Category: Misc.

Remember those Tangent Lights I got for cheap, but they were kinda fogged? A builder on the F5 forum found some replacement lights (Blazer UW3682) that looked like they would work, and they were only $20 on ebay. Worth a shot, and they showed up today.

Except for a very few small items, they are exactly the same. So far I’m in $70 for a $250 set of lights.

Since I had LEDs in my old lights, I removed the lights from the bracket and removed the LEDs. After tearing all the lights down, there was onr tiny thing I could see different between them… The clip that holds the fog light lamp in place was made with a different bend. This is a tiny difference that makes no difference.

I also stripped the new lights and removed it’s bulbs. I decided to partially assemble and compare the blue lights. When I installed the blue LEDs, they were very tight in the housing opening. My thinking was that it might pull the bulb out of the housing upon removal and leave the LED in the housing. A little bit of work with a 31/64 drill bit fixed that right up. This comparison was an eye-opener

Reassembled all the parts and put the old lights in the Spares Box, just in case I need them or some parts in the future. I’ll get the wiring done tomorrow morning and post a pic of the LEDs in the new housings with nice clear lenses.

Awesome.

Emailed with the bodyshop today… confirmed and settled on the final paint colors.

It may not be for everyone, but this car isnt for everyone. Its for me, and I love this color scheme. I believe its being painted this week.

I’ve deleted my last 3 entries to this blog. They were all about getting the car painted, being excited, wanting to see my car.

Here’s the gist of it. I dropped off the body of The Boss in Feb of 2018. They told me it would take 6-9 months. I left them alone for 9 months.

After 9 months, I started calling and emailing with no response. Finally, in Feb 2019, I got a call that my body was coming into the shop. My guess is that this means it had been sitting outside for the last year with zero work done on it.

In April 2019, I took the gocart down because I was on vacation. They have been hired to do the bodywork and paint, but also to mount the body on the chassis and mount the windshield. They were also hired to drill the passenger roll bar holes and a defroster hole in the dash. I was told at that time, it would be done in 4-6 weeks. I saw the car, body work was being done. It was still in red gel-coat, no primer. They were block sanding, trimming and setting gaps.

Middle of May, I reached out to see how it was going. They said it was in 1st primer and was outside ‘gassing out’ in the sunshine. Said it will sit outside for about a week, come back in, get block sanded and re-primered, then outside for another week, then blocked once more, then ready for paint. I figured Yes Haw, 2 weeks to paint. There was no further contact until June 11 when they said they were still 2 weeks from painting any color.

On June 20, this shop posted a pic on their FB page that looked like my car. Same base color, same stripe layout. I asked several times if that was my car. Never got a response. I wanted to believe it was, but it was earlier than they said and NOTHING has happened earlier than planned, much less on time.

Several unanswered emails later, I finally asked if it would be ready for my next vacation, last week of July. Answered back on July 5 that that was the plan, and that the car was going to be “trimmed out” next week (July 8-12). I asked on July 10 what “trimming out” means… I thought it was installing trim… Door and hood handles, seals, bumpers, etc. No. It means painting the inside of the panels such as doors, hood, trunk, which is done before painting the outside of the body.

So my car still does not have paint on it. They hope to deliver in about 2.5 weeks.

I deleted 3 posts about all this because I counted my eggs before hatching.

I’ll publish back in a few weeks and let ya know what’s going on or if they send me any pictures. I don’t really believe it will be done on time.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Have been using some of this time to fix or change a few things, like the lights I recently posted.

I never really liked how I did the heated seats. I had placed the heaters between the foam and frame, with a layer of insulation between the heater and frame. When trying them, I found they did not get very warm, and my thought is that the heater was heating the frame more than the person due to the thick seat foam and that the heater was much closer (actually glued to) the thin insulation and the seat frame.

So… I tore em apart! At first I was removing the entire cushion, but it’s glued in pretty well. So I decided to mark the heater positions and then carefully cut the foam out with a very sharp blade. Very careful not to cut the seat cover. These things aint cheap.

I then used some 3M 77 spray glue and glued the heaters into the seats. This is as close as I can get them to the person.

Proceeded to glue the foam back into place. I used some tapes to help hold them in place while the glue dried.

On the second seat, I cut all the space needed for the heaters, not removing any more than I had to. With this seat, I used some very strong double sided cloth carpet tape. I taped the heaters into place, then taped the foam back into place.

I got everything back together, sat in each seat to make sure there was no lumpy foam or a heater had folded underneath. Felt very good and exactly how I want to feel in the Boss. Comfy but secure.

Now its just 2 seats, ready to keep their riders warm, but still looking for a home…

Hey Followers. Thanks for sticking in there. Believe me, this waiting game is getting hard on me.

Talked to Jeff at Whitby on June 11. He said we are shooting color in about another 2 weeks. This is the first place you’ll see the pics, if I get any, so check back about June 25! I hope…

If you’ll remember, I installed reflector LED headlights from Watson Streetworx a while back. Well, that design is at least 5 years old and there’s been an amazing amount of improvements in LED lighting since then. After doing a LOT of research and reading and asking questions, I’ve decided to upgrade to a set of JW Speaker 8700 Evolution J2 LED projector headlights. These are not cheap, but they are American made, DOT legal, and some of the best and most desirable projector LED headlights available. All reports say they have fantastic beam design, light output, hot spot and reliability.

I got them in 2 days off Amazon, and they fit the F5 buckets, mount rings and trim rings like a glove. Had to cut off their wiring plug, install an extension, then install my 4-pin Weatherpack connectors.

Now some may think that this look doesn’t belong on a Cobra. Maybe not. Maybe it’s too ‘ricer’ for some. I think it will look great, right along with my non-Halibrand copied wheels, my hi back racing seats and my dual roll bars.

I’ll write back soon as there’s some news…

No pictures, but heard today that the body is in first primer and sitting outside in the North Carolina sun, outgassing all those nasty solvents. Block and reprimer in about a week, then outgas again. Then final blocking and color.

Got some pictures from Jeff @ Whitby Motorcars. He said it should be in primer next week…

Gettin there! More news soon!

With the Boss all loaded up, I headed down to Greensboro, NC to meet my bro, have some fun and get ready for the next stage.

Arrived at Whitby Motorcars and got the Boss unloaded.

Then decided to fire it up with open headers just to get it the short distance into the shop. Cant have a bunch of old guys trying to push the thing around. And oh yeah… that 427W sounds really, really good with open headers.

While we were there, got to hang out with Jeff for a bit and talk cars. He eventually worked us towards the back room and finally got to see my body shell again. Its the one in the middle that still has a lot of red on it.

Another 4-6 weeks and I’ll be headed down to bring the Boss 427 back home. Wont be much more to tell you in the next few weeks, but any updates I get, I will be sure to post up. Once again, as usual, if you’re still sticking with me… thanks for following.

Spent the last few days installing seals, dropping the dashboard some more so it fits tight with the switch panel, cleaned her up a little bit.

Loaded her up for the trip south to Whitby’s tomorrow.

I’m sure there will be more pics taken tomorrow. I’ll post em up soon as I get home.

Next time I see her, she’ll be sporting a brand new dress. 😉

After spending about 6 hours working on the roll bars, I’ve called it quits. I sent out a lot of emails and tried some contacts to get these bars polished… some responded, some didn’t, and those that did were +$500. Put it on the back burner.

Have been talking to Jeff @ Whitby Motorcars since the Boss 427 body went into the shop about 7 weeks ago. I’m taking the Go-Cart down to Greensboro, NC and dropping it off on Thursday. The body isnt ready yet, but should be very soon. I hope to get a peek at the Boss’s shell and see what stage it’s at. Hopefully, this is all starting to come together. When they are done, it will just be a quick weekend trip down and back to bring her all home.

While speaking with Jeff, turns out he can absolutely polish the Breeze roll bars. So I’m taking those down with me to drop off at the same time. I’m not asking him to install them, but I’m excited to be getting some of these things done.

Hopefully another big update by the weekend.