Josh's Orlando Mk4 Build

[bartock]

Hi all, my name is Josh and been looking into these for quite a while. In March I finally took the plunge and ordered a Mk4 Roadster complete kit. My completion date was May 11, delivered May 21st and I have been able to make good progress so far I think. Working out of a 2 car garage filled with other stuff has been a challenge, but having the chassis on a dolly has been a real help.

So for the first challenge was getting the kit delivered. I live in the back end of a neighborhood with many tight turns. Luckily the driver for Stewart was able to get close enough to load the chassis onto my dolly and help push it through the neighborhood to my house! I had to make 3 runs in my truck to get all the boxes from his truck to the house but it all went in nicely. I had made the dolly and body buck ahead of time so it was all ready.

I can only work for a little while each time because the heat is killer in central FL and I am burning out (literally) faster than I expected.

So for starters, here is what I am going with....
MK4 Complete Kit
2015 IRS Suspension with a 2018 pulled 8.8 center and stock Mustang spindles and brakes
Gen 1 Coyote, pulled with PATS delete on stock PCM with all wiring
Driver and Passenger black rollbars
TKX transmission with Quick Time 6080 bellhousing
FF Metals Large Wheel F panels and Firewall Forward
North Racecar AC
Breeze front battery tray and in tank fuel pump/high flow return
17x9 front wheels and 17x10.5 rear with 275s on the front and 315s on the rear.201214201215201216201217

[cv2065]

Welcome Josh! I’m in the Winter Garden area. If you ever need a hand or just want to talk about the build, just let me know. Look forward to your build thread.

[65 Cobra Dude]

Welcome to the madness! I' in Port Charlotte and am a pro builder. I always have at least 2 roadsters to see if you need some eye candy to keep you going.

Henry

[bartock]

My backorder list consisted of the power steering rack, Koni shocks and bushings for the rear differential. Seeing as the suspension is one of the earlier steps I was concerned but found the right bushings to just go ahead and order. They are from Energy Suspension and was easy enough to find online. Energy Suspension- 4.2132G were the ones for the rear mounting. That way I could get the rear differential in at least. The F panels came super fast and look really nice. I had to buy new front upper ball joints, as the ones provided would not thread all the way no matter what I tried. I stripped the paint from the threads with a wire wheel, tried to lube it...nothing. I found the Moog k772 fit nicely though and were not expensive.

The front control arms went in smoothly as did the rear. For the rear 8.8 I had to use a jack to lift it, but using ratchet straps on the front to lift and stabilize really helped get it into position. It would have been easier with another person, but going back and forth between jacking it up, and tightening the straps worked well and didnt take too long.

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[bartock]

When the power steering rack came one of the lines was cracked at the fitting! Luckily customer support is top notch and sent me a new line to replace it so I could keep going. I managed to get the rack on, the brake lines ran, and fuel tank installed. For the brake lines, I ran the front to the left wheel, down the X member and back up and to the right wheel. For the rear, I ran the line down the inside of the footbox, notched the front and bottom panel then ran it down the 4in tube.

Luckily there is so much good info on the forums that I figured out what mods I wanted to do before I got too deep in. Installing the Breeze high flow return and in tank pump on a fresh tank made things easy. To mitigate metal shavings I coated a paper towel in grease, stuck in on a yard stick and ran it into the opening for the fuel filler so it would sit just below where I needed to drill.

For the battery box, if I had ran the brake lines as depicted in the manual it would have interfered so going on the X keeps them out of the way with no interference.

I went with one of the GM fuel regulator/filters since I am running a Coyote and seems like it will work well. I am running 3/8 braided flex line down the passenger side to the front.

For the Ebrake, I am just going to keep it in the stock position. The kit didnt come with cables so I found the universal Wilwood ones with the Lokar fitting to lock the cables. It looks like they wont bind if I run them over the tube instead of under, and I had to cut the sheathing anyway. I have a pulley just in case, so will have to test it out.

Next steps are dealing with the aluminum panels. I will leave most of them as is, but any that can be seen I am coating with self etching primer and black chassis paint. When it dries it is super hard and durable so pretty happy with it so far. Any panel that cant be seen, I wont worry about.201222201223201224

[bartock]

Thanks will take a look!

[bartock]

Appreciate it! Be careful, I may take you up on that offer when it comes time for the wire diet and engine install :p

[CraigS]

Welcome! Unfortunately I don't see a window in you garage but not to worry. I cut a hole in my garage wall sized to fit a window AC unit. A window AC will cool it down if you fire it up 20 min ahead of time. Since mine is in the front right corner I also have a pedestal fan to help move the cool air if I happen to be in the left rear. As you know humidity is the killer, so you don't need to get the garage to 72F. 80F, reduced humidity, and moving air makes all the difference.

[bartock]

Welcome! Unfortunately I don't see a window in you garage but not to worry. I cut a hole in my garage wall sized to fit a window AC unit. A window AC will cool it down if you fire it up 20 min ahead of time. Since mine is in the front right corner I also have a pedestal fan to help move the cool air if I happen to be in the left rear. As you know humidity is the killer, so you don't need to get the garage to 72F. 80F, reduced humidity, and moving air makes all the difference.

I have a large industrial fan, and it helps. It has been averaging over 95 with 65% humidity in there. I just sprung for a 14000btu portable ac unit so that should help a lot.

[bartock]

Stiill making some progress, but fighting the heat. I completed a major milestone today and got the engine dropped! I still need to attach the headers but thats a battle for another day. The coyote headers that came with the kit cant be attached ahead of time. I did as much prep work to the engine while it was out as I could and got the moroso oil pan, krc power steering pump and went ahead and changed the spark plugs and injectors.

Now for the "I wish I had known these things before!" section.

I had mounted the reservoirs for the brakes and hydraulic clutch along the 3/4" tube. Well the engine wouldnt clear the the clutch reservoir so had to pull it off. No biggie.
I prefilled the transmission before dropping it in. I figured the plug at the back would be sufficient to hold the fluid in....it was not. I will just need to add about another liter to top it back off.
The one ton hoist I have from harborfrieght was not long enough. I had it before I got the kit and figured it would reach. Unfortunately the cylinder contacts the upper radiator bar and left me about 2 inches too short from reaching the motor mounts. Rather than buying/renting a 2 ton, I just cut the bar to let the hoist come closer and that did the trick. I didnt have room to come at it from the side, and it will be easy to fix that part after I am sure its all done.
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I spent way too much time trying to get the hydraulic throw out bearing centered in the bellhousing while sliding the transmission in. after at least 2 hours of frustration I remembered that the MT82 had an integral bellhousing so just took off the quicktime from the engine, put it on the transmission and installed it all that way. Also the hydraulic throw out bearing didnt have enough spacers to get the air gap right, so I used 2 different sized hole saws to make my own. I cut them out, contoured them on my anvil and now its all perfect. If I had more time I would have just ordered a set of extra spacers before I started. but know I know!

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I already have the original computer from the pulled engine with the PATS deleted. It came with all the wiring harnesses but rather than try and diet the body harness I just went with a power by the hour one. I think it will look alot cleaner and the pcm fusebox is alot smaller.

Hopefully by next week I will get it running and ready to go cart!
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