A New Cobra for the Unique Marque

[Ric S.]

I have the car about 96% complete. I hope she compliments the Unique name.

[RJacobsen]

Ric, the car looks awesome, Nice job :)

[tcolley]

Ric,

IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!! NICELY DONE!:D

I only hope mine turns out as nice!

Regards,

Terry
289 FIA in the works

[Naumoff]

NICE! the car looks great!
The 18s fill out the wheel wells nicely.

How tall are the tires?
And what sizes are they?

[Ric S.]

Naumoff,

The tires are Kuhmos, 245/40ZR18 and 275/40ZR18. Right now the fronts are 25 3/4 inches and the rears 26 inches ground to fender. I am slowing raising the car. The pan is only about 3 inches off the ground.


BY THE WAY.........THIS CAR IS FOR SALE !!!!

[scott h]

great color!

[wlewis]

Up there in the Low Country, Clemson fans will love the color!

[ralphscott]

Looks Great Ric! Where did you get the valve covers with the breathers on the back? Part number would be helpful if you've got it.

Ralph

[pgermond]

Looks really good! Pretty soon there will be more "O" uniques than blue ones :D

[Ric S.]

Ralphscott,

The valve covers are the ones that came on the SA 406. They were blank so I ordered breathers from Jegs, drilled my own holes and installed. Very easy to do once you get past the idea of drilling a hole in a new cover. I like the uniform look of having both of them in the back as well. If you need the breather numbers, let me know.

Thanks, Ric

[ralphscott]

Ric that is exactly where I am. Got the new covers the stacks and the breathers. I've done a couple of test "drillings" but the bi-metal hole saw makes the hole a little larger than I like. Been looking for a hole saw with a finer set of teeth as that would tighten up the finished size. How or what did you use to drill yours? I could drill it smaller and grind it out to the desired size but I'm not sure that it would look as good where the stacks go into the cover.

Ralph

[Brent]

Wicked looking!!!

I like it.

[Ric S.]

Ralphscott,

I used a standard hole saw from Home Depot. 1 1/8th inch I believe. I taped the hole good and used WD-40 as I drilled. I drilled very slow so not to "burn" the aluminum. The key is the grommet. Have you found a pair that are as thin as the aluminum walls of the valve cover? The hole will not be an exact fit if you are using push-in breathers. The grommet offsets any oversizing. Let me know how that sounds. If need be I can pull my breather to measure the finished hole.

Good Luck

[excelguru]

Looks fantastic! I especially like the $tainle$$ $teel AN fittings.

[eliminator]

If you look at the pictures of FE engines and others used in racing, NASCAR, NHRA, ect., the majority of the breather locations are in the front of the valve covers and not the rear.

Reason: Under acceleration and normal forward motion the oil moves to the back of the valve train and blows out the baffeled breather under high RPM. Especially with high volume oil pumps and higher oil pressures.

I have the highest breather tubes the Cobra will allow and they are baffled, one front one rear, because I used the valve cover with the holes already present and modified them. If I am just cruising its fine, if I am turning some RPM's and pushing it then I get oil misting and driping out of the rear breather, the front one is just fine. (case in point)

If I had to do this over, (and still may do it) my breathers would be at the front on both valve covers. The only reason the valve covers are like they are, holes forward and rear, was to accomodate a PCV Valve in one side (passenger) and in some case a breather in the front on the drivers side. Most only had the PCV valve and no breather. So nearly all valve cover sets are really two passenger side valve covers. These are not OEM valve covers.

Just some thoughs from "been there, done that".

[tcolley]

Rick,

Very interesting information!

Thanks,

Terry
Waiting for my 289 FIA

[ralphscott]

Ric, what Rick described is what I am planning on doing as I saw Rick's at Pigeon Forge and we talked about it. The hole I need to make would be a tight fit for the stack, then welded from the inside of the valve cover, with a splash guard on the inside and a couple of triangular side pieces for each stack, from the side of the stack to the valve cover. Then the whole deal chromed. So my need is a metal hole saw with fine teeth rather than the bi-metal hole saw that has large teeth. What you did regarding the actual drilling process is right on target! Really nice job!

That is the plan......

Ralph