Chassis number received!

[cscobra]

I heard from Peter today--ERA #766 will be mine.
Life is good.

[Kramer]

Congratulations...I am sure the wait will kill you but it will be worth it!!

Kramer

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by cscobra

I heard from Peter today--ERA #766 will be mine.
Life is good.

That is an exciting day -- I remember it well. The waiting is tough, but on the positive side it forces you to really think through your build. Any estimation on when you'll actually have it in hand?

[RAO-3]

Congratulations on reaching the all important milestone.

If you don't mind sharing, how long ago did you place your deposit, and what are you getting?

Ray

[jagxjr5012]

Congratulations !! Keep us posted !!!

[cscobra]

Thanks to each of you. I sent my initial deposit last September 17, so it took a little over nine months to reach the head of the "queue." I remember seeing #749 being assembled at ERA when my wife and I visited last July 31, so perhaps ERA is doing quite a bit of turnkey work these days. Mine will be the 427 kit, which I will be building as a basic street car (FE, toploader, inboard rear brakes, undercar exhaust, no hood scoop, no rollover bar, 15 x 7 1/2" wheels all around, 235/60R-15 Goodyear Eagle GT II tires all around, bumpers front and rear, street dash with glovebox, Smith's instruments, no racing stripes). I will also have it painted locally. I was so excited reviewing options with Peter that I forgot to ask about their completion time! Perhaps (with the holidays) 4-6 weeks? I already have the wheels (Vintage Wheels Halibrand 5-pin replicas), tires, rebuilt toploader, and various other odds and ends, and I'm about to finish rebuilding the XJ rear end.
Hope that wasn't too much information, but this is exciting!

[SSSammy]

CS, my, my .. you have been waiting a loooong time to order. Rest assured you chose the right manufacturer. I can tell your car will be a fine example. Did you decide to have ERA bond and rivet the body to the frame? I can't imagine trying to do that myself after seeing all the rivets!

If you were at ERA in July 07, you would have seen #745 in the pit or the body shop. It's great to see another new ERA build going on nearby. Give me a shout if you need any advice or want to compare notes

Sam

[Ron Going]

Definitely have ERA powder coat the chassis and bond the body. It will be well worth the $$ spent and the time saved. Enjoy your new cobra....you went with the best company.

[cscobra]

Thank you, Sam. I am planning to bond it myself--we´ll see! I appreciate your offer of help!

My wife and I have seen quite a few different kit ¨factories¨ over the years. ERA´s quality stood out markedly from all of the rest. The ERA people are great, too, as you know.

What color is #745? I may have a picture--we were there on July 31 last year. I´ll never forget that day--my wife sat in a partially completed ERA, looked at it in detail, and said, ¨This is REALLY NICE. Why can´t the others be like this¨? I won´t mention her comments about the ¨others¨!

Clay Sawyer
Waco, TX

[RICK LAKE]

cscobra Clay welcome to the family. As Ronny and alot of others have done, let ERA do the frame painting and bonding of the body to the car. I know that this is not that hard but they get it right everytime. If you don't get this right you can get cracks in the body. $6-8,000 dollar paint job is down the drain. Over the years, 12+ have seen good people say they can do it them selves, have seen it done, have videos, every have body shop Pro's. The book is great along with the pictures, but for the couple of dollars you are saving, IMO and seeing others not done at ERA, it's just not worth it. What gears are you going with? It sound like a nice street car you are building. A nice 5spd overdrive trans might be a better trans that top loader unless you are staying local to home. Have you asked Peter about the rims and pin drive they sell. IMO the 6 pin drives are stronger that the 5 pins. I do race the car. You are also running an FE motor with about 400-500HP and torque. Just a thought Rick L. If you want to talk, call me 732-254-3536

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Congrats on choosing ERA, you won't be disappointed. Ditto on letting ERA fasten and bond the body, this is what they are all about. They will do it right every time, and when you drive it it won't shake, rattle or squeak.
I've seen a few of their 'Street' cars and they are very nice. Good luck.

[Bobcat]

I have #757 , which I`m currently building . IMHO , you will be better off letting ERA bond the body and chassis there . They do it all the time and have seen anything that can cause a problem ... but more importantly , they stand behind everything they do . You are getting the "new" body as I did ( mine was one of the first ) , and it has some improvements over the "old" body .... ask Peter what they are .
FYI ... the body shop that painted mine ( in CT ) said they really like working on ERA bodies as the quality is very high compared to others and the fit etc is much better .
Have fun while you wait .... I waited for over a year ... but it was/is well worth it !

[Rickd]

CS, I went with the Vintage 5 pin wheels on my FIA, and it was partly because of Peter's recommendation. He said "that way if you want to track it seriously, you can get a set of steel bolt on wheels with racing tires, take off your street tires/wheels, and go". I think the Vintage wheels look great, and the finish on them is superb. I just came in from an "Independence Day spin" in my ERA - I live by the U of Miami campus in Coral Gables, Fl. - while stopped at a light 4 blocks from my house a GT-40 in Gulf Colors came zipping around the corner - really cool moment - my 289 Cobra rumbling, and a GT-40 echoing back!!! Have a great 4th of July - and enjoy the build!! Rick

[FIA-ERA]

Clay, Congrats and now the fun really starts! I would strongly suggest letting ERA bond the chassis to the car. I would differently take the advice given by fellow CC members. They have been through this before and their experiences are valid, I know. I had no choice but to install and bond my chassis to the frame. I will tell you it is pretty nerve racking and you have to move quick before all the epoxy sets up. It pretty much sucks if you ask me not to mention the at least 4 guys it takes to do it. Plus ERA has jigs to get the car set in place just right! There is a lot to it and if your off slightly it will make the body crooked or panels miss aligned. I've seen others paint the car seperate from the chassis and I really don't know how they do this either! On my car you had to first get the nose in place with the back end up at an angle and then let the backside down. At the same time pulling the sides so it will go around the interior of the car (bulkheads). When your doing this all you can hear is the fiberglass talking back at you and your wondering if it's going to break! I would suggest getting powder coated by ERA/ bonded at ERA/ trial fit everything!/ use their dollies/ and take the time to mask off very well. It also sucks to try and touch up the powder coating!! Watch for the paint guys as they just like to paint and don't really care where it goes other than the top side. Use this forum, it will be your friend with many experiences and updates! Welcome to the ERA family and listen to Peter/ Bob, their great! You've got to check out the "skunk works" on your next visit up there. It's worth the price of admission!! Good luck, Matt.

[cscobra]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and the great comments--sounds like I need to talk with Peter about having ERA bond the body!

I have 3.31 gears (with Power-Lok) in the final drive. Even with the 1:1 fourth gear in the toploader, I should still run about 3000-3100 rpm at 70 with my tall, skinny tires--not too bad. I don´t plan to ever seriously track the car, especially without a rollover bar.

Can´t wait for the build!

[RICK LAKE]

cscobra I run 3.31 gears and with the overdrive can turn 70 mph at 2,200 rpms give or take 100 or so. The 5 spds are not cheap but at gas going to $5.00 per gallon, you could pay off and over drive trans in 15,000 miles. It also saves the wear and tear on the motor. Just a thought. Rick L.

[SSSammy]

Clay, sorry to be so tardy responding to your question .. I've been tearing my clutch down .. trying to figure out why it doesn't Appears torque monster FE and organic disc is a bad choice ..

Anyway .. #745 is 2007 Viper Silver with 2007 Viper Red stripes.

Good advice from other ERA owners on the bonding. If you are going to use a local painter, then I'd do it like ERA does it up to the point they send it to paint: powder coat frame, bond and rivet on the body, then send to paint as a bonded unit on dolly wheels. That way the aluminum panels don't go on till after paint. So have them ship it to you the way they ship it to the CT paint shops.

There will still be plenty of craft work in installing the aluminum panels I went further and had it made as a full painted roller. It just doesn't cost that much more in the big scheme.

Sam

[408FIA]

Clay, you mentioned that you were finishing up a rebuild of a jag rear, can you take me thru the process, did you take any pics? the more info the better, as I am about to tear into mine...

send me an email if you want jeff.warren@brooks.com

[M164285]

Congratulations on getting your chassis number. I know the feeling as my chassis number is 768. Peter said I should have my car in early September. My son and I are going up to see the car just prior to them shipping it.

Enjoy.

Clyde

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

When driving regular city/rural roads, a 3:31 rear in 4th gear (toploader) will turn around 2000 rpm's at 45-50 mph, which is about the lowest range you'd want to run your FE engine in 4th gear. Unless you plan on lots of highway driving keep with the toploader, it's still the best tranny for your ERA Cobra.