Hub sorted.

Major thanks to Ed at Wards. Despite Citylinks best efforts at delaying delivery and not ringing my door bell I now have a replacement hub which does not wobble about! Ed was great about it, especially given that it was 2005 that I originally took delivery.

Hub problem, major pain!

Whilst checking out the shims required to install the rear hubs to the wishbones, I noticed that one of the hubs has excessive free play.

The hub was free to move in and out by around 5mm and also could be rocked from side to side. The other hub was fine with no free play at all in any direction! Damn!

A quick email to Ed at Ward Engineering confirmed that I should return the hub for it to be checked, so thatwas that, off it went today and hopefully I should get it back in time for next weeks assembly game!

Still I cant fault Ed, its well over a year since I had these parts. Im not sure if hes charging me though, thats yet to be worked out!

Not much happening.

Not much to report at the moment, no time spent in the garage for a while now. Hoping to get up there next week during my weeks holiday.
Here's the plan.
1) Fit Diff to chassis by top four mounting bolts.
2) Fit diff carrier brackets to chassis.
3) Fit diff pivot brackets loosely to diff.
4) Fit lower pivot bolts through brackets into pivot brackets.
5) Fit shims and bolt up pivot brackets.
6) Remove diff and setup on floor at required height to set geometry.
7) Install brake discs and calipers adjusting shimming to centre disc on caliper.
8) Fit hub to lower arm, adjusting the shims Ive forgotten to buy!
9) Install drive shaft to hub and ensure fully home.
10) Install drive shaft to diff output flange using camber shims to set camber.
11) Adjust toe in at this stage.
12) Fit assembly to chassis (easier than it sounds as I cant lift the diff on its own!)
13) Check toe in again.
14) Check thrust.
15) Adjust as required. (I think this is going to be the killer!)

So that's it, the plan for next Tuesday, Ive a few things to order in before then so Id best get on with it!

New carb.

Here's a few pics of the new carb, its rather large!



Just for interest really!

Some Progress.

Started preparing the rear axle parts for assembly today. First up the diff carrier brackets needed the pivot shaft holes cleaning out as some paint had run in.

Round file and some wire wool sorted that out.

So now the pivot shafts can go through OK.


Using new bolts Ive temporally mounted the brackets to the diff after cleaning the paint from the mating faces.

After this I turned my attention to the lower arms and again cleaned out all the shaft holes, installed new grease nipples and bearing's.

So that's both arms ready for installation.

Its getting to the point where I can put off no longer the assembly of the rear axle, still not convinced I know what I doing though!

New Gauge & dash direction.

As always I change my mind on a frequent basis so keeping up is not easy! Ive moved away from the classic look back to a more modern feel. I'm back looking at Autometer gauges and I like the look of the Cobalt range.

And illuminated.


I hear the purists shuddering but care not I!

For the Speedo, Tacho, Fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge I will use the full sweep units. The fuel gauge is programmable so it can be set to match any quirks of the sender caused by the tank design.

And for the water temp, oil temp and voltmeter the half sweep units will do. This is worth doing as the half sweep are nearly 50% the cost of the full sweep but they are the same size.


The blue illumination will match the push button switches Ive chosen, again a much more modern take.


The warning lights will be those as supplied by ETB.

With a couple of standard Lucas flick switches for the lights and fan controls that completes the dash items.

Gauge dissapointment

Ah well, not everything goes to plan but my latest dissapointment will no doubt be approved by the Cobra purists.

The all singing, all dancing, Autometer Nexus gauges I had hoped to use are not suitable for use in an open top car. (see the "check these Gauges out link")

A quick email to Autometer confirmed the following.

"The Nexus instruments will not be easily seen in a convertible. The gauges have a tinted lens on them for a clean look when they are powered down. However, the tinted lens also makes it difficult to see in bright sunlight. We have had people use the Nexus series in a convertible, but they were in a shaded area."

The dash of a Cobra is hardly a shaded area so that's them out of the running, too much cost to take the risk I'm afraid.

Now thinking to go a bit more authentic and use either Greengauges or Smiths Electric Cobra range. Either way this will at least be considerably cheaper than the Autometer units. Ho hum.

Stoneleigh 2007

Took a trip up to Stoneleigh last Sunday, I hadnt intended to go but my dad fancied it so that was good enough excuse for me!

Took in all the usual suspects, paid GD a brief visit to collect some nuts I needed and hunted down suppliers of silicone hose. If GD cant supply the Ford set in red I wil use an alternative supplier. Ive added potentials to the suppliers list.

The CRC area was again well attended with one of the biggest turn outs of the day.

You dont get a good impression form this pictures but there are a lot of Cobra's there!

I think the most unusual thing I saw was this dash.

Nice job, thats the actual car painted onto the dash (somewhow!)

All in all a good day out and I only spent £4.50 on some P clips!

Parts update.

Finally arrived!!
Is wrong to get excited about some parts from the USA? Anyway they all arrived in good condition, the starter is smaller than I expected and the carb is bigger! The ignition module looks to be a good unit and most annoyingly comes with a link cable to go between the ignition and dizzy so I dont need the MSD one Ive got. Still the MSD one looks to be a better grade cable and its got sleeving whereas the Summit one does not. Ill stick some pictures on here later.

Still waiting.

Well at least my box from Summit has made it to through customs and is now sat at Bristol international hub awaiting a letter to arrive on my door mat asking for more money. Then once Ive paid that they will deliver it, no one will be in so it will go back to Bristol, I will spend hours on the phone trying to talk to a human before getting it redirected to my local post office (hopefully) for 50p or worst case to my parents for £5.50!!

Beginning to think the extra $30 for UPS might have been worth it!!

Wheres my stuff then?

Well after tracking my parcel through the US it left Chicago on the 23rd, flew to the UK and disappeared into the black hole known as Parcel Force. Maybe its stuck in customs but as yet Ive no way of tracking it. Hope it fairs better than the last one which resided in a puddle for a few weeks before they delivered it in bits with my fuel pump all rusty!

Taking advantage of the dollar rate!

With the pound worth over $2 I couldn't ignore the opportunity to capitalise. So after a bit of working out what would actually be cheaper imported I phoned Summit and ordered the following.
Edlebrock 1405 600 cfm manual choke carb.
Ford Racing Parts Hi Torque mini starterSummit Ignition box.

Oh and the cable to plug the Ignition box into my MSD 8479 dizzy. (its just a cable so no pic I'm afraid!)

I was going for the MSD 6AL but was offered the Summit item instead. On paper they look very similar except the Summit unit is digital and has a rotary switch to set the rev limit and dip switches to set the engine configuration. Whereas the MSD unit uses plug in modules to set the rpm limit (at extra cost) and a on time cut link to set the engine configuration.

All in all it work out around £50 cheaper than the MSD and looks to be a better unit, Time will tell!

So adding up what Ive spent, Ive worked out that the equivalent parts from UK sources would be another £200. Now I'm happy!

Summit are really easy to order from and really helpful, with their lines open 24hrs a day it makes life easy.

Diff collected today.

Breaking from the engine build updates for a minute...
Today I collected my rebuilt diff from Russ Derbyshire. Thoroughly nice bloke with RAM fitted with an RV8 that sounds awesome. Russ has done a great job on my diff, heres the before pic..



And the after pic..


Now all I need to do is work out the shimming of the pivot bracket's to get the right geometry, this could be fun!

Getting to grips with this.

Nothing much to add other than Ive put in the links to Picasa2 and uploaded some engine pictures. Ill do more as time permits.
Sorted out the historic posts now, so they will appear in months fairly close to where they should be.

Where did all begin?

The Beginning.
Many years ago as a child I was forever reading kit car magazines and thinking one day Ill build something. I always wanted a Countach replica.

Forward wind about 18 years and I finally have the time and money to actually do something about that childhood dream. I start thinking about building a kit and begin looking around, I stumbled over the Cobra replica club website, www.cobraclub.com, and that got me interested in Cobras. Its just something about them that has got be hooked and some would say obsessed!

After lots of looking at the various marques I settle on the GD427, to be honest as soon as I saw the chassis design I thought, that the one, someones thought about that, and thats where Ill leave the story for tonight.

More the come!

Up and running.

Well this is the second blog setup to track the build of my GD427, the first is on the CobraClub website. Im giving this a go to see which works best for me.

Ive a fair bit to update so bear with me as theres a lot to cover!

Front Axle assembly.

Now it was time to seriously start bolt bits on and begin to make this look like it might be a car one day.
Up the front the Jag lower arm was readied for installation, I trial fitted the lower pivot shaft and found that, as was stated in the GD build notes, my new shaft was slightly over on OD due to the plating. With the shaft clamped in my press it was the work of a few minutes to reduce the OD with a bit of abrasive pad.

The chassis tube and pivot shaft was well greased, the lower wishbone was offered up to the chassis and persuaded to fit with the thrust washers between the chassis and bushes in the lower arm.

With the shaft knocked through (not all the way or you wont get the nut on!) I could fit the washer and nut and tap through to complete. The nut was tightened and the split pin inserted and bent to lock the nut in place. It does not matter with the powerflex bushes where the lower arm is when the nut is tightened but if you are using direct replacement Jag bushes the lower arm must be horizontal to prevent the bushes from tearing.

With the lower arm in place The upper arm came next. A small issue was found here, as assembled the pivot bracket would not fit to the chassis. The inner thrust washer was fouling on the mounting plate. So I disassembled both sides and swapped the pivot shafts over and eventually I managed to get a combination that would fit without having to take a file to the chassis!

With a pair of new bolts (not supplied in the GD bolt kit!) and additional washers front and back I bolted up the top pivot shaft, note the main pivot shaft nyloc's are left loose at this stage.


I'm not sure I have enough thread protrusion on the rear of these bolts for Mr SVA, only time will tell.

Next I fitted the shock unit, you can leave this out if you are going to set your geometry now but as I have a bit of time before I come to that task I decided to fit the shock such that the front assy. was self supporting.

Simple really, just use two bolts, two nuts and 4 washers.

To finish off this side the final bit to fit was the upright assembly. This is a heavy part to lift into place and fiddle around locating ball joints!


From the back..


And a closer shot of the front..

One point of note, it is not possible to get a socket and torque wrench on to the bottom ball joint nut once the top ball joint is located. Well not with my torque wrench anyway!

The same sequence was repeated on the other side except I tightened the lower ball joint nut before I located the upper joint into the upright. Took a bit of balancing of the hub on my jack, oh and a support strap in case it slipped off the jack, but the job was done.


Next up the steering rack.....

Rigid fuel line.

Flushed with success of the brake lines I moved swiftly on to tackle the rigid fuel line.

This, like the brake pipes, comes coiled up from GD so first off I had to carefully straighten the pipe. All apart from the pre formed 90° bend at the front!

The pipe is then mounted to the top rail of the chassis on the opposite side to the rear brake line.


At the back Ive yet to fix the pipe finally in place as Ive run out of P clips but it exits about here (I think!)

(Please excuse the pile of rubbish in the background!)

So thats that, the fuel line is in.

Rear Brake pipe.

Happy that the front pipes were in I moved on to the back pipes. At this point I was glad I had the chassis up on stands as high as I could get it as there was a lot of laying on your back working underneath the chassis.

First off I fixed the rear T splitter to the location supplied by GD.

Then from here I started to form the bends and work backwards. If you asked me now I may say that this was not such a good move as trying to manipulate such a long piece of pipe was not easy.
Well in the end after a fair bit of effort the pipe was fixed to the chassis and up to the mounting block at the front. I cant say Im happy about the distorted nature of this bend and its yet to be understood if it will foul on any part of the drivetrain.

So thats it apart from the small link pipes back to the rear calipers from the T splitter. I will cover those once the rear axle is in place.

The Chassis Build Begins.

After a bit of a 4 month break from doing anything in the garage I thought I ought to press on.

First off I removed the radiator bar and tunnel top sheet to give better access to the chassis, also with the radiator bar removed it gave me a bit more room at the front of the garage.

Rust protecting the inside of the chassis.
The next job was to coat the insides of the chassis tubes with waxoil or similar, I chose Dinitrol ML cavity wax in 500ml aerosol cans instead of using a compressed air driven applicator. I ordered two but only actually needed one to complete the task as you dont want to fill the tubes up, just coat them.

The main advantage of this was that the applicator nozzle was exactly the right size to fit in through the chassis mount holes. All the chassis mounts were removed one at a time and the chassis tubes coated in sections.

Brake Pipes.
At this point I made my first of I’m sure many breaks with the normal build procedure. I decided to do my brake and fuel lines next because my running gear was not yet complete.
Adrian Beaumont, AKA Grease Monkey, very kindly drove up to Swindon to lend me his rivnut gun so that I could fit the brake lines in.

I started with the front T splitter and then started the pipe bending exercise with the front drivers side short link. This did not go too well, as I had the GD pipe kit all the pipes were to the right length and pre terminated, this meant I could not make any mistakes! Soon after getting it wrong I started to get the hang of pipe bending and the link was in.

Next I moved on to do the link across to the other front flexi pipe. This went better.

Next came the link from the T union to the mounting block.

And that’s it, the front brake lines are in.