My 427 SOHC Build..... Finally the time has come!

[cobracammer]

Hey Jay,

Here is a picture of the throttle body.  Only the primary throttle body (one toward the front of the car in my case) has this vent.  When the car is running, air is being sucked into it, but after the car is shut off, the whispy white smoke comes out (On the other hand, whispy white smoke comes from the breather cap while the engine is running and stops when I shut it off)

Obviously this "port" is sucking in South Florida air at like 90% humidity.....  Is this correct?  Or does this "port need to be sealed off?  Not sure as its not even mentioned what it is in the instructions.

[blykins]

Most of my customers are Cobra owners....the engines stay remarkably cool because the radiator sits in front of a giant opening in the nose of the car.  It's even hard to get oil temperature to stay where it needs to in most cases.

[Stangman]

I believe that hole goes to the idle air control therefore you can't block it off

[jayb]

That's right, that's the IAC inlet, so it has to stay open.  If you have some vapor coming out of there its vapor from inside the intake manifold, and is probably just fuel vapor.  A carb will do the same thing if you shut the engine off hot, and then open the butterflies a little.

[cobracammer]

Ah ok.  Yea its not a ton of smoke....  and the engine is always hot when I shut it down (LOL  Ongoing issue for me right now).

Thanks guys.

I also realized that there is a plastic skid plate that I removed to be able to wire up the electric fans, as well as access to the harmonic balancer (earlier).  I have not reinstalled that, and I just thought about how it probably closes off the front of the radiator to Fresh air and not the hot air from under the car.  I would assume if I replace that plastic skid plate, it would funnel all the cold air through the front bumper/Grill area and not allow hot air from under the car to be sucked up in front of the radiator.

I am waiting on the alternator belt still, but will reinstall the plate as soon as I have the belt back on and bolts re-checked/ re-torqued)

:0)

[WConley]

Jason -

As Brent said, there was no real issue keeping the Cobra cool.  There were two pusher and one puller electric fans on that big radiator.  It was all in place before I worked on the car, so I didn't have to delve into all of the details, but it worked pretty well.

Coolant and oil temps stayed in the low 200's as I recall.  The fans would kick on quite a bit if you idled on a hot day for a long time...

[My427stang]

That's right, that's the IAC inlet, so it has to stay open.  If you have some vapor coming out of there its vapor from inside the intake manifold, and is probably just fuel vapor.  A carb will do the same thing if you shut the engine off hot, and then open the butterflies a little.

Exactly, it works by the same idea as cracking the throttle blades open, add more air, then the computer adds fuel and idle speed goes up

Additionally, the IAC stepper motor generally stays where it was last, so that is straight path to the intake when open

[cobracammer]

Ok so fuel vapor is normal?  Just making sure

[My427stang]

Yes, especially on a car that hasn't been fine tuned yet

Whenever you fire it cold, it's rich by design.  Without running it, there will be extra fuel in there.  You likely will not see it when actually driving the car

[cobracammer]

Took this photo right before my 4 house drive lol. It really is a sweet looking ride. Lol

[cobracammer]

OK guys,

Got the belt today.  I wanted to see how much different it was than the belt I initially had in there.  The original belt fit down into the V  (not even level with the top of the pulley).  This belt seems to have a lot more surface area on the sides of the pulley groove as well as sitting a tiny bit higher than the pulley itself (it sticks up above the pulley when installed a tiny bit).

Then on to measuring the pulley alignment.  honestly it is a tiny bit off (maybe an 1/8"), but almost aligned.  I was curious if I can just pull the alternator pulley off, shim with a washer behind it and tighten it back on.  For now, I reinstalled the belt until I can tackle that.

I also took a look at how difficult it would be to angle the bottom of the radiator about 2-3 inches forward and leave the top where it is....  this way, the fans wont interfere with the P/S pulley.

Honestly a days work with some sheet metal from Home depot, My welder, and an angle grinder.  For now, I am still "taking that one bite" which is the cooling.  Ill move the radiator when things are dialed in.

While I was down there, I reinstalled the skid plate below the radiator.  This is a plastic panel that tucks up in the front bumper and then attaches to the radiator cross member.  Again, this may funnel more cold air in from the grill and not suck the hot air up from under the car while at idle.

Lastly.... that mystery bolt.  Luckily it was not the alternator adjustment bolt!  That was still torqued in place and tight as ever.  After 10 minutes of looking around under there, I found it.  It was a bolt between the # 2 header tube and the #3 header tube.  Since he cut the header flange into 3 sections so that the headers can be taken apart to take into or out of the car, it is a bolt with a flat washer behind it (as it goes between 2 pieces of the flange on the seam).  Its not possible to access this bolt from the bottom of the car. Infact, you have to take the battery out and snake your arm with a wrench under the head from the back and reach it that way.  Not sure if I missed it, or it back out on its own, but taking no chances, I put a lock washer between the bolt head and the flat washer and tightened it down tight!.  I checked as many of the other bolts as I could with the wrench, and they all seemed pretty tight.  When I send them off for powder coating, I will make sure I put lock washers behind all of the bolts to make sure they dont ever back out.

Curious if that bolt backing out could have caused the ticking noise?  Maybe exhaust leaks?  Ill keep an ear out.

Anyway, im back in the saddle again.  Maybe this weekend I take it out again with someone in the passenger seat.

Until then!

[jayb]

I'll bet that an exhaust leak caused by the missing bolt was the ticking noise.  That's just what they sound like...

[cobracammer]

Thanks Jay.  Fingers crossed.

[Nightmist66]

Then on to measuring the pulley alignment.  honestly it is a tiny bit off (maybe an 1/8"), but almost aligned.  I was curious if I can just pull the alternator pulley off, shim with a washer behind it and tighten it back on.  For now, I reinstalled the belt until I can tackle that.

As long as there are enough threads left on the shaft, you should be fine to shim it with a washer or solid spacer. From what I remember your alt. has the internal fan, correct?(3G) If so, it shouldn't be a problem. With older style 1G and 2G alternators, it could be a problem because the pulley sits against the fan and supports it. Car looks great btw!

[cobracammer]

Hey Jared. Yep internal fan. I think when I pull the radiator out to move it forward, thats when ill shim it. Ill also check crank to water pump pulley alignment then too. I see jegs sells water pump pulley shims in different thicknesses. Ill make sure they are all dead aligned

Realestate agent was over today to take photos of the house.... Took a few of the saleen too. Lol. Not included in the sale. Hahaha