Just took the plunge

patrickt · #1 (**permalink**) 12-23-2011, 12:30 PM

Wonderful. And a 390 Stroker will give you loads of power for the street. More than you can even imagine. The whole process with ERA is a whole lot of fun, and you can feel comfortable dealing with them on nothing more than a handshake. Great choice.

flaflier · #2 (**permalink**) 12-23-2011, 01:53 PM

Welcome aboard! I am sure you will be more than happy with your ERA.

RICK LAKE · #3 (**permalink**) 12-23-2011, 02:26 PM

kevin2 Welcome to the sickness. here's some of the things to look forward to,
What color or colors to paint the car??
What motor, size, Torque and HP for a start? Ps this will change in time.

What trans to use? 4 spd, 5 spd, 6 spd, wide or narrow ratio in trans, overdrive??
What clutch to run?
Which brake system to run, Stock 11", 12" front rotors?
Rear brakes inboard or out board system?
Is the motor going with FI system or carb?
Tires and wheels, Wire wheels, Pin drive, 15" or 17" tires?
rear end ratio? this also effects car for cruising or racing.
exhaust? side pipes or under car exhaust?
interior color?? depends on out side color or colors.
Bumpers or quick jacks? chromed or painted.
soft top or hard top for the car? being caught in the rain sucks.

This is the start of your list, Are you having fun yet???

Next comes the opitions and this list is just as long.
Best advice I will give you is do the car one time, spend the extra money and get what you want. Happy holidays to you and your new mistress. I hope your wife, girl friend and or other will understand the new family member. Don't put the cobra in a 2 car garage with any other car that is not a Ford. Cobra don't like vettes, vipers, BMW's, any gm product. You will fine out the funny things happen when you lock the garage door and turn off the lights. I had sheetrock fall on cobra when TA was in garage. All by itself?@#$$%

Good luck looking forward to hear about the build. Will offer you a motor thought, build a 390 to a 445 with a stroker kit. Keep compression to 10.0 with aluminum heads with a good port job, do the same for the intake. A small hydro roller camshaft in the 550-575 lift, and top of the line rocker shaft setup, NO DOVE stuff here. Intakes are OK. This will give you 500+ ft of torque and 450HP. Idle at 750 rpm and smoke the tires for 100 yards. There are 2 books to look at by Jay Brown and Barry R from survivalmotor sports. There are about 10 articles on build ups from mild to brutal. Keeps the RPM limit under 6,000 and you will have many years of good motoring with basic maintainance. Think about a preoil luber, and using an oil additive like Lucas or EOS from GM. Rick L.