Greg's 96 Cobra 1.5 Kenne Bell Build Thread

[the.greg]

That battery was a workout huh ;p

Good stuff here man. drive it yet?

Haha yeah the battery was very simple, I did take the time to remove my battery tray and clean it and the frame rail beneath it.

I just got done driving it around the neighborhood, it drives great! Spent some time putting in my rear diff fluid and then took it for a quick drive. Its still on storage insurance, so tomorrow I will call insurance and change that.

I sprung a small coolant leak at my thermostat gasket, so I'll have to fix that. I'm also getting some vibrations through the clutch pedal, not sure whats causing that(I suspect my clutch cable is on its way out, already have a replacement) so I have a few small issues to track down, but overall I'm very happy to have the cobra driving again!

 

[g36 monkey]

glad to hear man!

 

[the.greg]

Just a brief update: Been putting some miles on it, almost 100 now since the tranny rebuild. Shifts are smooth and "Crisp" but I'm trying to give it about 300 or so break in miles before I go over 4k rpms. I'm interested to see how it shifts under WOT. Fixed the coolant leak, and I'm pleased to report no more rear diff leaks either which I had been dealing with from day 1 of ownership.

The only persisting issue is a pretty severe clutch pedal vibration. I even replaced my clutch cable and put in a new clutch quadrant/firewall adjuster. I'm hoping it just needs time to break in the new clutch/flywheel combination, because besides being an annoying vibration from the pedal, it doesn't seem to affect driving/shifting. Any one have any thoughts on this?

I am pretty interested to see what sort of improvements I notice from going from a OEM flywheel to a Fidanza billet aluminum after I can get it broken it and go WOT. So far I've noticed it does require more throttle to get going from a stop. I nearly stalled it out before I realized what was going on lol. I expected this and its not a big deal, just something I noticed.

 

[g36 monkey]

Good stuff man. I don't know how you have the will-power to keep her under 4 grand lol

 

[the.greg]

Good stuff man. I don't know how you have the will-power to keep her under 4 grand lol

Thanks for the feedback Jeremy.

Its not quite as fun below 4k for sure. I guess I could rev it as high as I want, just not shift over 4k is what I've been told til its broken in. Besides after all the work I have in this, I can't stand the thought of it messing up again. It sucks because with these darn 4.10 gears I'm shifting constantly lol.

I think my next project is to plasti dip my wheels black, fresh black bumper letters, and rear taillight bezels black, then just saving up for a fresh coat of paint, mine is awful!!

 

[g36 monkey]

Well don't do the bumper letters if you're painting it silly goose

You'd probably be alright to run it, but I respect the idea of a break in period ha

Really glad you've saved this poor cars life

 

[Walking Tall]

Thanks for the feedback Jeremy.

Its not quite as fun below 4k for sure. I guess I could rev it as high as I want, just not shift over 4k is what I've been told til its broken in. Besides after all the work I have in this, I can't stand the thought of it messing up again. It sucks because with these darn 4.10 gears I'm shifting constantly lol.

I think my next project is to plasti dip my wheels black, fresh black bumper letters, and rear taillight bezels black, then just saving up for a fresh coat of paint, mine is awful!!

I think your wheels look so much better gray. But I don't like black FRs either. Nice build! It looks like a bunch of fun.

 

[SN95nut]

awesome build im extremely jealous

 

[greenscobie86]

Thanks for the update.

Was the flywheel resurfaced? Which clutch did you put in? (Im sorry if you already answered this earlier in the thread)

 

[MustangChris]

mo' pix!

 

[the.greg]

Thanks for the update.

Was the flywheel resurfaced? Which clutch did you put in? (Im sorry if you already answered this earlier in the thread)

I put in a brand new Fidanza aluminum flywheel and a new Ram hdx clutch. I highly recommend Ram hdx clutch. Holds good on the street, but I've never had the opportunity to try it on the track. No chatter whatsoever either.

 

[greenscobie86]

^Ah yes right.

I had an HDX in my old GT. Pedal chattered and vibrated like crazy. Put in a stock Valeo/Sachs unit and all was well.

Does the vibration of the pedal increase/decrease with heat in the clutch/drivetrain?

 

[MustangChris]

Vibration in the pedal=scary...

 

[the.greg]

^Ah yes right.

I had an HDX in my old GT. Pedal chattered and vibrated like crazy. Put in a stock Valeo/Sachs unit and all was well.

Does the vibration of the pedal increase/decrease with heat in the clutch/drivetrain?

Vibration in the pedal=scary...

I am pretty sure that the vibration is due to slightly bent pressure plate fingers. Either that or maybe I just need to adjust the clutch some more. If the fingers are bent, I'm gonna probably try to install a magnet to pull the throwout bearing back off the fingers when the clutch pedal isn't being pressed. Otherwise I guess it may wear prematurely or just rattle annoyingly.

In other news my rear diff leak has returned I don't have the motivation to get back under the car and see where its leaking from, but its left a few quarter sized drops in the garage. It may be as simple as I didn't create a thick enough gasket when I sealed it a few weeks ago, or maybe its leaking somewhere else. Just frustrating.

I'm starting to lose the desire to fix this car any more after so much time and money sunk into it. It is fantastic when its running properly, so I want to stick with it, but I also am starting to want something less modded. I am considering selling this and trying to get into a stock, or close to stock, c5 corvette.

 

[the.greg]

This isn't my car, but the one in this video is the exact same clutch pedal vibration I am getting. I need to crawl under the car and take a look through the inspection plate and see what it looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt1_2GwJqhs

 

[g36 monkey]

We've all been there man, I know how you feel

 

[ProKiller]

wow i've never seen anything like that before. good luck

 

[the.greg]

^Ah yes right.

I had an HDX in my old GT. Pedal chattered and vibrated like crazy. Put in a stock Valeo/Sachs unit and all was well.

Does the vibration of the pedal increase/decrease with heat in the clutch/drivetrain?

It appears to increase around 2k rpms, at idle it is barely even noticeable. I'm starting to wonder if its possibly just a bad tranny mount, thats the one thing I didn't replace while it was out.

I also inspected the rear differential today, my seal I made on the diff cover is holding fine. Its leaking a little bit from where the driveshaft attaches to the diff. Its always leaked from this location since I bought the car, so I'm not worried about it honestly. I filled it a little over a year ago when I bought the car, and it was still at a safe level when I popped the diff cover off to re-seal it, so it appears to just be a very minimal, slow leak. If I ever decide to re-gear from 4.10s to 3.73s or even 3.55s possibly I will obviously have this fixed at that point. But I probably won't bother.

I still need to take a look through the inspection cover to see if I can see anything that would explain the clutch pedal vibration I am experiencing, re-seal my thermostat housing to fix a small coolant leak, and other than that it is running fine.

Other than those little issues, my plan is just to drive it and enjoy it for a while, get some enjoyment out of this built transmission I spent so much $$$ on, but eventually I am gonna have this car up for sale. I love this car, but I have other priorities right now besides going fast. I'm not the kind of guy to ever keep a car more than a few years anyway. I'm looking at a base c5 corvette, or maybe a 2002-2007ish dodge ram w/hemi, not in a rush to do anything, but probably this will happen in the next 3-6 months. I want to get all the bugs out before I sell it, because I won't be misleading anyone that is interested in buying it. Not sure how much I can get for this car considering the bad paint, but I spent 8k on the car, and have put like 4-5k into it since then. I will probably ask like 9.5k lol, its the nature of modding a car.

 

[greenscobie86]

In my case I couldn't see too much wrong through the inspection cover but i had similar symptoms to yours. Ended up being a bad clutch assembly.

I can understand your urge to sell, I've been there.

 

[MustangChris]

been there too. there right now. lol.