Ouch! Anyone want a Cobra project?

[Mike DC]

 
I think it's only a disaster when you can actually hook up the power though.  Small tires wouldn't allow you to get yourself into nearly so much trouble before they break loose. 

[bull]

I think the only thing that much power and that little weight on narrow tires would create is a lot of noise and white smoke. Forward motion would be minimal.

[Mike DC]

I think the only thing that much power and that little weight on narrow tires would create is a lot of noise and white smoke. Forward motion would be minimal

Yeah, but the vehicle weight of a Cobra replica is absolutely obscene compared to anything we're used to dealing with.  

Imagine a hot 360 transplanted into a Volkswagen Beetle convertible body.  Maybe even less weight than that.  15x7 type street radials would be more than enough to move that thing.  

[Troy]

Most of the replicas I've seen are small blocks. However, a 302/351 can be built with a lot of power. The real 427 race cars were a handful for the professional drivers. Heck, a lot of the cars we love have greatly diminished numbers because of too much power on the street. I'd venture to say it's even worse with cars like Corvettes, Cobras, and most exotics (that are actually driven).

Troy

[Mike DC]

Yeah, that factor really whacked down the survival rate of the Hemi & 440/6 cars.  The motors might have lived through a few crashes but the bodies sure didn't.  



I think an aluminum Cobra body (not frame & susp, just the body tub & outer panels) can be as light as 250 pounds.  There is really nothing to those cars.  The A-list Cobra replicas that Factory Five produces are advertised as potentially weighing less than 2000 pounds as a complete turn-key car if you option them right.

I remember reading somebody describing the experience of driving a 427 Cobra:  "It's about as close as you can get to riding bareback on a V8 engine."  

   

[PocketThunder]

Kind of like a Boss Hoss motorcycle then?   

[69bronzeT5]

dang  that white  challenger had a  hard hit  

I think I'm gonna cry

[Magnumcharger]

The Cobra in the video I posted was the fastest car I've ever been in - bar none.
And it was supercharged. It also had no weight at all.
The owner, my friend Gord Chester, has been in a SOHC 427 powered Cobra, which is said was almost completely unmanagable at any speed.
In fact, that car has since been written off.

Without a word of a lie, I've been a huge Cobra fan since I was a little kid. A beautiful car from the get go, and as dangerous as it's namesake!

[bull]

Yea, it's one of a few Fords I would gladly own. I'm also a fan of the '66-'68 Mustang fastback and of course the GT40.

[Mike DC]

    
I'd love to have a '69 Charger with a 4130 tube chassis & aluminum body.  

Forget the Pro Mod "street car" dragsters with 14-pt rollcages, forget all that Pro Touring stuff with 20" rims and 1" ground clearance . . .  just picture a stock Charger R/T with about 1000 pounds magically removed.  Now THAT would be fun.  

[Magnumcharger]

Here's an idea....somebody should approach AMD about running a limited pressing of aluminum panels for the Charger body.
I'm sure that even if you could replace just the bolt-on parts with aluminum, you'd stand a good chance of getting rid of 1000 pounds.

[Mike DC]

  
 
Naw, you wouldn't lose anything like half a ton from doing the outer skin stuff.  Maybe a few hundred pounds from that, tops.  

Aluminum basically allows cutting the weight in half compared to steel.  The front fenders, the door shells, the hood, the bumper .  .  . I don't think any of those pieces weigh more than 40-50 pounds.  Most are less.  You might lose 200-250 pounds or something by going to alloy but nothing HUGE.    




The real big gains don't start showing up until you make the ENTIRE body shell from aluminum, and then you use that loss to justify lightening up every loadbearing thing on the chassis.  The more weight you remove, the more it allows you to remove additional weight from what is still there.  It snowballs backward.  

Lighter body --->  needs less strength in the chassis/susp pieces  --->  now there's enough net weight loss to run a smaller motor without feeling slow --->  smaller motor needs less weight in the drivetrain behind it --->  now the entire thing is so much lighter than the rollcage/unibody doesn't need to be as heavily built just to remain stiff --->  now the sizes of the rims/tires/brakes begin to seem like overkill for a car this light  .  .  .

[PocketThunder]

Lets say dynacorn is making Charger bodies, can they just throw a sheet of Aluminum in the body press instead of steel?

[Mike DC]

 
No, it's not that easy.  Aluminum has to be stamped at very different thicknesses than steel, and the metal has more "springback" which totally changes how the stamping dies must be shaped.