MY SHELBY COBRA PROJECT
YEAR 2002 THE FIRST IN A LONG SERIES OF MODIFICATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ORIGINAL CAR, MIRRORS, SILL PLATES, FRESH AIR VENTS, AND ALARM.
It's January, 2002. For the life of me I can't seem to let the car alone even thought it's winter. I decided to tackle the problem of the sideview mirrors. Anyone who has ever driven a cobra can attest to the fact that the Talbot mirrors mounted on the fenders just don't do a very good job. No matter where and how I attempted to mount the mirrors I just couldn't place them so I could see over the rear fender hump. It was bad enough on the driver's side but absolutely impossible on the passenger side. I certainly didn't want to drill holes in my brand new fenders especially if the mirrors weren't going to work they way they were intended. While scanning Enzo Alibrandi's Finish Line Site I noticed a nifty bracket to attach a Raydyot mirror to the side of the windshield post like the competition cars did. I figured the mirrors were mounted that way in order to provide good rear viewing. Rather than purchase for $20 each I decided to make them myself out of some 1/8 inch thick aluminum stock. I cut out the brackets with a sabre saw, then ground and sanded the edges smooth. After bead blasting the brackets to a satin finish I clearcoated them with clear epoxy. In order to get the passenger side mirror to line up properly I placed a 30* bend in the bracket as shown in the third photo. The driver's side bracket worked fine leaving it flat. Because the mirrors are mounted high enough there is no longer any obstructed view down the body lines of the car on either side.
Having recently noticed that the original cobras had polished aluminum or stainless door sill plates I decided to add this feature to my car. While on one of my frequent safaris to Home Depot I spied in the carpet department something I thought would work perfectly, a 1 1/4" wide seaming strip. I bought two of the 36" strips for $2.29 each. All I had to do was chamfer the nail holes for the screws and use #8x3/8 stainless steel oval head self tapping screws. I formed the strips to the proper contour using the propane gas bottle from my outdoor grill which was approximately the same radius as the door opening. I finished off the door opening edges with black push-on windlace to cover the remaining exposed edges of the fiberglass. Considering the minimal cost and working time I thought the addition of these sill plates was a very attractive project.
The final winter project is to plumb fresh air vents into the footboxes. Even though Cobra Restorers has all the fittings, ductwork, and cables available, the cost is prohibitive so I decided to look elsewhere. First, I went back to Marvin with my ideas and he just happened to have a mold for the brake vent adapter that would use 3" defroster duct, better than purchasing a pair for $99.00. He is casting a pair of duct adapters for me. Next, I needed shutoff valves to mount on the top of the footboxes. Original flapper valve types cost $139 each, a little steep for me. I decided to adapt a 3" blast gate ($11.95) from my local HVAC supplier. Blast gates function as shutoff valves in hose lines and come as two cast aluminum halves with a metal blade sandwiched in between looking almost like a guillotine. I disassembled the blast gate and use one half for each of my valves. I discarded the galvanized blades and fabricated replacements out of thin stainless steel sheet. I mounted each blast gate half and its stainless blade on a 4x8" piece of aluminum stock ($2.50 @ from my local metal supplier). See the photos below for visual hints. The gate is mounted using 10-24 machine screws inserted in tapped holes in the mounting plate. The extra length of the mounting plate allows the shutoff valve and the operating cable to be mounted as a single assembly. The 10-24 x 1" screws also will mount the assembly to the footbox. Using a template to mark the positions for the mounting I will cut a 3" diameter hole in the roof of the footbox and four 1/4" mounting holes. The cables ($4.99 @ from Pep Boys) will pass through the firewall and mount on the dashboard. The 3" defroster duct ($9.95 @ 6 ft. length from J.C. Whitney) will travel from the brake duct along the upper inner recess of the fender well out of reach of the tire, through a hole at the rear of the fender well to the shutoff valve. A worm type hose clamp at each end will secure the hose. Total estimated cost for this project is still less than $50.00. Had I purchased the parts from Cobra Restorers the cost would have exceeded $550.00.
On June 20, 2002 thanks to George Cifuentes of Tabernacle, NJ my car is now equipped with a Viper Alarm complete with perimeter sensor and voice alert to remind curious onlookers to keep a safe distance. Next will be a hidden sound system called Secret Audio from Custom-Autosound. The entire system including the 6 CD Changer will be mounted in the trunk behind the center trim panel with only access to the CD changer visible.
Cobra Page 4, 2003 Big Modifications
Cobra Page 5, 2005-2006 Modifications