Spoke with Jeff over the phone to confirm that my latest estimate for body pick-up is late Feb. Just a few weeks away! I'm also both sad and honoured that I'm one of Jeff's last 5 cobras as he will not be taking anymore work. To think that I'd be lucky enough to become a part of the MillerCustoms legacy is an honour. I'm sure I'll be telling stories about Jeff and his cobras decades from now.

Last week I hit the 200 mile mark on my odometer. Can't keep me out of this thing! While I still had my January temp permit I made sure to clock in a few good hours of driving so I can inspect the car to catch anything before the body goes back on. I put the car on jacks and inspected the entire vehicle from drivetrain to suspension to electrical connections. Only 2 things stood out. The jam nuts of my IRS UCA were a little loose on both driver and passenger sides. Luckily multiple jam nuts were in that assembly so nothing really moved. That jam nut is one of the few nuts I expected to come loose as I've yet to align the car. I plan to put loctite on it after I align the car at a good alignment shop. The lower radiator hose had a few drops of coolant leaking out. When I saw that I realized that I never further tightened the clamps after initial install. The heat-cycling probably moved a few things and sure enough the clamps were easily hand-tightened. Other than that all's good!

I had a few ideas for things to do before the body goes on but I shot most of them down. The first one was front-mounted pusher fans. I do love the look, but in the end I decided that I'd be adding it just for looks alone and that a clean radiator look isn't too bad either.
Pusher-Fan.png

JohnK's recent post showcased a remote-battery-terminal for easy charging which I thought was really smart. Right now there's a ton of room for me to reach down into the battery holder but when the body goes on that will get much harder. I wouldn't want to lean in and risk scratching the paint or something like that. Then I realized that I had my panel-mounted alternator fuse on my driver side firewall that was easily accessible and it had a big fat direct connection to the battery. I could just use one of the posts on the fuse instead.
alternator_fuse.jpg

I've been reading up on radiator protection too. Some recommend the nomex honeycomb protecting while others recommend a screen at the nose opening instead. I can't seem to decide which one I prefer so I'll leave that for later. This isn't something I absolutely have to do before going back to Jeff.

There are two issues I do actually want to solve though. The first one is windshield rattles. Mike Forte's brackets allow quick and easy detachment of the windshield, but I do find the windshield posts rattling in the bracket when I go over a harsh bump. It sounds like the whole thing's gonna fall apart. I've checked with both JohnK and SJDave and the verdict seems to be that once I drill and install the release pin and have the windshield trim rest on the car body the rattles will be much less noticeable. On this matter I've decided to wait it out and see. If the rattles DO still bother me then I can tap and secure the windshield posts with half inch bolts, the same way FFR manual shows. Mike forte's brackets will still serve to hold the windshield in place while I secure it in place. It's function will not be annulled.

Last thing is foam on the side of the car. JohnK's build thread shows these large form blocks that were cut to shape for the body and I really like that idea. I'll be doing the same. I'm really happy to have a builder like John right in front of me in terms of build progress. Haha!