General Preperation for the Build

General Preparation
Introduction
In this thread, I’ll share what I did to get prepared for the build. To get off to the best start you can, with the least negative impacts to your build, you’ll need to prep, research and prep some more.

Where will you work?
I have a good size garage, with very good lighting, as part of our house that I can use as my build space. This space is insulated and I have air-conditioning (and two ceiling fans to help circulate the air)… a must if you want to work in the HOT Florida summer heat.

The space is fully finished with workbench. The walls have 28' of cabinets. The floor is polished and sealed/epoxy coated concrete (now, that’s a good project for all of you!). It’s really is worth the effort…. No Concrete Dust !I also have a large number of mechanic tools. I have all the floor jacks, jack stands, air compressor and air tools, grinders, 2-ton engine hoist, Miller MIG welder (both steel and aluminum), impact and torque wrenches, hand and power tools, etc. etc.

Visit Randy’s site for the details of the next steps @ http://www.pflanzer-aviation.com/RedVenomCobra/index.html He really lays out the process well and I leveraged it.

Your Vision
You should document your vision, of what you want your Cobra to be when you're finished. This process will help you “think” through the entire build and what’s ahead of you. Obviously, you can have someone build a Turnkey Car for you, i.e., the car is completed for you….. but you’ll still have to communicate to the builder what you want.

USE- on how I plan to drive the car? My Cobra will be a weekend type of usage to cruise around in for me and my wife, our friends and children/grandchildren to enjoy. I will only drive this car on nice days and for relatively short distances. I don't have any desire to race/track the car but I do love to drive aggressively. I’ve had and have euro sports cars, e.g., BMW M3, M5, Porsche and was fortunate enough to attend several track driving schools in these cars.

Visual STYLE- My Cobra build is not a show car…. (although I do plan to attend a few shows and if a ribbon comes my way…. Well, that’d be the icing on the cake). I recently saw a rebuild of an 69 Chevy Camaro based on the famous Yenko Chevy’s on Chop Cut Rebuild TV show. The builder said it well, and his philosophy on the re-build is what I’ll use on my 65 Cobra build…. His philosophy/comment was, I’m not trying to duplicate a Yenko Chevy Camaro, but want to build one as if Yenko was still modifying Chevy’s today, and what new options and technologies might Yenko have used? I’m not trying to build an authentic Cobra…. That’s actually pretty much impossible if you think about it. I’m trying to build/replicate a modern version of the 65 Cobra 427 S/C while retaining the base look and feel. I’ll refer to this as the “modern 2010 Cobra look”, i.e., if Carroll Shelby was still building these cars today….. maybe it would be close to what I plan to do?? I’m going “a little” over the top for several reasons… it’s my nature, I like certain things/gadgets, HP and I want to build a few Cobra’s a year for others after retirement and plan to use my car as a “see what I’ve done” advertisement.

FINISH- I plan on a very professional paint job. I want that “little extra” on the paint job. I’m planning on a three part paint (DuPont Hot Hues) and some airbrush art work (see Exterior and Killer Paint threads in this forum). I have already picked the primary and stripe trim colors of the car.
See attached picture of an original 1965 Aluminum body….. note the team strips on the front left fender… I plan to incorporate team strips on my build... see attached picture

POWER-, who doesn’t like power, i.e., this has to be one of the key reasons for wanting a Cobra in the first place?? Since I want a good driver, dependability and high horse power, I’m going with a new DART IronEagle Sportsman block (rated for 1200 HP) based on the Ford 351W engine block size/shape (which allows a lot of “bolt-on options)…. Dart blocks are “beefier” with extra iron in all the right places that allow more cubic inches than a Ford OEM 351W block…. Therefore, my DART block will be bored and stroked to 427 cubic inch and produce about ~575 HP and ~575 ft/lbs of torque. See my Engine and Cooling thread where I’ll go into more details and posted the dyno sheet. Again, back to style, it was very important to me to have a 427ci, but I don’t care that I don’t have a Big Block 427, i.e, a small block 427 is just fine and has more options & will make more power. The small block should work just fine for what I want and in the end, probably won’t affect resale value much, if any.

Selecting a Manufacturer of the Cobra

I selected the Unique Motorcars Cobra 427 S/C for a couple of reasons. Reminder, these reasons worked very well for me and yours may be different. Here's my reasons:

When you call Unique Motorcars, you talk to the owners…. The Weaver family.. in particular, Alan and Maurice Weaver. Alan and Maurice have a track record of great customer service and most of the other builders and Cobra owners confirmed their customer service record is second to none! Reputation was #1 for me. The Weaver’s are incredible to work with….. via phone, email and the www.Uniquecobra.com forum. Very responsive for both pre- and post-sale !!
I visited Unique during their annual Cobra Homecoming…. I met with them, got to tour the facility, talk with their employees and most important, got to meet and talk with over 40 Unique Cobra (427 and FIA 289) owners. Great bunch of people!
The quality of the metal fabrication and fiberglass work on the Unique is very good.
The kit is priced competitively.
Unique has been in this family run business since the mid 70’s with great customer references.
On the Internet Resources page, I listed most vendors I used and what I bought from them. There’s lots of choices out there!! Choose wisely!