97 Cobra Restomod - Snow Pony

finished up welding all the stuff for the STB. here's the firewall work.

also finished up relocating and modifying the fuse box bracket.

hey look, the bay is mostly one color guys!





I got some bondo glass in there to help strengthen that thin sheet metal so i'll be adding some more to fill in a few low spots. I was more worried about getting primer on the bare metal today.

I wanted to see this stuff in place against a solid backdrop. It feels SO good to get rid of that awful over sprayed half assed disgusting firewall FINALLY.



I've got a lot more smoothing to do on this side.




BTW this is a harbor freight special. i drilled out the nozzle slightly so it can be a dedicated primer gun. works like a CHARM.

Looks much better!

Round 2 of body work and primer. I put the 2K primer on REAL thick so i can block sand some portions of the bay. its now close enough to probably be fine with some blocking, final prep, and maybe some epoxy primer before the final color.

half a day of work into this thing this weekend to get the bay done and we have FINALLY arrived in drivetrain reassembly land!
its not perfect but its not a showcar and if i didn't pull the trigger I'd never be happy with it. its better than ford and not as good as a showcar. so. that'll do i guess.

couple coats of sealer.


avalanche grey!


its nice to have all of the belly done.

new video hot off the press!

anybody remember the sorry state this thing arrived in? I'm just getting this stuff on as one last test fit (hence the blue tape) and to see if I can run fuel lines without pulling the IRS. pretty sure I'm going to roll my own instead of buying new factory lines.

Next on the shopping list is a set of coilovers.


so fresh and so clean.
the blue tape is to minimize chips from fender fitting.



This is the bracket for the ABS unit which I relocated out of the engine bay. the factory lines do reach but I'm not sure about reusing them. Probably going to make my own.

Really nice work! This will be a fun car.

That underside is BEAUTIFUL.

Just ordered these. should be here in 4 weeks.

this is ho the modified fusebox bracket ended up turning out.

I didn't go nuts with hiding wires because I want the fusebox accessible. that means I'm really just moving things around a bit.
this means I just needed to remove all the old cracked oem stuff, put things where I want them, and reloom to proect all the wires and make it look nice.

started relooming the bay today.

so, i really like the stock hood and i suspected these vents could be modified to be more functional.
remember the stock setup has a grill so you're getting maybe a couple square inches of heat escaping.
I'll be cutting out more of the underside of the hood to let the hot stuff flow out of these holes that I can now fit my whole hand in.

side view. they are secured with two studs and a couple nuts and I was able to leave the front posts. I'll either make a little clip or just use 3m tape to secure the rear but they're pretty solid as is.

About to start on wrapping up the interior while I wait on motor stuff. most people just weld up the old pieces that they cut out of the floor brace but I figured with carpet covering it and with that massive frame rail i'd be remiss if I didn't just tie the thing to that. not sure if it'll feel any better but the seat mounting points should move less as a result.

the 1/8" plate is welded to a rectangular tubing which is welded to the subframe connector (aka the new frame rail) then each side is spot welded to the undergirding plates which have the seat studs. probably overkill but i guess that's kind of my thing.

next up we clean this mess up and start the paint process inside.

I also cut out the fuel pump access plate. it'll have some kind of gasket sealing it off.

inside has been trust treated. over the next few days I'll be coating the floor with POR15 for god measure.

Looking great! Are you going to be using a sound deadener or heat treatment coating like Lizzard Skin?

I haven't decided on any sound deadening but whatever it is it has to be lightweight.

so i got half of the inside coated in POR15.

Body harness back in freshly loomed in braided nylon.