A Little Update

Over the weekend I managed to progress a little further with the fitment of the radiator and the recovery bottles. This was very straight forward and simply a matter of sitting the radiator and brackets in a position that allows the brackets to align with the side mounting panels and somewhat semetrical with the fresh air holes in the mounting panels.

After playing around with this set up for a while I managed to get everything to line up with a little bit of tilt on the radiator which I think looks good. Finished product below:

I also managed to mount the radiator recovery and overflow bottles:

The 16" electric fan and shroud was also fitted to the radiator


Another small achievement was the fitting of the dripy thing that drains the water from the cabin in the event of a down pour.

My engine and trans has finally left L.A. where it has been since mid January because of the dock strike and is scheduled to be in Aus on the 8th April.

Should have exciting news in my next post as the engine and drive train should be here.

Cheers

Russell

A Place For Everything.

In my last post I was talking about the pedal box installation and getting them in the right spot. Once I had the pedals located where I reckon they should be and the seats in the right position it was time to install the pedals more permanently with the pedal sealing box attached.

I run into quite a problem with this sealing box and the alignment between the pedal bracket and the firewall. When I cut the rectangular cut out in the firewall to accept the master cylinders which was roughly 200mm x 100mm, stresses that had built up during the welding process came out (as aluminium does) and caused the firewall around the cut out to concave into the cabin by about 10mm. This didn't seem to be a problem until I tried to align the pedal box seal. I tried to jack the firewall out but with my limited jacking equipment it was not successful. The next best thing was to mount the pedals and bolt them through the floor and trim the seal box to fit against the firewall, then using longer than normal screws, see if I can straighten the firewall out to suit the seal box. I had already elongated the mounting holes in the floor to allow for some movement as the assembly pulled together. The seal box is made from substantial 3mm folded aluminium and with the tightening of the bolts, managed to jack most of the convex out.

I did the final tightening of the floor bolts then changed the long bolts in the seal box for the correct ones and presto, the job was done....or was it.

The photos below show the mounting of the seal box to the pedal assembly. The blind rivets in the seal box are only to keep the assembly aligned, they were replaced with 3/16 stainless bolts, nuts and washers.



The real fun started when the job was declared finished and I went to fit the brake and clutch lines to the master cylinder. I fitted up the lines and giving them a final tighten when I notices the outside master cylinder was up against the chassis rail. My immediate thought was that is should be ok. After all the work it took to get to this stage, the last thing I wanted was to pull it all out again. But me being just who I am could not let it go so I loosened all the firewall bolt of and noticed that the cylinder gained clearance from the chassis...well at least we knew where the problem lie. After hours of messing around and watching what effected the movement of the master cylinder, I was able to pack the floor mountings with some 1.5mm thick washers on top of the 6mm spacers already in place and tighten progressively until we maintained a 2mm gap between the master cylinder and chassis rail with out putting undue stress on the sealing box.

I reckon this pedal and seal assembly took about 12 hours to sort out.

Other small jobs that were done over the last month included the fitting of the battery carrier. The carrier is designed to fit in the passenger foot well under the dash and is constructed to allow the battery to be removed without completely disassembling the carrier. I modified my carrier to allow the use of bolts up from the bottom into welded nuts to the top section. This way you can use a powered driver to run the bolts instead of trying to undo nuts from the top in a very limited space.

I also installed the battery cut out switch, a 12V power socket and the windscreen wiper motor and drive.



Dynamat is supplied as a sound deadener and extra heat barrier which I laid through the main parts of the car such as foot wells, firewall, floor and rear bulk head. There are areas not covered such as the sills and rear wheel arch so I think I will get some cheaper stuff to do these areas.



I have just received advice this week that my engine, gearbox, clutch and all the other bits are due to land on 8 April so as soon as I receive the bits it will go straight in.

Until next post.

Cheers

Russell

2015 came around really quickly

Well, here we are already 6 weeks into 2015 and the time is just flying by.

I have been making some progress over the Christmas/New Year period. I had great plans and expected to be further advanced than what I am but advance we did.

Having installed the fibre glass insulation and stainless heat shields it was time to look at the pedal box and brake and clutch line installation. I had previously made the cut out in the firewall for the master cylinder/pedal box assembly and to get the location of the pedals right I had to install the seat frame and sliders for a trial fit to my 5'9" frame.I had to cut slots in the front of the torsion box to slide the seat shear plates into position. I also found that I had to modify them to sit in position without interference in the box itself. The manufacturer has corrected the slots and shear plates on the latter chassis which will make it a lot easier for those down the track.





I set the seat so that it was 1/2 the way forward giving plenty of room to slide back for taller drivers and forward for those a little shorter such as my lady friend or daughters...I am now getting a very bad feeling all of a sudden.It's funny the things that go through your mind, I thought, well, I am going to drill the holes which consist of the mounting holes through the torsion box welded to the floor then the 1" holes through the floor it self to get a drive socket through to tighten on to the runners. My mind immediately went to ..what happens if I get this wrong, all those 1" holes (4) will not be easy to fix. Anyway I went ahead and drilled the holes and it worked a treat.

With the pedal box resting on the floor I did a trial fit but only resting my feet on the pedals lightly as they were not bolted down which felt sort of strange sitting relatively straight legged when I am used to driving a medium sized SUV.I set the pedal where I reckon they should go and marked and drilled the first hole, put a bolt in and spotted the remaining 3 holes and bolted the assembly to the floor.

Once everything was bolted together I set the seats in the right position and height and I think I am sitting a little low but I have adjustment to lower the steering column or raise the seat frames.I am currently waiting for an upgraded seal plate from the pedal box and fire wall to be able to complete the unit.

The brake lines were the next task. This was relatively easy as they are all pre-bent hardened stainless steel that only needed a small amount of tweeking to get them in position, this was the same for the clutch line as well, a very neat fit held together with stainless P-Clamps and stainless button head screws into the chassis.



I had previously fitted the Charcoal canister and inner panels under the front L/H suspension and run the fuel vapour lines through the trans tunnel to the rear along with the brake lines.

The hand brake was also relatively easy to install. I had to cut holes in the torsion box to run the cables through but a 20mm hole saw fixed all that.

I have now also fitted the pin drives and spinners and did a trial fit of the wheels to see what it looks liked, pretty good I think.

Well, that's all for tonight and I have much more to come. Getting around to doing these updates has to find me in the right mood as I find it quite laborious.

Until next time,

Cheers

Russell

Assembly Continues

Since my last post there has been a bit of activity to keep moving forward. Before I could continue I had to get the fibre glass insulation installed through out the fire wall, foot boxes, trans tunnel and the exhaust channels down the side of the chassis which is used to hide an under car exhaust. The insulation comes in a roll with the glass exposed on the "down side" with a heat reflective aluminium coating on the outside. The insulation is pre-marked to make cutting out easier. The dining room table seemed to be the ideal place for this job and it's a good idea to use good quality sharp dress making sissors as this stuff frays like crazy.

Once I had all the cutting out done I then numbered each part for identification purposes so they wouldn't get mixed up. I cut about 8mm inside the line to give plenty of area to seal the glass fibres. Next I used Selleys Silicone 401 Industrial Grade Adhesive and spread a reasonable thin film over the insulation prior to fitting to the chassis. The reason for using the Selleys product is that it is a strong adhesive that can be used on most surfaces and can withstand high temperatures up to 205c continuously. Another good thing about this product is that you have a bit of time to make adjustments or reposition if required.

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Once the silicone adhesive has dried, I went over all the edges with Parfix Roof, Gutter and Concrete Silicone Sealant to stop any fraying of the insulation. The Parfix remains highly flexible and will also withstand heat up to 160c.

Once the fibreglass insulation is fitted, pre-cut polished stainless steel heat shields are screwed in place to cover the insulation. Holes are drilled and tapped through the insulation and into the chassis and stainless screws are fitted using 4mm spacers on the screws between the heat shield and insulation to create an air gap.

Now that the fire wall is finished I can go ahead and assemble and fit the pedal box and brake lines.

Until next time,

Cheers

Russell

Moving Right Along

One of the things that this build has taught me is patience, no not true, I have learned that over my almost 65 years but this time I find that I do not get flustered if things do not work out as I expect. Previous cars that I have built I find that I would get impatient and take short cuts that ended in disaster but this time it's slow and easy and quality all the way. I would like to think that this is a training ground for things to come like a GT40, my ultimate car.

Anyway, back to the Cobra build...

Since getting my car back home I have been able to get into the build with gusto and have all the suspension components assembled and it looks a treat

Removing the body has made the assembly so much easier and I am not banging my head every time I try to do something. I must say that buying a mobile seat from Super Cheap has been the smart thing to do so now I rip around my workshop at high speed without shifting my butt.

Anyway, on with the build. I have assembled the front suspension and steering along with the rotors and calipers.

The beauty about this build is that I seem to be making great progress with the big items, like suspension, brake components and other items but it includes a lot of mucking around getting things to work such as the steering which really took a lot of thought.

When it came to the rear axle, it was all very strait forward apart from the omission of the crush tubes that hold the diff shear plates to the chassis rails. With a little bit of thought and some help from Pace we were able to come up with a solution that allowed the installation of these tubes so we got the job done. I finally got the rear suspension together including the axles and brakes.
Hope you are enjoying my build of a Pace427 Build No.31

Cheers

Russell