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.