Thanks for watching over the years, the Cobra has now been sold and the garage is empty, for a little while anyway :-)

Some little changes over the summer. Two new seats, as the 'proper' Cobra seats were very uncomfortable. Wind wings and sun visors to reduce the wind round the windscreen when going over about 20 mph. New exhaust baffles to alter (cough!) the exhaust note a bit. A new steering column mount and bulkhead bearing have been fitted to greatly reduce the slack in the steering system. Plus a new steering wheel is on order as I managed to drop the existing one whilst doing the steering column and cut the leather quite badly.

It has now been on the road for a whole year, on its second engine, fourth seat, second steering wheel and eighth gear lever collar bolt. It's been polished 5 time this year and is in need of another as soon as the weather cheers up a bit.

Just passed it's MoT and been re taxed for another exciting year, let's hope I have more time and better weather to do more than 700 miles in the next 12 months.

The car has been out on a couple of runs recently, one to jolly old Rochester and one to a club run near Biggin Hill.

It needs some wind wings for the screen and some sun visors to deflect wind around the passengers - these have been ordered. It is also in need of some larger exhaust baffles as the current ones are stifling the engine ;-) These have been purchased and are awaiting fitting.

A couple of trim bits need to be finished off and an adjustment made to the throttle position. The choke has been fitted.

If anyone is interested it will be on the Cobra Replica Club stand at this years Detling show on Easter Sunday.

Probably about time for an update.

The car has been in the garage keeping itself nice and dry and relatively warm.

Actually it's been out a couple of times, once on Xmas day actually. It has just had it's HT leads finally replaced for the new ones that came with the engine and I'm looking at fitting the choke cable to help with fast idle when it's cold. It still needs to be lowered a bit.

I have just been told the car is up and running again, but due to somewhat inclement weather it could be Monday before I can collect it.

Tech specs for the engine are :

355 HP CHEVROLET 350

This 350 Chevrolet utilises a new or re-machined four-bolt main bearing block, and produces dramatically increased power output when compared to the standard engine. This is achieved by increased compression, high flow aluminium cylinder heads, and a performance camshaft.
Cylinder heads - aluminium assembly – high performance and reduce weight
Compression ratio - 9.5:1 (approx.)Camshaft - performance hydraulic with .468” INT and .480” EXH valve lift
Engine assembly fitted with:
* Aluminium dual plane intake
* HEI electronic distributor with vac. advance
* Iron water pump
* Chrome crank and water pump pulleys
* Damper assembly
* Edelbrock 600cfm carburettor
* Roller tip rockers
* 14” Chrome air cleaner
* Internal regulated alternator
* Chrome alternator mount
* Performance ignition wire set and spark plugs
* Oil filter and mount
* Engine mounts
* Thermostat and chrome housing
* Starter Motor

So the engine tune went well! Not ;-(

Turns out the engine had suffered a bit too much since it was rebuilt back in 1999 and is now mostly rusty inside. Water ways were blocked and valves were either stuck or not sealing leading to no compression and pressure leaks into the water system.


So rather than try to recovger teh situation a new enging has ben acquired and will be winging its way back the Cobra over the next few days. Hopefully then we can finally get it out on the road properly.



Bang goes my Xmas presents for the next few years ;-)

The Cobra is currently at the engine tuners, in the mean time the garage is full of a Dax Rush ;-)

The garage cam is still on occasionally and progress on the Rush can be seen here.

Well that's it! Finished, MoT'd, SVA'd, Registered, Taxed and insured. It has just had it's first 'proper' run on public roads, I still have to work out what to do with 4th and 5th gears!!

It now just needs a full engine tune up, the stone guards fitting to the rear arches and another wash and polish.

Now that the Cobra is pretty much finished, some of you may have already noticed that the garage cam has changed.

The Cobra has been moved to a secure location so the next project can be started.

In the mean time you can can continue to see what goes on in the garage via the web cam and Thomas' Blog which is here.

Before we finish here I thought it would be nice to see who has actually been visiting (amongst the almost 5000 hits) so I've set up a guest book which you can sign if you wish, any information you leave will stay with me and feel free to use nick names etc.

To sign my guest book please visit here.

To view my guest book please visit here.

The next big date coming up is 28th October when the DVLA wish to 'inspect' my car and then issue a registration number. It can then be taken on the road.

Why is it that whenever you take a really good picture there's always something left in the background. Roll on the number plates and the sunshine!

The full picture is here.

DVLA now have all the relevant documentation to issue a registration document and hence number plate and road tax. There will be one final examination to confirm the cars details for registration then we should be just about ready to put it away for the winter until it warms up a bit.

In the mean time - just in case Mr VOSA is reading - I've been fixing a few thing suggested at the SVA that would benefit the car. Above is the re-routing of the ignition wires away from the very hot exhaust, the final connection now protected by a nut cover.

And below an additional mounting to provide extra stability to the rear fuel pipe.

Here's a picture the end of one project an the beginning of another. The Cobras penultimate trailer journey and the start of the Dax Rush project in the background.

I received 2 more forms to complete today and I'm about to arrange yet another inspection - this time with the DVLA, this is more administrative so there's no fail as such. The result will be a registration number and that means it can be driven on the road anywhere.

It has today passed its SVA.

I just need to go and see the DVLA to get a registration number.

All done, just waiting for the SVA on Wednesday.

Dashboard is back in and everything seems to work, except the white Voltmeter which is still awaited from Dax.

I have adjusted the speedo to assume 8 magnets instead of 2 and it seems quite steady at 70 (no wheels on, it was just run off the ground). I have also adjusted the fuel sender so it shows around half a tank full which is slightly under what's in there. Just need to replace the steering shaft to the steering rack and put the wheels back on.

Then I'd better run through the failure list and double check before Wednesday 15th Oct.

Hopefully that's a compliant gear knob!!