Month: October 2016

Heater Box

Heater Box

Got round to installing the heater box into the battery compartment- its all a bit tight but I do like the way all the space is utilised – makes for a really tidy installation. Disassemble the heater box and added a few M6 rivnuts for easy assembly  I fixed a bit of neoprene foam to the face of the heater panel before bolting up. Installation is no easy project.

I have also found that the outlet pipes do not line up with the holes I predrilled in the inner wing using the marks left by GD… Benefit of hindsight here, I wish I had not drilled these particular holes until I had trial fit the box, small matter I guess the pipes are going to come through a slot rather than a hole. With trial and error I found it necessary to fit the little elbow rubber pipe to the heater box “before installation”(after slightly shortening one leg) since it proved impossible to get at the bottom jubilee clip if you put the box in first. I cut both flanges off the face of the box since they also hinder installation and are unnecessary once you fit the rivnuts in the face. Some people recommend taking the motor off before assembly this may have helped but I found it would just go in without it off – once its tightly in place there is only approx. 20mm of space between the motor and the forward bulkhead.

20mm gap between motor and forward bulkhead
Battery installed

The picture on the left is taken with a torch looking up to show how tight the fit is, since when trying to install the box whilst fully assembled, the two air outlets protrude about 40mm on the opposite face so it is necessary to get these into alignment (ie in their respective holes) as you roll the heater box assembly in place – otherwise the suggestion of removing the motor first may be a better option.

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Side Vents

Side Vents

I have looked at a lot of Cobra Replicas and one of the features that always left me a little underwhelmed was the side vents. At the Stoneleigh show earlier this year I was interested to look around at all the variations of the side vents utilised by the different manufacturers. Some looked better than others but I felt they all looked a little thin and false. Others I am sure will love the look of the folded laser cut but to me it was just a little too obvious. One car that I thought stood out in the side vent department here was the demonstrator from XCS.xcs_427_side_vent_img_9593_optimized

I wasn’t convinced about the width of the louvers they seem a little large using only three blades instead of the more conventional 4 or 5? but I did like the craftsmanship and they looked as though they had been designed and installed for a high end sports car …. yes I was inspired ( Ok my wife thinks I’m sad ). Onwards with that inspiration I’m going to stick with a similar design but leave it at 5 blades as well as incorporating a slight curve on the blades…. After quite a few hours playing with paper cut-outs I’m finally in aluminium

fabrication and almost there. My final vents are going to be Red……    or maybe Black. Still undecided on final livery and theme but I’m happy with the shape, they will bolt through as the final version will have studs welded  in place of the 4 small holes on the rear corners. Red or Black??

 

 

 

Pedal Box

Pedal Box

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Ive decided to make a new pedal box that carries the standard GM throttle pedal in normal location ie.  alongside the brake. The picture above shows the Standard GM fly by wire throttle (to the right) with its mounting bracket (middle) removed. The new throttle pedal frame (to the left) will accommodate the ls3 or any standard GM throttle pedal.

Getting everything dialled in geometrically was the main challenge here. Andy was kind enough to loan me one of the castings he presently uses as a starting point. Ive made quite a few changes including moving the pedal pivot point further towards the driver to minimise the thickness of the spacers needed on the rear of the bulkhead.C:UsersmkbulDesktopMarks COBRApedal boxPedal Box profiles

I also plan to cut in a footwell extension box on the accelerator side of the inner wing – similar to the engine side footwell extension molding provided by GD, but for the opposite side. I cut an area out with a hole saw just to the right of where the throttle pedal will be, then removed the foam inner wing filling and realised there is an extra 40mm of width to be gained here! more if I do the extension box in Aluminium and leave it without carpet. Ill get this new footwell extension fabricated over the next week or so and get some pictures taken. That will give me a generous 360mm across the footwell in the pedal area, which is pretty good and

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First prototype, I’ve incorporated some adjustment at the pedals for angle height and offset, and there is adjustment on the GM pedal. Think I’ll make some stainless steel pedals next week, more pics to follow. I want to get the pedal box installed soon so I can get the body back on and make progress with the power steering.

After a couple of modifications… Final Model

 

A few changes but Im finally happy with the whole box. I have made the actual pedal faces removable so I can modify this part easily once installed, which will allow a bit of fine tuning of the pedal geometry without the need to remove the majority of the pedal box from the car.Before I fit the pedal box I have to decide what to do with the cut out in the right side of the footwell.

This sequence of photos shows the cut out in right hand of footwell and the 40mm extra width that can be achieved by this butchery! The final photo shows the cut out glassed back in – I used some West System Epoxy resin and glass sheet to overlap the edges then coated with a black pigment resin gelcoat (or flowcoat). This way the structural integrity of this side panel is probably improved rather than weakened. I did consider making a fabricated panel to fit into the cutout but in the end i think the glass-up is the better solution. once it dries tomorrow ill fit the pedals for the final time.

 

 

body on and off

Body, Side Vents, Uncategorized

To be honest I’ve had the body on and off a few times now. I was a bit premature getting it on in September as I still had things to do in the footwells such as fit the heater unit and pedal box etc, all which seemed a bit easier if I took the body off again but now ive got my little hanging brackets off the 4 poster its all reasonably easy – just gotta make sure I never lower it too much or crunch! and I would be unhappy.

Good news on first the first body fit all mounting brackets seemed to line up quite nicely just needs a little pull forwards to keep it up tight to the chassis at the engine bulkhead. tried a few bolts in for location but then decided not to fully bolt it up since I was sure to take the whole thing off again.