Charming the Snake

So a client purchases a beautiful Kirkham raw aluminum AC Cobra. After driving it a few times he quickly figured out this car was not really built for street use. It was very loud and hard to manage stop light to stop light. With an all aluminum 427 side oiler, built by a NASCAR engine builder with a custom ground camshaft and almost 800 horsepower.

This car was a beast! I have driven a lot of cars and this, by far is the scariest car I have ever driven!!! This Cobra also had a racing clutch installed in between the 427 and the modified Ford Top Loader transmission. We started to remove the transmission and had to remove the differential as well. Once the transmission was out we found it impossible to remove the bellhousing with the engine in the car.

The engine was removed and the work began. A milder cam was installed along with a more streetable carburetor, clutch and flywheel. Everyone knows Cobras’ are loud, the side pipes are few feet from your head. Changing the cam will help a little, but we found that the baffles were installed backwards. This was essentially a pair of four inch diameter straight pipes welded to the headers.

This required cutting the side pipes apart and welding in new baffles (going the correct direction) and they are now at Jet Hot getting coated. Once the car is finished we will upload more photos and possibly a video.