The Jenny (Craig) Chronicles -AKA DOOM

[RobNoLimit]

The first step was to move the mid and front of the body 3" forward, so now the cockpit is 3" longer, and the wheelbase is 96". Initially I had a 4" spacer block in front of the headlight center, now it has a 1" spacer. You can see the second hole that is 2" outboard on the front body riser. All of the alignment strips are in place and ready to go. Time for more carvin.

[iadr]

Also, did you consider the Corvette setup with the torque tube and rear mounted trans? Not sure if that would help with some of the footwell issues from engine/trans placement.

Either way, can't wait to see more of this. I'm sure you'll make the Cobra right.

I think you'd trade bootwell issues for ... umm, butt-well issues, just based on how tightly these cars are packaged. lol

I'm sorry if I came off negative with prior posts. I'm interested, too. Like at least one poster to this thread, I ...tried and failed to figure out how to make this style of car work for me.

And as far as your anatomic comparison goes, these car are roided-up 5'1" female body builders.

[RobNoLimit]

That was scary, but it went just fine. From the hood forward I cut it right down the middle, and now there is a 4" gap. Behind the hood and back to the dash, I cut it in two places. This looked the best way to keep the arch over the center. And anyway, with all of this glass work, what's one more cut. The mount points and alignment strips worked perfect and all of the cutting and moving only took about an hour. Planning pays off. I tried to get picts of the front/rear sight lines over the side of the body, I hope it makes sense in the picts. There is now only about a 1/2" difference in wheel opening width from front to back, and i think it looks great. I'm just not looking forward to the glass work.

[brawls43]

I think the 8.8 is a good choice, just making sure you had heard of the other options. Its hard to beat the options and value of the 8.8 center sections.

Wow, the cuts look good. A little wider is really going to make this thing look mean! I agree with iadr, I think those of us who thought about Cobra builds, but ditched them after we sat in one, are really going to follow this and be jealous.

On a side note, can you maybe adjust the title of your thread? The parentheses mess up the link when you get emails about new posts.

[I_make_oil]

I am REALLY enjoying this thread. A Cobra is high up on my want list. This project is giving me lots of ideas. Looking forward to watching it go together.

[RobNoLimit]

I think you'd trade bootwell issues for ... umm, butt-well issues, just based on how tightly these cars are packaged. lol

I'm sorry if I came off negative with prior posts. I'm interested, too. Like at least one poster to this thread, I ...tried and failed to figure out how to make this style of car work for me.

And as far as your anatomic comparison goes, these car are roided-up 5'1" female body builders.

I didn't see any negatives, I guess the desert sun makes us a little more thick skinned. Negative around here is like "that guy's just a dumb $h1t" and even that, if said with a smile is not all bad. Any input is appreciated. So Thank you for being interested. HAHA, 5'1".....

[RobNoLimit]

I think the 8.8 is a good choice, just making sure you had heard of the other options. Its hard to beat the options and value of the 8.8 center sections.

Wow, the cuts look good. A little wider is really going to make this thing look mean! I agree with iadr, I think those of us who thought about Cobra builds, but ditched them after we sat in one, are really going to follow this and be jealous.

On a side note, can you maybe adjust the title of your thread? The parentheses mess up the link when you get emails about new posts.


I am REALLY enjoying this thread. A Cobra is high up on my want list. This project is giving me lots of ideas. Looking forward to watching it go together.

This is the same way I felt, and I think a lot of others have had the same thoughts about the Cobra platform. I see the future, and to be competitive will require a light, nimble, and very responsive car. The Clamor approach of Big HP, Big Tires, and Big Wide Platform have been effective and will get you in the top 10, but the future will belong to finely crafted Fencing Blades. I could have gone the 'Vette route like the current crowd, they may be smarter, as there is no doubt that that is a much easier build. But, what fun would that be. It's been a lot of fun seeing the crop of Camaro drivers wonder how fast the Truck will be at a given event, and I hope it will be as much fun seeing the "Vette club shake from the Snake.

[RobNoLimit]

Got in a few parts and played with the rear brakes last night. The Rotor is from Speedway Motors, it's a circle track item for Open Wheel Mods. -these cars usually weight 3200 lbs +/-. The rotors measure out to be 11.75" x .810" and weight 5.6 lbs. I have some experience with this stuff, and I can tell you that they work just fine, and feel just like a normal 11.75" brake. But, they will get hot on a long run, so cooling is a must. Also, they don't last too long. If I ran this set up on the car for a full season of driving, auto-x and track days, they'll be smoked. - Good news is they're cheap. about $70 bucks a rotor (almost less than good pads), so a new set each season won't kill the bank. The rotor hat is from U.S. Brake - I bought them from Speedway also in the "Garage Sale" section, $20 bucks each. The hats were 1/2" thick on the top surface, which took up more of the wheel stud than I really liked, So I cut them down to .320" thick, and cut them true just to be sure. The hats weigh less than 1/2 a pound. So, now the Upright assembly with rotor and hat is up to 16 lbs. I'm still doing some research on calipers, but it looks like I can get calipers and pads under 4 lbs, so the entire outer assembly, less wheel, tire and halfshaft will be under 20 lbs.

[brawls43]

Going to do TBM calipers or try to stick to something Ford? A sneaky fun 4 piston aluminum caliper is from '96 Lexus LS400's. Sorry for all the Toyota stuff, just happen to have used it on our race car. Pad selection is poor on the LS400, but places like Porterfield will make whatever you want. We run Raybestos ST43 pads from Porterfield. But its a 9lb caliper for 12.4" diameter and 1.1" thick rotor. Lots of fun aluminum 4 pots out there though.

[wfo guy]

Rob, I fully agree with your glass statement. I start itching just thinking about it. Is there a need to glue some core mat under the seams for reinforcement? My thought has always been that if the chassis is rigid enough, the body stays in shape forever. But can the chassis be too rigid in a car like this?

[RobNoLimit]

Rob, I fully agree with your glass statement. I start itching just thinking about it. Is there a need to glue some core mat under the seams for reinforcement? My thought has always been that if the chassis is rigid enough, the body stays in shape forever. But can the chassis be too rigid in a car like this?

I don't think so. When I get to the chassis, I'm going to try something new (for me anyway) and the whole concept is centered around making it strong and light. Hold the chassis still and let the suspension do the work.

[RobNoLimit]

An update to the build cart. Now that I have the body cut, and I'm looking at how I'm going to lay in the new glass, I have a lot of work to do upside down. And gravity is not going to be helping me on this one. So, it would be nice to turn the body over, but I can't cut it loose from the cart. So, the cart needs to turn. I want to be able to use it as a build cart, or a rotisserie, so I am trying to make it modular. - and not so permanent. I drilled 2" holes with a hole saw (man that's loud) right on the center line, to fit in 2" x .188 tubing lengths that I had. I also had some 2 1/2" x .250 DOM that I cut some sleeves from. The 2 1/2" was so snug that I had to cut .015" on the ID on the lathe so it would slip over the 2" and rotate easily. More picts on this later.

[RobNoLimit]

I've also been studying and working on the wheel openings. I know that these cars were designed in '64 or so, but it's 2015 now, and we all expect a little more. With concerns for visual appeal and aero, I think this is one area I will have to work on. I mean, I already cut it in half, why not go farther. I am pretty well set on a tire that is 24.5" O.D. +/-, and with a mock up in the wheel opening, there is a huge amount of air space in front of, and behind the tire. The leading face of all four tires is also un-shrouded from the wind, and aero nightmare. Half of the air that hits the tire face will want to go 'in' into the wheel well and under the car, that's no good. So I have been studying 'Vette's, BMW's, Jag's and Austin Martins. They all have a slight eliptical opening that is fairly close to the tire's radius. I started a drawing with a circle with a 12.75 radius, then into an ellipse that is 27.5" wide on the horizontal axis. Then from the from the centerline down, I pulled the arc open progressively away from the tire. OK, so I have this drawing of an arc that I like, but it's 24" high and 28" wide. cutting out four of these will eat up a full sheet of material. So I section the drawing into three parts and stacked them, and got everything to make four arch templates out of a single 24" x 48" sheet. -more to come

[RobNoLimit]

Here are some of the models for my case study on wheel openings.

[rustomatic]

I like the engineering in this build--it's what makes sites like this cool. It's interesting that your wheelbase sounds like that of a C4 Corvette (96 inches?), which I guess was proven to be an effective length for various purposes, for many years . . .

[GrabberGT]

I like the engineering in this build--it's what makes sites like this cool. .

Ditto! Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

[RobNoLimit]

Rack update. I fabbed up some end stands from some overstock material. On one end I drilled 6 holes to pin the cart in a certain position. I was surprised how easy it is to rotate the cart/body. The stands simply slide on/off of the cart, so it is easy to change the work set up. I'll get some picts of it rotated later.

[RobNoLimit]

Back to the body shape. The wheel arch templates are tacked together. I will be following the outside shape. It looks 'tall and skinny' in the picts, but I can assure you that the arch is wider than it is tall. I added standoffs to the cart spaced evenly for and aft of the axle centerlines, and made up some riser tabs to set the elevation of the wheel arch. Most of this work is to help me get the body even and squared up on all four corners. - and I can tell you that it wasn't that close before. With a mock up tire in place you can get some idea, but still can't really see the fit from the tire to the outside edge. Hanging the templates over the body before I cut the OE lips off showed how much different it will be. I hope it turns out OK.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

This is bada$$. But..... don't you need a rendering first! What's this beast going to look like?

[RobNoLimit]

This is bada$$. But..... don't you need a rendering first! What's this beast going to look like?

That may help, but I doubt I would stick to the plan. Yesterday while working on the body shaping, I decided to cut the door opening and make the door longer, moving the back half of the opening back 3". The stumbling block with this decision is that I have to make doors now. And, I already have to make the hood. I'm stacking up more spare Cobra parts than I wanted to, but.... BTW, thanks for the blessing.

when I do a project like this I start gathering pictures of things that inspire me and that I might incorporate into the project. I still print, or cut them out, and put them in a little note book for the project. Cars, art, motorcycles, airplanes, machinery, women, nature, ..... that works better for me that a rendering.