I'm ordering an ERA! Seeking your experienced opinions

[LMH]

LOL! You might not fit! Sorry!
Larry

[blykins]

You can have your cake and eat it too.

I rebuilt a customer's 428CJ for his Mustang and got 425hp, with the factory cast iron heads, factory cast iron intake, and just a mild hydraulic roller. It would be very easy to sneak a few more ponies out and not break the bank.

[davids2toys]

Nice choice on the ERA.
The two obvious decisions for me are:
I would definitely would go with the 428 vs. the 427 for all the obvious reasons including cost. They make a ton of power and much more street friendly.
I would not go with a Toploader again. A great bulletproof tranny, but I would love to have a fifth gear. When mine blows or somebody wants to buy it, I am definitely going for a bullet proof 5 speed. All the Cobras I go on runs with are always doing 80 mph. My car can do that but the noise, high RPM's, vey poor MPG are certainly a hit, not to mention premature engine wear from always running higher RPM's on the highway, even at 65-70 mph. Visually you cant tell a 5 speed from a 4 speed.
Dave

[DanEC]

I assembled my ERA - literally did the bonding, riveting, body work, painting, and all assembly. I bought the standard Jag rear assembly with the car and Keith Craft built my motor and rebuilt my Toploader. I have never tried to add the costs up because when you do your own body - paint - assembly - there are literally hundreds of small purchases for materials. In all honesty, I think you can probably have ERA have a car painted for the same cost of doing it yourself. I had not painted urethane before so I had to buy an air supplied resperator and suit, up grade my paint gun, construct a paint booth with lighting, filters, air handling unit. If I have much less than $7k in my body and paint I would be surprised.

I also skipped a couple of the pricer options since this is not a car that would be allowed on a track (no roll bar) with 5-pin KOs, standard brakes, standard rear suspension, vinyl seats. But I did get the stuff that visually makes the car look correct - street gas filler, smith gages, bumpers, ash tray, smooth hood, undercar exhaust, panel knobs, etc. The only real regret so far is I think I probably should have taken the leather seats although the vinyl ones are good looking.

I had KC build the motor with vintage parts - ported/polished steel heads, 428 service block. I found the 63 dual quad intake and distributor on Ebay and had both refinished before giving to him. With a stroker crank and mild cam it dynoed at 470 HP and 530 ft lbs. As Brent said up above, Kieth's dyno guy said their 428 CJ restoration motors dyno around 425 HP. Going with a fairly inexpensive set of aluminum heads can boost that by 30 - 35 HP without much work. I bought my Toploader from a friend and Keith rebuilt it for about $300. I think my motor probably finished up around $15k with clutch and flywheel and bellhousing. I sourced the fork, shifter, etc separately. I think a new Tremec transmission is around $3500 so that adds some change unless you can pick up a good one.

If I added it up with materials, I would be surprised if it came in under $70k, so having a turn key car done by ERA with a $18k motor/drivetrain and all the options you are speaking of for a bit over $90k would not surprise me in the least. I purchased my car just before ERA had one of their infrequent price hikes of a couple thousand dollars. I know you want it your way - but if a good one comes along used that satisfies 90% of what you need that may be the way to go. Sometimes the last 10% can be added on for not to much later. I wanted a street roadster so I had little choice except to build it myself. Also, that did allow me to finance it a little as I went through it's fabrication and then my assembly effort. I should have sold one of my other cars to finance this thing but it seems I've gotten to where I hang on to everything anymore.

Good luck

[blykins]

A new TKO 600 is $2399.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by blykins

A new TKO 600 is $2399.

Oops - looks like my memory is not too good. Brent is correct as usual.

[Bobcat]

I have ERA 757 and have a little different take on some of the options . Keep in mind that I do track my car and drive the daylights out of it on the street .
Exhaust cutouts ..... make them a little larger before painting the body . Engine torque makes the DS pipes hit at the top of the cutout and the PS pipes hit at the bottom of the cutout when I nail it ( 482 with approx 600 hp ) .
I considered the leather seats and wool carpet , but felt the standard was much more forgiving if caught in the rain ( been there on the track and while driving ) .... not to mention cheaper .
Spax shocks are fine for the street , but I`ve had them on a shock dyno and there`s no comparison to a custom valved set of either Penske or Bilstein ( which I have ) ..... but expect to drop big dollars for either of them . Again , personal preferences .... why Smith`s gauges when SW work as well and are less $$$ ? You are building a replica , not an original . Besides , 99% of the people who see your car won`t know the difference .
Again , I track the car .... went with the ERA rear end and big front brakes and can brake with pretty much any of the cars I run with , with competition pads .
As far as the ashtray , a late friend of mine owned CSX 3114 and I have a picture of the cockpit with an ashtray in the tunnel and he was a non smoker ... this was a 427 car .
I went with the TKO 600R as I wanted a close ratio 5th for the track , but the standard would be a whole better for the street/highway .
Picking want you want can be a challenge , but also a LOT of fun .
Enjoy