HG's Dream Car Build - Shelby Cobra Kit

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by fatbass

It's looking badass. Love this build.
Are you planning on any competition racing? If nothing else I'd love to see a 1/8 or 1/4 mile time slip when you get it dialed in.

No plans to, but who knows.

I removed the headlight assemblies so I could get them wired up. Also using the LED headlights with halos. I wired the halos to so the white was one like a DRL and it still flashed yellow with the blinkers but it's washed out when the halo DRL is on so I disconnected the DRL option and only use the halos with the blinkers. I know some people don't care for them, I do and I'm not building this to copy the original as much as possible.

I'm building it for me.

[hgs_notes]

I have a title! And the best part is that the state of MN says I have a 1965 shelby cobra! That's how I filled in the forms, but I didn't expect them to accept it lol.

[fatbass]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I have a title! And the best part is that the state of MN says I have a 1965 shelby cobra! That's how I filled in the forms, but I didn't expect them to accept it lol.

That's one wild card out of the way. How crazy is your insurance (if I may)?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by fatbass

That's one wild card out of the way. How crazy is your insurance (if I may)?

Not bad actually. I have like 5 or 6 cars on a collector car policy. They figure you can only drive 1 at a time so the odds of loosing it all is slim. The cobra has the highest claimed value so the premium is based mainly on that. Less than $50/mo to cover all of them. Once the cobra is painted and done I'll have to raise the value and it'll go up. I have it set at $40k now. Probably bump up to 55-65k later which is what most people are paying to get their cars built using all new stuff. Some quite a bit more if they put turbos and custom professional work done. Mine is really a budget build believe it or not. I have about half the money into the drivetrain than most have using a coyote. Cheaper wheels than the halibrand reproductions, and I'm doing body and paint myself which most people can't do. Realistically I'll spend half or less than what most people spend.

I get a discount from work on the daily driver car insurance for the other 4 vehicles.

[fatbass]

That doesn't seem bad at all. New 3/4T pickups can be nearly $100K and cost a bunch to insure. Not to mention 'vettes and the like.

[hgs_notes]

Had a nice afternoon so I went for a drive. The gas gauge wasn't working so I fixed that first. I think a wire was pinched. Anyway I went to town, put some gas in it, visited the brother in laws shop, drove over the truck scale, ripped around for a while, visited another friend to show off and will scavenge parts off his camper that will work on my van, drove around some more and finally went back home.

Probably the best time I've had in it so far.

It weighs about 2250 lbs with a mostly full tank. It has around 425 HP. It doesn't take long to get to 60.

[Rickysnickers]

Just be careful and don't wind up in one of those corn fields

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Just be careful and don't wind up in one of those corn fields

Funny, someone did just that the other night in the field near my house. An F150 resting on its top. I'm taking it pretty easy. Just cruising and enjoying it as much as I can before the weather forces me to park it. So far the only issue was a coolant leak from a fitting that has an o-ring and really shouldn't have leaked. I pulled it and it seemed OK, put it back on and it didn't leak. Weird. Probably will regear it though. 90 mph at 2500 rpm. Driving at 60 in 5th is well below 2000, it's hard to keep the speed down.

Driving on windy days isn't great. I don't know if having the doors on would help but probably wouldn't be worse. A cross wind almost blew my glasses off my face! It was blowing like 30 mph. I have over 200 miles on it so far. That doesn't sound like much but it's a lot of short trips. It's fun. Seriously fun. I don't miss my motorcycles at all.

I could drive it like this forever, unpainted, unfinished, don't care, it's awesome.

I could, but I won't. It's going to look great finished up. I'm looking forward to it. Not the sanding, I hate sanding.

[Dieselwrencher]

I hate sanding too! Your cobra is looking awesome! Keep enjoying that thing!

[fatbass]

I'll bet you feel 25 years younger behind the wheel. I got a feeling you'll get the finishing touches done a lot quicker than you planned due to the need to drive it. That rush is a great motivator.
Has your wife driven it yet or will she be allowed to?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by fatbass

I'll bet you feel 25 years younger behind the wheel. I got a feeling you'll get the finishing touches done a lot quicker than you planned due to the need to drive it. That rush is a great motivator.
Has your wife driven it yet or will she be allowed to?

I would let my wife drive whatever she wants. Frankly, this one scares her lol. She has no interest in driving it. Even if it had an automatic. She knows how to drive stick but doesn't like it. She won't even drive my C10. I can't get her to do a burnout in the camaro. She's afraid she'll lose control and wreck something. She leaves all of the tire abuse to me.

[hgs_notes]

First night drive...

[hgs_notes]

Work, the holidays, other projects, helping someone else with their project and some illness (damn colds!) have kept me from making any progress on the cobra. There is a ton left to do to finish this car. There's a short list of mechanical issues found during my drives this fall such as:
Backfiring and stalling while coasting
Gauge lights not working
Coolant leak on heater bypass connector
Tire rubbing rear fender wells
Transmission casing leak
Probably more I can't recall at the moment

Then there is the body work. Honestly not a ton when compared to fixing rust and 50 years of wear, tear, abuse on most of what I work on. Sand down the seams, add some filler, sand. Primer, sand, primer, sand, etc. The doors, hood and trunk are a tight gap fit at the moment.

Then there is the rest of the stuff that needs to be done to "finish" the car. Interior (carpet, dash, etc), painting/coating the last bits and pieces including the side pipes. Clean up wiring, etc.

Then there are the changes/improvements like rear coilovers, bump stops, shorter axle shafts, some front inner wheel well protection, changing rear gears.

I don't know how much I'll get done this winter. Based on progress of the past couple months, little to nothing LOL. A start was made though, after one last drive for 2023, where I was actually in the passenger seat and let my buddy drive it, and the body was pulled off. It was 30 something degrees with a little wind. The helmets worked great for keeping the cold off our faces and ears. He drove it like it was his daily squarebody 1 ton with 4 speed and I had to remind him that it needs a little more rpm and he needs to downshift from 5th when going into town.

[Willowrun]

Been following along and have to say very impressed with your progress on this project.
LOL about your buddy driving it like an old truck. We all have that buddy.
Cool build!

[Dieselwrencher]

That is awesome you were able to drive it one more time before yanking the body off to do body work etc. It sounds like you have a lot left to do but at least you've already driven it. That's a really great start towards the 2024 cruising season.

I hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas and happy new year!

[hgs_notes]

Check this out, I was contacted a while ago by Factory Five about using my build on their social media and website. It finally happened. One of the rare unfinished cars they posted.

https://www.factoryfive.com/whats-ne...l-w-dream-car/

[fatbass]

Congrats on the Factory Five spotlight! I'm hoping for an early spring and you having more time to spend in your garage.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by fatbass

Congrats on the Factory Five spotlight! I'm hoping for an early spring and you having more time to spend in your garage.

The garage is heated. The problem is time.

Yesterday I picked up a coolant tank from a 2014 mustang.

[hgs_notes]

It's a start. 36 grit wheel on a die grinder cleaning up the seams. A few spots had bubbles or voids. One I chased all the way through. I need to pick up some wax and grease remover and mix up some resin to pour into some of the spots. Then I'll us the DA to scuff the whole thing and spray it with epoxy primer. Can start mudding from there.

[hgs_notes]

And so it begins. I sat and stared at it for a bit, then, well, it's not going to sand itself.

Yesterday I mixed up some fiberglass resin, started filling in the seams I cleaned out. Used some fabric in the deeper spots but figured I was grinding out mostly gel coat and resin so I'm starting with that. I need to do some more of that in the back end. It can be done as I scuff the body down with 180 grit. I'm going to spray the body with epoxy primer before I use any body filler.

[hgs_notes]

We are having a January thaw which gave me the chance to try the first option to fix my backfire and stalling issue on the coyote. The Dakota digital gauge controller has a VSS output and I connected that to the Ford pcm VSS input wire. Time for a test drive.

No improvement. Bummer. The next option would be either getting the Ford speed dial (no longer available) or an alternative like this...

https://www.moderndriveline.com/shop...c-to-electric/

There's one speed dial on ebay but he's asking double the regular price for it.

Oh and I did more seam filling and sanding on the body. Need to see if my epoxy primer is still usable.

Video driving down the gravel road, straight out the headers, bit of a coolant leak, fun drive.

https://youtu.be/xKtkF-jezh4?si=zf-IB9SSEgHUKOLu

[hgs_notes]

Guess what! More sanding! Not quite done with the first round. The glossy areas are all that's left. I'm going to straighten up some areas like around the wheel wells.

[hgs_notes]

Finished sanding the body. Still need to do the doors, hood and trunk lid. I need to decide if I want a hood scoop soon. I like the smooth look but I like the scoop too.

Also modified the sidepipe bracket for the driver side. Once I had it on with the body it was off alignment a bit. I added about 3/4" length and lapped the joint so it's about 1/4" more forward.

[hgs_notes]

Not much today. I mounted the hood hinge assembly. Then took it back off so it can get powder coated. Also I'm holding the coolant overflow tank in the area I'll be mounting it. Gotta fabricate a bracket.

[LS short box]

Your project is looking good. I help at a body shop a couple days a week and mostly do block and color sanding on hot rod projects. I can tell you know one is standing in line to do block sanding.