Bill818
10-09-2016, 12:06 PM
Hello everyone!
Having just survived Hurricane Matthew, I'd like to introduce myself.
A little over a year ago I decided I needed a new hobby to keep me out of my wife's hair during my upcoming retirement years, and what could be more fun than trying to build your own car!
My previous experience with automobiles is confined to vehicles built in the last century (60's and 70's actually) and my tool kit consists primarily of a monkey wrench, a drywall saw, an engineer's hammer, a crowbar, and a slide rule - so this project might be something of a challenge for me. But I've already managed to disassemble the donor car (a 2007 WRX with 130k miles) and in doing so did learn quite a bit. For instance, a Harbor Freight air impact wrench works a lot better than a monkey wrench for loosening stubborn fasteners.
Anyway my 818c arrived a week ago Wednesday via Stewart Transport. And on a serious note, what a great, hassle free experience that was! Stewart Transport obviously makes customer satisfaction its highest priority, and they obviously regard Factory Five builders to be among their most important customers.
So now that the hurricane has passed, I can get on with the parts inventory and storage as soon as I finish with the yard cleanup and some fence repair. Given my lack of any metal fabricating or welding skills, the build will be mostly "by the book", but probably with some help with third party vendors whose products might simplify the build (such as the I-Wire harness). AC sure would be nice here in Florida, but incorporating that into the build might be beyond my skills.
Many thanks to all the members here who have thoughtfully documented their progress in the many build threads, and who have raised, addressed, and answered many important questions and issues. I wouldn't even consider undertaking a project such as this without the resources available on this forum. I'll contribute what I can even if it's mostly about "what not to do", and try to avoid bugging the forum members with too many stupid questions!
Now back to some more yard cleanup for the rest of the day!
Having just survived Hurricane Matthew, I'd like to introduce myself.
A little over a year ago I decided I needed a new hobby to keep me out of my wife's hair during my upcoming retirement years, and what could be more fun than trying to build your own car!
My previous experience with automobiles is confined to vehicles built in the last century (60's and 70's actually) and my tool kit consists primarily of a monkey wrench, a drywall saw, an engineer's hammer, a crowbar, and a slide rule - so this project might be something of a challenge for me. But I've already managed to disassemble the donor car (a 2007 WRX with 130k miles) and in doing so did learn quite a bit. For instance, a Harbor Freight air impact wrench works a lot better than a monkey wrench for loosening stubborn fasteners.
Anyway my 818c arrived a week ago Wednesday via Stewart Transport. And on a serious note, what a great, hassle free experience that was! Stewart Transport obviously makes customer satisfaction its highest priority, and they obviously regard Factory Five builders to be among their most important customers.
So now that the hurricane has passed, I can get on with the parts inventory and storage as soon as I finish with the yard cleanup and some fence repair. Given my lack of any metal fabricating or welding skills, the build will be mostly "by the book", but probably with some help with third party vendors whose products might simplify the build (such as the I-Wire harness). AC sure would be nice here in Florida, but incorporating that into the build might be beyond my skills.
Many thanks to all the members here who have thoughtfully documented their progress in the many build threads, and who have raised, addressed, and answered many important questions and issues. I wouldn't even consider undertaking a project such as this without the resources available on this forum. I'll contribute what I can even if it's mostly about "what not to do", and try to avoid bugging the forum members with too many stupid questions!
Now back to some more yard cleanup for the rest of the day!