69 Ford Torino Cobra

[tiresmoke!]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

I'm a confirmed Chevy guy, but Fords such as your formal-roofline Torino are the kind I've be proud to own.

Plenty to be proud of right there....regardless of what the "investment" crowd thinks.

[Dirt Rod]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

60scarguy..... All I can say about your Cobra is.... Thank you for doing a spectacular job of restoring a car that truly deserves it!!

That is one cool car, and yes there are not many like it at all.... that makes it way cooler!!

Ax

[milner351]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

I have a long way to go, mind is still as it was when I got it a few years ago - I've had no time to work on it -just gathering parts, I've found the biggest missing piece - a date code correct engine block, heads, intake, and a few other bits. The Fordfe forum has been a great place to learn, as well as 428cobrajet registry site and forum.

My car has been a race car since the mid / late 70's, it's been beaten badly - but it's a southern car (KY) so the rust is mild compared to a typical midwest car. I will be doing some work in the floors / trans tunnel (drag racing yielded some blown u joints and probably a blown clutch plate from the looks of the trans tunnel) and probably will find some 'do in the quarters, and it lost the battery apron to an acid leaking battery at some point. Lots of disassembly and research to do. I'm not sure if the fenders are original - but the driver's door is - it's got the build tag on it that matches the vin.

My plan is an original looking restoration but not a concourse deal - don't have the money or patience for that - will likely have a lot of repo parts in it - and I'm going to put a stroker crank and all new rods/pistons in it with a mild cam that will keep the power brakes happy, with AL intake to save weight and add performance. Not sure yet about manifolds / headers. I do have an FE C6 and will run that, put the PS, PB, AC, am/fm, console, gold paint, black hood, white seats, etc in the car, and the chrome GT wheels - but it won't perform like a stocker!

[60scarguy]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

Thanks for the comments guys. It was a real learning process with this unibody car.

The body was great, the engine was rebuilt, the brakes were redone, the interior was intact, and its a numbers matching engine, heads, intake and exhaust manifold and fender supports and body - so you'd think that was OK.

NOT.

Couldnt drive the car - it just did not feel right at all, and no wonder. We spend 350 hours just replacing the floors and the firewall, the wiring, all fuel, brake, transmission lines, fixing the front end, and rear end. The floors were made of tar and bondo, the steering box was attached to the frame rail by rust only (the threads on the bolts were gone), rad support looked like swiss cheese, there were mice remains in the heater box and the torque boxes, a wasp nest in the rear fenders, broken bolts, missing nuts, no cotter pins on any of the front end, broken rear leaf springs, fuel lines ran up the inside of the front struts, brake lines had 9 separate fittings on it, etc etc.

Spend months finding parts - used 7 different suppliers in the US, plus E Bay and then if we couldn't find the parts, we fabricated them.

But boy did we learn a lot about the car. See some of the before pictures. It still makes me shudder.







It did not pull well on the dyno (250 horses at the rear at 3500 rpm, and 250 torque) Good for 3,500 rpm but no where near what the engine can do - why - those old points and old plugs, and poorly tuned engine.

Now taking the car to a Ford big block engine tuner to get the electronics properly set and the carb cleaned.

Should pull 380-410 horses at the flywheel and 420 to 430 ft/lbs of torque once tuned back to stock specs.

I have lots of info to share about your Mustang build - is it also a uni-body car? Then check the torque boxes (bottom left and right sides of the firewall - they hold the front end together).

My car has the stock intake (correct part # and date code) and Holley 4 barrel vaccum secondary 735 cfm (according to the Holley manual, it is the correct carb for this car).

Dont know what was done inside the engine, except that it has a mild cam and a compression test yielded 10 to 1 ratio, which is supposed to be pretty good for a 40 year old engine that wasn't propertly tuned.

The Marti report shows about 1,300 formal roof automatic Cobras were made in 1969, of which 171 had bucket seats and console. I would guess that about 300 to 400 are left running, since most were drag raced back then. I dont know how many have the original engine still in it.

Tell me more about your build.

[milner351]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

Totally excellent - sorry I missed you when you were in detroit.

The more I work on mustangs - the more I like the different - larger cars.

I am restoring a 69 mach1 428 R code car - I would love to compare notes with you.

Absolutely great looking car. Love the wheels.

What did it put down on the chassis dyno?

Which intake / carb / cam are you running? Did you use one of Rabotnick's "stock" grinds?

[Dirt Rod]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

That car is so cool!! I have a sweet spot for those....

In high school my best runn'in buddy had a '69 Fairlane 302 3 speed on the column..... I would do just about anything to get that car back now!!!

Ax

[67pete300]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

That car is beautiful. I remember your earlier posts. Rare and great lines. Love the white and black with those wheels. It all goes together perfectly.

[BluLightning]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

Sweet car man. That things got to be pretty rare.

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

Was wondering how things were going, man it looks great! the wheels are perfect...like the formal better than the fast back

[fast Ed]

Re: 69 Ford Torino Cobra

Neat car, a formal roof CJ has to be a rarity. Maybe spend the bucks for a Marti report to know for sure.

Where in Ontario are you located?


cheers
Ed N.

[60scarguy]

Just finished restoring our 69 Ford Torino Cobra Jet Formal Roof.

It's an original (numbers matching) 428 CJ engine with ram air, bucket seats, front disc brakes and power steering. We had posted on this site back prior to the Power Tour, and finished the car in July 2008.

See pictures below at the Detroit Fairlane show and the 2008 Syracuse Nationals - same Dyno guys that were at the Power Tour.








Yup for those of you with "eagle eyes" got the personalized license plate on for the Detroit show at end of July.

Any other Formal Roof CJ's around - we are getting so lonely being the only one around? Lots of fastbacks still left, and lots of 70 and 71 429 CJ's, but no 68/69 428CJ's. :'(