West Coast Cobra Owner Build Chassis # 3299

[kitcarbp]

2005

The WCC is designed around a Ford Big Block 385 Series engine. You can choose any powerplant you want for this kit but I insisted on a Big Block and I had a budget. Ford Racing at the time in 2005 offered the 460 crate engines that were great value for money. The best part is I went to the local Ford dealer with a pickup truck (THANKS DAD!) to bring home my engine. These crate motors were rated about 500 hp on 106 octane racing gas. 10.5:1 CR meant I could run 93 pump gas and enjoy it on the street, with lower power of course. Remember my goal was a street machine. They used the newest Jon Kasse Racing Aluminum Super CobraJet heads that to this day in 2021 continue to evolve and make big power in current stroked 460. They used a nice high lift cam that it still streetable. I had to use a low rise TorkerII to fit under the hood, so that reduced peak power too. Oh. And I had to machine down the carb base by .250” to ensure clearance and then use a 1/4” carb insulating gasket to reduce fuel boil for better hot restarts.
2005. Crate Motor. The unCrating

Then test fitting with the crane I used only for this project to install the power unit

[kitcarbp]

2006
After having the crate motor and buying and installing my Edelbrock Torker II manifold to be able to clear the hood( it was a rumor it would clear, i didnt have the body to verify!). I insisted on keeping the original low profile hood scoop to keep the traditional body lines. Thankfully it worked out, it did clear the hood years later I learned. Lol ��
So after collecting engine accessory items like fuel lines, hoses, ign wires etc it was time to buy the rest of the drivetrain.
I purchased a Ford Racing flywheel ( made be McLeod back then) for my big block then a clutch from Centerforce. But immediately after mock-up I realized the silly sliding weights used on the Centerforce pressure plate interfered with my McLeod HTOB i was using. See the pic here. So I decided to use a McLeod single disc clutch with pressure plate. Btw. Back then the McLeod HTOB got alot of bad press for leaks. Mine has held fluid and pressure for 11 years since first fill with no issues. I think its all about how you set it up. And keep the fluid clean!! I decided on the Tremec TKO 600 due to its torque capacity and 5 speed gearing It allowed a nice 2300 rpm at 70 mph in 5th gear (0.82). Perfect for keeping up in traffic on road trips and still allowing 225 mile range from my fuel cell for weekend road trips. Im using a 3.25:1 rear axle gearing for street use.




To be continued"................

[kitcarbp]

Summer 2006
So life keeps happening and in 2006 the Real Estate market was getting hot and we took the opportunity to sell high and buy high in a house upgrade. That meant I had to have the drivetrain installed so I could trailer the rolling chassis to its new home across town. Nothing like a deadline to focus on your build! So needless to say the rolling chassis was ready to trailer in a rented uhaul trailer on moving day. The rest of 2006 and most of 2007 was spent building out my workshop and doing house stuff in my new house so I can finish the Cobra. I promised myself I will never pack and unpack my entire house ever again. Lesson learned.



Here are pics of the drivetrain


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[kitcarbp]

2008. Improving the WCC Cooling System

The biggest challenge with any car design that uses a high horsepower motor is to manage the heat rejection through air flow and coolant flow. Cobras are no different. So upon filling my cooling system for the first time I realized the WCC provided radiator leaked as fast as I filled it! What a POS ! That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The WCC kit supplied radiator was from some stationary engine( generator?) and was a brass and copper design that no joke weighed about 40 pounds! This unit was never designed for automotive use, it had a 4 inch thick core. The radiator is the heart of the cooling system, its the foundation. So I called up a famous radiator company in South Carolina and had a custom aluminum radiator built to my specs to handle 500+ hp
I chose to use twin SPAL 13 inch fans because they are an OEM fan supplier and durable. SPAL fans protect some of the most expensive OEM production engines in the world. They can be trusted. Each fan rated at 1,700 cfm. Other car builders I spoke to advised to always over design the fan size and flow rate. You can control the on /off temp strategy with a controller to optimize them later. I achieved 69% core coverage with these twin fans without a shroud fitted. With both fans running you can hold a sheet of 8.5x11 paper 5 inches away and it will suck it out of you hands. I have air flow!
Dont forget about coolant flow!. You want to maximize the flow at idle for a street car so you can manage the heat in traffic. I ordered a WP pulley to ensure its as small as possible to ensure max coolant flow in the low rpm low air flow through rad modes like traffic. The Ford Racing crate motor used an Edelbrock high flow WP. Contacting Edelbrock they were happy to share the pump curve with me, their customer. I also changed the lower hose design such that the chrome expansion tank 5/8 line fills into the lower hose to reduce air pockets. The last mod was to add a coolant air bleed valve to the water outlet neck on the intake. Its a production GM part. Btw. I learned all these off shore made chrome water outlets are warped about .080” on the gasket surface and leak. I didnt have access to a mill to fix it then so I found an cast iron outlet from a 1969 429. Problem solved.



Here is my sketch and pics of it installed.

[kitcarbp]

2009

So in the Fall of 2009 I was ready to fire it up for the first time. But to be able to test the drive train I needed to install my new custom made driveshaft and needed wheels. I used Denny’s Driveshafts in upstate NY. They are awesome professionals to deal with and made it easy for me. I used 1330 truck flanges at the diff compared to the smaller 1310 pass car flange on the diff as shipped from Ford originally in the 70’s. I found the Team 3 Wheels (formerly ET Mags) from a fellow WCC owner who is a CC forum member too. Love these wheels! He shipped them from CA. They are 12 inches wide for the rear and 8 inches wide for the front. The large rear wheel width allows me to run Drag Radials in 325-50-15 sizes. I started with 265-50-15 in front but recently found larger diameter 235-60-15 to fill more of the wheel well to my liking.

[kitcarbp]

2009

Here is the pic on a November afternoon in 2009 when I pushed the Cobra out of the garage for the first start. I primed the engine beforehand with oil to get psi up and oil up to the rockers. Using a small 1 gallon plastic gas jug as a fuel tank the electric fuel pump primed the fuel system and filled the carb fuel bowls. The sound of the pump whining and changing pitch as pressure builds........priceless! One voice in a symphony of hot rodding. Love it!

It started on the first try. I’ll have to dig up the video and post it here later. The team Cobra photo is how you build a strong pit team. At a very young age. I love the gauge package dashboard I used for engine startup and cam break in. Those are Harbor Freight gauges! Still packed away somewhere in a box in my shop. Lol

[kitcarbp]

2010. Clutch Adjustments

So while the startup and cam break-in went flawlessly i discovered a few things needing correction
1) I was not able to get the clutch to release no matter how many adjustments I made to the pedal and MC linkage. I finally changed my clutch master cylinder to a larger diameter to move the htob farther , increasing its stroke. I moved from a 3/4 inch up to 13/16 and that was the sweet spot. It increased pedal effort of course but solved my problem. The piston lengths available for my McLeod HTOB SEEMED EITHER TOO SHORT OR TOO LONG in my application. Now the clutch was working as it should with the 13/16 MC. If I had to do this all over again I would custom modify a clutchfork to accept an external slave cylinder. I just didnt have those fab skills at the time. Although there are probably some OEM Htob now that I could adapt for Tremec Tko600 use here in 2021. The other lesson learned was next time I would look for a pressure plate that required less finger travel to disengage the disc.