289 Slabside Question...

[427sharpe]

As I ponder the Kirkham slabside, a few of us were 'bench racing' and came up with a few disagreements that I hope CC can clear up. On the ORIGINAL Cobras, how wide apart were the 3" mail rails, center to center? How many body parts interchange? In Legates 'Cobra" he says the hood, doors and boot (trunk) are all the same..I disagree, but am not sure. Finally, how much wider is the 427 body than the 289, and where is the difference. I seem to recall that the prototype bb's that Miles did had a 2" strip added into each fender....

[Cal Metal]

With regard to the Ken Miles' BB--I assume your talking about the Flip Top, CSX 2196--the width center to center on the head lamps--is different from that of either a 289 or a 427. Legate is correct on the hood, doors and trunk question.

On the 289 chassis, the distance between the frame rails, as measured from the inside to the inside of each rail is 14 1/4, give or take an 1/8.

[Trevor Legate]

427 sharpe

Your comment about the doors, hood, trunk got me worried. I thought I should at least check what I wrote many years ago!! Just had a reply from The authority in the UK, who should know, and he said that "In theory, they are the same, but few are genuinely interchangable".
I guess thats the nature of hand-built cars. (Thanks Cal Metal)

Best regards
Trevor

[Jim Maxwell]

I enjoy taking the doors, hood, and trunk off my 427 and switching them with the ones on the 289 just to create a different look to the cars; white on silver, silver on white. It creates quite a stir at the car shows. (comments like, "Is that guy insane?")
The hard and soft tops and the tonneau covers and windows for hard and soft tops work exactly on either car. Even the lift-a-dot fasteners are in the same exact places-truly!
Same toolkits, same jack and jack handles, same greasegun. Same windshield dimensions.