Pauls Project Dax Thread - Here we go!

[Mike Hamblin]

Might be worth checking the fuel gauge sender gasket, to see if its suitable or E10 compatible, as some of the rubber gaskets just wont last with the ethanol mix. Hence I changed over to cork and rubber mix. As the rubber gasket which was used originally used total disintegrated.

[CobraPaul]

Month 3: April 2024
A mixed month of progress and some disheartening times if I'm honest.
The more I investigate, the more work I identify and more jobs I add to my list. Jobs that you think would be simple turn out to be a nightmare. Several big ticket items ticked off though, so I shouldn't complain.
First off was fitting the fibreglass tunnel. This required considerable modification to get it to sit right and plenty of on-off-on-off fitting to get rivnuts installed, a foam seal to prevent air/water/noise from getting into the cabin. I also added a couple of access hatches to allow for gearbox oil and clutch bleeding to take place without removing of the tunnel.
I also decided to check/replace some of the fluids. First up, the diff oil. Had a nightmare working out how to remove the fill/drain plugs due to the square drive, but found a very useful tip online regarding the use of a 17mm allen head socket back-to-front and a 17mm socket on the other end. Worked a charm and the job was well worth doing as the old oil was clearly >25years old. Checking with Opie Oils and purchased some Castrol Transmax to replace.
Then came the brake fluid. On the Dax at least, the brake and clutch share a reservoir and so I figured I'd get this done as the old fluid was a bit brown... Before I could do this though, I had to relocate the reservoir slightly because the lid was situated underneath the fibreglass body. A rivnut later and we were back in business. Bleeding the clutch was a piece of cake, but for some reason the brakes refuse to give much fluid out, giving only a couple of inches of fluid before seemingly getting a bit stuck. My vacuum pump just created lots of air bubbles (a common issue when it sucks the air through the bleed nipple gaps) so I need to try either a pressure bleed or maybe get the car tilted and use a bit of gravity to assist. A bit of a pain as access to the rear calipers is a bit limited with a spanner.

When I viewed the car originally, the fuel gauge didn't seem to register. Checking the resistance across the sender suggested some bizarre readings so it was removed from the tank and, after testing, replaced with a brand new unit from ETB. The old gasket/sealant was a mess so this was all cleaned off and, whilst the tank was empty, I vacuumed out the small amount of sediment that was visible in the bottom of the tank.

More progress on the Quick Jacks, too. Bars cut to length, position fettled etc. And lots of cleaning of chrome, harnesses and a bit of painting here and there too. 

- Extended some wiring behind the dash which was restricting a tidy wiring job
- Made a reverse switch / light wiring harness
- Weatherproofed the connectors to electronic speedo sensor
- Cleaned and test-fitted the Tonneau cover
- Willians harnesses washed and dried to clean
- Fuel tank sediment removed
- Installed new fuel tank level sender
- Installed front and rear quick jacks - nearly done!
- Installed grommet for choke cable into cabin
- Further modifications to the dash to prepare for covering
- Painted the rear calipers silver
- Checked/topped up gearbox oil
- Cut down the door eschelon bolts
- Repositioned the brake/clutch fluid reservoir to enable cap to be accessed more easily
- Bled the clutch
- Attempted to bleed the brakes
- Changed the Diff oil
- Temporarily fitted the front numberplate
- Fitted harness top mount spacers
- Removed exhaust heatshields & polished exhausts
- Installed the fiberglass tunnel cover front and rear

Total Spent this month:
£199.68 on parts
£57 on tools

Photos

[CobraPaul]

Month 2: March 2024

Things are into full swing now. I've been working on the car most evenings and occasional weekends and the number of jobs to do have snowballed as these projects do.
Writing this all down really makes me appreciate quite how much I've done in the last 4 weeks! It's been challenging but I've made some really good progress.
Unfortunately April won't be as busy as it's Easter and a couple of weeks away means I'll be hankering after getting back into the project when I get home.


Job updates:
- Battery clamp made and fitted (Used one from CBS but needed modification)
- Chrome windscreen surround fully polished and restored, removing all pitting (looks like new)
- Cleaned the windscreen itself. Sounds easy, but had LOADS of tiny, solid lumps on the inside face. Involved using a bare Stanley blade and lubrication to remove
- Removed boot and bonnet handles/locks, to get keys cut. Unfortunately 1 lock is dead, another cannot be picked. So I will be replacing the set.
- Found 2 pinholes in the lower coolant solid pipework. A frustrating issue (esp after I've replaced the water pump and refilled with fresh coolant!) Had to drain again,
remove the pipe and get the holes welded by a local welder.
- Finished replacing the fuel hoses.
- Painted the front brake calipers silver (in situ, but easy to access)
- Started painting the rear calipers silver (in situ, so not the best job but much better than they were!)
- Stripped the dash right down, filled the poorly cut hole in the fibreglass and flush-mounted the headlight control mount
- Ftted a USB charging socket in the glovebox for phone charging. (I'll be using the clock wiring harness to power this, with an extra in-line fuse)
- Fitted 2 Rocker switches to the dash
- Relocated the Fog light warning light to the location of the other warning lights
- Fitted clear front indicator lenses
- Purchased (and started to fit) the Cobra Quick jacks front and rear. (Need to cut down the mounting bars for a better fit
- Cleaned the underside front chassis, treated and painted the unpainted metal
- Cleaned the Power-lok diff and painted black. Removed the diff vent, gave it a good clean out, and reinstalled
- Replaced the rear numberplate light with a Black Wipac LED unit (all hardware will be black on this car when I've finished)
- Removed the rear fog light in preparation for a slim line unit to be fitted
- Removed the fuel level sensor after finding some very inconsistent resistance readings. Identified a lack of proper gasket and ordered a replacement sensor
- Minor soldering jobs to connect the horn to the wiring harness
- Replaced the coolant overflow hose with a red hose to match the other hoses
- Installed brand new windscreen washer hose and jets as existing fitted hose was not adequate
- Fitted several firewall grommets as existing grommets were poorly fitted or too big for the holes
- Installed the side markers - bulb holder was missing but now these should be fully working
- Fitted heater grommets into the spare heater outputs to maximise the redirection of airflow to the windscreens and footwells
- Installed additional earth strap from engine head to chassis to scuttle bar, ensuring a much better earthing in the car (I believe this is critical to good car operation)
- Fitted a proper blanking cap to the carb vac port - again, ensuring proper engine operation without a vac leak)
- Fitted extra heat shielding to the spark plug / HT leads.
- Stripped down the seats, cleaned, painted and regreased the sliders for better seat operation
- Purchased some longer bolts for the seat-to-chassis mounting - none were supplied with the car and this wasn't as straightforward as expected!
- Purchased a load of other misc parts (connectors, crimping tools, extra fuel hose clamps etc)

Total Spent this month:
£413.38 on parts
£36 on tools

Photos

Battery Fitted


Brake Calipers looking sorry for themselves


Better!


Rear LED Light unit


Dash stripped, awful "square" hole cut by PO


Dash redesigned, new fog light warning & flush-fitted headlight control unit, plus 2 rocker switches for heater/demister & brake test switch


Orange vs Clear front indicator lenses


Windscreen chrome polishing - can see where I've polished and where I haven't


Coolant pipe with 2 pinholes now rewelded


USB Socket mounted on glovebox


Underside cleaned, treated and painted to tidy up


Fuel sender found to be faulty and float full of fuel

[CobraPaul]

That looks like a fun project Paul.

Enjoy the build/rebuild. It would be great information/knowledge base to keep this thread updated with any progress as you go.

Keep up the good work.

That's the plan! Figured the information could be useful to other newcomers like myself, but also helps to demonstrate costs of each challenge. I'll update at least monthly  

[Tommy-boy]

That looks like a fun project Paul.

Enjoy the build/rebuild. It would be great information/knowledge base to keep this thread updated with any progress as you go.

Keep up the good work.

[Simon]

Nice project, already registered and with a decent engine/box fitted.

[CobraPaul]

Tonight whilst looking under the car cleaning I found the tag on the diff - 43/14, or 3.07:1 ratio.

[CobraPaul]

Hi Paul,

Good luck with the rebuild. Just thought I would mention that I have a black dax dash up in the loft collecting dust.
There are some photos in the for sale section. Let me know if it would be of any use to you.

Rgds

Brad

I'll take a look, thanks!

[Flykilla]

Hi Paul,

Good luck with the rebuild. Just thought I would mention that I have a black dax dash up in the loft collecting dust.
There are some photos in the for sale section. Let me know if it would be of any use to you.

Rgds

Brad

[CobraPaul]

A full spec of the car:

Dax Cobra mk4 IRS chassis
Roadcraft-supplied Chevy v8, 355bhp
Roadcraft-supplied Tremec TKO500 gearbox
Edelbrock 600 cfm carb
Jaguar PL Diff
MK3 VW Golf indicator stalks etc
Moto Lita steering wheel
Stainless fuel tank
ETB instruments
17" Halibrand split rims
Red Gelcoat (to be painted or wrapped, eventually)
Single rollover hoop (to be changed to 1 drivers-side hoop, eventually)

[CobraPaul]

Hi All,

So, I'm embarking on a project - something bigger than I've ever taken on before. An opportunity to acquire a Cobra appeared around Christmas time, although things went a little quite from the seller (turns out he was just busy with other things) but at the end of January, I made a 3hr road trip to go and look at, and ultimately purchase the Cobra I have today.

Brief rundown of history:
- Dax Cobra, mk4 IRS chassis, built and SVA'd in 1999 (although with a Jag v12 engine installed)
- Classic registration plate due to use of enough donor parts at SVA
- Car has been parked up since 2002/2003 when the engine failed
- Brand new crate Roadcraft Chevy v8 purchased and fitted in 2006
- Brand new Tremec TKO500 gearbox, also fitted in 2006.
- Car had no fluids in until 2023, when the engine was torn down, new gaskets etc fitted, fluids added and the car brought up to running/driving again
- The PO also fitted all new fuel and brake lines.
- The PO ran clearly ran out of time to finish restoring the car, so offered it for sale.

I took delivery of the car in early Feb, and since then I've started to have a good look over and determine what needs to be done.

Quite a long list, but a summary of Feb progress:
- Insured and SORNed car
- Purchased a set of wheel dollies to aid moving around (although with my rubber flooring, actually quite difficult)
- Installed p-clips for the rear wiring loom through the interior
- Located a coolant leak, which turned out to be the coolant pump. Replaced like-for-like from RealSteal, added new coolant too
- Run through all documentation and sorted into a decent file
- Got a tilt-lift to get the car in the air
- Stripped the interior, removed the dash, given the car a good initial clean so I can see what I'm dealing with
- Started replacing the sections of fuel hose that were rubber - and the wrong hose type for modern ethanol-based fuel
- Purchased a new fuel filter, and relocated to between tank and pump
- Purchased a load of other parts that need to be fitted when I get the time.
- Moved the horn from a toggle switch on the dashboard to a proper push-horn in the centre of the Moto Lita wheel. (Required 3D printing an indicator-cancelling adapter, and obtaining an old clock-spring to remove the contact plate from the rear.
- Removing a large amount of brightwork as most of it is pitted and needing a full refurb.

I've spent:
- £136.88 on parts that have been fitted
- £192.31 on parts that have not yet been fitted
- £116 on tools
- £230 on insurance


I'm planning on keeping this thread up to date with progress - feel free to comment and provide help where you can
My plans are to try, where possible, to focus on getting the car roadworthy again, before some significant upgrades, cosmetic changes and paint/wrap. I have definitely settled on black hardware - powdercoated or ceramic coated in the case of the exhausts. But that's a job for much, much later on.

Photos

Here's a photo as she was loaded up for delivery:


And here she is once she was manoeuvred into my garage:


Failed Waterpump:


Replacement pump:


Dash out:


Steering wheel before:


Steering wheel adapter and clock spring track fitted:


New Horn fitted: