This is an overview of what I've done to the car.

This car is obviously not stock, but what I tried to achieve was having a car that was stock and then adding things to it rather than modifying things. For example I tried to use as many of the original decals as possible. I wanted some who doesn't know these cars very well to look at it and think that it came that way from the factory. Unfortunately I did have to modify the hood to clear the supercharger but I'm happy with the result.

The body was striped of everything except the suspension, then it was media blasted and primed with a self etching primer. The rust was cut out and new panels were welded in were needed. Some of the bodywork was then done in metal. The final detail body work was cleaned up with body filler. About three hundred hours were required to complete the body to this point. I then moved the car to the painters. I removed the suspension and he proceeded to undercoat the bottom and then paint the car. He spent about 130 hours on it. It is painted in the original 111 blue.

The body is laser straight and the paint is really beautiful. All chrome was redone in triple plate and all stainless was either replaced with new or polished to look new. I also added H4 headlights. The taillight lenses are new old stock and the thick original ones for the year of the car. I then disassembled the suspension, had the cross member reinforced and then had all of the components powder coated. I had a limited slip put into the rear end along with new bearings and seals. It was an automatic so the gearing is 3.91 to 1. I reassembled the suspension with polyurethane bushings, progressive rate springs and bilstein shocks. All of the suspension bumpers and cushions were replaced with new ones. I polished the steering box and the idler arm bracket, and the brass brake line junction pieces. I bought rebuilt calipers, new discs and new side brake pads and cable. All of the tiny hardware pieces were replaced or refinished. I added new stainless hard lines and IPD stainless flex lines. The portioning valves were taken apart cleaned and new seals added. (I think there is a picture of them). I also had the disc backing plates re-zinc plated. The master cylinder is new and the booster was rebuilt. I'm putting in a Borg Warner T5 transmission with an aluminum flywheel, heavy duty pressure plate, and heavy duty clutch disc. I polished the bellhousing but I'm getting a bit tired and just couldn't polish the trans itself. Maybe at a later date. With John Parkers adapter plate the trans swap was very easy.

Ok the engine, if you're not bored to death yet. Everything  rebuilt and balanced with forged pistons, heavy duty oil pump, ARP rod bolts, Super Charger cam, performance lifters and rods, steel and aluminum timing gears, Mallory Unilite billet aluminum distributor, J&S anti-knock ignition, ported head, ceramic coated header and 2.5 inch stainless steel exhaust with two Magnaflow polished stainless steel mufflers. Oh, and the supercharger. The starter, alternator etc. were replaced with new units.

Last but not least, the interior. The seats, front AND back were recovered in all leather. The carpet is Whilton Wool from  England. The entire inside of the car is lined with DynaMat Xtreme. All the interior panels are new. The head liner is new, but what a pain in the neck to replace. The dash pads are new. The gauges are new Smiths gauges. They are the ones used on the original Cobras, complete with counterclockwise speedometer. I also added a Volt gauge, a boost gauge and an Air/Fuel ration gauge. The Boost and Air/Fuel are offset a bit to give the passenger a good view of them for  help in tuning. The wood is real and is birch. Some of the burls are a bit much for me so I went with birch. I used the original aluminum face plate as a template, cut out the wood from 1/8" plywood with a razor blade and then cut the holes for my new gauge setup. I soaked the wood in water and then clamped it to the dash to shape it. I then stained it and covered it with a urethane finish. I trimmed the wood with the same rubber trim used around the chrome grill housing. I also put wood in the console. I added a unique key and a starter button. I also put in lights for the blinkers, high beams, amps, and oil pressure.  

 James Alles 01/10/05