and without further adieu

To WORK!!! The other day Diana helped me to unbolt and lift the body off the frame and things have moved along pretty quickly from there. I labeled all the panels and traced the frame onto them, then removed them all. I riveted 3 panels in place that needed to be done before the front suspensions could be done. The riveting is a slow process of:
1. Measure and mark the rivet locations
2. Drill out the aluminum
3. Screw the aluminum on the frame
4. Drill out the frame
5. Remove the panel
6. Clean off the metal shavings
7. Silicone the frame
8. Rivet the panels in place

After the panels were riveted in place, Carl came over and we got the front suspension completely installed. To the left is a picture of the passenger side coil over shock. It was a pain in the butt, with tugging and pushing and pulling and maneuvering. Trying to get things to fit that aren't QUITE lined up can be a huge problem when they are made of metal or under a lot of pressure! :-P

Arrival

The cobra has arrived!

Dad drove up from Greensboro and helped me load 'er up. The truck driver lowered it out onto a dolly, then we pushed it down the street. They had to park the truck 2 streets away so there was a little ways to go. Then we wheeled it into the driveway and plopped it onto some jack stands. Then dad and I unpacked the boxes and put them into the garage in the order that they would be needed. After that I had to head in to work. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to wrap up the parts prep and be able to really get cranking on assembly soon.

Starting parts prep

With the extra junk out of the way, and the garage all cleaned up, it's time to start getting parts ready to go in to the '65 chassis. The first step was to cut off a full coil from each of the rear suspensions springs. I first attempted to do this with a hacksaw - this ended in failure. I thought I was making progress at first, until I just realized that I had only cut through the paint on the surface. The stock springs flatten out that the top, so I'm not 100% sure how this is going to seat in the cobra since it's now no longer flat. So I ran over to ace hardware to get a metal cutting blade for the circular saw. That made quick work of those springs :-P

After cutting and cleaning the springs, it was time to work on the rear end. I started out with a wire brush scraping off the rust. Ford doesn't put any kind of coating on the mustang's rear axle so they are all rusty. Someone had, however, in the past painted the differential cover so it wasn't rusty. Also, there were two different color gasket seals on the diff cover screws and the oil was in good shape, so it's just yet another sign that the previous owner really took care of the car. The differential oil is one of the first things to be neglected by an owner.

Changing the differential oil can be a messy process because there is no drain plug, but I got lucky and actually didn't spill any. The real pain in the butt was cleaning all the old gasket material off. I spent about an hour working on that. This tedious stuff is what I can't stand - scraping off rust and gasket material, etc.

The gears inside look like they are in great shape, and there was no sediment at the bottom of the diff; another good sign. I've pretty much scraped all the rust off that I plan on scraping. I bought a can of brake parts cleaner and a can of caliper paint, but I think I'll wait to paint it and let Josh hit it with his spray gun - it'll look much better. I also got the control arms off and scraped. I had some trouble getting the brake calipers off so I left them alone for now, but they will need to come off and get cleaned and painted as well.

Exit Donor

Say goodbye to my little friend - the cobra donor. The body panels and frame have all been sold! I cleaned up the garage a bit and now there is a LOT more space. There is a local guy named Sean that did a factory five replica with basically the same donor as me. Here is a video of his first test drive of the cobra w/ no body on: Test Drive

A HUGE thanks to Carl for coordinating everything between fastlane and for bringing the trailer out. Also thanks to Justin, Brandon, and Seth for helping maneuver the shell onto the trailer. Our powers combined...

Driveshaft

I took the driveshaft in to a shop called Brakes, inc this morning to get it shortened. Starting at a rusty 4 feet long or so, the roadster requires that it ends up at a mere 13". And although it cost me slightly over twice what they quoted me, they did do a good job and gave it a nice black coating. I had him show me the length on a measuring tape before I took it home.

They were a different sort of business. I came in the front door and the guy told me to go in and talk to Jerry. After walking through several warehouses filled with heavy equipment, I final came upon Jerry. When I came back to pick the driveshaft up later, I went back to that same place to find Jerry and he handed me the driveshaft and just told me to pay up front. I could have so easily just driven away! The only info they had on my was my name and phone number. Anyhow here's a pic.

Phase I complete!

Tonight I removed the last of the donor items from the car. I'm trying to sell all my leftover stuff as a package to FastLane Motorsports; I should know if they are going to spring for it tomorrow sometime. Otherwise, I REALLY need to respond to all these Craig's List emails I've been getting. So tonight I pulled off the transmission mount crossmember brackets and a fuel overflow hose. She's ready to be recycled now!

Note to self: make a copy of the title before I give it to the scrap-yard or to fastlane. Now the next step is the arduous task of donor part preparation, which includes cleaning. I hate cleaning. Maybe someone can give me some pointers on the best and fastest ways to remove and prevent rust from components like the rear end and gas tank, exhaust manifolds etc.

Pulling the Engine and Transmission

Or more accurately, pulling the frame FROM the engine! It's a pretty great idea that Josh M gave me and doesn't require a hoist. Here is a vid, watch the magic happen!

I got off work early today and headed to Lowes to pick up some supplies. I built 3 small dollies for the chassis and a large one for the engine. Then after Brandon got there, we removed the rear end and finished pulling a few small parts. In the manual, they say there is a clip that is riveted to the donor brake lines that you need to keep. I can't find this bugger anywhere. The only riveted brackets I could find were on the fuel lines. I may have to make a bracket later. After the rear end and drive-shaft were off, it was time to remove the engine and transmission.

Me and B-Zone get ready.










The engine has been conquered!










...and as you can see here, I'm all done with the kit and ready to hit the road!

Suspension pics

Here are the front struts still attached to the brake assembly.

Here is where they came from! Nothing left in the front but the engine!

Here you can see the rear end lying on the ground with the shock disconnected and springs removed.

Spench'n

Josh M came over today and we knocked out the front and rear suspension. We came up with a pretty great plan that will eliminate the need for an engine hoist at this stage of the game. Which means that I can get the tear-down done quicker. Although the suspension was a pretty big triumph, it came at a price.
1. I banged my wrist and it's swollen up now :-(
2. I had to spend $122 on tools (I knew this was coming though)
3. Josh cut his finger trying to get the driveshaft bolts off.
4. I broke my camera.

The night came to a close around 10:45 when we both needed to get some other things done. All in all very successful. The rear end is mostly disconnected and the front suspension is totally off.

I was taking some pictures at the end of the night and dropped my camera which broke the zoom lens and now it is stuck closed. DOH! I'll upload some pics tomorrow - meanwhile go vote in my poll from the last post!

The important stuff

This may be jumping ahead...a bit, but now that I've ordered the kit, the important stuff can be dealt with. Like the color!! So I set up a poll on the right for the best color scheme. Please vote! One thing to bear in mind is that black paint will show flaws in the body much more evidently than white paint. And since I am working the body myself, there could be a few of those!

Black w/ Red. This is pretty close to what I would do. Notice the pinstripe on the outside of the main stripes. My roll bars will be black.






White & Black. The main difference I would do here, mine would have black stripes and probably no black rock-guard.






White & Blue. The main difference here is that my car would not be a die-cast model. Lol. This one is really awesome, but I would have to chrome the roll bars later because they are coming in black.

We've taken the next step.

Tonight we ordered the kit although our breakfast nook, dining room, guest room, and office all remain without furniture (Chris and I had agreed that furnishing the house would come first). Factory Five announced today that for the next 100 kits ordered there would be a $2000 discount, and we simply couldn't pass that up.

Maybe I should win some kind of good wife award for being supportive and flexible. This award should come from Cartier. Also, Chris should de-ice my car every morning this winter since he'll be using my parking spot in the garage.

We should know shortly what the estimated kit delivery date is, and there will definitely be a party!

Bunch more stuff

I got started working on the car today after I did some yardwork. First I removed the shifter, then climbed underneath and pulled off the transmission wiring harness. Then I pulled off a bunch of other stuff like the hood release latch & cable, and the fuel evaporative canister. Then Brandon came over and we started working on the exhaust. While he broke some bolts loose on that, I removed the E-brake handle. We had to run to the store to buy a hack-saw to remove the exhaust. We got all the exhaust off from the H pipe back, but it's pretty much impossible to get the next section off until the suspension is off.

So, next I"m going to do the suspension then finish up the exhaust, then pull the engine and transmission. Then do the rear end and the gas tank. After that it's just a little bit of cleanup and time to find someone to get rid of the frame.