Casey Family Build thread....

[Venom_Injected]

Originally Posted by ILM MK3

The stainless fuel line looks very nice and clean, good job. However, I would keep a close eye on it. As the motor heats up (and the intake) the two banks of carbs will grow apart and induce a force/stress on the bends and connections of your fuel line. This is compunded by the fact the line willbe cooler and stainless grows at a slower rate than aluminum. This may not be an issue, but thought I would throw it out there for you to keep an eye on...

Everything is looking exceptional, good job.

Have fun!

There should be more then enough 'flex' in the sst line bends to account for this 'growth' (few thousandths of an inch). (Especially with 2 bends to take up the slack....)

After your first few engine starts please observe just to make sure you did not have a pre-load on any of the sst tube bends to begin with that then did not like the heat....

As with anything on a car...or life for that matter.... confidence is earned over time..... the tubing should work good and look great to boot!

~Mechanical Engineer

[QSL]

I was very careful to get these bends right so there was no pre-load. The nuts thread on nice and easy with no binding. I still have the hose, just in case, but i dont think there will be a problem.

[SDLS1Rider]

This was an excellent read. For people like me who want to know if they can accomplish a build like this (or want to), I found the information very valuable. I would say this gives a prospective builder a good idea of what it will take to build a Cobra.

I don't know if there is a section for build threads, but perhaps this can go as a sticky for guys like me who want to know if they would be in over their heads or not.

[MRSQSL]

Yay! Thank you! I would encourage everyone to build one. If it's a matter of not knowing how to do something, there are a ton of people on the forum willing to answer questions and help out. This is definitely the nicest bunch of people I've met (or cyber met). The real problem is if you don't have muscle. That's when you stock up on beer and have a build party.

[QSL]

this weeks pics. Not much bolted on, just working on finishing some things. Julie to follow with update.

[QSL]

last pics

[QSL]

One thing i will state is that i measured the distance from the battery box to the axle at the point where it would possibly hit. The distance is 4inches. I then measured how much travel the shocks have before they bottom out completely. That was 4inches as well. So for the axle to hit the box, i would need to completely bottom out the car. It does not seem likely, but we will see in kart mode

[MRSQSL]

Week 15

Progress is creeping slooooooowly by. This was our most pitiful week yet. I drilled one, yes one, panel. It wasn't even a big one. It was the little thing at the rear of the trans tunnel. I think it's the u joint cover. Six holes. Forehead slap. Wanna know why? My baby turned 16!!!! Okay, she's not my baby, baby. The youngest is Steve. Still, Alyssa is growing up so fast! To celebrate, she wanted to go to a Jeff Dunham show, so we packed up two of her closest friends and headed off to Los Angeles. We made a stop in Tustin first to meet my mom at a Ford dealership. She surprised Alyssa with a brand new 2012 Ford Focus. Alyssa goes this week for her permit test, so Mike and I have been the ones putting all the miles on her new car. That sounded evil. She asked us to drive her around in it. Anyway, we didn't get home until 1:00am, so we slept a little late today and then ran errands. Very little Scoopy time.

Mike has bled everything in sight (including his own finger). He bled the clutch. He bled the front brakes. He bled the rear brakes. Rinse, repeat. We all helped.

I did manage to pull the wiper assembly box out, but the instructions weren't in it. Quite frankly, neither was my heart, so I didn't even begin the project. Maybe next week.

I learned some valuable lessons this week.

1. Kids grow so darn fast. I watched Mike move the sweet 16 pictures into a file on the computer right next to a bunch when she was about 3. I nearly cried. Where did all those years go? She looks like a baby sitting in the driver's seat of her new car. How are we supposed to begin to let go?

2. Always check to make sure all the fittings have been securely tightened on the brake lines before you shoot x number of psi through the bleeder cap thing. If not, you find waterfalls of corrosive brake fluid cascading down to the rug below (hitting every powder coated surface during the descent).

3. We need more rags. See number two above.

4. The closer we get to starting the engine, the slower our progress. I have no scientific theory to back up this observance. Hoping to be able to whoosh into some visible progress soon, although April is an insanely busy month this year.

I think I'm giving up on goals. We'll do what we get around to doing. Sigh.

[QSL]

It was like a waterfall for a few minutes in the back of the car while we pressurized the lines. If julie had double checked my work that would not have happened!

Pic of our baby. I know they say she is 16, but i really think she is only ten as by proof of this pic and the fact dennys wants to give her the kids menu still

[GloP]

Man, maybe I'm getting old, but she looks way too young to be allowed to drive

[Mark Reid]

Yes, they do grow up too fast. We have a 25 yo in Florida, a 23 yo in NYC, and a 20 yo in Texas, and our baby 12 yo going on 30 at home. The youngest is already planning her first car.

Double and triple checking lines helps, but my Kirkham had a loose one from the factory. It was right behind the left rear tire and left a pool of fluid on the epoxied garage floor before I noticed. I cleaned it up, but there is now a wrinkled paint spot on the floor that I'm sure will flake off shortly. Keep up the good work. Some weeks are just not as good as others.

[QSL]

dont worry guys. Grandma jumped the gun here. We are NOT letting her drive for atleast another year... maybe 10.

She still my baby. Babies dont drive, so there.

LOL!

[BULLITT428]

This is a great thread to read! I like the work your doing! lots of good ideas here and great help for all the FFR members and your family. I have two questions for you.

1) In another thread you had said you would go with a 1-1/8" Master for the clutch I would like to know if your going to go to the 1-18" or leave it a 1' Master. Just wondering if it would make that much of a different as I'm at that stage now and if I should switch to the 1-1/8" Master?

2) I sure like the color of you aluminium panels could you let me know what it is and where I might get it?


Thanks Ed.

[QSL]

thanks for the kind comments!

-I am keeping the 1". BUT if i was buying one right now, i would go larger. If you already have the 1" its fine. I can just be picky.

-We had them powder coated. Its a very simular finish that you would find on electronics. It has a slight texture to it. Its very durable.

[QSL]

first go kart video LOL.

Factory 5 Roadster: Casey Family - YouTube

[MK4]

LOL


cool idea


MK4

[QSL]

Basically we saw some completed cars at cars and cosi saturday and could not take it anymore. We threw the body on just for fun (and to check some clearance issues) We spent most of the weekend sitting out front staring at it

[QSL]

last pics.

[MRSQSL]

Week 16

Mike keeps saying he wants to put the body on to test the fit and make sure we haven't installed anything in a stupid place. There I am, drilling away, minding my own business, when the neighbor stops by to see the progress. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love visitors. The problem was that this particular guest offered to move the body with us. So, Scoopy is now back in his little red outfit, but I can't do any more work. Looks like most of what Mike was working on is now under fiberglass as well. I really can't complain though. It looks so tough and car-like with the body in place. We all sat inside and made engine noises, etc. While the kids were off hanging with Granny, Mike and I moved the car out for a little sunshine time. I figure the poor thing has been indoors 99% of its life, so a little fresh air should be good. Got lots of looks as people drove past and another (more distant neighbor) stopped by and gave us his number so we could call him if we ever needed help. Very nice.

We didn't accomplish much. Saturday we went to temecula for the cars & cosi car show. It's always great to see the cars and talk to the owners. We left earlier than I would've liked, but drove home feeling extra inspired to work on the car. Mike apparently changed his mind about where to mount the coil. No definite spot at this point. I opened the box with the wiper motor, but decided against installing it yet. I drilled a little of the rear cockpit area. Mike moved the pedals over a little (used other bolt holes) and now they fit his fat...I mean super sexy manly feet. He remounted all the brake, wheel, tire parts that he took off to bleed the brakes. With the body on, he was able to mark areas on the body lip that would need to be ground down for a better fit. All in all it was a fun weekend since we took turns pushing the car around making zoom noises and actually used the brakes and clutch a smidge. Looking forward to working on the car again.

I learned that you should push on the brake rather than releasing the clutch pedal when you want to stop the car. I still don't know why, but I thought Mike was going to have heart failure when I accidentally did it. I promise it only happened that one time. I also learned that Jeff Miller is an awesome painter. Well, I already knew that, but we finally watched Car Warriors tonight and that paint job was hugely impressive. I learned the hard way that a black seat sitting in the sun is really hot when you are wearing shorts. Ouch! Lastly, I learned that people get super angry when they think you started the roadster without telling them. Two different neighbors made comments reminding us firmly that they were to be present when turning that key for the first time. Then sweet, innocent Granny was very upset when she drove up and saw the car in the driveway. I was truly afraid she was going to cry. Last week, one of my bosses asked me to let him know so he could come over. I'd feel super special except it's the engine they all want to see, not the Casey family. Sigh. That's okay. We love the car too.

[QSL]

Drive shaft bolts were only half in and only two of them! But found the right ones in a box today

[QSL]

was asked about the clearance with the hood shock and the reservoirs. I looked through the directions and found how to hook up the hinge and such. Basically the hood is already marked, so i layed the hood on the car and marked the body where the shock mount goes. The mark to the right on the body is the edge of the bracket. The mark to the left of it is where the pivot ball will be for the shock. There is plenty of clearance

[lmmargheritis]

Mike

Very much appreciated. Somehow this bit of information has been on the elusive side for me and others.

Thanks for sharing

[xlr8or]

You guys have made lots of progress since I was up there a couple months ago.

You must be getting very excited being so close to the next big milestone.

[QSL]

yes we are! Wont be able to do much this month, but its really neat to see the body on. We are going to take it back off soon so we can get tidbits done during the week. I cant wait to hear her purrrrrrr!

[Scott L]

Very nice! I wound up moving my hood struts up by one hole width on the hood. I read a number of threads about the struts bottoming when closed on MK III's with the factory hood hinge. Several builders found they had to move the mount after paint (yikes!). I drilled one new hole on each side to move the mount further back on the hood. This worked perfectly on my hood, and was easy to do. I am not sure if this has been corrected with the predrilled holes on the MK IV.

Keep up the good work - Scott

[MRSQSL]

Week 17

Well, the update this week is that there is no update. Mike and I spent the entire weekend at the Long Beach Grand Prix. We had a great time, but weren't able to work out in the garage. We did go to the car show portion on Sunday and saw four Superformance Cobras. Wait, maybe three. Yeah, I think one was an authorized replica car. Anyway, they were nice, but Mike and I agree that we prefer Factory Fives. On the plus side, we found a color for Scoopy (I think). It's a gorgeous fiery red. Next week we may change again, but you should've seen the crowd gathered around that paint job. It was so pretty, nobody could look away.

Hopefully we can con the neighbor into coming over to help take the body off again so we can do some work in the evenings to make up for our pitiful performance this week. Sigh.

[MRSQSL]

Weeks 18 and 19

We were out of town on business this last weekend (and part of the week) and I can already tell you there will be zero progress on the car next week as well. I PROMISE that unless something major happens, we will go back to working on the roadster the following week. We knew April was going to be a super busy month for us and are extra anxious to get back to our normal routine. Poor car must think we abandoned it. Anyway, I'm posting mainly so I don't lose track of what week we are on. No update next weekend since I'm covering that one now.

[QSL]

since there are no car pic updates from the past month... here are a couple from what we have been doing!!!

Long beach grand prix!

our seats



lunch



storage wars people



ashley judd



hanging in the pit during qualifying



yea... we get that close!!! Look at all the suckers in the stands. LOL!!!

[QSL]

This past weekend we attended RCX its a EXPO for RC cars. I operate a website dedicated to the history and restoration of vintage 1/4 scale RC cars. We were invited to display some of our models. Yes, i am a idiotic loser!

this was a bad one for us because of the huntington beach show, we wanted to go sooooooo bad, but we commited to doing this RCX show that weekend. But i did have my little cobra with me atleast!

[MRSQSL]

Week 20

Finally, back to working on the car. Unfortunately, we only had about a half day Sunday. Still, it was great at least accomplishing a few small things.

First order of business was to pull the car into the driveway and then sit and stare at it. Okay, next step was to text the neighbor to find out when he would be available to help us take off the body. An hour. Hmmmm...stare at car some more.

We cleaned up a little in the garage and reorganized some panels and boxes, etc. The neighbor came over and we all stared at the car some more.

The body was put back on its little buck and is basking out in the warm California sun.

I pulled out the radiator, fan and the Breeze parts we'd need for installation. Steve painted up the steel bar that will hold up the radiator while Mike and I installed the fan onto the shroud and the shroud onto the radiator. I then spent the next 15 minutes attempting to use a small protractor to calculate what exactly 51 degrees looks like. Mike took the time to figure out why the radiator needed to be 5/8" offset as it didn't look quite right. He was kind enough to come over and point out that I'd never figure out 51 degrees with the tool I was using or with the car parked on a slanted driveway. Oh. Good points.

We got the radiator zip tied onto the frame, but never actually accomplished the full mounting.

Mike put the radiator cap on the correct doohickey. I would've tried to shove it on the radiator itself, so probably good he took on that task.

I know. Sad that we only accomplished this small portion of the build, but it was so hard not to stare at the roadster. I sat in it a ton. I got to ride in it and steer while Mike pushed it in and out of the garage. I might look adorable (in my clearly humble opinion), but I nearly dislocated my hip trying to push on the brake and clutch at the same time. I think I'll pass on the actual driving experience.

While out and about yesterday afternoon, we saw a gorgeous California Special Mustang with a beefy engine. I gave the guy a thumbs up and hoped one day I'd be the recipient while cruising in our car.