G&Ks Father /Son Roadster Build [Archive]

MyBucketList

11-08-2021, 08:02 AM

Hello FFF! Greg (& Kaleb) here. I am relatively new to the forum. Posted a few little things back when first order my kit in May out of shear excitement for the pending build. I have been debating about doing an actual build thread for some time. My kit arrived in October and after some really good initial advise on the FFF, my son (Kaleb) and I decided it probably be a good idea. As we go, I am hoping to both get and share good ideas and keep us on track with a successful build

Kit Specific:
MkIV Roadster Complete Kit
3 link Rear Set-up
Mosier 8.8" Rear End
Hydraulic Clutch
Whiby Power Brake
Mechanical Throttle Linkage
Russ Thompson Turn Signal Mod
Intank fuel pump and line kit to support EFI
various optional parts from replicaparts.com
... and probably some other things I am not thinking of... or haven't committed to yet

Planned Power Plant
Blueprint 347 w/ Sniper EFI and TKX 5-speed transmission (0.68 final gear option)

This thread will not start from the very beginning due to me himming and hawing early on.

Work completed to date
Inventory review complete and submitted
Body mold lines knocked down
Body removed and moved to body buck
Aluminum panel removal (most of it anyway... trunk pieces provide a good work space)
F Panel prep and install (will show the result in the thread)
Pedal Box and Whitby Booster install (still doing final tweaking and will show + discuss a little of the challenges there early on).

A bit about myself:
I’m a 48 year old father of 4 boys (Twins 17, 15, 12). I grew up wrenching on cars with my older brother. This has lead to doing a lot of my own auto work in the past... brakes, exhausts, suspension, etc. Nothing in the realm of building a complete car, but enough to give me confidence in being successful. My wife of almost 20 years has been hearing me talk about this as a dream for the entire time we have been together. We are now in a place when proceeding became possible. Thanks to my wife loving me very much (thanks, honey) my kit was ordered in May and delivered on October 25. My youngest son, Kaleb, is going to be my build assistant. Looking forward to having bonding moments and sharing my love of cars with him.

Let the building begin (well.. proceed anyway)! :)
155793

GoDadGo

11-08-2021, 08:25 AM

Father-Son Projects Are The Best!
For The Record, Your Wife Has Got To Be A Saint!
That's A Lot Of Lifted Toilet Seats At Your House!
Congratulations & Welcome Aboard!

MyBucketList

11-08-2021, 08:45 AM

Ha... she is pretty special. Really has to be to live with 5 boys in house (3 actual teenagers... and me, who behaves like one sometimes) and not go completely insane.

Tks for the welcome. Also, seen some of your build videos on Youtube, I think. Thanks for sharing.

Jeff Kleiner

11-08-2021, 09:08 AM

egchewy79

11-08-2021, 12:26 PM

john42

11-08-2021, 04:26 PM

congrats and welcome. I've tried to incorporate my son (14yo) on the build but he'd rather talk to his friends on snapchat and watch tiktok videos. He will suggest we drive the roadster every chance we get though.

Heh... my 14 year old will only go for a drive if we are going some place he wants to go. He does however, want to get into SCCA racing. At least he thinks he does. He doesn't know that I've made the local BMW/SCCA defensive driving a school a pre-req to him ever driving on the road. My 11 year old however, he's 100% different. He's willingly in the garage every time I'm doing anything with the car and lately, I get as far as "Does anybody want..." and he's saying "yes yes, I'll go!" and putting his shoes on.

egchewy79

11-08-2021, 05:03 PM

Heh... my 14 year old will only go for a drive if we are going some place he wants to go. He does however, want to get into SCCA racing. At least he thinks he does. He doesn't know that I've made the local BMW/SCCA defensive driving a school a pre-req to him ever driving on the road. My 11 year old however, he's 100% different. He's willingly in the garage every time I'm doing anything with the car and lately, I get as far as "Does anybody want..." and he's saying "yes yes, I'll go!" and putting his shoes on.

yeah, my 4 yr old daughter loves spending time in the garage with me. It helps that it's heated in the winters and there's a TV with an amazon firestick showing cartoons.

JB in NOVA

11-08-2021, 06:59 PM

Welcome Greg & Kaleb! You are in for a great adventure. I'm looking forward to following along.

MyBucketList

11-08-2021, 08:05 PM

Where to start... I guess we should probably give a glimpse of our work so far.

1) Front Brake calipers
So as I said... my wife loves me... but Willwoods were not in the budget (for now anyway), so I have the standard brakes from the kit. Given they are brand new we decided to spruce up the fronts up a bit. A little gold caliper paint, some holographic metal flake sprinkled on while the paint was still tacky, and a coat of heat temp clear coat when they dried... wa la... custom gold calipers. Rears were on our outstanding parts list so we couldn't finish the full set, but we did do the same thing to out Whitby power brake master cylinder. Nice touch, we thought.
155812

2) Whitby Power Brake Kit
Thanks to some research, the mods to the front of the foot box went well. The Willwood bracket mods were a different story and fought me the whole way. That is some thick metal to bore through. Four 2 1/2" bi/metal hole saws later we were successful and in business. We also used a grinder to create some clearance for the top booster pass through bolts (notice the precision ground notches... not pretty, but worked great). Same grinder with a cutting wheel cleared interference with the steering bearing race.
155813 155814

3) Pedal Box with Whitby replacement pedal
Did initial fit up to ensure things align properly. With the power brake, the Willwood brake pedal set up was removed and replaced with the stuff from Whitby. We now have two extra brake cylinders and a lot of empty space in the top of the pedal box where they were designed to go (hopefully that is correct). We did opt for the hydraulic clutch option so that cylinder is all trimmed and mounted. Not real fond of the Whitby pedal position on rough fit up, but in researching it looks like the pushrob "dog leg" should face up... not down. Not sure how much that changes the position, but we will do it right and start there if it is still a concern. We were going to need to pull it all apart again away to set the master cylinder push rob rod depth with a tool I ordered from Jegs and install a booster spacer (also currently on its way)... so not a big deal. Anyhow, here is how it looks in the temporary fit up.
155815

4) F panel install. First chassis panel permanently mounted. Opted for spray on bedliner coating for these. Install was super easy after the fun of the power brake booster. Mark... drill panel... clean... scrub pad... coat... wait to dry... silicone... drill frame... rivet... rinse and repeat. Kaleb did most of the drilling and LOVED my new cordless power rivet gun. I may never get to actually rivet anything together myself. :)
155816

So... I think that accounts for our progress so far. We were going to tackle brake hard lines this weekend, but the passenger foot box is a possibility as well. I'll leave that decision up to Kaleb.

Nigel Allen

11-09-2021, 02:01 AM

yeah, my 4 yr old daughter loves spending time in the garage with me. It helps that it's heated in the winters and there's a TV with an amazon firestick showing cartoons.
It was only yesterday that we were congratulating you on her birth!

egchewy79

11-09-2021, 07:53 AM

It was only yesterday that we were congratulating you on her birth!

that was probably the 8 month old :)

MyBucketList

11-09-2021, 07:59 PM

Alright... so first "major hurdle" in the build.

Returning to troubleshoot the Whitby power brake pedal position issue. We saw an image of the push rob dog leg position in a photo a few days ago that seemed to show the dogleg bending up. Ours is was down and we thought perhaps this changed the angle of the pedal connection... and possibly the final pedal position. Well, got back into it today and attempted to emulate the position we thought we saw. No dice (as some say). The push rod cannot physical reach the pedal pin in this position. So, we are now trying to figure out how to address this and could use the advise of the collective forum experience and expertise.

Our initial thought is to fabricate an adapter to fit over and through the booster pushrod and move the connecting position forward about 3/4"... but on the same line. It would have to be pretty rigid, but in looking at the space available we think it is a possibility. We hate to go this route, but there does not appear to be a simple solution other than to "let it ride" and leave the brake pedal in the position it is currently. If I had to guess there would still be about 2 inches of travel before bottom out against the front of the footbox... I just really don't like the start position.

Any thoughts, past experience or great ideas out there in forum world?

155851 155852

MyBucketList

11-10-2021, 09:15 PM

Bought the materials today to begin the fabrication of our brake adaptor for the Whitby system. Took a lot of measurements and am pretty sure we have a good plan. With any luck we'll be done with this little challenge by the end of the weekend. Wish us luck. If successful we'll include a couple pictures so everyone can marvel at our ingenuity. ;)

In the meantime, we have been working a bit on the passenger footbox. It has gone together pretty easy thanks to the cleco fasteners I bought after seeing several people using them in their build threads. Another great purchase.

MyBucketList

11-12-2021, 12:22 PM

Power Brake Success!!!

It may not be pretty... but really solid and we gain about 2 inches of pedal travel. Much happier.
156248

Before
156246

After
156247

We also received the gauge we ordered to set our power brake master cylinder push rod depth. Worked great. Super easy and eliminated any guesswork. Realistically, we will never use it again, but still worth the $20 we paid for it.. 8o)

So, at this point everything is the pedal box area is tightened up and we are moving to whatever challenges come next.

Fman

11-12-2021, 08:36 PM

MyBucketList

11-14-2021, 03:33 PM

Welcome, looking forward to watching your build progress.

If you want to add a little more stopping power to the GT brakes, this is a good way to go for relatively low cost. I have been really pleased with how they are performing.

Front:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/PWR-K1301-26

Rear:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/PWR-AR-85160XPR

Thanks for the info. I have used Power Stop upgrades on my other vehicles in the past. Performance has been very good so I will probably go that route as well.

MyBucketList

11-14-2021, 04:20 PM

Just got done cleaning up for the weekend. Feeling like good progress was made.

We managed to run all of the hard lines without kinking any of them. It was a slow process, but we just took it one bend at a time and worked our way around. I used some wire cut to 6' lengths to practices routings before we started sculpting the actual brake lines (hence the white wire coming out of the Master Cylinder for the rear line run in one of the images)

156318 156319 156320 156321

We are thinking we may need to rework the long line to the back. We opted to cross over the frame tube and come up form the inside to the driver's rear connection. It worked well, but now I am wondering about the risk of something hitting or catching that line at the point of the crossover. Have to sleep on that one a bit. Probably low risk as this is not an off road vehicle, but still a little risk. Thoughts?

156322

We also did a bunch of the cockpit aluminum over the past couple days as well. No pictures of that at this point. Perhaps in subsequent postings.

we are now kind waiting on parts to determine what comes next. Wouldn't mind steering or suspension, but a lot missing there. We'll see what "presents" come this week and maybe we steering column will show up.

We did have a little fun today. Placed the Kirkey drivers set in rough position to see what it would look like and how much leg room I will have when we are done. At 6'4" I was surprised I could extend my legs straight and still had a little room to spare. I'm sure this will change a bit when everything is set in final position, but it a least for now I'm confident I'll actually be able to drive the car when it's done. :D

MyBucketList

11-14-2021, 06:38 PM

Alright... so as I was writing the bit about the rear line routing, it just started to eat away at me. Yes.. probably low risk, but why take any risk at all.

So... I went back out and give it another look. 30 minutes later this is how it ended up. Pretty sure there is no risk now and we are going to be much happier.

156328 156329 156330 156331

Now will sleep better. :D

egchewy79

11-14-2021, 06:52 PM

What are you using for brake lines? Not seen that product on a car before

MyBucketList

11-14-2021, 08:23 PM

What are you using for brake lines? Not seen that product on a car before

The brake lines themselves are the standard lines from kit. However, somewhere on one of the forums I saw pictures of someone who opted for stainless steel gravel guards to give extra protection to the underbody brakes lines. Seemed like a great idea. The guards slide on over the brake lines pretty easy. You do have to cut the flared tip and remove one fitting to get it on... then put the fitting back on a re-flare. I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel for cutting the brake line and trimming the steel gravel guard length.

Outside of the functionality... I really like the look of it as well. Of course, it probably will go unnoticed outside of this build thread. Not many people will crawl underneath to even see it. ;)

Gravel Guard Link (Amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Brake-Protector-Gravel-Spring/dp/B01IRQXJDS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2OPRF3LIFH39G&keywords=brake+line+gravel+guard+3%2F16&qid=1636938608&sprefix=barke+line+gravel+guard%2Caps%2C232&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE1MlVZSk1DR0FUSkQmZ W5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3NzA5NDAxMUs0S1ZXTFdWOFg3JmVuY3J 5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1NjMxODEyVEQwVjdaRkpNSUdWJndpZGdld E5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm9 0TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

MyBucketList

11-16-2021, 11:17 AM

Need some expertise and opinions.

We are trying to figure out the best placement for the brake and hydraulic clutch reservoirs. At this point, we have the following constraints...

1) As you know, we installed a Whitby Power Brake Kit so the side rail we see some folks using is probably out of play... as it would prevent access to the brake master cylinder and lines.

2) We are going to install a Forte Mechanical Throttle Linkage this coming weekend. Our mounting position will be low, through the 2"x2" frame, but we need to have enough clearance for all throttle arms, etc. Hence, we am not feeling confident about a firewall mount in this location. Perhaps we could we could fabricate a special a bracket to move it significantly forward and around the throttle parts/travel. Would have to be pretty unique and solid.

3) We will be mounting a FFR windshield wiper system as well. Hence we are also trying to plan around that. Pictures make it seem like most of this issue there is on the passenger side, but it is still on our radar as a risk because at least some of it will extend across the front to the driver's side.

At this point, we have seen some pictures of mounting the reservoirs high, centerline on the firewall but still low enough to access the caps for maintenance. It looks like a cobra dress kit air cleaner set up would cause a problem if we went that route because of the filter size, but air filters and housings come in many shapes and sizes. It we go this route, it seems like a pretty decent, solid mounting location.

So... looking for some creative ideas/solutions. We know we want the reservoirs high enough to gravity feed the system. Just trying to figure our the best way to accomplish the task.

By the way.. we are thinking either triple reservoir from Scotts Hot Rods (5.2" high by 5" wide by 2" deep), or a double for the brakes while using one of the supplied reservoirs for the clutch (which would allow us to sperate the locations if it made sense because of space).

Thoughts and advice?

John Ibele

11-17-2021, 01:20 PM

460.465USMC

11-17-2021, 03:12 PM

A bit about myself:
I’m a 48 year old father of 4 boys (Twins 17, 15, 12).

Welcome, Bucket! Glad to have you aboard. We, too, had a household of four sons, so years ago had to cheat to get our baby girl: adoption is beautiful thing!

You're in for a real adventure. Again, welcome!

Blitzboy54

11-17-2021, 04:05 PM

MyBucketList

11-17-2021, 07:04 PM

Welcome aboard!

I wouldn’t get too caught up in Wilwood upgrades. With the brake booster your going to stop just fine. I went with the big brake kit because mine are manual.

Great job on the caliper paint. Looks terrific. I’m guessing you have general idea from the start what you want yours to look like.

Yes... targeting a deep candy apple metallic as the base (bordering almost crimson). Stripes will be black with a light metal flake as well (preferably flakes of faint gold... but not overpowering). The stripes will be trimmed with with thin, metallic gold pin strips. Thought is that will give a nice contrast to the black stripes and possibly bring out the faint gold metallic in them in the right light.

At this point it is all in my head and I need to consult someone who knows much more than me about paint, but it's a vision anyway. That's also why the gold calipers... to bring it together from the side view.

Seems so far off to get to that point. :)

MyBucketList

11-17-2021, 07:05 PM

Welcome, Bucket! Glad to have you aboard. We, too, had a household of four sons, so years ago had to cheat to get our baby girl: adoption is beautiful thing!

You're in for a real adventure. Again, welcome!

Many thanks. Glad to be building and sharing with the community.

MyBucketList

11-17-2021, 07:43 PM

Hey Greg (and Kaleb) - welcome, and congratulations on your decision to take on this adventure together. You're going to have a blast!

If you haven't run across Paul (edwardb on the forum) yet, you have now. He has done several builds, documented them with build threads, and does really nice photography and explanation in addition to knowing just a bit about cars. Going through his build threads is enjoyable and you'll certainly learn something.

I thought of his build threads when I looked at your questions, knowing he had used hydro-boost on at least one of his builds. Here's a link to some photos (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?8296-Mk4-7750-Build-Progress-Update&p=85816&viewfull=1#post85816) from one of his build threads that may help. I think over 90% of folks put their reservoirs in the position shown in his photos, just because it keeps the hose runs as short as possible and that serves to keep the engine compartment clean. You do want to stay close enough to the footbox to avoid interference with the DS hood hinge, and to keep the reservoirs as high as possible. Just make sure you're not going to poke into the hood or the hood hinges and you're good.

My only additional advice is the general platitude: don't make decisions later than you need to, but don't make them earlier either. (Despite my own reminders I've tried both anyway :rolleyes:.) More specifically, I try not to drill holes until I'm CERTAIN where I want them. In the case of the firewall, I wanted to have the engine in place before I did any drilling for senders, harnesses, or any of the holes for mechanical throttle. Here's one image (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51624950057_7b41cbbb88_b.jpg) of my engine dropped in (and how little I've done to the firewall), FWIW. Obviously I'm pretty excited to now have a specific destination for things like the mechanical throttle linkage (once I plop the Sniper on top), and the needed wiring. Somehow I just couldn't envision a clean layout until I had the 'from' and the 'to' locked in place.

Good luck and thanks for sharing your build thread!

Great advice on multiple fronts. I know we are going to continue to struggle with decision timing. This is a great reminder to take our time and be thoughtful and methodical about it.

We did already mount the mechanical throttle linkage based on research on the various forums (will share pictures this weekend as part of an update). Wanted to get that out of the way before determining reservoir location... and knowing there is not a lot of latitude in throttle placement due to footbox room. This did have me mark and drill the holes per the harness manual for the harness openings in the firewall. Wanted to make sure the harnesses and throttle linkage had room before I mounted the linkage (perhaps premature... hopefully not). To date that is it as far as any modifications to firewall or anything else. We are still using cardboard moke-ups to "imagine" where things should go. A bit childish, but hey... it works for now. :) Also turns out the reservoirs from Scotts Hot Rods are smaller than I thought. Hence, side rail may still be feasible (crossing my fingers). We'll take a look when they arrive. I do like the location... just need to see it with actual parts before committing. Cleaner is always better.

BTW... edwardb did reach out to me early on when I was considering doing my body work first (do to a large parts outstanding list). Suggested perhaps that was bad idea so we abandoned it quick with a thanks to the more experienced minds on the forum. Hoping to see his cars and share notes in person at some point. Turns out he lives relative close to me as well... about 2 hours, I believe.

Thanks

John Ibele

11-17-2021, 09:11 PM

MyBucketList

11-17-2021, 09:29 PM

Hey I remember that connection and post, now that you mentioned. And I had forgotten when responding about the supply challenges you’re likely facing. That’s gotta be frustrating. It sounds like you have things well in hand and are being inventive about working around the back ordered parts.

Doing our best. We really want to get into the suspension and get to a rolling chassis. The Mosier rear end is sitting in my garage... but missing most of the rear linkages and shocks. For the front we have the upper parts of the suspension and the spindles... but no lowers or complete set of shock components for that either. (Big sigh)... patience, patience, patience. (Laughing)

We'll get there. Like you said "be inventive". :D

Have a great week!

MyBucketList

11-20-2021, 07:46 PM

Kaleb and I had good Saturday with the kit. Decided to go after the Steering Rack & Lower Steering mechanicals... as well as the Upper control Arms.

Overall, the process went well. We did find a couple locknuts missing from one upper control arms. Missed that during inventory as we identified that we had the upper arms but did not look to see the assemblies were complete. Oops. :( Not a big deal. Just an added trip to the hardware store to get the needed locknuts.

Steering rack install went on fairly well. Needed a little persuading to get the holes lined up, but nothing major. Ran into a small issue on the steering U joints we could use advise on. The one at the top of the lower shaft has the threaded retainer pin that seats into the depression drilled per the manual. The retaining pin is fine, but the nut that goes on it stands proud and hits the bottom of the Whitby Booster housing (see photo). We are pretty sure we assembled the steering bearing race correctly (but please let us know if we messed it up). At this point, we see a couple options (assuming the assembly was done correctly)...

156643 156645

1) Shave off the nut a bit to make it thinner. Shouldn't take much to get the needed clearance.

2) Get rid of the nut. The threaded retainer pin only engages with the lower portion of the nut anyway (see image). Our guess is we would not be compromising anything if we just put some thread lock on the retaining pin threads and rolled without the nut even being there ("shoot the hostage and take them out of the equation"... "Speed" reference). Are we missing something? Any recommendations from those who have used the Whitby Brake Kit?

156644

A few other questions:

1) The manual only talks about creating a depression in the upper connection of the lower steering shaft. Isn't this something that makes sense to do for all of the steering shaft to U-join connections? Curious why the manual only targets this one location only.

2) Part 15839 (unused 39 spline steering U joint)... what is this for? Our guess is this U joint is used if you have the power steering rack. The build manual does not seem to be clear on this (that we can find) so we thought we would ask.

3) Upper control arm mounting bolts... mounting holes are on the side/vertical surface of the chassis bracket. There are also holes at a 90 on the upper horizontal part of the same bracket. The mounting bolts extending through the vertical holes appear to block the holes above (at least from being able to use them to mount anything). Is there a future reason these upper holes need to be clear (and hence we did something wrong)? We can provided a picture if it would help clarify.

Anyhow... here is the high level view of what we got done.

156646 156647

Having a great time.

MyBucketList

11-21-2021, 09:13 PM

MyBucketList

11-21-2021, 09:43 PM

Here is some fun... had a little family teamwork event this afternoon. We opened up the wood crate the Moser rear end came in and got it moved down the work area in the outbuilding. Now she is all set up on a set of jack stands as a temporary holding location until the other suspension components we need show up. It came with a nice chrome cover plate, but I'm not really a big fan of chrome. Hence, I ordered a replacement cast aluminum cover from Amazon. We did the non logo'd version for half the price of the Ford Performance option. Images appeared identical with the exception of not having Ford or Moser engraved in it. It is amazing how much more expensive a logo can be. Anyhow, as with everything else we had to add our own little touches. You can see we prepped the cover and painted it with gold engine paint to be a close match to the brake calipers. There is a special logo we added as well, but we are keeping that a secret for now (hence the blue painters tape). :)

156676

Over Thanksgiving we planning on pulling the axels, getting our brake mounts attached, reassembling everything, filling her up with gear oil, and permanently sealing her up. We have watched the FFR YouTube Assembly video for this process and seems pretty straight forward. Hopefully not too much of an adventure.

Anyhow... Kaleb and I also wanted to take this time to wish everyone out there in Forum World a Happy Thanksgiving. If you are hitting the road to go see family (which we personally prefer to hosting the big day :) ), safe travels to you.

MyBucketList

11-22-2021, 08:54 PM

Just a quick observation here leaving Kaleb and I with a question. Both upper control arms came with the same part number on the inventory list. Visually, they appear to be identical assemblies. We would expect, however, that the left and right to be mirror images of each other, but they are not. Just looking for a quick verification that these control arms are on correctively even thought they are not the mirror images we would expect.

Driver Side
156674

Passenger Side
156675

Note the bolt on the outer edge moves from front to back position.

Found the answer to this in another post after a little searching so we can check this one off the list. Posting where we found it mentioned having to trim the rear control arm sleeves to allow proper alingment, so there was momentary concern about that. Reading further it sounds like that is only a concern for those running power steering... which we are not. Sigh of relief.

MyBucketList

11-28-2021, 04:52 PM

Been a busy weekend. Did the extended family Thanksgiving on Thursday. My wife comes for a large family. All told, we probably packed 35 people into a relatively small house for the holiday festivities. As in previous years, it was very loud and obnoxious... but the food and catching up were good.

After a long break to digest the gluttony of the previous day, we were back out in the barn working on the build. The triple reservoirs from Scotts Hot Rods (which are awesome, BTW) showed up Friday so we settled on a final location (based on Forum recommendations) and went into full fabrication mode for the mounting bracket. Very time consuming process with lots of measuring and trial fitting of early iterations, but the final product came out great. We were very concerned about interference with the body later on. All said and done in its final home we were are about 1/2" below the engine bay rails. Hoping that is plenty of clearance. Very excited to have it all mounted... and plumbed. Unfortunately, we are still waiting on suspension and brake items that are preventing us from being able to close the brake system for bleeding and leak checks. Still pretty excited about the progress though.

157868 157869 157870

Got a couple additional items added to the rear end as well. Brake rotors and breather & hose. Nothing too exciting... but still progress

157871

We are kind of reaching a point where need to stop until the parts outstanding arrive. Reached out to FFR and they shared that most of the outstanding parts generally ship 4 to 6 weeks after main kit arrival. Very encouraging. By my count that means we should start seeing some ship notifications shortly. Really excited for some of that stuff to start showing up (lower control arms and shocks especially). We are having so much fun we don't want to take too much time off. :)

MyBucketList

12-05-2021, 08:00 PM

Been a bit of lull the last week in terms of progress. We have been cleaning our work area and getting reorganized. Amazing how quickly things get cluttered as we are opening and closing boxes get needed parts and put others away. It has also afforded me a little extra time to brew some beer kits I have had in backlog (brewing is my other favorite hobby) :)

We did take another look at things we can do for now. We took a little risk and started the main wiring harness install. Fuse Box & Main, Front, Rear, and Sending Unit harnesses are in their specified locations. Nothing is permanently mounted outside of some holding clips in the tunnel and DS Foot box (that we can drill out if needed), but it feels like progress anyway. We did order an Under Dash Filler Panel from replicaparts.com so we played around with mounting that. Went relatively smooth. Had to modify the panel slightly to accommodate the inertial switch per the build manual. We think we are happy with it, but will know better as we progress. We did sand to bare metal on the 3/4" tube for the fuse box ground attachment as well. It just doesn't look like it because we repainted around the edges of the connector when we were done.

158287 158294 158288

Last assembly item of the weekend was a quick install of a braided hydraulic clutch line we ordered. Wasn't sure whether 36" would be enough, so we got the 48" version. In pre-running the line we are glad we ordered the later. Would rather be a little long and too short. Looks and feels like it should work (assuming the npt connector on the lower end mates with the hydraulic throw-out bearing on the Blue Print engine and tranny package we are targeting).

158289 158290

Anyhow... that's about it for now. Take care and be safe out there!

Fman

12-05-2021, 09:29 PM

MyBucketList

12-06-2021, 07:59 AM

One tip from someone who just had to replace his Wilwood Clutch MC after 2100 miles about a year old. That top nylock nut I would loose it and replace it something easier to remove. IF you ever have to remove your clutch MC you will see why I am recommending this. It is a complete PIA to try and remove that nut, especially a nylock. The lower nylock with a regular nut up on the top will be plenty to keep that MC in check. Try and keep that area near the Clutch MC as wide open as possible, once the body is on it becomes a totally different ballgame accessing the clutch MC.

Just my .02, I never thought I would be replacing a clutch MC but they can fail and are not fun to replace

We will go ahead and do that. A bit surprised to hear about failure of the Wilwood cylinder that early. Given their reputation I would expect high performance and long life. Good news is we have two additional MCs as back up thanks to running the power brake system and hence not needing the extra brake MCs. Just have to be able to get it... so your comments are greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks... and have a great day/week!

MyBucketList

12-16-2021, 04:33 PM

Got a message yesterday we have a FedEx shipment from FFR on its way. Should be here tomorrow. We have no idea what it is. The shipper says 18lbs so it could be something decent sized. Hoping for control arms... or shocks... maybe upper steering shaft. So many things that could help us make just a little more progress. :D

We have been using the downtime time to "accessorize". We have a Breeze battery relocator on the way. We bought some really nice replacement indicator lights and couple metal button options to the replace the plastic horn button from the kit for the future dash. Found a nice metal trimmed, dual USB plug to add to the dash as well. Aluminum cup holders to mount in the trans tunnel when we get to that point.... and a partridge in a pare tree. The real highlight though is a Vintage 427 reverse shift lever we found at moderndriveline.com. We have a metal shift trim ring and leather boot from an early 2000's Viper that combined with the vintage shifter should look really great.

Hoping to dig in on few things this weekend and get some new pictures posted. Until then....

MyBucketList

12-20-2021, 08:00 AM

Well, a little progress this weekend. In our last post we mentioned the incoming package from FFR. Turned out to be the radiator. Though very glad to have received it even though it did not really help us in advancing our suspension or steering work. We went ahead and inventoried it on the shelf then moved on to finding other things to work on.

Was also very glad on Friday to have received the Breeze Battery Relocator kit we ordered. That was something we could play with a bit. We got the hardware all mounted up with no issue. To follow suit with how we have been doing other items, we scuffed the finish and hit it with a couple coats of spray-on bedliner. The mount seems really solid so we are pretty happy with the kit so far. We have an Optima 51 on order to place in the new box and we will do final wire sizing and fit up once that arrives.

158884

The other item we have been plugging away at is the wiring for the Russ Thompson Turn Signal Mod. So far, so good. The diagram and instructions are pretty nice there as well. We have the junction bars in place per the included diagram. At this point, we wired what made sense to do for now. The remaining connections that require ties to dash wiring currently have placeholder plugs and labels so we are are all ready to tie in the gauge harness once the dash shows up. We did opt to run the relays out to the far passenger side of the dash. Read in a string somewhere this makes them more accessible if any work needs to be done with them. We also like that it moves them away from the "clutter" so it looks cleaner (not that anyone will notice once the dash is installed). Just hope it all works once we power it up. :D

158885 158886

Can't believe Christmas is here already. Have great week and very Merry Christmas!

nucjd19

12-21-2021, 08:01 PM

Congrats and happy building!

As for the 5 guys in the house...a good friend of mine also has 4 sons (kept trying for a girl but it wasn't to be) and during their teen age years said to my wife and me "it's like living in a damn frat house!" :)

Jeff

They have done studies in the equestrian world looking at brood mares having fillies vs colts and the one aspect the researchers could contribute was during conception if the mare was losing weight they usually had females and if the mare was gaining weight they would have colts. Not sure I can carry that over to humans but since we are mammals I suspect there is some legitimacy to it. Sorry to get off the Rails............

MBL!!!!! Hey man! Sorry for the late welcome! Nice to meet ya! I have to daughters ( 8 and 10) and they like taking a ride in it but were not interested at all during the build.

MyBucketList

12-22-2021, 08:24 AM

They have done studies in the equestrian world looking at brood mares having fillies vs colts and the one aspect the researchers could contribute was during conception if the mare was losing weight they usually had females and if the mare was gaining weight they would have colts. Not sure I can carry that over to humans but since we are mammals I suspect there is some legitimacy to it. Sorry to get off the Rails............

MBL!!!!! Hey man! Sorry for the late welcome! Nice to meet ya! I have to daughters ( 8 and 10) and they like taking a ride in it but were not interested at all during the build.

... is that a polite way of saying I must have been putting on weight at the time each of my boys was conceived? ;)

I guess in thinking back, it is possible. It would depend a little on what the thresholds are. I was running and working out a lot around the time of my first boys so I am going to claim "increase in muscle mass" over the alternative for them. Liam (middle boy), I can't really remember that situation clearly. What I do remember is putting on 25 lbs DURING the pregnancy (sympathetic weight gain.. I think they call it) because my wife had cravings for ice cream and I sacrificed my health by partaking as well. Incidentally, 2 rounds of P90X got the weight back off and I have not had so much as a spoonful of ice cream since (clean for 15 years). It's kind of like if you have ever gotten sick on some drink (partying on college, perhaps) and now just the smell of that drink turns your stomach (like Jim Beam for me... but I digress). For my youngest son... yup, no excuses... my memory tells me I was traveling a lot for work and putting on a few pounds around that time.

I guess I could offer up to my wife that I am getting back into running and it will inevitably result in weight loss. Hence, if we wanted to try for a girl again this is the time. The science is on our side. :D Kidding...at 48, we are done. My fifth child is the one I am currently building and sharing pictures of here in this forum. She's the daughter we never had. Bonus is I don't have the joy of raising any teenage girls. Hats of to those who do. Much respect!

Thanks for the welcome... and Happy Holidays to you and yours

MyBucketList

12-27-2021, 09:06 AM

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and got to spend plenty of quality time with their families. Our Christmases at our household are usually very busy with my parents joining us on Xmas Eve and staying through the night. We eat too much junk food, play games with the kids, but generally enjoy hanging out. It was also nice to have them with us during the present opening on Xmas morning... which takes a while (not because of them). My wife, bless her heart, is very OCD about the present opening process. She has her own list with specific order to the opening of packages. Would go so much faster if it was just a free for all... but hey. The afternoon then brings packing up and heading down to my in-laws for more holiday merriment (a yearly tradition since my joining of the family). We won't expound on that too much other than saying they are very wonderful people (in smaller quantities). For this gathering the noise and challenging family dynamics are quite taxing.... and I am glad it is all over at this point. I just tried to practice "social distancing" as best I could... not because of COVID... just because I wanted to stay out of family politics. :)

... but this is a build forum... not a family journal... so we do actually have build progress related items.

1) My most exciting Xmas present (as requested when folks asked) was cash, from various family donors, towards a set of "Snake Bite Heat Shields" from steelshields.com for my pipes once they are mounted. Saw them on a build thread for Papa's roadster and decided they make a really nice touch. We haven't ordered them yet as there is certainly no hurry, but it's nice to have the extra donated cash in the slush fund to get them when we are ready.

2) Started on the mechanicals for the Russ Thompson self canceling signals. Got the mount holes drilled and the mounting brackets squared away. Not tightening anything down until the upper steering shaft is in hand though. We will still need to adjust the alignment and ensure smooth steering operation. Just rough sighting everything up so far, it looks like there should not be any alignment issues when we do get to that point. I have to say we are really happy with the product (and service) Russ provides at this point. Going together great with no major hiccups.

159270 159271

Probably won't post again until after the new year. Sooo... Happy New Year to all. We will continue on in 2022!

MyBucketList

12-28-2021, 09:13 AM

So excited... we had to do a quick post.

Got another ship notification from FFR yesterday. Shipper says it's a pallet with 9 pieces on it. We are guessing "pieces" = boxes of parts, but not really sure. The shipper also says it weighs 225lbs so it must be something substantial (not sure if the pallet is included in that weight measurement or not... doesn't really matter).

Our current wish list is for suspension and steering components to finish out those parts of the build, but anything is welcome at this point. Can't wait to see what it is. :D

Anyhow, arrival timing is by end of day this Thursday. We'll have to take some time between now and then to clean-up the build shelves a bit to make space for the new stuff.

Ted G

12-28-2021, 03:15 PM

MyBucketList

12-29-2021, 08:52 AM

I like the triple reservoirs and the cost is great!! Did you order smaller 1 oz version or the XXXL 3 oz version? I was thinking the smaller would be too small for a reservoir. Your build is looking great and I'll be following for sure!

Ted

We have the 1.1oz ounce size. I'm not real worried about the volume being an issue (though it is a risk). It was more of a question of space. The power brake booster takes up a lot of space in front of the driver's footbox. That being the case, we found locating the reservoir in this side location as a bit of a challenge. There is not much clearance behind the reservoirs or underneath as installed. We wanted to make sure it was positioned low enough to clear the body and hood when we get to installed then. The alternative was to mount a little farther away on the firewall and run longer lines to the master cylinder. From an engine compartment cleanliness standpoint we are hoping the current reservoir volume, line runs, and position work. Less clutter... but finger crossed. :)

Worst case, if we get the brakes installed and bled then find the volume is actually an issue, we'll circle back to rethink and get a larger version. Would definitely stick with Scotts Hot Rods if we have to go that route. The current part is very nice and would expect the same of the large reservoir.

MyBucketList

01-02-2022, 03:30 PM

Okay... we started getting into the dash wiring and needed to pause to do some research (as well as look to experienced builders for guidance)

It appears my Classic Gauges are different from those illustrated in the "Rev W - Chassis Wiring Harness" guide that came with my RF Harness. Looked on line and could not find a more recent revision. Here are some points of confusion.

1) My Classic Gauges Set does not have the "Black Gauge Dial Light Cable" mentioned in the Rev W manual
2) None of my gauges have the extra wires and plugs coming out of the back on them to plug into the above cable.
3) Because we don't have the cable in "1" we also do not have the dimmer mentioned. That being the case, how is the dimmer handled in this new version of the classic gauges???

Additional Issue (s)
Coming out of the Speedo we have 3 wires that we cannot find instructions for their connections
Green w Red stripe
Green w Grey and/or Black Stripe
Blue w White Stripe

Obviously these connect to the Dark Green, Grey, and Red wires in the RF Gauge Harness, but it doesn't say which (or I am missing something).

Also, sounds in reading a bit that there is a history of bad slices causing electrical issues. Is this a big enough risk we should be worried... and if so, which are the most problematic harnesses and connections?

Lots of questions... sorry. Electrical still scares we (meaning me specifically... Kaleb is too young to know how frustrating electrical problems can be)

JeffP

01-02-2022, 03:56 PM

Similar post, not sure if its the same gauges you're referring to.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?41754-Vintage-gauge-install

MyBucketList

01-03-2022, 10:08 AM

Similar post, not sure if its the same gauges you're referring to.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?41754-Vintage-gauge-install

Very helpful

Between this, a further deep dive into the wiring diagram, we think we are good. Turns out what we said was "obvious" about the 3 wires connecting was not actually a correct assumption. Funny how that is often the case. :)

The 2 green and 1 blue wire (had we read the instructions with the gages more closely) are indicator power wires for the turn signal and high beam indicators built into the face of the speedometer. They are REALLY small lights on the speedo face so we didn't even notice them until looking at the gage more closely (following further study of said instructions). So... our plan is to tie these into the power wires for the LED dash indicators we bought for each of these (and that are much larger for old eyes). Should be super easy and work really well. Unfortunately, having the double indicators with make me feel even worse in the future when I realize my flashers have been on for the past 5 miles. :D

As as far as the Green (Speedo Signal), Grey (EFI Speedo Signal Return)... our conclusion is these are not needed in our set-up. The Speedo is a GPS gage so our assumption (there is that word again) is signal is coming from the GPS sensor... not via the harness wiring. With the power coming in from the harness speedo memory wire it seems we have everything squared away for the speedo. Our clock is a separate gage, so we will use the Red (Speedo/Clock Memory) wire to connect to the Red power wire for the clock. Hopefully this time the assumptions and plan is correct.

The only outstanding item is the dash light wire connection. Since we don't have the harness with the dimmer, it seems pretty logical that what was a 3 wire connection with the Dash Light feed and white wire from the power distribution harness is now only a 2 wire connection. Curious how the gage light dimming will work, but our guess is that it will be controlled via the headlight/dimmer switch. Not too worried about that and will see when we get everything powered up (someday)

Thanks again... and Happy New Year!

egchewy79

01-03-2022, 04:20 PM

MyBucketList

01-03-2022, 08:50 PM

for my turn signals, I'm using a self canceling module from signal dynamics. reasonably inexpensive and will auto cancel your blinker after a certain number of flashes. if you actuate your turn signal button/toggle for a second, it blinks like 20 times. a longer hold on the turn signal leads to a longer blinking of your turn signals. by using a momentary switch for the turn signals, you never need to worry about driving down the road with your blinker on for miles. simultaneously actuating R/L signals turns on your hazards which stay on until you actuate them again.

That's great "error-proofing", as we would call it in my work. We are planning on the RT signal mod protecting us/me from embarrassment as well. :D

Just a quick view of our dash so far. At least at this point we are pretty happy with the look and layout.

159657

To-Do list:
1) We still have some wire connections to the junction bars to do in support of the RT signal mods. They are labeled and ready... just not connected yet.
2) We have glove box assembly work.... acknowledging it would have been easier to do before the gage and wire install. We just got anxious. We have a plan to protect everything while we do that bit of assembly.
3) We have to add headlight switch when it comes. It will go into the opening between the horn button and the ignition. We have a late 60's Bronco light bezel on order to cover the hole since it is currently larger than the headlight switch stem. We are also planning to fill in the gap on the backside so it is nice and snug when we are all done.
4) We have to decide on where to mount the buttons for the clock adjustment and the Speedometer function selector.
Thinking the clock button will go either in the glove box or face down through the under dash cover so it isn't out in the open
Speedo... well, probable somewhere around the Speedo. Perhaps lower right corner so it is behind the steering and not standing out while still being accessible. Thoughts?
5) Will still have the Wipers and USB plug to wire in as well. Those will probably the final dash work outside of actually hard mounting it much later on.

Ever forward.

Greg Wenzel

01-06-2022, 11:48 AM

Fman

01-06-2022, 11:56 AM

MyBucketList

01-10-2022, 07:16 AM

Quick question for you, I have the same setup as far as dash and gauges. Were the pre-cut holes in your dash just a little undersize and if so what did you enlarge them with. I just want to be careful with the premade dash covering.

Thanks

I had to trim the clock opening a little bit. The plastics threads on the clock were a little different (slightly larger) than the other smaller gauges. Didn't take much though. I wanted to keep it tight, so just provided enough space to fit like the others. Used a Dremel at low speed with a small sanding drum for the job. For the Speedo and tach were also pretty tight. Did not trim those. Was able to snap them in by just working my way around a little at a time.

MyBucketList

01-10-2022, 07:18 AM

MyBucketList

01-10-2022, 08:42 PM

I put my speedo reset/toggle button under the steering column but plenty of other places to put it as well. One thing to noodle on is if you really need a clock gauge? I just swapped mine out for oil temperature, after having that clock I never used it and it never did a good job of keeping the correct time. Speedhut has a few gauge options available to replace the clock with something more useful.

Went to Speedhut as you mentioned. Think we found a really nice matching Oil Temp Gauge. If we selected the features correctly it should blend in perfect with our other vintage gauges. Was even so excited about it I went out and did the few minor harness mods we will need ready for hook up. Looking forward to showing the final version once she is all done. Probably be a couple weeks though as the shipping timing is currently estimated at end of next week. We have other things to work on in the meantime. :)

Ever forward... Tks again.

MyBucketList

01-12-2022, 07:40 PM

Another present from FFR today. Our front springs arrived. Looks like this weekend we can finish up the front suspension and steering linkages.

Very exciting. Rolling chassis is SOOOO close. Now we just need the 2 RH ends for our 3-link bars to get the rear end under her. Will almost start to look like a car (or at least a go-cart on steroids). We are dying to get the tires mounted on the wheels and set her on the ground for the first time for a milestone picture... even if it is just a temporary touch down.

Patience is so hard. :(

MyBucketList

01-16-2022, 04:21 PM

Well, we did it. With the parts from FFR that showed up last week, we believe our front suspension assembly process is done. We have to put the front brake pads in when they arrive and do some rough alignment at some point, but the assembly itself is finished and we pretty happy with the result.

160289 160290 160291

MyBucketList

01-16-2022, 04:38 PM

On some great advice, we are abandoning the Clock that came with our Vintage Gauge set. Have a matching Oil Temp gauge on its was from Speedhut. The change also had us asking some questions of whether to use the RF Harness sensor wires or to use the ones that came with the gauge set. Consensus after getting a few feelers out there in forum world was to use the wires that came with the gauges instead of their RF brothers & sisters. That being the case... we cut, insulated and tied back the RF wires and have begun the process of running the new ones. We (really me... not Kaleb) are kind of nervous about the wiring at this point since we have done some pretty significant deviations from the RF harness due to the gauges and the Russ Thompson signal mods. When we get all done with the wire running, we plan to go back through everything in detail to make sure everything is connected properly and going to the right spots.

160293 160294

Also noteworthy in our install... we have a full length, metal under dash cover installed. We are using button head screws feeding into rivnuts installed in said cover to secure the under edge of the dash. We made the holes in the dash slotted so we have some side to side play when it comes time to put the dash in its final location once the body is one. Never used rivnuts before. We are kind of fans at this point. Will likely use them for securing the top edge of the dash as well... when we get to that point.

MyBucketList

01-16-2022, 05:05 PM

So.... the emergency brake... Yes... pain the rear end. :(

Initially, we assembled the system per the manual and got the same tunnel steel rubbing issues others have noted on the forums. We played with a few configurations to try to fix the issue and did end up coming up with a solution.

Our Approach:
1) Moved front "L" bracket from mounting on the outside of the gear plate to the inside. To do this, we used a dremel with a small burring tip to turn the gear plate hole from a hole to a square in order to accommodate the square face of the carriage bolt. This helped quite a bit, but we still had rubbing.
2) Flipped the button head screws for mounting the brake body to the mechanism from outside to inside. Again, pretty good reduction in the interference.... but still not quite there.
3) Used a stepped drill bit to drill a hole in the tunnel steel in the location where the front "L" bracket carriage bolt was contacting the steel. This provided just enough room without the bolt head protruding into the cabin. This should easily be covered by the sound dampening and carpet without being seen.

... wha la... wonderful, functioning e-brake handle with no interference (and some room to spare).

160295 160296

We are curious if anyone has ever installed this thing per the instructions... successfully (ie... without modification). Don't see how it would be possible, but perhaps we grossly missed something.

Next Big Step....
RH rod ends for our 3-link are coming this week. If all goes well, we should be putting the rear end under the chassis and hooking it up next weekend. If we manage to get an appointment to get the tires mounted on the wheels at a local installer we COULD BE looking at a rolling chassis here very soon. Fingers crossed for that. Big milestone for us. :)

160297

Be safe... be healthy!

MyBucketList

01-20-2022, 08:14 PM

We usually do our posts on Sunday... after a weekend of progress. This week, however, we have a couple fun things and instead of just watching college basketball, I am inclined to multitask a bit and share.

Wheels and tires:
Before we even received the kit, we got a really good deal on some Mickey Thompson Street Comps. They have been sitting on a shelf to the side of our build area anxiously awaiting arrival of our Halibrand replicas wheels. The wheels were initially on our outstanding list, but arrived a couple week back. Yesterday we final had time to get them to the installer to be mated with the MTs and balanced. Installer was very curious what they were going on. Funny the number of people who jump to Mustangs when you say "Cobra". Apparently he is fan of those "Mustang Cobras". I didn't bother to correct him. Anyhow, $178 bucks later and the lady now has a nice set of dancing shoes to wear out in public (when we get that point).

160604 160605

160606 160607 160608

Couldn't resist putting the fronts on (though temporary) just to see how they look. We really like the gold calipers coming though behind the gun metal and polished edges.

MyBucketList

01-20-2022, 08:25 PM

Second fun update for this evening...

RH rod ends we have been waiting for to finish up the rear suspension showed up today. We went ahead and assembled them to the upper control bar and the panhard bar with no issues. Nothing left to do there except roll the rear end up underneath the chassis, attach it, and torque everything to spec. Going to be a big day on Saturday... can't wait. Thinking that will be our only task for the build this weekend outside of taking some pictures to share... and relaxing with a nice cold one to celebrate having the entire suspension in place (beer for me... root beer for Kaleb).

Just a few pictures here of the complete assembly in "ready position".

160611 160612

Attachment seems straight forward, but wish us luck anyway. :)

MyBucketList

01-23-2022, 07:49 PM

Great build time with Kaleb this weekend!

... (drum roll)... rolling chassis is complete. We put the rear end under her on Friday and got everything torqued down. Was a challenge for me and Kaleb to manipulate that heavy rear end into place, but thanks to some creative use of ratchet straps to give us a little mechanical advantage and support... we got it done.

160833 160834

Looks like a go-cart on steroids. :)

160835 160836

MyBucketList

01-23-2022, 08:11 PM

After a short celebration of our Friday progress, Kaleb and I went after the fuel tank assembly on Saturday & Sunday.

Bit of a deviation from the FFR build manual here (which always makes me nervous). In preparation for the Blue Print 306 w/ Sniper EFI we are planning on, we needed to upgrade the fuel system a bit to support the Sniper. Thanks to Breeze Automotive we believe we have everything we need... in tank fuel pump as well as pressure regulator/ filter set up so we will only need a single fuel line going up to the engine (no return line). The Breeze instructions were a little intimidating as first. Lots to read... and read again... to make sure we understood what we were doing. In the end we got the pump in the tank, the level sensing unit in place, the filler attached, the tank hoisted into position and secured with the kits tank straps. Unfortunately, our vent gasket is back ordered so we couldn't finish that little piece. No problem though. Should be pretty easy once it arrives.

We played a little with the fuel line routing to the front and have a plan, but securing it in it's final place will be for another weekend. Initial plan is to run it up the PS 4" frame tube on the outside. Then we will go up into the engine compartment via the PS inner footbox wall (as we have seen in many images from other builds). Let us know if you think this will be problematic.

160837 160838 160839

Pretty satisfying weekend. Love making strides in the build. :)

CaptB

01-24-2022, 08:04 AM

After a short celebration of our Friday progress, Kaleb and I went after the fuel tank assembly on Saturday & Sunday.
Bit of a deviation from the FFR build manual here (which always makes me nervous). In preparation for the Blue Print 306 w/ Sniper EFI we are planning on, we needed to upgrade the fuel system a bit to support the Sniper. Thanks to Breeze Automotive we believe we have everything we need... in tank fuel pump as well as pressure regulator/ filter set up so we will only need a single fuel line going up to the engine (no return line). The Breeze instructions were a little intimidating as first. Lots to read... and read again... to make sure we understood what we were doing. In the end we got the pump in the tank, the level sensing unit in place, the filler attached, the tank hoisted into position and secured with the kits tank straps. Unfortunately, our vent gasket is back ordered so we couldn't finish that little piece. No problem though. Should be pretty easy once it arrives.

We played a little with the fuel line routing to the front and have a plan, but securing it in it's final place will be for another weekend. Initial plan is to run it up the PS 4" frame tube on the outside. Then we will go up into the engine compartment via the PS inner footbox wall (as we have seen in many images from other builds). Let us know if you think this will be problematic.
Pretty satisfying weekend. Love making strides in the build. :)

I'm about to run my Breeze fuel lines the same way, keep us posted and take a lot of pics concerning mount and line running. Capt. B

egchewy79

01-24-2022, 11:44 AM

you might want to reconsider your filter location unless you open up your access panel a bit. with the trunk panel in place you won't be able to service that very easily.

MyBucketList

01-24-2022, 08:13 PM

you might want to reconsider your filter location unless you open up your access panel a bit. with the trunk panel in place you won't be able to service that very easily.

That is a really good point. We followed the Breeze instructions, but weren't thinking about that. My gut is telling me to open up the area and make a custom access panel. Going to have to mull that over a little.

Thanks for the heads up.

MyBucketList

01-24-2022, 08:19 PM

I'm about to run my Breeze fuel lines the same way, keep us posted and take a lot of pics concerning mount and line running. Capt. B

Absolutely. Likely going to take another long look at this weekend. Have some 6AN fittings on order to play with for the transition into the engine compartment. If we like what we see, should have some pictures on Sunday.

MyBucketList

01-31-2022, 09:29 AM

Was hoping to have the fuel lines run and have lots of pictures from this weekend. Unfortunately, we are still in process. Learned a bit about 6AN fuel line this weekend. Turns out the fittings are very specific to the type of line you use. When you have PFTE lines, you need PFTE compression fittings (logical in 20/20 hindsight).... which we didn't. :o

We think our plan for routing our line is still good (having actually installed it and then removed it once already... we'll call that an unofficial test fit). We are just waiting on some 6AN PTFE fittings. before we get everything connected properly and secured. Soon... very soon.

Also ran into an issue with the rear brake banjo bolts this weekend. In attempting to torque them to the spec (32ft lbs) in the manual, we managed to shear the heads off the banjos for both the DS and PS rear. Digging through the forums a bit, it sounds like this spec is not correct. It appears the recommendation is finger tight then 1/4 turn. That being the case, we are concerned we may have over torqued the fronts as well (even though they did not break). So, we have both front and rear replacement banjos on order and are going to follow the 1/4 turn rule in hopes of both getting a good seal AND not breaking another set.

Yup... one of those weekends where we had high hopes, but success was not in the cards. Great learning experience, though. We'll regroup this coming weekend.

Ever forward..

egchewy79

01-31-2022, 12:32 PM

I also found out the hard way there are different AN fittings for standard SS fuel lines and the PFTE ones.
Also the hose separators/clamps are different as well. Earl's fittings do have specific sizes for the smaller AN hoses if you're needing them.

MyBucketList

02-06-2022, 09:19 AM

As mentioned in a previous post, we are running the Breeze fuel line kit to support the future Snipe EFI that will come with our targeted engine package from Blue Print. This had made running the fuel lines a little easier since the kit moves the pressure regulator/ filter to the back of the car on top of the fuel tank (as seen in previous images). End result is only needing to run the single fuel feeder line to the engine compartment.

With a little bit of prototyping and minor fabrication of a small bracket, the attached images are what our run looks like. Pretty simple path. The bracket at the rear is just an aluminum plate with two holes and is bolted in place under one of the panhard mounting bolts. Just wanted to provide a little extra support and solid location for the line exiting the regulator. The line goes under the panhard bar mount and forward along the underside of the main frame tube. Then, it runs over the brake flex line attachment bracket and down the frame just aft of the cockpit. This allows for a pretty easy jog to the inside of where the PS rear control arm mounts. From there it was a straight run forward to the spot where the PS footbox opens up along the 4" frame tube in the engine compartment. At that point we just put a 90 degree fitting to turn up into the compartment. We will tie in to this 90 degree and run the final lines up the inside of the footbox wall later on. You will note that we have fittings in the middle of our forward run along the frame. This resulted from our learning process with the PFTE fittings and was not functionally needed connection... we just did not have a long enough run of line to do the entire run all over again. Plus, I kind of like the idea of have a place to separate the fore and aft sections if there are any issues so we would not have to remove the entire line to address. That is probably just rationalizing not wanting to do it all over again. :) We do understand that every fitting represents as potential leak risk... but are willing to accept that risk (at least for now).

161895 161896

161897 161898 161899

Overall, we are pretty happy with our path at this point (as long as it holds pressure when we start running fuel through in the future).

On advise from the forum a few weeks back, we have also modified our trunk access to the fuel pump and filter/regulator. The provided trunk floor panel mods are good to go. We just need to get some metal sheeting to fabricate a pretty basic, square cover for the new access area. Pretty sure I can get that from the metal scrap bins at work. We'll provide some pictures of how that comes out in future posts.

MyBucketList

02-12-2022, 08:17 AM

Fun day ahead today. Lots of riveting for Kaleb and me.

Spent the evenings this week prepping the panels for the trunk and back of the cockpit. More marking, drilling the panels, cleco'ing them in place, drilling holes in the chassis, surface prep, and painting with more spray on bedliner. End result... ready to silicon, place the panels, and do final attachment. Gonna be fun.

162417 162418 162419

We also received some more parts this week...

FFR was able to get us our much anticipated front brake pads to finish out the brake system. Once we get those installed we can set a time to try out our new reverse brake bleeder and fill the system (hopefully with no leaks). FFR also sent us our throttle pedal assembly. With that in house we can start to fit up the Forte mechanical throttle and wrap-up most of the drivers footbox work. That is going to take some figuring out, but had we seen lots of good pictures and dialogue on the forums. Should be pretty uneventful (finger crossed).

Speedhut sent us our new oil temp gauge we will be using to replace the clock that came in the classic gauge set. Need to get that inserted into the dash and wired up, but do not anticipate any issues there either. Not sure that will happen this weekend. Certainly is no hurry as we still need our headlight switch that is on backorder before we can really finish out the dash.

As a final note... we are down to only a few final items on our POL and MIK lists with FFR. From delivery to today is just over 3 months... so really not bad considering the chaos in supply chains across the globe. The FFR team has been doing a great job of getting things squared away and sending stuff as it became available. I think our only major parts left outstanding are our steering wheel, door latch kit, fuel tank vent gasket, and headlight switch. Hats off to Dave at FFR for doing a great job. Greatly appreciated.

MyBucketList

02-12-2022, 06:09 PM

... well, just wrote an update that was true literature. Would have won Pulitzer prize. Unfortunately, the forum timed out and it did not appear to have autosaved. So, I'll sum up.

1) Trunk and fuel access cover... done
162430

162431 162432

2) Rear cockpit... done

Lots and lots of riveting. Again, loving the cordless electric rivet gun and cleco fasteners. Highly recommended.

3) Cockpit sound insulation... more progress
162433

4) Front brake pads installed with no issues

5) Oil Temp gauge... in dash, but not wired.
162434

Won't be anything additional tomorrow due to
a) Kaleb turned 11 yesterday and the family birthday celebration is tomorrow.
b) Super Bowl... have some spicy hot wings to air fry and smother in buffalo sauce. Also have some good beer to wash them down.:)

MyBucketList

02-20-2022, 06:08 PM

Not a lot of activity in the build this weekend, but we did get a couple odds and ends done.

We spent a little time on the Forte throttle linkage. Sized up the throttle rod, cut it to length (allowed for some adjustability later on), drilled the untapped end and tapped it to receive the rod end that came with the kit. Whole process went pretty smooth. Of course, we don't have an engine to hook up to the linkage at the moment so a long bungy cord will have to suffice for now. The linkage works really well at this point. No binding or interferences to deal with.

162868 162869

Not done... but progress. Still need to drill the shaft recesses through the linkage arms and pin the arms to ensure they don't shift over time. We know what to do but are gonna wait on that until we know the final positions... which won't happen until we are closer to the engine install. We also have to mount the DS footbox inner mid wall that the linkage goes through. It is all ready to go, we just want to keep access to the footbox open a bit longer. No need to hurry and permanently mount if for now.

We also connected the piece of fuel line that runs up along the inside of the PS footbox this weekend. Again, nothing real fancy there. We just ran the top connector up near the firewall. The line is wrapped in insulating barrier we got a O'Reilly's and just held in place against the wall by riveted line anchors. We vacillated on the need for the insulation a bit, but decided that with the headers running through this same area... better safe than sorry.

162871

I think our next "big" task is to go back through everything on our POL and MIK lists to reconcile what parts are still outstanding. Been planning to do it over the last week or so, but I have never liked paperwork. Certainly not as fun as building. :)

MyBucketList

02-28-2022, 09:47 PM

Not much time to spend on the car this past weekend. Most of our time was on a much smaller car... ie. Kaleb's final Pinewood Derby car.

This is the last Derby car for me to participate in.. and a last chance to redeem myself. We have multiple "best design wins" for a train, a German U-boat, and (believe it or not) a Shelby Cobra. However, what we have always lacked is the speed to put in an actual showing in the racing category. Creativity is nice, but we really are trying to be competitive this year with his "slab of bacon" car (cuz everything is better with bacon). Yes... very basic flat design painted to look like a strip of cooked pig. Been studying YouTube videos a bunch in a last ditch effort and got some great ideas to maximize our speed. Need to do a final alignment tomorrow prior to the big competition on Wednesday. Don't even really want to win... just a respectable showing would be nice. Wish us luck.

Anyhow... on the "big car" the main thing we did this weekend was to mount the trunk struts. Very straight forward with the instructions provided. A little measuring and drilling... 4 rivets... and a couple bolts. Easy as pie (though, honestly, I don't understand that reference... I leave the pie making for my wife cuz I suck at it). :)

163220 163221

Still haven't reconciled the MIK and POL lists. I swear we are going to do it this weekend... that and the 2021 taxes (sounds like the stuff dreams are made of). :(

egchewy79

03-01-2022, 09:20 AM

John Ibele

03-01-2022, 10:35 AM

sand/polish the axles/nails on the PWD car. Stock nails have a burr that needs to be polished down. maximize the weight allowed, putting any additional weights forward on the car. alignment makes a huge difference in a fast car vs average one. some recommend intentionally misaligning the wheels so that only 3 of the 4 touch the ground at once ,but they usually will check for this. graphite all the spinning parts.

Had to smile at this one. It's been 15 years since I took the same path with my boys, from pretty and slow to bare bones and pretty fast. I would have listed exactly the same things. In fact, the rouge polishing stick used on the axle nails made its way into my tool chest, and now gets regular use polishing aluminum here and there on the car. Good luck.

MyBucketList

03-03-2022, 10:24 AM

Pinewood night was a success. Kaleb took second in all his heats at a average "simulated mph" of 199. That was good enough to make it to the "regional" meeting on 3/12. We figure we can still optimize the weight and center of gravity a little to just just a bit more help from gravity Kaleb also said he saw a little side to side wobble as the bacon car sped down the track.... so we will play a little bit more with the alignment.

I still don't really care about winning. It's more of and effort to see if we can get the average speed above 200. Would be the fastest "car" we have built.

BTW... winning car last night was 206 (a surf board car with a Lego guy "krageled" on as a surfer). Pretty cool.

MyBucketList

03-03-2022, 10:28 AM

Yup... our bacon car is a trike. Left front wheel is slightly off the track. With this group, that modification is legal to the rules so they are not watching out for it.

Hoping this groups advice will make the Cobra even faster as well. :D

Have a great week!

MyBucketList

03-13-2022, 04:44 PM

Well, the results are in.

Kaleb and I moved the weight back slightly on this Bacon Car to edge it a little closer to the rear wheels. We tweaked the alignment just slightly. We also loaded up the axles with just a touch more graphite.

Result at the regional race was a 3rd place out of 15 in the 11 year old division. The regional track was running a tad slower with only one 1 car all day exceeding the 200 smph mark. In his group Kaleb managed 2 wins and one very close second at an average smph of 196.0. Not too shabby for a slab of bacon. We have a very proud kid on our hands. I somehow feel justified in that we managed to be competitive for the first time in our final season. Kaleb's next race will be when he is the Dad helping his son put a car together (not that we are in any kind of hurry for that).

163893

As far as the big car goes... MIk/POL list are all reconciled and confirmed. We also are working with FFR to return the extra they sent us. That has been a process, but we have someone new handling our stuff since our original sales contact moved on from FFR. New guy seems a little more anxious to get the extra parts back in house. Sending him out a list this evening and hope to get those items off our shelves in short order.

Only other thing we have going at the moment is planning the wiring in of the tail light converter. Instructions say to wire it under the dash. Having my doubts. So much going on back there already. We are really leaning towards wiring it into the rear harness towards the back of the vehicle while finding a nice protected spot to attach it. Any recommendations would be appreciated?

MyBucketList

04-04-2022, 07:16 AM

Welcome back.

Been a while since my last post. Life has been busy the last few weekends and there hasn't been much time to progress the project. We have been wanting to finish up the dash, but not having the headlight switch and steering wheel is kind of limiting us there. Hopefully those will be coming from FFR in the near future.

We did do a little work with the taillight wiring. We have been toiling over where and how to wire in the tail light controller for the "multi-function" single tail lights provided with the kit. The instruction said to wire in under the dash, but we already have so much going on up there with the Russ Thompson single wiring. We final decided to go against the instruction and wire it in towards the rear of the vehicle. To ensure it stays dry, we mounted it inside the trunk and ran the wire out through some rubber grommets to tie in with the harness underneath. We figure we won't be carrying much in the truck anyway and can hide the adaptor behind the carpet where it will stay nice and dry. On the underside we used weathertight adhesive heatshrink connectors to do the connections. Feeling pretty good about the plan and execution. Time will tell if it actually works. Wiring always makes me nervous. :)

While underneath, we also ran the license plate light wiring and added hangers to hold the harness through the routing (no picture of that at the moment). You can, however, see how we brought the plate light wires up through a hole in the truck deck and temporarily tied it to the 3/4 cross tube (just behind the PS roll bar).

165039

We did receive our tank vent gasket as well a couple weeks back. That took about 2 minutes to install, pop the vent in, attach the vent hose and route it.

165040

The other fun thing going on is an invite to participate in an auto show at my work later this Spring. There a few of us working on cars and the planning team decided to include a "WIP" category for "work in progress". Since we have a rolling chassis, Kaleb and I are going to bring it in on a trailer and spend a half day talking to people about our cobra journey. May 21 should be a lot of fun. If anyone is the in SW Michigan and would like to stop by, we would be happy to provide details.

MyBucketList

04-25-2022, 05:30 PM

We were REALLY excited last week to receive our headlight switch and steering wheel. Matt @ FFR had told us these are the biggest pain in his side and we might not see them for weeks yet. I guess he is like Scotty from Star Trek and his weeks were really days. Not to accuse him of sandbagging... as it could have been a great coincidence. How ever it happened, we received the parts and did the install the weekend.

The through bolt for the headlight switch was a little challenging as the bolt head was larger than the Bronco light bezel we bought. Ended up using a grinder to round off the hex point for a perfect fit (helped that the bolt was aluminum). From there we notched the bolt face with a Dremel to make a surface a flathead screwdriver could bite on. A little polishing of the bolt head later (which really wasn't needed because the pull handle covers the bolt) and we were mounted and in business.

165906 165907

Only dash work left at this point is the under dash courtesy light and the wiper wiring. Didn't get any instruction with the wiper motor, so we will have to peruse the forum for mounting best practices. That will probably be our next item after the upcoming car show.

Between now and then, we are going find time to fill & bleed the brakes.. as well as started greasing the various greaseable areas of the suspension.

Feels good to be back at it a little bit. :)

JeffP

04-25-2022, 05:42 PM

MyBucketList

04-26-2022, 06:56 AM

I have the wipers, pretty easy. Instructions are on the parts website: https://www.factoryfive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/WIPERS-Roadster-rev-P.pdf

Hope my wheel is in the mail too!

Thanks for the link. Figured they probably had something but had not yet dug in. This will make the search much quicker.

Wish you best of luck on your steering wheel arrival. I personally find patience very difficult sometimes. :)

JeffP

04-26-2022, 07:16 AM

I personally find patience very difficult sometimes. :)

So do I... and its driving the cost of my kit up as I continue to seek alternatives to items on my POL. I'll probably have it all done and be sitting waiting for a windshield... I think thats the only item I can't source third party.

MyBucketList

05-01-2022, 08:34 PM

Just a couple progress items this weekend.

1) Our POL Side Mirror arrived today. We don't need that for a very long time, but still nice to have. At this point we are just missing our door latch kit and the main hardware for our wipers. Getting so close.

2) Went around and greased all the ball joints, control arms, and other suspension spots today as well. Not terribly difficult to do. We were surprised at how much greases some of the fittings took. Was kind of figuring a couple pumps, but some of the control arm ends took 10+ before we could see a little grease at the edges.

The task next weekend is to add the brake fluid and bleed the brakes. We purchased a system that will allow us to backfill from the calipers and push the fluid up through the system to the reservoirs. The theory behind it makes sense and the YouTube videos spoke highly of the method. I guess doing it this way pushes air out the system from the bottom up (the direction the air bubbles prefer to flow). The plan is to start at the PS rear... push enough fluid to clear the splitter for the rear hard lines... then push from the DS rear to guide all the air up and out until the rear fluid reservoir fills with fluid and no bubbles. If is works as planned, the front will be a "rinse and repeat". Our only concern is a slight down slope from the top of the power brake master cylinder to the underside of the reservoir. If we have to, we can undo that connection, bleed it at an upward angle and reconnect once the air is out. Hoping to not have to do that, but we will see.

That is all in preparation for the car show on 21st. Just want to make sure we have working brakes as we take it off it's jack stand home and roll it a round a bit.

We are having fun preparing for the show as well. We have a Shelby flag we are going to be flying on a post that fits over one of PS roll bar mounts. The build journal we have been keeping is now printed on 11" by 17" paper and bound it in a large 3 ring binder for folks to flip through. We are also bringing along one of my die cast Cobras from my collection to set near the journal so people can see what the end product is going to look like. If all goes well we will have a great time and walk away with some hardware to share... though just having a really good time would certainly be okay.

... until next time.

MyBucketList

05-08-2022, 07:35 PM

Successful weekend... bleeding the brakes did not go as smooth as we had hoped, but we did it.

Top start with, we got to play with our Phoenix System bleeding system (finally). I was hoping for a flawless reverse fill like we saw on the You Tube videos. The theory does make sense (push the air the direction it wants to go), but there is a a lot of air to push out in a brake new system no matter which end you fill from. We followed the recommended sequence (PSR, DSR, PSF, DSF) and pushed fluid all the way up to the reservoir as prescribed. At that point we checked brake engagement and knew we still had work to do. Kaleb took command of the brake pedal and we went old school around all four brakes 2 times. First time we rapped on the calipers to dislodge air.. and man there was a bunch (mostly in the front calipers). Second time around things looked much better and we weren't getting many bubbles at all. Brake actuation is a ton better and acceptable for our goal for the weekend. Might need to give it one more good bleed later on, but pretty happy with where we landed. Best part... only one minor drip from a fitting on the side of the master cylinder. Tightened it up just a tad... and we now have a filled brake system that works with no leaks.

166431 166433

With the brakes done, we set her on her feet for the first time and spent the weekend cleaning the build area. We wanted to turn her around so she is facing out in preparation for going on car trailer to the show in a few weeks, so we rolled her out in the afternoon sun for the turn and a quick photo op. Kaleb likes being behind the wheel. ;)

166438

Busy weekends coming up with my oldest boys graduating from high school (twins) soon. So, might be a couple weeks before my next post. Until then... happy building and stay safe out there.

460.465USMC

05-10-2022, 02:33 PM

Congrats on the successful brake bleed! I will be doing mine before too long as well. Will be my first ever brake bleed, so we'll see what happens.

MyBucketList

05-11-2022, 10:22 AM

Congrats on the successful brake bleed! I will be doing mine before too long as well. Will be my first ever brake bleed, so we'll see what happens.

Just a helpful note (maybe). I started with 4 500ml bottles of Motul brake fluid and used 3 of them up in the fill / bleed process. Of the 3, roughly one full bottle was lost due to reclaiming in the overflow bottle as I was bleeding. Didn't want to reuse this extra fluid even though it was brand new thinking it could have picked up debris and/or purged contaminants during the fill. Felt like a waste, but Kaleb and I are "risk averse" (me mostly... admittedly) and it wasn't terribly expensive.

Also, note that we have a 3up billet reservoir that only holds 1 oz per reservoir... so we do not have much extra fluid capacity in the system (which is only a problem if we have a leak). :D

Best of luck.

MyBucketList

05-23-2022, 11:58 AM

Well... no car show this past weekend. Impending rainy weather in the forecast got the date moved to June 4.

Pretty disappointed, but it does bring an opportunity. Kaleb and I are going to set about reattaching the body on chassis for the show. Just have a little trimming to do before we attempt it, but don't anticipate any major issues.

Anyhow... happy building!

MyBucketList

05-30-2022, 06:51 PM

Happy Memorial Day FFF.

Been a busy weekend between graduation parties for our 2 seniors, the Memorial day festivities, and my birthday (turned 49 today). Beautiful, busy weekend... and very productive. Nevermind the fact that the sun was sneaky intense on Saturday during the graduation parties. Did not anticipate that and get the sunscreen on in the morning so I end up with parts of me matching the roadster's red gel coat by end do the day. Pretty uncomfortable sleeping with serious case of sandal pattern sunburn on my feet. :)

As mentioned, the goal this weekend was to get the body temporarily back on for the car show. Mission accomplished. We used a Rustloeum bedliner kit to coat the underside of the body on Sunday. Plenty of time to dry in the warm sun so we were able to do the remount Sunday evening. The most difficult part was the rear body bolts. Manual showed them being run with the heads inside facing the fuel tank. Do not see how this is possible with the fuel tank in place. We rotated them and put the nuts interior with the bolt head on the outside temporarily since this is just for the car show. Will have to relook at the feasibility of what we saw in the manual later on. Anyhow, came together well and we are ready to compete in the Work In Progress category this coming weekend. Can't wait.

167466 167467 167468

We'll put some pictures up from the show next weekend. Hopefully there will be one of Kelab and I with some hardware, but should be a lot of fun regardless. Wish us luck!

edwardb

05-30-2022, 07:22 PM

...The most difficult part was the rear body bolts. Manual showed them being run with the heads inside facing the fuel tank. Do not see how this is possible with the fuel tank in place. We rotated them and put the nuts interior with the bolt head on the outside temporarily since this is just for the car show. Will have to relook at the feasibility of what we saw in the manual later on...

You need to take a look at what we affectionately call the "Kleiner Mod." Solves the problem with the rear body bolts and the tank. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?38622-Kleiner-Mod

MyBucketList

05-31-2022, 07:52 AM

You need to take a look at what we affectionately call the "Kleiner Mod." Solves the problem with the rear body bolts and the tank. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?38622-Kleiner-Mod

I love it. Elegant and effective. After the show is done I'll buy the hardware and do the modification.

It was on my list to research once we get clear of this coming weekend, but you saved me the time. Greatly appreciated. Thanks

MyBucketList

06-02-2022, 02:34 PM

Just a quick update on the car show this weekend.

Supposed to be beautiful weather. If there are any local Forum folks in the South / Southwest Michigan area that want to get their babies out to "clear the stagnant air out of the cylinders"... feel free to come by.

It will be small show at about 30 vehicles, but there is supposed to be a variety from "super cars" to imports to classics. A local band (Dunegrass) will also be playing from 11 to 1 for some fun entertainment.

I'm told they are also allowing drive ups for $20 bucks if you have something you would like to show. Would be fun to have our WIP car and a finished car next to it. Heads would definitely turn.

Anyhow 10am to 2pm Saturday, June 4 (Kaleb and I will be there shortly after 8am getting settled)
13521 Quality Drive
Holland, Michigan 49424

Turn onto Quality and follow it back behind the JR Automation building. We'll all be set up in the far parking lot behind the big building. Kaleb and I will be easy enough to find. Just look for a familiar MK4 and lots of Cobra logos. :)

No pressure, just thought it might be a fun trip for those who are "local". If so, would be great to meet you and share build stories in person.

Have a great weekend!

MyBucketList

06-05-2022, 05:28 PM

Well... as mentioned. Saturday was the big day. Kaleb and I went to our first car show with the MK4. Had a great time talking with people about cars in general, but even more chatting about our little work in progress.

The show had everything from a hopped up gold cart, a gorgeous 69 Camero "restomod" (that took best in show), a VW camper with a newly rebuilt engine and drive train, and even a couple super cars to drool over (2016 Ferrari 488 and 2020 Porsche 911 GT3 RS). For us though, the highlight came about 2/3 of way through the show when off in the distance we heard the ever increasing rumble of a side piped 427 coming up the road. Apparently a friend of one of the organizers has a Superformance Cobra and he talked the gentlemen into popping in. Beautiful car. As he rolled up near where Kaleb and I we displaying our toy, all eyes and ears were on his "baby". You can see why.

167701 167702

Loved the Roush 427 he was running in conjunction with a Tremec TKO. He said it is a handful, but a ton of fun to drive. He owns his own business locally and the car is his daily driver during the Summers to and from the office... and on business sales calls. Gotta be pretty hard to take. :) Oh... and the paint job was beautiful. The depth in the color was just amazing. Now we have a benchmark for what we want our paint to look like when we get to that point.

Anyhow, he was really excited about our build and we spent quite bit of time bouncing between the two cars and sharing stories. As he is a local guy, we exchanged names and numbers. I'm sure we run into each other again. Kaleb and I can only image what it will be like when we can get together with the FFR owners groups in the future.

Oh... and Kaleb and I put in a great showing with our little MK4 project as well. Lots of interest in what we doing and our progress so far. In fact, we were apparently impressive enough that our rolling chassis with our temp fit body pulled of a 3rd place for Best in Show. We had no expectations coming in, but were ecstatic to walk away the below hardware. The goal next year is drive in instead of needing to show up on a trailer.

167703 167704 167705

With play time over, our next challenge is going after the shaping of the mold seems and little open cavities left from the molding process. Looking forward to our first opportunity with body filler and filler sanding. :)

Have a great week!

JB in NOVA

06-05-2022, 06:48 PM

Third place in gelcoat! Nowhere to go but up from there! Sounds like a nice time for you and your son. Thanks for sharing.

MyBucketList

07-11-2022, 05:40 PM

Been quite a while. Between my older boys graduating from high school, a trip to Hawaii with my wife for our 20th, and a few loaded up weekends it has been difficult to find time for updates (or making progress for that matter).

All is not lost though. Decided to keep the temporary fit body on the chassis from the car show and start some of the rough body work. Goal was to just start shaping the nose, front and rear well arches, and brining the rest of the mold seams close to smooth. It was my first shot a body work (and Kaleb bowed out knowing my OCD when it comes to car exteriors), so I am going it alone for now.

My filler/shaper of choice is Evercoat Ultra. Watched a few videos on mixing and laying it up, so I felt prepared. Surprisingly, it's turning out to not be as intimating as I thought it would be. My biggest lesson so far...

1) Mix in small quantities
The filler working time is less than advertised. No need to scream false advertising... just learned not to mix more than what I can spread in a couple minutes.

2) Do all of the sanding after rolling the car out in from of the outbuilding. (so much fine red and white dust... SO MUCH...)

3) This was big one for me when it came to shaping the front and rear wheel well runs to the front and rear lights. Do the initial build up to get close. For the final shaping of the arches use the back edge of a hacksaw blade flexed to match the body contour. Pull the flexed blade through a thin layer of fresh filler and spread it in one smooth run. The bent blade does a great job of holding the shape of the arch and smoothing the filler into just the right curve to minimize the final sanding needed. With a little patience and this final trick those top arches look beautiful (at least in rough sand)

4) A section of pool noodle cut in half and to about 12 inches length with adhesive backed sandpaper works great as a sanding block. Can't remember where I read that hint... but two thumbs up. :)

169278 169279

At this point, I am not done with the rough shaping but have a pretty satisfactory start. Still have a bit more on the front arches transitioning down into the nose and the front arches to the "cheeks"... but it is just going to take more patience and sculpting.

Still loving the build process.

MyBucketList

08-02-2022, 12:18 PM

Check that note in the last post... satisfactory is a sliding scale... and it has slid from where it was. :)

I feel like I'm being way to OCD with my body work. Just when I think I am happy with a section... I run my fingers over it and find a small, barely perceptible rise or depression and reach for the filler. At this point I think the DS Rear 1/4 is 98% "done". PS Rear 1/4 is about 90%. Both fronts continue to be a work in progress. So many hours and so much fine sanding. The good news is that despite all my OCD the nose is "perfect". I have sanded it down to 220 grit and can't feel any wavering in the surface (perhaps a false sense of security)

Here is my question to those body work aficionados out there... How perfect does the body work need to be before the first layer of primer goes down? Since I have never done body work before, I don't know what to expect with "self leveling" primers in terms of what sins they will cover. Not even sure if self leveling primer works well on a car with no flat surfaces. Seems like flatness would be important for leveling to occur. I also understand there will be sanding and potential additional body fill after prime (if the video I've been watching are correct). So, how much should I let my OCD control my fate in these early stage? I do want the lines to be as smooth and consistent as possible when the paint eventually goes down.

Advice???

Blitzboy54

08-03-2022, 12:42 PM

MyBucketList

08-05-2022, 06:24 AM

I am not a body work expert but I am sure some of them will chime in soon. I am curious however what your color scheme is going to be. I love the gold calipers and wondering if the body paint is going to match.

At this point, Kaleb and I are planning on a kind a deep crimson metallic with black stripes. As a highlight on the outside of the black I'm planning on thin gold metal flake pins stripes as a nice highlight. I figure the gold calipers would be a good addition to go with the gold stripes as a nice design cue without being too audacious (plus the base silver of the unpainted calipers was a bit boring).

That being said, we're also going to take some other advice from the some forum members and wait a bit for the final paint job. Likely going to drive it in grey primer for a year or so as I work out any bugs before committing to the final "dressing". We just don't want to sink the money into the paint and then damage the finish while we are doing a little wrenching/fine tuning in the early days when we get it on the street. We're even talking about maybe doing to some Plasti-Dip strips at the stage as temporary decoration (hopefully that isn't seen as sacrilege) 8o)

MyBucketList

08-05-2022, 07:06 AM

I am not a body work expert but I am sure some of them will chime in soon. I am curious however what your color scheme is going to be. I love the gold calipers and wondering if the body paint is going to match.

Just out of curiosity (because we will be ordering our power plant this fall)... how did you arrive at your decision for the 306 with sniper injection? Seems like every day I (more so than Kaleb) am vacillating back and forth about whether to go Blueprint 306 or pay the additional $900 for the 347 (both with injection). Today is a 347 day. We know in a light car like this, either engine will be epic. "We" are just having trouble making a final decision and are curious of other folks thought processes.

Additional insight, experiences, and opinions are always welcome.

Have a great Friday!

Chopper

08-05-2022, 09:16 AM

I have a 306 (Ford Crate) running Edelbrock Pro-flo4 in my MKIV (engine dyno turned it at about 350hp just below 5900 rpm). It's enough power for sure. You can still run it to WOT without busting the tires loose. I think it's a great motor to create a very balanced car. That said, Cobras are all about too much power...so take what you will. If you want to do a lot of burnouts, more is better. If you want to put the power down, having a smaller motor where you can use 100% of the power band to me seems better than one where you have to back off. If you're planning on tracking the car that may impact the decision as well.

I'm also thinking about a type 65 kit, which is a bit heavier...for that I'm leaning toward a 347 to "make up" for the extra 200 lbs or so that kit carries :)

With all that said, either engine is a great choice in terms of fit, both have the lower deck height of a 302 and will have plenty clearance to work with. As you add power, make sure your wheels/tires keep up.

Mike.Bray

08-05-2022, 09:18 AM

Blitzboy54

08-05-2022, 10:14 AM

Just out of curiosity (because we will be ordering our power plant this fall)... how did you arrive at your decision for the 306 with sniper injection? Seems like every day I (more so than Kaleb) am vacillating back and forth about whether to go Blueprint 306 or pay the additional $900 for the 347 (both with injection). Today is a 347 day. We know in a light car like this, either engine will be epic. "We" are just having trouble making a final decision and are curious of other folks thought processes.

Additional insight, experiences, and opinions are always welcome.

Have a great Friday!

I came to the 306 first because I already owned a 302 donor engine. So right off the bat I was locked into that or a 347. I too vacillated between the 2 options. Since I had a T5 I thought sub 400 HP was wise (although I think I would have been ok). As far as a 'smaller' engine goes these were my thoughts

1. I used to do a lot of track days on various motorcycles over the years. My lap times were always much improved on a lighter smaller bike with big powerful brakes vs a a bigger heavier bike. On a very twisty track I could do better on my sub 100 hp SV650 than my Ducati 998. This is all preference of course and if there was a long straight then that logic would not apply but for me I liked that.

2. I wanted something drivable and again just for me I felt really good about a lower powered engine that had what I needed at the top end.

3. I had a conversation with Jeff Kleiner at the beginning and having never really driven one of these he confirmed a lot of what I was thinking.

4. As far and the fuel injection I wanted it to be easy. I built a driver. If I drove into the mountains I wanted it to run just like the coast. I also put electronic timing in. I have no regrets as it creates and very hands off turn key experience. The Sniper specifically again as it's well used and easy to manage. If I was to build a challenge car or some such it would be a different approach but for now I got what I wanted. A nice easy car to drive that when I get in that 4.5k - 6k RPM range will scare you plenty.

5. I was less interested in top speed vs getting to a fun speed quickly without having to be on the edge of breaking the rear loose. Also a 302 based power plant runs significantly cooler. The 427 seem to create a lot more cabin heat. At least from the 1 that I was in.

Having said all that if I went with a 347 I would have probably been just as happy with it. lol

That color scheme sound incredible. I love the gold, love it!

MyBucketList

08-05-2022, 11:45 AM

I came to the 306 first because I already owned a 302 donor engine. So right off the bat I was locked into that or a 347. I too vacillated between the 2 options. Since I had a T5 I thought sub 400 HP was wise (although I think I would have been ok). As far as a 'smaller' engine goes these were my thoughts

1. I used to do a lot of track days on various motorcycles over the years. My lap times were always much improved on a lighter smaller bike with big powerful brakes vs a a bigger heavier bike. On a very twisty track I could do better on my sub 100 hp SV650 than my Ducati 998. This is all preference of course and if there was a long straight then that logic would not apply but for me I liked that.

2. I wanted something drivable and again just for me I felt really good about a lower powered engine that had what I needed at the top end.

3. I had a conversation with Jeff Kleiner at the beginning and having never really driven one of these he confirmed a lot of what I was thinking.

4. As far and the fuel injection I wanted it to be easy. I built a driver. If I drove into the mountains I wanted it to run just like the coast. I also put electronic timing in. I have no regrets as it creates and very hands off turn key experience. The Sniper specifically again as it's well used and easy to manage. If I was to build a challenge car or some such it would be a different approach but for now I got what I wanted. A nice easy car to drive that when I get in that 4.5k - 6k RPM range will scare you plenty.

5. I was less interested in top speed vs getting to a fun speed quickly without having to be on the edge of breaking the rear loose. Also a 302 based power plant runs significantly cooler. The 427 seem to create a lot more cabin heat. At least from the 1 that I was in.

Having said all that if I went with a 347 I would have probably been just as happy with it. lol

That color scheme sound incredible. I love the gold, love it!

Great to know. I tend to get stuck in the mantra of "no replacement for displacement". However, it is tough to know exactly what the additional 30 hp is really doing for drivability. I want something that starts, runs smooth and sounds good when I turn the key. I also want something that I can play with without the fear of it overtaking my driving ability (which is decent, but not ready for the professional circuit) and wrapping me around a tree because I push it a little too hard. That (and $$s) are why I am staying away from a 427. I love the way the 427 sounds and what it can do... but I would definitely get into trouble trying to ride that horse every day. I am sure the 306 would meet the fun requirement... just a question of does the 347 cross the line of wants and needs just a tad better. I have read a few articles saying, in general, the 347 runs smoother at low speeds because it doesn't have to work as hard. They said this gives it a little edge over the 306. I get that rational in something like a Ford F150. However, in an MK4 at 2K lbs? Trouble believing that. The logic just seems askew. Sounds like someone rationalizing and not wanting to admit it

I do have to admit... and it is a pure ego thing (not rationalizing)... I do like the idea of being able to say I'm running a 347 V8 @ 5.7L in my roadster. Would be the biggest engine I have had... even beating out my old F150 with the 5.4 (and that is a rusty tank of a truck).

... but I digress. Do appreciate the thought process. We'll probably continue to flip daily. It will definitely be one of the two engines with a Sniper mated to a TKX. Will likely look into the Hyperspark and little more as that was not in my original plan... but plans can change. :)

Thanks a bunch.

MyBucketList

10-19-2022, 10:48 AM

Been a long time since my last post. The Summer has gotten away from me with family stuff and all. That always tends to encroach on the hobbies.

I have been chipping away at the body and my OCD continues to have me not quite happy with where I am at. Every time I think I have a section where I want it... I still run my fingers over it a few days later and mark it with pencil as needing "just a little more tweaking" Alas... the cold fall weather in Michigan has arrived though. Since I have been doing all the filling and sanding outside in order to not cover my entire work area inside with filler dust... and my comfortable outdoor time has come to an end... the body is back on the buck and I'm moving to back to chassis items.

Hit list
1) Power break pedal adaptor revision 2. Still not quite happy with the pedal position so I'm going to use my roughed rev 1 adaptor for the initial design and improve it in terms of position and fabrication quality

2) Windshield washer motor bracket fabrication and mounting

3) Weather Pack connectors for front/rear/signal light connections (that one should be pretty simple).

4) Electrical testing of dash items before installing the engine
This could either be quick (once I figure out how to do it) because everything works as intended... or not so quick if I have to troubleshoot electrical problems. Hoping for the previous, but afraid. :)

5) "Final" dash mount up scheme once all the dash electrical is done and tested

Lots of fun in coming months

I'm also happy to say we are about 2 to 3 weeks out from ordering our engine/tranny package from Blue Print. STILL vacillating between 306 and 347 (as expected). May come right down to order day and talking to the order rep at BP. Continue to lean towards the 306, but wouldn't take much coercion to tip me to the 347.

Anyhow... ever forward. Happy building.

Springsyeti

10-20-2022, 06:48 AM

Awesome progress and I hear you on summer getting away from you! What sound/thermo protective material did you use?

MyBucketList

10-20-2022, 08:51 AM

Awesome progress and I hear you on summer getting away from you! What sound/thermo protective material did you use?

Inside the cockpit is the standard from the kit for both thermo and sound (I think I order it as an option when I selected my initial kit... but my memory fades)

On the outside of the foot box I'm using "Zero Clearance" matting (Part # 35314) from Breeze Automotive for the extra thermo. Just wanted a little extra between me and the headers on the other side of the footbox wall. Hard as hell to cut as the Aluminum is pretty thick. The application wasn't bad though (a little stiff to manipulate). Used cardboard to create fit templates before cutting. Hoping it works well for it's intent... but remains to be seen. Should know if it was a good investment this coming Summer once I reach "go cart".

MyBucketList

10-23-2022, 07:46 PM

Engine decision is now final. Spoke w/ Trevor at Blueprint on Friday and put a down payment on my engine and transmission package.

Ending up going 347 w/ EFI. I just couldn't get over 30 hp for $900 more than the 306. Trevor said lead time is currently 7 to 9 months so we will be looking at the middle of next Summer. Goal is to be ready do the install pretty much as soon as it arrives.

For now... I've dug out all my wiring info and am going to dig in on figuring out how to test my Russ Thompson signals, rear light controller, and other dash items without the engine wired in. Lots of fun. :) If anyone has some guidance or advice, I'd be happy to hear it.

MyBucketList

10-30-2022, 06:15 PM

Nice to be back at it again.

This weekend we tackled 2 items on our "to do list"

1) Installed weather pack connectors for the tail lights, turn signals and headlights. No difficulties at all. The only question that came up is the front turn signals have a separate ground wire that the RF harness does not. Had 2 options available... a) run the ground so it would connect with the headlight ground. b) keep the signal grounds separate and ground them to the frame when we get to final install. We chose "b", but looking for feedback on if this is a bad idea. Thoughts?

2) Windshield wiper motor mount install. This had us anxious as we were afraid we would get the wrong angle on the motor and have to rework later. After looking at a lot of photos and reading a bit, it sounds like there is not a critical angle. Sounded like as long as the motor points towards where the wiper gears will go, there is some flexibility. We did add some more rigidity to the mount to prevent movement during motor operation. The backer plate is 3/8 aluminum plate and is hard mounted to both the vertical 3/4 tube on the PS edge as well as the 2" horizontal tube at the firewall. We also riveted the other edges of the plate to the firewall sheet metal just to make sure it is secure there as well. Feels really solid and we are pretty happy with it at this point.

174313174314

174315174316

174875

Most of the family is gone next weekend... so Kaleb and I get lots of Cobra time. The plan is to pull the dash back off then get the wiper switch all wired in. If we accomplish that, we may do some electrical testing. Been doing some research and we have a plan to connect the dash wiring to the battery to test the dash lights, signals, head & tail lights, hazards, and USB port. Keeping our finger crossed for that one. We have been pretty meticulous in our wiring so hoping everything works first time (wishful thinking, perhaps). :)

That's it for now. Happy Halloween!

MyBucketList

11-06-2022, 06:56 PM

We had a big weekend. The wife was away with some old friends for a girl's weekend. Second youngest son (16) was off to a state x country finals and then staying the night with friends on Saturday. Suffices to say, Kaleb and I were bach'n it this weekend. That meant lots of roadster time.

Gave Kaleb a little lesson on wiring (stripping wires, crimping and heating heat sink connectors... lots of fun). We started focused on the wiper wiring with the wiper being the last major dash item not yet in place. With the wipers done in short order, we moved on to prepping for electrical testing of the entire dash. Our plan was to connect the ignition and battery hot feeds directly to the battery using a length of 10 gage wire. We also went around and capped all loose wire ends with a couple wraps of e-tape... just to be careful.

Initial results were... marginal. All the turn signal and flasher wiring from the Russ Thompson wiring diagram worked. We ran into a little issue with the fuel pump turning on and off with the lights. Pump feed is tan, just like the rear parking lights. Needless to say when we wired in the rear light control module provided we jumped too many tan wires together. A little rewiring later and the pump is now working off the ignition as designed. Biggest issue we ran into was the headlights being on full time regardless of switch position. Many hours spend trying to figure out how the light feed was hot even with the ignition and light switch in "off" position. Took most of Sunday to figure out as we slowly worked our way through the FFR and RT wiring diagrams. Solution was actually quite simple. The latch relay suggested by RT had 5 pins, but the diagram only showed 4. The difference was the RT diagram only showing 1 pin with "87" while the actual relay had "87" and "87a". Switched the "87" connector to "87a" and no more "perma-lights". Huge relief.

So now we have...
Turn signals (via RT Self canceling steering mod) w/ working dash indicators
Brake lights
Windshield wiper motor cycling as intended (Low, High, Park)
Headlights (High and Low Beam)
Dash High and Low Beam indicator lights
Working Hazards... push button w/ flashing warning triangle on activation
Parking Lights
Working Low Voltage indication on dash
Working USB plug
High Beam / Low Beam Dimmer on RT turn signal stem
Dash Gauge Lights
(Oil Temp Light we bought separately is dimmer than supplied gage set from FFR... not sure if that is a wiring issue or if I didn't order the right lighting option)
It is definitely lit... just the white numbering and marks are about half as bright

174839

174840

Only thing not working is the courtesy light LED strip. It is wired up, but not lighting when it should be. Didn't spend much time on that one as it was late Sunday when we connected it. Probably something simple and we'll get it next time around. Not even sure if we really even want the courtesy light.

Anyhow, very happy with the progress.

Next weekend hoping to get after a couple little things
Courtesy Light.. of course (if we decide we really want one)
Cleaning up dash wiring... lots of unused wires (thanks to the RT mods) that can be eliminated to reduce clutter behind the dash
Steering column trim ring mounting
Dash upper edge mounting

... and cleaning of work area (kind of a disaster right now) :)

Happy building!

MyBucketList

11-12-2022, 06:30 PM

We got a few things off the "to do" list today.

When we had the body on we had the foresight to mark the dash for securing the top edge. With a little time on our hands today, we took advantage of that work and formally did the mounting. Pretty happy with how it came out. We set 10-24 rivnuts into the dash frame arch then drilled small holes in the dash to match up. From there, we used chrome washers and chrome button head bolts to put everything together. I kind of like the accents the button head bolts provide. With that, we thought we would drop some pictures of it all together (at least temporarily).

174837 Hazards off

174838 Hazards on

We do a have few things yet to do with the dash.
1) Oil Temp gauge has the old style connection with the inverter for the backlight. Doesn't match the other gauges so we have a replacement from Speedhut with the matching FRR font and LED set up on its way. We'll get that changed out when it arrives. Should be a very quick swap and may be able to do it without even detaching the dash again.

2) I think we are going to swap the position of the tach and speedo. I think it will just be better to have the speedo on the right side where it will be more visible. I don't think the switch will be a big deal. We'll have to pull a little more of the sender wires back into the dash area, but that should be easy enough to do. The rest of the wiring should be fine as well. Perhaps a little reorganizing may be needed, but nothing major.

3) Need to double check to make sure all loose and unused wires to tied of and capped so we don't have any issue with shorting connections.

MyBucketList

11-12-2022, 06:45 PM

Other fun advancement today was getting the horns mounted and wired in.

Nothing real fancy here. We did decide to use a 2up weather pack connector as a main horn disconnect instead of having to pull the wire plugs from the backside of the horns. We also had to extend the jumper wires a bit. The manual said to cut 2 inches off the end of the ground and power feed wires to create the jumpers. That was not quite long enough... not even close. Not a big deal though. We had lots of extra wires around from our other wiring challenges to fabricate a new set of jumpers. :)

174842

174843

We have to say... those are a couple of loud horns. We probably shouldn't be surprised as they need to be heard over the sound of the side pipes.

MyBucketList

11-13-2022, 07:41 PM

Quick addition to our dashboard today.

We ordered a couple Cobra emblems from Amazon. It was kind of a whim purchase and we weren't sure what we was going to do with them. Today, however, we was looking at the dash and had a moment of inspiration. Decided to thru bolt one of them to the glove box door.

Pretty happy with the look. It brings a little more chrome to the right side of dash. Better balance. :)

174888

Now we just need to follow up with Speedhut to find out when we can get the new oil temp gauge to fill the hole in the center of the dash

MyBucketList

11-22-2022, 08:23 AM

Finished the dashboard and buttoned it up yesterday. Yay!!! Replacement Oil Temp gauge from Speedhut was a perfect match for the FFR set.

175323

Now we are on the mounting of the roll-bars (temporarily) and finishing up the truck carpet. Sound dampening is a butyl backed foil from Silass we got off Amazon.

175324 175325

Happy Thanksgiving!... from ours to yours.

MyBucketList

11-27-2022, 03:13 PM

Big long weekend for roadster work

To start with, we played around with carpeting of the cockpit now that the dash is done. Our biggest concern was that we still have body work to do later on. However, we got a great deal on some 4mil adhesive backed automotive interior protector we can use to cover everything for the dirty body work stages when we pick that back up next Spring. So, decided to move forward with carpeting in order to put us in a position to get the seat and harness squared away.

Carpeting was very uneventful. We just took our time and used paper templates to get everything close before gluing and tucking.

175922 175923

175924 175925

Used 3M Heavy Duty 90 Adhesive to stick the carpet to the already install butyl & aluminum backed sound dampener.

We decided for a little more "silver flash" for the e-brake boot mounting screw. Part of our general themes of chrome accents... brake boot, dash upper mounts, tunnel fasters (in the future). :)

MyBucketList

11-27-2022, 03:38 PM

As we mentioned in the last post, we wanted to get to the seats and harnesses but we wanted to make sure they were placed correctly, so needed the carpeting in place.

Followed the manual recommendation for the seat attachment. We ended up tapping the rear seats holes through into the 2" frame tube with a 5/16" tap since there was not access to put a nut on them since they were inside the thick frame tube. The other 2 holes on each side just went through the frame seat plate. Tapped those as well, but still put nylon lock nuts on underside.

175926

A few minor changes for the harnesses. For the outside mount of the side hip restraints, we reversed the bolt so the bolt head was inboard and the lock nut was outboard. This was just to make sure we maximized our clearance between the bolt and the each of the seats. We also didn't like how tight the lap anchor was when bolted to the floor. It was tight enough the strap could not slide through the hoop to adjust the length. For that one, we added a couple large 1/2" shoulder washers between the harness anchor and the floor. Had to pick up a couple longer 1/2" bolts at Menards so we had plenty of nut engagement with the washers in place. Once the strap was bolted back in place it was much easier to adjust. It's also worth mentioning that the manual did not provide guidance for mounting this front harness. We ended up searching the forum for pictures and found our spot via the expertise in the forum.

175927 175928

MyBucketList

11-27-2022, 04:05 PM

We are going a little off the reservation with our transmission tunnel.

We started by some pretty standard improvements... sound dampener on the top and sides, thermal insulation on the underside in the gaps where it doesn't contact the 3/4 frame tubes.

175929

From there we started to drift a bit because we wanted cupholders in the tunnel cover. We also want to upholster the tunnel in black leather with red side stitching to match out Viper shift boot. This lead to some complications because the cup holders we ordered are 3 inches deep. Could not find any detail on how much space we had to to work with so we started working out how we would raise them with doing something terribly complicated... just to be safe. We also notice the butyl sound dampener dents easily and were concerned the marks would show through the leather when it was installed. Solution to both was to use some black sheet plastic we had laying around to create a hard topper for the tunnel with added spacers at the ends with the cupholder openings. It isn't too often something I envision comes out how I envisioned it. However, this was a happy treat.

175930 175931

For the layered areas under the cup holders holes, we laminated multiple sheets together and sanded the leading edges to a smooth transition up to the thicker area (3 layers for the front... 2 layers for the back) to glue it all together, we just used the same 3M 90 we used for the carpet. Seems to work well. At the front cup, we raised the lip 3/4" inch... will be just north of that once the leather is in place. Rear raised by around 1/2". Feeling good about the reduced intrusion into the tunnel, but won't know for sure we are good until the transmission is in place. Keeping our fingers crossed.

For finishing the tunnel cover, we just rough sanded the top and sides to make sure they are smooth and have nice transitions. When it is all said and done, we will mount it to tunnel using 6 chrome button head screws into 6mm rinvuts in the tunnel frame. Should look really nice when it is done and in place.

... and that ends the flurry of activity this weekend. Great progress. The list of available things we can do without the engine in place is getting short. :(

MyBucketList

12-18-2022, 03:03 PM

Had a bit of fun a few weekends ago. We are fully on board with the fact that the sound of a sidepiped V8 is music in it's own right. However, we have spend some time looking at potential radio options for when the engine is off and we want to hear other music coming from the cabin. The goal was something simple and removable, but still decent in terms of playing the kinds of music we appreciate. After searching the threads and automotive sounds systems sites, we ended up going REALLY simple.

The speaker is a JBL Flip Bluetooth speaker. Decent sound output and super easy to connect with my Samsung S22 phone for running playlists from Spotify. For the mount we ordered a red anodized fire extinguisher mount with a quick pin disconnect. It fits right up under the dash bottle through the dash underpanel. The USB port we added to the dash is perfect of for a fast connect to a hard power point to prevent losing music due to a dead JBL battery. The bracket looks really nice with the red anodized cup holder we will be eventually installing in the tunnel cover. Will also fit right in with our targeted color scheme for the body.

After we got everything installed and hooked up, had a good time just sitting in the driver's seat listening to the radio and reflecting on the fact we will never hear the music over the 347 that's coming. That's okay though. Still fun.

176907

MyBucketList

12-18-2022, 03:14 PM

As with some other build thread, we released when we put the body on last Spring that the rear body mounts are problematic to do as planned with the fuel tanks in place. We are planning to do overriders and hoop bumpers, so research lead us to the "Kleiner Mod" (I believe that is what it is called). Hats of to the creativity in coming with a solution for the many of us out there who have this struggle.

Per the parts list in the mod, we got our 7/16 couplers, threaded rods, jam nuts, etc to put this together. There goes another 11% rebate from Menards we'll forget to send in for kit hardware. Anyhow... everything went together well. Wasn't sure how hard to torque the coupler on the 7/16 through bolts in the inside, so we guessed and took them to 60 ft/lbs. That in combination with the blue thread lock should hold them pretty secure.

Final product...

176908 176909

Really happy with this and think it will help and ton later on.

MyBucketList

12-18-2022, 03:19 PM

Not much dialogue here.

Ordered the bezels and some roll bar grommets from replicaparts.com. Won't get to the roll bar grommets on until MUCH later... but the bezels are awesome.

Simple fit. Position... drill a few holes... machine screws pulled them tight to the carpet and compressed the foam. Easy enough

176910

MyBucketList

12-18-2022, 03:46 PM

Last three posts caught up last week's activities.

This one is actually current events.

1) Did a rough alignment this weekend after doing some research
A) Verified rear end is centered under the frame
B) Measured positions of front wheels to rears to make sure the axles are all square. Had to adjust the UCAs a bit, but pretty simple adjustment
C) Once fronts an rears were square, we laid done a laser line parallel to the rear wheels and used that to sight the front wheels. Both sides were toed in quite a bit so we popped the tie rods ends out and made the necessary adjustments. Looked much better afterwards.
D) Final check was camber of the front tires (with the chassis sitting on the ground). Again, using the UCAs we adjusted both sides to 1 degree lean from vertical towards the chassis on the top. Got that number from a forum post somewhere. Can't recall where at this point.... but sounded good. :)
E) Tightened everything back down and double checked that nothing changed. All good!

We do understand that once we put the engine in, we will have to do the process all over again. However, it was good practice and for "rough alignment" at this point it looks pretty solid.

2) Put together some side louver brackets for eventually mounting to the inside of the body. We opted against riveting the louvres to the aluminum angle stock in favor of M4 rivnuts and zinc oxide M4 button heads bolts. The angle stock is a little long on the front edge (as found when we bungeed them in place on the body) but that is easy enough to trim before we permanently mount them. The plan is to use HSBF along with the anchor studs (not sure their formal name... basically elevator bolts with perforated based) to create a mechanical anchor to the inside of the body. The angle aluminum will be drilled to match the stud positions and the hole louvre/bracket assembly will bolt to the studs (3 on the bottom, 2 on the top). Everything we have read says this will be really solid and is much better than just trying to silicone the louvers in place. Should also be pretty easy to unbolt when we get to point of prime and paint as well. We shall see.

176911 176912

178035 178037

178036

Probably won't post again before Christmas... so to all, Kaleb and I wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

F500guy

12-18-2022, 10:10 PM

Making some great progress on this, keep up the good work, enjoy the updates.

MyBucketList

12-31-2022, 01:58 PM

Merry Christmas and (impending) Happy New Year!

With a little time off from work for the holidays comes ability get a few little items done on the car. In this case, we spend some time mounting the lights on the front and back of the body. We know we will have to take them back off again eventually, but wanted to get the holes set and make sure everything fit up well.

A few noteworthy items:
1) Headlight rubber gaskets was slightly large... enough to prevent a good fit of the chrome trim ring. We accounted for this by simply trimming the excess around the plastic headlight bucket with and X-acto knife. Super easy to do and the fit was much improved. We are concerned a little about the top edge of the trim ring not being held mechanically to the body. May modify the inner ring slightly to create a lip that will slide behind the upper tabs on the HL bucket. Seems simple to do if done right. Not sure what other alternatives are out there, but trying to stay away from tapes and adhesives.

177455 177456

2) Marker lights went on well also. Pre-drilled holes were a little small and slightly off location. It wasn't anything a drill and Dremel couldn't correct. The chrome trim rings on the markers/signals were also a concern. The rings look to be press fit and both of ours were loose. Don't want them falling as we are going down the road. For now, we added some small strips of 3M 2-sided tape on the inside of the trim ring connected to the orange lenses. The tape is hidden and at least in the short term seems to work fine.

177457 177458

3) Taillight wire holes required a little hogging out with the Dremel to make the holes large enough for the weather pack connectors to fit through. Again... Dremel was very helpful in getting the hole large enough, but not too big. We also did not want any risk of the wires rubbing insulation off against the fiberglass body hole, so we added plastic wire protector tubing.

177459 177460

Really excited about the fact that the engine is coming in mid 2023 and we could get the point of being registered and street legal in this coming year. Can't wait!

"... and that is all I (we) we have to say about that." - Forrest Gump

Happy New Year!

MyBucketList

01-17-2023, 08:18 PM

Really big news today for our build.

We ordered out 347 engine/tranny package from Blueprint on 10/21/22 and at the time were told 7 to 9 months lead time. We did not complain at all. In fact, that being finalized helped us set a schedule for the remaining build and had me switching into full blown News Year's resolutions around training for some running races this coming Spring and Summer (to occupy the time and make it go by faster). Turns out we may not have to occupy as much time as we thought.

Got a call today from Kearney, NE (on my caller ID) and my heart skipped a beat as I remember that was the home of the BP manufacturing site. BP and I played phone tag a little since I couldn't pick up the initial call. Eventually, we connected and they asked if we would be willing to receive our engine a little earlier than they initially quoted. Something about someone ordered the same package and just cancelled it as it was going into production. Lucky us... we were next on the list. We were surprised the question even needed to be asked, but in retrospect it kind of makes sense that an engine arriving 5 months prior to plan could be a problem if you aren't anywhere near ready for it. Kaleb and I, however, are VERY ready for it. So... lead time just went from 7 to 9 months to about 4 (give or take a week or so). Should be through production, dyno'ed, shipped, and arriving in early March. UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Thanks BluePrint!! If all goes well, we could have the engine in and running for the car show this year. Probably will not be street legal yet. However, the thought of firing it up and backing off the trailer this year for the attendees sure sounds like a realistic new goal.

There is one very slight difference in this package we are receiving. The BP guy was great about calling back to make sure it was not an issue. Apparently, Holley is behind in parts delivery so they are short the Snipers with the gold housings... which apparently we were supposed to get. We either forget we spec'd that or my attention to detail is fading. Regardless, they do have the Snipers with the black housings. Hummm... decisions??? Not really. She is coming with the black one. Absolutely no issue with that on our end.

Our only problem now... other than balancing my new running schedule with car building... is to figure our how we are going to get the package down to the building behind the house where the build area is. Early March in Michigan could be anything from snow and ice to rain and muck. Whatever it is, we need to move the heavy engine and its crate 250 foot down and angled hill to get to the car and do the install the same day (because we don't have enough space to store the engine near the car. Challenges to work out in the next month and some change. Good Challenges though. Can't wait.

MyBucketList

01-18-2023, 07:16 PM

Have a couple quick things to get caught up on in the thread.

1) We mentioned our headlight trim gap issue on the top edge previously. Finally, got around to the improvement we had in mind for a mechanical engagement. Basically, we roughed up the inside edge of the trim to ensure our adhesive could get a good bond. From there we cut a ~6 long by 5mm wide strip of Delrin and used sandpaper to get it to just the right thickness to fill the gap between the trim ring edge and the backside of the plastic HL when in place. From there we used quick set epoxy and some small plastic clamps to glue the Delrim strip in place on the backside of the trim ring. Worked great. Now, we can put the ring on rotated 90 degrees then turn it into position so the Delrin locks in behind the bucket tabs and it rest flush to the body. SWEEET!

178280 178281

178282

2) Ordered some rubber body grommets from replicaparts.com as an option to cover any "sins" in our front bumper bolts openings in the body. The openings, as we hogged them out, were not terrible but we didn't really want to chance any of the variation being visible. Found the grommets and were initial concerned about how well they would fit and cover, but they we cheap so we went for it. Turns out they work awesome. Snug fit going in and large enough lips to cover our concerns. We have a set for the back too, but won't install those for a while.

178283 178284

Next task on our list is to order our bumper hoop kit from FFR. We just prefer that look to the quick jacks. From there we may start looking at some radiator pre-assembly work with the engine now being in process. Definitely working from a short list at this point and don't want to get too anxious and make a mistake now (well a big one anyway... little ones are okay... we have done lots of those). :o

MyBucketList

01-22-2023, 07:00 PM

Took some time this weekend to start prepping the radiator and doing rough assembly. We know we will have to remove it when go to install the motor, but wanted to make sure it was ready for final install at that point.

For the actual system assembly work we ordered the Breeze kits with the shroud, cowl, lower support... etc. Glad we did so. Though, a few more pictures in the instructions would have been helpful, everything went together pretty well regardless. Good quality components and well organized. We also have the Boig cooling tubes for when we look to close up the cooling system.

No major issues during assembly. The biggest thing was making sure we didn't damage the radiator cooling ribs... hence the cardboard cover for extra safety. We also had to cut the small 3/4 tubes from the long cross bar (per the instructions) with a Dremel cutting wheel. Time consuming to ensure we were careful to not damage the main frame tube, but not bad. Extra hands were welcome for the hole marking on the 3/4 cross tube where the hinge attach. Was just a bit of a challenge to hold the assembly in place while adequately making our marks. Once that was done it was pretty much just drill, tap, and assemble to the upper bar. Lower support was easy as well. We used the zip tie method to slowly work to the correct 51 degree angle. We did have to do a little compensation because the chassis was not totally level. We are currently at a 1.2 degree forward lean on the jack stands so we set to 52.5 degree radiator angle. If I am thinking correct that then means at level frame the radiator will be at the 51 needed. Gonne double check this using the side radiator tunnel pieces from our panels kit. If we are a little off, it shouldn't matter much. The side mount plates for the lower support have some adjustability and we are at about center of the adjustment slots. Anyhow, as we said... the rough fit is pretty solid with some minor tweaking and finishing to do.

178441 178442 178443 178444

We also made a custom bracket for our rearview mirror to mount it high on the windshield in the channel at the top. We made this a few weeks back based on research from how a few other builders have done it. Will be a while before we actually install the windshield to try it out, but feeling pretty good it will work. At this point we don't know how much we will have to grind the square nuts down to fit the windshield channel properly... but not real concerned about it. That being said... just though we would share our design with the community.

178445 178446

Have a great week!

egchewy79

01-22-2023, 08:28 PM

#6 square nuts will fit no problem. #8 will need some grinding

MyBucketList

01-24-2023, 08:51 AM

#6 square nuts will fit no problem. #8 will need some grinding

Thanks, will keep that in mind. If all goes well, we should get to work through that in just a few short months. Can't wait to get to some of those fit and finish details. Been a long road.. but we're getting close. :)

MyBucketList

01-29-2023, 05:05 PM

Lots of build time his weekend. We are in full final prep mode ahead of our engine and transmission arrival later this month.

With the replicaparts cooling tunnel cowl, we needed to adjust the radiator to a 58 degree angle instead of 51. Unfortunately that made it so the Breeze lower rad hangers were not long enough. Once we realized that we went into full fabrication mode with some stock aluminum to make longer supports. They are not the prettiest, but work really well in terms of adjustability to get us where we need to be. Our only concern is if they slip (which was a concern with the originals as well). Will probably use some 90 degree angle stock to secure the bracket to the top surface of the angled frame tube. Job for another day though. For now, we are happy with the support.

178937 178938

While we were working on the front, we also did a temporary fit up of the upper radiator cowl from Breeze. The instructions say to rivet in place... and we probably will later on. For now, we drilled the rivet holes and just put some of our extra self tapping machine screws left over from back in the days of chassis panel work to hold it together. Pretty easy install and looks like it will do a good job of pushing air through the radiator when we are rolling instead of letting some of it escape over the top into the engine compartment.

178939 178940

MyBucketList

01-29-2023, 05:22 PM

More fun with pre-fitting parts that will be important later on.

We spent a little time with the transmission support... and safety loop we bought from Metco (don't want the risk of a broke drive shaft tearing through the back of the cockpit and hitting us in the the lower back... might hurt a little bit). :) We learned that the transmission support fits SO much better when you install it in the right orientation instead of upside down. The build manual images were not super clear and we initially tried (and succeeded) in putting it in with the lip at front edge facing up. Longs story short... front lip turning down works MUCH better. It still wasn't a perfect fit and needed a little "persuading", but not near as much as the other way. We are currently undecided if we will be leaving it in place when we go to put the engine in. Sounds like that process can be done either way. If we end up concerned about room during the install we will drop the support and reinstall afterwards now that we know the right way to do it. :o

Safety loop fit up was much more uneventful. Very straight forward install and having it pre-fit helped us better understand e-brake cable routing issues we have been reading about. We'll hit that in a separate entry.

178941 178942

MyBucketList

01-29-2023, 05:55 PM

Last post for this weekend.

We mentioned reading about e-brake cable routing issues for those who choose to install drive shaft safety loops. With our rough fit of the tranny support and dss loop, we were (not surprisingly) going to have the same issue with cable running through the stock location interfering with our safety loop. Again... some research from the forum and a little aluminum fabrication time resulted in a pretty successful solution.

Based on our research, we made a new cable routing plate from some 1/4" aluminum stock. We played around with position on the 1" diagonal frame tube and settle on a nice spot to route the cables clear of the loop while still inside the edge of the cockpit panels. Just to be safe, also added a protective sleeve of clear tubing to run the cables through and prevent any issues with the cables rubbing against "un-cable friendly" panels.

We did have the problem of the cable being short in the new routing position. With our new plate, the cables just would not reach the e-brake couplings. Forum ideas to the rescue once again. We bought a couple stainless "u" bolts from Lowe's and used the "strap plates" from them to fabricate linkage extensions. The only modification we needed to do was to drill holes in each plate slightly offset from center. A bolt, some washers, and a couple nuts (all stainless) later and we were reconnected with a much improved set up. Very happy with the new routing and e-brake action.

178943 178944

178945 Note: This photo was from before we realized the tranny support was upside down (oops!) :o

So.. yeah... pretty successful weekend!

Our next task is to get some casters and material to build and rolling cart to hold our engine package when it arrives. If anyone following us knows off the top of their heads roughly what BP 347 engine package weighs... that would be helpful. With some research we can probably find it ourselves... just haven't dug in on that yet. Priorities. :)

Have a great week!

MyBucketList

02-05-2023, 09:39 PM

Pretty light weekend for build work.

Got everything squared away with Blue Print of Friday, so the engine and tranny should be on their way as we write this. Michigan weather this time of year is not ideal for receiving the package, but we'll make due. Sounds like it is supposed to be a warmer week (up to the 40s perhaps). That should help clear the driveway. We put together a heavy duty engine cart this weekend from a heavy pallet and some heavy duty casters we bought off Amazon. It's really solid, so as long as the snow a ice are gone we should be able to wheel the package up to the main garage to store until we have good enough weather for the install. Keeping our fingers crossed that Mother Nature doesn't throw us a cure ball.

179343

While we had some time, we also worked on our radiator protector. Read on the forum about these Nomex honeycomb protector sheets. When it arrived, we weren't real fond of the orange color so we decided to paint it up with a little flare. Base coat is Rustoleum matte black 2 in 1 paint 'n primer. From there, we had downloaded a cobra logo from a Google search and created a stencil. Overlaid the stencil on the base coated surface and sprayed it again with aluminum metallic Rustoleum. We had a little "underspray" where the edges of the stencil lifted during painting, but was easy enough to touch up. Pretty happy with the result. Once everything is together, the cobra should add a nice touch to the inside of the radiator tunnel when folks are looking art the car front the front.

179344 179345 179346

Final thing for the weekend was starting to plot out where we want to attach our solenoid. We are planning to go with separate solenoid even though the starter may already have a small one incorporated. The wire run to the starter will just be to long and we want to try to keep things as clean as possible under the hood. We are tentatively thinking of attaching to the firewall through the 2" cross frame support just right of the edge of the PS foot box (looking at the firewall from the front of the car). We only say "tentatively" because we aren't drilling any holes until the engine is in place so we can be sure our final location is clear of any interference with the engine and in an easily accessible spot.

That's pretty much it for now. Big week this week. Hoping to post some pictures from engine delivery day next time we do an update. :)

mladen

02-05-2023, 10:18 PM

MyBucketList

02-11-2023, 03:42 PM

No disrespect to FFR, but we wanted to do something unique for our body emblems. We realize body detail like the emblems are a long ways off, but we plan ahead and take advantage of lulls in the build when we can.

Spent a bit of time on Amazon and various other places looking for cobra logos and just couldn't find something that we really liked. We ended up enlisting one of our Technical Specialists at work who dabbles a bit in customer CNC programming outside of work hours. Trenton did the trophies from last years company car show that we showed last Spring in this build thread. Was impressed with his work then, but working with him on these logos has been "next level" in my mind. The kid has some skills.

The emblems were machined from chunks of scrap aluminum left over from work related items at our Machining and Fabrication facility. Great use of material that was no longer useful and on their way to be recycled. We did both "347 Cobra" side emblems to be mounted above the side louvers... and "347 Stroker Cobra" medallions for the hood, trunk, and center of steering wheel. In the images, the machining is finished and they are rough sanded but there is still a little work left to do. Trenton is going finish them up final sanding and polishing for us early next week. Form there we will probably clear coat them for a little protection of the final finish. Should have the final product in next weekends update.

179778 179779

179776

MyBucketList

02-11-2023, 04:11 PM

As we are continuing to anticipate our engine delivery day (6 days and counting). In preparation we wanted to advance our engine bay wiring a bit closer to a "ready for the engine" state.

Research on remote solenoids basically told us we didn't really need one given that most modern starters already have a mini solenoid on them. We also read that running a remote solenoid is not harmful so we had a decision to make. After much deliberation and looking at our wiring plan, we opted to go WITH the remote solenoid. Decision was primarily driven by the the fact we are not running a battery cut off switch and wanted to keep the majority of the wiring at the back of the engine bay on the firewall where we could keep it more tidy instead of trying to run a bunch of wires down to the starter. In this configuration we only have 2 wires to the starter from the remote solenoid and that's it. Admittedly, we still have a little "octopus" on the firewall but we feel like we have kept it organized well enough to no be an eyesore. Once we add the braided wire sheathes we ordered and put them on we think it will look nice. Our only concern at this point is with potential interference issue(s) with the engine when it goes in. The end of the solenoid only comes off the firewall by about 1.5 inches and the location seemed low risk based on all the engine bay images we looked at prior to picking our spot... so we aren't too worried.

Just some of the details...
1) Used rivnuts to secure the solenoid to the firewall
2) There is a ground wire coming off the left solenoid base plate running down to the 3/4 vertical frame at the top of the transmission tunnel horseshoe
We did this because we weren't confident in a great ground of the firewall to frame. Better safe than sorry
3) The green solenoid caps are just silicon rubber paint protectors cut to the size of remaining the remaining solenoid post threads and press fit in place to protect the posts.

179781 179782

That does it for this weekend. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

MyBucketList

02-19-2023, 09:23 PM

Thursday was the day. Weather was not exactly cooperative. Mother Nature decided to use Thursday as a transition day from relatively warm Michigan weather for the time of year to freezing rain, sleet eventually transitioning to a few inches of snow & ice on the ground by mid afternoon.

Fedex freight showed up late in the day after the snow was taking hold. The poor electric fork truck needed a little extra help to get up the driveway, but we managed to get the crate into a spot in the main garage that will serve as its temporary home until the weather breaks and the engine install becomes feasible. Overall... not ideal, but successful.

180225 180226

Very excited to open the shipper and see our dyno number. Pretty happy with the results.

180227 180228

MyBucketList

02-19-2023, 09:34 PM

We read notes from several builders about the FFR headlights being a little on the dim side. We have always been big on bright headlights (me more than Kaleb), so we did a little research to find some brighter alternatives that were also period appropriate for the cobra.

We ended up landing on Lucas PL700 Tri-bar housings with AUXITO H4 9300 HB2 LED bulbs (12,000 lumen). This was a very simple conversation as they assembled just like the original lights from FFR. This combination was totally plug and play. We couldn't test them at this point because the body is not on the chassis so the wires won't quite reach :). However, we have no worries about them working when we do get the body and chassis back together.

180229 180230

Pretty nice looking. Can't wait to see them in action.

MyBucketList

02-19-2023, 09:51 PM

Knowing we are getting close to the engine install milestone, we had some chassis prep to do this weekend. Basically, a bunch of the stuff we rough fit ahead of the engine needed to be removed and some protective covers put in place.

1) Removal of radiator and upper radiator cowl
2) Removal of drive shaft loop
3) Removal of transmission support (seems the jury is out on whether this needed to be removed or not, but we did it anyway)
4) Removal of seats
5) Added clear plastics protective sheeting for cockpit area
6) Removal of transmission tunnel cover
7) Added swim noodles to engine bay frame and over steering wheel
8) Tied front wires and cables to the sides and out of the way

180231 180232 180233

Next weekend we are planning to open the engine crate and focus on some under the hood items.
- Cobra valve covers and intake housing
- Sensor installs... perhaps
- basically, some of the small stuff we can do prior to engine installation

We might add some finishing touches to our custom cobra emblems well.

We'll see what time allows.

Have a great week.

MyBucketList

02-19-2023, 09:55 PM

mladen

02-19-2023, 10:12 PM

We need to figure out this picture orientation thing.

Look like no matter what orientation the picture is taken in, the system will always rotate it so the width is the longest edge and height is the shorter.

(added)... okay... that doesn't make sense either as I look at other entries. Any pointers???

Yeah, it's super annoying. What works for me is rotating the image 90 degrees, saving, rotating it back, saving again. And then it's fine. But it's super tedious.

MyBucketList

02-20-2023, 09:00 AM

Yeah, it's super annoying. What works for me is rotating the image 90 degrees, saving, rotating it back, saving again. And then it's fine. But it's super tedious.

Yeah... that sucks. I'll give it try, but will keep hoping there is another way. :)

MyBucketList

02-21-2023, 06:04 PM

Not much say here... pictures speak for themselves.

180331 180332 180333

Can't wait to get it installed and fire up for the first time.

Have we mentioned patience isn't my forte. :o

Mike.Bray

02-21-2023, 06:26 PM

We need to figure out this picture orientation thing.

Look like no matter what orientation the picture is taken in, the system will always rotate it so the width is the longest edge and height is the shorter.

(added)... okay... that doesn't make sense either as I look at other entries. Any pointers???

One way to fix the orientation on a computer is to open it in the old Paint program and resave it as a jpg. Works everytime.

mladen

02-21-2023, 09:17 PM

Not much say here... pictures speak for themselves.

180331 180332 180333

Can't wait to get it installed and fire up for the first time.

Have we mentioned patience isn't my forte. :o

I love how the oil cap matches the fins on the valve covers!

MyBucketList

02-22-2023, 08:06 PM

I love how the oil cap matches the fins on the valve covers!

Yes... BPE does a nice job. We will be changing out the valve covers for a pair with a cobra engraved on them though. Will mess the dynamic up a bit, but should still look really nice. :)

MyBucketList

02-22-2023, 09:19 PM

Going to start with the group following our thread here, but may have to expand a bit depending on responses. This is not an urgent issue. However, we want to make sure we have a good plan to wire our Sniper EFI for our new BPE 347 package properly.

After much research we have weeded out what wiring is not needed for our power plant and found a great copy of a Holley wiring diagram that boiled things down to the bare essentials we WILL need. While that has been very helpful, anyone following our thread knows wiring is my biggest source of reservations. It isn't that we haven't been successful so far... just not brimming with confidence. This isn't so much a concern of Kaleb's as he is too young to worry about it. He believes "Dad's got it under control". Great in theory... but in theory Communism works. :D

Anyhow, the image attached is my own diagram I put together based on my research. Since I don't know how well it will show in the picture, I am also going to do my best to describe in detail in case my description alone needs to orient folks and either get nods of approval... or a firm WTF!!!

180466

Here goes the description...

To start with, we are planning to bypass the RF harness fuel pump relay located in the fuse panel. This will also include relocation of the inertial switch to the rear to the vehicle where we will mount it in a safe location inside the trunk. Knowing that...

1) Sniper Harness Blue Fuel Pump Wire from pump relay... wiring into tan fuel pump wire in the rear bundle to run directly to the rear and let the Sniper relay control the pump on its own. Not sure what to do with the RF relay wiring when we are done. Insulated caps on the cut wires and pull the relay/fuse to ensure no power through that circuit going forward??? Thoughts?

2) RF Inertial relay... cutting ground wire coming from fuel pump in rear harness wire bundle and splicing the inertial switch into the ground wire there so it is in line with the rear harness ground circuit. This is one I am not as sure about... though if that is what Holley really means, it should be pretty easy.

3) Sniper Red and Black Battery wires from 7 pin connector... as intended, these will go direct to the battery posts. Nothing complicated or worrisome here... I don't think.

4) Sniper Yellow wire from 7 pin connector... connecting to (-) pole of coil per instructions. Again, seems straight forward.

5) Sniper Lt Blue wire from 10 pin connector... instructions say this can be connected to either of the 2 RF green "fan thermo switch" wires. At this point we are planning to tie in via the Dk Green one in the sending unit wire bundle... not the one that goes direct to the fan in the front harness bundle (both wires seem easy, but this one seems slightly easier)

6) Coil Positive Post... this seemed straight forward as the instructions specifically call out connecting the Orange "EFI or COIL" wire in the RF EFI wire group. I'm not calling this a wire grouping a "bundle" as they are together, but not bound and wrapped like some of the other wire harness bundles. I have to admit, that I am unfamiliar with the term "+12 V keyed wire". My assumption (which can be dangerous) is this means the wire has +12V power, but ONLY when the key is in the "on" position. Yes?

7) Final and most uncertain is Sniper Pink wire from 7 pin connector... instructions say "must have +12V when key is on... AND cranking". This one we currently have matched up to go to the LT Blue "EFI Crank Power" in the RF EFI wire group. I'm hoping that description of "crank power" in the RF description is pointing us in the right direction. Yes? :confused:

That should be it for our package. If anyone can give us a thumbs or a corrective nudge, it would be greatly appreciated.

Our only other question we have to figure out is the fuel system itself. We installed the Breeze fuel system kit for Snipers that allows for elimination of the return line and makes it so the Sniper pressure regulator is not needed. Nice mod as it is only a single fuel line running from the back for the chassis to the engine compartment. The Sniper instructions, however, are REALLY focused on needing a return line. Hoping we can just trust the Breeze instructions and use the 6AN ORB plug to simply cap the return line port at the Sniper regulator without any issues. If you know this Breeze mod for Snipers, would love feedback on your experience.

And with that... we depart from the forum for the evening.

Will be anxiously checking to feedback on our wiring and assumptions to calm our nerves.

Have a great week!

mladen

02-22-2023, 09:30 PM

MyBucketList

02-23-2023, 07:42 AM

You might want to check out this post (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?43812-Mladen-s-MK4-Build-Thread&p=516388&viewfull=1#post516388) in my build. I just went through the same thing you are about to do.

Overall it's good. I think the main issue is the pink wire, it should be on ignition, not just on cranking. I connected it to the Tan Electric Choke wire. I also did the fuel pump a bit differently as you'll see there.

If you want to see how I got to what I did, this is the conversation thread (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?45177-EFI-wiring-and-engine-hookups-check-my-work) for that.

On the fuel line, others will have to chime in. I'm pretty novice so I stuck with what was in the instructions and did a 3/8 return line as well. My engine is a 427 so that might make a difference as well.

This is very helpful. Will make appropriate modifications to original plan and be in a much more confident position going forward. I like the recommendation of depinning the extra wires as well. Will definitely get that depinning kit and proceed with that as we move forward. I still like the idea of wiring the fuel pump in a way that I can move the inertial switch to the rear of the vehicle in our pump electrical scheme. Will allow me to essentially have a security switch locking out the ingnition in the trunk if I am parked somewhere and want to kill the initiation system in a way that only someone with a key will have access to re-activate the circuit. Read about that in another thread and am a fan since I did not purchase a battery cutout switch.

Anyhow... thanks a ton. Once the engine is in an we are wired up we will posted some updates and pictures.

Have a great day!

MyBucketList

02-26-2023, 06:27 PM

We spent some time with a change of location for the inertia switch this weekend.

With our EFI wiring plan, we are going to bypass the RF fuel pump relay and use the Sniper wiring. The power for the fuel pump relay in the Sniper harness will be tied directly in to the tan FP power wire coming out to the relay. To keep the inertia switch functional, we tied it in-line to the fuel pump ground at the back of the vehicle (per instructions). This was relatively simple to do with a quick in line splice. The issue was finding a good location to mount the switch. We end up selecting the lower right corner of the trunk. Below is our solution using a piece of aluminum plate, some flat head screws, and a little creativity to reduce the risk of something bumping the switch (not that you can carry much in the a trunk this size anyway). :)

180859 180860

Thankfully, through this relocation process was also noticed that we had forgotten to connect a ground wire to the ground post on the Breeze fuel regulator. Glad we saw this now instead of later. Pretty easy to address once we knew.

Anyhow... one step closer to engine install.

mladen

02-26-2023, 07:52 PM

Excellent. And that's a very nice looking bracket for the inertia switch indeed.

MyBucketList

03-05-2023, 07:06 PM

Big day today.

Borrowed a 2 ton engine hoist on Wednesday from a co-worker. Bought a 2 ton load leveler from Advanced Auto. My two oldest sons came home from college for Spring Break on Friday. Had the equipment and the manpower to make a move... so we did. Our BPE 347 went up for a test lift on the hoist on Saturday. All looked good so we pulled trigger. Now... I will say we had a great plan (so we thought), but all plans tend to get modified. The front frame was a challenge to get the engine over and into a position to feed it down into the transmission tunnel. Thank goodness for ratchet straps. They were a God send in controlling engine angle and movements without putting us in and awkward positions. Slow and steady got us where we needed to be safely... 2 hours later. :)

181132... ready to roll

181133 181134 181135

With that complete we have a laundry list before first start (not necessarily in this order)
1) Exhaust system (Headers & Pipes)
2) EFI wiring
3) Engine and Transmission sensors and wiring connections
4) Cooling system
5) Drive line pinion angle setup / adjustment
6) Fuel line purge, pressure test of fuel regulator... and final hook up.
7) Engine and Tranny fill & pre-lube

Feels like a lot to do.. but some pretty critical stuff to take our time on. Goal is first start by the end of March.

BTW... very happy with the engine dress up kits we bought off Amazon. The original value covers and air cleaner housing were nice... but we really like these ones with the cobra logos. Super easy to install as well.

That... is it for now. We'll get into our hit list next weekend and see how far we get. Probably start with the pinion and wiring. We'll see.

MyBucketList

03-09-2023, 06:58 PM

Just installed the stainless headers. What a pain!!!!

No much room to move and very little ability to take advantage of ratchets. Just plain not enough space to get a socket on many of the bolts due to pipe geometry.

We ended up hand threading as far a we could then using a small box-end wrench to finish up. We're a little concerned about the torques as there was no way to get a torque wrench on the bolts. We tightened as far as we could and we're sure we'll have to check them again after the system thermocycles a bit. We are trying to be very careful not to round the damage the heads for fear of what it would take to get them out if we did.

Of tap for this weekend is side pipes, some cleaning in the work area (building up a lot of clutter), set the suspension, and finalize the pinion angle. Will be busy, but fun.

John Ibele

03-12-2023, 10:09 AM

MyBucketList

03-13-2023, 08:54 PM

Just caught up on your thread - great progress! I love the car jewelry that you had done by your machinist contact at work. That'll be a great custom touch.

I meant to get back to you on your Sniper questions and (of course) got distracted by my own build. Feel free to PM if I can provide anything in terms of photos / verification ... still some tuning to do, but heck ... it starts and runs and gets me around the block :)

You had a few other questions still needing answers.

Your Sniper wiring Q1: I left my fuel pump relay in the fuse panel, and just clipped the output wire and put shrink tubing on it and pinched it closed. I just didn't see any problem leaving it in.

Your additional question about using the Breeze setup. Technically you have a return, it's just in the back of the car. I used the plug and it seems to be working okay; my system is running rich, but I suspect that is unrelated to this part of the setup. I did purchase a Holley pressure gauge so I could read what the pressure was right up at the Sniper.

Also, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned de-pinning the connectors and putting plugs in any locations where you weren't going to use the wires on the Sniper. I did do that to simplify and clean up the appearance of the finished installation. I did put several photos of my Sniper layout in my build thread, if you're looking for ideas.

Have fun working through the final items on the punch list before first start. That's a fun day.

Thanks, John.

Yes, we did see the stuff about depinning the extra wires and are planning to do so. The only hitch is that our Holley depin kit from Summit is delayed and won't ship until 3/21. :( Not a huge deal giving the length of a project like this, but getting so close to first start and SOOO anxious to hear it run.

Good to know about the fuel system concern. We are just going to plug the fuel regulator/return port of the Sniper as mentioned in the Breeze instructions. We did buy a pressure test system from Amazon as well. It isn't from Holley, but am hoping it will work. Ideally we will flush the fuels lines this weekend, do final connections, and pressure test the system to look for leaks. If all goes well, we should be able to verify our system pressure at the Sniper at the same time.

The really great thing is that there isn't really anything on our punch list that is terribly scary. We do have to adjust the passenger sidepipe bracket mounting hole a little bit. That pipe currently angles slightly towards the body on that side instead of running parallel to the frame. Not sure the best way to alter it given that it is a drilled hole through the frame, but pretty sure we can come up with something that works, looks natural, and does not negatively impact the mount itself. These are the challenges of a custom car. :)

Thanks again fro the feedback.

MyBucketList

03-17-2023, 07:29 PM

Big item on our punch list was checked off today.

We decided to add a permanent inline gauge for fuel pressure for the Sniper. We ordered the gauge from Holley along with an Earl's inline fitting. Showed up today (two days early... very happy about that) and had a chance to mount it this afternoon. Very straight forward. That set us up for purging and pressure testing the fuel system earlier than planned.

Purging as pretty easy. Just wanted to make sure we cycled the system enough for clear any potential debris from fabricating the lines. We put about 3 gallons of premium in fuel tank. We had a fitting with a open line at the other end running into an empty fuel can. With that set up, we attached the battery and turning the ignition on to cycle the fuel pump for a few minutes. Pleasantly surprise... fuel came through the system and started filling up the empty tank. Amazing how good small victories feel. :)

After cycling of fuel through the system we fit up our final fuel line section to the fitting with the pressure gauge and tightened everything down. Then was the big test... pressurize the system and see where we landed. Amazingly, the system went right to 60psi and held steady. Can't express how excited we were. Homerun on the first swing.

181684 181685

So... now we fuel delivery to the Sniper at the recommended pressure with no leaks. Next step is wiring and programming the Sniper so we have proper fuel delivery through he EFI. That... is our plan for this weekend. Still on track for first start on the 25th. Yay!!!

We did also attach the drive shaft, set the pinion angle, install the drive shaft loop and torque everything down.. but I'll save that for a post later this weekend.

Wish us luck on the wiring!!!

MyBucketList

03-20-2023, 07:04 PM

Kaleb and I had another big weekend on the road to hearing the car run for the first time.

Where to start...?
1) Transmission fluid added. This was fun. Outside of making a custom plug removal tool, we are not sure the filler plug on the TKX would be accessible. We went the easy way out and removed the top transmission cover plate to add the fluid (Pennzoil Synchromesh). Much easier to get at. The issue on not seeing the exact fluid level when we were done. We were very careful in measuring 2.65 ish quart of fluid to the BPE recommendation.

2) Cooling system filled, burped, and topped off. Super easy.

3) BPE break in oil added to proper level. Level actually dropped when we did pre-lubrication cycle per BPE instructions. Added another quart to get us to 7 quarts and dead center between the fill markers. Good thing... we only bought 7 quarts. :)

4) EFI wiring complete and passed initialization on the Sniper Wizard. Everything is working and the fuel pump relay bypass we did is humming along flawlessly. Huge sigh of relief there. We ended up mounting the FP relay and fuse for the Sniper harness on the DS firewall. This was our solution to trying to keep things tidy. Everything runs to that point then goes down the fire wall corner... along the inside of the DS frame rail under the engine... and back up to the coil and sensors just in front of the block. We wrapped everything in wire sheathing so it would be protected and hidden pretty well. Pretty happy with the result.

181876 181877

181874 181875

5) Removed the plugs and did the pre-lubrication cycling (as mentioned above). One question on this, should we be concerned that during the precycle we did not see the oil pressure gage showing any oil pressure (using classic gauge set BTW)? We know the oil is pumping based on the oil level dropping during the cycling. Kind of assuming that was the filling of the oil filter. The BPE instructions mention that for a SBF we may need to crack the seal on the oil filter to "burp" it to let trapped air out before the pressure will register. Hoping we don't have to do that, but thoughts would be appreciated. Fuel pressure was great during the cycle. Right on the money. We could also see little puffs of fuel rich air exiting the cylinder during the rotation. Great sign that she has fuel and will fire next weekend when we ask her too. Now we just need to look up the torque spec for the plugs. We put them back in, but only snugged them down for now. Still need to torque them prior to Saturday

6) .. oh yeah... we also filled and bled the hydraulic line for the mechanical throw-out bearing. It was messy and took a little time, but seems to be in good shape. At least initially, I like the feel of the clutch.

Next Up…
Spark plugs torqued down and reattach plug wires.

Figure out a final mounting/storage location for our Sniper touch screen

Build area needs a bit of cleaning (again).

Buy some food of guests coming oven on start-up day (can’t believe it is finally here)

Saturday is going to be a big milestone and we are 95% confident we’ll have good news to share. Been a long road and we certainly aren’t done. However, time to celebrate a little.

Windsor

03-20-2023, 08:55 PM

One question on this, should we be concerned that during the precycle we did not see the oil pressure gage showing any oil pressure (using classic gauge set BTW)?

For the older engine designs, don't expect anything out of the oil pressure gauge during starter-powered turnover.

Older designs with "30w motor oil" bearing spacing is not likely going to show pressure until you get to 400rpm, give or take.

Some anecdotal side commentary: a lot of pre-1995 domestic engines were notorious for lighting the "no oil pressure" idiot light for the first few seconds of running after a full oil+filter change.

MyBucketList

03-20-2023, 08:57 PM

For the older engine designs, don't expect anything out of the oil pressure gauge during starter-powered turnover.

Older designs with "30w motor oil" bearing spacing is not likely going to show pressure until you get to 400rpm, give or take.

Some anecdotal side commentary: a lot of pre-1995 domestic engines were notorious for lighting the "no oil pressure" idiot light for the first few seconds of running after a full oil+filter change.

Very helpful... and educational. :) Thanks

egchewy79

03-20-2023, 09:27 PM

Is your key on? I think I recall having to have my key on to get an oil pressure reading when priming with a drill

MyBucketList

03-21-2023, 09:07 AM

Is your key on? I think I recall having to have my key on to get an oil pressure reading when priming with a drill

Yup... was turning it over using the starter motor. Had removed the plugs and plug wires, but everything else normal operating conditions.

I'm sure there was no way it was turning anywhere near 400 rpm. On Saturday when we fire it up for real we will watch the pressure gauge closely... but not terribly worried. I just don't want to have to burp the oil filter and risk making a mess if I don't have to. :)

MyBucketList

03-22-2023, 08:58 AM

The countdown continues...

Added a quick aluminum "L" bracket to bottom of radiator and temporarily secured the Nomex honeycomb radiator protector in place. Really liking how that turned out.

181933

We are also getting out tunnel cover ready for dropping at the upholsterer for is leather wrapping next Monday. As part of that, we want to have the uncovered cover in place for Saturday. Got it filled and smoothed. Now we just need to drill the new shift bezel mounting holes and assemble. Should be pretty easy and will add pictures once we have that done.

So excited. Hard to not just go out and start it before hand. Patience... Patience.

egchewy79

03-22-2023, 09:58 AM

exciting times. make sure you battery is charged. the night before my first start I realized that I left my key on the Acc setting and drainage my battery.

Ted G

03-22-2023, 10:16 AM

Looking forward to hearing her pur

MyBucketList

03-22-2023, 10:34 AM

exciting times. make sure you battery is charged. the night before my first start I realized that I left my key on the Acc setting and drainage my battery.

Definitely sounds like something I would do as well. :)

MyBucketList

03-22-2023, 05:58 PM

Got the tunnel cover finished in terms of prepping it for the trip to the upholsterer on Monday.

We were very concerned about any imperfections in the tunnel surface showing through the leather cover. In order to reduce the risk of that we pulled the body filler back out and did some filling and sanding to smooth everything out. We did create a bunch of dust to clean up for the weekend... but we are very happy with where we ended up. It was especially nice as it allowed us to redrill and fine tune the bezel mount holes in the tunnel surface.

181935 181936 181937

... and now there is just cleaning to do.

MyBucketList

03-25-2023, 07:24 PM

Successful day today at our little "first start" gathering.

We had a small hiccup initially in that ignition wouldn't engage when we had the clutch and brake pushed down. The clutch and brake safety switches seem to be behaving backwards from what they are supposed to. When pushed down... no ignition. Let the brake and clutch out.... and she fires. Have to look at the wiring diagram again to see if we can figure out why the safety switches are doing the opposite of what they are supposed to. It is probably something pretty simple. Anyhow, it was only a minor issue for today. Once we released both, she turned over and came to life immediately. Sweet music... love it. :)

Would love to include a small video clip, but not sure the best way to do that. Any suggestions?

182066

https://youtu.be/oP7YqYM3QTA

Anyhow... we did have a small water leak at the port on the top of water pump. Just let it cool down, removed the plug and added some high temp thread sealant. We'll let that sit and see how it looks when we fire it back up tomorrow. We were also surprised how much the coolant level dropped after the first run when we let it get up to running temp. Best guess, she needed another 1/2 to 3/4 gallons of coolant. Not a big deal, we topped it back off and will check it again tomorrow after running it a bit.

The goal tomorrow (since it is supposed to be a nicer day) is to start her back up and drive around a bit to give the Sniper some learning time.

egchewy79

03-25-2023, 08:19 PM

MyBucketList

03-25-2023, 08:35 PM

The diagram for the clutch switch is wrong in the manual. I was fooled as well. Just switch the polarity of the wires and you’ll be fine. You can either attach videos using the little icon that looks like an old school movie tape film or cut and paste a YouTube link

We figured it was something simple like that. Will swap the wires tomorrow and give her a try.

Thanks for the quick reply.

MyBucketList

03-26-2023, 07:44 AM

We figured it was something simple like that. Will swap the wires tomorrow and give her a try.

Thanks for the quick reply.

eg, your insight got me looking into my build documents as well as older versions. Sure enough it looks like the diagram was changed and the safety switch connection points got flipped. Thanks again for the direction.

For all future builders that may run into this... beware.

Our build manual
182076

Previous revision
182077

MyBucketList

03-26-2023, 01:43 PM

Much better weather today to actually drive the car and check a few things

We went ahead and changed the clutch safety switch wiring to match the old manual. Decided to not use the brake safety switch for now so we just made a jumper wire to complete that circuit and cut out the switch for now. If we should find any reason to change our mind, it'll be an easy fix.

We also put a level across the top of the frame yesterday and found we were not level side to side in the front (though back was fine). Before adjusting the suspension, we made sure it was settled and took some ground to frame measurements. That confirmed we need to make some adjustments. Was pretty easy to do. We just adjust the spring compression on each side until we were level. We kind of suspected that the initial setting of the spring compression by setting the spring collars equally was not going to work. We had noticed that the springs themselves were slightly different lengths for the front shocks when we were assembling them many months ago... hence equal compression was probably going to be at different collar positions. All good now. We still need to adjust the rear end slightly. The rear diff is not quite centered... close... but not perfect.

Final item was to tighten down the coolant hose clamps just a little more due to a minor leak yesterday. Again, no big deal. Once that was done we topped off the coolant and were ready for today's fun.

She started up really easy again. We let her ideal a bit until she got up to temp. Seems to be pretty consistent around about 80C for water temp. Oil pressure is running mid 50s to 60 at idle when she is warm. Oil temp has never really registered so far, but we haven't really been running it hard so we aren't sure if this is a concern or not. We'll keep and eye on that. Sniper EFI kicked into learning mode with a pretty steady idle and Air/fuel ratio running right around target. All signs were a go for a few trips around the neighborhood.

First trip with Kaleb riding shotgun was to just get a feel for the brakes, clutch, and general handling. All got a thumbs up. The Whitby power brake system is working flawlessly and has some bite. Clutch feel and shifting are really nice. We have a 15mph speed limit in our development so I am sure I will have some complaints, but we punched it a couple times to put the neighbors on notice. :) Gorgeous sound coming from the pipes and she really jumps to it when you ask her to. I can tell I'm going to have to spend some time getting to know this car a bit more than I did my old 350z. The 347 was a good choice, but is going to be a bit to handle. Can't image what the 427 would be like. :o

After Kaleb's ride was done, I did a couple more laps... one with another son (jr in high school). He asked if he can use it for prom. Even though I know he is joking, the answer is still a firm "no". Did one final round with my wonderful wife who has been supporting us the last year and half. Thumbs up from all passengers. Lots of weird looks from the neighbors who were out and about, but the family is excited. If the neighbors ask what it is... I'm just going to say I needed an appropriate go-cart to chase down all the other folks who speed through our neighborhood in their cars, go-carts, and quads. I'm joining the game... but taking it to a whole new level. :)

But is digress... We have a whole 6 miles on the odometer at this point and are very happy with our outcome this weekend.

Tomorrow, the tunnel cover is off to the upholster. We are also going to have to decide our next steps. I guess it's about time to get back at the body. We have to get the windshield wipers holes set up and do a little trimming where our brake reservoirs sit. After that, it shouldn't be too long before we are doing body mounting and fitting so we can finish the body (gaps, contours, etc) So much fun (and dust) ahead.

MyBucketList

03-28-2023, 07:26 PM

Given the success this past weekend we are in a position to do the final setup of the mechanical throttle.

After reading built threads from a few others who went mechanical, we are going to follow their advice and pin our attachment arms in place on the connecting rod. Wasn't sure what this would take and didn't want to do a hack job on it, so I talk to one of the lead builders on our machine floor at work who also has significant car work addiction. Fruitful conversation... especially when he offered to use one of the mills in the machine shop to mill in the flats into the rod after hours one day this week. May even be able to get him to drill and tap the holes for the set screws we will use to lock the position against the milled flats. Kaleb and I are all about making things easy for us and trusting the professionals. :)

In preparation, we carefully removed the linkage this evening and marked the centerlines where the milling needs to take place. Slow process, but we wanted to make sure we had the right spots so when everything goes back together this weekend it will work like it did before the modification.

182208

If everything does go to plan (and we get a little more gas) we should be verifying final throttle settings this weekend during a few more joy rides. Passing the test there will have us buttoning up the DS foot box and starting to look at preparation for the first significant body fitting. Been reading lots of tips and tricks there. We will take that slowly as well to make sure we do a good job before digging in on panel placement and gapping.

MyBucketList

04-16-2023, 01:12 PM

Felt compelled to drop just a litte update.

Things have been moving fast since last post. We are in a mad dash to get titled and registered within the next month. Kaleb and I are going back to the car show at my work this year and we are trying to be in a position to drive to the show instead of trailering. With the engine arriving early and no major issue during install & initial go-karting, we feel like we are within striking distance.

Progress we have pictures of and need to (and will) get posted in the near future...
1) Body is on (again temporarily) we are happy with the fit
2) Trans tunnel cover is out to the upholsterer to get leather wrapped.
3) Hood is gapped and mounted
4) Bumper's are on
5) Breeze radiator tunnel cowl is in place
6) Windshield wipers are connected and working (not that we will ever use them... but Michigan Law requires them)
7) Wind wings w/ side mirrors are installed
8) Rear view mirror is installed
9) Sun Visors went on yesterday.

With this stuff done, we are going to make a call to schedule our inspection in the next week or so. We looked through the Michigan checklist have all the critical items covered (save for the windshield washer system to go with the wipers). Hoping we get someone understanding that will sign of without having a washer bottle and pump. If that goes well, it will be time to pull all the receipts and cert of origin together for registration and insurance. Feels crazy that we are at that point. :)

Now we just working on doors and trunk.

We have the door latches build and the latch pin plate extension squared away on the frame. Once we get the door gaps where we want them, will mount doors and start working the surface contouring to ensure we have matching lines/surfaces. Based on initial fitting, we are pretty sure were going to have to build up the surface of the DS outer door along the front lower edge and contour to get it to match really well. Won't know for sure until the gapping is done and we play with the hinge adjustments a bit.

For the trunk, we have the hinges all set and are pretty happy with the symmetry of the trunk when it closes. We do had have a little bit more gapping yet to do, but it isn't turning out to be as scary as we thought it would be. Hopefully we will be mounting the plate bracket and latch in the next couple weeks.

Side note... got my very first "Snake Bite" this weekend. Was getting out of the car after a few laps of the neighbor and touch ed the back of my lower calf on the pipe. Burn about the size of tennis ball... ouch. :( Think we are going to order a hearshields for "steelshields.com" to prevent that in the future.

... more to come.

MyBucketList

05-08-2023, 07:03 PM

Alright... a break in the action and a chance to get caught up.

We mentioned the transmission tunnel was at the upholsterer. Given everything else going on we did not mind that they were behind a bit. Original quote was 2 weeks and $200 for the leather wrapping. In the end it was closer to 5 weeks, but this was balanced by the final cost only being $181. Balance is always a good thing.

We provided the black leather we got off Amazon. The shifter bezel leather boot are from a 2003 Dodge Viper (not stole from one... just from one). The cup holders were a cheap but from Amazon as well. We also did all the cover sound insulation and deck build up to rise the cupholder a little higher above the transmission. The cover is held on by 6 M5 button head zinc coated screws seating into rivnuts tapped into the transmission frame.

We are very happy with the end result. Looks very nice in place with all the detail.

184215 184216 184217

MyBucketList

05-08-2023, 07:16 PM

Being in Michigan, we have to have both wipers and a spray system to meet TR54 safety inspection requirements. Now, we have read that the inspectors typically look the other way when it comes to the washers. Since my luck is generally that I get the grumpy stickler when it comes to inspections, we did not want to risk it. Hence we went ahead and installed the washer and have it running from a converted horn button mounted under the dashboard on the driver's side out of view. Both installs were pretty easy once we got our hands on a wiring diagram for the washer harness. First try functionality is a great thing.

If the titling process had gone as easily, we would have been all set... but we''ll save that story for another time. :D

184218 184219 184220

184221 184222

MyBucketList

05-08-2023, 07:37 PM

A little bit about the windshield install. Two words... not easy.

For setting the windshield in place, we used straps to suspend the glass and frame from the kayak storage racks above our build area. Don't ask. Was the only place to mount a rack for them in my outbuilding. Of course, this was after being very careful about properly mounting the side frame by slow shortening the frame screw per a video we watched on the subject on Youtube. We apologize for not including the link, but if we can find it... ya'll should be in good shape.

We were very surprised that we did not have to shim the frame arms themselves to prevent stressing the windshield and cracking it. It was pretty much a perfect fit save 2 items...
1) the openings in the body had to be opened up on the cockpit side to prevent the frame from hitting the fiberglass and getting bent outwards causing the top curved to misalign to the top of main frame. They body cuts were straight, but where the needed to angle inboard slightly. Dremel fixed this and the metal frame plate covers hid any sins.

2) the windshield bolts were a bear to get in place and tighten with fuse box in place (most the driver's side). Kaleb and I both have big hands so getting wrenches on both sides of the fasteners and tightening them was a challenge. We ended up unbolting the fuse box and moving it slightly to get at everything. We are thinking we are going to use a breaker bar with a 3/4 crowsfoot head attached to the end next time around (since we have to pull it all apart when we pull the body back off for finishing the bidy work this Summer).

With the windshield good, we broke into our box with our windshield accessories and got them all attached. Everything went as it was supposed to.

184233 184234 184235

MyBucketList

05-08-2023, 07:49 PM

This is a bit out of order, but we thought it was worth showing how we locked our throttle linkage positions to prevent them from moving over time.

We read several strings where folks were advocating this security measure for the linkage arms. Again trusting the experts, we tested out position after the engine was in place, hooked up, and had a few runs under her belt. Happy with our set positions, we marked the connecting rod and brought it work to have flats milled into the marked locations. The goal was to then tap set screw and let them rest on the flats to keep everything locked down. That was the plan, anyway. One of our machine builders deviated slightly and used a hardened bit to both tap the set screw hole AND dimple the connecting rod in one run. He then tapped the hole and ran the screw down into the dimple. Wha-la. Super solid connection. Those buggers are not going anywhere.

184244

MyBucketList

05-08-2023, 07:54 PM

Next up
Bumper hoops & overriders
3rd brake lights
Door straps
Hood Mounting & Hood Scoop
Gapping of Doors, Trunk, and Hood
... and the ADVENTURE OF TITLING :D

MyBucketList

05-09-2023, 05:58 PM

Was pretty sure form the beginning that we wanted the chrome bumper hoops instead of just quick jacks or overriders. We looked around a fit before buying them and toiled a bit over the expense, but in the end we bought a set. Unfortunately, the ones from FFR were sold out for some time so we ended up going with ones from and alternate vendor. Can't remember for sure off the top of my head, but I think we sourced then from finish line. When we read the reviews on the various forums, there were comments about the front hoop being a touch wide for the MK4. Sounded like it was not much (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch) so we rolled the dice that we could make them work and still look good. Fingers were crossed at that price.

When they arrived, they definitely seemed to be a good product...AND... theyWERE indeed a touch wide as advertised. Luckily the holes for the bolts overriders left room to relocate their position. We ended up drilling a couple new holes outboard in each overriders then connecting them to make a slot instead of a pair of holes. This gave us the ability to spread them outboard to a position that fit the hoop bracket perfect. From there we just had the fun of drilling the hoop mounting holes in the outer edge of the overriders. Still not a fan of drilling stainless. We didn't wreck as many bits this time, but there were still casualties. :)

With a little shimming to square up the hoops to the body, we ended up with some really nice looking bumpers.

184299 184299

MyBucketList

05-09-2023, 06:12 PM

The last thing we want is to get done, painted, and have someone "rub" the back of us because they didn't see our brake lights. Though stylish, the kit lights are both low and small. We wanted a bit more visibility, so we found a 6 inch LED light bar online to mount between the roll bars.

Mounting was pretty easy. We just had to measure it a bunch of times until we were sure we were centered before making any mounting holes. It would have been nice if the light came with a rubber seal for the bottom stand, but we are pretty sure we can make one when get to final mounting of all the finishing items. For now, it is perfectly fine.

One cool thing about this extra light is that it can tie into the turn signals as well. With the brake the entire bar lights... tie to the signal wires and you get the half the direction you are turning to flash with the signal. We did not hook the signals up yet, but that is on our list of things to circle back on when the body is off next time.

Anyhow, good safety addition... and looks good as well.

184301 184302 184303

MyBucketList

05-09-2023, 06:45 PM

We will start by saying that we had no false ideas that titling our kit would be easy when we got to that point. We read a ton of information from other builders and even got some great advice and guidance from Edwardb (a little shout out and thank you there).

The first thing we did when we got ready was search the Michigan SoS website and got ourselves a copy of the Michigan TR54 vehicle inspection form. We read that very carefully and started to plot our plan of attack. Feeling we were in a good position with all our work to pass the inspection criteria, we started to reach out and look for inspectors. The form itself says the inspection needs to be completed by a police officer. That left us thinking local, county or state. Unfortunately, we are rural and outside of any local police jurisdiction. That lead us to stating with the country sheriff department. Good folks... we were feeling like we were in good hands.

Apparently, folks in rural Michigan have been abusing loose standards and trying to legalize side by sides and quads for road use. Because the standard for the inspection criteria are relatively loose, the country police abandoned doing the TR54 inspection in our neck of the woods about 1 year ago. Apparently, people would do things like mounting a squeeze bulb bicycle horn on their steering wheel and claim it met the criteria for a horn. Etc... etc... Anyhow, dead end there.

Next was the nearest State Police post. Long story short... same exact issue. The good thing was that they told me the Secretary of State had inspectors who could complete the TR54 forms. At least that seemed to be step in the right direction... until we got to the SoS office.

On an initial run at it just looking for accurate information, we were told the clerks at SoS COULD do the inspections. Great. We arranged a trailer to load up to car bring it there and set an appointment. Unfortunately, when we got there they said they misunderstood. They can do VIN# verification, but not the police department's portion of the inspection. It is really HARD to keep you cool in those situations. The SoS was telling me to contact the police and police were sending me to the SoS. A bit of an impasse.

It is amazing what keeping your cool and being nice despite what you would like to say can do. We explained to the clerks how we were directed to them and the reasons why the police would not do the inspection for us. They listened and were very gracious. In fact, they called another sheriff office and explained the situation. Withing 30 minutes we have a county police officer at the SoS going through the TR54 with me. Pretty sure he had never done one of these before, but he was very professional and when he saw what we had he had no issue with the approval. Thank you so much, Deputy Ramiraz.

One noteworthy item for Michigan folks was that we did not have to apply for VIN#. The SoS titled us using the FFR Serial Number as our VIN. We're told this saved time and some potential headaches/delays with the state.

Insurance was pretty easy. Just worked with our local SF agent

Today was the big day as we were back at the SoS finishing up our registration and applying for our personalized plate.

In the end... not a smooth process by any means. It was, however, successful.

Happy to say Kaleb and I drove legally for the first time this evening. Went to the gas station and filled up the tank. Steering was a little squirrelly as our rough alignment is very rough, but we had our first open road drive without any issues.

VICTORY!!!

MyBucketList

05-31-2023, 11:54 AM

Just a quick note here today.

Have REALLY been enjoying driving the car. She is running great and we have not really had any issues. Alignment was rough at best, so we had that done professionally. Big doings at the Ford dealer the day I pulled in for our appointment. Lots of attention and people wanted to take pictures. :) Now she tracks straight as an arrow... and we have some new friends in the service center.

Current mileage is 276... so we still have a ways to go in our break in period. No hurry.

We really haven't done much work on the car since getting titled. Mostly we have just been preparing for this year's car show. Will be fun go back with a drivable vehicle after just showing the rolling chassis with the body temp mounted last year. There is a little more competition this time around, but we could be in a good spot for the best in W.I.P. (work in progress) category. We'll see. We are more excited about taking part in the post show cruise and talking to other "car people" than winning an award. Should be a fun day!

Next posting will probable be in a couple weeks when we start disassembling again. Our plan is to do the final body contouring and gapping, then remove the body fine priming. If all goes well we will have her primed and sanded by mid Summer to put back together late Summer cruising. It's a plan anyways. :)

... and that's it for now. More soon.

MyBucketList

06-05-2023, 08:30 PM

We had a busy weekend of car show activity.

Turned out that an additional car show and cruise was going on in Holland, Michigan on Friday. I swung through on my way home from work and got waved in as though it was a foregone conclusion I would hang out. It was crazy.... probably 150 just beautiful classics, street rods, muscle cars, trucks, etc. Mixed in was a gorgeous blue and white Shelby Daytona. Was pretty sure it was a replica, but did not get to talk to the owner to get the skinny.

Show lasted a good 3 hours then they shut down the main drag and turned it into a cruise route lined with spectators holding up signs to rev our engines as we cruised by. Lots of fun. The evening allowed me and some other folks from work to recruit additional cars for our own show on Saturday.

I do have to share two fun things before leaving the topic of the Friday show... 1) We got a huge compliment on Friday while I was parked and socializing. I had several folks stop by to find out what I was running in our little roadster because it "sounded really mean as it drove buy on the way to the parking spot". 2) Met a gentlemen who is doing the finish body work and paint for another MK4 in the Holland area. Checked his shop out today and am very interested in getting a quote from him when I get the rough body work down. Also, anxious to connect with builder he is currently working with... so I left my contact and build thread info to pass along.

On to Saturday... great day! Our stretch goal was to double the turnout from last year (40). We ended up with 96 cars and couldn't have asked for nicer car people to participate. Best in show went to a gorgeous 1965 VW Bus, but so many beautiful classics, muscle cars, trucks, motorcycles, supercars, etc. Sooooo much eye candy. :)

As far as our build, Kaleb and I got to share our build story with lots of interested folks. There is just something about a Cobra (regardless of whether a replica or the real thing). In the end, we did end up walking away with another award this year. Instead of a best in show placement (due to a bit more competition this year) we managed a category win in the "Work In Progress" group... nudging out a 53 Buick Restomod, a 59 Fairlane, and a Ford Ranchero (not sure the year). Next year we will be far enough along that we are going jump in and compete with the finished cars. Not sure if we should be "classic" or "muscle"... probably going to go "muscle"

185431

At the end of our car show weekend, we had 406 miles on the car. We're hoping to finish the 500 mile break-in period this week so we make that milestone before starting disassembly for the next round of body work (and have to give up driving for a while).

... and that's it for now.

MyBucketList

06-30-2023, 12:15 PM

As mentioned earlier... post car show we did a tear down of most of the exterior finishing items so we could do all our body contouring and gapping with the body in place.

Fill... sand... shape... fill some more... sand some more... shape some more... etc., etc.

It has been several weeks of mixing body fill and creation of lots of fine dust. The good news is that with the exception of a couple minor spots on the hood, we have all the contouring and gapping done. We are not body experts, but it looks pretty good and there were no major deviations as seen in one round of guide coating the surface. Feels like we are finally close to where I think we need to be.

This weekend... yes (sigh)... big plans.

1) remove the remaining exterior hardware (pipes, windshield wiper and washer hardware, gas cap, and probably something we are not thinking about)

2) body back to the body buck (which will require some cleaning of the build area... again)

3) touch up sanding of body panel overlap surfaces

4) 1 more good once-over the body with 80 grit to just make sure everything is smooth and feathered

If that all goes well, we will be ready for our first layers of epoxy primer filler. Keeping our fingers crossed it goes on well and we did not miss anything major. We're sure the guide coat(s) after that will reveal some opportunities as we block sand the body again, but we are hoping the time up front per-primer limits that a little.

We'll try to shoot some good pictures over the course of the weekend to share in future posts.

If all goes wel,l we will still be on track of finishing with several coats of Poly U primer, sanding, and reassembling in Late July. We (I) have a goal be back on the road by the end of the month.

Finger crossed... this is certainly not a time to rush things. :)

cv2065

06-30-2023, 01:30 PM

Looks great. What are the details on the red clamps, speaker and iphone cup holder?

MyBucketList

06-30-2023, 08:33 PM

Looks great. What are the details on the red clamps, speaker and iphone cup holder?

Details... well... read many folks saying a radio is a waste of time so we wanted something simple and unobtrusive. Figured we could just get a nice bluetooth speaker and use my phone as the radio when we felt like cruising music was needed. The "red clamp" is just a rollbar fire extinguisher mount we got from Amazon. The nice thing is that the mounting bracket has a quick release from the base, so we just used rivnuts and through screws to attach the base to our underdash support. Just about perfect in terms of room under the ledge. When we want to release the clamp holding the speaker, it is just a pin pull and sliding of the clamp out of the mount. Once we had the bracket picked out, we just sized the JBL Speaker (also from Amazon) for one roughly the size of a small auto fire extinguisher. Wasn't perfect, but we took up the gap with neoprene rubber adhesive tabs from Menards to compress and make for a secure fit. For there we just got a universal phone holder from Autozone that would fit our cupholders (again from Amazon) to hold the phone. The phone holder also works great for our touch screen for our EFI when we want to see that instead. Only other need for this set-up was the USB plug (surprise... found it on Amazon) in the dash that is wired into one of the extra keyed hot wires from our dash harness. We are very happy with the setup and pleasantly surprised that at cruising speed the sound is actually audible. Our color scheme is basically going to be dark red and black w/ a touch of gold, so the clamps fit our color scheme well (or at least they will when we can finally afford paint :)) Bonus.

MyBucketList

07-09-2023, 04:47 PM

Slight deviation in the body work plan. We originally thought we just needed to get down with 80 grit before primer. On closer inspection if the instructions for our Eastwood Optiflow Roll-on Primer kit it seems we were premature and had to do 2 more rounds at 120 and 180 grit. This added a little time, but we are getting pretty good at cross blocking.

As mentioned, we are doing the priming ourselves and did not want the challenges of sprayed primer. After doing a ton of skeptical research on Eastwoods Optiflow Kits and watching various YouTube videos on the topic, we decided this was worth a try. The kit came with basically everything we needed... rollers, 2K Epoxy base filler/primer, guide coat, mixing containers, sandpaper up through 400 grit, 2K Urethane Primer sealer, etc... The only thing it didn't have was the polyester body filler we will need to do minor filling and leveling between the Epoxy and Urethane.

Saturday was epoxy primer day. Had to do a bit of rearranging in the work area, but ended up with a decent amount of space to work. Ended up applying 3 layers with about 30 minutes of flash time in between. The primer went on well, but not a smooth as we would expect of sprayed primer. Not a huge deal, just gonna be a bit move blocking and smoothing with sandpaper than with sprayed primer. The kit does say to wait 4 days for full epoxy cure before sanding, so won't know how well it actually sands until mid week. The YouTube videos say it sands down really nice. We shall see.

At least to this point, here are some before and after image of our contour work and "paint shop".

187019 187020 187021

187022 187023

If all goes well, we should be through the initial epoxy sanding, filler touch up. and final epoxy blocking by the end of next weekend. Might even get the final epoxy coating on over the touch ups if things go really well. That should still keep us on track for the Urethane primer and finish sanding so we "could" get the body back on the chassis for our end of July target. We are going to be very careful not to rush this, though.

.. until next time.

hineas

07-09-2023, 06:22 PM

I loved our first coat of product. Seeing it all in 1 color was amazing.

Keep up the good work!

MyBucketList

07-23-2023, 05:58 PM

Continuing to take our time and make steady progress.

After our last primer images, we block sanded for the first time using the guide coat. Found a few things to touch up with body filler and glazing putting so we got that all squared away. Laid down 2 more layers of epoxy primer this past week. Haven't sanded the main body yet because we want to give it a couple more days to cure really well. We did sand the trunk, hood, hood scoop, and doors with 320 grit, though. Ended up finding a few more touch minor touch up spots to address with glazing putty. Feels really smooth at this point. Pretty sure they are ready for their final coats of epoxy base. If all goes well, we will get the body sanded with 320, finish any filler touch-up needed, and be finishing ALL of our final primer base coat by the end of the week.

187747 187748

Bonus item... door straps

We had temporarily mounted our door straps a while back and been thinking that it would be nice to strain them to match out final color scheme (red, black, and gold). We had seen others who have stained their straps, so we decided to follow suit. We got some dark red leather stain from Amazon. The staining was pretty simple and we really like how they came out.

before...

187749

after...

187750

Hopefully our next post will be of the pictures of our body with the 3 coats of urethane primer sealer (maybe sanded... maybe not)

Until then, happy building.

MyBucketList

07-26-2023, 08:44 PM

Busy night this evening. Managed to get the body all wiped down to prep for our final 2 layers of 2K epoxy primer base. Seems like this has been such a long journey... and yet we are just halfway through the whole priming process. We do have quite a bit of the base primer left. Hoping not to need it, but depends on if we get over anxious in our next round of sanding and cut through to the gel coat again. The plan is to be extra careful and take our time. There is that patience thing (I am not very good at) again. :)

Next 4 days will be pine'ing away waiting to the full epoxy cure. Pretty hot & humid here right now so not sure if they will help it cure faster or slow the process. Best guess, we will do our final base primer sanding starting next Monday or Tuesday. This round is 320 grit to start... followed by 400 (guide coat before each round). Figuring that is a good 2 days of sanding as long as we are careful and take our time. Hoping that leads us to starting the high build filler sealer the following weekend. Looks like that urethane primer cures much faster that the epoxy so should be quicker turn around once we get going on it. Can't wait.

Anyhow... one more baby step down.

187842 187843 187844 187845

MyBucketList

08-02-2023, 06:26 PM

Very quick update tonight.

We got the final layers of urethane primer on last night. Looks pretty good. Surface is a little rougher than we expected, but certainly workable. Sanded the trunk lid with 320 this evening and it went well. We had one minor sand through at the top arch where the license plate light mounts, but not a big problem. Tomorrow we will do the hood and doors to refine our final sanding method before attacking the main body.

We foresee many, many hours of sanding in our near future. :)

Wish us luck!

MyBucketList

08-04-2023, 07:58 AM

Slight change in plans.

We were originally planning to sand the primer down with 320, 400, then 1000 wet. With the Opti-flow setting up a little more rough than spray primer, we noticed on the trunk doors and hood that the sanding with 320 goes quite a ways through the primer layers we laid down. Pretty high risk of sanding through to the epoxy layer if we follow the 320 with the 400, etc. Our goal here is NOT to have a beautiful primer finish so much as to ensure we have a good sealer layer for the next X months we are driving without our finished paint. Visible sanding scratches in the primer surface and a shiny finish on the primer are not really that important since any painter will probably lay down a couple layers of spray primer and re-sand as part of the prep before painting anyway. We do have some spray urethane primer we can use for touch up, but we noticed last night in doing so that it is a slightly darker shade of grey than the mixed roll on. In an effort to not look "splotchy" from touching up any sand throughs, we are just going to get the surface smooth with 320 and call it good. We'll worry about it being beautiful when we actually get ready for final paint. Besides, we'll probably pick up road debris chips and nicks that will have to be touch up before final anyway (additional rationalizing). No since obsessing about a perfect surface for now.

That being said... we finished the outer surface of the trunk, hood, intake cowl, and 1 door last night. pretty happy with the result. Tonight we tackle the final door and move into the main body. Gonna get very dirty and hopefully get it done so we can remount the body on Sunday. Wishful thinking. :)

MyBucketList

08-07-2023, 11:25 AM

Finally done.

There was some satisfaction in cleaning the floor of the work area yesterday knowing that Kaleb and I will not be creating anymore new dust layers. There is still red gel coat, yellow filler, and grey primer dust to be found in the area. However, none of it will be new going forward. Hurrah!!!

Saturday the final sanding of the urethane primer got finished around 2 in the afternoon.

Sunday after doing a little cleaning, we Plasti-dip'd some temporary stripes to get us by until the point when we have the cash reserve built up for our final paint job (someday). The stripes aren't "perfect", but they do actually look pretty nice. We used a black base coat and topped it off with a quick spray of Duplic-Color Peel Coat 'Galatic" to give the black a metallic blue shimmer.

Form there, we started reassembly and made some decent progress. Highlights of that are the customer badges (on the hood, trunk, and above the vents), our new Steelshields heat shield on the pipes, and a custom bend Cobra logo on the fuel "door". The gapping and contouring we worked so hard on also looks pretty good. We are not professionals, but our body is a ton better that is was on initial fit up.

188438 188439 188440 188441

Still have a pretty good list of reassembly to do, but hoping to chip away at it and be back on the road by middle next week.

Can't wait

MyBucketList

08-14-2023, 05:51 PM

Managed to knuckle down and the MK4 back together enough to be back out on the road this past Monday evening.

Hardest part of the final assembly was the windshield placement (not a big surprise). We had little body filler that built up in the body openings that prevented the posts from setting properly so we could align the frame and chassis holes. Pretty easy fix there with a drill and debur tip. After that it was just the fun of actually tightening down the bolts. The driver's side was the worst last time around, but this time we dropped the fuse box to get more room. The PS us much longer this time because we dropped a 3/4 wrench and it slide down between the footbox and body. Managed to get it back out, but took some creative engineering.

We do have 2 remaining issues post electrical annoyance post assembly that were not there prior to the recent body work. 1) The gauge lights were not working on start up. Everything else was fine, but needed to contemplate that one a bit. We finger it was an issue of nocking something loose on the fuse box while struggling with the windshield bolts... or a blown fuse. Turned out to be the later. Not sure why it blew, but we replaced it and will monitor. 2) Momentary switch for High/Low beam cycle is not functioning properly. It will cycle to High beam, but not cycle back on the second click. We can get in back to low beam, but needs to turn the lights switch off to have it reset. Have not diagnosed that one yet.

Minus the troubleshooting of of the high beams, we are getting pretty close to being done for a while.
1) Door panel mounting
2) Cockpit interior door trim assembly
3) Finish roll bar grommets
4) Headlight aiming
5) Install wheel well splash guards
6) Replace dented cupholders in trans tunnel
7) Get final paints quotes from a few local sources
High end for "sticker shock" worst case
A couple more realistic sources

None of these are mission critical, so we will plug away at them as we can. The rest of this Summer will be focused on enjoying cruising and spending time with other car folk at "Cars & Coffee" events.

Anyhow, we are not yet "graduated" but here are some picks of our project 21 months after out kit arrived here in Michigan on that cold, rainy October day in 2021.

188829 188830 188831 188832

188833

Windsor

08-14-2023, 08:55 PM

2) Momentary switch for High/Low beam cycle is not functioning properly. It will cycle to High beam, but not cycle back on the second click. We can get in back to low beam, but needs to turn the lights switch off to have it reset. Have not diagnosed that one yet.

Is there a relay involved? This could be the relay output feeding the input, which is how you set up a "sticky on" like you describe.

Looks sharp, congrats!

MyBucketList

08-15-2023, 08:19 AM

Is there a relay involved? This could be the relay output feeding the input, which is how you set up a "sticky on" like you describe.

Looks sharp, congrats!

There is latching relay in the circuit.

The relay is actually located behind the dash on the far passenger side away from any significant activity we have done recently so if should have been safe from getting bumped. We are sure the wining connections did not change either.

It worked before, just misbehaving now so that is why it has me thinking thinking we either knocked something loose during the body on/body off process... or it was seeing a change in power draw as a result of the fuse that was out in the light switch feed. Hoping for that later, just have not yet verified since replacing the fuse. Fingers crosses that it is already fixed. :)

Railroad

08-15-2023, 03:45 PM

Those latching relays are not happy if the case is distorted, or bent.
Mine would distort and not work, if I over tightened the mounting screw. Back off half a turn and all works fine.

MyBucketList

08-15-2023, 06:42 PM

Those latching relays are not happy if the case is distorted, or bent.
Mine would distort and not work, if I over tightened the mounting screw. Back off half a turn and all works fine.

I'll give that a try. Many thanks. Will let you know how it turns out.

MyBucketList

08-22-2023, 11:12 AM

I'll give that a try. Many thanks. Will let you know how it turns out.

Continuing to troubleshoot the headlight latching relay issue. At this point, we've done quite a bit of IS/IS NOT (for those familiar) comparisons and it looks like we have a bad LR35 relay. It doesn't appear that distortion of the relay case is an issue for our build, but honestly it is a bit tough to tell for sure at this point. Pushing the button does kick it up to high beam, it just does not want to stay there on release. Last night as we were playing with it, the relay latched 2 random times out of about 30 tries. Intermittent failures are awesome (sarcasm). ;)

The good news... 1) the relays are not that expensive on Amazon... and 2) We did not mount it at the worst location to get to.. though it isn't the easiest either.

A new relay is currently on order to arrive Saturday. Once we have the new part we will do a little relay swap and hopefully have the high beam latching up again.

We'll be sure to share how it turns out.

Railroad

08-22-2023, 01:00 PM

It seems, I used a Bosch relay. Do not be afraid to tweek the latching mechanism. If it is not working, you have nothing to lose.
Leave the cover off and see what it needs to keep the hook engaged on the latch.
Good luck,

MyBucketList

08-23-2023, 05:59 PM

Got the new relay today and replaced it after work. In doing so, we extended the wiring a little and relocated to an even easier place to deal with if there are future issues. So.. that was nice.

Nicer was the fact that the new relay worked and the issue is resolved.

Gonna order a backup relay just in case, but now we are on to the next challenge.

MyBucketList

08-30-2023, 02:58 PM

Quick post today. Probably better for the general forum, just incase someone following has some insight, we'll start here.

Have almost 1,000 miles and starting to look at little tweaks. One such tweak is trying set the IAC on our Sniper (we are see recommended targets around 3 to 5%).

So far, we have been unsuccessful getting to a IAC setpoint using ideas from folks on YouTube. Should also be noted that our idle set-up is 850rpm, but we actually idle around 1,000.

Neither are a huge deal as our base set-up seems to be running okay. We are currently toiling with continuing to play with it, or just leave it for now and take it to a local tuner (with a really good reputation) later on.

Any thoughts?

MyBucketList

09-26-2023, 05:42 AM

We have a lot of catching up to do. Since getting the body squared away and primed, we have been enjoying driving the car. At this point we are up around 1100 miles since getting her on the road. Really enjoying just cruising around.

We do have some pictures to post as various car gatherings we have been attending (Cars Against Cancer, Cars & Coffee, etc). Have been on the lookout for other Cobras in the area, but so far we have not run across any other builders. Funny thing happened this weekend though. I was running a long distance endurance relay race and had a FFR MK4 build sighting. Was my turn to run my second leg @ about 10pm through the residential area of Ludington. As I was trudging along, I saw a garage open at a house on my right. Inside the garage was a gentlemen working on his kit. I could see the rough body and the chassis. For a fleeting moment I thought "the heck with the race, I'm gonna stop and say hello". Didn't end up doing it though. Just smiled and kept moving. Fun! :)

Final item (for now)... took the car to a local tuner to have my Sniper professionally tuned. It has been running okay, but I keep hearing that you won't get the most out of the Sniper if you just rely on the self-learning function. Was supposed to pick her up yesterday, but the shop ran into an issue. I guess they got it all done and it was running great. They put in back on the dyno for a last check and the engine died half way through the run. She ended up loosing spark. The shop traced it to the distributor. The power in and ground check out fine, but there is no impulse coming out. Called BP warrantee and they were awesome. A replacement distributor is on the way, so we will change that out. I can't help but wonder, though, if it is really a distributor issue... or if something I did in the wiring caused the distributor's premature death. The guy at the shop said all the wiring looked good, so I guess we will wait and see.

Anyhow... lots of pictures coming soon from the cars shows, etc. Until then, happy building

MyBucketList

09-29-2023, 03:41 PM

As promised... just a few pictures from some of the car shows we have been attending. So far we have been the only Cobra to make it to each event. It's a lonely life :), but we get a lot of notoriety for a "naked primer" car. Kind of fun. Lots of conversation with people appreciating that we came out.

Cars Against Cancer - Holland, Michigan

190632 190633

Cars & Coffee - Zeeland Michigan

190634

Added bonus... we just got her back from the tuner today, so we have the real world (rear wheel) dyno results. Given the engine tested at 425 hp/ 430 lb/ft at BP, I guess I was expecting higher results. It's mostly a matter of not having any realistic idea of the scale of loses by the time you factor in the complete system. We are certainly not disappointed as she was fast before tuning with a baseline the dyno said we were just over 300hp at the rear wheels. By the time Jon got done... well... you can see below. He also fixed our erratic idle issue. Something about the throttle fins were tight and binding a little. It's idling beautiful now though. IAC is set like it is supposed to be as well.

190635

With that... our goal this weekend is to cruise around SW Mich. If you're local... maybe we'll see you out there. Don't hesitate to say "hello" if you see us.

MyBucketList

10-12-2023, 11:56 AM

We are continuing to be amazed by the really great people we have been meeting through this whole build process. It is continuing on, even with our build mostly done. Now that we are frequenting car shows we are meeting some really great people in the general car community who are just fun to be around... car shop owners, club members, general enthusiast. It is really awesome.

We have new found friend in Ken. Ken is an older gentlemen with an old custom Toyota T100 (249K miles... hand crank windows... OLD school... got to be careful how we say that as there are many levels of "old school' and we don't want to offend :) ) Customer matte black paint, red n white pin striping, and a customer fab wood floor in the bed with a carrier for his electric bicycle. As unique a customer build as anything else out there... and very different from the collective toys we have been seeing at shows so far. Great guy... fun truck!

Then there is the gentlemen who just did our final Sniper tuning for us. Jon has a little unassuming shop along a little country, commercial strip on my way home from work. Seen it a thousand of times and never thought twice that it was a serious car service place (even though is said "Capizzi: Transmission Magician" on the sign out front). We only went to Jon on a recommendation from a fellow "car guy" who happened to know Jon has a thing for tuning EFI's. Turns out, it is more than a thing.. and he does a heck of a lot more than tuning EFI's as well. We won't spoil it too much, but if you want to know how Jon really made his name, just look up "Capizzi Mustang" on YouTube (and don't blink when the light goes green in the videos). We can't hardly believe that is same person who just did we final tuning for us. Pretty exciting... though our MK4 doesn't really compare to his "play toy".

Anyhow... so much fun. Gonna be sad to have to put the car away for the year in coming weeks. Michigan weather is getting colder and more rainy so our opportunities are dwindling. With luck we will have her out yet this weekend.

Fingers crossed.