Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

Borla just called and said the Weber 8 Stack unit is shipping today. Of course this is not the first time I have heard this. Hopefully I will get a tracking number here in a bit to confirm it.

 

you're further along than I am...in just a few days!

 

Do you think that rectangular tube is thick enough?

 

Phttttttt a fuel gauge on a dragster is like a compass on a kite.

This little car is going to be a blast to see run. I can't wait.

 

TOO THICK actually but it is what it is....what's another 100 pounds or so right?

 

Well remember, we didn't have any DECONSTRUCTION to contend with...LOL
Of course that will change as we build the chassis and then "deconstruct" it several times, par for the course over here....it will all come out in the wash!

 

So a bit of hindsight interjection here on the chassis. Originally were going to build this thing on the rack with the body suspended above it. That way we could lift the chassis up to the body and check on tolerances etc. then lower it back down and weld some more. However Saturday as I was drawing it all on the floor it became apparent we don't need to do that....at least not for a while anyway.

We can build the ladder chassis and get the suspension installed front and rear before we have to really worry about any of the rest of the space frame pieces for the body. So that is what were are doing. When we are complete we will put the rolling chassis on the lift below the suspended body and then do all the finish chassis pieces etc.

 

Just curious, how much of a roll bar/cage will the car have?

 

Make sure you get welded in good to the thick stuff and not burn the thin stuff.

 

Looking at that lower joint of the two body sections, it would be a good (strong) location to tie in to the frame rails with some sort of a sandwich that holds those sections together.
Would help keep the joint from seperating after being glassed together. Maybe some thicker versions of those plates you made to weld to the frame/body mount stubs.

 

Not nearly enough for as fast as it is going to be. Officially one hoop over the driver with one down bar running from the right side of the hoop down into the passenger side foot area. That is all Shelby put in there! But after we get the backbone chassis built and rolling I am going to look at hiding some bars inside and around. I mean I want to be safe but I don't want it to look like this with the top off! LOL

 

Well that will never work....Dad's goin to have to learn how to smack you with the other hand.

 

Remember, those Pro Track front runners are TOTALLY different from side to side. One side has a big ridge on it and the other is fairly smooth. Have them on my OT Ford Fairmont Pro Street car.

Great build, been reading since day 1.

SPark

 

I have actually been thinking about some extra bars etc. in the top. Not sure it will work but maybe a pseudo full set in the roof that might bolt in place when the top is on but if you unbolt them, you can remove them with it. That way it could be a standard looking 289 Cobra roadster anytime you wanted. Not sure there will be room for it though!

You know it is funny after learning and practicing the art of a contortionist to build and work on the Austin (no easy feet for "fellar" my size with limited flexibility) I swore never again. I can not remember how many times Dad and I joked about the next car was going to be a '64 Caddy or a Hudson Hornet! Something big and roomy were we could fabricate in leisure! LMAO.... Now here we are building a stupid small British Sports Car! WTF!

 

Here you go James I fixed it for you!...LOL


But my point is....that is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen?! I mean if I was going to build a race car and put that kind of vulgar looking cage in it (on it) what ever....WHY waste the time with a Cobra. Why not just cut the roof off an AMC Pacer and drop that ugly**** cage in it?!!!

 

I only brought it up, wondering how quick you'd be going at the strip

 

At least you got a car with room for seats, I am afraid that my old plastic race seats won't even fit in my little heap. I really want a passenger seat so I can have some ballast and I don't always have to be afraid without company. LOL

It becomes difficult with our cars sometimes. You have to reach some sort of a compromise in order to be safe/legal and still maintain the integrity of the build. *Then some of us run into the problem of building a car that is way too fast for what it is.

* a problem that I will probably never have. LOL

 

I noticed that...one side looks like someone just pealed a white wall off it an the other smoother side looks likes a normal tire. Not sure what is up with that, it is like Coker put two different mold halves together or something. Or I guess they are giving you two looks for the price of one....I think am going with the smooth sides out.

 

It has to do with torque and rollout. They are lefts and rights. I can't tell you which one is which though.

I like the front runners from Towel City, but I am not doing a car that is totally correct like your Cobra is.

 

Or as my pappy would say "that looks like a monkey*****'n a football".

 

We are not going to try and kill it this time around. Just going for the fun and nostalgia of it. I figure we will be in the 10s pretty easy, not trying to go crazy fast though, just faster than Jackson. LMAO!
But that might be pretty hard now that he has become an Alcoholic!...

But remember this is just a little 289!

 

My Grandfather always said: ...."Like Socks on a Rooster!"

 

RIGHT!
One thing about it, you'll not have a problem finding it in the parking lot at Walmart.

 

Well Roger Hurst has finished his blue printing work and I have already received tracking notices for most of the pieces coming in from the far north! He bumped us up to 205 AFR heads and had them shimmed for his choice of custom PAC Springs. He chose Howard ProMax Mechanical Roller Lifters and did his normal custom grind on the roller cam which finished with .747 lift on the intake and .707 lift on the exhaust. He says the ramp speeds are crazy fast and he bumped the Jesel Rockers a notch to a 1.7 ratio vs. 1.6. Now I have no idea what any of that really means, I just trust Roger when he says it is going to be a rocket ship! Actually I believe he called it "one bad******!" He has never done me wrong. I can't wait. In the mean time I am working really hard on my bad**** SBF motor sounds but I'm not sure I can do it any justice. LOL

 

Since you are sort of planning as you go on the chassis... The bolt in roll bar could be doable. Think funny car cage or something similar. You would just have to incorporate it into the chassis build.

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Exactly.

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Man that engine and cam is going to be a SCREAMER and LOUD

 

This will help....







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I got some other cool things in today as well (including my PT Cruiser Watt's Link) DDDenny! LOL

But I also got these bad**** little stainless steel header flanges...



These are specifically for the AFR SBF heads. There was a bit of an issue when it came to headers for this car. You see there are several companies out there that make a header for Cobras (both 289 and 427 models). However all of them are designed to exit the body just aft of the front wheel well and then turn into side pipes (which Cobra's) never had but the kit car industry made extremely popular! LOL.

I don't remember if I went over this already or not but in the case of the 289 Cobras (AND in particular the DragonSnakes) the headers exit in about the same area but instead of coming out of the body they come from underneath it. They turn out and run just about to the door and then end in standard header flange. However what you can not see is there is a "Y" there that sends a pipe off the header back under the car and into a standard looking exhaust system. I believe an 18" glass packs and then exhaust pipes on out the rear.

The deal, on the DragonSnakes, was the rules in NHRA Sports Car classes read that they car had to retain a standard exhaust system with mufflers etc. It did not say they had to use them, it just read they had to be on the car and hooked up. The gray area there allowed the dragon snakes to run open headers that were attached to a standard looking exhaust system with mufflers etc....LOL

For me to make headers drop far enough and exit the way I want, they will have to be custom built. I have a friend here in the area that is going to custom fab them for me. I am really excited because he is really good!

 

I consider myself an honest person but if pressed I'd have to lie about the application of that Watts piece, I'd be more comfortable saying its off a minivan.