Day 1! Unloaded into Garage. Rookie Questions.

[CptMorgan]

Kids and I picked up our new kit from Stewart Transport at a truck stop in Washington State yesterday. Got it across the border with no problems (just a ton of taxes). Into the garage a few hours later.

Two rookie questions:
1) I have the packing slip and the list of short-shipped parts. Is there supposed to be any other paperwork? I don't see a build manual . Do I print the manual of the FFR website? Rev "4X"?

2) Can anyone send me a link or plans for a simple Body Buck? All the links I've found are dead.

Stewart Transport: Awesome crew to work with. The driver was great.

I built "Chris's Chassis Dolly". We dropped the car from the delivery truck directly onto the Dolly, sitting on my trailer. Perfect fit! Chris, I owe you a case of beer!


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[JeffP]

A book should be in one of the boxes but if you have access to the PDF its nice too because its in color. There are plans for a buck in the back of the build manual.

[jeskam]

Mine was in box #46 which happened to be the last and highest numbered box. I believe its in box 2 if they have them when they first pack your kit.. last box when they do their final check before it goes out the door.

[toadster]

here's a body buck build, you can find more just googling ;)
the one I got was similar to this one, it's nice because you can mount the body and store your boxes underneath

https://65shlb.com/support-equipment-tools/body-buck/
https://cobradreams.com/2020/02/25/the-body-has-been-removed-and-ready-for-work/ <- see my body buck setup

also - check the local forums, I paid my buck forward like the prior owner, I think it's on it's 5th recipient now :)

as for the manual, I opted for the PDF version, mounted a mini PC in the garage behind a monitor and I can pull up /search for anything very quickly!

this little guy for $129 would work great :)
Beelink Mini PC, Intel 12th Gen (up to 3.4GHz), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, USB3.2, WiFi 5 Bluetooth 4.2 for Home/Office (https://amzn.to/3SbibV1)

[gbranham]

Also, your 45-ish page inventory sheets...scan them in as a PDF, and OCR it, so you can search for stuff. Makes it much easier to find things!

[toadster]

Also, your 45-ish page inventory sheets...scan them in as a PDF, and OCR it, so you can search for stuff. Makes it much easier to find things!

+1 on this too!!!

[JimStone]

Congratulations on receiving your kit!

[CptMorgan]

Nope. No manual or book. Not in the first or last box. Not listed on the inventory sheet either. (pdf scan too). I'll print it at the office this week. Old laptop or tablet in the garage is a great idea too.

Thanks toadster for the body buck link.

[Theshandman]

My manual was actually on the original POL. Took a week or so to get a box containing a bunch of POL parts plus the manual.

[BRRT]

If you are planning on printing the PDF, look for version 5G, the latest. My kit arrived the end of August, and it was about 3 weeks before the printed manual appeared.

[BRRT]

My body buck, suspended from the ceiling on a couple low cost chain hoists. I agonized over it.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=189109&d=1692561726

With the body, hood, doors, trunklid and a few boxes. Later most of the aluminum went up there. It takes just a few minutes to raise/lower down by myself.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=189601&d=1693536318

[Jeff_J.]

I started reading and following the paper manual but found I was using the online manual more often so I took the laptop to the garage with me. the nice thing about the online version is that you can magnify the pages to see stuff closer, I found that helpful. Hindsight being what it is I should have used one of the old 19" monitors and connected it to the laptop. doing a "very accurate" inventory is important - even though parts for the same assembly were in separate boxes I left it that way so I could keep the manifest the same as received. It was a little cumbersome this way but at least I knew where to find stuff.
Happy building..