Mike in Texas FFR Roadster Build - She's Alive! (Again) (Again)

[Mike.Bray]

Hello FFR forum, thanks for having me. I recently sold a 2008 Viper (very fun car) and decided to build another car instead of buying one. Finally settled on an FFR Roadster, I had a Cobra many years ago and of all my cars it was always the most fun to drive. And my wife really likes them so that helps. So this past September I ordered a kit with a due date of May 7th. During the wait I've cleaned up the garage, convinced the wife to park her Camaro on the other side, installed a new floor, built the engine (will cover in separate posts), and got the rear end ready to go. I'm hoping to test fire the engine in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed.

My plan is to build the car with 100% new parts and do a reasonably high-end build.

MKIV complete kit
Powder coated frame
Pin drive front suspension w/power rack
3-link Ford 8.8" rear end, narrowed for pin drive wheels
351W/TKX drivetrain
Stainless exhaust
Leather seats w/Forte heaters
Wilwood 6 piston front brakes
Wilwood 4 piston rear brakes
Vintage Wheels 17" polished pin drive wheels
Russ Thompson turn signal kit
Breeze LED headlights
And the list goes on and on...

A little about me. My name is Mike Bray and I'm 61 years young with two grown daughters. A little over 5 years ago I was fortunate enough to marry the love of my life Mari. We mark everything with our initials to keep our things straight. Like me she's a gearhead and likes cars and especially fast cars. Between us we have 7 grandsons with my 6 year old being a total and complete car nut. Wonder where he gets it?

My father was into cars and built some of the first quarter midgets here in Texas in the mid fifties for my brother to race.
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Later he built some dune buggies and even a couple of rail dragsters. When I was around 15 he started teaching me how to work on cars. He helped me fix up my first first truck, hey this is Texas! Then my first street rod, a T Bucket roadster with a 6-71 blown SBC.

In my 20's and 30's I was working for a large manufacturing company so I had access to a lot of machine tools, a gear department, and a complete fabrication shop. I used these to build my second street rod, a 1928 Ford Tudor sedan.
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Later I put together my own shop and built a few more street rods.
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And my Cobra
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I got tired of all the hours in the garage, got a new job and new wife, and sold most of my shop off. 15 years later I was having a very hard time getting along with my new wife's boyfriend so we went our separate ways. I got into go karts, 120 MPH an inch off the ground will give you a thrill! A few Corvettes, Vipers, and other assorted toys and here I am coming around full circle to build another car instead of buying it. Well, sort of as before I started with a rusty body and a pile of steel plate/tubing/billet aluminum instead of a kit. But I'm really looking forward to building this and of course driving it! And thanks to this forum I've got a treasure trove of great information to pull from.

Currently I'm easing into retirement so I've got some nice time available to work on this kit. I've been with my company for 23 years, I'm the R&D manager which gives me access to some great 3D software and other tools of the trade. My company is based in Sydney Australia and I'm based in our Dallas Office. Yes, I do travel there and no, I do not want to live there. But it's a great company and I really enjoy working for it.

Well that's about it for me. If you've read this far you're better than I am. I do hope you enjoy following along for the next couple of years.

[RRussellTx]

Nice build plan - The Pin Drive definitely takes the cool factor up a notch!

I'm over in Parker if you ever need any help or want to check out a completed car.

[Ted G]

Welcome aboard! We ordered right about the same time.

[460.465USMC]

Welcome aboard, Mike! You bring a ton of experience to your Roadster build. And, your wife loves cars--huge bonus! What year Camaro does she drive?

[Jeff Kleiner]

I’m looking forward to following along Mike!

Jeff

[GoDadGo]

After seeing your former rides, this is going to be a Cake-Walk for you.

........................Welcome Aboard Mr. Mike!

[Mike.Bray]

Nice build plan - The Pin Drive definitely takes the cool factor up a notch!

I'm over in Parker if you ever need any help or want to check out a completed car.


Hey thanks for that, I might take you up on your offer.

I'm not that far, I'm in Flower Mound. My youngest daughter lives in Wylie so I go out your way pretty regularly. She's right off Parker Rd or whatever it turns into.

[Mike.Bray]

Welcome aboard, Mike! You bring a ton of experience to your Roadster build. And, your wife loves cars--huge bonus! What year Camaro does she drive?


She has a 2015 SS with the Corvette engine. It's a nice car and she loves it.

[Mike.Bray]

After seeing your former rides, this is going to be a Cake-Walk for you.

........................Welcome Aboard Mr. Mike!


Well it might be a little less involved but nothing is ever a cake walk for me! I'm hoping it goes okay. One thing for sure, it's a lot easier doing research and ordering parts with the internet!

[Mike.Bray]

While I'm waiting on the kit to arrive I've been able to acquire a few fun parts.

17" pin drive wheels (yes, that's our kitchen island)
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Borla stack EFI
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8.8 Ford rear end, keeping it simple.
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Finished up the garage floor
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And put together a test rig to fire and tune the engine
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[JDFinley]

Welcome Mike! Very nice progress!! I had the same boyfriend issue - had to chuckle! :rolleyes: Still working out your initial marking... :confused: :o

[RRussellTx]

Hey thanks for that, I might take you up on your offer.

I'm not that far, I'm in Flower Mound. My youngest daughter lives in Wylie so I go out your way pretty regularly. She's right off Parker Rd or whatever it turns into.


Sounds good, don't be shy.

There are a couple more guys in Wylie right off that same road. One is working through the registration process to drive in gel coat for a while and the other one has his car in paint right now. We get together every once in a while so PM me your number if you want me to let you know the next time we do something. I might do up some crawfish when it warms up a bit.

[Mike.Bray]

I've been able to get the engine put together. Originally started out with a Fast EZ 2.0 but ended up sending the ECU in to trade for the XFI Sportsman for better tuning capability. It should be back in a few days and then I'm ready to program and test run. Big fingers crossed!

I've built small block Chevy's, big block Chevy's, and even a couple of odd Buick V6 engines but this is my first Ford. It's been quite the learning experience (which of the three places do I put the timing pointer???). But there's definitely some neat things about the Windsor engines. I like the tall deck and long connecting rods, good for torque.

ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS, 393 CI

New Cast Iron Roller Block, 351W
Bored .030" Over
Forged Scat Crank, 3.85" stroke
Forged Pistons, 10:1
Forged Rods, 7/16
Total Seal Molly Rings
Internally Balanced
Clevite 77 Bearings
ATI Harmonic Balancer
Ram Flywheel (22 lbs)
Ram 10.5" Clutch
Aluminum Oil Pan
Aluminum Heads 210CC Intake runners
62 CC Combustion Chambers
2.02" Stainless Steel Intake Valves
1.60" Stainless Steel Non Magnetic Exhaust Valves
Comp Cams 26918 Springs
ARP Screw-In Studs
Comp Cams Guide Plates
ARP Head Studs
Comp Cams Hydraulic Roller Cam, 35-775-8
Intake Lift 579, Duration 236 @ .050"
Exhaust Lift 579, Duration 248 @ .050"
Comp Cams 1.6:1 Stainless Steel Roller Rockers
Comp Cams Double Roller Timing Chain
Comp Cams Hydraulic Roller Lifters
Comp Cams Hardened Pushrods
Borla 50mm EFI Stack injection
47 lb/hr Injectors
Port Matched Individual Runner Aluminum Intake Manifold
Screw-In Air Horns
FAST ECU, XFI Sportsman
Holley 19-350 In-Tank Fuel Pump
Holley 10 Micron Fuel Filter
Holley 565-201 Dual Sync Distributor
MSD 6RFI Ignition
Ford Performance Spark Plug Wires

Pictures to follow.

[Cobradavid]

Welcome, Mike!

[WIS89]

Mike-

Welcome to the madness! I have to be frank though, I like the additions you made to your kitchen, and I would leave them. They blend in nicely, and truly complement the rest of the kitchen! Perhaps your wife will learn to love them!

Great wheels; I am a fan of the polished finish, and I keep going back to that option when I look at wheels for my ride. They just look great!

Then the velocity stacks... well they're just engine porn, plain and simple!

I look forward to seeing how things come together for you and will enjoy following along.

Regards,

Steve

[Mike.Bray]

Mike-

Welcome to the madness! I have to be frank though, I like the additions you made to your kitchen, and I would leave them. They blend in nicely, and truly complement the rest of the kitchen! Perhaps your wife will learn to love them!

Oh she loves them, she just loves her kitchen more! We need that space though when we're making Philly Cheesesteaks on the Tappan grill.

Glad you like the goodies.

[GoDadGo]

Mike,

Those specs will yield a potent serpent with a nice strong & flat torque curve.
Just be prepared to replace your rear tires annually.
Get ready to pedal 1st, 2nd & 3rd gears.

Steve

[Mike.Bray]

Those specs will yield a potent serpent with a nice strong & flat torque curve.

That's what I'm striving for Steve. This car will be a Saturday night cruiser, no plans for racing or getting it on the track. I understand that the body does not sense speed but only change in velocity. I want torque to feel some real acceleration and big brakes to feel big stopping power. I read years ago that they took a 427 Cobra and went 0-100 and back to 0 in something like 12 seconds. I never forgot that.

[Mike.Bray]

Engine Build Part 1

It all starts with a block right? While there's lots of 351W blocks out there I wasn't having much luck finding a good quality one so I went with a new one. In hindsight I wish I would have put an extra $1k with it and bought an aluminum version but I'm happy with what I ended up with.

One of my old street rod buddies recommended a machine shop to me and this guy was great. Literally a one man automotive shop who's been doing it for decades and has a ton of Ford experience. He took the block and bored it 0.030" over, decked it 0.010", checked everything else he could check, and installed the cam bearings. A final cleaning, some paint, and ready for assembly.

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I bought a Scat rotating assembly. They had to grind the 3.85" forged crank for me as this block has smaller Cleveland main bearings. Danny at Scat was great to work with and got my assembly pushed through in less than a month. Everything is forged and the assembly is internally balanced.

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[WIS89]

Mike-

I meant to comment on this earlier... I love the pics of the 1/4 midget cars. I grew up watching 3/4 midget racing with my best friend. Small oval dirt track and a true contact sport with some great (and some not-so-great) driving! Brings back some great memories; thanks for that!

I look forward to following along on your engine build! There are two areas on my own build that I simply know are off-limits; paint and engine. I truly admire the guys that can build up their own powerplants. While I know I can watch all the utoob videos and read other interweb knowledge-based info, the cost of making a mistake is too great, and it scares me off.

Thanks for letting us follow along on your progress. I really look forward to seeing it all come together!

Regards,

Steve

[GoDadGo]

Mike,

I looked at your specs and find that all of the numbers (Cam, Head, Compression, Etc) match up to my SBC version but with a .10" longer stroke.
Even with 10 fewer cubes, I can play the coveted Zero-100 back to Zero Game in the 12-13 second range. (Be Careful Because It Isn't Easy!)
Also, zero to 60 times for me has been between 3.0-5.0 seconds depending on wheel spin, which happens quite often.
If you're running the Siamese Race Block, engine temps will run rather cool because of the thick walls.

Good Luck!

Steve

PS: ..I Can't Wait To See You Go-Karting That Sucker This Spring and/or Summer!

[ggunter]

Must be something about wive's boyfriends. I couldn't get along with mine either.:mad:

[Mike.Bray]

I meant to comment on this earlier... I love the pics of the 1/4 midget cars. I grew up watching 3/4 midget racing with my best friend. Small oval dirt track and a true contact sport with some great (and some not-so-great) driving! Brings back some great memories; thanks for that!

My brother is the most non-gearhead I've ever met and really had no interest in racing the quarter midgets. They raced them around 56-57 and I was born in 60 so I missed out. My mother told me my dad sold them about a year or two after I was born (I never forgave him). The only thing left was my brother's helmet which we still have.

Funny story, my father worked at The Frito Company in their shop and back then they built all of their own equipment. While building the plant in Los Angeles they came across these little quarter midgets. Seeing how my father and his co-workers were all engineers and shop guys with 5-10 year old sons back home they sketched them up and got all the information they could.

When they got back home there wasn't much to work on in the Frito shop until the next plant came along so they built a bunch of quarter midgets. My dad told me they had like a mini assembly line going. Frito paid for all the material and even bought the engines! The story became like an urban legend in Frito Lay until a few years ago when an engineer there asked me if I knew anything about them. I dug out a bunch of pictures, newspaper clippings, and home movies and sent them to him.

Here's a couple of color pictures. that's my father holding onto the "roll bar". He would have been about 26 then. If alive today he would be 91!

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[Mike.Bray]

More engine assembly pictures.

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[Mike.Bray]

Getting ready to test run while waiting on my kit.

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Engine is ready, valves are set, filled with break-in oil, oil pump primed, and fuel system primed and ready. On advice from FAST I exchanged the EZ-2.0 for the XFI Sportsman ECU. Got it configured and everything wired up for test running. I'm running a Holley dual sync distributor as anything taller hits one of the fuel rails. A word of advice, the wiring instructions from Holley for connecting to the FAST ECU with timing control are WRONG! Once that was sorted ready to hit the button....

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[Mike.Bray]

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! I hit the button and it started right up and settled down to a nice lumpy throaty idle. YooHoo! Now it's time to get some cooling so I can confirm the timing and balance the throttle bodies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHwxYOzZgwQ

[Rudson]

Looks awesome! I'm in Plano and just starting to read into all the build threads to educate myself on how I might want to attack mine. I don't have the background you do so building my own engine is some scary S**t to me! Looking forward to following!

[BadAsp427]

I am just getting caught up on your thread, looks like you’re off to a really good start. Your attention to detail on your engine is awesome. Congratulations!

[WIS89]

Mike-

That story about your Dad and his work at Frito is awesome! How cool is it that he and his coworkers did all of that -- and even had Frito taking care of the expenses. Damn shame your brother ruined it for you!! haha

I really appreciate you sharing the story and the great pictures; such an awesome story!

Your engine looks and sounds amazing. Nice work on that, and your engine run stand too. I am really enjoying following along!

Regards,

Steve

[Mike.Bray]

That story about your Dad and his work at Frito is awesome! How cool is it that he and his coworkers did all of that -- and even had Frito taking care of the expenses. Damn shame your brother ruined it for you!! haha

I really appreciate you sharing the story and the great pictures; such an awesome story!

Thanks for that Steve. I've got some videos made from home movies, I'll see if I can get them onto YouTube and upload them.

Another funny Frito story, the company was famously started by C.E. Doolin in 1932. C.E. had a brother, Earl, who ran the shop and who my father reported to. Earl was a certified crazy guy though who's main interest in life was chasing women. He had an upstairs office that looked over the shop. My dad said he had the shop build a rear set of stairs and door to his office so he could sneak women into his office during the day. Earl was the one who paid for all the quarter midgets parts and other special projects they did. I heard he was later committed, probably by his long suffering wife lol

It was sure a different time!

[Mike.Bray]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMmfT5g_zJ4

[Mike.Bray]

My kit is due to ship May 7th and I'm running out of things to buy/do! Ugh! I got the brakes organized and ready to go. I'm running the pin drive front end setup which uses 94/95 Mustang SN95 spindles instead of the FFR ones. This required a different brake kit from Wilwood, 140-9107. 1.25" x 12.88" rotors and 6 piston calipers.

For the rear Mike Forte fixed me up with a narrowed Moser 8.8" fitted with Wilwood 140-7146 brake kit. 0.81" x 12.19" rotors and 4 piston calipers. I really like this setup over the Wilwood kit from FFR as it has 4 piston calipers and uses a mini drum brake inside the rotor hat for an emergency brake.

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Assembled the rotors and started safety wiring the screws. One of my least favorite things to do.

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I'm going with Tilton 76 series master cylinders as I don't have very much confidence in the Wilwood ones FFR supplies. Did the calcs and came up with 3/4" for the front, 1" for the rear, and 13/16" for the throwout bearing.

Pretty sure this little car is going to have some serious stopping power.

Found some 95 SN95 spindles on eBay and sent them off to the powder coater.

That's about all I've got for now. Can I just hibernate for a couple of months?

[Blitzboy54]

I have the same rear brakes on my car. you have to get a touch creative with the supplied ebrake cable. You can purchase the Wilwood version or you can modify the FFR offering. Reach out if you have any questions.

Build looks good!

[Mike.Bray]

I have the same rear brakes on my car. you have to get a touch creative with the supplied ebrake cable. You can purchase the Wilwood version or you can modify the FFR offering. Reach out if you have any questions.

Build looks good!

Thanks for that! I'm planning on running the electric e-brake system from 520 Speedworks. See how that goes.

[OB6]

Hi Mike -- I'm in Flower Mound too, and just ordered my kit a couple weeks ago for a Nov/Dec delivery. Happy to help if you ever need it... looks like you're making good progress already!
Terry

[Mike.Bray]

Hi Mike -- I'm in Flower Mound too, and just ordered my kit a couple weeks ago for a Nov/Dec delivery. Happy to help if you ever need it... looks like you're making good progress already!
Terry

Hey that's all great news. We need to get together someday.

[Mike.Bray]

I'm down to about 6 weeks from my ship date and seriously trying to find stuff to do so I don't go bonkers. We've got beautiful spring weather here in Texas right now so it's double frustrating. I decided to go with power steering after reading enough posts here in the forum for it. Plus my wife broke her arm in three places last year so she could use a little help when driving it.

My engine has this cool cog drive for the water pump and alternator and I wanted to keep it if I could. A little creative design work and I think I solved the issue by making a special water pump pulley.
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And the finished assembly (I know I haven't installed all of the screws in the PS pulley yet). Just hoping it works:)
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[WIS89]

Mike-

A belated thanks for posting the video on the quarter midgets. That was so ridiculously cool!! I would have been in heaven having access to something like that growing up. WOW!!

And, your engine is an absolute BEAST! You have done a beautiful job of getting her all together! She sounded great, and I like your pulley set-up.

Keep up the great work, and hang in there waiting for the kit. I hated that part of the build, but it is so awesome when it shows up, you will forget all about the waiting!!

Regards,

Steve

[JB in NOVA]

Mike, just one comment on your engine build: WOW!

[Fman]

Seriously, that engine looks sweet! Awesome job on that... and you definitely won't have any issues with that alternator belt breaking!

Looking forward to watching you start your build. Subcribed :cool:

[Railroad]

Impressive stuff! Probably no need to mention, but go lightly on the alternator belt tension. I imagine, that is your logic in running a cog belt.

[Mike.Bray]

Small update, got my final invoice and sent in the payment today. The ship date is slowly creeping up on me!

[WIS89]

Mike-

You need to share the details on that cog set-up! I really like the way that looks. Of course, it is completely unnecessary, but it still looks cool! ;-o)

I rewatched that 1/4 midget video, and that Bray special did pretty good!

If I had access to a machine like that growing up, my parents would never have gotten me out of it!!

Hang tight, the kit is on its way soon!!

Regards,

Steve

[Mike.Bray]

Mike-

You need to share the details on that cog set-up! I really like the way that looks. Of course, it is completely unnecessary, but it still looks cool! ;-o)

The timing belt drive started out as a simple thing and that got out of control! I had done a couple on street rods years ago and liked the cool factor. I ran across a setup from Speedmaster and ordered it. https://www.speedmaster79.com/shop?keywords=PCE415.1004

Then I bought an alternator bracket kit. https://www.speedmaster79.com/Ford-SB-289-302-Windsor-Aluminum-Alternator-Bracket-Kit-Polished

I had to make a few small modifications to the spacers to get everything to line up and I went with a shorter belt to tuck the alternator up closer but all was good.

Then, after talking to a few owners and doing a lot of research I decided to add power steering to my build. I didn't want to give up the cog drive so had to engineer a solution. I went with the little GM pump that uses a remote reservoir https://www.cvfracing.com/gm-type-ii-power-steering-pump/ and a V-rib belt to drive it. Had to make brackets from scratch and design a special water pump pulley.
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In the end I think it's okay but not really for the feint of heart lol

[Mike.Bray]

I rewatched that 1/4 midget video, and that Bray special did pretty good!

If I had access to a machine like that growing up, my parents would never have gotten me out of it!!

I know what you're saying, when I was a kid I almost wore the pictures we had of those quarter midgets from looking at them so much! I pretty much never forgave my father for getting rid of them before I could drive them.

Interesting tidbit of information. I raced karts a few years ago so learned quite a bit about them. The quarter midgets were around in the mid 50's, first in California and then in Dallas when the Frito guys built some here. Also in California a man named Livingston was working for Frank Kurtis building the famous Kurtis Kraft midget cars when he came across some McCulloch chainsaw engines. Using some tubing at the shop he built the first actual go-kart and even termed the name. That was in 1959. So the little quarter midgets actually pre-dated go karts.

[Mike.Bray]

I'm down to less than a week from my due date. Everything is finalized and paid for, just patently waiting on Factory Five and Stewart Transportation. This week I picked up the TKX transmission and ordered about $3K of Breeze parts which are starting to trickle in. With that everything is bought and paid for except for tires, paint, and some small stuff. Looking at my bank account it's going to be awhile before we have jelly to go with our peanut butter.

Started fitting the Tilton hydraulic throwout bearing and ran into a problem, the threaded sleeve isn't long enough. Pulled the bell housing off, took a bunch of measurements, some research including this forum, and found I'm not the first to have this issue. So looks like I'll be making a spacer for the threaded sleeve.

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Also took time to build a frame dolly.

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Hopefully my next update is my kit being delivered!

[BadAsp427]

Things are all starting to come together for you... You will like those casters you put on the frame dolly...

[OB6]

Hey Mike, make sure you get done quickly so I can buy that dolly from you ;-). My kit is scheduled for December. I'll need to shoot over there some time... it's looking great!

Terry in Flower Mound

[Mike.Bray]

Hey Mike, make sure you get done quickly so I can buy that dolly from you ;-). My kit is scheduled for December. I'll need to shoot over there some time... it's looking great!

Terry in Flower Mound

Okay it's got your name on it!

[OB6]

Okay it's got your name on it!

Happy to help whenever you need a hand.

[Mike.Bray]

Scheduled to be picked up next week!

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[Mike.Bray]

Kit is scheduled to be picked up by Stewart next week so spent today getting ready for it's arrival. Disconnected the engine from the test stand and moved everything out of the way. Swept and cleaned the floor and garage.

Drivetrain ready to go.
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Got the work area cleared and the dolly in place.
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Now just waiting.
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[Ted G]

Looking forward to watching you build Mike! Your day is coming... I can't believe it has been over a month since I got my delivery. Some days I think the build is going so fast, and other feel like this will take years. I love it though. I found once you get your kit, the build you planned in your head goes awry. POL list is the main reason, but I am finding that logically, the build manual is just a guide.

[facultyofmusic]

Mike that Borla stack looks absolutely amazing. Definitely one of those car-meet "let me open my hood" engines!

[BadAsp427]

Wow, if the rest of the build is as beautiful as that engine, it is going to be AWESOME!!!

[460.465USMC]

Ditto on the motor and rear end! They look fantastic! Excited for you to get your delivery...Mr. Bean says it all. :p

[Jim Frahm]

Kit is scheduled to be picked up by Stewart next week so spent today getting ready for it's arrival. Disconnected the engine from the test stand and moved everything out of the way. Swept and cleaned the floor and garage.

Drivetrain ready to go.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220511113715mediumrotated.jpg

Got the work area cleared and the dolly in place.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220511113732mediumrotated.jpg

Now just waiting.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/waiting.jpg


Ditto on the motor and rear end! They look fantastic! Excited for you to get your delivery...Mr. Bean says it all. :p

Chris,

I suggest we go with this engine next time!:cool:

[Mike.Bray]

The big day finally arrived! It's been a long 8 months but the big truck pulled up to my house.

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My POL list wasn't that bad, 23 items mostly hardware and things I don't need. Bad news is there's a couple of show stoppers for the front and rear suspension. Went through the inventory and sublimated my list of missing items to FFR. A little disappointed in how many parts were checked off as being shipped but weren't.

I understand why FFR builds the kits and sub-assemblies the way they do but I've got a pretty sizable pile of brand new parts I'm not going to use. It would be nice if they submitted a BOM a couple of months before shipment so I could have deleted what I didn't need. For example, I've for a complete set of front hubs, rotors, and calipers which I don't need since I already have Wilwoods.

Now the fun begins!

[Ted G]

The big day finally arrived! It's been a long 8 months but the big truck pulled up to my house.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220524081825mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220524082003mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220524084836mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220524085118mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220524092709mediumrotated.jpg

My POL list wasn't that bad, 23 items mostly hardware and things I don't need. Bad news is there's a couple of show stoppers for the front and rear suspension. Went through the inventory and sublimated my list of missing items to FFR. A little disappointed in how many parts were checked off as being shipped but weren't.

I understand why FFR builds the kits and sub-assemblies the way they do but I've got a pretty sizable pile of brand new parts I'm not going to use. It would be nice if they submitted a BOM a couple of months before shipment so I could have deleted what I didn't need. For example, I've for a complete set of front hubs, rotors, and calipers which I don't need since I already have Wilwoods.

Now the fun begins!

Hi Mike,

I actually deleted my front brakes before my shipment. I think they gave me a $200 credit. I also deleted headers and side pipes ($70 & $200) and steering rack ($100) and dash gauges ($375). Good luck with your build. I am held up on going roller because of front suspension parts (2), IRS parts (4), steering components (3). But I got my carbon dash this week, so I may start on that layout.

Ted

[Mike.Bray]

Hi Mike,

I actually deleted my front brakes before my shipment. I think they gave me a $200 credit. I also deleted headers and side pipes ($70 & $200) and steering rack ($100) and dash gauges ($375). Good luck with your build. I am held up on going roller because of front suspension parts (2), IRS parts (4), steering components (3). But I got my carbon dash this week, so I may start on that layout.

Ted

Thanks for that Ted. My order has been so confusing as I've got the pin drive front suspension which they only recently started offering again. This setup evidently has special lower control arms and uses 87-04 Mustang spindles. Originally they told me I needed:

14507 OEM Front Spindles
13242 Pin Drive Front Suspension
12508 Pin Drive Lower Control Arms

I deleted 14507 as I already have a set of spindles ready to go. But on my POL they're calling out 14507 which is spindles, hubs, and other small items. 13242 is on my order but not on my inventory or POL and I have no idea what it includes. I hope it includes the spindle adapters I need.

On the good news front I did already receive a reply to my email about missing inventory items promising they will get them shipped out to me.

[Ted G]

So far I've received the following POL items since my delivery:


Windshield (not needed yet)
Various nut and bolts (not the ones I need yet)
Radiator hoses
Carbon dash
Roll bar (not needed or using, going with Breeze)
Front ball upper ball joints, UCA's, gas cap, hood and trunk struts, etc.

[BadAsp427]

Congratulations Mike and welcome to the fun.

[Jim Frahm]

On the good news front I did already receive a reply to my email about missing inventory items promising they will get them shipped out to me.

I hope you have better luck than I did with the MIK items. It took a few months but they did show up. I think I was talking to the wrong department.

I had a page and a half of POL items. They are all here except two items. Not bad considering the supply issues. There are so many things you can work on that working around missing parts is not an issue.

I'm looking forward to your build!

[460.465USMC]

Congrats on delivery, Mike! Exciting day. Looks like the same driver that delivered mine. Really friendly and helpful guy! Looking forward to your next progress posts.

[Mike.Bray]

Body is off the chassis and stored. Wish I had a foot or two more ceiling height but my wife seems pretty attached to the gameroom upstairs:)
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Chassis is ready to strip the aluminum off and take the panels to be clear anodized.
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[Mike.Bray]

I don't work on Fridays so with the holiday I had a nice long weekend to work on my newly delivered kit. Separated out all of the parts I'm not going to use and took them to storage. Then took about 100 pictures of the aluminum before stripping it off. Planning on taking a load to the anodize shop tomorrow.

Now down to the bare frame.
224100

Started assembling the front suspension and steering rack using the Breeze centering kit which worked great by the way. FFR says my lower control arms are in assembly so I'm about as far as I can go on the front suspension for now.
224101

Next I got the pedal assembly put together, mounted, and master cylinders installed and adjusted. In the interest of complete overkill I'm running hard lines from the reservoirs to the MC.
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Also got the steering shaft assembled but the top pillow block bearing is on the POL list. Not going to wait on that so I've ordered one from McMaster.

I'd like to get the rear end mounted but FFR didn't pack one of the traction lock brackets for the solid axle. Supposedly they are going to ship one out to me this week.

[Gizmosrcool]

Hi Mike. Following your build. Your motor is sweeeet. I am beginning to figure our how to hang a body from the ceiling. What is the dodad thing with the rope that has the pulley on it? Does it have a built in ratchet brake? Best of luck with your build. Tom

[Mike.Bray]

Hi Mike. Following your build. Your motor is sweeeet. I am beginning to figure our how to hang a body from the ceiling. What is the dodad thing with the rope that has the pulley on it? Does it have a built in ratchet brake? Best of luck with your build. Tom

Those are Gambrel hoists, you can get them anywhere. They're like a small block & tackle hoist. I tied the ropes off with a boat dock deal and then added a clamp for extra insurance.

[OB6]

Mike -- looking good, and I like the hard lines to the reservoirs. Where are you having your panels anodized?

[Gizmosrcool]

Those are Gambrel hoists, you can get them anywhere. They're like a small block & tackle hoist. I tied the ropes off with a boat dock deal and then added a clamp for extra insurance.

ahh. ok. I see them. Used for hunting and hanging animals. In looking at that, I found a ratching version made by TieBoss. 3oolbs and has 15' of rope. $22. It has an S hook on one end I'd replace with a carabiner. A few of those and I think i'd be in business. Thx for the info. You put me on the right track. Tom

[Mike.Bray]

Where are you having your panels anodized?

TPW Metal Finishing in Grand Prairie. I've been using them in my work for years, very good.

[Mike.Bray]

Got some good news from FFR this week, my MIK list has shipped complete and FedEx says I should have it tomorrow. With it I can finish the rear end and get it installed.

Had a little time this afternoon to work and got some small items checked off.

Pedals and steering shafts are finished. The steering hub is at Russ Thompson's getting modified for his turn signal setup.
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Hung the brake fluid reservoir with care and finished the supply lines to the master cylinders.
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Going to work on the dash some tonight and hopefully tomorrow I can get the rear end installed in the chassis.

[Mike.Bray]

My MIK list arrived complete late yesterday so was able to get the rear end mounted this weekend. It's good as another forward step but also got it out of the floor and my way. Ran into a small problem with the e-brake bracket interfering with the coilover but figured out an easy fix.

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[Mike.Bray]

My POL list isn't bad at all, there's actually only about 4 items that are holding me up from getting a rolling chassis. And still waiting on the anodizer to finish my aluminum so kind of searching for things to keep moving forward with. Since I got the MIK parts in I was able to get the rear end mounted so thought I would go ahead and tackle the E-Stopp emergency brake system. A big shout out to John K for the inspiration for how I ended up doing it.

Designed and fabricated a mount for the E-Stopp to put it over the rear end. There's a formed aluminum channel that's riveted to the frame. A separate stainless steel plate is bolted to this channel and it has flat head screws welded from the back side. The E-Stopp unit bolts to this plate so removing four nuts allows it to drop down for service/replace.

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It's a little bit of a tight fit but it fits and works.
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And the test. Yay!


https://youtu.be/-Hj8pT4TODM

[egchewy79]

Looks great Mike. Check your pedals. Depending on your shoe size, many find more room if you move your clutch and brake pedals all the way to the left-most position.

[460.465USMC]

Really nice upgrade on the e-brake, Mike! I really like how you put it all together.

[Mike.Bray]

Depending on your shoe size, many find more room if you move your clutch and brake pedals all the way to the left-most position.

No issue there, I don't have big feet. But thanks for looking out for me.

[Mike.Bray]

E-Stopp Emergency Brake installation Gen II

I wasn't happy with the e-brake setup so I decided to redo it. The cables were too close the the wheels/tires and the cable routing was not so great. I shifted the unit in its mount down and over towards the PS to make routing the cables into it easier.
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Next I made new cable brackets for the Wilwood brake kit. The issue is I've got a narrowed 8.8" rear end so the brakes are closer to the coilovers.
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This is just a cool picture of one of my wheels.
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Starting installing the Russ Thompson turn signal kit. This is a very well engineered and quality unit!
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And finally I received a big batch of aluminum panels back from the anodize shop this afternoon so I can get busy on that! Hopefully it carries me thru to my first POL shipment.
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[Mike.Bray]

Not much to update. Started on the PS footbox and floor since I got a batch of panels back from the anodizer.

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[Mike.Bray]

And got the brake and clutch lines in the footbox finished up. All of the hard lines are stainless steel with 37 degree AN fittings. To get from the cockpit to the outside I'm using bulkhead fittings.

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[egchewy79]

nice lines. I'm guessing you have plenty of clearance from the gas pedal to the rear and clutch lines?

[Mike.Bray]

nice lines. I'm guessing you have plenty of clearance from the gas pedal to the rear and clutch lines?

Yes

[Blitzboy54]

Your brake and clutch lines are beautiful.


Take a bow

[Mike.Bray]

More Brake Lines, almost finished!

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[Mike.Bray]

Patch panel to cover the E-brake opening.

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And started on the dash.

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[OB6]

Looking awesome. I need to come over and see your project!

[Mike.Bray]

Looking awesome. I need to come over and see your project!

Come over anytime!

[460.465USMC]

Wow! Those brake lines are too beautiful to cover up!

[Mike.Bray]

More aluminum mocked up, need more Clecos lol Got good news yesterday from FFR, fuel tank, cover, and LCA's from my POL have shipped.

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[BadAsp427]

Out of Clecos... now just remove every other one and you will have a lot more...

[Mike.Bray]

Out of Clecos... now just remove every other one and you will have a lot more...

If you look closely you can see I've already resorted to that! It's fine though, several of the panels are ready for silicone and rivet.

[OB6]

Wow! Those brake lines are too beautiful to cover up!

I got to see them in person... very impressive indeed. Mike's got some skills!

[Mike.Bray]

I got to see them in person... very impressive indeed. Mike's got some skills!

Skills lol I didn't show him the barrel around back full of the lines I scrapped!

[Blitzboy54]

You only need about 20% of the cleco's your actually using. I only had 25 for my build and never came close to running out. Having said that your car looks really clean. It's coming along nicely.

[Tooth]

And got the brake and clutch lines in the footbox finished up. All of the hard lines are stainless steel with 37 degree AN fittings. To get from the cockpit to the outside I'm using bulkhead fittings.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220623151757mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220623151806mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220623151832mediumrotated.jpg

I pick up my kit in 4 days 20 hours 43 min, and 19 seconds. I'm drooling over the steel lines you put in. Where did you source them, and how much more difficult are they to work with. I'm thinking I need to do this.

[Mike.Bray]

I pick up my kit in 4 days 20 hours 43 min, and 19 seconds. I'm drooling over the steel lines you put in. Where did you source them, and how much more difficult are they to work with. I'm thinking I need to do this.

Nothing like a countdown to delivery or pickup!

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The lines themselves are seamless stainless steel from Earl's. I have a set of the nice Rigid lever benders from 30+ years ago but unfortunately they don't make them anymore. For 3/16" brake lines this is the same as the Ridgid. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fra-900501 They work really well at getting the precise angle and placement you need.

I use this for cutting the tube. https://www.holley.com/products/plumbing_an_fittings_and_hose/plumbing_tools/tubing_cutter/parts/003ERL After cutting I use a countersink in my drill to clean up the ID.

Flares for AN fittings in seamless tubing are done with a 37 degree single flare tool. The aircraft grade ones have rollers on the flaring tool to burnish the tubing. I have this tool. https://imperial-tools.com/products/400-f-37-rol-air-flaring-tools/

I've used both aluminum and steel AN fittings for brake lines but for the Cobra I went with steel fittings from Earl's.

Get some welding rod to lay out your lines/bends before going to the expensive stainless tubing.

And some useful tips:
Never forget to install the ferrule before flaring.
There is a minimum distance of straight tubing the flare tool needs to make a flare so plan accordingly.

[Mike.Bray]

Plugging along with little things I can keep busy on. Got my first POL shipment, fuel tank & cover and the pin drive front suspension kit. My excitement was quickly dashed when I discovered the LCA's were there but the Spindle Adapter Brackets for my SN95 spindles were not in the shipment. Without the adapters I can't mount the front spindles. I did get the lower control arms mounted.

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And the fuel tank/cover/fuel lines plus the Breeze Big Bore Vent.

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Last piece of brake hard line is done.

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And the Breeze cubby hole cutout is done.

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[460.465USMC]

Hi Mike. I'm getting ready to install the Breeze cubby. What size hole did you cut in your rear cockpit wall?

[Mike.Bray]

Hi Mike. I'm getting ready to install the Breeze cubby. What size hole did you cut in your rear cockpit wall?

5" x 17.5" Used a 5" holesaw for the ends. Quick tip, don't ask the wife to hold the metal while using a 5" holesaw with a hand drill. Freaked her out a little.

[Railroad]

I found running a couple of screws through the waste section of the aluminum into a sheet of plywood, stabilized the aluminum while cutting the circular cuts. No spinning sheet metal, no chattering.

[Mike.Bray]

Started on some Thermo-Tec installation. Very fun! I'm not sure if I'm doing a very good job or even doing it correctly but I'm doing asbestos I can:)

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[Papa]

Started on some Thermo-Tec installation. Very fun! I'm not sure if I'm doing a very good job or even doing it correctly but I'm doing asbestos I can:)

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220704161931mediumrotated.jpg

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220704161920mediumrotated.jpg

There is no real right/wrong with this stuff. A couple of tips before you get too far, though. Keep it about 1/2 to 3/4 inch below the edges along the top edges of the trans tunnel to ensure you can get the cover on. Also, any panel that gets bulb seal needs to have enough surface to let the seal fully seat. Also, try to drill any holes you need (seat belt bolts, etc.) before covering those areas or be prepared to dig the goop out of your bits. If you do have to clean a bit, brake cleaner works well to clean the tar off.

Dave

[Mike.Bray]

It's been extremely hot here in Texas and that combined with my age (I was a waiter at the Last Supper) have really zapped my energy. But I have managed to get a few things done the past couple of days.

Installed the Breeze roll bar, just need to drill and cross bolt it. The center to center spacing was off a little but a bottle jack fixed it.


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[Mike.Bray]

I received the fuel tank & cover on my POL list the other day and installed it. So time to run the stainless fuel lines. Not a very fun job.

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I haven't finalized this end of the lines yet as I'm waiting on the heat barrier to get here.

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[facultyofmusic]

A little late to the party but Mike I cannot believe how good your brake lines look! I was pretty proud of mine until I saw yours LOL!

[Mike.Bray]

Went away to the coast for a few days to cool off some and get some fresh shrimp. Now I'm back and this blistering heat here in Dallas is slowing me down. I'm just not young anymore lol

I started last night installing the Wilwood remote brake bias adjuster. There's not much room in the footbox of these cars so I installed one of the little Tilton right angle adapters. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/TIL-72-560

You have to look close, it's not easy to get a clear shot of it.
224165

I made a simple little panel to mount the adjuster knob next to the fuse panel. Two reasons, it can be reached by the driver and it keeps the cable short.
224166

I've got the dash and wiring harnesses wired and ready to drop in so time to get the forward firewall insulated and permanently mounted.
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[Mike.Bray]

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[Ted G]

Went away to the coast for a few days to cool off some and get some fresh shrimp. Now I'm back and this blistering heat here in Dallas is slowing me down. I'm just not young anymore lol

I started last night installing the Wilwood remote brake bias adjuster. There's not much room in the footbox of these cars so I installed one of the little Tilton right angle adapters. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/TIL-72-560

You have to look close, it's not easy to get a clear shot of it.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220728154026mediumrotated.jpg

I made a simple little panel to mount the adjuster knob next to the fuse panel. Two reasons, it can be reached by the driver and it keeps the cable short.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220728154042mediumrotated.jpg

I've got the dash and wiring harnesses wired and ready to drop in so time to get the forward firewall insulated and permanently mounted.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220728213814mediumrotated.jpg

Nice Job! I just finished mine too and it's in about the same area.

[Mike.Bray]

POL List Update

My POL list wasn't bad, only about 20 line items or so. Of that I only really only needed 8 line items, I can source nuts and bolts. As of yesterday I'm down to three items, none of which are critical to finishing the car. For me it's a very good feeling knowing if FFR were to go belly up or something (which I doubt they will) I'm not dependent on them to finish my project.

Now on the wrapping up the electrical!

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[Mike.Bray]

Full bore into the electrical now.

Guard Dawg pushbutton start
RT turn signal (button is horn)
Pushbutton Head Lights
Pushbutton High Beams
Pushbutton E-Stopp Emergency Brake
Pushbutton Flashers
Pushbutton Seat Heater Controls
Pushbutton Trunk Release

Tail lights, brake lights, and rear turn signals all check out.

Fuel pump runs.

Dash lights all work.

I found these really cool Lumen LED headlights with switchback halo.

Here they are with the white halo for daytime running lights
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Here's they are with the amber halo for the turn signal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LabdUfEHVo

And here they are with the low beams on.
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With these headlights I'm thinking of just eliminating the little round turn signal lights FFR supplies. Would require some bodywork to remove the raised boss, opinions?

Now on to troubleshooting the courtesy lights....

[460.465USMC]

Hey Mike. From your list it looks like you're putting together quite a custom setup on your electrical controls. Nice!

I have the same headlights. I wired the white halo function as DRLs, connected to the unused accessory output of my Digital Guard Dawg. So, they turn on with ignition. I kept the round turn signal lights, but converted to LED. All preference choices, of course.

I'm not a fiberglass/body guy, so can't help on your delete round turn signals question.

[F500guy]

Opinion-Just for the true look, install the lights, just don't make them functional since you got what you need.

[Mike.Bray]

Since the electrical is pretty much done, or as far as I can go for now, been bouncing around some taking care of little things. The PS rear wheel wouldn't go on the pin drive adapter so took it apart, cleaned everything, reassembled, and very carefully torqued the pin drive lugs incrementally. Now the wheel slips on and hoping I get rear tires mounted tomorrow.

Drilled & bolted the Breeze roll bar so that's out of the way. Bit of a PITA.

Started on the trunk aluminum since the wiring is run and tested.

I've got my own personal Rosy the Riveter.
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She pretty handy with drilling and Clecos too.

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Next it was on to bleeding the brakes. I decided to use a pressure bleeder as I've never had much luck with vacuum bleeders. Maybe they're okay with calipers that have a single bleed port but Wilwoods have 4 bleed ports.

I deviated from the instructions some in that I only used it as a pressure unit, I didn't fill it with brake fluid. I'm not in that big of a hurry, I can refill the reservoir a few times. First I pressurized the front brakes with air only and used soapy water to check for leaks. All good so added some DOT 4 fluid to the front reservoir. I opened the bottom bleed screws on the PS caliper and let it gravity bleed while I ate lunch. After lunch I topped off the reservoir and pressurized it to 15 PSI. Worked my way from the bottom of the PS caliper to the bottom of the DS caliper and them back to the top of the PS caliper and finally the top of the DS caliper. Topped off the reservoir and repeated bleeding the top side of the two front calipers a few times. Then I did the same procedure with the rear.

Right now the pedal is okay, I can feel a little residual air in the system. A few more rounds of pressurized bleeding should get them very close.

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Right now my goal is to drop the engine & transmission in the week of Labor day. I think I've got a shot at making that.

[CaptB]

Nice job man.

[F500guy]

The Wilwoods should have only 2 bleed ports per caliper, Upper inside and upper out side. Bottom would only be used if you wanted to drain old fluid and refill with fresh.

[Mike.Bray]

The Wilwoods should have only 2 bleed ports per caliper, Upper inside and upper out side. Bottom would only be used if you wanted to drain old fluid and refill with fresh.

I started out decades ago using JFZ calipers and John (owner of JFZ) told me air can get trapped in the bottom part as the inlet is centered. So I've always bled the bottom ports first and then moved to the top to finish. Since Wilwood basically copied the JFZ design I don't know why the Wilwoods would be different and seems to have worked for me over the years. What harm can it cause?


Edit. The original JFZ design was fed from the inside center the same as the current Wilwood. The bottom ports were connected from one side to the other with a steel tube so the fluid entered the side, flowed down, through the tube, and up to the other side. John told me it was best to crack the tube fittings on the bottom to let any trapped air out before final bleeding using the top bleed screws.

Wilwood updated the design to add internal porting from one side to the other. JFZ was a small operation and making that crossover tube would have been time consuming which is why I think Wilwood went to internal porting and four bleed screws for higher production. It may be true with this design you only need to bleed from the top screws, I haven't talked to Wilwood about it. But like I said, what can it hurt?

[F500guy]

I had some old Sierrra calipers with the external cross-over as well, still never used the lower ports. Your assistant needs a pneumatic rivet gun, good think you are not doing stainless rivets:)

[Mike.Bray]

Turns out my personal Rosy the Riveter is also pretty handy laying and trimming carpet.

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I decided to go with the Nitto 555G2 tires as this is a street car. I like the way they look.

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After 2+ months of 100+ temperature days we finally got a break last night with a small front that came through. So I'm planning on taking advantage of the cooler weather for the next few days and hoping to tick a few things off my to-do list.

[Mike.Bray]

Still bouncing around checking little things off my to-do list. Spent today on seats.

First thing this morning I installed the Forte seat heaters. It was a lot easier than I was expecting and a shout out to Papa and his post #297 for some great tips. Got both seats done in about an hour.

Ran the wiring in the car, used the lap belt/bracket as a ground source.
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From there installed the Breeze seat mounts, I like these a lot. Then fitted the seats and did the required Zoom Zoom.
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And finally powered up the heaters and the wife said her butt was getting warm so must be working. Or a hot flash.....

[Mike.Bray]

The wife is all buckled in and ready to go Zoom Zoom.

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Also got the carbon fiber transmission tunnel cover test fitted.

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Today I removed the car from the dolly, and asked myself why I made the dolly so tall. A floor jack, some 4x4's, and a cherry picker got the job done. After three months of looking at it and working on it up in the air this is going to take some getting used to.

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Now a couple of small things to take care of and it's time to drop the engine & tranny in.

[OB6]

Way to go Mike!

[460.465USMC]

They sit low indeed. Just wait until you go-kart. I still can't get over how low these sit.

[Mike.Bray]

My goal for today (Saturday) was to get the engine and transmission dropped in. I don't work on Fridays so I spent the day getting everything prepped and ready to go which didn't take as long as I thought it would. I got the car positioned, the engine/tranny assembled, and got it raised on the hoist. About 4 PM my wife finished work and came downstairs to see what I was doing. When she saw everything was staged and ready to go she said "Why wait until tomorrow, let's do it now!" She's a real peach.

It was just the two of us but I felt we could do it with a little planning.

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Once we started we had it in place in about an hour so I didn't think that was too bad. It's almost exactly 3 months from kit delivery so making decent progress.

Of course I'm biased but I like how it looks.

[F500guy]

That looks amazing! quick work you have made of this and it is a quality job all around!

[Chopper]

That engine is a thing of beauty. Congrats!

[Chainsaw]

That is a good lookin' engine. Big milestone.

[Tim B]

Only 3 months since kit delivery...WOW! Can't wait to see the rest of your build, very impressive!

[Yama-Bro]

You are building way faster than me. LOL. Engine looks amazing! nice work!

[Mike.Bray]

You are building way faster than me. LOL. Engine looks amazing! nice work!

Thanks for that. As I was typing that I was surprised it had only been 3 months. It's been so hot here in Texas this year and since I'm older than dirt I haven't really been able to put in the hours like I would have in the past. I think what helped keep me moving along is I had a lot of prep work done like the engine built and rear end ready, my POL list was not bad at all, and I know enough about building cars that I can skip around instead of strictly following the manual. I'm really hoping in a couple of months to have it ready to ship off to Ken Pike for paint.

[OB6]

You are building way faster than me. LOL. Engine looks amazing! nice work!

The pictures really don't do it justice. I've seen Mike's work in-person a few times, and it's meticulous.

[egchewy79]

you're working too fast. before you know it, you'll be needing another project :)

[Mike.Bray]

you're working too fast. before you know it, you'll be needing another project :)

I do like the GTM Supercar from FFR.......

[Mike.Bray]

Been a couple of weeks, nothing major to report like dropping the engine in. Just been chipping away at a bunch of little things.

Fuel supply and return lines connected from chassis to the engine.

All ECU and electrical connections made to the engine.

Transmission A-frame installed and TKX secured.

Transmission filled with fluid (was terrified I was going to forget).

Pinion angle set and driveshaft installed.

Hydraulic line run to clutch and bled. Clutch pedal has a very nice feel, moving up to the 13/16" bore MC was the right thing to do.

After a very firm brake pedal I noticed a few days later I could feel a couple of air bubbles in the system. Looking I found a very small drip from the left rear caliper coming from the flex hose connection. I snugged it up but the next day it was back. Ended up replacing the AN adapter and Wilwood flex hose to that caliper. I'm not nearly as impressed with Wilwood as I used to be.

224196

Took care of the final install of the dash, RT turn signal, steering wheel, and courtesy lights for my wife.

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I went with a Flex-A-Lite fan in place of the jet engine fan FFR supplies. I'm paying big money for these nice sidepipes, I want to be able to hear them. I installed it with the breeze fan shroud, a nice piece IMO. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLX-105390

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[Mike.Bray]

Chipping away part II Evidently there's a limit on the number of images allowed in a post.

Radiator installation. Went with the Breeze top and bottom mounts, lower hose kit, and lower hose support. The upper hose kit is from Boig.

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Installed the headers.

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[Mike.Bray]

Chipping away part III

Power steering. Used a nice little Holley remote reservoir https://www.summitracing.com/parts/HLY-198-212 and ran the lines.

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Installed the RT throttle pedal and connected the cable which was a fun exercise.

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I think next I'll install the sidepipes and start saving up for some gas to start the engine.

[Mike.Bray]

Continuing on with wrapping things up in preparation for engine start and go kart. System is filled with coolant, power steering reservoir is filled, TKX is filled, Rear end is filled, and finally saved up enough to buy some premium gas.

The side pipes were hung on the Cobra with care.

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Rigged up a test station to run the in-tank fuel pump to check for leaks and confirm fuel pressure. Had one small leak but was easily fixed.

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Confirmed fuel pressure at the manifold.

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Did a small correction in the fuel pressure table in the ECU so that the systems "sees" the actual pressure.

224212

Maybe tomorrow we'll see if it will start again.

[Chopper]

Mike - great progress. Very clean and methodical.

Just a note, gas will melt that red plastic cup on your filler neck pretty much instantly. Ask me how I know...

[Mike.Bray]

Mike - great progress. Very clean and methodical.

Just a note, gas will melt that red plastic cup on your filler neck pretty much instantly. Ask me how I know...

Same way I know? LOL

[Mike.Bray]

Had a setback. Just about to the point of cranking the engine and going for a go kart when I noticed a couple of drops of coolant under the car. Not so bad until I realized it's coming out of the back of the engine. This block has screw in core plugs and I can see a couple of others seeping also. As they were already installed when I got the block I never thought to check them. Obviously there's no sealant on the threads. Fortunately as most of you know the engine isn't all that difficult to get out of one of these cars. Just bummed though about going backwards.


Definitely one or both of these are seeping.
224214

[mtackett73]

Frisco here... Mk3

[BRRT]

Had a setback. Just about to the point of cranking the engine and going for a go kart when I noticed a couple of drops of coolant under the car. Not so bad until I realized it's coming out of the back of the engine. This block has screw in core plugs and I can see a couple of others seeping also. As they were already installed when I got the block I never thought to check them. Obviously there's no sealant on the threads. Fortunately as most of you know the engine isn't all that difficult to get out of one of these cars. Just bummed though about going backwards.


Definitely one or both of these are seeping.
https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20211031164411mediumrotated.jpg

Ugh. That's disappointing.....

------------------------------
Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

Pulled the engine out yesterday to have a look at the seeping core plugs. My helper (wife) was busy so ended up doing it by myself but wasn't too bad.

224215

All of the O-Rings on the core plugs looked like this.

224216

The plugs were tight. I suspect the problem came from the machinist not removing the plugs when he hot tanked the block (twice). Anyway it is what it is, new O-Rings are installed, lubed, and the core plugs reinstalled in the block. I filled the engine with coolant and let it set overnight and so far no seepage. Hopefully problem solved.

Today the goal is to get the engine/clutch/transmission put back together and drop it back into the car.

[egchewy79]

Pulled the engine out yesterday to have a look at the seeping core plugs. My helper (wife) was busy so ended up doing it by myself but wasn't too bad.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220929154444mediumrotated.jpg

All of the O-Rings on the core plugs looked like this.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20220929155425mediumrotated.jpg

The plugs were tight. I suspect the problem came from the machinist not removing the plugs when he hot tanked the block (twice). Anyway it is what it is, new O-Rings are installed, lubed, and the core plugs reinstalled in the block. I filled the engine with coolant and let it set overnight and so far no seepage. Hopefully problem solved.

Today the goal is to get the engine/clutch/transmission put back together and drop it back into the car.

I was able to get to mine w/o pulling the engine. I actually didn't recognize that these were needed until I started filling my cooling system and heard a bunch of antifreeze hitting the ground. I thought they were ground points, and actually tried putting my ground strap to one of these holes, but couldn't find the right sized bolt to fit (I think they're NPT sizes).

[Mike.Bray]

I was able to get to mine w/o pulling the engine. I actually didn't recognize that these were needed until I started filling my cooling system and heard a bunch of antifreeze hitting the ground. I thought they were ground points, and actually tried putting my ground strap to one of these holes, but couldn't find the right sized bolt to fit (I think they're NPT sizes).

There's two kinds of screw in core plugs, NPT tapered pipe thread and straight thread w/O-Ring. Ford NPT plugs are 1 1/4" NPT https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fms-m-6026-b302?seid=srese1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp9qZBhBkEiwAsYFsb-O_uagrbKxHNiyrroqFoP3PuBfVaNH_o3lyQ3aQ9N1E2r--2mEZBBoCOW0QAvD_BwE

The other plugs are 1 5/16" straight threads (AN -16) and use an O-Ring for sealing like these: https://www.holley.com/products/plumbing_an_fittings_and_hose/adapters/caps_and_plugs/an_port_plugs/parts/AT981316ERL

There are two in the rear of the block that I couldn't get to without pulling the engine:(

[Mike.Bray]

I feel I should pass on some learning from my last adventure with the engine.

The first time I installed the engine/transmission I knew I needed a leveler so I bought this one from Northern Tool. It had good reviews and I certainly trust Northern Tool over HF. https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200640936_200640936

It turned out to be a real bear to use, mostly due to the extreme angle required to get the transmission into the tunnel and the oil pan to clear the top radiator support bar. With weight on it and the angle required it was very difficult to adjust and the handle interfered with the chains. I spent more time fooling with the leveler than actually installing the engine.

When I needed to remove the engine to replace the core plugs I did a little research and settled on this one. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/WMR-W41036

A little more expensive than the Northern Tool one but not too bad. The difference was night and day! The threaded rod is a more conventional thread and it turns with easy when loaded, even by hand. The handle can be removed and a socked used on the hex that's on the end of the adjusting rod. I used a speedhandle with a socket for adjusting although you could also use a cordless drill. With it I was able to remove the engine/transmission and later reinstall it alone.

If anyone is interested in the old one trash day is Wednesday.

[Derald Rice]

I have found out that if the handle on a load leveler is removed and then replaced with a double nut.... Ideally on both ends of the screw shaft.....Then.....

The leveler can be manipulated very easy with a rachet or an impact wrench without having your
knuckles or the chains being in the way. even if the angle is extreme.

I have used a HF leveler for 20 years with no issue, but some models of levelers the handle cannot be removed.

[JohnK]

A good leveler is worth its weight in gold and a bad one is just an exercise in frustration. The HF leveler I bought was used exactly once, caused immense heartache, and went straight into the recycling bin.

[Mike.Bray]

Been kind of busy the past few days but this morning got a chance to get back into the garage and try to start the engine. To my huge surprise it started! Oil pressure is good, all of the EFI parameters are acceptable for now, nothing running on the floor (yet), so far so good. Tach is reading wrong but I know what I did. No water temp reading so have to troubleshoot that.


https://youtu.be/_sdP80sRj6I

[Papa]

Congratulations, Mike! On the water temp, the gauge won't register until the water temp comes up a bit. Low temp on the gauge is 60 degrees C (140 degrees F). Depending on the location of the sensor, the T-stat may have to open before you get a reading.

[John Ibele]

Way to go Mike, great to see particularly after your setback with the plugs. And quick recovery, by the way.

[Mike.Bray]

Congratulations, Mike! On the water temp, the gauge won't register until the water temp comes up a bit. Low temp on the gauge is 60 degrees C (140 degrees F). Depending on the location of the sensor, the T-stat may have to open before you get a reading.

Awww, now I see the C on the gauge! Duh. I probably only got to about 140F so probably good. The sensor is right next to the sensor for the ECU and it's got a good reading.

Thanks!

[Mike.Bray]

Had a minor wiring issue, the switched 12V to the MSD box was coming from an accessory circuit making it difficult to start. Moved it over to the EFI/Coil circuit and all good now. Spent yesterday tuning the engine a little, got the throttle bodies close to balanced and the timing in the ballpark. She's running a lot smoother now with a nice throaty sound.


https://youtu.be/qHq8oRfN5go

[Mike.Bray]

Had an interesting problem with the tach, it didn't look like it was working. I noticed at rest the needle wasn't on "0" but I didn't really pay much attention to it while it I revved the engine.

224217

Turns out the stops for the needle can be adjusted and for some reason they were off on my tach. The chrome bezel unscrews and the lens can be removed. From there just move the needle to move the stops. Took less than 5 minutes and all is good now.

Here's a video on changing the needle but the process is similar.


https://youtu.be/gKYINbiAvxo

[Mike.Bray]

Started running the engine more, set the timing, and tuning the ECU. I noticed the engine temperature was acting strange, like it had a steam pocket trapped or something. I added some more coolant and thought this is too much, better stop and check some things before running it anymore. Pulled the dipstick and spotted coolant in the oil. UGH!

Pulled the intake and saw coolant in the lifter valley. Flipped the intake upside down and immediately say the issue, wrong intake gaskets! When I ordered the Stack system from Borla I asked for a recommendation for the intake gasket and they gave me Fel-Pro number so that's what I used. Aww, but the Borla intake is not like a standard Ford intake and I never noticed.

224218

It's a little hard to see but the design of the Borla intake with standard gaskets creates a path for coolant to get to the lifter valley.

Got the correct (and special) Roush Racing gaskets, much better.

224219

Drained the old oil/coolant and cleaned as much of the lifter valley and valvetrain area as I could. Put some standard oil in and used my oil pump primer to circulate . Drained and cleaned everything good and started reassembling.

Actually removing and reinstalling the intake wasn't that big of a job, it helps that all of the electrical is on plugs and the fuel lines are AN fittings. Reinstalled the distributor (had everything marked) and filled with fresh Comp Cams break in oil. It cranked right up and the timing was spot on. Oil pressure is good so topped off the coolant and the engine temperature is now acting normal. Whew!

While I was having fun I decided to redo the throttle cable as I wasn't happy with it. The Borla (and Ingeles) stack EFI system are things of beauty but are certainly not designed for ease of service. The fuel rails are mounted on the inside of the throttle bodies so accessing the wiring, IAC, MAP sensor, or linkage is damn near impossible. To get the new throttle cable threaded into the fitting in the linkage I ended up removing one side of throttle bodies.

224220

When I reinstalled the throttle bodies I managed to nick one of the O-rings in the fuel rail block.

224221

Fuel spraying out at 43 PSI is very exciting! LOL

Fortunately it's a standard O-ring so I was able to replace it easily and get back to running and tuning. With just the small amount of tuning and balancing I've done so far it's starting to sound really good.

[Railroad]

Great job on the repair. Better now than later, the Fel Pro papers would have let you down without the mismatch opening.

[Mike.Bray]

Now that everything is back together, the coolant is staying away from the oil, and the fuel rails aren't spraying all over the garage it was time to do a little more tuning in preparation for go kart. After a few minutes of running/tuning I noticed some fresh oil from the back of the engine on the floor sending me into a full blown panic. Rear main? Cam plug? Oil pan? I was extremely meticulous building this engine so I was having trouble trying to figure out where it was coming from. I got underneath the car with the engine running and with the most powerful flashlight I have to have a look and was able to spot it. A clear case of dummy on my part. I only had the valve covers sitting on the heads as I wanted to run the valves again. Oil was coming out from the valve covers and running down the back of the block. Not a lot but enough to scare the crap out of me. At least it was an easy fix lol

The tuning is to a point it's ready to go for a drive. I really like this Fast Sportsman ECU, stack EFI can be temperamental but it dialed right in. Just need to button a couple of things up and go kart time!

[Mike.Bray]

Had a little bit of time this afternoon and it was a nice day here in Texas so went out to the garage. I could still feel a tiny bit of air in the brakes so had another go at bleeding them. I'm pressure bleeding at 15 PSI and the last time only a couple of very small bubbles came out. This time I let quite a bit of fluid bleed out (almost drained the reservoir) and at last about a dozen air bubbles came out of the RF caliper. That was it, now I've got a nice firm pedal.

224222

I think I've done all I need to do for now with it on the stands, time to put it on the ground for the first time. After months of working on it in the air it sure does seem low LOL

224223

224224

A view of my engine from a different angle lol I love my stack injection!

224225

Tomorrow I'll dig out my turn plates and try to do a proper alignment on the front end.

[Mike.Bray]

I wanted to get the front end aligned somewhat close before going out for a drive. After a few runs around the block she should be settled some and I can dial it in closer.

224226

224227

If it doesn't rain in the next couple of days it's time to go. Wish me luck!

[Scott L]

Really nice job Mike! I go carted ten years ago and still remember it as a personal high point. Good Luck.

[Ted G]

Looks amazing my friend! Can't wait to see it move! I thought I was moving fast.... WOW!

Ted

[Mike.Bray]

Looks amazing my friend! Can't wait to see it move! I thought I was moving fast.... WOW!

Ted

Thanks Ted. I'm all ready to go around the block and Friday is my day off so today was set to be the day. Wouldn't you know I woke up to a cold front and rain. Ugh.

[Mike.Bray]

Finally got a break in the weather and from other time wasting duties like work and holidays to get in the first go kart. To my immense surprise she drove really nice and best of all didn't leave me stranded somewhere.


https://youtu.be/k_muxZJ1rCE

[Mike.Bray]

She brought me home!


https://youtu.be/lyoMQrEjUQk

[Mike.Bray]

And tucked safely back in the garage.


https://youtu.be/hOXNMyRNycY

[Railroad]

Engine sounds great. You work that throttle like you have been driving it forever. Nice job!

[NYMike]

Congrats on the huge milestone Mike! Looks and sounds great!

[Mike.Bray]

Engine sounds great. You work that throttle like you have been driving it forever. Nice job!

It's my special driving shoes! LOL

And a RT throttle pedal and a lot of fine tuning to get it like I wanted.

[Chainsaw]

Congrats! Sounds great.

[Gizmosrcool]

Way to go on a huge milestone Mike

[WIS89]

Mike-

Now THAT is something to be thankful for! Congratulations on the great milestone; she looks great!

Regards,

Steve

[Jim Frahm]

Nice job Mike! I’m so jealous of all you builders that live on a paved driveway and road. I’ll have to exit the garage and onto a gravel driveway and gravel road before I hit assault. Of course now I’m waiting on the snow to melt before my go cart test drive.

It sounds awesome too.

[Mike.Bray]

Well after tooling around the neighborhood in go kart mode the weather once again took a turn for the worse so back to the garage. I added some more gas to the tank and confirmed the fuel gauge works so check that off.

Now that the car is settled a little I decided to fine tune the camber and caster. I've got the camber dead on -0.5 degrees and the caster on 7 degrees. The length of the upper A-arms are very close to equal side to side so I'm feeling good for now.

224228

Next I moved to the DS footbox aluminum. I'm not ready to finish riveting it yet but I was able to get it all installed and Cleco'd in place.

224229

And finally I installed the Breeze hood hinge kit and the Breeze cover.

224230

Probably the next big step for me is going to be getting the body down and start prepping the underside for a coating of Raptor bedliner.

[BrewCityCobra]

Great looking build! Looks like you are a few weeks ahead of me at the moment. Congrats on reaching the go-carting stage. I'm really looking forward to seeing the next steps of your build.

[460.465USMC]

I'm late to the party, so a belated congrats on the successful go-kart, Mike. Looks good, and sounds great.

I'm sure you've already thought of this, but I wish I would have done a few more things to prep the body before applying the bedliner. Like opening up the headlight holes to fit the buckets, remove ~1/4" of material from the lip of the rear (and front) cockpit cowl, install the perforated studs for the side louvers (if you're going to use those), radius the bottom edges to smooth out and minimize damage to bulb seal when fitting the body, etc. Just throwing it out there in case it's helpful.

[KDubU]

Congrats! She sounds and looks awesome.

[Ted G]

Looks and sounds amazing! Nice job Mike. I'm hoping to be right behind you in my first go-kart.

[Mike.Bray]

Small update today, got my wife to help test fit the windshield so the next go kart won't blow her hair (as much).

I installed Forte's quick release windshield brackets (https://fortesparts.com/product/factory-5-quick-release-windshield-brackets/). I really like these, the quick release pins are going to be so much better than trying to bolt the windshield on. I had to trim a corner for clearance and redrill one of the mounting holes on the PS but no biggie.

224231

I made these little spacers to align the quick release brackets with the 3/4" holes in the frame.

224232

Next my wife and I dropped the windshield in place. Surprisingly it slid right in. Now when the body is mounted we can set the height and drill the holes for the pins.

224233

[maclonchas]

Mike,

You have some amazing talent and some very interesting ways of attacking the build of the roadster. I was looking at your pedal box and did not recognize it. Is this pedal box the one that FFR supplies or from a different vendor? Also, the hardline (assume stainless steel with compression fittings or 37 degree flares) to the firewall and MC are what part numbers? I also have been trying to track the banjo bolt and fitting for the MCs. It looks like you just used the FFR supplied remote reservoirs (added one to split F/R brakes). Is that correct?

Thanks

Bill

[Mike.Bray]

Mike,

You have some amazing talent and some very interesting ways of attacking the build of the roadster. I was looking at your pedal box and did not recognize it. Is this pedal box the one that FFR supplies or from a different vendor? Also, the hardline (assume stainless steel with compression fittings or 37 degree flares) to the firewall and MC are what part numbers? I also have been trying to track the banjo bolt and fitting for the MCs. It looks like you just used the FFR supplied remote reservoirs (added one to split F/R brakes). Is that correct?

Thanks

Bill

The pedal box is the standard Wilwood that FFR supplies. I changed out the master cylinders for Tilton 76 series (https://tiltonracing.com/product/76-series-master-cylinders/) to a)feel more comfortable with a better product, and b)I needed to adjust the sizes over the universal 3/4" bore cylinders that FFR supplies.

All of the hard lines are stainless steel with 37 degree AN flares. The lines from the reservoirs to the MCs use standard Earl's aluminum AN fittings. The pressure side uses all Earl's zinc plated steel AN fittings. I was having trouble with the 3/8" stainless fuel lines wanting to split when flaring so I used AN compression (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/EAR-AT165106ERL) fittings on them. For the relatively low pressure fuel lines they are fine.

The -4 banjo fitting for the feed side is this one (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/EAR-997604ERL). The bolt is this one (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/EAR-977504ERL).

The -3 banjo fitting for the pressure side is this one (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/EAR-977503ERL). The bolt is this one (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/EAR-977503ERL).

The triple reservoir is from Scotts, I bought it here (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SXH-RR-3003P). I liked it as I could come out of the rear instead of the bottom.

Any place a line had to pass through a wall I used bulkhead fittings.

224234

Hope this helps.

[lukerihl]

Your brake lines are insanely clean, love the blue fittings too

[Mike.Bray]

Pulled her out of the garage to clean up some and starting prepping to get the body down from the ceiling. Sound up!


https://youtu.be/Q_5fTdGFakQ

[Windsor]

Nice lumpy idle. I like.

[Countrymile]

Love that sound, Mike.

[Mike.Bray]

Yesterday my wife and I were able to hoist the body down from the ceiling. I'm not going to know how to act not bumping my head on it all the time lol

Now just waiting on a nice day to get it out on the driveway to start prepping the underside and applying some Raptor bed liner.

224235

[Mike.Bray]

With the weather turning and the holidays approaching not a lot has been happening on Project Cobra lately. I did take my Breeze roll bar and the front & rear quick jacks to the chrome shop. To my amazement they turned them around in one week with some beautiful triple plate show chrome. Not cheap though. You know what they say: Good, Fast, or Cheap - pick any two.

224236

[Mike.Bray]

I've been torn about the paint and body work. Was seriously considering shipping the car off to Ken Pike, I've seen some of his work up close and it's amazing. But in the end my wife just isn't comfortable shipping "our baby" away 2000 miles and as she's been a big part of this build process I should take her views onboard. Talking to a friend of mine who is a serious car guy and is currently developing a carbon fiber Cobra for the very high end market and he sent me to a local company. Family owned, fair size, and does all kinds of restorations, custom metal fabrication, and even chopped tops. I met one of his body guys and found out his father actually worked for the company that molds the bodies for FFR. Small world! I've met with the owner a couple of times and I'm very impressed with the professionalism of the operation as well as the quality of the work I looked at. Plus they're about 10 miles from me.

They had told me it would be about 3-4 months before they would want to see the car. Well the other day the owner called me and said he had been able to hire 3 experienced body guys from the Carvana implosion and he could start on my car as soon as I'm ready. Well the body is not mounted to the chassis yet but we decided to go ahead and have him start on it.

The plan is for him to smooth & apply Raptor to the underside, trim the wheel openings and a few other areas, and then rough the body work in and get it in primer. From there we can mount the body to the chassis and install the hood, doors, and trunk lid. Then back to the body shop for gapping, final fit, final body work, and paint. On the way back to the body shop I plan on getting the state required inspection and certified weight so while the paint is being finished I can work on registration and title. Actually I'm probably going to hire these (https://classicautotitle.com/) guys to do the paperwork with the state.

Fingers crossed it all goes well.

224237

[egchewy79]

sounds like you're in the final stretch. congrats. what color combos are you considering?

[Mike.Bray]

sounds like you're in the final stretch. congrats. what color combos are you considering?

Well my favorite color is red while my wife's is blue. So we compromised and we're going blue w/white stripes. A very vibrant and bright blue. The kind where it's parked with 50 blue cars and we just say "Ours is the blue one" and everyone knows which one it is lol

[Ted G]

With the weather turning and the holidays approaching not a lot has been happening on Project Cobra lately. I did take my Breeze roll bar and the front & rear quick jacks to the chrome shop. To my amazement they turned them around in one week with some beautiful triple plate show chrome. Not cheap though. You know what they say: Good, Fast, or Cheap - pick any two.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20221216175647mediumrotated.jpg

Can I ask how much just as a reference? I'll be coating mine soon.

[460.465USMC]

...he sent me to a local company. Family owned, fair size, and does all kinds of restorations, custom metal fabrication, and even chopped tops. I met one of his body guys and found out his father actually worked for the company that molds the bodies for FFR. Small world! I've met with the owner a couple of times and I'm very impressed with the professionalism of the operation as well as the quality of the work I looked at. Plus they're about 10 miles from me.

Congrats on finding a local painter/body shop. I hope I can find something like you described. Even better he was able to get you started so quickly. Looking forward to your future updates with color.

[Windsor]

Talking to a friend of mine who is a serious car guy and is currently developing a carbon fiber Cobra for the very high end market and he sent me to a local company. Family owned, fair size, and does all kinds of restorations, custom metal fabrication, and even chopped tops. I met one of his body guys and found out his father actually worked for the company that molds the bodies for FFR. Small world! I've met with the owner a couple of times and I'm very impressed with the professionalism of the operation as well as the quality of the work I looked at. Plus they're about 10 miles from me.

Are you at liberty to name the paint shop?

I'd love to use someone close (in DFW area) for my FFR project, whenever it gets to that point.

[Mike.Bray]

Are you at liberty to name the paint shop?

I'd love to use someone close (in DFW area) for my FFR project, whenever it gets to that point.

Riggs Fabrication. They're out by the speedway.

[Windsor]

Riggs Fabrication. They're out by the speedway.

Excellent, thanks!

[Mike.Bray]

Just some small updates to report.

Routed the wiring for the license plate light and trunk popper. Installed the struts for the trunk.
224238

Did the cutout in the hood and cleco'd the scoop in place.
224240

And getting started on the bodywork. Hoping to have it in the first coat of primer by mid next week.
224241

224242

[Mike.Bray]

Went out this afternoon and checked progress on the bodywork.

Everything is trimmed and edges rolled/sanded smooth.

Raptor bedliner has been applied to the underside.
224243

The body is roughed in and a few coats of primer have been sprayed. It's looking good, I only spotted a few very small pinholes.
224244

224245

224246

I'll bring the body home in a couple of days to start fitting it to the chassis. The hood, trunk, and doors are going to get roughed in and primed while I'm fitting the body. Yes, I know about not locking down the underside along the rocker panels until the doors are fitted.

[Mike.Bray]

Brought the body home from the paint shop the other day. That's primer, not flat black paint lol

224247

Hoisted it in the air and rolled the chassis under it. I had a few things to wrap up on the chassis so took a couple of days and knocked those out. I had never greased the front A-arms so thought I would knock that out, it's like a 5 minute job right? Wrong! The coupling would not release from the zerk no matter how hard I tried. I ended up disassembling the coupling to get it loose. Ended up changing out the fittings with some I bought from the auto parts store and everything worked fine. Looking closely at the ones I took out I could see the angles are slightly different from the new ones I bought. My 5 minute job turned into a 2 hour job. It's always something!

224248

224249

A call out to Mr. Kleiner for his advice on mounting the body. He showed my how to put a couple of pieces of PVC pipe in the door hinges to guide the body sides down and how to angle the front down first to "hook" it over the front outriggers. This is how he mounts a body by himself.

224250

And on to putting the two parts back together! Using Mr. Kleiner's system my wife and I were able to get the body down, in place, centered, and in position front to rear in less than 20 minutes.

224251

She didn't even miss her afternoon tea.

224252

[cc2Arider]

Awesome! I like seeing these tips...gives me confidence that my efforts will bear fruit (when I get my kit...and get to this stage :p)...

Craig C

[Mike.Bray]

Was warming up the engine and had a small problem. I'm thinking a little JB Weld and I'll be good to go again.

224253

[RoadRacer]

Good grief I hope this is a joke. I struggle to see how that much damage can even happen!

[Windsor]

Just a little bottom-end work needed, it's still good!

[dstelter]

Me.... "My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it"

doug

[egchewy79]

Was warming up the engine and had a small problem. I'm thinking a little JB Weld and I'll be good to go again.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/3273650657411702604760856496136475082015042n.jpg

Damn harbor freight torque wrenches...

[flyboyjy]

Pretty sure that is an aluminum block with sleeved cylinders, not the cast iron block you started out with and wished you had spent and extra $1k to get aluminum. Unless I completely missed where you changed engines. Also when did you put black core plugs on the side of the block instead of the silver ones in all the photos?

[Mike.Bray]

Pretty sure that is an aluminum block with sleeved cylinders, not the cast iron block you started out with and wished you had spent and extra $1k to get aluminum. Unless I completely missed where you changed engines. Also when did you put black core plugs on the side of the block instead of the silver ones in all the photos?

Damn, I really hate when people pay attention!

[flyboyjy]

Damn, I really hate when people pay attention!

Sorry to ruin your fun. Now what ever happened to the engine in the picture surely made some one need clean shorts when it let go.

[Mike.Bray]

Got the body in place, shimmed on the chassis, and front & rear quick jacks installed. The Kleiner mod for the rear is gold.

The hood is rough fitted and ready to be trimmed.
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Started fitting the doors, they're close enough to trim now.
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My door latches are still on POL, not sure my temporary latches are going to pass inspection.
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I did get a reply from Dave Lindsey from FFR today on my latest inquiry promising me an update tomorrow.

[scrubs]

My door latches are still on POL, not sure my temporary latches are going to pass inspection.


I did get a reply from Dave Lindsey from FFR today on my latest inquiry promising me an update tomorrow.

Got my Kit delivered last week, the entire door latch assembly is POL.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I that you don’t final trim the doors until after the bodywork is completed.

Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

I that you don’t final trim the doors until after the bodywork is completed.

Jeff

Bodywork is complete except for some small pinholes and final blocking. Plan is to trim the doors about 75% and let the body shop do the final fit.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Bodywork is complete except for some small pinholes and final blocking. Plan is to trim the doors about 75% and let the body shop do the final fit.

So you’re not doing any work to match the door to body contours?

Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

So you’re not doing any work to match the door to body contours?

Jeff

We will if it needs it.

[Jeff Kleiner]

We will if it needs it.

They always do Mike! ;)

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178979&d=1635769505

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178981&d=1635769505

Jeff

[Railroad]

Was warming up the engine and had a small problem. I'm thinking a little JB Weld and I'll be good to go again.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/3273650657411702604760856496136475082015042n.jpg

New meaning to "breaking it in".

[Mike.Bray]

They always do Mike! ;)

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178979&d=1635769505

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178981&d=1635769505

Jeff

Thanks for that Jeff. I've got a very capable fabrication & body shop so I'm sure they will do what needs to be done.

[MB750]

Damn harbor freight torque wrenches...

If that's the case there's gonna be a mushroom cloud over all of Florida when I fire my project up.

[Mike.Bray]

Looks like I've got a date for final bodywork and paint around mid March so I've got to work through the list of details to take care. Been tweaking on the doors some more, I see what Jeff K was talking about. The contours on the doors really do not match the body. Not bad from 15' but not so good up close. Oh well, that's for the professionals to take care of.


https://youtube.com/shorts/aIi8FuKLOHQ?feature=share

I adapted an electric trunk (boot?) latch from an early 2000's Ford Taurus, I think it's going to work well. eBay find for $20 lol I'll route the manual release cable and hide it behind the license plate.

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And started fitting the trunk lid.

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I do like the gas strut kit FFR offers for the trunk, it seems to work well.

[OB6]

Looking great Mike. Good idea with the trunk latch.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I had a car in for body and paint a while back that the owner had fitted with an electric trunk release. I don’t know if it came from a Taurus but it looks exactly the same. As an FYI; if it is the same unit I suggest using a momentary push button to activate it…I found that if you just use an on/off push button it’ll pop the fuse if the power is energized for more than a second or two. Otherwise it worked well!

Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

Yep, using a momentary pushbutton for the trunk release. Thanks for looking out for me Jeff.

[Mike.Bray]

Excited to be heading to final bodywork and paint in a couple of weeks. Every day it looks more like an actual car. We know we're going with traditional blue w/white stripes and have narrowed it down to two shades of blue. Still working on the shade of white.

One is a Jaguar pearl and the other is a kandy pearl basecoat. Both are two part paints.

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https://youtube.com/shorts/3aF_LWlRKXE?feature=share

Okay, looking for thoughts and opinions. With the stripes I've seen cars with them only on the outside and others with them continued on the underside of the hood and trunk lid. TBH I'm not sure I like them on the underside, might distract from my engine porn lol. What does the all knowing forum think?

[Jeff Kleiner]

I usually try to talk my customers out of putting stripes under the hood…sometimes I even resort to quoting my buddy Jeff da Bat Miller who says “The only reason to have stripes under the hood is to keep people from seeing your crappy looking engine.” Sometimes that works—-when it doesn’t I put stripes under the hood :D

Jeff

[mladen]

Excited to be heading to final bodywork and paint in a couple of weeks. Every day it looks more like an actual car. We know we're going with traditional blue w/white stripes and have narrowed it down to two shades of blue. Still working on the shade of white.

One is a Jaguar pearl and the other is a kandy pearl basecoat. Both are two part paints.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20230214150802mediumrotated.jpg


https://youtube.com/shorts/3aF_LWlRKXE?feature=share

Okay, looking for thoughts and opinions. With the stripes I've seen cars with them only on the outside and others with them continued on the underside of the hood and trunk lid. TBH I'm not sure I like them on the underside, might distract from my engine porn lol. What does the all knowing forum think?

I vote the right one. It's slightly darker but gives it a much richer/deeper tone.

[Mike.Bray]

“The only reason to have stripes under the hood is to keep people from seeing your crappy looking engine.”

Well I don't think I've got a crappy looking engine so I'll leave the stripes off!

Thanks Jeff

[OB6]

Well I don't think I've got a crappy looking engine so I'll leave the stripes off!

Thanks Jeff

quite the opposite... you may want to put a mirror under the hood.

[cc2Arider]

I also like the right one. I was seriously considering a dark metallic blue for my build (since it is my favorite color) :)

Craig C

[Nigel Allen]

Right side for me too. My car is silver and I get a lot of reflection from the dash onto the windscreen I think you might get the same too if you continue white stripes on the dash cowl. Maybe the Jeff/s could weigh in on this.

At the rate you are progressing I reckon you'll have your car on the road before the paint is dry.

Cheers, nige

[Mike.Bray]

Last POL item shipped today. YooHoo!

Kit was delivered at the end of May. My original POL list wasn't bad, maybe 20-25 items with half of them being fasteners. The car will be heading back to the body shop for final bodywork and paint in a couple of weeks. Kind of sad I was able to practically build an entire car in the time it took FFR to complete my POL list.

[DW66]

Mike the under side of my hood is a matte black. Just another option. Maybe looks a little more old school. Unfortunately Jeff didn't paint it but he liked it once.180538

[Mike.Bray]

I had a car in for body and paint a while back that the owner had fitted with an electric trunk release. I don’t know if it came from a Taurus but it looks exactly the same. As an FYI; if it is the same unit I suggest using a momentary push button to activate it…I found that if you just use an on/off push button it’ll pop the fuse if the power is energized for more than a second or two. Otherwise it worked well!

Jeff

I was looking at this latch a little closer and wondering why it had three wires coming out of it. The proper way to wire it is +12V is constant and break the ground with a momentary button to unlatch. The third wire puts out +12V when the latch is open for the trunk light. I don't have a trunk light but this is a pretty cool option.

[460.465USMC]

Last POL item shipped today. YooHoo!

Kit was delivered at the end of May. My original POL list wasn't bad, maybe 20-25 items with half of them being fasteners. The car will be heading back to the body shop for final bodywork and paint in a couple of weeks. Kind of sad I was able to practically build an entire car in the time it took FFR to complete my POL list.

You've sure made good progress, Mike. Looking really good. Nice touch on the electric trunk release.

[Mike.Bray]

Project Cobra is back on the ground and starting to look like a car! Hopefully it goes back to the paint shop in a couple of weeks for final bodywork and paint.

I'm sleeping better seeing how the suspension widths and wheel offsets all worked out. Pin drive wheels really throw a wrench in the works.

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[Ted G]

Looking good Mike!! I'm just a bit behind ya

[Fman]

Car is looking great, what color are you going with? Edit: Just read previous post looks like a really nice blue!

[Mike.Bray]

Been making small tweaks to the color. Our goal is to be parked with 50 blue cars and be able to say "Ours is the blue one" and everyone knows which one it is. We love the deep rich look of a kandy but we're not crazy enough to do an actual kandy paintjob. Fortunately paint technology is light years ahead of the 60's and today there are some very nice kandy basecoats available. Most can be applied over a regular gray or black primer for a conventional basecoat/clearcoat application.

This week we tried a slightly different mix from House of Kolor. Sprayed over a gray primer it washed out too much and looked anemic. Over a black primer it got too dark. It was very pretty, only darker than we wanted. Our painter suggested trying it over a silver base. We did not want to apply a third step but the silver really made the color pop. We walked in to 8-10 blue samples laid out on a table and there was only one true blue! My wife and I both literally said WOW out loud. Apparently everyone at the bodyshop felt the same way we did. So we have a color (finally). I really wish the camera could capture how spectacular this color looks.

224264

For the stripes we've got a brilliant white called Snow-White.

224265

[egchewy79]

which HOK color is this? awesome choice BTW. amazing how the difference in base coat will make in the appearance. I'm still figuring out my exact shade of blue.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Nice Mike :cool:

I think it’s gonna look a lot like this one that I did several years ago in Viper GTS Blue and Arctic White. It definitely stands out in a sea of blue Cobras!

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=181054&d=1677885917

Look forward to seeing it!

Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

which HOK color is this? awesome choice BTW. amazing how the difference in base coat will make in the appearance. I'm still figuring out my exact shade of blue.

https://www.houseofkolor.com/kolors/detail/index.html?id=HOK000566-01&ref=kolors

[Mike.Bray]

Nice Mike :cool:

I think it’s gonna look a lot like this one that I did several years ago in Viper GTS Blue and Arctic White. It definitely stands out in a sea of blue Cobras!

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=181054&d=1677885917

Look forward to seeing it!

Jeff

Oh that does look nice Jeff! Interesting how the stripes continue down the dash, haven't seen that before.

I had a 2008 Viper that was blue, not quite the same as what we're doing.

[Jeff Kleiner]

…Interesting how the stripes continue down the dash, haven't seen that before.



From the time I started building this one a painted dash with stripes was one of the owner’s requests and he never changed on that.

Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

From the time I started building this one a painted dash with stripes was one of the owner’s requests and he never changed on that.

Jeff

I can appreciate that! Every car I ever built I started with either a sketch or a clear vision of what I wanted it to look like in the end. Color, stance, ride height, wheels, chop top, etc. If you look at this view of my Deuce roadster notice the rake in the body and how the cowl angle continues through the hood, had to chop the grill shell to get this. Stock 32 Fords have a kink where the cowl meets the hood. The rear tire fits the wheelwell in the body exactly. The bottom reveal in the frame rail is gone (not an easy job). Like our FFR Cobras nothing hangs below the frame rails. Unlike our Cobras it had a full belly pan full of 600 louvers.

224266

For my Cobra I knew long before I started what I wanted it to be. A brilliant deep blue with white stripes, polished pin drive wheels, a little chrome bling but not too much, a nice low mean stance, and a throaty lumpy pushrod V8 with stack injection. I haven't waivered any:)

I always felt if you didn't have a very clear idea of what the finished car should be it would be easy to get off course and end up with something that you're not happy with.

[Mike.Bray]

Yesterday I was able to check off the final items on the pre-paint checklist so now waiting on the date to take it back to the paint shop, hopefully in the next few days. Final pre-paint photos for your viewing pleasure lol

224300

224301

[Mike.Bray]

Was messing with the hood fitment a little this weekend. The DS was not completely flush with the body at the front. The body is shimmed 5/8" above the 3/4" down tubes and the hinge was all the way down. The logical thing to do was to open the slots a little in the frame to lower the hinge some more. However it didn't make a bit of difference and in fact the hood feels like it's got a dead stop under it.

I reached out to the guru Jeff Kleiner and he offered up some great tips from his experience. Apparently one in every 15-20 of these things the front hinge linkage hits the upper radiator crossbrace. Sure enough that was what was happening, we could see the tell-tell marks on the crossbrace. Grinding a small notch in the link arm got the clearance we needed and the hood fits nice now.

File this in the good-to-know category.

224302

[Windsor]

You still planning on taking it to Riggs Fabrication?

[Mike.Bray]

You still planning on taking it to Riggs Fabrication?

Absolutely. Hoping before the end of the month.

[Mike.Bray]

I haven't had this view for quite a while.

224303

[Mike.Bray]

Project Cobra headed back to the paint shop this morning. Final bodywork, fitments, and of course paint. Don't have a timeline yet but they are going to get started in a few days.

224304

224305

224306

224307

[460.465USMC]

Was messing with the hood fitment a little this weekend. The DS was not completely flush with the body at the front. The body is shimmed 5/8" above the 3/4" down tubes and the hinge was all the way down. The logical thing to do was to open the slots a little in the frame to lower the hinge some more. However it didn't make a bit of difference and in fact the hood feels like it's got a dead stop under it.

I reached out to the guru Jeff Kleiner and he offered up some great tips from his experience. Apparently one in every 15-20 of these things the front hinge linkage hits the upper radiator crossbrace. Sure enough that was what was happening, we could see the tell-tell marks on the crossbrace. Grinding a small notch in the link arm got the clearance we needed and the hood fits nice now.

File this in the good-to-know category.

https://www.imagecoast.com/images/MichaelBray1/20230312171140mediumrotated.jpg

Thanks for posting, Mike. I'm working on my hood fitment, and have the same issue. Count mine as needing the notch as well.

[Mike.Bray]

Stopped by Riggs Fabrication today to check progress. We had a short delay in getting started but now making good progress with lots of filling, blocking, and sanding going on. Target is to be in final primer a week from now.

224308

224309

[egchewy79]

Just curious, did you spray it in primer before body work?

[Mike.Bray]

Just curious, did you spray it in primer before body work?

No. The body shop had an opening a few months ago, a very rare opportunity, so we took the body out to have them do the initial body work.

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After that it had a coat of Feather Fill.

224312

Now it's down to blocking, filling, and then final primer before paint