Hurricane Build Thread, HM-2016

[aarvig]

I had started this build thread here:
New Hurricane Owner!!
I decided, however, to start a thread officially titled as a "build thread" to post all my build activity to. I figured it was more appropriately a "build thread" then a "New Hurricane Owner" thread.
So without further ado...here goes:

Here is a picture of the frame in the jig at Hurricane:


Here is a picture of the body out of the mold. There really is great quality here. The fiberglass is substantial, well made and accurate. The mold lines are in inconspicuous places which makes for easier body work:

[LMH]

Very cool! Congrats on your car! Going to be interesting watching it go together.
Larry

[1795]

Looking forward to watching your progress. Do you have an estimate of when everything will be delivered to you? Hopefully you will have enough time to gt it on the road during good weather.

[bwcobra15]

Lookin' good!

[aarvig]

Originally Posted by 1795

Looking forward to watching your progress. Do you have an estimate of when everything will be delivered to you? Hopefully you will have enough time to gt it on the road during good weather.

I've got it all here. I really need to update this thread, which I will do soon. I have the suspension, brakes, brake and fuel lines in and am working on the fuel system. Hoping to have the motor in in 4 weeks time. I'll update soon. The Hurricane is an AWESOME kit!

[aarvig]

Late last summer, I received a call from Jason at Hurricane that my Cobra was ready. As part of the purchase agreement I wanted to go to Lake City and help Jason (the head builder at Hurricane) build my car out to a roller. Steve and Jason kindly agreed and opened up the shop to me and my family, which included my two boys (Levi and Chase) and my dad (Rick). So, on a Friday, we made the trek to Iowa (4.5 hours), got a hotel in Fort Dodge, IA and arrived at Hurricane Motorsports in Lake City, IA to begin building our car to a roller. Jason said it could be done in a day and we were out to prove that was the case.
First of all, the hospitality provided by the Hurricane guys was second to none. If you are seriously interested in a Cobra replica...do not overlook Hurricane.

First order of business was to run a tap through the lower control arms and make sure they would screw smoothly onto the Heim joints.



Second order of business was to assemble the rear end. The Hurricane 427 comes STANDARD with a brand new Ford 9" rear end with Trac-Loc from Johns Industries. I chose 3.50 to 1 gear ratio. Do not forget to install the friction modifier or your sweet new rear end will be toast.



As I said, these are brand new center sections, gears, clutches, and housings. Top notch and top quality...



Installing the gasket. This unit uses copper crush washers and I opted to only use the gasket and the crush washers so in lieu of RTV (as recommended by the 9" shop) for easy disassembly.



Using mini-popeye style forearms install the center section on the housing.

[aarvig]

A little gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet moved seated the housing fully into place.



Levi then added the copper crush washers and locknuts.



Levi and Chase planning on learning to drive a stick shift on this car when they are older. That is my dad, Rick, in the backround.



We then torqued to the torque recommended by the manufacturer. I'm not sure but I think it was around 45 ft/lbs.

[aarvig]

The next step was to assemble the rear brake assembly. I believe these brakes are designed for a Ford Explorer. The are definitely beefy enough. Hurricane will upgrade your braking system to Wilwoods if you so desire but since my car will not be raced I decided to leave the braking system stock for now as it can be updated at any time. These are the stock rear brake components.



In order to get the brake dust shields to fit over the rear wheel bearing assemblies on the rear axles we had to take a Dremel and open up the dust shields a bit. About 3 passes with the Dremel and we were good to go.



Axles slid right into the housing since they too were brand new. The wheel bearings sat perfectly into the axle housing and new T-bolts and lock nuts were installed and torqued.



Jason and I then took a seat on the floor and with the help of a floor jack we lifted the rear end into place. Jason is on the left and thats yours truly on the right. By the way, it was almost 90 degrees this day.

[66AC]

Fun to read and watch! More More!

[1795]

Nice job of being involved in the build process and taking pictures. As you point out, there is always a little extra work involved than one might expect to make things fit. Looking forward to more pictures.

[aarvig]

Rear suspension installed. Also, the manual has you install the rear brakes with the calipers on the backside of the rotor. Jason, the lead builder at Hurricane, recommended that I swap sides so the calipers were on the forward side of the rotors. This allowed for much easier routing of brake lines and e-brake cables.



We also installed the panhard bar and trailing arms...

[aarvig]

Chase and Levi installing the upper control arms under the watchful eye of grandpa Rick.





Installing the rear calipers...

[aarvig]

After the rear suspension was set up, we threw the wheels on it and let the boys make obligatory cobra noises with associated facial expressions...

[Pedro Blanco]

I am shopping Cobra manufacturers, Hurricane is on the short list. I would love to see these pictures but looks like I need to upgrade to a $399.00 version of Photo Bucket. Is there any other way to view the pictures?
Thanks, Pete.