What little custom touches have you done to your cars?

[Buzz]

Louvered hood vents - not so much for engine cooling, but to protect underhood components from excessive heat, particularly when parked after a long drive. Not exactly an original touch but period correct as at least one original car had hood vents. More importantly to me - they really work!

[*13*]

I like em!

Originally Posted by Buzz

Louvered hood vents - not so much for engine cooling, but to protect underhood components from excessive heat, particularly when parked after a long drive. Not exactly an original touch but period correct as at least one original car had hood vents. More importantly to me - they really work!

[cobrajeff]

I can't leave anything alone - I've always got some crazy idea how I could "improve" my stuff....

I'll break these down to things I did during the build, and then things I modified later. I have added a bunch of pics to Gallery, so you can see some details and alternate views there.
For starters, I knew I was going to put a Cleveland in my FIA, and I knew I wanted it to breath through 427-style side pipes. Fortunately, I made about three trips to New Britain during the cars construction. Early on I determined that some frame mods would be required to accomdate my side pipes through the body:




The outer frame rail had to be cut back, and unique braces added.







I planned to open track the car, so I took it to my old friend Stu Galbraith at Weldcraft Welding to have the tunnel brace modified, a forward leg added to the roll bar (I originally ordered the car from ERA with a 427-style rear-braced roll bar specified), and side impact braces (copied off Frannie Kress's Cobra) added in:







I'm pretty sure the finished product added a lot of stiffness, and it helps insure that I step high enough over the side braces that I clear the hot pipes, too.

I also copied Fran's racing mirror mounts on the windscreen:



Since I used a rivet-on 427 style hood scoop (I liked the looks better than the FIA-unique scoop), I had to make my own scoop insert...



And I finished off the inside of the oil cooler scoop with aluminium, so the raw 'glass doesn't show up:



That's enough for now. Will post later with other mods.

regards,

Jeff

[Snakebit]

Custom drive shaft hoop
Wire looms on valve covers
Remote oil filter bracket
Tail light bulb reflectors
Weber linkage
Windshield miror brackets
Bypass hose on dual outlet Weber manifold

Everything else was supplied by ERA.

[Blas]

Starting to see some nice stuff here...

CobraJeff, your windshield appears to have a substantial amount of additional rake to it...is that just the photo?

Dwight...Maglight Flashlight? I bet you used it for the filler and cap?

As to the vent screen in the front wheel-wells...Could I have seen it on one of the CSX Fiberglass replica cars maybe?

[*13*]

CobraJeff, Great to see early pics of your car! Very Nostalgic for you, I'm sure! Added to the above...Did you mod your car to get extra rake on your windshield? I couldn't get mine too much further than I have it.

[MFE III]

Trying to keep the oil at the proper temp has been a challange. On a cold day on the highway, it was tough to get it above 140* or so. But I need the cooler on the track. So I tapped directly into the pan and installed a seperate electric pump. When the oil's hot I flip the switch and it cools off. On the street I leave, and it gets to normal operating temp regardless of air temp.

Bobcowan:
that's a very interesting alternative to running a thermostat for the cooler. For me, it would be much easier plumbing to run a line up one frame rail through the pump, cooler then back to the oil filter adapter plate on the other side of the motor.
What kind of pump did you use?