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Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Deuced Up!, Oct 13, 2017.

  1. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well since we have finally confirmed we have the room for them, I ordered the seats this morning from Shell Valley. These are 20" wide...needed for my for my big $&^*#*$ ......backside. LOL. I set out to snag a set with black vinyl but they did not have any in stock and were not sure when they would be in. However they did have a set of leather sitting there ready to go. So...
    Cobra Seats.jpg
     
  2. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yesterday after work I picked up 100 feet of 16 gauge 1" square tubing. It is .70 pounds per linear foot so even if we were to use every inch of it we are only adding 70 lbs to the chassis. We have everything marked etc. and this is what we will use for space frame needs (trans tunnel, trunk and hood area plus dash and doors etc.
     
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  3. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yep. You are correct. But then there is never anything easy when I get done with it! LOL But actually we are designing the space chassis and body mounts to make for a very quick and easy removal if we ever need it etc. However the key here is DON'T HAVE TO REMOVE THE REAR END! LMAO>>>
     
  4. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well now the heat is on....The Cobra is in at 117 for the Meltdown Drags!
     
  5. Those seats look like mine from Factory Five downloadfile-4.jpeg
     
  6. thark
    Joined: Jul 5, 2007
    Posts: 87

    thark
    Member
    from Oklahoma

    From another thread. I like the wires on the front and the flared rear quarters.
    [​IMG]
     
  7. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well pretty long weekend and really not a lot of photos to show but I will update you. So she is totally standing on her own this morning after we fabricated motor and trans mounts. We had to adjust the front coil over up about an inch to get her back to ride height after the chassis finally had the weight on it etc. We just took a guess at it and got pretty darn close. Probably another half inch and we will be back where we started.

    Then engine mount is just roughed in, I will be cleaning it up, cutting some groovy curves in it and some holes etc. But it is what it is...a piece of angle iron and piece of the frame rail material. But it will be strong.

    Resized_20180324_204559.jpeg
    I guess I will show you the trans mount as it was quite a feat of engineering although this morning it is all sitting in the scrap pile LOL. We couldn't go straight across the chassis because of the torque arm so we had to come up with something that when it got to the arm it either went over or under it and then back to the frame rail etc. Since above would be in tunnel, we went up and over.

    Resized_20180324_204526.jpeg

    Resized_20180324_204537.jpeg
    So yes you heard me right, it is all on the scrap heap this morning. So here is where the photos get scarce. Basically because it was crazy busy and I got slightly hacked off about it the end. So our transmission mount was basically one of our body out riggers. After we had it in place and the chassis standing on its own, I made quick work of the rest of the outriggers and cut and tacked the tunnel together with lighter 1" square tubing. Then we put the body back on and the outriggers were dead perfect, we could have mounted the body at the lower points with no changes etc.

    However when I dropped the seat in it was little cramped. Not that expected '65 Caddy spacing or anything but it was unnecessarily too tight. That was not a big issue on the driver's side as I had plenty of room between the trans/drive shaft area and my newly assembled tunnel framing. I could easily give myself several more inches there. However, it was going to be a huge issue on the passenger side because of the torque arm in the tunnel. At that point, with no changes, I had twenty inches on my side but because of the torque arm, there was only 19 on the other. I contemplated just going forward with one seat (after all it is a drag car right?!!) but alas I have had several people already clamoring for rides so I guess I need to fix it!

    So I popped the entire tunnel out and "temporarily" tossed it on the scrap heap. It is not total waste, we will probably use 50% or more of the pieces when we re-fab the tunnel. So what to do with the torque arm is the problem we sat and contemplated last night till pretty near dark. The final decision?......the torque arm has to be changed. I saw no other viable option other than changing the design of the torque arm. I mean it is just as well, as you know it was just one side of a set of ladder bars anyway. The real question was could we pull that off without changing the mounting bracket etc. OR at least making the least amount of changes etc.
    New Torque arm (1).jpg
    So this is what we came up with last night. The top view is the original torque arm and mount etc. Note, remember at the top mount point up there, we also have a cross bar for stability. So we basically cut all the center supports out of the current bar and ground what was left down smooth. Then we clamped the bar in the vice and started compressing it closed. At around the 1.75" closed area through the middle. I took a piece of poster board and traced out the shape of the center area. I plasma cut the shape out of .25" plate, inserted it and welded it solid.

    So we drilled a new hole for the new bottom mount and just for grins and maybe some stability I added an up bar there which required a new mount hole as well. The cross bar mount will stay in the original upper hole mount with a bushing between the mount plates etc. The extra holes were planned anyway to strengthen the bracket but now instead of having a bushing in them they are functional heims end mount points. Over all I think we are in good shape with a minimum of edits etc. Now the entire torque arm is below the frame and has plenty of clearance as the chassis moves etc. This frees up the entire area to the side and aft of the trans to shrink the tunnel and make sure both the driver and passenger are nice and comfortable etc.

    And as I said when we started, the change also allowed us to toss the crazy fabricated bridged transmission mount system for something much simpler and more pleasant to look at...LOL!
     
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  8. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yes that is the Pink Larson Car. It has been floating around the big Auction House circuits. A couple of years ago it was on Meecum and I think sold for $850,000 (not sure on that). But the last Barrett Jackson auction it was on the docket. It had a reserve which it didn't meet. I think the final bid was around the $850K mark again etc.
     
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  9. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I mean it is cool because of what it means. It didn't take long for Shelby to realize the splines in the wire wheels would not hold up to the higher torque from the V8s especially when slamming through road coarse turns etc. But if are only going straight they would be just fine. So it lends be to think the Larson car (pink) and the other example I have seen with wires might have been just off the boat. You know before the shop had an opportunity to put the road race rims on them etc. But for me even though I think it is cool, I am really not a fan of the look etc. If you have followed this thread you probably know I am more apt to stick a set of black steel wheels on the rear and run my Halibrand style front runners etc.
     
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  10. I want to see it like this!
     
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  11. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Cobra Steelies.jpg
     
  12. I saw your renderings. I meant your car.
    Lol :D
     
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  13. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I know. Couldn't resist though. I hadn't seen the steelies with the new wheels. Pretty sure we will have set for it...sort of alter ego! Lol

    Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  14. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
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    I am pretty excited this morning because I think I have my header issues worked out. You see there are several companies that make SBF headers for Cobras but they are designed, measured and pointed to exit just aft of the front wheel well through a notch cut in the body. The Dragon Snake Header exited in the same general area but under the body (no notch). And of course they were not side pipes they simply look like a header hung out there. So early on I was looking at and comparing measurements of these different headers but to be honest it was just a gamble as to whether or not they will fit. AND a certainty that we will have to modify them for an under body exit even if they do.

    So decided to have a set fabricated. I think I mentioned earlier that I snagged some stainless steel header flanges and was prepared to have a local guy build a set for me. But while I was messing around this past weekend with the firewall and tunnel placement etc. it was obvious that we should have the headers in place and work around them versus trying to fab them around my stuff later. So just for grins last night I started googling SBF Headers and one set actually caught my eye.

    91013361_L_c68de6aa-c8ba-4e0a-ab92-13cf46c41f5d.jpg
    First off they are for a Modified Dirt Car. But what grabbed my attention was the fact that basically shoot straight out from the center of the block. That is what I need. I figure if I am going to have to modify a set anyway these would be perfect. So I chased down their home page and started reading about them. They are from Schoenfeld Header (sort of the go to brand in the stock car world). They are raw finish so easy to modify etc. They are 1.63 tubes with 3" collectors. But then I started reading the customer responses at the bottom of the page.

    One of the first entries said I actually used these on my Austin Healey SBF v8 converted car and they fit like a glove. Now you have my attention. Then right under it was this photo of a hot rod and the entry said something about spark plug clearance and the fact that he cut the cross bars on the flange and installed them upside down. Take a look at the photo he supplied...

    Screen Shot 2018-03-29 at 7.17.43 AM.png
    From that photo I did a bit of scaling based on the width of the engine and in my opinion those crazy things are pointed right down almost exactly where I need them. We shall see. They will be here Friday!
     
  15. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,114

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    That's cool Randal.
    You gonna send them to Finish Line Coatings for thermal barrier coating?
    I don't know if I mentioned it or not but Russ has a real neat color called "Titanium", it is what I'll have him do my headers in.
     
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  16. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
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    We will send them somewhere for sure. Certainly learned with Austin where not to send them as we had three different ceramic coat places around here give a shot a white. We ended up wrapping them with Titanium header wrap which I have to say was totally awesome. It dropped the temperature under the hood and fenders so much that you could literally feel the difference! I will check with Russ too and see how far out he is...
     
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  17. Just found another shot:
    drag034.jpg
     
  18. 36cab
    Joined: Dec 2, 2008
    Posts: 895

    36cab
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Deuced Up! What is the Schoenfield part number for these headers? I am putting a 351W in a 40 Austin and these may be a good starting point for fenderwell headers to modify to fit my Austin.
     
  19. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,689

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    How did he do that, SBF exhaust bolts aren't in the center of the port? Turn them upside down and you'd have 1/3 of the port uncovered.
     
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  20. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Here are mine?[​IMG]

    Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
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  21. saltflats
    Joined: Aug 14, 2007
    Posts: 12,591

    saltflats
    Member
    from Missouri

    You just pull that out from under the bed? :D
     
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  22. 36cab
    Joined: Dec 2, 2008
    Posts: 895

    36cab
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I believe the exhaust bolt pattern on stock Ford heads are diagonal but some of the aftermarket heads (Dart/World/AFR) are horizontal across the center of the ports.
     
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  23. Gammz
    Joined: May 10, 2015
    Posts: 806

    Gammz
    Member
    from Lincoln Ne

    That’s what she said!!
    Sorry had to!!


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
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  24. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    No I am with you Gammz. Something that pretty would never sleep UNDER the bed! LMAO!
     
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  25. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well we pretty much burned this weekend with no more progress than simply bolting the headers in place and staring at them Friday night. Saturday was the Hot Rod 100 Reliability Run and we took Dad's coupe. We made it but for some reason it just wore me slick and when we got home around 2 p.m. I laid down on the couch to watch some TV and woke up around 8 p.m. Of course Sunday was Easter so spent most of that with the family.

    I did manage late Sunday afternoon to shoot out to the shop for a bit but instead of working on the Cobra I started messing around with four large metal shelving units that I drug home from work. We are moving in a month or so and not taking a lot of stuff so I bought these 4' wide by 7' tall 6 shelf units. Before I knew it I pretty much had the whole shop tore apart trying to find room for these stupid shelves. But you can never have enough storage.

    I swore I took a couple of shots but of the headers but I can find no evidence this morning on my phone. It has a nasty habit of making a photo sound but not really taking the picture etc. Anyway I flipped the headers upside down just like the photo of the hot rod earlier and I have to say they looked totally bad ass. However they did not point down as quickly as they appeared in that photo. So I flipped them back over just normal application where they basically just come come together at the middle two cylinders and then shoot straight out to the sides. To be honest they looked really nice, they totally clear the chassis, the foot boxes, the steering etc. etc.

    After sitting there looking at them I had an idea that really sounded good. Just run them right out the side of the body. Let them exit the body right were they are just aft of the front wheel wells. Build a killer custom stainless surround of some kind and call it good.

    Headers.jpg
    I mean to be honest I think I have enough room to maybe drop them straight down with a short 90 degree elbow and with two more of the same bends get them out from under the body and then turned to the back. But that is a lot of work and they are going to be stupid close to the ground. What do you think about something like above?

    Right now the end of that header is right there but about 2" from the inside of the body. I am thinking I build a slip and clamp on extension that has a three bolt header flange on it. After the body and surround are in place we slide the extention through and insert it on the end of the header. I am thinking the end of the header sticks out maybe and inch from the body. And then we can cap it off when I want and run the muffled exhaust that will "Y" off the header just inside the body, run through short glass packs (just like the original Dragon Snakes) and then likely exit with no pomp or circumstance right in front of the rear tires.

    The real advantage here, like Dad said last night is at this point the headers are done! I mean bolt on Drag Snake Headers one and done! With all the fabrication work we have already done and more to come, it sure sounds good to simply bolt something on and leave it the hell alone! LOL
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2018
  26. rottenleonard
    Joined: Nov 7, 2008
    Posts: 1,993

    rottenleonard
    Member

    Like it's meant to be.
     
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  27. Nostrebor
    Joined: Jun 25, 2014
    Posts: 1,276

    Nostrebor
    Member

  28. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,114

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    Looks bitch'n, not sure the guy standing next to the car in the staging lane will agree.
     
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  29. rustednutz
    Joined: Nov 20, 2010
    Posts: 1,580

    rustednutz
    Member
    from tulsa, ok

    Looks sweet!!!! Can't wait for more.
     
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  30. Deuced Up!
    Joined: Feb 8, 2008
    Posts: 4,206

    Deuced Up!
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I thought about that DDD and of course we have all been there...usually it is a fenderwell header shooting right at the ground kicking up dust and pebbles etc. But since I am going to have a flange out there to bolt a block off to from time to time, I could also snag a set of these ultra short bolt on turn downs and help with directional control if I feel there is a need.
    PTE-H1145-1_xl.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2018

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