Poor road manners

[Eljaro]

Fatboy,
I had my Contemporary Cobra built in 1993 by now defunct Jim Blackburn (American Speed Specialities) in Norwood, and lots of things were not right when I started to use the car. I know he was also building Cobras for some pop artists at that time. He was a nice guy but his mechanic was sloppy.
The front wheel bearings were the wrong size, the inner diameter of both bearings being larger than the axle stub diameter. The bearings were held in place only by the axial pressure exerted by the axle nut. On turns you could hear the "knack" of the bearings moving around.
So if the car was built by that guy, I would check those bearings.
Also see if the rubber bushings on the front suspension are dried out or misplaced.
On the rear check if there is play in the U-joints, since they will affect the geometry. In case the car has Watts linkage, check that is is moving freely and not binding. I set up my car with a 1º negative camber in the rear, which is the best adjustment.
I did have a set of Goodyear sent with the new car. They were out of round and I had to turn them true in a shop. They were very difficult to balance, and the car behaved really bad. Finally I had to throw the nice Goodyears away.
Best tire is the Avon 66CR. The Coppers should be ok too.

[FatBoy]

Hi Eljaro,
My CCX also came from Jim Blackburn, as did my friends car. To be more precise, his car is the one Jim built for the "pop artist", Liam Howlett of the Prodigy. The registration number was "COB 427". I built my car myself (registration JGC 312C) and it featured in a number of major magazine features, including a 4 page colour feature in Performance Car.
Jim was a "nice guy" if you were on the right side of him i.e. spending money, he could also be quite nasty if you weren't. I don't know if you are aware, but Jim died some years ago.
His build standards weren't always as high as he would have had everyone believe.
Regards,
Paul

[Eljaro]

Paul,
if you read my previous post you will see that I say "now defunct". I know that very well because he passed away owing me quite some money for an ordered front suspension setup which never arrived.
From that moment on I had to take care of the car myself and discovered with time how much was wrong with the built. Learned a lot in the process and now the car is just perfect.
If Jim built that CCX for your friend, just check the front wheel bearings.
Whas that CCX for Liam Howlett painted yellow?

[FatBoy]

Hi,
I did notice your "defunct", but I didn't know whether you meant A.S.S. or Jim. I'm sorry to hear that he departed owing you money. However, even if he were alive, getting money out of Jim would have been a challenge.
The "Prodigy" Cobra was/is metallic grey with black stripes. However, I do remember the yellow car with white stripes, although I don't recall who's it was. I recall that it had a Ford 460 in it. Around the same time, he was also building a metallic burgundy car that had a Jerico gearbox.

Paul

[Eljaro]

I remember that car with the Jerico Gearbox, which was in the shop because the customer had broken the box. I do not know how possibly you can break one of those. No wonder though, since on my car the bellhousing was not aligned with the crankshaft and was hurting the box. Sloppy work all over.
In the end when he passed away many customers lost their money and their engines and partially finished cars. The luck we had was that the CCX car was quite good and solid. He did demo the strength at the Bristol Kit Car show jumping on the hood of the Cobra. That is where I contacted him and ordered the car sometime later.
At that time I also visited Rod Leach and saw his nice cars, but the price was steep, the Pound was high and the engines being used at that time were nothing special.
I do not regret having purchased the CCX. It is a wonderful and solid car. A keeper.

[FatBoy]

They were/are excellent cars and mine is still going strong with its current owner. It competed in last year's Brighton Speed trials and didn't discrace itself at all.
I sold the CCX when I learned of Kirkham, but it took me a further 8 years to get one.

Paul