Howdy From N.E.Mi.

[63mercury]

I am a Ford nut but tolerate other makes as long as they have Ford power. Presently I am scratch building a Cobra replica from my own prints. I will buy a body but not sure from who yet.

[TurnpikeBoy]

And welcome. Lots of good stuff in here, bodies included. Guessing you're putting skis on that Cobra when done. Real nice country up there - have spent time in Traverse City and more time in Torch Lake, and miss it.....except for wintertime

Hunting still outstanding up there too, I imagine.

[Slither]

63Merc,

You might consider saving some time and getting a tried and true platform that works...

Check out the basic kit from Unique. It's good stuff!

But good luck with the project either way... oh and stay warm.

[Jerry Cowing]

Agree with Slither. Starting from your own design is probably a 5+ year project and when done you'll probably wish you had changed a few things to make it handle better, etc. With the Unique kit, you should be able to put it together in one winter and all the suspension and handling probems have already been worked out over the years. I put mine together in one month of some 24 hour days/nights. Like reading a good book, I couldn't put it down until I finished.

[JeepSnake]

On what Paul & Jerry said.

If you have to build your own chassis, though, and you're going to use an off-the-shelf body, you still need to pick the body up front. The body you select will dictate wheelbase dimension, frame rail locations, floor pan dimensions, mounting points, fuel tank mounting scheme, etc. Otherwise, you are going to wind up with a complete body and a complete chassis, and another complete project's worth of time adapting the two to mate. And you probably won't wind up real happy with the results due to the compromises made.

Just a thought.

[ralphscott]

Ditto to Zach's comments, Other issues include mounting points to the frame so you will not have stress fractures or wavey fiberglass, Wheel well centering and ride height and turning radius within the wheel wells are key. One thing that Unique offers that others don't is no chopper gun all hand layed...better than a metal body in a crash. How about an 80 mph crash head-on driver walks away and the front to the center of the front wheel well needs to be replaced and frame not out of whack. One tough little body and frame.

Ralph