1964 289 COB EXPANSION TANK

[wirewheels57]

Hoping someone can help with the sourcing of an original or pattern expansion tank for my early 289?
Also the brakes have two brake reservoirs which I assume means the car has separate front and back brake systems was this standard?

[rr64]

Hoping someone can help with the sourcing of an original or pattern expansion tank for my early 289?
Also the brakes have two brake reservoirs which I assume means the car has separate front and back brake systems was this standard?

Coolant expansion tank. Based on what few pictures I have of unrestored COB/COX60 prefix cars I believe your car probably used the same Ford-McCord design tank original street equipment for CSX2141-CSX2589 cars with standard 4V induction system. (In September 1963 a 2-4V Stage II option was added and a revised tank assembly was created for cars using 2-4V induction.) I do not have current contact information for him but I am told Dave Wagner (in USA) has reproduction 4V induction system car tanks made and others create dated assembly tags as required. Originals not in use are extremely rare. (The Cobra specific tank setup was based on similar tank designs used in various Ford and Studebaker sedans. The mounting arrangement was unique to Cobras and installers had to cut a clearance in one area of the mount bracket that interfered with a feature of the engine. Some installations on engines by Shelby American with optional COBRA POWERED BY FORD cast aluminum rocker arm covers required distance pieces between the tank mounting bracket and the left hand cylinder head to obtain clearance for the flange of the left side rocker arm cover. It was a car by car situation, some engines required spacers and some did not. It appears that the fit problem was due to a collection of part tolerance stack ups. The spacers used were bare carbon steel pieces that Ford never offered as a service part. Used parts can sometimes be salvaged from junk 1962 Fords with 221/260 engines. They were used in the Ford to space the remote fuel filter from the cylinder head. I have done drawings for the spacers in case somebody finds they need to make some.  (Anyone have current contact information for Dave Wagner? If not Nick Acton probably does https://www.actoncustom.com/.)






American market cars CSX2001-CSX2164 were manufactured with single hydraulic circuit brakes, one master cylinder and one reservoir. CSX2165-CSX2589 were built with double circuit brakes, a balance bar system between cylinders, two master cylinders, and two reservoirs. Your car sounds similar.

[wirewheels57]

Hello RR64

Thankyou for the information I will try and contact the people you suggest . My Cobra is Cob 6005 The second right hand drive car produced by Ac which I believe was used as the factory demonstrator for some time . The car is very original generally but as is the way with Cobra's I suspect over heating issues lead to the radiator being replaced with a 427 unit and a non standard expansion tank being fitted .
I attach a picture of what I believe is a standard engine bay for an early 289 and COB 6005 as it was before the present non original expansion tank was fitted ( not necessarily original ) . Do you have any thoughts on both pictures ?
Regarding  The twin brake reservoir system do you think the introduction ties in with the registration date for COB 6005 1/1/1964?
Hope the pictures are attached !!

[rr64]

Hello RR64

Thankyou for the information I will try and contact the people you suggest . My Cobra is Cob 6005 The second right hand drive car produced by Ac which I believe was used as the factory demonstrator for some time . The car is very original generally but as is the way with Cobra's I suspect over heating issues lead to the radiator being replaced with a 427 unit and a non standard expansion tank being fitted .
I attach a picture of what I believe is a standard engine bay for an early 289 and COB 6005 as it was before the present non original expansion tank was fitted ( not necessarily original ) . Do you have any thoughts on both pictures ?
Regarding  The twin brake reservoir system do you think the introduction ties in with the registration date for COB 6005 1/1/1964?
Hope the pictures are attached !!

You are welcome. I have seen reproductions of the Ford-McCord radiators but I do not know who makes them, perhaps  Nick Acton does.

I do not see any pictures. Sounds like a neat car.

The change to Ford-McCord radiators and expansion tanks occurred during mid 1963 and brake systems about two months later.

[wirewheels57]

Good day rr64

I have contacted Dave Actons business and had a positive response straight away via Bonni. Let's see how this develops but they definitely appear to be up to it, thank you .
To aid my endeavour it would be great to have some quality shots of the cooling set up on an original early 289 car including expansion tank, radiator and hoses. Do you have a suggestion where I might be able to acquire these.
The Car has a 1963 aluminium Gearbox which appears to be a race box, would this have been a standard part for a road going car. I understand that aluminium boxes were introduced at some time in development but were these "race " boxes ?
Originally 6005 was fitted with an Armstrong selectaride damper control system, the control being mounted on the transmission cover . I suspect that this was unreliable. Do you think this was purely an option offered by AC cars for European/British cars.  I am not focused on originality, but it would be good to get information on this as well.

[rr64]

Good day rr64

I have contacted Dave Actons business and had a positive response straight away via Bonni. Let's see how this develops but they definitely appear to be up to it, thank you .
To aid my endeavour it would be great to have some quality shots of the cooling set up on an original early 289 car including expansion tank, radiator and hoses. Do you have a suggestion where I might be able to acquire these.
The Car has a 1963 aluminium Gearbox which appears to be a race box, would this have been a standard part for a road going car. I understand that aluminium boxes were introduced at some time in development but were these "race " boxes ?
Originally 6005 was fitted with an Armstrong selectaride damper control system, the control being mounted on the transmission cover . I suspect that this was unreliable. Do you think this was purely an option offered by AC cars for European/British cars.  I am not focused on originality, but it would be good to get information on this as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nick and Bonni Acton help customers with maintenance and repairs of original Cobras and 427 Cobras. I provide technical information, detailed pictures, and drawings to them as required for those activities.

I have about eighteen thousand digital pictures of unrestored American market cars covering back nearly six decades.  As questions are asked, I can usually cut and paste images into a slide show for somebody covering most subjects. The exchange of large blocks of information is not something to do in little Internet forum text boxes. Some slide shows and commentary files are quite large.  My slide show regarding the Otter® brand coolant temperature switches and housings is 17 pages in length for example.  The file on mechanical fuel pumps used in Cobras is 50 pages in length and my commentary on engines used in Cobras is currently 124 pages in length. I have created more than 300 each specific subject information files so far not counting many reverse engineering CAD drawings.

Files are free for the asking and may be treated as open source by users, but file transfers must be accomplished via email. It takes just seconds to share in *.pdf file format anything but CAD drawings or single pictures. CAD drawings take more effort to transmit if they have to be back saved to a prior software version including some version of old *.dxf file format. Individual pictures can take more effort because I usually have to reduce their size first. Yes, I am aware of third party file storage services. If I created a file and never revised or added to it that might work other than in total as of this morning I have more than 40 GB of Cobra related file space in the machine I am using with more than 24,000 files in more than 1,400 folders.  Most of the commentary, slide shows, and spreadsheets get revised and or expanded in content as better or addition details are confirmed. It is enough to keep and back up one file bank much less add an online cache to maintain (a slow cumbersome process at best). I also have access to the databases other researchers keep with more thousands of pictures that I care to think about right now.

With that as background, I can identify most materials and parts in American market (CSX2 prefix) cars. I have been studying them since circa 1971.  CSX2144 was literally parked in sight of the home I grew up in. I have very little technical coverage on COB/COX60 prefix cars, especially electrical systems which we very different from the CSX2201-CSX2589 cars made concurrently. The engines and transmissions subjects are the same for the two markets I believe based on my association with somebody in the UK that has answered my questions. We will get into unknown to me territory looking into radiator hoses that A.C. might have used, especially the lower one for COB60 prefix cars. I can provide information on what American market cars were finished with late 1963-65.

I have a big digital commentary file regarding manual transmissions used in Cobras and an associated slide show covering the yoke and plug assembly for transmission outputs. Aluminum transmission main and tail shaft housings were adopted from big Ford sedan race cars. The design pattern is that of a 1963 Ford Galaxie with 260/289 engines and are the same dimensionally all over inside and out. Aluminum cased units were introduced into new street and race Cobras circa August 1963 and were used thereafter.  Several different gear sets were used in street and race Cobras; yes units created for racing were installed in street Cobras. The most desired sets of gears with produced with higher nickel content in their gear alloy. Our black car came with a 'racing' unit with the General Motors input and gear which requires the use of a General Motors design of clutch disc.

The driver adjustable Armstrong® Selectaride™ suspension dampeners and electrical control system was available in COB/COX60 prefix production cars but not American market cars to the best of my knowledge. The anomaly was CS 2030, a car retained by A.C. and it had that system installed in it. I cannot speak to how they worked.

Parts related to cooling systems and heater-demister coolant circuit you may want to study include:
• a formed aluminum pipe with a branch for the heater-demister coolant circuit. Short sections of rubber hose and clamps accomplish a connection between the water pump and McCord expansion tank. (Cars with McCord design tanks used a different tube assembly than earlier cars using Harrison 1962 Corvette design tanks.)  More than one company has produced parts between perfect copies of originals down to similar parts that work. Nick and Bonni can supply a very nice one if required.
• housing adapter for a thermal fan switch and a switch. A.C. produced three different versions, two in fabricated steel and one in sand cast aluminum for American market cars. I have no idea what a COB60 prefix car would use. There were two Cobra specific switches made under the Otter® brand for Cobras. The 70°C trip point switches have been obsolete for decades and the near identical MGC (carburetor air temperature switch) and the 1969 Lamborghini P400 Miura (radiator fan switch) switches have also been obsolete a long time. Nick Acton offers a modern 12VDC switch and custom mounting plate to get the job done.

• Everhot® provided Cobra specific manual shutoff valves for the heater-demister coolant circuit in American market cars. They have been obsolete since the 1960s. I have no idea if A.C. used them in COB/COX60 prefix cars.

• If required, spacers to move an original type expansion tank mount away from the left side rocker arm cover. They are simple to make and I have a drawing set I did for them. (Yes, some people use stacks of flat washers, which works.)

I suggest that further questions be handled via email. I am not sure how much I can help with your car I will help if I can. My email address is posted in this site's profile page for me.

Dan
CSX2310
CSX2551

[1590]

Hi Roger, My tank label reads 5B4, any ideas?

[rr64]

I am not Roger but

B4 on Ford-McCord expansion tank tags:

B = February
4 = 1964.

Ford-McCord radiators were dated also.

[swiftruss]

Good day rr64

I have contacted Dave Actons business and had a positive response straight away via Bonni. Let's see how this develops but they definitely appear to be up to it, thank you .
To aid my endeavour it would be great to have some quality shots of the cooling set up on an original early 289 car including expansion tank, radiator and hoses. Do you have a suggestion where I might be able to acquire these.
The Car has a 1963 aluminium Gearbox which appears to be a race box, would this have been a standard part for a road going car. I understand that aluminium boxes were introduced at some time in development but were these "race " boxes ?
Originally 6005 was fitted with an Armstrong selectaride damper control system, the control being mounted on the transmission cover . I suspect that this was unreliable. Do you think this was purely an option offered by AC cars for European/British cars.  I am not focused on originality, but it would be good to get information on this as well.

Ref Armstrong Selectaride shock absorbers. To the best of my knowledge, Armstrong himself purchased one of the last Aces (RS5020) in 1962 and had AC fit Selectaride shock absorbers. At the same time AC fitted a similar system to CS2030 which was used as their development car and demonstrator until late 1963. I don't have any knowledge of them being officially offered as an option but as your car was also a factory demonstrator it's possible that if selectarides were satisfactory on CS2030 they may also have been fitted to your car at the factory.

[1590]

Sorry Dan