427 Cobra Right Side


427 Cobra CSX3282 Right Side PhotoOne of the first things that people comment on is the poor condition of the front surface of the rear fenders.  This is caused by the front tires picking up small rocks or gravel and throwing them onto the front of the rear fenders.  If you don't drive the car this will not happen or some people put some type of a "bra" in this location.

The wheels are called "pin drive knock off".  When you use the supplied hammer and unscrew the knock off lugs (different directions on different sides of the car) there are not splines on the wheels.  There are pins on car and holes in the wheels.

One day I was driving to work on city streets and I slowed down and heard a "ping...ping....ping" sound.  The left rear knock off had come undone and was passing me!  I checked the mirror and seeing that it was clear made a very quick stop.  I caught it before the wheel walked off the pins.  Within a few minutes a follow worker stoped behind me and we jacked up the car and reinstalled the knock off in the middle of the road. In the past I used safety wire to tie the knock off's to the wheels but now I use tie wraps.  You can see both of them in the photo.

Many people like the shape - design of this car.  Visually it is nice, but in an aerodynamic sense it is a brick.  When I used to drive it as a daily commute car during the winter the front wheels would pick up water and it would shoot out sideways from just behind the front wheels.  On a three lane freeway if I was in the center lane water would be spraying across all three lanes.

Then I learned the hard way that the wheel bearings have NO seals to keep water out of the bearings.  Since the car was built for racing this was not an issue.  I replaced the rusted bearings and never drive the car when the road is wet.  The other reason is that just a smidgen too much throttle on a wet road causes the rear tires to light up and this can be a very big problem going around corners.

There is room in the wheel wells for larger tires.  I have the stock 7.5" wheels, but optionally 9.5" wheels are available.  I think you can easily get 12 inches of rubber on the road.

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