Day 24- "Inches make champions." - Vince Lombardi

Boy was Vince smart, We are truly getting down to the nitty gritty. As you can see from our to-do list ( ignore pictures on left) we are making progress. Yesterday we installed our temporary header that we "retrieved" from our local U-Pull-And-Pay off a '92 Ford thunder bird. Yes, we know, we know, the headers are installed on the opposite sides and upside down, Truthfully one could not install them more wrong. Fortunately for us they are a perfect temp solution while we wait for the real headers in come in form back order( the only part we do not have). Also installed yesterday was the belt, plug wires and positive battery cable.

Today we custom fit the radiator fan shroud to our electric fan and mounted it on the radiator, then the whole assembly in the car. Tomorrow we will be running the coolant hoses and over flow tank. We also extended the headers with some extra exhaust pipe so the flames dont shoot towards us when we fire the engine. (not pictured)

We hope to have the engine make its first revolution by the end of the week*


* Note: Little worthless miscellaneous part will most likely delay engine start-up to be honest

DAY 23- So close but so far

We are getting very close to our first fire. We installed the battery tray and battery today and all the grounding straps for the engine, and also remounted the transmission with some spacers to give us the correct pinion angle. I noticed I haven't been giving any whole car shots lately so I am adding some so you can see the complete (unfinished) project to conceptualize our project in its entirety.

Day 21 & 22 - GETTIN THERE

Engine accessories are piling on with the addition of all the pulleys, distributor, throttle cable. All of the engine wiring is practically done with the msd ignition box. The brake reservoirs have been moved and put on a custom bracket, Fuel lines are 80 % done, Radiator and cooling system is next..

Day 20??

We have definitely been making progress lately with the engine in. We have started to become "list people" as it has all come down to the little task and chores around the cobra. Don't take "little" to literally, I will be the first to tell you that many little things add up into a heap of work. In the shop we have a list of 25 or so items that are getting checked off every day with extra satisfaction as they get a line through them.

We were also visted by the owner of Coat- It™ ceramic coating today to pick up our side pipes and begin working on them. His ceramic finish is almost identical to chrome plating, having a very bright luster and shine.

The engine is coming together with the installation of the (3rd) water pump, starter, alternator, carburetor, fuel filter and lines, PCV valve. The wiring has also started with the installation of the fuse block and dash harnesses layed out and run in a rough state and the MSD ignition system. Also the braking system is almost complete with the reseviors mounted and just needing a few flex lines and we'll be ready for some fluid.

A case of the mondays

Some people might call it a case of the Mondays but those who maintain a more realist view may explain the reason we had to remove the engine and tranny today using the words "poor documentation" or " there was none at all". After our celebration Friday night we reconvened monday morning and realized the transmission was making contact with the frame. After to a call to factory five questioning this issue a response followed " Oh yeah you didnt cut off the torsion bar mount at the back of the transmission?, It says so in the appendix under the big block section". Well it might as well have not been there because we're not even using a big block.... thus it never occured to us to check it out. Anyways we pulled the engine and tranny today, sawed the offending alumium off the back of the transmission, slid it back in, tightened everything down, fixed the e brake braket, and made some alumiuim spacers, got a new waterpump.

Day 16- ITS IN!!!

The engine is now in its final resting place between the frame rails! It was dropped in late last night under the cover of darkness with the help of the moonlight. The saga came to an abrupt end as Steven and I in a last ditch effort found ourselves atop the drivers side valve cover desperately attempting to seat the dowel pins in the motor mount and in the last heave of all our weight....SNAP. ITS IN!!!. It was truly one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.

ON a much less dramatic note we spent the daylight hours of the day greasing all the grease fittings, fabing up an bracket to make the e - brake function correctly, piloting the rolling chassis around the driveway with Fred Flintstone power, installing the intake manifold, the bellhousing, the clutch fork, throwout bearing, clutch assembly and finally the entire transmission on to the back of the engine.

How it all went ( minus time, labor and 4 trips to hardware store):

How it came to us

Intake manifold, clutch, bellhousing, and transmission installed

On Engine Hoist moving it into place

IN
IN

Day 14 & 15 - "theres not a car under a buck 20 in his shop"

Yesterday we finally completed the plumbing of the entire brake after countless trips across the norwood lateral to pick up tiny brake fittings that we needed, but I guess its something you want to do right cause your life is kind of on the line.We also wrestled with the fuel tank and finally got it strapped up to the frame and the correct pick up and sender units installed inside.



This morning we figured out how we were going to plumb the rest of the fuel lines (from the gas tank to the mechanical fuel pump in the front). Then we took a company field trip out to a secret custom car cove located just inside Ross township. We visited Dynamic motorsports, performance engineering, rossien motorsports, and silver stone auto all within 50 yards of each other. The purpose of this trip was to exaimne some ceramic coatings of a company (we now have concluded) to coat our sidepipes. We also checked out some rim and tire sizes on actual superperformence cobras.

When we got back home we bolted on the transmission mount and installed the e brake handle and cables.
Then we cleaned the table so we could find things more easily -- this is post-cleaning

Day 13 - We have a rolling chassis

Today we upgraded our build to the rolling chassis qualification after completing the rear end brakes and panhard bar. We still have some work to do on the plumbing of the brake and fuel lines but as soon as those are buttoned up we will be ready to accept the engine and transmission.
Pep boys trips today: 3
NAPA: 1
Smyth: 1

Day 11 & 12 - Rear end work

More rear end work today. After wrestling with the upper link bracket for 5 hours and after some cutting, grinding, and chasing it finally went into its location along with the adjustable upper link tube. Then our long awaited caliper brackets came from back order so we were then able to slide the axles in, attach the c clips and button everything up in the diff. So tomorrow we'll slap the calipers and panhard bar on and the rear end will be complete.