Cobber's Cobra

[Cobber]

Well 2 weeks holiday has seen a good start to the Cobra project. I have been collecting parts for nearly 2 years now but with no time to do anything with them due to work commitments progress was very, very slow. I realy must give up my day job.

Here are some pictures of the project so far.

Front and rear suspension are from a Jaguar XJS 3.31:1 power lock diff, supercharged 1uz mated to an R154 box.

Fuel and oil system are the next jobs to be done.

Many thanks to the people that helped me get this far, but a special thanks to:-

Brett (Cobra) it's your fault I got bitten by the 1uz cobra bug.
Dave (lextreme) without this site I would have probably ended up with a boring old Ford 351 or worse.
Andrew (Richwood) SC manifold and technical help.
John (CribbJ) Always a quick answer to anything technial.

 

[JustenGT8]

Has it been on the scales yet Cobber? Sort of a half way between a full chassis and monococ kit

 

[Lextreme II]

Nice.. Always love the Cobra....

 

[Cobber]

The body shell is just for show, all of the strength is in the chassis. It has not been on the scales yet but should be around 1,100 kg wet (2,400 lb in old money).

Not as light as I would have liked but it should still be fun.

 

[JustenGT8]

1100kg ain't too bad though...my celica is 300kg on top of that and still a major handful on it's way to a 3.7sec 0-100kph. You are going to have a real beastie on your hands.

looking very sweet BTW

 

[cribbj]

Really nice Andy, how about some shots of the engine?

I'm with Justen; that's going to be a real handful! Have you considered putting in any traction control or are you keeping it simple?

 

[Quadcob]

Cobber,
It looks as though it is coming together nicley. When do expect to have it finished? As you said it will be fun. I have n/a 1UZ Cobra with R154 gearbox with a 4.11 diff and it is fun so with the extra hp your have it will be more fun in a scary way.

Warren

 

[Cobber]

Here are some pics of the engine.

Traction control would be a nice option, these cars swap ends real quick with too much loud pedal. I think I would need to upgrade the ecu etc.

They managed to get the 289's and 427's lapping pretty fastway back in the 60's without traction control although I suspect they had bigger balls and slightly more talent than me.

 

[Cobra]

Looking good Andy. Not long now.
What would you want traction control for? Thats for pussies.
There is a saying in the Cobra fraternity.
"If you can't leave big black marks from one corner to the next then you aint got enough power"

Brett

PS Mine weighs 980kg

 

[Zuffen]

Those front springs and shocks look a little stiff. )

May shake out some fillings!

 

[Drewpee]

Wow. I've fell in love with the Cobra the first time I saw one. Small car with over sized motor and the lines of a classic British sports car. Now putting in a modern lite quad cam V8 makes it even better. Good one Cobber.
I hope you don't mined me asking what kit you are using and why did you choose that kit?

 

[Cobber]

Drewpee,

It's a G Force chassis & body.http://www.gforcesportscars.com.au/ the website only shows the old body but the new body fit & finnish would have to be the best available in Australia at the moment by far. I will post up some pics of the body later.
They have 2 chassis available, I used the small block which is more than strong enough for this light 1UZ. There is a big block chassis if you want to get a bit silly and put in a whopping great boat anchor. Running gear was fairly easy to source from a donor Jag. Rob from G Force has been in business building these things for nearly 20 years, I think that also answered most of the question.

Rod,

The front springs match the rear... Still havent ordered them yet, I want the Au$ to creep up a little more before I do.

Warren,

I hope to be on the road by Easter next year, or sooner depending on work commitments. As you would know the pain of getting these things through engineering and the department of transport can be a slow event so it will happen when the planets and stars are in the correct alignment.

 

[Drewpee]

G Force, I thought I recognized the chassis. I'm very jealous. I went as far as getting a sales brochure sent a few years back but its still a bit of a dream. Maybe when the kids leave home (do they still do that) By then my old Monaro mite be worth enough to bank roll a cobra build. The closest I got was my wife/boss telling me that I can hire one. By the way did you see the Roc Cobra from NZ. It had Toyota suspension as well as the 1uzfe. They had a web site but seems they have closed it down. Anyway it would be great to see detailed shots of your build.

 

[Cobber]

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Tonyd]

Any excuse to post Cobra piccies. The unfinished Cobras are the Lexus engined ones, the finished one is my first BMW engined Cobra.

All three are AK Sportscar kits who I cant recommend highly enough.

Cheers,

Tony

 

[Drewpee]

One not enough ? Hehe.

 

[Drewpee]

Hi Tony.
Do AK Sportscar have a website?

 

[Tonyd]

Hi Tony.
Do AK Sportscar have a website?

AK Sportscars website is www.aksportscars.co.uk

The Beemer engined Cobra was jointly owned and built with a mate ( who didn't have a garage and lives 90 minutes away.....not too convenient for him but great for me) so we sold the Beemer to fund the two Lexus builds so we'll have one Cobra each. The dream is to drive down to the South of France in convoy each accompanied with the respective Mrs and pose alongside the Med.

Of course the Mrs may have to be locked in the boot so as not to spoil the posing effect..........

Cheers,

Tony

 

[Cobber]

Hey Tony, Looking good.

When do you hope to be on the road? South of France next summer?

I have heard there is a company in the UK doing cobra kits based on the Subaru WRX 4x4 running gear, do you know anything about them?

 

[Tonyd]

Hey Tony, Looking good.

When do you hope to be on the road? South of France next summer?

I have heard there is a company in the UK doing cobra kits based on the Subaru WRX 4x4 running gear, do you know anything about them?

Hi Cobber,

Tim's Cobra will be ready for the Le Mans Classic in July, mine is dependent upon my job situation.

I know of one company building an open topped MX5 type kit car using the Scooby running gear and it doesn't look too bad but I haven't seen a Cobra version.

I did look at putting the complete engine and 4x4 running gear from a Lexus Aristo into my Cobra but it would have meant completely re- designing and rebuilding the front end so I let the opportunity of buying the package pass. Perhaps if I build another Cobra I may go this route.

Cheers,

Tony