My baby in the rough!
The bodies of these spectacular cars actually start life in Poland. Craftsmen in an ex-Soviet MIG aircraft factory shape and weld the bodies before shipping them to Provo, Utah for assembly for Kirkham customers. |
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All pretty and polished
From the previous filed finish to this polished state is truly a work of art. By the time they get to this stage there are no visible flaws. |
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Laying out the stripes!
The design for the stripes on my Cobra actually came from CSX3019. It was painted blue with lighter blue stripes. Here they are laid out in tape. |
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Tape off, stripes on!
The stripes are brushed into the polished surface. |
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| And the view from behind... |
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| Assembly |
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| Assembly |
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| Assembly |
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| Assembly |
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| Getting close |
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| Happy Birthday! |
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| Last minute details |
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| My baby |
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| And another |
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| Now That's a cute butt! |
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| Ok, so one day this box from Keith Craft arrives. (My Brother Weston) |
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| Humm... I wonder what is in here? |
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| And there she is! Big bore Shelby block touting 527 cubes. It dyno'd out at 699 HP with 687 ft lbs of tourque. TWM Injection sitting on top. |
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| Everything is now bolted together ready to drop in the car, NOT! If you look closely you'll see the plates bolted to the exhaust manifold. To my surprise I found out how tight the clearances are in a Cobra. After nearly having the engine in the car we had to pull it back out and start again the next day after having the plates re-sheered... |
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Ah.. Properly cut lifting plates!
Ok, now something useful is happening, almost. (My Brother and Nephew holding the engine in place for the photo shoot.) Why is it that at the most critical point someone wants a photo, me? So I have this high dollar engine hanging precariously above this expensive and easily scratch-able and dent-able aluminum car. I just step away and ask them to say cheese! (Later a good friend asked me why I didn't take more pictures?)
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All is well, all is well. (Never mind, most of you don't know the tune.)
Now things are starting to get close. Just bolting on the accessories. Still need to do the electrical for the TWM, throttle linkage, and the fuel lines.
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| And... A view from the control center. |
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| At the June 2008 Murray car show! The orange Camaro with the blower is my Brothers. |
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| Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. (Taken by Randy Kroll) |
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| "Bad from any angle! (Taken by Randy Kroll) |
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