It's Alive!!!

ByronRACE · #1 (**permalink**) 08-04-2005, 05:33 PM

My blown big block death machine roared to live recently...I hope to drive it out to a breakfast event before the rains come.

My god; it turned out better than I ever expected...what a nutty ride this thing is going to be. If Charlie Bruno was still with us (It was his car, 1981 West Coast, never built), he'd be proud! LOL

http://www.racesystems.com/cobra/cobravid.htm

Byron

ByronRACE · #2 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 02:51 PM

So who do I have to talk to to get an obligatory pat on the head / attaboy / good job / gee that's neato / or some indication of interest, even if ungenuine.

I guess you guys see reverse-rotation, centrifugally supercharged, fuel injected, big block cobras every day?

It sucks to be the only guy excited about ones car. I feel so alone. SAY SOMETHING!

Pet Me!

Byron

LETSRCE · #3 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 04:05 PM

That is one bad mofo!!!
Just the sound should scare people!!
But I'm sure you'll get some misguided Cobra person with a stroked 351 thinking that because his engine weighs 75lbs less, he will be faster than you making a left turn into In-n-out burger

Congrat's!!

And remember, until it drives, I'm still faster!!!!

Terry Stapley · #4 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 04:24 PM

I enjoyed the video and I can fell your excitement when that puppy fired up for the first time!! Sounds GREAT!! It will be a blast to drive! Great Job and post more pics!

Tim Brewer · #5 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 07:05 PM

I think it's awesome! Just a few questions though, I couldn't see your radiator, guess it's tucked up the nose? Do you think you'll have any cooling problems? Is there a need for a intercooler if there's room? I ask because I have basically the same engine, but stroked, and am currently having cooling problems. Keep your videos comming, I think they"re great!
Tim

ByronRACE · #6 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 09:00 PM

OK, so there's life out there! Thanks guys, I was starting to feel like the retarded fat kid in the corner nobody liked. Hey wait a minute; I'm having a flashback.

Tim:

The radiator is a custom 10-core jobber in the nose; http://www.racesystems.com/cobra/images/radiator2.jpg it's about 4" thick. I know how hard it can be to cool Cobras and went nuts on the radiator. The coolant system holds nearly 8 gallons of coolant. The nice part about being centrifugally supercharged, there is not much going on in the cruise/idle range; not much additional engine load and not much additional intake heat. The blower is very inefficient at low rpm, and with the bypass valve open it should not present much loading/heating. The intake air temperature at wide-open throttle running 8ish psi of boost (I doubt I need more!) should be around 130deg F on a 70deg day. With my 7.88:1 compression ratio; there will be no need for an intercooler unless you wanted more power. At 14+psi, sure an intercooler would help make it more tunable on pump gas but if I ever run that kind of boost, I'll spring for good race fuel. My guess is I'll never run that much boost; the internals of the engine are safe to around 1000fwhp. Beyond that, I'm rolling the dice. I may do it once or twice on the dyno for grins; but as far as actually driving it on the street at wide-open with 1000hp? I don't think there's much point...again; maybe once for grins; then I'll crank down the blow-off valve.

For fans, I plan on using a pair of 1500cfm pusher Spals. The 2300cfm 16" fan I purchased won't fit as a puller. West Coast put the sway bar behind the radiator; and with the additional radiator thickness things just don't fit. I hope the twin pushers will do the job. If not, I'll have to get creative. I've considered moving the swaybar. The only thing I really know is that I can idle the car in the driveway for about 20-30 minutes with the fan seen in the video (and no radiator fan) and it plateaus at about 160deg F. However, it was considerably lean at the time. It warms up faster now that I put more fuel in it...I don't really know if I have a problem or not; but at the moment I'd have to say it idles well.

Oh, and by the way, this thing runs a 55gallon/minute Meziere remote water pump. All that water flow at idle most likely helps as well. If you need any armchair input on cooling system stuff, I've done a lot of recent research on 385 series cooling and am happy to tell you what I know about it. In addition, I happen to own a bunch of fans (2 pushers, 2 pullers, a 16" puller) if you want to try anything like that. It could be helpful for diagnosis. I live in San Jose.

Terry:

Thanks! I hope you're right. I'm honestly excited and at the same time a bit scared; this is one of those "gee it seemed like a good idea at the time" projects. I was extremely nervous during the start-up; which didn't get any better once it actually started...my god, what a monster. It's going to be a hand full to say the least. I think I'm going to have to put additional baffle plates in the exhaust as well; even with 32" long custom lo-baks, the car is still marginal for sound. I'm not sure I can street this thing without getting into trouble.

LETSRCE: Thanks for the obligatory good-buddy comment, you are indeed a good friend. As far as whose car is faster; I'll sandbag and let you win every time; that's what friends are for.

I promise, I won't make you look like an F-Body.

More project pics at http://www.racesystems.com/cobra if someone has nothing to do for an hour. LOL

Byron

scootter · #7 (**permalink**) 08-14-2005, 08:42 AM

Joe,
I even get those street bikes that think they are faster, and rice burners, and Corvettes, and Vipers. You name it they think they are faster

.
Scott

byron w · #8 (**permalink**) 08-14-2005, 06:28 PM

ByronRace,
Very happy for you. I am sure all of us understand the nerves the first few times a new project comes to life. Would have posted sooner but have been out of town. Yes, I am excited and happy for you.
Later,
Byron W.

badrich · #9 (**permalink**) 08-15-2005, 03:44 PM

ByronRace: Just when you think you're King of the Road, along comes someone meaner and nastier! I look forward to checking out your impressive sounding machine sometime soon. Tim: Cooling for Big Blocks often seems to be a challenge. My beast's new engine initially had problems when I was caught in traffic. The solution was a custom radiator shroud. I also used my old 16" puller fan, went to Water Wetter, distilled water and just a couple of quarts of anti-freeze (no freezing problems with my car in the garage overnight). Hasn't come close to 100 degrees C. since.

Rich