Body Goes On

At long last another major milestone was reached today when the body went on the car permanently but before I show the final result there was a couple more things to sort out.

First job was to fit the pedal box and servo and in true Cobra style this is where I hit the first problem. 

The accelerator pedal was catching on the body which felt like a disaster; I just couldn't bear the thought of that sticking whilst driving so after trying to push and pull it around, grinding a bit of the pedal and taking in and out what felt like 100 times, I came up with the idea of drilling out the bolt holes on the pedal box to 12mm. 

This allowed the pedal box to be moved 2mm further away from the side of the body which cured the problem but this job took hours to complete and frankly is one I am glad is over and done with.

I'm still not sure the adjustment on the clutch pedal is quite right but I can test that later once I've re-hooked up all the clutch and brake lines.

Next job was to prepare the chassis to accept the body. Normally this would involve putting silicone sealant all over the body. My view on this is its messy and unecessary as it makes it extremely difficult to ever remove the body, if the need arises. 

After some research I found an alternative which had a number of advantages. A product called silentcoat. I bought a bulk pack for £84.99 but I have loads remaining so a smaller pack would no doubt be ok. I spoke to the firm and they advised that as long as all gaps are filled by placing the pieces close together it would form a barrier. 















The product also reduces vibration, deadens sound and acts as a thermal barrier so I figured this would help reduce road noise so that I get the full engine/exhaust noise and help hide the whine from the fuel pump. it cuts to shape easily with scissors and follows the contours of the car well too as its only 2-3mm thick.

I even placed some in the tunnel so I'm hoping this works out well, mainly as it was a lot more expensive that silicon sealant :-)

It was finally time so a quick text to call round a few friends and on it went. I was surprised how quick and easy it went into place until I tried to put in the chassis bolts. 

There is two 8mm bolts that go right through the chassis in the boot and four M10 bolts through the wings in the engine bay. These all went straight into place. 

The main body was a little more difficult. First, the diagram in the manual shows that there is a hole at the front of the footwell but there isnt. There is five holes around where the driver and passenger sits. Two 10mm by the main scuttle that go right through the chassis - these would line up and took a while to locate.

The remainder are all 10mm threaded holes and again some were difficult to locate, others damaged the fibre glass as they slowly pulled tight. Not a major issue, just a little annoying.