My first Factory Five

[Blueblood]

Hi all I just ordered my 65 coupe completion date of 1/22/22. I had known of Factory Five for years because of the cobra replicas. Never really thought about doing one because I always have plenty of car projects around until I spent the weekend at my brothers house and we watched a couple of documentaries on Carrol Shelby and the Daytona Coupe. Well that got me to thinking about having one and found out Factory Five makes the best in the business. Fast forward five months and that brings me up to date. Very excited to begin the build but the six months will give me time to finish my two other projects and get the garage ready to accept a chassis, body, and from what I hear plenty of boxes. Any advice on the coupe build I’d like to hear from those who have done one and what to expect along the journey. Thanks in advance

[mmklaxer]

Congrats! But it begs the question...what are the other 2 projects??

[Blueblood]

67 mercury cougar and 1970 mustang fastback that was last run in the early eighties in the A sedan SCCA mostly at Road America. The cougar is going back together to help fund the coupe. The mustang will be a monster on the street and annoy the neighbors.

[Fbird]

Welcome to the forum. I did some firebirds before embarking on a type 65. Played with many potential new projects after mostly finishing my 1978 trans am. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to broaden my horizons and make something faster. After much pondering I decided to go with the 65 coupe. Been a great experience thus far. I am looking forward to starting body work next week!
Welcome again.
T.poe

[edwardb]

Welcome and congratulations. You're in for a great adventure. Finished our Gen 3 Coupe about 1-1/2 years ago. In its second driving season. We love it. Build thread linked in my sig line below.

[B Campbell]

Welcome to the forum my 65 Coupe should be delivered mid August. been clearing floor space and building lots of shelving in the Garage to make room for its arrival. you will find wealth of knowledge here.

[Skuzzy]

Welcome to the forum! My kit is scheduled to arrive in the first week of November. In the meantime, trying to get as much floor space in my tiny garage has been challenging. When I say tiny, the length of the coupe will only have a couple of feet of space at the front, and none at the back. Built a floor for the 4 post lift (I do have a 15 foot ceiling), mounted heavy duty steel shelves up high, but it is still going to be tight. I envy all you guys with a good size garage to work in.

These forums contain a great deal of information covering all the little things that could be "ut-oh" moments. Looking forward to hearing about your build!

[Blueblood]

I see it is customary to list what kit I chose and how I intended to build it so here it goes. I got the base kit with a couple upgrades. Added the lower front control arms, front sway bar, hood scoops and floor mats. I will be running a 351w with Yates style heads in front of a Richmond 4+1 trans. Manual steering and brakes I have a 8.8 rear out of a late mountaineer with disk brakes and limited slip diff. Still up in the air about color. Looking to have a solid road warrior that can travel to shows and rod runs. Thanks for all the good wishes and I will keep all posted as to the progress when it starts and looking forward to seeing all your builds as well. Might even steal an idea from a few of you hehe.

[FracAG1980]

I look forward to following all the new builds listed here as it seems we will be getting our kits near the same time frame. Best of luck to all of you.

[John Dol]

Congrats on getting the most bad *** car! Be ready to answer many questions at the gas pump when you get her done.

John

[David Williamson]

The first question is "what is it" get ready for it
David W

[Jeff Kleiner]

Congrats and welcome!


...I got the base kit with a couple upgrades. Added the lower front control arms, front sway bar, hood scoops and floor mats...

A couple of things to point out; I don't see that you purchased the Factory Five proprietary spindles---although it's been done the Coupe was not designed to use the Mustang spindles. I've seen it and it ain't pretty :( It results in some terrible geometry that creates a horrible camber curve as the suspension moves. I strongly recommend that you get the FFR spindles. I also notice that you mention a front sway bar; be aware that if you add only a front bar without a corresponding change to the rear stiffness it will exacerbate the understeer that the car will already have with the factory spring rates and make it push even more. I always recommend power steering, not because of steering effort but because it will allow you to add additional caster which will make the car track and drive soooo much better. I'm not sure about that Mountaineer rear end; I know that the mounts won't be right but I think the center section is offset to the right side which might pose a problem unless you narrow it. Just some things to be aware of and to consider.

Good luck,
Jeff

[Blueblood]

Thanks for the advice Jeff. These are the things that I like to find out before it’s too late. I had intended to use mustang spindles but I think I will see if I can add the FFR spindles. So I intended to add a rear sway bar but didn’t see one listed on the options so I was going to source one that might fit. Finally I haven’t measured the rear to see if it is wider than the mustang and I know the mounts are very different as the mountaineer used parallel springs instead of the four link. I have a few nine inch rear ends but they are all drums so they would have to be converted to disk.

[Blueblood]

Would you recommend to eliminate the front sway bar all together?

[Logan]

Unless he has added them recently, Jeff runs no swaybars on his car, and 750/500 springs. And he drives it very hard and fast at the autocross, so that proves you can have good handling without swaybars. Others use the swaybars to fine tune the suspension and handling to their preference.

My suggestion would be to install both swaybars while building the car. It's better to have them and be able to tune the handling later than to always wonder "What if" and then have to go back and add them after the car is drivable (like I did).

[Blueblood]

Ok I upgraded my parts list by adding these items. Ordered the ffr lower control arms and spindles, wilwood front and rear brakes, ffr manual rack with adapter kit, three link rear suspension, sound insulation and carpet kit. I hope that takes care of all my suspension needs. I did recheck the 8.8 rear I’m using it is the same width as fox mustang but has the center section offset about 2 1/2” necessitating the three link upgrade. Logan and Jeff if you guys think I have my bases covered or if there is something else I might be missing please educate me. As the thread says this is my first Factory Five car. It’s going to be a learning process.

[Jeff Kleiner]

The Explorer/Mountaineer offset pinion will screw you and has nothing to do with 3 link. Do yourself a favor and get a proper Mustang rear axle...the wider body of the Coupe will allow you to use a ‘94-‘98. Guys who run Fox width often end up using wheel spacers so that the tires don’t look so far in but the wider SN95 rears will move them out 3/4” from the get-go.

Jeff