Owner built on a budget;

[Hray]

Progress Report: Nov 16th, 2009. Logged in about 150 hours, balance remaining on estimate of hours to build is 350. And now about 90 days exactly to have it completed.

The budget at the start was to spend 3K to finishe it. This morning I had spent about 460.00 before today. Today I added in my recent expenses as follows: Used coilover front shocks from Kenton 125.00, will order upper tubular a-arms from southers rods for about 150.00. Spent 25.00 on gas lines and fittings for power steering. Went to paint shop and spent $600.00 for the base coat, clear coat, primers, sandpaper, hopefully most all the stuff needed to paint it. This leaves 1640.00 to finish it out.

Big ticket items that I can think of now are, roll bar. Got a quote from sk steel to make me one for about 200.00. .125 guage 2 pipe steel. (I think that was what I needed, someone please correct me if thicker is needed.
Hopefully, money for the vintage heat and defrost unit maybe 600.00. I am sure other small ticket items will get the rest.

I got canyon red firemist for main color, and heather firemist for the strips. I also am going to paint the firewall and inner fenders the heather firemist, that is a somewhat silver with plum red tints to it. I thought the canyon red would be too dark for the firewall and inner fenders. Looking for opposing thoughts on this.

So far today was chasing materials all day and just now heading out to shop to clean up and organize things a little.

With my latest comments from DV on fit and finish I am approaching things a little different. I was going the clean, paint and reassemble the chassis, run my wiring, then mount body and then paint body on car. Now I will paint frame, firewall, inner fenders of body, run wiring, then install body, then do all fittings of doors, hood, trunk, secure everything down, then install the motor as most of the accessories, then do the last block sanding and mask and paint. I know this requires tons of masking but I would rather mask than fit the body twice. we will paint it with the hood, doors, trunk off of the car. then install them for final time.

as always I welcome other view points and suggestions. Stay tuned. on the 11.5K built cobra.

[rustyBob]

Ray i think painting the firewall and inner fenders the same color as the stripes will contrast well with the main body color and give you a look that i dont think i have seen on another car. My only question is what color are you painting the frame and suspension parts????

[Hray]

Bob: thanks for voicing opinon.

Here are the colors on the paint stick, since basecoat clear coat these are not glossy, you gotta imagine lots of metalic and lots of gloss over these.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/...eea81d75_b.jpg


I was going to go with semi gloss chassis black on frame, and suspension parts. steering column, and joints chassis black. Then the motor will be black, the valve covers are those cobra by ford with non polished aluminum and textured black. the intake is aluminum edelbrock, but thought about ceramic coating it silver, the pulleys and brackets will be silver, the headers and side pipes and roll bar will be satin silver. alternator and sterring rack will be non polished aluminum natural finish on them. I have to find one of those cobra air intakes.

Build update; Took off the drivers side arms and steering rack, then decide to make a little forward progress by cleaning up the welds on the side pipes, at least got one of the almost finished.

I am hoping to make a statement with the quality of workmanship into the build instead of all the bling and horspower. By spending a few extra hours cleaning up these welds it should make the ceramic coating look much better.

here is a before picture, notice the stress marks from reducing down.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/...30d2f2d7_b.jpg


Here is a picture of it almost finished in terms of cleaning up weld and getting out stress lines.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2787/...2c0f9144_b.jpg

this should look really good once ceramic coated.

later Ray

[rustyBob]

Ray .......might i make a minor suggestion.........satin silver on the frame???????
the black might be a little to much........black.......
that way when you down through the engine bay the colors get lighter the further down you look....dark body, light engine bay, lighter frame.......instead of black.
........just a suggestion.......

[rustyBob]

OK Ray you got me thinking again........just a suggestoin again.......
paint the engine a cast gray to offset the satin silver i suggested on the frame.....
just a thought or suggestion..........

[Hray]

Bob: i do have to admitt I have thought about that silver frame, I was thinking that the silver firewall, inner fenders, and accessories, along with the frame would be not enough contrast. I wonder how a compromise would work, say frame black, but a arms, and cross member silver, and maybe steering column silver.

I do have a few more days to think about it. Thanks for the suggestions. it may have to be something that I have to see to really make certain.

for now I just gotta get things ready for paint.

Ray

[rustyBob]

Picture this............
Red Firemist body color
Heather firemist stripes,inner fender and firewall
satin silver frame and suspension parts and engine brackets
cast grey block and heads(if you dont have aluminum heads)
black for pulleys valve covers air filter
........just a suggestion.........

[Hray]

Bob: I am leaning your way, actually I was leaning that way to start with, but my way was going to be quicker and easier. But, why take the quick way or easy way. Chatted with my local gearhead down the street on this and he was not averse to it.

Build update: Only got about 2 hours in today, more honey dooooossss.

I worked on the mustang ii power steering rack. It was really grungy and all the lines on it were somewhat heavily surface rusted. Plus I want to smooth it up some so it would be easier to keep clean. Here is a picture, along with the tools used to do the job.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2680/...a8b586fd_b.jpg

Here is how I did it, first I used the little angle grinder with 36 grit paper to take off the heavy casting marks, then when almost gone I switch to 100 grit and finish removal of casting lines and begin to work on the casting orange peel and rough edges. Just when almost smooth I switch to 180 grit with angle grinder to get it smooth. Then I will switch to the rotary tool with the flapper tool in the picture to go over the entire surface and get into areas and ridges some. Then if i want real shin I go back to the angle with the scotch pads and eventually cloth with compound. In this case not going to go with high gloss. Once finished I will wash it with soap and water and use most likely number 1 steel wool to even the satin finish out and to basically dull it down just a little. Total time in this rack so far is about 2 hours, most likely one more hour will make it ready to bag up and wait to reinstall it. If I were going for show shin I would spend another 4 to 5 hours on it, stepping up to finer grits and compounds until it looks like chrome.

[If you are paying a shop to do this forget it, just go purchase a show polished one and install it much cheaper. My way is the cheap frugil way, unfortunately, I work for free.

Hoping to get at least 8 hours on the car tomorrow.

Hey Bob: If I go with the silver frame in front half of car can I switch to black under the firewall and carry that back to the rear of car. yea, I know now I am getting lazy.

see ya all.... Ray

[rustyBob]

whatever turns your crank Ray....................two tone frame?????????????
good luck with your build Ray I'm sure it will be one bad a$$ Cobra........

[Ron61]

Ray,

I have seen other cars with the filler neck located like that. In mine I put it over on the side where your hose runs as it made it easier to stabilize it with a bracket. As for the gears, I ran 3:27s and in 5th gear with a .6 split in my transmission I was lugging the engine. However I had a 418 stroker that was built for racing and it didn't run well below 2500 RPM, so I did most of my driving in 4th gear. In my case a .8 split in the transmission would have been much better. So far your build looks as if it it is coming along nicely.

Ron

[Hray]

update;

I have decided you guys are way too nice, someone should have told me that alternator bracket was really horse ugly.... but, I assume you guys figured that I already knew that.

I think this mornings work may have made it acceptable.

Picture of before modifications. It came off a 86 bronco if I remember right
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/...c0d1d3a4_b.jpg


here is the bracket after about 2 hours of shaping and grinding out the orange peel. It will be sand blasted prior to powdercoating and or paint. Now it is too smooth to hold finishing materal.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/...879554ca_b.jpg


Now here is one of my little know tricks, when it may be a few days or weeks prior to sealing raw metal I will wrap it in aluminum foil. This will keep it clean, and prevent moisture from the air getting to it. I will also use aluminum foil to mask up parts that I do not want to get overspray on. example If I do not remove all the brake lines or fuel lines on the frame prior to primer and paint I will wrap them in foil. it conforms nicely to the lines and comes off really easy.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/...bcbabd8b_b.jpg

You saw the tie rod ends in the background of that photo, they are almost ready for wraping up. I did finish the steering rack this morning.


Back to work from a short lunch break here.

Ray

[Hray]

Hey, lets play Cobra Trivia:

Q? How many hours does it take to build a cobra.
A; I don't know as of yet, ask again in 3 months;

Q? If a person has worked 175 hours to build a cobra, how much would they have completed?
A; Just almost nothing that you can show to someone else and say "look at what I have done".

Ok, I can tell you readers don't wanna play that game any more.

Update: After 175 hours the car is totally stripped and apart, all that is left is the rear end is still in tact, the cowl is still sitting on frame. Parts are in boxs, sitting on floor, other wrapped for coating. But, the car is at the basic point of starting at point one.

Today I spent 4 hours grinding welds and weld splatter off the front end and removing the motor and trans and some clean up for another 5 hours. I figure about another 8 hours of prep and I wll be ready to prime the frame and prime the cowl. Hoping to have the frame and cowl painted by next wednesday, with no interuptions that should be easy enough to get accomplished. then back to replumbing the brakes and run wiring etc....

gotta go do some research on ceramic coating.

Question for you, this time a real one.
Would a 200 or 250 pound front spring be acceptable for a softer, daily driver type ride? i think the 375's i have got are going to be too rough for my old back and butt to endure.

Ray

[Double Venom]

Ray,

2-Cents; 350 is pretty universal for a V-8. Lighter than that you may end up with a "pogo stick" going down the road!

250's in a CR is about absolute minimum for the rears, less than this will cause the body to rebound/recoil right into the tires!

DV

[Hray]

Thanks DV: For the 2 cents,

I am running stock springs in rear, I have no clue what they are rated at.

I was running stock in front, on the test rides it was not real bad, but the tires I had on the car were most likely 20 years old, aired up rock hard so some of the roughness I am sure was coming from the tires. I got those qa1's with 375's from Kenton for the front. My regular tires are 16's and might change the ride significantly.

I did a little research and looks like on model A fords, which I think are about the same weight as the cobra on the fronts they are running about 250 coil overs. We might have a little more weight on the front of these cobras than on a model A.

Unless, I find some real definitive answers I will start with the 375's I have and see how it rides and handles, I can always replace them easy enough.

The country roads coming to my house for the last two miles are about as rough as an old missouri washboard dirt road so I feel things rather quickly.

Thanks again, now I gotta go get some work done, and hope for progress forward instead of all this tear apart.

Ray

[Double Venom]

Ray,
I am so full of 2-Cents,, I should jingle! When you are done the basic small block CR's Cobra will usually come in +/- 2,600 lbs.

DV

[Hray]

Update: I figure that up until yesterday most everything done was preplanning, fabrication, engineering, gathering parts and just mapping out the build.

as of today I am going to quit counting backwards and start counting forwards. Meaning today was day 1 of exactly 90 until setup at autorama. As I make my photo album build book for the judges they will understand this approach as being more familar.

At this point everything should be basically going forward to build a 98% disassembled car.

Today is now day 1 with 89 to go, with 8 hours into final build.
today i got the frame primed, along with firewall, and some of the a-arms and brackets. Pictures of todays work.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2570/...a349a470_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2499/...77d05024_b.jpg

This is the 20 by 30 shop space where the entire build will take place, all the way to paint and upholstery as needed.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2694/...c258ab4b_b.jpg

[Hray]

16 hours: Day 2: 88 remaining;

I have decided that about 10 to 20 percent of shop time is cleaning up. Took 4 hours today to get stuff put back in place, parts organized, floors cleaned and basically convert the mechanic shop into a body shop.

Got another 4 hours on the car. While block sanding the cowl I notices how many compound curves are in the firewall and tunnel. Whoever did the layup for those molds did a fantastic job. I did not know anything about CR's, it just happened that I came across these, I am in no way sorry. So far I have not found any substandard work on the body or chassis. Unless you count not grinding the welds smooth, but I would not count that as inferior work.

Well Bob, we wanted to brighten up the motor bay, well we certainly have done that. got to spray some silver on the brake booster and first time to cover the front clip on the frame. I also decided to fill some holes in the firewall, not sure what they were for but I will either reroute whatever or redrill the holes as needed.

The paint is good ole acrylic laquer, I bought a gallon of this about 15 years ago and this seems to be a good place to use it.

Here is a pix of painted front clip, man this thing has more nooks and crannies than the grand canyon, had to stand on my head to get to some areas. Notice the aluminum foil used as masking on gas line and brake line that is still on car.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/...0ae1bb00_b.jpg

Here is a picture of the firewall, look at how this transitions from one angle to another just as smooth as silk. Look at the lip where it rises from foot box to then set on frame next to transmission. Show me the guy that built the molds and I will nearly worship him, he was/is a craftsman.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2499/...4c69c56f_b.jpg


Here is just a plain ole booster, on all surfaces the paint flowed out just perfect, seems to be 100percent dirt free. It doesn't get much better than this. (just watch tomorrow something will go south and make me eat those words, but i will take this for now)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/...1da57856_b.jpg

[rustyBob]

looks great.......it looks so much nicer than black.

[Hray]

25 hours into finale phase, day 3, 87 to go;

Well i either jinxed myself, or I missed my calling and I should be a prophet. Today started out rather difficult. spent almost 4 hours trying to get the QA1 shocks and springs installed on just one side. after that I decided that it just was not going to work. Just way too many reasons why it was not right. i will save them and rework the upper shock mount on other cobra and use them there.

Once I decided to go with the equipment that I test drove the car with things picked up pace some. I started a sort of assembly line process.
Piece one, sanded and primed, while piece one was drying I sanded piece two, then after priming piece two, I painted piece one. then sanded piece three to allow the first two pieces to dry. then primed piece 3, painted number 2, and installed number one, continued that fashion for nearly 6 hours. Kept me moving forward and got a few things installed on suspension. Still have a couple things drying for install tomorrow first thing.

Here is a pix of some black stuff up against the silver stuff.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2726/...e094b941_b.jpg

at least I ended the day on a upbeat note.

Yes, Bob, I think you gave some solid advice, and I am going to carry through the entire frame the silver, but am going to leave the rear-end black.

see ya all,,,, Ray

[Hray]

30 hours into finald phase, day 4, 86 days to go.

Spent most of day doing other stuff, but late afternoon I had two good reliable helpers show up. They immediately jumped in to help. I am doing my best to turn them into real gearheads, so far they are doing quite well

First thing the helpers did was polish with steel wool the brake and fuel lines
Then Riley removed power steering pump from bracket and cleaned it.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2745/...a38fde79_b.jpg

Tyler was preparing the spindle and rotors for primer and paint
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/...c8030369_b.jpg

They prefer to be racing the quads around the track, but they are eager helpers. Tyler keeps all the quads running and is getting pretty sharpe with repairs.

Got the steering rack, sway bar, radiator reattached to chassis.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/...c8030369_b.jpg


Maybe tomorrow will be a fuller day, staying up to 11;30 just to get in a half days work is not the most fun.