While the upper intake was off, I removed, stripped, and re-wrapped the engine harness.  Mine was dirty and oily from it's previous life.  Looks much better now.

I had forgotten to mount the steering shaft cover to the side of the footbox before installing the engine, so now there was not enough room to get the head of the riveter in there.  I countersunk the holes in the cover, and used stainless steel button head screws instead.  Looks good!

I mounted the EGR control solenoid to the heater box.  It sits behind the heater hoses and is fairly well hidden from view.  Looks a little cleaner that way, plus the wires were in the right spot.

Finally, I installed the transmission tunnel aluminum, along with the two small aluminum door latch covers.  Also routed and installed the speedometer cable.

As soon as I can recruit a couple helpers, the body goes on!

I had the opportunity to meet a couple future FFR owners while I waited for 4pm.  Travis Grabb stopped by about 9am to check out the car.  Mine was the first one he's seen up close without the body.   Travis hopes to get his FFR sometime next year.  After Travis left, Kevin Kawasaki stopped by.  Kevin has an FFR on order for a May delivery date.  We spent alot of time talking about the frame, aluminum, wiring, special tools, etc.  It was great getting to know both of these fine fellows!  Hope to see them on the road with their Cobras next summer.

Well, body mounting time came and went in about 2.5 minutes!  My buddies Ron, Sam, Ryan, and Manny helped me slip it on without a hitch.  At first blush, it seemed to fit great!  The sidepipe cutouts look perfectly centered on the pipes.  This was one of my biggest concerns.  Spent the rest of the evening grilling and drinking a few beers to celebrate.

Spent Sunday fitting the body to the frame.  I had to trim both sides where the body touches the footbox.  Also had to do some heavy duty grinding right behind the door latches.  The body was very thick there, and the frame was preventing it from sitting in place properly.  Also ground a little bit of the frame on the passenger side before everything started to line up.  The hood opening doesn't exactly line up with the 3/4" frame rails in the engine compartment.  Looks like the body needs to move toward the driver's side by 3/8" or so.  However, both wheelwells have the exact same amount of tire overlap, so I hesitate to shift the body and have one tire stick out further than the other.  Perhaps the 3/4" frame rails under the hood are not properly positioned from FFR?

I mounted the gas filler neck and roller cap.  I love the roller gas cap!!!   Temporarily mounted the rear quickjacks to make sure the body holes line up.   Mounted the rearview mirror and spacers to pull the cowl down into place.   Next, I cut the windshield side posts to allow clearance at the top of the footboxes, and drilled them for mounting bolts.  Finally, I mounted the windshield before calling it a night.

One of the highlights of the get together was to see an original 427 Cobra street car!  Wow!  Jim Maxwell drove CSX3288 in rain and 35 degree temperatures so a bunch of Cobra nuts could drool all over it!  It's an original 22,000 mile car, unrestored.  What a great opportunity to see an original up close.

Pictures from the meeting can be seen here.

Sunday, after I recuperated from the long drive to Greensboro and back, I got a reasonable amount of work done.  I started by mounting the hinges, latches, and doors on both sides.  I fiddled with the driver's side for a few minutes, trying to get the door centered in the opening, and got frustrated, so I moved on.

The rollbar cut-outs from FFR were off by 3/16" or so.  I spent a few minutes with a die grinder and sanding drum making enough room so the rollbar slipped nicely onto the mount.  I'll have to get some rollbar grommets to cover up the gaps around the rollbar.

I mounted the trunk lid, license plate light, license plate holder, and trunk release handle.  While we were at Whiby, I picked up a curved piece of 3/4" square tubing that will replace the flat piece of aluminum just inside the trunk opening.   This will allow about another 3" of storage height on the upper trunk level.

I held each of the sidepipes in place to see where they would line up with the body rigidly mounted.  When we first set the body on, I thought the pipes lined up great, but now I see the cut-outs will need some work.  The passenger side header flange was too high, causing the pipe to hit the top of the opening.  The driver side was too low, causing a large gap at the top.  I loosened the motor mounts and tipped the motor a little bit to the driver side.  This helped to even things up a bit.   The passenger side will need just a bit of trimming at the front of the opening.

I went back and adjusted the door hinges and latches a little more.  The doors look OK, but still need some work.  The driver side door needs to be about 1/8" higher in the door opening, but I'm already at the top of the bolt holes.  I'll have to grind the holes to allow a little more adjustment.  The passenger side needs to move in another 1/8" or so.  Right now, the door skin stands a little proud of the rest of the body.  Overall, I'm satisfied with the fit of the doors given some of the horror stories of the early FFR doors!

To cap off the day, I assembled and installed the windwings and outside mirror.   Both went without a hitch!  I'm starting to see why people end up driving their Cobras around in gel-coat for a while.  Man, it's tempting to stop plowing ahead, and drive it as-is!