From my Mustang to an AC Cobra, a build thread.

[Shlbyntro]

Today I feel like this guy from Space Jam.

I got all the doors and body panels and jams and rolls, etc sanded.... finally! I spent twice as much time doing all these little channels as I did sanding the rest of the entire car. The issue became the body seams. They were such small little imperfections that only needed a tiny bit of fixing, however a lot of the pits and holes along the seam were packed full tooling wax and the only way to get it out before I start filling and priming was to take a grinder to the body panels. I chased a lot of deep voids getting the wax out.

Hey Look, a spot I didn't have to grind out!

Next, I get to break the oribital back out and try and smooth some of these canyons before I wipe the car down and start doing filler work. some massaging will absolutely need done on the drivers door too. The mold is unfortunately nowhere near close to lining up.

 

[Wedgy]

"You've come a long way baby.."
Nice work!

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

I approve of this message [of course]

 

[Flatsix66]

That's all the hard part., good job. When I did mine I took the body to a boat repair guy (Roger Stine), he took care of all the bodywork and did a great job.

 

[Shlbyntro]

That's all the hard part., good job. When I did mine I took the body to a boat repair guy (Roger Stine), he took care of all the bodywork and did a great job.

I considered it, but at some point I decided I wanted this car to be 100% by my hand. The mechanical is easy to me, The body work is a skill I'm learning along the way.; for better or worse. Ive watched a lot of it done in the past but have never done any of it myself.

Mixing paint and setting up the guns will all be new to me. I have a new HVLP gravity feed with 3 nozzles and a new swivel tank gun as well for painting from the high and low angles. They are nothing super snazzy but are better quality than HF. I paid about $100/gun.

 

[monkeyswrench]

I considered it, but at some point I decided I wanted this car to be 100% by my hand. The mechanical is easy to me, The body work is a skill I'm learning along the way.; for better or worse. Ive watched a lot of it done in the past but have never done any of it myself.

Mixing paint and setting up the guns will all be new to me. I have a new HVLP gravity feed with 3 nozzles and a new swivel tank gun as well for painting from the high and low angles. They are nothing super snazzy but are better quality than HF. I paid about $100/gun.

Are you going to shoot the bottom, mount the body and paint the rest? I'm not up on Cobras, but on some of the early stuff, I've cribbed the body to a good height that was comfortable. Depending on your chassis, I don't know if you'll need to shim the mounts. If you do, keep track of them when you lift the body. I'll usually measure the shim or stack, and write it down...even the sequence in which you tighten the bolts seems to change things a hair.

I've never fit a fiberglass door. With some of the earlies, like 36 and older Chevys, they had a lot of wood. You could force the door into shape, but it would relax out at the lower latch side. On those, I basically fitted a turnbuckle, or even ratchet strap, to pull it into shape. Then, mixed resin and flooded the bottom of the door. The next morning, that door is locked into shape. As an added bonus, it gave the doors some mass. People are so used to the weight of a modern car door, they slam early doors. The extra mass made the door latch easier.

 

[HNL2LHC]

I considered it, but at some point I decided I wanted this car to be 100% by my hand. The mechanical is easy to me, The body work is a skill I'm learning along the way.; for better or worse. Ive watched a lot of it done in the past but have never done any of it myself.

Mixing paint and setting up the guns will all be new to me. I have a new HVLP gravity feed with 3 nozzles and a new swivel tank gun as well for painting from the high and low angles. They are nothing super snazzy but are better quality than HF. I paid about $100/gun.

I am sure that you can find a lot of info on the interweb. But back before that in auto shop we would practice setting the guns and spraying with water. Then you can get the feel with primer. As I have noted before just post up questions. I am sure that they are ones that know more than me but I have painted a couple dozen cars over the years.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Are you going to shoot the bottom, mount the body and paint the rest? I'm not up on Cobras, but on some of the early stuff, I've cribbed the body to a good height that was comfortable. Depending on your chassis, I don't know if you'll need to shim the mounts. If you do, keep track of them when you lift the body. I'll usually measure the shim or stack, and write it down...even the sequence in which you tighten the bolts seems to change things a hair.

I've never fit a fiberglass door. With some of the earlies, like 36 and older Chevys, they had a lot of wood. You could force the door into shape, but it would relax out at the lower latch side. On those, I basically fitted a turnbuckle, or even ratchet strap, to pull it into shape. Then, mixed resin and flooded the bottom of the door. The next morning, that door is locked into shape. As an added bonus, it gave the doors some mass. People are so used to the weight of a modern car door, they slam early doors. The extra mass made the door latch easier.

The bodies on these FFR cars don't have any shims. They actually screw from the bottom where they wrap under the chassis. There's not much shimming I can do on the doors although I do have up/down and side/side adjustability. I'm going to have to do some build up to make it match the body of the car before I do my body dismount.

Currently my plan is to do all the body work on the chassis and then prime and paint the body on the body buck separate of the chassis. I will paint the stripes once remounted to the chassis. The clear I bought can also be used as a high gloss additive so I think I'm going to do that instead of 2staging it. It says I can mix at any ratio so I was considering somewhere between 10-20%. Some input on ratio for this would be appreciated from anybody in the know.

edit: oooh was just reading on a stepped process. start with 100% paint first 2 coats, then step to 75/25, 50/50. etc. on down the line until the last 2 being straight clear. Supposedly it makes the paint look like you can reach into it and is rather forgiving too vs just straight base/clear .

 

[RadMan]

I really like this set of sanding blocks available on Amazon. I have to smooth fix and recreate lots of changing curved shapes, with the adhesive backed sandpaper rolls, really effective on the curved shapes I repair.

Also, I mix my resins with Cabosil, not the West Marine types of filler media, those all can sag, cabosil can stand on its own no saggging.

 

[mjc]

I considered it, but at some point I decided I wanted this car to be 100% by my hand. The mechanical is easy to me, The body work is a skill I'm learning along the way.; for better or worse. Ive watched a lot of it done in the past but have never done any of it myself.

Mixing paint and setting up the guns will all be new to me. I have a new HVLP gravity feed with 3 nozzles and a new swivel tank gun as well for painting from the high and low angles. They are nothing super snazzy but are better quality than HF. I paid about $100/gun.

If you don't have these they work great. Works at pretty much any angle.

Amazon.com : 3m paint cups and liners kit

 

[MR HARLEY]

Sweet thread!

 

[Shlbyntro]

for my #1 cheerleader @HubbaHubbaLife

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

for my #1 cheerleader @HubbaHubbaLife View attachment 1253452 View attachment 1253453 View attachment 1253454 View attachment 1253455

Here we go now!
Yup, I did all that alright. Slow day

 

[Shlbyntro]

Here we go now!
Yup, I did all that alright. Slow day

Nope, just a short day. I had a 25kw generator service on the other side of the lake. Everything went smoothly and I was finished up and back home at around 330. I had an hour or 2 to kill before grabbing the little one.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Nope, just a short day. I had a 25kw generator service on the other side of the lake. Everything went smoothly and I was finished up and back home at around 330. I had an hour or 2 to kill before grabbing the little one.

All good... I was referring to me having a slow day so I looked up all those memes for my post. Hope the little one experience continues well.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Did some sanding today. I'm sure I'll have to go back in with the filler another time or two to remove the low spots but it is already phenomenally better on this first pass.

 

[HNL2LHC]

Watching Mecum thinking about your Cobra. Hurry up Breck!!! I want to go for A ride!!!

 

[Yoshiro]

I remember the sanding and filling of the seams part. Take your time and get it right, or you'll never forgive yourself!

Here's some inspiration of the fun you'll have on a cobra run...

 

[clarence]

 

[Shlbyntro]

View attachment 1267689

that thing is filthy

 

[4Waters]

that thing is filthy

No shit! I'm gonna go steal it, detail it and return it with a note that says "if you don't take care of me I won't be back". You with me?

 

[Shlbyntro]

No shit! I'm gonna go steal it, detail it and return it with a note that says "if you don't take care of me I won't be back". You with me?

I'm pretty sure mine has less dust on it and it's been getting sanded on!

 

[clarence]

that thing is filthy

The one annoyance with my condo parking: lots of pollen in the air even eight stories high.

I give him credit - he must drive it often enough that keeping it covered is too much a hassle.

My Miata looks the same.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

The one annoyance with my condo parking: lots of pollen in the air even eight stories high.

I give him credit - he must drive it often enough that keeping it covered is too much a hassle.

My Miata looks the same.

This has gotta be some airport parking lot right? I mean some poor sumbitch dies and left this girl, right?

 

[PlanB]

View attachment 1267689

Looks like a Superformance. Needs a bath!

 

[clarence]

OK, OK.

I'll write WASH ME on it tomorrow.

 

[clarence]

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

View attachment 1269563 View attachment 1269564

Crime being committed on Cobra. Go Fund Me page for a cover perhaps.

 

[clarence]

Crime being committed on Cobra.

You can tell the two cars apart?

 

[Shlbyntro]

@HubbaHubbaLife you know what that's for?

 

[monkeyswrench]

@HubbaHubbaLife you know what that's for? View attachment 1283299 View attachment 1283300 View attachment 1283301 View attachment 1283302 View attachment 1283303 View attachment 1283304 View attachment 1283305

Your making a custom bed for your little girl's bedroom!
Like Best Buy used to have the Cobra car audio dislay

 

[Yoshiro]

Body buck!! That's a lot nicer than the one I built for doing my FFR body/paint!

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

@HubbaHubbaLife you know what that's for? View attachment 1283299 View attachment 1283300 View attachment 1283301 View attachment 1283302 View attachment 1283303 View attachment 1283304 View attachment 1283305

I'm struggling.... maybe @monkeywrench has it right. We gotta get these priorities right if so, lol. Before I read his post I was thinking wtf is he gonna paint that body right there hanging on those two pieces? I know TX guys and interior SoCal guys have a habit of "Engineering" some at home spray booths. I've seen it all. My last cobra kit car friend outsourced the body to paint. Silver w/ two blk stripes.

 

[Shlbyntro]

I'm struggling.... maybe @monkeywrench has it right. We gotta get these priorities right if so, lol. Before I read his post I was thinking wtf is he gonna paint that body right there hanging on those two pieces? I know TX guys and interior SoCal guys have a habit of "Engineering" some at home spray booths. I've seen it all. My last cobra kit car friend outsourced the body to paint. Silver w/ two blk stripes.

@Yoshiro has it right. that's the "body buck" it's a stand designed to hold the body while also keeping it in shape without warping.

I didn't engineer it. I pulled it out of the appendix of my 800pg assembly manual shown in the last picture. all I did was add some legs with casters to make it moveable and a little bit taller so that I can paint the sides of the body where it wraps under the chassis.

 

[PlanB]

The Superformance factory uses something similar to roll their cars around in the factory while going through the build process. They are steel tubing on casters but same concept.

 

[Clank123]

Thought this would be a good thread to post this picture.
My friend (and Wheelers) Ted Sutton worked for Carroll Shelby.
One of his first jobs was to upgrade the Cobra from a small block to a big block.
Ford wanted to put their new overhead cam engine in the car.
Ted had the car torn down and OHC engine in his stall at the original Venice shop.
After pulling the car apart and measuring the dimensions of the engine, he determined that it would take major changes to the chassis and suspension.
He told Shelby this and Shelby asked what about an FE engine?
Ted said that would probably work.
Two days later a crate arrived from Holman and Moody.
Well, beginning on the that day he designed and fabricated the first 427 Cobra.
He’s in his 80’s now and lives near me.
Once a month I take him to lunch and we have some fantastic conversations.
Such an amazing mind.
The stories he has are incredible.
Last time I saw him he had these pictures for me.
It’s a picture of the first 427 Cobra at its debut race in Sebring.
That’s him in the blue crew shirt standing behind the car he built.

 

[OC Mike]

Cool story.
Makes sense he wanted the Cammer first. Also makes sense about the fit......

 

[monkeyswrench]

Thought this would be a good thread to post this picture.
My friend (and Wheelers) Ted Sutton worked for Carroll Shelby.
One of his first jobs was to upgrade the Cobra from a small block to a big block.
Ford wanted to put their new overhead cam engine in the car.
Ted had the car torn down and OHC engine in his stall at the original Venice shop.
After pulling the car apart and measuring the dimensions of the engine, he determined that it would take major changes to the chassis and suspension.
He told Shelby this and Shelby asked what about an FE engine?
Ted said that would probably work.
Two days later a crate arrived from Holman and Moody.
Well, beginning on the that day he designed and fabricated the first 427 Cobra.
He’s in his 80’s now and lives near me.
Once a month I take him to lunch and we have some fantastic conversations.
Such an amazing mind.
The stories he has are incredible.
Last time I saw him he had these pictures for me.
It’s a picture of the first 427 Cobra at its debut race in Sebring.
That’s him in the blue crew shirt standing behind the car he built.

View attachment 1283544 View attachment 1283545

That's just cool!

Also had no idea they wanted to put a cammer in one! If they'd succeeded, absolute nightmare to work on

 

[Shlbyntro]

 

[mash on it]

View attachment 1283603

Let 'er buck!

Dan'l

 

[4Waters]

Thought this would be a good thread to post this picture.
My friend (and Wheelers) Ted Sutton worked for Carroll Shelby.
One of his first jobs was to upgrade the Cobra from a small block to a big block.
Ford wanted to put their new overhead cam engine in the car.
Ted had the car torn down and OHC engine in his stall at the original Venice shop.
After pulling the car apart and measuring the dimensions of the engine, he determined that it would take major changes to the chassis and suspension.
He told Shelby this and Shelby asked what about an FE engine?
Ted said that would probably work.
Two days later a crate arrived from Holman and Moody.
Well, beginning on the that day he designed and fabricated the first 427 Cobra.
He’s in his 80’s now and lives near me.
Once a month I take him to lunch and we have some fantastic conversations.
Such an amazing mind.
The stories he has are incredible.
Last time I saw him he had these pictures for me.
It’s a picture of the first 427 Cobra at its debut race in Sebring.
That’s him in the blue crew shirt standing behind the car he built.

View attachment 1283544 View attachment 1283545

I'd like to take him to lunch

 

[clarence]

Sonic Blue with bright gloss white stripes

Make you reconsider?

View attachment 1283545

Would be a little different.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Make you reconsider?



Would be a little different.

not even a little bit especially since the paint is already bought and paid for

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

not even a little bit especially since the paint is already bought and paid for

Ok its time we start talking about how/ where ya gonna paint that beautiful sanded body? I sold Sikkens for AkzoNobel and was trained on spraying at their educational center in SoCal. Those guys are like dancers the way they move around a body... be sure to put proper Mozart or Bethoven on and for Gods sake are you rolling that into your driveway with all the air moving around. I cant... I just cant... and all those bugs in TX baby!

 

[Shlbyntro]

Ok its time we start talking about how/ where ya gonna paint that beautiful sanded body? I sold Sikkens for AkzoNobel and was trained on spraying at their educational center in SoCal. Those guys are like dancers the way they move around a body... be sure to put proper Mozart or Bethoven on and for Gods sake are you rolling that into your driveway with all the air moving around. I cant... I just cant... and all those bugs in TX baby!

I'll be painting it where it sits. The room will be prepped and turned into a make shift paint booth with a negative pressure atmosphere and a dampened floor that will draw air from an even bigger connecting shop space.

but you're getting ahead of yourself. I still have to do a light knock down with a finer sand paper. I do plan to put some primer to it shortly but after that I'm going to bag it and not paint it until after the chassis is finished. I want to minimize any chances of hurting the new paint before I get the car together

 

[PlanB]

Thought this would be a good thread to post this picture.
My friend (and Wheelers) Ted Sutton worked for Carroll Shelby.
One of his first jobs was to upgrade the Cobra from a small block to a big block.
Ford wanted to put their new overhead cam engine in the car.
Ted had the car torn down and OHC engine in his stall at the original Venice shop.
After pulling the car apart and measuring the dimensions of the engine, he determined that it would take major changes to the chassis and suspension.
He told Shelby this and Shelby asked what about an FE engine?
Ted said that would probably work.
Two days later a crate arrived from Holman and Moody.
Well, beginning on the that day he designed and fabricated the first 427 Cobra.
He’s in his 80’s now and lives near me.
Once a month I take him to lunch and we have some fantastic conversations.
Such an amazing mind.
The stories he has are incredible.
Last time I saw him he had these pictures for me.
It’s a picture of the first 427 Cobra at its debut race in Sebring.
That’s him in the blue crew shirt standing behind the car he built.

View attachment 1283544 View attachment 1283545

Superformance builds Grand Sport Corvettes that are GM licensed just like the one that is next to the Cobra in this pic. They were built by GM as "Cobra Killers". Interesting to see a pic of the Cobra sitting next to one.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Superformance builds Grand Sport Corvettes that are GM licensed just like the one that is next to the Cobra in this pic. They were built by GM as "Cobra Killers". Interesting to see a pic of the Cobra sitting next to one.

All I see is the cobra wearing the number 1 and the vette wearing the number 2

pretty sure Superformace builds the actual Shelby "continuation cars" too

 

[PlanB]

all I see is the cobra wearing the number 1 and the vetted wearing the number 2

The "Cobra Killer" was pretty much in name only.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

I'll be painting it where it sits. The room will be prepped and turned into a make shift paint booth with a negative pressure atmosphere and a dampened floor that will draw air from an even bigger connecting shop space.

but you're getting ahead of yourself. I still have to do a light knock down with a finer sand paper. I do plan to put some primer to it shortly but after that I'm going to bag it and not paint it until after the chassis is finished. I want to minimize any chances of hurting the new paint before I get the car together

Ok Ok my hearts back to normal rythms now..... "drawing air down" got me smoothed out. I should know better than to worry bout you.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Stumbled on this thing.... who needs paint anyway