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While the car was at the painter, I started gathering the parts required to assemble and install pusher fans on the car. The car doesn't need additional engine cooling; I just wanted the authentic look of the fans. I bought the fan motors from RockAuto.com and the fan blades from Grainger. I fabricated the mounting bracket based on copies of original brackets. I have the fans wired to a switch on the dash. Pleased with the results. Getting closer to starting carpet installation.

Some progress pictures. Carpet installation is next.

More pictures.

Greg was right. The pace really picked up. The car is now painted.

As for the color, I contemplated a half dozen colors over the 5 years I've been building the car. But in the end, I decided on the vintage color combo of guardsman blue with wimbledon white stripes.

From the pictures I was sent, it looks like the paint job turned out great. The plan is to pick up the car next Friday. That will be 2 days over 4 months. Not too bad.

More progress.

After my car being at the painter for 3 months, I got an update on the progress. They have completed the initial blocking of the primer I had applied to the car. Not much progress for 3 months. Next they'll take off the doors, hood and trunk lid and primer with polyester high build primer. Then many rounds of blocking. Hopefully the the pace picks up but it's going to be awhile regardless.

I agree. Here's a Factory 5 that had just been painted when I was there. Very nice work.

I had been planning on having my car painted this winter and after seeing others on the forum get their car's painted, it further encouraged me to move forward. So once the days started getting colder, I started the process.

First, I stripped the car of parts and then performed the final round of bodywork. I wanted to do as much of this as I could myself. Getting the sides flat was especially challenging. Since I had time, I also enclosed the exhaust opening to mimic original cars.

I next primed the car with 3 coats of urethane high build primer using roll-on primer from Eastwood. It actually turned out pretty good. It didn't have the same smooth texture you get with a spray gun but its more than adequate. My plan was to block sand the primer to 120 or 180 grit paper and then turn the car over to the painter to finish up. Turns out there were a couple problems with my plan. An injury to my shoulder would prevent me from doing much sanding and it turns out I applied the wrong primer. When I informed the painter what I had done, he said he intended to prime the body using polyester high build primer and that it shouldn't be sprayed over urethane primer. That means the urethane primer would need to be sander off. Since I wouldn't be able to do that, I'm now going to pay him to do it. Live and learn.

I found the painter I plan on using, Ken's Custom Autobody in Marysville, CA, after seeing an example of his work at a car show several years ago. In talking with the car's owner, he told me about the painter and turns out he's less than 3 hours from my house. His shop specializes in painting cobras, have painted over 1100 of them over the years.

After finishing the body work I could, I loaded up the car and dropped it off at the painters. The price I was quoted for the remaining bodywork and paint, while giving me a minor heart attack, was actually in line with prices these days and I have no doubt the end result will be excellent.

As for the paint color I chose, that was a very difficult choice. Over the 4-1/2 years I've been building the car, I've considered many colors; reds, blues, silvers, strips, no strips. I'll hold off on revealing the final choice until I have some pictures of the car with paint on it.

It should take about 3 months to complete. I'll post updates as I receive them.

Ben, the bungee cords on either side do a good job of holding the cover down. It's not going anywhere. Sorry for the delayed reply.

I wanted a tonneau cover for my car to cover the interior when it's parked, both to protect it from the sun and to keep prying eyes out. At first, I thought about a traditional tonneau cover, the type held in place by lift-a-dot fasteners but then I watched Pete Howland's excellent YouTube video of the tonneau cover he purchased for his car (HM2029) and thought it would work for me also. Pete was nice enough to included the contact information for the manufacturer in his video. His cover was made by Phillip and Kay Deal, a husband-and-wife team in South Carolina. They are retired and this is a side business for them.

I contacted them and started the process to have a cover fabricated. Each cover is made to order. A fabric template was mailed to me and I marked features on the template such as the roll bar location, rear view mirror location, tie-down grommet location, etc. I then mailed the template to them and then several weeks later they mailed me the completed cover.

When I installed the cover for the first time, it fit perfect. It took only a few seconds to install. It's held in place by a couple of bungee cords. It's not designed to be installed when the car is moving or being towed. But it'll work perfect for when the car is parked. The cover cost $275 and $20 for a storage bag plus shipping.

Here's their contact information in case anyone else is interested:

Phillip and Kay Deal
wpdeal@gmail.com
864-895-5034

Here's a link to Pete Howland's YouTube video where he discusses his tonneau cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAHleF-xRRE

It was mentioned to me before in the forum that the front lower A-arms on my car did not have the welded in reinforcing gussets on the curved rear legs. Later cars already had these gussets installed from the factory.  So just to be on the safe side, I decided to install them.  One less thing to worry about.

More half-shaft pictures.

Half-shaft pictures.

Looks like I solved my rear suspension travel problem. I had two problems; one being that the half shafts were too long and binding during upward suspension travel and the other being that there was limited upward suspension travel due to the upper A-arm contacting the frame.

To solve the A-arm contacting problem, I modified the upper A-arms to allow for more clearance with the frame. I accomplished this by basically reshaping the A-arms. I made sure the hole-to-hole length of the A-arm didn't change to maintain correct suspension geometry. I realize this modification changes the strength of the A-arm but I suspect it's a minimal difference.

For the half-shaft problem, my plan was to incorporate the fix that Paul had suggested earlier. But after I took the half-shaft apart, I realized I didn't have that option with my half-shaft design. The trilobe was already at the end of the splines. One of the attached pictures shows where the trilobe was contacting inside the axle housing. What I decided to do was to carefully grind back some of the shaft to create clearance for the trilobe to slide further down the splines. I realize I wouldn't have as much spline engagement but that was a compromise I was willing to make. I was able to grind a new slot for the C-clip to lock the trilobe in place. I gained almost a ¼" with this modification which was the best I could do. Hopefully it would be enough.

As I was installing the A-arm on the passenger side, I determined that I did not have the same half-shaft binding problem as I did on the driver side. With no spring installed, I was able to raise the suspension all the way up with no binding. After making measurements, I determine that the center differential was not equally centered between the hubs, being a ¼" closer on the driver side. Then I remembered that early on in my build, I had corrected a clocking issue with the differential. In making that correction, the differential moved towards the driver side probably about a ¼". Fixing one problem had created another. Having said that, the half-shafts are still a ½" too long. There's no reason that there should be only a ¼" of margin.

After reassembling the suspension, I took the car out on a driver over the same roads I had had issues with before and there was no binding and the suspension never bottomed out. Overall, I'm happy with the results.

For tightening and loosening the knockoffs on my car, I've always used a 2x4 and small sledge hammer because first, I don't have a lead hammer and second, I'd be afraid of swinging a hammer that close to my rims in case I missed. My friend who has a cobra said that he has hit the rim on his car with his lead hammer without damage but I'm still leery.

My method works but I really wanted a tool that could be used with a breaker bar or torque wrench for a more controlled method of tightening and loosening the knockoffs. I see there are various tools available for purchase but I thought why not fabricate my own.

I came up with a design, bought some metal and even used part of an engine stand I had around to make the tool. It turned out to be a lot of work since I don't have some of the proper tools. I made some leather covers to protect the knockoff wings from where the tool contacts.

I initially thought I should be able to tighten the knockoff further with the new tool. That was not the case. I marked the knockoff current location, loosened it and then tightened it with the tool to over 300 ft-lbs of torque but I was short of the original mark. I had to add my floor jack handle to the breaker bar to get the leverage needed for this torque. I got very nervous applying that much torque to an unproven tool. And then my friend asked if I really planned on carrying all that stuff in my trunk in case I needed it on the road. Good point.

So, after all that fabrication work, I'll probably just stick with my current method for tightening and loosening the knockoffs. I'm not sure how much torque my 2x4 and hammer applies but it's obviously enough.