Andy LV Hot Rod Build # 1196

[e36m3]

Like many on forum this the beginning of fulfilling a lifelong dream of building a car, something I’ve been working toward for 10 years.

Back on 1/31/2020, I used some of work frequent flyer miles and visited FFR with the goal of deciding on a Hot Rod or Truck.
I’m 6’1” so I figured I end up with truck due to head room, but Tony at FFR said I’d end up with a Hot Rod. Tony was right, I fit in the gen 2 Hot Rod much better. The truck didn’t have enough leg room and the steering wheel seemed close.
The next decision was stick or auto tranny, I went with a stick. I sat in two 33 Hot Rods with sticks at FFR and thought both had plenty of leg room.
FYI, the Speedster my head hit the roof and the covertible with deluxe nose my head just brushed the inside of the roof.

On 2/5/2020, I placed my order for the following:
Full 33 Hot Rod Kit
32 Deluxe nose w/ hood and side covers
Hard Top
Power windows
3 link Moser rear end with brake upgrade
Black leather seats upgrade – I’ve had multiple back surgeries and the individual seats felt better for my back than the bench seat.
Bike Fenders
AC

When I started out thinking about engines I looked into Coyotes, then GM LSs, read a bunch of 33 build threads, and then had an 86 Ford 5.0L HO and T5 fall in my lap for next nothing. 86 is the first year for a roller cam in the Ford Windsor family. The T5 is rebuilt, but the 5.0L needed to be rebuilt.

I’ve owned a 1995 BMW M3 for 15 years that I’ve taken to open track day events at Gingerman and Grattan road courses for the last 8 or 9 years. The M3 weighs about 3,200lbs and has modified inline 6 that has 250hp at the wheels. The M3 is faster on track than I am and can hit 60mph in 5.5 to 6 secs w/o beating on the car too hard.

My plan was to farm out the engine machine work out and do the my first engine rebuild, targeting 325 to 350hp.
But, at the end of February I fell and tore the rotator cuff in my right shoulder so I had CD Engines in Hudsonville, MI rebuild the engine for me.
2,200lbs and 325hp will be fast and I think a good balance, this car will see some track time.

My FFR kit was delivered on 5/6.
Due to covid-16, my shoulder surgery finally happened on last week on 5/19.
For the next 5 weeks, my right arm will be a sling and then I’ll be on weight limit for a few more weeks :(

I was able to get few things done before surgery and I'll post info on that shortly.

Thanks,
Andy

[JOP33]

Congratulations and good luck! Let the fun begin.

[e36m3]

Eric with Stewart Transport delivered my kit. Todd and Eric with Stewart were great to work with.129068129069129070
Eric is great guy and was very helpful with unloading the kit and helping me get the kit in my barn.
33 boxes of parts.
Here are some pics.

[e36m3]

It took me 8 to 9 hours to do the inventory.
It is pretty impressive that in 33 boxes of parts I only found a few errors. This what was missimg.

I ordered the bike finder kit and FFR sent me two sets of front fenders, 1 pair of front bike fenders & pair of full front fenders, and no rear fenders.
I’m missing the two 34746 under aluminum floor pieces.
Left and right door sills were missing.
A/C condenser box


I sent Dave Brigham an email and he said he'll get the missing parts sent out once the covid-19 lockdown is lifted.

The POL list highlights are:

left and right upper control arms
32 grill insert
heater control module


Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

JOP33, I found your build thread useful. Just not sure about the Cowboys theme :) I'm grew up in Packer country in the 70s, but became a Lions fan watching Billy Sims in the 80s - not sure why...

[RoadRacer]

Welcome to the fun! Keep posting as you move along!

[FF33rod]

Welcome to the family Andy, look forward to seeing and hearing more of your build as it progresses

Steve

[JOP33]

JOP33, I found your build thread useful. Just not sure about the Cowboys theme :)

No worries...I get that a lot! :rolleyes:

[JimLev]

Welcome to the 33 hotrod forum. Let the fun begin.
Add all of your car info (like a lot of us have) so when you ask questions we'll know what engine, drivetrain, etc you have.

[peterh226]

Welcome to the fun! It will be interesting to see if you have some of the body fitment issues. What Rear end are you planning on?

[e36m3]

Hi Peterh226,
3 link rearend Moser through FFR.
I see you are from Pickney, I live in Holland, MI. My sister lives Howell and my dad is in Brighton. I'd like to stop by sometime to check out your car.
I expect to have the same body fit issues everyone else has, part of the fun.

Andy

[e36m3]

1986 Mustang 5.0L HO roller cam block bored 0.030” over for 306cu”
Aluminum Speedmaster As-Cast Cylinder Heads PCE281-2048
• Combustion Chamber Volume (cc): 62 cc
• Intake Runner Volume (cc): 190 cc
• Intake Valve Diameter (in): 2.020 in.
• Exhaust Valve Diameter (in): 1.600 in.
COMP Cams Xtreme Energy 35-518-8
• Basic Operating RPM Range:2,200-6,200
• Intake Duration at 050 inch Lift:224
• Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift:232
• Duration at 050 inch Lift:224 int./232 exh.
• Advertised Duration:274 int./282 exh.
• Lobe Separation (degrees):112
Eldenbrock AVS2 carb
Eldenbrock RPM Air Gap intake
MSD Pro-Billet Ready-To-Run Distributors 8352
March Performance 30135 Ford 302 alternator air conditioning deluxe high flow pulley bracket polished kit with P410 polished AC compressor and P561 alternator Ford 140 amp polished

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Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

After inventory was complete, since the upper control arms are on back order the first thing I tackled was installing the three link rear end.

The only challenge that I ran into is to get the bushings on the lower control arms into the frame brackets.
What I did with those is I started the bushings into the frame brackets on one side and then used a wide blade screwdriver to barely start the other side of the bushing into the bracket.
I then hit the control arm with a dead blow hammer to get the rear control arm bushing fully into the frame brackets and aligned.

With having torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder and being right handed, installing the rear end by myself was a challenge.

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[e36m3]

Welcome to the 33 hotrod forum. Let the fun begin.
Add all of your car info (like a lot of us have) so when you ask questions we'll know what engine, drivetrain, etc you have.

I'll update my profile with my car info once i reach 20 posts which is when FFR allows users to edit their profiles. 7 more posts to go:rolleyes:

[wallace18]

Very nice looking engine for sure!:cool:

[LonDart]

That's going to be a very nice build
Lon

[Blade]

Love that mill you've built. Would it be more practical for the compressor to be on the right since the bulkhead fittings come out there? You may have other plans.

[e36m3]

Shoulder has finally healed up enough where I can start working on the car again, still on a 5lb weight limit on the right arm thou :mad:

All my POL parts have come in except the shifter boot.

I've been doing some prep work to get some parts powder coated.
The powder coater is worried that on the upper and lower ball joints that grease will come out of the boots when they go into the 400F oven to cure.

For sand blasting, I put the boot on the upper control arm stacked some washers on the boot and tighten the castle nut hand tight to put some pressure on the boot. Then I wrapped it up with masking tape, see picture.

Those of you that have powder coated the ball joint hardware, how did you handle the ball joints?

Thanks,

Andy

[RoadRacer]

All my POL parts have come in except the shifter boot.


Ha! Same. My POL boxes came a couple days ago and that's the only part left.

[e36m3]

Love that mill you've built. Would it be more practical for the compressor to be on the right since the bulkhead fittings come out there? You may have other plans.

Hi Blade, sorry I missed your question from back in June.
You are correct, it would be more it be more practical for the compressor to be on the right side. I decided to go with a March pulley system and their system has the compressor on the driver side. I'll have to figure out how to route the compressor lines.

[JimLev]

Andy, other have cut the welds to remove the BJ so the heat doesn’t melt the grease.
Then re-weld it after it is powder coated.

[progmgr1]

Ha! Same. My POL boxes came a couple days ago and that's the only part left.

I'm not using the shifter boot that came with my kit (auto trans). Either of you is welcome to it, if you pay the postage for me to mail it to you (probably padded envelope via USPS). Just PM me with a name and street address and I'll get it on its way. Keith HR #894

[sethmark]

Andy,
Take the upper arm and spray it liberally with brake cleaner moving it around by hand until there is no grease left. This process will take a few minutes. Then put the part in the oven for 30 minutes or so which will sweat out the Remaining grease before the powder coat. I did not get any drips when I powder coated mine using this method.

[e36m3]

Andy, other have cut the welds to remove the BJ so the heat doesn’t melt the grease.
Then re-weld it after it is powder coated.

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback.
I've been meaning to you what size brakes did you go with on the back of your car? A while back I was looking at some pictures of your car in your build thread and thought I like the way the rotor looks in regards to the wheel size. For some reason big wheels and little rotors bugs me...

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Andy,
Take the upper arm and spray it liberally with brake cleaner moving it around by hand until there is no grease left. This process will take a few minutes. Then put the part in the oven for 30 minutes or so which will sweat out the Remaining grease before the powder coat. I did not get any drips when I powder coated mine using this method.

Seth,
Thanks for info on the upper arms. Did you do the samething on the lower ball joints?

Thanks,
Andy

[sethmark]

Absolutely I did. I had in house powdercoat so I had total control of the process. Flocking the parts (heating before powder coating) is a good habit anyway.

Cutting and rewelding is absurd. And I’m a welder.

[JimLev]

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback.
I've been meaning to you what size brakes did you go with on the back of your car? A while back I was looking at some pictures of your car in your build thread and thought I like the way the rotor looks in regards to the wheel size. For some reason big wheels and little rotors bugs me...

Thanks,

Andy

My wheels aren’t really that big, 17” in the front and 18” in the rear. The rotors do a good job of filling the space.
The front rotors are 11”, the rears are 11”.

[Blade]

Seth is right. I did exactly as he mentioned, brake clean the joint, cook out the rest in the dedicated stove and hot flock. worked for me.133630133631133632

[e36m3]

Last week I got a bunch of parts powder coated by a powder coating shop that is just down the street from where I work.
I sandblasted the parts before dropping them off. I had 27 parts coated in a polyester stain black finish for $162. I was expecting it to cost more.
Seth and Blade thanks for your feedback on using the brake cleaner.

My wife was out of town this weekend so I had all weekend to work on the hot rod.:cool:
I got the front suspension mounted and brakes mounted.

I had two problems, the first was on the upper control arms getting the 0.21" spacers to fit with the upper shock bushing. Some time with the belt sander with the spacers took care of this.

The 2nd problem involved torquing down the calipeir bolts.
The front caliper mounting bolts have a 12 point 12mm head on them.
I do not have very many 12 point sockets.
As someone in grew up in the rust belt, in my opinion 12 point sockers all are only good for is rounding stuck bolt heads.
So it took me 10 minutes of digging through a jar of loose sockets to find one.
I found one that was part of an 40+ year old socket set my dad had.

These have to torqued down to 90ft-lbs, the 3rd one I tighten down the torque wrench made a funny sound and the socket popped off the head.
After about 5 minutes of checking the torque wrench out and looking at the 12 point bolt I realized the 12 point 12mm socket had cracked.
I guess I’ll find out how well Lowes warrants Craftsman tools….

The satin black powder coating on the suspension is a little shinier than I was expecting, but the moser rear end is painted with glosss black so it kind of looks like I planned it that way:p

Here is a couple of pics.

[FF33rod]

If you want to match the FFR satin black, Prismatic Powders Silk Satin Black is excellent. The stuff is inexpensive so maybe pick up some and provide to your powder coater next time or maybe he can pick it up even cheaper.... Looking good though!

Steve

[j33ptj]

So it took me 10 minutes of digging through a jar of loose sockets to find one.
I found one that was part of an 40+ year old socket set my dad had.

These have to torqued down to 90ft-lbs, the 3rd one I tighten down the torque wrench made a funny sound and the socket popped off the head.
After about 5 minutes of checking the torque wrench out and looking at the 12 point bolt I realized the 12 point 12mm socket had cracked.
I guess I’ll find out how well Lowes warrants Craftsman tools….


Guess you put an order in with Snap-on!!! Good quality tools is a lifetime investment!

[e36m3]

Made some more progress, Fire Wall and Steering installed.

Everything went wlll, the only minor thing I ran into was the instruction manual says to cut one of the steering shafts to 14 3/8", I had to cut my down a little shorter to keep the steering shaft from hitting inside one of the u-joints.

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Thanks,

Andy

[FF33rod]

Good progress. Looking like the power steering motor is almost pointing straight down, likely significantly below the frame. You may want to look at clocking that a bit to get it higher - needs to work in conjunction with the oil pan...

Steve

[e36m3]

Steve,

Thanks for the feedback, that hadn't registered with me yet. Right now I only have it held in place one bolt, I'm running an aftermarket oil pan and need to figure out the angle to clear the pan.

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Tuesday night I was mounting the brackets for the brake and clutch switch. When I went to mount the clutch switch I found I was missing one of nuts.
I cleared the work bench, swept the floor, looked under the bench, and etc after 10 minutes I figured the same gremlin that steals socks out of the dryer laid claim to the nut.
Last night I stopped at the hardware store to get another 1/2-20 nut.
Of course after I bought another nut I found the missing one. It was attached to a magnetic strip on the top of my battery drill :p

Thanks,

Andy

[FF33rod]

LOL, you're not alone! I thought it would get better later in the build but it hasn't

Steve

[JOP33]

Tuesday night I was mounting the brackets for the brake and clutch switch. When I went to mount the clutch switch I found I was missing one of nuts.
I cleared the work bench, swept the floor, looked under the bench, and etc after 10 minutes I figured the same gremlin that steals socks out of the dryer laid claim to the nut.
Last night I stopped at the hardware store to get another 1/2-20 nut.
Of course after I bought another nut I found the missing one. It was attached to a magnetic strip on the top of my battery drill :p

Thanks,

Andy

I learned a long time ago, to avoid the wasted time, just go ahead and buy another nut (part) and the original one when then appear...it is such a great timesaver now!

Signed: MT Pockets

[peterh226]

Boltdepot.com is one of your new friends. I’ve tried to use button head screws where I can and also have to get different length stuff all the time. No matter how many I get, still seem to use them. Also I have one of the harbor freight bins on wheels organizers to attempt to keep this all together. Once I’ve determined the right bolts for an application, then they go in a ziplock bag during one of the many periods of disassembly.

[FF33rod]

Good point on the zip lock bags Peter, I do the same thing. Mark on the outside where it's from and it becomes so much easier when everything is going back together...

Steve

[e36m3]

I've ntoced in some other build threads that guys had used coupling nuts to allow easy removal of the front bike finders.
I order some class 10.9 harndened parts from McMaster Carr.
High-Strength Class 10.9 Steel Hex Head Screw M12 x 1.75 mm Thread, 50 mm Long, Fully Threaded https://www.mcmaster.com/91310A727/
36mm Long High-Strength Steel Coupling Nut Class 10, M12 x 1.75 mm Thread https://www.mcmaster.com/90331A554/

I used a digital calipier to scrib a cut line on the tubes that came with the bike fenders. Then I used my cheap harbor freight cut off wheel to trim the tubes down to the right height.
Here are some pictures of how it turned out. I was surprised I was able to get the spacers so close to the same length.

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Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

I got the pedal box, brake lines installed, and the brakes bled. Power bleeder came in real handy.
I'm glad to have running the hard lines for the brakes behind me, it was all pretty straight forward except for when my two post lift got stuck all the way up :(

After a couple of hours of I finally go the lift to go back down, whew...
I had gotten lazy about keeping the slides on the lift lubed and it had been a while since I'd had anything on the lift up that high.
Lots of WD-40 and some little careful prying finallyy got things moving again. I've applied liberal amounts of white lithium grease on the lift now.

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

I went the traditional route with American Racing VNCL 205 Classic Torq-Thrust II Gray Painted Wheels with polished lips.
Fronts are 17x9 with 5.5" back spacing (12mm offset)
Rears are 17x11 with 6" back spacing (0mm offset)

I tried ordering the wheels and tires through TireRack since I buy tires for my M3 every other year from them. The person I tlaked to on the phone at Tirerack didn't seem really interested in helping me out since the wheels were not stock items. I was really surpised at that.

I then stopped by my local Belle Tire told what I was looking for. The manager took my info and said he'd get back to me, never heared back from him.
The next day I stopped at the a local OK Tire shop. The guy there was really helpful and honest with me. He said that they order their wheels through www.carid.com and told me to go out to there and order them to save me the markup he'd have to do. I'll be do some more busniness with OK Tire.

This is a link to the page. https://www.carid.com/american-racing-wheels/vncl205-classic-torq-thrust-ii-2pc-gray-polished-lip-479585.html.
I didn't trust that I'd get the right offsets for the wheels via ordering from the website so I called them. Jarred Jimenez Phone: 888.978.3395 x8718 at carid.com was very helpful and I'm confident I'll get the right wheels.

The tires I ordered are NITTO - NT555 G2 https://www.carid.com/nitto-tires/nt555-g2-96195603.html
255/40/17 Front
315/35/17 Back.
To make sure my tires fit within FFR recommedations for the bike fenders I used this website to look up tire diameter and width. https://tiresize.com/calculator/
Jarred at carid.com verfied the sizes for me.
So far so good, intially I was told the wheels with mounted tires would ship middle of November. I got an email Friday last week that the American Racing will not ship the wheels until 1/8/21, bummer.

The chassis is a roller now and I need to move off my lift to do some work on my M3 so over the weekend I picked up four wheels and tires for $200, see picture below.
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17" Cragar SS wheels weigh a ton!

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

It’s been a month since my last update, I’ve either been at working OT at my day job or out in the garage working on the hot rod.
In that time I’ve got the following done.

Drilled the holes for the floor pans. Good high quality carbide drill bits and a power drill made this much easier than I anticipated. It took a few hours of work and it was done.

Installed the clutch. This took much longer than I anticipated. The engine, bell housing, clutch fork, and T5 transmission all came from different cars so I carefully measured everything per the Centerforce directions, lucky everything lines up within the stated Centerforce tolerances.
Pulling the old pilot bearing was a bit of pain since the engine shop forgot to pull the old bearing for me. I tried kluging up something to pull the pilot bearing, but I finally just bought a puller on Amazon. I should have just ordered the puller to begin with, it would have saved me a couple evenings of fiddling around.

My youngest son was home for a weekend and we got the engine and tranny dropped into the chassis. Everything lined up and dropped in with ease.
The only minor problem I ran into was the oil filter hitting the electric power steering motor. I think the engine currently has a PH16 size filter on the engine. I think I need a PH8. Can anyone verify this?

Now that the engine is temporarily in place I’m working on figuring out what needs to mount where on the firewall.

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Thanks,

Andy

[RoadRacer]

The trick I learned for removing pilot bearings was stuff with grease and then hammer in the install tool.. the grease hydraulics out the bearing. Works remarkably well.

[progmgr1]

The only minor problem I ran into was the oil filter hitting the electric power steering motor. I think the engine currently has a PH16 size filter on the engine. I think I need a PH8. Can anyone verify this?

I'm running a Coyote, but had the same issue. I was not able to find a filter that would fit and that could be removed after it was installed. I had to go to the remote oil filter kit that FFR supplied with the Coyote install parts. If you want to find a filter, I suggest looking at the Wix site (https://www.wixfilters.com/ProductsAutoOil.aspx). It can be searched and sorted by filter size and other parameters. HTH Keith HR #894

[33fromSD]

The trick I learned for removing pilot bearings was stuff with grease and then hammer in the install tool.. the grease hydraulics out the bearing. Works remarkably well.

Yup...this is what I've done in the past too...works great....

[HerculezJT]

Yup...this is what I've done in the past too...works great....

you can use bread as well if you dont have grease. Honey Wheat gave me the best results :)

[e36m3]

Like everyone else, I had to grind down 1” x 1” tubing that runs above the gas tank to get the gas tank to slide into place, especially with the sound deadener installed under the tank.

I’m running a carb, but my 86 5.0L block doesn’t come with a mechanical fuel pump so I bought the FRR fuel injection kit. I ran the braided fuel lines that came with the kit along the passenger side frame up to the fuel pressure regulator.

I didn’t realize that the fuel pressure regulator output that comes with the FFR kit cannot be turned down to 6psi so I had to buy another fuel pressure regulator that has a lower output.

Most low pressure output regulators cannot handle the high input pressure that the FFR fuel pump puts out. I ordered the regulator and gauge from Summit Racing, Trick Flow® TFX™ Universal Bypass Regulator TFS-27001 and Aeromotive Fuel Pressure Gauge 15632.

I didn’t like the idea of running the fuel lines through the transmission/drive shaft tunnel so I ran the fuel lines along the passenger side of the frame. This forced my to mount the fuel pressure regulator lower on the fie wall and closer to the exhaust than I would have liked. I think I’ll make a heat shield to mount on the exhaust pipe to keep heat away from the fuel regulator.

[e36m3]

After I was happy with where everyting was mounted on the firewall, I pulled the engine back out and removed the firewall.
I sanded down the firewall and then used Eastwood's 2K clearcoat to seal the firewall.
Sealed and riveted the firewall to the chassis and reinstalled the engine.

[e36m3]

The engine shop that built the engine for used a PH8 filter, this filter hit the electric power steering.
I switched to a PH16 filter.

[e36m3]

I bought the Summit brand shorty stainless steel headers and some stainless steel 12 point bolts.
I took an old 3/8 combination end wrench and ground down the boxend of the wrench becuase I knew it would be a tight fit to fit the wrench in between the header pipes and the bolt heads.
I'm a little disappointed in the Summit headers, in 4 spots even with the wrench ground down I still couldn't get the wrench to fit with the bolts turned in as far as I coudl with my fingers.
I had to pull the headers back off the engine, heat the 4 pipes up red hot, then bang the pipes in a little near the header flange to have enough clearance to slide the wrench between the pipe and the bolt head.
Since the heads are aluminum I used anit-seize on the bolts and star lock washers. I was careful not to over torque the bolts in the aluminmum heads.

[e36m3]

I roughed in the mufflers to drill the holes for the mouning brackets prior to installing the floor.

[j33ptj]

I bought the Summit brand shorty stainless steel headers and some stainless steel 12 point bolts.
I took an old 3/8 combination end wrench and ground down the boxend of the wrench becuase I knew it would be a tight fit to fit the wrench in between the header pipes and the bolt heads.
I'm a little disappointed in the Summit headers, in 4 spots even with the wrench ground down I still couldn't get the wrench to fit with the bolts turned in as far as I coudl with my fingers.
I had to pull the headers back off the engine, heat the 4 pipes up red hot, then bang the pipes in a little near the header flange to have enough clearance to slide the wrench between the pipe and the bolt head.
Since the heads are aluminum I used anit-seize on the bolts and star lock washers. I was careful not to over torque the bolts in the aluminmum heads.

Curious of Allen bolts would have worked in this? Better access....

[cob427sc]

My HR has a Buick Nailhead engine and I bought Sanderson Headers. They came with allen bolts but still required a little playing with to get them in and tight. I used anti-sieze on the bolts anf have had to re-torque several times.

[e36m3]

j33ptj,
Before breaking out the torch and hammer, I tried socket cap allen head bolts and found the height of the socket cap to be a problem.
I figured allen head bolts would be the solution, but I was suprised to find the added height of the socket cap prevented me from being able to start the allen bolts without running into the header pipes.
Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

My HR has a Buick Nailhead engine and I bought Sanderson Headers. They came with allen bolts but still required a little playing with to get them in and tight. I used anti-sieze on the bolts anf have had to re-torque several times.

Buick nailhead will look cool in a HR, old school. The guy who built my engine told me to put anti-seize on or later on I'll never get the header bolts out of the aluminum head.
Retorqing header bolts reminds me of high school, I had a 71 Chevelle that the header bolts seemed come loose every few weeks. Are you running any kind of a lock washer?
Thanks,
Andy

[cob427sc]

There is a small lock washer on the bolts but it seems that just the bolt must expands due to the heat. ARP makes a similar bolt that has a locking clip made for just this purpose and I might investigate these. The bolts I have are stainless and I don't dare installing them without using anti-seize as SS has a tendency to gaul.

[e36m3]

What size are the drive shaft bolts on a 8.8 rear end?

[e36m3]

Google search says drive shaft bolts are M12X1.75X27mm

[e36m3]

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I got these items done.


Mounted the fuel pressure regulator, AC Dryer bracket, and overflow coolant tank.
Fixed a brake line leak, had to tighten up the line going into the T for the front brakes.

Installed the aluminum floors pans, the biggest thing I learned doing this is to make sure the 3M 5200 Marine adhesive is warmed up to room temperature before trying to use a caulking gun to dispense it. It doesn't flow well at all when cold. My hands were killing me when I was done. I used a lot more of the 5200 adhesive than what FFR recommends I think because I couldn't get it flow when cold, good thing we have a West Marine in town where I could go buy more of the 5200.

Installed the clutch cable.

Installed the carb, accelerator pedal, and ran the throttle cable. Throttle cable installation was pretty straight foward, but I found out I need to move the overflow coolant tank because it was in the way of the throttle cable :(

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

I was able to take about 3 or 4 inches out of the width of the transmission tunnel to maximize foot room. The T5 tranny is pretty narrow.
When I narrowed the tunnel the clutch arm hit the tunnel, so I cut out a section of the tunnel around the clutch arm and the fiberglassed in area to clear the clutch arm.

After cutting out the area, I used the corner of a box to create the form of the new fiberglass area.
I wrapped the corner of the box with a plastic garbage bag so the fiberglass wouldn’t stick to the box.
Then I used duct tape to hold the box to the tunnel when the fiberglass was applied.
I used a couple layers of fiberglass mat and let the resin cure.

thanks,

Andy

[33fromSD]

That looks really Andy....curious, what are you using for fiberglass mat, resin and harder? I have some odds and ends repairs to do.

I have a T5 as well but running the hydraulic slave cylinder mounted to the side of the T5 I may not get as much space as you did but I'd like to get another 1-2" of foot room if possible.

Thanks, Jim

[e36m3]

That looks really Andy....curious, what are you using for fiberglass mat, resin and harder? I have some odds and ends repairs to do.

I have a T5 as well but running the hydraulic slave cylinder mounted to the side of the T5 I may not get as much space as you did but I'd like to get another 1-2" of foot room if possible.

Thanks, Jim

Hi Jim,
Happy New Year!
Here is what I'm using.

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

Had a little free time today and got the parking brake installed.
I think this was the 1st thing I've done on the project that took less time to do than I expected :)
Great way to start the new year off!
Thanks,
Andy

[33fromSD]

Hi Jim,
Happy New Year!
Here is what I'm using.

Thanks,
Andy

Thanks Andy...Happy New Year to you as well..... Here is hoping 2021 is a little more "normal" (whatever that means anymore) than 2020.

Thanks for sharing what material you're using. Jim

[e36m3]

When I put the front suspension together I didn't do a very good job of eye balling the toe in or camber.
Once I put some old tires and wheels it was obvious that the toe and camber wre out in left field.
So I got out the angle gauge and started making adjustments.
The drivers side went okay. I adjusted the toe on the drivers side 1st then the camber.
Found out that Camber really affects toe in, espically when you have about 5 degrees of neg camber...

Start working on the passenger side and things went side ways.
Started to adjust camber and the linkage adjuster that threads into the lower tubular control arm would only turn a couple of degrees and stop.

It was stuck enough that I decided to pop the lower ball joint out and get the control arm in a vice.
Put the control in the vice with some rubber around arm to protect the powder coating, I could only get the linkage adjuster to turn about 1 turn by squirting WD40 and Rust Blaster into the threads.
Eventually it stopped turning at all.

For some reason the threads of the control arm and linkage adjuster have galled together. I didn't use any tools in threading the stuff together.

Called FFR and they said they'd send me a new control arm, Left hand nut, and linkage adjuster. Unfortuantely the linkage adjusters are on back order :(

I got the oxyactelene torch out and heated the control arm up red hot and started cranking on it with a breaker bar. Didn't budge initially then is started to move, yeah!
I thought I had it coming apart when the linakge adjuster snapped off...

I've got a lot of other things to work on so it won't hold me up. Part of the fun, right??

Thanks,
Andy

[FF33rod]

Ouch. that sucks. Don't forget that the adjustment changes with ride height

Steve

[RoadRacer]

Ouch! :(

[e36m3]

In late September I ordered American Racing VNCL 205 Classic Torq-Thrust II Gray Painted Wheels with polished lips with NITTO - NT555 G2s tires. Intially I was told the wheels with mounted tires would ship middle of November. In October I got an email from CARID week that the American Racing will not ship the wheels until 1/8/21. Covid and all, I get it on lead times.

On 1/14/21, I called CARID to find out what the status of my order is. The 1st shipment of wheel that American Racing sent to CARID the wheeel offsets were wrong so CARID sent them back.
The 2nd shipment from American Racing sent to CARDID the wheels were correct, but one was damaged. Looks like I'm looking at another 6 to 8 weeks :(

I'm bummed that I still have to wait, but its winter here in Michigan so its not like I need the wheels and tires right now. I've got a set of old wheels and tire to move the chassis around with.

I do appreciate CARID checking the wheels to make sure they are right, it saved me a lot of shipping hassles. CARID credited my credit card $100 for my troubles.

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Guys with the Deluxe 32 nose, where did you put the radiator fan thermo switch?
The bung that is welded into the radiator is for the draincock.

Thanks,

Andy

[sethmark]

Computer of the LS! Not helpful, I realize.


The two easiest spots or if there’s a free hole in the intake manifold or a port on the side of one of the heads. Otherwise, get a thermostat housing that’s drilled and tapped for a bung.

[JimLev]

Something like this but with the correct ID for the lower hose.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/atm-2280

One of these should work...
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Radiator+hoes+adaptor+with+temp+sensor+port&ref=nb_sb_noss

The 32 radiator doesn’t come with a bung for the fan switch and a peacock like the ‘33 radiator?

[FF33rod]

THat's weird it doesn't come with one. To me the intake manifold doesn't make any sense as that doesn't show the temp of the water in the radiator which is what the fan controls. However, maybe there isn't a choice.

Steve

[JimLev]

If the fan sensor was in the intake manifold the temp rating of the sensor would have to be much higher than the sensor used in the bottom of the radiator.

[e36m3]

Seth, Jim, and Steve, thanks for the responses.

The 32 nose radiator set up is different than the 33 nose, see the pictures below.
My intake and thermostat housing both have ports that the thermo switch could be mounted in, so that would that would be convenient.

With the 180 degree switch that FFR provides, I do agree that it seems like the fan would be on most of the time if the thermo switch was in the intake or thermostat housing.
I’d like to go with the lower rad hose. I put an electric fan on my 95 M3 a few years ago and that fan only runs when the car is stationery, ever after running it hard on the track.

I'm not crazy about the corrugated hose that FFR uses. I may change it, but I haven't given it any thought yet.
The lower radiator hose exits at the middle of the radiator, basically pointing right at where the bottom of the front shocks mount I have to do a hard 90 right out of the rad.

I don’t have a tubing bending like Seth has😊, so I’ll have to see what I can come up with for preformed radiator hoses. Any recommendations for website that sell hoses?
I’ll look at it tonight in the garage and see what length I need.

I may still go with higher temperature thermo switch in the intake too...

thanks,

Andy

[RoadRacer]

I wonder why they are different? I put a 32 shell over my original radiator just fine. there was loads of room

[JimLev]

Andy, I bought parts to replace the corrugated radiator hose that should arrive tomorrow or Sat.
I’ll post the parts and pics when they arrive.

[cob427sc]

I installed the thermo switch in the inlet to the intake manifold, using the supplied FFR switch. The fan only runs when the car is at rest. Anything over 10mph and the engine stays cool enough with just the air blowing through the radiator that the fan never runs.

[e36m3]

I wonder why they are different? I put a 32 shell over my original radiator just fine. there was loads of room

Hi James,
After spending more time under the car with the raidiator in place on the car and re-reading the FFR assembly book, I now under stand that the lower radiator hose is suppose to route in between the shocks, go in front of the crack shaft pulley, and then make a hard turn into the lower water pump inlet.

Can you send me a couple of pictures on how you routed lower hose, please?

[e36m3]

I installed the thermo switch in the inlet to the intake manifold, using the supplied FFR switch. The fan only runs when the car is at rest. Anything over 10mph and the engine stays cool enough with just the air blowing through the radiator that the fan never runs.

Cob427sc,

I decided to install the FFR thermo switch in the intake, easiest solution. Thanks for the feedback.


thanks,

Andy

[sethmark]

Andy, go look at my build thread. Although I’m running a different motor, I suggest that you mark it up with the corrugated and then have somebody transfer it to stainless or aluminum pipe. Additionally, try and get it out from underneath the car. It’s low enough. And just a Nick on that corrugated will leave you stranded.

[JimLev]

I received the parts to replace the corrugated hose yesterday.
This is what I originally used. I'm keeping the Gates 26502 hose.

141318

To replace the corrugated section I purchased these parts from Speedway.

141319

141320

My LS3 water pump connection is 1.5" OD
I bought this 1.5" to 1.75" adapter.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spe-7812

The 3" pipe will connect to the adapter, the other end to the silicon hose, then to the 90° pipe, then to the Gates hose.
Speedway has other sizes too.

[e36m3]

Andy, go look at my build thread. Although I’m running a different motor, I suggest that you mark it up with the corrugated and then have somebody transfer it to stainless or aluminum pipe. Additionally, try and get it out from underneath the car. It’s low enough. And just a Nick on that corrugated will leave you stranded.

Hi Seth,
I looked at you build thread and like what you did with the tubing. Also I agree with not having anything hang below the frame.
thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

I received the parts to replace the corrugated hose yesterday.
This is what I originally used. I'm keeping the Gates 26502 hose.

141318

To replace the corrugated section I purchased these parts from Speedway.

141319

141320

My LS3 water pump connection is 1.5" OD
I bought this 1.5" to 1.75" adapter.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spe-7812

The 3" pipe will connect to the adapter, the other end to the silicon hose, then to the 90° pipe, then to the Gates hose.
Speedway has other sizes too.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for sharing what you bought from Speedway. I had no idea you can by prebent tubes like that.
I'm going to do what you and Seth recommended, use the corrugated tubing to mock up how the lower radiator hose has to be routed and then order parts.
I might go a local muffler shop to get some thing bent up too.

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

Earlier this month I snapped the linkage adjuster off the passenger side lower control arm, see post 66.

FFR said the linkage adjusters were out of stock and were not sure when they'd get more in, so I figured I'd be waiting a while.

Tuesday this week I found some square tubing in my scrap metal box and thought I think that will fit on the control arm.
So I got out the mig welder and welded the broken linkage adjuster to the control arm. I'll never drive it this way, but at least now the car was back to being a roller.
I installed the control arm Friday night.
141341

Sunday morning FedEx delivered these, which is great. Now I can prep the control arm and get it powder coated.
That is the way it goes sometimes...
141342

thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

The directions from FFR are pretty good for the 32 grill, I only had to do a little trimming on a few parts.

Where the lower mounting tabs holes are located on the grill insert where the fiberglass overlaps.
142100

The end of mounting tabs I trimmed back so they would fit in further. I did this with my harbor freight electric cutoff wheel.
142101

Then I got the dremel out and had to grind a little of the overlapped fiberglass out to get the nut to fit in where it wanted to go.
I was a littel nervous about grinding into the fiberglass, but I took a little out at a time until the nut fit. Turns out it was pretty easy.
One thing this project is teaching me is patience.
Here are dremel bits I used.
142105

Mounting tab installed
142106

Grill on chassis
142108142109142110

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

When I went to install the driveshaft with the suspension at full droop, I found that the driveshaft hit the frame.
So I followed Peter226's advice SS383-Build-33-Hot-Rod-1134 (post 150) and installed Mastercraft Limit Straps 214004 from Summit 14" eye to eye.
Simple solution and looks like it is supposed to be there, thanks Peter!

142112

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

When I installed the T5 tranny I used the spacers that FFR sent, thinking that was the right thing to do.

When I checked the yoke to driveshaft angles with the car on the ground, the drive shaft angle was 7 degrees off from the yoke angle, not good.

After looking things over I decided to remove the spacers that FFR sent and now the tranny yoke to driveshaft angle is 2.5 degrees.
I'm running a 3 link rearend and was able to dial in the rear yoke angle easily.

My only concern is the tranny yoke to floor clearance is only 3/4". Is this enough? I plan on pinging FFR to see, but wanted the forum's thoughts too.

142113
142114

Thanks,

Andy

[sread]

I'm thinking 3/4 in. should be plenty....I only have about 1/4 on mine. Those polyurethane engine and trans mounts are pretty firm and there shouldn't be that much vertical movement....




I hope.

[RoadRacer]

The directions from FFR are pretty good for the 32 grill, I only had to do a little trimming on a few parts.

Sorry for the probably dumb question, but is the 32 deluxe grill surround all 'glass?

I'd never considered/noticed that before

[cob427sc]

The radiator shell is all fiberglass.

[e36m3]

I'm thinking 3/4 in. should be plenty....I only have about 1/4 on mine. Those polyurethane engine and trans mounts are pretty firm and there shouldn't be that much vertical movement....




I hope.

Here is the feedback I got from Dave Brigham at FFR on the 3/4" clearnance of the yoke to floor.

"Yes, that should be fine, on the half body Hot Rod in the showroom you can barely get your fingers between the yoke and the floor."

Thanks,

Andy

[33fromSD]

Here is the feedback I got from Dave Brigham at FFR on the 3/4" clearnance of the yoke to floor.

"Yes, that should be fine, on the half body Hot Rod in the showroom you can barely get your fingers between the yoke and the floor."

Thanks,

Andy

Even with a really worn transmission mount you wouldn't get 3/4" of play in it....you'll be fine.

[e36m3]

I order these back in September of last year, between covid and American Racing sending CARID.com wheels with the wrong offset and then sending one wheel with damage it took until Mid March for the wheels and tire to show up. rear tires below

[e36m3]

Front tires pictures

[e36m3]

My dad had a Rupp dealership back from 1966 to 1971, reliving childhood. This is from that era. Grandson when he gets a littel older will have a blast.
He is only 15 months old, anything with wheels he is into.

[33fromSD]

My dad had a Rupp dealership back from 1966 to 1971, reliving childhood. This is from that era. Grandson when he gets a littel older will have a blast.
He is only 15 months old, anything with wheels he is into.

That pic brings back memories, had a blast buzzing around on a few of these in my much younger days ....good times, although "safety" back then was a non-thought. :o

[e36m3]

Catching up on the progress I've made in the last month

Here is what I did to route the lower radiator hose so it is below the chassis. I think I'll go with this, I need to make a bracket to afix the corregated pipe to the chassis just before it goes in between the coil overs.
144633
The upper radiator hose/corregated pipe will have to go, but for the first start and go kaart I'll use it.
144634
One of the heater hoses had a pinch in it, not matter what I did with the altenator location I coudl get rid of it.
144635
To fix this I bought a Gates 28466 90 Degree Molded Heater Hose off Amazon
144636
I mounted my heater control valve on the firewall which made for pretty tight bends on the heater hose so I ordered from amazon Gates 18777 Premium Molded 180 degree Heater Hose and Dorman 47062 Heater Hose 90 degree plastic Elbow 5/8
144637

Since this work was finished I've been working on my dash layout and started running wires.

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

That pic brings back memories, had a blast buzzing around on a few of these in my much younger days ....good times, although "safety" back then was a non-thought. :o

Saftey is over rated, if I did something where I hurt myself it was called a life lesson. Ouch that hurt, I guess I won't do that again! Law of natural selection :)

[33fromSD]

Saftey is over rated, if I did something where I hurt myself it was called a life lesson. Ouch that hurt, I guess I won't do that again! Law of natural selection :)

When I was a kid, I totally agree, even in today's world I'm okay having my kids learning "life lessons", I'm just pointing out that in today's age you'd never be able to sell something that crewd ....we've turned into a soft society.

[j33ptj]

Catching up on the progress I've made in the last month

To fix this I bought a Gates 28466 90 Degree Molded Heater Hose off Amazon
144636

Andy

I don't know, but would an elbow on that thick heater hose not route it away from the drive-belt? This is going to flop around and get tangled??

[e36m3]

Sorry this is kind of long, but getting the fuel pressure right was kind of an adventure.

Put some gas in tank, shut off fuel pump. I added a switch under the dash in series with the inertia switch to turn the fuel pump on/off. This way when I store the car I can shut off the fuel pump and run the engine until the carb float bowl is empty.
Before first starting of engine I cranked the engine over to build oil pressure.
Cranked for a little while with no indication of oil pressure before I realized that power to the gauges is shut off with ignition key in start position.
Confirmed oil pressure.
Then turn on fuel pump and adjust the fuel regulator to 5.5psi.
Engine fired right up, Yea!!!

Adjusted the idle to 900 rpm.
The engine was idling and stalled.
If I Opened the throttle up a little, cranked the engine, and the engine would start and run, but stall at idle.
Found a large vacuum leak and fixed it. Engine builder used gray duct tape that is the same color as the intake to cover the vacuum ports on the intake I missed one piece. Glad that piece of tape didn’t sucked into engine…

Engine idles now, but then started stalling again. Then refused to start.
Walked over passenger side and noticed the fuel pressure was at zero and the pump was running.
Hmm, I thought I put a couple of gallons of gas in the tank. Then I remembered reading something in one of the 33 build threads that you need to have a few gallons in the tank for the pick up to be fully submerged in the fuel.
Dumped in the rest of the 93 octane gas I had. I had gotten 3 gallons of 93 to start the car so now all 3 gallons are in the tank.
Now have fuel pressure, but its at 7psi and I can’t turn it down any?
At this point I gave up for the night and had a couple beers.

The 5.0L engine I have is from an 86 Mustang GT. First year of the roller cam, but no spot on engine for mechanical fuel pump.
When I ordered my kit I ordered the FFR fuel pump kit, but since I’m running a carb I had to order a different bypass fuel pressure regulator from Summit. The regulator was made to handle 50 to 70 psi in the inlet and output 3 to 9 psi with the right spring in the regulator. The reg came with two springs.
After rereading the Summit fuel pressure regulator instructions, I found that the return line inner diameter had have a 3/8” to ½” inner diameter for the regulator to be able to regulate in the 3 to 9 psi range.
The FFR return line has a ¼’ ID. I thought about changing the return line to a larger one, but the return line going into the tank is only ¼” on the tank too.
I had run the nice FFR braided lines from the tank to the engine compartment.

So I bought a Holley Mighty Mite Fuel Pump that is designed to output 7psi and installed it.
Now I couldn’t get above 4psi. Time for more beer.
Ordered a Holley regulator that is designed to output 3 to 7psi.
I now have 5.5psi at the carb and a running engine!!!

But, the alternator is squealing. ☹
I’ve talked March who I bought my alternator, AC compressor, and bracket/pulley set from they’ve had me try some different tensions on the belt. The last tension I tried it threw the belt. More to come on this later.

Once I figure out how to post a video I'll post a video of the engine running.

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

I don't know, but would an elbow on that thick heater hose not route it away from the drive-belt? This is going to flop around and get tangled??

Hi J33ptj,

I do plan on changing the routing of the long heater line, forgot to mention that.

Thanks,

Andy

[FF33rod]

Quite the saga. My March pulley system was throwing a belt, finally figured out the alternator pulley was slightly off. Removed a spacer and seems fine now.

Steve

[e36m3]

March sent me a replacement alternator, I installed it and no more squealing. Good service no complaints.
I ran the engine for an ½ hour will no problems or leaks.

Here is a short video of the engine at idle https://youtu.be/1unvc6TwQVg

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

Trimming a body to fit is new to me so I looking for some advice.

I’ve done some trimming on the edges of the body where it slides under the firewall and I know a little more is needed.
Before I do anymore trimming I’d like to know if bottom lip of the body near the firewall should slide over the bottom of the frame?
147766

I’ve got the same situation at the back of the car too. At the back of the car with the body not able to slip over the bottom of the frame I have a 3/8” gap between the body and the frame bracket the body is bolted to. It looks like the top edge of the aluminum panel between the gas tank and the trunk will need to be trimmed to get the body bottom lip to slip over the frame. Should I trim this?
147768
147767

Thanks,
Andy

[33fromSD]

Trimming a body to fit is new to me so I looking for some advice.

I’ve done some trimming on the edges of the body where it slides under the firewall and I know a little more is needed.
Before I do anymore trimming I’d like to know if bottom lip of the body near the firewall should slide over the bottom of the frame?
147766

I’ve got the same situation at the back of the car too. At the back of the car with the body not able to slip over the bottom of the frame I have a 3/8” gap between the body and the frame bracket the body is bolted to. It looks like the top edge of the aluminum panel between the gas tank and the trunk will need to be trimmed to get the body bottom lip to slip over the frame. Should I trim this?
147768
147767

Thanks,
Andy

On the front, my body is even with the bottom frame, I could not go lower since it's limited by the lip on the body on top where the fire wall sits in.

On the back, I had the same as you're showing but added spacers between the flang and the body. It's been a while since I did mine but I believe the manual called for spacers, I'd have to check to be sure.

Jim

[33fromSD]

Following up on my comment, yes the manual calls for a spacer (I believe it's nylon) between the body and the bolt flang on the frame.

Jim

147770

[FF33rod]

Fantastic that March replaced your alternator. I didn't get the accessory drive system direct from them, it was through the vendor that I got the rest of the engine parts. Alternator blew up shortly after getting everything together a year later and they wouldn't do anything for me.

Fit at the front might be different for your gen 2 vs my gen 1 but the only thing most have to trim is a very small amount on the side where it meets up with the firewall and chassis tubes, nothing at the bottom. As Jim pointed out, kit has spacers for body attachment to the frame at the rear above the wheels.

Steve

[e36m3]

Jim thanks for the feedback.

Andy

[e36m3]

Fantastic that March replaced your alternator. I didn't get the accessory drive system direct from them, it was through the vendor that I got the rest of the engine parts. Alternator blew up shortly after getting everything together a year later and they wouldn't do anything for me.

Fit at the front might be different for your gen 2 vs my gen 1 but the only thing most have to trim is a very small amount on the side where it meets up with the firewall and chassis tubes, nothing at the bottom. As Jim pointed out, kit has spacers for body attachment to the frame at the rear above the wheels.

Steve
Hi Steve,
On the alternator I called them about a 1 week before my 1 year warranty from purchase date ran out. Got lucky on that one :)
I still need to trim a little more around the body flange near the chassis tube.
Thanks for the feedback.
Andy

[e36m3]

It been a few weeks since I lasted worked on the Hot Rod, but I did get some time in the garage yesterday to mount the guages and lights in the my dash panel.
A guy I work with has an NC controlled plasma cutter so I drew up what I wanted the dash panel to look like. He cut it out of 1/16 cold rolled steel.
149512

The red light is an idiot light for oil pressure. A couple of years ago a red idiot light saved the engine on my M3 at an open track day. I saw the light flash while going through a corner.
Yellow light is overheating idoit light, comes on at 200F or 210F.
Center push buttom is 4 way flasher.
Still looking for a different switch AC toggle switch.

Hopefully I'll get all the wife's spring honey do list done shortly and can start wiring the dash, the list seems to keep growing...

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Hard to believe it has been a couple of months since I last posted, summer went by too fast.
Over the course of the summer I worked on wiring when I had a some free time, but I didn't spend to much time in the barn.

The wiring is done. I added cruise control to the car, I'll post more on that later.
The only issue I ran into with the wiring was one of the front headlight directionals worked at first and them stopped working.

I verified that I’ve had 12V on the red wire and the green wire was getting the flashing 12V signal. The DRL lights up.
I was able to switch headlamps and the problem followed the headlamp.

I sent customerservice@factoryfive.com an email explaing the problem. Same day I got response back from Dan Golub saying they would send me out a new headlamp. The new headlamps arrived last week. Took about 2 weeks for them to show up.

Over Labor day weekend I did a little more work on the car and realized I completely forgot about adding in wires for the power windows. Hence the sort of comment...

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Once the wiring was finished and I verified the gauges were working it was go karting time!

Things I learned.
• Brakes barely stops the chassis. Pedal is firm, but I think there is still air in the lines.
• The clutch pedal effort is way too high. I called Mike Forte planning on buying a hydraulic kit to replace the cable. Mike talked me into buying https://fortesparts.com/product/fortes-clutch-effort-reducer/. It will be here this weekend so I try it out. I'm running a Centerforce2 clutch.
• Tires rub on the upper A arm at full lock. Ride height, toe, and etc all have to be set yet. Are there steering limiters avaiable?
• Carb needs tuning. All I’ve done is set the idle speed.

Using a BMW rim for a seat could be improved...
One of our older neighbors threated to call the sheriff. She thinks she is the neighborhood watch. I didn’t even run over 2K rpms… 1st time I met her, amazing how these cars bring peopel together:)

Here is a couple of links to video of the 1st run.
https://youtu.be/Wzh0BfweKF8
https://youtu.be/ublQmwDGjqg
https://youtu.be/AGnTAXUPSYE

[33fromSD]

Seems like a lifetime-ago that I go-karted mine but it was only last November, awesome feeling.

On the clutch, I was glad I went with Mike Forte hydraulic slave cylinder, it was easy to install and the clutch pedal feel is smooth and easy to push in. My biggest fear with the cable wasn't so much the force to push it in (reminded me a lot of my 65 mustang with the mechanical linkage for the 3 speed), it was more on reading various forums about cable life seemed pretty short, that and aesthetic of the clutch cable in the engine bay.

I have one of those neighbors too, He had a fit when I go-karted mine, was going to call the police. I have a 2015 Challenger Scat Pack with the 6.4L Hemi and it's loud and if I go to start that thing before 7:30 AM, he is on my case about wanting to call the police for noise ordinance violations. He also goes around the neighbor hood with a tape measure and measures how far people are parked from the curb and if they are farther than 10 inches away he calls the police and reports them. I feel sorry for the police, they must cringe how often he calls.

You can order steering limiters for the rack but I wouldn't worry about it too much quite honestly until you do the final ride height setting and alignment.

Great job, always a good feeling to hit a mile stone.

Jim

[33fromSD]

Sounds awesome by the way!!

Jim

[RoadRacer]

Once the wiring was finished and I verified the gauges were working it was go karting time!

Things I learned.
• Brakes barely stops the chassis. Pedal is firm, but I think there is still air in the lines.
• The clutch pedal effort is way too high. I called Mike Forte planning on buying a hydraulic kit to replace the cable. Mike talked me into buying https://fortesparts.com/product/fortes-clutch-effort-reducer/. It will be here this weekend so I try it out. I'm running a Centerforce2 clutch.
• Tires rub on the upper A arm at full lock. Ride height, toe, and etc all have to be set yet. Are there steering limiters avaiable?
• Carb needs tuning. All I’ve done is set the idle speed.

Using a BMW rim for a seat could be improved...
One of our older neighbors threated to call the sheriff. She thinks she is the neighborhood watch. I didn’t even run over 2K rpms… 1st time I met her, amazing how these cars bring peopel together:)

Here is a couple of links to video of the 1st run.
https://youtu.be/Wzh0BfweKF8
https://youtu.be/ublQmwDGjqg
https://youtu.be/AGnTAXUPSYE

As Jim says, ignore the tire rubbing thing for now.. do a quick rough alignment or don't use full lock :D

As for the neighbor.. omg. Why are some people so angry all the time??!! I'm lucky to get nothing but thumbs up from my neighbors.

[FF33rod]

Sounds great!
AND... I have one of those neighbors too. Started the engine for the first time in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, so not early or late. Neighbor a few houses down and across the lane shows up around the corner of the garage yelling at me. Never met him before, didn't introduce himself, didn't comment on the car, just angrily asked if I knew it was a residential neighborhood. I told him obviously as I live there upon which he turned and walked away. Now ever time he passes the garage he revs the snot out of his ancient Datsun pickup rattle can.... Interestingly, chatting with other neighbors, no one seems to have ever actually met him. LOL.

Steve

[cob427sc]

Love the temp seat! The brakes could have some air but usually you will have a soft pedal with air in the lines. I experienced the same problem with the brakes not wanting to stop until I re-adjusted the master cylinder bias bar. This made a huge difference with the final adjustment favoring the front brakes by a lot. Now the car will stop and with some really heavy foot will lock all wheels. I do wish there was an easy way to add power brakes.

[JimLev]

Andy, what did you use for cruise control?
I’ve been thinking about getting the Dakota Digital unit.

[peterh226]

How about a picture of your bias bar. Just curious.

[HVACMAN]

I had a similar issue with the neighbors across the street. When I came back from a tour of the neighborhood the lady came out yelling at me but I ignored her at the time. A few days later I noticed her husband trying to change the bulbs in his outdoor lighting, so I walked across the street and gave him a hand. I talked him off the ladder (he's 87) and changed the bulbs for him. The next day he showed up in the garage asking many questions about the car. Come to find out he builds RC aircraft, another interest of mine.

On the brakes, be sure you bed the pads well. Mine didn't stop that well either at first. Now she stops on a dime with surprisingly little effort for manual brakes.

[e36m3]

Andy, what did you use for cruise control?
I’ve been thinking about getting the Dakota Digital unit.

I went with a Dakota Digital unit. I'll post more on it, I've got to dig up some pictures.

[e36m3]

HVACMAN and Peter,
I forgot about the brake bias bar, thanks for the advice! I'll take a picture tonight.

[e36m3]

Picture of current brake bias bar setting

Thanks,

Andy

[FF33rod]

And not to make any assumptions, which is the front master cylinder?

Steve

[e36m3]

It's been 8 months since I last worked on the build.

September last year I had my 5th back surgery, fusing of vertebrae at L2 and L3. I now have 8 screws and 2 rods in my back. I’m fused from L2 through L5. I spent 12 weeks not being allowed to bend over or lift more than 8lbs & then 8 weeks of physical therapy. That’s all behind me and I’m doing good.

In February, my 97 year old father passed away from congestive heart failure. Like most WWII vets he didn’t talk about the war at all when I was growing up. I knew he was in the Philippines. I found out recently that he was in the South Pacific for 1½ years and earned 5 battle stars, one tip of the spear medal for amphibious combat landing at Luzon, and the Philippine Liberation ribbon. He was an AMTRAC driver, part of the 658th Amphibious Tractor Battalion. Kind of amazing what you don’t know about your parents.

Then the 2nd floor of our house had all the flooring replace with hardwood. I didn’t do the flooring install, but did all the trim cutting, finishing, and installation. It took way longer than I thought it would. Kind of liek my build so far:p

Picking up where I left off working on stuff that need improving after 1st go-kart run, clutch effort too high and brakes barely stop the car.

I’m installing Mike Forte’s hydraulic clutch kit. Also it looks like I’ve got the brake bias bar set up wrong, bias towards the rear instead of the front. How'd I miss that???

My wife is gone for the weekend so all this weekend will be working on the build!

[33fromSD]

Gald you're feeling better, sorry to hear about the passing of your father.

Jim

[e36m3]

I finished installing the Mike Forte Hydraulic Clutch kit. I'm very happy with the pedal force. A big thanks to 33from SD for his detailed instructions on how to install Hydraulic Clutch kit with the tranny in the car. Link to his directions are here https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?36666-Jim-s-Build-Thread&p=432716&highlight=forte#post432716.
I had to do a littel triming on the slave cylinder bracket to get it to fit in the bell housing opening, but that was easily handled with a cut off wheel.
I was worried about clearance between the nuts on the slave cylinder bracket and the throw out bearing. I ended going with 5/16" bolts rather than with the 1/2 bolts that came with the kit.
Since I already had installed a cable actuated clutch I had to plug an 1 3/8" hole. The clutch reservoir hides the patched hole.

I sorted out the brakes by adjusting the brake bias bar correctly.

Here are some pictures.
167742167743167744167745167746

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

I'm getting close to installing the body for the last time (hopefully).
I spent time yesterday checking bolt tightness that are easy to access with body off and marking them with a gold sharpie so I know I checked them.

Before installing the body I wanted to mock up the door hinges and hardware that goes in to the door to better understand how it all goes together before the body is in place.

When I started putting the brass bushings in the hinge arms I found on one side of the hinge the bushings would easily drop into the hinge hole, but on the opposite side of the hinge hole the bushing had to be tapped in with a rubber mallet.
I think all the holes and slots in the hinge arms are CNC laser cut so that is why I figure the hole is a slightly different diameter from one side to the other.

The problem I ran into was the brass bushings that I tapped into place with the rubber mallet the shoulder bolts wouldn't fit into. All the other brass bushings the should bolts fit fine into.

I figure the combination of the laser cutting of the holes and the build up of powder coating in the holes caused the brass bushings to shrink in the inside diameter. I ended up using a round file to slowly and carefully take just enough material out of the ID of the brass bushings so the shoulder bolts now just fit.

167749167750

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

I just realized I never posted any pictures of the Dakota Digital Cruise Control installation on my car.

I bought the universal kit and when it came time to hook up the speed sensor to the tranny, nothing matched up. I called Dakota and found out I needed their SGI-100BT signal interface to get it to work with a T5.
I already had the system installed so I bought the SGI-100BT, I think it was about $100.

The install was pretty easy. Since the car isn't street legal right now I haven't tried the system out yet.

Thanks,
Andy

168082168083168084168085168086168087

[e36m3]

Looking for some techniques, how did you go about trimming the dash panel to fit into the dash opening?

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

It been little while since I posted an update. Since last posting I've mounted the body, aligned the roof, and got the doors cut and mounted. The doors took me forever, more on the doors in the next post.

At this point I had all the body cut outs and had ground down the mold seams on the body.
I mounted the body onto the car and then realized I have forgotten to cut out the defroster vents, so off came the body again. No other surprises.

171147

My sons were home visiting, so I had them help me with setting the roof on the body. My wife and I them spent I think the next 30 or 40 minutes adjusting the roof location on the body to get it centered and lined up the door openings. My wife has a much better eye for this than I do and a lot more patience. I clamped down the roof in the back and drilled holes.

171148

I ground down some high points on the bottom of the roof where the windshield frame interfaces with the body.
I didn’t drill the windshield frame holes yet because when I push down on the windshield frame to drill holes the bottom of the frame moves. I need to figure out how to support the bottom of the windshield frame so the holes are drill in the right location on the body.
How did others do this?

Thanks,

Andy

[peterh226]

I had an interesting time with the roof. Ended up getting the back set where I wanted it and bolting it in place.
Then I had to persuade the front into place where they needed to go. I got it to stay in place long enough with straps to get holes drilled and some bolts in place.

Later on I found that the bolts holding the front windshield frame into place were twisting the frame in a way that it was not going to fit the glass right. I figure this out once I glued in the glass and then bolted the top on as I was getting it registered. I ended up with wax paper, then bolting the top the way I thought it should be and filling the gap with tiger hair and then filler to get it to fit right. It finally seems like it will be OK, but I've spent a lot of effort on trying to get the top to fit and look OK. I still believe I'm gonna have some challenges with window alignment. Check out the post below as well as a couple on either side.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?31910-SS383-Build-33-Hot-Rod-1134&p=480197&viewfull=1#post480197

[e36m3]

I had an interesting time with the roof. Ended up getting the back set where I wanted it and bolting it in place.
Then I had to persuade the front into place where they needed to go. I got it to stay in place long enough with straps to get holes drilled and some bolts in place.

Later on I found that the bolts holding the front windshield frame into place were twisting the frame in a way that it was not going to fit the glass right. I figure this out once I glued in the glass and then bolted the top on as I was getting it registered. I ended up with wax paper, then bolting the top the way I thought it should be and filling the gap with tiger hair and then filler to get it to fit right. It finally seems like it will be OK, but I've spent a lot of effort on trying to get the top to fit and look OK. I still believe I'm gonna have some challenges with window alignment. Check out the post below as well as a couple on either side.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?31910-SS383-Build-33-Hot-Rod-1134&p=480197&viewfull=1#post480197

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the response, I had forgotten about the problems you had with your windshield frame. Seems we have the same issue, I'm going to try your idea with the tiger hair when I circle back to working on attaching the top again.

Thanks!

Andy

[e36m3]

I have no idea how long it took me to cut and align the doors or how many times I had the doors on and off the car. I was eventually successful. I thought I’d jot down what I learned for when I have to put the doors back on after paint, hopefully it helps others too.

The 1st door I was pretty nervous about cutting too much material, so I would only trim off about 1/16” at time, it took forever to get it to fit.
The 2nd door I was much more confident and trimmed about an 1/8” each time.

The template for cutting and drilling the holes in the doors I must have taped in place too high on the doors. I had to cut the slots further down and hog out the holes in the doors further down to the get the right alignment of the doors. At least it is fiberglass so this wasn’t a big deal, but worrisome when you’re doing something that you’ve never done before.

I found that the allen head bolts that go through the bronze bushings on the door arms have to be very snug to eliminate any play in the door arms.

One of the first problems I ran into was when I tightened down the door latch on the fiberglass on the driver’s door the fiberglass cracked.
At first I thought I’d ground away too much fiberglass when I was fitting the latch into the door so I got out some resin and fiberglass cloth and repaired the cracks without the latch mechanism installed. I finished the repair with a little body filler and primer.
I double checked the fit of the latch in the repaired fiberglass door, tweaked the opening a little to make sure the latch worked correctly then installed the latch and tightened it down. Once the bolts were tight the fiberglass cracked again. At this point I said next time I’ll do the repair with the latch mounted. It is on the to do list because I then went down the mount and align the doors rabbit hole.
171873

Getting the doors to stay where I wanted them aligned while tightening down the bolts was a challenge.
I’ve got a small 110Vac winch mounted on the ceiling of my garage that I’ve used for installing and removing the body.
The winch came in very handy for getting the door height tweaked in before tightening the bolts.
I took a length of wood added a strap to hook the winch to and drilled a couple of holes to hook some adjustable hold down straps. I use the winch to get the door height close and then adjust the straps to dial in the front and back edge door heights.
171874
171875

The 2nd problem I ran into was at the rear edge of the door where the inside top edge of the door was hitting the body when the door was opened. I ended up using a Dremel with a sanding drum to grind out some of the inside edge of the door. Even with the removed material it would still hit. To overcome this, I had to cheat the door up higher and space rear door edge far from the body. I found that if I put a square on the door and made sure the body was about a 1/16” lower that the door edge there is enough clearance to clear the body. I think now I’ve got enough clearance, so they do not scrap after painting adds additional thickness.
171876
171877

I found that tightening the nuts on the Door Hinge Standoff Assembly and door hinge arms so they can jiggle just a little all but eliminated the door from shifting when I tightened down the nuts the final time. Make sure the door hinges are pushed towards the inner edge of the door as far as they will easily go.

part 2 next, thanks.

Andy

[e36m3]

I found to keep the back edge of the door from hitting the body edge I had to cheat the door up a little higher than I would have liked, but I think it will be okay.
171878

To be able to set this height consistently, I found that if I put a straight edge on the top of the door and have top edge of the body be about a 1/16" lower than the door top I get the right clearance.
171879

To set the gaps between the back edge of the door and the body, I used two paint sticks to set the gap. I used blue painter tap to hold the paint sticks so when I shifted the door around the paint sticks wouldn't drop.
then I'd use gorilla on the top and bottom of the door to pull the back edge of the door tight to the paint sticks.
171880
I kept trimming the front edge of the door until I was happy with the gap to the body. The gap I was looking for on the front edge of the doors is a little more than one paint stick thickness.

Once I was happy with how the height of the door was aligned with the belt line at the back edge of the door, I always bias the front edge of the door at the belt line up a little (1/16"??) because is always seems to drop a little when I remove the winch support. Then I tighten down the Door Hinge Standoff Assembly nuts. I use a ½ drive air impact wrench to tighten these down. Then I’d double check the vertical alignment one more time.
171881

I gotta run I'll post part 3, doing the final tightening tomorrow.

Thanks,

Andy

[JimLev]

Doors are a PITA to do. Wait until you try to get the windows to seal up at the top edge of the roof.
Have you fitted the hood yet?

[e36m3]

Doors are a PITA to do. Wait until you try to get the windows to seal up at the top edge of the roof.
Have you fitted the hood yet?

I haven't tried the hood yet, I'm still savoring my victory with the doors.:p Next step is the door strikers and then the truck lid.

thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Looking down from the top of the door next, I’d align the outer edge of the door with the body and tighten down the nuts on the upper door arm using a battery powered 3/8” rachet. I found the tightening the nut closest to the hinge pivot minimized any shifting of the door alignment while tightening the nuts.
172119
172122

Next step I’d put a two taped together pieces of 3/16” thick trim in between the door and the body to keep the outer surface of the door aligned with the body when the lower door arm nuts are tightened. There isn’t much room inside the door to tighten the door arm nuts, so I use the same ½ drive air impact wrench to tighten these down.
172121

Then I’d go back to the top door arm nuts and tighten those with 3/8” rachet with a length of pipe over the handle to really torque the nuts tight. I am pulling on the pipe and with the other arm on the door cross bracket to prevent putting stress on the fiberglass part of the door.
172123

That is how I did the alignment on my, you results will definitely vary...

Thanks,
Andy