little bit of history and explanation

Hello forum. I have already tapped the knowledge of several of you with prior posts, so as I know I will continue to seek help, I thought I might explain what is driving (no pun intended) my need for answers. I recently procured a 1986 Unique 427 after years of research and more recent serious shopping. It's my first Cobra purchase. Even though the vehicle is 23 years old, it is in remarkable shape, which attests to something you already know and that is the inherent quality of the Unique brand. The color and finish do not reflect it's 23 years worth of use. Alan Weaver painted this car those many years ago and it has held up exceptionally well. While I am excited, I am also a bit apprehensive of the car as I learn more about what it is that I bought. There have been at least 3 prior owners and the age and mileage (33k) are much greater than I ever thought I would consider. However, the price allowed me to realize a dream so I considered the age and mileage a reasonable trade-off. Part of my apprehension is having little if any mechanical experience and I know I will have to learn at least some of the basics of keeping this vintage vehicle running properly. I have already sought help for a leaking fuel cell, which I took care of with some help from the forum and a friend this past weekend. I know there will be more maintenance and upgrades needed in the months ahead, such as a little drip coming from the differential. But that's for another time.

With that little bit of history for the forum, my next question is about a drive shaft safety loop. The vehicle apparently never had one. Has anyone retrofitted a loop? How difficult is the process? How bad is it to drive a purported 400HP, 400'ish torque engine without a loop? Even though it's gone 23 years without incident, am I rolling the dice?

Thanks for reading through the above history and for considering this last question. Thanks in advance for your feedback. Chris

Welcome Chris and congratulations on your purchase. Thanks for being honest and explaining your history. I don't think you could have made a better choice and Alan and Maurice have helped us all out at one time or another. You will find that there is a world of knowledge and experience available through the forum and UNIQUE owners are very willing to help.

Thanks Dmswann. Any thoughts on my safetly loop question? Do you have one installed on your vehicle? Chris

Chris,
A good thing to do is to systematically go over the entire vehicle checking every nut, bolt, and fitting for tightness and security.
The drip on the differential is a problem for me also. I've snugged up the rear fittings but it still persists.
My car was produced in 2001 so I don't know if your chassis is exactly the same. My chassis had a plate on each side that was used to attached the drive shaft loop. Search this site and I'm sure that you will find images of drive shaft loops installed.

-Geary

Aggressor, thanks. I will definitely pursue the search for loops on our forum. My main concern is if it's an immediate safety issue. Is this something I can do as I update/upgrade the vehicle over time or should I make this a priority. I'll search the forum and see what I can see. Chris

Chris,

400 hp or even a lesser amount, especially with a 4-speed will find any cars "weak link", which is often a u-joint. a car with a longer driveshaft takes a bigger chance of dropping the end of a driveshaft and catapolting both car and driver or at the very least have a high probability rate of the driveshaft coming up through the floor like a missle between you and your passenger. as you know, the driveshafts in these cars are much shorter than normal, but if you ever experience a ujoint failure, the $30 or so bucks you spend on a safety loop would be money well spent. Even if it would never contact the pavement, a safety loop could keep the DS contained enough to keep it from beating the tar out of the bottom of the car or breaking a pinion. They are a NHRA requirement in drag racing so that tells you something. they are inexpensive to buy or easily fabricated.
Is your car equipped with a blow proof bell housing? also a wise way to spend your $$.
If there is no safety loop, what are your inner seat belts attached to?

this is just one persons opinion, but i think others feel the same, or at least i have never seen pictures of any of the other guys cars with out the loop.
thanks,
Eddie

Chris, I aree with Eddie. Although my Cobra is still being assembled, and the install of the loop very easy, the little time and expense taken to provide you and your passenger protection from something that might be very low probability is worth the protection. Considering the age and the miles of the car you may want to rebuild the u-joints at the same time.
Good Luck
Cheese

Chris,

I, too, purchased my Unique used; not quite the vintage yours is, but used nonetheless. It didn't have a driveshaft loop either.

Definitely, you want to install one. I don't know about the earlier chassis, but there's probably a piece of angle iron welded onto the inside of the two main frame rails on either side of the driveshaft. These are what you use to mount the safety loop, drilling holes in the two clip angles as needed for the particular loop arrangement that you use (loops are available from Unique or through Summit Racing, Jegs, etc.).

More importantly, as Eddie alluded to: what are your inner seat belt anchor points attached to? I'd say most of us anchor them with a bolt that goes (from the top) thru the belt bracket, through the body, through a spacer, then through the driveshaft loop steel, and then secured with a nut. In other words, it's ultimately anchored to the driveshaft loop somehow. When I purchased my car, the inner belts were bolted to - hang onto your hat - the fiberglass floorboard with some giant fender washers for reinforcement! YIKES!!! That actually made me install a loop more than worries about the driveshaft.

AHA! Found a photo showing the loop and the seatbelt bolt. This is a shot of Maurice's 289 at the shop. It should make all of this make more sense.

Hope this helps!

Folks, thanks for the valuable feedback. I am getting the message loud and clear. First of all, I don't have a bell housing, so that's something I will need to take a look at. But the bigger question brought up is about the anchor for the seat belts. I don't have an answer for that. I'm going to need to spend some time underneath the vehicle to get to the root of that question. I will also be doing some shopping for the safety loop. I have a Summit Racing location about 40 minutes away. I would imagine Summit might be able to give me some thoughts on how to do the install as well. Jeepsnake, thanks for the pic. That helps visualize things for me. Thanks again everybody. You know I will be back!! Chris

The early chassis didn't have the angles welded to the frame, you will have to install a loop using bolts.

Alan

Yes, put the loop on and forget about it. I bought mine from Summit, comes in a kit. Remember to use Grade 8 bolts, washers and nuts. I also agree with the stronger bell housing, check yours and upgrade if needed. Very commom to see Lakewood brand bell housings (good New Jersey Steel).
Once you install safety equipment it's over, no maitainence, jusy peace of mind for both you and your passenger.
Best of luck, keep her sunny side UP.