afghanibob's 1995 Cobra build up---(2021) - things got out of hand

[AfghaniBob]

From building the hoses
Update:
Hoses came back from Kim's in Fort Worth and his brazing aluminum tubes to the unique ends the condenser required look factory and perfect. Since I marked the "clock" of the fittings/hose they installed in a matter of minutes.
I used a unused hose end to the compressor with a section of hose on it to fill the compressor. Compressor got about 5oz and the accumulator got a little over 3oz. I cranked it at least 20 times. All the fittings are tight and the lines are protected from abrasion and secured.
Take a look at how good the welded ends for the condenser came out. It took a little thought but I am confident I could have used any style of condenser/accumulator/etc and made it all work just the same.
Welded end

after

Welded end from 3 pieces
before

after

Pressure switch spliced in

Line

What you see

To the evaporator

 

[AfghaniBob]

Proof that it actually ran. These are from the Hot Rod Power Tour 2012, Stillwater, OK to Dallas, TX. Running E85 brought its own unique issue. Where the F do you find E85 on the road like that? Easy. You will notice the grey F150 in the background of some of these pics. That is my "chase vehicle". I paid for a buddy and his son to drive it up and back with us, with 50+ gallons of E85 in the bed along with tools, jacks, stands, parts etc.

 

[Musturd]

Awesome build never saw it until now , sucks about the electrical. You got some awesome an skills man

 

[AfghaniBob]

You will notice the factory looking wheels. CAUSE they are the factory wheels. The day we left for the cruise it was pouring down rain. I was not about to risk my pregnant wife on a long trip in the rain in these bad boys on the back.
315/35-17 Nitto NT01 Drag Radial

Here are the fronts. 275/40-17 NT05

I bought some factory 95 Cobra R satin wheels on the cheap BUT two are in semi rough shape. This morning I dropped them off to have them refinished and the two rears widened to 10.5" wide to fit the big steam roller tires. I am really stoked about getting them under the car and getting the back spacing dialed in. The plan is to take an oversized spacer and mill it down the thickness needed.
Here are a few pics of the wheels.

I can't find the pic of the fourth but you get the idea.

 

[AfghaniBob]

Awesome build never saw it until now , sucks about the electrical. You got some awesome an skills man

Thanks. The electrical will get figured out when I have some more time to look at it. Fact is, I thrashed for months getting it back on the road and ironing out bugs; just got burned out.

 

[AfghaniBob]

Behind Bars Race Cars 18gl tank with MagnaFuel Pro Star 750 mounted in the tank. Should have argued with him and got the right hand outlets like I wanted. The center outlets ran into their own issues with the panhard bar brace. More on that in the next post.

nice welds

 

[AfghaniBob]

Building the electrical back in Sept 2011.

Perfect spot for my top secret aluminum military grade bulkhead barrel connectors for the new wirring harness.
Inside:

Outside: two of them will be right between the throttle cable and the louvers.

My table of mess. I figured the best way to really get the harness right was to pull the ECU BACK out AGAIN, pull the intake and V/C setups and all the harnesses out of the engine bay and remake them all.

Looks less and less like I am getting anything done here.

 

[AfghaniBob]

Weeks and weeks of waiting and I only needed the tool for 10 minutes.

Here is is what it did.

With the manifold and fuel rails on the center most connector is awefully close. Gonna have to get creative with fittings to clear it.

 

[Musturd]

Those 315's will look bad ass. I like all The a/n stuff as well

 

[AfghaniBob]

Going together, Sept 2011
DP dropped right in. I am not sure why everyone *****es about these 3.5" DPs and fitting them with the headers and turbo still in. Angle the back in with a small twist and bring it right down to the header = piece of cake and nothing had to be wedged, bent, hammered or tweaked.

a test before the turbo. I pulled it a few times to make sure it was not a fluke. Nope, it drops right in everytime.

A little tight for the coil wires. Gonna have to re think that one. It was to be expected though and this is a dry run to find these little problems.

Good space between the valve covers and the strut tower though. Hell I could even go a little bigger on the DP but would have to relocate the coils all together (hmm that is an idea).

 

[AfghaniBob]

Some intake shots. Still need to:
complete throttle cable and bracket/linkage
mount and plumb IAC
run vac to vac block
swap to 120# injectors
plumb BOV

Check out those welds....

Has to fit under a factory hood. It was touch a close call the IAT

 

[AfghaniBob]

Had to work the WG location to clear the ABS block. Results
Here is the header Brooks inserted a v-band for me. The original set up put the W/G directly against the ABS delete and the frame. This lets me clock it and get it just right. Time to think an exhaust pipe from the w/g to the dp through the k-member.

I think this the best arrangement

 

[AfghaniBob]

Still moving forward Dec 2011
I pulled the engine bay down to a long block. Not happy to see this in the water jacket.

This motor has only had distilled water and antifreeze. For the last 2 years it has been bone dry so I am not sure why it corroded so bad when dry.
Another problem that I was able to fix......it took buying a few fittings but we got it licked. I was having a problem with were the fuel pump feed comes out of the tank. It was hitting the panhard bar.
Without the hose end attached

another angle

The fix.....I started with the black set up in the middle, next I tried the 45* on the end which still did not clear. I really did not want to go with such a tight 90* but that is all I have room for without rebuilding the tank myself.

 

[AfghaniBob]

After pulling it apart, again, it can go back together, again.
Headers are in as is the crossover, turbo, down pipe, spark plugs.

I hope I did this right. If these headers have to come off I am pulling the motor first.......the driver's side is a ***** to get the bolts in. I think it looks right.

This ####ing bolt is not going in any further. I can not get the wrench to grab anything.

Again the wife did a great job in helping. Putting in the bolts for the turbo/merge.

I used a 2' shield on the DP for extra heat protection for the plug wires (already sleeved) and the A/C drain. I have heard too many horror stories of the drain melting and the grommet then the carpet catching fire. DP wrapped (double in that area) plus the sheild ought to help.

There is not much room between the DP with the shield and the plug wires but they are not pinched our bound up. I may leave the coil packs in place for now.

 

[AfghaniBob]

Picked up some Toyota red coolant.....priced like it better work
Have everything done except
EPM 4 wires need to be pinned.....easy to do just need to find the diagram online.
Connect 3-4 wires at the ECU in the new 6 pin connector....again easy, just need to do it.
Finish pulling old H-pipe and mufflers
Put the new fitting on the fuel line at the tank and tighten the tank down
Add 10 gallons of E85
Build new power steering lines but I am waiting on fittings and I can start the car without..just won't have a belt to run the water pump (maybe)
Add coolant and water.....distilled, our water in the house is way to soft.
Rig up the IAC to work so I can start it and let it idle
Plug the two O2 ports in the DP....again waiting on an overnight from summit
Put in fresh oil
Make a vacuum line for the fuel pressure regulator's boost ref
Were I am at tonight...not bad for just 5 hours of work......should start this Saturday

Yes, it is missing a t-bolt clamp on the T/B...I need to find a 4"Picked up some Toyota red coolant.....priced like it better work

 

[AfghaniBob]

I had just added 2 gallons of coolant/water when I heard "drip, drip, drip". Upon inspection, the fitting that I had welded to the water pump has a pinhole leak.

15 minutes later the water pump is off

 

[AfghaniBob]

I decided to take a break and clean so.
My garage puked 3,500 pounds of mental anquish

#### this car sits low or am I just used to it being up in the air on jackstands. Put up the garage door to find the sun had dipped behind F'ing clouds......damnit

The jack barely clears the gas tank flange by 1/2". My wife said she would kill me if I told you all how I like my cars in the rear like I like my women. I like to poke the bear.

After a quick wash.............stupid Oklahoma dropping it's #### dirt on my clean car.

Back in the garage after it got a quick clearn also

 

[AfghaniBob]

In keeping with the NO HOSE CLAMP build requirements.
I decided to tackle some power steering lines.
New adapters for the rack.

New adapters are mocked up IN the rack.........with 45* hose ends to see if they will clear.

This angle doesn't show all that well but that motor mount nut is not going to be fun to get off without pulling the return line first.
Armed with an assortment of metric O-rings, 1/2" washers, a unibit, and a metric adapter fitting.

I came up with this........you can see the "crush" of the o-ring after a test run.

She better seal.

Building the Earl's Speed-Flex teflon -6an was not that bad. Here is the pressure line assembled and test fitted.

Looks much better than the stock set up and hopefully no leaks.
Next is to cut and flare the cooler then find a place to mount it and build those lines too.

 

[AfghaniBob]

So mid February 2012
Okay guys and girls, we have more cooling system leaks at welds. This one was fun to find. It is just a pin hole but when I pump the system to 3 pounds we get a squirter.

So, apart she comes again.

Who can guess what I am thinking right about now?

 

[AfghaniBob]

A month and a half later I had it running and tuned on the dyno THEN I built exhaust for it. 3.5" DP leads to a single 4" all the way to the axle where it dumps. I have another 4" muffler and some more pipe that I think we will make a dual system for it and then run some 3.5" over the axles if we can.

For now, here is how it sounds.