Jeff_J MK4 Build update

[Jeff_J.]

Talk about going outside the box.. I'm a first time builder. I've been reading and researching on a few different sites over the last two years - became a member of the FF community and began asking a few questions to fill in some of the information in the early stages of planning a build. I guess being a first timer I had some pretty rudimentary questions so thanks to the builders who took the time to answer it helped a lot, still changed my mind several times but at least had enough information to make a more informed choice. (still changing my mind on some things, that probably won't change even after the build is done). Deposit was done December /21, but I think the most "what have I done" feeling was when the email arrived that the kit was ready to ship... Since delivery and the last month of sorting stuff out and the odd couple of hours in the garage attaching and drilling, I have to say I'm having a blast.. Once I understood how some of he assemblies are listed in the packing list, which in some instances have no rational, then it starts to get easier - probably because you kinda memorise where things are listed by flipping the same pages so many times.

#152255 delivered July 15th with a lot of boxes but still a lot of things on the POL list which will come sooner than later I hope.
Here's the guts of the build, some of this is decided some is still open to further consideration when the time comes.

Powder coated chassis.
Fuel injected BPE 347
3:55 gears
TKX 5 spd transmission w hydraulic throw bearing.
IRS suspension
Heater /Defroster
Wiper / Washer
17" Hallibrands
2 Chrome Roll bars (keep the wife safe)
Competition set up dashboard - still in the mapping stage.
Engine compartment battery box (Breeze)
Forte's hydraulic power brakes. with 2015 Mustang GT brakes.
Power Steering.
Low back leather seats
Locking gas cap (Breeze)
Radiator shroud / & mount (breeze)
Russ Thompson Turn signal
Russ Thompson trunk expansion.
Led light package (headlights - tail and daytime running light module) yet to be finalised.
Howe Racing Balljoints
Energy suspension Ball joint boots.
Moog Tie rod ends.
Gas N chrome side pipes.
Sun Visors
Wind wings
Soft top for those cool morning or evenings.. (probably add another month or so to driving season
Quick flow canister type fuel filter.
In tank fuel pump (quieter)
Powder coated tin when the time comes - haven't decided on the color yet.
Herculiner on the underside of the body.
Over Riders front & back.
Thinking to use Thermotec Insulation still thinking that one over.

In the garage - can't wait to start. 170863
Body removal
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Body off & on the buck
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Lots of marking and pictures to take of how it was assembled before removing the panels.
Note - I also took measurements and marked the fibreglass on the dash hoop and back wall to help with the preliminary trimming. Thanks for that tip Paul...
Plan to get into panel removal tomorrow.

[rich grsc]

Just a heads up, I'd NOT spend the $$$ on the Howe balljoints, they do nothing that the standard FFR supplied joints can't do just as well. I friend insisted he "needed" them to improve handling. WE spend a good part of a day swapping them out, the car steered and handled just the same.

[egchewy79]

welcome. Looks like you've done your homework and have a nice build planned. FFR chassis numbering system is so interesting. #10,000RD build was recently a year or so ago. I wondering how/when they decided to revamp this.

[edwardb]

Just a heads up, I'd NOT spend the $$$ on the Howe balljoints, they do nothing that the standard FFR supplied joints can't do just as well. I friend insisted he "needed" them to improve handling. WE spend a good part of a day swapping them out, the car steered and handled just the same.

An explanation/response here: The motivation for the Howe ball joints primarily came from me (and others) that had difficulty getting the kit supplied Mevotech ball joints to screw into the UCA's. They either didn't screw in at all. Or stopped screwing in before fully seated. Extreme measures like shown in the FF instructions (bench vise, pipe wrench, etc.) just not my thing. First for the abuse necessary (my opinion) to get them in plus thinking in the future if they ever would need to be taken back out. When I first had the problem, I tried some Moog ball joints, which typically are decent quality, and no success with those either. I found out about the Howe parts, tried them, and they go in like butter. The high price notwithstanding.

Used them initially on my 20th Anniversary Roadster (with the problems cited) and also on my Gen 3 Coupe. Never took the Mevotech parts out of the box for the Coupe build. There's no question when comparing the two side-by-side (Mevotech vs. Howe) which is the higher quality part. Plus the Howe parts are adjustable and rebuildable. Does that matter to our builds? Does it make a difference in how the car drives? Jury is out on both counts. Some will say yes. Some no. I tend toward the not noticing the difference camp. But appreciate the quality, likely long life, and easy of assembly.

Now, full disclosure, it's been widely reported on the forum that taking a wire brush to the Mevotech ball joints and cleaning the threads of paint or powder coat or whatever is on them will cause them to thread right in. Many have confirmed this. I personally haven't, but no reason to doubt it. So the original issue I had was likely solvable. You decide what's important to you.

There, now you know the rest of the story. :)

[egchewy79]

As Paul mentioned, you're likely not going to get the BJ into the UCA without removing the anticorrosive coating on the threads of the BJ. I nearly broke my bench vise off the bench trying. Then needed to heat it and hit it w/ an impact gun to get the BJ back out. Once you wire wheel the coating off, it screwed right in. It was at this point of my build that I realized that I should slow down and read a few build threads to catch some tips not mentioned in the "manual", and believe me, there are a lot of them.

[Mike.Bray]

As Paul mentioned, you're likely not going to get the BJ into the UCA without removing the anticorrosive coating on the threads of the BJ. I nearly broke my bench vise off the bench trying. Then needed to heat it and hit it w/ an impact gun to get the BJ back out. Once you wire wheel the coating off, it screwed right in. It was at this point of my build that I realized that I should slow down and read a few build threads to catch some tips not mentioned in the "manual", and believe me, there are a lot of them.

I have a second set of UCAs (long story). With the first set the FFR supplied ball joints screwed right in. In fact I was thinking what's all this I've read about problems? With the second set and new ball joints they would screw in less than a thread and stop solid. Swapping stuff around pointed towards the plating in the UCAs, not the ball joint. A wire brush to the internal threads and everything went together easily.

Some platings and processes like hard anodize and electroless nickel are capable of controlling the thickness to within 1-2 microns. Other finishes like Zinc Chromate usually only have a minimum thickness specified. The UCAs look to be zinc chromate with a yellow passivate so there's going to be quite a bit of variance. Fortunately zinc chromate is a relatively soft plating and can be removed easily.

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks for the comments guys..Truly.. As a new time builder its great to hear the comments from builders who already have bounced off the walls i'm destined for.!!!
The Howe Ball joints tightened up really well with the bench vise but I'll mark them for movement none the less...

Without the nylock nuts to tighten I loose fitted the front suspension - not yet either just loose assembling to be sure I have all the parts.
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then onto cutting the lobes off the rear spindles - cutting parts off new parts is a little unnerving...anyone else feel that way???
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used my angle grinder for that along with a sanding disk to make it smooth. I'm happy with how it turned out.

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drilled and installed the switches on the peddle box. Didn't want to go further on this since I'm getting the Hydro-boost power brakes from Mike at Forte.. Great guy by the way, could talk to him for hours i'm sure and have a great time learning.
End of another day. tomorrow is fitting tin (aluminium). The manual has me pointed to the firewall first then the passenger foot box, Kind curious how this will fit together so not sure what to expect.
Appreciate all the insight I can get!!! Thanks . J.

[edwardb]

170898
drilled and installed the switches on the peddle box. Didn't want to go further on this since I'm getting the Hydro-boost power brakes from Mike at Forte.. Great guy by the way, could talk to him for hours i'm sure and have a great time learning.
End of another day. tomorrow is fitting tin (aluminium). The manual has me pointed to the firewall first then the passenger foot box, Kind curious how this will fit together so not sure what to expect.
Appreciate all the insight I can get!!! Thanks . J.

If you're installing a hydroboost power setup I assume you know that means an external master cylinder and modified pedal box. A pushrod needs to be added to the brake pedal. Mike is providing that as well? Make sure for that setup to also use the correct front footbox aluminum piece. The one with cutouts for the external master cylinder. I did one of his hydroboost setups several builds ago and also had to cut some of the chassis steel on the front of the footbox. But don't know if that's still the case.

No reason not to follow the build sequence in the manual. It works.

[Jeff_J.]

Hi Paul, Yes Mike is providing all the parts for the hydro boost, in fact I have to send him the peddle box and mount - I think he's actually fitting it all together to make it easy to install. I loose fitted all the parts for the peddle box together so it will be easy to disassemble and send to him. I looked at you're hydro boost build, I can't say if it will be the same or not, there was no discussion on drilling chassis steel but I'll post pictures when it's back along with the instructions in case anyone else is going down this path.

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Firewall install. my plan is to install the wiper motor as well as heater/defroster, I had some .60ga Aluminium hanging around and I like the rigidity as opposed to the .40ga so I used my jigsaw to cut a new panel. Maybe the .40 would have been fine but can't go wrong with a little thicker. Cleco'd it in and I like it.
On to the passenger foot box.
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Fit /adjusted drilled and cleco'd this together so far - all my assembly is done with cleco's or supplied assembly screws so I can take it all apart later for powder coating. Just minor adjustments to the panels to make them fit more accurately together.

Passenger floor - slid the passenger floor in to see how it all fit together in case it made any difference in the foot box alignment sometimes a compromise must be drawn...
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It makes sense - aligned - clamped marked drilled and cleco'd before completing the drilling. I found fitting in the door side panel at the same time made it easier to locate and drill the floor and the side panel on the 2" chassis panel. NOTE TO SELF check for weld location before drilling.... Little bit of JB weld will fix that....
The driver side should be easier after this experience.

Send off my steering boss to Russ Thompson so he can do his thing and send me the Turn signal kit and Drop Box mod. Excellent guy to talk too looking forward to the pieces to arrive. I don't have the steering rack yet and with the peddle box still a work in process I'll probably keep fitting aluminium.

[Jeff_J.]

Fit issue on the DS inner foot box panel....
Test fit the DS floor today and foot box which went in without too much suspense, footbox as well.
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The rest of the day was spent fitting the goofing with the inner foot box panel which just doesn't fit as well as I hoped. Originally I thought it was alignment issue but i'm solid against the inner forward chassis rail/s and elevation to the foot box is good.. Spent a "lot" of time looking this one over, this morning I'm going to look it over again in case today I see anything different but I thinking the right course is to adjust the bend angle "outwards" on the "A" aluminium piece over the trans tunnel on the drivers side - it fits perfectly on the pass side. This piece ties the front floor/trans vertical wall to the inner foot box panel so I want to get it right.. Has anyone else had a problem aligning this piece???
Just to be sure my overall alignment or this area was correct I test fit the DS outer foot box wall, it fits perfectly, kinda happy about - if it didn't align well it it might have stopped me in my tracks.

[Ted G]

#152255 must be your order number. You chassis number is just left of your steering shaft on the 2x2 crossmember. My guess is that you are probably around #10525RD

[Jeff_J.]

Hi Ted, probably right on that one. I'll look for that tonight.
Thx
Jeff

[Jeff_J.]

Update - made headway on the DS foot box inner wall - I just needed to step away from it for a while. looked at it again the next day made a strategic bend and everything fits more to my satisfaction. Whew.. The real lesson here is patience and not making a rash decision just to get it completed - it's not a race.
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Drilled and used temporary fastners to hold it in place.
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Moved onto the rear corner pieces of the cockpit. Clamped them into place and slid the rear wall into place as well just so I could assess the alignment - doing it this way helps me to see the whole picture before drilling - perhaps identify anything I could run into before drilling. Alignment looks good so I'm going to drill and do temporary fasteners there as well. I'll remove the rear wall to work on the trunk panels. I'll be installing Russ Thompson's drop trunk so I'll bypass the lower trunk panel for now.
3 boxes of back orders arrived today - my blank dash, heater/defroster and shifter components. No sign of spindles - CV's, steering rack, gas tank or assembly nuts yet. Not like I'm running out of things to do but I'm kinda hoping to move on from panel attachments at some point.

[Jeff_J.]

Hi Ted,
I see the plate were you suggested it would be - 10359RD.
Thx
J.

[Jeff_J.]

Work has gotten in the way of quality garage time but it is what it is.
Rough assembled the Russ Thompson drop trunk to confirm the measurements
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cut the hole in the trunk floor (leap of faith here), drilled and cleco'd it into place. happy with the result. 173045
Rec'd the hydroboost unit from Mike at Forte, did a rough attachment of this piece as well still have to figure out how it plumbs in. Stay tuned...
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Had a chance to make a filler piece for the upper part of the truck. Used a granola cereal box and made a template, traced it onto some .40 aluminium and used a jig saw to cut it out then used a file to fine tune it. worked out well and will make carpeting easier.
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I received the front hubs so I was pretty happy to make some headway there - still missing bolts to complete and torque the assembly.
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The Power steering rack arrived yesterday - plan to install that on the weekend, it appears I have the attachment pieces just missing some plumbing.
Moving forward slowly - concentrating on the journey.

[Jeff_J.]

Power steering rack.. So I opened the box and assembled the parts to do the installation. The FF manual has instructions are a little weak on the FF supplied rack, I used the "additional information library" which helps. Looking at the rack out of the box it already has bushings and sleeves in it.... It doen't say anything about removing them but it's obvious, after 10 - 15 minutes, that these bushings are for a different application, one they are out and you insert the kit supplied bushings and sleeves it all comes together quickly. Fitting it in is "tight" but 2 or three pinches of the fingers between parts get's your attention. Driver side in first for sure.. passenger size wiggles in but I had to apply a few light taps to the bushing sleeves to get them past the frame ears.. A little light machine oil on the rubber helped too. Lining up the holes was a hassle but not too much.
Inserted the bolts and washers, the nuts on the engine side the second time around and spun the nuts on partially to hold it all in place till I can torque them in.
Installed the Moog tie rod ends. this is as far as I can go here since FF has the bolts I need to complete the assembly on back order, 8 months and counting. I still have stuff to do to keep me busy but it would be nice to be able to complete assemblies and not have to come back to them to finish, I guess others have the same problem so waiting patiently but a little less patient than before. Anyways picture of the rack installed.
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Working on the heater /defroster install tomorrow. I've read not to take the location of the tubes for granted on the diagram - other builders have mentioned the diagram is a little off and to double check before drilling the holes for the tubes.

[Jeff_J.]

I't been a while since I posted time to catch up a little. worked on and attached the heater and Wiper motor. Have to figure out how I want to run there wires, I have seen the wires run in between the wiper and Heater - kinda tight in there but it makes sense - I'll look at that one as I get closer to figuring out the wire runs.
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Mike Forte sent me the modified Peddle box to install the Hydroboost unit, I have some NPT fittings/adaptors to purchase. I want to use the stainless braided lines for power steering, I'll wait on making the hoses till I know the run lengths I'll be dealing with.
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The hydroboost unit would supply the same pressure to both front and rear brakes so with out a balance bar to adjust the pressure I'll be installing a portion valve to knock down the pressure to the rear brake circuit.

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Had the opportunity to install my Aeromotive in tank fuel pump & sending unit and position the fuel tank, no surprise, like others have mentioned before the tank strap bolts are barely long enough - purchased new SS bolts and nylock nuts.
put the dash in place as well just to have a look at it and get a sense of progress. Little things take time but it's all part of the journey.
Gonna work on creating bracket for the brake/clutch reservoirs, portion valve and filler where the PS frame tube comes through the footbox, gonna need a cereal box to make the template.

[CraigS]

Re; the brake proportioning valve. I think I see that you will have 2015 Mustang rear brakes but not sure of the fronts. W/ the old Mustang rear brakes the problem was always needing more rear brake so a proportioning valve was the last thing needed. But the 2015 brakes are a huge upgrade. Still it is a bit of a crap shoot as to whether a valve will be needed. So I recommend you install it where it is easily accessible. I'd also look at how you could remove it and replace it w/ a piece made up of whatever fittings are needed to connect the two brake lines w/o the valve. It is always nice to have options.

[Jeff_J.]

Hi Craig, Thanks for the insight on the brakes, I kinda went with the idea that some sort of balance would be nec., I hope adjust it once and forget about it. The 11.65" kit supplied rear brakes were a pain, in hindsight I should have got the upgraded ones or purchased the Willwoods, oh well there are always upgrades.
Made the bracket for the portion valve, painted it to match the powder coat of the chassis and installed it.

I made a filler for the gap left by the round chassis tube coming out of the PS footbox. It's nice and snug easy to silicone and insulate around. I like it.
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I purchased Scott's Triple fluid reservoir to separate the front and brake circuits as well as for the Hydraulic Throw Bearing. I'm fabricating a bracket from 1/8" aluminium - the finish is brushed with shark hide like the rest of the engine compartment - the pictures above show the effect. I was going to powder coat but saw a post about a month ago of the brushed effect other builder had done and liked it. I have cleaned up the silicone that squeezed out of the joints since those picture were taken. I should have it completed today. It will show on the next update.
Drilled the dash and did a preliminary install of the gauges and switches. I moved the paper circles around a number of times and sat there with a steering wheel in hand and stared at it - my wife thought I was nuts.. I wasn't making motor sounds - honest....
Finally followed the layout Paul used, it made sense.
Got a call and my BPE 347 is ready to ship - the clock it ticking to wrap up the wiring, that's next on the list after the bracket.
Happy New Year to all.

[Jeff_J.]

Dash is drilled and checked to make sure everything fit correctly, then hung the dash just to be sure.
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Started with the wiring. There has been a lot of discussion on the supplied RF harness - some open the harness and re wire it to suit their needs and clean out some of the runs which are not required.
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I've decided to open the harness and remove the Hot Rod run completely, I have the Vintage Heater which has it's own fused power line - I'm removing the RF heater supply wire from the Fuse box and inserting the Vintage power line. The vintage line looks to be 16ga vs the RF line which looks line 18ga. I shortened the Light switch as well as the Ignition circuit runs and shortened the Convenience Light run to the centre of the dash, I'm tapping this run for LED - DS, PS, Trunk and Cubby lights. I ran the trunk light wires into the Rear Harness conduit along side the wires for the Licence Plate. I think I'll be laying in another line for a Reverse light, thinking about that one. Other lines in RF harness are getting haircuts as required. Planning to install USB charger and 12V power supply port as well as Hazard light switch in a centre under dash panel, I'll be installing a busbar to tie this in - I understand why so many builders add the busbar - the fuse box isn't too friendly for clean additions.
I'd like to wrap as much of this up as I can before I have to deal the the engine install and associated wires..

[Jeff_J.]

Updates to the build.
Purchased a 3 reservoir piece from Scott's & installed - I like it. 181327 the NPT fittings & plugs I purchased from Summit. powder coated and installed the Breeze battery box- certainly a tight fit to get this installed wouldn't want to do this with the engine in. 181331
BP 347 and TKX arrived and ready for install.181335 181332181334 Engine & Tranny installed without any issues - followed the advice on the forum & jacked the rear end of the car up 7 - 10 inches - had the "A" brace already attached and it all inserted easy. Took the opportunity to install the driveshaft at the same time since it was still very adjustable. Noticed the the driveshaft angle was <10 degrees so I fabricated some shims out of 1/4" steel I had around - drilled them to fit the trans mount bolts - inserted them and everything is aligned level. Locktite and torqued the adapter plate as spec'd. 181336
Engine levelled in the mounts, drive train aligned to the rear end & torqued going over the checklist to be sure I haven't forgotten anything.

[Jeff_J.]

Wiring - the part I don't look forward too the most but it won't do itself so here goes.. Attached the drilled dash to orient where this was all going then removed it and started massaging the harness into place pulled it out and restarted half dozen times to get better configuration and connection points - settled on this as my preliminary layout - using twist ties temporarily till I can do a test fit and confirm everything works.
181375181376181377. mounted it to the chassis hoop to see how it all fit.
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It all fits well so I'm proceeding. Decided to use the Speed hut supplied sensors and cables as opposed to the RF supplied, the cables are better in my opinion and allows me to run them down the side of the block to the 4" tube and back up into the dash, then down the 2" tube direct to the gauge, it does mean eliminating the lines from the RF harness and plugging the pin ports. I'm going to fabricate a bracket to run the Alternator wire along the side of the block just above the starter motor and motor mounts, I have an idea on what it will look like, going to grab the granola box cut and bend and see if it works.

[Jeff_J.]

Used the granola box to make the prototype bracket for the alternator wire, this is what it looks like.
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This is what it looks like installed.
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The intent here was to keep the Alternator wire off the top of the intake, could have run it along the 4" tube and up the block but this routing makes for 1 less wire on the 4" tube on the PS.
I positioned the PS header temporarily with 2 bolts but see no reason why they both can't be connected - applied anti-seiseas requested to both the header bolt and O2 sensor, it was a challenge getting 2 header bolts torqued on both DS & PS due to interference from the header tube itself but managed. Good excuse for more tools.
181404.
Today will be cleaning up the wiring and preparing to turn the engine for "prelube", this has been discussed a bit in the forum and recommended by Blue print on their engines before first start. Rotate the crank and keep the cylinders lubed.
Working on the 3/8" SS hard lines as well, first couple of bends were not the best but once you get the hang of it things worked out better than I had imagined. Good - long arm bender and a good flaring tool make the job "significantly" easier.
Let's see how today goes.

[Jeff_J.]

Mechanical throttle linkage was on the list. Dug out the box from Mike Forte and applied tape to the firewall to draw some positioning lines. I've read submissions on locating the posts that hold the SS rod, I wasn't a fan of installing them into the 2"x 2" chassis tube, I positioned them about 1" above the 2x2 and flatspotted the washer on the inside of the firewall to keep the rod as low as possible when it passes into the peddlebox otherwise the bell crank does not clear the lid of the peddlebox. Reading others experience on this probably saved me a lot of grief.. The project was successful.
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TKX hydraulic clutch line route. Since I was in the area I installed the line from the clutch master C to the Hydraulic Throw bearing. Drilled a second hole in the peddle box and ran the braided SS (90 degree connector on the MC and straight on the Tranny side) line through the peddle box and a soft curve past the 45 degree chassis arm to the tranny, attached a P clamp on the frame inside the peddle box to keep the line solid will attach the line to the frame along the way. Bled and solid so I figure pretty much done here. 181466181467
Today's another day, after i finish shovelling the snow that fell last night.

[Jeff_J.]

I should have included these two pictures of the throttle linkage install for reference. 181468181469

[phileas_fogg]

If you find the lever arms twist on the throttle linkage pivot rod, don't fret. Forte thought this might be a problem, and pre-drilled 1/16” holes in the arms to accept a roll pin. Realign the arms, and use a 1/16” drill bit to dimple the pivot rod so you know where to make the holes. Take care & wear eye protection when dimpling the rod; it's easy to break a drill bit. After you've marked the pivot rod, use a drill press to drill the 1/16” holes to accept the roll pin, and then widened the holes in the arms to 5/64” so you don't have to fight so hard to get the pin into place. I used a C-clamp to press the pins into the pivot rod, and left about 1/4" sticking out of the lever arm to that if I ever have to pull the roll pin I've got something to grab.

Some folks have this problem and some don't, so maybe you'll get lucky. If it turns out you do have a problem, now you've got at least one solution in your hip pocket.


John

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks John, Mike dimpled the bell arms so I have a guide, I've been holding off drilling the pil holes till after first start in case I need to make an adjustment. Good call on the process for drilling the pins.
Jeff

[Jeff_J.]

Time to do an update: Installed the FF supplied fluid reservoir. The bracket is cut straight the chassis rail is at a bit of an angle - I followed the chassis rail, it makes the res tilt slightly to the front - hardly noticable, didn't use the self tapping screws supplied, installed 2 rivnuts and used 10-24 SS socket head screws - much better look and stronger. fabricated a bracket for the bottom clamp as well, attached it to the top of the chassis rail for vertical stability, brushed the surface and applied shark hyde.
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Installed the radiator and Horns, brushed the top of the radiator and applied Shark Hyde to keep it bright for a while, I hope. Used the dremmel to adjust the female fan wire block to fit the harness block, some cut the block off and use female spade connectors, I'll see how this works out. Horn's work.. Not happy with the 3/8" self tapping screw supplied to attach it - I'll install a bolt and nut here.
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Final attachment of the Rear harness wires, used p clamps to hold it firmly in place, installed the lower trunk with lower trunk mod - silicone sealed it in place.
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Next up is tranny cover and working the way down the list. Still having fun.

[Jeff_J.]

Started working on the tranny cover – marked the adapter plate holes on top of the cover for drilling. I plan to use a 100 deg countersink #6 screws & nylock nuts to secure the plate to the bottom of the tranny cover. I’ll use Bondo to fill the recess on the top side and cover the holes for a smooth finish. Took the opportunity to drill the holes for the shifter trim ring as well. The tranny cover will be finished with leather along with a leather shift boot to tie it all together. Going to install SS cup holders in front of the shifter – have reads a few install notes from other builders so I have a plan.
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Temporary remount of the DS footbox to make sure everything still fit well, installed rivnuts and 10-24 SS screws to the access cover – need to brush the cover and apply shark Hyde also sculpted and drilled the front footbox patch, fits a little better now.
I have the rear brake line running into the DS footbox to a portioning valve, I felt it was a good idea to make a clutch stop for the Hydraulic clutch so I fabricated a piece of 1/8” aluminium which will butt against the steel of the footbox front and use the hole in the top of the peddle box as the mounting point, stress is transferred to the steel in both cases – no concern about strength. Used up the whole side of a granola box to get the angles and bends right. There is enough meat on the front flange to add a bolt should I need to restrict the clutch travel further.
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Made a patch plate for the lobe which was cut off just above the PS side trunk strap – siliconed and riveted in place.
182032
Looking at roll bars today.

[Jeff_J.]

I’ve made progress on the build since last update. Mounted and drilled the FF supplied roll bars. Had to clear the tubes from a little interference then set the tubes in made a small “flat spot” so the drill bit wouldn’t skate and went slow with a small cobalt bit progressively getting larger till I got to final size. Worked out well. 183720
Placed the trunk top on, drilled and placed a grommet for the licence plate and trunk convenience light wires to come up into the trunk. Still have not riveted this down till after first start.
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Fabricated and installed a clutch stop to prevent the Hydraulic clutch from bottoming out against the foot box wall. I used the bolt hole for the manual clutch stop.
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Installed the RT Turn signal unit, I’m just using the signal feature so it was very straight forward but because I didn’t follow the wiring instructions carefully I ended up with a feedback issue from the Hazard lights, once I re installed the jumper on the pink wire and used the double pole toggle everything was fine…
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Installed Breeze gas peddle to replace FF supplied - nice solid piece.
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Body on for the first time since the kit was delivered.
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Working on the headers and side pipes tomorrow.

[Jeff_J.]

Received Boig cool tubes and installed them – it was necessary to trim back the 90 degree elbow to get the clearance for the hood probably took off 2” had to adjust the lower hose into the radiator port as well. Checked the lines going to the heater and the hose clamps I think it’s ready to fill with coolant.
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I’m installing weatherpacks for the connections to the front and back turn signals and tying off the unused purple wire. I’ll run a ground jumper to the frame on the driver side, I understand you can’t have enough grounds. I’ll Dremel the openings on the signal light openings to accept the weatherpack. Going to work on the heater ducting today and get that roughed in as I expect the body will be coming off soon.

[Jeff_J.]

Fit the windshield on and measured the distance for position – then marked the location of the defrost vents. If using the supplied hardware for the vents the passenger side its a really tight fit above the heater box to get the vent over to the passenger side, I have seen some pretty ingenious work arounds for this from other builders but I’m ok with the supplied hardware and the snug fit.
184719
Attached the lights, using Breeze LED headlights and front turn signals as well as Russ T. turn signal module and tested it all before the body comes off. It works… whew..
184720
184721
Made additional measurements for body trim an the body is off – again.
Weatherpacks installed front and back, tied off the unused purple wire in the rear harness but installed 2 additional ground jumpers to the chassis, used the Dremel to clear the powder coat for good contact, I’ll do a better job of cleaning up the jumper routing before final install.
184722
184723
My list of things to do before tacking the body trim and herculiner application is getting smaller, I’ve been saving the body work till last but not necessarily avoiding it..
** First start actually happened 2 weeks ago without drama, I’ll post the video to make it official soon.

[Ted G]

Looking good!!

[Jeff Kleiner]

Looking good Jeff! Any word on when your "presents" are due to arrive?

Jeff

[Jeff_J.]

Hi Jeff, thanks for the comment, learning everyday. Presents supposed to arrive Wednesday, looking forward to their arrival. J

[Jeff_J.]

Been a while since last update - life gets in the way.

Body trimming, did some preliminary body trimming / straightening on key points before putting the body back on a lot easier to do when the body is upside down in some areas; Dash cowl straightened and at 3/8” wrap, cockpit rear wall same, took a little bit of aluminium off the trunk side wall as well as the trunk valance & wheel wells etc., this is all pretty well documented by other builders so no surprises here.. Found out I have to increase the bend on the DS and PS dash sides as well as cut a little more off the PS so it doesn’t contact the body. There’s not a lot of guidance on this in the manual.

Had to do a reset on the hood and the trunk lids and start from beginning on those again, everything fits as it should now. Hood Alignment is done hinges installed and I drilled the holes for the hood handles, took my time to be sure the positioning was right. Considered moving the handle out 13” from center as opposed to 12” to keep the corners of the hood down but the change didn’t seem to make much difference and it looks better at 12”.
187338
187339
187340
Backfilled the gap between the hood layers with Fibreglass & added a bushing to the inside to support the handle shaft. I credit Edward P for this tip. Still need to clean up the finish a little..
Top side handles installed and aligned. Hood latch stops. I didn’t really like the small “L” shaped aluminium pieces ff supplied so I fabricated my own, the are ½” wider which allows for a little longer slope as well as a wider stop area, another added benefit is a little more stability on the lip attachment.
187341
Since I was in the area, I drilled the holes for the wiper boxes I used the ff supplied tool measured carefully clamped it in place and drilled holes correctly (whew), installed the hardware to make them work, and they do, not sure if the “park” feature works yet. The 5/16 ss tubing FF supplies for the motor cable is not very easy to shape and bending it can make interference with the cable, I’ll change it to the 5/16 nicop tubing supplied with the kit since I’m not using it. It will take ½ the time to do it the second time… Be sure to grease the cable before sliding it into the tubes. Going to install a washer bottle on the PS vertical chassis tube just in front of the footbox – I’ll fabricate a bracket for that already installed a Lucas momentary toggle on the dash beside the wiper switch and ran the wires to the location before putting the dash and body on – easier project when you plan in advance!!
I purchased a chrome dual nozzle sprayer from a supplier “which is no longer mentioned on the forum”, I’ll drill the hole once I have the bottle and see how it all will work..
187342
Trunk handle, pin and licence plate holder attached. The latch pin requires you to drill into the rear chassis plate and push the bolt through to get attached with a nut, since the trunk aluminium and gas tank is installed there is no way for me to put the nut on till the body is back off and I lower the gas tank. Oh well – done that at least twice as well..
187343
187344

Elephant ears are coming up on the list - my first fit of these makes me wonder how its going to work...

[Jeff_J.]

Progress from last post.
Gas Cap and Fume canister; roughed in the installation and when the body was back on attached it to make sure everything fit right. All good so I’ll put in the rest of the screws. I’m using ss 6-32 screws with washers and nylock nuts as opposed to the self tapping screws supplied.
188399
188400

Breeze Seat plate and Cobra heat seat heater module rough in. Took a bit of time to get this oriented right, glad I took my time here, I put the seat in to get the orientation I was happy with – marked it off and installed a couple of rivets and checked it again to be sure. When they say move the seat over tight to the tranny wall they aren’t kidding, keep in mind the door has to close and latch…
188401

Installed the “elephant ears”, splash guards front and rear. A little bit of trimming to get them to fit but like a lot of builders have mentioned don’t start trimming till you’ve tried almost every possible position and adjusted the bend a little before starting with the snips. The fit on the front was a little loose in spots so I ordered 1” bulb seal from McMaster, that was just enough along with a little bend. I expected the hydroboost unit would stick through the panel, going to do the “Jeff Kleiner dog dish fix” when I have a chance.
188402

The rears came together easier, had a little more to trim here but ended up with a solid fit.
188403

Many have made these inserts to close the gap at the front of the rear tires between the chassis and the body, used a granola box to make a template cut the aluminium, drilled, bulb sealed and used self tapping screw to hold it in place for now.
188404

A while back I posted about the hood latch stops and how small they were, I made larger ones and installed them, the manual mentions to have these installed tight to the lip of the body, I moved it back a little to get away from the roll of the body edge. I found the piece sat flatter and since my fabricated pieces were wider it made for better stability. I used #6 machine screws washers and nylock nuts on this as opposed to the self tapping screws. I didn’t have any issues with the handle locks reaching the location but always good to double check..
188405

Next up is the air dams for the radiator.

[Jeff_J.]

Parts arrived so I was able to get a few more things off the list.

Breeze lower hose bracket arrived & installed and makes for a solid fit on the lower hose. Solid piece..
188598

New door latches. I posted a question about these door latches and got some great advice to get me unstuck. In case someone runs into this as well: I ended up having to add extensions to the chassis so the striker would engage the door latch, when I closed the door the striker needed to be further inboard on both DS & PS. I understand some have had to only do one side and others not at all – lucky me I guess.. Added the extensions and moved on to the door latch. If you follow the online instructions for the new latches it shows the latch box installs with the bottom corner off the fibreglass edge of the door, this seemed really odd to me so after some forum help I decided to move the box inboard a little more and add some washers to the striker post. The final positioning has just a very small amount of the latch box overhanging the fibreglass and I’m ok with it. The forward movement was about ¼ - 3/8” but when you are talking about an angle it was a big difference. Keep in mind if you move the box forward you also bring it a little closer to the curve at the top of the door. Mine was a compromise of the two angles.
Door latch installed..
188599

Didn’t want to forget this build note: Body positioning on the chassis. I had been reading others experience on setting the body on the chassis. , it appears some builders and confirmed by bodywork guys as well, are not using the “horseshoe brackets” which come with the kit intended to support the nose of the car, rather to use 5/8” rubber blocks positioned on top of the ¾” chassis rail at the very front (beside the hood hinges) just before the rail changes angle to the front of the car. The reason from what I understand, is the horseshoe brackets hold the nose of the body with the small screws which hold the signal lights in place and there has been instance of stress fracturing from this location. It was also suggested changing the front SS quickjack rods to ¾” O.D. also helps in his case.
I ordered 5/8” rubber blocks ¾” x 3” long and the rubber passthrough gromets to fit the quickjack holes from Metro Rubber as well as new ¾” SS rod from McMaster. I noticed when I installed the blocks the body sits higher than the ¾” chassis rail – I ordered some adhesive rubber to run along the top of the rail to close the gap and provide some additional support to the body.
Jeff Kleiner and J Miller have some really good perspectives on the positioning of the body – I’d consider it a “must read” for newbies like me.

Front and rear bumpers are installed. Not a big ran of the way FF has this figured out. Threaded plates on the overriders to accept the long bolts – easier to ream the holes in the plate, push the bolt through and attach the nut on the opposite side. Just my two cents..
188602
188603

Side pipes installed – I had to order two ¼” spacers to move the pipes a little further out at the opening, then the ran straight back. There is no spec I could find as to how close to have the pipes to the car so I reached out to the forum and got some suggestions. I didn’t want them too close in case there was any issues with the paint, too far away and you risk “Snake Bite” when your leg touches the pipe when getting out… I opted to 1.25” from body to pipe and ½” above the large 4” round chassis tubes.. That should prevent any scrapes on the pipes anyways…
188604

Radiator side dams. Now that the pipes are in the front bumpers are in and the body is secured I attached the radiator side dams with self tapping screws at least for now, I’ll install rivnuts later.
188605

Back on her feet: first time I can say the chassis and the body have come out of the garage at the same time stuck together. Milestone in the build for me.
188606

Still have a lot to do but mechanically it’s ready to have the safety inspection done and insured, I’ll have the opportunity to put a couple of miles on it as a “shake down” before I remove the body for undercoating and work on the interior.

Still having fun...

[Jeff_J.]

I’ve been slacking on recording my build journey, a lot has been done since my last post in August – I’ll do a catchup post to cover what’s happened. I couldn’t work much on the car in September but did pass the safety inspection late in the month, had to wait for the licence bureau to issue a Vin before I could register it, that happened late October and I insured it November 1, just in time to pull the tires off for the season. Having it insured was important to me just to be covered while I worked on it further. The end of the season is an opportunity to take the body off again to finish a few things on the list.
Here goes Aug 14/23

Trunk check plate/ cover. A number of builders make these to cover the hole in the trunk lid – mine is much the same, used paper to draw the hole shape – transferred it to a granola box and cut the shape to use as a template for the aluminium; cut, drilled shaped with a paint can and mounted with SS self tapping button head screws.
193644

Windshield support arms. This goes back a bit but when I first installed the support arms on the windshield I noticed the top of the bars didn’t line up with the top rail very well DS was much worse than the PS.
193645
193646
I figured I’d return them for replacement but decided to try adjusting them myself, I was concerned about marring the chrome surface, so I sandwiched it between 2x4’s and used a deadblow hammer at the right angle to straighten the bend, the metal is pretty soft so it moved relatively easy. Success.

Louvres: It’s been said “imitation is the best compliment” well this compliment will be to Paul. Since I had the body off I tackled the louvres. I purchased the premium pre-bent louvres from FF – they appear to be a little larger than the ones included with the kit. Measured and cut the holes to size then smoothed the edges. The manual has a method for attaching these, but I used fibreglass to attach base studs to the inside of the body so they can be bolted to the body side. To get the base studs positioned correctly I attached the base studs into the louvre with jam nuts to hold the studs in place then buttered the bottom of the base studs with HSFR aligned them in the cutout holes and pressed them against the inside of the body. Minor adjustments can be made but with HSFR time is limited before it sets. I used paint sticks and elastic bands through the louvres in two spots to hold the louvres in place till the fibreglass set. It looks like I put plywood in the louvre hole from the picture but the plywood is 2 feet away, optical illusion.
193647
I'll be cleaning up the fibreglass before applying herculiner.

[Jeff_J.]

Cut holes for Defrost vents. While I had the car together, I remeasured the location for the defrost vents and made the cuts. The location for the PS took longer as it’s a pretty close fit and I didn’t want to get it wrong. The instructions say to caulk around the vents where they contact the body to prevent air leaks, the curvature of the body vs the straight surface of the vent leaves about ¼” of gap in the center I’ll probably shape some foam to fit this gap as well as sealant. I’m not a big fan of the eyeball vents to be located under dash on both sides of the car. If installed the way the instructions suggest the duct work will be attached to the inside top of the footbox before it gets to the vent – I didn’t like that all so I’m going to change this up and make brackets which attach to the 2” chassis rail below the dash so the vents can rotate either down or forward towards the seats. This is still in the granola box template stage; I should have this done soon and certainly before the body is ready to go back on.

Windshield washer bottle. Purchased a Universal 1 qt windshield washer fluid bottle from Amazon and decided on a location for the bottle on the upper chassis rail just overtop of the PS footbox. The rail angle is downward to the front and inward a little so to get the bottle mounted straight I fabricated a bracket which countered the two angles as well as brought the bottle close to the rail as opposed to sticking in towards the engine more, turned out like this. Purchased a chrome spray nozzle and Lucas Momentary toggle from xxxxx line and ran switched power from the radio circuit to the pump. Located the momentary toggle next to the wiper switch on the dash. I’ll install the chrome spray nozzle when the body is back on.. Happy with how it turned out.
193662
193663
193664

Dog dish cover for Hydroboost unit. I installed the Forte hydroboost power steering/ brake unit early in the build and it’s working great. When this unit is installed, it extends about 1” or so past the location of the DS splash panel into the wheel well, I knew about this from my research before purchasing the HB unit. One of the things on my wrap up list was to cut the ovalish shaped hole in the DS splash panel and attach a cover so the end of the HB unit is protected. Thanks to Mr. Kleiner for the suggestion, I stopped at the local dollar store and picked up a dog/cat dish and it works perfectly. $2.50 fix. I’ll seal it in place, it will be covered with Herculiner at some point.
193665
193666
The journey continues.

[Jeff_J.]

Going to try making my own door cards with pouch

[Jeff_J.]

Lots done over the last month her's my update.
Rad screen. (thanks for this one too Paul) Its inevitable there will be stone/s bouncing into the radiator from time to time so to protect the rad I made the rad screen per Paul’s template. I sandwiched SS mesh screen between layers of 1/8” x ¾” AL. flat stock offset the edges for better support and rivetted it together. I used ½” rivets to encapsulate the layers, then filed the slag ends down a little so they didn’t stick out as far. Fabricated 4 braces from a thicker/ stronger AL. to hold the screen in front of the Radiator by about 1”, used 10 – 24 button head screws and nylock with nuts facing outwards to attach the braces to the screen then attached the braces to the chassis with 10 – 24 button head screws through the side panels into nutserts installed in the downward chassis rails. It will all be installed after the body is back on & easy to remove should it be necessary… I read another post about a honeycomb screen available from Amazon that works well too. This turned out fine.
195050
195051
195052

Rubber mounted the Rad to the chassis. I installed the breeze lower rad mount early in the build but didn’t install the upper hinge support – I decided to add another support tab to the top of the Radiator centered between the left and right attachment points on the chassis rail. I took this opportunity to add rubber washers to the attachment points as well. The lower radiator shroud is attached to the Breese SS support rod by screws - I decided to add washers to the screws between the radiator skirt and the SS rod to take up the gap so the radiator skit wouldn’t distort when the screws were tightened.

Dead peddle install. Followed the instructions sent with the part, taped it in place to get a feel for where I’d like to have it then put in two screws to hold it in place and tried it again to confirm. Liked where it was so I installed the remaining two screws and the anti skid tape. For me it felt right located pretty much along the line of the footbox expansion angle. I installed the dead peddle over top of the Thermotech then traced & cut out the carpet. I glued the carpet but left the last 4” at the bottom unattached, the carpet goes inside the footbox floor panel, on final installation I’ll glue this last bit in on final install. The installation was easier because currently I have the DS outer footbox side attached with self tapping screws and could take it off. I plan to drive the car for a couple of months as a shakedown before painting, if I need to make adjustments in the footbox area its a lot easier with the footbox side removable. I’ll rivet it on after shakedown and before paint.
195053
195054
195055

Heater lower vents – I mentioned in an earlier post how I didn’t like the routing for the heater lower vents. The install instructions have the ducting attached to the inside top of the footbox and the eyeball vent attached right where the door strap would be. Moving the eyeball inwards away from the strap starts to interfere with the legs/knees. I fabricated brackets which attaches the eyeballs about 1” away from the 2” chassis rail running parallel to the dash. I tapped 2- 10-32 holes in the bracket and purchased a knob for the outboard side to tighten the bracket in place. (10-32 Black plastic knobs with stud from McMaster Carr) and a 10-32 x ½” button head for the other side. The bracket allows the vent to rotate forward or backwards, I think it adds versatility for airflow and eliminates any interference with legs – knees and door strap It works fine.. I’ll install zip ties to replace the tape on final installation.
195056
195057
195058
195059

Still rolling..

[Jeff_J.]

Carpet installation was next: Followed the manual for sequence, kinda. Used Super 77 adhesive, I was a little too thin on my first application, carpet didn’t stick well at all, pulled it off and gave a “thick coat” which worked much better lots of taping and had to watch for overspray onto already laid carpet – I think the troweling of Weldwood glue might have been an easier option. A lot of trimming to get it to fit exactly right on pretty much all pieces, sharp razor knife helped a lot. Cockpit is done, trunk is now complete as well. Purchased an additional yard of carpet from FF for the drop trunk and the trunk side panels I fabricated.
195060
195061
195062

After installing the carpet in the drop trunk I decided to install a trim piece to clean up the drop trunk edges. Used #6 x ¾ self tapping flathead screws and countersunk them into a 1” x 1” black aluminium moulding from HD.
195063
195064

Cubby Box. I have a heater so no glovebox. I decided to make a cubby compartment in the trunk with access through the cockpit wall, measured the gap between the seats and made the door a little narrower, started the opening 1.25” above the 2” chassis rail which lines up with the cockpit aluminium bend. I made it 6.5” tall. Cut and rivetted a reinforcement frame on the trunk side, it’s ¼” narrower than the door opening so it acts like a stop. Installed a long throw Cam lock, made, and riveted in a catching piece for the cam lock arm, carpeted the door. I’ll change the cam lock to black later.
I also made a cubby compartment inside the trunk, I haven’t attached it yet and won’t for a while, there’s not a lot of space in the trunk so if the box takes up too much space I’ll take it out.
195065
195066
195067

The journey continues.

[Jeff_J.]

This is the cubby box I fabricated - still not sure if it's a keeper or not.
195068
195069

Installed lights for the cubby compartment as well as lights for the trunk I have them working off the convenience light circuit as opposed to an actuator switch. The trunk is an ICBEAMER 12” LED light strip, I’ll attach to the bottom of the trunk chassis rail. Inside the cubby I’m going to use the FF supplied tape strip first and if it doesn’t survive, I’ll get a shorter ICBEAMER. These pictures are before final install.

[F500guy]

I think that rear cubby is pretty handy, like the door.

[Jeff_J.]

Theft deterrent.
I read forum posts and thought about this for a while before moving forward. I have a sniper EFI so I installed a sniper cutoff switch as my added theft deterrent. My sniper EFI has a pink wire which needs 12V to close a relay and allow power to the sniper. The wire is attached to the start/run pole of the ignition switch, so I incorporated a push button switch (Amazon $15.00) strategically behind the dash to interrupt the relay essentially killing the sniper and associated fuel pump from pressurising, it doesn’t stop the engine from cranking, but it won’t start. I’m thinking this will keep the kids/joy riders from taking the car, if it won’t start after taking the time & making a lot of noise, they’ll move on, professionals on the other hand will always win... Alarms and the like have been discussed to great length on the forum – and I don’t want to restart that discussion here, I say “to each their own” this was my solution for now. I tested it today and it works perfectly little added piece of mind.
195126

Rubber block to replace the FF supplied, nose support bracket. FF supplies a bracket that attaches to the chassis via the front bumper attachment plate and then into the fibreglass nose of the car by the two small screws/studs holding the signal lights to the body. There has been comment from builders and bodywork guys noting the small screws have in some cases, created stress fractures, probably from the jolting of the nose over time. Some have discarded the mounting bracket in favor of a 5/8” rubber block mounted to the top of the chassis rail at the front just before where the rail dives down to the flat bumper mounting plate.
I ordered a flat 6” x 6” x 5/8” rubber block from Metro Moulded products – and cut 2 – ¾” x 3” blocks and countersunk 2 – 10-24 x 1 5/8” long flat head tapered screws into the block, then through the chassis and attached it with washers and nylock nuts. This along with the ¾” SS bumper tubes is the support for the nose of the car. (Credit to Mr Kleiner and Miller for this mod. Mr Miller had me concerned about my temporary wooden block - it wasn't treated for termites LOL)
195127

I made door cards out of Masonite, I plan to have them covered with leather and add a pouch for misc stuff. I should have more on this later.
Still having fun!

[Jeff_J.]

Pinion Angle: When I was reading posts on this it was clear to have output and input as close to parallel as possible. The video explained the problem of not being parallel so that’s how I proceeded. After goofing around and making a wrong measurement I got this figured out. I used the Online “Spicer” calculation tool to get the angles figured out. I have a total of 4 - .25” spacers under the tranny mount totalling a lift of 1” off the “A” bracket. This yields final measurements of tranny down -1.35*, Drive S down .92* and IRS up at 1.05*. Once added into the calculator I have the Operating angle 1 at .43 and Op angle 2 at 1.97 both are within spec.

If I was to raise the tail any further the Tranny and DS numbers get worse, but the Pinion gets better. This is the trade off, I guess.

The IRS is welded to the frame and the centre section is bolted to the IRS (4 bolts – 2 upper 2 lower), it might be possible to change the angle of the centre section (pinion) by inserting a spacer on the upper two bolts thereby changing the angle to be at level or at downward slope it would be better for alignment. I may address this in the future, as for now I’m within spec and I don’t plan to autocross or race the car, if in the future the car is going to be raced, I would have a performance shop review everything just to be sure. This whole process would have been easier and less grief if done when the engine is installed. The manual doesn’t talk about pinion angle I guess it’s something you’re supposed to know… Glad to have this behind me none the less!!


Metco Safety Hoop. This is a good quality piece and fits right in easily. The hoop is a steel oval which goes around the driveshaft between the tranny output and pinion shafts, in case the drive shaft was to fail, its intended to keep the shaft inside the tunnel and guard against it piercing the tunnel and possibly hitting the driver or passenger. The hoop is a frequently installed option by builders regardless of if they are racing the car or not, its just a good idea. I installed this right after the pinion angle was set as the hoop uses two bolts on the tranny “A” bracket support as part of the attachment. I had to buy two longer tranny mount bolts 2.25” long to accommodate the pinion angle spacers and the thickness of the safety hoop.
195612

Moving to the next piece to the puzzle.

[cc2Arider]

Looks good Jeff :)

I've wondered lately (with all the "expected" spacers being added between the transmission "cross-member" and the transmission mounting tabs), why the safety loop isn't designed to go on top of the main frame crossmember tube rather than below it. If I get frisky enough to cut/bend my own 1/4" bracket, I may design mine that way ;)

Craig C

[Jeff_J.]

Hey Craig, Thanks for the comment.
I guess with the variations in builds - motor trans combinations they figured there would be less possibility of interference going underneath?? Going on top would have been easier for me and saved me a spacer. It's a nice piece though 1/4" steel and fits well. I attached the Metco install instructions in case you wanted to look them over. Good luck..
J.
195613

[BUDFIVE]

Carpet installation was next: Followed the manual for sequence, kinda. Used Super 77 adhesive, I was a little too thin on my first application, carpet didn’t stick well at all, pulled it off and gave a “thick coat” which worked much better lots of taping and had to watch for overspray onto already laid carpet – I think the troweling of Weldwood glue might have been an easier option. A lot of trimming to get it to fit exactly right on pretty much all pieces, sharp razor knife helped a lot. Cockpit is done, trunk is now complete as well. Purchased an additional yard of carpet from FF for the drop trunk and the trunk side panels I fabricated.
195060
195061
195062

After installing the carpet in the drop trunk I decided to install a trim piece to clean up the drop trunk edges. Used #6 x ¾ self tapping flathead screws and countersunk them into a 1” x 1” black aluminium moulding from HD.
195063
195064

Cubby Box. I have a heater so no glovebox. I decided to make a cubby compartment in the trunk with access through the cockpit wall, measured the gap between the seats and made the door a little narrower, started the opening 1.25” above the 2” chassis rail which lines up with the cockpit aluminium bend. I made it 6.5” tall. Cut and rivetted a reinforcement frame on the trunk side, it’s ¼” narrower than the door opening so it acts like a stop. Installed a long throw Cam lock, made, and riveted in a catching piece for the cam lock arm, carpeted the door. I’ll change the cam lock to black later.
I also made a cubby compartment inside the trunk, I haven’t attached it yet and won’t for a while, there’s not a lot of space in the trunk so if the box takes up too much space I’ll take it out.
195065
195066
195067

The journey continues.

I like the rear cubby. You said it is 6.5” tall. What is the length? Depth?

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks for the kind comments. The size changed a little. I have attached pictures with measurements of the door and the box. I haven't attached the box to the trunk or riveted it together in case I want to make any final adjustments to the size when the body goes on, I'll get it powder coated then too. I was thinking it might be a place to put a portable Blue Tooth speaker when cruising at slower speeds or stopped.
Hope this helps.
J.
195659
195660
195661
195662
195663
195664
I added this picture as it makes a difference on fit.
195690
I used my granola box to get the angle then traced it on the aluminium sheet, used my jigsaw to cut it out. I built this before the insulation and carpet was in - it makes a difference on the height of the frame channel location.. Found that out later which is why the gap there is a little larger.
The flat tab at the bottom is 1" wide - used my bending brake to do those.
J.

[Jeff_J.]

Update from earlier post.
“Heater lower vents – I mentioned in an earlier post how I didn’t like the routing for the heater lower vents. The install instructions have the ducting attached to the inside top of the footbox and the eyeball vent attached right where the door strap would be. Moving the eyeball inwards away from the strap starts to interfere with the legs/knees. I fabricated brackets which attaches the eyeballs about 1” away from the 2” chassis rail running parallel to the dash. I tapped 2- 10-32 holes in the bracket and purchased a knob for the outboard side to tighten the bracket in place. (10-32 Black plastic knobs with stud from McMaster Carr) and a 10-32 x ½” button head for the other side. The bracket allows the vent to rotate forward or backwards, I think it adds versatility for airflow and eliminates any interference with legs – knees and door strap It works fine.. I’ll install zip ties to replace the tape on final installation. “

Update: The 7/8” knobs arrived from McMaster, installed and the vents works as intended, the knob tightens and secures the desired rotation of the vent which can direct airflow towards the seats as well as into the foot boxes and are not in the way of the door strap. Still haven’t got the brackets powder coated, it’s on the list with other parts. Ducting is zip tied in its final location. Happy with the way it turned out.
195666
195667
J.

[phileas_fogg]

Hi Jeff,

Forgive me if you've already thought of this, but how are you going to bolt the roll bar leg to its post? It looks like you're going to have to drill the holes fore/aft rather than left/right, and then go in through the cubby door to secure the hardware? You might want to try fitting the nuts & bolts now while you still have the ability to move the sides.


John

[Theshandman]

Hi Ted,
I see the plate were you suggested it would be - 10359RD.
Thx
J.

Looking good there Jeff! FWIW, my frame delivered 12/15/21 is 10248.

[Jeff_J.]

Hi John, Thanks for the caution on the roll bars. Post for the roll bars and the roll bars where fitted & drilled a while ago. The cubby box is not attached yet I plan to take it out when the body goes on and the roll bars are in just to be sure I have the clearance I need.

Hey Art - my number is 10369 - delivered June /22. Thanks for the kind comment.
J.

[Jonathan D]

Nice work, enjoying the build!

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks Jonathan. Can't wait for spring!!
J.

[Jeff_J.]

Body fit issue PS rear.
I noticed when I put the body back on the car the body is higher at the corner of the PS side cockpit wall than on the DS by about ¾”. I’m seeing this looking in from the trunk. The body doesn’t have full contact with the bulb seal running along the trunk side wall for approximately 6-8 inches but there doesn’t seem to be anything on the PS cockpit corner to keep it from dropping down more. The bulb seal compacts heavily at the gas filler tube then is less compacted as it goes to the back of the car. Just to cover the bases: the body lip is under the chassis, it’s snug but it’s the same on the DS, I removed the rear bumper bolts to make sure that wasn’t the cause, the body is centred on the chassis, all the bulb seal is in place, the body is 3/16” in front of the door striker plate. The only place I can see the PS rear quarter of the body being tight on the chassis rail is where the bulb seal is compacted just across from the gas filler tube, maybe I’m pivoting the body at this point? I know there was only enough Al to get the bulb seal attached along the trunk wall, I didn’t do any trimming on this edge.
I lifted the body removed the bulb seal across the trunk wall, put the body back down, marked and trimmed any spot that was touching the top of the trunk wall and possibly holding the body up. Also took the opportunity to trim the ends of the trunk roll and valance. This task completed and body back down and the whole-body fits/aligns a better.


Trunk lid attachment to body. Not sure about rivnuts in the fibreglass holding the trunk hinges – too much focused pressure for a pressed in fastener I guess, it was starting to slide. I pulled the rivnut used HSFR and pressed it into the hole, redrilled the hole when it was dry and re inserted a rivnut. I added some large thin washers between the hinge and the body to spread the pressure – I have more confidence in it now. I’ll probably fibreglass these hinge plates in during bodywork.

Getting warmer out won't be long!!

[phileas_fogg]

How do the three aluminum panels at the back of the cockpit fit? I created an issue when I made the bends at each tab line up (rather than use the holes drilled by F5 for shipping). That made the back of my cockpit too wide for the body to fit down like it should. In addition to the fitment problem you describe at the side of the trunk, I also had a 3/4"-1" gap between the body and the passenger side rear cockpit wall.


John

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=197097&d=1710968733

[Jeff_J.]

The three panels at the back of the cockpit. I assume you mean the back wall the side piece that wraps the corner and the trunk side wall?
I dry fit and drilled these in the cockpit aluminium stage per manual, when I put the body on I found my corner piece was binding and holding the body up on the PS side only I determined it was higher by following the cockpit wall from the DS to the PS looking through the trunk. I had to trim the sloped side of the corner piece to reduce the interference on the PS only. The corner where the three meet still had a gap, that's when I lifted the body and removed the bulb seal and set the body back down on the trunk wall to see where it was contacting, i trimmed the trunk wall down in a few spots and also removed the metal channel of the bulb seal at the junction where the inner support on the trunk is (by the fuel filler tube & rear post of the PS roll bar) it doesn't mention to do this till you read in the final assembly section. I also trimmed the rear trunk valance a little more at the same time, it seemed tight and could have been restricting the body from moving forward and setting better. All of this helped to get the corner down and the body just seemed to fit better. Its not not perfect but I think additional trimming wasn't the answer. Good luck with this & keep up the great work.

[Jeff_J.]

Had a bit more shop time so time to post.

Rad Cowl: The cowl fills the gap between the top of the radiator and the front edge of the nose of the car, it restricts air from rushing overtop of the radiator and into the engine compartment and I think it finishes the look of the compartment. I took the time to apply the brushed look on the radiator and I wanted the cowl to look the same, so I made my own. I made a template out of my favorite template material (granola box), traced the shape on .40ga Al, cut it out with a jig saw and cleaned the edges then made the slight bent on the brake, to fit the angle of the radiator rail, drilled and installed it with self tappers for now I might tap some SS 10/32 button head screws or maybe SS cap head on final install. I also attached bulb seal on the inside edge against the body to make it snug. I like how it turned out.
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Picture looking up past the rad and protective screen.
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Engine level: I found out after the engine was in the chassis that the chassis mount on the drivers side was lower than the PS and even rotating the engine to it’s maximum inside the motor mount I’m still low on the drivers side.
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It’s pretty much indistinguishable when looking at the motor in the compartment but translates to a height difference at the header edges of 1.4”. The drivers side being lower. I’m not sure if I can adjust any further without abandoning the mount dowel so I’m going to live with it and see how this affects me downstream.

Side pipes: So here we are downstream. Due to the engine /header level issue noted above I have more of a complicated fit for the side pipes. I needed a little experience, so I spoke to Mark Reynolds at Breeze, a terrific resource. Ball flanges only adjust the pipe angles vertically, wedges correct pipe angles in or away from the body. Due to the Drivers side being low I needed to increase the height of the pipe within the body cutout a little which also brought the Pipe height ½” higher than chassis height. (the target height for most builds). The change in height also rotates the exit angle of the exhaust pipe a little higher, I may have to live with that for now. Passenger side is the opposite; pipe too high, angle pipe lower with ball flange, exhaust exit angle is lower. I’ve lowered the pipe as to a point of compromise. I added wedges to move the PS pipes a little further forward and inward to the body line, the Drivers side had to move back a little so same routine as above just opposite.
I’m pretty sure there’s someone with an idea on how to get the engine more level but I think I have reached a compromise here I can live with without being too creative..

Life is full or compromises...

[Jeff_J.]

Follow up; Windshield wipers install and wiper boxes. The wiper motor is better installed body off, the wiper tubing and boxes must be done body on for; the position for the holes drilled in the body for the boxes as well as the length and bend for the tubing the cable runs in. I tried bending the SS tube FF supplied for the cable but didn’t do a very good job of it so I changed to the Nicop fuel line FF supplied, I wasn’t using it anyways, it’s the same size as the SS tubing and a lot easier to bend, this tubing is pretty much invisible under the body. Hindsight being what it is the instructions should include a spacer on the bolt on the front of the wiper motor to angle it away from the firewall a little, I think it would help the install by decreasing the degree the tube has to bend. I used the FF kit supplied jig to drill the holes in the body, I ran the drill in reverse, it does minimise chipping of the fibreglass on the hole edges. Cut and flared the tubes applied lithium grease to the cable and assembled it all for install. EdwardB had replaced the angled rubber support tubes between the wiper box and inside of the body with 3/4” box tube aluminium to make the boxes more stable. I decided to do this as well, it is more solid for sure.
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I noticed on install, the angle the stem comes out of the body is important, if the stem is too low the chrome trim piece and gasket doesn’t leave you a lot of thread for the nut. I adjusted the angle on the aluminium box piece a little which adjusted angle the stem came out of the body as opposed to messing with the holes in the body.

It all snugged up great and the nut is flush with the shoulder of the stem.


Roll bar install: Not the most fun. The FF cutouts needed to be enlarged, I expected that, it took a while of removing a bit at a time but got it where it needed to be. The PS chassis post on the other hand was either a little larger or out of alignment, I used a round flapper on my drill to clear some of the spatter on the inside of the roll bar tubes but had to be a little more aggressive on the post to get it all to come together. This would have been a lot easier to deal with earlier in the build.
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Attached and this part completed.

Reading up on balancing the car - corner weights. Going to give this a try soon..

[Jeff_J.]

Vintage Air- Heater/Defrost kit. The lower vent mod I made turned out great. The Defrost vent not so good. I measured and cut the holes in the dash, the DS installed correctly the PS didn’t, the fit is too tight for the supplied metal defrost vent piece. I should have taken more time and read more on the forum about “installation issues” for this kit. It appears the supplied metal defrost vent is too short to get to the cutout overtop of the heater box without heater box interference. Not to be defeated so easy; out came the fabrication tools. I used the supplied metal vent as a guide and drafted and made my own version which I think is better than the kit supplied piece and it fits! The first picture shows the kit supplied vent to the left and my fabricated pieces on the right, mine is about 2.5” longer. I made a scale paper template and traced it onto .20ga aluminium, it’s what I had and is easy to bend, I used snips to cut the AL out and my brake to make crisp bends.
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Some of the taper cuts pictured are a bit rough I fixed them before assembly. The lower piece is slightly narrower than the top so it fits easily, but the key to making this piece work under dash is the slight bend at the hose connection end, without this bend the piece is too long to clear the PS upper chassis rail, the length helps with the hose connections. With help from my trusted assistant, fit the piece in place, marked the vent slot and screw holes, cut the slot and drilled the front hole. Last picture is the completed piece tappers replaced with rivets; I’ll drill 2nd mounting hole on final assembly.
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Another item crossed off the list and it’s getting short, should be ready to get some miles on it later in April.

Setting ride height is next..

[Jeff_J.]

Setting and Ride height
My roadster build is nearing completion, I think, at least I have not added a lot of things to the “to do” list, that’s gotta mean something.

I started reading about Setting the Ride Height, its a preliminary step to alignment, there’s always good info on the forum. These was also a video, the one I watched notes the Red Koni shocks which came with the FF kit are adjustable for rebound??? , it goes on to say, although they’re supposed to be shipped set to the softest setting, Position #1, some arrive set to pos 2 & 3????? The video shows how to check/adjust them so I won’t go into it here, from what I understand position 1 (softest setting) is where they should be if using the FF kit supplied front and rear coilover springs. Ok – wish I’d known this before assembly/installation, maybe the Koni people could include a note “to check” in the box the shock arrived in?
No point starting ride height and alignment till I have peace of mind here so off come the wheels and shocks and disassembly to confirm the rebound setting, hours later, all of them checked out to be setting #1, so that’s a good thing.
Ride Height as 4.5” in the front and 5.25” in the back, the notes say to expect a little sag after driving, I’ll recheck this after a little driving.
One less thing on the list.

[Jeff_J.]

Preliminary Wheel alignments: I plan to have a professional wheel alignment done before driving too far but figured I’d get the wheels as close as I could on my own first.
Started with a rough alignment of the rear wheels on the IRS: Ride height set for now – used the UCA and LCA adjusters to move the wheels as close as I could to the toe and camber specifications. Lots of up and down from the jack to the floor and rolling the car back and forth before remeasuring and repeating. They look pretty good to me for now till properly aligned.

The front is a lot of the same basic process: set UCA arm measurements as recommended in the book to start, set the ride height, then started fine tuning the UCA and tie rod till I achieved as close as I could to the specifications on camber and toe as per the manual.
PS Toe almost zero, Camber Negative .18.
DS Toe almost zero, Camber Negative .25.
It will be important for me to communicate the shop who does the alignment this will be a street and highway car and won’t see the track, I understand it makes a difference as to how it will be set up. I will probably take it to an autocross track in the beginning just to understand the car a little better and what to expect with the setup it has. I watched a Utube on these roadsters, what they can do and what can happen if you are not prepared, I figure a little education/experience is never a bad idea.

Lastly steering wheel to front tire alignment. After making wheel adjustments my steering wheel is now a little off from straight, it looks odd and needs to be straight. Released the jam nuts and set screws of the knuckle joints and there was just enough space to move the threaded joint from the rack – pushed the wheels so the male threaded shaft on the rack rotated a few ribs over re installed the female joint and to my surprise it all lined up correctly – no further adjustment required for now. Tightened it all back up again and called it complete.

Next on the list is finally installing the Window washer nozzle - finally an easy one...

[egchewy79]

any reason you've chosen those ride heights? most run them lower. mine's at 4" front and 4.5" rear.

[Jeff_J.]

I've read height ranges from 4 - 4.5" front and the rear 4.5 to 5". I wonder how much of a difference in ride 1/2" of height will make?? Mine are preliminary so far, I figure there will be some settling of the suspension as I drive it a bit. I'll recheck frequently and see what happens. I'd like it to be settled and set before final alignment from that I understand a change in ride height can affect alignment. I'm sure I'm not the first to wonder about parking lot speed bumps, avoid them when you can of course and take them at an angle regardless, have you had any concerns on ride height at 4"?? I've read posts were some have concern over the oil pan being a little lower than the frame rails, I guess it depends on the engine/ install and depth of the pan. I've left my BP347 as it was delivered - the rear of the pan looks like its about 1/8" lower than the rails. Makes me wonder.

[Jeff_J.]

I haven't posted an update for a while but summer shakedown complete, body off for winter so now’s the time to catch up & address my new “to do” list.

Herculiner applied; Application of heculiner to the body, splash panels, wheel wells and trunk side panels. I purchased the heculiner a while ago so I was committed to the product, afterwards I read about the very heavy odor from the product, “that’s for sure”, outdoor application or really well-ventilated space is a must. The product applied easily enough, took 7 hours before it wasn’t taky, probably because it was around 50 degrees outside, 2 coats plus a 3rd coat in the wheel wells, it was a three-day project, plus 5 days to till most of the smell was gone from the garage. There are less smelly and easier cleanup options.. Stayed 2” in from the Wheel well edges per Jeff Kleiner’s notes for paint, but little bit got past the tape and onto the face of the body, mostly came off with mineral spirits, sorry Jeff I left some for you at bodywork/paint time.
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Sidepipe sag. Many have posted on this; I did as well & got great advice on how to keep the connection to the ball joint from slipping. I changed the bolts to Grade 8 and nuts and made the brace Jeff Kleiner suggested, others have been successful with this fix so hopefully I have this solved.
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I had used self tapper screws on the left side DS footbox panel during the “shakedown” period, I knew I was going to take the body off for the winter and it would be easier to get in there in case I needed to vs. drilling out rivets and removing silicone. Nothing needed to be addressed in there, so I sealed it up.
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Ignition switch slide. Periodically the ignition switch would rotate from starting the car & I’d have to readjust it and re tighten the trim ring on the front of the dash. I purchased a ¾” I.D. external tooth washer to fit on the inside of the dash in front of the nut. Problem solved..

Fuel pickup issue: I mentioned a while ago about taking long right hand corners, the gas in the tank sloshes over to the left of the car and my engine sputters from lack of fuel.. I dropped the tank to see what was going on, process wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, there is a tray in the bottom of the tank were the pickup fits into, it has a “pretty large” hole about halfway up to allow fuel in and obviously out, too large IMHO, looks to be at least the size of a quarter. I figure the pickup wasn’t low enough in the tray, so I extended the pickup & got another ½” lower, the other thing was to be sure my fuel return nozzle fed back into the tray.

[Jeff_J.]

I've had a year to drive the Cobra in gelcoat with just some minor issues to address.
Fan relay failed: it’s the same relay as the horn beside it on the fuse panel which is convenient but still unnerving considering the important role it has. Some suggest the Bosch relay might be better quality, so I bought 2 of those. One failed. I checked with an auto electric guy, he says it’s heat that does the damage to the relay, fan running too long or too often. I checked the fan on temp setting, I think I had it coming on too early & subsequently too often. I changed the temp on to 195 deg and off at 180, so far it’s working less often which is better? I’ll order and carry a spare relay just in case.

Sniper.. My BP347 came with a Sniper 1 EFI.. I’ve had issues with it surging at idle and almost stalling, otherwise it accelerates and hold speed properly, so far, my engine tuner hasn’t figured it out. I’ve checked for air leaks and all the manifold bolts just to be sure; it appears to be and issue on the idle circuit/settings. I’ve read different reviews about the entry level Sniper EFI, hopefully this gets solved. I returned the Sniper 1 for exchange to a Sniper 2. It’s better but…

Cruise Control: Time to add a Dakota Digital cruise control module. They still offer the model with the driveshaft magnets, but Dakota Digital also has a converter unit (SBG-1) to eliminate the magnets, and use the electronic sender plug on the tremec. I ordered the hand controller as opposed to the column mounted stock, it can be installed in dash, but I chose to install it on a slide under dash. Installed the servo unit on top of the passenger footbox and ran the cable along the bottom of the firewall, fabricated a bracket and attached it to the intake just behind the sniper attached the cable with block. Had to shorten the cable/wire to make it all fit properly, used a connector tube to join the shortened cable to the throttle. Ran the electrical in conduit from the servo to the tremec in the trans tunnel and into the cockpit through the chassis harness gromet. able to, space and routing seemed to work well the parts and fabricated a hand controller slide to get the controller out of sight when not in use. (Picts below) Installed the converter on the inside top of the passenger footbox, out of the way and protected from elements. Everything works perfectly.
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Hood Scoop. It’s been a year driving the car in gelcoat, time to tackle the hood scoop. Relied on the experience and notes from the pros on the forum for preparing the scoop/predrilling the holes and locating the scoop on the hood. Cleaned up the edges of the scoop first, applied masking tape to top and bottom edges, measure and marked the hole locations, lightly centerpunched them & started with 1/16 drill bit increasing in size and checking to be sure they were in line. Done. Marked the centerline of the car (length of the hood) for future reference. Oriented the scoop on the centerline, applied painters tape measured & traced the scoop ensuring it was sitting correctly, then rechecked everything.. Re applied the scoop on the traced lines and drilled through the scoop and hood (drill in reverse minimises gel coat chipping), it’s important to have the scoop set correctly, inserted 10-32 x ¾” button head screws in the holes as they were drilled to hold position and straight.. Flipped the hood over, applied painters tape, marked 1” in from the drill holes and made a line, put the scoop on and measured back from the front opening of the scoop 3” and made a line across (some have a 2” setback or larger, personal pref), set a radius on the corners of the front of the scoop I was happy with. This is my cut line, used a Dremel cut off wheel to cut the hole and drum sander on my drill to clean up/straighten the edges. A little scary but so far so good. Applied the HSRF in the gap between the layers of hood. With the painters tape still on I held a flexible plastic lid as a backing on one side of the hood and pressed the HSRF into the gap with a putty knife and spoon on the corners, maybe there’s a better way, but this worked well considering the mess I could have made. Removed the tape and cleaned up the edges with a sanding block. Reattached the scoop to the hood with mounting screws, nylon washers and lock nuts on the inside, only tightened enough to hold the scoop in place but not mar the top of the scoop. Turned out great.

Trunk Prop Rod. Finally tired of using a piece of wood to hold up the trunk lid it was time to install a prop rod. Purchased an extending locking prop rod, good solid piece. Rod prep, I drilled out the rivets holding the brackets to the shaft, I’ll replace them with 5/16 button head screws & Lock nuts. The length of the shaft is 21” I cut the bottom shaft down by 1” and redrilled the bracket attachment hole. Positioned and marked the location of the brackets on the lid and body. The trunk body lip is angled upwards and tapers outboard a little I bent the body bracket inwards from say 90 deg to around 110 and positioned the bracket to point inboard a little to be more in line with the lid/bracket, the lid bracket will be on the raised rib. I bent the lid bracket outwards from 90 deg to about 80 deg to have better alignment of the shaft. Drilled the bracket holes in the lid. I relied on the experience of Edward B here and cut a piece of mild steel 1/8” x ¾” x 2.25” long and tapped 2 – 14-20 holes to be used as a backing support on the inside of the lid. Used a coat hanger and double-sided tape and fished the bracket into place through the access hole, was easier than I figured it would be. The bracket/lid holes are a little larger than the tapped holes, it allows for a minor alignment adjustment in final attachment. Attached the bracket and shaft to the lid and confirmed the attachment point of the body bracket then drilled and counter sunk 2 holes for 10-32 screws and lock nuts. Reconnected the shaft to the upper and lower brackets aligned and tightened the brackets, cut the bottom of the weather seal to accommodate the body bracket. Done and works fine.
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