Chassis is finally finished

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

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.