Soooo many questions.

Hello all,

first post!!

I'm seriously considering putting a cobra together and am currently at the stage of having lots and lots of questions, so this seems like the place to ask them;

I've no experience of building kits and little mechanical knowledge, but am quite handy at most things and fairly patient, I can also read and use a forum, so I recon I'll be ok, whats the worst that can happen!! (I also have a father with lots of tools and some mechanical knowledge who I'll invite to stay for the odd weekend )
I've still not chosen a kit, from reading various things, Pilgrim is looking good, they seem cheap(ish), helpful, sell a good kit and are local. I went for a visit and was very impressed with the demo car!! I know everyone has an opinion on which is the best, but would I be right in thinking Pilgrim are a good one for novices with a tight buget?

Next, engines, the buget will stretch to a Rover V8 , can anyone recommend someone who can supply a recon V8 that I can drop straight in, with gearbox, I'd love to do an engine rebuild myself, but wont have the knowledge to do it (properly at least). The chap at Pilgrim has recomended Jv8R (perhaps JRV from N.I, any thoughts?

Next, tools, father christmas will be visting me soon, hopefully with a sack of new tools, I have the basics, spanners, torque rench, sockets etc. What might I need, on the list so far are axel-stands, first aid kit, swear box.


Prices, two queries here.
Pilgrim can supply pretty much everything, I plan to get a sierra/granada off ebay (some there for £1 ) and get the donor bits myself. The rest (excluding engine and g/b) they'll supply, however I'm sure some bits are overpriced (perhaps not), anyone know of any bits they sell for too much that I could get somewhere else? For instance 4*shocks £360, this seems a bit steep? Radiator £125 etc.
Also on price, I recon the total will be around 15k, 11.7k for the kit, 2.7k for the engine + a few bits extra. Is this about right? Also, what will it be worth once its done, Pilgrim sell complete cars for £18,6. I was surprised to see this within this website:

http://www.cobraclub.com/classifieds...hp?product=259

this looks great to my untrained eye, and about the spec I'll build, going for £11,5 am I missing something here?

Lastly, is there anyone out there from the Farnborough,Hampshire area? Having contacts locally could be very handy.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers

Graham

[Chimeara]

Hi there its always great to hear from new people who are about to take the plunge into the cobra world. I was at your stage not so long ago and I must admit pilgrim won me over, like you say they are not the best but by far not the worst. I however went jag based which has thrown up many problems but will have its advantages in the long term.

As for your budget it seems sensible as you are going for the Rover powerplant and sierra/granada based, there are to many items to list that you could sacrifice or enhance to stick to your budget, however you can source wheels etc direct from image and save a little here and there.

Ive reckoned on £25K for my 5.7 chevy v8 powered jag based set up but then again the only corners im cutting will be on the track, (after all I cant let the old mans Tuscan get to far in front of me can I)

As for experience and mechanical knowledge ive found the build manual, video and pilgrims phone number along with this site have got me out of many holes.
Whatever you choose I wish you luck and look forward to your future questions

[kevchard]

Hi
if you get stuck try www.donorspares.co.uk they are very reasonable and the service has been great.
Cheers
Kevin and Helen

[stevee8]

Hi Graham,
Sumo's are pretty good value new & are a popular used buy. If Pilgrim are local to you & you've had a look at the factory then so much the better.
Start up tools have just been covered in a post on the forum so if you do a search that should throw up some ideas.
Your projected figures are about right. What it's worth on completion will be reasonably close to the cost assuming the build quality is good. Pilgrim obviously include labour time in their pricing and the advertised cob looks good value from what can be seen. The ad says it's a mark 2 so is not the latest spec but age is not necessarily as relevant with cobras as with other cars.
Good luck.

[Grease Monkey]

Top Tips:

1) Buy/hire/borrow the right tool for the job.

2) Take your time

3) Dont cut any corners, except ones on the track

4) Measure everything twice before cutting, or better still does it need to be cut :thumb:

5) Start buttering the other half up well in advance

[stevee8]

Graham,
To sort of counter balance the ad you found, have a look at this one.........
http://www.cobraclub.com/classifieds...1&cat=5&page=1

[ken_macklin]

Hi Chedz and all
First post for me as well, spoke to Tinka this year at Stoneleigh and he call me the internet virgin type.
Must say i find it easier building a cobra than this computer lark.
With regards to your question on J.R V8 engines, there are five of us building A.K cobras
with J.R V8 engines at the moment in N.Ireland and each one of us can tell you that Jim is
a very friendly chap with years of experience building rover v8 engines for stockcars, off
road vechicles,Ulster kit car club members, cobras [including supplying Pilgrim ] and has even exported a rover v8 to the USA for a seven type kit car.
Also add to your list of cobra manufactures the A.K cobra from Peterborough, a family business run by Ken Freeman who in my opinion offers a superb service and whom i can not speak highly enough off.
In total, a pleasure to do business with both

[tonym]

I have a spreadsheet of the costings on my sumo build, if your interested e-mail me and i'll forward it on to you :thumb:

thanks to all who've replied, most helpful.


I have another stupid question.

I'm off to look at a Sierra on sunday as a potential donor. Its a 2.0l 1993 model, it has ABS.
Is one with ABS suitable? Does this transfer to the kit car complete and so will that have ABS?

Doh, I clearly have a lot to learn. (better to ask now than after I spend the cash (not a lot )

cheers