Messages

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: December 16, 2023, 11:04:59 PM »

Just finished putting the stiped on my car!  Went with matte black vinyl and I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I wouldn't say anything on this car is absoultely perfect, but I'm really please with how it looks and take a lot of satisfaction in knowing I did it all myself...well, and my dad with the parts he did before I got the car.  Now the long wait to drive it till next spring.  Maybe there will be some warm winter days I can get out a bit.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 26, 2023, 01:26:44 PM »

Here are a couple pictures of the engine side tie in.  My remote oil filter is right there, so that was fairly simple.  Not sure if I had pictures of it or not, but the hoses are clamped in place on the front of the radiator side so they can't move, thn they are clamped in th engine side, so they are more secure than they may look in the picture.  They are fairly rigid and there is no place for them to go.  I was debating runing them through the aluminum on the side in the wheel well, then back in, but then I saw a someone's picture on here they they just went up and over the radiator and that worked really well for me.  I purposely put some extra bend in the hoses when they were tied together so they sit closer to the radiator so I have more room to change out the oil filter when needed.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 23, 2023, 01:21:00 PM »

Oil cooler is all installed and had a local Cobra club ride this last weekend.  My oil temp prior to putting the cooler in was right about 230 all the time.  It was rather cool (about 45 degrees outside) on Saturday morning when I left for my group ride anhour and a half away and my oil temp on that ride barely got above 150.  I was a little worried that may be a bit low, but once I got running around on our ride including some in town driving my temp sat right around 190 which I felt was a good temp.  Overall I'm really happy with the cooler, both in how it performs and how it looks.  My only issue right now is I went cheap on the AN fittings and I'm now regretting it since I appear to have some very small leaks in a couple spots.  Luckily not on the cooler itself, but under the hood on the remote oil unit and down by the engine.  Not a big issue, but something to take care of over the winter.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 17, 2023, 11:51:55 AM »

That's paint.  I did a paint kit from Eastwood called Ruby Red Metallic which is a mixing of their Fireball Red Pearl and Molten Red Metallic.  It's a single stage paint, but I did get clear to put on as well, though I haven't done it yet.  I'm not 100% sure I'm going to do the clear at this point, but we'll see.  This is actually the first time I've painted a car and while I'm happy with how it turned out, it's certainly far from perfect.  It looks really nice, but it's a long way from what a pro would have laid down.  I was able to sand and buff it and make it look good, but I still have some corrections to make over this coming winter.  Once those are done, I have matte black vinyl strips I'm putting on.

Overall I love the paint color, it's very dark and when it's not in the sun it almost looks a totally different color than when the sun shines on it. As you can see from the photo, it almost looks black or just a really dark maroon if there is enough indirect light on it.  When the sun shines on it it absoluetly bursts with metallic shine, so it's really interesting and a little different than I expected.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 16, 2023, 09:46:11 PM »

Forgot to include the picture of a cruise night I went to a couple weeks ago.  Took a friend of mine who is a really talented artist and he took this picture of a beautiful sunset, the 50s themed drive-in the cruise night was at and my car.  Thinking about asking him to paint this picture he took at some point.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM-1018 Build

« on: October 16, 2023, 09:22:04 PM »

I all the sudden had a bunch of squeaks about a week ago and thought for sure it was my roll bar.  Ended up spraying the heim joins with silicon spray after reading some suggestions and it fixed it instantly.  I'd give that a try if you haven't already.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 16, 2023, 09:09:25 PM »

I don't know about the oil temp yet, still waiting on the last of the fitting to be delivered to actually hook it up on the engine side.  Should be here tomorrow, then I have a club ride on Saturday, should be able to report back after that.

As for the lift, it's a 6000lb Bendpak sissor lift.  I love the lift.  Only issue with it is I can only back over it because the nose of the car is too low to clear it, but that's not much of an issue.  I think it's the perfect lift for doing the body work/ painting because you can raise and lower the car and there are absolutely zero obstructions all the way around the car.

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Important Information / Re: Hurricane Update

« on: October 13, 2023, 04:23:37 PM »

Great to see progress happening.  Thanks for posting that Paul!

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:46:13 PM »

A few updates I've made since getting the car all assembled again a few weeks ago. 

First image is new LED lights for the guages.  The GPS speedometer I have has a blue LED backlight which cannot be change (to my knowledge), so I didn't have any choice but make the rest match that as close as I could.  Prior to changing out the bulbs, I had three separate colors among all the guages and that was bugging me.  I initially wasn't wild about the blue, but now that I've driven it a few times at night, it's actually really nice to drive with.

The last thing I did, which I'm still finishing up is installed an oil cooler.  I really like how it turned out.  I suspect I didn't do much like others have since I didn't have the sheetmetal that came with the car for the bottom plate in the nose area.  I welded up a bracket to hold everything and then bolted that to the cross piece that supports the radiator.  Seems very secure and I'm happy that I didn't actually have to drill any holes in the body to mount any of it.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:37:58 PM »

Why would it this site completely flip an image upside down?  Anyway, here are some more pictures now that the car is all assembled and I'm able to drive and enjoy it.  Been to a couple car shows/cruise nights since painting and my car is always one of the favorites like I'm sure you guys with completed cars are used to.

Also, a shot of the garage now the the paint booth is all out and the garage is usable again.

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:35:03 PM »

Reassembly...

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:34:01 PM »

Imediately after painting and starting the first of many rounds of wet sanding and buffing...

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:31:30 PM »

Not sure why some of those images in my last post got flipped on their sides since the pictures were not like that, oh well.

Next dump or two or however many is the painting of the car...

14

Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:28:08 PM »

Well, once again it's been a while since my last update.  At least this time it hasn't been years, just a little over half a year!

Anyway, I'm going to dump a bunch of photos again of the work I've done over the last months.  I did manage to finally get my car primed again and painted, assembled and driving!  That's quite the milestone and I'm so happy with how it's turned out so far.  I'm not done yet, but here are the pictures of what I've been working one...

First dump contains the priming of the doors, hood and trunk.  After doing those, I decided I need more of a real paint booth and decided to completely take up my entire garage with a DIY paint booth.  The booth is a cross-flow that has a series of filters on the top of one end for air to come into the booth and a large drum fan on the other end of the booth at the flow in an attempt to be able to get rid of overspray while spraying.  The booth worked well and has now been disassembled and I'm glad to have my garage back!

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Build Pictures / Re: HM1085 Build Thread

« on: April 05, 2023, 09:39:53 PM »

Michael, 

These are the original seats that came with the kit when my dad originally purchased it back in 2007.  Possibly what you're seeing is one of the differences between the gen1 cars and the gen2, but I don't know since I haven't seen a gen2 in person.   The seats are surprisingly comfortable considering how simple they really are, but maybe I'm just too happy driving the car to notice.  Haven't been on any long trips with it yet, so I don't have a great feel for comfort on long trips.  The longest straight I've had was a couple hours when I went on a run with a bunch of other Cobra owners in Wisconsin.