wow its been a while. here's my snake horse.

[Makoto]

I was going to put a ceiling in the shop this year but I got sidetracked a bit.
This is a 97 cobra and it needs help. Long story short it has like 20 years of bad mods, cut corners, and a crappy paintjob. Its actually a crystal white car that somebody shot single stage black over which means I have to strip two layers of crappy paint off.

but that's jumping too far ahead.



The first thing I needed to do was strip the car and install through the floor subframe connectors.



then I could hack off thes abominations and paint the bottom of the car.



took me 7 months to get here but it was worth it.




Oh and I got this too.

now it looks like this





now im working on the engine bay. trying to have it painted in a couple weeks.

I am relocating the battery so the fusebox can go in a better location so I needed to modify the bracket so I will fit and punch a hole in the car for the loom.



notice the rounded edges.




passenger side loom hole. again, notice how the edges are rounded.




im wrapping the up the test fit stage so I can know what I can weld up and what I can leave.

If you haven't noticed the build is basically a full on restomod but but a driver's car. everything has to be done right or not at all.

so that's what I've been up to. anybody know any good auto upholstery forums? I found the hogring but i'm not a pro and they seem like they look down on people that aren't to the extent that only pros can access the forum . that's fine but its kind of a hindrance to my interior plans. I want to leather wrap some of stuff and not spend a fortune paying a shop to do it.

 

[vette-kid]

I can't help you, your soil is clearly beyond my own. Nice work [emoji106]

... Was that tubular square steel under the car!?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[CJseven]

Those are subframe connectors, stiffeners.

 

[Sleepy1]

Nice work.

 

[Bad00SS]

Nice car! My best friend had a 97 cobra for years. Put the 03 cobra wheels on also. Just had long tubes, x pipe, cold air kit, clutch and a 150 shot. I believe the car went high 11's to the 1/4. fun car. I made a few passes in it.

While you have the engine out and doing some clean up in there moving wiring and things, you should weld in these smooth engine bay panels before paint. A lot of foxbody guys do it and it really cleans up the engine bay.

 

[Makoto]

thanks guys! I was gonna do the scott rod panels but with the engine taking up so much space I really don't think the payoff is worth the effort in my case. that 4v motor is yuuuuuge.

 

[LX-Markham]

Yeah, the panels looks great on a carb'd 5.0 Fox since there's nothing else in the engine bay. Not worth it on an SN95, especially with that big 4V.

Tremendous amount of work on the car so far. Looking forward to progress pics.

 

[ScottsGT]

You know you're getting old when you find threads of '97's being restored. Work looks great! Get some better engineered sub frame connectors and reinstall them. Love the IRS swap. No experience with those early IRS rears, but it sure gave the S550 doubts when it was announced it was coming with an IRS. I guess some guys just beat on them too hard.
We've been through about 4 or 5 SN95's in the family. Got a 5.0 with a Kenne Bell sitting in my basement right now for my son's '95 convertible.

 

[Makoto]

You know you're getting old when you find threads of '97's being restored. Work looks great! Get some better engineered sub frame connectors and reinstall them. Love the IRS swap. No experience with those early IRS rears, but it sure gave the S550 doubts when it was announced it was coming with an IRS. I guess some guys just beat on them too hard.
We've been through about 4 or 5 SN95's in the family. Got a 5.0 with a Kenne Bell sitting in my basement right now for my son's '95 convertible.

look closer at the interior pic. that job is done

 

[ScottsGT]

look closer at the interior pic. that job is done

Sweet!

 

[Makoto]

Got the engine bay done and reloomed the harness in some nice braided nylon

 

[Stuart in MN]

anybody know any good auto upholstery forums?

Member slodat here on the Garage Journal runs a custom upholstery shop, and from the pictures he's posted does some really nice work. You could check with him on recommendations. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=292204

 

[Rickster55]

This is all above my head and def skill ability but I admire the dedication and work that you've put in to this thus far. Keep the pcs coming! Subscribed!

 

[NitroShark]

I own a 97 Cobra i bought new, it has less than 15K on it and totally original It's never been driven in the rain and only thing i have ever changed was the battery and just last year the tires.

This thread caught my eye for sure. Thanks


.

 

[Kaizen]

What arsenal did you use in paint removal? Looks great


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Makoto]

I own a 97 Cobra i bought new, it has less than 15K on it and totally original It's never been driven in the rain and only thing i have ever changed was the battery and just last year the tires.

This thread caught my eye for sure. Thanks

man that is awesome. I wouldn't have dreamt of doing this with one in good condition like yours, this poor thing just needed somebody to save it.

Kaizen - for the bottom I didn't remove much paint except when the floor got hot from welding and in the engine bay i didn't strip it completely since that's pretty much impossible. I'd say i did about 90% of the work with a flapper wheel on a grinder and the rest was just difficult tedious annoying rooting aroujnd by hand stuff.

when I get to the body that's a completely different story. the plan is to use chemical stripper and steel wool then sandpaper then I'll primer the whole thing.

the paint on this mug is probably a whole 1mm and it ALL has to come off on the outside if I want the body to look as good as it can.

I've treated the rust on the inside so next is scuffing the interior and using POR 15 over the whole floorboard to ensure the rust never comes back. then I can put the body harness and other **** back in the car and focus on getting the drivetrain back in the car as well.

 

[Makoto]

got the inside all POR15'd and now i'm working on getting everything I can back in the car while I figure out what I want to do with the engine and body stuff.

 

[TJwrenchin]

Nice build. I am in a sum what similar situation with my GT. Mine has been torn down for a while due to a career change that severely reduced my free time due to training. I have literally thousands in new parts I've collected waiting for install including an MM k member and A arms, coilovers for my IRS that I installed years before the car was torn down, TMI seats and a built engine.

I noticed you used an MM bushing kit on your IRS. While it's a good kit just know that if you track or auto cross the car a lot the upper A arm bushings will eventually soften on you. MM will deny this until they are blue in the face but I've seen it personally. I also think they used the wrong material for the cradle mounts. After doing a lot of reading I went with Full Tilt Boogie for all my IRS parts. Most dont have problems with the MM kit but there are a select few that do.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work.

I'm not a Ford fan but I can appreciate the workmanship that you are putting into the restoration and it is top shelf.

Subscribed to follow along with your build.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

Man, the car looks great. I'd love to see it in person some time since you are local.

 

[Pluribus]

Impressive build and attention to detail!

 

[rattle_snake]

... with Full Tilt Boogie for all my IRS parts.

same here, good stuff.

Assume you have the mandatory diff brace or aftermarket cover... The right tires are also super important to prevent wheel hop on that IRS.

 

[Makoto]

Here's some progress on my snake horse.

 

[rattle_snake]

 

[Pluribus]

Nice, clean SFC install! Are they just 2x2 straight tube? I see lots of Fox chassis cars with bent tubing, and this looks really nice!

 

[Makoto]

the kit came from teamz. they are 2x2 square tubing that have been sliced and angled in a particular section. it was definitely an adventure doing this part of the build but now i can run sidepipes while keeping the pipes tucked close to the body.

http://www.teamzmotorsports.net/Through_the_floor_sub_frame_connectors_p/tzm-sft-79-04.htm

 

[Pluribus]

Thanks for the info! I can see the bend on the website now. Huge improvement over the oddball ones hanging underneath the floor.

 

[rattle_snake]

Adding SFC is a great mod. 1st thing I did to my snake-horse. haha.

 

[double-d]

Glad this thread got bumped up, I missed it previously.

Love the build and quite partial to both the brand and the model.

Please keep up the progress pics!


Here is my '03 Terminator saying hi.
4.6L , 630 RWHP

 

[mc4life27]

I own a 97 Cobra i bought new, it has less than 15K on it and totally original It's never been driven in the rain and only thing i have ever changed was the battery and just last year the tires.



This thread caught my eye for sure. Thanks





.

So I’m all for keeping a nice car clean and in good shape but what’s the point? Why not drive the thing and enjoy it. At the end of the day it’s a toy and it’s just a cool car why not enjoy it. Or are you hoping one day it triples in value? Or do you just sit in the car in the garage and make car sounds with your mouth pretending your racing the car in a track?


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[SALIV8]

Nice work

 

[Makoto]

For the first time in years... she lives again

little update video on the build:

 

[ng8264723]

Sweet!

 

[Makoto]

All tuned up. 320rwhp (around 400 crank) 4.10 gears, all the suspension mods... not quite done yet but she's healthy and moving under her own power now. AC is getting installed at the moment then its the break in miles.

 

[LXCam]

Nice job Makoto and a great save.

 

[mike93lx]

That's a hell of a bump!

Great job with it

 

[Uncle murph]

I was going to put a ceiling in the shop this year but I got sidetracked a bit.
This is a 97 cobra and it needs help. Long story short it has like 20 years of bad mods, cut corners, and a crappy paintjob. Its actually a crystal white car that somebody shot single stage black over which means I have to strip two layers of crappy paint off.

but that's jumping too far ahead.

The first thing I needed to do was strip the car and install through the floor subframe connectors.

then I could hack off thes abominations and paint the bottom of the car.

took me 7 months to get here but it was worth it.

Oh and I got this too.

now it looks like this

now im working on the engine bay. trying to have it painted in a couple weeks.

I am relocating the battery so the fusebox can go in a better location so I needed to modify the bracket so I will fit and punch a hole in the car for the loom.

notice the rounded edges.

passenger side loom hole. again, notice how the edges are rounded.

im wrapping the up the test fit stage so I can know what I can weld up and what I can leave.

If you haven't noticed the build is basically a full on restomod but but a driver's car. everything has to be done right or not at all.

so that's what I've been up to. anybody know any good auto upholstery forums? I found the hogring but i'm not a pro and they seem like they look down on people that aren't to the extent that only pros can access the forum . that's fine but its kind of a hindrance to my interior plans. I want to leather wrap some of stuff and not spend a fortune paying a shop to do it.

Beautiful work!What was the question?

 

[Makoto]

 

[39Tudor]

Amazing transformation.
Thank for taking us along on the journey!

 

[nadogail]

Very nice work, even if I don't understand why.