Malcolm's Teksid Cobra rebuild thread

[MalcolmV8]

This thread suddenly needs a new title :burnout:

Nah we just swapping blocks with a few distractions on the side

Malcolm, consider a set of Mark Williams steel bearing caps for the diff to replace the aluminum "straps" and I'm sure an FFRP cover is a already on your shopping list. If your more of a road racer than a drag racer a Torson T2R will smooth power transfer to the wheels but no more clutch dumps. I would highly recommend doing the thrust washer mod to your delrin upper and lower A-arm bushings like I did on mine which requires some milling but provides better lateral load carrying capacity of the bushings.

............... just doing my part to assist in depleting your bank account I just love a good build thread :-D

Good info for the future. Stock diff cover going back on. I thought about the FFRP but it's $300 and I just can't justify it right now. Stock cover with a brace has lasted me some 10 or 11 years (I think my original only made it 1 year or 2 years). Really the IRS kicks ass for the most part. I had some woes in the begging, snapped a half shaft, cracked a diff cover, wheel hop. I've since cured and stopped all that. Some bushings to firm it up and I think I'm good.
Plus I have the idea of SRA on the brain.... not sure I want to do that just yet or if I'll even like it and go back to IRS so just staying put for now let it simmer for a while....

 

[Chipofsc]

Well when I first got the car I cracked the rear diff cover like a lot. Replaced it and installed a brace but then still fought wheel hop. Switched to drag radials full time years ago and wheel hop went away. With soft tires there's no wheel hop. So with no problems in hand the desire to tear the IRS apart and change bushings etc. faded on the back burner and has been there ever since lol.

I'm hoping it improves traction and handling of the rear a little.

I had the wheel hop problem with 315 nitto 555R drag radials. I have all the bushing upgrades and ford racing housing with brace. I even tried H&R race spring with air bags but no help. Switched to Nitto 555 radials 315 and lost all my wheel hop.. It spins now but the wheel hop is gone. I can deal with the spinning but the wheel hop was going to break something expensive.. Maybe drag radials help with stock motor cars because they wont spin them but my car would wheel hop in third gear. Its a lot of fun to drive now.

 

[MalcolmV8]

Been tinkering around with car some more while waiting on machine shop.

Pulled the meth system out. Such a nice fitting custom setup I had I almost just left it.

Actually bolted into existing holes and top of shock. No drilling required for installation.... not that drilling a hole or two ever stopped me

The tank and pump on their custom bracket system I had made.

How it goes together.

Next I looked under the car and decided I really don't like the return fuel hose under there. It's some old Pegasus Racing fuel hose from years ago when I was switching to PTFE and not many options were around. It was the nice black color I wanted at the time but the nylon braid doesn't offer a lot of support and the hose was kinking in some places. Not good for flow so I yanked it all and decided to replace it all with some -8 Fore hose.

Making some hoses

It was actually really nice and easy to run the new hose with the IRS out the car and also made for some nice pics. Notice where I put heat wrap on the hoses for exposure to exhaust heat.

Don't mind the -4 hose. That's not fuel, that's nitrous.

Some axles. Kinda random lol. Was putting the IRS back in the car when I snapped this. I got the rear suspension all back in the car.

You may have seen some of my past threads on the 2.9 Whipple crusher rubbing on the hood. Very annoying. I had cut out a piece of the hood to try and stop the issue but it was still touching. So I marked with a sharpie all that is in the way and needs to be taken care of.

Then I took a cut off wheel and removed it Problem solved!

Cleaned up area

Made a support system with some electrical tape... yes clearly I don't do body work for a living lol. Just making this up as I go.

Then fiberglassed it in.

Then proceeded to skin it with body filer. While I was at it I figured hell might as well patch all the million holes and divets all over the place and smooth it out some so I did.

Still needs some final sanding and clean up but is fairly close to been able to paint it back yellow and it should look like a factory clearance at the bottom for the Whipple.

 

[JeremyAlan]

Subbed. Build is coming along nicely!

 

[whitedevil95]

Wow great build thread!

 

[HuntFishCobra]

Oooh I like the hood work a lot!!

 

[gabe1530]

very nice work Malcom.

 

[jblood37]

It seems like you got the bug. Every time I do something small on my car, I end up ripping 10 more things out to clean or mod. :shrug: Have fun!

 

[MalcolmV8]

It seems like you got the bug. Every time I do something small on my car, I end up ripping 10 more things out to clean or mod. :shrug: Have fun!

LOL yeah it's how it goes

 

[CobraLucci]

This is awesome!!! I dig the hood mods!!

 

[MalcolmV8]

Been forever since updates here. Huge 3 month delay with the machine shop, uggg. Excuse after excuse, blame the piston manufacture, blame this, blame that lol. What a mess.

Anyways finally have some parts.

Block is back

Heads got ported.

One of the before pics

Later on

Some intake opening up

Stock lower intake manifold

Ported and gasket matched that too

Powder coated the valve covers and also powder coated a nice set of billet Terminator COP covers to finish of the look.

Got one of those True Forged IC tanks to go with the new killer chiller. Painting it and then covering with neoprene.

Deeper freeze plugs I had installed with a good sealant to hopefully prevent one from every blowing out which apparently is somewhat common on these aluminum blocks.

OK so next I got my son back on it. For those who haven't been following the thread and just catching up my 14 year old son tore down my motor and is building the new one. So first off I made him measure mains bore on the block with the caps installed and torqued down. Then measure crank journal and bearings and work out clearances.

I could tell he wasn't overly impressed lol. He found it tedious and I could tell by the look on his face kinda boring. Next I showed him the magic of plasti gauge. He liked that a lot more.

He got as far as validating all clearances and mostly installing the crank tonight. Next he needs to check/set crank end play but he's out for the next couple days. The anticipation is gonna kill me lol. He needs to get cracking!

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Nice build Malcom I for one think it's awesome your teaching your son and having him do it.

 

[MTBSully]

Nice build Malcom I for one think it's awesome your teaching your son and having him do it.

+1. Best way to learn. What are you using for clearance/torque values? Shop manual?

 

[MalcolmV8]

Nice build Malcom I for one think it's awesome your teaching your son and having him do it.

Yeah it's a really nice project for both of us. He's having a blast and learning so much and of course I love spending time with him.

+1. Best way to learn. What are you using for clearance/torque values? Shop manual?

Yes shop manual makes a great baseline but there are a lot of variances when doing a project like this. Some of it from experience, some out of high performance 4.6 books, different hardware (like ARP fasteners) and of course what the machine shop has done.
For example the rod bolts. I have ARP 2000s in there. The manual calls for 55 ft/lb with 30 weight engine oil as I recall, ARP says 42 ft/lbs with ultra torque ARP lube. However my machine shop found 50 ft/lbs is where it was with ARP lube while checking the bolts with a stretch gauge and that's what he torqued them to when he honed them to perfect roundness and clearance for the bearings. So now when we assemble the rods we need to follow his procedure specifically or the journals will be out of round where they attach to the crank.

Another example is the side bolts on your main caps for the crank. My specific teksid (jack screws in the block) calls for 18 ft/lbs on those bolts. My machine shop torqued them to 25 ft/lbs because that's what he believes is best from talking to other high end 4.6 engine builders (so he says). I don't know that it makes any difference but regardless of what I think we need to do the same on assembly or the mains will be out of round because that's where he had it when line honing the block.

 

[PWORLDSTANG]

Very nice progress. Short block and IRS out and upgrade at the same time? Beast Mode! Lol.

Glad to see things are still moving forward.

 

[MalcolmV8]

Very nice progress. Short block and IRS out and upgrade at the same time? Beast Mode! Lol.

Glad to see things are still moving forward.

LOL well IRS wasn't supposed to come out but the machine shop took so long we got bored and yanked it.

 

[stuntstere]

What machine shop did you end up using Malcom?

 

[MalcolmV8]

What machine shop did you end up using Malcom?

You know what they totally sucked in customer service and every time I spoke to the guy I got a completely different story, nothing but lies. He would also avoid my calls and I'd have to call from a friends phone to speak to them. I also had a few issues and getting him to fix them was like pulling teeth. I don't want to drag this thread down with bashing his shop so I'll keep the name quiet. If you want to PM me and know who to avoid going to I'll gladly pass it on.

 

[Snake Plissken]

My hat's off to you sir for allowing your son to participate in your motor build.

He's only 14, bummer. No drivers license. I'm sure he's made mention of that. Guess what he wants to drive...

Just wondering, you guys have required emissions testing in KC, right?

 

[MalcolmV8]

My hat's off to you sir for allowing your son to participate in your motor build.

He's only 14, bummer. No drivers license. I'm sure he's made mention of that. Guess what he wants to drive...

Just wondering, you guys have required emissions testing in KC, right?

Lol oh yeah he wants a fox body bad. No emissions testing here thank goodness. Well technically you're supposed to have cats when they do a visual inspection is about it. You go to the right place and they kindly over look that minor detail.