sidepipes? and radiator?

[inazuma_x]

ok 2 questions in 1 here:

1) sidepipes...is is possible to have the real position of the sidepipes? i mean have them coming directly from the engine? i live in QLD but i dont want some fake sidepipes...coz thats just cr4p...

2) radiator...i have seen both sloped and vertical front radiators...what did the original cobra sc's have?

[boxhead]

1: You can make working legal side pipes, they need to have cat convertors in them, oxygen sensors and be below the legal db limit for your state.

2: the original SC cobras had a vertical radiator.

[Adrian S]

1). You can run the exhaust directly into the sidepipe and instead of dumping the exhaust just in front of the back tyres, you duct it back in underneath the car and push the exhaust out the back. Before you decide on functioning side pipes, make sure you travel in a Cobra with working side pipes. There are a few considerations.
a) your right ear is less than a metre from the exit point - good for headaches on those long trips.
b) you only hear half the engine - the other half is somewhat quieter on the other side.
c) you (or more likely your unwitting passengers) can score themselves a nice burn if they're not careful. Unless you have heat shields which I reckon detract from them a bit.

For me, cosmetics is the way. Maybe down the track I'll pipe the exhaust through them but exit it out the back as above. As for legalities, as far as I know, it is illegal to direct exhaust toward the foot path/side walk. Therefore, you could just run the drivers side pipe if you wanted - you'd look like a dill though !

2). Radiators. Bigger is always best easpecially in Australia. Therefore, you put in what you can make fit. In the November 65 edition of Sports Car Graphic sitting in front of me, the 427SC had the radiator sitting at a very slight angle backwards at the top. However the street version looks more upright than the race version.

Just a warning, if you try to make your car look 'exactly' like the original, you'll go nuts. If you ask me, the originals look pretty untidy. Engine bay was ordinary, cockpit looks substandard (is it sacrilege to say this ??). Body looks great though.

Hope this helps,
Adrian.

[cameron02]

Adrian, I have to agree with you regarding the originals.

Also if you look at a bunch of originals they all look different. Some had different lights, some had AC badge etc. I guess thats a by product of making so few cars over a long period of time. Parts seem to have been borrowed from other makes of cars and I guess they just used what was available at the time.

Cameron

[inazuma_x]

so it is illegal to have exhaust going out onto the sidewalk? thats odd...i want functioning sidepipes...dont get me wrong i am all for cosmetics...but things like that are trademarks of the cobra and to have tacked on purely cosmetic things like that would in my opinion be sacrelige...

if my passenger or i forget what they are doing and gets burned by my sidepipes then so be it...whats a cobra without teeth? :P hehehe

if i did it anyway what could they do? i can register it before i do that and then mod it after :P hehehe...nobody would ever know...

basically i only want the exterior to appear original...there are particular things i like about certain models more than others...also i wanna have a pair of sparco racing seats w/ harnesses in it too :P maybe that is sacrelige...but meh...they look cool

[boxhead]

Most guys register there cars first then modify to fit the side pipes

Check with Aussie Mike, he is trying to make some legal working side pipes.
I have seen his side pipes and they look really good with some very clever ideas in them.

[inazuma_x]

oh thats a relief...i was worried that my dream car would have to either be some bastardized look-alike or an illegal replica...given the choice i would go the illegal path...but if i could avoid both i would be well chuffed

why is the db level a problem? i mean sure massive noise would be bad...but whats a lion without its roar? just a big ***** :P

[boxhead]

How about showing us some pics of your mini.

I have a soft spot for the cooper s raceing/rally versions after my father inlaw used to race and rally them in the 70's and 80's.

He used to have a raceing version with crossflow head that had the webbers pokeing out the front of the car, which was a lift of fibreglass nose.

And he still has his factory works rally car that competed in the Acropolis rally in Greece and the Danube rally (I think) in Europe before being exported to Australia for the Southern rally in 1966/67.

Here is a link to see his restored rally car http://www.britcar.com.au/default.htm
scroll to the bottom of the page to see the car and more pics

[inazuma_x]

i'll have to take some and post them...its a very original *nothing has been changed or modified since its "birth") 1966 Morris Mini Deluxe...its pretty nice...i like it...piss weak though...998cc so you get a cool 34hp out of it at the flywheel :P i had pretty big plans for it...1.5L turbo charged, metro 4-pot brakes etc etc...but worked out i could never get more than 100kW out of it...it would be nice in a mini...but then i found out about cobra kits...and the rest is history...i'll post some pics in a few days...

[BMK]

Hi all

Know its a bit early for a radiator but Aussie Desert Coolers based in Melbourne do a great aluminium radiator. Saw one last week when at McDonald Bros. Racing in a Street Rod there.

Its well made and very thick.

I use an aluminium radiator and its custom made to the car. Cobra runs very cool and it looks good also. My only concern is that it may be hit by a flying stone out on the highway.

Cheers

Bernie

Bernie Knight
Mt. Gambier South Australia



PS

Aussie desert Coolers has a large add in Australian Street Rodder this edition. Go stand and read it in the news agent like I do.

[Aussie Mike]

I had my radiator built by Norm at Aussie Desert Cooler. He does some fantastic work and is a real gentelman. He's a hot rodder of some note himself and builds ton's of Hot Rod and Custom one off radiators.

Here's a pic of the unit he built for me. I machined up the brackets for the fan myself but you'll get the idea. Radiator

The Aluminium Radiator worked out to be about $700 which I thought was pretty good value since a Copper/brass unit was about $500.

I'll be mounting the radiator virtually straight up and down when I finish making the brackets. Leeroy has some shots of his radiator mounted in his car. Check out his gallery.

On the subject of sidepipes: I've built my own and they have cat converters inside them. For registration purposes the pipes will have full heatshields over them and the exhaust will duct back under the body and out the rear via a couple more mufflers. With the way I've built it it should take me about 1/2 an hour to strip off the rear muffler section and heat shields and have the side pipes exiting the side as normal (for when I'm at the race track of course ).

I've spoken to my engineer and he sees no problem with my exhaust running this way as long as the following criteria are met:

The exhaust must not exit towards the footpath.
There must be no danger of burning yourself on it.
It meets the noise requirements.
It meets the emissions requirements.

Cheers

[NASSTY]

G'day inazuma_x

Side pipes....

Went to the Cobra Nats in Oct 03 for the first time. If possible, you should go and check it out. Took lots of pics and asked ?'s.
I'd say most cars don't have working side pipes. Most were for show only, some re-routed the exhaust back into the side pipes so they kind of worked, others hid their exhaust going out the back so it cannot be seen, others proudly had 4 pipes, two side pipes and two out the back. Not many Cobras didn't have side pipes but

In Vic from what I understand it is very difficult to reg your car with working side pipes.

Personally, I'm not going to have them. My RCM chassis was designed so the exhaust goes through it. Nothing hangs below the chasis. Also the body curves under the chassis real nice so that you cannot see the chasis rails etc. Some Cobras I saw at the Nats almost need side pipes as the chassis is visible and it can look at bit messy.

Also fake side pipes add weight - makes for a flabby cob!

Cheers