I had some time this weekend to work on the Cobra. Moving beyond the sheet metal and started some serious wrench turning.With my trusty torque wrench and a pile of parts in hand... of course, the build manual near by. I dove into the front suspension. This picture shows only some of the parts used on the front suspension.Spindles, upper/lower A-Arms, Steering arms, shocks and hardware.
Here is a picture of where I'm at now. This is just all of the parts put into their right location (mocked-up). I still need to torque everything down. The upper A-Arm assembly is fully adjustable.... Ummm, by I professional once the car is complete. You can see the hub in the lower left side. Once that is installed I'll begin to work on installing the brakes.
We did take a few minutes to stop by our local Albertsons and visit with the Oscar Myers Weinermobile. Isn't as cool as the cobra. But, it is a pretty cool automotive design. Based on a GM motorhome chassis. Hmmm, Cobra painted Yellow with Orange strips, HOT DOG!.... I don't think so. The cobra needs to be paint a color to blend in a little more.
Even Jenn and Dominic showed up and get their hands on a Whistle and sticker!
Well, that's it for this week. Next week is Superbowl. So, I don't expect that I'll be spending to much time in the garage.
Well, it looks like I should make this a "I'll post when I make some progress"...blog.
So, I did made some good progress on the build this weekend.
One of the big highlights of the weekend was a Factory Five Builder/Owner (Ray and Jodie) stopped by on Saturday morning with his roadster! It was very motivating to talk with both of them about their build and some of the improvements that they see from their version.
He even took me for a ride.
Between you and me... this was my first time going for a ride in Roadster!I've sat in a few of them... but, to feel the power and hear the roar of the side pipes...Yes, I made the right choice!
It was a blast! very quick and...a very manly ride! Ray has offered his help when I need it and I'll take it!
One of the other things that happened this weekend was that several neighbors came over to the garage and looked, asked question about the car... Neighbors that I have only nodded to in passing. I've learned that I have at least four neighbors that are or were mechanics in their careers and they offered help. Pretty cool. I'll be talking with them all in the future for advice and/or lifting help.
Progress on the car, I pulled all of the Aluminum off of the chassis.
Now we can see all of the structural members of the chassis. Very well designed and excellent craftsmanship on the fabrication.
The next step was to install the first piece of sheetmetal. Its called the "F" panel and it goes over the front suspension. One on each side.
There is some prep work the needs to be done to the sheetmetal before installing them.
So before removing the sheet metal from the chassis each part is marked where the mounting tubes come in contact with the sheetmetal. Once marked using a template holes spaced 1-1/2" apart are drilled through the sheet metal.
Once you have the holes in the panels you place it back on the chassis and transfer the through holes into the chassis. I'm using Cleco's to hold the piece to the chassis.Kind of a third hand.
Once all of the holes in the chassis are drilled. Each panel is held onto the chassis with Silicone sealant and Pop rivets.
Next step is on to installing the front suspension!! good story from Bill Cosby on the AC Cobra
Well, it appears that I need to change this Blog from a weekly to a Bi-monthly issue.
Had a busy weekend. Finished building the Body buck and actually placed the Body on the buck. The body is made out of fiberglass, 3/16" thick. Just so you know... the fiberglass body is purely a cosmetic part of the car, it is not a structual member. This also goes for the sheetmetal. One of the reasons that I choose the Factory Five roadster over othe kits. The chassis is designed to support the vehicle.
This buck supports the body while it is off of the chassis (the body will live there for a couple of years). This buck design allows the body to stay in the garage during the build. I had to build the buck high enough to allow the body to stay above the chassis and only taking up half of the garage floor space. It has locking casters on the bottom of the legs, which allows me to roll the buck and body in and out of the garage.
Body buck during construction, inverted
I also took the time to take some photos of all of the body mounts to record the hardware stackup.
On Sunday night I had the buck completed and had Lori (wife), Jennifer (Daughter) and Jacob (Son in Law) come out and help me lift the body off of the chassis and lift it up to also 60" high to get it on top of the buck. It was almost comical watching Lori and Jenn tippy toeing to be able to help lift the body onto the buck.
The next thing that needed to happen is that the buck and Body had to be able to fit buck back in the Garage and clear the chassis as well as the garage door. Lori was stationed on a step ladder to make sure we didn't hit anything...Plenty of Room!
This gave me a chance to have a closer look at the chassis.
Driver side foot box
Front Tubes and suspension mounting points.
The Buck is 80" wide and 8' long! It needed to be wide enough to clear the tires and wheels once installed.
I still need to install some shelves on the inside of the buck so that I can place some of the sheet metal as well as the doors, trunk. Would also like to install a couple of more cross braces to remove any concern of rolling the buck out on to the driveway... no a smooth surface, cobblestone.
Next step is to document all of the sheet metal on how they are installed from the factory. In addition, I need to mark all of the tubes and supports where they come in contact with the sheet metal. This is where all of the holes will need to be drilled.... planning on putting a Rivet every 2" to give me a good, hopefully vibration free install. The kit was shipped with 1500 rivets!
