HM2017 Build

[Jeff K]

I decided it’s time to stop procrastinating and start a build log for HM2017.  I have learned so much from this forum during my build and I want to document some of my build in the hope it might help someone else.

I bought HM2017 from the original owner, who lived near me in the northern California bay area, in March of 2021.  I saw it advertised on this forum.  He bought the kit in 2016 as a father-son project.  After receiving the kit in 2017 and starting work on it, it turned out his son wasn’t interested in the build.  The kit then sat until he decided to sell it in 2020.

Before I brought the car home, I made a body buck to store the body.  This was much needed due to my limited garage space.  The cobra must share the garage with my 1932 Ford.  I found the body buck design on this forum.  It’s working great.

After getting the car home I ordered a 408 ci small block Ford engine from Craft Performance Engines and one of the new Tremec TKX transmissions with the 0.71 OD.  Almost a year later and I’m still waiting for both with no delivery in sight.  Supply chain issues.

That’s enough for my first post.  I’ll start posting about what I’ve been doing on the car during the last year.  Now I need to get back to work on my car.

[Bob Worley]

Excellent!  Looking forward to following your build.

[NTX-CLANK]

Welcome to the forum, Jeff.  I look forward to following your progress!

Jim

[s_reynolds]

Welcome Jeff. Always like the new build threads. Good luck. Can't wait for the next update.

[Bruce N]

Awesome! I was getting a bit lonely on here I love to follow others and see what they are doing, get new ideas, but has been a bit slow here lately. Looking forward to seeing what you are doing.

[Redstang69]

Welcome to the forum Jeff. Looks like the previous owner made some decent progress on the build. Looking forward to see your thread progress.

[Greg K]

Welcome and wondered when you might jump in...

[FFR428]

Hi Jeff. Glad to see you post a build thread. Congrats and hope things go well.

[Jeff K]

Thanks for the replies.  Like I said, I should have started this log awhile ago.  I’ll see if I can make up for that.

The previous owner bought the kit from Hurricane as a roller with the suspension installed.  All he really did on the car was start running the fuel line and brake lines before giving up.

One of my first modifications was to raise the position of the gas tank in the frame.  I didn’t care for the way the tank hung down low, so visible from the rear.  I followed what others had done on the forum and cut off the side brackets and had them welded on 1” lower and 1.3” further back.  This raised the tank and moved it forward.  This doesn’t completely hide the tank but it’s better.  I may end up painting the exposed tank areas black to hide it more, and I haven’t ruled out the idea of reshaping the tank, creating a wedge shape in the back.  Not sure I want to give up the fuel capacity though.

I’m going with an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 fuel injection setup so I installed a Aeromotive Phantom 200 electric in-tank fuel pump.

[Bruce N]

Thanks for the replies.  Like I said, I should have started this log awhile ago.  I’ll see if I can make up for that.

The previous owner bought the kit from Hurricane as a roller with the suspension installed.  All he really did on the car was start running the fuel line and brake lines before giving up.

One of my first modifications was to raise the position of the gas tank in the frame.  I didn’t care for the way the tank hung down low, so visible from the rear.  I followed what others had done on the forum and cut off the side brackets and had them welded on 1” lower and 1.3” further back.  This raised the tank and moved it forward.  This doesn’t completely hide the tank but it’s better.  I may end up painting the exposed tank areas black to hide it more, and I haven’t ruled out the idea of reshaping the tank, creating a wedge shape in the back.  Not sure I want to give up the fuel capacity though.

I’m going with an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 fuel injection setup so I installed a Aeromotive Phantom 200 electric in-tank fuel pump.

Hey Jeff. One thing you might want to check. A few of us have actually had to lower the tank a little to get clearance for the trunk pan. I went a little further and raised my pan by using rubber bushings. I did like you and put in tank pump for my Snipper EFI, and ended up cutting access whole in the pan and making removable cover. But the added height of the in tank pump and the fuel lines on top also added some challenges. But in the end. Where your body sits on the chassis will dictate how high you can raise the trunk pan for clearance. Or.....can always hack stuff up and modify to make it fit!

[Jeff K]

Thanks for the concern, Bruce.  I had the trunk liner installed when I determined how high to raise the tank.  I also cut out an opening in the trunk floor for servicing the fuel pump and sender unit.  I then fabricated a cover for it out of some aluminum I had laying around. 

Speaking of the trunk liner, while trial fitting my roll bar, I found out that the trunk liner interfered with the angled bar.  I had read on the forum someone else had the same problem.  I ended up cutting a relief in the corner of the trunk liner and epoxied a section of black PVC pipe in the cutout.  Someday when carpet is installed, it wouldn’t even be noticeable.

[Bruce N]

Thanks for the concern, Bruce.  I had the trunk liner installed when I determined how high to raise the tank.  I also cut out an opening in the trunk floor for servicing the fuel pump and sender unit.  I then fabricated a cover for it out of some aluminum I had laying around. 

Speaking of the trunk liner, while trial fitting my roll bar, I found out that the trunk liner interfered with the angled bar.  I had read on the forum someone else had the same problem.  I ended up cutting a relief in the corner of the trunk liner and epoxied a section of black PVC pipe in the cutout.  Someday when carpet is installed, it wouldn’t even be noticeable.

Very good. Its surprising how different a fit they are from one to another. No way I could raise mine 1" and not have problems.
PS: your cover looks much nicer than mine

[Jeff K]

Bruce, it sounds like you have one of the newer tanks with the angled bottom panel.  Mine is the previous, smaller, rectangular shaped tank which can be moved up.

[Bruce N]

Ahhhh. Yes it is. Made it a real pain to fit the in tank pump reservoir tray. Only one place you can fit the pump due to the tank baffles. I actually had to modify it to get the pick up at bottom of tank

[Jeff K]

On my car, the IRS was installed by the factory.  The installation of the upper A-arms left a lot to be desired to say the least.  Turns out the factory had installed undersized control arm bushings and to compensate, overtightened the mounting bolts, bending the frame tabs, to close the gap.  As a result, the bushings bond up and the suspension wouldn’t even move.  Very shoddy work.  Since correct size bushing are not available (probably why the undersized bushings were installed), I ended up having to buy oversized bushing and trimmed them down to fit.  This was a lot of work.  With the new bushings installed and lubed, the suspension now pivots as intended.