Canuck 289 scratch build

[old willy]

Hello all,

Happy New Year to you,

I hope everybody enjoyed some down time to spend with friends and or family or just out in the garage, whatever makes you happy.

Myself, I had a nice blend and yes it did involve some time in the wired woodshed, progress, progress

SO first I wanted to report that I did pick up a nice fresh hood skin molding, sans scoop, for my project.
I was trying to work out having a relative pick it up for me when they were in the area but I was just not going to work out so my wife and I turned it into a nice day trip to Nappanee, Ontario.

We picked up the hood from a nice fellow named Marty Broeders who was one of the original guys involved with Johnex cobras along with the chassis supplier ( CSC) and John Leliever.

Marty was the guy who did all the molds and bodies, and still has the molds in his yard and shop.
He is involved in making other stuff these days, drag car and boat stuff but recently did a coupe body for someone and has a roadster chassis on a jig in the shop. I also had a look at his own in very nice in progress coupe project on the hoist.

A really great and interesting guy, I wish we had met sooner and I hope our paths cross again someday.



I tried the hood skin on my body when I got home, I had him just leave it rough around the edges. It will need a bit of work to get a better body gap but so will the boot lid. I like it, and think it is more in line with what I had in mind for this car.

So in other breaking news

I got down to really working on the brake system, yes I had figured out the rotors and pedal stuff and had some thoughts about the other bits but I decided that while everything else was out of the way and the suspension and hubs were on the chassis I should try and deal with it.

I mocked up some stuff with the parts and pieces I already had and then made another order from Moss for the other stuff I needed.

I am trying to keep this simple and kind of period correct so weird British stuff was the order of the day.

First up the front calipers, I am running the MGB uprights and MGBV8 rotors; they fit without any modifications and look correct too.
The main difference is they are thicker than the regular MGB rotor so that might have a bit of an advantage as far as heating up and holding their shape.

So after a bit of searching and coming up empty (MGbV8 calipers are NLA) figure I have 2 options, first a modified stock MGB caliper and second, some other possibly Triumph? caliper and a custom mounting.
I am really trying to stick to readily available stock type parts and honesty MGB brake pads are easily available and in several flavors.

So currently I have decided to go with option one. The MGB caliper needs a bit of extra clearance to make the thicker rotor happier and a minor adjustment to bring it back to center on the rotor and both were accomplished with my little mill, easier said than done but I am very happy with the fit.





I am sure some among you are going to tell me this will not work, and you may be right .

I know the current trend is to use huge vented rotors and big willwood calipers but really this is just a road car not a race car so I am not really concerned about rotors overheating, brake pads gassing, fade etc.

Check the specs yourself, the 289 is about the same size and weight as an MGB and their brake disc / drum brake combo was adequate for them, not great, but adequate .
Yes the 289 has more power but that only applies to acceleration, kinetic energy is what factors in when we talk about braking and that is about the same.

So I am going to try this combo and see if it works, as it was explained to me years ago,
"the biggest limiting factor in most brake systems is the tires….. if you can lock up the wheels the problem is not with the brakes."

Now if a find I can’t reliably stop the car and/or lock the wheels I do have a problem .
At which time I will look at either different bigger calipers or possibly one of the MGB /Willwood rotor and brake kits but to be honest I really don’t like the look of them.

The rear end is a bit more straight forward, I think. The uprights and hubs are from a 95 Cougar ( T bird/ Lincoln) so I am sticking with off the shelf Ford parts back there. The rotors are solid, from a 2000ish Taurus and in the end I am using the Cougar calipers with a couple of spacers.
Nice and easy ( I hope) , The rotors more closely match the era of the car (solid) and the combo is more than adequate for this car, the 95 Cougar was a bit of a pig at about 3600 pounds!
My real concern is too much brake power in the rear but until I test it I won’t know for sure. If I need to I can possibly adjust the swept area or add an adjustable proportioning valve inline.

So with the 4 corners sorted for now, I need to run some lines, first I figured out where I needed to anchor the flex lines I had selected and then route the hard lines between the various parts.








I have tried to keep the distribution points somewhat accurate and then concerned myself with the lines not interfering with anything else, being adequately supported and looking neat!




I just love the look of those old style British fittings!

You probably noticed I also ran the clutch line while I was at it, same rules applied.

So that’s it for now, I will post again soon.

Stay warm my friends!

Hudson
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[1795]

Willy,

I wouldn't worry too much over the solid rotor issue. Huge vented rotors and calipers with massive breaking are really impressive and do work well, but remember the original cobras all had solid rotors and managed to stop when they needed to! Hell, because I am racing my FIA as original. I still race with solid rotor Girlings and Girling calipers and they do work, albeit I had to add some additional cooling to them to limit brake fade, but again we are talking in race situations where you are braking hard repeatedly and creating a lot of heat in those rotors. So, unless you intend to behave like a teenager and push the car to the limits on the road, scaring the hell out of everyone on the road with you and putting everyones life and limb at risk, don't worry about it.

If a moose jumps the road in front of you and you can't stop in time , just duck your head and you'll go underneath it anyways!

Nice work and attempt at keeping things looking period correct.

Jim

[old willy]

Greetings from Sandcroft Acre,

Hope everybody is having a fine version of winter where ever they are in the world. We here in central Ontario have had a very white one for sure, more snow than I have seen in years so lots of clean up but, hey it’s the winter, in Canada….what did you expect?

So more a bit more about brakes, my situation is unique and for all my wants to keep things as original as possible, I am making changes based on my budget and other factors.
I will put my solutions forward as simply one way to do things in hopes it might help someone else figure something out on their project. As I said before I have learned so much from many others here and just want to give back to the community.

So then, my rear suspension is not stock and yet I am trying to keep it within the confines of the original suspension with fairly good success, it is fairly tight in there but so far so good.
As I stated last time I am going with off the shelf Ford parts in the rear. The original Tbird/Cougar calipers are fairly compact and like a lot of newer stuff have the parking brake built in.
Good and bad really. I did think about adding a disk to the input yoke of the diff and a spot caliper but again its fairly tight in there so…..

The original ( girling? ) rear calipers had the parking brake assembly mounted off the bottom of the caliper, the cable pulled 90 degrees to the side and mostly kept everything out of the way.
The Ford calipers cables pull more towards the rear and rely on longer looping cables that need space to make to turn that I really don’t have.
After much head scratching and test fitting I came up with the idea to flip the caliper to put the cable pull at the top then create a curved cable guide that brings the cable out at almost 90 degrees to the caliper. It is made from a piece of curved ½” tubing with a nylon sleeve inside to reduce friction, a washer stopper and a larger sleeve to hold the original cable end.



This looked good and keeps the cable out of the way of most everything. Ok for now….

Then onto my other hurdle……. the lever assembly.

The 2 issues here are I am not using a perfect replica of the original handle it is actually intended for a big Healey but very similar. Much easier to get and with my slight tunnel modifications it might fit better? Also it was well priced so if I did need to modify it I wouldn’t feel so bad.

The other main issue is that I moved the transmission cross member ahead by 1.75” but need/want to keep the brake handle in the same location.
As you can see there is not much room for the cable attaching parts……hmmmm



My initial though was that I could notch the cross member for clearance and create a different cable attachment and adjustment.
It was going to be too ugly and too complicated so after much more head scratching and some mock ups I decided that a good old fashioned bell crank was the answer.



With this I can move the cable attaching point back to its original location and through the magic of ratios get the correct cable pull length too. After working it out with a full size drawing showing the relationship between all the relevant parts I made the mounting plate and bell crank pivot. Then the bell crank, the new lever arm and the link.

The rest of the parts are basically the stock parts from the drawings. I had only tacked the main mounting piece to the frame because I did not know what I was going to do, that allowed me to remove it and fit / weld the pieces and check and adjust things till I was happy.





Then I decided to get a bit fancy and shorten the cables, they are the longer of the 2 Cougar/ T-bird stock cables. I carefully removed the original end then trimmed the outer sleeve to the correct length and reused the nice sealed factory end fitting.

Then time for the inner. I went back to my old lathe and turned up some new ends, threaded them ¼-28 for original type adjuster nuts and filed some little wrench flats.




I then reinstalled all the pieces, slid the cables in and figured out the correct length.

Then just pull out the cable assemblies and swage on the ends. As always easier said than done…..



Reassemble and test…



Everything seems to work correctly and I really like the fact the cables are still plastic coated and mostly sealed from dirt and water so should last a long time

So with that behind me, I hope, I though now would also be a good time to install a hard fuel line. I really could not find much info on what the original cars had so I just went with I did what I though was best, bent to fit up tight and out of sight and properly supported from where the tank outlet will be and ending somewhere ahead of the engine mount, to be trimmed off later.




And like the main brake line it will need to be installed before anything else around it

So that’s it for now, There will be more soon as I am trying to keep my nose to the grind stone and work on the car and post updates when I can.

Be happy and stay warm my friends, spring is just around the corner

Cheers,
Hudson






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[old willy]

Ok kids gather round, it’s story time again,

I hope my northern friends are finally getting over this long winter and my southern friends.......... well I guess that is not really too much of an issue.

So then, the weather is warming here and work is still progressing on the roadster so a quick update.

A bit of a mixed bag this time, a bunch of things that just needed to be addressed and now was the time.

Some time ago I was checking on some of the other excellent builds on our site here and saw a really excellent cooling fan idea. I reached out and was given the info on this fan setup.

Yes, I would like to try and stay original but those old Lucas fans are expensive and really kind of crappy.

Even though it would be more efficient for cooling I really did not want to use a modern puller style fan so this seems like the best solution for me. They are made to fit early Jaguars and be better than the original with a modern can motor and thin multi blade fan.

I fabbed up a cross bar mount from some preformed ¾ square tube pieces I had in my metal pile and made a quick bracket for the motor.
Then just attached it all to the chassis in what seems to be the correct location relative to the rad.




I hope it works well in the end

I also decided to address an issue I had with the front brace tubes. I waited to install them until I had created the foot boxes, as Chuck had suggested.

However when I wanted to remove the boxes again I found it almost impossible, worse on the drivers side due to the pedal box .

I asked around a bit but still no luck. I could not imagine needing to remove the tube to fit the boxes every time and I really wanted to slip them in and out a few times during construction so a better idea was needed.

I noted there is a space between the firewall and cowl tube that will be hidden so it seemed like a good place to hide a joint.

I turned some bar stock to fit the tube and milled it halfway and drilled it for a tight fitting grade 8 bolt.
Then cut out the section of tube and welded them in.




Works great, I can remove the bolt and flex the brace tube just enough to slip the foot box in or out then just bolt things back together again.
SO problem solved for now .

I might ream the hole one size larger on final assembly or even weld it solid but for now I can fully weld the brace tube and keep working.

I also thought it was time to finally build a sheet metal brake wide enough to deal with the interior panels and other things, just a smidge over 40 inches wide.
The main pieces are really heavy 3/8 inch thick angle iron I ordered for this project the rest was just off cuts and stuff in the shop. I wish it was a pan brake but it works great for what I need.



I also had an issue with the trunk liner, yet again I just can’t seem to get it in or out with the fuel tank mount in place.

I tried both through the fuel tank area and through the trunk opening. It’s so close but I just don’t think it is going to work without cracking something and certainly won't after I paint the chassis.
I am really not sure why but it is what it is and I need to be able to remove it, so just like the brace tubes I decided to make the fuel tank mount removable.

So with a slight modification involving making the rear part from more ¾ square tube and a few more bolts it is now removable and again won’t be seen after final assembly, win, win I guess.



The other thing I have been waffling on is the roll bar, Chuck has included the drawings for it but I really don’t know if I want to have one .

I already had the material in the shop and after taking a few measurements I realized that I could add the mounts and make the bar then decide if I really want to install it later.
The 2 main hoop mounts are located behind the interior panel and the brace tube mount is under the floor so unless I cut the holes they simply are there just waiting to be used.

The main issue turned out to be getting the main tube bent.
My bender is the right radius but only has a 90 degree shoe and buying a new 180 degree shoe for one bend was just out of the question.
The other fellow with a bender near by didn’t have the right radius and then the other promising option had the right radius but he only works in stainless and did not want to contaminate his bender .
I understand his concern so I just put the roll bar idea off to the side for a while but now I decided to do something about it.

SO..... I made 2 90 degree bends and carefully cut and lined everything up with a couple of spacers and clamps and a turned alignment slug in the tube then welded it up and moved on.




It looks the part for now but if I am ever going to actually use it I will get a new hoop bent and for safety.
However for now I could build all the mounts and make sure things will fit should I want this option in the future.

The hoop is easy to make but adding the mounts later would be somewhat more difficult .




While I was at it added the seat belt mounts in the indicated location as well as I added a threaded anchor point for a sub belt on the driver’s side should I want it, along with the roll bar. Then I added 2 points for shoulder belts in case my wife wants them.
They will be old school non-retracting belts the type that use to be in old MGB’s and such.

Perfect, no, but they do work if you want one and are safer than badly done 4 point belts.

So after all that I think it is time to weld things up again. I believe that I might need to add a few small tabs but the main chassis is actually DONE

So back onto the floor to weld up the roll bar mounts then all the way over to get stuff on the bottom.




Then back up on the table for a final look over, BTW the chassis is somewhat heavier than last time I had it on the floor, so glad I have that chain hoist.



So there it is, I like it, I almost can’t believe it exists right in my own garage, from a pile of tubing to this really cool thing!

So now all I have left to do is……….

Everything else!

Take care my friends, be good to one another.

Cheers,

Hudson



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[1795]

You're making great progress Hudson. Can't wait to see it in the completed form.

Jim

[old willy]

Well, well, well,

A long overdue update,

I am somewhat use to the various issues we have had on the forum but honestly I thought it was really gone this time and was seriously considering joining the so called “social media” and looking for some community there. Fortunately it seems we are back up and running again here saving me once again from the evil facebook

Many thanks to whoever was responsible for fixing things, this is such an amazing resource and I hope I am adding to it with my rambling posts about my project.

As I stated before, I have gained so much useful information from here to help me I hope perhaps my story can perhaps help somebody else with their build.

So then I hope everybody had a good summer, I am going to post some shorter catch up posts but if anybody wants to know more please let me know and I will expand on things if I can…… So on with the show…..

So with the chassis basically done short of a few bits it was time to get to get to the wonderful world of sheet metal.

As always I have Chuck’s drawings to start with and I had already fit up a lot of the interior pieces in cardboard so it was a case of transferring those shapes to 3003 aluminum sheet and cutting, bending and trimming till they fit.
I started with the dash panel in 0.060” and laid it out complete with all the gauge and switch hole centers but have not cut those yet.
I took a detour in my fabrication as I did not think I could accurately form the turned edge around the curved areas due to my lack of skills and the thickness of the material. Those areas were made separately and tig welded to the main panel then the weld filed to match the formed area.
I think it looks OK and will be covered with leather in the end.









The dash went well ( first try) so I had a bunch of 0.060 left over and decided to make the floor panels from this as well for a bit of increased strength.
The original drawing has the outer side panel as part of the floor but I have made them separate with a flange to rivet them together later. It should make it easier to install in the end too, and again it is going to be covered in carpet so only we will know.



I then went ahead and created the rear panels and the transmission tunnel, using my existing card patterns. I saved the upper firewall panel for later.





Then turning to the trunk area I printed the drawing patterns and transferred them to cardboard to try the fit up.
I also needed to make a small change in the front corners of the boot area to clear my rear anti roll bar mountings if I want to install one in the future.
It is not much of a change but the sharp eyed among you will notice.



And then also made from sheet stock, this time 20 gauge steel is the fuel tank.
Using Chuck’s drawing I made a template in cardboard to check the fit and did need to drop the top outer corners for a bit more clearance to the chassis tubes but otherwise it is pretty much stock.
There is a fitting made up for the outlet, a mounting ring for the sender and a couple of internal baffles / stiffeners.
The side mounting brackets and other parts are riveted with solid metal rivets and the filler neck is welded to the rear panel. The outer seam is a classic hemmed edge done with hammer and dolly then everything is soldered to seal it.






I tested it with a couple of psi and some soapy water revealing one tiny leak at the top that was quickly fixed with a bit more solder. It’s a very old school way to build a tank but it works.

So that’s it for now, stay tuned for more soon.

Cheers,

Hudson





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[PDUB]

...because of the issues here many have migrated over to talkcobra.com for their online Cobra fix! You might want to head that way for more consistent access to the group.


And, as usual, great work!