Catch Up
Last update, SEP 13, today is OCT 16. ?So what’s happened over the last month? ?A tremendous amount.
My parents had been planning to visit for many months and as the time approached, the regular weekend Skype calls to them became even more Cobra focused. ?It soon became a goal that we’d get the car started while my father was here. ?SEP 13 it still seemed like such a far away milestone. ?I ordered a bunch of parts: coil, ignition pack, starter solenoid and hoped I’d have everything we’d need.
First up was fixing the leak that had developed from the rear brake master cylinder. ?It looked like the pipe fitting just wasn’t tight enough – a quick fix. ?Next was starting on the wiring. ?A fair amount of back and forth between instructions, the web, and just looking to see what should logically connect, we got the basics setup. ?Here Dad is connecting up the starter solenoid.
A trip to a local car accessory shop to buy a battery (a yellow top Optima) turned somewhat unsuccessful – not in stock, ordered, would be in the next day. ?While we waited for that?we got the accelerator cable installed. ?We soon realised that when I’d bought the engine ‘complete’, it wasn’t quite ‘fully complete’ and was missing the attachment that would hold the cable to the carburetor mount.
Another trip, the second?of many, to the same store?got a shiny attachment designed specifically for the Holley carb. ?Much nicer looking than the one it replaced.
Next was installing the new MSD ignition box and coil. ?Some consideration on where to put it, but finally decided that the firewall was easy. ?Battery picked up, that went in too.
??With the high tension electrics in, the throttle cable installed, it was apparent that we were pretty much ready to try a start! ?First though, we had to get the fluids in: coolant, oil in the engine, automatic transmission fluid in the manual gearbox (yes, really), and gear oil (dino juice) in the differential.
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Next? ?Some fuel would be good. ?With only about a half a gallon in the garage, a quick drive to the local petrol station for another gallon. ?Not sure why my eyes are closed – perhaps I was already fighting back my tears of pending excitement!
What was left? ?Really nothing other than a quick prayer to the Cobra gods!
