canuck coupe
06-22-2020, 10:33 PM
Hello Everyone,
Nice to e-meet you all.
It took forever, but I finally bought a kit (Type 65).
Today I watched Dave Smith’s inspirational video about business and belief sets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6oqrjV0bhM&t=126s. In that video, he outlined how close to collapse FFR came in 2008/9. Kudos to you Dave! I’m glad you believed, and I’m glad you kept FFR alive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to buy a kit this week and join this amazing community!
By way of introduction, here’s a brief timeline of my FFR journey to date:
2006: Got the promo DVD and bought a manual. Joined the FFCobra forum. I had to come up with a username on the spot. Because I’m Canadian, and because I was planning to build a coupe, I became Canuck Coupe.
2007: Attended Build School. Bought a wrecked ’88 LX donor and started collecting parts
2008: life got in the way, and I abandoned my dream of building a coupe
2009: bought a ’95 Mustang GT instead and began a four-year project turning it into an open track car.
2013: Decided that the Mustang was too big and bulky to work on easily. Bought a F1200 instead and went open-wheel racing. Crashed on the fourth weekend. Broken ribs. Missed work. Decided that racing wasn’t in my blood any longer. More interested in wrenching. (Fast driving used to be a big part of my life. Took the Bondurant course in the ‘80s. He was at Sears Point in Sonoma back then. I used to live in the mountains of BC. I’d get up 4AM [no traffic, no cops] to drive to Vancouver by 6AM. 200 miles in a little over two hours, and the first 130 miles was the Thompson and Fraser River canyons… all twistys. Highly modified VW Scirocco, mildy modified Eagle Talon TSI AWD, bone stock Thunderbird Turbo Coupe in those days).
2014: Got bored. Needed a big project. Should have bought a kit then! Instead, I decided to build a 6,000sqft office building for my business. Thus began a 4-year nightmare!
2018: Moved into the new office. It’s beautiful (https://www.yorklasermedspa.com/our-clinic/), but cost way too much financially and emotionally.
2019: life……trying to recover financially and emotionally!
Early March 2020: Got bored again. One evening on the spur of the moment (i.e. absolutely no prior thought or planning) I went into the garage and started a teardown of the 302 from the ’88 that I bought 13 years earlier. Still wrapped in plastic on an engine stand in my garage (actually the third garage it’s been in, having moved twice in the interim).
Mid March 2020: COVID! As a non-essential business, I was suddenly unemployed along with my 9 staff. The 302 rebuild kept me busy and sane. As the lockdown went from two weeks to four weeks to who-knows-how-long-this-will-go-on, I began to feel like I was retired. And my priorities shifted. I stopped worrying about the survival of my business and decided life was too short to NOT be building a car!
June 2020: waiting for back-ordered heads (I was porting my stock iron heads, but I gave up and bought new ones). Time on my hands. Bought a used T5 to rebuild, and I had time to research FFR again.
June 17, 2020: BOUGHT A TYPE 65!!! It only took 14 years!
If you followed the link above, you’ll know already that I’m not a mechanic or an engineer or anything else in the automotive world. I’m a doctor. Everything I know about cars comes from magazines, books, and the internet.
I thrive on the steep part of the learning curve and DIY. Two months ago, I knew very little about building an engine. I’ll finish the 302 in a few weeks. I knew nothing about porting a month ago. I finished porting my new heads today (with great success! The exhaust flow needed a lot of help, and I’m up 10% [as measured on my DIY flow bench]). Two weeks ago, I knew nothing about transmissions. Now I have a T5 totally torn down, and the rebuild kit comes in a few days. I know nothing about body work, but I’m going to paint the car myself.
My kit will be ready in early September, and I plan to add to the adventure by driving down from the Toronto area to pick it up. Hopefully, the border will be open by then!
Years ago, when I customized the last of the five Sciroccos I owned over the years, I farmed out all the work (although I did, at one time, change the head on one of my Sciroccos in the parking lot of an auto parts store in Seattle). This time I’m doing it all myself. Going to keep it basic so I don't invite problems. When I’m done, I will have touched everything from crankshaft to clear coat.
Can’t wait to get started!
Hmmm, I guess I already have started. I just didn’t know it two months ago when I launched into the 302 rebuild. I thought I’d just build it and sell it. Hadn’t planned to build a car around it, but here we go!
Cheers,
Philip
Nice to e-meet you all.
It took forever, but I finally bought a kit (Type 65).
Today I watched Dave Smith’s inspirational video about business and belief sets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6oqrjV0bhM&t=126s. In that video, he outlined how close to collapse FFR came in 2008/9. Kudos to you Dave! I’m glad you believed, and I’m glad you kept FFR alive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to buy a kit this week and join this amazing community!
By way of introduction, here’s a brief timeline of my FFR journey to date:
2006: Got the promo DVD and bought a manual. Joined the FFCobra forum. I had to come up with a username on the spot. Because I’m Canadian, and because I was planning to build a coupe, I became Canuck Coupe.
2007: Attended Build School. Bought a wrecked ’88 LX donor and started collecting parts
2008: life got in the way, and I abandoned my dream of building a coupe
2009: bought a ’95 Mustang GT instead and began a four-year project turning it into an open track car.
2013: Decided that the Mustang was too big and bulky to work on easily. Bought a F1200 instead and went open-wheel racing. Crashed on the fourth weekend. Broken ribs. Missed work. Decided that racing wasn’t in my blood any longer. More interested in wrenching. (Fast driving used to be a big part of my life. Took the Bondurant course in the ‘80s. He was at Sears Point in Sonoma back then. I used to live in the mountains of BC. I’d get up 4AM [no traffic, no cops] to drive to Vancouver by 6AM. 200 miles in a little over two hours, and the first 130 miles was the Thompson and Fraser River canyons… all twistys. Highly modified VW Scirocco, mildy modified Eagle Talon TSI AWD, bone stock Thunderbird Turbo Coupe in those days).
2014: Got bored. Needed a big project. Should have bought a kit then! Instead, I decided to build a 6,000sqft office building for my business. Thus began a 4-year nightmare!
2018: Moved into the new office. It’s beautiful (https://www.yorklasermedspa.com/our-clinic/), but cost way too much financially and emotionally.
2019: life……trying to recover financially and emotionally!
Early March 2020: Got bored again. One evening on the spur of the moment (i.e. absolutely no prior thought or planning) I went into the garage and started a teardown of the 302 from the ’88 that I bought 13 years earlier. Still wrapped in plastic on an engine stand in my garage (actually the third garage it’s been in, having moved twice in the interim).
Mid March 2020: COVID! As a non-essential business, I was suddenly unemployed along with my 9 staff. The 302 rebuild kept me busy and sane. As the lockdown went from two weeks to four weeks to who-knows-how-long-this-will-go-on, I began to feel like I was retired. And my priorities shifted. I stopped worrying about the survival of my business and decided life was too short to NOT be building a car!
June 2020: waiting for back-ordered heads (I was porting my stock iron heads, but I gave up and bought new ones). Time on my hands. Bought a used T5 to rebuild, and I had time to research FFR again.
June 17, 2020: BOUGHT A TYPE 65!!! It only took 14 years!
If you followed the link above, you’ll know already that I’m not a mechanic or an engineer or anything else in the automotive world. I’m a doctor. Everything I know about cars comes from magazines, books, and the internet.
I thrive on the steep part of the learning curve and DIY. Two months ago, I knew very little about building an engine. I’ll finish the 302 in a few weeks. I knew nothing about porting a month ago. I finished porting my new heads today (with great success! The exhaust flow needed a lot of help, and I’m up 10% [as measured on my DIY flow bench]). Two weeks ago, I knew nothing about transmissions. Now I have a T5 totally torn down, and the rebuild kit comes in a few days. I know nothing about body work, but I’m going to paint the car myself.
My kit will be ready in early September, and I plan to add to the adventure by driving down from the Toronto area to pick it up. Hopefully, the border will be open by then!
Years ago, when I customized the last of the five Sciroccos I owned over the years, I farmed out all the work (although I did, at one time, change the head on one of my Sciroccos in the parking lot of an auto parts store in Seattle). This time I’m doing it all myself. Going to keep it basic so I don't invite problems. When I’m done, I will have touched everything from crankshaft to clear coat.
Can’t wait to get started!
Hmmm, I guess I already have started. I just didn’t know it two months ago when I launched into the 302 rebuild. I thought I’d just build it and sell it. Hadn’t planned to build a car around it, but here we go!
Cheers,
Philip