Excalibur Owners: Please Reply!

[Brent98335]

I am selling #128 on eBay for a friend:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=260038320177

If you need any details let me know.

[cobraduke]

I'm confident that what Doug told you was what he was told and is probably close. 1979 was the first year of the Fox body mustang. 1978 was the last year of the Mustang II. Both used rack and pinion so it might be the same rack. The Fox had a bolt in K member and strut suspension while the Excalibur had a Mustang II front suspention. I'd look first at Mustang II. They had a power rack which might be what you need for your conversion. Let us know what you find out as I'll bet others might want to do the same conversion.
By the way, I've seen some Classic Roadsters listed with power steering so Don Scott at CR II might be able to tell you exactly what is needed right down to hoses and brackets.

Mike

[93EXCAL]

Hello...
I don't know if this is still an active chat...but in the event that it is, I have another Excalibur for you.

My husband and I just purchased a black 1993 Excalibur vin 123002. The car is now located in NE Florida. Hope this helps you in your quest for information.

But now we are on a quest for information. Did you ever have any luck w/ manuals? There are lights on the dash and we do not know what they indicate...and they keep coming on!!! Do you know where we might find some info on this? I called Camelot and they were not able to help me.

Thank you for your help and we hope to hear from you soon!

Michelle

[MilwDoug]

Hi Michelle,

Welcome to the forum. I hope you and your husband like your Excalibur. I love mine and think it's a great car.

The dash lights (mine has 4 of them) from right to left are as follow. Blue for high beams, red for emergency brake, amber for alternator, and the far left one is white for check engine. For me the check engine light has been a nuisance, and I pulled it out. Usually it's indicating a problem with the exhaust system and thus the pollution control system. If you have your original exhaust with the catalytic converters, you'll find that it's the biggest weakness on the Excalibur Cobras.
The headers tend to crack near the engine, and there is a four bolt flange at the end of the header that tends to come loose. Keep these bolts tight or they'll burn out the gasket between the two mating flanges. When the bolts are loose, the car starts to sound better (louder) and the check engine light comes on because air is leaking into the exhaust system and is being detected by the oxygen sensor. This is probably what's happening to your car.

If you see cracks in your headers, just have someone fill the crack with a bead of weld. This will probably happen several times, but is easily fixed by your local mechanic and should be very cheap.

Doug

[Excaliber]

The headers 'tend to crack'? Thats like saying squirrels 'tend to eat nuts' and bears 'tend to do their business in the woods'.

[Lowell W]

If you see cracks in your headers, just have someone fill the crack with a bead of weld. This will probably happen several times, but is easily fixed by your local mechanic and should be very cheap.

Prior to welding, clean the header coating from around the area and drill a small hole (1/16" or so) at each end of the crack to prevent it from spreading. It's important that the crack actually ends in the hole, so be sure you have located the ends. This eliminates the stress risers at the ends of the crack and allows the welder to achieve full penetration at each end of the repair.

Lowell

[93EXCAL]

Hey everyone...thanks for the prompt reply to our light question....and all the added info as well.

I did actually find that the light problem was previously discused on pages 13-14 of the chat. Sorry I didn't do more reading first.

Sounds like I have a bit of work ahead of me as one of the bolts mentioned is actually missing...must be a really big crack.

[Excaliber]

Don Scott, owner of CLASSIC ROADSTERS II often has replacement headers for Excal's, SOME modifications may be required. Good headers really free up some horse power over the OEM Excal exhaust system. Excal and Classic Roadster are virtually identical in many ways. Last I heard Don actually had a complete original spec exhaust system for an Excal (quite rare, probably long gone by now).

[DavidFagan]

Well there's a big M in an outline and TAIWAN and on the other side a 026, the M is also in other places on it so I suspect it's a logo but I have no idea who made it. It's pot metal so I have not options I can think of but to replace it. I have no idea if years are different are not but mines a 96, near the end of the line....

Also one on the nuts broke loose on my steering column and I said oh Cr..p I thought I would have to take the who thing out and weld it. Well... if this happens to you yell and I'll send you a new kind of cage nut they make for computer racks you pop it in the whole and it's expands when the bolt enters a whole lot easier then removing the steering. It basically the principle idea of a drywall expander but works completely different and it's a fairly heft bolt. Worked perfect fix time, 3 minutes...

By the way am I the only one who's broken the turn signal arm off?, twice actually ahhhhhh!

[RedSnake351]

For the last two years I've had a Cobra and was sure it wasn't a Hi-Tech, which was stated on some paperwork. After months of trying to research the origin of the body, I got my answer during the 2007 London Cobra Show. Two very knowledgeable guys, Dave from Kentucky and Jay from OCC, independently confirmed "positively" that the body is an Excalibur and the chassis is a Classic Roadster. It was built professionally by American Cobra Exchange in 1994 in Atlanta, GA. at 1915 Airport Rd, Dekalb-Peachtree Airport. Researching this company on Google has revealed very little information.
It is listed with a picture in a 1996 "The Car Collector & Car Classic Magazine'" as an ACE 427. It has a 351W, 5 sp. Tremec, tubular front end and carrera coilovers on all 4 corners.
According to the VIN # ACE 94109ECL351001 it would indicate that it is probably the 1st one built, and an unconfirmed story is that 5 were built at the same time.
I'm trying to find other owners with the same body/chassis combo to see if their cars came from this company.
Ralph

[Excaliber]

I would be hard pressed to determine a Classic Roadster body from an Excalibur body, and I KNOW what to look for. They are a virtual carbon copy of each other, including most of the frame components. It's the interior where things vary quite a bit from the C.R.

Excalibur never offered a 'kit' of any kind, while there might have been a few bodies and pieces that got out of the factory in various ways, that would be about it. Random stuff, notably when the factory was shutting down, not starting up!

I would bet you got a C.R., body and frame, made by one of MANY independants that have come and gone over the years. Some replica Cobras will forever remain a mystery as to who built it and what it was built from.

Magazines are notorius for mislabeling replicas of all makes and models. ACE 427 is a fairly generic term that could apply to wide variety of replica Cobras. But in your case it does sound like an actual company name, "ACE".

[RedSnake351]

Ernie, thanks for the reply, my research is not over! One of our club members, Big Iron, has a genuine Excal and the next time we get together we're going to compare the bodies "real good!"
Ralph

[cobraduke]

Can't say much about the chassis differences, but the primary, obvious difference in the fiber glass bodies is the shape of the doors at the upper leading edges. See CRII site for good photos of the CR II version and you can check my gallery photos for the Excalibur version. The rest of the cars seem remarkably identical with the exception of the variety of dash, seat, door latch and console variations seen in the CR. Builders can and do get creative there and the CR factory has options and running changes as well. CR II is a great place for parts and info where they are alike. For example, I needed a windshield washer bottle and the kit from CR II was identical to that used on my Excalibur 11 years ago. Let us know what you find out about your cobra.

Mike

[BLACKJACK]

Dumb Break Here - - Literally!!

On The Recent Drive To Ohio I Cracked The Windshield On My Excalibur.

Anyone Know Where I Can Get A Replacement???

Thanks - And - Y'all Have A Reallly Great Day.

Blackjack

[cobraduke]

CR II are the same for sure. Contact Don Scott. I was told they are all the same, but I'm doubtful as the body width varies. But I'm no expert so may be they are. Nice to learn that yours gets to make cross country trips. You are helping get my motivation up to do something like that. I need a new windshield as well, but it is only pitted. Guess I'll wait until it really needs it. Let us know what you find out.

Mike

[Aloys]

BLACKJACK:
had to replace mine, that`s written on it:

XXX Triplex Laminated
DOT 17-M101-AS1
E11
43 R-0076
Pilkington
Made in England

Hope this helps a bit!

[ohekk]

redsnake351

The Classic Roadster and the Excalibur are NOT a "Virtual carbon copy of each other"

There are several distinguishable differences. The shape of the door being most noticeable.

To my knowledge, Excalibur had 2 sets of molds then acquired a third set fro Badgerland Dream Cars that was similar to the CR except had the doors modified similar to Excalibur. The 3 sets of molds were NOT identical!

When comparing your car to an Excalibur: check the doors, the parting lines in the front fenders, headlight openings, hood, door jams, backup lights, Fuel filler shape & location sidemarkers and the firewall. Excalibur glass was hand laid NOT applied with a chopper gun.

Many parts are interchnageable but the bodies are definately different.

It's true that Excalibur did not market their Cobra as a kit, however once the production stopped, the molds and fixtures were sold and several Cobras were sold as "Components only". I know of at least 5 in my area.

It's possible your body was:

A - Pulled from the original Excalibur molds
B - A "component only" body that left the factory
C - A salvaged body from a car that was wrecked /"rebodied"
D - Pulled from the Badgerland molds
E - None of the above

If your car was built in 1994...I suspect D or E

[MaSnaka]

Mike I have the slightly older CR which I'd be happy to measure for you if you like. Let me know. John

[tcrist]

Go to WWW.classicroadsters.com

All of the info you need is there

Terry

[BLACKJACK]

Thanks, Terry.

Blackjack