Wobbly steering and air tight cabin

So I have some good news and some bad news to report - don't worry nothing too bad. I'll start with the good news.

Since I've been without my truck for most of December, I have come to discover the need to windproof the cobra. I sprayed some great stuff expanding foam between the footbox and the body. This stops wind from coming in from under the hood. There is still wind coming from the cracks between the door and the body though. So I ordered some weatherstripping from a forum vendor. I gotta tell you, it's a world of difference. I actually had to cut the heat off today!

The next bit of good news is that I now have 2 of the 3 suspension components necessary to do my suspension upgrade. Also, I've started researching what size wheels will fit.

The 3rd piece of good news is that I found out why my steering wheel has the wobbly play in it before engaging the rack. There were 2 little cone washers that were supposed to go in between the upper rack and the lower rack. These press outward like springs and take up the slack.

Now for the bad news. I don't have those washers - I guess they got lost in all my backordered steering parts. So I decided to drill and tap the lower column so I could use a set screw. I went to the store and bought some set screws for my 1/4 20 tap. Then the trouble started.

* Drilling a hole in the lower steering column is tough because it's in the footbox and flops around when not connected to the upper column. Also, my headlamp died right in the middle of this operation. So after laying my lamp on the floor, I zip tied the steering column to a frame brace on the car to keep it from moving and lifting up as I drill. I Successfully drilled the hole in the steering column.

* My tap handle is being borrowed at the moment so I fumbled around with pliers and other stupid wrong pieces of hardware until I decided to put the tap in the drill chuck. Finally started making some progress when...SNAP. Yep I broke the tap off. Great, now I can't even put my steering wheel back in to go get another one. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even get the broken shard out.

* That is when I decided to use Carl's air hammer to try to break it out. After charging up the tank I took the air hammer to it and it was awesome. My new favorite tool! It was like BZZZT and that little chunk of metal went flying. So I can put the shafts back together now and drive tomorrow. I'll get a new tap and handle so I can finish the tap and tighten down the set screw.

Cobra plan for 2010

The cobra has had a pretty good December so far and things are looking good for 2010. This month, I found a grease fitting that I had missed during assembly that was the source of my suspension squeaking. I actually missed the fitting on both sides, but the passenger side came pre-greased while the driver side didn't. A little bit embarrassing, but hey, everybody makes mistakes. Also, I finally got around to shortening the passenger side tie rod so I could get my alignment in check.

I got some of the parts I need to do my rear suspension upgrade for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!) and the rest of the parts are on order. Right now with the stock setup, I have a good 8-12 inches of sway in the back. It's unbelievable really, and makes accelerating through turns downright dangerous. With the new parts there should be a lot less play, and a lot more control over the stiffness of the ride with a set of koni coil-overs.

After the coil-overs I'll focus on a new set of wheels and getting the biggest freakin' tire I can fit on the back in there. I'm thinking about taking it to Fastlane and having them order the wheels - that way if they don't work I don't have to worry about returns. I don't want any rubbing on the body.

After the rear suspension and wheels I will focus on sourcing a new transmission. Right now I am on the watch for a good used T-45, but I might end up looking for a new transmission instead. I like the T-45 because of the gearing 1-4 are pretty close together with a very overdriven 5th gear. I don't want 6 speeds because with a car with this much power, the time taken up shifting could be spent in the power band in a 5 speed. In the rx-8 the 6 speed was essential because of it's lack of power, but we don't have that lack in this case.

There are several new 4.6L builders on the forum so it's an exciting time to be a part of that scene as well.

I've also spent a lot of time working with Tom reassembling his 440 for his 1968 Imperial. His other vehicles have met untimely demises so we've been rushed to get it on the road as soon as possible. Meanwhile he has my truck, therefore I would like to get the Imperial on the road before any bad weather strikes. A cobra with crappy rear suspension, rear wheel drive, summer tires and power to spare does not fare well with winter weather. So far nothing worse than rain though.

Tuned!

I got some new stuff to report: first big news - I finally got 'Toast tuned. I'm putting down 275 rwhp and 280 tq.

I started working on my alignment a bit too. I need to take the passenger side tie rod off and shorten it, but in the meantime I compensated on the driver side. This means my steering wheel isn't centered and I can not turn as far to the left as I can to the right. But at least the wheels are straight.

Dyno Run

Rain

The rain today has come as unexpected and I had, in fact, counted on it NOT raining. I had left the windows down in my truck and those spungy cloth seats are SOAKED. To make things even better - I restained the deck last night and the rain is now running the stain all over my yard - SWEET...

Oil Change

17 quarts of oil to change all 3 cars, plus 20 oz for the lawnmower :-)

Shelbatop!

I drove in to Greensboro for a family lunch this Sunday. I got to see a lot of people I don't often see, including Trevor & Alisa and their lil' chitlin Morgan. Robert & Nancy were in from Colorado. All the usual fam was their too- mom, dad, grandma, justin, jamie, mac & sherry.

We were playing some yard games out in the front when I got a visit from my old childhood buddy Joey Cheek and his mom. It's always nice to see somebody that you only see occasionally so this weekend was very good for me in that regard. I've seen Joey several times since he 'went famous', but I haven't seen his brother Michael in forever - I wonder what he's up to.

We put the top back on Shelbatoast for the drive home. This was the first long, high speed drive with the top on, and it help up great. No problems at all. I do need to find a way to put the top on without scratching the crap out of the car though!

but in the end...

But what I really need to upgrade first is the transmission. Not so much upgrade, as repair. A master rebuild kit runs about $250 for the T-45 transmission and should be fairly basic to work on - especially for someone who knows the transmission. I'll probably see if I can get fastlane to rebuild it. While they have it there, I'll most likely have them dyno-tune it as well.

After the transmission and tune, next up would be the suspension upgrades and then the engine upgrades.