[egchewy]

Decided to secure my floor mats in a better way than what I originally tried.
For those following along, I bought some Eagle Claw hooks that were supposed to grip the underlying carpet. The bottom of the hooks are sharp and barbed and meant to pierce through the carpet and grab on. You release the mats by unscrewing a cap on the topside of the mat that engages with the barbed claw underneath.
Well, I discovered that the kit carpet plus the sound deadener is not thick enough for the barbs to pierce through. And while driving my DS mat tends to get bunched up in the front of the footbox by the pedals...Not safe...

I decided to secure the mats by putting a couple of 1/4"-20 socket head screws and fender washers through the mat and into the front side of the 2" frame just after the floor drops. First I punched a hole on either side of the mat after marking with a sharpie, "cauterizing" the edges with a soldering iron to prevent fraying. Then transferred the position to the front side of the frame.
This is where it gets fun. If you've ever tried to drill and tap a hole blindly on the front side of the frame while doing a crazy yoga plank in a hot 85* garage, you're missing out. Also don't put the holes too far to the edge of the mat as the inside bend of the footbox prevents you from getting a drill into that location. I ended up using a right angle attachment and got it to work.
At the end of the night, I was able to get the PS mat done after an hour with lots of swearing and sweating. I'm leaving the DS for another night. In the end, no one will likely ever notice, but isn't that the point?

"Can't see the line, can you Russ?"
-CW Griswold

 

[egchewy]

I installed my driver's side floor mats. well sort of. when trying to tap my 2nd hole I broke the tap off in the frame. It's currently only secured with one bolt and the washer but seems to be fairly secure. I think i'll leave it as is for now.
I got my new oil pressure sender and installed it directly into the block again. I'm still waiting on a fitting for a remote location but seems to be working OK right now. I figure if the sender fails again I'll go ahead and place it in a remote location.
I also happened to be looking underneath the hood the other day and noticed some dried up coolant right around my heater hose on the intake. I went ahead and tightened those hose clamps down. Checked in my expansion tank and noticed that the fluid was down at the level of the lower fitting. I'm guessing that there are some negligible losses over time. I want ahead and refilled the expansion tank and will tighten all the clamps. Are there any other possible culprits? No visible leaks on my garage floor. I don't seem to have a headgasket leak. No white smoke coming out of the exhaust.

 

[egchewy]

Took a longer drive today (40-50mi) around dusk. 70* with low humidity. It was great getting this thing out and running. I had to log some data on my FiTech to get a custom tune. I found a guy on FB who will get you a custom tune remotely. You just send him your base tune info, a recent logged drive and some info on your engine. He'll send you back a custom tune file that you then upload to your ECU using the handheld. He will also help tweak the tune if you need afterwards. I'm hoping this will wake up the motor a bit. I feel like it should be a bit "torquier" in the lower gears.

Took another look after driving for coolant leaks. There appears to be a dried puddle next to my heater hose nipple. Nothing wet since I tightened down the hose clamp. There is still some moisture around my temp sender in the intake so I'll need to tighten this down a bit more. I'm assuming all the excess coolant missing from my overflow tank leaked slowly and evaporated on the hot intake, which explains why the ground under my car has always been dry and fluid free.

coming up on 300 mi on the odometer. No major issues (knock on wood). My home alignment (tenhulzen alignment plates) seems to be solid, no vibrations and drives straight at 80mph. No major leaks aside from the aforementioned one. Oil pressure sender issue fixed for now. If that fails again, I'll have all the parts to make a remote sender location. Plan on changing oil after 500mi (new engine) and will run conventional dino blood w/ zinc.

 

[jhargrove]

Nice chewy so much fun

 

[railroad]

I bought the same carpet hold down kit, as you. I have not installed them and likely will not, after your experience. I can go with the 2 screws into the frame method. Thanks for the info.

 

[egchewy]

I bought the same carpet hold down kit, as you. I have not installed them and likely will not, after your experience. I can go with the 2 screws into the frame method. Thanks for the info.

the "claws" have tapered, barbed ends that are meant to be pounded through the existing carpet and hold on. our carpet, even with sound deadener, is not thick enough. upon further inspection, several of the tips have broken off against the aluminum from me trying to pound it in place.
If I were doing it again, I'd secure the floormats prior to putting the outer footbox wall and body on, as the frontside of the 2" frame at the drop is very difficult to drill/tap as you're trying to pull the drill/tap towards yourself. it also is a blind area so keeping your drill bit from walking is a challenge.
I would also consider drilling down from the top into the 2" frame and just paint the hardware black.

 

[egchewy]

Cleaning up my wiring in my trunk a bit. Got some weather pack connectors and fed my wires through the trunk lid. I got a aluminum panel from darkwater customs and attached it with some rivnuts. Also slapped on my door cards while I'm driving in gel coat for the added storage capacity and added some decorative touches for now.

 

[jhargrove]

Nice. I may copy you.

 

[phileas_fogg]

The hula girl is a nice touch.


John

 

[egchewy]

The hula girl is a nice touch.


John

My secretary gave it to me as a gag gift. That and fuzzy dice.

 

[egchewy]

Took the cobra to a work picnic today. Lots of interested coworkers. Looks good from 50yds.

 

[egchewy]

Safety and aesthetics.
Decided to place extinguisher behind the tunnel on the back wall. Keeps it out of the way of my kill switch, cup holders, and battery cut off on the front wall. Got Everson's seat belt trim pieces. Very nicely made. I was trying to minimize shiny bits in the cockpit but it really does finish off the area. I could see the carpet starting to fray already around the seat belts without. Word of advice, if your even thinking of using these, do yourself a favor and install before the body is on. Crawling into the trunk isn't much fun. The upper deck is just a bit taller than the width of my head apparently.

 

[Redstang69]

Looks sharp and clean.

How are you liking the HiPo?

 

[egchewy]

Looks sharp and clean.

How are you liking the HiPo?

thanks.
the HiPo is small gives good power for such a light car. I wish it had a bit more torque in the lower gears, but this also may be related to my driving style. I'm having my FiTech tuned a bit so we'll see if I can squeeze a bit more low end torque out of it. Sweet spot seems to be above 3k RPM in at least 2nd gear.

 

[egchewy]

Having some interior doors painted and the painters set up a makeshift paint booth in the garage. Maybe i should go ahead and shoot my own car😁. Man does it reek of fumes in there.

 

[CraigS]

There was a post a few months ago about filling in the joints w/ actual gelcoat. That might be worth looking at.

 

[egchewy]

There was a post a few months ago about filling in the joints w/ actual gelcoat. That might be worth looking at.

I read this post. It seemed like the prep work for gelcoat was almost as involved as for paint.
I'm not worried too much about driving in gelcoat and don't want to mess anything up for my body/paint guy when the time comes.

 

[egchewy]

Poached this idea from another member on the other forum (Fman, I think). Black wrist sweat band over the metal buckles to protect the paint. I took my son to a soccer game today before putting the sweatbands on and had to inform him not to throw the shoulder harnesses on the back of the car anymore.
Plus, it'll also serve a purpose when sopping the sweat off my face, neck, back, under the pecs, while I'm driving. I've really got to seal off my cockpit better. pool noodles for now, but will wait until final body/paint to put on the weather stripping.

Does anyone else besides me notice air (hot or cold, depending on the engine temp) coming out of your vintage air vents even when the blower is turned off?

I also went to a car show today. It was the Arthritis Foundation car show here in Dublin, OH. I estimate at least 300-400 cars of all eras. Lots of 'stangs from mult eras, but notably only 2 cobras there (not counting mine in the parking lot). One backdraft with a hard top and a superformance. The BD owner has owned it for about a year, bought off a guy in CT. He did have historical tags on it as it was originally titled as a 65 in CT.
Who knows, I might be entering my whip next year in an attempt to win some hardware.

(Also not sure why my second pic is being flagged for possible graphic content. I've seen car porn before and this ain't it. At least not yet....)

Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18

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[jhargrove]

Nice Chewy. Your interior looks perfect! It will set you aside from the rest.

While I am waiting for Jeff Kleiner, I was considering taking mine to a interior shop and see if they can do thier thing make it look more professional. I am hoping they will have ideas themselves.

Jason

 

[egchewy]

My first cruise in. Nice night. Probably 200 cars there.