I also started to work on the Motor. I found I was missing more sensors and mounts. Another trip to Ford Monday.

Dad is off to Wisconsin and will not be back to next weekend, so my job will be painting and cleaning. What fun! That's fine, maybe in the extra week our stuff might show up. With this last trip to Ford, I think we will have everything we need. The only thing I can think of so far might be some heater hose and some bolts for stuff.

I also added a picture of the family to the Who are we? section. I guess I should have cleaned up a bit! We are sporting our Cool Factory Five Shirts, and Jackets. As you can see, the color of the Cobra on the back matches what ours will look like!

After I get some things painted up nicely, I'll get some picts.

Oh, and I forgot, I talked to a very helpful Mustang guy in the area on Friday, I'll post his name after I get the OK from him. He seems to be a die hard Mustang fan and is looking into buying a FFR Cobra. He had been reading up on my site and helped straigten out some of the thoughts I had in my head. I want to confirm some ideas I had this weekend before I go saying things that I might take back. Like the Fuel lines and such. Basically, we have all the parts to run a AN6 line from the tank and back, but I'm not too sure if that is a bad idea. After spending all the time trying to get the T-rex fitted, I really don't want to have to try again to get it to a AN8. I'll ask about that tomorrow. After looking at the brake lines, I believe we will try and hookup some braided lines. They look so good and we will have almost everything setup with it, It would almost be a shame not to. So off I will go to see about the fittings and length tomorrow.

February 26
So much has happened over the past few days. Lets see. We picked up the Donor parts yesterday!

Snow was coming down as you can see. We unloaded it and went over the parts to see what we had. After inventory, we were very disappointed! We were missing several parts. Stuff like the Inertia switch, gauges, switches, Radiator Shroud, evaporation canister,  gas pedal, Some hoses and various other things. So today I called up Greg and asked if he knew why. It appears he misunderstood what I needed from the Donor, which was everything, minus the Engine, transmission, and rear end, BUT I do need all the hardware from each of those, like Alternator, starter, Rear brakes lines ... After a fax to him saying what I was missing, He agreed he would send the stuff out and I would be happy to pay for the shipping since the confusion.

I also went to Ford today and ordered me up some bolts. Yes, exciting bolts, I have several parts to put on my engine, but need bolts to hook them up with! Tonight was a fun filled night of cleaning parts. Man I got messy! between the gallon or so of gas in the tank, the brake housing still having fluid and the incredible amount  of fluid in a steering rack. I made a big mess.

I finally posted the exciting picture of the battery installed. How wonderful. And as you can see, don't interrupt me when I'm sanding! Nice face huh? As you can see, we have alot of the rivet holes made, now we wait for more parts. Luckily we are winding down on parts needed. pretty much the rest of the stuff will be "oops, I forgot the bolt that hooks the "thingy" to that".

Now I must clean up a bit and get to bed. I will have a long day tomorrow. We plan on going to Ford and ordering more parts I forgot today. I'll be sure to let you know what they were soon. After a good long discussion with a new friend today, we are changing back to Braided AN8/AN6 lines, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow!

February 23
Today we got some of the stuff from Steeda. Fuel Rails, clutch, Starter, distributor, Rear disks, brake pads, Clutch fork, and so on. It was good to have stuff show up!

Confirmed and located our Donor parts! They are in Martinsburg, WV. Roadway said it was a major hub and did not have the ability for a pick-up. Dad and I were all set to make a trip. They did say that it should be in Alexandria tomorrow or Thursday. Guess where we plan on stopping on the way home!

Lastly we got a call from Factory Five. They are sending us a prerelease version of their new manual. We are happy to get anything that will help us with the project. We also got the replacement Seat belt that was missing from the kit today. Funny the stuff I could wait on we get right away. No big deal, we will have tons of work to do this weekend painting and all.

Lastly I ordered a bunch or stuff from Summit. Stuff like New braided AN4 line and AN6 connectors for the FMU, Fuel shutoff and Filter. Should be here in a couple days.

February 21
This being the last day of the weekend, I can look back and say things moved quite well.

Lets step back a couple of days, and let me see what I remember ... Everything promised before the weekend was not sent. Lapointe, after a couple of calls said I should be getting our parts Monday  or Tuesday, yet when I called the shipper, they had no record of it being sent. We will see.

Factory Five,  well everything promised to ship before Friday, was not, no excuse, no scheduled ship date. Steeda, Parts shipped, but no delivery. Still waiting to find out if they will replace my oil pan that got damaged during shipping.

Enough bad mouthing. We actually kept pretty busy. Saturday, all day, we spent going to look at stuff for the Cobra. First we went to a place called Speed Unlimited. We picked up a few things, and after discussion with the team there, we decided to change from a AN8/AN6 setup to a AN6/AN4. We are able to find AN6 fittings that match much better to the stock Mustang/Vortech setup. We found fittings to hookup to the FMU and the T-rex. Big relief, now we just have to hookup the Fuel rails and FPR when they show up from Steeda.

We also got a Proportion valve for the brakes. We were going to look into how to set it up, however we kept quite busy today with drilling holes in panels. And drilling we did, my friends came over and they helped quite a bit. We drilled the Passenger and Driver side floors and footboxes. It took most of the day. One thing we found, maybe we have bad luck, but we spent a lot of time trimming panels and cleaning up welds. We found several panels just were not fitting flush to the frame because of some welds. Just a bit of work.

One thing I should say is drilling panels and fitting them is quite a bit of work. But, since we did not rivet them, I did not take any pictures. I will however take some when things become more permanent.

Hopefully we will have more stuff showing up over the next couple days. Hopefully when the stuff shows up, we can start making decisions about the brakes and fuel lines.

February 17
Things are going pretty good. If you consider not touching the car! I called up Greg LaPointe today and he said the parts were shipped yesterday. That gives me a little boost, been overwhelming the amount of parts to coordinate. Just after one gets almost figured out, Dad says, "What about braided brake lines?"  We will have to see.

After lengthy discussions with Steeda today I believe we got most of the stuff figured out and ordered, at least that is what I thought before I started to look at the clutch and all. First, missing a few bolts, the clutch rod, or what ever the name, and after a closer look, no clutch! Back to the phones tomorrow.

I got a few names and numbers of people to call about the AN fittings, I can't wait to get all the parts from Steeda and LaPointe, just to start checking the inventory. Once I have all the fuel components I'll start figuring out the fittings I need.

I will start taking pictures of our stuff and progress as soon as we start some interesting stuff. Past couple of days Dad has been painting stuff like the quick jacks and the rear end. He has also been working on taking of the writing off all those aluminum panels. Me, well I've been reading alot about braided hoses and Brakes, which Dad is planning to upgrade, today I spent alot of time checking what I am missing from the Tranny to engine.

I did not realize how much work it is to try and keep the Costs up to date. However, I will say I'm very happy I'm not putting tools and supplies in the list, everyday Dad comes home with more "toys" to see.

February 15
Today Dad talked to David Smith about our stuff that is still due. David said everything including the wheels will be shipped by the end of the week. I'm quite suprised to hear that. Guess we will see.

I called back Steeda and checked on the missing fuel rails, there were other things I forgot and now ordered, like a starter, and new alternator. The list will be updated as it comes.

Aside from that we drilled the bottom trunk aluminum tonight. Kind of short night, I've been talking to several people about how to connect my T-rex to a AN 8 fitting, so far no help.

February 14
Thomas admitted his Cobra was done! I can't speak for everyone, but I know I'll miss seeing his updates. The whole family wishes him the best in the future with his Cobra!

Today was not too eventful. Since we are still waiting on the Donor parts, all Dad and I could do was install the battery tray and put in the battery. Not too bad, Thing we found was the Optima battery was quite tall and almost did not fit in the mounts! Suprised us. But after that we were feeling a little adventurous and put a couple of panels up and drilled the holes. First putting the panels in place where Factory Five had screwed them in for shipping, then marking the underside closest to the frame with a marker, then removing the panels. This gives a great template for finding the center of the beam you are about to drill. Next we measured out 2 inch Drill holes  in the aluminum and drilled them out. Then taking the panel and placing it back on the car, we used the clekos and set the panels back in place and drilled the holes in the frame. Mom wanted it stated that she put a few glekos in! She wants it known she is being helpful and all! After a panel was all drilled we took it back off and started another one. We only did panels we knew were not going to effect others or our production. We drilled the Firewall, the two F panels in the front and the top trunk panel. The top trunk panel gave us a bit of grief, aside from the difficulty of just putting it in, was the fact it just did not fit right. Maybe it was the weld on the frame, maybe it was the cut of the aluminum, but we decided it needed attention. So after filing down some of the welds and taking an eighth of an inch off the aluminum of the passenger side rear coil-over shock bracket, the piece fit fine.

We also put the front and rear coil over shocks together. The manual does not show how it is done, just a completed picture so I decided to look at the pictures I took from the Cobra class, and guess what, I had a great picture that showed how things went together.

The problem was there was a rubber grommet and nut that just did not fit into the picture and could not be seen in the manual. So as I found out by this picture, the Grommet, seen under the second spring coil, went inside and the nut was just below the mount, acting as a lock against the mounting unscrewing itself. Something that should be documented better for those of us with little knowledge of these shocks.

Tomorrow will be a fun filled day of checking on some missing parts from Steeda and the call to see where our donor parts are!
 

February 13
The day of delivery has befallen us! As you remember, Dad and Mom went to Factory Five Friday, while I stayed home and picked up the engine. I kept the digital camera, and Mom took a regular camera, so it might take a while to post those picts. Well, let me backtrack to yesterday.

After calling Consolidated Freight to confirm the engine was in Manassas, I arranged my pick-up at 1 pm. So, after ditching out of work, I headed out and picked it up.  I then ran over to the local rental place to get to a Engine hoist.  Then I went home to start moving the engine. I noticed a nasty cold front coming though and thought I better start opening it before I got wet, rather then wait for the help to show up after 5. Looking for an excuse? Maybe so!

A                                               B                                               C

D                                               E                                                F

As you can see by picture B, the storm was fast on my heals! I may be a little prejudice, but that is a pretty engine!

G                                                H                                                I
 
I  just beat the storm! The temp outside dropped almost 30 degrees and started to rain! A couple hours later My friends got out of work, and we lowered it onto a engine cradle we had bought.

Now Mom and Dad kept me up to date as things progressed. Basically, they got up at 3:30 Friday morning and headed up. They got there about 11:30 and picked up the Ryder truck. Next to Factory Five, I guess they got another tour and a couple of guys loaded up the truck while they are gone. Of course things were not available for pickup, the list includes:
The certificate of Origin
Center section (Wheel emblem)
Straight Tube assembly
Accelerator cable (remember the longer one is now standard in the kit)
17" wheels (Big suprise)
Tubular Lower Front Control arms (Another big suprise)
Bump steer sleeve
Seat track nuts
and The convertible Soft top

Not too bad, They also did not have the New manuals or Movie that is suppose to be standard too. Everything but the wheels were promised in a week and let me tell you, my Dad can be quite a pain in the ... when people give him a date. We will see!

Mom and Dad left about 3:30 and started to head back home! They called several times along the way to give their progress, which was very bad! (Hit Rush hour in New York City!) Well, after stopping to meet up the a Factory Five owner I had talked to on the Cobra Forum, they were on their way again. Eric ? and I had been talking, he had a set of damaged side pipes and I told him we would not need ours since we had our set form Mike Mack and be happy to drop  them off for him. I was a little disappointed to sell them, I thought they would look quite good on my Cavalier!
Well, the story was told to me they got in just a few minutes before 3 AM, I was long asleep. They braved the New York traffic and a broken windshield wiper to get home for today!

Today was quite exciting!
J                                                K                                               L

M                                              N                                               O

After a couple of photos of the stuff we were ready to start unloading our Cobra. After moving out the boxes, we got our neighbor over and we tried picking up the chassis, but with three of us and my Mom, we felt it was too heavy, especially for Mom, so we decided to take the body and aluminum off, making for a much lighter chassis. Well first problem, the manual does not say it, but you really need to take the trunk aluminum out. We tried leaving them in, but just ended up bending them. So after removing them, more friends showed up and we had enough people to get the body off and put it on the body buck.

Pictures O and M being pictures of my old high school friend coming over to help and see our kit before heading off to California.  As I told him, anyone that helps will have a picture taken, and since I won't be seeing him for a while, better take them now.

Pictures N and O are some of the aluminum. Things look much different then they do on the old chassis we saw at the Cobra class. I was very surpassed by the little piece of aluminum in O, so I thought I better take a picture for the future.

After the aluminum was off, we picked up the chassis and put it in the garage. Once that was in, we could shut the garage door and turn the heat on, Way too windy and cold today! So after getting the body up on stands, we had a brief  lunch and returned the Ryder and the engine hoist we had rented.

First on my agenda, check what we got! I wanted to see if I could find anything that was supposed to be there and was not. I did not want to get held up on something stupid. Well, the only thing I found is we have 3 shoulder harnesses and 1 lap belt. Small error, but no big deal. Aside from that everything appeared there.

While I was doing this, Dad was doing some touch up painting of the chassis. There were several scratches on the frame, a few from us, but I had noticed alot when it showed up, probably shipping and all.

It's way past bed time, so I post this and setup some more stuff for tomorrow!

February 11
Good news, Sort of, our engine from Steeda is just down the road! But ... of course there is a but. We decided since I would not be getting to Factory Five until 4 plus in the evening, I'd stay home and get the engine. I'm not too sure how happy I am about this, I guess I'd prefer to go get the car, and get the engine Monday but, so is life.

That being said, Mom and Dad promised to take picts as well, I'll be taking a few picts of the Engine delivery. What I'll be doing is taking our Dakota to the loading dock to have put on the truck. Then I'll get a hoist or something from the local rental place to get it off the truck. Of course I've enlisted the help of a few friends, at the cost of dinner!  Well, I'll have to let you know how it goes, and if I don't get too bloody knuckled tomorrow, I'll post some picts.

We got the braided fuel lines and sealed battery from Summit today. That stuff looks so cool!

Greg Lapoint told me the same thing he's told me for the last week, "Should be shipped tomorrow". The rate we are going, everything will be here except the donor by the end of next week, I hope the rest of the donor parts show up soon, we have a lot of work to do before we can even attempt to put this car together.

I also talked to Steeda today and after no persuading, I ordered a new set of slotted rotors and better brakes for the front, with matching rotors for the back. Of course I'll be exchanging the new rear disk conversion kit rotors for the new slotted ones. Of course these are supposed to be better then stock. I'm such a sucker! That's OK, Dad likes getting all these new parts.  I hope!

February 10
Updated the Costs page, Dad is having fun. Almost everyday he gets something new, or something shows up. Today we got the stuff from the Finish Line. What cool stuff! We are going to try and use the Lucas Switches. Funny, we are using all the New, high tech gauges, yet Dad wants to use the old switches. Go figure.

Well, my boss screwed up and to make a long story short, I'll be working a half day friday and catching a flight to Providence to meet my parents to pick up the Cobra. Dad called ahead and made arrangements to pick up the Cobra Friday rather then Saturday. If my trip goes sour, Mom will take pictures for us. Man that would make me angry! My boss screws up and I pay for it, seams like that happens more to me then I'd like.

Hold the pity party and get a grip! Sorry, anyway, I'll try and get lots of photos and I'll be sure to post them.

February 7
The day is near! Less then a week and we will have our Cobra home!

The past couple of days have been very busy, working on getting my car ready to put out side, installing a T-rex pump and yelling at stubborn Control Arm bolts. Today we got together with my friends and Dad, Chris, Sue and I put the rear end together. OK, maybe all we did was install the shafts, but it was fun. We also bought some wood and made the body buck.

Next couple of days we hope to clean up and get ready. I've been in contact with Greg Lapointe, we keep getting pushed back. Guess I'll have to get back onto him Monday. I'm afraid we'll have the car but no donor car to install. But the engine is on it's way, or so I was told.

Funny thing that is bugging us is the braided fuel lines. We have a lot of the connectors and ready to order the hose. THe main problem now is the hookup to the T-rex. We have a couple of ideas, and will let you know what we find out.

The cobra Costs page has been slacking. I'm waiting to find out the final costs od shipping for the engine and I'll update it.

I'll try and update the costs and let you know how everything is going before we go up to Factory Five this weekend!

February 3
Today we got everything from steeda, minus the Engine. Once I get the final cost for shipping I'll update the Costs page. This weekend I hope to pull apart my Mustang's fuel tank and install a new pump and T-rex. After that put the rear end together with the disk brake conversion for Dad. A trip to look at some braided fuel lines and we should be in business. I can't wait to get the donor parts, I hope to get them before the weekend so I can start cleaning and prepping the parts.

February 1
Well today I added day two of the Cobra Class, I just want to let everyone know I kind'a kept my descriptions short from the class, well because I want everyone to go! If I were to get into it too much Mike might come after me for spoiling his fun. Yes,  I did say fun. I think he truly enjoys doing these classes. Well I added the Pictures to the site and if anyone has any questions please feel free to send me an E-mail. Go to the Class

Today I took Thomas' Advise and called Finish Line, Inc. for the emblems and stuff that don't come with the Cobra kit anymore. (Damn copyright laws! now we get "Powered by Ford"). I called them up and asked for a catalog and she asked my name. I said Jeff Shuffleton, and she said, "Oh, I know you, you have that Cobra site." Cool! didn't know I was making such a charge on the net.

I've found I should be thanking the Cobraforum the Cobra Webring and of course Thomas for the great recommendations to visit this site. They have been pointing more people to visit me then I ever thought would.

Tomorrow I hope to get the Cobra costs up to date. Yes we purchased a few things the other day from Mike Mack.

Almost forgot the cool news! Called Steeda today and the Motor will be shipped in the next day or two! The rest of the parts left today, like the gauges and transmission. Also talked to Greg Lapointe and I should be receiving my parts later this week. Everything except the kit will be here before the weekend and yet my Mustang is half apart in the garage waiting for new Control arms and a T-rex! How am I supposed to concentrate on my stuff when everything else is showing up! Guess I can take a night or two off to play!