I spent the day working on the footbox aluminum and finally got all the pieces set and held together by Clecko pins. Whew! The driver side aluminum was tricky— a number of pieces with complex shapes. Alex has joked that I’m building the car three times but I think that I’ve assembled and disassembled the DS aluminum approaching a dozen times. The pieces actually fit quite well but it still took a lot of wiggling, persuading and some trimming of two of the panels to get everything exactly in place. I also put a #30 (1/8”) drill deep into my middle finger. Just before it happened I thought, ‘Is my finger in the way?’ I was surprised at the amount of blood that came out given the relatively small appendage and I’m an EMT and have seen a lot of blood. So, some of my DNA will be permanently part of the Cobra.
Below is a view of both the passenger and driver footboxes. The pieces are held in position with Cleckos, although I have most of the holes for riveting drilled. I won’t rivet the panels until I have them finished— I’m still trying to decide what exactly to do (e.g., paint or powder coating).
I’ve also started to think about the dash set up. I’m planning on a ‘competition’ style layout with the tach in front of the driver and the speedometer to the side. I mocked up a version I like and I’ll play around with it for a while to see what modifications I need to make.
Two tools have been indispensable for the aluminum assembly: Cleckos and a rivet-spacing fan. I started with 40 Clecko pins but recently added another 40 to my ‘collection’. The rivet spacing fan is kind of pricey but it has saved a tremendous amount of time as well as making the rivet spacing in-line and perfectly spaced.