GBarrow
09-19-2020, 03:30 PM
Hello and thank you for allowing me to become a member of this august group. I joined the forum a few days ago, but am just now getting a chance to introduce myself. Four years ago I showed my wife the Car & Driver article testing a Factory Five roadster against an original Cobra. Her response was, "We need to build that car!" Yes, I am married to a unicorn! She then sent me to build school as a 36th wedding anniversary present and thus began the odyssey. I have been working overseas for the past 8 years, so this project has been on hold until now, but fortunately, we are now able to pull the trigger and get started on this. After going to build school and visiting the Factory Five shop in MA, I settled on a MK4 complete kit with IRS. We live in the mountains of Southwest VA, just outside of Bristol, with lots of great roads to run and wanted the IRS for the handling advantages it gives, along with power steering and the Wilwood brake upgrade. I also wanted a reliable, fuel injected engine to handle the altitude changes,so plan to use a 5.0L Coyote mated to a TKO 600 transmission. We want to use the car most of the year, so got the FF5 rag top, heater and wipers. I plan to use FF Metal's firewall forward kit and their trans tunnel cover along with Breeze's battery box to put the battery in the engine bay.
The kit arrived in May and I have been slow getting after it because our youngest son decided to get married on very short notice, but that was a good thing and a very pleasant delay!
Our oldest son, Joseph, is in the Navy and just transferred to Guam yesterday. Fortunately he was able to take some leave and come help me for a few days before he left. We were able to get the front and rear control arms installed, the IRS center section and the front Wilwood brakes on, before he had to leave. I'm now tackling the rest of the IRS on my own.
I know there is a LOT that I don't know, but I am not in a hurry on this and plan to go slow and do it right. If I can, I would love to meet Joseph with the completed roadster when he comes back 2 years from now. We shall see.
Thanks again for letting me be a part of this.
The kit arrived in May and I have been slow getting after it because our youngest son decided to get married on very short notice, but that was a good thing and a very pleasant delay!
Our oldest son, Joseph, is in the Navy and just transferred to Guam yesterday. Fortunately he was able to take some leave and come help me for a few days before he left. We were able to get the front and rear control arms installed, the IRS center section and the front Wilwood brakes on, before he had to leave. I'm now tackling the rest of the IRS on my own.
I know there is a LOT that I don't know, but I am not in a hurry on this and plan to go slow and do it right. If I can, I would love to meet Joseph with the completed roadster when he comes back 2 years from now. We shall see.
Thanks again for letting me be a part of this.