#8793 MK4 Build ('15 IRS, '16 Coyote, 15" wheels)

[Duke]

The Goal: Build a proper drivers car that has great feedback, balance, brakes, and comfort. Keep it very classy with paying tribute to the originals. Make it well thought out so everything works very well together. Make it an enjoyable care that can be comfortable as a DD if need be and enable my wife or myself to be able to jump in it and go anywhere without worry. Also set it up so I can run it at track days with a simple wheel/tire swap.

High level build spec:


2015 IRS
2015/15 Coyote 5.0 (From Forte)
T-56 Mag (from Forte)
15" Wheels for street, 17" for track with slicks
Big brake kit for 15" wheels (Levy)
Soft Top
No stripe, no hood scoop, under car exhaust, and a bunch of other 'stuff'
3/1/16 - Edit, added P/S from Forte & Kirkey Vintage Buckets as I don't fit into the stock seats


FFR order list:


Full Kit, plus the following:
12189 – Powder coated chassis
15442 – J-pipes:5.0L Coyote
15440 – 4/6L/5.0L Coyote Mounts
14761 - Driveshaft 31 spline, any length
14260 – Upgrade: Leather Roadster Seats
12066 – Tubular Front Lower Control Arms
14769 – Independent Rear Suspension Kit, standard axle width w/Koni shocks
16004 - Factory Five Racing Vintage GPS Gauge Set
15330 – Upgrade: Polished Stainless Bumpers.
16039 - Upgrade: Padded Vinyl Dash with Glovebox
14816 - Heater-Defroster
12453 - Battery Cutoff Switch
15998 - 2015 IRS Real Sway bar
12049 – Wind Wings
12042 – Sun Visors
15549 – Vintage Wiper Kit
15101 – Upgrade Chrome Driver Side Roll-Bar
15158 - Roll Bar Grommets with Trim Rings & Hardware
15432 – Roadster Coyote Installation Kit
15659 - Side Louver set
16095 - IRS Takeout - '15 mustang w/3.55
15199 - FFR Soft Top
14932 - Stainless Steel Exhaust (not being used, free upgrade)
16116 - Front sway bar
FFR 15" wheels
FFR 17" wheels (track wheels for slicks)



Item's ordered with motor from Mike:

2015 Ford Mustang 5.0 Coyote Motor
Engine cover kit
Alternator kit
Engine ECU
Clutch kit
Starter
Clutch fork
Clutch bolts
Bellhousing
Transmission (Tremec Magnum 6 speed)
Aftermarket Motor oil pan
Fuel pressure Regulator
Fuel pump
Speedo recalibration tool
Air intake & filter
Radiator fill tank
Hydro clutch kit


On with the build.

[Duke]

Pickup from FFR first of year on a cold 10 deg. day and a little snow. Once in the trailer we strapped it down and promptly broke the back wheels off the dolly with the ratchet straps, lol. It took about 2hrs or so to jack the whole thing up in the trailer, cut out the dolly in half, fix it, and put the dolly back under the frame before rolling it out. At least it was a little warmer that day.

49977

[Duke]

I haven't had a lot of time to work on it yet with work, family vacations, and other things going on but I did get a little done in the first 3 weeks or so. Mostly chasing missing or back order parts. FFR has been fantastic to deal with through the process thus far.

Unloaded and in it's build bay 1.
https://s26.postimg.cc/4dilqxrm1/IMG_0072.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/s4hz91rt1/)

Quick mandatory body buck and transfer to the back. It's now wrapped up for the winter awaiting my exploits in body work and paint (I'm the painter, yes I have painted about a dozen hot rods and customs before).
https://s26.postimg.cc/fyxdce2h5/IMG_0118.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/3kalc2ayt/)

Quick front end modification that many of you will recognize:
https://s26.postimg.cc/9ze7mh72h/IMG_0139.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/6fs9wo4cl/)

Howe ball joints arrived and in, started to put the front suspension together and hmm, something looks a little 'off'. Yup, front UCA needed to be disassembled and flipped. No worries though.
https://s26.postimg.cc/s3h8744qx/IMG_0140.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/st00jh5ad/)

All together. Just waiting on Levy's front and rear brakes.
https://s26.postimg.cc/6dl9cb6yx/IMG_0002_1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/spj25p62t/)

Everything that is not related to final alignment is getting torque marked. The loctite in the paste is also a lot easier to deal with than the liquid form.
https://s26.postimg.cc/o8du4jll5/IMG_0143.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Onto the rear end. I'm still waiting on CV's, spindles, and brakes so I can't do a final mock up yet to see if the brakes/15" wheels/spindles will all clear each other. As soon as I know I'll post pictures and details. In theory I have about a 1/2" clearance on the inner 15" wheel edge and the first contact point on the spindles, but we'll see when they all finally come. I have both 17" and 15" wheels sitting in the basement so I'll mock both up with pictures in case anyone in interested in seeing fitment. Worst case scenario I have to take Mike up on his offer to borrow his machine shop for a day and mill some material off the spindle. Alternatively wheels spacers may be a consideration. We'll find out.

I did a quick POR15 treatment to the rear pumpkin. Yes, I know the rear case is aluminum but I'm wanting it all black from the back side so black it is.
https://s26.postimg.cc/b6s5eox6x/IMG_0144.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Fitting the pumpkin was a little challenging. As usual I had to use the dremel and a sanding bit to take off the powder coating inside the bracket holes before starting. This was something I had to do on the front as well. I did it as a one man job with a floor jack. The whole install took about 2hrs. It was easy to get it into place with the nose pointed up and balancing it. The alignment was definitely tight though. I was able to use a combination of punches to get the first three bolts and and lined up.
https://s26.postimg.cc/xjzw1hy4p/IMG_0145.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

The last whole was a little more challenging as it didn't line up and it was threaded. The last thing I wanted to do was cross thread and walk it into place.
https://s26.postimg.cc/72r6m718p/IMG_0148.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

With the weight on the bushings they were being compressed and pulling it a little out of shape. I didn't have any alignment pins or spare bolts handy to spin down on a grinder like Edward did (and it was about 10pm and the family was all asleep) so my quick solution was to pull the front bushing and spacer out, run the bolt through, then get about the first 4 or 5 threads started by hand before using the bolt to walk the bushing back into place. A little extra white lithium spray helped it slide right in.
https://s26.postimg.cc/4k5hlifih/IMG_0146.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

That's about the extent of the updates at this time. Traveling for the next week so no progress for a while, then it's over to Mike's to finally pick up the motor and trans he's been graciously holding onto in his shop for me.

[edwardb]

Exciting looking build. Now that's a grocery list of stuff! Will be interested to see the 15 inch wheels and brakes with the 2015 IRS. Lots of talk about it but haven't seen one come together yet. Two quick observations: I see you have "Speedo recalibration tool" on the list from Forte. The official word from Ford Racing is that module is not required for the 2015-2016 Coyote. I've talked to them myself, and they assured me the new PCM no longer needs it. Also, don't see power steering on your list. With everything you've listed, including your goals for the car, surprised not to see it. Personally, I would recommend you consider it.

[Duke]

One tool note that may help folks looking to adjust the koni coil overs for FFR's. After ordering the Jegs and trying another spanner wrench I had on hand I finally found this one that works perfectly. The Koni's have round holes (pins) rather than the square holds for the adjustment wrenches. This tool fits perfectly and gives you enough had room to work around the LCA.

Stanley Proto JC494 Proto Adjustable Pin Spanner Wrench
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CC5A0U?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

[Duke]

Exciting looking build. Now that's a grocery list of stuff! Will be interested to see the 15 inch wheels and brakes with the 2015 IRS. Lots of talk about it but haven't seen one come together yet. Two quick observations: I see you have "Speedo recalibration tool" on the list from Forte. The official word from Ford Racing is that module is not required for the 2015-2016 Coyote. I've talked to them myself, and they assured me the new PCM no longer needs it. Also, don't see power steering on your list. With everything you've listed, including your goals for the car, surprised not to see it. Personally, I would recommend you consider it.

Thanks, yes it should be interesting to see how the 15's fit. Thanks for the heads up on the Speedo tool. I'm not going PS on this build or power brakes. I'm really focused on getting the road feedback/input. I race Karts (and just about anything else I can get seat time in) so I'm all about getting the right driver feedback/experience. I can always throw it on later if it really is necessary.

Other challenges I know I'm going to run into. I would love to do the glove box and heater. Heater is priority, glove box is optional, but desired. I may end up getting creative and fabbing up my own heater box, or move it into the trunk. We'll see. Other items are seats. I'm 6'4" and my wife is 4'10". I'm going to have to make something work for both of us. Sliders are a must, but the stock leather seats I bought have me sit too high. I'll probably end up getting Kirkey Vintage Roadster seat, get them custom foamed and covered locally and integrate heaters into them. I want the look of the stock seats, but I need to sit down lower. Other 'stuff' includes LED head lights, front brake ducts, and some other items. I have a build sheet I made and manage before I started the project. I do this with all the cars I build to help manage what I'm doing and overall budget.

[edwardb]

I'm not going PS on this build or power brakes. I'm really focused on getting the road feedback/input. I race Karts (and just about anything else I can get seat time in) so I'm all about getting the right driver feedback/experience. I can always throw it on later if it really is necessary.

Agree about the brakes. No power for the Wilwoods. Sounds like that's what you're using from Gordon. But for the PS, you've obviously given this build a lot of thought, and I applaud you for that. I hesitate to say more, but you have such a nice build going, feel that a response is warranted. I won't turn your build thread into a debate about PS (heaven knows that's been done to death) but these statements for your consideration: PS and proper steering feedback are not mutually exclusive. With the right setup you can dial it in just the way you want it. Couple ways that can be done. It's not just about steering effort. It's also about front end alignment and the increased castor that can be dialed in with PS. Improves centering and straight ahead stability. Yes it can be added later. But it's easier now, cheaper (only buy stuff once), and that Coyote engine compartment is tight. (I know...) Best to fit it in during the build IMO. You will find that most guys that track their cars are also running PS. Finally, having had one with manual and one with PS, the difference in overall driving experience and enjoyment with PS is much more than I would have expected. That's it. Enjoy the build. And keep us posted with your progress. Build threads are some of the best stuff on here IMO.

[Duke]

Had a free hour this afternoon while the girls slept (mandatory naps today as we are leaving for Disney 6am tomorrow). Put the upper and lower IRS arms in. They fought me the whole way unfortunately. Got them in, torqued down and paint marked then I looked over the rear IRS swaybar instructions and it turns out there is a bracket that needs to go on first for two of the bolts I put it. It would have been nice if FFR would have put some indication or something in the IRS instructions saying 'if you are using a rear sway bar see instructions for bracket assembly first'. Oh well.

The fitment of the brackets on the rear frame were a little tight across the board. I had to open a few of them up a little more than I expected. They went in fine though. The last bolt ran into a little bit of an issue with the fitment. Apparently either the jig was out of alignment or the hole was a little off. About a 1/8" of an inch causing the bolt to not fit on the threads. A little grinder action on the bolt shoulder solved it. Unfortunately it has to come back out again for the swaybar bracket. Still managed/felt like forward progress in an hour or so in the garage.

The issue:
https://s26.postimg.cc/6b1dph3bd/IMG_0001.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Other side for reference:
https://s26.postimg.cc/4czrolh55/IMG_0003.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

After a little grinder action on the bolt shoulder:
https://s26.postimg.cc/qiogsmwi1/IMG_0006.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Duke]

Great news, while I was picking up my new Coyote motor and 6-speed from Mike's shop today he happened to have a set of 2015 IRS spindles handy. I brought one of my 15" wheels and it looks like we are in business. Clearance doesn't appear to be an issue. These pics are without the Willwood discs because the spindles still had the larger studs in them. The disc hat will add another 1/4 or so of clearance. Now I'm just waiting my backordered spindles from FFR.

https://s26.postimg.cc/fqh92olc9/FFR_2015IRS_15wheel_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

https://s26.postimg.cc/n90ebbcp5/FFR_2015IRS_15wheel_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

New bullet and 6-speed with all the extras courtesy of Forte's Parts Connection. Thanks Mike!

https://s26.postimg.cc/4d0orcf0p/motor_pickup.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[johngeorge]

Cool build! which rear wilwoods are you using? 12.88" rotor?

[Duke]

Cool build! which rear wilwoods are you using? 12.88" rotor?

Levy's kit for 15" wheels (Wilwood 4 piston front and rear). 12.19"
For Rears: Hat: 170-3265, Rotors: 160-5844, Calipers: 120-6806

[David Hodgkins]

I have Gordon's Wilwood kit under my 15" Trigos. I love them! I'm currently going over my build to get it ready to sell because I want to build a MKIV, almost exactly as you have your configured! Glad to see you can run 15" wheels with the new IRS! I wonder if there is any impact to going pin drive as well? It looks like it would actually have MORE clearance...

Great start to the build!

:)

[Duke]

Just a little more progress completed. I have a second set of 17" wheels for slicks that I plan on using a few times a year for local track days. One of the goals is to not overcook the brakes. I picked up a set of kenny bell brake ducts to see if they would fit. Hindsight being 20/20 I probably should have just built my own but on well. The brake ducts are designed for larger 13 or 14" rotors and in theory should be mounted within the brake hats. I ended up cutting them up, making a bracket, and mounting them as close as I could. They are designed to be mounted off the stock spindles and dust covers pick up points. not having either required a little bracket work.

https://s26.postimg.cc/44tr94cnd/IMG_0024.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Once I had them all mocked up I realized I had a small interference issue with the tie rod so I re-clocked them by about 10 degrees to get a little more clearance.

https://s26.postimg.cc/8a4nv1afd/IMG_0021.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Overall it will work just fine, even though it's not the cleanest fabrication. I'll end up running a safety wire through the air duct area and tie it around the tie rod as that part of the duct circle is not fully supported. That should keep any air pressure flex from causing any damage over time.

https://s26.postimg.cc/qtnjmfjex/IMG_0029.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/5u7fuxhqh/IMG_0028.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Next up was the foot box. Typical clutch pedal interference point required a little frame support cutting. A run to the metal shop and pulling out the welder took quick work of fixing it.

https://s26.postimg.cc/fqd48bcw9/IMG_0034.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/4tbsjjq4p/IMG_0036.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

The wilwood pedal box was a little bit of a PITA simply because I didn't see the bag of nuts in the box. A run to the parts store for spare bolts and parts, a mock up, then realizing I had all the right bolts caused an extra few hours of work. Oh well. Finally got it all setup and in. I'm running Forte's hydraulic clutch kit. The wilwood rod end was about 3 threads too long for getting the petals to line up correctly so it needed to be shorted.

https://s26.postimg.cc/gb1slv1u1/IMG_0054.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/f780z1lhl/IMG_0038.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/fldycduyx/IMG_0053.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Another evening in the garage and I was able to get the front sway bar and rack installed. The new bracket on the '15 frame for the sway bar is a nice touch. It makes it a lot faster to install and allowing for half a dozen pages to be skipped over. Went with the FFR supplied flying Miata bars for front and rear. The hard tie rods were easy to cut with my fuel sawzall. Metal blade, going slowly with the speed, while having it in the vise made short work of them. Everything else was basic for the install.

https://s26.postimg.cc/e67s9x4i1/IMG_0039.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/7h5u7n8jt/IMG_0041.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/ak1yx9y4p/IMG_0040.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Rack and steering bars were next. It went mostly smooth. Once I had the rack in I centered it. Great write up on how to do this by Karlos:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?19175-Steering-Rack-Install-Setup-Procedure

https://s26.postimg.cc/uc8qaaz2h/IMG_0047.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/42nnrid55/IMG_0048.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Getting the steering adapter off was a little challenging. My solution was to chuck it up in the vice and use an old chisel and dead blow hammer. Once I had it opened by about a 1/8" or so I then used some center punches to slowly drive it off.

https://s26.postimg.cc/jx2k1e1vt/IMG_0043.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

With the new adapter, rack centered and the steering bars in hand I ended up being lucky on my wheel alignment. I was able to get the wheel centered and had a large set screw indentation in the rack for the set screw. No need to make a new set screw point to get the wheel clocked correctly.

[Duke]

Forgot to mention. My new hill climb wheels and tires for the roadster came in too. Should be a good look for it right?
https://s26.postimg.cc/b1szirf9l/IMG_0174.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[mikeinatlanta]

I'm curious about the heims on the IRS upper spindle mount. Any way to post more pics of it?

[Duke]

I'm curious about the heims on the IRS upper spindle mount. Any way to post more pics of it?

I assume you are looking for rear. Here's a quick shot after I backed out the threads so you can see a little better. The joint has a jam nut, followed by a threaded adapter, followed by a second jam nut.
https://s26.postimg.cc/4w9wuzevd/IMG_0072_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Only small updates recently as I've been a little busy with work and family recently. I was able to put in the rear sway bar for the IRS and spend some time doing mock up. I put both foot boxes together temporarily and pulled out one of the seats to start mocking driver and passenger fitment. One of the big challenges is getting it set so I'm comfortable not only in street driving but also at the limit on the track. When I did my pickup at FFR I was able to sit in a three different finished roadsters, one being the standard upgraded leather seats and one was the 289 USRRC. I'm 6'4" 200lbs and size 12 shoe. With the stock upgraded leather seats I was sitting too far forward and too high, and I couldn't really get my feat correctly setup in the foot box. With the USRRC seats I was in a much better position but overall my feat were not where they needed to be in the foot box area. Unfortunately I had already ordered the standard upgraded leather seats thinking it wasn't going to be an issue. My wife on the other had who isn't quite 5' tall thought the standard leather seats and position was absolutely perfect and it fit her like a glove. She has since requested I turn the seats into garage bar stools instead of returning them. We'll see.

With the '15 coyote motor space is at a premium and I have the stock FFR foot box setup for the wide motor. Here's the 'stock' foot box for reference.

https://s26.postimg.org/e9ahz3imh/IMG_0089.jpg (https://postimage.org)
https://s26.postimg.org/gf4stlm2x/IMG_0091.jpg (https://postimage.org)

As you can see with the seat all the way back I'm not in the best position and with the smallest shoes I own (outside of my nomex shoes) I clearly was sitting way to high, too far forward, and didn't have enough gas pedal travel with the side panel design.

https://s26.postimg.cc/epvplj6dl/IMG_0092.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/ks3cc0utl/IMG_0093.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

So that evening I put in an order for Kirkey 17" vintage bucket seats, sliders, and a few other items. Once I have the mounts setup I'll be dropping them off at a local hot rod upholstery shop to get foamed and custom covered to look similar to the standard seats. I believe this has been done once or twice before. With the foot boxes in need of modification and having completed some measurements on the motor I set off on a design challenge. There were a few different ways people have updated this (king's design being the most popular). I did a mock up for about 5 different options before making the final decision (King's design). I picked up 3 sheets of 4'x4' 6061 T6 .04 from a local metal shop earlier this week along with a few small tools including a harbor freight 30" brake. I'm still waiting on one more tool (Jilson Supersnip Shears) before starting into the sheet metal. Hopefully it will be here next week.

https://s26.postimg.cc/6o7h3mnm1/IMG_0096.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/bs3c5ko3t/IMG_0097_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/jamhe7fgp/IMG_0098.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Passenger side foot box. There was surprisingly enough room even with the small stock seats so I didn't feel I really needed to do a lot of redesign. I did however feel that with a passenger in the car while driving on the limit it would be very nice if they had a better angle to rest their feet and possibly something much more solid than the .04 aluminum. There's really not much for them to hold onto and I'm a little worried about them possibly damaging the foot box while trying to brace themselves. Enter a quick design for a passenger side co-driver pedal / passenger foot rest. I'm not sure if I want it in there permanently so I set it up to be able to take it in and out at a moments notice. The bolts are welded on and it's just two lock nuts to secure it into place.

https://s26.postimg.cc/qge8gnojt/IMG_0103.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/f6lilpjih/IMG_0104.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/ayqqcyi2x/IMG_0106.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/vzldbmayx/IMG_0108.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[edwardb]

You're doing some interesting things there. Two hints. I know you're just mocking things up and looking for the best solutions. I do the same thing. A lot. But don't establish final seat location without the body in place. The final location and angle will be influenced by the body opening. Same thing for the footbox sheet metal. Ideally, your Coyote and whatever header setup you're going to use can be set in place so you can check things out. I too used the 2bking modded panels for my build, and they work out well. I'm surprised to see you're replacing the very newest FF design. I was under the impression it provided similar space.

[Duke]

Thanks. Yes, everything including panels and seat will be temp until the last possible point. The latest design on the foot box will work with something around size 9 or smaller shoes in my opinion. You can see that I'm running out of room at the top part of my shoe against the inner panel. With the change using 2bking's design it should give me more depress area for the pedal before I run out of room and in theory be okay with the stock FFR BBK coyote headers. The headers are on back order so it will probably be a few months before I can do a mock up with them and check panel fitment.

Also, I stole your e-brake pulley idea. I put the lines under the 4" cross tube and thought this is a little dumb and will ultimately lead to a failure due to line friction; then I remembered you had done something with pulleys. $20 in parts later it's solved. Thanks.

[Snakenut]

I love the passenger side footrest. Great idea.. Keep up the great build!

[JL1958]

Great build with many of the options I would choose on my next one.
Being a woman and driving a roadster w/o PS, you may want to think about it if your wife will ever drive it.
I love it on the open road, but manuvering around town and parking is more of a struggle than I like.
Nice build and thanks for the detailed pics.

[Duke]

So, after a lot of suggestions and discussing it with my wife today I think I'm just going to upgrade to PS. Might as well right?

[Duke]

Put in the order with Mike to upgrade to power steering. Last Friday the spindles and a few other back order items arrived from FFR. Here's the first mock up with the 2015 IRS spindles, using 15" wheels, and Levy brakes.

First the sawsall cutting of the spindle tabs:
https://s26.postimg.cc/axldxa5mx/IMG_0117.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/uypq08jd5/IMG_0119.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Next after I replaced the studs with smaller 1/2" ones provided by FFR I did a quick mock up with the 12.19" rotors Levy provided and the wilwood caliper. As you can see from the pictures there is plenty of work to be done to get everything to work but I think it's possible. The caliper at first glance only appears to really have two spots that you can mount a bracket to on the spindle. The first being the stock location and the second being the hub assembly bolts. When the rotor is placed near to where it should go you can see that the spindle is nearly at the same plane as the bracket mounts. With the design of the spindle there is only one other spot in that it could possibly go (on the other side, clocked 180 deg. off), but at first glance I don't see any way to mount a bracket for support. My first thoughts here are really two options for creating and mounting a bracket. The first being to use a different hat/rotor with a different offset so you have room to use the stock mounting location for a bracket. The second is to machine off the stock mounting brackets and create a bracket that mounts against the two hub studs (requiring longer hub bolts). Of the two options there should be one that will work. I packaged the whole side up and shipped it off to Gordon this morning so he can take a stab and coming up with a bracket design and integrate it into a new kit for everyone. I'm thinking with his experience with different hats/rotors that there may be an easy solution to use a new hat and the stock bracket location. Additionally a parking brake will need to be incorporated. Needless to say I'm interested in seeing what he can come up with.

https://s26.postimg.cc/rb0bjbfgp/IMG_0010_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/8iaoaiex5/IMG_0002_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/4nl2d5zwp/IMG_0008.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/6mshd3fgp/IMG_0006_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/6ga6w9gy1/IMG_0003_-_Notes.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

I was able to moved the pile forward last week. Mostly spent time doing fabrication work. I received some of my back ordered parts from FFR, including the fuel tank, the entire fuel tank packing list items, CV joints, windshield, and an extra reservoir I ordered for the clutch. I also picked up my power steering unit from Mike Forte. Very clean setup making it easy to access the lines. I'll post pictures and a write up once I into the motor.

First it was a quick install of the power steering rack. Very basic, just angle the driver side down first and having the passenger side as high as you can get it. Just watch your fingers on the passenger side as it can fall past the mount holes and nearly brake your finger. Mine is still black and blue.

https://s26.postimg.cc/mqwincpah/IMG_0024_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Next up was the fuel tank and trunk mods. I didn't feel like paying $150 for an FFR Metal kit so I just made up my own. Very simple to do. I had to wait for the tank and mounting hardware so I could get a measurement and figure out how deep I could go. 5 1/2" to the tank, so I went down 5" deep. Originally I was going to cut out the triangulation braces and expand the entire area by re-welding in new bracing but after looking at it with an engineer we decided it was best left alone. The design really is there for rear impact and energy transfer. There is a lot more going on then simple structure bracing, some areas are designed to fail while keeping other structure areas complete. Bottom line, safer to just let it be.

https://s26.postimg.cc/wtbaq347d/IMG_0028_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

The driver foot box metal didn't take as long as I thought it would. I transferred my cardboard driver side foot box templates to 6061-T6 .04 aluminum sheet that I had bought. A little bending and cleaning up the edges resulted in a nice overall fitment. It's going to stay temporary until I get the motor in and see what my final spacing looks like. I'm very pleased with the additional gas pedal space that it provides.

https://s26.postimg.cc/4qe4rhibt/IMG_0018.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/927bu8emh/IMG_0022.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/ktqlrajux/IMG_0019.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

With some of the extra material laying around I made a quick bracket for the three fluid reservoirs. I'm running two for the master cylinders and one for the hydraulic clutch. I'm using the FFR provided units rather than the more conmanly used CNC reservoirs. I'm going to mount them using the bracket under the 3/4" tube in front of the driver side foot box, using larger rivets. Clean and simple. The bracket is 18g mild steel, with POR15 to help prevent paint damage if any brake fluid gets on it.

A driver side dead pedal was a must for me. One of the common instructions you receive at driving schools is to not rest your foot on the clutch or brake pedal when not in use. Drivers end up pushing the pedals in slightly causing unnecessary braking or clutch wear without realizing it. It took a little work to get it exactly angled where I wanted it but overall it should work perfectly. It will get the same grip tape treatment the passenger side received.

https://s26.postimg.cc/hcxqfszk9/IMG_0030.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/yawr1n8y1/IMG_0029_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

I got an email from Mike that my back ordered coyote ECU and wiring stuff is in, along with my fuel regulator. Next up should be a mock up fitment of the motor/trans, and wiring runs.

[carlewms]

Love the sheet metal work ...

Quick question: Did you expand out the DS outer foot box wall any to accommodate the dead pedal? I have on mine but I am not sure based on other posts that I will really have the room between the panel and the body.

Carl

[Duke]

No changes to the outside DS footwell. Totally stock. There is plenty of foot room and room for a dead pedal with the newer design.

[Duke]

Just a few updates this week. I received the correct third reservoir from FFR after sending back an incorrect one so I was able to build a quick bracket for the three of them. Two for the brakes, one for the hydraulic clutch. I had to do some digging to figure out the correct 90 deg elbow fittings but we're all set now. It's assembled and awaiting install. Levy confirmed he received my rear spindles and complete passenger side assembly so work is underway on the rear brake and bracket design for the 15" wheels. I pulled out the dash (covered dash with glove box option) and found a cut in it, so it was shipped back to FFR for a replacement. Front glass, CV joints, and some other back ordered and missing parts arrived from FFR as well. I believe I'm down to under 10 items now on back order.

With most of the sheet metal done I now needed to do a motor/trans mock up. There's a few things I need to check, including my sheet metal work. Spacing on the T-56 mag, driveshaft length, and trans bracket mounting/modifications are just some of the items I'm probably going to have to check. Mike was kind enough to install everything on the coyote and T-56 mag before I picked it up so that saved me some time. Pulling it apart went quickly, but figuring out how to mount it on the engine stand took some time and a few trips to the part store for bolts and spacers. It all worked out though.

https://s26.postimg.cc/fdqbfvk09/IMG_0047_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Moroso oil pan and energy suspension motor mounts went on without any drama. Just note it comes full of 8 qt. of oil. I'm planning on using it as break in oil so I saved it and added it back once the new pan was on. The new oil cooler needs to come off and a new oil adapter insert (pt # AL3Z-6890-A) is needed. Unfortunately like just about everything else, it's back ordered. Ford won't have them until mid April and there's not any aftermarket suppliers. I'm learning that times have definitely changed in the last 10 years since my other car builds with JIT manufacturing. Parts are mainly built just for the assembly line and not inventory. The only typical inventory stored now days are consumables. Even a lot of the after market are build to order. Margins really must be compressing. Anyways, pan off shot:

https://s26.postimg.cc/odux02g3t/IMG_0050.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

2015 Coyote Power Steering pump from Forte Parts Connection. I have to say, this setup is the best I've seen so far. Mike really nailed it with his kit. It's not on his website but he has them in stock. A few things that I really like about it is that you use all the stock locations on the block, the bracket is dead on perfect, he provides all the hardware needed, and explains over the phone exactly what you need to do to install it (swap the ribbed pulley off the tension arm and use the smooth one, see photos). The other nice part is that you have very easy access to the pump fittings, which has been a challenge from what I understand on some other kits. I'm into this just under $1,100 so far (including rack, reservoir, pump, pulleys, everything minus two hoses). Once I have the length and routing figured out Mike's going to get me what I need. One hint when putting this together. Don't try and bolt down the backwards idler arm under tension. Slide the belt off the pump pulley first, tighten the idler arm, then you can pull the idler arm back by hand (or lever) and slide the belt into place.

https://s26.postimg.cc/i1ktncjd5/IMG_0060.jpg (https://postimage.cc)]
https://s26.postimg.cc/62dwts361/IMG_0063.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Coyote gas pedal. There's been a lot of discussion about this and many people opt for purchasing the ford van pedal. I was not really in the mood to spend another hundred on something I would have to modify anyways (and I'm already into this build $54,279.90 at present). I followed the FFR instructions to the letter and I'm okay with the mounting. Here's how it came out after first pass. There are some issues (more on that below) and how I solved it.

https://s26.postimg.cc/caplci51l/IMG_0052.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/rlzed42dl/IMG_0053_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

The huge mustang pedal that comes with the wiring harness kit has 3" of travel from end of pedal to fully depressed. Once it's cut and the FFR pedal is grafted onto it the length decreases to 2 1/8". Acceptable, but a little sensitive. From the center mount of the pedal it's about 1 5/8" total travel. Now, FFR says there is about 2 1/4" of brake pedal travel before you are really on the brakes hard. That feels about right when I move the pedal and measure it. From this point I want to be able to correctly heal-toe for track driving so getting the gas pedal in the correct position is very important. In terms of overall depth related to the brake and clutch pedal I think I nailed it. Right at about 2 3/8". The problem comes with the FFR pedal. As you can see from the pictures below it's at a 45 degree angle from where your foot would naturally be. The spring pivot arm on the pedal doesn't help it either since you don't really have the feel of if you are pushing in the pedal or just rotating the pedal on the spring arm. Not a good setup. In the pictures below you can see how it is by the book, where it needs to be (with my hand holding it), and how FFR solves the problem. The FFR image is actually out of the instruction manual and you can see they removed it from the upper holes, cut it down further, and then remounted it with two smaller holes close together and a steeper angle. I'm not a big fan of this approach as it changes the distance (reduces it) between the brake pedal depressed and the gas pedal, it also is less support for the grafted pedal. If I were to go this route I would have rather made a sister bracket to give it more support.

https://s26.postimg.cc/qawp1rd3d/IMG_0055.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/uy2r3j0g9/IMG_0057.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
FFR's manual image:
https://s26.postimg.cc/kc8rxahhl/3-17-2016_8-53-01_PM.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

After taking apart the pedal and thinking about it for a little while I came up with a simpler solution. I cut down a thick spacer washer, ground it down to the thickness I wanted, and then ground down the paint to get to the raw aluminum for a good bond. With a little JB weld we now have a stop affixed to stop the pedal from traveling with the spring retainer. It now stays in the exact position where I was holding it above with my hand. My mock up put the pedal right in the sweet spot for heal-toe. Now, I'm sure with my luck I'll probably have to 'refine' it once I get it on the track (i.e. pull it all out and redesign it) but for now it should work perfectly.

https://s26.postimg.cc/g3e5pcqvd/IMG_0059.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Dropped the motor and trans in over this past weekend for a mock up. Learned a few things along the way. For the 2015 Coyote with a T56 Mag hanging off it I needed to take off the alternator and the shifter. It took some time but it all fit in. A few learning points that may be helpful for others.

The motor mounts on the passenger side were a little challenging. I initially couldn't get them lined up but ended up getting it in by walking the passenger side in first with the motor mount nut. FFR confirmed only use a spacer on the driver side and to not use one on the passenger side. Here's my other post about this for reference:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?20443-2015-Coyote-Engine-Mount-alignment-issue

There is way more space between the firewall and the motor than I thought there would be. All my panel work turned out okay. I'm just awaiting back ordered FFR headers to double check the driver side foot box. My passenger side lift mount will need to be extended as the chain I'm using hits the top passenger side foot box during the last 2 inches of travel.

https://s26.postimg.cc/l3tzg9q15/IMG_0112.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Only one very small interference point on the T56 mag. The passenger side e-brake bracket. I emailed Tremec support to see if this nub was important or if it housed anything but didn't hear back from them so I instead removed some material from the bracket using a dremal and a carbon bit.

https://s26.postimg.cc/8wzfq6yvd/IMG_0114.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

The trans mount should work just fine. I'm going to have to take about 2 1/8" out of the front of the webbing to clear the transmission and will weld in a new cross bracket. With the adjustments in the FFR trans bracket the bolt holes look very close at first pass. The slots may need a little opening up for final mounting but it should be fine. I did some quick angle checks on the rear end and the IRS pumpkin to see if everything was on the right angle for the pinion and it is looking all good at this point. Dead on or off by half a deg. or so at most which can be adjusted on the final mount.

The drive shaft will be comically short. Quite possibly the shortest one yet on an FFR from what I can tell via searching the forums. Housing to housing I'm at 8 3/4". IRS mounting point to T56 input spline I'm at 8 1/4". From what I can tell I should have about 1/2" of 'tube' between the two u-joints once it's shortened. I don't believe this will be an issue though as it is physically possible to create a shaft this short and the IRS pumpkin doesn't move in the suspension travel. The bushings are the only flex that could possibly impact the angle. Another challenge to be aware of, once it's this short I'm not sure if it's possible to get it in. My first attempt with the motor and trans in was a no-go. I'm going to plan on putting the transmission side in place as I'm sliding the motor and trans in for final placement. If I brake a u-joint it's going to be hell replacing it (probably body off, motor & trans out or at least partially out).

https://s26.postimg.cc/av1iag1zd/IMG_0113.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[edwardb]

Interesting update. That T56 is pretty huge. You're right, I think the driveshaft could be challenging. When you calculated the length, did you allow for the approx 3/4 to 1 inch the slip joint will be exposed when it's installed? That's the distance needed to get the driveshaft to swing into the diff mount. Might be even a little more with the driveshaft so short and the resulting sharp angle when installing. There's a similar boss on the side of the TKO right near the e-brake, and I believe others have trimmed it without issue. Looks like the stock location for your e-brake is going to be really tight. Are you planning to install it there, or doing something different? Still trying to understand FF's recommendation and practice of only one engine mount spacer. Mine is level with a spacer on both sides, as I said in your other thread.

[Dave Howard]

Great build going Duke.
I too only had to use a single spacer on the DS mount. Engine level????? who cares. No one will know if its off by 1.236 degrees.

You said you are waiting for back ordered FFR headers. Consider the extra few hundred and get the Stainless Headers for the Coyote. You'll absolutely love these things and engine will breath considerably better.

[Duke]

Thanks, but I'm going under car exhaust. No need to spend 1200 on headers just to cut them up :)

[Duke]

Interesting update. That T56 is pretty huge. You're right, I think the driveshaft could be challenging. When you calculated the length, did you allow for the approx 3/4 to 1 inch the slip joint will be exposed when it's installed? That's the distance needed to get the driveshaft to swing into the diff mount. Might be even a little more with the driveshaft so short and the resulting sharp angle when installing. There's a similar boss on the side of the TKO right near the e-brake, and I believe others have trimmed it without issue. Looks like the stock location for your e-brake is going to be really tight. Are you planning to install it there, or doing something different? Still trying to understand FF's recommendation and practice of only one engine mount spacer. Mine is level with a spacer on both sides, as I said in your other thread.

Yea, that's my current challenge. I'm going to talk with a few local drive line places and get some opinions. It's 8 3/4" from trans housing to IRS pumpkin mounting surface and 8 1/4" from trans input shaft to IRS mounting surface. As it stands the body of the drive shaft would be about 1/2" of 'tube' before the weld points on the joints. Assuming it's just two joints welded together that wouldn't give me enough room to slide it in/out which would mean I would have to install it with the motor/trans as one unit. That's the worst case at the moment. I'm hoping there are some shallow joints available on the market that would give me a little more space. I'm sure there is a solution out there.

E-brake is not a big deal. I can modify and redesign as needed on that. Last email from Levy was that he is possibly looking at a hydraulic parking brake setup anyways. If we end up going that direction then all bets are off and I'll be making something anyways. 15's on the new IRS is just one of another set of problems that will be solved during this build.

Oddly enough, I did a few measurements and level markers on the motor with only one space and it all appears to be level. Maybe it's not enough either way to be measurable. Who knows. At this point I'm just going to go with it assuming they have and enough CAD design sessions to get it right and with or without a spacer is fine.

[Duke]

Quick update, I found a kick @ss drive line shop locally that will have my new drive shaft made up by tomorrow. They are literally machining down the two joints and welding them together, then balancing it. That includes 3/4" split joint spacing, however I'm not sure if that's enough to get it in without lifting the motor & trans. I'll do a full post when I have it back.

[David Hodgkins]

GREAT build so far, and very educational. Not much to add; just keep on truckin'...

:)

[Duke]

Small updates. Lots going on so I don't have more than an hour every few days to poke around in the garage. Driveshaft completes the T56 Mag question. Link here for more details and pictures:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?20496-Introducing-the-worlds-shortest-driveshaft!

The transmission mount requires modification. It's a very simple 10 minute job though. Here's a picture for reference on what needs to be cut and where.
https://s26.postimg.org/4ex4y3itl/IMG_0122.jpg (https://postimage.org)

All of my other mock ups worked out just fine. I'm just about ready to pull the motor back out. A few things to note, the FFR BBK headers for the 2015 coyote fit without issue with my new firewall and driver foot box modifications. The header studs need to come out for them to fit. I didn't realize that before I dropped the motor in place and it was a little tight pulling them out. Here's quick picture for reference if anyone needs to see clearance. This is from the drive seat area into the engine bay with the small patch panel removed.
https://s26.postimg.org/6krfslma1/IMG_0120.jpg (https://postimage.org)

Other times of note that I completed, but don't have pictures on. ECU bracket is built on the same passenger side area that everyone typically places it. It's the only place it really will fit. I mounted the motor fuse box against the firewall behind the motor, drilled the 2" hole for the wire pass through, mocked up the wiper motor and drilled holes for mounts, and make a firewall bracket for behind the dash to support the center of the firewall. All simple and common items.

I figured out my mounting points for the power steering reservoir and the valve cover breather catch can. The P/S reservoir is a small moroso unit that Forte supplied. I'm mounting it low on the front passenger side of the motor on a 3/4" tube next to the F-panel. I also have a cooler on order, Breeze fan shroud, and Breeze quick disconnect steering wheel hub. After measure the lines for all the P/S I emailed them to Forte so he could get the lines made up for me. For the valve cover breathers, I sent back the JLT catch can since I realized it really was a waste for my use. I'm not going to have to deal with any emissions (doing an EPA transfer exception) and I realized both valve cover breathers feed into the intake. One before the TB, one after. A catch can on one side is only going to help out 50%. Instead I'm just going to route both breathers into a moroso vent can. The one I ordered was a little bigger then I anticipated but finding room for it wasn't a problem.

http://www.amazon.com/Moroso-85473-Crankcase-Breather-Tank/dp/B004U3XR7Q?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

I ended up mounting it on the lower passenger side of the F-panel. This allowed for easy access for to the drain plug, kept it low and out of sight, and two nutserts allowed me to easily remove it. I did make a small bracket between the lower F-panel and the 4" frame tube to help reduce any vibrations as the lower F-panel doesn't have a lot of support.

One of the items I wanted to figure out early on was the duel clutch switch for the new 2015 Coyote motors. There are two large plunger style switches (CBT & CTT). One is normally open and one is normally closed. The both read that the clutch is depressed (circuit is closed when clutch is depressed) but from different sides. Spacing and mounting for these is possible but would be a PITA given space and all the custom brackets that would be needed. My solution was $12 and a whole lot easier. I used two brake light switches and mounted them one on top of the other in the same manor that FFR used for the brake light switch. I did call Ford racing tech to confirm that there was not ECU requirements or timing checks to see if one switch was open and one was closed. They checked and informed me that both were simple on/off triggers to the ECU. Here's my solution:

https://s26.postimg.cc/mcr1tdwqx/IMG_0132.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Duke]

So far on this project I have more time into the seats then any other single part of the build. Coming into the build I knew this was going to be a little bit of a challenge due to my goals:


Enable someone who is 6'4" and 4'10" to comfortably drive the car
Be able to be in a comfortable seating position for track events
Retain a stock or factory look to the seats

When I picked up my kit at the factory one of things I didn't realize was just how small the stock upgraded leather seats were. I sat far to high (I actually looked over the top of the windshield), too far forward, and I couldn't hardly get my feet under the dash. The solution for me was a set of Kirkey vintage bucket seats, speedway sliders, and a whole lot of design and mock up time. The seats will get the side wings trimmed down (I have new aluminum bead edging inbound from Kirkey) and I'll get he seats foamed and custom upholstered at a local hot rod interior shop. I ended up doing several designs and mock ups before I finally ended up with this approach.

I needed to keep the seat as low as possible while allowing for clearance for the sliders, taking into consideration the carpet and dynomat. I also needed to put the sliders themselves on a rack/angle so that when it was all the way forward my wife was sitting a little higher than I was. Here's the design I ended up using:

https://s26.postimg.org/5zb74lp1l/IMG_0029_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

For the sliders, I cut off the studs and drilled through them to allow for use of grade 8, 5/16 bolts. You can see my first attempts where I just drilled new holes in the base of the sliders. This limited the range of the seats though. The tube frame is 3/4" square. Attaching it to the slider are stainless square shoulder lag bolts. The smooth button head gives enough clearance for the internal sliders. I did have to square up the hole in the 3/4" tube on the under side so the shoulders would fit through so it could sit flush. The seats are mounted on 6 points. Probably overkill but I wanted some support on the front. Again, all 5/16 grade 8 hardware. The seat bottoms will get an insert that will be removable just like the stock seats. It doesn't show it in the pictures, but the final mounting will have a few spacers under the front to provide a little recline/rake to the seat. Where I had to drill into the 4" tube, I drilled all the way through it and used a 5" grade 8 bolt.

You can see in the following pictures that I ended up with 7" of total travel on the seat. For ease of entry I also have a breeze quick release hub so the wheel can come on/off. My wife fully forward fits and with a small clutch pedal adjustment (moved it forward about 1 1/2") she should be able to drive it without issue. Overall I would say it's a win for now.

All the motor mock up is done and the motor is out so I can continue on with more final install, panel paint and coatings. I've been on a bit of a shopping spree with other upgrades recently too. Breeze fan shroud & radiator support, Breeze quick release steering hub, 3" plastic blast gate & becool inline blowers, dynomat Xtreme, Finshline emblems and floor mats, trunk support kit (replicaparts), and extra carpet for the trunk.

https://s26.postimg.cc/ngjwdgf7t/IMG_0032.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/dn2p0nd3d/IMG_0034_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/9be3bn66h/IMG_0031_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/mkney05jd/IMG_0037.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Very small updates. I'm just finishing up a few small items in getting prepped for panel painting and undercoating. Very little time this month with family, spring house projects, etc. Here's some quick pics. I finished cutting up the seats and dropped them off at a local hot rod upholstery shop. I don't have access to a tig setup with helium for aluminum welding and this didn't justify going out an buying it so I just used JB Weld to attach the new pinch moldings. Kirkey doesn't have it listed on their site but they will ship it to you for $5 a foot, minimum 5 ft order if you call them directly.

I came across a few other 'upgrades' I didn't know about/hadn't yet purchased so I figured I might as well get those too. First was the ReplicaParts trunk support kit. For $75 it's a good deal. I would have nearly that much into it and probably 2hrs of sourcing parts if I did it myself. Simple, clean install allowing the trunk to stay open on it's own without having to deal with a prop rod rolling around in the trunk. I was a little skeptical at first after hand pushing the valves in but it works out perfectly with the hinge leverage.

Next up was 'fresh air' or air movement in the foot boxes. Lots of people recommend this so I figured why not. I'm already using the front cut outs for brake ducting so packaging will be interesting. I'll probably end up just pulling from under the car in front of the foot boxes since that's a low pressure/faster air moving area. Exhaust temps shouldn't impact the air temp too much if I angle it right. I didn't want to do the whole 'kit' route as it seamed way too expensive so I did the quick DYI route. Clutch cables on Amazon were about $9 each, 3" manual plastic blast gates were about $7 each, and the BeCool blowers were about $45 each.

I also needed a backup light in Mass so after searching what other people had done I replicated what I thought was the best approach. LED lights mounted into the lower part of a license plate bracket. Simple and effective.

Also, if you are in Mass and wondering, after a few calls to the RMV and MAC centers they confirmed that the RMV wants a manual parking brake. It's not specifically listed one way or another on the RMV legal requirements and it did feel like more of an opinion rather than a rule, but I'm going with it for now. I passed the info along to Gordon as he was waiting on it to continue work on my rear brakes.

https://s26.postimg.cc/lp5675gy1/IMG_0062.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/nr5nleex5/IMG_0061.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/c5vhdotft/IMG_0063_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Updates:

Fuel lines and brake lines are routed and in. For the brake lines the Eastwood Flaring tool and hand bender came in really handy. You can see in the picture below where I chose to mount the fuel filter. It should provide easy access in the rare event I need to change it. I used all the FFR push on high pressure line fittings and ended up getting a few other fittings to finish it out. The hard line they supplied between the tank pump and the filter just wasn't going to work for me so I ended up cutting the hard line, using the push on fittings and getting some high pressure fuel line with correct clamps. This allowed me to run it where I wanted without issue. I used the stock supplied fuel lines (main line & return line). A trip to Fortes and we were able to sort out and get lines made up for the connections in the motor bay between the hard lines, the fuel pressure reg and from the regulator to the motor. While I was there we also sorted out all the fittings and lines needed for the P/S (pump to rack, rack to cooler, cooler to reservoir, reservoir to pump). For reference, I'm also using an in tank 155L/hr pump that Forte supplied me with. A larger pumpk is not needed according to Mike and Ford (per FordInstShtM-6017-504V.pdf, page 17).

Other items of interest. I'm running under car exhaust so I fabricated a quick heat shield for the fuel lines. All the engine bay panels are getting prepped with aluminum primer and final painted with Eastwood underhood matte black. I've used this product before and am very happy with it's performance. All the under car panels are getting coated in Fusor 805hd. First time for me using this product. I sprayed out two tubes today and was very impressed with how it laid down with their gun. It didn't go very far though. Basically assume a single tube per main floor panel. I've ordered a case (12) more tubes. This should be enough for all the panels and under body areas I want to coat.

With any luck the panels should all be final mounted, motor/trans/worlds shortest drive shaft all installed in the next few weeks.

https://s26.postimg.cc/lb8flam89/IMG_0079.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/qy4siroqx/IMG_0078.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/hoy0uwqh5/IMG_0073_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/4i8kvdurt/IMG_0071.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/hju9l8j61/IMG_0070_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Lancaster Lad]

Mr DUKE
I just saw a post on the other site about Mr Levy almost being done with the IRS brake brackets. Since I also have 2015 IRS
and 15IN wheels and had called Mr Levy after you had contacted him, looks like I should be getting a call soon. Maybe not tomorrow
but at least by end of summer. I am following your build with gusto. It is nice to have some builders pave the way for those
of us who " we are not worthy "

Cecil

high desert SoCal

[Duke]

...but at least by end of summer.

Thanks, hopefully a little sooner than end of summer :)

[Duke]

Updates:

I finished the painting and Fusor 805hd coating on the aluminum. I ended up having to buy a case of the Fusor because it didn't go nearly as far as I thought it would. For the entire under panels on the car I ended up using 5 tubs. I have another 7 left for the underside of the body. Overall I'm not sure I would use the Fusor again. It lays down nice but it's extremely soft and I worry about rocks taking chips out of it. I think I'll end up using another product on my next car build.

I finished up a lot of miscellaneous items like missing fuel and P/S fittings and lines, greasing the zerk fittings (you need 2 tubes of grease by the way, I went with Redline). My DS lower ball joint zerk was plugged/frozen and wouldn't accept grease so I ended up getting a Zerk Zapper tool to help get it clear. Other items included finishing up some small motor items, including removing header studs, putting the starter in, putting the hydro clutch bracket back on, sourcing and putting the transmission plugs and wires on, and fixing my rear motor lift bracket.

Before I drop the motor in I wanted to get some of the wiring in where it would be difficult to access. It took a half day of reading the wiring instructions (Ford instructions, RF harness, and the FFR 'changes') to get my head around what they were advising to do. One of the biggest issues I've seen is that the FF instructions for the Coyote doesn't give you the background on what it is they are asking you to do/why you are doing it and it's for the prior model year motor so there's some recent changes that aren't accurate. My notes so far that may help someone else out:


I first started by installing the RF fuse box and loose routing the front and rear harness
Next I installed the Coyote fuse box on the fire wall, 250amp bar, and ran the Coyote harness from the computer to the driver side dash
In the most recent Coyote fitment instructions (version O) the speed sensor isn't needed so you can skip all that. The plug reference info is all different anyways (older model)
The orange fan line, this just needs to go directly to the fans and doesn't need to be routed back to under the dash. You won't need to brake into the black coyote box on the new version. I personally ran it back before I realized I didn't need to. Also, it references an orange wire to use the double fuse, it's red not orange (see RF instructions for more info). I just bypassed the RF fuse and connected directly to the front line.
Unwrapping the Coyote front harness helps in cutting out the two A/C plugs and supercharger line (IC Pump). I also pulled the blue starter line out back to the front firewall so I could drop it directly down to the starter for a cleaner run.
Unwrapping the Coyote harness, all the wires inside the loom are also fullly wrapped in electrical tape. It take some time. The safest way I found was to find the end and unwind it rather than cutting.
The power lines: I ran the battery line from the rear to the starter, wrapped it with the Coyote power line and pulled out the ground so I could route it to a closer ground near one the motor mount bracket. I ended up wrapping the whole thing in flex coil and taping it up so it was cleaner routing.
I used wire tie clips that rivet in to hold all the wires in place. These were very helpful and needed to be set before the motor goes in. Thanks Edward for the idea on this.



Items removed:
https://s26.postimg.cc/cfyejaio9/IMG_0054_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
Wire tie clips riveted in place all over the engine bay and along the trans tunnel:
https://s26.postimg.cc/9d6v7eih5/IMG_0091_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
Making a mess in the garage building an outdoor patio table:
https://s26.postimg.cc/aday8c1s9/IMG_0120_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[edwardb]

All looks pretty familiar! Good work. Followed everything you said and pictured with two exceptions: (1) Not clear what you're describing with the cooling fan wiring. None of the RF harness, fuses, relays, etc. are used. The cooling fan is 100% controlled and powered by the Coyote PCM. I broke out the fan cooling wire from the Coyote harness by the PCM and ran it forward to the cooling fan. Add a ground connection to the cooling fan and it should be good to go. Maybe that's what you're saying, but I wasn't sure. (2) I don't see a power wire attached to the front terminal of your PDB. Maybe it's just not there when you took the picture. There are two +12V sources for the PDB. One in a short pigtail (along with another ground connection) and another threaded stud on the front of the PDB. I buzzed out the connectivity of these two power sources to all the circuits inside the PDB. Odly (at least IMO) some are powered by one, balance by the other. So both are needed.

[Duke]

Yea, sorry, was running out the door when posting and had a 3 & 5yr old pulling on my leg. The cooling fan is 100% controlled by the Coyote PCM. I was making reference to the FFR Coyote Fitment Roadster version 'O' instructions that I have where they say on page 77 that there are two ways to wire it. The first way says to run it back to the fuse box and basically setup a double fuse using both Coyote PCM and the RF fuse, which doesn't make a whole lot of since. On top of that their instructions are a little out dated in that what they want you to connect to has changed and doesn't exist. The only other orange wire under the dash is Aux 3 from the Coyote PCM. I'm going to tie directly into the blue RF cooling line running forward and use it basically as a jumper/extension from the orange Coyote line to the fans. The only reason I'm doing it that way is I had already pulled it back through and re-wrapped the main PCM wiring before I realized what exactly they were trying to do. It would have been very helpful had they provided the purpose of each step, not just take orange and connect it to blue.

Yes, pictures are missing a lot for the power lines, including the short jumper from the PDB to the fuse bar. I was just going to run the power from the rear battery to the starter, then starter to the 250am fuse bar (with the small pig tail), then via the short jumper to the PDB. It would have been much easier, but I wasn't sure if there was some reason why ford wanted direct power from the battery to the PDB. To be save I basically ran a double line from the battery positive in the rear to the engine bay, then split one to the fuse bar and one to the starter. While doing this I took the PDB ground out (small pig tail) and sent it to the passenger side motor mount where I have a ground already (shorter run, less wires to the trunk). In addition I'm planning on getting always hot power to the RF fuse box via the 250amp fuse bar instead of routing it all they way do the starter. Should be a shorter/cleaner run.

Right now the wiring is just a big dirty mess sitting in the car and I pulled all the power wires out while I drop the motor/trans in. My main goal was to figure out all the engine bay runs and where I need zip tie clips before the motor went in. I've wired 6 muscle cars before that I've rotisserie built and have always done it with the motor/trans in place. It's just a personal preference for me since that's what I'm use to. All of them however were simpler engines so this will take a few more cubic hours to get sorted out and finished.

[edwardb]

You obviously have this under control. I was very cautious with the previous version FF Coyote instructions. Some of it was pretty OK (intake, fuel pump, DBW even though I did it a little differently, and gauge sending units) but the rest had so many changes on the 2015 Coyote I mainly followed the Ford Racing instructions. Hopefully FF will update their instructions soon to take out some of the uncertainty for future builders.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm down to just the last few wires in the engine compartment. Easy enough to hook up. Just trying to do it as neatly (and hidden) as possible. Continued good luck with yours.

[Duke]

Motor is in, driveshaft is in, all the joints are lubed, radiator is in, and a few other little things are buttoned up. I learned that my first attempt at putting the motor/trans in was much easier when I had the motor/trans hanging at a very extreme angle (well beyond 45 deg). When it was at a shallow angle it took a little more man power to get it in. It still went in in about an hour though with the help of my father in law as an extra set of hands. The breeze fan shroud and lower radiator mount worked out perfectly, with the exception of the monkey installing it (me). When opening up the shroud holes to fit nutserts I was lazy and didn't take it off the radiator, resulting in the drill catching on the last hole and punching a nice hole in the radiator core. That was an expensive mistake on a brand new radiator. Oh well. Courtnie got me one asap. Next up is the motor bay plumbing, then onto dynomat and wiring.

http://i.imgur.com/W2OM1ef.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/SAN6O33.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3QmBQCI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EYHv7bo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TVvFuUD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/x1TG4wl.jpg

[Duke]

So I spent some time with the P/S lines, radiator connections, intake, and vacuum lines today. What I learned that may be helpful:


I followed Edward's parts list on the radiator connections (Here: http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?18591-EdwardBs-Mk4-8674-20th-Anniversary-Build&p=220495&viewfull=1#post220495) because it looked much more factory and I didn't like the idea of the corrugated FFR pipe they provide. On the newer radiators (Non-Afco units) the lower hose mount is at a different angle from what I can tell and it wasn't exactly plug and play. I ended up using some pieces that came with the coyote to make it all work. In the end it all fit.
You can see the mounting tabs I made for the Moroso mustang expansion tank. Again, very similar to Edwards. The lower tab support is needed IMO or you may end up with aluminum failure with vibrations over time.
All the P/S lines went together without issue. I added zip tie clips as needed to keep the lines routed as clean as I could get them and made sure they were all secure to avoid any vibration damage over time.
The intake and air filter presented more trouble than I was expecting. All are Forte items provided in his kit. See pictures below. The filter (K&N RU-2590) was simply too long at 7.5 inches and ran into the frame/panel. I ordered one 2" shorter today from Summit (RU-2520). It should work fine.
The parts supplied for the fuel regulator vacuum line aren't 90 deg. anymore and the FFR coyote instructions aren't the most clear. See picture below. This was a simple run to complete in the end.
The charge motion control valves (CMCV) on the passenger side was too short to reach the Specre tube so I pulled it apart and put an extension between the one way check valve to the intake.
Coyote intake vacuum port fittings were a challenge to find online. I ended up finding them with summit (VPE-2895). Vibrant Performance Hard Mount Aluminum Vacuum Fittings 2895. They are in route but should be the correct ones.



Said pictures:

https://s26.postimg.cc/iavpz4jd5/IMG_0007.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/5fsbq3thl/IMG_0012.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/8wyz6thxl/IMG_0013.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/yhjmw7wuh/IMG_0014.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

And a quick image map for all the Coyote vacuum fittings. I had a hard time finding this anywhere so I figured a quick notation may help some people out in the future. Still a work in progress, but the heater bypasses will be connected together with a reducer. Not sure if a reducer is needed (probably not if I am reading the head diagrams correctly) and I haven't found it to be expressly stated in the '15 Ford instructions. I'm going to put a call into Ford before making up a quick brass inline reducer. I'm venting both valve covers to a catch can rather than sucking the oil back into the intake (doing a EPA exception).

https://s26.postimg.cc/64nomdu6h/7-4-2016_8-28-37_PM.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[edwardb]

Several comments about your post.

1. I agree with your plan to put a bypass between the two heater hose connections versus capping them as the FF instructions show. Ford Racing is pretty clear in their instructions that a bypass is good practice. I've not seen any instructions specifically for the 2015 Coyote version, but there's no reason IMO to treat it any differently. I found this thread on the other forum that gives great information about where to source the connectors, which I used and they work perfectly. http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-factory-five-roadsters/495114-coyote-heater-bypass.html. I went ahead and also made a restrictor. May or may not be required but easy to do so why not. I found a bushing at my local Ace Hardware that fit the hose ID and I just had to drill slightly to get the required ID in the restrictor.

2. I'm confused by your two CMCV vacuum lines. My engine only has one CMCV line, and that's the one on the driver's side. Following the routing of the hose through the intake it goes to a Y connection on the back of the engine and feeds both CMCV vacuum motors. The vacuum line on the passenger side on my engine doesn't go to the CMCV circuit. It goes to a nipple on the back of the intake manifold. Further research looking at a Coyote in a new Mustang, I found this vacuum line doesn't connect to the engine but instead connects to another hose going over to the power brake booster. So I removed the hose completely and used the vacuum connector on the back of the intake for the vacuum reference signal for the fuel regulator.

3. I too am finding the combination of Spectre intake parts and K&N filter are a tight fit. Factory Five recommends an RC-5149, which is 6.5 inches long. That's shorter than the 7.0 inch RU-2590 that Mike provided to you, so I can see why you're having trouble. I was able to play around with the orientation and clamps and get about 1/4-inch clearance from the chassis, but after running the engine a bit it straightened back out and the filter is lightly touching the chassis again. Still thinking about what to do. I'd prefer not reducing the size of the filter, but that may be the only option.

[Duke]

Good point on the passenger side 'CMVC'. I double checked this morning and yes, you are right it runs into the intake. I'll probably end up doing the same as you did and just send it to the fuel pressure reg to simplify. Thx.

[Duke]

Engine is all buttoned up. I ended up routing what I have listed above as the second (passenger side) CMVC which Edward pointed out was just a vacuum line off the rear intake directly to the fuel regulator and capping the old regulator line. Everything else went together as expected. My shorter air cleaner worked perfectly in the space.

I spent a few nights getting the dash brackets created and mocked up. I ended up using mostly 1/4-20 nut serts to hold the dash and lower supporting brackets in place. A power plug and phone charger went into the lower bracket under the dash. The dash is the FFR provided plastic/pre covered unit with glove box. with 4 upper mounts and 3 lower mounts I'm happy with how ridged it is, even though it's just light weight plastic. Cutting holes turned out to be easier than I thought. I started from the back with spades on a drill and cut nearly through the black plastic. I finished the cuts, including through the padded vinyl with an exact o knife. It worked perfectly and was quick. The spedo has a little spacing issue though with the retainer ring, but I have some room for adjustments so it should be an issue.

https://s26.postimg.cc/aslrhz6rt/IMG_0018_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/d4yctb8qx/IMG_0020.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
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https://s26.postimg.cc/97b33wlxl/IMG_0024_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Wiring is done and all buttoned up. It was actually way easier than I thought it was going to be. A few notes, the RF harness and coyote wiring set both had a lot of duplication for power runs between the starter, alternator, and battery. I simplified a lot of this by using the distribution block/fuse block on the firewall as an intermediary point. This allowed me to do just one 4 gauge line to the starter and one 4 gauge line to the alternator. I also took all the dash connections and made just about everything removable connectors (Delphi) so the entire dash can be unclipped and removed if needed. This included the starter cylinder. All the front/rear connectors will all get quick release Delphi clips too.

My Hoosier R7 came in for the 17's along with my tredwear for the Avon 15's. The R7's are 245/45/R17 and 315/35/R17. The Avon tires are back ordered until mid Sept so they will be here a little later. My Spintech mufflers should be arriving early next week and I hear Gordon Levy is going to have my rear brakes and spindles packaged up and shipped out early next week. My seats should also be done in a week or so.

Next up on my punch list is finishing up the aluminum install, Dynomat install, Vent duct and cable install, exhaust install and finalize, finish up the seat wiring when I get the seats and seat heaters back, rear suspension button up, then fluids and first start.

https://s26.postimg.cc/sd5wo48w9/IMG_0006_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/7eqjyjua1/IMG_0004.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/giy5qhamh/IMG_0009.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/rnwb38n49/IMG_0014_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/k81mv6osp/IMG_0017.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
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https://s26.postimg.cc/4rjh75urt/IMG_0015.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Small updates while I wait for the rear brakes to show up. I installed the BBK shorty Coyote headers and decided I didn't like the 17mm bolts that came with it. I've had other muscle car builds have header bolts back off after a few heat cycles and with the nearly zero access/space once this body is one I figured, nope, do it right. Ordered a set of grade 8 locking bolts. Ordered coarse instead of fine thread so back they went to summit and ordered the correct bolts this time.

I fabbed up the 3" blast doors and manual controls on both driver and passenger side. Each side has it's own switch to control the fan under the center of the dash. I used a simple doorman manual choke cable kit. Simple but effective. I also put the rear sheet metal on for the final time and did a few wiring modifications on by the driver side header. Wires were a little too close to the pipes for my comfort. I also finished up the battery mount and wires. Went with a Duralast 34-AGM (type 34 battery).

Next up is all the dynomat, the Breeze quick release hub, parking brake, clutch line install, and fluids. I'm hoping to have the rear brake parts from Gordon so I can make it a roller and bring it to the exhaust shop. Depending on timing I may end up just building a quick dolly for the rear end so I can get it into the trailer. We'll see. I suspect we'll have first noise in a few weeks. Technically I can just put fluids in it and light it off now using the side pipes I have on hand but not planning on using, but I would like to get the under car exhaust finalized first.

Something a little off topic. I finally strapped a gopro to my kart on one of our Summer Tuesday practices. Video below.

https://s26.postimg.cc/3rb9bv30p/IMG_0045.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/5ke606o7d/IMG_0046.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/6k4gvw3d5/IMG_0047_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF-JzAb_g7I

[Duke]

And with this bone-head move I get to take the opportunity to spend more money. New upper steering column from FFR, another Breeze quick release hub kit, and while I'm at it a second track only steering wheel since I'll have an extra quick release hub. That was an expensive 'ah sh1t' moment.

Edit: Welded the spline on backwards.

[Mountain-Metalworks]

And with this bone-head move I get to take the opportunity to spend more money. New upper steering column from FFR, another Breeze quick release hub kit, and while I'm at it a second track only steering wheel since I'll have an extra quick release hub. That was an expensive 'ah sh1t' moment.

I plan on using the Breeze quick release but haven't purchased it yet. No instructions posted on their site to know what the install steps are, so can't really tell what you did wrong. Are the splines simply welded in the wrong place on the end of the shaft? Do the need to be further towards the end?
Are you feeling altruistic? Nobody wants to stew in their own unfortunate situation, but maybe you'll share for the benefit of the rest of us?

-TJ

[David Hodgkins]

I plan on using the Breeze quick release but haven't purchased it yet. No instructions posted on their site to know what the install steps are, so can't really tell what you did wrong. Are the splines simply welded in the wrong place on the end of the shaft? Do the need to be further towards the end?
Are you feeling altruistic? Nobody wants to stew in their own unfortunate situation, but maybe you'll share for the benefit of the rest of us?

-TJ

Looks like he welded the collar upside down. I don't know what's going on at the top of that shaft but I cut off the last ~1" or so that is beveled before welding. Then I ground the top of the shaft flat after. Doesn't mean doing so is right or wrong, that's just what I did:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40376&d=1428590007

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=45635&d=1442871651

:)

[Duke]

I plan on using the Breeze quick release but haven't purchased it yet. No instructions posted on their site to know what the install steps are, so can't really tell what you did wrong. Are the splines simply welded in the wrong place on the end of the shaft? Do the need to be further towards the end?
Are you feeling altruistic? Nobody wants to stew in their own unfortunate situation, but maybe you'll share for the benefit of the rest of us?

-TJ


Sorry, yes I welded the splined collar on backwards. There's great instructions with Breeze stuff by the way (on everything I've ordered from them). With the upper shaft I had to cut off the stock bevel before starting which shortened the shaft. I spent a lot of time mocking everything up but at some point I swapped the collar and never checked it with the quick release hub before welding it into place. The extra 3/8" extension I left on so when the quick release was mounted to the adapter hub it the center of the column would slide into the adapter hub. Not per the instructions but it would give the wheel/hub a little extra support. If it didn't work out I would have just cut off the extra 3/8" extension and have it flush like David's. I did bevel/chamfer the column and pre-heat it before welding to ensure proper penetration. The grinding on the end was my misguided attempts to get the retainer clip to clear when sliding the quick release hub on; not realizing it was backwards until I made enough clearance and found out it wouldn't lock into place. Doh.

Courtnie was nice enough to sell me a new upper shaft on Monday so it should be in route in the next day or two and I ordered a second Breeze full kit. Since I now had a second quick release hub I also decided to reward my stupidity and order a second dedicated track steering wheel (driven wheel from Detroit Speed). I figured why not and it would give me a little more finger room between my gloves and the door when at the track, along with a better hand feel then then the wood. The wood wheel will be street use only from here on out. All in, the mistake ran an extra $450 or so. I also just crossed the 60K mark on the project too.

[Duke]

The build progresses. I received my seats back from the local upholstery shop. Overall I'm very pleased with the way they turned out. Comfortable, wired for heat in both the bottom and seat back, and the bottom is removable. Once the seats were back I was able to finish the heated seat wiring which allowed me to install all the dynomat. I ended up using 12 sheets total for reference. One box of 36sq ft has 9 pieces. Other items finished included e-brake install.

My replacement steering shaft came in along with a second breeze quick release hub kit. My Avon tires also came in. The driven wheel is a very nice unit and should work just fine for track days. The install was straight forward this time without any mistakes. To get the driven wheel to work on the quick release I had to fab up a quick 1/4" spacer and got 6 longer bolts to make room for the horn button behind the wheel. One thing that I did that may help other tall guys is that I added some spacers on to raise up the upper steering shaft by about an inch or so. It's now lined up in the middle of the dash hole opening and gives me a little more leg to wheel clearance. I remembered the spring washers in the upper shaft this time too.

In anticipation of first start I put on the Jpipes and quickly noticed that I have two problems. 1st, on the drive side they won't fit as currently packaged. The J-pipe flange bracket wont line up with the BBK coyote shorty headers as it hits the motor mount. I'll need to put a good size notch into the motor mount to make the holes line up. I'm still planning under car exhaust but I'll cut the J-pipe after the o2 ports and route it under the floor boards. 2nd, I still have my Alt, oil, water, and ground wires too close to the pipes. I'll need to route these behind the motor mount and add more shielding. One thing that was nice is that the Ford supplied o2 sensors fit. I was expecting to have to buy extended/longer o2 sensors but I won't have to.

Still waiting on Gordon for my rear brakes/spindles/wheel. Last I spoke with him they were shipped so hopefully sometime next week. We were aiming for Aug but the first batch of brackets weren't right and had to be redone by the water jet contractor.

https://s26.postimg.cc/qzngkaoeh/IMG_0009_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/ssuymcyyx/IMG_0010_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
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https://s26.postimg.cc/vwwwb1hxl/IMG_0060_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[WIS89]

Duke-

I like those seat covers! They look really good on those low back seats. Did you use the Kirkey seat mounts to secure the seats to the frame you made? I couldn't tell in your pictures.

Build is looking great, and it won't be long before you have her all buttoned up! I look forward to the first start, and go-cart right behind!

Regards,

Steve

[Duke]

Thanks. I ended up making my own assembly to mount the sliders to the seats rather than using the kirkey setup. Here's a picture that may be more helpful. The seats bolted to 6 points on the frame. Two in front, 4 on the sides. I think you may be able to see the holes in the frame for the seat mounts.

https://s26.postimg.cc/5zb74lp1l/IMG_0029_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[WIS89]

Duke-

Thanks for the explanation and the extra picture. The picture makes it much more clear! I appreciate the assist.

Regards,

Steve

[Duke]

It's alive. First start completed about two weeks ago. It took a few cranks before it pulled enough fuel into the line for it to start but once it had fuel it light right up. One small P/S leak which I quickly fixed. I also completed one heat cycle on the motor to confirm the fans work.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn4ngwgiQzI

Victory picture with my two little helpers:
https://s26.postimg.cc/yf4cn4ikp/IMG_0003_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

I've been slowly picking away at the remaining items in preparation for starting body work and waiting on my rear brakes. This includes re-routing the alternator, oil pressure, and water temp lines behind the motor mount/header to keep it away from the heat. I replaced my wire wraps around the headers with DE Cool Tape for added insurance. Roll bar and horns installed. I put the Tredwear 'GoodYear Eagle' lettering on the Avon's so they are ready to mount when I get my wheel back from Levy. The kit was simple to install using a sanding drum on a dremal to smooth out the mounting areas on the tires. I've also finished all my final wiring checks and only ended up with two issues. The first one I've described below, the second is something I'll fix near the end of the build: Setting the fuel gauge. The stock fuel gauge needs to be calibrated. I have about 2 gallons of fuel in it so I need it either empty or full to calibrate per speed huts instructions. I'll wait until I'm ready for a full tank of fuel then play with the settings.

Regarding my other wiring issue: I haven't seen this posted anywhere so it may just be a single quality control issue but in finishing out my wiring checks I only had one issue: My temp gauge wasn't working. Everything else I did was perfect and I knew this was a simple connection so I suspected the thermostat was bad. Before I pulled it out I did a continuity check between the gauge and the block and found no connection. Tracking down the line uncovered a RF connector error. The water temp line and the fan thermo switch lines were swapped. Blue to teal and teal to blue. A simple fix and we are now confirmed on all wiring.

https://s26.postimg.cc/snr7cornt/IMG_0019_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/4hbyntg5l/IMG_0015_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[wareaglescott]

Congrats on the first start.
On the fuel gauge I learned from EdwardB that the ohm setting it comes with is actually the proper calibration. I poured a measured 4 gallons in mine and it indicated just as expected. You may be good to go on that already.

[Duke]

Thx, good to know. I have about 1.5 gallons in it at the moment and it's not reading anything. I'll test by pulling the sending unit out and checking it manually and also double checking the RF plug connectors again. I may have to replace the tank sending unit.

[Duke]

The build progresses. A big thanks to edwardb for figuring out the CMCV plumbing. I basically solved it the same way he did. Here's a link for what I'm referring to:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?22472-Important-Information-Regarding-2015-2016-Coyote-CMCV-Plumbing

I've started the bodywork, yay! Small steps, but I completed all the cut outs, added studs to the side vents and cleaned up the openings in similar fashion that EdwardB in his build thread did so that the opening angles match the angles and spacing of the vents. All body edges have been trimmed and cleaned up, including rolling the lips on all four wheel wells and adding a thin layer of 3M HSRF on the inside.

The body went on yesterday for the first time. I've had it on and off 3 times now. I found it's helpful to have 3 people when doing this. My challenges with getting the body on and aligned first started with the front and rear body roll around the interior compartment. I hadn't trimmed the roll behind the rear seats or along the dash and found I had couldn't get the body even close to where I wanted it. After some trimming I was able to get it close. My next challenge was my dash was mounted too high. The body roll for the dash actually came over the top of the speedo gauge. TIP: if you are using the FFR pre-formed dash with glove box, don't mount the corners of the dash even with the 3/4" tubes. The dash should be lower by about 3/8" and the 3/4" tubes exposed above the dash line. I was able to build and install spacers in my upper mounts, along with longer bolts to get it moved down where I needed it. My third hang up was the rear trunk aluminum. I needed to trim this by about 1/4" in order to have enough room to move the body forward by about 1/4" and have the body clear the door striker posts. For reference, my first install was with no seals, and subsequent body installs were with all the bulb seals in place.

Glass fitment and spacing is next up on the list. I've replaced the brass strips with with stainless strips from Withby. I'm planning on dry fitting everything with the body on, marking my holes in the support arm brackets, then drilling and tapping 1/2-13 holes similar to EdwardB's build thread. Once the body is off I'll build spacers so the glass isn't under any stress, then when the body is back on do final adjustments on the openings. One thing of interest, I'm planning on running both visors AND the FFR soft top. Since the visors have to come off for the soft top anyways I'll use square nuts in the upper channel to (1) prevent cracking the glass and (2) allow for easy removal since the soft top uses this channel for the header bar. I'll end up keeping tools to pull the visors out or make up some quick release type connections and keep it in the soft top bag in the trunk.

News on the rear brakes, Gordon has them completed and they are in transit. He's done an amazing job and spent countless hours this year on them. More on this when I get them in. For parking brake, we're planning on a pinion brake between the driveshaft and the pumpkin, using a Kart disk. More on this at another time.

https://s26.postimg.cc/hyvfk0sg9/IMG_0001_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/jpjiimgax/IMG_0003_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/grvqgenex/IMG_0007_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/8armrqtc9/IMG_0005.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/rar4ru0p5/IMG_0004_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Mountain-Metalworks]

News on the rear brakes, Gordon has them completed and they are in transit. He's done an amazing job and spent countless hours this year on them. More on this when I get them in. For parking brake, we're planning on a pinion brake between the driveshaft and the pumpkin, using a Kart disk. More on this at another time.

Duke,

Definitely post pics of the brake setup from Gordon. I've talked with him several times and I'm ready to order once back in town from a work trip. We discussed parking brake options and I was originally planning the line-lock hydraulic option over the kart setup but in WI I haven't been able to track down requirements. To the best of my knowledge, there actually isn't a requirement at all. There definitely isn't a registration inspection with the "hobbyist/collector" registration I'm going with, since I've already registered a rock crawling Jeep that way. We'll see which way I go....

-TJ

[Duke]

First, a big thank you to Mr. Gordon Levy over at http://levyracing.com/ for making this happen. His countless hours and many designs he went through, all while managing his own customer builds and motors truly shows his dedication to this niche of the hodrod world. For those of you who haven't followed my build, about a year ago I choose to venture down my own path and ordered my roadster with the new 2015 IRS and planned running 15" wheels on the street. This along with the T56 Magnum transmission made for a uniquely challenging build.

After countless designs trying to integrate a parking brake into an area that just wouldn't accept it we finally arrived on the design to incorporate a Kart disk as a pinion brake. This little disk and the spot caliper will sit between the driveshaft and the IRS pumpkin and should be more than sufficient to pass my state inspections. These brakes, along with my front cooling ducts should be a good match for the Hoosier R7's I have mounted to my track tires, while allowing me to run the classic 15" wheels and Billboards (Avon's & Trendware) on the street.

Thank you Gordon for the spindle machine work, brackets, and figuring out how to make all this work:

https://s26.postimg.cc/641691s7d/IMG_0014_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)L]
https://s26.postimg.cc/ufazg3w95/IMG_0013_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/tuvydf30p/IMG_0011.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/jbrdaiayx/IMG_0009_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

IRS installed, brakes finished (minus parking brake) and bled with Motul 660. First 'drive' was successful as I just backed it out and into the trailer. Exhaust was finished up by the guys at Lou's custom exhaust in Worcester. They did an awesome job with SS pipe and exactly to my specs. The spintech's sound so much better IMO than the side pipes. Pointing the exhaust back and to the center also helps in keeping the passengers from smelling like exhaust every drive and helps remove the side pipe ear sting that I never really liked. I'm going to pull the pipes off and hit them with a high temp black exhaust paint to help it blend in a little better. I still have some work to do with heat shields. I'll need one on the driver side for the brake lines and another small section on the rear fuel line. The Avon's are also mounted on the 15's along with the trendware kit. Very pleased with how it turned out.

Small steps forward, followed by small steps backwards. When I went to drill/tap the wheels and mount the spinner caps I realized I was missing 4 for the 17's and one of the spinners for the 15's came frozen (yes the set pin was removed). No matter how much I worked it, heated it, etc. it was simply stuck. Courtnie was gracious enough to quickly send me a replacement and the 4 missing ones. I'll need to run all 8 of them through the polisher at some point though to clean them up a bit as the finish is 'close'.

With the first 'drive' I also found a P/S leak in the upper input shaft of the rack. It took half a day to pull it out, but it turns out it's possible to remove without removing or loosening the radiator. Dropped it off at Mike's this afternoon and he's going to get a replacement rack for me and put the inner tie rod extenders in and the rack limiters. The rack needs limiters on both sides as the tires get into the brake lines/side panels at full lock on both sides. Hopefully I should have it all back together by end of next week.

https://s26.postimg.cc/72vrzxqmh/IMG_6243.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/nuc1lkkjt/IMG_0020_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/52wc66lu1/IMG_0011_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/asckqhs09/IMG_0012_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/6204ojz0p/IMG_6250.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/ovlxljx8p/IMG_6284.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

A few more of the exhaust:

https://s26.postimg.cc/hp6r30oax/IMG_0013_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/s71ecieix/IMG_0014_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/7cp1uok5l/IMG_0015_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/pi208qjnt/IMG_0016_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[wareaglescott]

looking great! I would love to hear the exhaust if you get a chance to take some video at some point.

[Duke]

Small details. Lots of little time sucking items that make you feel like you haven't progressed very far. That's whats been going on in recent weeks. I've pulled off the exhaust and painted it with exhaust VHT black, pulled out the rack and replaced it due to a leak without pulling the radiator out. Turns out you can do it. I also replaced and fixed some of my return lines that were leaking, one at the reservoir and one more on the line back to the pump. Teflon tape and P/S fluid apparently don't mix.

Rack came out no problem:
https://s26.postimg.cc/7bjpf07pl/IMG_0017_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Another item that took some time was drilling and tapping 16 holes in the wheels. Two set screws per wheel x8 wheels, a little anti seize and we were all good. The spinners definitely need to be run through the polishing wheel though. They were a little rough on the finishing.
https://s26.postimg.cc/vddkd65ft/IMG_0002_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

I received my tune and nguage from Lund racing and have been working with Jon to get everything where it needs to be. It's interesting to hear it run fine, but after 5 data logging sessions it's clear to see how far out it was stock vs with a correct tune. We've been chasing some idle trim level settings and temp readings in the 02 sensors. I just received a replacement set of 02 sensors to see if that helps fix the issue and I've fabricated an air shield around the intake filter. It turns out while data logging we realized that when the fan kicks on it blows so much air around the filter that it's causing some issues with the MAF. Very interesting stuff and I'm wondering how much if this may have been attributed to the stalling issues some people were experiencing in the first gen coyote builds a few years ago. A few more rounds and we will probably have it all sorted out and finished.
https://s26.postimg.cc/9ahxng8i1/IMG_0004_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Another challenge on the P/S setup was getting the right length belt. I'm 4 belts in and I think I may finally have the right one. The first two were very loose and were slipping at full lock causing a major squeal. The first belt was a 060455, then we went to a 060450 but no luck, the tensioner was still very loose and I could move it by hand to take the belt off. 060432 was still short to get it on, and now I'm on 060439. I haven't fired it yet but I'm hoping my squeal at full lock goes away.
https://s26.postimg.cc/5j8d14utl/IMG_0005_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Finally, before the body goes back on I put the windshield on and measured for spacing. On my build it's about two washers thick for a spacer on each side. Ace hardware had double thick washers available to a little epoxy and we're all set. I ground the windshield posts at a 45 deg angle so they slide around easier.
https://s26.postimg.cc/5r0lbdv61/IMG_0007_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

At this point I'm ready for the body to go back on, final tuning/data logging sessions, and do a final mock up on everything that touches the body before I blow it all apart and start on the body work.

[GoDadGo]

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/r454duke/Cobra/IMG_0016_1.jpg[/URL]

Duke,

Are you sure that your State (Taxachusetts) will pass your car with the exhaust exiting under the car?
If you live in the North East, it may be problematic getting through that process.
If you were down in the South where I am, then I wouldn't be worried about it.

Steve

[Duke]

From what I've read it shouldn't be a problem. The emissions will be the fun part as I'm planning on doing a federal EPA exemption, which means buying a pre 73 car with a similar size motor and having it crushed.

[Duke]

Success on the P/S belt size. No more whine at full lock.

I've been chasing some computer/tuning challenges over the past 6 weeks or so but I think it's all sorted now. Once we were able to get the data log where it should be the PCM was throwing the P0116 code. After a lot of conversations with Ford and my tuner the PCM went back to ford on their dime to get updated. Once back in hand I copied the new stock PCM file, sent it to the tuner who was able to identify all the things they said they changed (and more) and update this tune accordingly. We've now back running with solid data logs and no codes. I'm just awaiting the cammed tune and we should be finished.

I completed the laundry list of all the small stuff that had to hit the body before paint. Including the standard door latch mods, panel fitment, etc.

https://s26.postimg.cc/gwqaylfyh/IMG_0003_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Small mods to the doors to get the striker to sit right:
https://s26.postimg.cc/jahfh3955/IMG_0007_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

In Mass I need a rear plate and a backup light so I copied another form members idea:
https://s26.postimg.cc/unzdejua1/IMG_0005_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/xaevvhlhl/IMG_0006_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Undercoat completed with some help from my girls. I decided on bed liner rather than the spray on Fusor as the bed liner is a lot harder and the Fusor stays soft and can scratch off easily.

https://s26.postimg.cc/v3f8lb5l5/IMG_0009_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/mq4ycwgzt/IMG_0004_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Speedway honeycomb to protect the radiator. The entire radiator area will be blacked out when done.

https://s26.postimg.cc/9usdceccp/IMG_0003_4.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
Home center created charcoal canister (1.5" PVC and active carbon)

https://s26.postimg.cc/r2ywhl0cp/IMG_0002_4.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

And on with the body work. Lots of work putting it all together for final mock up, blowing it all apart to paint the underside of the body, then putting body and panels back on and aligning everything again.

https://s26.postimg.cc/5s5xr27m1/IMG_0005_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/aoe5whx55/IMG_0006_4.jpg (https://postimage.cc)]
https://s26.postimg.cc/hx3kr0e15/IMG_0018_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/i27c0olc9/IMG_0019_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Body panels. Overall they are in really good shape (coming from someone who usually has to replace floors/quarter panels, etc on most projects). It's been discussed a few times in various bodywork threads but I'll try and supplement as I go through the process. The body seams were mostly in good shape, with a few pins and small voids that needed to be ground out. I took a 40 grid 2" wheel to the seams, then followed it up with a 80 grid DA sander, followed by 3M HSRF. Over the HRSF I'll be using rage gold premium for most of the final filler work. My goal is to get it very close with the gel coat before applying a high build primer.

Half the work is easily in the panel alignment and doors. Hood/trunk lid are mostly okay in that once you get them level it's just a trimming exercise. The passenger side door is very close after you push the lower lip of the body all the way against the frame. I'm not thrilled about the CNC trimming of the lower door edge though. The gap is a little larger than I like (maybe a full 3/8"). At the moment that will dictate the gap for the entire edge. I'll probably end up filling it back to get the gap similar to all the other panels at 1/4".

It's been mentioned many times, but I'll say it again. The driver side door mold sucks. Basically the lower, front half of the door curves in too much and the lower rear half of the door is too flat. Even after adjusting it every which way and pulling and pushing the lower body lip in and out it's still just a mess. If you align the lower area to get it closer the upper door/body isn't even close. There's a lot less work to do from what I can tell if I align the upper part of the door and fix the lower. This requires the body to be pulled very far out in rear though to align the door with the rear body door frame area/wheel arch. I only have less than 1/2" of 2x2" frame to attach the lower body lip to once the body is pulled out and that will also require a spacer before attachment as it's standing off the frame by nearly a full 1/2". Regardless, it's ugly and will require a lot of hours and adjustment to get right.

https://s26.postimg.cc/ba34sls7d/IMG_0009_4.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/atmijwtu1/IMG_0012_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[wareaglescott]

I cant understand why they cant do a better job on the drivers door?! Glad to see the build update and look forward to following your progress with the body work.

Glad to see your pcm came back and the tune is going well. I was planning to email you this week and see how it was coming. I still am unsure on how I want to proceed in regards to a tune. At some point will you be getting some dyno figures?

[Lancaster Lad]

Interesting idea using masking paper for the rear suspension protection. The last car I painted was in the 70s.
I have all the equipment but don't know if I have the drive. Might be easier for me to call Mr Jeff ( west coast ).

To get off topic. Have you received the parking brake components from Mr Levy yet? I ordered and received
my 2015 15" brake package. Nice pieces. Just need parking parts to determine lever placement.

Thank you for the pioneering effort in this matter. And a thank you to Mr Levy.

[Duke]

Thanks,

Gordon emailed me last week that the first run of the brackets are back from the water jet and look good. He's awaiting a free lift/car to do a final mock up. I'm hoping to have brackets for parking brake by end of month. I suspect I'll have to order a custom cable length between the handle and the spot caliper. The only thing that I'm mildly concerned about is any vibrations that may be caused from the parking disk being slightly out of center. With any luck it will be spot on and no issues but we'll see. Right now I'm at perfect 0 deg on the trans and the rear end is +.75 deg (just above zero). I think that's okay given the rear housing, trans mount, and motor bushings all move a little under load.

Re: masking paper and plastic. I figured someone was going to bring that up. I'm not sure if it helps or just gets in the way at this point. The plastic is to help keep some of the dust out of the motor/dash while dry sanding. I tend to make a huge mess while sanding. So far it hasn't been in the way much. The masking paper is actually much thicker and just two large pieces of tracing/template paper that I just threw in to help point the dust off all the rear suspension pieces. Everything will have to get cleaned but the idea is 2 minutes of work may save an extra hour of cleaning later. No idea if it will work or not.

Scott, no plans for dyno, but with my propensity to dig deeper I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up on a dyno sometime in the next year or two. I'm aiming for somewhere around 450/400tq at the rear wheels as my goal, but it's not a hard or set number. If I was really wanting to push it the first step would be custom headers/removal of the J=pipe that I cut up for my under car exhaust. I bet I have 20-30hp on the table with just that but it's not worth the headache and 2K at this point for me to fab it up.

Last data logging session on the motor came back perfect with the O2's reading all correctly and the fuel trim spot on. Awaiting the same tune with the cams rotated at idle. When I pull the body off or first primer I'll roll it out and see if I can get a good audio vid of it with the go pro. I think the sound will change your mind on the tune :)

[WIS89]

Duke-

The shot of your girls painting is priceless!

Congratulations on the progress. It's coming together nicely. I have enjoyed following along!

Good luck with the body work. I am not looking forward to tackling the driver's door, and hope it goes easier for you than it looks!

Thanks for letting us follow along with your hard work.

Regards,

Steve

[Straversi]

Unwrapping the Coyote front harness helps in cutting out the two A/C plugs and supercharger line (IC Pump). I also pulled the blue starter line out back to the front firewall so I could drop it directly down to the starter for a cleaner run.
Unwrapping the Coyote harness, all the wires inside the loom are also fullly wrapped in electrical tape. It take some time. The safest way I found was to find the end and unwind it rather than cutting.
[/LIST]


Items removed:
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/r454duke/Cobra/IMG_0054_1.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/r454duke/media/Cobra/IMG_0054_1.jpg.html)


When you prune back these legs, is there a standard practice for terminating the wires? I chased the purple wire from the A/C clutch and the red wire from IC Pump back to the Power distribution box. Can I cut these wires and seal them off? The black wires from each run up to the common ground on the other side of the fire wall I assume? The three wires for the AC Pressure run to the big connector to the PCM. Just cut these off near the connector and seal? Yes, wiring rookie with enough information to be dangerous.

Any help is appreciated.
-Steve

[edwardb]

When you prune back these legs, is there a standard practice for terminating the wires? I chased the purple wire from the A/C clutch and the red wire from IC Pump back to the Power distribution box. Can I cut these wires and seal them off? The black wires from each run up to the common ground on the other side of the fire wall I assume? The three wires for the AC Pressure run to the big connector to the PCM. Just cut these off near the connector and seal? Yes, wiring rookie with enough information to be dangerous.

Any help is appreciated.
-Steve

I don't know if there's a standard practice. I can only say what I did. I pulled quite a bit of the Coyote harness apart attempting to make the most efficient routings. But I didn't tear any more than necessary apart just to track down the wires from these unneeded legs. Wherever they ended up once I was done deconstructing, I cut the wires and shrunk a piece of adhesive lined shrink sleeving around the ends. Then wrapped everything back up. I'm careful to have a clean end so there's no copper sticking out. Plus if there are multiple wires cut off, I offset them so the ends aren't the same length. Even if the sleeving should come of (which with the adhesive lining it's very difficult) nothing is going to short out. Some guys bend the ends over and shrink over that. That also makes a nice secure termination. But a little bulkier.

[boBQuincy]

On construction equipment wiring harnesses we would cap off any unused connectors with a mating connector with sealing plugs inserted into the wire cavities. This maintains the weatherproofing and allows for future addition of options but is by far the most expensive method!
Edwardb's method of using adhesive lined heat shrink tubing is effective and far less costly.





When you prune back these legs, is there a standard practice for terminating the wires? I chased the purple wire from the A/C clutch and the red wire from IC Pump back to the Power distribution box. Can I cut these wires and seal them off? The black wires from each run up to the common ground on the other side of the fire wall I assume? The three wires for the AC Pressure run to the big connector to the PCM. Just cut these off near the connector and seal? Yes, wiring rookie with enough information to be dangerous.

Any help is appreciated.
-Steve

[Duke]

Body work progresses. The 3M HSRF is incredibly hard material and very difficult to sand. Having to do it again I'm not sure I would have used it on all the body seams. I ended up having to knock it down with a D/A sander at 80 grit, then skim the entire thing again with Rage ultra. It would have been much faster to just use the Rage ultra, would have saved me 16hrs or so thus far.

Anyways, a few pictures to show progress. I'm using a guide coat to get the entire body close before I epoxy seal and prime with a high build primer. I took time to show the driver side door and where I had to attach the body to pull the quarter out. You can see how far out it is from fully flush (note the FFR holes when they attached the body). I marked in the dust the major low areas that need to be addressed. The entire door will get a few coats of filler to get it all where it needs to be. Using nights/weekends I probably have a solid 40hrs at least before it's ready to prime.

So far, I would say the 80hrs are accurate *if* the door mold was fixed. I probably have 40hrs in it thus far with panel seams and body seams and another 40 to go before prime. My guess is another 40-60 after that to get to final polish (including wet sanding, prep, paint, clear coat sand and final polish). All in, probably 140 hrs would be my guess.

Oh, one note. If you are using durablocks, pitch them and get AFS sanding blocks. Much more flexible/adjustable for these curved bodies. I'm primarily using the 6" hand and the 15" block with all 3 supports removed.

https://s26.postimg.cc/ac559a8eh/IMG_0021_1.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/x9rwys2kp/IMG_0022_2.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/m8wrtrabt/IMG_0023.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/cfk5uoxl5/IMG_0024_3.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[FFinisher]

To fix that drivers door without 2lbs of mud, I put a screw through the lip of the body and into the frame, you can then pull the body in and adjust the door properly without spending hours and hours filling and sanding. You will need to trim the filler plate that goes on after the body has been painted, but it works and its easy.


sometimes I do this on the passengers side as well.

[FFinisher]

Duke,

Are you sure that your State (Taxachusetts) will pass your car with the exhaust exiting under the car?
If you live in the North East, it may be problematic getting through that process.
If you were down in the South where I am, then I wouldn't be worried about it.

Steve

Undercar exhaust is certainly not an issue in Massachusetts.

[Duke]

To fix that drivers door without 2lbs of mud, I put a screw through the lip of the body and into the frame, you can then pull the body in and adjust the door properly without spending hours and hours filling and sanding. You will need to trim the filler plate that goes on after the body has been painted, but it works and its easy.


Thanks for the suggestion. This would definitely work, but it would also put a lot of stress on the side of the body. I'm sure it's fine long term though. I've already started muding the door so I'm committed at this point.

[Duke]

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding. Body is ready for primer, passenger door done, now finishing up the driver door. Still have the hood and then back side of the trunk/hood/doors to get into shape. If all continues to go as scheduled we'll be sealed/primed on the 29th and ready for final color sometime mid/late April.

The driver door: Ended up putting a few layers of HSRF to build up the gap before getting into the rage ultra. In theory it should be a little stronger.I threw in an ugly shot of the door since you don't typically see photos after a bunch of mud has been put down. From here I'll use an air board to get it into rough shape quickly, then skim coat the whole thing again and block it out by hand.

https://s26.postimg.cc/9kyoltedl/IMG_6463.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/8vfw9gdtx/)

https://s26.postimg.cc/ofiom8ykp/IMG_6465.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/euz1zd98l/)

[GoDadGo]

That's One Ugly Door!

> Thanks for showing these pics, especially the drivers door it in it's worst state.
> I'll soon be doing the same and like you won't be tweaking the body to make it fit the door since that seems like the tail wagging the dog in my book.
> After seeing how much mud it takes, I think I'll build up the lower section of the door with a few layers of fiberglass mat because of your concerns.

Good Luck & I Am Sure Your Car Will Turn Out Great!

[Duke]

> After seeing how much mud it takes, I think I'll build up the lower section of the door with a few layers of fiberglass mat because of your concerns.


HSRF is cheaper and a lot faster IMO, and just as strong. You can definitely get away with just using Rage on the whole thing too if you want. I'm just doing overkill. The lower front is out about a full 1/2", which puts it at 1/4 - 3/8" HSRF followed by Rage. 2 Layers of HSRF sanded in between got me to 3/8" in under 3hrs and ready for the first of a few layers of Rage. I would thing glass would be at least a day of drying time and a lot more DA sanding or air board sanding to get it close to smooth.

[Duke]

Off to primer tonight. Spent the better part of the day cleaning up the body and the garage. What a mess.
https://s26.postimg.cc/54tpfonih/IMG_6479.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Primed and moving forward. Here's a shot of the black epoxy sealer I shot last night right before getting into the 2K build coats.

https://s26.postimg.cc/tzd79r8cp/IMG_6487.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Prime on, sand off. Handful of Advil, rinse and repeat.

https://s26.postimg.cc/57dl2ir61/IMG_6503.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Body is all blocked out, final coat of primer has been applied, paint purchased, and wet sanding nearly done. Booth time scheduled for Weds and Sat for final paint. It's getting close now.

https://s26.postimg.cc/rxcpviadl/IMG_6515.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/yp34yczd5/IMG_6660.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[wareaglescott]

looking good Ryan. I was just wondering about your progress this weekend. Cant wait to see the paint.

[Duke]

Undersides of panels done:
https://s26.postimg.cc/qz0y6ymfd/IMG_6672.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/9bj58rci1/IMG_6673.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/514hd67ex/IMG_6676.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

6hrs at the booth, from rolling out of the trailer to finish baking and paints done. One more item checked off the list. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. Very little orange peal so that should help with the buffing too.

https://s26.postimg.cc/xgjuqgwsp/IMG_6691.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/agd7e4yyx/IMG_6695.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/3r6ny4dmx/IMG_6701.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/efaewynm1/IMG_6706.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/k60laovm1/IMG_6713.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[GoDadGo]

Looks Fantastic!

[Straversi]

Wow, can't argue with pure black. Awesome.
-Steve

[wareaglescott]

congrats Ryan. Looking great.
Am I understanding correctly that this is sort of a DIY booth you are renting time in? That sounds pretty cool.
I still don't know much about paint work. Is that common?

[Duke]

congrats Ryan. Looking great.
Am I understanding correctly that this is sort of a DIY booth you are renting time in? That sounds pretty cool.
I still don't know much about paint work. Is that common?

Hi Scott, it's a full production body shop with down draft booth, not a DIY type place. It's very unusual for a shop to even consider something like this. I had to ask a lot of body shop owners in person before I was lucky enough to talk someone into it, and it required a fair amount of cash and had to be on a weekend that didn't interfere with their main repair schedule.

[Duke]

It's starting to look familiar...

Color sanding and polishing is all done (3M Perfect it Trizact). So far everything is going together smooth. I've purchased a car to have crushed for Mass registration and emissions exemption. Just awaiting the new title in my name before I send it to get crushed. I'll do a whole new thread about that and scan all the paperwork the RMV and MAC sent me. I have all the Mass steps in writing now from the MAC and haven't seen it posted anywhere before.

https://s26.postimg.cc/urkgmp1xl/IMG_6851.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[GoDadGo]

One Worthy Word:

Wow!

[wareaglescott]

Looks awesome Ryan! At first I thought you had done some ghost stripes but upon closer inspection realize that is the reflection from the ceiling. Paint work looks very nice.
I am excited for you to get registered and on the road. I will be interested in hearing your feedback on your custom tune. Still on the fence to stick with stock for my street driving or contact Lund.
Did you install the decal on the engine cover yet? Also excited to get a look at that!

[Duke]

Decal is still sitting here on my desk. It will go on near the end when I do the other body emblems. Thanks for putting that together again.

[Vette1972]

Great Job! Congrats!

[Duke]

It's coming together. I ditched the seat sliders to get me a little lower in the car and remounted the seats to the floor. The final punch list is getting shorter now. Carpet, final light wiring, soft top install, mirrors/a few other small items, etc. I've also started the long journey of getting it register in Mass, including buying and having a car crushed to get an exemption on emissions. Here's the link to that info if anyone needs it.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?24772-Massachusetts-Kit-Car-registration-process-Direct-from-MAC

Gordon's parking brake that came in this week. This should be more than sufficient :)

https://s26.postimg.cc/evvmjebd5/IMG_6995.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Parking brake, done (minus the driveshaft bolts, they are now in).

https://s26.postimg.cc/6dr8c6b61/IMG_7024.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/7hbco4vt5/IMG_7026.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/vmc25ug3t/IMG_7027.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

Graduation pictures:


https://s26.postimg.cc/bi295gumh/IMG_7178.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/bw3l52eq1/IMG_7070.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/xdeucf5zd/IMG_7061.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/enmuvod8p/IMG_7074.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/mjnkytgcp/IMG_7077.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/myyuru2a1/IMG_7156.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/7crcjjwuh/IMG_7159.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

[Duke]

So, I'm officially registered and nearly done at this point. A few updates with 50 miles on the car:

I had the car corner balanced and aligned at a local specialty shop. Final weight was 2,410 with 1/4 tank of fuel. I have all the corner weights, but front/rear was 46.3% front, 53.7% rear. 23lbs of air pressure and they adjusted the sway bars for me as well.

Front license place is needed for inspection so I ordered a Breeze kit. Unfortunately this looked like it was designed for an older model as the mounting holes were horizontal instead of vertical. I ended up drilling a new hold and having to open up the center section that slides behind the front turn signal light. I then cut the ears off (part that the plate bolts to) and used the bottom mount, cut the long part off that mounts to the bottom of the body and used it as the top. Now with the plate mounted to the removable bracket I can take it on/off quickly with 2 wing nuts and with the bracket painted black it's hardly noticeable without the plate on it.

No leaks or other issues with the first 50 miles of driving. I'm not too pleased with how soft the Dupont Chroma premier paint/clear is, even after baking. I ended up peppering the spats (lower front of the rear fenders) in just 10 miles of driving around the block. Today I had some 3M clear bra material applied by a local shop. They did the rear spats, top of the doors, and several areas on the front nose. I'm extremely pleased with the work as the seams are nearly invisible.

Soft top: Wow. I'm very impressed by the quality, design and fit/finish. It took about 2hrs to install on a fresh car and takes about 10m to put it all together once you get the hang of it. I used square nuts in the upper channel for the visors and carry a ziplock bag and a small screw driver and allen wrench with the top so I can quickly pull them on/off when putting the top on. When I got out of the car for the first time I managed to catch my shoulder on the vent wing and crack it in half. It's since been replaced by a quick call to FFR to order another set. With the top on the vent wing won't pull all the way in though. It will either hit the wooden header bar for the top or hits the door paint. If I want to ever run vent wings and the side windows I'll need to cut my own vent wings.

When I installed the A/C foam between the body and the foot boxes in front of the doors I didn't realize it needs to go up nearly all the way to the windshield. I'm getting some hot air through the top of the door while driving. I have more foam I'm planning to install in both sides to finish it up.

Seats/Belts. My wife declared she's never going to drive it so I ditched the seat sliders and just mounted the seats to the floor. This gave me another inch of head room and put me further down. I'm pleased with where I sit now. So much for all the fabrication work on the sliders. For belts, there's only one option that is safe for a 4 point system, and that's Schroth ASM belts. I didn't want to use the 5th point and wanted cam locks instead of latch for my girls/passengers so this was a worth while upgrade. The shoulder pads also help for comfort. If you are using 4 point belts on the street and they are not ASM, do yourself a favor and research it. It's much more dangerous than just lap belts. With the ASM design it keeps the lower belt from riding up in an impact and doing damage to the internal organs. I've hit the wall in a few race cars before in Schroth and I trust my life to these belts. Best in the business IMO.

Steering Breeze quick release hub: Fail.
I have 2 of the kits, both have way too much slop/play and it makes the steering uninspiring. I've used NRG in race cars before and they are solid, but too big. With a recommendation from Jerry at European Performance Engineering (local Porsche shop I had the alignment/balancing done at) I picked up a Rennsport quick release. Absolutely rock solid. Courtnie is sending me now my 3rd upper steering column. It will require me to drill/tap new holes to get it all mounted but I'm confident it will solve my issues. The funny/sad thing is that I'll probably be north of $2K into the entire quick release attempt when I'm done. I will probably end up with a second Rennsport quick release for my Driven wheel at some point over the winter.

My brake fluid reservoir caps (FFR ones) had two of the three of the seals fail. One broke (clutch) and spit a little fluid out while the other (rear brakes) has age cracks all over the rubber. I think they may have just sat too long in someones inventory before being shipped to FFR. Again, Courtnie was nice enough to send me 2 more.

Driving experience thus far:
It's taken some getting use to. The suspension is extremely stiff, and with some recent road repairs going on locally it's down right jarring. I went as far as pulling of one of the shocks to make sure I had it on the softest setting, and I did according to Koni's website. Steering is very sharp and the car reacts very similar to my Karts, I just need to clean up the quick release hub play. The fiberglass body being fresh is still making a little noise as it settles down. I wasn't expecting that, but I guess I should have being it's fiberglass. Exhaust noise, I'm extremely please. I'm going to have to get some video with a good microphone to explain, but the spintechs are perfect for this motor and the Lund tune. At idle it's mild, after 2,500 or so it just gets angry and has a nice tone to it. With the exhaust exiting under the car there's no sharp pipe noise like I was hearing with the FFR side pipes. With the 6th gear at 65 mph I'm only turning about 1,500 RPM and it's quiet enough to have a very normal conversation. Gearing is perfect IMO with the close ratio T56 Mag 6-speed trans. I haven't 'given it the beans' yet, but the 1-2 shift at half throttle breaks the tires loose, even with the sticky 80 tread ware Avons. Overall, I'm just about to the point where I start to enjoy the driving and stop paying attention to all the noises and double checking everything.

Next up: MAC final inspection to sign off on all the emissions exemption paperwork for the car I had crushed so I don't have to ever put Cats or any other emissions stuff on the car. It will forever be emissions exempt. Other items include setting up a photoshoot for it, bedding the brakes and adjusting front/rear balance, some general sorting out and putting a hell of a lot more miles on it before the show comes.

[wareaglescott]

Well done and congrats!

[Boydster]

Nice writeup, Duke, on starting life with an F5. Congratulations on a beautiful machine.

[chuckster]

Car is beautiful! What yard did the crush for you? Thx Chuckster

[Duke]

Car is beautiful! What yard did the crush for you? Thx Chuckster

Car Heaven in Berlin. They paid for the car and picked it up for free. Three items to note if you are doing it. (1) Make sure you have confirmed with the MAC tech that the car qualifies, I had him check 20+ cars from craiglist before I found one that worked. (2) make sure you have proof that the title/registration is in your name (photo copy everything) and (3) Make sure you talk to them about signing the paperwork before it's picked up and give the driver the signature page with a self addressed stamped envelope.

[mike forte]

Hi Duke,
I just saw your build thread here.
WOW... Extremely well documented with tons of photos.. You prepped & painted it yourself!!! Amazing job.. If you are in the area I would love to check out your build...
I love the undercar exhaust. Such a nice reflection of the car without a sidepipe. Extra bonus is no burned legs.
All the best to you and your car!

Mike Forte

[Duke]

Last week I put a gopro on the cobra and took it for a ride. This was probably the last fall drive as it snowed last night. This is my first attempt at any type of video/editing so it may be a little rough. Anyways...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhLGAotxgAM

[sbhunter]

Very nice build. I love the clean look with no hood scoop or side pipes. Very nice sound to the car. Well done.

[rsw81]

We're not worthy!!

77259

[mlewis]

Duke,

Love the build thread and the end product. Much to learn from and much respect on the self-guided body work and paint.

Took delivery and started my build in August (still trying to get a build thread going...)

I'm local to you (i.e.Taxachusetts). I would love to connect with you sometime to get some insight and pointers on the registration and inspection process here in our lovely state.

Thanks again,

Mark

[tgamueda]

Thanks for taking all the time to post! Great reference thread for me!

[Duke]

New toy arrived Friday. I guess I gotta keep up with the Jones's (aka Scott) :p

930 turbo race car/street car. 440hp to the rear wheels, 2,500 lbs. wet. Pulls a little harder than the cobra, but I'm still waiting on fresh rubber and warmer weather before I line them up against each other. Waiting for spring to arrive before I can finally clean out the New England road salt/mud from the garage.

https://s26.postimg.cc/b7qsc7aqx/IMG_8109.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/56t3f4o4l/)
https://s26.postimg.cc/4itaxb555/Porsche930_Flames.jpg (https://postimages.cc/)

[wareaglescott]

SOOOO when you line them up against each other who is driving the 2nd one? (checking flights to Boston)

[Yama-Bro]

New toy arrived Friday. I guess I gotta keep up with the Jones's (aka Scott) :p

Quite often, members on the forum convince other members into purchasing upgrades for their FFR kits (help them spend their money)...but this is getting out of hand. I don't think my wife will go for this one. ;) HAHA

Sweet cars!

[Duke]

Updated the images to work again.

Just a quick pick from two weeks ago or so when I had opticoat ceramic applied.
https://s26.postimg.cc/e4cfwqdxl/IMG_8309.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/ze027ku85/)

[Boydster]

Thats Beautiful.

[WIS89]

Dude... I know your handle is Duke, but Dude!!!

You are killing me!! First that beautiful build. Now, that crazy Porsche!! Good grief. Frank is right, there's no way the wife will approve that one!!

Congratulations on the garage upgrade. Also, with the ceramic topcoat on the Roadster. I think it will really set off that stunning black paint!

Just for the record though. Scott got himself a NEW Porsche, and recently added an older Porsche to work on. Seems to me you are a Porsche short... Just sayin'...

Regards,

Steve

[wareaglescott]

Just for the record Ryan mentioned lining them up against each other when the weather got warmer. It is warmer and I will be seeing him this Wednesday! Which do I get to drive?

[Duke]

Just for the record Ryan mentioned lining them up against each other when the weather got warmer. It is warmer and I will be seeing him this Wednesday! Which do I get to drive?

Both, and yes we are lining them up...

[Duke]

Dude... I know your handle is Duke, but Dude!!!

You are killing me!! First that beautiful build. Now, that crazy Porsche!! Good grief. Frank is right, there's no way the wife will approve that one!!

Congratulations on the garage upgrade. Also, with the ceramic topcoat on the Roadster. I think it will really set off that stunning black paint!

Just for the record though. Scott got himself a NEW Porsche, and recently added an older Porsche to work on. Seems to me you are a Porsche short... Just sayin'...

Regards,

Steve

lol, thx. I have an architect currently working on a 40x32 garage for me so I can solve the space issue. After that, I have a 56 on the drawing board with a speedtech chassis and probably a TT LS motor, although I'm trying to see if my wife wants a classic 911 or a modern one made to look like a classic for her.

Something like these two...

https://s26.postimg.cc/wu7jnt8ex/56_Chevy.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
https://s26.postimg.cc/6e4vndumh/991_2_with_green_graphic_and_tail_2.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[WIS89]

Duke-

Great new project choices! I really like the relatively recent trend towards resto-mods. It can really make an older vehicle more user and even daily driver useful in many cases. To me, that is so much better than a trailer queen; in my opinion...

A 40 x 32 garage will be great! I am hoping my next place will have something similar, or that CINCHOUSE allows me to build one. I only have two moves left in me. One to my retirement house, and the next into a box. So, I need to get that retirement house just right! HA!

In the meantime, I will live vicariously through guys like you!! Awesome Duke!!

Regards,

Steve

[stevant]

Parking brake, done (minus the driveshaft bolts, they are now in).

https://s26.postimg.cc/6dr8c6b61/IMG_7024.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/7hbco4vt5/IMG_7026.jpg (https://postimage.cc)
https://s26.postimg.cc/vmc25ug3t/IMG_7027.jpg (https://postimage.cc)

Hey Ryan........what stops the caliper from moving within the groove when the brake is released? I know it can't go anywhere as the rotor will hold it from sliding out but what about movement and the pads rubbing against the rotor when turning? Am I missing something? Shouldn't that caliper be secured to the brace other than it sliding in? Mine is very loose...........

[Gordon Levy]

It floats, it has to or it would bind up

[stevant]

Ahhhhhhh...........

[SanDogDewey]

Last week I put a gopro on the cobra and took it for a ride. This was probably the last fall drive as it snowed last night. This is my first attempt at any type of video/editing so it may be a little rough. Anyways...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhLGAotxgAM

Beautiful car! I’d love to have one just like it.....in red!