Unforeseen choice mistakes?

[zenbone]

I realize this will sound incredibly broad and vague but it is not meant that way.... as i save my pennies and dream a little dream about when i build my factory five roadster i plot out many personal choices. After reading on here and other places about some of the mistakes people have made i was hoping that all of you guys could share some of your mistakes or things you would have done differently with your roadster. a perfect example would be my original thought was to drop a 427 into my build, after reading up on it there is a very compelling argument that that is way too much and makes the car not a whole lot of fun to drive. what are some things like that you have run into that a person new to a factory five build might not envision.
- disclaimer - i realize there is a TON of personal opinion in every single build.... nothing in this thread will be legally binding :p

[chopthebass]

Welcome to the forum!

I have only just started my build but already I hit obstacles - sometimes because I have done something wrong. And sometimes because I haven't read the manual properly. A good example is the front spindles. They are stamped DSS and PSS (driver side spindle/passenger side spindle), so that's where I mounted them. Wrong. For the Roadster they are swapped. So I had to go buy a ball joint separator to get the thing apart! It does say in the manual to swap them round. Doh!

So far thats my only mistake. All good now. The people on this forum are great, and I have asked tons of questions to get to this point. I'm no longer worried that a question might seem dumb - you have to learn sometime. When I first joined the Forum I asked what modifications people made. If you search you will find some great lists. I didn't want to finish my build and think "wish I'd done that".

A few mods I am doing:
Front mounted battery (Breeze kit)
Quick release steering boss (Breeze) and Russ Thompson turn signals
Radiator shroud kit (Breeze)
Breeze rollbar (different to FFR)
Push button start with proximity key
Whitby power brake kit
Upsized fuel lines
EFi

[David Hodgkins]

Since this is specifically about Build Choice mistakes I can say that since I did research and hung out on the forums for a year before ordering I only made 2 decisions that I regret:


Brakes. I wanted Wilwoods for my 15" pin drive wheels. I didn't find out they were available until after I had another set of PBR brakes (they are still in boxes in my attic).
Power steering. Choices are better now and my 2nd build has it.



Now if you want to talk about the choices I made that I'm happy about, I could go all day! Again, that's because I took a year to learn and spec out the build.

:)

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Was warned of this so will pass it along. Do not rivet in the rear cockpit wall till after you have done the trunk floor. Manual has the order as rear wall then trunk floor. Problem is its almost impossible to get a rivet gun in to do the front rivet set with the wall in place.

[myjones]

Since this is specifically about Build Choice mistakes I can say that since I did research and hung out on the forums for a year before ordering I only made 2 decisions that I regret:

Come on Dave spill the beans. What would you have done differently. I make plenty of mistakes of my own but when I learn from others mistakes it doesn't
hurt nearly as much. :p
DB

[David Hodgkins]

I hit the "Post Quick Reply" button instead of "Go Advanced" while writing that...

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=26351&d=1392764443

I edited the post above...

:)

[CraigS]

Re a 427: A real big block 427 is a large heavy engine but that isn't really a problem until you are trying to get the last 1% of cornering ability out of the car. A 351 Windsor based 427 mostly takes care of the weight and some of the size problems. Just because it is a 427 doesn't mean it needs to be a 500 hp monster. It could be a nice mild mannered 400hp if that is what you want. The Windsor 427 requires a special block so that increases cost. But a stock 351 block can go to 408 so this is another option.

[zenbone]

Re a 427: A real big block 427 is a large heavy engine but that isn't really a problem until you are trying to get the last 1% of cornering ability out of the car. A 351 Windsor based 427 mostly takes care of the weight and some of the size problems. Just because it is a 427 doesn't mean it needs to be a 500 hp monster. It could be a nice mild mannered 400hp if that is what you want. The Windsor 427 requires a special block so that increases cost. But a stock 351 block can go to 408 so this is another option.

that is exactly what i was thinking... get a nice 351 built in the 400hp range and that should be good to go. not looking to break any land speed records, just want a solid fast car that can melt some tire when it needs to.

[2bking]

I have a few boxes of parts collecting dust that was purchased and then changed my mind, i.e. a heater from summit; I decided to go with Whitby AC. I also bought a lot of wiring parts that were never used because I found better/different ways to collect grounds and route wires. I made a list of all the changes I wanted to make to the car and updated the list as I read the forums.

A lot of my headaches are not from mistakes but continuing deeper changes than anticipated such as power steering. It simple to install a cheap AZ rebuilt rack but then I find I need rack extenders to get enough thread engagement in the tie rod ends and have to dissemble the rack ends to install them. Then I plumbed the rack with the inlet and outlet backwards and blew out some internal seals. Rather than rebuild it, I opted to purchase another (the warranty had expired by the time I discovered the problem but I have an ethics problem with using warranty on damage I cause). Another headache was the Turn Key power steering pump and AC compressor mounting for the front of the Coyote engine. That turned out to have no engineering done and was the worst purchase I made; return was denied because I installed it. I used the parts and made new brackets to fix its short comings. Another one is the Breeze Roll Bars when you find there are no grommets that fit the 1.75" diameter tubes (I think Russ Thomson makes them now).

The list of what I'm happy with is all of it now.

[Gumball]

I thought building it would be more fun than driving, so I took five years... I was wrong - it's really a blast driving it. I still wouldn't have rushed, but it would have been nice to have finished a little sooner. I made the build a social thing and subject to my availability and slow research on period-correct mods. That added at least a couple years to the project.

[skullandbones]

I thought building it would be more fun than driving, so I took five years... I was wrong - it's really a blast driving it. I still wouldn't have rushed, but it would have been nice to have finished a little sooner. I made the build a social thing and subject to my availability and slow research on period-correct mods. That added at least a couple years to the project.

Driving it is more fun than building in my opinion. But you really don't know how true that is until you experience it. I never got the chance to actually ride in one: let alone drive one. I've driven tens of muscle cars over the years and others like another roadster with a 500 hp Chevy in it with a longer wheel base. There is really nothing like it that I can relate. The other thing is going the donor route at first. It is not the way to go that is the most efficient. Also, not driving it enough is a mistake that a lot of us make.

I hope you don't make the same mistakes.

WEK.

[CraigS]

An easy inexpensive way to get 400 or 443hp in a nice mild build. Get a 351 short block and do a standard rebuild on it using the stock crank and rods and get hypereutectic pistons in 9.5-1 compression ratio. Top it off w/ one of these from Edelbrock. Scroll down far enough to see the Ford kits.
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/mc/power-packages/top-end-kits.shtml
Just don't buy and Edel carb.

[Avalanche325]

My only regret is not doing a trunk drop mod while I was building. I found that a helmet will not fit in the trunk without it.

It won't be that big of a deal to retro-fit.

[bmcglone]

Get bigger brakes. I got the standard complete kit brakes. They are adequate, but should have gotten the upgraded Wilwoods.