While I had the body panels off, I sent the side pipes away to be ceramic coated in a flat black. The reason for this is that I am not keen on polished stainless steel pipes as I am looking more to a Black Mamba look and also my earlier dilema about running live side pipes is the heat generated by stainless steel which can leave servere burns on the legs or for over excited children that may stand on them. The ceramic coating can reduce the temperature by 300°C. As at the time of writing this, I have had the Cobra driving for an hour and you can easily touch the pipes without a hint of burning. It will be interesting to see how they go at highway speeds for an hour.
I also took this opportunity to set up the side vents and have them and the bonnet catches powder coated in satin black, these really came up a treat.
While the side vents were at the powder coaters I set about bonding the front body tabs and bolting them to the chassis
I also fitted the bonnet and catches
The powder coated catches also came up a treat
I went to use my quick jack system to raise the car and it would only jack on one side. After having a good look at the problem it was discovered that oil was bypassing the cylinder and flooding the air chamber. A couple of quick chats with the supplier and they sent a new ram and we were back in business.
Fitting the side vents was quite easy, Once the aluminium angle is bolted to the vents and you have ensured that the angle stands off from the vent edges about 0.020" allowing a gap for the adhesive to sit, thread a strong rubber band through the fins and place a piece of rod through the rubber bands. This rod is what holds everything in place so when the adhesive is applied, with the rubber band and rod in place fit the vent behind the cut out and thread the rod to the outside of the body. You have plenty of time to align the vent in the right position and lock the rod so it wont move then have a cup of tea.
I took this time to line the under guards with the rubber lining to stop the stones cracking the paint surface. This is a tedious job but has to be done.
Things are starting to look like a car now.
The door latch and hinge plastic covers took some messing around with but I got them to fit very neatly. I intend to make the covers from aluminium at a latter date and remove the plastic look.
A provision had been made for an infill below the door hinge but as I cut it incorrectly I had to improvise so I sat the infill a lot lower than intended and will run carpet over the entire area. The upholsterer has had a look and sees no problem doing it this way.
This will do for tonight so until next time,
Cheers Russell.
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