Chapter 14.3 - The Body Shop Still Continued

[nolastyankee]

This weekend I was allowed to work on the car along side our paint man and fiberglass expert. I'm not sure how much help I was, but at least I got to participate. I didn't do any of the heavy glass work...My job was the rear deck lid. We're painting the inside of the rear deck lid instead of carpeting, 'cause that's the way the real cars were. I know, I know, you can't see it. But if we didn't spend time on all those things that will never be seen the car would have miles on it already!



First I cut the returns off all the way around so that the reinforcing 'hoop' was all that was left. Note the change from the top picture where there are 1"-2" returns protruding to the center of the decklid all around the now clean cut edge.



Then we reinforced the unsupported edge.



Here is a couple file shots of the surgery to insert the fender flares and the final product. This will also be the basis of improvements to the door striker plate that I'll show next time.





Alright, this is the other door, but the process is the same.



While I worked on the decklid, Don made the big dust on the cowl edges that we are rounding off. Here's what my view looked like all day in the shop with two sanders running and a 10 mph breeze running through the open doors...



When the dust settled...Literally, the almost final product looked great. Rear cowl...





And the front...





Here you can see the modified return all finished up.



I can't smile enough when I see it. I can't wait to get it in our garage! This is a homecoming 14+ years in the making.

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[nolastyankee]

While I have been busy with the body, Dad has been fabricating parts and sanding out our aluminum footboxes. Here is our trick new oil filter and Harrison tank bracket. It will clamp around the crossmember above the front suspension beam, and the radius allows the brake line to pass through the middle.

Sweet!



A fairly nice looking aluminum footbox is the backdrop.

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[Slither]

Lookin' good Brian... and nice metal work [:P]! Please keep the photos coming.

Paul

289 FIA

2899464

408 Windsor

Toploader (wide)

3.07 rear

[RJacobsen]

Wow Brian, It's really looking good. You've got me curious about that striker plate improvement though.

Rod
Roseville, Ca.
289 FIA #9152 "The Flintstone Cobra"

[nolastyankee]

Rod,
A picture will describe more adequately, but the striker channel as-is doesn't sit flush with the door return because the body curves inboard at the bottom, forcing the striker channel into the cockpit. We cut out the striker plates and shortened them slightly so they sit flush. Then we will weld an upright "L" bracket that lines up vertically on the outside of the striker plate, then turns inboard along the floor and ties into the frame. We are also linking the bracket to the cowl brace to provide another locating point and side impact security.

Pictures will help when this is done...Give me a couple weeks.

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[RJacobsen]

Brian- your right, I need pictures, But I think I get the idea. The brace that you are linking to the cowl, are you running that along the floor or just below the door opening? I've been considering doing something along that line as well. My car has a plate linking the striker pillar with the cowl brace along the floor (I don't think this is original). It also had a round tube welded across the door opening that added alot of rigidity but made it useless to open the doors.



Rod
Roseville, Ca.
289 FIA #9152 "The Flintstone Cobra"

[nolastyankee]

Rod,
You're on the right track...Just take that bar that is in your car and run it under the door opening instead of where it is on your car. We're bolting ours to the cowl brace vs. a weld as our brace is now removable. Not sure why we'd ever need to, but it is.

The other part of the process is an "L" bracket tying the bottom of the striker channel down to the floor and over to the outriggers of the frame.

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[RJacobsen]

Brian, Can't wait to see how yours looks, I'm sure it will be well engineered. I'm probably going to do something similar, I know when I cut out the braces that were there the body was able to flex alot more. I'd like to have that rigidity back, but not with a bar across the door opening. Some of the things that were done to my car I can't help but wonder "what was he thinking"

Rod
Roseville, Ca.
289 FIA #9152 "The Flintstone Cobra"

[nolastyankee]

Rod,
I have been thinking about frame rigidity too, and from an engineering standpoint the forward braced roll bar of the 289 cars should offer a bunch of torsional stiffness however it is pointed the wrong way for engine torque. I was thinking of also adding a couple additional bars from the cowl brace forward into the engine bay attaching to the frame. These were on the original cars too and I can see benefit better tying together the cowl brace and frame. As is, I'll be fabricating a brace from the transmission tunnel up to the cowl edge, again replicating a real component of the car while improving functionality.

I'll post pictures as this is done...

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[RJacobsen]

Brian, It’s funny you should mention braces from the cowl to the frame. My car has braces like that. When I was rebuilding the foot boxes I considered mounting the master cylinders on top of the foot box to get away from the heat, I actually have a pedal set that would allow me to do that, But decided not to because I would not have been able to use the braces that are already made. If you want I’ll get you some pictures of how this was done.

Rod
Roseville, Ca.
289 FIA #9152 "The Flintstone Cobra"

[nolastyankee]

Rod,
Please, I'd love to see some shots of those braces and how they were made and installed. Thanks!

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[RJacobsen]

Brian, Here you go. these were made with 1" tubing with flanges on both ends bolted in place.












The car also had bracing from the cowl brace at the tunnel down to the frame. I would need to cut through the tunnel to reinstall these but they were bolted to the frame and welded to the cowl brace. The angle is way off in these pictures because of the tunnel being in the way.







Rod
Roseville, Ca.
289 FIA #9152 "The Flintstone Cobra"

[RJacobsen]

Brian, Is this similar to what you plan for the bottom brace? I always thought that this was original on my car, but now now I think it was added later.



Rod
Roseville, Ca.
289 FIA #9152 "The Flintstone Cobra"

[nolastyankee]

Rod,
Thanks for the pictures of the forward braces. This is what I was thinking of, but we would need to carry the supports up front lower on the frame. Our front suspension is different and we don't have the shock towers that you do. Otherwise the idea is similar.

As for the support on the striker plate, the L bracket shown directly above is what we have planned, but it will carry farther inward to tie into the frame.

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car