Meindl Mk IV Build - Graduation

[Fixit]

Last summer with about 100 miles on the car, Mrs. Fixit & I took it to our lake cabin for the 4th of July weekend. +/- 360 miles round trip, 90% of it on highway between 55 & 70 mph.

Remind you that this is a fresh out of the crate Coyote, no tune, and nothing more than "There's no leaks, it runs good, lets go".

Best on the trip was 20.6 mpg on a 100-mile leg. Since then there's 2400 more miles on it, and depending upon the RH foot setting, it averages around 17 mpg.

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys! Taking care of some small, relatively straight-forward things recently. We installed the rear splash guards:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=126103&d=1586574112

And then we put the roll bar on the car. We had the roll bar on earlier in the go cart stage and drilled it then so this was just a matter of slotting it back in and tightening it up. I think we may try to get the roll bar chromed now that we've gone with the gas-n pipes, rather than keep it black as it currently is. Everywhere we've called around us is shut down right now so that could be a while before we get that done. I know it won't be easy given we'll need to get the powder coating off the roll bar, I think.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=126102&d=1586574092

Some good news on the speedo/odo front, I think. We talked to autometer tech support and walked through what it's doing and how it's not calibrating. It sound like there's something not working correctly in the speedo and so we can send it in to them and they'll fix it. Nice guys there at autometer. We lucked out as the speedometer is the one gauge on our dash that looks like it's relatively easy to get in and out with the body on - phew! :)

Enjoy the long weekend, guys!

[KDubU]

Very nicely done, looks like you’re all set for a summer of fun driving, perfect timing. Good choice on the GasN’s, they not only look fantastic but sound great.

Just a note on SBF’s fuel mileage, it depends a lot on your right foot and goes for every engine. With my 351w, I averaged 21mph on the highway cruising at 70-75 on the three hour cruises to the Open House. The Coyote should do the same, it’s around town and stoplights that get you and again how quick one launches.

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys, today we worked on adjusting the parking brake. It was working somewhat before in that it would hold the car on a slight slope but wasn't as strong as i would like it to be - if we all tried to push the car when the brake was on, we could. So today we removed the e brake cable & clevis's from the rod shown in the picture below (from the ffr manual):
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=126248&d=1586727805

We then shortened that rod by screwing it in some and reattached the clevis's. The cable's much tighter now and the brakes are stronger, which is good. However, I notice that the left brake is notably stronger than the right. In looking along the e brake cable as well as through the forum, I can't seem to find a good way to tighten just one side of the e brake mechanism. I'm sure I'm missing something straightforward here so I apologize... but is there an easy way to tighten one side of the ebrake mechanism? Thanks, guys!

[Railroad]

If you can post a pic of the cable ends on the e brake end, I am sure something can be suggested.

[PeteMeindl]

If you can post a pic of the cable ends on the e brake end, I am sure something can be suggested.

Thanks, Railroad - good point. Here's a picture - I think I could put something like a little washer (that's not quite completely circular so it could fit onto that cable) in where the green arrow is.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=126277&d=1586742846

[edwardb]

You shouldn't have to shim the cable like you're suggesting. Don't recall seeing anyone doing that. Certainly haven't myself. I'm not familiar with the brakes you have, but e-brakes typically have an internal adjustment mechanism. Sounds like yours are out of adjustment. Work there. Not on jury rigging the cables.

[Fixit]

Unless you have a separate caliper solely for E-brake, the service brake(s) caliper has an internal "screw-jack" mechanism for E-brake. This mechanism is also your self-adjuster for the rear brake pads. When the lever is pulled on the caliper, the piston is mechanically jacked out to press the pads. When released, it basically releases the mechanical pressure against the piston, and the piston stays where it was pushed.
With the E-brake lever down/off, the caliper levers at the stops/relaxed, and if your actuator cables are taut, but one wheel isn't grabbing as hard as the other I'd suspect one of the calipers isn't adjusted as "tight" as the other.
I have aftermarket 4wh discs on my '65 El Camino - using Caddy Seville rear calipers. One of the things stressed in the installation & maintenance instructions was to use the E-brake regularly, or cycle the E-brake a dozen or so times every so often to jack the pistons out to proper adjustment.

A quick check would be to (at the wheel) manually crank the actuator lever until there's resistance, and compare the throw side to side.

[PeteMeindl]

Thanks, Paul and John! I'll try those ideas out this weekend - thanks for the suggestions!

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys, hope everyone is doing ok. One small thing to update on over here - we installed some little hairpin cotter pins on the hood latch posts. A number of you have posted the good idea of adding something like this just in case the small allen screw comes loose and the latch is no longer tight up on the post. This will keep it from falling off and onto the ground during a drive. Thanks for the good idea, guys!

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=127991&d=1589054975

Other than this, we've been wrestling with the speedometer and odometer and trying to sort out our issues there. From talking to Autometer, it sounds like we're getting some extra power into the speedometer, perhaps from a bad diode in the alternator, they suggest... I'll post an update on that once we make a little more progress figuring it out... Enjoy the weekend!

[Jeff Kleiner]

]

Other than this, we've been wrestling with the speedometer and odometer and trying to sort out our issues there. From talking to Autometer, it sounds like we're getting some extra power into the speedometer, perhaps from a bad diode in the alternator...

Pete,
I'm not following that logic but...you can quickly determine if it's at play by simply unplugging the alternator and running just off the battery while calibrating and/or taking a short test drive.

Jeff

[PeteMeindl]

Pete,
I'm not following that logic but...you can quickly determine if it's at play by simply unplugging the alternator and running just off the battery while calibrating and/or taking a short test drive.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff! Yeah, that's exactly our plan to test the idea out. Right now we have a few things taken apart on the car so it can't run but once we put them back together, we'll test this out. Thanks!

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys!
It's been a little quiet over here on the car front lately. Kind of hard to believe but most things on the car are in pretty good shape these days. We've been driving a little with the warmer weather just for fun - the car feels good and we're enjoying it! We do have a few loose ends to tie up, of course. One of those we worked on this weekend. First we installed the aluminum panels in the trunk that cover the access areas to the fuel tank. Here they are:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128986&d=1590447603

Then we installed the trunk carpet - our first foray into carpeting... It seemed to go well, I think.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128987&d=1590447610

One side note. We've had such a good time stumbling along through this project that, as we near the end of it here, we've begun to think of the next project. This may make a lot of you laugh :), but we're thinking of trying to learn a little about engines and maybe buying an old 911 and seeing if we can figure out how to work on that. We'll see... We'll need to find a forum that's equally as helpful, that's for sure!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the memorial day weekend!

[PeteMeindl]

We installed the rubber boot around the shifter this weekend - it looks good and it feels much more polished than the old hole in the aluminum. Today we took the car out for a quick drive, and unfortunately, with the boot and the metal ring installed, the gear shift has a tendency to pop out of both 1st gear and reverse. It seems there's a little too much stuff between the shifter and the transmission tunnel with the carpet and the rubber boot and all. It looks like some others on the forum have had similar problems sometimes... We're trying to cut out as much carpet as we can to minimize this issue. But we may end up trying to get a bigger boot & ring or one made of another material if that might solve the issue.

[GTBradley]

We installed the rubber boot around the shifter this weekend - it looks good and it feels much more polished than the old hole in the aluminum. Today we took the car out for a quick drive, and unfortunately, with the boot and the metal ring installed, the gear shift has a tendency to pop out of both 1st gear and reverse. It seems there's a little too much stuff between the shifter and the transmission tunnel with the carpet and the rubber boot and all. It looks like some others on the forum have had similar problems sometimes... We're trying to cut out as much carpet as we can to minimize this issue. But we may end up trying to get a bigger boot & ring or one made of another material if that might solve the issue.

I'm sure you know this already, but I thought I'd check: which side do you have the shifter rod mounted on? It'll mount on either side but to get it centered in the hole it needed to be on the left side on mine.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=109241&d=1561004219

[PeteMeindl]

Thanks, Bradley! Good thought. Yes, I have my shifter mounted on the left side to get it centered as best I can, just like you have it on yours. I may need to widen out my hole in the aluminum a bit - that might help solve the problem. There's enough room to shift and have it stay in gear without the boot on, but the shifter gets quite close to the aluminum when in gear. Then I think throwing in the material from the boot into that small space between the aluminum and the shifter puts inward pressure on the shifter and it sometimes pops out of gear. So maybe a wider boot or a bigger hole in the aluminum will solve it. Thanks for the suggestion - have a great weekend! By the way, I like that Porsche quote you have on your signature! :)

[GTBradley]

Thanks, I hope you get some fun test drives in this weekend.

The hole I cut was 4", but I did have some difficulty getting the ring and boot to clear the shifter at first. What I discovered was that the whole tunnel cover was hanging up on the sides and sitting higher than it should have been. I used the 3m dual lock to hold the tunnel cover down and it clears just fine now.

[PeteMeindl]

Thanks, I hope you get some fun test drives in this weekend.

The hole I cut was 4", but I did have some difficulty getting the ring and boot to clear the shifter at first. What I discovered was that the whole tunnel cover was hanging up on the sides and sitting higher than it should have been. I used the 3m dual lock to hold the tunnel cover down and it clears just fine now.

That's a great idea - thanks a lot, Bradley! Our tunnel cover sits a little high as well - in fact, it sort of arches up a little bit over the top. If I could pull that down as you mention, that would certainly help my situation. Thanks a lot!

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys! We bought a wider shifter boot from Lokar and installed this recently. With the stock FFR shifter boot, the transmission would often pop out of gear and go into neutral, as mentioned above. The wider base of this shifter seems to solve the problem. Here's a picture of our cockpit with the new shifter.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=130663&d=1593372668

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys,

My wife Sarah, who has been just as involved in this build as I or my 2 sons have been, just got us this little metal plate to install in the car to memorialize the completion of the build. We still need to paint, of course, and there are some bugs that we still haven't worked out, but in general, we've been done with the car for a few weeks now and it's been running well. We've been really enjoying it!

We as a family owe so much to so many people on this forum for all the help you've given us to make this happen. Paul, Dave, Bradley, Jazzman, Scott, Fixit, Carl, Boydster, Yamabro, and so many more. As you all know, we came into this with little skill (and that's where we still are...) but with your generous and patient help we were able to do this. It's been a great experience to share with our 2 sons these last two years before they leave home this fall and it would never have happened without you. Thank you so much!

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=130664&d=1593372682

I'll keep you posted on anything of note for us (such as paint or if we manage to fix that speedometer...). In the meantime, we're trying to learn a little about engines by working on an old 911. We'll be just as in over our heads on that as we were here... :)

[GTBradley]

Congratulations Pete and family! You made it! Now the hard part, choosing a paint color.

[JB in NOVA]

Congratulations! So great that you got to build this car as a family -- your sons will remember this experience for the rest of their lives. FYI, I found your build thread very helpful, as I am also approaching this project with virtually no previous experience. Have fun with your new Roadster!

[PeteMeindl]

Congratulations Pete and family! You made it! Now the hard part, choosing a paint color.

Ha! Yeah, good point... :) Although we've toyed with a few ideas, I think in the end we'll be a classic blue with white stripes.

Thank you very much for your inspiration and help during the build, Bradley!

[PeteMeindl]

Congratulations! So great that you got to build this car as a family -- your sons will remember this experience for the rest of their lives. FYI, I found your build thread very helpful, as I am also approaching this project with virtually no previous experience. Have fun with your new Roadster!

Thanks a lot, JB! If nothing else, you can learn what not to do from looking at my thread! :)

You're making quick progress on yours, that's for sure. Looks great!

[initiator]

Pete - what a great adventure, congratulations!

[chmhasy]

When do you plan for the DMV inspection?

[D02G]

Hi Pete....Lets here some details on the 911 project. I'm thinking of one for my next project too. Are you doing a build thread on a 911 forum?

[PeteMeindl]

Hi Pete....Lets here some details on the 911 project. I'm thinking of one for my next project too. Are you doing a build thread on a 911 forum?

Hi D02G,
For the 911 project, we just got a 1986 Carrera Targa and we'd really love to learn about engines, so we're thinking about projects we can do there. We'll start out with some small projects but the long term goal would be to take the engine out and do a rebuild. What are you thinking about? Yup, I'll do a build thread for the 911 project as we'll need a lot of help there, just like we did here, probably on the pelican parts 911 forum. If you have other suggestions for 911 forums, let me know! Let me know your plans, too!

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys! It's been a while since I've had anything new to post. Still reading up on the forum, of course, to follow what you guys, my friends, are up to. But today I do have a little update. We just got our roll bar back from a chrome shop. We installed it and we're really happy with how it looks. Here it is:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=132308&d=1595543416

We should've gone with chrome from ffr originally but we didn't know what we wanted back when we ordered the kit... The chrome roll bar looks nice with the side pipes - we're very happy with it. Other than that we're doing well and having some fun driving the cobra and working on the next project (which is in the background of the picture). A whole new learning curve!

Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy!

[D02G]

Hi Pete,

Is someone in CT doing the body and paint?

[PeteMeindl]

Hi DO2G,
We're going to send our car to Jeff Kleiner to get it painted.
Hope you are doing well!
Pete

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys!
I've been following along with many of your threads but it's been quite a while since I posted so I thought I'd give a quick update, especially as the driving season comes to a close up here in new england. Our car is doing really well and we're very happy with it. We've been getting it out on the nice weekends for a spin around the neighborhood and we really enjoy it. It's been running well and we haven't had any problems, which has been great. About the only issue is our speedometer/odometer still does not work that well so we'll try to tackle that one of these days but it doesn't really impinge on our enjoyment of the car. We're still waiting to get it painted and I'll certainly post some pictures once we do.
Well, just wanted to say hi. Thanks again to everyone on this forum for being so helpful to us - we are so appreciative of you guys!
Pete

[GTBradley]

Hi!

[PeteMeindl]

Hi guys!

I hope everyone is doing well and ready for a great summer. Our car has been away for a while for paint but it is now done and back in our hands and so I think it's time for some official graduation pictures. We had it painted by Ron Randall at Metal-Morphous in North Haven CT and our colors are Lexus indigo blue and GM summit white. We're very happy with how it all turned out. Thank you again to all of you guys, especially Paul, Papa, and Bradley - but many others as well - for all of the help and support along the way. This community is fantastic and we never could have done this great family adventure without you. I truly appreciate it.

Pete

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=149903&d=1624739478

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=149902&d=1624739478

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=149904&d=1624739478

By the way, as an aside, it's amazing how different the blue looks in the first and third picture despite both being in the sun. Just a little bit of cloud cover in the first 2 pictures really changes the hue. Works out well as i like the blue in the 3rd picture and Sarah likes it more in the first two so we both get our first choice sometimes! :)

Thanks again, guys!

[Joel Hauser]

It looks great. Congratulations. Definitely "picture of the month" material.

[Papa]

Great work, Pete! Beautiful colors, too.

[GoDadGo]

Congratulations Mr. Pete!
..........Well Done!

[BadAsp427]

Pete, you and the family did an amazing job.... congratulations.... Now, park it back in the living room (I remember) and watch Ford vs Ferrari, only now you have seats...

[WIS89]

Pete-

Congratulations on finishing up a beautiful build! I know the memories of building that car together will endure for a very long time. And, I have no doubt that tall tales will be told well into the future.

Thank you for sharing your progress with us, and allowing us to enjoy your work. I hope you have years of trouble free enjoyment from her; all the best!

Regards,

Steve

[Straversi]

Congratulations. When the body got stored in the living room you were an instant hero. This has been a fun build to follow and the results are fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
-Steve.

[egchewy79]

congrats. yes, the body in the house was a great example of how supportive an accomodating our significant others need to be during this process. very nice job on the build. now go enjoy it!

[Kmcallahan]

Good looking car! Well done.

[GTBradley]

Nice work Meindls! What a great family project. You all can be proud of your teamwork.

Congratulations, Pete. I love it.

Bradley