Car gone today 😢

Five years since my adventure of building a GD started and three years since it was finished, this car has now been sold and was shipped to its new owner in Nottinghamshire today. The car was transported in a closed PRG trailer by Andrew at Zoom of Chester. Great service if you ever need your car moving and you don’t want to drive it.

The car can be seen later this year at the Newark car show in July 2021 and no doubt in the lanes around Nottingham. It maybe even have its new roof, air scoop and a few other modifications. 

Cobra bound for a new home!

I have taken a deposit on this great car. Will be sorry to see it go, but things move on in life. 

Hope Steve enjoys it as much as I have and that it will have a good home.

Side screens

The wind wings were left off and the mirrors were removed from the windscreen. The wind wing hinges were refitted to the windscreen.

Side screen with guide to cutting

5mm Perspex sheet was used for the side screens. This had guidelines drawn on it by GD - note that it says ‘guide only’. The cutting will depend on how you

have installed the hood, so the cut line WILL be different from the lines GD have drawn, unless you are very lucky.

The Perspex was cut, using a slow speed on the jig saw, replicating the screen rake angle, but allowing an extra 3mm clearance for the hood bow. The front edge of the side screen almost touched the windscreen frame. The bottom edge of the side screen was set about 13mm from the door top, to allow for the rubber seal - I used a piece of wood taped to the door to space the side screen from the door. The bottom rear part of the side screen was also cut to create a 13mm gap to the door at this stage. The side screen was temporally taped in place.

Side screen temporarily fixed with tape and hinge. Note the tape on the doors holding the wooden spacer

Holes were then drilled to mount the side screen to the hinges and these were temporarily secured in place to make sure that the cut was right. No seal was required between the side screen and windscreen.

Side screen hinge

Next the top stitching was used to help mark the top of the side screen, so that it could be tucked under the lip of the hood when closed. The factory markings on the Perspex were incorrect for my screen. So after numerous measurements and remarking, the cut was made. This was a time consuming job. An “S” transition was used at the top rear to create an overlap of roughly 70mm to the rear (screen to hood) to allow rain etc to be blown off to the rear.

The correct cut line is the thinner line near the top, so DO NOT cut to the line drawn. As it says it is a guide only.

The Perspex was removed and cut to shape. The side screen is flat, so does not follow the shape of the car - it sticks out a little at the bottom rear, but being Perspex there is some flexibility here. So it will need fixing at the rear to pull it into shape. This will also stop the side screens lifting when the hood is in place or when the screens are used without the hood.

GD recommend a turn catch that bolts through the side screen and turns behind the elbow of the hood frame, but this limits the side screen use to times when the hood is up! The bottom of the screen cannot be fixed to the door top, otherwise the door will not open (due to the windscreen angle). So I have yet to decide how to fix them - possibly a turn lock that goes behind to door top or some Velcro that goes from the side screen to the top underside of the doors.

The edges of the Perspex were sanded smooth, then polished with a fine body compound, before the rubber seal was worked into place on the bottom edge. Here I applied a little Vaseline to the rubber seal and then worked it into place. Patience and some strength is required here! Finally, clear anti-scratch film was applied both sides (inside and out), at the top of the side screen (tucked in edge only), to prevent scuffing when used. The screen was then refitted to the car.

Here you can see the bottom rear sticking out, until a catch is fitted

Side view

View from front

This process was then repeated on the other side of the car.

I decided to use ‘glove box’ locks for the side locks. A hole was cut in each side screen to the ‘across flats’ size of the lock barrel, then filed to a square to take the locking mechanism. This stops the lock turning in the sidescreen.

The side screen catches were next. First I removed the existing catch part and made up a longer catch from aluminium bar. This was cut so that 50mm was extending towards the door top and 65mm to the other side (115mm in total). Shrink wrap was applied to the longer side to act as the handle. A square hole was cut as the pivot 50mm from the short end, before attaching to the lock (see below).

Catch made to fit lock.

Next the catch position was marked onto some masking tape on the top of each door. The slot size was marked from the escutcheon (I used the bulkhead escutcheons from GD) onto the tape and the screw positions marked. A slot was then cut with the Dremel. After filing out the slot a little, the masking tape was removed and the escutcheons fitted in place using two screws.

‘Bulkhead’ escutcheon one door top

Finally the side screens were re-attached and the catch positions checked.

Screen in place with catch

Hood (part 5)

The centre of the Tenax fastener holes were marked on the fabric where it fitted to the moulding. This was just above the dip between the boot and the rear wing on each side.

The hood fabric was carefully removed from the car. To finish off the hood, the fabric over lapping the hood bows was stuck in to the channel and surplus fabric trimmed off.

Fabric stuck into channel and clamped in place

Fabric trimmed so that it is only stuck to the front face of the channel

Holes were punched in the corners of hood fabric, where marked. Next I made up two tabs out of plastic, using a photo from Andy as a guide.  The screw thread of the spring cap parts of the Tenax fasteners were pushed through the tab and then the fabric. I tried to screw on the “nut” part with a Tenax fastener tool. Although the plastic was supplied by GD, I could not get the plastic and hood fabric between the two parts of the fastener as they were too thick, so this part was abandoned! The idea of the tab is to stop the piping curling up at the corners, so I will have to live with this risk. The Tenax fasteners were therefore fitted without the tabs.

The stud was fitted to the moulding. The nut that goes onto the stud behind the moulding was fiddly to attach to say the least!

Tenax fastener fitted. I have now removed the crease by tensioning the material.

The hood was refitted to the car. It was then that I noticed that the locating peg from the front off side screen bows had pulled out of the bow. So another job to refit it. (Note: Decided to buy a new bow from Europa rather than seek out a welder to fix it).

Inside view

View from front

View from rear

Job finally done - after three attempts at getting the tension right to get rid of the ridges in the fabric - had to pull the stuck fabric off the bow, remove the adhesive and then refit!

I was told that the first time the hood gets wet DO NOT put it down until it is dry, otherwise you will never get it back on. So I won’t risk it, but presumably it will help further tension the hood by getting it wet.

Now for the side screens!

Hood (part 4)

The hood fabric was removed again and warmed up in the house, then refitted to the moulding and over the hood frame (this is important to ensure that the tension is correct). Make sure that the hood frame is fitted the right way round  - with the cranked bits facing forward. The frame straps were put in place to hold the metal tubes in the correct place. A small heater was placed on the transmission tunnel to keep the hood fabric warm and pliable.

The fabric was pulled over the hood bows and screen, then taped in place, making sure that the overlap at each side was as near as possible same. The rear fitting to the moulding had to be adjusted to remove the sag from the rear window and creases from the roof area. The whole thing took a lot of fiddling, a bit of cursing and I broke a few finger nails in the process!

Effective, but doesn’t look pretty!

Inside looks ok though.  Note: straps to retain spacing of hood frame

Next the hood fabric was released from half of the screen and adhesive applied to the front of the hood bow only. The fabric was pulled over the bow/screen into its original position and the tape was then re-applied to retain the position whilst the glue set. This was then repeated for the other half. Note: The fabric is only glued to the face of the hood bow (not the top, as this slopes in the opposite direction to the hood fabric).

The press studs were fixed to the moulding (see photo) to secure the hood flap. I used double sided number plate adhesive tape to help identify where the male studs should be fixed. Simply put a small piece of number plate tape or similar under the female part of the press stud and apply some pressure against it (the female part of the stud is already fixed to the hood). Then drill a hole in the centre of this mark. I used a small nut, bolt and washer to fix the male part of the stud.

Press stud fitting to moulding. 

I made sure the securing tape (to the screen) was plentiful and left the hood on the car overnight for the adhesive to go off.

Hood (part 3)

The hood has come back from the trimmers. There was a roll of Velcro in the pack which wasn’t there before. On closer inspection I noticed that the Velcro was just the hook part (there was no loop Velcro). Also I noticed that the hood fabric that went under the moulding, has been cut off! So a quick call was made to Andy at GD to find out what this was about.

Andy said that the fixing method had changed. He recommended that I applied adhesive to the moulding and let it go off. Then to stick the hook part of the Velcro to the moulding. The loop part of the Velcro is already sewn on to the hood fabric. Andy also sent through some photos of a hood fitted to a factory built car. These showed that in addition to the Velcro, two Tennex fasteners were used at the rear corners of the mouldings to help hold the hood in place. Andy sent through a couple of Tenax fasteners. Another photo showed where the other part of the hood press studs were fitted.

First the mouldings were removed from the car and the position of the Velcro was marked on the upstand of the mouldings and cut to length. The Velcro was positioned so that the very bottom edge of it was in line with the moulding’s lower edge. This makes sure that the piping on the hood fabric is a snug fit to the body. This area was rubbed down again to provide a key for the adhesive and masked off. The exposed part of the moulding upstands were spray painted to tidy them up a little (Andy also trims the ends of these with some leather). Once the paint was dry, the masking tape was removed and the adhesive was applied to the mouldings. When this had gone off, the hook side of the Velcro was applied to each of the mouldings and the moulding re-fitted to the car.

Next I applied some P shaped draught excluder to the underside of the two mouldings. This was to seal any gap and to stop the moulding scratching the car body (not in the GD instructions).

The hood fabric was warmed up on a radiator to make it more flexible to fit.

A bit of heat helps with the fabric fitting.

The centre of the hood fabric was found (mine had a central seam) and this was positioned to align with the centre of the car. The hood fabric was then attached to the car using the Velcro, stretching it to go around the moulding.

Fabric fixed to GRP with Velcro 

The inner flap near the doors do not reach the ends of the GRP - about 30mm short (so 20mm better than it was!). Andy says this is OK and this is why he finishes it off with some leather. So the fabric does not cover all of the GRP (see photos).

Near side flap is short of GRP end 

As above, but for the off-side

Next job, once I have thawed out, is to fix the hood fabric, press studs and the Tenaxfasteners. More on that later.

Update

Sorry I haven’t posted recently regarding the hood. This is because I could not stretch the fabric around the moulding no matter how much I tried or heated it. As a result and following a conversation with Andy at GD, the hood fabric has been sent back to the trimmers to ease the stitching holding the piping in place. This appeared to be stopping the fabric from stretching around the moulding and so it was about 50mm (2 inches) short at each side!

Hood (part 2)

OK so I have fitted the bows to the screen in part1. So now it is time to move to the back of the car.

The GRP skirt moulding was in two parts (not one as stated in the instructions).

Mouldings may be one part or cut in two as mine was

 I applied plenty of masking tape where the moulding would fit to avoid any scratching of the body.

Masking tape applied to the body

Next I drilled 8 pilot holes where indicated on the mouldings. I sanded the mouldings to remove any sharp edges and the hole marking 'pimples'.  Then the mouldings were lined up on the rear deck, so that the overhangs were tight up against each door reveal and the centre rear trailing edge was 60-65mm from the boot shut line. The mouldings were taped in place. Once in place, the pilot holes in the skirt moulding were used as a guide to drill through the body. These were then opened out to 8mm using a step drill bit. 

Mouldings held in place with masking tape prior to drilling

Holes drilled in body

The M8 thread inserts were fitted in to each hole in the body and secured from inside the boot and wheel arches with penny washers, shake proof washers and nuts.

Inserts fitted

The pilot holes in the mouldings were opened out to 6mm (allows clearance for the thumb screws). The mouldings were trial fitted using the thumb screws and the holes adjusted a little to fit. Once I knew they fitted, the skirt mouldings were removed and trimmed back 6mm from the door shut line and the rear was cut to the marks provided by GD (This is where you cut it in two if it is in one piece).

t was 

Rear of moulding cut to allow hood to fold

Then I fitted the two pivot brackets to the mouldings using the countersunk screws provided. The pin ends of the bracket face towards the inside of the car. The centre line of the bracket should be 30mm back from the door shut line and approx 30mm in from the cockpit roll edge. 

Pivot bracket in place

The hood frame was put together (it needed the inside of one of the frame legs reeming out a little) before fitting in place (note that the frame main legs are cranked so that the hood can lay back over the body).

Hood frame fitted

The next job is to start fitting the hood fabric.

Hood (part 1)

I removed the existing ‘wind wings’ from the screen stanchions to get them out of the way, keeping the hinges and fixings for later use on the side screens.

The two over-centre catch ‘keepers’ were fitted to each side of the screen (with the short countersunk screws supplied) using the two pre-tapped holes just above the top hole position of the wind wing hinge (don’t use longer screws or you may damage the screen). The keepers, and not the catches as stated in the instructions, fit to the screen stanchions.

Keeper fitted to stachion.

Make sure that the sun visor mountings are pointing down (I had put mine on facing up to gain height), if you want the bows to fit!

The sun visor bracket now points down (the correct way)

The two hood bows were trial fitted along the top of the screen, with the locating pegs towards the centre (they will only go on one way). The driver’s side bow was a very poor fit at the end, so needed quite a lot of time spent fettling and repainting to make it acceptable.

Bow side was poorly bent, so had to be reshaped for a better fit

Once this was done, the holes for the over-centre catches were then marked on to the ends of the bows, whilst the catches were in the closed position (not easy as the holes get covered by part of the catch!). The bows were removed and drilled with 2.3mm holes. The over-centre catch holes needed opening out a little to take the rivets. These were then fixed with the pop rivets supplied. The pop rivets were fixed from the outside of each bow. The backs protruded towards the screen surround, so were peened on the inside to reduce their height and any sharp edges removed.

Catch in place

Next I applied masking tape to the top of the glass and the front face of the chrome screen surround. This should help protect it from glue at a later stage. I marked the centre of the screen for later use too.

Screen taped and centre marked

On each bow I marked a line 4” (100 mm) from the bottom edge of the bow outside edge (the bit that goes down to the new keeper). The front face of each bow was then lightly sanded from the centre to the marked line. The un-sanded section will be seen when the hood is fitted, so this was not rubbed down. If you sand beyond this point, then you will need to re-paint this section of the bow.

Now for a cup of tea and a rest, before I tackle the next stage. Needed at my age!

Hood arrived

Hood bits arrived today.

Clockwise from top left: hood, ‘rough-cut’ side screens, hood bows,
GRP  sections for rear, hood frames, window seal, fixings.

These are the bits I bought. The side screens are described as rough-cut, but are straight Perspex with indicative instructions written on. The GRP pieces also have instructions written on them. Fitting instructions were sent separately by email. All looks straight forward .... famous last words.

Now it’s just to fit!

Hood ordered

After many month’s of struggling to get weather gear. I have finally been able to place an order with GD for a hood. In total the full soft top kit is a staggering £1,700, plus delivery, no doubt plus glues and some other tools as well. I had expected more like £1,000! The reason I have decided to buy it is to make the car more usable, since I have only done around 2,500 miles in two and a half years!

The hood is a fold down type, so it can stay on the car when not up.

The kit comprises:

• Black fabric hood
• Hood frame
• Rod ends and linkages
• Over centre catches
• Bows to attach to screen
• GRP surround
• Fixings etc

Included in the price above are Perspex side screens, rubber seals, catches and hinges. I have only ordered the side screens and rubber seals at this point, in addition to the hood kit. The hinges will come from the wind wings and I will decide what to do about the catches once I can assess what is needed to secure the screens when used with the hood down.

The side screens are essential, if you are to ride without significant buffeting from the moving air and whining from the misses i.e. anything above 50 mph. The hood makes a few days away from home a possibility in the UK, without constantly looking at the weather forecast app. on your phone and hoping that it is going to be right. Apparently, it also helps to stop the wind attacking you from behind, even when it is down.

The hardtop would be more weather proof, but once on and driving you can’t take it off when the sun (that thing in the sky that you can occasionally see in the UK) comes out.

An optional hood bag is available at £330 - gulp - which I won’t be getting!

Thinking about weather protection - again

I have been looking at weather protection for the Cobra again, after having my ear bent by Andy Holmes (the guy I helped to put his Cobra body on - see separate post). This was the main reason for taking the tin top over to him in Lincolnshire a couple of weeks ago, much to his dismay!

The lack of a hood or hard top has also played its part in keeping the car’s mileage low. Both hardtops and hoods were not to be had when I was looking. In my opinion, this was because the hood and hardtop manufacturers couldn’t be bothered to get their fingers out.

Time has now passed, so I am looking at this again, so that the Cobra will become more usable. Watch this space!

Heated seats part 3 - wiring

The supplied relays were fixed to the transmission tunnel behind the seats, using self tapping screws over the carpet.

Relay fixed to the transmission tunnel

The transmission tunnel carpets were lifted along the edge near the floor. The wires were then fed along this area towards the front of the car and up to the central under dash tray.

Wires routed under the carpet, against the transmission tunnel

The earth wire was attached to the ground point on the chassis.

Ground point on chassis

The supply and ground wires were both extended.

Wires extended and tie wrapped in place

20mm holes were drilled in the under dash trays near to the heater outlets. The switch wires were disconnected from the loom and fed through the tray and clicked in to place. They were then reconnected to the looms.

The supply (live) wire was connected to position 3 on the ignition switch, so that the seats only operated when the ignition was on and would not drain the battery if left switched on.

So now to test. Without the ignition switched on, there were no lights on the switches in any position - so a good start! Next the ignition was turned on. A green light when the switch was set to the low setting. A red light when it was set to maximum. And no light at the off/central point - great news.

Now I just need to test it in anger.

Edit: Been out in the car today (Thursday) and the heated seats really work. Brilliant!

Heated seats part 2 - the heaters

The heated seats kit has arrived, along with the staples.

The kit

Unfortunately the instructions are in German! But the company who produced them were very quick with a response to an email and a link to an English version. The wiring diagram was fine and understandable, but I was concerned that there was something hidden in the wording.

First the pads were detached from the loom. The pads were fixed to the foam base and back of both seats using the double sided tape fitted to the pads.

Heat pad in place

This was easy for the base, but I needed to remove more staples from the side (bolster) leather to allow me to get my arm up the back. The latter proved a bit tricky to remove the film from the sticky tape when in place! However, once done and pressed firmly in to place it appears very successful and can't be seen from the outside. Next the leather seat covers were stapled back in place using 8mm staples.

A 16mm hole was drilled in the lower back at the centre and the wires from each pad fed through. An extra layer of tape was wound round the wires, to avoid chaffing, and these were then taped in place facing the transmission tunnel.

The wires at the base of the backrest

A 16mm hole was drilled in the lower back at the centre and the two pad wires were fed through. An extra layer of tape was wound round the wires to reduce the risk of chafing. The wires were made to face the transmission tunnel and taped over. The fixing rails were re-fitted using the original cap head bolts, before the seats were cleaned with leather conditioner. Done.

Seat looks like it did originally

Head restraints - liberating space

The head restraints supplied by GD restricted how far back the seats could be pushed back. So to address this I modified them! Now I have an extra 40-45mm of travel in the seats.

The head restraints were removed from the seats. The head restraint was placed on a flat surface upside down and by putting a metal ruler against it, a line was marked in chalk 150mm up (so 150mm from the top).

Line in chalk 150mm up

Next the sides were marked in chalk. These side lines were marked from the line across the back parallel down to the metal location bars and finished about 12mm behind the bars (you can see how much will be removed).

Line in chalk across side

The leather cover was then removed by releasing the Velcro and then compressing the foam of the head restraint, taking care not to rub off the chalk lines. The measurement/markings were then transferred on to the head restraint leatherette. The three pieces of Velcro were removed from the cover and retained for later use. I turned the cover inside out and then unpicked the sewn seams at both sides from the bottom up to the line that went across the head restraint. There were two rows of stitches (a hidden seam stitch - black in my case and a top stitch - red for mine). The threads were then knotted on the reverse and a covering of contact adhesive applied. These two actions should stop the stitching unravelling further. The leather cover was put to one side.

Leather head restraint cover removed

The surface of the leatherette head restraints were then cut downwards from the line drawn to about 12mm from the head restraint location bars underneath. It was then cut across just above the bottom roll (leaving a lower flap for glueing). This formed an H shape cut (see photo below).

Leatherette cut in H shape on head restraint

The leatherette was lifted from the foam underneath. The foam that protruded was removed (try a hacksaw to get a smooth surface, but watch you don't cut any leatherette), as was any residual foam still attached to the leatherette of the back, bottom and side flaps. The top flap had about 5mm removed from the across the bottom (the exact amount can be established by pulling the leatherette tight and marking a line across the flap over a flat area of the head restraint, to remove any excess). The side flaps were carefully thinned, then the top flap was thinned for a strip about 12mm deep across the width. The side flap (a triangle) was marked on the reverse of the top flap and this too was thinned.

Head restraint being operated on!

Contact adhesive was applied to the foam, the reverse of the bottom flap, the reverse of the top flap including the thinned area, the reverse of the thinned side flaps, the leatherette faces of the side flaps, the leatherette face of the lower flap (about 10mm across the width). Once touch dry, the bottom flap, followed by the side flaps were pressed in to place. Finally the larger top flap was pressed in to place on to the foam.

The cover was fitted over the head restraint and the new position of the Velcro marked with chalk. The cover was removed, then the Velcro was glued and machine sewn in place. The stitching was redone by hand, down 45mm below the chalk line - both the seam and the top stitch. The remainder of the seams were simply top stitched for continuity. Finally, after refitting the cover again, it was tightened in place, using the Velcro. The remaining bits at the bottom corners were glued in place to make a neat job.

Head restraint in place liberates about 40mm of extra seat travel,

a further 70-75mm is available if the head restraints are not fitted.

The modified head restraints have removed a fair bit of the padding at the bottom back which touched the rear bodywork. This now allows the seats to be pushed back a further 40mm or so.