cpteddie your nightmare IS over!

[Double Venom]

Wow,
You guys sure have taken this thread wrong! At least from my point of view. Ed wanted a fabulous Cobra custom made, and like every new Cobra owner, wanted it now. (Relatively speaking anyway.) Ed simply took the car home before it was "knowingly finished" then found some things that he just wasn't happy with and likely so. Leaking modified gas tank/fitting- bad thing in any capacity, then a "shameful" display of not finalizing the car and leaving the "test" bolts in place for the roll bar instead of the actual "correct length" bolts! Never did that before and I assure you it will never be done again-at least out of my shop.

I have preached safety about these cars for 40 years or more, I even "tried" to form a safety guide like the NSRA uses 15 years ago and caught every kind of hell you can imagine on this web site! Strictly on a volunteer basis, the same rules and guidelines the NSRA demands. But I felt like the #1 Democratic nominee for President! Geesh!

Ed is a Big man...especially compared to me! I made the car as ergonomically as possible for Ed, dropping the floor, modifying the interior especially the rear firewall, changing the dash, etc. More changes needed to be made for him especially since he got the car home and got to examine/use it more. Lot of things that were very custom and just did not work out. All of which Ed poured a lot of money into and they were either faulty components or simply did not or would not work and had to be removed. Dozens of areas from CR-II with faulty construction, (one of the last bodies that were delivered from CR II) like all of the hinge plates that had to be cut out / re-glued, re-fiberglassed in place. Just adding days and weeks to the build. Then he gets it home only to find the rear license plate was so thin the special "Jack Nuts" I use in areas like this actually pulled through the glass! (This will be fixed absolutely permanently by inserting a steel plate behind the license plate holder and the fiberglass.-Daring it to pull through again!)

AND a biggy that I was absolutely responsible for but none the less totally embarrassing AND dangerous! I don't even remember if he posted about this, When his car was ready for the custom interior, (Which held us up months, three special trips to the upholsterer -150 miles-). Ed's car was the hardest Cobra I have ever manually had to push! As big as Ed is, and two other people pushing the car, simply leaning on the car and it should have pulled a "wheelie" and left burn marks on the pavement! In reality it should have been a Huge red flag to yours truly that something HAD to be wrong. But no, for what ever reason it never entered my mind. I wanted to make up for time lost and get his car done!

Took it to a very, very professional shop to have it 4-wheel aligned (Straight axle no less but with custom rear adjustable arms) and to change the transmission to an AOD to work with his 3:73 gears. Again a small fortune spent, new tranny, torque convertor etc.!

Horror's AGAIN, his brand new totally awesome expensive motor refused to start again, (Blown power valve on his new Holley! OK, now three BIG men and me pushed Ed's Cobra into this shop for the work to begin. An hour later I got a call from the owner, said they found a problem, hem-hawed around and finally after being told, "Spit it out" what problem now!? Seems in the haste to get his car done I called one of my friends in to help out install the front wheels and a few other things. Now this guy was no rookie in any sense, has owned his own shop for almost as long as I had. He self admittedly, after seeing the "Bad parts" this shop had found, determined the Front Wheel Bearings where put in "BACKWARDS!. Bearings totaled, of course, races gone, spindles scratched, ego flat as a skipping stone and of course more money and more delays while all the parts were replaced/repaired!

So much for trying to gain time!

And of course Ed who was taking all this in, I called him every time and told him about the glitches that kept popping up. Ed was emotionally great regardless of the problems, cost, time lost, cost of Rolaids and Pepto-Bismal!

Buffing: I actually "Planed" Ed's paint job. Very long and tedious process, then wet sanded it with 600 Wet/Dry paper, then 800 W/D paper, then started the Buffing. The way I finish a custom paint job requires at least three full buffing treatments. By the time #2 was finished the car was looking pretty damned good! Also by this time Ed's car was late by months! Ed wanted to take his car home! His friends were questioning him weekly wanting to know when his imaginary Cobra was going to show up?

Ed wanted to know about buffing, said he was taking the car home and he would put the final buff coat on over the winter. I showed him a few buffers, the compounds that I used and a real quick lesson in buffing. I think he even posted here -somewhere- asking the forum if anyone had ideas on what type of buffer they used and where to get a good deal on one?

This is about the time the dull/glazed spots on the body showed up, the gas tank started to leak - months after it was done! (?). The roll bar bolts that were too long, the trunk fiberglass.

If the shoe was put on my foot I think I would have gotten a legal DV-Hunting license!

Ok, Ed's lost his abnormally Hi-level cool, and simply said to heck with it. AND, even though everything was fixed or corrected and what wasn't, was going to be. (WE even picked a new start AND finish date!)

Ed decided he had had enough! Time to move onto another/different project.

I know a very large Lot of you watched his car from the first bolt to what should have been the last. You saw the body fitment, a lot of the customizing, almost the end of the buffing, the car did and still should look pretty darned good! But, again enough is enough. WE all know that your/a Cobra is NEVER DONE, but you should at least be driving it after a given amount of time! When Ed decided to sell, I waited for some people that wanted this special Cobra to grab one hell of a deal, it seemed to me that the whole thing was about to fall through, so I BOUGHT IT! Who better to finish this Cobra to the ENTH' degree? Besides I have been Cobra-less since I gave the original Double Venom to Cystic Fibrosis and personally since I could NOT afford to buy DV-I back what better choice then this one!

Cpteddie is very welcome at my table ANYTIME! Pass the Smores and Hot Chocolate please.
DV
P.S. Just went back and read some of the latest posts! Wow, does appear that this whole thing was getting both of us a little hot under the collar. Oh-well, never a dull moment on Club Cobra!
All is well that ends well.

[tcrist]

DV,

Maybe because I am not right in the middle of this, but I saw this coming over a year ago.
Some posts were a bit testy and I can see both sides to this. There was a lot of stuff behind the scenes that most of the people on CC don't know and do not need to know about. That said, I hope this works out for the both of you.

[TC Cobra]

Pardon my ignorance but...
How is it even possible to install front wheel bearings backwards?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by TC Cobra

Pardon my ignorance but...
How is it even possible to install front wheel bearings backwards?

... you have to install them on the back wheels frontwards.

[Double Venom]

Dan,
Amazing, but as usual adding your unknowing 2-cents out of the clear but snowy sky. Why should I Not be surprised? Taken over the "Fling" yet? Or as I now understand it, the London Cobra show.

Ed, I assume you made it home safely with the weather closing in. Just so you know, it is not the Tank nor the a.r.e. fitting that is dripping gas! It's actually the seal/fitting right behind the A.R.E. fitting, much like "Banjo Seal" as on brake line. I will put on a new pressure washer, presuming that will take care of that.,

Final buffing, fix the thin fiberglass on the trunk, change the tranny to a new T-5, put shorter bolts in the roll-bar, and wait for Spring!

[Double Venom]

TC Cobra,
Your post deserves a rightful answer as I asked myself that same question a lot. Let's call the "do-er" John. John couldn't figure it out either until he replayed the scenario in real time; Spindles mounted and lightly greased, bearings hand packed..... then while all the delegated parts where laid out on a clean sheet of masking paper, he simply dropped the bearings into the sleeve which was facing upwards. Only this time backwa from normal. He then picked up the spindle and assembled it to the spindle. Back bearing and seal were fine, the assembly stayed in place. Now the glitch, not realizing the cup/race was holding the outer bering in reverse slid it in place. The chamfered edge caught the rioter just right and stared out square. Put the nut on the spindle and stated torqueing it down. john stated it was a little hard but nothing major. When he had the whole assembly tight he put the dust cap on and spun the wheel normally.

Easy to do once you see it done! The rest as parts, repair bill, push the car back & forth- set the appointment for alignment! Good thing we have a build in "Checks and balances" on these cars is/are a good thing

[Dan Semko]

DV,
Just trying to add levity to a heated and amiably resolved situation.
BTW: The cookies are what brought a lot of good people together which has not been forgotten. As far as the DVSF....you have the wrong Semko!

[Dan Semko]

DV,
Does the photo of this tin and handwriting on the recipe card look familiar?

Note: The cookie queen's tin is EMPTY!!

[tcrist]

Hay Dan, You are pushing your limit. You might think its funny, but it is not. For someone that has only had seven posts in the last year and only these BS posts on this subject should stay out of it. You are trying to start a fire that you don't have enough matches for slick.

[Dan Semko]

Thanks for your "moderation" and unsolicited opinion. DV and I go back much further than you know. Lighten up, the situation is resolved and it's the Holiday Season!

[capteddie]

Originally Posted by Dan Semko

Thanks for your "moderation" and unsolicited opinion. DV and I go back much further than you know. Lighten up, the situation is resolved and it's the Holiday Season!

Who the "F" is this dude? DV and I have gone through 4 + years of a build and you come jumping on the bandwagon now?

Not making anyones Xmas list at this rate....

And... This is my "moderation" and "unsolicited" opinion. Go troll some other thread.

-ed

[tcrist]

Yea, but you are still being a smart a$$.

[TC Cobra]

Hey DV!

Thanks for the explanation.
Not that it's all that important at this point, but re-read your post and please clarify what a "sleeve" and "rioter" are. I'm having trouble visualizing anything other than a standard, hub, spindle and tapered roller bearing setup.

At the end of the day, I don't think I'd let "John" near anything more complicated than a wash bucket. ;-)

Happy Holidays!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by TC Cobra

Not that it's all that important at this point, but re-read your post and please clarify what a "sleeve" and "rioter" are. I'm having trouble visualizing anything other than a standard, hub, spindle and tapered roller bearing setup.

Reading between the lines, I'd guess he was using a Speedi-Sleeve and the "rioter" was really a "rider." But it's hard to tell....

[MaSnaka]

CaptEddie,

All the best to you. The story of you and your Cobra will be missed. Thanks for keeping it posted so I (we) were able to follow along your journey.

Happy Holidays!

John

[capteddie]

Originally Posted by MaSnaka

CaptEddie,

All the best to you. The story of you and your Cobra will be missed. Thanks for keeping it posted so I (we) were able to follow along your journey.

Happy Holidays!

John

Same to you John.

The story is not over. It's just getting a new story teller. I'll still be hanging around and while I'm playing with my 06 GT or starting my build of the 34 coupe. I'll post this and that, that I think flows across anything anybodies building. It was a great project in my mind, but not really right for me. As DV and I talked on Saturday. My Mustang is a much better fit for me than the Cobra ever could have been.

-ed

[tcrist]

capteddie,

Is your 34 a kit or an original that you are restoring? Did you know that Brent also has CHR (Club Hot Rod) for all hot rodders, not just Cobras. If you run into a snag there are a lot of guys on that forum with an abundance of knowledge.


www.clubhotrod.com

[Double Venom]

Canea,
I guess I started around 1963 doing body work for my Uncle who owned an Earl Schieb's.
Opened my first shop just prior to my probationary year on the Columbus Police Dept. Started a technique on BC/CC's I call "Plaining". where you take a single blade razor blade and scrape or "plane" the last coat of clear leaving a perfectly smooth surface. (Ever done that, not just a run, but the entire car, inch by inch?)

Won Dupont's TOP GUN award for my first DV, always wet sanded my cars with 600 to buff. (I can't tell you how many times I have been told to use 1,000 grit by many experts in the field!) Had numerous Dupont Reps in the shop over the years to show and explain my "plaining" procedure. Won "Best Paint" so many times I long ago turned down the prize and offered it to the runner up. (Sounds terribly egotistical doesn't it!?)

Remember, or read Cpt's eddie post again, his car was buffed twice, it looked pretty darn good, BUT it did need a final buffing and polishing when Ed took it home. He was to do that on his own-per him- this winter! Then decided he had had enough, and just wanted to walk away, so he did and now I have this fabulous 100K** cobra sitting in my shop with a weeks worth of Finalizing.

** I know, I put on the best parts on the market, totally customized the car with many, many features I had not done to other Cobras over the years, and this evaluation is from me and the 75K plus receipts that Ed has! Add my costs to build, paint change, add,take away etc., Factory blemishes/bluntly screw ups that had to be repaired, the actual cost is well over 100K!

A car guru and might I add a car NUT was here in my shop as many are on Saturdays, saw Ed unload his "Road Dirty" Cobra (Towed on an open trailer in a nasty snow storm from Chicago!). Asked Ed just about every question in the book about the car, Ed started it for him for a second, and watched itself start walking across the floor all by itself, rumbling, growling all the way! Then begged me to sell it to him as IS!

I told him to come here and read everyone of the posts concerning the build and what still needed done.

By that time Ed started showing both of us his phone pictures of his new Mustang and we were both drooling!

Selling the, "Cpt Eddy" Cobra is not a thought that has even crossed my mind -yet!
Maybe some day when it is totally finished, buffed and standing tall. Maybe for a charitable organization, maybe for one of the most deserving people here on Club Cobra? Maybe, just maybe, one day I will ???

All to be decided over time, all I am sure of at this time is to get the T-5/6(?) into the car and just really see what this 351 balanced, custom made for longevity and speed-torque monster can really do!

Drop my finishing to 1000 grit, naah but thanks, maybe for the final wet/sand? Thanks for the suggestion/info anyway! But, I know you know, in the "Custom Car World a guy has got to do what he does best!"

My first "Dupont Top Gun Winner" after it was "plained" and wet sanded with 600!


P.S. This DV was donated to raffle at the third "Double Venom Spring Fling" for Cystic Fibrosis! Chuck Siefke of Springfield, Oh. won the car. Raced it against Corvettes for years, professionally went through the motor gaining mucho gusto HP. Now it can be seen on Curt Scotts pages and here on CC in the for sale section. IF I had the coin I would buy this car back before you could take a breath!