On Sunday morning, I finally, I have had the pleasure of my first drive in a Cobra. I have had the opportunity to be a passenger in two Cobras previously, but actually driving is a completely different story.
Especially since it was MINE!!
After 594 hours and a whole bunch of dollars, the crunch came over the weekend. Go or No Go!!
On Saturday morning, I finished under the car (attach fuel lines to fuel rail, tidy up O2 sensor wiring and connect throttle cable) and dropped it off the blocks onto the ground. Now to finish under the bonnet –
oil Pressure and H2O temp wiring, heater hoses – and plug in the computer and associated relays. By around 7pm, I just had two problems – the
oil pressure and H2O gauges were reading off the scale with any power and the ECU was not getting any power. I finally realised that the gauges were connected to the wrong signal wire (idiot!! – took an hour to find this – why not check it first!!) and the ECU problem was a poor earth (how may times have you heard that story).
So by 7.38pm, I had pushed the car out, filled the radiator and was ready to go. Hit the GO button and cough splutter, engine is running. Not exactly smooth yet. Maybe a couple of minutes of idle and it might sort itself out (I have no idea why I thought that, it just seemed like the only option). So within a couple of minutes there was water dripping onto the (not fan) belt and spraying everywhere – clearly just a loose hose clamp. Then there was smoke pouring from the front of the engine. Time to stop now!! Closer inspection revealed a poor earlier decision to leave the heater hose sitting on top of the alternator pulley (again – idiot!). New heater hose (had some spare) and away we go again. The idle did get good enough to run with no throttle so I walked to the back of the car to check out the noise factor. It was reasonable. So much so, I could hear a serious vacuum leak coming from the engine bay. Hoping it wasn’t major, I checked the noisy area, stopped the engine and was about to leave it for Sunday. But a quick check of the area and I found a vacuum hose that I missed. Easily fixed.
Hit the GO button again and, … YIPEEEEE
. A smooth running V8. What a sound!
That was about all I could handle for one day so early Sunday morning, away we go again. Start the car and back it out of the garage. Check the handbrake. Good. Check the brakes. Good. Give it a chance to get some temperature. Good. Now for the fun part. A couple of trips up and down the road. Just quiet ones of course. Don’t want to push my luck.
Reverse out the driveway onto the "test track" – just enough clearance. Reverse down the "test track" – reverse works well! In gear and a quiet pass. Very nice. Maybe a bit more next run. Engine temp coming up nicely. So the next run I used the throttle just a little and, “Holy $#@#”.
Now, my daily drive is a diesel Hilux that produces about 120HP – in a 2000kg vehicle. Lets just say I was impressed. I can’t wait to actually learn how to drive now. The power is incredible. Sure many who read this may think “yeah, whatever” but the first time experiencing this is, well, the first time. And it is fantastic.
I parked the car and more than 24 hours later – I am still abuzz!!
Apologies for the diatribe but, for those who are building, get back to the workshop!!! All the hard work really is worth it. And for those who have an operational vehicle – go drive it now!!!
Regards
Geof