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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 12-23-2011, 10:23 AM
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Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #795 427 S/C completed Jan. '14 - '68 FE 427 side oiler
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Default Just took the plunge

Hi Everyone,

Just mailed my deposit in for an ERA 427 Cobra, so I guess "Merry Christmas" to myself... I appreciate the feedback I've received on earlier posts as I narrowed my decision to ERA. I drove up there last week and got the full tour and Peter treatment, which made me more comfortable with my decision. I'll be having them powdercoat and bond the body and am thinking of having one of his local paint shops do their thing so I can start with the mechanical assembly and not have to mess with body work or transporting it out for paint. This will be a street car, so considering a 390 stroker. Still have to decide how far to go with the engine. This will be my first engine install so hoping to meet some Cobra guys in my local area for help and advice along the way.

Looking forward to getting involved with this community. Happy Holidays!

Kevin
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Old 12-23-2011, 10:30 AM
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Sweet, merry x mas, ERA cobras rule the streets.
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Old 12-23-2011, 12:30 PM
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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.
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Old 12-23-2011, 01:53 PM
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Welcome aboard! I am sure you will be more than happy with your ERA.
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Old 12-23-2011, 02:26 PM
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Default Welcome to the era family

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.
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Old 12-23-2011, 02:58 PM
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I built a street car as well and would be more then happy to help or answer any questions...
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Old 12-23-2011, 03:38 PM
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Congratulations on your choice of ERA. You won't regret it!
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Old 12-23-2011, 03:51 PM
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Thanks for the warm welcome and all the advice. I've been somewhat consumed with thinking all this stuff through (even when I should have been working...). Rick, thanks for that thorough list - I've actually thought a number of those things through and a lot of my decisions were influenced by Peter at ERA. I'll list some of it here and then you can laugh at me later when I post completely different decisions (at least give me credit for knowing that). The color will be a deep red - haven't picked a specific color yet but will start looking around and getting a couple of paint codes. Waffling between white or silver stripes...white says "in your face" with stark contrast, whereas depending on the shade of silver/gray, the stripes can be classy or even understated. Engine - I tend to keep stuff for a long time (even my wife) so I'm thinking a 390 stroked to 431...maybe 445 won't be too radical, will talk to a few engine builders. Either way will give me plenty of torque. TKO600 5-speed tranny. I prefer acceleration rather than smoking the tires and will be driving twisties and some highway so will be looking for gearing accordingly. I've waffled back and forth about FI or carb, but will probably go old school there. Peter suggested the standard Jag rear end will be just fine and I'll go with 15" 5-pin wheels. Tires aren't as hard to find as a few posts have indicated. Side pipe ceramic coated exhaust unless I cave and spring for the stainless steel. Maybe some of you can help there - I've been told by a couple of guys that the stainless steel pipes don't sound nearly as good - "tinny". Peter insists that the sound has improved dramatically on the more recent stainless exhaust.

And Rick, I ride a Harley so know about getting caught in the rain so, yes, a soft top will be in the trunk for just those occasions. I can't tell you how many times there was a 40 - 50% chance of rain so I didn't ride and it never rained, leaving me to say "damn" at the end of the day. Have any of you tackled fitting the ERA softtop yourself? Looks doable but a bit painful. I think I could fit the top and get an upholstery shop to do the boot around the roll bar. Bad idea?

Anyway, thanks and I look forward to getting started...the car won't be ready until June/July so I have some time to make decisions and change them several times.

Kevin
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Old 12-23-2011, 04:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kevins2 View Post
Side pipe ceramic coated exhaust unless I cave and spring for the stainless steel. Maybe some of you can help there - I've been told by a couple of guys that the stainless steel pipes don't sound nearly as good - "tinny". Peter insists that the sound has improved dramatically on the more recent stainless exhaust.
Kevin, I don't have SS pipes, but I've been in a couple of SS FE Cobras and I wouldn't call the sound tinny, either at idle, off-idle, or under acceleration. You can hear a 447CID FE with ceramic coated pipes by clicking my sig below. BTW, I would rather drop three engines in to a Cobra just to avoid fitting one soft top.
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Old 12-23-2011, 04:44 PM
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Default Welcome

Kevin

you probably saw my black 427 in ERA's shop...im just about done...its been a great process. I also did the 390 stroker route...as Rick stated get Barry's book great read...also recommend checking out Survival's website..

feel free to ask questions this is a great community!

Kevin
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Old 12-23-2011, 05:02 PM
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Congrats! Good stuff.
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Old 12-23-2011, 05:13 PM
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Congrats Kevin. Welcome to the Cobra sickness. I'm the overworked owner of the 427 tunnelport ERA in Coatesville. Sorry I did not see your earlier post, you could have come by to see the car. If you want to take a look, give me a call. 610-383-9489. Checking out ignition problems, so car is not running right now.

Happy Holidays to everyone.
Bob
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Old 12-23-2011, 07:51 PM
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You made the right choice. Keeping the engine on the mild side definitely has its advantages with better driveabiliy and good gas mileage (unless you want to race it). Soft top, I don't think you would bother with it, unless you live in Washington State. You may want to go with a solid color, as it gives your Cobra an 'original' look. Either way, you are on the right track. Good luck with your build, as the journey can be just as much fun as the finished Cobra (look in my photo album for some build photos). Good luck (and listen to Peter).
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Old 12-23-2011, 09:05 PM
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Kevin,

There were 3 black Cobras there. One had a show quality polished engine and silver stripes and I believe the other two were solid black. One of these was on the lift and ERA was installing air conditioning for the first time ever. ERA installing it...guess that makes it factory air.

Bob in Coatesville - I will give you a call sometime soon. I can look at these cars all day.

Another question about exhaust. ERA's website states that the glass packed exhaust may get louder over time because the fiberglass deteriorates. Anyone notice that?

Kevin
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Old 12-23-2011, 11:00 PM
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Kevin,

Congratulations and welcome to the ERA family !!!

Great choice ... Peter & Company will build you one fine Cobra
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Old 12-24-2011, 12:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kevins2 View Post
Kevin,

Another question about exhaust. ERA's website states that the glass packed exhaust may get louder over time because the fiberglass deteriorates. Anyone notice that?

Kevin
From what I've read the glass packing blows out over time, and it does get louder. I believe the stainless steel side pipes have baffles instead, and don't have that issue. But I have no personal experience to back that up, I'm sure one of the guys can tell you more.
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Old 12-24-2011, 03:03 AM
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Default Been racing 15 years

kevin2 What did you say? No I have not blown out the mufflers yet. How you drive is how quiet or loud you want the car to be. The down side to the exhaust system is a power loss. Between 20-50 hp and almost the same on torque. They have noise levels at some autocrosses and my 15 year system passes. I have also a race setup too for tracks without limits of noise. I believe if you check with some of the older owners you will find the same thing. If you should go for a long road trip an ear plug for the outside ear wouldn't hurt. I do get the ringing ear after a race run without a ear plugs and helmet. Rick L.
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Old 12-24-2011, 04:09 AM
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Kevin-
Congratulations on ordering your ERA - you won't be dissappointed!
I would let the guys at ERA farm out the paint - the shops they use know the cars well. I ordered mine with body bonded to the chassis, less paint. Took an extra nine months with my painter (an excruciating wait). I did get an exceptionally nice paint job (and at least one "Best Paint" show award to go with it), but I think I spent a lot more money than if I'd had ERA do it.

I fitted my soft top myself. Wasn't that bad - I had to do a lot of custom work to it because I laid my windshield back so much. I modified the hoops and everything to make it fit (because of my mods, not an issue with parts supplied by ERA), and had a friend who has an industrial sewing machine add in the bootie for the roll bar. It's probably not as smooth and taut as if the guys at ERA had installed it, but it's sufficient - have only put it up two or three times in 15 years anyway.

One word of caution - if you have the header bar powder-coated, you may have to grind off the powder-coating where the top material wraps around and glues to it - 3M Super Adhesive just wouldn't stick on the powder coat - had to grind it off and re-glue.

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Old 12-24-2011, 05:35 AM
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Default mine

was the solid black one...w/o air conditioning...

Quote:
Originally Posted by kevins2 View Post
Kevin,

There were 3 black Cobras there. One had a show quality polished engine and silver stripes and I believe the other two were solid black. One of these was on the lift and ERA was installing air conditioning for the first time ever. ERA installing it...guess that makes it factory air.

Bob in Coatesville - I will give you a call sometime soon. I can look at these cars all day.

Another question about exhaust. ERA's website states that the glass packed exhaust may get louder over time because the fiberglass deteriorates. Anyone notice that?

Kevin
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