King Cobra Build in Oregon

And it became yellow!! Finally got the paint on. A few runs and for some reason a small area of the hood did not get enough yellow. But sure was fun. Now to begin sanding and polishing to a bright finish. Letting the paint sit for the winter while doing other work. The rear hatch I ordered from Death VAlly auto arrived. Also got a spare gas cap. Going to make a flat gas cap with the bar thing to give a clean look. Never did like the gas cap. After cleaning the garage and making space of my wife's 02 Thunderbird I will be rebuilding the front suspension. Have the parts to convert to coil overs. New brake/fuel lines, master boost. Engine compartment will be yellow with black. Ordered serpentine system with 140 amp one wire alternator and P/S pump and electric water pump. All in black. Still waiting for my heads. Have MSD distributor, control box and coil. As this will be a show and fun driver, I decided to keep the OEM headers. Will have them cleaned and ceramic coated. Use those funds for the rear window louver. Bought a new in the box/wrapper 8 track Kingston Trio tape....Don't worry,only for show, will not take out of wrapper......still wondering why that is such a sin.....a buddies wife would set me Mustang on fire if I took the wrap off. He has over 300 hot wheels still in the wrappers.....some are very rare one offs. Got him at SEMA when Hot Wheels was a major sponsor. Got three of them One is signed by the designer. They were giving out a one off that year. Stood in line two and half hours. Did get to talk to Chip Foose while in line. He was at a booth near the line. A young kid,about 12 and his day, had his photo book with the car they were working on. Chip stopped, sat down and spent about 30 minutes with the kid.........We were very impressed with him CLASS ACT...I did ask when they would be doing a Mustang ii. Said it depends on lots of stuff. Later.
 
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Going to sand and polish what has been done, then repaint in the spring due to weather and temp. My garage is not heated, except with a gas heater which does work well with paint vapors...Hatch needs some work which I will do soon. Getting suspension, spray undercoating, brake/gas lines and installing gas tank next. Then interior wiring and getting seats redone. Engine work when and if heads arrive. I am going to fill all the holes from screw and bolt holes before repainting. Think about putting a windshield fluid holder from a Fox Body in. This sits under the fender leaving a cleaner look in the engine compartment. Or just stick my arm out the window with a bottle of windex.....
 
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Going to sand and polish what has been done, then repaint in the spring due to weather and temp. My garage is not heated, except with a gas heater which does work well with paint vapors...Hatch needs some work which I will do soon. Getting suspension, spray undercoating, brake/gas lines and installing gas tank next. Then interior wiring and getting seats redone. Engine work when and if heads arrive. I am going to fill all the holes from screw and bolt holes before repainting. Think about putting a windshield fluid holder from a Fox Body in. This sits under the fender leaving a cleaner look in the engine compartment. Or just stick my arm out the window with a bottle of windex.....
Are heat and paint with temp already an issue there? Right now it is low humidity, and finally not hot enough to flash the solvent off here. As late as this weather set in, we might have a month and a half yet of it. Or we might end up with 17” of snow the first week of October.
I’m still waiting for you to decide to respray the 79.
 
It started raining here right after I painted. Lower temps are moving in. But mostly the rain and low temps are putting painting off for a while. After the King Cobra is done and I have not sold the 79, I will begin working on the 79. Changing color back to the OEM pewter color.
 
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While sitting here waiting for the A/C heater installation in my house this morning, I decided to look for a replacement power steering rack and pinion. Well that turned into a mess. Looked at Summit and others but there seems to be a number of options. I just want to replace the system while the engine is out and I am replacing all the other front end parts. Any suggestions as to who/where to get one? New vs rebuilt. My local parts house wanted $400.......
 
Okay, so I had to go up into the attic looking for stuff. Have not been up there since the last time I went up, which was a couple of years ago. There, I found some Mustang ii stuff I stashed there hoping to get another II. Well there in a box was a new complete brake line kit; even had the receipt. Prices have gone up in the last 15 years :confused:. AND, wait for it. A set of OEM never installed brake light lens.........in box and not even dusty.... Didn't know I had these. Can't wait till tomorrow to find other stuff. Oh , found a new set of flight boots from my Air Force days. Wonder if the still fit....will keep you posted

OEM brake 2.jpg
Need ideas about the lens. Sorry did something wrong Can't move the photo. Later.
 
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Sorry, I don't have any recommendations on the rack, I swapped mine out with a manual years ago.

As for the tail lens.... you have a pair of them? Or just the right side? I'd say if it were a pair I'd use them. If it's only the one, you could either sell it and recoup some funds from the build OR try to find the other side to match, install them, and if your other ones are any good sell them to recoup some money. :nice:
 
I have both. Only the left is in the NOS box. The right box was not worth saving if I remember. Left has shipping label to Jack Byrne Ford-Merc, South Man St, Mechanicvl, NY 12118. Would be great for a show car.
 
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Well it seems the box of one lens marked LH is really a right hand lens. So, I have two right hand lenses. Sorry. Ideas? I can not use them because I am going to cut mine to make all red lenses for my sequential lights. ??
 
I guess I'd try to sell them to someone if I'm not going to use them. FB Marketplace seems to be the place online now if you're on there. And I'm sure Phil Schmidt would buy them from you to resell - maybe he could work with you to do something of a consignment? :shrug:
 
While sitting here waiting for the A/C heater installation in my house this morning, I decided to look for a replacement power steering rack and pinion. Well that turned into a mess. Looked at Summit and others but there seems to be a number of options. I just want to replace the system while the engine is out and I am replacing all the other front end parts. Any suggestions as to who/where to get one? New vs rebuilt. My local parts house wanted $400.......
I swapped the fox mustang / t-bird steering rack in. There are different ones, but there is a version with a one piece aluminum cast housing. It is much smaller in diameter (more space to the oil pan) and it is much, much lighter than Mustang II units. The mounting points are slightly different (1/2 inch more together) and I elongated both mounting holes around 1/4 inch, but there are offset PU bushings available, which solve this problem.
The steering rack is much smaller, lighter and has a more direct steering ratio (AND CHEAP!). I mated it up with a different pump, because my accessory drive needed to be custom. Overall it runs great. Incredible steering feel. Stock pump should have the right pressure for the fox steering rack.
 
Another mod is that I did get rid of the rubber decoupler and grinded the shaft down to D-shape to use a D-shape to Spline U-joint. It is such a good steering feel!
 
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Dorman has been hit or miss for me the past few years. Mostly misses for the Dodges I own yet the II parts have panned out. I installed a new Dorman rack in the t top car and blue coupe. They offer remans and new racks. The new one is supposedly redesigned with several "improvements" according to them. I didn't study them side by sided but it fits like the stock one. Feels tight. No leaks. Looks great. I run a stock oil pan so clearance isn't an issue for me.

I used a reman dorman p/s pump with new lines on both cars. Both pumps are quieter then I ever remember a 70's ford p/s pump. I did properly prime the p/s system before firing it up which may have helped.
 
OOOOOOOOOOOO I do not do FB
Don't blame you. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love how I can stay in touch with family and friends back in Iowa, but hate how they censor :poo: and invade your privacy. Oh, and the drama that some people seem to think belongs out there. There are certain aspects of that drama that seem to boil over into other parts of the internets, too.... :cautious:

But Marketplace seems to be a useful tool since there are a lot of views there.