Happy New Year

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time lately on polishing the aluminum firewall pieces. It is very frustrating--I know that I am following the directions properly and there is a lot of black grime that comes off when I rub, but it never gets noticeably shinier. So I think I am going to stop and leave well enough alone. Along those lines, today I affixed the heat shield to the cockpit which goes behind the aluminum pieces. Here are a couple of pictures...




In the first pic, you can see the loose fitting sheet being test-fitted on the passenger side. In the second, I am finished with sticking it on both sides.

I have also been working the phones and Craigslist trying to acquire a transmission, and possibly an old engine that would be easier to get registered. There may be news on this soon.

The next step on the build is to drill and rivit in the aluminum firewall panels. I expect to be working on that soon. You may have noticed that I moved the cockpit on top of my pool table for easier working.

Progress still terriby slow

I did not work much this week on the car. I spent some effort trying to acquire the transmission, and did a little bit of unrewarding polishing of the aluminum panels for the firewall. And that is about it.

PS pump part

Jerry got the part done for the power steering pump bracket that we ended up needing to fabricate. It turned out great, though we did have to file off a little on one corner. Here is a picure of the part before putting it on the engine...


I still need to get a different bolt to get it mounted, and Fastenal seems to be the only place that carries such an unusual size. Sadly, they are not open on weekends, so it will have to wait til Monday. Then it will be on to making the engine fit perfectly in the engine compartment, test fit the exhaust headers, and continue the search for a transmission.

Nothing done

I did absolutely nothing on the car this week. I made turkey soup and did all kinds of preparation work for several days of work at Wash U for an offering of Tycoon. I should be getting back to wrenching by late this week.

Nothing new

Still too much other stuff going on to get anything done on the cobra. Jerry said they are close to making my PS pump bracket. I have done nothing on the tranny, the paperwork, or the aluminum panels. This week may not be good either with preparation for a couple of days of TYCOON the following week. Sorry to be so dull.

Slowing down

For lots of reasons, the build has slowed down. Colder weather, approaching holidays, upcoming work assignment, other personal stuff. Anyway, my brother-in-law, Jerry, came out and helped me work through the PS pump bracketry troubles. I hope to have that solved very soon. We were able to test fit the engine in place and it will fit, but will take a tiny bit more coercing.

A potential problem has come up with my paperwork. I visited the Highway Patrol office trying to make sure I was okay to proceed and it is not completely clear. I may have to rethink some of my assumptions about what way to go on the transmission, and even possibly the engine.

Herculiner

I have just finished applying Herculiner (a pickup truck bed liner) to the underside of my fiberglass cockpit tub and trunk. This stuff is like a polyurethane paint with rubber granules in it that sticks to the fiberglass and provides some surface and noise protection from little rocks and things hitting the underside of the car. Here are some pics...

Trunk before...


First step was to scuff sand and clean with acetone. That was some potent stuff. You are only really supposed to do about 10 sq ft at a time, but I did about 100. Mistake! Despite being well ventilated in the garage, I did end up with a nasty headache from the fumes for a couple of days.


Here are a couple of pics after applying the Herculiner...



Here is a link to a cool video (over 9 minutes) of a similar product called Rhinoliner. They blow up 2 pickup trucks from below, one with and one without the bedliner. Amazing results. Makes me glad I went ahead and applied this stuff. Now I should be safe to join the Leisure crime family.

Next up is returning to the power steering pump bracket problem. I have decided to make my own bracket now. I bought a raw steel plate and will fabricate something on my own that will give me exactly what I need. And I will also get back to polishing aluminum at some point.