Hurricane Motorsports

Hi All,

Welcome to my HM-2040 build, purchased as kit in February 2022, and delivered to me on September 7 in the middle of the night  8)

My goal is a build in 200-300 hours, which I'm keeping track of, and about 3 months.  I originally was set on completing the car in 2022 so I could get in line immediately for the California SB100 registration, but I'm starting to think that they don't "sell out" of sequence numbers quite that quickly.

I imagine I'll mainly use it as a street cruiser.

By the time the kit arrived, I had ordered and received the engine, transmission, flywheel, bell housing, clutch, and wheels.  As of this writing, I need to get a fuel pump, delivery of my tires, pulley kit, water pump, expansion tank, and engine mounts ASAP.  Once the engine is mounted, I'll be looking at a driveshaft with a couple week lead time from MDL, and whatever else comes up.

Specs: 

408W roller motor, Holley Sniper, MSD, Scat Crank, Aluminum Heads, see dyno sheet below. (please ignore those awful valve covers!)
Tremec TKX
Trigo 15" 427 Wheels
Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T 295/50 and 245/60
Ram Lightweight Billet Steel flywheel
Ram HDX Clutch

Taking delivery of the kit was a little bit of a challenge, as I have a long (200') uphill driveway, and the two streets from my driveway are not accessible by the tractor-trailer dispatched by Stewart Transport.  Poignant that the trailer was plastered with Factory Five all over it.  I had to grab a Uhaul trailer and meet him up the street, as you can see below. 

This kit is one of the last ones off the line, and Jake has been amazing to work with, who has essentially taken over after Alec's departure.  When it shipped, he was told that it was complete aside from the hinges, which were at powder coat.  When it arrived, it was missing quite a bit of stuff, all of which has been accounted for, is in Iowa, and is being completed/shipped out to me currently.  These include the 3rd member, some frame parts and the aluminum panels that lingered at powdercoat, and some miscellaneous parts.  Some of the build manual is outdated, for instance, I received an aluminum fuel tank, but the build manual shows something else.  Finally, the last little snafu was a communication issue early on which led to my headers arriving uncoated.  I searched and found a local company who builds professional headers and does the polished ceramic coat, so I won't have to ship the exhaust back out to solve that issue.

Along with this thread here, I plan to do some video logs on youtube as well, and will post video links here as I complete them.

BUILD PROGRESS

So its been about a week, and I was able to cut the holes in the body and mount the windshield, assemble the rear suspension and the front suspension. 

A couple of issues came up, including the axle side of the rear end trailing links not matching in design to the manual.  In short, the brackets welded to the axle for the trailing arm were not wide enough to need/accommodate any spacers, there was 1/16" of space on each side, which I took up with a 5/8" washer with a small OD.  Per the manual, there were supposed to be "5/16" spacers on each side the heim joint which apparently go through the heim joint, which seemed impossible and which were not provided, and there were supposed to be 3 sets of holes in the axle mount when there were only 2.  So in the end, the heim joints went easily into the brackets on the rear end, it needed a 1/16" "spacer" in there, and everything snugged up well.

The front suspension went together easily and per the manual, however, one of my lower control arms suffered the issue of the two legs not sitting evenly in the brackets welded to the frame.  After searching the forum here, I used a floor jack and some wood blocks to widen the legs, and it all went together great.  The upper shock mount is significantly wider than what is suggested by the build manual, which states to use one 1/2" washer on each side inside the mount, however, it will take 1/4"+ of spacer on each side to take up the space.  My ball joints screwed into the receptacles without freezing/heating, and I will need to grab a socket to snug those up.  I did shorten the 5" swedge tubes to 4.5" as it seemed like the camber was not going to come into place without it, which was another piece of wisdom I picked up from searching the forum here. 

I hope you enjoy the pics and video below, "Clocking In" has become the theme, as I plan to work on the car more hours per week than I work in my career, which I'm thankful to say is in the 15-20 hour range.   

(//)

Anyone know how to get the thumbnails to rotate to the right orientation?  They are right when I click on them, but not how they appear in the post. 

More pics:  Motor and dyno sheet.  New valve covers on the way, shameless plug for the engine builder!!

Excellent stuff.  My kit is supposed to arrive next month and I expect the same arrival issues, as I live in suburbia where people like to park on the street, making a truck unlikely able to fit.  I look forward to your progress!  You are getting a month head start on me.

Congrats on receiving your kit. Looks like it's going to be a fast and fun build.
I ran into the same things as you with the rear trailing arm brackets and front shock mount being wide. I talked to Alec about them:
"For those building a newer one, the axle bracket for the trailing arm only has two holes now. Trailing arms go in the top hole and the 5/16" bushings are no longer needed. The thing slipped right in the mounts easily though."
Alec said that their designer made the upper shock mount wider to make it a little stronger and to allow some shock adjustment based on how you might position your lower control arm in the mounts. He said just take up the space with washers or spacers as needed.
Your torque peak comes at a pretty nice spot for a street car, should be fun to drive.

Thank you for those details from Alec, it helped a lot!

Hi all,
Just a progress update on my build, and links to videos for you to enjoy.  I'm 3 weeks into the project, about 35 hours total, and have 4 videos to share. 
Thus far things have been mostly straightforward.  I have run into the following issues, though nothing to write home about.
•   Left lower control arm needed to be expanded to ride evenly in the frame brackets, apparently a known issue that I came across readily while searching the Hurricane Forum.
•   One of the 4" swedge tubes had been swedged/tapped into the tube at an angle.  Instead of bothering Hurricane about this, I called Southwest Speed.  They elected to sell me a new one, which was about $20 shipped.  The replacement tube had the same issue!  So I ordered and received one from a different manufacturer, which was straight and true.
•   As expected, I had to shorten the steering rack, I took about 1.25" off each side, which left plenty of threads inside and plenty of adjustment.
•   Learning curve regarding having to collect the proper fasteners, which has caused a delay in building out the rear brakes and the assembly of the motor/tranny unit.  Essentially, I have made separate orders for the following hardware, somehow assuming each hardware set was included with the new part:  T-bolts for mounting the brake backing plate to the rear axle, bellhousing bolts that were the correct size, flywheel bolts, pressure plate bolts, pressure plate pins, water pump bolts, motor mount bolts, and....who knows what else is next.  I ordered a starter....will probably need bolts for that.  Yet another order!  I am choosing to go with fancy fasteners (mostly ARP); I know I could just go down to the hardware store and collect what I need, but I wanted everything to look uniform.  I probably could have started on the trunk and cockpit tub by this point had these delays not happened. 
•   Still waiting on the rear axle diff from Hurricane to complete that part of the build.
•   I seem to be receiving a lot of open box parts when ordering stuff through Amazon, even though it's originating through Summit and other large retailers.  Such was the Holley fuel pump I ordered, so I'm returning that and hopefully the next order will be in a new box with all documentation.
•   Had the guys at Roger Kraus Racing (right here in my hometown!) mount my tires, and Brandon there said he would be happy to do my alignment when the time comes.  I think I will trailer the car down there once it's running, but pre-body mounting, to make the alignment a snap for those guys. 
Next steps are to wrap up the fuel lines, the rear end when the parts arrive, and the e-brake cables.  From there, the cockpit tub will go on, and, I'll be reading forward into the manual. 
These forums have been indispensable in making this build move forward quickly!

The first 4 video links for you to binge watch  8)

https://youtu.be/2BiJOEQlk7g          Part 1 - Intro

https://youtu.be/zTx7PrDEc7I          Part 2 - Rear End

https://youtu.be/JM1gv7kSGQE       Part 3 - Front End

https://youtu.be/xfSuFFxIo7M         Part 4 - 3 week update

Subscribed!  I'm looking forward to your build.  Mine is starting with a hopeful delivery date next month.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCL4xNg_3xMPIeGQyQNHuEuA

Looks like you're making progress. I feel your pain on ordering parts. I think I've spent 3 times as much time thinking and researching parts as I've actually done building the car. Seems like half the time I go to do something there's something I don't have to be able to move forward or finish the project.
Just ask Greg, I bounce ideas off him constantly haha

I have also subscribed to your channel and am looking forward to following your work.  You are making great progress and I am feeling (remembering) your pain with the outdated manual and other nuances with this kit.  I am still happy that I chose Hurricane.

Jim

Hi all,

Here's the next update.  This works out to be about 4 weeks from delivery.  Although I'm happy with the progress, I feel like parts delays have kept from getting more accomplished by now.
Woke up this past Sunday morning sick, after having a cold since Thursday night, and decided to Covid test.  Positive!  Finally lost that virginity.  It hasn't been so bad.  So I decided I would push the limits of building on my cobra and about 3 days later, here's the progress.
•   Completed the CVF Racing serpentine belt kit.  This was mostly straightforward, though I wasn't sure about the appearance of the chrome alternator.  I decided to just mount it, and would look at refinishing it with black wrinkle down the line.  Had the typical bolt length issues with a stainless 12 pt. kit that came from eBay. 
•   Major issue with the engine/trans combo.  Long story short, the trans shaft just seemed too long by about 1/8", and the assembly would bind when the bellhousing bolts were tightened up.  After pulling the trans off, it was obvious that the pilot bearing had been indented by the trans input shaft.  So either the trans shaft was too long, the bellhousing was not the right depth, or the pilot bearing was wrong.   Background: I found a steel SFI bellhousing from Summit for about $200 less than the QuickTime unit, and I believe it's a knock-off of the old Lakewood unit, but there was little info about it, and I just assumed it would work like all the other offered bellhousings.  In the end, I destroyed out the first pilot bearing, and reinstalled one that I modified and machined a little bit to provide a little extra clearance. 
•   Finally received the John's differential.  The carrier was rusty, which was a disappointment, so I put my friend to work with wire wheels and brushes, tape and a spray can, and she did a great job, just as she did on the black wrinkle water pump paint job!  Of course, there were no nuts provided to secure the carrier to the housing!
•   Rear axle installation was not as per the manual, but much easier.  There was no "gluing" of a plate with silicone, just place the backing plate, axle shaft, tap into place, and bolt the bearing retainer plate to backing plate and axle flange. 
•   The seemingly short bellhousing also caused a 1/4" misalignment of the poly trans mount, requiring lengthening the holes to get things to line up.  And of course, no bolts from the mount to trans.  I think they are ½-13 1 inch. 
•   Installed the E-brake cables.  Read about others flipping the brake backing plates for better cable routing, but will just mount them as instructed.  The cables seem to work smoothly even with tight-ish curves.  Had to cut the cable housings and cable for the optimum fit.  Grinder and a small round file worked great here.   Used rivet nuts on the top of the X brace member to attach the cable mount, a good clean installation. 
•   Finished up bending and attaching the fuel tank straps, all straightforward.
•   Had a hell of a time getting the fuel tank sender in, what with the baffles close-in to the space that the float needs to move.  In the end, some "adjusting" with the grinder on the shaft of the sender allowed everything to fall into place.
•   Rear Wildwood brakes went on easily.  Mounted the wheels and ditched all the wood blocks and jack stands!  Took out tons of boxes and bags from all the hardware and whatnot. 
•   Somewhat in disbelief at the size of this car, knowing the power of the motor.  Uhmmmm....

More pics

https://youtu.be/EoymuCFXXDo

Did you flush your fuel tank out? I've read others have had a good bit of manufacturing debris in theirs as one had a leak or two. Mine had some stuff in it.

I did not flush, but there was nothing shaking around in there.  I will probably pull it then and do a thorough check.  I figured any metal dust would get caught by the first fuel filter, I think there's definitely no large debris in there.

FYI I made a high res color scan of the build manual in case anyone wants a copy. 

I should've also mentioned, drop your trunk tub on and make sure the top of your tank doesn't hit your tub. You'll probably have to open up the filter neck opening.

Hate to keep beating this fuel tank thing to death, but I went to wrap mine up today and remembered Paul cautioned me on the sending unit gasket
"Also be aware, the cork seal they supply is a known leak point. There's just enough pressure from the fuel head when you fill up that it leaks around the gasket. Found that MotoSeal is the only sealant that will not breakdown with exposure to gasoline. FYI"
Looks like MotoSeal 29132. I'm going to grab some tomorrow and put on mine before install.

Looks like we now have a friendly build competition - California vs Texas.  Turns out Jeff K is in my local area.  Who will finish first, and which state will prevail? In terms of politics, we lost a long time ago 🤣

Just a quick update.  Things moving slowly for a change.  The whole bell housing debacle got to be unmanageable after I was unable to install my starter into it.  So, I bit the bullet and just purchased the Quick Time bell housing, and was able to get Summit to refund me the money on their faulty safety bell housing.

In the end, the Summit bell housing was 1/2" shorter than the Quick Time.  Not sure how they can sell such a product, clearly labeled for a small block ford and a TKX tranny.

The swap out was fairly easy, replaced the pilot bearing again!

Mostly finished with the brake lines, driveshaft is on order, replaced the original awful Speedmaster driveshaft hoop that wouldn't bolt together because each of the circle halves were not actually half circles!  And the metal was so thick it would have taken a press to bend them to where they needed to be.

Had a nice visit with Jeff who is local to me and building HM-2017.  It was refreshing to hear another person talk about slowing the build, enjoying the process, and making the car how you want it.  So thats helped deal with some of the lack of progress.

Met a guy at a local car hop who just finished a Factory 5 cobra, and just went through the CA DMV reg process, so that will be a good resource to have.  He has some interesting mods on his car, including the standalone 95 mustang ABS brake module, no ECU needed apparently.  He spent 10 years building his. 

A few more days and the driveshaft hoop will be mounted, brake lines done and bled, fuel line routed, and will be time to put the cockpit tub on and continue work. 

I have the Speedmaster driveshaft hoop, was the same way, once it is bolted together and a little muscle, it works. Anything wider and height wise, will not fit in driveshaft tunnel.

Quote from: Kamal on November 01, 2022, 12:47:44 AM
Just a quick update.  Things moving slowly for a change.  The whole bell housing debacle got to be unmanageable after I was unable to install my starter into it.  So, I bit the bullet and just purchased the Quick Time bell housing, and was able to get Summit to refund me the money on their faulty safety bell housing.

In the end, the Summit bell housing was 1/2" shorter than the Quick Time.  Not sure how they can sell such a product, clearly labeled for a small block ford and a TKX tranny.

The swap out was fairly easy, replaced the pilot bearing again!

Mostly finished with the brake lines, driveshaft is on order, replaced the original awful Speedmaster driveshaft hoop that wouldn't bolt together because each of the circle halves were not actually half circles!  And the metal was so thick it would have taken a press to bend them to where they needed to be.




Had a nice visit with Jeff who is local to me and building HM-2017.  It was refreshing to hear another person talk about slowing the build, enjoying the process, and making the car how you want it.  So thats helped deal with some of the lack of progress.

Met a guy at a local car hop who just finished a Factory 5 cobra, and just went through the CA DMV reg process, so that will be a good resource to have.  He has some interesting mods on his car, including the standalone 95 mustang ABS brake module, no ECU needed apparently.  He spent 10 years building his. 

A few more days and the driveshaft hoop will be mounted, brake lines done and bled, fuel line routed, and will be time to put the cockpit tub on and continue work.

You and I are running basically the same engine/transmission combo.  I'd be interested in the driveshaft info.  Thanks.

Greg,

I misspoke.  It was a trans-dapt 4140.  It's black, and I began stripping bolts trying to tighten it to shape. 

Larry, the length is 16 1/16 inch.  Of course there will be a slight variation depending on where your axle is located.  My axle has a 1350 size U-joint.  I was quoted about a week turnaround for a steel driveshaft from Modern Driveline. Not sure how much variation is acceptable in the length, you may just want to wait to get your tranny installed first.  You would hope that the tranny and motor mount are installed identically in our chassis', but who knows.

OK more slow going progress, but have some pics.  Almost ready to get the cockpit tub on, and I believe things will move forward more quickly.  Life has somewhat gotten in the way unexpectedly, but I think those delays are sorted!

- Modern Driveline was slow to respond to my driveshaft request, so I found a local guy in SF to make the driveshaft, Frank Wallace.  Should be completed today/tomorrow.  Turns out that Modern Driveline contracts with a different local company in San Jose to make their driveshafts, and they sent me straight to them due to their own delay being at SEMA, but decided that Frank was the way to go.

- Mounted the in tank fuel pump, the Corvette fuel filter/regulator, and created the fuel lines with the -6an fittings.  Completed the brake line install.  Completed the clutch slave assembly.  I think that essentially completes the undercarriage stuff once the driveshaft is in.

- Drilled and tapped 1/4-20 stainless allen head bolts for any hardware attached to the frame, ie the brake and fuel lines, fuel filter, and e-brake cables.  Wasn't thrilled with the self tapping screws that came with the kit, had upgraded to 10-32 machine screws initially, but still felt like they were too weak.  The 1/4-20 worked out great.

- Had the Wilwood hub caps machined down to fit inside the knock-off hub adapters - by none other than - Roger Kraus himself.  Their shop is about 10 minutes from my house, and he has a machine shop in there.

Enjoy the pics.  We got a great dump of snow up in Lake Tahoe, ski resorts are opening weeks early and with more terrain then usual for prior to Mid-December, so going to give the car more rest and hit the slopes.  Hopefully the next update will include the dash, steering, radiator, and headers.  Lets say by this coming Thursday?   8)

Looks like you're making progress.
You might want to relocate the brake light switch to a somewhat more accessible place in case it needs changed it, unless you have access to a car lift. A few guys on here have reported them not lasting very long.
The filter regulator mounting turned out nice.
Also, not sure if that's your final spot for the master cylinder reservoirs but I don't think they'll fit there. Plus the heat from the headers would probably melt them.

Those reservoirs are just there for the initial bleeding.  I will be using the remote ones.

Had not thought of needing to change the brake sender switch, and I figured a good jack would get me enough clearance to slide under and access it.  But you have a good point, and I'll look into it.  It was also a way to use the lines and hardware I had, though easily changeable at this point. 

Is there a preferred method to control the brake lights?

Thank you for the comments! 

You might be able to get enough clearance with a jack. I'm not sure that I'm as far along as you at this point so my experience is minimal. If you look at my build thread I put mine up by the front of the footbox so that it might be easier to access. Also, instead of screwing mine directly into the tee fitting I might add a short piece of vertical line to keep some fluid there if I ever do need to change it, might help mitigate air getting into the rest of the brake system.
IMO the preferred method to control the brake lights would be a switch off of the brake pedal "arm". Like on most older passenger vehicles. Bruce fabricated one and it looked like it worked pretty well. Greg and I have discussed it at length and there is really just no good way to fit a switch in our footbox with for mounted pedals.

Looks like you have the brake pressure switch installed on rear brake circuit?!     80% of the braking pressure goes to the front brakes, you wont get a signal to the brake lights using the rear brakes until you are really locking them all up.    It needs to be on the front brake line.

Nice job on things. Don't forget the vent in the 9" housing. Mine was located with the axle seals and T bolts n nutz package.

Thank you!

I ditched the brake light sender, and am first going to look into a manual switch before I redo the front lines, which are all done and bled.  Thanks for the heads up, didn't even consider the pressure there.

Maybe I'll just put a toggle switch for the brake lights on the dash, next to the electric fan switch??  ;)

Funny how much variation in our kits - I had no t-bolts or axle seals.  My axle shafts came preassembled with the sealed bearings from John's Industries, and had to buy T-bolts, as the Wilwood stuff instructed to reuse the old bolts. 

Quote from: Bob Worley on November 11, 2022, 08:07:50 AM
Looks like you have the brake pressure switch installed on rear brake circuit?!     80% of the braking pressure goes to the front brakes, you wont get a signal to the brake lights using the rear brakes until you are really locking them all up.    It needs to be on the front brake line.

Not necessarily...it also depends on your setup, master cylinder sizing and brake bias. Caliper piston sizes also factor into your brake bias and selecting the master cylinders for your application, which determines the clamping forces you will have at each end of the car.

Quote from: Greg K on November 11, 2022, 01:53:27 PM

Quote from: Bob Worley on November 11, 2022, 08:07:50 AM
Looks like you have the brake pressure switch installed on rear brake circuit?!     80% of the braking pressure goes to the front brakes, you wont get a signal to the brake lights using the rear brakes until you are really locking them all up.    It needs to be on the front brake line.

Not necessarily...it also depends on your setup, master cylinder sizing and brake bias. Caliper piston sizes also factor into your brake bias and selecting the master cylinders for your application, which determines the clamping forces you will have at each end of the car.

Valid point, BUT if you have more brake bias to the rear than the front, you are going to be in a world of **** when you try to stop.

Per John's axles, I should have had a separate seal that goes into the housing before sliding in the axle shaft.  Does that sound right?

If so, I'll have to pull that all apart.

Kamal, a couple things:
Before you call the front brakes/lines complete, I'd try to mock-up your steering shafts. I think 100% of us have had to lower the adapter mount for the drivers front wheel that transitions from hard line to flex line. The steering shaft will hit your line most likely.
Correct, you should have a seal that would be the first thing installed into the axle housing (other than the third member). You'd then slip the axle (with preassembled bearing) into the housing. Then goes the small spacer ring that needs cut so it'll slip over the axle. If John's would assemble the bearing on the axle then we wouldn't have to cut that spacer.
Then the backing plate goes on.
If your kit was shipped like mine was, Hurricane pulled out your T bolts, seals and possibly spacers when they shipped your axle housing to be powder coated. My box with t bolts and seals was in one of my other random boxes of mixed material.
Did you go through all boxes and open them and inventory everything. I thought I was missing them at first as well, but eventually found them.
Not that it matters a ton, because the T bolts are junk and too short.
Look at my build thread, I believe it's all documented fairly well.

Thank you for taking a look.  I got the seals today and will likely go through it over the weekend. 

I did inventory all the parts, and have worked my way down so all that's left is in one box.  Definitely no seals or t bolts, and I'm still waiting on the last of the parts. 

I'm going to put the cockpit tub on momentarily to start getting the steering in.  Thank you for the heads up, I think the way I have the lines run, I will have some flexibility to move them before drilling for the clamps.  I should have an update on that in the next day. 

Seems as though subsequent frames have had redesigns based on the forum issue that come up, so I am curious.

Are people running the heat insulation in the tunnel on the bottom side? My tunnel bottom doesn't have the black spray coating like the rest of the bottom of the cockpit tub, and is just white gel coat.  I think I'm going to apply the gray shield now, as I'm itching to get the tub on. 

Thanks again for all the feedback and cross checking.

Sounds like you're working through things well.
My tunnel had the black bed liner sprayed up to about where the angled part of the firewall came down into the tunnel. I did heat shield back the side of the tunnel to the bed liner.
This pick shows it easier than I can explain it.

Hi All,

Here is about a 2 month update on the build.  The chassis is basically done, and I'm about to place the cockpit tub on.

- Completed the brake lines, and removed the brake light sender.  Bled and re-bled the brakes and they are firm and feel great.

- Completed the clutch pedal and line, bled and working great. 

- Trimmed and installed the second driveshaft safety hoop.

- Finalized the E-brake cables and mounts.

- Applied the weatherstripping to the frame for the cockpit tub install

- Cleaned and clear-coated the steering parts, mocked up the steering shaft and verified plenty of space with the front brake line routing.

- R & R'd the axle shafts, installed the seals in the axle housing, verified the fitment with the Wilwood backing plates.  In short, the axle bearing protrudes .150" from the housing, and the Wilwood supplied spacer against the backing plate leaves .140" for the bearing, so it will all be snug when tightened up.  My install didn't need any kind of cutting of a spacer, etc, like everyone else seemed to have to deal with.  The John's axle and Wilwood brake kit works without any modifying of anything.

- Decided to do some fancy modification like you all did...by drilling the throttle shaft housing for bearings, since I didn't receive any bronze bushings for the the assembly and I thought to go creative.  The throttle shaft is 3/8", and the housing is 1/2", but there were no needle bearings of that size.  I did find a 3/8" x 9/16" needle bearing, so drilled the housing carefully with a 9/16" drill.  Overall went well and the shaft moves smoothly and without play.

- Covered the front of the cockpit tub with the home depot HVAC adhesive insulation (recommended on the FFR site), as well as some of the supplied heat shielding with the kit.  Overall I was not happy with the look, so I tore it all off and decided to go with the fancy DEI Floor and Tunnel Shield 2, like Greg K, but in black.  Pics to come, will be arriving on Thursday.  Chose the 42 x 48 size for $190 and hopefully will cover what I need it to. 

- Going to attempt to cover the dashboard and install the gauges tonight. 

Here are more pics:

Really looking good. I may copy you on the TS bearings. Nice job there. And yes! I have the Wilwood/John's axle setup and had no issue. Glad you are on the case with all the parts. I was still missing a few things and Hurricane Alec/Jake took care of things.

Kamal, can you tell me which Wilwood brake kit you got for the John's 9" axle?   I'm thinking of upgrading from the single piston floating caliper (Ford Explorer?) supplied by hurricane in 2012.

I forgot to mention that I polished the throttle shaft with 600 then 1000 grit paper, as the original surface would not have played well with the bearing.  And also really packed the bearing tight with thick grease. 

I think if I did it again, I would use a drill that was 1/64 smaller than 9/16, so 35/64.  My bearings ended up dropping right in, so I peened the hole and got a snug fit in the end.

Bob, I'll get you that part number tomorrow when I'm back at home.  However, you would need to be sure that the axle is the same, as the kits have slight variations for the many variations of the ford 9".  Wilwood wants an identification of the flange, as well as the "axle offset" to determine the brake kit.

https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitAxleFlange

I sure wish I was moving as quickly as you are. Progress is looking good.
Since you have the Wilwood rears, this info might be disregarded, but I believe the large master cylinder should go to the rear brakes. Smaller masters for the front brakes and clutch.
I originally had it set up the way you do, and then realized I was wrong. Alec confirmed that I should've had the large master for the rear brakes.
Again, your situation might be different since you have Wilwood rears.

Ben,

Thank you for the heads up. I believe that the front and rear Wilwood calipers are the same size, and I believe that would suggest that you would use the same size master cylinder. Just as a cross check, both the front and the rear and gauge at the same amount of Master cylinder actuator rod movement. I believe that should mean it's OK. As well the clutch has a perfect amount of travel. I should look more closely into comparing the two calipers to make sure that they are in fact the same.

How many hours a week are you able to put in? Seems like some of us want to get this thing done as quick as possible and start driving, and some of us want to slow down customize and enjoy the process.

Quote from: Kamal on November 16, 2022, 04:28:33 PM

I believe that the front and rear Wilwood calipers are the same size, and I believe that would suggest that you would use the same size master cylinder. Just as a cross check, both the front and the rear and gauge at the same amount of Master cylinder actuator rod movement. I believe that should mean it's OK. As well the clutch has a perfect amount of travel. I should look more closely into comparing the two calipers to make sure that they are in fact the same.

You need to verify what model calipers you have on the front and rear. Having the same size calipers, does not mean you would use same size master cylinders to achieve the brake bias you need. Now it can be adjusted if you do it with adjusting the push rod lengths to the balance bar. Get familiar with the literature to set it correctly. Equal rod movement doesn't mean it's OK. With brakes you are looking for is pressure and clamping force and with the clutch it is stroke and volume related to the slave cylinder.
Area of the caliper pistons are used along with the master cylinder diameters to calculate the bias when the balance bar and push rods are adjusted equally. You will want more clamping forces to the front than to the rear, good starting point is 65:35 front to rear.
If you have the same piston area and same master cylinders front and rear, clamping forces will be 50:50. This is where the balance bar comes into play and push rod lengths. Making sure the balance bar is set correctly at the pedal, it's best to start with equal settings on push rods and then adjust from there. One can also swap master cylinders to tune also, which many do too.

I knew Greg would stop in and give us the appropriate detail haha. He's a wealth of knowledge.
I probably only get 3 maybe 4 hours a week at best. I have a 3 & 6 year old so my time is usually an hour or so after bedtime once in a while.
I hit major slowdowns with rebuilding my engine myself and doing the firewall aluminum myself. Both projects are close to done though so hopefully my build will start moving again. Although winter is setting in here so my motivation to go out and fire the heater up gets low.

Greg, thank you for the heads up. Thank you very much. I think I'll go ahead and call Wilwood technical because it's a Wilwood pedal and Wilwood master cylinder and Wilwood brakes, so they should know exactly how things should go together.

Ben, I think I'm doing this project backwards from everybody else. Cobra first then hopefully kids. Lol

Post your Wilwood part numbers for the calipers here and what size masters you have and I'll give you an idea of where you are at when the balance bar is neutral.

Quote from: Kamal on November 16, 2022, 10:11:57 AM
....
Bob, I'll get you that part number tomorrow when I'm back at home.  However, you would need to be sure that the axle is the same, as the kits have slight variations for the many variations of the ford 9".  Wilwood wants an identification of the flange, as well as the "axle offset" to determine the brake kit.

https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitAxleFlange

I"m pretty sure I have the 'BIG FORD" flange, from past memory.     I bookmarked this kit on my Summit Racing account:  https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wil-140-7140

I'll get you guys the info tonight, in Tahoe on my skis at the moment.

Kamal

Finding this sticker makes me want to use a simple round air cleaner!

Ok here is the information about my brakes.  FWIW, the pick sheet from Hurricane indicated that the two 3/4" master cylinders were for "Brake/clutch" and the 7/8" master was for "Brake".

The rear Wilwood kit is part number 140-13207, Big Bearing Ford, New Style, 2.50" offset.

The rear caliper part number is 120-11481

The front Wilwood brake kit is 140-13378

The front caliper is part number 120-11482

I'm fixing to drive this thing in about 3 weeks, so please help me to get the master cylinders properly placed!

Thank you very much!!

For the purpose of accountability, here's my list of work to get this thing in go cart running format in 3 weeks:

- pressure test gas tank
- tighten all fuel lines
- move master cylinders and bleed
- install heat shield on the cockpit tub
- paint and install firewall sheet aluminum
- lower cockpit tub on frame, place body, align, remove body, bolt cockpit tub
- install steering bearings, shaft, and parts
- Seat and belt mounting
- place wiring harness
- cover dash with vinyl and install gauges
- install dash/wiring
- install radiator, filler neck, hoses, and fan
- paint and install engine compartment side panels
- mount master cylinder reservoirs
- mount overflow tank
- wire up engine compartment
- mount battery and run cable to the starter
- install roll bar for drive testing

Anything major I'm missing? 

This is where your brake balance will be and recommend as a starting point. Make sure balance bar is adjusted equally on each side of the pedal, clevises are equal distance from pedal in center, master cylinder push rods also adjusted equally to the clevises. With that you will have a brake bias of 68.5:31.5 front to rear, with the 7/8 master to the rear calipers and 3/4 master to the front calipers. Front caliper piston area is 4.8 and rear piston area is 3.0, based on the part numbers you provided.
Most RWD cars will have 60-70 front bias.

Quote from: Kamal on November 17, 2022, 10:40:11 PM
Ok here is the information about my brakes.  FWIW, the pick sheet from Hurricane indicated that the two 3/4" master cylinders were for "Brake/clutch" and the 7/8" master was for "Brake".
The rear Wilwood kit is part number 140-13207, Big Bearing Ford, New Style, 2.50" offset.
The rear caliper part number is 120-11481
The front Wilwood brake kit is 140-13378
The front caliper is part number 120-11482
I'm fixing to drive this thing in about 3 weeks, so please help me to get the master cylinders properly placed!

Thank you very much!!

Thank you so much! How did you learn all that stuff?

I'll go ahead and change the masters around and set the pedal to your recommendation, and will give some feedback after the first drive.  Will likely take the car to a skid pad to do some basic testing.

Also wanted to cross check about my dashboard features. 

I plan to run the provided headlight switch, ignition switch, toggle switch for the fan, toggle switch for the high beams, button for horn, and button for the starter.  Am I missing anything?

I will run an electrical cut off, but not on the dash.  The ignition switch does have a start position, but I'm going to run a starter button.

There will be no HVAC, footbox blower, radio, or wipers. 

Thank you.

I recommend a switch under the dash that supplies power to the in-tank fuel pump so you can turn off the fuel pump if the car is parked.  Effective disabling device for anti-theft.  My car is EFI so I installed a relay in the trunk for the fuel pump and made a switch in front of the steering column that shuts off power to that circuit.  Works slick.  I also use a battery switch (big red switch) on the back of the cockpit that runs wiring through it for the park/neutral safety switch.  Both of these are disabling devices for anti-theft.

Thank you for the suggestions, I'll take a look.

Is the neutral safety switch so the engine won't crank in gear?  I had planned to not have any bells and whistles at all, except for some electrical disabling to the system, and maybe fuel pump as well now that you mention it.

I also can't imagine parking it out of my sight....do you go park places with yours and leave the area, like shopping, etc?

Another suggestion may be an inertia switch inline for the fuel pump too. https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=87
Comment on your brake testing, I'd also drive normally for awhile (50-100 miles) before really going at them and bedding them in, this is allow the pads to conform to the rotors.

I second Greg's suggestion for an inertia switch for the fuel pump.
I'd also highly suggest an inline fuse on your main power feed from the battery. However this gets pretty involved and you may be too far along to add that into things. If you'd like more info I can elaborate.

Definitely elaborate.  I Havnt done any battery work.  I plan to run a micro sized battery in the engine compartment.

I was going to attach the large cable directly to the starter, and a smaller wire to a cut off switch to power the rest of the car.  Or so I'm planning...

As usual late to the party, have to check on the numbers, I went with the biggest brake 12.19 inch rotor set up that would fit behind a 15 inch wheel Wilwood offer from Hurricane. I believe at the time I was told to use the two 3/4" master cylinders for the brakes and the 7/8" one for the clutch. I will have to take a look to double check to see if that is what I did.

Michael

Thats how I had mine set up originally, however, Greg K indicated differently, and ran the numbers for me based on my calipers. 

As well, the parts sheet that came with the kit indicated that the two 3/4" masters were for the clutch and brake. 

I did switch mine, and I marginally get enough clutch travel at this point, but it does release.  I'm sure one more bleeding and the throw will be ok.

I'm anxious to see the battery mounting in the front that you're planning. I'd really like to do that but it doesn't seem like there's room anywhere, maybe one of those minis will fit though. My concern is the main power feed running from the trunk up to the front. Here are a couple options:
1. Run two power feeds from trunk to the front, one will go straight to the starter (starter solenoid mounted in the trunk) the other will be fused back at the trunk and provide power to everything on the car. Greg K did this. Definitely the simplest.
2. Use one power feed wire from the trunk, fuse this wire at the trunk. This will require a solenoid that gets energized at the same time as the starter solenoid and will bypass the fuse. The fuse can't take the high inrush current of the starter.
3. Similar to 2, but use a circuit breaker instead of a fuse and a second solenoid isn't required. I have one of these breakers but haven't tested it to see if it'll hold up to the starter current.
https://ceautoelectricsupply.com/product/manual-resetting-circuit-breakers/

Quote from: Kamal on November 19, 2022, 06:39:09 PM

I did switch mine, and I marginally get enough clutch travel at this point, but it does release.  I'm sure one more bleeding and the throw will be ok.

You can also give your slave push rod an adjustment to preload the clutch fork 1/16-1/8" which will help.

Kamal,
Greg K got me to thinking so I had to go look at my brake set up. I have the two 3/4" cylinders on the front and rear brakes, the 7/8" is on the clutch. However, there must have been an update to the kits. I have-
Wilwood rear #140-7140 with caliper #120-6806.
Wilwood front #140-10440 with caliper #120-6816
Pads for both are #150-8850k

I didn't have get a chance to put a lot of miles on it before putting it away for winter storage. What brake stopping ability seemed ok, however I was being cautious and feeling the car out and not getting over my ski's as some may say. The true test will be in the spring and getting more comfortable with the car and how it reacts.

Michael-

The piston area of the calipers are the same, just one is a dynalite and the other is a dynapro. All else being equal in pedal and balance bar will result in a 61:39 bias.

Thank you for the information Greg, I appreciate it. Like I mentioned the brakes seem ok to me for being manual, don't know about in a PANIC stop if they would be good enough or what. What is the ratio front to rear seems to be what people are shooting for?

Michael-

Most rear wheel drive cars are 60-70% front biased.
I wanted my setup sized for 65:35 and ended up with 64:36 with a balanced and even setup.

So now back to Kamal's build... ;)

Speaking of my build, here we have an update with pictures.  I think this has been a lot of progress, and I expect things to start moving faster.

- Completed the cockpit tub coverings.  Used black heat shield and black wrinkle paint.  I've become conerned that the wrinkle paint won't be durable, but I did read that you can respray with a satin black and it will restore the finish pretty well.   I used the DEI Tunnel and Floor Shield in black, same stuff Greg used on his build.  I tried to wrap them around the front side, but the angles didn't allow that, so I had seams at the corners.   Originally wanted to use aluminum black HVAC tape to cover the corners, but the look wasn't good, so I created some aluminum pieces and did them in the black wrinkle.  Overall I'm happy with the work, though its not perfect.  I think it is unique, though. 

- Attached the steering bearing to the interior side of the tub, not sure if that was the right way, but it will definitely work, and no issue accessing the set screw.

- Completed all the details on the chassis, so its ready to take the cockpit tub permanently.  I had to center the rear axle and adjust the driveshaft hoop, I redid the master cylinders and added the brake switch to the front brake, tightened all the lines, added a few more tube hold downs.

- Created the apparatus to pressure test the gas tank.  I have a tool I made to do leakdown testing on 2-stroke engines, it will be perfect to use for this purpose.

- I mocked up the dash so you guys can chime in.  I will have a toggle for the fan, a toggle for the high beams, and two of the Lucas push buttons, one for starter and one for horn.  Any other switches will go under the dash.  Thoughts?

Next steps:

- Today I will be placing the cockpit tub and body on in order to align them.  Will remove the body, and get cracking on fastening down the cockpit tub, attaching the belts, seats, birdcage, radiator, wiring, and dash.  One the engine wiring is complete, I should be able to start the engine.  Aside from the battery and mount, I believe I have everything I need to get the car running.

More pics

More progress....and regress...

- Placed the cockpit tub and body on.  Looks like the cockpit tub needs to be "cocked" about 3/4" to the left, in order for the front wheel well spacing to be even.  Decided to remove all of the weatherstripping I had placed on the frame below the tub, and will take the advice to try to align the two pieces later when its time to fasten the body.

- Completed the steering system.  Gave a clean up with brush/sandpaper, and painted with clear coat.  Realize now that the steering shaft in the engine compartment probably needs high temp paint, as it come very close to the header, so will likely repaint that in the coming days.   The OD of the splined steering shaft was .750, but the OD of the brass bushings was .740, so I had to work carefully at removing material so the shat would fit in the brass bushings, and the carrier bearing could fit over the shaft.  All is installed, waiting for some 5/16 rivet nuts to finalize the mounting of the carrier bearing under the dash.  Also, I am missing the collar that goes over the shaft at the turn signal.  Looks like something I can make or get easily, but if anyone has a part number so I can order one, that would be great!

- Pressure tested the tank, with terrible results.  I put about 7 psi in the tank, and sprayed with soapy water.  There are many leaking pinholes along the welds.  Going to post elsewhere in the forum about my options for that. 

- Started in on the wiring.  Trying to determine the best way to deal with unneeded wiring, and need to review the Holley Sniper and MSD wiring diagrams.

Further progress:

- Wiring harness laid up in the dash, and some of the dash wiring soldered.  Front and back wiring run, but I think I'm changing my engine wiring set up.  Details in the next few days!  Should be fun.

- For the removable dash option, I decided to use an insert nut into the fiberglass dash, with a bolt coming from up behind the upper frame.   

- Just a sneak peak of the body on the car for the first time.

Ok lots of work getting done here, starting to feel bummed out that the majority of the mechanical work is now history! 

- Completed the dash, purchased the electric oil pressure gauge, as I didn't want an oil line coming into the car.  Created the wiring harness with all soldered connections.  Got the needed diodes for the turn signal indicator and wired that up.  I thought to cleanly run all of the wires, but in the end left slack on them so it would be easier to pull them out in the future, if need be.  Looks like a mess of spaghetti.

- Created a couple brackets to stiffen the steering wheel support.  Seemed a little flexible, and although attaching the dash will provide some stiffness, I thought that tying together the top and bottom of the dash supports would help with the steering wheel flex.  I used angle aluminum and trimmed it so ensure that it wouldn't interfere with the left side gauges or indicator lights.

- Used the KBS product to seal the gas tank.  Its done curing today, so will pressure test it post-haste.  Will also pressure test the radiator. 

- Completed the engine wiring.  The Holley Sniper has a mess of wires and connectors, so I got a plastic box and created a bracket for it at the back of the intake manifold, and basically created a wiring box that will hide under the eventual air cleaner.  The sniper has two large connector leads, a small lead for the handheld programmer, and an O2 lead.  I'm still succeeding in my goal of having nothing mounted on the firewall, other than the wire bundle coming out.  I chose that spot for the wire bundle so I could alternatively mount the wiring box, if needed, to the firewall.  In that case, the box would mount over the hole, and the bundle will come directly into the box. 

- On the front of the engine, I added a sandwich adapter for the oil temp and pressure senders, and ran a single loom up to the wiring box that contains the 3 sender wires, the coil wires, and the distributor wires.  There should be no other wires on the engine.  The starter has a built in solenoid (that does mean that I don't need an external solenoid?) and there will be a loom of 3 wires that come out of the wiring box and head down to the solenoid.     

- Created a couple brackets to mount the MSD box under the passenger dash.  Attached the headlight relay and the fuel pump relay under the dash.  Created an aluminum plate that will mount under the dash to give a place to attach a cutoff switch, lighter socket, and other switches. 

- Test fit the headers, and I will need to create some form of a relief or bend for two of the mounting holes, as the header tube keeps from getting the bolt in.  Any ideas how to do this in my garage?  They are Ceramic coated.  I'm using Remflex gaskets and Stage 8 locking bolts.  I thought to bypass the issue by running studs in the holes that don't have clearance.  Thoughts?

- Purchased an aluminum radiator shroud and a radiator hose fitting, which should arrive today.  Its a summit one with perfect dimensions for the radiator core at 19.5 x 22, but its opening is for a 14" radiator, so there may be a bit of trimming to do.  That should get the cooling system almost done.  Need to get a coolant catch can, create the missing radiator bracket, and plug off the extra outlet on the water pump.

more Pics

Coming along fast. Dash turned out good. What adhesive did you use?
What's the deal with the diodes and turn signals?
I'm anxious waiting to hear about the lower radiator hose and pictures.
Lastly, what radiator bracket are you missing?

I used 3M 77 spray adhesive.  It said OK for vinyl.  Other sprays were not compatible.  I learned that a heavy coat will allow time to work and ability to peel off and reapply.  Go heavier with the coat, so it gets a full layer of glue.  When you are pulling the vinyl through the gauge holes to the back, pull tight.  Extra material around the circumference of the gauge hole may cause a bubble in the vinyl when you push the gauge in.  Consider a practice run with extra dash material to make sure the holes in the fiberglass dash, plus the material you are using, makes a proper fit with the gauge, switch, or steering column you are inserting into the hole.  If I did it again, I'd make sure the gauge was not snug in the hole. 

The turn signal indicator is a single lamp, and without a diode feeding it, the left and right turn signals will power each other on.  A diode is basically a one way valve for electricity.  This allow you to run both separate turn signal circuits to a single lamp without cross energizing the circuits. 

Lower hose will need a short pipe, and maybe a piece of another hose that is a tight 90 degree angle 1.75 to 1.5.  I think the lower radiator and lower water pump are 1.75.  Uppers are 1.5.  So if you got 2 of the lower hose, and a 1.5 short pipe, you could make that work.  Or go to the auto parts store and look around at stuff.  I got each hose shipped to me in a cardboard box for about $10 each.  Amazom Prine    ::)

I do not have the top bracket that attaches to the birdcage and has the hole in it that the radiator bracket goes into.  Its like 4" x 8" with a 30 degree or so bend and maybe 4 holes. 

Got my Summit fan shroud today.  Fit perfectly on the radiator core, so I prepped and painted it with the black wrinkle.  Just barely fit into the oven for curing!  Nice to be single I guess. 

Regarding the header bolts...I used ARP 3/8 with 5/16 12 point heads. Installed before wiring and locking tub and upper frame in place, see posts 163 & 164 here as to what I had to do. https://forum.hurricane-motorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=2591.msg26495#msg26495

So I had only one bolt on each header that wouldn't make it into its hole, which was easy to fix by running a drill through at an angle.  The bigger problem was getting a wrench or socket around the bolt head.  On the first header I tried to create some relief of the tubes with minimal success, and decided to ditch the bolts and bypass the whole problem by running cap (Allen head) bolts which should not have a clearance issue.

And now on to the next unfortunate discovery, the space between the foot boxes is much too narrow for the headers.  Maybe it's a 351 issue? Higher deck height = wider engine at the exhaust ports?

Anyhow, an additional inch or so is needed to fit.  With my cockpit tub biased to the driver side by about 1/4" relative to the frame, the driver side header has about 3/16" clearance.  I think that the tub needs further bias to the driver side for the body and tub to be aligned to each other and to the front wheels, which will add clearance for the driver header. 

For the passenger side, the options would be to rebuild the passenger header to bring in the rear tube, but I believe this would cause problems getting a socket on the plug.  So the only other option is trimming the already finished foot box. 

So I did the unthinkable, and took a large wedge out of the corner of the foot box with my angle grinder and cutoff wheel. So sad.   So now the footbox follows the same angle from the firewall all the way to the front corner.  About 3" of the front of the footbox is gone. 

Will fiberglass the piece that I removed to close it back up, replace the heat shielding, and make a new matching piece of trim for the corner, and move forward.

Now you're making me want to do a test fit with my cockpit tub now that my engine/trans/headers are all bolted up. This seems very surprising since I was under the impression Hurricane had "dumby" blocks for the different engines and that's what they would build the headers to amongst other things.
Good luck, glassing is quite the task. Satisfying results but messy getting there.

I know there are 2 types of foot boxes. Big block and small block. Sorry to see but hopefully you can get around it.

Here is mine for a big block FE engine. I can measure if you need it. If you look at pg 1 on my build thread it shows right and left side pics with the headers being built. I am using a under car exhaust so they are a little different than the sidepipe style.

I appreciate it, the tub is already cut, and should be back together pretty quick.


I'm curious to search out other Windsor build and visualize their clearance. 

You might check out Bruce N's build. I'm pretty positive his was a windsor base. Look at post 121 on page 9. He had to "tweak" his drivers side header because it was hitting his footbox.

I took a look at his post, it appears that he had clearance issues at the front of the foot box. My clearance issue is on the side of the foot box. It's the pipe that runs from the rear cylinder hitting the side of the foot box. Well not hitting but not even enough space to get the header anywhere close to the ports.  I wish I had his problem!

Merry Christmas.  Santa and his elves came and fixed my footbox for me.  All I have to do is put in a few rivets, and problem solved!

Progress since the last update:

- Completed the footbox mod to allow for clearance for the header.  This required cutting of the finished footbox, creating all new trim pieces from aluminum including the top piece, using the wrinkle paint/oven baked finish, and black aluminum rivets.  Will fiberglass the inside of the footbox repair for extra rigidity. 

- Mounted and fit the fan/shroud combo onto the radiator

- Pressure tested the radiator

- Pressure tested the gas tank - all sealed!

Enjoy the pics!

Glad you got the gas tank sealed.
How did you attach the shroud to the radiator? Looks like I can see rivets into the channels? Is there still clearance for the rectangular tube mounts hurricane supplied that go in the channels?

Gas tank is such a relief!

The shroud is about 1/2" shorter than the radiator.  So at the bottom it will sit on the radiator mounting bolts and will be pinched tight with either fender washers or some sort of clip I have yet to dream up,  and the top will be through bolted with the radiator bolts.  So it will be easily removable. 

I highly recommend this shroud assuming your radiator is the same size as mine, and you don't plan to do the Taurus fan/shroud. I searched through a ton of shrouds online and this was about the only one that basically fit the core.

First of all, a big shout out to Jeff K, who came over to checkout progress, and noticed that I had the headers on the wrong sides!  For whatever reason, I assumed that the longer tube end of the header went to the rear port, to easily clear the footbox.  We switched them around, and I'm relieved to say that there still would not have been enough clearance to get them in without trimming the footbox on the passenger side.  After trimming 3" off the front of the footbox, there's about 2" of space between the header and the corner.  I actually like the extra space, as it gives ample clearance to deal with the header bolts, spark plugs, and starter wiring.

I completed mounting of the shroud and radiator.  I found some heavy duty picture hanger clips that I was able to trim into a perfect clip for the shroud bottom.

Discovered that my valve cover baffles don't clear the mounting bolt/nut for the roller rocker, so I removed and reshaped the baffle to provide more clearance. 

Mounted the Blaster 2 coil in a generic Amazon mount at the front of the motor.  The hole had to be elongated a little, as the aluminum heads have 7/16" bolt holes in the front, and the mount was drilled for 3/8". 

Next I will be placing the inner fenders (removed the radiator to do this), mounting the coolant overflow bottle to it, as well as the master cylinder reservoirs.  My battery and battery box should be arriving soon, and that should just about round out all of the "under hood" work. 

Any updates Kamal?

Ben,

Guilty as charged.  I've been working on it a ton, as well as skiing like a maniac, but havn't put the time in for updates.  I will make a thorough update tomorrow when I get the car out into the newfound Cali sunny weather. 

In short, the car should be ready to drive, in go cart form, by Sunday afternoon.  Sans seats, of course  8)

Thank you for checking in.

Sunny weather, what's that? No such thing in the Ohio valley this time of year haha.
Sounds good. Get some good wiring pictures, I'm about to start in on that.

Hi folks,

Posting some pics from yesterday.  Decided to push off the initial start to next weekend, as things got busy, and so I can make it an initial start and cruise around the neighborhood, and possibly have a few people over to either celebrate, or face palm.....

I'm happy to take more detailed pics of anything you would like to see.

Work since the last update:

- Wrinkle finished and installed the inner fenders.  One didn't fit and was interfering with the top of the shock mount, so I ended up making a cutout for clearance, however, if I did it again, I would have simply retained the original curve, and just made it higher.  I also ordered nice soft rubber trim for the edges, as I wasn't happy with the plastic stuff that was provided.

- Completed the lower radiator hose by purchasing a second of the same hose, and using the lower section of the hose on the water pump, and attaching the two pieces with a hose connector.  Both upper and lower hoses just need clamps, I need the source the bypass hose, which I thought I ordered, and a cap for the heater outlet, that I also thought I had ordered!  Install the overflow bottle I sourced. That will round out the cooling system, and ready to fill.

- Installed the coolant temp sensor. 

- Finalized the back of the motor wiring, and ran the Positive and negative feed, as well as the solenoid signal wire, down to the solenoid on the starter. 

- Created the starter cable using the supplied cable, and terminals I got from the auto parts store.

- Installed two ground cables, one to the frame at the battery box bolt, and one to the front of the cylinder head.  I think I should fashion a shield so that the hot air coming through the radiator will not bear directly on the battery. 

- Finalized wiring under the dash.  I created an electrical panel to be accessed under the dash, and installed a heavy duty cutoff switch, a power socket, and space for two switches.  One will be a fuel pump cutoff, and the other....who knows.  I will initiall wire both switches for the cutout, to make it extra tricky to arm. 

- Reworking the steering shafts, as the clearance to the header is minimal.  I think I will need to run the small shaft directly out of the firewall bracket beyond the header, and then attach the universal there.  Not happy with that look, but it will provide the needed clearance for the steering shaft. 

- Installed the newly sealed gas tank.

- Revised the location of where the front harness exits the firewall, and completed it with a grommet. 

- Did a custom mounting for the throttle linkage.  It fits with the theme of simple and minimal bracketry, etc. on the engine compartment paneling, though not the original design.  Just need to cut the stainless tube, grind a flat on the pedal shaft, and snug everything up, and add a spring onto the throttle body linkage.

Tasks before I start the engine:

- Install the dash and connect the wiring, run the rear wiring harness in the location I want, and add some wire clamps.  Connect the fuel pump and sender wiring out back.

- Complete the coolant system bits as outlined above.

- Attach wiring for the battery to fusebox, as well as the electric fan.

- Install the sidepipes.

- Prime the oil pump

- Fill coolant.

- Install the battery

- Initialize the Holley Sniper

- Let er rip!  Should start, as the motor was dyno tested with the distributor and EFI that is on there.

Tasks before an initial test drive: 

- Fit body and determine the placing of the cockpit tub, so I can put a seat in there and not have to re-drill mounting holes later.  Make sure the front wheels are at the track width I want, and the rear wheels are centered in the wheel well, so I don't have to pull anything apart later.   

- Tighten up the alignment, and snug up the suspension components front and rear.   

- Drill out the shifter holes to fit the bolts in the tranny shifter leg.

- Mount master cylinder reservoirs. 

- Create the upper radiator mount.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words......

Great progress Kamal!! Hope your first start goes well. Always exciting to see.

Progressing well!  Are you not doing videos any longer?

You know, I had a lot more time at the beginning of the build, and making the videos was fun.  At this point, I feel my time is limited, and the build isn't super coherent or orderly like it was in the beginning, and the videos have fallen by the wayside. 

I do plan to make a "go cart" update video where I will go through the build process since the previous video posting.  Likely this weekend.

I missed responding. Looking good, lots of wiring. The radiator hoses came out good.
Looks like your shifter hole in the tub needs opened up like the rest of us. I like the concealed master shutoff switch.

Well looks like the forum is getting lively, so I'll update as well.  I postponed the starting ceremony as I had inadvertently scheduled it during the super bowl! But, here is the progress:

Installed the body, got it properly centered, marked off the cockpit tub and removed the body.

Measured the front and rear track.  The front tracks 3" narrower than the rear.  The fenders protrude about 1" from the sidewalls front and rear.  So I think to complete the look I like, I'll need to pull the lower control arms, adjust the heim joints, and get the sidewalls flush with the fender edges. Possibly add a spacer in the rear to also take up some of that space.

Tested all electrical circuits, everything worked the first time. Surprised at how much wiring there is for a simple system.  The MSD box lit up, the Sniper initialized, and appears to have remembered the settings from the initial run in at the engine builder.

Ran the fuel pump, snugged up the fittings, and verified no leaks and proper pressure at the throttle body.

Installed the driver seat.

Installed the side pipes. That must have been one of the easiest things to build lately!

Completed and loomed the front and rear wiring sections.

Completed the cooling hoses and installed a thermostat.  Attached the catch can to the front if the driver cylinder head, next to the coil, using the same bolt.  Yet another thing I avoided mounting to the engine compartment walls.

Just need to complete the baffle mod on the remaining valve cover, fill coolant, attach the battery, and fire it up! 4.5 months in the making, with more idle time and doing other things than I had envisioned.

Thanks for all the help this far, and to what I think will be trickier work up ahead, getting the body installed.

For now...jumping on a flight to Japan.  To be continued!

Blurry pic of coolant catch can.

Wow!  Excellent progress.  I am enjoying watching your build.

Jim

Kamal did you get that thing fired up?

Not yet.  Haven't been working on it, just doing a little traveling and skiing.  I plan the startup and drive this Sunday.  Have been building a garage addition for it, as well, now that it's close to rolling.  Going to start the dmv process. Stay tuned.  Calm before the storm.  Thanks for asking.

Hi all, just wanted to give another non-update.  We've had historic rains here in California, so the cobra has just been sitting, only a few hours of finishing bits to get it started and first drive.  Not much done in the last 1.5 months.  I figured even if the car was done, the weather would keep me from driving it.

Updates:

- Got the Registration started, mainly to light a fire under me to get the car running.  Part of the initial registration process is two inspections that I get to drive the car to, and they provide a one day moving permit for each.  The permits expire 60 days from date of issuance, so that gives me until May 10 to get those two inspections.  One is brake and light, and one is VIN verification at the highway patrol.

- completed the upper radiator mount.  I cut the upper steel bar mount in half so it was lower profile, reimagined the top sheet metal piece and mounted that, and did preliminary mounting of the hood hinges. 

- mounted both seats.  The provided slider rails for the driver seat are junk, and doesn't operate smoothly.   Does anyone know of an alternative that would fit with the supplied seats?

- Removed the lower control arm and extended the heim joints by about 3/4", widening the front track.  With the initial setup, the front tracked 3" narrower than the rear.  Now the front tracks about 1.5" narrower.  This is close to original spec, and the look of the tire/fender spacing is much better.

- Installed the body. For the rear I widened the factory drilled holes, slid a small piece of fuel hose over the 3/8" bolts, and used rubber washers on either side of the body to clamp the body but still have it totally rubber isolated. Ordered the proper oval bumper grommets for the front, and will try to omit the
bolts that go through the air duct.   I notched the body at the rocker panel area where it rested on the side pipe mounting bracket, to make sure the body would sit as low as it needed to.

- cut the floor of the trunk tub to provide access to the fuel pump and fuel sender. Will need to fashion a cover.  Ordered some bulb seal that will install onto the edges of the top of the trunk tub, then will compress the tub upward to squeeze the seal against the body, and will place spacers under the tub and bolt it down. 

I've given up on a starting ceremony with friends, as the weather and peoples' schedules have become too complicated to coordinate, so I will likely start it this coming week or next, weather permitting.  This will require connecting the battery, completing the body mounting, priming the oil pump, and getting ready with the fire extinguisher 🤣

In other news, I'll be getting married on my skis on April 20, so life has been quite busy with great things happening in every corner.

A few of us have found that a metal electrical box cover plate (the metal cover plates) work pretty well for covering those access holes. They a heavy gauge, nice square cut and predrilled, cheap also.

Hi All,

Just a quick update on a whole lotta progress. 

Got the cobra started and took it around the neighborhood a couple times.  If you remember, the motor was built and dyno'd by the builder, and was shipped with the EFI and distributor it was run with.  So for the most part, it started up at the first press of the start button.  I did get a backfore at first, which was due to my having switched two plug wires when I redid the wire looms.  Also, had a brief heating issue due to an air bubble in the cooling system, but within about 10 min of the initial start attempt, the engine ran great.  The car....drove.  Nothing fell off or apart.  Alignment is obviously way off, but overall, a great first start and run attempt.

Since then, I've worked slowly on getting the car ready for the first two inspections, which require driving the car to the Highway Patrol, as well as a mechanic for the brake and light inspection. 

Mounted the hood:  Pretty straightforward here.  Used a grinder with a sander attachment to smooth out the hood lines, and the hood opens and closes nicely.  Looks like the front corner of the hood was sanded just a bit too much at the factory, and that will have to be filled.  Have not worked on the latch yet.

Mounted both doors:  More sanding of the edges, had to redrill the hinges, as neither hinge worked correctly for the driver door.  Passenger door also needed some re-drilling of the hinges.  Not sure what happened there. 

Mounted the driver side door latch:  There was no hardware of brackets to mount these, so I created those out of 3/8" aluminum flat bar.  Time consuming.  I'm sure the kit was supposed to have those pieces....but all that is water under the bridge.  Works great!  Need to finish up the passenger side.

Created a wiring harness for the headlights and front turn signals, and mounted the headlights.  I used SEA connectors and other connectors so I could remove either headlight bucket/marker light from the rest of the harness, or be able to remove the body while keeping the lights mounted, as I finally plan to remove the body before, and to, paint.  Not realizing there was a parking wire in the harness, I created a diode wire system to power the parking lights from the high and low beam wires, hidden inside one of the headlight buckets. 

Mounted the wired the read lights.

Still need to finalize the windshield mounting.  I have experimented with some windshield angles, and consulted some of the cobra forums, and I've decided to mount the windshield at an angle that allows the top of the windshield to not be in my field of vision, so a little more vertical than the 45 degrees that people seem to target.  Its actually about 50 degrees. 

Need to mount the trunk hinges and trunk.  Need to complete the hood hinges.

Looks like the large oval Ford Motorsport air cleaner won't fit under the hood.  Its a 2" high filter, and comes with a 1" spacer.  With the spacer, the air filter interferes with the back of the hood.  Without the spacer, the air filter sits right on the distributor.  So I'm going to return that and go with a round filter for the time being.

A little difficulty with the rear lights.  The light has one bulb with two filaments, but should have a connection for Brake, running light, and turn signal.  Am I missing something here?

Going to probably miss the window of my moving permits, as every Highway Patrol I called to schedule the inspection was weeks out for availability, and the moving permits expire on May 10.  So will probably have to go back to the DMV, renew those permits, and get the inspections done later this month.

More pics

Outstanding progress!

Quote from: Kamal on May 03, 2023, 11:38:57 AM

A little difficulty with the rear lights.  The light has one bulb with two filaments, but should have a connection for Brake, running light, and turn signal.  Am I missing something here?

Should only be 3 wires to each tail light. Ground, Running, and signal. Wire harness and relay board should take care of this.

Congrats Kamal, I've been wondering how things were going.
If I remember right the two wires coming out of the brake light are for each filament. Pretty sure the brake and turn signals use the same wire/filament. I think this is probably taken care of with the turn signal flasher/ circuit.

Thank you everybody. The one combination I didn't test with my test light was the turn signal wire with the brakes on lol. Moving forward....

A few videos for you guys.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IHex1P3NJ3A

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HnWn6Z-5eiU

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oTflDEIWVLE

Hello enthusiasts,

Sorry for the huge data dump....

I was excited to give an update here on a lot of progress, and a few questions.  After some very slow going for a couple months just busy with other things, and waiting for my first inspection, I'm happy to say that I can now jump in the car and legally drive it around!  Unfortunately, that was not in time to go to a local cobra meet at the Cobra Experience museum locally here in Martinez.  There were about 15 original cobras, and about 25 replicas, along with other Ford muscle cars.  It was a great opportunity to see a bunch of originals up close, and see the varying condition of them, differences in just about everything on the car, and the like.  I got a real kick out of the labels below the different dash knobs and switches, I think I'll pass on that level of originality  ;)

Since last post, I have completed:

+ All of the wiring.
+ Spent some hours trimming and fitting the doors, hood, and trunk
+ Installed the hood latches and some temporary brackets to catch them
+ Installed the trunk latch with great difficulty, still need to create the anchor point
+ Chose a position for the windshield, and bolted that in

I called for Insurance, got a policy for $650 a year from Grundy, and that is with a few thingies on my driving record.

Took the car to the CHP (Highway Patrol) for the VIN inspection.  From what I gathered from him, since the VIN was not stamped in the frame, he had to assign a VIN from a sequence, and we had to place and rivet a plate on the frame with that number.  So my official VIN looks like CAXXXXXX, with the Xs being numbers.  I was a little bummed that I couldn't get HM2040 as part of the VIN, but that's life. In California.

Took the car for the Brake and Lamp inspection, and that was a breeze.

Returned to the DMV last week to continue the process, and was given a 30 day moving permit, so now I can drive it!  Next process is to make an appointment with the smog board (California BAR referee), who will inspect my smog equipment, make sure that I actually built the car, and didn't buy it factory built, and give me the final blessing.  Then it's back to the DMV to finalize the registration and get a plate.

I had an appointment at Kraus racing late last week to do the alignment.  Getting the front end straight was fairly straightforward, and he put in about -.9 degrees camber, and about 4.5 degrees caster.  The rear was a little more tricky.  Initially he had noticed that the rear axle was bound up somewhat, with an extreme pinion angle, which made sense with some odd running characteristics I was noticing.  He was able to straighten things out, he corner weighted the car, and it looks like it's a 49/51 weight balance as is, and it's about 120 lbs heavy on the driver side with me in it.

After getting home and driving the car some more, there was a lot of creaking in the rear end (Ford 9") that I narrowed down to heim joints making noise.  I noticed that the shocks were not perpendicular to their mounts, and came to realize that the rear end was still bound up.  It looks as though the axle needs to come forward about ½" to get the wheels in the center of the wheelwells, which should straighten up the shocks and unbind the axle.  If they need more, then the bottom mount can be trimmed to tuck the shock closer to the axle.  For now, I removed the spacers from the shock mounts, and the rear compresses smoothly now.  Most of the creaking is gone, however, I'm still getting a significant creak in the upper control arm.  And am under the impression that the heim joints can be noisy, and do wear over time, creating more noise.

I started to search for alternatives to the solid spherical heim joints, as I don't plan to race the car, or even drive it very hard, and would prefer a "comfy' ride over really firm tracking.  And...its all an experiment in building a tweaking.  I came up with a couple things that may work.  One is a poly heim that is slated to not work on 4-bar suspensions (Is that what this is?), as it can't twist or have any axial movement. 

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Steel-Rod-End-Heim-Joint-Poly-Insert-5-8-Inch,21289.html?sku=91002088-RH&utm_medium=CSEGoogle&utm_source=CSE&utm_campaign=CSEGOOGLE&gclid=CjwKCAjwp6CkBhB_EiwAlQVyxQR6XTPfo_XA3uHnoMHwB_IVekSQkfDtGHflcGtfNvmW5dSLnlSqQhoC51YQAvD_BwE

Another is a rubber bar end that may work for the trailing arms, and is slated to work with 4-bar suspensions, however, they won't fit in the axle side of the trailing arms.  They would work, however, for all the 6 other joints.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sit-sf88r?seid=srese1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp6CkBhB_EiwAlQVyxY2BCoak9_0wIivDsA6IllDdrNHLlQddeDO25pgGOBaw0Od56ZTPjhoCxMoQAvD_BwE

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Forged-4-Bar-Rod-End-5-8-18-LH-Thread-Zinc-Plated,25125.html

So I purchased one pair of poly, and one pair of the speedway rubber ones, and will fit them into the one upper control arm which is creaking badly, and see how that goes.   Any input is much appreciated.  And I took my tires down to 22 PSI as well.  295/50/15.

For now, the car sits evenly, with the frame level with the ground, and all measures lining up.  The back of the body is not only high, but doesn't sit evenly, and there will be significant body work there to fix.

Some other tidbits:

Tach and Water temp gauge were not functioning initially.  I traced it down to the Haywire Dash connector, which had the two signal wires switched on one of the connectors.  Problem solved. 

The headers are LOUD.  Crisp.  I would sacrifice some of my 538 ft-lbs of torque for a more moderate sound.  I'm speed researching the issue now, but it looks like there was the perfect Flowmaster sidepipe muffler some years back:

https://www.holley.com/products/discontinued_product/parts/13530320

but now discontinued.  Apparently they were quiet with no power loss, and very pricey.  I read of putting a short glass pack into the sidepipe, with good results.  Depending on what's inside the current sidepipe, that could be done easily by cutting off the tip and putting it in there.   People also angle the tip in a specific orientation to reduce the sound in the cockpit.   If there's no DIY insert I can use that's effective, I'll probably learn to live with it for the time being. 

The brakes are very hard.  I can lock them up, but around town type of pedal pressure is significant, and I'm a strong guy.  I haven't really bedded the pads since that's hard to do when you are also first driving a build.  But my first directions will be working with the pads, then other pads, then smaller master cylinder bores, and lastly, inline brake boosters. 

There is a whole lot of sound coming from the body to frame/trunk tub/cockpit tub interfaces.  I certainly need to put more bolts through the cockpit tub and trunk tub into the frame.  The body is currently mounted at all of the specified points, and it moves a lot.  Jeff K has the opinion that you want the body to be hard mounted at a lot more points, which would require bonding brackets to the body, and use those to fasten to the rest of the car.  Since the back of the body needs to go down significantly (all mounting holes were predrilled by Hurricane), I'm going to look at options to bond bracketry and have more mounting points. 

I'm wondering if the body is designed to "stretch" tightly over the back of the cockpit tub, to get the back half down, or if I'm going to have to cut down the back of the cockpit tub so the whole assembly is lower.   I'm worried what will happen to the fairly decent door gaps if I simply pull the back further down.

I'm not thrilled about the steering ratio, and would like to look at different racks that would give quicker steering.  I think the steering effort is fairly easy, probably easier than my two BMWs with power steering.  I get 3.75 turns lock to lock, which produces 5.25" of travel at the rack.  Perhaps the answer might be different spindles with a shorter steering arm.

The engine is running great, I was initially suspecting some RFI issues with the Holley Sniper, but so far, even with the large steel air cleaner base, the engine control appears to be smooth and consistent.  I need to look into programming for a cold start, as I pretty much have to hold the throttle to keep it running until it gets a little heat in it.  It does not appear to behave like it has any kind of hoke function at this time, though I know that having an IAC valve, it should be able to add air and fuel and get the revs up to warm it up.

First gear is basically useless, I may opt for taller rear end gears in the future. 

So I have arrived to this great point where I get to drive the car, build on it, tweak it, experiment with it, try to make it fit me, the driver, which is so much fun, and the excitement is back!

Kamal
The fit of the body to the rear of the cockpit tub and the trunk tub has always been an issue for the Hurricane build. it started back in the Lees Summit days and continued with the Iowa builds. Bottom line, the tub does not fit to the body properly. There are a number of things you can do to make it better, but it needs to be done before the body is put on for the final time and you need to know there's an issue when you do it. Lake City didn't do a good job of informing the customers of this and unless you really dig deep into these forums, you get blind-sided with the issues.

Lake City made some mods to the way the body mounted to the cowl and frame and this only made the 'shake' worse. If your movement is confined to the rear cowl, you can do everything you can to get the body down onto the flanges, but they won't match the body contours, especially at the outer edges, in the wheel well area. Don't rely on the holes that they drilled for the quickjack mounts. There's too many tolerances involved to rely on them. Depending on how you made the connection thru the body and if it is painted or not, you may be able to relocate the holes with a grommet to accept the quickjack tube and be able to move them slightly. It takes some playing.

If you used a thick gasket material between the body and the tub, you may be able to make some ground there. I used 3/16" thick foam that compressed to almost nothing in the center. You can raise the body slightly and pull this out and change it.

The trunk tub flanges don't even come close to matching. Your best bet here was to put the body on and mark the flanges where the gasket goes and cut them off / build them up till you have an even space all around. As I recall, it takes about 3/8" gap between the flange and the body, then you put the gasket on.

Once you've got the body down as low as it will go, you can fill the openings (there will be some) with expanding foam. You can use either the Door & Window type with masking tape to form a dam on one side. That foam is kind of manila folder color. You can also use Pond/Landscaping foam which is a dark gray.  With the foams, you can fill the openings, cut the foam off when it hardens and make it look better, then cover with whatever coating you prefer.

Hope this helps you out.

Good Luck with California DMV

Paul

Paul,

Thank you for the input.  I used the large tube style of weatherstripping that was originally placed onto the cockpit tub flanges from Hurricane.  It compressed down pretty easily, and the contours between my pieces are definitely not matching.   I've had some discussion with Jeff K, and I'm wondering about ditching the flange altogether, and bonding brackets to the underside of the body, that would then bolt to the back wall of the cockpit tub.  I know he has done some body work modifying some areas, and we are going to compare notes this weekend.  I've never done much fiberglass work, and not sure how strong a body to bracket bond would be, or if it would either creak, or eventually crack, or if its important to have some movement between these parts at all. 

Hello all, just a quick update here.

Not much building work going on right now, but since I have a temporary registration, I have been putting some miles on the car.  My main focus right now is dialing in the ride.  There are all kinds of squeaks and creaks and noises, and an otherwise quite harsh ride.  My initial plan, because of the kind of driving I plan to do, is to the get the car to ride plush.  From there, I think it will be easy to stiffen up as my driving habits change.  I have done the following to smooth out issues:

Rear suspension:  Lots of bad creaking here from the heim joints.  I isolated the worst offender to be the upper link (Ford 9" rear).  I purchased some poly bushings as an experiment, and installing them definitely took out a majority of the creaking.  Its not a permanent fix, though, as the bushings don't articulate as they need to, and I'm seeing them get deformed already.  However, with this alone, the rear suspension sounds satisfactory. 

I did decide to purchase a few of the Sealflex rubber heim joints, and will install one of these on each control arm, which will hopefully add a little more plushness to the ride and quiet down the remaining creaking.  Those will go on in the next couple days.

To get the rear of the car where I wanted it, I either had to lower the suspension ride height, which would mean the frame would sit closer to the ground in the rear, or remove the body and cut the back of the cockpit tub down to allow the rear of the body to sit about 1" lower.  Jeff K.'s suggestion was that the body was in a good place, and lowering the rear is an easy experiment, and obviously I'm not looking for the car to handle excellently, so I lowered the rear.

At the right ride height, the shock springs would come loose at full extension.  It appears that Hurricane supplied 10" springs and the US502 shocks in my kit, though QA1 specifies a 12" spring for the shock.  So I purchased a lighter, longer spring, installed it, and am pleased with the result at this time.   QA1 spring rate guidance for a car of its weight is way less than the 400lb spring that Hurricane supplied.  With the 12" 275lb spring I installed, the spring has preload at full extension, and compresses down close to the suggested amount (25%) when the shock is loaded.  And it rides really nicely.  If I plan to keep this ride height in the rear suspension and want a stiffer spring in the future, I will probably have to purchase a shorter shock for the rear.  OR, cut the cockpit tub and lower the body.  I also have to figure out what hits first at full extension, and add some kind of bump stop.  So I would say that the rear end is mostly dialed for my initial build, and I will experiment with the rubber heims to add a further degree of plush. 

Front Suspension:  The work at Krause appears to be dialed in.  I did purchase lighter springs, though purchased the suggested length spring for the supplied shock, which is 10", not realizing that the supplied spring is 9".  So I'll install those in the next few days, and see what happens with ride and ride height.  I do know that Krause did adjust the front ride height, but not sure if that required an excessively loose spring adjustment, like the rear did. 

Steering:  My rack is about 3.75 turns lock to lock.  I feel like all I do in that car is turn the wheel, and I can't imagine how much input it would take if I got sideways, so I determined that the fastest steering ratio I can get would be a 79-93 mustang rack from Unisteer, which is listed at 2.5 turns lock to lock, with the same rack travel (5").  I am hopeful that the swap will be straightforward.  I have the offset bushings that will line up the difference in mounting holes (16" center to center on the car, 15.5" center to center on the 79--93 racks.)  I ordered the rack and should have it going in the next week.

Brakes:  I determined that the calipers were correctly installed on their respective end of the vehicle, and will be trying the master cylinder experimental swap out to 5/8 and 3/4, as opposed to the 3/4 and 7/8" as supplied by hurricane. 

Next up would be to remove the body, firmly mount the cockpit tub, and dial in the body edges, mounting, and connection points.  Still waiting for the special process of the titling process to come through, to be able to get the smog exemption and finish the registration.

I'll be interested to see your results from some of the things you're trying. At least you're getting some miles put on.

Kamal
Be careful with the new steering rack. Part of the suspension geometry is the pivot point of the tie rod that comes from the end of the rack. If that point in relation to the other pivot point changes, you're going to introduce bumpsteer along with the potential for other issues.

If the centerline of the rack in relation to the mounting holes and the pivot to pivot point of the tie rods where they hook to the rack is exactly the same, you're in tall cotton. If it is different, you will have to re-engineer the front suspension.

Regarding the Turn to Turn amount, the only time it comes into play is when you're parking the car. I have tracked a number of cobra's and you don't need that much steering authority. 1/4 turn of the wheel makes a HUGE difference in the steering angles needed to correct any 'looseness'

Paul

Paul,

As always, I appreciate all of the experienced input. My assumption is that the rack is identical in its dimensions, but I will see when it arrives. I don't plan to track my car, except maybe to push it to the limits to learn how it handles and responds. As it is, I don't find the amount of steering input required to be comfortable or enjoyable, so it's worth a few hundred dollar experiment.

I also know that the length of the steering arm on the spindle will also affect the quickness of the steering. Curious if you have an idea of what your rack is lock to lock, and how long your steering arm is, who knows, it may not be the same spindle.

Secondly, Brandon at Krause racing mentioned the same thing. He thought the steering response was extremely slow, and he raced Cobra 's back in the day.  So it's worth a little time and money to experiment with.  I will read up on bump steer to make sure I understand any problems in the performance if and when I do install the rack.

I've spent a good amount of time sideways in a 1993 mustang, an e28 BMW, and my current E 90 BMW, and when I got this cobra sideways, it scared the piss out of me.

Hi All,

Just wanted to give an update.

I took the cobra to the Good Guys car show here in the Bay Area yesterday, at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.  I think mine was the only car out of a thousand that had no paint!  Only two other cobras there on Sunday when I entered my car. 

Over the last month or so, I removed the body to finish up some things, as well as try to get the body to sit lower in the back.  If you may recall, I experimented with lowering the suspension in order to get the back at the right spot, but this didn't work.  With the body off, I cut the back of the cockpit tub, and rejoined the top section lower, so the body was almost sitting on the frame in that area.  I had to cut, lower, and reweld the crossmember that the trunk hinges mount to. 

At the back, I enlarged the mount holes to use the 3/4" chrome mounting bars, with the larger grommets.  So now, the rear bumper holes are floating (tight fit) on the chrome tubes, instead of being sandwiched with washers and a bolt.  The top body hole is now mounted to the bottom frame hole, and I will have to weld a plate onto the frame to mount the bottom body hole.  This means the back of the body went down 2.25"....and still the body is a bit high.

Currently, the frame is almost level, slightly tilted back.  I will be able to lower the suspension a bit more to get the right look. 

I fastened down the cockpit tub nice and tight, and used some caulking around the foot boxes. 

The new steering rack works GREAT.  Did I say GREAT?  I mean GREAT.  Much better steering feel.  The rack dimensions were close to the original.  I had to use 3/4" of spacer between the rack and the frame to clear the pinion, and after all my measuring, the rack sits the same vertically, and sits forward about a 1/2". 

The smaller brake master cylinders did the trick...braking is much less effortful, and there is still not much travel in the pedal.  The front master is a little spongy, after bleeding it a few times, I'm thinking thats because it is undersized.  However, with both masters connected to the balance bar, the feel is good, and I can lock up the tires without too much effort.  Between the steering and brake mods, the car is much nice to drive around town. 

I ordered some cheap seat tracks off amazon, which are an amazing upgrade.  These tracks use large cylindrical rollers between the upper and lower frame of the seat track, and roll smoothly.  As opposed to a bearing race with a bunch of small BBs.  The tracks are a little shorter than what Hurricane supplies, however, my frame had two sets of holes for the front seat mount, and the other hole I didn't originally use was the perfect spacing for the seat tracks. 

https://www.amazon.com/KUAFU-Universal-Sliders-Compatible-Adjustable/dp/B09LM31VXZ/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=3DZB9KQTE45NO&keywords=kuafu%2Bseat%2Bsliders&qid=1693243240&sprefix=kuafu%2Bseat%2Bslider%2Caps%2C184&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

I'll be sure to take a couple more pics to show details of the above, but wanted to get this out before it slipped my mind.

Hi All,

Just a quick update without much progress.  I did finally get through the DMV and got my license plates about a month ago or so, and within weeks, the registration came up due for renewal!  Obviously due to the fact that I started the Reg process LAST March, and it took a whole 11 months to wind through it. 

Developed a high idle issue with the Holley sniper, which really makes the car a bear to drive.  Just seemed to have that sorted out now, which took a new IAC valve.

Going to replace the fuel sender as I'm getting very poor performance of the fuel gauge.  Also getting fuel starvation at low fuel levels.  My tank is 9.5" deep, and I will start to get fuel starvation around tighter turns, with the gas at about 2.5" up from the bottom.  Yet another perk of a carburetor...  Not sure if this is within normal limits, or if my fuel pickup is not having a good time down at the bottom of the tank.

The rear suspension is still working quietly, thanks to replacing the rod ends with the FK brand units.  I'm not having any noises in the front at this time, and I probably have about 500 miles on the car.

I'm ready to consolidate my efforts and get to fitting the interior aluminum panels, in order to seal up the cockpit and prepare for the carpet.  I actually have no idea how those panels are attached to the body/tub, so thats what brought me back on the site to look around!

Plans for paint are on hold until I'm really happy with the car.  I also hear a lot of horror stories of people's cars getting sequestered for long periods of time at the painters, not something I want to deal with. 

Still playing with the suspension and trying to get a good plush ride.  I think one of the problems is that so many of the roads where I live are just awful and rough.  You have to get quite a ways out of town to find smoothing winding roads to enjoy, so I'm still aiming at getting a plush ride for around town so I'm more motivated to drive it. 

I see that there is one newer kit than mine, HM2041!  I think I got some of your stuff in my initial shipment  ;D

Have you been putting miles on Kamal?