Exterior

Dax Cobra First Start 2

Better sound quality and from a slightly different angle. There was about 20 seconds of cranking on the starter to get oil pressure before going for a start, then the fuel pump was wired the wrong way round. Once that was sorted it started easily.

The smoke is the paint on the headers, it went away after 5 mins. Only problem was a tiny tiny oil leak from the oil pressure sender, fixed by tightening it up. It gobbled a full header tank full of water/coolant and required topping up after the first 5 minute run. I followed the run-in procedure and kept it between 1500 and 3000rpm, didn't leave it idling except for about 20 seconds during the second run when Max was playing with the idle screw to get it down from 1000 to just over 750rpm. Water temp read 90deg after 5 mins and we could feel the temp change on the rad as the thermostat opened. Fan came on a bit too late to be honest, need to change the setting on the controller. Water temp gauge read 100C when the fan came on. Temp peaked at 110 so we stopped the engine but I had (sensibly!) wired the fan on permanent live so it stayed on.

Hot start was fine, the heat shield on the starter and battery cable was doing its job. It wasn't a massively hot day but it was probably a good 18-20deg C in full sun on the driveway. The engine would idle with no throttle after approx 2-3 mins quite happily which bodes well. Remember we had completely removed the choke mechanism.

Oil temp gauge did absolutely nothing until the 3rd start (after 2 x 5 minute runs) then it slowly got up to about 70-80 deg C or so, but the water temp was reading 110 so we shut everything off after 15 mins total running. The header tank had emptied again so there was probably a massive air lock somewhere hampering the cooling. Header tank was topped up yet again. I think when we initially filled it the circuit to the heater matrix was closed off and I hit the switch on the dash which activates the solenoid and opens the line to the heater matrix, thus needing more water/coolant.



We had a good old look at clearances when the engine was being revved, the torque reaction rotates the engine anti-clockwise viewed from the front so the passenger side headers bang on the cutout in the body. There were no other clearance issues, clutch slave was fine (which I was most worried about) and clearance of headers to brake servo heatshield was fine. Lower coolant pipes were also fine and the silicone bends in the hoses took up the movement of the engine.

The run-in procedure said 20 mins (4x5mins) but we had to stop after 15 mins as it had run out of fuel. I put 5 litres of 99ron in and the greedy thing gobbled it all.

First Engine Start

It works!

Steering

Ahh steering column is in the wrong place again! The intermediate shaft linking the main column with the steering rack is too short (cut by myself waaay before the engine went in - lesson learned!). If I switch the bearing to the inside face of the footwell and use a longer shaft, the UJ will clear the header. Problem then is the steering wheel sits very flat and fouls the underside of the top of the footwell. May have to be creative later to solve this.

Exhausts

The passenger side headers and collector are now on, sealed with copper RTV. Decided not to use the gaskets that came with the engine and just used the RTV on its own, on the recommendation of several forum members. Absolutely loads of sealant splodged into the slip-fit collector. Next job sidepipe and bracket, then on to drivers side.

One thing I did notice is that the pipes are pretty close to the chassis where the collector turns the corner and comes out the body, may have to have a closer look.

Cobra sees the sun

Poor car got shoved outside whilst we fitted a new garage door. Luckily it was nice and warm

Radiator Pipes Fitted

Right then, the last bit of radiator pipe came today, I had to wait a couple of weeks for a 45deg reducing elbow from Merlin but its all in now. It took us a while to work out what the route was from the sketches we made but eventually got there. The lower section is currently dangling and needs supporting on a bracket somewhere as it is all quite heavy and one of the elbows is creased due to being bent slightly too much but should be ok. 

Exhausts Continued

Right. Passenger side all seems to fit so we painted them but haven't gone for final fit yet. I don't want the exhaust on just yet as it massively restricts access to the clutch slave and I still need to put the oil temp sensor in the sump. A bracket still needs making for the tail end of the sidepipe. I got some mini exhaust mounts off ebay for a quid each for this.

trial fit passenger side pipe for making a bracket

trail fit of headers prior to paint

The drivers side was a bit harder. Dave Brookes advised me that one of the headers might be slightly misaligned so I put them in the collector off the car to have a look.

There is a bit of misalignment but when I put it all together on the car its nothing that won't be cancelled out by the gasket and some high temp copper RTV. I'l be using copper RTV on all the slip fit joints rather than the regular hardening gasket paste.

Yet another job has become apparent though, the rear most header (cyl 8) gets in the way of my main battery cable. I made the cable over-long as I didn't know exactly where the starter motor would be. I made a loop with the spare cable to take up any movement of the engine. I think I can re-route the cable without having to shorten it as the ring terminals are pretty massive and need a special tool to crimp them.

I will also fabricate a heat shield for the starter motor before the exhaust goes on.

So, exhaust status as of this evening. Passenger side fits together and needs hole in the body adjusting ever so slightly. Bracket needed for sidepipe. Driver's side: need to move steering column up 1 inch and move starter cable + make heat shield. Need to paint drivers side collectors/header.