Project Cobra Jet
- Thread starter blizzND
- Start date
duff daddy
Legend
Ttt interested
punched281
Active Member
cool project!
OP
OP
blizzND
New Member
Sorry its been awhile since I've been by here.. Its also damn cold outside here in Fargo ND, so not much time out in the garage..
Progress.. yes,
we set the engine/transmission in for a test fit, needed to "clearance the tunnel a bit...
welded all the rear suspension mounts, some crossbracing and rear rollbar cross tube, note: the factory tin is unbelievably thin!
and my 10 year absence from welding, made some of those welds a bit trickier than I would have liked.
got the trunk tinned back together and primed, not sure, I may buzz all the ugly seam sealer out before I'm done..
back up front, the engine and headers fit pretty good.
at this point it was easier to roll it under the front with the K-member removed and lift it into place..
Progress.. yes,
we set the engine/transmission in for a test fit, needed to "clearance the tunnel a bit...
welded all the rear suspension mounts, some crossbracing and rear rollbar cross tube, note: the factory tin is unbelievably thin!
and my 10 year absence from welding, made some of those welds a bit trickier than I would have liked.
got the trunk tinned back together and primed, not sure, I may buzz all the ugly seam sealer out before I'm done..
back up front, the engine and headers fit pretty good.
at this point it was easier to roll it under the front with the K-member removed and lift it into place..
the5.ohh
Legend
Holy racecar batman!
KillNThrill24
Legend
I don't know how I missed this thread for all those months but wow I'm liking this build man! I'm very very intrigued by all the custom welding being done....
Random question how much was that mini lift your using? It looks like it would save me a LOOOOOT of time and effort...
Random question how much was that mini lift your using? It looks like it would save me a LOOOOOT of time and effort...
OP
OP
blizzND
New Member
I bought it from my local tire oil change shop, I was telling him about my project, and he had new equipment, I paid 400 for it, when the car goes for paint, It will go to the sandblaster/powdercoat 'r (which may cost me as much as the lift)
OP
OP
blizzND
New Member
Last weekend, I had to clean the sound deadning from the floor and tunnel so I can start welding up my trans tunnel.
It was a bit like potato chips once I started, I just continued until it was all gone..
I did save it into an ice cream pail, and I emptied the vacuum cleaner before I started cleaning up the mess, the 2 buckets together weighed 8.6 lbs.
I did previously clean a great deal of sound deadning from the area under the rear seat, back when I welded in the plates for the LCA battle brackets. so I suppose that, big dust pan of junk weighed 1.5 lbs.
so the 2 together weighed ~10lbs, pretty good diet if you wish to spend a whole day doing it. I wish the Dry Ice place was open on Saturday, I understand that is far easier than my air-chisel and big wire brush cup on my big grinder.
now that that's gone I'm thinking I'll pitch the thick heavy sound control carpet, for another what 20 lbs and just roll 2 coats of Lowes truck bed liner and call it good.
It was a bit like potato chips once I started, I just continued until it was all gone..
I did save it into an ice cream pail, and I emptied the vacuum cleaner before I started cleaning up the mess, the 2 buckets together weighed 8.6 lbs.
I did previously clean a great deal of sound deadning from the area under the rear seat, back when I welded in the plates for the LCA battle brackets. so I suppose that, big dust pan of junk weighed 1.5 lbs.
so the 2 together weighed ~10lbs, pretty good diet if you wish to spend a whole day doing it. I wish the Dry Ice place was open on Saturday, I understand that is far easier than my air-chisel and big wire brush cup on my big grinder.
now that that's gone I'm thinking I'll pitch the thick heavy sound control carpet, for another what 20 lbs and just roll 2 coats of Lowes truck bed liner and call it good.
MustangChris
Mythic Level
dang. thats a crap ton of weight for deadener!!! GGEEEZ!
OP
OP
blizzND
New Member
Over the weekend I had time for a small project, so I finally got around to the rack and pinon.
My Cobra came with a power steering rack, with the hoses removed, I knew that was too hookey, but it did have a bumpsteer kit which was a plus.
so when I bought the engine from Joe in Arizona, I also bought his Fox chassis Flaming river rack and the steering shaft.
Little did I know that Ford in their infinite wisdom had 2 thread sizes for their racks,
Since the inner tie rods are different lengths between the Fox and SN95 I needed to swap them, again, Ford did not make that easy, the SN95 was a Female cup, and the Fox Male thread.
top Fox inner
middle, Fox Rack, SN95 length male attach inner tie-rod
lower, SN95 Rack, female thread inner tie-rod
Grrr. So a while back I ordered inner tie-rods from Flaming River, ~25 dollars each, problem solved, lets assemble...
not so fast, remember I mentioned Ford thread size?
my Bumpsteer kit from the SN95 (Metric) would not fit on the Flaming River tie rods as they were Fox size (9/16 UNF)
So I had my friends Machine shop fab me a pair of adjuster sleeves from some 1" Chrome Moly tube.
So, now I'm set to go.. Except, the previous owner, failed to use anti-seize when they threaded a steel heim joint into an aluminum sleeve.
grrrr...
20 minutes later, with a long 1/2" ratchet extension and a bit of cussing, I had them freed up... fortunately I didn't damage either the Heim or the sleeve.
Now with everything together I have a SN 95 power rack, and some adjuster sleeves looking for a new home.
I cleaned and painted the manual rack, and I should be ready to re mount it to the K-member later this spring.
But you smart guys out there are sayin... "yes, but what will you use for the steering column? since they are different from Fox to SN95.."
you would be correct, another Ford mystery; why they would change something that worked for millions of cars...
what I did, was use the lower half of the Flaming river shaft, and the upper half of the SN95 by pressing the U-joint out and on..
I had it all mocked up back in Sept.
all for now,
~blizz
My Cobra came with a power steering rack, with the hoses removed, I knew that was too hookey, but it did have a bumpsteer kit which was a plus.
so when I bought the engine from Joe in Arizona, I also bought his Fox chassis Flaming river rack and the steering shaft.
Little did I know that Ford in their infinite wisdom had 2 thread sizes for their racks,
Since the inner tie rods are different lengths between the Fox and SN95 I needed to swap them, again, Ford did not make that easy, the SN95 was a Female cup, and the Fox Male thread.
top Fox inner
middle, Fox Rack, SN95 length male attach inner tie-rod
lower, SN95 Rack, female thread inner tie-rod
Grrr. So a while back I ordered inner tie-rods from Flaming River, ~25 dollars each, problem solved, lets assemble...
not so fast, remember I mentioned Ford thread size?
my Bumpsteer kit from the SN95 (Metric) would not fit on the Flaming River tie rods as they were Fox size (9/16 UNF)
So I had my friends Machine shop fab me a pair of adjuster sleeves from some 1" Chrome Moly tube.
So, now I'm set to go.. Except, the previous owner, failed to use anti-seize when they threaded a steel heim joint into an aluminum sleeve.
grrrr...
20 minutes later, with a long 1/2" ratchet extension and a bit of cussing, I had them freed up... fortunately I didn't damage either the Heim or the sleeve.
Now with everything together I have a SN 95 power rack, and some adjuster sleeves looking for a new home.
I cleaned and painted the manual rack, and I should be ready to re mount it to the K-member later this spring.
But you smart guys out there are sayin... "yes, but what will you use for the steering column? since they are different from Fox to SN95.."
you would be correct, another Ford mystery; why they would change something that worked for millions of cars...
what I did, was use the lower half of the Flaming river shaft, and the upper half of the SN95 by pressing the U-joint out and on..
I had it all mocked up back in Sept.
all for now,
~blizz
Musturd
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This thread is full of awesome
OP
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blizzND
New Member
Made a few hours worth of progress over the weekend.. worked on my transmission tunnel..
I had to remodel the tunnel because its old skool Ford toploader 4 spd and you have to open up the side for the shifter and linkage to clear.
I tack welded 2 56" peices of 3/4 x 3/4 angle iron to the tunnel and back to the central roll bar pad...
Next, with the help of a few sheets of Ford blue cardstock from Walmart, and some leftover beer boxes I made patterns..
I laid the patterns, onto fresh clean peices of card stock, traced them out and cut and taped together for a final check template:
using those final tempates I traced them onto some 20 ga steel, and cut them with my Sabersaw with Bosch metal blades, cut all the pieces with one 18 volt battery. super easy to do.
first tack welded then stich welded the side peices into place.
I'm thinkin I'll just rivet the top plate down so that I can put weld nuts under it for a fire extinguisher, or lay wires under that 2'n tunnel.
I have debated cutting out the old tunnel, But I think I'll just leave it under there. Even though it would be hard to do.
A) it doesn't weigh that much, the metal is so thin, I'd be luck to save 5 lbs,
B) it does serve to help stiffen the floor / car
C) Who's going to see it?? psst don't tell anyone..
Now to find a new home for a, I think, perfectly good Black carpet that doesn't fit anymore...
~blizz
I had to remodel the tunnel because its old skool Ford toploader 4 spd and you have to open up the side for the shifter and linkage to clear.
I tack welded 2 56" peices of 3/4 x 3/4 angle iron to the tunnel and back to the central roll bar pad...
Next, with the help of a few sheets of Ford blue cardstock from Walmart, and some leftover beer boxes I made patterns..
I laid the patterns, onto fresh clean peices of card stock, traced them out and cut and taped together for a final check template:
using those final tempates I traced them onto some 20 ga steel, and cut them with my Sabersaw with Bosch metal blades, cut all the pieces with one 18 volt battery. super easy to do.
first tack welded then stich welded the side peices into place.
I'm thinkin I'll just rivet the top plate down so that I can put weld nuts under it for a fire extinguisher, or lay wires under that 2'n tunnel.
I have debated cutting out the old tunnel, But I think I'll just leave it under there. Even though it would be hard to do.
A) it doesn't weigh that much, the metal is so thin, I'd be luck to save 5 lbs,
B) it does serve to help stiffen the floor / car
C) Who's going to see it?? psst don't tell anyone..
Now to find a new home for a, I think, perfectly good Black carpet that doesn't fit anymore...
~blizz
Orange 94
Post Whore
Nicely done!
Mustanger
Well-Known Member
How about adding this?
amy98gt
Member
This thing is looking good. PM me about the carpet. I need a new one myself.
OP
OP
blizzND
New Member
Update: made some progress, amy98gt, I'll try to roll out the carpet to see what it looks like, It came rolled up when I bought the car, I have no idea what shape its in.
The car is your basic Texas 2 step, 1 step froward, 3 back then 2 forward, right now I'm in the 3 back stage again.
I had the local NHRA tech stop by and look the car over, he did not like the way the door bars dropped below the elbow and insisted they be changed out before he could cert the cage.
so out they came...
nothing like 2 hours of cutting and grinding to get the morning started.
I then reinstalled the engine and transmission to build the cross member, having no idea where the toploader trans should be, I had to measure and align everything using plumbobs to square the engine and thus the trans to the chassis
that ate up the rest of Saturday morning.
I then could construct my new x-member which didnt turn out too bad I thought...
I Installed it, long enough to say it worked, then promptly pulled the engine, dropped the engine into a shipping crate to send it out to machining, and turned my attention back to the passenger area of the car.
I realized that in order to have those door bars properly placed, I needed to set the seats in and position them.
Picking up the seats that came with the car, they seemed kinda heavy for an aluminum seat, tipping them upside down I found out why..
yes that is 3/8" plate steel 6" wide!
yikes, the seat adusters and that plate will have to go, and next weekend I'll be building new seat brackets.
I tossed the dash frame in and was about to mount the steering wheel assembly.
wow, that felt heavy. so I ran in the house grabbed the scale and weighed me holding the dash frame and the steering wheel
some quick math skills subtracting my weight from the total weight 231.8-*194.0 =37.8
37.8 pounds! yikes again!! *So is the 194, I should spend more time in the garage and less on the couch...
looks like I'll be ordering an aluminum racing wheel and quick release column..
I set the seat in without the brackets on a 2 x 8 and climbed in. I tossed the dash frame in with the factory wheel put the pedal assembly in and designed my seat brackets for next weekend after I pick up some material to bend them from.
I spent the remainder of Sunday, bending electrical conduit to use as templates for the new side roll bars which looks easier on YouTube than it is.
Next week end, Build those bars..
stay tuned.
~blizz
The car is your basic Texas 2 step, 1 step froward, 3 back then 2 forward, right now I'm in the 3 back stage again.
I had the local NHRA tech stop by and look the car over, he did not like the way the door bars dropped below the elbow and insisted they be changed out before he could cert the cage.
so out they came...
nothing like 2 hours of cutting and grinding to get the morning started.
I then reinstalled the engine and transmission to build the cross member, having no idea where the toploader trans should be, I had to measure and align everything using plumbobs to square the engine and thus the trans to the chassis
that ate up the rest of Saturday morning.
I then could construct my new x-member which didnt turn out too bad I thought...
I Installed it, long enough to say it worked, then promptly pulled the engine, dropped the engine into a shipping crate to send it out to machining, and turned my attention back to the passenger area of the car.
I realized that in order to have those door bars properly placed, I needed to set the seats in and position them.
Picking up the seats that came with the car, they seemed kinda heavy for an aluminum seat, tipping them upside down I found out why..
yes that is 3/8" plate steel 6" wide!
yikes, the seat adusters and that plate will have to go, and next weekend I'll be building new seat brackets.
I tossed the dash frame in and was about to mount the steering wheel assembly.
wow, that felt heavy. so I ran in the house grabbed the scale and weighed me holding the dash frame and the steering wheel
some quick math skills subtracting my weight from the total weight 231.8-*194.0 =37.8
37.8 pounds! yikes again!! *So is the 194, I should spend more time in the garage and less on the couch...
looks like I'll be ordering an aluminum racing wheel and quick release column..
I set the seat in without the brackets on a 2 x 8 and climbed in. I tossed the dash frame in with the factory wheel put the pedal assembly in and designed my seat brackets for next weekend after I pick up some material to bend them from.
I spent the remainder of Sunday, bending electrical conduit to use as templates for the new side roll bars which looks easier on YouTube than it is.
Next week end, Build those bars..
stay tuned.
~blizz
OP
OP
blizzND
New Member
Over the weekend my friend needed help bending the tubing for his mini-sprint, I told him that as a matter of fact, I was going to bend my front cage on Saturday also, he volenteered to bring his bender over, and we could work together.
Free help? with his own bender? in my shop? How could I pass that up?
Dave and his son Nick cutting Chrome moly for their Mini Sprint
all welded up and primed for paint prior to re-install and welding, I will clean the weld areas of paint before I put it back in.
while the paint was drying, I decided to remove the rear seat bulkhead, because NHRA reqires a solid wall between the trunk and the pass. compartment.
Looking at it, it would be more work to fill it in and work around all those roll bars pipes, than to just take a sawszall to it and drill out some spot welds.
an hour later..
in case you are wondering, with those speakers in it a little over 15 lbs, a lot of that I think were the speakers.
it really oped the car up back there...
I made a cardboard pattern for the single piece, no holes new 18 ga steel bulkhead..
I also spent another hour or so scraping body joint sealer from around the fenders in preparation for rolling the whole area with boxliner.
stay tuned for the next installment of "How my Wallet Empties.."
~blizz
Free help? with his own bender? in my shop? How could I pass that up?
Dave and his son Nick cutting Chrome moly for their Mini Sprint
all welded up and primed for paint prior to re-install and welding, I will clean the weld areas of paint before I put it back in.
while the paint was drying, I decided to remove the rear seat bulkhead, because NHRA reqires a solid wall between the trunk and the pass. compartment.
Looking at it, it would be more work to fill it in and work around all those roll bars pipes, than to just take a sawszall to it and drill out some spot welds.
an hour later..
in case you are wondering, with those speakers in it a little over 15 lbs, a lot of that I think were the speakers.
it really oped the car up back there...
I made a cardboard pattern for the single piece, no holes new 18 ga steel bulkhead..
I also spent another hour or so scraping body joint sealer from around the fenders in preparation for rolling the whole area with boxliner.
stay tuned for the next installment of "How my Wallet Empties.."
~blizz
I am going to add a little progress update for BlizzND... I am sure he will chime in as well. The short story is that he fell in love with another (really cool) drag car and cheated on his cobrajet. The aftermath was a falling out between the two of them, and the Cobrajet left him. Conveniently, she is now with me.
As you already know, it is a really cool platform for a drag car, and I plan on finishing it following much the same pattern. I am not convinced I will be putting in a 351c (namely because I don't have a 4V one, and if I did I would put it in my 71 mustang which currently has a 2V). I am currently looking for good engine/tranny options. I want to make it street legal (even if just barely street drivable) and would like around 500hp and an auto. I don't have any issues with power adders so that shouldn't be a problem. I likely will go the path of a healthy stroked 351w and a N20, but it all depends on what I find.
I will start a new build thread shortly for the second half of this cars story.
As you already know, it is a really cool platform for a drag car, and I plan on finishing it following much the same pattern. I am not convinced I will be putting in a 351c (namely because I don't have a 4V one, and if I did I would put it in my 71 mustang which currently has a 2V). I am currently looking for good engine/tranny options. I want to make it street legal (even if just barely street drivable) and would like around 500hp and an auto. I don't have any issues with power adders so that shouldn't be a problem. I likely will go the path of a healthy stroked 351w and a N20, but it all depends on what I find.
I will start a new build thread shortly for the second half of this cars story.
the second half of the build.... http://www.sn95forums.com/showthread.php?65765-Project-Cobra-(jet-)-Drag-Car
