Jim's Build Thread

Car runs great....I went over to my neighbor this weekend who can be a stickler as I mentioned earlier and showed them the letter from the state for inspection and asked if he minded if I drove it around the blocks a few time to make sure things were good for the inspection. He reluctantly said fine but then I offered to take him for a ride too to help. He loved it.

Got it loaded on the trailer this morning for heading to the inspection site tomorrow. Had no issues until I got to the running boards and before I knew it I heard "s-c-r-a-p-e........." and a slight cracking sound....got out and noticed the running boards..... Son of a gun....while I frustrated, it's all fixable. The good news is it's all cosmetic...the running boards are still solid as a rock, no flexing or cracking when I step on them. My guess is because they are solid that's why they cracked since there was no give.

I'm going to build ramps to go under the aluminum ramps on my trailer to ease the accent and descent angle.

I'll touch it up for now to make it look presentable and then do a better fix in winter when it's in storage. Always something, but if you think about it, it's going to get some road rash anyway from driving. Just would have liked to drive it on the road first to get the road rash. ;)

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Jim,

Bummer on the running boards, happens to the best of us. I just got my dash panel back from the powder coater last week and chipped it before I even got it in the garage.

What did you use for a cover over the battery? I'm using the same hold down you are.

Thanks,
Andy

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Originally Posted by e36m3

Jim,

Bummer on the running boards, happens to the best of us. I just got my dash panel back from the powder coater last week and chipped it before I even got it in the garage.

What did you use for a cover over the battery? I'm using the same hold down you are.


Thanks,
Andy

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Still in the process for searching for one....The one I ordered and which came in was supposed to be for a Group 51R battery like our battery but it was huge so I'm not going use it....I'm playing with the idea of cutting it down to the size I want and then fiberglassing it back together.

Jim

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Originally Posted by 33fromSD

Had no issues until I got to the running boards and before I knew it I heard "s-c-r-a-p-e........." and a slight cracking sound....

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That really sucks. :(

we've all been there. I scratched my grill real nice fitting the hood.
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Never done....never done....never done....when you think you are, repeat this to yourself....never done...

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Originally Posted by narly1

Never done....never done....never done....when you think you are, repeat this to yourself....never done...

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I somehow want to call you Dorthy (from the Wizard of Oz) but I don't want you to hall off an smack me. ;)

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Originally Posted by tony

we've all been there. I scratched my grill real nice fitting the hood.
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ugh.....I hear you

the first scratch hurts the most.... :D

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Originally Posted by j33ptj

the first scratch hurts the most.... :D

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Yup

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Originally Posted by 33fromSD

I somehow want to call you Dorthy (from the Wizard of Oz) but I don't want you to hall off an smack me. ;)

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LOL, I get it. Maybe "It's a journey, not a destination" is more appropriate?

Knowing for yourself that you did, can and will be able to handle any bumps thrown at you by your project is the best feeling EVER.

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Originally Posted by narly1

LOL, I get it. Maybe "It's journey, not a destination" is more appropriate?

Knowing for yourself that you did, can and will be able to handle any bumps thrown at you by your project is the best feeling EVER.

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Amen to dat!!

First off, let me start by saying I Love SoDak!! They have the most simplistic approach to everything.

Arrived at the inspection place ~1:30PM (appt was 2PM), the inspector met me as I pulled in, asked if I'd pull the truck/trailer to the side, instructed me to leave the car on the trailer (Yay) and started his inspection. Same as I noted earlier, he was verifying the FFR MSO s/n matched the stamp on the frame, he verified the engine s/n, verified the milage on the odometer (2 miles) did a minor once over and said beautiful car, we are good to go. 10 minutes from start to finish...another 20 minutes to just shoot the s**t.

He informed me "this is not a safety inspection, anything safety realted is between me and the local authorities if I ever get pulled over and they see something they think is not allowed it's up to me to fix". He noted "We assume you built a car with safety in mind so I am here to make sure you build the car with the parts you noted in your application". He filled out and signed off my paper work (the examination report) for registration, told me how much excise tax (3% of value) I should expect to pay @ the county treasurer when I go to register it, he attached the VIN plate and asked if I had any questions.

He needs tomorrow to scan in my paper work and Friday I can register my 33. SoDak considers this a 2021 model year which is fine, the make will be 33 Hot Rod. He was not sure whether I could do the single plate option or not, they would let me know that at the treasurer's office.

I can stamp the vin on the metal plate FFR supplied if I wish and put it where I want on the car as an additional location for the VIN but in SoDak's eyes the blue tag that they attached in an easily visible location is the legal VIN plate.

Jim

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Woohoo, almost there!

Steve

Bad ***. Congrats on the next step. Wait until you get in it and just use it as transportation. People look at you like you’re nuts.

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Originally Posted by sethmark

Bad ***. Congrats on the next step. Wait until you get in it and just use it as transportation. People look at you like you’re nuts.

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Even trailering it yesterday I think I caused some neck sprains and a couple people almost rear ending others from staring at the car and not paying attention to things in front of them. :rolleyes:

One guy took a pic.

Kind of funny

I drove from Colorado to South Carolina with an unfinished FFR Cobra on an open trailer in 2013. You would have thought I had a van full of naked people with the attention I got. A LOT of it from middle
aged women. Lol

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Originally Posted by sethmark

I drove from Colorado to South Carolina with an unfinished FFR Cobra on an open trailer in 2013. You would have thought I had a van full of naked people with the attention I got. A LOT of it from middle
aged women. Lol

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Hey coming to the Race at VIR Sat the 5th. You be at your shop? What building number...OK to stop By BC? Phone number to reach you?
I have an 818 and a 33, currently.

Unfortunately I’ll be MIA for this weekend. I’ve been humping 7 days a week since the 24 hr Daytona race and I’m taking my girls on vacation. There are a LOT of cars on property, including the super trofeo Lamborghinis. Should be fun.

https://youtu.be/iwMDQQVWzQc

Enjoy the time off.

I am in Cary, NC and come often so will check back.

Best, BC

BTW, know anyone who would like a 818?
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I’m on track usually twice a month. Rarely not on property. Stop by next time.

100% official...fully registered & titled. The state let me do single rear plate only which is great, now I don't need to be worried about anything in the front. Actual Title will be in my hands in 2-4 weeks and the rear plate will be in my hands in 10-14 days. They issued me a temporary 45 day plate in the meantime for me to enjoy the car. If anything gets held up with the plate they will issue another 45 day temporary plate at no additional cost.

Now I just need to play with the alignment and start having some fun with thing.

Office build time (kit arrival to official state registration):
* Kit arrival = 9/25/2020
* Registered with state = 6/4/2021
* Total time Build time = 8 months & 10 days

Jim

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Big congrats! Go somewhere!!!

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Originally Posted by 33fromSD

100% official...fully registered & titled. The state let me do single rear plate only which is great, now I don't need to be worried about anything in the front. Actual Title will be in my hands in 2-4 weeks and the rear plate will be in my hands in 10-14 days. They issued me a temporary 45 day plate in the meantime for me to enjoy the car. If anything gets held up with the plate they will issue another 45 day temporary plate at no additional cost.

Now I just need to play with the alignment and start having some fun with thing.

Office build time (kit arrival to official state registration):
* Kit arrival = 9/25/2020
* Registered with state = 6/4/2021
* Total time Build time = 8 months & 10 days

Jim

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Congratulations!
Total time Build time = 8 months & 10 days has to be a record for a home build

Andy

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Originally Posted by e36m3

Congratulations!
Total time Build time = 8 months & 10 days has to be a record for a home build

Andy

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Thanks.....I think I could easily beat that if I have not been working full time while doing the 33 build and doing other projects in parallel. Its my program management background which helped set goals / schedules and the biggest of the goals was to do something everyday on the car even if it was only 10 or 15 minutes or even if it was just reading / studying the manual or the car for next steps.

I actually miss the daily activity now. Better get back to my 55 F100.

Jim

With all the parts in hand, I’m pretty sure I could build a car in two weeks. What’s missing from that equation is paint and body. Chassis however is easy.

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Originally Posted by sethmark

With all the parts in hand, I’m pretty sure I could build a car in two weeks. What’s missing from that equation is paint and body. Chassis however is easy.

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Agree...I Go-Karted mine a little less than 60 days after I got the kit, only working part time on it......

Okay...pretty much have the alignment completed, just need to do the final Toe-in

FFR's final alignment specs for manual steering call for:
Total Toe-in = 1/16"
Camber = -0.5 deg
Caster = + 3 - 4 deg (although as James points out I like the feeling of the Power Steering setting of + 4 - 7 deg)

My initial settings from the build (just roughly assembling stuff) was:
Total Toe = Severe pigeon toe :rolleyes:
Camber = +1.5 deg ( really bad for tire wear on normal road driving) :confused:
Caster = +13.2 deg (whoops) :rolleyes:
Drove okay for go-kart / first ride after finishing, but you could tell the toe was way off by how it plowed and with 245/40R18s on the front, the steering was very hard (lot of rubber to turn at that camber / caster)

After working on the alignment, I am now at:
Total Toe = ~0" (Still setting this)
Camber = -0.5 deg
Caster = + 7.3 deg

Still working on the final toe-in.

Drove it with the latest settings to make sure I was close and it was night and day difference.....tracked well when no hands were on the steering wheel, turned easy at speed (slower speeds being manual steering it turned harder as one would expect but much much better than it was in my original set up), there was no wondering on the road at speed either. Think I just need to complete the final toe-in and I'll be good to go.

Jim

SoDak must be pretty slow for things to do when it comes to titles. I was told it would take 2-4 weeks possibly longer to get my title and I got my title from the state today.

I first registered the car officially last Friday (6/4)...didn't even have the inspection until (6/2). I'm guessing since the inspection was 6/2 and the inspector was from the head office he just went ahead and processed the title once I registered it last Friday verses letting it go through the normal channels.

Odd I got the title before my plate but not complaining..... Another chapter I can close.

Jim

Got the final toe-in set last night. I figure I'll recheck Camber, Caster & Toe after I put a few hundred miles on it. Just need to do a really good cleaning yet and then let the cruising begin.

Jim

Came back from a trip to Florida and in the mail box was my rear plate....now 100% titled / registered / licensed!!

Installed the plate this morning, took out the 33 for a nice cruise through town, pulled into the Starbucks parking lot to grab a coffee with a friend I was meeting and in pulls a police car who parks a couple spots away.

He walks up all serious like and says "morning", I say morning, he says "I have a problem with this car"......my heart sinks, thinking what the heck did I or didn't I do, so I say what is the issue officer, and he says "that it's not parked in my garage, this thing is really nice. I followed you for about 2 miles and was hoping you were going to stop so I could check it out. What is it, where did you buy it from?". I gave him all the details and he said "he's seen cobra replicas in town but this is the first 33 Hot Rod in town, I like it, sharp car".

Had some other small talk, he finally said he needed to get going and told me to enjoy the ride but "be careful out there" and left.

Kind of cool, I've had a little attention with our 70 challenger but never like this.

Also brought our 2015 Challenger Scat Pack home this morning too. Latest I've ever pulled out the toys. Been a busy spring with home projects, work & a trip.

Jim

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It's great that he showed such interest in the car. About 20 years ago, in my first cobra, I got pulled over by a local cop. Couldn't figure out why he would do it other than maybe the exhaust noise. Actually he was in love with the car and ended up buying it from me!

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Originally Posted by cob427sc

It's great that he showed such interest in the car. About 20 years ago, in my first cobra, I got pulled over by a local cop. Couldn't figure out why he would do it other than maybe the exhaust noise. Actually he was in love with the car and ended up buying it from me!

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Nice

100 miles on her now, it's been running great, but then tonight I was cruising along on the city roads enjoying the ride and I heard a small backfire out of the exhaust, no biggie, the next mile was fine and all of a sudden the engine stuttered a little bit, I came a stop light and it stalled...... oh oh...

Started up just fine, continued on when the light changed, ran good for about another 1/2 mile and she started stuttering really bad and choked off.....great thing about a manual tranny is just push in the clutch, retire it and she started back up and I continued along but then it started doing this about every 30 yards, I couldn't keep it going.

I was lucky I was only ~1/2 mile from home so I limped it along on the shoulder with the hazards on (starting it, getting it going about 20 mph and it choking off; rinse & repeat). Made it home, backed it into the garage, open the hood, nothing noticeable (no leaking gas, no burnt wires, etc.), I don't think it's a heat issue or I would have thought it would have done it the first 75 miles. Letting it run in the garage it switches from running smooth like nothing is wrong to running rough and almost stalling or stalling. Odd.

Seems like a fuel delivery issue to me, at this point I'm not suspecting electrical since it always starts right up, I'm wondering if my electric fuel pump is clogged or failing.

I'm going to let it sit over night and start it cold to see if it still switches from running smooth to running rough / stalling.

No worries, I'll figure it out, I just shouldn't have told a buddy I saw this morning that it's running like champ. :o

Jim

Sounds like you are on the right track by checking for a fuel delivery issue.

You might also want to check that your fuel tank venting is not obstructed as well. Run with the filler cap open would be a simple check.

Another thing might be vapor lock....

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Originally Posted by narly1

Sounds like you are on the right track by checking for a fuel delivery issue.

You might also want to check that your fuel tank venting is not obstructed as well. Run with the filler cap open would be a simple check.

Another thing might be vapor lock....

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I was hoping you were going to comment narly1. :D Thanks for the input, I'll look into this stuff, it will be later this weekend when I get back to really looking at this.

I was thinking vapor lock last night too when I was lying in bed thinking about this. Besides the venting check I will also trying a couple things regarding potential vapor lock. if I have room (need to check) I'll install a phenolic spacer between the carb & the intake to help reduce some of the heat transfer and I will add some type of heat shielding around the fuel line.

I know when I used an infared temp gauge on various parts of the engine last night, the air cleaner housing was pretty warm.... measured 138F but that was when I had the engine off for about 5 minutes with the hood closed so with heat rising I'm not 100% sure how much of that was heat radiating up in the cool down cycle.

Jim

Thanks for the vote of confidence but I'm hardly an expert on stuff like this. Just trying to help a fellow enthusiast out where I can.

The fact that it was running fine for the first 90-100 miles is a clue....What changed in the last little bit to make it behave the way it is?

This points to the clogging and vapour lock issues.

Venting is probably not the problem or you would have seen it earlier. That being said it's easy to check so why not eliminate it as the problem?

One other thing you might try is running without a hood and sides for a while. If that's all good then it means excessive heat (probably causing vapour lock) is the issue. Again easy to do and costs nothing to try except a bit of your time.

You didn't use teflon tape on any of the fuel line joints by any chance?

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Originally Posted by narly1

Thanks for the vote of confidence but I'm hardly an expert on stuff like this. Just trying to help a fellow enthusiast out where I can.

The fact that it was running fine for the first 90-100 miles is a clue....What changed in the last little bit to make it behave the way it is?

This points to the clogging and vapour lock issues.

Venting is probably not the problem or you would have seen it earlier. That being said it's easy to check so why not eliminate it as the problem?

One other thing you might try is running without a hood and sides for a while. If that's all good then it means excessive heat (probably causing vapour lock) is the issue. Again easy to do and costs nothing to try except a bit of your time.

You didn't use teflon tape on any of the fuel line joints by any chance?

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Thanks narly1....Agree on all...correct, no teflon tape used on any of the fuel line joints.

Jim

Sorry I had to ask about the tape....as I tend to troubleshoot things based on the the sentiment of this quote:

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” - Sherlock Homes”

Especially when something's previously owned and new to me!

Earl

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Originally Posted by narly1

Sorry I had to ask about the tape....as I tend to troubleshoot things based on the the sentiment of this quote:

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” - Sherlock Homes”

Especially when something's previously owned and new to me!

Earl

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No worries at all Earl, I tend to look at all options too.

Thinking about your initial question "The fact that it was running fine for the first 90-100 miles is a clue....What changed in the last little bit to make it behave the way it is?" The short answer is nothing, at least from a mechanical standpoint.

The longer answer is the biggest change is / was driving length & outside temp. The initial 90-100 miles were all 2 miles here, 3-4 miles there, 10-15 minute type runs doing errands, taking people for rides, etc. in 70-80 degree temps. Last night was the first attempt at a longer cruise. I was ~30-45 minutes into the cruise when it started and the outside temp was in the low 90s. I also hit a few stop lights which were fairly lengthy with several lanes of cars around me so little to no airflow besides the electric fan (which worked fine).

Given that, I'm leaning towards vapor lock but I have some stuff to check out before fully making that conclusion.

Jim