Roll bars part 1

Been putting off this job but can't any more so ,
First job is to level  up the chassis .
This is important as once the bottom holes are drilled the only to transpose the measurement to the top bit is with a plumb bob .
Reading other blogs they say the chassis is what is needed to be level not the body ( which I am not sure about but hey ho )  The rear half of the chassis was the most important as this is where the bars are mounted. Finding flat areas of the chassis to check the level,was a challenge! Finally done and doubly happy as the body is showing level as well.



Chassis sat level eventually  

The roll over bars are the two stainless steel hoops, the saddles/brackets and the fixings.

Roll over bars, saddles and bolts

The saddles/brackets are made of steel and needed to be painted before fitting however I sent them away when the frame was powder coated so done job.

 An 8mm hole was drilled up through the inner front two mounting holes mounting  of the chassis into the boot floor. I used a 90 degree chuck adapter for the drill on each side.

one of the holes viewed from the boot

front hole drilled up

Happy with that so far next job is to open the hole out but another day .

Bonnet on

Thought it was time for the bonnet to show itself while there was enough room to get underneath before the radiator or air filter got fitted .
Again one of Steve's better ideas was that we had already pre fitted the bonnet while it was still on the frame and because I had opted for the CNC aluminium hinges it was just a simple job ( if there is one on a cobra ) to just bolt it back on .


Another piece fitted back edge masked up ready for the locks

marked up ready to drill

Air filter

Once the front was in the air decided to look at the air filter as I have been told it just wedges in ??
Found that when in place it is held by the air intake pipe, the radiator top bracket and the body . Not sure about this as think it is going to rattle but hats for another day .First job is to fit the sponge and the 2 meshes together with the filter oil ( wondered what the aluminium container was for !
cut both the meshes and the foam so it fits the filter and decided so use self tappers to hold it in .

What a messy job this is ( and it stains everything it touches )

first attempt was to pour the fluid as above but soon decided that was too messy and not going to cover well enough .
Plan 2 was to use the sprayer and tube from a bottle insert it into the aluminium container ,works a treat .

finished filter screwed together  

Body on part 2

After all the help with the body now needed to bolt it down .Quick call to Andy at GD as couldn't get the 2 important holes to line up ( the ones just underneath the dash )
Andy said the chassis measurement is important  so that the body sits level with it .with both the bolts in I was 1/8 inch (old school measuring ) low on the drivers side .


measuring from the chassis to a straight edge across the body  

I was not happy with this so removed the bolts and jacked up the drivers side 1/8 inch until it was level and then filed the holes to suit .
to make sure that no fibre glass remained the holes I blew them out with a compressed air line .
Next I measured the depth of the hole with a vernier as the bolt has to stop short of hitting the steel chassis to prevent noise transmission .
once the correct length   was established the 2 important bolts were put in.

bolt in place with penny and spring washer

Then continued to fit all the rest moving backwards using the same idea, I found the easiest way was to insert a small drill to find out which way the body hole needed elongating then used the hole cutting bit from the dremmel .
The last 2 required the front to be jacked up and the wheels off and again the hole needed a bit of work .

The last hole before fettling  

Body on and level well happy .

Are you ready to build a GD Cobra

If you are reading this and thinking of starting your own project as I now have my body on I have a stand that comes to pieces ready to accept you body al ready built with lockable wheels
any sensible offer accepted 


SOLD

good all round access

Body On Day !!!

All set for the body on and a BBQ to encourage enough blokes to turn up

Last pictures of the chassis  note the radiator and bracket have been removed

Body waiting  patiently

All the blokes arrived including technical support in the form of Dale ( on day release from Skipton)

Oh god will it fit (that will be no then )

Then it was just  a simple case of lifting it over and lowering it down squarely ,the important lining up points are the 2 bolts near the dash board and in order for these to fit the body has to be manhandled forward once on .
Mine didn't fit no matter how hard we tried ! It would fit at the front fine but as soon as the back sat down the whole body moved back .After loads of swearing(mainly me) the body had to come off again for investigation .the reason was that some goon ( again me) had under sealed the transmission tunnel were it has to fit and the back of the seats making the body just to wide at that point .
bit of sanding then fits just nice one hours job taking 2 hours and  voila it on

body on and the 4 key bolts  in

All done  Huge thank you to all the Guys

A super big thank you to all my helpers Joe, Dave, Steve, Adam, Bob and Connor   not getting stressed when I was !!

Forced to get in the picture

better with just the car in the picture

air intake

Getting ready for the body on day so need to file out the front part of the body for the air intake .
used the rubber hose to mark out what was needed then the trusty Dremel comes in again to help



Trusty Demel and Steve

final bits

Body fitting day looming up so getting the final bits sorted .Sponge rubber need to go on the top of the chassis  for the body to sit on.

Adam coming to the rescue fitting the sponge

last job was to make sure that there was a hole for the gear leaver was cut out in the body as the gear leaver is off set but want to appear in the middle on the finished car the hole is cut in the middle even though the gear leaver will poke though at the left hand side

Steve again as someone has to hold the camera! 

Gearbox oil filling

my gearbox is a manual but the instruction specify using ATF so strange but hey ho
Instaed of messing about trying to get to the filler and level plug used a trick from one of the American blogs and poured it in though the shifting plate until it came out the level plug .a lot easier

weird putting atf in a manual gearbox

Engine prelube

Needed to thing abut pre lube  the engine as the alternator has t come off anyway to acess the last bit of the loom on that side .
Opted for a fuel priming nozzle as an experiment ( Steve's idea)
undid the bleed plug

Bleed plug behind alternator

the wrapped some tape round the outlet to get a good seal

and then pumped and hoped for the best ?
What a success after about eight pumps the oil started to come out of the oil pressure hole

oil coming out of the oil pressure hole

stopped pumping and put the plug back in used about 1/3 of a 4 pint container

pre lube done

dead happy Steve right again