Pat's Houston MkIV Build

[ptbashor]

I pulled the trigger a couple months ago and just got my updated completion date of June 27th. I wish that I would have gone ahead sooner as I've got a lot of down time right now but I won't be going back to work until late August so I'm hoping to make a significant dent in July and August.

Time to start getting my garage in order. I'm thinking that most of my tools have been destroyed in the recent cyclone that just hit Calcutta (along with just about everything else I own). My shipment was sitting at the port waiting to go onto a cargo ship. I won't know until late July so I am just going to act like it's gone.

I've done some very basic work, like changing out alternators, starters, etc but I am very much a novice, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Build plan:

MkIV Complete Kit
IRS
347 EFI from Gordon Levy
Tremac TKO 600
In tank fuel pump
Power Steering
18" sunburst wheels (same as the 25th anniversary build)
13" Wilwood Brakes (front and rear through Gordon Levy)
Dual roll bars black powder coated
FF Carbon fiber dash w/glove box
Breeze radiator shroud
Breeze engine compartment battery kit
Breeze cockpit storage cubby
Russ Thompson drop trunk
leather seats
vintage guages
wind visors
sun visors
pre-assembled side louvers
Plan on painting a dark cherry red/maroon with a bronze strip to match the wheels and all the chrome blacked out. (paint decisions tend to change and very well might over the course of the build.)

Let the games begin!

[Walt]

Hi Pat, lots of help around , im not to far away.
Walt

[ptbashor]

Thanks. I'm probably going to have a lot of questions. For the past six months I've been reading other people's build threads but there's always something....

[phileas_fogg]

Welcome Pat!

You're on the right path reading as many build threads as you can stand. At the very least when your kit arrives you'll have a jump on identifying all the parts when you do your inventory (which should be exhaustive; identify every nut, every bolt, in every assembly, in every box).

When you run into a snag, do a search - I like to use a regular search engine like Duck Duck Go with "site:thefactoryfiveforum.com" or "site:ffcars.com" - and if you can't find what you need on the first page or two post a thread. You'll have more help than you can stand, especially if you ask "What's the best...";)

Finally, start a build log. You'd be amazed at how many folks read these, (re-)living vicariously through your work. Hundreds of eyes double-checking your work at every step. Plus it's a great resource when you've got repairs, maintenance, or upgrades to do.

Again, welcome; and have fun!


John

[ptbashor]

Thanks for the advice, never heard of duck duck go. I’ll check it out. I am planning on a build log. A lot of the logs I have read, folks have pointed out something to the builder and they were able to fix problems before they arose.

[seagull81]

Welcome, Pat! You need to hook up with the Houston CC. They meet once a month. You need to come to the Texas Cobra Club Meet in October in San Marcos. You don't have to have a Cobra to join in the fun. There are lots of empty seats for ride along on the cruises. http://www.texascobrameet.com/ If you are on Facebook her e is the Houston groups page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Houstoncobraclub/

[swwebb]

Just some first-hand experience with Gordon. I got a Stage 4 347 from him a few years ago. I also got my T5 and IRS from him.

I expected him to dyno the engine after it was built. He said no - it would cost another $800 on top of what I already paid him to dyno the engine. Check if your cost includes running the engine or not.

Engine runs good for the most part. Gordon supplied the FAST EZ-EFI 2.0 with it. I would NOT recommend the FAST EZ EFI 2.0 system. I have had to retune my EFI system 25 or 30 times in 3 years because the idle settings were lost. It MAY work fine with 4-1-4 headers. Pretty simple to do but pretty irritating!! If you do go FAST, get the Sportsman upgrade. When I went to my local dyno shop, they said the EZ-EFI system can't be tuned by them - not enough user available parameters. They even called FAST directly to confirm. The Sportsman has access to those parameters so a dyno shop can tune the system much better.

Regarding the engine, I had a leaky intake manifold that had to be redone after a few thousand miles. Not a major problem but a PITA. Luckily I have a mechanic friend that redid it for me. Some irritating oil leaks as well. T5 seems to be fine. IRS is good except for a leak. Others have had much more serious problems.

The main issue for me in addition to no dyno is that he said 3 months for the engine/transmission and it was a year or more. My timeline is given below.

Ordered Engine / Trans 09/09/2014
Got Engine on 08/28/2015
Got Trans on 11/20/2015

Just FYI.

[seagull81]

If you aren’t set on Gordon, there are several other good engine builders to choose from.

[Railroad]

Blue Print dynos theirs.

[bobl]

I dyno every engine I build...but, that cost is included in the build pricing. Some charge extra and some build it into the cost. Either way it's not a free service. Dynoing an engine before it's delivered helps me to deliver an engine that I know runs right, doesn't have leaks and so on when it leaves the shop.

Bob

[rich grsc]

Just some first-hand experience with Gordon. I got a Stage 4 347 from him a few years ago. I also got my T5 and IRS from him.

I expected him to dyno the engine after it was built. He said no - it would cost another $800 on top of what I already paid him to dyno the engine. Check if your cost includes running the engine or not.

Engine runs good for the most part. Gordon supplied the FAST EZ-EFI 2.0 with it. I would NOT recommend the FAST EZ EFI 2.0 system. I have had to retune my EFI system 25 or 30 times in 3 years because the idle setting were lost. It MAY work fine with 4-1-4 headers. Pretty simple to do but pretty irritating!! If you do go FAST, get the Sportsman upgrade. When I went to my local dyno shop, they said the EZ-EFI system can't be tuned by them - not enough user available parameters. They even called FAST directly to confirm. The Sportsman has access to those parameters so a dyno shop can tune the system much better.

Regarding the engine, I had a leaky intake manifold that had to be redone after a few thousand miles. Not a major problem but a PITA. Luckily I have a mechanic friend that redid it for me. Some irritating oil leaks as well. T5 seems to be fine. IRS is good except for a leak. Others have had much more serious problems.

The main issue for me in addition to no dyno is that he said 3 months for the engine/transmission and it was a year or more. My timeline is given below.

Ordered Engine / Trans 09/09/2014
Got Engine on 08/28/2015
Got Trans on 11/20/2015

Just FYI.

Listen!!! Had similar issues.

[Walt]

Hi Pat, i sent you a PM with my contact information, you feel free to use if you need help with anything!
Walt

[swwebb]

I dyno every engine I build...but, that cost is included in the build pricing. Some charge extra and some build it into the cost. Either way it's not a free service. Dynoing an engine before it's delivered helps me to deliver an engine that I know runs right, doesn't have leaks and so on when it leaves the shop.

Bob

Bob,

I know it's not free to dyno an engine, but I assumed it would be dynoed when I compared costs. I know - my bad. But I wish it had been called out explicitly by Gordon.

[ptbashor]

Thanks for the info, I will definitely link up with Houston CC.

I wish that I had known about Gordon prior to placing my order with him. I had done a lot of research but didn't see anything on people having issues with him. Unfortunately, I placed my order and paid in March so I'm kind of stuck. Hopefully, I won't have the same issues, but I'll make sure to double check everything as I get into my build.

My completion date has passed but I haven't heard anything from FF. Hopefully I'll be able to be on the next Steward pickup on the 14th.

[swwebb]

What EFI system did you get?

[swwebb]

Another thing. What kind of emissions do you need to pass? I did not have to pass emissions because mine was registered as a 1965, so I was fine. But my engine has breather caps on both valve covers - no PCV system.

At least Gordon's web site does mentions that it costs an extra $750 to dyno an engine - pretty sure that was not the case when I got mine.

[ptbashor]

The invoice says snyper EFI, so I'm assuming it's a Holley Sniper, I'll double check. The emissions shouldn't be an issue, a number of guys have gotten it done here in Texas. I think that they're registered as replicas, that's not something I've looked a lot into as it's much further down the road.

Delivery day was today!

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I've started inventory and things are going smoothly so far, but I'm sure that I'll have some questions on parts. This will be the first time I've ever tried to tackle something like this.

It looks like Steven P Smith is the next car on the truck.

[GTBradley]

Congrats on the delivery! I did a lot of the same items you did so don’t hesitate to reach out. Can’t help with the engine though, I went the Coyote route. This looks like a good start to a build thread, though it’s not with the other build threads. If you want, David Hodgkins can move it for you.

Bradley

[Kmcallahan]

Welcome to the club. I plan to go to the October Cobra meet in San Marcos. Hoping to get some ideas about color. Hopefully I will see you there. Happy building.

[ptbashor]

I got a few things done this week. Got the body buck up. Had to change things up a bit as I had initially planned on hanging from the ceiling but that didn't work with my garage. Since the picture I've changed out the wheels and braced it a bit more.

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I've also installed the f panels, mostly, as well as the front lower control arms. I haven’t put actual rivets in as I’m debating powder coating / painting the panels. Did anyone river behind the upper control arm bracket? Not sure how I’m going to get to that.

Also, I didn’t have room for a spacer for the front portion of the left lower control arm. It took everything I had to get that thing in even without a spacer.

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[ptbashor]

I haven't been the best about keeping up this post but I've been making steady progress.

I did have a little setback. I didn't realize that the steering arms mounted from the bottom and put them on the wrong sides. Had to remove the hubs to get the steering arms off which was much more difficult than putting them on in the first place.

I've now gotten the steering rack on with a very rough alignment as well as the F-panels. I've also drilled the firewall and the front of the driver's footbox. Will be painting them next.

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I've gotten most of the IRS finished as well. I'm waiting on some parts from factory five to be able to complete it and add the rear brakes. Cutting the rear spindles was challenging and I eventually went with an angle grinder with a grinding wheel which made steady progress. Everything else seemed to gum up with melted aluminum.

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Not as pretty as EdwardB's but I'm proud of them.

I also found out that it's much easier to attach the toe arm to the rear spindles prior to their installation onto the car, as opposed to the order written in the manual.

Center section wasn't too bad with someone to help as well as a floor jack.

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