having a few weeks off but with ray`s help we got the jobs done (ray has done all the painting (forgot to take a snap of the boxes after he brought them back i will next week) he has done an ace job they all look really nice.

The diff out the the jag sub frame ,what a job that was.

Diff with brakes removed.

At this stage it occurred to me that this really was a mess but hey ho every cloud has a silver lining right?, but no not this one it was ceased solid, the oil was black really black but at least it had oil i suppose. I will be adding more pictures as i go along but I'm trying to rebuild bits as we need them for the car so i will post more as i go along.

The next stage after all the reconditioning work on the the parts was to start to dry build the car we started with the front just as the manual is written. ( I can t express enough that you should read the distructions at least 3 times)it all seems very simple but there is lots to remember about camber/caster etc etc and what you need to leave loose till the car is finished also make notes every thing you do keep a diary and highlight all the bits you need to go back to.

As you can see from the pictures below we have just dry built the car so far using some old bolts and nuts, because we are building an old kit and we have loads of parts already i felt it was better to see what we had before i went buying A few hundred bolts. but as you can see it all go`s together really well.

in theory we just need to replace the nuts and bolts as needed when we are sure it all fits as we want it too, we can then torque every thing up and then leave it alone.

Replacing bottom ball joints(new sealed units used here don`t even consider fitting the original type these cost £18 a pair its a no brainer)

Shimming out top ball joint assembly(again new type are sealed no need to grease)

Dry built front end

That brings us up to date.

Oldie but a goodie

2010-10-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

Its mid September 2010 and at last a deal has been struck for the cobra, i can`t express how fantastic this is i have been trying to get hold of this replica for a good 12 months now and its finally mine.

The history of the car is rather sad it was bought by a chap in reading who unfortunately died before he could finish the car, a great shame.
It was then bought by a mate of mines father some 20 years ago, some work was done on the car but basically its has spent most of the last 20 years leaning up against a garage wall.

All that is set to change i will get her finished as you can see from the pictures there is a lot of work to be done but i like a challenge and this really is one of the biggest i have tried, i have rebuilt 3 minis before from the ground up but this i think will be epic.

Unfortunately as you can see from the condition of the aluminium Gearbox casing the engine has also spent the last 20 years out in the weather as well, Having said that the engine does have oil in the sump and can be turned over easily with a socket and bar so i am hoping there is a good engine under all the leaves and and moss and rust.
my next job is to tear down the engine and see what state she is in.

The Engine now split from the gear box (what a job that was) i can finally get it on an engine stand to start the job,with the rocker covers off the engine all seems well not to much rust but not much oil either but the engine is coming apart so not too important.
I have now removed the inlet manifold and the heads, the heads are in a mess really rusty on the left bank I'm guessing it must have been laying on its side for most of its time out of doors, although not ideal there is plans to port the heads. below is some pictures of the engine work so far.

Engine on Stand ready for the tear down

Rocker covers and inlet manifold off

Heads off

As you can see there is some rust in a few of the bores but there seems to be little wear in the bores so I'm hoping a hone run down the bores will sort out that with out too many problems.

With the engine now apart i have some good news, its now an aw full lot easier to move around the workshop, sorry a little joke there, no really though the engine all in all is not to bad a small amount of re working and some new pistons and con rods cam and some roller rockers and we should have some pony's to wear out the radials.

next job on the list is to prepare the chassis so that means engine mounts, new seat belt anchor points and a kind of back bone to stiffen the chassis now the back bone is recommended by dax the chassis builder but because i is cleva i have designed my own version because my chassis does `nt have one.

Engine and gear box

Engine mounts tacked in

above is a few pictures of the chassis while i was trial fitting the engine mounts.That basicly brings me up to date 31.10.2010 my next job this week is collecting some old jag bits for the front end and a prop shaft but still carrying on the the rest of the chassis improvments/changes ready for paint.

some pictures below to bring us up to date

Back Bone in progress

The back bone finished

As you can see from the pictures i have now fabricated the back bone into the chassis, this will help to keep the chassis a little stiffer and will help to keep the handling more consistant, the next step will be the new seat belt mounts.
At last the new seat belt mounts have arrived below are some pictures of them going in , i drafted in some help with this as my welding is still developing and i want the seat belts to stay in the car.LOL.

The Seatbelt Mounts go in

The Father in law helps with striping the paint and rust

A bit closer

Me finishing off the welding on the engine mounts while she is upside down.

W e have now got the chassis stripped ready for paint, engine and seatbelt mounts and back bone welded in. But while we were working we have decided to add some extra mounting tubes so we can fit more modern roll over bars so still some welding to be done but this wont take long so not a backwards step more of a rest.

The chassis with the first coat of primer on .

As you can see from the picture above i have been painting today i have decided to use a paint system by a company called frost , I have to say when the box Arrived i was a little suprised there were only 6 cans in the kit and they are only the size of a serves one baked bean tin, but as you can see it has the first coat on and it took 1 and half tins of the primer, leaving enough to give it a second coat the idea of the system is you give it 4 coats 2 primmer and 2 top coats it is then fuel proof and sealed from rusts and if your good with a brush its as nice a finish as powder coating, it is very nice paint i have to say and i cant wait to get it finished.