[mylesdw]

I'm more of a grinder than a welder But thanks for the kind words.

 

[Dodgy]

As long as you're good at one of them it'll be right...:tup:

 

[mylesdw]

Third leg tacked in place. For this tri-Y design they are paired 1-5 and 3-7 on this side. Quite early on I got to the stage where the header would not go onto the car, too many things in the way, but I discovered that taking one engine mount off and putting a jack under sump allows you to tilt the engine by a couple of inches which makes fitting the manifold very easy.

Edit: spoke too soon! The new branch does not fit in the chassis so it has been taken apart again.

 

[mylesdw]

Pretty much finished the nearside now and need to start on the other which has the starter motor to avoid.

It's not the most swoopy, free flowing manifold that I've ever seen but:

• You can get it on and off in the chassis fairly easily
• You can get an allen key to all the bolts
• There is reasonable clearance for the plugs

So I'm happy with that

 

[mylesdw]

Started on the offside header and it is ridiculously tight what with the starter motor and the steering. I whipped the engine back out

and put a notch in the chassis to make a little more room near the starter

Looks a bit rough in primer but was OK after a coat of black

 

[mygasser]

did you add a brace/plate under that crossmember to the chassis rail to help keep that join nice and strong?
neil.

 

[mylesdw]

I braced it with a piece of pipe on the top. You can't see it well in the photo but there is a length of steel pipe there that has been quartered to give a nice radius and then welded in to the cut-off end. I don't think that cross-member is a structural part of the chassis as such since there is another one, fully braced, a few inches away. I think this one just braces the bottom of the pedal box.

 

[mygasser]

you got it covered then, i thought you would. i mentioned it just in case :tup:
neil.

 

[mylesdw]

Please do Neil, I really appreciate other eyes looking at my projects. Sometimes others see stuff that you don't.

 

[mylesdw]

Got started on the other side. The pairing is different this side - 2-4 and 6-8 instead of 1-5 and 3-7.

It's very tight under the starter

 

[blackpopracing]

I'd still add fillets under that notch. Stress fractures are common if weld areas are small and looking at the photo above it looks minimal to me.

With the header that close to the starter you will have issues with heat soak and non starting when hot - a heat shield will be a must.

 

[mylesdw]

I was thinking of a heatshield for the starter, maybe some thin shiny stainless? Also I read that getting the pipes ceramic coated lowers the radiated heat quite a bit.

 

[blackpopracing]

Ceramic coating will help hugely. You need something that will stop the heat getting to the starter but that will not retain & radiate the heat from the exhaust. I think aluminium would be better than stainless, but maybe look at the proper kits for starter wrapping insulation.

 

[mylesdw]

Starter wrap looks very doable (I did not know special kits existed):

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dei-010384

I may be able to gain some space too - I made the silly mistake of not noticing that the engine had shifted on the jack while I was measuring the gap but it means I would have to cut my nice shiny first pipe :-(

 

[mylesdw]

RHS taking shape now (slowly)

 

[mylesdw]

Not cobra related but I've been enjoying watching this project very much. Some good metal working skills and some great use of period components too. The guy is so knowledgeable and yet he is a college student and looks about 12

 

[mylesdw]

Finally completed the offside and also the adapter that joins it back to the original system

 

[ivanhoew]

Super neat Myles :tup: ..., might want to move that kunifer pipe for the heat ?

 

[mylesdw]

The pipe is not quite as close as it looks in the photo but there are a few places which I plan to wrap with some heat-shield next time the engine's out.

 

[mygasser]

wouldn't it be easy enough to move it 'outside' of that vertical frame tube it appears to be attached to?
neil.