Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

This the photo you needed posted?

 

No I was trying to get this close up in there but the advance editor option kept placing the other....

Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thanks though...heading out to cut the hole in the hood and see how much room my new scoop gives the Webers...

Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/1-jpg.3945965/

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/20180624_084652-jpeg.3945969/

Are those original Cobra (AC ) hinges?

I was thinking the beautifully flowed fillets might might be oxyacetylene welds and maybe even a few fillet brazed/bronze welded/braze welded joints from back in the romantic British cottage industry era.

A gentle swipe with a fine round file would reveal if the filler is steel or brass/bronze.

If brass/bronze, fusion welding near it now risks seriously weakened welds due to intergranular diffusion by the bronze. I've wrecked a few parts due to being unaware of that.

 

Randall, were you "Running For the Door" ?

 

As you can see below the hood did become a Hotel California metaphor...you can open it any time you want but you can never leave.....it alone!

Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

So I assume you have all heard the term just leave well enough alone....right?

If so could someone please come over and explain it to me. Oh and bring a baseball bat too! Holy hell why couldn't I have just left the crazy hood be!



So I went back out this afternoon to cut the whole in the hood for the Webers etc. But even though the hood was on and working it just didn't fit perfect. After "over" analyzing it for a while I decide it was the aluminum strip across the nose where we mounted the hinges. Even though we had been very careful with it, it had still taken a bit of the arch out up there. It was hard to see or even notice with the inner skin, but when we glued the outer skin to it, it was done. The front area would have to be re-arched (if there is such a word) and the process of unknowingly clamping and bonding the rest of the outer skin to a twisted up inner really tossed a monkey wrench.

So we took the plate off (wave goodbye to the working hinges). We put a couple of eyelet screws in either side of the front area of the hood. Cut some reliefs in the cross area of the inner skin and ever so carefully pulled a bit with a ratchet strap. Very slightly, like barely one click of tension.



Then we set the hood back in place. It helped a bunch up front but after several attempts it was obvious the rear area had the same issue.



Again just a tiny bit of pressure back there and then back on to check it out. We could after a few small tweaks get 85% of the hood sitting perfectly. However, the passenger side of the hood just aft of the nose was too high no matter what.



So we kind of had to do the opposite, cut reliefs and see if we could gently wedge them apart. We did. When we sat the hood on it was dead balls perfect (that's an industry term)...lol!

So now we are a whole bunch of steps back but hey, the hood fits. It is drying right now as we fiberglassed some supports in place to hold the hood's new shape. And we are sort of back to square one on the hinges!



Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

How does that line go, if it was easy....................
Just think how much easier the next one will be.

 

Dead balls perfect is when it's not even a C**t hair off

 

Honestly it is fairly aggravating to be sitting there in the throws of a fully "chopped up" (and I use THAT TERM loosely as there may be children in the room) hood and understand something you did a month earlier to fix yet another problem caused this total debacle. But it is what it is...nothing we can do about it but try and fix it and move on. I figure however, somewhere further down the line these repairs will jump us and bite us in the backside too!

AND like Dad said after I had already cut into the hood, "...you know, these car bodies and all their pieces were originally hand made, no way a single one of them was perfect." He is right of course but it is really hard for me to just walk away with out trying!


Shot from my chair while we stewed about how to fix the hood...just sitting there looking at it always gets me back in the mood! LOL Kind of a nose up stance there as it is back on jack stands so I can squeeze back and forth under the nose. I sort of like it...not sure how much I would have to crank on the old front coil-overs to keep it there!

 

I think it goes.....

...if it was easy I wouldn't have to keep digging my hammer out of the walls!
...if it was easy I wouldn't spend hours walking in circles muttering to myself!
...if it was easy I would still have a cat! (just kidding my cat is fine) LOL
...if it was easy Dad would not have had to become such an accomplished ducker!
...if it was easy it would have come with dotted lines on it that say cut here!
...if it was easy I wouldn't have to be a contortionist to work on the stupid thing!
...if it was easy I would screwed it up somehow and made it hard!

 

and the originals were aluminum, handmade over wood bucks...……...25 years ago I did exactly the same thing you're having to do to your hood. "Endeavor to persevere".

 

Very Kool!

 

So I have decided we have to step up the work time on the Cobra if we ever want to see it completed. But I don't want to get worn out on it. So I have set some limitations for myself. We will work 2 hours per night and that is all. When the 8 o'clock alarms sounds drop your tools and walk away NO MATTER WHAT!

Worked well tonight as we hit the shop at 6 p.m. and was back inside just in time for Street Outlaws....LMAO!

Here is what we accomplished..


Above...we ground the trunk inner panel and prepped it to be bonded. Prepared the outer skin and then did the deed.


I also ground and fitted the passenger side door skins so they are ready to bond together tomorrow. They fit very nice.


Found the missing steering wheel parts in the wrong box on the shelf and slapped them on...hopefully my AC horn button will show up soon.

And just for grins with 10 minutes left in the shift we cut out one of the headlights holes and installed it for a sneak peak...




Hey check out that hood...



Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

2 hours?. That's one pass through Dark Side of the Moon. It would take me decades to build a car.... And a lot more bourban.

Keep it up

 

Well not as productive a night as yesterday but we moved forward. We dropped the trunk in place and it fits about as good as the hood did the first try.



Not sure why as we took a lot of prep time on it test fitting both skins on the car etc. I am wondering during the bonding process and clamping etc. we might have forced things out of shape a bit... Oh well.

I also took the passengers side door hinges off, did the final welding and cleaned them up.

We only got about an hour in tonight but with a few minutes left we decided to mount a tail light to see what that will look like.



Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Well I finally decided on a license plate for the Cobra. I have been toying with a custom historic tag like the Austin's AA GAS but to be honest just about everything you can imagine surrounding a Cobra tag is unavailable. Between all the Cobra Replicas and Mustang Cobras etc. It is pretty hard to think original in that world...

The other thing I have been considering is a vintage 1964 MO Tag. Actually in Missouri that plate came out in 1962 and then for several years just got a sticker placed on it with the year. I felt like that was an advantage (especially being in the business I am in...I figured just snag a plate in that year run I liked and create a replica 1964 sticker to place on it etc. Now there are lots of them out there but to me honest I guess I was looking for something that meant something to me in the numbers and letters.

I have been looking for it since the body arrived in January. I have seen hundreds of tags that fit the bill but nothing really tripped my trigger so to speak. Then a day or two ago while re-checking the online inventories I found this one.


I don't know exactly why but it just felt right you know. First off it is an October Plate which is my birthday month. It actually is a real 1964 plate. And I like the number: XGO! I mean all the real cars VIN started with CSX so the "X" is cool. Then how can you go wrong with GO! Right? It even made me think it represented a former fast car as in "ex-GO"! It has a 66 which could easily be a year a Dragon Snake raced...probably a total over analysis on something as insignificant as a stupid plate...but suffice to say for what ever reason it just felt right when I saw it. So there you XGO....that is the plate.

 

Even better, that configuration is currently available for a YOM registration. Get your app in!

 

I know, I checked before I bought it. They will not allow me to apply for it until the car is titled and registered etc. I tried to get them to just let me reserve it but no go. Oh well, pretty good chance it will be around when we are ready...LOL

 

I recently bought this Mo. plate, like you it just ment something to me. Me being from Mo. that part is cool but I'm also a big block Chevy guy so the numbers need no explanation, both together...ca-ching...sold !

 

Can you register that as a ‘64?

 

You know "cactus" that is a really good question. I had not even thought about the official date that will have to go on the car according to the State of Missouri. I will have to ask. I may need to find a 1964 title of some kind and claim a large percentage of car was built from it etc. But that raises all kinds of issues though. If it even could be registered as a 1964 vehicle, who has been paying the taxes on it for the past 54 years?!

Something similar happened with the Austin that had not been tagged since 1962. I thought I was in trouble with it as it had a signed title from 1976 that was never processed. I can not remember how we got through that but one big difference was the Austin really was a car manufactured in 1953! I bet you are right, it is going to be registered as 2018 (IF WE ARE LUCKY AND GET IT FINISHED THIS YEAR...LOL!). That likely puts the "Kabosh!" on officially having a 1964 plate assigned to it.

Great! ...Way to go Cactus...you have ruined my license plate day dreams and meanderings. LMAO!

So anyone got a really cool 2018 tag I can buy! LOL!

 

Sorry man I wasn’t trying to be the turd in the punchbowl, haha! I thought you had some magic workaround or something!!

 

Well I AM sort of a wizard sometimes. And since the post I think I may have actually done it. I can't say how but it looks to me like we are about to be able to legally wear that recently acquired 1964 MO Plate...LOL!

 

Send an email to [email protected] and ask about the process of titling a "replica motor vehicle". Also ask if a replica motor can be registered with YOM plates. I'm pretty sure they can.

When you go to title it, you'll be expected to prove where the various components came from, and whether sales tax has been paid. So be sure to keep track of the components you've purchased through detailed receipts!

 

Got both headlights fitted and then the marker lights. As you can see the holes are drilled for the front bumperettes but they came with no grommets. It is a special oblong grommet and those holes are drilled in the side of the nose etc. To say the least it is no where close to a flat surface...lol



Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Well I spent about two hours this afternoon fitting the outer skin to the inner passenger side door. It was about 1/16th of an inch at a time but unlike the trunk and hood (where I learned the hard way) I was 100 percent before we pulled the trigger on the bonding agent.



Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I got a message this morning on the HAMB asking how we got all the holes drilled in the front end in the right places and the same from side to side. Well that is a very good question. I should have taken a photo and documented the trials and tribulations of finding the perfect spots on a totally out of control curvy front nose piece. But I was in a hurry and didn't snap any photos. But here is how it happened....