'tool time' story: how I recreate my MK 4

[dkp_cobra]

Do you remember my idea of heat protection in the motor bay: polished stainless steel with a thin layer of silicate. To make it short: it doesn't work. There is no isolation of the heat. Now, I use a 10 mm thick heat protection fibre with a aluminium layer:
   
   




   But be sure this is not the last word about heat [:D]

[Emmanueld]

Nice! What about a nice Qaife differential. I put one in my Kirkham and the car stayed on the road. It depends how strong your motor will be! but if you have anywhere in excess of 450hp this would make a big difference! Also Kirkham makes a reproduction of the original Cobra diff erential in alloy! Pricey but you save quite a bit of weight!
   
   Emmanuel[:)]

[dkp_cobra]

quote:Originally posted by Emmanueld
   
Nice! What about a nice Qaife differential. I put one in my Kirkham and the car stayed on the road. It depends how strong your motor will be! but if you have anywhere in excess of 450hp this would make a big difference! Also Kirkham makes a reproduction of the original Cobra diff erential in alloy! Pricey but you save quite a bit of weight!
   
   Emmanuel[:)]
   

   
   Hi Emmanuel,
   
   thank you for the advice but mounting this differential was such a big work that I won't repeat it in the near future [B)] The motor is much less hp than 400. It is a standard FoMoCo 351 crate engine with GT40 heads.
   
   Regards, Peter

[dkp_cobra]

When the rear hubs were originaly mounted a hole was drilled through the bolt into the axle shaft and a splint was used to fix the bolt relative to the axle shaft:
   

   
   Quite simple and efficient but with the drawback that once you remove the bolt you will never get the same position to reuse the old hole in the axle shaft (well, if you use it you may probably won't have the correct end float). Drilling a new hole results in an axle shaft looking like a swiss cheese.
   
   My idea for a mechanical locking of the bolt looks like this:
   

   
   I reused the old hole and look the washer with a grub screw to the axle shaft. I flattened two sides of the washer so I can use the looking plates (left in the picture) between the washer and the bolt.
   

   
   Now, the bolt can be tightened up and be looked with the looking plate towards the washer. And the washer is looked via the grub screw towards the axle shaft. If I have to reopen the axle I only have to replace the looking plate. And I have a lot of these [:)]
   

   
   Since I replaced the old boot by a new one made of aluminium I need something as inner fender. I reused parts of the old boot for this.
   

   
   Before mounting I use something for noise reduction in the case that the boot beats against the inner fender:
   

   

   
   Today I mounted the plates in the floor. I was afraid that the old holes won't fit but it was quite easy.
   

   

   

[dkp_cobra]

Maybe some of you is interested in having a look inside the joint of the lower wishbone of the rear axle:
   

   
   Not so many parts but it is quite important that they have enough grease. But if you push to much grease inside this joint the rubber gasket will be (partially) pushed outside the joint. That's the beginning of the end of the rubber gaskets.

[dkp_cobra]

Here you can see the mounting brackets for the oil cooler:
   

   
   Quite simple but with the major drawback that the airflow is not forced to pass the oil cooler and even if it passes it the warm air goes through the water cooler. You can see this at Michael MK IV:
   
   
   
   What you need is an oil cooler shroud. Here is what I made:
   



   
   ... and from below ...
   

[cobham cobra]

I think you should be very careful about what you post on forum. Posting photos of your oil cooler shroud could lead to requests for copies from other members.[:D][:D]
   Once again very nice work, I'm looking forward to seeing your car when it's finished.
   FYI, check the way your fan is wired when you re-fit it, I've only recently found out that mine was incorrectly wired when it was built and for the last 17 years it has been blowing hot air out of the air intake instead of sucking cold air into the engine bay.[:(]
   Cheers - John.

[1984MkIV]

Peter,
   
   you should add an oil cooler mesh to your shroud. I think the highest risk for your engine isn´t the oil temperatur but stones causing a leaking oil cooler (On the other hand a leaking oil cooler helps to protect against rust). I had problems with the water temperature because of a wrong installed valve. I then could notice that the water temperature boosted rapidly when I was on full throttle. 333 kW in combination with an efficiency factor of 30% lead to 0,777 MW of heat! I never had any problems with the oil temperature. Good luck to beat the heat!
   
   Michael

[SB7019]

John.
   Must check the wiring on mine to make sure I have not been driving a Supersucker all these years.

[dkp_cobra]

John.
   Must check the wiring on mine to make sure I have not been driving a Supersucker all these years.

   Do you recognize a slowdown when the blower switch on [:)] Since this is the status of my wiring loom I will make a new one from the scratch:
   

[dkp_cobra]

Today, I mounted the tank. Look at the nice "discreet" filler cap [:)]
   
   


   
   You can see the petrol when you fill it:
   

[cobham cobra]

FYI, be careful how you secure the breather pipe for the fuel tank. I learnt this to my cost last April my car deposited a couple of litres of Mr. Shell's finest unleaded in the boot . We found out afterwards that the breather tube had developed a kink or pinch point where it had been secured and over time it became blocked. I only found out when I filled the tank on a sunny day and as the fuel warmed up in the tank it expanded and could not "breath" and it forced a leak at the filler cap connection. A simple case of over tight zip ties.
   
   Cheers - John.

[dkp_cobra]

quote:Originally posted by cobham cobra
   
FYI, be careful how you secure the breather pipe for the fuel tank. I learnt this to my cost last April my car deposited a couple of litres of Mr. Shell's finest unleaded in the boot . We found out afterwards that the breather tube had developed a kink or pinch point where it had been secured and over time it became blocked. I only found out when I filled the tank on a sunny day and as the fuel warmed up in the tank it expanded and could not "breath" and it forced a leak at the filler cap connection. A simple case of over tight zip ties.
   
   Cheers - John.
   

   
   John, thank you for this information. I will look at it.
   
   Cheers, Peter

[dkp_cobra]

Today I mounted the louvers and some mesh for the oil cooler and for the side air intake.
   
   




   
   It took 3 and a half hour. If you ask me why it took so long, the answer is quite simple. I had to cut out the correct parts from a huge mesh. This was quite fast. I wanted to mount the mesh with some small bolts not gluing it at the body. To get the correct look of the bolts I use stainless steel bolts and polish the heads [:I]
   

   
   (FYI, there is only one bolt. The second is the mirror image! A great job of the painter)
   
   Also making these small things here takes time:
   

[1984MkIV]

Peter,
   
   why making the effort for a new wiring; your wiring looks pretty good compared to british standard ... [:)][:D][;)] ...
   It´s a pity not to see you in Duesseldorf on 21st and 22nd of June!
   
   Michael