The caliper bolt situation is certainly crap if there have been numerous occasions of the problem. I have done many many dozens of brake jobs, in a previous life, and never used lock tite on the caliper bolts. Never heard of a problem, but maybe I was just that lucky, or maybe its a situation with the type of brakes on an SPF. Don't know. Looking at the picture of the tranny pan, I notice that where the pan and tranny body meet is right in line and level with the cross member, so I don't think the tranny is cockeyed. I don't know what tranny is in the car. I've never seen anything like that, but I'd have to think it is kosher, for what ever type tranny it is, hemoroid and all.

You know, I'm suspecting that somebody forgot to put one of the bolts in where the motor mount sits on the frame bracket. That would allow the engine to rock about, creating that "clunking" noise when it attempted to settle down, as well as allowing the engine and transmission/pan to sit cockeyed the way it is in the photo.

Shoddy work, that's for sure, and after all the grief Tin Man has gone through on this project, I'd bet he's wishing he'd never started now!

That's OK, though...we all get there from now to then on these things, don't we? I know I wished I'd never bought mine for those 20 months it sat on jack-stands as I searched futilely for bushings for the rear suspension. That all ended, though, as soon as I got it roadworthy.

Cheers!!

Dugly :cool:

John,

Been following the ongoing saga of your Bleck SPF ... quite a tale indeed :eek:

Stick with it and do what you need to do to get the car sorted out ... then enjoy it !!! :D

- Tim

The existing issues are easily solvable, replace caliper bolts, replace wheel, check every fuking bolt/nut on the car. This includes rear half shaft, rear caliper, drive shaft u joints, motor mounts, passenger caliber. Check ebrake cables for clearance, retorque header and sidepipe to header connections, all 5 lugs on the pin drives wheels. I bet the wire from your turnsignal mechasim is pinched between the steering column and dash, look under it and see what i mean, the wire should be able to move between the column and dash a little. Grease the ball joints on the front suspension, chances are they werent. Squeze the rubber boot if it feels empty it is.

Easy enough to replace turn signal mechanism, pop the emblem cover off is the hardest part. using fishing line to wrap around and pop it off dont gouge the steering wheel with a screwdriver.

If I had the car it would be ready in 8 hours and everything would be double checked. I will do it for FREE, ship it to me!!!!!

Or fly me out there on southwest, cheaper than shipping. This is just not right anymore.

Karl, with all due respect, what do you see in that pic that many of us don't? I'm more than curious how an auto tranny in any car ends up that cockeyed.

Not Karl, but on first look at what appears to be the flange bolts on the trans pan, the flange appears to be parallel with the frame crossmember. This would initially suggest that the transmission may be level and the pan itself has an asymmetrical or cockeyed sump. However, on closer inspection, its not clear that those are actually pan bolts along the crossmember and the angle of the sides of the pan indicate that it is indeed canted to one side. I'm really curious to hear the real story on this.

Hey Buzz, I think you are right about what I thought were the pan flange bolts. My error. Something is really unusual.

But the engine oil pan looks level

You can see the engine oil pan is fairly level so I think there is no issue with motor mounts. The transmission sure looks cockeyed from what we normally see. Not sure how to bolt it to the engine that way, unless there is an adapter plate between the engine and the transmission. If there is an adapter plate, maybe it has to be cocked to get the bolt pattern to fit or the starter or something. If this is an adaptation, I am not sure there is any fix, nor am I sure this is a real issue for transmission operation. The pan looks deep and with the right pickup, the rest of the transmission doesn't care if it is level or not. The pan just has to hold a puddle of ATF around the pickup and if this does that, it could work just fine. The dipstick would need to re-marked at the right fill level for the application and the transmission rear mount would have to be on an angled bracket, but other than that and like I said, the transmission really doesn't care about its rotational position. This might just be the way it has to be...

The best explanation yet and along the lines of what I was thinking...adapter plate/clearance related matter.

Why didn't tin-man contact the installer and ask him first? %/

I'm just proud of you for not coming out and saying "See, SPF cars really do suck."%/

Hillbank did not do the install on this car.

The engine and transmission were done by a third party (as is legally required on a component vehicle unlike one brand that sell 'em complete) and the transission is "clocked" on purpose. It is needed to fit a GM transmission to the FORD engine! That is what Bowler and Roush need to do to make it fit and work.

The problems with turn signals, etc. are normally checked by the install compltion shop. At our shop we prep the chassis and then re-check all after the installer is done.

While Tinny has several problems with the car most are not related to it being a Superformance, a Backdraft or GASP, even an ERA!!!!

It sure looks like a 4R70 transmission, granted I can only see the pan.

To answer everyone's curiosity, ItBites is basically right. The transmission is a modern Ford 4R70W with a proprietary bellhousing designed by Roush engineering to bolt to the FE engine. The angle is due to starter clearance issues and to get the trans to fit to the engine without adapter plates. This info was given to me by Mark Bowler of Bowler transmissions who builds the unit for Roush and I was told it was tested for two years before being released.

Now, now. SPFs certainly do not suck. I had one for 18 mos and even sold it for a profit. I was just looking for more accuracy and would also have been happy with a glass CSX made by HiTech (SPF).

Tin-man, your posts get people all fired up and I don't know what or who its serving. I think you should give your 'team' the benefit of the doubt and let them answer and correct it first. Perhaps you could hold off on the megaphone until the events are finished or relationships severed(?).
This was indeed a BIG build. Maybe the biggest for an SPF? Or close at least. The FI Roush wasn't an issue. Voss is one of the few last resorts when it come to getting them to work. Roush trusts him as much as anybody. The tranny/FI/light car thing seems to have been tricky, as well as the adapter. Your 78th mile? well 'S' happens.
My old SPF was installed by him and never had to go back (so said the original owner). My Kirkham (Voss installed, 2,500 miles) never had to go back for anything. Never. Not once. Knock on wood, of course :p).
Not only are there too many chefs in the kitchen but everyone whose ever made ice is chiming in.
I'm on your side Tin-man, honest. But we're not your parents and your team isn't your big brothers. ;) Your team deserves to be allowed to see it through. If/when they cry uncle, game on.

Seems to me that the energy needs to be moved to the installer and to the extent applicable, SPF. I suspect they are/have both stood up to remedy what ever outstanding questions/issues exist. Sure, the turn signal and caliper bolts should have been dealt with prior to delivery but at this moment the key question to answer is how they've performed in remedying this situation. I suspect they are and have jumped all over this.

Every company has problems. The true test is how they are handled and resolved.

Jeff - Very Happy SPF/Hillbank Customer

Correct, I was wrong. I was told it was a GM automatic and had not looked cloesly at the picture. Mea Culpa.

Still boils down to an installer/powertrain combination issue, not the chassis brand or desgn.

For the record........
 

The roller I purchased from Superformance is a fine piece of workmanship and I have no issues with Superformance, Hillbank Motors or Lance Stander, Lance is doing one hell of a job in getting all these current issues sorted out for me with Charlie of Hot Rods by Dean, here in Phoenix. I am informed I will have my car no later than this Friday. I am satisfied with the level of service and responsiveness I have received from Superformance Hillbank Motors. and in particular Lance Stander.

I originally had an issue with the transmission sticking in first as I previously reported and Mark Bowler of Bowler Transmission jumped on this with a passion and resolved the issues of sticking in first as a result of it not being calibrated correctly. I found out the Compushift device that controls the transmission had not been sorted out by the installer, I have previously posted the conversation between Bowler transmission and the installer and the results you can judge by yourselves. I am satisfied with the level of service and the responsiveness I received from Mark Bowler of Bowler Transmissions.

I had an issue with the Roush engine since it caused the tranny to grab badly and Mark Yagalo of Roush jumped on this too with an equal amount of zest and modified the high idle that was the root cause of the issue. I am satisfied with the level of service and the responsiveness I received from Mark Yagelo of Roush.

The transmission and engine now perform very well and I am satisfied, even though I has to wait six months for resolution.

I also had an issue with the engine since the rotor came loose and the car stopped after 78 miles, as Rodneym stated chit happens, but this chit was the progenitor of finding out all the above issues that were latent that could and should have come to light during the final stages and run in during the install process.

The current issue of missing a bolt on the left wheel caliper and the fact that the turn signal did not work after I had explicitly asked the installer to check and correct it is indicative of lack of attention to detail during the install process. I am informed it’s the installer’s job to make sure there is loctite on the brake caliper bolts on specific serial number of rollers coming from the factory. Subsequent rollers have this task being performed as SOP. Apparently mine was on the serial number cusp and did not get the factory fix and it would appear that it was not done by the installer as back-up to support factory generated instructions.

So this brings me up to the installers role in this nightmare, I am not satisfied with the results US18,000 bought me for the installation. Granted the engine looks awesome where it sits and the installer told Charlie the angle I showed of the tranny in yesterdays post is such that it is in spec with the current Bowler design. However from my take it just does not look right as I previously stated even though it may not impair the drive train abilities of the car. Oh, and just so everyone knows there was adapter plates installed between the engine and transmission.

Final comment in response to "what purpose does it serve for me to post the travails I have encountered with this purchase" simply put, a) its to notify the readers of Club Cobra that no matter how much you spend on a Cobra there will be issues and I have leaned this in a very hard and painful manner, and b) select an installer who has walked the walk on the specific install you are contracting him to build. Eric Voss of Voss Performance indicated to me several months after we had agreed for him to perform the install this was the first time he had ever attempted such a task of installing an auto tranny with a BB511 IRFE motor. The elapsed time for the install and the several "upgrade" financial add ons to the original price are indicative of why people should do their due diligence better than I did.

And not to put a fine point on this, I am mindful of the potential consequences that a loose caliper assembly could have on the operation of the wheel of a Cobra when travelling at high speed.

OK so that’s it. I get my car back Friday and will be putting a few hundred miles on it before I return to China so here’s hoping Charlie of Hot Rods by Dean can weave his magic one more time as he has done for other Arizona Cobra Club members and deliver a car in the correct condition that I should have received it in the first place.

Cheers, John, AKA, tin-man