Stress Testing

[agro1]

If you were to go over all of the major parts of your Cobra to make sure everyting was "wearing" well, what would they be ? Driveline, suspension, brakes, engine...I'd like some detail as to exactly what you would look at and look for, ie. stress cracks, broken mounts or getting ready to break...that sort of suff. Would you pull the oil pan and inspect the bottom end ? Would you take the brakes apart and give them a good once over ? Open the rear dif, how would you inspect the tranny ? Would you pull the carb intake and heads ? Thanks in advance guys...

[Mr.Fixit]

On your car, I would look at the CV joints, making sure the rubber booties are not torn, and the joins have no shiny spots from hiting the frame which would indicate a broken diff mount. Motor and tranny mounts can break, look at them. Looking at your fluids can let you know of an internal tranny, motor, or diff wear issue. The bushings will wear out on the suspension, so look at them. Short of removing x-raying or magnafluxing every componenton the car, just inspect visually the components in question and look for anything that is abnormal, check fasteners for tightness (headers loosen up all the time) make sure your plumbing is not wearing or leaking, make sure nothing is loose. Start with parts that have an expected lifespan that is short, always check the critical safety parts like brakes. What are you specifically worried about?

[agro1]

FIXIT - Specifically, I am worried about the bottom half of my motor - rotating assmebly to be exact...I assume that can be inspected by pulling the oil pan, right ?

[speed220mph]

There's an old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This applies to your situation. You've got to have a good reason for checking your engine bottom end: noises, sudden drop in oil pressure, whatever. Otherwise I wouldn't mess with it. I've seen a lot of damage or unecessary worked created by people not being able to keep their hands off. Just concentrate on doing typical inspections and preventative maintenance.

[scottj]

agro1
I inspect the oil filter after every race. If a bearing, cam, distributor gear, etc. developes a problem, it will show up in the filter. Pulling the pan will alow you to check for bearing problems but the only way to check the rotating assembly is to disassemble and wet mag the crank and rods for cracks, also measure everything, especially the rods for roundness.

Last year I had a roller cam start to flake a lobe, I found four or five flakes the size of pepper in the Omni screen filter and I was able to avoid any other damage.
Scott

[agro1]

Speed220 - I agree...and I am talking about just that, inspection and preventative matinence. Nothing is broken, but I just like to be sure nothing is ABOUT to break...Catching a cracked rod now could save allot of time and $$ later...

[speed220mph]

argo 1: I figure what you should do considering the scenario you laid out is to pull the engine and do a complete teardown. This way you can Magnaflux the rods and their bolts, take a good look at the crank and inspect the block. You might crack check the crank, too. Check the valve springs for open and closed pressure, look at the valves and seats, lay a straight edge on the heads . . . all the stuff you would do in a complete engine rebuild.

Might as well re-ring your engine and install new bearings. Make sure you keep those lifters in order if they are the flat-tappet style. And while you have it all apart, now's the time to do any engine upgrades you might have been thinking about during those long winter evenings.

Don't forget the rest of the powertrain. This is a prefect time to replace the clutch, if need me. This can get involved, but don't forget the transmission. If it shifted Ok, it probably doesn't need anything except maybe a rear seal. On back, there's the driveshaft. Check the U-joints. There's more, but you get the idea.

[agro1]

Speed220 - I hear ya...and I would like to do that, but will only do so if something breaks. Then I'll have it rebuilt allot stronger. As for now, nothing is broken and it is running better then ever...I just wanted to do a little "preventative matinence". Thanks for the suggestions.