DuPuis Family Cobra Build

Ted DuPuis said:
That is also very interesting. What sort of cost is one of those?
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The displays are just generic screens with CAN bus control switches, so they are about the same cost as a nice tablet. You'd have to get a quote from them for the software to build the display for your custom install. That's probably where they make their money.

I have seen this technology used in experimental airplanes using small ARM computers to control the displays. These have the computer built in to the display and connect to whatever data source you have for the engine sensors. That's usually just a CAN bus controller. They make some really cool switch panels that are already set up for automotive controls, such as lights, wipers, fans and radios...

I would love to build an instrument panel with one of their 10 inch displays!
 
Tonight I managed to get the rear axle the rest of the way assembled and under the car. It's not bolted to the car yet and there are some items that seem to be missing from the kit hardware wise (or at least I'm just not sure which ones I'm supposed to use), and it was getting late so I stopped. But I got the rear brake rotors and calipers on the axle, filled the differential with fluid and put the cover on, and put on the lower control arms. Then I cleared the area underneath the axle and put the axle underneath.

It's not bolted up yet, but once it is it's going to start looking like a real car. That's exciting.

I'm thinking more on the gauges and I'm now leaning towards the good old Autometer Sport Comp gauges. Autometer makes a Ford Racing set that I like better, but it would literally be 2x the cost for the same gauge set. It's not worth that for a bit better logos. In a lot of ways, the Sport Comp would fit what this car really is. I've been calling it a modern interpretation of a classic, but in reality where I'm going with it is more a Y2K technology interpretation. I'm not going for the latest version of MegaSquirt (nor do I want to), not going for coil-on-plug ignition, sequential EFI. I'm going with a 351W with a flat tappet cam solid lifter cam, not using a mod motor or a Coyote, and a TKO-600 rather than the "Magnum" (T-56) that's become more popular these days.

Speedhut allows you to customize any gauge of theirs you buy, so I'm going to look at them some as well. They also have some interesting and unique gauge options that might give me some more of what I want. But I think I'm off of the digital dash idea at least.
 
Uploaded the video I did last night regarding the rear axle:


I've gotten a lot of interest from people on the Factory Five Facebook group regarding the Speedmaster EFI, so I'll probably do another video with some more initial impressions.
 
Just got back from my house - the freight company showed up and delivered the short block, so now I have that piece of the puzzle.

Since I need the camshaft before I can start making progress on the engine in earnest, I think I'm going to just leave it in its sealed package. Not like I'm lacking other things to work on, but now I'm hoping to have the engine and transmission installed in the car by the end of the month. I think that's doable.

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I wasn't going to order wheels and tires, but the set I was looking at was on a 10% off 4th of July sale, and the price was unbeatable at $1080 for the set, mounted and balanced, shipping to my door.

sve-mustang-fr500-wheel-tire-kit-17x9-10-5-gloss-black-m-t-tires-94-04_87b01466.jpg


They're FR500 knock-offs with 275 wide tires in the front and 315s in the back. The 315s are what I wanted in the rear. Up front I actually wanted 255s, especially with the manual steering. But we'll see how the 275s do. Some people are running them just fine, so for the price even if I decided to replace them after a few miles (or do some burnouts...) it'll work fine.

The tires are Mickey Thompson Street Comps. I've never used them, but looking at the specs and retail pricing I think they'll work out well. Again, can't complain with the price.

Rolling price update: I'm currently almost right exactly at the $25k mark spent on the Cobra thus far. I still have parts from the original parts car to sell but I don't think more than a few hundred bucks worth. The major purchases I have left to make are:

- Gauges (still working on that one, but looking like $750 or so)
- Fuel injectors (~$275)
- EFI computer/harness ($400)
- Bellhousing, mid-shift kit, and other bits relating to the transmission install (probably a bit under $1k total)

Plus battery, bits for the electrical system, etc.

I'd been saying for a while I was tracking towards the $25-30k range all in. Obviously I'm going to be above $25k, but I think coming in under $30k is still potentially attainable.

Let's say I come in at $30k. For that I'll have what is essentially a brand new car with performance akin to a Viper with much more soul, and built how I want it. Once I have it done and driving I'll do a more in-depth assessment on costs.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Let's say I come in at $30k. For that I'll have what is essentially a brand new car with performance akin to a Viper with much more soul, and built how I want it. Once I have it done and driving I'll do a more in-depth assessment on costs.
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And to think there are people who can’t figure out the appeal of E/AB. :)
 
I got a bit of time this evening in the garage. I didn't want to work on the rear axle as I think that's going to involve some time looking at the bags of bolts. There are a lot that are similar size but different grades. Obviously that's important to get right, especially on suspension. I also have a feeling I may have to buy some more bolts as some of what Factory Five has supplied is a bit too short for my comfort.

The main thing I got accomplished was modifying the pedalbox and the brake pedal. Since I'm going with manual brakes, the recommendation is to modify the brake pedal to provide for more leverage on the master cylinder. This is done by cutting 1.5" out of the brake pedal between the pivot and the nipple where the brake pushrod goes and then drilling holes in the pedal box to move the pivot for the brake pedal down by 1.5" so the pedal itself is in the same location. Straightforward enough to do, and gave me an excuse to break out the welder and my new welding helmet that my wife got me. Incidentally, it works very well, and my welds seem to be getting less awful with practice.

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I also did some looking and some thinking. I have a Milidon oil pan from the first parts car I got (the Fox body Mustang). The pan is a bit dented but nothing I can't bang out. It also has provisions for an oil dipstick (which the 351W block doesn't have on its own) and it has some lips inside to prevent oil from sloshing forward under hard braking. It doesn't have baffling to handle lateral Gs.

A concern with oil pans naturally is if it sticks out below the frame of the car since that makes it more susceptible to road debris. On the stock SN95 oil pan that I have, the only part that would stick out would be the drain plug. On this Milodon, the depth of the oil pan is about the same as the SN95 drain plug, and then it has a drain plug on the back. I think I'd like to use this pan, so I'm debating whether I:

1) Just put it in and run it as is
2) Whether I cut out 1/2-5/8" worth of depth and then weld it back together

Or do something else entirely. There's a popular pan used by 302/351 guys but it's a $400 unit. I really don't feel like spending that on an oil pan when I have two oil pans that are perfectly usable.
 
I had the 4th off and spent most of it in the garage. In the end, I didn't get as much done as I would've liked, but I made some good progress.

Infrastructure wise, I ran the wiring and installed one of the ceiling fans I bought. These basically sit on the forward side of the Cobra on either side of it. Home Depot only had one "fan rated" metal box that I needed so I was only able to install the one fan, but got all the major wiring done so it won't take long to do the second. Today was a nice day in general but it definitely makes a noticeable improvement in airflow and I figure the fans will make things nicer year round.

On the car the big accomplishment was physically getting the rear suspension bolted to the car! This was actually a pretty time consuming process. The 3-link is a more complex suspension geometry than the 4-link, as it also has the panhard bar which runs horizontally from a mount that bolts to the frame of the car and supports the bar on the driver's side, then going across to attach to the axle on the driver's side. Because of this there are more bolts than a standard 4-link and the geometry to make everything line up is more complex. Furthermore, the spacers, washers, and assorted hardware is confusing and in some cases what Factory Five states in the manual doesn't coincide with what's shipped, or just didn't look good in my opinion. I think the biggest issue is the manual being out of date compared to what they actually produce today. This makes sense since the roadster's been in production for around 20 years and I imagine that even for the Mk2, Mk3, and now Mk4 versions they didn't do complete rewrites of the manual from scratch, rather just did a once-over and updated certain areas.

I left the adjustment points (the top link, the panhard bar, and the coil-overs) loose because once the car is close to its first drive I'll need to figure out good "first run" alignment geometry for both front and back, including ride height, rear axle angle, and horizontal position. I also made sure it was very obvious they were not tightened so I don't forget.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to get a few fun packages - my fuel tank kit and then also a package from Factory Five with the adapter I need to bolt up the manual steering rack and the polyurethane engine and transmission mounts. I'd like to get the steering rack installed (again... for good this time) and also tighten up the firewall pass-through for the steering column, and maybe install the pedalbox and master cylinder.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
<SNIP>

I left the adjustment points (the top link, the panhard bar, and the coil-overs) loose because once the car is close to its first drive I'll need to figure out good "first run" alignment geometry for both front and back, including ride height, rear axle angle, and horizontal position. I also made sure it was very obvious they were not tightened so I don't forget.

<SNIP>
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I've read that people leave things loose on E-AB aircraft for various reasons, then they forget to tighten them. What do you do to indicate the status of "finished/tightened" and "still loose"?
 
Cap'n Jack said:
I've read that people leave things loose on E-AB aircraft for various reasons, then they forget to tighten them. What do you do to indicate the status of "finished/tightened" and "still loose"?
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The main thing I'm doing is leaving the stop/locking nuts visibly loose so it'll be obvious. When the car is built and approaching first drive as part of my check I plan on going through and re-torquing the suspension bits as well as doing the initial settings, just to make sure everything is good there.

Oh, and I'm now realizing I forgot to post a picture of the rear axle installed:

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I doubt you’d easily forget to tighten the suspension bits as doing the alignment and initial setup would be needed prior to the first drive. However, I guess you could keep a written/electronic log of all items that are installed but not tightened/finalized so that it creates a simple checklist to run through prior to first drive.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I doubt you’d easily forget to tighten the suspension bits as doing the alignment and initial setup would be needed prior to the first drive. However, I guess you could keep a written/electronic log of all items that are installed but not tightened/finalized so that it creates a simple checklist to run through prior to first drive.
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It's not something I'm too worried about forgetting either. Really I'm good about going through and tightening things as I go along.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I doubt you’d easily forget to tighten the suspension bits as doing the alignment and initial setup would be needed prior to the first drive. However, I guess you could keep a written/electronic log of all items that are installed but not tightened/finalized so that it creates a simple checklist to run through prior to first drive.
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When assembling a hang glider before a flight, it was a major no-no to put a fastener in its place but not secure it and lock it. After you got it built, you would do at least one complete preflight. I always did one after finishing assembly, then another one just before getting into the harness and heading out to launch. Building a car is different. When I was involved in building race cars, it was very common to put part of the car together with all the fasteners loose, then tighten them all, then do another torque check once the first one was done. As long as you have a method and stick to it, a catastrophic failure like this should not befall you.
 
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FormerHangie said:
When assembling a hang glider before a flight, it was a major no-no to put a fastener in its place but not secure it and lock it. After you got it built, you would do at least one complete preflight. I always did one after finishing assembly, then another one just before getting into the harness and heading out to launch. Building a car is different. When I was involved in building race cars, it was very common to put part of the car together with all the fasteners loose, then tighten them all, then do another torque check once the first one was done. As long as you have a method and stick to it, a catastrophic failure like this should not befall you.
Click to expand...

If nothing else, you usually don’t want to start torquing down the bolts for a particular item until they’re all started.
 
I got a couple hours in the garage this evening. Today my new fuel tank kit showed up, along with the adapter I needed for the manual steering rack. I also had to fix the small lawn mower we have and got the box for installing the second ceiling fan, so I spent most of the time working on those. It's nice having both of the ceiling fans up and that should make working in the garage more pleasant.

On the car the main accomplishment was getting the steering rack bolted in now. I torqued the outer tie rod ends and got the toe set wrong but it's a good enough starting point until I get the wheels and tires to install. That'll also make it more obvious that I need to do it correctly.

I also got confirmation that my camshaft shipped from Iksy on Wednesday, with an expected arrival date of Tuesday. That has me excited. I wish that I had it this weekend, but I figure one of my goals for the weekend will be to get the short block unboxed and put it on the engine stand so that I'm prepped to get started on it. Plus having the engine hoist with the engine on it in the middle of the garage floor is majorly in the way of things. So I hope between that and installation of the gas tank that I can clean up the garage floor a bit.

One thing I'm finding is that the vendors who specialize in the Cobras are hit or miss with how responsive they are. Maybe it's because I'm not buying as much stuff from them as they would like, but trying to buy things from people who are to two of the bigger names within the Cobra community is proving more challenging than I would think. I suppose I can just buy from Summit instead.
 
FormerHangie said:
When assembling a hang glider before a flight, it was a major no-no to put a fastener in its place but not secure it and lock it. After you got it built, you would do at least one complete preflight. I always did one after finishing assembly, then another one just before getting into the harness and heading out to launch. Building a car is different. When I was involved in building race cars, it was very common to put part of the car together with all the fasteners loose, then tighten them all, then do another torque check once the first one was done. As long as you have a method and stick to it, a catastrophic failure like this should not befall you.
Click to expand...

Same with me for the glider, but before the car went out for practice, qualifying, or a race we would "nut and bolt it", checking every fastener on the car.

We had a catastrophic failure at Chicago Speedway in 2004, on our second practice lap the top bolt on the right rear hub failed, and the car went into the wall at 209 MPH. The bolt was a big one, a NAS6212 I think, but that was a long time ago.

After the carcass was dropped in the garage, we stripped all of the good parts off of the tub because we knew it needed factory repair. The parts filled two five gallon buckets. Everything else was junk.

The team had to buy another tub to make the next race, and between that and replacement parts, the crash bill was about $400,000. The bolt was on a monitored inspection and time life program, but that didn't prevent the failure.
 
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I didn't get a ton done on the car today, mostly looking at it and thinking about a few things.

After I started trying to sleep last night I realized that there was a problem with the passenger side inner tie rod. It got bent at some point at the ball joint. That's probably why the guy who removed it from his car went to power steering. That would cause some quirky bump steer. The rack itself seems tight with no observable play so I'm not worried about the rack itself. Fortunately, the tie rods from the rack I was unable to use ended up being a perfect fit, so got that together and an initial alignment figured.

I pulled the fuel tank out and started looking at it. They didn't include an isolator for the fuel pump, oddly, so I need to call the place I ordered it from and ask about that.

I've realized I haven't done much for planning on the fuel filter, and so I really need to do some thinking regarding the lines on those, fuel filter location and type, etc. It seems the stock Mustang fuel filter is good for enough horsepower, but need to look at it and see which fittings those have. Some of the fittings that Fords use for fuel really annoy me, in which case I'm going to look for something else.

I did get my brake and clutch pedal covers installed (match the accelerator pedal and look nice) on the pedalbox. If I can get the pedalbox in the car tomorrow as well as the master cylinder on (I need to pull the pushrod out of the old power booster first to make that work) then I think that'll be a good step. Maybe install the fuel tank to start thinking about routing fuel lines, and also ideally get the 351W on the engine stand so it's all set to start building. Oh, and also so I can get some of the extra clutter out of the garage. It's pretty bad right now and garbage day can't come fast enough.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Some of the fittings that Fords use for fuel really annoy me,
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Just some? Personally, the least objectionable Ford fuel fittings are the steel quick connects with the spring locks, and if I had free choice, I still wouldn’t to put those on something I was building like this. And for the fuel filters, I still haven’t seen one that wasn’t the quick connect with the plastic hairpin, which I find really annoying at best. Especially when you break one of the hairpins and have to figure out how to order one.
 
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-KLB- said:
Just some? Personally, the least objectionable Ford fuel fittings are the steel quick connects with the spring locks, and if I had free choice, I still wouldn’t to put those on something I was building like this. And for the fuel filters, I still haven’t seen one that wasn’t the quick connect with the plastic hairpin, which I find really annoying at best. Especially when you break one of the hairpins and have to figure out how to order one.
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The fuel filter connections I can live with more. The ones I really, really hate are the quick connections at the fuel pump, which I've always found to be damn near impossible to disconnect. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to handle that is. There's no barb or flared end on the connectors, so a standard hose wouldn't work without adding one. I suppose I could do compression fittings to create a barbed end so I could use normal hoses and clamps. Then what I use for a fuel filter is another question. I'm told all the stock bits will flow enough fuel for the 400 HP I'm planning on just fine.

So for the fuel system, I think that more thought is required. Ultimately as much as I hate those Ford fuel connections on the fuel pump, it's a brand new pump and these fuel pumps don't fail regularly, plus there's good access to work on it. So theoretically it should be no issue for a long time, and even when it becomes an issue it should be a minor one. The fuel filter is big enough, flows enough, and is cheap to replace from any auto parts store. This is kinda a tough one. If I had opted for a fuel cell or something different than the stock 15 gallon fuel tank it'd be one thing since that would have AN fittings and it would be simple to plumb up. In this case, it's not so simple. Open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas.

Yesterday I did do a few things on the car. I installed the pedalbox, also installed the master cylinder. I tried to get the pushrod out of the power brake booster, but when I did it was bent and so I'm not going to use it. Whether I bent it in the removal process (it was not easy to get out) or whether it was already bent, who knows. I'd guess I bent it if I'm being honest. I've been told that the adjustable pushrod is a good idea anyway as that makes it easier to set the pedal height where you want it. I'll get one of those coming. I also got the 351W on the engine stand.

Another minor thing I did was relating to the heads. 302 blocks use 7/16" head bolts while 351s use 1/2" head bolts. Obviously I bought the 1/2" bolts for the 351 I'm using, but since the heads were off of a 302 they came with bushings at the top for the 7/16" bolts. Those were easy to knock out and I got that done yesterday evening.

I then ended up at a point where I more or less need more parts before I can continue meaningful work in any area. I don't want to start running the brake lines until I get the brake hoses I'm going to use as that will help me determine where all the hard lines can go. I want to start the fuel line routing from the tank, which as above I don't have all the parts nor am I certain what I want to use. I don't have a camshaft (that arrives tomorrow). Today the wheels and tires show up which I don't necessarily need, but I do want to physically put them on the hubs - again for helping to make sure I mount the brake hoses and lines in good locations that won't interfere. I don't have a steering wheel on the car yet (no point really), but this will put the car close enough to what I'll consider an official roller.

My wife comes back home tomorrow so I probably won't be doing much work on the car over the next week or so while she's home, although might if she wants to help build the engine or work on some of the interior panels that I'm getting to the point of needing to start riveting.

Another thing I'm starting to think about in greater detail is the air conditioning compressor. I'm going with an electric air conditioning compressor as I've mentioned before, and my plan has been to mount it in the trunk, running some hard lines (I think aluminum, could also just decide to use hoses) to the front for the high and low pressure freon. I'm trying to figure out how much height I have and whether I can use this compressor:

https://www.masterflux.com/products/sierra/?pid=22

Which is compact, lightweight, and I think will do fine for what I want. The biggest dimensional concern I see with it is that the connectors point up vertically, so I'll need another couple inches height at least for a 180 to get the lines pointed down and then run them through the body. I've also seen Toyota has an electric AC compressor that some people use, so that might be a consideration. So agian, more thinking required, but design decisions I'm going to have to make before too long.

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351W on the stand

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Pedalbox installed. Note that I actually got the angle on the brake and clutch pedal covers a bit off. Annoying but oh well.

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Fuel tank in place. As you can see, this is really not a good fit for the area. There's a huge empty area above the tank. There's a guy who makes a modification to drop the trunk and extend usable space, but then you have to cut and weld in new cross brace panels, which I have no interest in doing.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Pedalbox installed. Note that I actually got the angle on the brake and clutch pedal covers a bit off. Annoying but oh well.
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Since I use my left foot for the clutch all the time it looks correct for me. I use my left foot on the brakes most of the time, so that will work. sometimes I use the heel of my right foot on the brake while using the toes on my right foot for the accelerator pedal, it all looks good to me. :yesnod:
 
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Zeldman said:
Since I use my left foot for the clutch all the time it looks correct for me. I use my left foot on the brakes most of the time, so that will work. sometimes I use the heel of my right foot on the brake while using the toes on my right foot for the accelerator pedal, it all looks good to me. :yesnod:
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Yeah, I was originally thinking centered up and down, but reality is that it's ultimately just fine. So I'm not going to mess with it.

The fuel filter stuff... that's what I need to figure out.
 
I guess I'm the odd-man-out on the quick connects. I've never had much issue with them when using the proper disconnect tool. I've had them on 3 different generations of F-150 on fuel filters and even the heater core hoses. I doubt you'd have much reason to disconnect the tank lines once installed, so the QD at the fuel filter are really about it. For no more than you will be driving it, I wouldn't think the fuel filter would need to be changed out more than twice a decade. That's not really enough for me to warranty going to AN-fittings or otherwise.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I guess I'm the odd-man-out on the quick connects. I've never had much issue with them when using the proper disconnect tool. I've had them on 3 different generations of F-150 on fuel filters and even the heater core hoses. I doubt you'd have much reason to disconnect the tank lines once installed, so the QD at the fuel filter are really about it. For no more than you will be driving it, I wouldn't think the fuel filter would need to be changed out more than twice a decade. That's not really enough for me to warranty going to AN-fittings or otherwise.
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That's more or less what I'm leaning towards at this point. I don't much care for it but realistically the impact on ownership is probably one that will be minimal enough that it doesn't matter one bit.

However, I will at least need new fuel hoses to pull that off. I'll think on it another day or so...
 
:D

Don’t pay attention to the obvious alignment issues. I only put the wheels on with 1-2 lug nuts hand tight to keep them out of the way.

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Spent a little more time in the garage this evening. First accomplishment was getting the fuel pump installed in the tank. There were some complaints about the setup not being compatible and requiring modification, but I didn't find that to be the case. That said, I think Ford could've designed the baffling in the tank better as well as the size of the hole for the fuel pump to make everything fit nicely.

I also did some measuring and think I know what I want for the fuel system. I still need to sleep on it, but I'm not going to go with the factory Ford setup. Reason being I hate those connectors, and I want something I can get off in 5, 10, 20 years. I'm going to get compression fittings for the supply and return lines on the fuel pump and either turn those into barbed fittings or -6 AN fittings. I'm going to be buying new stuff anyway and frankly I feel like this makes for an easier and more straightforward/serviceable setup down the road. I was looking at Summit Racing and had a few ideas, so I'll do a bit more searching tomorrow and I think order what I need.

I'm really excited about how the wheels look on the car. When I sent the pictures to Laurie she said how awesome the car looked with those on them. Once the engine and transmission are in it'll really feel like a car, but with each step it looks more and more like one.
 
Picturing in my mind with the body mounted and the wheels and tires look good.


But please, please don't paint the car red....
 
If I do one of these cars it will be candy apple red, my paint job would probably cost more than the car. I'm thinking about the 33 hot rod, but Massachusetts is a colossal PIA to get it registered.
 
Ted:

Re the electric AC compressor:

Have you run calcs on how much cooling you’re going to be able to get from a workable amperage at 12v?

Interested.
 
PaulS said:
If I do one of these cars it will be candy apple red, my paint job would probably cost more than the car. I'm thinking about the 33 hot rod, but Massachusetts is a colossal PIA to get it registered.
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I like the idea of doing a hot rod/hot rod truck with a big 6-71 or 8-71 blower and an exposed engine. That'd be fun. I'd like to do a build with an old roots blower one of these days.

SCCutler said:
Ted:

Re the electric AC compressor:

Have you run calcs on how much cooling you’re going to be able to get from a workable amperage at 12v?

Interested.
Click to expand...

It all depends on what you consider "reasonable" for amperage. For the Cobra I'm not looking at needing all that much capacity, remember all of it's going to get blow out into the breeze anyway. The real point is just something that blows cold air to "take the edge off".

Looking at the spec sheet for the smallest MasterFlux Sierra:

https://www.masterflux.com/userimages/SIERRA02-0434Y3_Data_Sheet.pdf

It looks like for around 30 amps I can get around 2,500-3,000 BTUs of cooling. Not a whole lot, but I think should be enough for my purposes.

Next step up size:

https://www.masterflux.com/userimages/SIERRA02-0716Y3_DATA_SHEET.pdf

Looks like around 4-5k BTUs for around 45 amps.

I'm assuming evaporator temperatures of 30-40F there.

When I look at the Toyota compressor I think it takes about 30 amps, so that would imply similar to that smaller Sierra assuming that Toyota hasn't figured out significantly higher efficiency than Masterflux (which I doubt they have). So I need to do some more calculations, and do them before too long, but I think the smaller one will do the job fine.
 
I've been doing some more thinking on the fuel system and I think I have a plan in place, although I need to flesh out a few more parts of it.

I'm not going to do the Ford stock setup for a couple of reasons. First one is that I hate it and I hate the connectors. Second is that because I'm not reusing any of the parts from the fuel system off of the car (they're 25 years old and rusted) so if I reuse the stock setup then I'll need to buy all new parts, which will end up not being super cheap anyway. So I might as well do things how I want to. I am reusing the wiring connectors for the fuel pump and the fuel sender, though, just because those work fine still and they're somewhat special connectors. They cleaned up well, too.

These are the outlets from the fuel pump (I got the fuel pump fully installed last night):

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The last 1/8" or so is tapered (part of the design for the factory hoses), but ultimately these are 5/16" and 1/4" hard lines. My thought is I'm going to cut that last bit off and then go with compression fittings to hard lines out of the tank. The return line (1/4") I'll then just do as hard line the whole way up to the engine bay where it'll then turn into either an AN or a hose barb with clamps to go to the fuel rail. I will probably order a -6 AN fuel filter and do some compression fittings from hard lines for that too. I'll put the full parts list together and start ordering some things so I can get started.
 
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SCCutler said:
Ted:

Re the electric AC compressor:

Have you run calcs on how much cooling you’re going to be able to get from a workable amperage at 12v?

Interested.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I looked at his link for the compressor, saw the working voltage range, and thought "airplane" too. ;-)
 
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TangoWhiskey said:
Yeah, I looked at his link for the compressor, saw the working voltage range, and thought "airplane" too. ;-)
Click to expand...

I had gotten a good bit of the ways through the theoretical parts of putting one of these in the 414 to replace the boat anchor/broken compressor in there. However then the MU-2 came along and now I have an air cycle machine. :)
 
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