Which Company makes "best" replica?

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

And I long for the day that my car is in the Shelby World Registry.

[turnpike boy]

Cmon down to the Cobra Revolution this Saturday - don't know where in Jersey you are, but you're not really any more than about an hour an a half at most away. You will get closer to these cars than at any car show, with folks who are deelighted to show you their stuff. On top of that, there will also be a Backdraft dealer there who is a mighty fine fella, and will fill your needs cup to overflowing. Garonteed .

As to whose Cobra is best.......yours will be, whichever one you finally choose. Just like all the rest of the posters in here who see theirs as the best.

[speed220mph]

Originally Posted by ZOERA-SC7XX

And I long for the day that my car is in the Shelby World Registry.

Can you get in the SAAC registry if CS signs your glovebox?

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by speed220mph

Can you get in the SAAC registry if CS signs your glovebox?

Possibly, if Team Shelby takes over the Registry. Stay tuned.

[jdean]

This thread has been fun. I am not biased at all about the ERA being the best replica....just to prove it if any of you have a nice Kirkham and want to move up, I will consider a trade with you ;-)

[Excaliber]

Point well taken RodKnock, the customers have spoken in regards to what they want on a Kirkham, and that far and away seems to be 'modern parts'. Customers were specing SO many K cars that way I believe thats one reason the original spec suspension, brakes, etc. now are a costly option. It may soon disappear or become so costly it will be all but impossible to get an original spec car. Thats OK, those few original spec cars (like Budman recently sold to Hi Cobra) should be reserved for the few, the proud, the hard core. The ones that WANT to recreate what it was really like back in the day, with all it's warts and flaws and 3,000,000 parts.

[Excaliber]

Well the Kirkham certainly has to be considered when it comes to choosing what replica best suits your needs. There are WAY to many builders to list them all in a reasonably worded first post to a thread.

[Got the Bug]

If Shelby takes it over it'll be like those cheesy "who's who" books...pay us $500 and we'll be happy to list your name.

Hey Rodney - Glad you drew the line at the leather steering wheel...the reaction is usually gasps of horror when they see my car.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

Hey Rodney - Glad you drew the line at the leather steering wheel...the reaction is usually gasps of horror when they see my car.

A famous philosopher once said "A man has got to know his own limitations." I knew mine.

[Got the Bug]

One famous philosopher who used that line is Dirty Harry.

OK..we're going to smacked for taking this thread WAY off topic.

[Excaliber]

As far as the steering wheel, some of the original cars were modified by wrapping the wheel with various items. After all, that skinny wooden wheel is a handful when your drifting the corners and your a$$ is on the line.

[jmimac351]

I haven't read any of these replies but you're all wrong.

[Excaliber]

Well heck I said some posts ago that the strength of a square or round tube is more dependant on the overall design that the type of material being used anyway.

Whats the complicated saying? The sum of the parts is greater than the individual, or something like that...

jmimac351 is on to something, were all wrong!

[RodKnock]

Silver, I wasn't really out to prove you wrong, but it didn't sound right. So I had to look it up myself. I'm wrong all the time and there's no way I could ever calculate the "I" value without first looking for the formula somewhere on the Internet.

I hope I did not offend you. Not my intention.

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Silver, I wasn't really out to prove you wrong, but it didn't sound right. So I had to look it up myself. I'm wrong all the time and there's no way I could ever calculate the "I" value without first looking for the formula somewhere on the Internet.

I hope I did not offend you. Not my intention.

Not offended at all. I'm glad you pointed out my mistake so I could correct it.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

Not offended at all. I'm glad you pointed out my mistake so I could correct it.

There are other significant differences as well, such as the cross members, number of them, and how they are placed which I would think significantly affect frame rigidity.

I think CSX4000/Kirkham's have 4 cross members. I don;t know about ERA's, Superformances, and how they they all compare to one another.

I now see you already posted about this.

Originally Posted by Silverback51

--Now this is just basic strength of materials for structural shapes and does not take into account the other structural bracing and such that makes up the frames. The only way to really compare any of these frames to determine which is the strongest would be to build a FEM model and run it through a stress program to determine what is happening when like loads are applied.

Unless one of the above manufactures has actually done this for all three frames, they cannot make any claims that theirs is the strongest.

Yes, the ERA 3 X 4 X .125 tube is the strongest, but that single component does not make it the strongest frame. All it would take would be one series of truss members to make the Kirkham tube assembly 10 times stronger.

Besides, don't beleive everything you read from manufactures (or politicians) as they are all trying to sell you something.

Is that better?

And thank you for challenging my response. I don't get to play with numbers much at work anylonger. Even this simple stuff was kind of fun.

Yes, perfect response. And I don;t believe everything what is told to me from politicians, doctors, and especially lawyers

[Dinobyte]

To compare, you need to compare apples to apples.

Same motor in all cars...since we are talking the SC, then it has to be the 427 FE.

For the SB guys, we will allow a 427 Windsor with 500 or so HP.
(We don't want to upset the SB guys too much with that size thing again.)

Start off with Weighing the cars...measuring the cars (width, length, ride height).

Have a panel look at the cars for fit, comfort, ease of driving.

Rate the car on authenticity based on an agreed upon criteria.

Measure the 0-60, 0-100, 1/4 mile, time to lap Willow Springs (etc...pick your track), so as to understand the performance characteristics of each car given the same power plant.

Next we need to measure the skid pad rating for each.

Then we need equipment to measure the cars responsiveness to lane changes...how fast through the slalom, etc.

Now the bracking....going 100 MPH, slam on the brakes..how quickly does it stop...120 MPH...brakes...how quickly does it stop....140 MPH...brakes, etc.

Now 0-100-0 time...how fast.

0 to 100 time

0 to 120 time

0 to 140 time

All of these measures should be able to provide not only performance in like prepared cars, but also tell us when equipment starts to break.

Last but not least, cost to purchase each car with the identical equipment.


If the kit companies and an engine builder could prepare the various common engines, then we would have real data to look at and not just some BS opinion of someone who thinks they know which car is better. Put them through the Car and Driver test and see who wins. How dumb is that?

[jmimac351]

Originally Posted by Dinobyte

How dumb is that?

Because performance is a very small part of the cobra "ownership experience". I get considerable enjoyment out of just looking at the damn thing while drinking a beer and smoking a cigar in my garage.

The "best" depends on what you want. For me, and many others, it would be a Kirkham.

For guys that want to track the car and build it - maybe a FFR. Building and working on your own car is a completely different experience.

For someone that wants to build but wants a more "authentic" look - Hurricane or the new FFR body.

For a turnkey minus car that looks like a more exotic cobra / tough - Backdraft.

For a turnkey minus car without the cost of the Kirkham - SPF.

I think running the numbers matters very little in this regard. Certain cars will provide different owners entirely different experiences.

[ItBites]

Silverback (and others):

With frames, we usually care about torsional stiffness, not bending stiffness. Ix or Iy is normally the cross-sectional moment of inertia with respect to the neutral bending axis (what you calculated).

Ip is typically the abbreviation for torsional cross-section moment of inertia. I think if you look at torsional stiffness, you will find the 4" round tube is superior to any other shape with dimensions less than 4 x 4 (given similar wall thicknesses). The .120 wall thick 4" round tube is still likely better than the SPF .160 wall thickness, due to the 2" dim on the SPF frame (and with less mass).

Have a nice day

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by ItBites

Silverback (and others):

With frames, we usually care about torsional stiffness, not bending stiffness. Ix or Iy is normally the cross-sectional moment of inertia with respect to the neutral bending axis (what you calculated).

Ip is typically the abbreviation for torsional cross-section moment of inertia. I think if you look at torsional stiffness, you will find the 4" round tube is superior to any other shape with dimensions less than 4 x 4 (given similar wall thicknesses). The .120 wall thick 4" round tube is still likely better than the SPF .160 wall thickness, due to the 2" dim on the SPF frame (and with less mass).

Have a nice day

And that is why we don't have square axles.

But the majority of the torsional stiffness comes from the rest of the frame design.