nolastyankee
July 10th, 2005, 04:50 PM
The Spence Car was built in 1991 in Alabama and sold to it's new owner in Kentucky. Some time later, it briefly moved back to Alabama with its second owner before we came along and moved it back to Wisconsin, then relocated with my employer to Arkansas. The car checked off another state on the U.S. Atlas this weekend as we trailered it to the painter who happens to be in Oklahoma.
As I started this chapter I realized I have been away for a while. You see, we have been very busy making this build much harder than it needs to be. This is in keeping with all of the family projects, but it is all worth the work whenever we see the car because the smiles just won't stop.
When we bought the car the body was on, and in fact it had never been removed since the Weavers first installed it back when George H. was in the White House. We have made up for this ten fold by making the body installation and removal a regular event, and to date it has made the move either on or off the chassis no fewer than 6 times. Hence our on-again-off-again relationship.
Most recently, the body install and removal process has occurred to address a slight shifter issue that we found when the body just wouldn't sit right after one install...Because it was sitting on the transmission linkage arm. So, out came the Sawzall and after a little prayer, we again had clearance, but a little fiberglass work to do.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Floor.JPG
But our problems were just beginning. There is no such thing as a performance shifter for a Ford 4R70W automatic transmission, so we did the next best thing...Bought an AOD shifter and started modifying. After a little file work on the tranny housing the shifter installed like it was made for the location, but the resultant linkage geometry was just plain awful. Most people would have installed a cable and called it good, but give two engineers a McMaster Carr catalog and things start to get a bit more technical... We fabbed a remote bellcrank and used left-right threaded rod and teflon coated rod ends. Overkill? Sure, but damn does it shift sweet...Lokar would be proud.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Shifter1.JPG
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Shifter2.JPG
Feeling good about our terminal overkill job on the shifter, we searched the garage for something else to modify. We were never really happy with the Rube Goldberg gas pedal that was installed on our car (it is not the standard Unique pedal) so a resto-mod on that object became the next logical step. Other than upsizing and improving the bearing surfaces, this is pretty much a cosmetic exercise with the paint and AC pedal.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Pedal.JPG
We did come up with our own through-the-footbox bellcrank that should really give nice alingment to the throttle linkage. Did I mention we made that too? Buying a ready to go unit just seemed awfully simple after the shifter exercise.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Linkage.JPG
Those of you with finished cars, know how challenging it is to find places to mount all the stuff that needs mounted without resorting to drilling the firewall or inner fender. Clean builds like Brent's, Rick's, Ralph's, and Butch's don't happen without a lot of effort, and a little custom work. Like this coil bracket that Dad whipped up to mount on the cylinder head.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/CoilBracket.JPG
I picked up an aluminum splash guard on eBay only to find that it was about the size of a small billboard. With a little shaping and drilling, it found its way to the waiting body...
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/SplashGuard.JPG
With the body off for final shifter fitting, we did the final bending of our brake lines. Yes, we had to bend brake lines. Given the vintage of our car, the lines were a little rusty, and there was a nice yellow sludge in the master cylinder that undoubtedly cemented the lines closed. Tubing is cheap, and we were already making this build into an adventure, so Dad re-bent and re-located all the lines
As I started this chapter I realized I have been away for a while. You see, we have been very busy making this build much harder than it needs to be. This is in keeping with all of the family projects, but it is all worth the work whenever we see the car because the smiles just won't stop.
When we bought the car the body was on, and in fact it had never been removed since the Weavers first installed it back when George H. was in the White House. We have made up for this ten fold by making the body installation and removal a regular event, and to date it has made the move either on or off the chassis no fewer than 6 times. Hence our on-again-off-again relationship.
Most recently, the body install and removal process has occurred to address a slight shifter issue that we found when the body just wouldn't sit right after one install...Because it was sitting on the transmission linkage arm. So, out came the Sawzall and after a little prayer, we again had clearance, but a little fiberglass work to do.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Floor.JPG
But our problems were just beginning. There is no such thing as a performance shifter for a Ford 4R70W automatic transmission, so we did the next best thing...Bought an AOD shifter and started modifying. After a little file work on the tranny housing the shifter installed like it was made for the location, but the resultant linkage geometry was just plain awful. Most people would have installed a cable and called it good, but give two engineers a McMaster Carr catalog and things start to get a bit more technical... We fabbed a remote bellcrank and used left-right threaded rod and teflon coated rod ends. Overkill? Sure, but damn does it shift sweet...Lokar would be proud.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Shifter1.JPG
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Shifter2.JPG
Feeling good about our terminal overkill job on the shifter, we searched the garage for something else to modify. We were never really happy with the Rube Goldberg gas pedal that was installed on our car (it is not the standard Unique pedal) so a resto-mod on that object became the next logical step. Other than upsizing and improving the bearing surfaces, this is pretty much a cosmetic exercise with the paint and AC pedal.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Pedal.JPG
We did come up with our own through-the-footbox bellcrank that should really give nice alingment to the throttle linkage. Did I mention we made that too? Buying a ready to go unit just seemed awfully simple after the shifter exercise.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/Linkage.JPG
Those of you with finished cars, know how challenging it is to find places to mount all the stuff that needs mounted without resorting to drilling the firewall or inner fender. Clean builds like Brent's, Rick's, Ralph's, and Butch's don't happen without a lot of effort, and a little custom work. Like this coil bracket that Dad whipped up to mount on the cylinder head.
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/CoilBracket.JPG
I picked up an aluminum splash guard on eBay only to find that it was about the size of a small billboard. With a little shaping and drilling, it found its way to the waiting body...
http://www.uniquecobra.com/uploaded/nolastyankee/SplashGuard.JPG
With the body off for final shifter fitting, we did the final bending of our brake lines. Yes, we had to bend brake lines. Given the vintage of our car, the lines were a little rusty, and there was a nice yellow sludge in the master cylinder that undoubtedly cemented the lines closed. Tubing is cheap, and we were already making this build into an adventure, so Dad re-bent and re-located all the lines