Not much to report today but I thought I would post a few pictures of the work I have done on some of the donor parts. I usedPOR-15 to freshen them and although time consuming these previously rust, gungy parts now look close to new with a hard coating that won't scratch and will be rustproof. All parts received 2 coats of the POR-15 rust paint and then 2 black topcoats of the POR-15 Chassis paint.
Front Brake Caliper Front Spindle Pedal Box
Finally a little more pondering and another decision. The engine from the donor is in good shape but I was going to switch from EFI to carburator as I like the looks better and the EFI harness was in pretty bad shape. After another conversation with AL at WCC (there is a trend here) I have decided to stay with EFI but use the Powerjection III system which looks like a carb but is a self contained, self mapping EFI system.
With time on my hands I started looking at stuff on the interweb. Initially I was going to go with rear drum brakes and just change the axles to 5-lug but after looking at the North Racecars site and talking to Richard there I am going to upgrade just slightly. The car is now going to have Cobra spec rear disc brakes complete kit....woohoo. Of course that raises the cost but being a safety issue it was the only reasonable thing to do. A day or two later I was talking to Al Beix at Western Canada Cobras (WCC) and put in an order for the Factory Five Front Lower Control Arms, Rear Lower Control Arms and 4 Koni Coil-overs. Everything I will need to get the car rolling is now in place or on order. A little side note here for any of you in Canada who may be thinking of doing this. Talk to Al at WCC! He is a great resource, willing to listen to any number of inane questions and provide sound advice. I ordered the FFR package through him and with no additional cost over the posted price of the kit he takes care of all approvals from Transport Canada and all invoicing and paperwork through FFR. Hats off to you Al.
The week I finally made the commitment official. I put the deposit down and have scheduled the delivery of the car for the last week in April. Actually I will be driving down and picking it up myself right at the factory. This will give me a chance to tour the place and besides it will save a couple of thousand dollars in that there will be no crating, delivery and brokerage charges to pay. Even better I was able to convince them to give me the fall special deal so I will be getting an upgrade to stainless steel sidepipes along with free bumpers, wind wings and sun visors. As part of the special I also got a full set of Halibrand replica 15" wheels. I did a little upgrading on the kit itself and opted for the 3-link suspension, powdercoating and body cutouts. Now the winter must pass!!
The donor car has given all she had to give. The engine, transmission and various brake and suspension components are out and resting in the shed. The fuel tank and shroud, spindles, emergency brake and complete pedal box have joined them. Since the donor only had a 7.5" rear-end I found an excellent 8.8" here in Ottawa with 3:27 gears and traction lock so that is good.
Some of the parts that could have been salvaged, I decided in the long run to let go. The mustang wiring loom is reusable but after looking at and realizing the amount of work that would go into removing all of the excess, shortening, rewrapping and putting it into place I decided to heck with it. The Cobra needs less than 12 circuits and there are many companies that make complete wiring kits for it for just a few hundred dollars, I also left the front lower control arms as they were basically un-removable given the corrosion creating climate conditions here in Eastern Ontario. Just to give an idea of the problem the rear end I purchased still had the lower control arms mounted and it took over 3 hours with hacksaws, hammers, heat and drift punches to get them off.
All in all however I got my investment out of the Mustang and the work moves on. Now I start the long tedious task of reconditioning all the parts that are stored away. To get started I just ordered up a batch of POR-15 rust paint along with the associated cleaners, degreasers and metal etchers. That should all arrive before the middle of the month.
I have started preparing the rear end for painting by de-scaling all the rust flakes. Nothing like a couple of hours with a hammer going tappa tappa tappa to make the elbows and arms sore not to mention driving all within earshot crazy.
I have attached a little video of the engine and transmission coming out. The whole thing sort of reminds me of the scene from "Alien" when the creature bursts out of the astronauts chest only I hope this time with a happier ending.
It has been over two weeks since my last entry but I have been busy. The donor car has arrived and the stripping of parts will begin in earnest. Everything I need is there and will be taken out with two exceptions. Unknown to me my 5.0 donor LX was actually a 2.3 LX that someone had put a V-8 into. This did not change anything with the exception of these two items. The rear-end is unusable as it is a 7.5" instead of the 5.0's 8.8" unit and the front spindles are different as well. Oh well, live and learn and the parts I will get out more than cover the cost of the donor so all is good. I compression tested the engine and it read 155 psi across all 8 cylinders. WooHoo. There was a lot of oil on the engine but inspection revealed two badly leaking valve cover gaskets so once again not really an issue. Clutch and transmission are in excellent shape. One thing that was there but I am not going to salvage is the stock wiring harness which can be used for the starter car. There are a couple of reasons, the first being the butcher job done by whoever had installed the V-8. There is loose and cut and tape-spliced wires all over. The other being the very complexity of the stock system. It weighs close to 40 lbs and of course has circuits for power windows, power locks, remote mirrors, heater, A/C etc. etc.. I will have none of these so the choice would be to just use the harness and leave lots of useless wire literally "hanging around" or try and strip out what wasn't needed which would require complete disassembly of the looms. There are a couple companies out there who will strip out the wires for you but that would cost about $400. I finally decided that when I need it I will purchase an aftermarket wiring harness or maybe the one from a company that specifically makes them for the Factory Five car. Yes, I have decided to purchase a Factory Five kit. After much searching and research they are, in my opinion, the best combination of engineering and value on the market today. I could go on but take a look for yourself at: http://www.factoryfive.com Well that is it for now let the teardown commence.
I took the plunge and decided to build the car of my dreams, a 427 Cobra replica. Well, the original was the car of my dreams but try and find one at any price I could afford then or now for that matter. I ordered a frame from a company called Shell Valley Motors in Nebraska and took delivery of it in August of 1986. Of course what came next was inevitable....bills and raising kids. So the frame sat and sat. It came with me through several moves and even came when I moved from Vancouver to Ottawa.
For these last 24 years it has been stored outside and most recently during the last 10 years under a deck. I swore many times that I would just sell it and/or abandon it but for some reason I never did. Last month at my wifes urging I unearthed it and decided to get started again. With rekindled enthusiasm I started the cleaning process only to discover that the ravages of time and weather had turned my once strong frame into a rust eaten unservicable hulk.
I could have stopped right there and declared the project dead but the spark had been re-ignited so I started researching what was available today. To my surprise Shell Valley was still in business but many other companies that existed in the 80's were gone and in fact it seemed that Shell Valley itself was teetering. I expanded my search and after much reading and forum searches I finally decided that I would start afresh with a new kit. I will tell you about the kit and company i chose and why in a future post.
