6-24-2007 -- Garage stuff

So, I think I am going to try to get into a routine of religously making a new posting every Sunday night, at a minimum. When other big stuff happens I will make additional posts.

Anyway, this week did not show too much progress on the decision to commit to doing this--real life interfered too much. Basically, I am at a point where the budget is constraining me on my engine and transmission choices. These two items are critical to the kit manufacturer in order to begin their fabrications. I am sure I can acquire the engine and transmission for the kind of price I want, but it involves other tradeoffs.

I can either go with an older used Ford V-8, the 5.0L, and put up with it having a lot more miles on it to begin with. Or I could go with a newer used modular engine that Ford has now, the 4.6L, but which makes for a significantly more difficult build. There seems to be a decent supply of acceptible used engines and transmissions on the market, some more conveniently located than others. Transportation costs will actually be very important.

I am playing phone tag with the guy that I was given by the Hurricane president as the best contact to solve the 4.6L issues. He is in Sedalia, MO. I am not too comfortable with such a small source of help. On the 5.0L, I have found a guy in Arnold, MO who has an auction going on Ebay on an engine with 54,000 miles and automatic transmission, both of which he says are in great shape. He owns a Guns and Ammo shop, so I won't argue. Hopefully, in the next couple of days I will get answers from both of those guys to be able to decide which way to go and hopefully place my order with Hurricane by the end of the week.

I have also done a little thinking about my necessary workspace. So right now, I am sitting in a chair in my garage. My neighbors, I'm sure, are looking at me even more suspiciously. The temperature is fine, pretty comfortable actually, especially once I rigged up a little electric fan that I had lying around. And the computer is working beautifully. I also took a bunch of "before" pictures of the garage and some storage areas that will need to get prepped before the kit comes. After 20 years, it is probably time to give some of the places a little cleaning.



I have a nice sized 2 car garage. (Picture is too dark, I know). Plenty of room, once the unused half is cleaned out. Much of that stuff will have to go to this storage shed and the inside of that is not too bad...





I will also need to store a lot of the parts I am not working on from the kit in out of the way places, like my 4th bedroom and my laundry room, both of which will need to be cleaned up a bit...




Perhaps the biggest challenge may be the overhanging paint storage area in my garage. The body buck I will have to build in order to store the fiberglass body while I am working on the chassis needs to roll over the car when I am not working on it, and I doubt I will be able to have the right clearance. So, I thought about parking the Volkswagen on the other side, which has no height issues but the length is an extremely close call and I won't absolutely know for sure until I can really test it after cleaning out the garage.

6-17-2007 -- Visit to Hurricane - Part 1

Here are some pictures from my visit to Hurricane Motorsports on June 16, 2007:

Sorry in advance, for the fact that I haven't figured out decent formatting yet on this website, or how to tweak the camera for the best results.

Picture 1 is the Econolodge in Oak Grove where I stayed the night before. Great room. 50 bucks instead of 90 like the first 4 I went to. It was about 4 or 5 exits prior to the turnoff to Lee's Summit, maybe 10 miles, but it was very clean, relatively quiet, and had very straight forward free wireless internet capability. Lots of food, gas options right there, and next to a Wal Mart. Cable had Speed Network. And it was only about 10 miles or so west of a racetrack, with both dirt and asphalt, but I was too tired to go that night. I would definitely stay there again. Savings practically paid for the installation manual that I bought.


Picture 2 is of the building exterior. It is a modest front in a smallish industrial park. The area is very nice, quiet (except when the Cobra is on the run) largely residential area, right off the highway.


Picture 3 is their conference room. I met with Mike Arps, the president of the company, for almost 6 hours! He was terrific and it was a lot of fun, but he was too bashful to get caught in any pictures.

Picture 4 is in their shop. It shows the area where they stage all of the parts coming in for each car. They basically work on one chasis per week doing their fab work, but the parts gathering takes time so they have 5 orders going at a time. The leadtime from order to ship is more like 10 to 12 weeks right now. They can't start immediately as some of the stuff has to be made by other vendors. Fiberglass bodies come from a supplier, as does the rear end, which is dependant on the customer gear choices. Engine/tranny choices determine some of their frame welding too. Each shelf is for a different car. On the extreme right you can see part of their bench area where they do some bench work and keep all kinds of fasteners and stuff.

Picture 5 is the rig they use to create the frames. The Hurricane story is kind of strange and too long to post, frankly. But this was one of the main assets they bought when they acquired the company (via an EBAY auction), and is still being used after their own modifications.

6-17-2007 -- Visit to Hurricane - Part 2

Picture 1 is of a body that is being checked on a new frame.










Picture 2 is of another build they are working on, here, checking the headers fitment. You can also get a good look at the footbox on the passenger side, the spot behind the driver where the rollbar will go, and a big improvement they've made in the cockpit tub where they have flattened out a spot where the rear wheels encroached too much. This lets them gain an extra 1 1/2" where the seats can be pushed back, and believe me, that is wonderful! The dropped footboxes are also incredibly important for tall people like me.













Picture 3 is of a finished 427 car, actually a very early one that was in for some kind of rework that escapes me right now. Behind it is the body that they are working on for a new model, a replica of the 289 Shelby Cobra. Tough to see, but there are some big differences and this will be a popular model to some builders interested in historical accuracy.















Picture 4 is of the car we test drove. It is actually the darkest blue you have ever seen, but it looks black from any kind of distance. Mike pointed out some poor painting craftsmanship to me, but frankly I would never have seen it without him mentioning it. Hint--look for waviness in light reflections.

















Picture 5 is from the passenger seat as we were leaving the shop for our test ride. Pretty comfy, actually. I was a little surprised at how long the hood seemed. But I did not feel terribly low to the ground despite its low ride height. The windwings on the side apparently do a good job of cutting down wind and noise. It was not as loud as I was afraid it would be, and Mike and I were able to carry on a conversation without much difficulty. That is until Mike did the acceleration test getting onto the interstate on the ramp. OMG!!! Words don't describe that feeling. Think an astronaut during blastoff. I was too dumb to take a video, not that I would have known how to upload it anyway. Mike lit the tires up again later on another stretch of open road where a future industrial park will be sprouting up. It just flew. He slowed down near the end and we turned the corner back at normal speed and a cop was just sitting there. Mike waved. :) He knew the cop well and said he had just been in the shop last week. No problemo.