Progress Thread The next "big" project for my Cobra - T-top conversion coming soon!

[LILCBRA]

There may not be much left of it when I'm through, but if you want it....

 

[Blackhawkxx]

This will be interesting and please save every useable part as someone at sometime will need it.

 

[LILCBRA]

This will be interesting and please save every useable part as someone at sometime will need it.

I've saved a lot of usable parts over the years, no worries there! Unfortunately I don't know how much will be left after I snag everything I'm going to use. There will be some stuff from my car though....

I was pretty exhausted when I got home, I ended up sleeping for 4 hours during my normal waking hours. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep some today before I start my shift later tonight, though I'm sure I'll get some sleep.

After waking up I commenced to unloading the trailer and ultimately the car. Here's a few pics of what the car offered, the good and the bad....

The piece of plywood you see in pic #3 was wedged between the driver seat and the rocker. The driver side T top glass is separated from the frame and the ignition key is now locked and won't turn. I stuck a battery in it and tried to crank it before I turned it back to the lock position. One of the battery cables is missing the clamping bolt so I suspect that it wasn't getting a good connection as it would just lose power when I turned the key to the start position.

I tried to shoot a couple videos but I don't think they recorded for whatever reason. Probably for the best, my narration skills suck!

 

[Blackhawkxx]

I didn't know some II's had column shifters. I guess yours has both.
Also, are the bars that run from the firewall to the shocktower area just a T-top thing? My car doesn't have them.

 

[LILCBRA]

I didn't know some II's had column shifters. I guess yours has both.
Also, are the bars that run from the firewall to the shocktower area just a T-top thing? My car doesn't have them.

You noticed! It's a lesser known and ultra rare double transmission model. Honestly not sure what the deal is, he didn't either. As for the support bars, it is a T top thing. They also have torque boxes up front whereas coupes and hatchbacks didn't. You can get heavier duty torque boxes through Classic Auto Reproductions if you wanted to add them, which I will be. I tried to jack this car up at the torque box on the driver side when I picked it up as I couldn't get my floor jack far enough under to get to the subframe, we heard it crunch so I'll be ordering new sometime in the coming months.

Slept for another 4-1/2 hours after my last post, then ran and picked up the dog. Will be going out to the garage again later and will share more then.

 

[welder4956]

I didn't know some II's had column shifters. I guess yours has both.
Also, are the bars that run from the firewall to the shocktower area just a T-top thing? My car doesn't have them.

Granada tilt column swap?

 

[RaggedGT]

Yaaaay!!!!!!
A New Burnout Car…

 

[LILCBRA]

Granada tilt column swap?

That's what I thought it might have been, but it doesn't have tilt.

Yaaaay!!!!!!
A New Burnout Car…

I think you spelled burntout wrong.

I aired the tires that were in the car and they seemed to hold air. So I swapped them for the tires that were on the car. 3 out of 4 of them held air while weighed down. So I guess I'll be putting one of the others back on so it'll roll without issue. I then turned my attention to the starter issue. I found that it had ~10 ohms resistance from the body to the battery, so I chased that around for a bit. I found that the sheathing was peeled back on the negative cable and essentially clamped to the body, so I bolted one of my old cables to the body and shoved it into the wire strands of the cable and tried jumping the solenoid to see what the starter would do. It rewarded me with a whole lot of the same. I pulled the old starter from the Cobra off the shelf and tried it off the solenoid using another of my old cables. It would engage but not spin, so I chased that around for a while, swapping cables and throwing the old solenoid from the Cobra into it, none of that did anything for either starter. I ultimately grabbed the starter from the vert's 5.0 that's now on the stand, wired it up to bench test it in the same way and it did what it's supposed to. So, I figure, both of the other starters are bad. I jacked the car back up, put it on stands, then tried breaking the rack and pinion mounting bolts loose to no avail. I sprayed some Knocker Loose on the threads and will let it sit until tomorrow. I figure if I can get the starter to engage and spin the engine, then I'd see about dealing with the ignition lock cylinder to be able to try to start the car from the driver seat, check for spark, then if that's a go I'd figure out how to fuel it and see if it'll start and run. I mean he told me it ran, so I suppose we'll find out soon!

In other news, here are a few more pics of the underside. I'd say that this one has lived it's life and is appropriately donating parts to it's sibling....

 

[Blackhawkxx]

Before working under that car you might want to get some tight fitting goggles or maybe a full coverage helmet because the first time you bang against anything there will be a rain storm of rust that will get into every opening in your head.

 

[LILCBRA]

I don't name my cars, but if I did I would name this one Tetanus.

 

[LILCBRA]

You'd think an earthquake hit the heartland with as much crap that was knocked loose while trying to free the left side rack bolt. Granted, I was using a 2 pound hammer....

And I think I found why the car wouldn't crank. Scratch that, I now know why the car wouldn't crank.

I'm not sure when the last time he actually started and drove it, but it definitely wasn't recently.

In any event, I took my shop vac to the bellhousing, got the GT's starter installed and it turns over now. I then proceeded to break the ignition lock but now it won't crank when I turn the key. I checked for signal and it's sending 11 volts to the trigger wire when engaged, so the circuit is fine. I hooked up my inductive timing light to #1 cylinder, had the key in run, and jumped the relay. It's getting spark, though my circuit tester light seemed kinda dim. I then went ahead and hooked the charger to the battery since I've been working it a bit, regardless of the fact it was reading over 12v. Now I'll have to go get my gas can filled and rig something up to see if it'll fire sometime soon, just gotta figure out how I'm going to rig it up....

 

[DadLife0724]

That's crazy corrosion. Never seen that before.

 

[Blackhawkxx]

Was that thing in the ocean???

 

[LILCBRA]

No, but it was in a city on Lake Superior. From what he told me it was sitting over bare ground, half in a shed with a kiddie pool covering the T tops and plywood stacked on top. Not the most ideal situation for any car that's left unattended for an extended amount of time. I suppose that would help explain the rusted subframe as well, beyond the normal road salt that northern states get the pleasure of dealing with.

 

[LILCBRA]

Well.....


View: https://youtu.be/yMH6X_rJ7WM


Ran around this afternoon to procure things to make this happen as well as a few pieces to fix the exhaust well enough that it's not horribly loud. So far it's not really that loud at all anyway, regardless of it not being connected after the Y pipe. In any event, I'll be taking care of it anyway just so it's not a nuisance to my neighbors when I do drive it from garage to garage.

I may be done working on this for the next few days though, I have some domestic duties that need some attention before the weekend that I've let slide for far too long as it is.

 

[welder4956]

If you decide to sell some parts, I have an interest in the air cleaner and the plastic air inlet duct that connects to the core support.

 

[LILCBRA]

If you decide to sell some parts, I have an interest in the air cleaner and the plastic air inlet duct that connects to the core support.

I'll let you know when I start tearing it apart, but stuff will definitely be offered up for sale.

 

[Noobz347]

Was that thing in the ocean???

fixt

 

[LILCBRA]

My brother came over for a bit so we looked this car over a little. I reached in and turned the key and the engine popped right off, which was pretty surprising given it's history. Then I spent about an hour out in the garage tonight and got my brother's boat tank to work. It ended up being a bad O ring that matched a set of fuel injector O rings I had in my toolbox. So it's now hooked up to more than a pint of fuel at a time. I jacked the rear of the car and set it on stands, then I tried to engage the clutch - it's stuck. So I put the transmission in 1st gear, started it up and the wheels spin, so at least 1st gear is good. Now I'm debating on whether or not I should bother with the brakes to move it between garages or if I should just concentrate on it's teardown so I can get rid of the shell. The last thing I did was spray Knock'er Loose on all of the rear sway bar mounting bolts. I'll let it sit again and see if I can't get it removed in the next couple days.

In any event, here are a few pics of the underside from the back end of the car....

 

[LILCBRA]

Spent a few hours out there tonight. Most of my time was spent picking up tools and cleaning up. But I got the targa band removed without damaging anything further and removed the door panels. I took a pic of my door panels just to share for comparison. The "new" armrests might need a little attention but they're in pretty good shape considering....

(Notice the dome light still works - found out that the Sentrek stereo and equalizer still work as well. And the Sentrek speakers that are in the door are in surprisingly good shape!)