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

LILCBRA · Tuesday at 3:24 PM

RaggedGT said:
I guess I didn’t notice the lettering matching the stripes before.. Tbh-and not that you asked-but I think I prefer the lettering by the stripe more than the letters by the plate

I do too just for the simple fact of keeping everything consistent. These were close but not exact. If they had a Roman numeral II instead of using 2 'I's I think it would be a little better. If I were to go with these I wouldn't use the vinyl on the ducktail. That way it would have a little separation between the side stripes and the rear of the car, so maybe it wouldn't stand out so much?

RaggedGT · Tuesday at 6:24 PM

LILCBRA said:
I do too just for the simple fact of keeping everything consistent. These were close but not exact. If they had a Roman numeral II instead of using 2 'I's I think it would be a little better. If I were to go with these I wouldn't use the vinyl on the ducktail. That way it would have a little separation between the side stripes and the rear of the car, so maybe it wouldn't stand out so much?

I actually really like the Vinyl lettering- I’d vote if you’re wanting it in the factory spot-I’d go with the gold vinyl

LILCBRA · Tuesday at 8:48 PM

RaggedGT said:
I actually really like the Vinyl lettering- I’d vote if you’re wanting it in the factory spot-I’d go with the gold vinyl

I do too, probably because it matches the side stripes. But the thoughts with the chrome lettering down above the license plate would basically replace the vinyl on the spoiler. I'm kinda on the fence at this point - I mean it looks like something's missing if I leave that area above the plate bare, but I don't know if I'd like to move the vinyl down since I think it looks better where it's at. I saw that AI render that said COBRA in that spot and thought that might look good, but it would need to match the font style of the stock decals, at least as close as possible.

I've also thought of using a blue oval instead of the factory "FORD" lettering.... if I did that I'd want to do a little metal work and have it inset - something like how this Steeda emblem is inset:

Thing about that is that I don't know what vehicles, if any, had the emblem inset on a steel panel to be able to cut and splice it in. Haven't done any research on that at all yet....

I just tried an AI render of it. After it struggled a few times, this is what it came up with. This might work better....

LILCBRA · Tuesday at 8:59 PM

Spent the evening tearing the 4 speed off the T top's engine and getting it mounted on my old engine stand. It didn't want to separate from the bell housing to begin with, I think the main issue was that the throw out bearing didn't want to slide off. Here are some pics of that progress tonight....

DadLife0724 · Wednesday at 6:05 AM

LILCBRA said:
I do too, probably because it matches the side stripes. But the thoughts with the chrome lettering down above the license plate would basically replace the vinyl on the spoiler. I'm kinda on the fence at this point - I mean it looks like something's missing if I leave that area above the plate bare, but I don't know if I'd like to move the vinyl down since I think it looks better where it's at. I saw that AI render that said COBRA in that spot and thought that might look good, but it would need to match the font style of the stock decals, at least as close as possible.

I've also thought of using a blue oval instead of the factory "FORD" lettering.... if I did that I'd want to do a little metal work and have it inset - something like how this Steeda emblem is inset:

Thing about that is that I don't know what vehicles, if any, had the emblem inset on a steel panel to be able to cut and splice it in. Haven't done any research on that at all yet....

I just tried an AI render of it. After it struggled a few times, this is what it came up with. This might work better....

Hey that ain't bad at all.

LILCBRA · Wednesday at 8:26 AM

DadLife0724 said:
Hey that ain't bad at all.

I went out to the garage and pulled the emblem I have that's still in the wrapper for the vert and held it up to the back of the Cobra. I don't think I like that much - it also looks disproportionate and doesn't leave much if any room between the emblem and the lock cylinder or the body line below.

DadLife0724 · Thursday at 6:17 AM

I vote oval or notta. Maybe it's just me but something about this letters didn't seem right.

welder4956 · Thursday at 7:27 AM

I agree. The emblem needs to be smaller than the illustration. Ford makes various size emblems for grilles, trunk lids and steering wheels. I've seen some that are 2.3" wide x 0.9" tall, or 4.5" wide x 1.8" tall. Maybe you could print one on paper and see how a smaller size looks on the car. The 87-93 Fox grill emblem E7ZZ-8223 is 3.5" wide x 1.375" tall.

LILCBRA · Thursday at 8:21 AM

Here is the emblem I have and taped to the panel to show how it could look.....

I think this one is just a tad too big.

LILCBRA · Thursday at 4:09 PM

Just searched that part number. Apparently that one's for the trunk lid.

I think I have a grill emblem around somewhere, I'll have to dig around to see if I can find it and give that a look.

DadLife0724 · Friday at 6:12 AM

Just a thought, could you bring the stripes down to the license plate? Then you won't have all the dead space.

LILCBRA · Friday at 6:47 AM

DadLife0724 said:
Just a thought, could you bring the stripes down to the license plate? Then you won't have all the dead space.

When my buddy's buddy did the vinyl stripes the first time that's what he did. It kinda looked weird to me too just because it cut off right at the opening. Here's an old shot to show - It may have been better had it gone the whole way down around the opening, but then the top of the bumper would've needed to be done too.

DadLife0724 · Friday at 3:51 PM

That looks good to me.

LILCBRA · Friday at 5:24 PM

DadLife0724 said:
That looks good to me.

Since I intend on painting them this go round I can probably go the whole way. It's not getting done anytime soon - maybe sometime in the spring(?) - so I have some time to really figure out what I'm going to do with it.

On another note, I got rid of the T top car. Kinda sad to see a II in this state, but this one wasn't going to be saved by anyone.

In case anyone was curious how much it weighed in this state:

LILCBRA · 2026-10-31T01:13:32-0500

I feel like this week was nothing but go-go-go! But I did spend a couple hours out in the garage tonight. I put the Scion back on it's wheels so I can load it onto the trailer and take it in to the closest Firestone to get the tires mounted and for a lifetime alignment. Once that was on the ground I pulled it out of the garage and got the one rocker brace finished. I still need to cut the web sections, but decided that this was enough for tonight.

In the pics you can see how I trimmed one of the seat mounting brackets so the brace can slide up as far as possible. After welding it under the car, I took took it down to finish welding. Once that was done I ground the welds on the sides so I could clamp it to the pinch weld as tightly as possible. unfortunately I don't have any grinding discs for my 4 inch grinder, only a stone. Once I get more discs I'll grind them down a little better to make them look a little nicer so once they're done they'll look a lot better and I can send them off to powder coat.

DadLife0724 · 2026-10-31T11:18:32-0500

LILCBRA said:
Kinda sad to see a II in this state, but this one wasn't going to be saved by anyone.

Sad to see any classic car in that situation. Can't save em all.

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

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

RaggedGT

Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

DadLife0724

I vote for a new bung hole.

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

DadLife0724

I vote for a new bung hole.

welder4956

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

DadLife0724

I vote for a new bung hole.

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

DadLife0724

I vote for a new bung hole.

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

DadLife0724

I vote for a new bung hole.

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

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I vote for a new bung hole.

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I vote for a new bung hole.

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I vote for a new bung hole.

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I vote for a new bung hole.

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

I vote for a new bung hole.

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