Front Suspension 2

Brakes still do do but all springy/rocking/moving bits are fitted. Setup of toe and camber is done later with full car weight on. I've also noticed we appear to be missing a steering rack

Front Suspension 1

At last, after numerous days painting questionable blue, front suspension is about half done

Weekend Rest

Sadly not much progress at the weekend due to being a ill, organised my tools and put a shelf up to get stuff of the floor, that was about it

Mega rear assembly progress

I'll admit there is a lack of driveshafts but it can almost sit without axle stands! Just followed the build manual which is very good for the chassis build stage. Flicking through the manual, later sections are a bit woolly with sweeping statements like "fit part x" and no other explanation but that's part of the fun!

Front bits and bobs being painted waiting their turn for nuttage and boltage

More modification

Can't quite see how I'm meant to get screw through there and get nuts on! Some hand-operated tools required!

Meaty rear axle!

This is the De Dion rear end, instead of independent rear suspension (IRS) which would have been on the Jag that the donor parts came from. Some of the other Cobra kits, including an option also from Dax, come with IRS instead. The idea behind the De Dion is to keep things stable. apparently it breaks away on the limit more predictably then IRS. I doubt I'm a good enough driver to be able to tell the difference.

The hubs are Jag but rotated 90 degrees compared to their position on the Jag. They are hinged on a pin at the rear, then shimmed for toe with washers on the front fixings.

Painting suspension bits

Not entirely convinced about blue wishbones but we'll see how it goes. The wishbones are aluminium with a rough cast finish. I've used Hammerite "Smoothrite", not sure how it will stand up to chipping from general wear from the road i.e. stones etc but we'll see how it goes. The paint went on to the cast finish quite well.


Missing parts turned up today

Update 23/12/14!!

After 2500 miles of driving the paint has chipped off in a few places on hammerite'd parts but is 95% ok so I can safely say Hammerite will probably be ok for painting suspension parts.

Diff Done

First bit of assembly - differential (or "final drive" depending on how old you are) fixed in with massive bolts after chassis 'modification' with a big hammer was complete. It's a fairly hefty lump of metal, I'd estimate at least 80kg. I haven't really thought about the final weight of the car yet, I think they are in the region of 1000-1200kg depending on engine e.g. nice light Rover V8 or massive heavy boat anchor SBC.

Garage Prep

Wednesday evening was spent showing the garage roof who's boss with some expandy foam and sealant, no cobra progress apart from to confirm there were a few other parts missing and they are on the way (front springs and now just noticed no CV joints)

time for a break

Right, as suspected from the lack of an itemised list of parts - we appear to be missing some front springs but all the other big obvious bits are present. Time for a cup of tea!

All parts present?

First thing we did was open all  boxes and see exactly what we got in our "non-assembled rolling chassis". Dax aren't kidding when they say "non-assembled". Two big boxes full of assorted parts. The fixings were in various plastic bags labelled with their sizes. Luckily the build manual does a fairly good job of listing what size and length fixings to use. Unfortunately slightly less effort at Dax went into other administrative tasks such as producing an items list for the things delivered so we have no way of knowing if we are missing anything.

It begins!

Massive pile of stuff arrived. Half day off work playing GT5 waiting for it to arrive hehe. Pic below shows the garage prepped with garage floor paint and beer fridge installed. I put a new wooden floor throughout the house and decided to recycle the old carpet. Brilliant idea as the garage feels a lot warmer and working on the floor is a lot more pleasant. Painting the walls white helped a lot too, as did adding another strip light. I can't make the garage bigger but I've tried to make it as comfortable as possible.

For anyone put off at building a kit car because they only have a single garage - its entirely possible to do so! Just take some time at the start to make things as comfortable as possible. Add a few extra plugs around the place and try and fit as many lights as possible, it really helps - so does the white painted walls. Makes it feel a lot cleaner and slightly more professional (only slightly more!). I do know of cobras being built in rented garages nowhere near people's homes, with no power. If someone else has managed it, there is no excuse!