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[Varche]

I am thinking that given the complexities of this project, you ought to have had TWO cars. One with a basic engine and as you went along learning transfer to your car. At the end you could sell the basic one to me to offset your costs and time.  I have £15 k waiting.

[aaronjb]

Funny you should say that .. many people build more than one and use all the lessons they learned on the first car on the second one - if I were doing it again I'd probably go for a Crendon rather than a Dax; which is designed around the FE engine being a more authentic copy.

Then again, if I had the cash lying around.. I'd have one of Dave Brooke's completely authentic aluminium cars. Sadly they're now £80k (turn key cars only) and despite having known Dave for a long time (I might have been one of the first people to know he was even planning an aluminium replica), I still can't get him to sell me one in kit form so that I can afford it  I shall keep working on him.

Dave's 427 S/C car: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-COBRA-427-SC-SHELBY-ALUMINIUM-BODY-AMERICAN-COLLECTORS-KITCAR-HISTORIC-RACING/324024727480
His 289 FIA car: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-COBRA-289-FIA-HTP-TOOLROOM-RECREATION/324024727620
Or, if you'd prefer a roof, Daytona Coupe: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-COBRA-289-FIA-HTP-DAYTONA-COUPE-TOOLROOM-RECREATION/324024728026

[STEMO]

You could buy a proper car for that kind of money. 

[Varche]

Hmm seems like my 15k is a bit low. Hope you weren’t offended.  I must still be living in the seventies! 

[Marks DTM Calib]

I thought Dax had the better chassis and suspension configuration of the various options out there?

[aaronjb]

I thought Dax had the better chassis and suspension configuration of the various options out there?

Yes and no .. vs Pilgrim & AK, yes probably; with the camber compensating front end. The chassis is still a basic ladder chassis of square tube, though, and the DeDion beam rear is a little like having a live axle.

Crendon (and Dave's car, and Kirkham) use twin 4.5" round tube chassis rails with outriggers per original cars, and I think they'll be much stiffer than Dax/AK etc, with unequal length wishbones front & rear. Crendon uses repurposed Jag parts, Dave's cars are entirely bespoke (even his diff casings are cast specifically for him to original spec)

[aaronjb]

Having left the door shut on the garage, more or less, for a week, I thought I'd carry on 'dressing' the temporary engine so I can figure out throttle cables, heater hoses, that kind of thing.

Thought I'd fit the coolant header tank and see if it clears the bonnet, today:






It does not. To the tune of about 2".


So my Dad popped down last weekend to give me a hand with the header tank.

We took my 'good' header tank (which isn't coated in 40 years of paint) and took it to pieces:


There is what looks like verdigris here and possibly a split in the seam where it is folded over - I did read on clubcobra that this is quite a common failure mode. Still, this header tank was made in 1962 so it's had a good life! There is a classic car radiator repair place near where my Fiancee works, so I'll take it over there when we're done and see if they can fix it. If not, the worst case scenario is that I buy one of Bob @ Vintage's new brass header tanks and just use my modified, shortened, bracket. Anyway.. verdigris:


We chopped about two inches out of the inlet pipe - basically as much as is possible to lose - and then put it back together dry without solder, added some 1/4" ply on top of the radiator cap and the tank itself and then closed the bonnet and success! We have about 1/4" of air gap above the ply spacers, so about 1/2" of gap before the bonnet.. that should do nicely. We could even have got away with shortening it a little less, but why not - it is still nicely the highest point in the system above the inlet manifold, so we should be good there.


We had to chop the original bracket into pieces and then bend & weld it back together - it is only tacked together at this point, and needs welding fully and then reassembling in the correct order (bracket and inlet at the same time):


But, this is basically what we are left with - look at the difference between left and right here:


Oh - and of course we turned the header tank around 180 degrees to match the radiator!

[Davies]

Hi Aaron,
I'm very new to this site and started reading your cobra build yesterday.
The level of detail you have gone to is fantastic.

I was fortunate enough to have borrowed a friend's real 69 CJ over the summer - obviously with a 428 shoehorned in. The 428 hooked up to the 4-speed toploader does not compare to anything I have driven before. It pulls in every gear! I dread to think what it will be like in your light weight Cobra!

[aaronjb]

Glad you've enjoyed the thread!

I'd love to have a Mustang to keep the Cobra company, but Fastbacks go for such strong money now.. actually as does just about anything American that's been restored or looked after (I drooled over a lime green 440 Charger recently, but at £54k it's a bit out of my price range!). Ah well, another missed opportunity - like getting into an air-cooled 911 back when they were pennies

I'm hoping that the 428 (stroked to 462) plus the T56 will be 'lively'

[aaronjb]

No massive progress - my propshaft arrived today and it looks the right length.. I just can't maneuver it in around everything else without taking the hand brake cable out of the way, and I can't get the hand brake cable out of the way right now as the scissor lift is in the way after shuffling the garage around to put the engine in - d'oh! I'll have to move it around again tomorrow in the daylight and give it another go.

[Davies]

I have restored (with plenty of help from a knowledgeable friend) a 66 fastback with a 289. The 289 ‘drives civilised’ compared to the 428, but, obviously does not have that big block kudos. Took 7 years - mostly in my garage with as much of the original parts replaced so it is far from pristine.

[Davies]

Also, I might have got lost along the way, but, what happened to the 390 block? Just wondered once the cobra build is complete you could attempt an Omega drag car build! My understanding is that the Cetera had under the hood capacity for a V8 and that Opel has been considering it for the Euro model toward the end of the line.
Others may pick me up as being incorrect on this though and I cannot remember where I read this.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

GM Europe went as far as building a prototype V8, but decided against it. The excuse given was that cooling was too marginal, but it seems more likely that the powers that be stopped it as GM Europe (along with Ford) had already decided to pull out of the big car market.

[Kevin Wood]

GM Europe went as far as building a prototype V8, but decided against it. The excuse given was that cooling was too marginal, but it seems more likely that the powers that be stopped it as GM Europe (along with Ford) had already decided to pull out of the big car market.

This hasn't stopped a member here doing it, however. 

[aaronjb]

Also, I might have got lost along the way, but, what happened to the 390 block? Just wondered once the cobra build is complete you could attempt an Omega drag car build! My understanding is that the Cetera had under the hood capacity for a V8 and that Opel has been considering it for the Euro model toward the end of the line.
Others may pick me up as being incorrect on this though and I cannot remember where I read this.

I have three blocks/engines - a 428 that was a block in need of a rebuild (but came with Edelbrock heads), a 390 with stock iron heads (but came with an Edelbrock Performer RPM inlet manifold) and a 390 with stock iron heads and stock iron inlet manifold

Bought the first 390 as a running engine years ago from a guy up near Oxford and was originally intended to "drop right in", but storage while my last garage was being built saw it deteriorate to the point it needed a rebuild..

The 428 block was acquired when I bought the Eddy heads - the block came along as part of the deal It came with pistons (unknown) rods (knackered) and a crank (very, very knackered - awful shoddy machining had been done on it)..

The last 390 came from Bristol and was another "running" cut-out shipped over from the US - I'd guess it's a truck block given the amount of mud & oil covering it! It's being used so I can figure out where the exhaust, alternator, starter etc will end up.. but it came with a load of accessories (like the factory alternator mount) that are expensive to ship over on their own. Plus.. y'know. Spare.

The 428 block was good, though, so that got put together with the Eddy heads and intake and is being rebuilt with a Scat 9000 stroker assembly (forged flat-top 11.4:1 pistons, forged H beam rods, cast crank) with a target of 462cu in displacement.. with a mid-range cam (nothing too lairy, I'd like to be able to drive it under 2000rpm! ) it should be good for a nice square 450hp/450lb/ft and all available from 1500rpm up. Well, that's the idea, anyway.. it's been with the engine builder for about 8 months at this point!

So I'll still have two 'running' 390s.. although one lacks an intake.

Oh .. and there's also a set of individual throttle bodies with fuel injection sitting in the garage (several thousand pounds worth  ) that I might fit once the car is on the road..