111 miles on the clock.

Lots to cover in this update, sorry its taken so long but what with Christmas and shit weather motivation has been hard to find... yes even after getting legal!! Driving opportunity's have been very hard to find along with windows of dry non raining days without risk of getting wet, however a little bit of bling to start us off.
 I was never intending to keep the standard BMW indicator stalks with big black plastic ends, so after a lot of hunting around the Internet i found a German company that make and supply these gorgeous stalk ends made from solid alloy and finished to a high polish. The also have three grooves in the end which three little o-rings sit in, that just look bloody superb to me and seriously high end.... as opposed to old grubby black plastic.

They are held in place with a subtle little grub screw that can not be seen if positioned correctly on the stalk. Fitting them was child's play as the left stalk (indicator) only has 4 positions, up and down to indicate left or right and forward/back for full beam or flash. The right hand stalk (wipers) does have additional positions that are redundant on the AK loom as these cars have no rear wiper or washer facility however stalk still moves to these positions. The only one causing an issue for the fitment of these ends is the push in (stalk in towards the column) for the rear wash. Once i had pulled off the original stalk end i just simply cut the two wires, insulated them and pushed them back into the stalk.... then on with the new chrome end and grub screw tight....... sorted!! so sorted in fact that i posted a thread on the Cobraclub forum which started a copy cat effect with most AK owners ordering a pair from Germany. Maybe i should have been on commission??

   Next on my list for adding some personal touches to my car was bonnet rivets. I have always adored the little rivets on Cobras which hold the bonnet skin, to the frame and also around the air scoop. But with my body being fibreglass and the scoop not in the slightest looking anyway near original, it was time to do what i wanted and what in my opinion looks good. Lots of different layout can be found easily, varying slightly depending on chassis number/production date. So with my car matching non of the original dimension it was just a trial and error basis with the layout. Some tips for the planning stage is to use the little paper circles from a hole punch to lay on the bonnet first before committing with rivets.

 Once i was happy that i wanted to fit them i started to mark out the head positions based on one of the layouts i had found on the internet. I ended up with 1 rivet centre and 13 out from that (so 13-1-13 ) i followed the dimensions of the guide roughly for the spacing and with some masking tape over the bonnet i was able to accurately make the positions for the rivets to be fitted.

I spaced the rivets out evenly and marked each point ready for drilling into the body. The originality behind these rivets was to secure the body panel to the frame, and with my body being made from fibreglass this is a 100% vanity modification. Also with the bonnet being one piece i didn't want to drill all the way through and have to see all the rivet butts on the underside. Along with the stress each rivet would cause to each area and hazing to the paint i decided on a different approach.

 With my car colour theme being black and grey i wanted to continue with a colour that didn't look odd or out out of place against the bonnet so i opted for some black bodied rivets which i got from CBS. These had to have the pins removed then the body cut down as so that they could just be bonded into shallow holes drilled in the bonnet. I chose to bond them in rather than actually rivet them in because of the damage they would do to the paint and having to see the compressed rivet body from the underside of the bonnet.... and don't forget this is purely a cosmetic modification.

  So once all the rivets were cut down and the pins pushed out i checked all the markings again for spacing and to make sure it looked symmetrical against the stripes and body lines. Then with a 5mm drill bit i slowly put a shallow hole into each mark to allow the rivet to sit in place with the head sitting flush on the body. I didn't drill all the way through the bonnet just deep enough for each rivet to sit nicely, about 3mm. Once all the holes were done i mixed a small bit of epoxy and bonded each rivet head into place after removing the masking tape and after a few hours to cure they looked the dogs bollocks against the colour and body lines. I'm glad i did this as once you have drilled your bonnet you can hardly change your mind after. By this point i was decided not to attempt to put any around the scoop, they do look good on the original cars but with my scoop being four times the size i think it would look odd and a little over the top.... less is more. 

I decided against following the marking guide to the letter and having the corner rivet following the curve of the bonnet so that the first rivet parallel with the stripe is closer to the corner one (see 12-1-12 pattern image above) When i planned this out in the initial marking and hole punch circles, it just looked odd and not correct to the body lines. So as said previously i just went with what i thought looked better, and considering its my car that should be enough justification surely?

  Next up... Christmas time. After recouping some disposable cash over the festive season i decided to start some research into side screens or wind wings. With the 111 miles i have clocked up to date one thing that was uncomfortable was the wind buffering when you get up to a good speed. In an attempt to help this i have invested in some glass wind wings and sun visors. I have been reading on the forums regarding glass wings that just suddenly explode when driving along or when just shutting the door the shock can shatter the glass. So with some careful thought into the pros and cons of glass over plastic (acrylic) i went with glass. Granted if when driving along they get hit by a stone, bird, pedestrian or cyclist they may shatter... but no more so than if it/they was to hit the windscreen. The glass is i suppose at eye level and could do some damage if the worst happens..... but keeping it positive i would just end up looking like a James Bond villain with lots of little scars all over my face..... girls love scars and fast cars, win win situation!!!

The fitting of the wind wings is simple really the bolts fit through the glass with a fibre washer each side and onto the hinges which then fit directly onto the windscreen pillar, job done.
 Next up was the sun visors... these were a little bitch to fit and I'm still not 100% happy that they will have any longevity to them and considering they were the best part of 150 bloody quid i should hope they will. The visor itself is smoked acrylic plastic with hinges fitted to one edge. These hinges then have a groove cut in them allowing that to then slot on to two tabs that fit to the windscreen frame. The hinges then grub screw onto these tabs and are secure the visor is held in place with the friction of the hinges... or so it should be . The problem i had was the little tabs that screw to the frame were basically shite. The screws only penetrate the screen frame by a couple of threads or else they would touch the glass in the frame and crack the screen.......that was something i didn't want to do so i was very very conscious of getting them tight but not over tight.

 The passenger side was ok after a bit of fetteling with the alignment of the holes, and i found the counter sunk area to be seriously poor fit for such a basic fitting. But when fitting the drivers side it was a pigging ball ache. One side for the hinge was ok but the other was so bad that the threads of the screw could not penetrate the tab itself let alone into the screen frame. I was left with no option but to thin the mounting tab thickness to allow some of the screw threads to pass though which then allowed it to fit and grab the thread on the frame. All of this was irritating because again theses were not a cheap purchase for the car. That and the fear of cracking the windscreen when fitting... should i tighten the screw so the visor wont come clean off in my hands... or do i just leave it not as tight as i wanted in case i tighten more and crack the screen..... hmmmm???

I know all that wont make much sense to someone who hasn't fitted them before but it wasn't just a straight forward "out the packet and bolt on" situation.... but nothing on this car has been.

Lastly a fairly simple change. The fog light is now on a clear lens with a coloured bulb. I much prefer this and it looks much neater and balanced from the back. I'm playing around with a coloured bulb against an LED bulb as the red glass makes the lens look darker against the reverse light, where as the LED doesn't.... but its not as bright. So a little more messing around with that one.

Apologises for such a delay in the update after getting legal. Yes driving one of these cars is all it as expected, phenomenal power with biblical acceleration, aggressive road stance with a monster sound track. Overall a serious driving machine that tries to kill you at any moment it can if you don't show it the respect........ hurry up summer!!!!