2003 Mustang Cobra convertible getting e-level setup!

[low.slow.celi]

Lower would be nice but i understand you also need driveability. Nice

are you a dumb?

he bagged it months ago

[DeeAOne]

Someone just read the first page. lol

[Fastphil]

i try and keep the pad more flat, and get that cord over your shoulder!! lol


looks like it came out well, she definitely needed it.

Thanks for the tips. Malcolm is pretty good at the detailing thing, I'm sure the situation wasn't nearly as bad as the picture makes it look!

[Fastphil]

Lower would be nice but i understand you also need driveability. Nice

Glad you like how it looked. Let me know what you think when you get to how it looks now.

[Fastphil]

My car had the honor of being featured again this week! This time it's on www.stanceiseverything.com. Check it out here!

Featured Ride - Phil's Cobra

Thanks again for the feature Dave!

[B8JacksonS4]

AIR+SPEED= win I love it

[Fastphil]

Back from the dead with an update!

I finally got some time to sort out things that were on my to-do list for the air suspension.

The first order of business for the day was to swap out the 9 or 10 year old stock battery for an Optima Red Top. Thirty minutes later, that was taken care of.

Next up, I needed to sort out the tire-rubbing issue. As I have surely mentioned several times in this thread, the tires rub in the fenders near where they meet the bumper. This had been going on since I swapped on the 11-inch wide CCW Classics in October of 2009. It was never serious enough to worry about, but it was chewing up the tire where the tread rolls over to the sidewall.

On top of the usual rubbing, I encountered a problem one cold morning this spring when the car wouldn't air up because the water in the suspension system had frozen up. When I tried to move the car, the passenger side tire bent up the lip of the fender a bit. No visible damage, but it resulted in the tire rubbing even more than usual, and the lip of the fender cutting into the tire every time I'd air up or down. You can see below the section I'm referring to. The first two pics are "before," the last two are "after":





The driver side rubbed too, but nowhere near as much, so I fixed that side too. No pics necessary. I didn't use any fancy fender roller this time, I just went at it semi-gently with a plastic mallet. I followed up with some black paint to help protect the exposed metal. In retrospect, I should have gone with some shade of red to make it less obvious. Whatever.

Now the fenders don't grab the tire sidewalls any more when airing up or down and there's no more rubbing when going down the road! I can even drive now on preset 1 without rubbing. I haven't tried driving with it fully dumped, but I think that will be possible as well, with only very minor rubbing in the rear. Awesome!

And finally, I took care of finishing up the trunk to a more satisfactory level. Here again I didn't use any fancy tools or products. I just thought it through (for the last 10 months!) and followed the plan in my head. Here are a couple pics of what the trunk looked like before I got to work on it today:




I figured I would be able to reuse the stock trunk panel that is missing in the pictures above. I got to work cutting and test fitting it until I was satisfied. Now the only things visible are the compressors on the sides of the trunk. Here is the end result (the plugs across the top of the panel are missing, but I have them somewhere. That's a 10-second job):


I think for a total of investment of zero dollars (aside from the price of the battery), I did a helluva good job today! I'm especially relieved to finally get these items checked off my list. Finding time to work on the car without my own garage is more complicated than it seems. Now that it's done, I'll be able to enjoy the car even more!

In other news, the car has been featured in two magazines and a couple more websites. It may yet still show up in another magazine and at least one more website this year. Considering I did this for my own pleasure, I'm really tickled pink to see how much attention my car is garnering! I really do appreciate all the feedback, and I even enjoy reading the comments from ignorant people who just like to bash me and the car without even getting informed first.

I've also got a new pair of rear INVOs sitting in the shed, so when I get time I'll be swapping those on. In the meantime, I'm having fun leaving darkies wherever the opportunity arises.

Another thing to take care of is to install a water drain for the air tank. I've got an idea in mind for that. I just have to check it out more closely to see if my idea will work out.

The main reason for this work today, besides to get these things done, is that next weekend there's a big local show and there's gonna be a lot of bagged cars in attendance. I wanted to be able to show off something that was at least presentable.

That's all for today.

Phil

[Specv118]

bravo!

[99sil-teg]

Hey Phil, loved going through the build, I was actually the writer for your feature for you Canibeat feature. Had a blast writing up a bagged Cobra and loved the car. Keep up the good work.

[Fastphil]

Hey Phil, loved going through the build, I was actually the writer for your feature for you Canibeat feature. Had a blast writing up a bagged Cobra and loved the car. Keep up the good work.

Hey Josh, I'm glad you liked it.

[Daviticus]

I want a Cobra for a daily even more now.

On point, on all levels. Amazing work.

[Fastphil]

I want a Cobra for a daily even more now.

On point, on all levels. Amazing work.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

Last night I did a little bit of work on the Cobra. I had several small things to take care of , so I was only in the garage for about an hour.

First up, I installed a new serpentine belt and idler pulleys from Billetflow to resolve a belt slippage issue that I was just beginning to have. The stock idlers tend to eventually self-detonate, so that can be considered preventive maintenance.

Next, I got a "Service Engine Soon" light last week while driving in the rain. I suspect it was caused by the rain, so I just disconnected the battery to clear it. If it comes back, I'll look into it further. Baby steps!

And finally, most relevant to this thread, I removed the air tank to drain the water from it. There was probably between one and two cups of water in there, so I'm glad I did it. In the spring and fall, the nights get below freezing around here and I didn't want my car to be incapacitated again like it was once this spring.

Needless to say, removing the tank to drain the water is not very practical, so Michel and I brainstormed a bit to come up with a plan for a water drain from the tank. The tricky part is accessibility, and the fact that I want the water to drain outside the car and not inside the trunk. We came up with a rough plan but I'll have to go to the local air compressor supply store to see just what options I have on hand. I'm hoping to get this done before I go back to work on Wednesday this week.

In other news, I've been on the hunt for a new (to me) winter car for weeks now, and I may have found an interesting candidate.

That's It for now!

Phil

[Frescy]

wicked stang!!!

[Fastphil]

This thread is about to hit 20,000 views. I never thought I would garner so much attention! In addition, I have this same thread posted on several other websites. I estimate that they have received a total of 35,000 to 40,000 views including this one. I don't know how many views my car has accumulated with its various website and printed magazine features, but I can assure you it's far more than I ever expected. I'm just a guy who built a car to my liking and wanted to share it with others. Thanks to all of you who have been following along!

/acceptance speech

[MrDanguy]

This thread is about to hit 20,000 views. I never thought I would garner so much attention! In addition, I have this same thread posted on several other websites. I estimate that they have received a total of 35,000 to 40,000 views including this one. I don't know how many views my car has accumulated with its various website and printed magazine features, but I can assure you it's far more than I ever expected. I'm just a guy who built a car to my liking and wanted to share it with others. Thanks to all of you who have been following along!

/acceptance speech

ENCORE!!! ENCORE!!!

Love the car.