Pat's MK4 Build Thread - Dash and Behind the Dash Wiring

[PMD24]

Running a little late on starting my build thread. I was too anxious to get started on the project so doing this got put off. Kit arrived 10/31/24 by Stewart Transport. The driver, Mark, was great. A couple neighbors showed up when they saw the truck, my 4-year-old granddaughter helped, and we had the kit unloaded in no time. I built a chassis dolly based on various designs I saw on the forum, so we put the chassis/body directly on the dolly from the truck. Driveway to the shop is stone, maybe 120ft or so. The wheels I used on the dolly didn't work so well on the stone, but we managed to get it inside with no issues.

I did my dolly a bit different. I chose to not notch the bottom 4x4, used fir 4x4's instead of pressure treated, and joined them with timber screws instead of threaded rod, which also eliminated the drilling. It boiled down to buying the timber screws, (2)8ft 4x4's (cut in half), and the casters. I had scrap wood around for the 60" piece, 2x4's on top and bottom, and the plywood bracing. A few photos are below. If anyone wants more info, let me know.

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[PMD24]

Also have to show off my "Retirement Shop". Fully retired in May of this year, and in anticipation of that started this project two years ago so I'd have a heated space for winter projects. Started with an existing metal sided, metal roof pole barn. Tore off siding and roof, put on a 22x48 addition, and resided and reroofed all. Radiant slab in the addition. Hired out framing and roofing but did pretty much everything else myself. Took two years, but really happy with the outcome. Still have some finish work and minor electrical to do.

Before:
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After:
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Interior:
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[PMD24]

Build components (so far): MK4 complete kit, Blueprint 347, steel bellhousing, TKX, hydraulic clutch and TO bearing, IRS, 3.55 center section, touring shocks, 17" wheels, 11.65 brakes, manual steering, heater/defroster kit, seat track kit, wiper kit, vintage gauge set, FF Metal Firewall Forward, Gas-N headers and sidepipes. Planning to add Breeze battery box and various radiator components, driveshaft safety loop, possibly seat mount. Any other recommendations would be appreciated. Didn't do struts for trunk. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well.

[Mike.Bray]

Build components (so far): MK4 complete kit, Blueprint 347, steel bellhousing, TKX, hydraulic clutch and TO bearing, IRS, 3.55 center section, touring shocks, 17" wheels, 11.65 brakes, manual steering, heater/defroster kit, seat track kit, wiper kit, vintage gauge set, FF Metal Firewall Forward, Gas-N headers and sidepipes. Planning to add Breeze battery box and various radiator components, driveshaft safety loop, possibly seat mount. Any other recommendations would be appreciated. Didn't do struts for trunk. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well.

Nice build. You should really rethink the manual steering, I was going to go that route but this forum convinced me otherwise. I am soooo glad I went with PS, not only the ease of steering but the increased stability from running more caster. Trust me, you will love it.

I have the trunk struts and love them. Best $50 I spent on this car.

[PNWTim]

That's a great remodel on your shop! I look forward to following your build.

[PMD24]

Completed inventory. Only a few fasteners missing. Plus, a seat track was in the hood hinge box instead of the hinge kit. FFR made everything right very quickly. Only backorder item is the roll bar. Front suspension and brakes are now complete. Despite reading the manual multiple times I ran into issues in a couple of areas. The forum saved me on both counts, but only after spinning my wheels for hours trying to figure out why I couldn't assemble things the way the manual described. My learning from this is that the manual is good, but the forum is better. Read the manual (over and over), but more important, read in the forum before tackling each subassembly.

1) Lower control arm washers. Past forum posts suggested using threaded rod/nuts to adjust frame mounts to get all washers in, one in each instead of two, one in one side and none in the other, none at all, etc. Since welding heat is the likely cause of the differences in the mounts, and there's no way to know which mounts are exactly where they should be, I chose to skip the bending and make both sides the same at one of the washer locations. For the remaining points, washers were added if they fit and left out if they didn't, and I moved on. Hope my approach is ok. Comments welcome.

2) Upper control arm adjusting sleeves. After assembling and disassembling multiple times trying to figure out why I couldn't get close to the rear dimensions in the manual I again turned to the forum and got my answer quickly. Trim the adjusters. Did that and everything worked. Sought out help from FFR techs and the forum on rough alignment dimensions for manual steering. Big thanks to CraigS, Jeff Kleiner, and others for their input and patience as I worked through that. Spent way more time on it than expected but learned a lot. Thinking seriously about investing in some alignment tools. Interesting stuff.

3) Spindles - had to use the double wrench guesstimate method for torquing the upper castle nuts. Also had to add a hardened washer under the upper nut to get better engagement on the cotter pin.

4) F-panels - had to trim the front tip on DS panel and not use screw holes for initial alignment. 3/4" difference from PS

5) Brakes - all went fine there. If someone figured out a better system for those cheesey slider clips used on all brakes, they'd be rich.

6) Hubs - closest loaner 1/2 torque wrench was 35 min away. That was enough of excuse to buy one!

Greased all fittings. On to the IRS

[PMD24]

Nice build. You should really rethink the manual steering, I was going to go that route but this forum convinced me otherwise. I am soooo glad I went with PS, not only the ease of steering but the increased stability from running more caster. Trust me, you will love it.

I have the trunk struts and love them. Best $50 I spent on this car.

Thanks Mike. Will take another look at the struts and do more homework on the power steering. I'm through the front suspension and brakes so wondering if I make that switch now, will there be any rework on what I've done. Also, I just went back to the order form to check out cost. It only refers to $299 for the power steering pump and bracket. Does that mean the manual rack that have is still used and is piped for power?

[Rebostar]

Looks like your gonna have a great car. I would like to ditto what Mike said. After ordering the manual steering I was convinced (by folks here) to upgrade to power steering. As I had already ordered the kit with manual rack and a friend not far from me showed me his Electrical Power Steering installation, thats what I went with. So if you dont want to upgrade to a Power Rack, look into some sort of E-Power Steering. The extra 3.5 degrees of castor is going to help a lot!
Looking forward to following your build....pics please :cool:

[gbranham]

If you've trimmed the UCA adjusting sleeves, you're ready for power steering. Those sleeves really only need to be trimmed if you're going with power steering, as you can dial in more caster with them modified. FWIW, my first build, a MkIII with a warmed-over 302 had manual steering. It was fine once you got rolling, but at slow speeds, parking, backing out of parking spots, etc, the manual steering took some effort.

Greg

[PMD24]

Thanks to all for the input on power steering. I'll be digging into that tomorrow with FFR and Blueprint. I'm hoping I can do some swapping since none of the steering components have been installed yet. Will send an update when I learn more. Will also add the trunk struts that Mike Bray encouraged.

Now that I'm getting this build thread caught up with where I am on the build, I'll start to post some pics as things progress.

[PMD24]

In the forum almost daily reading about various things I'm facing soon. Somewhere along the line I came across a thread where Jeff Kleiner recommended sway bars to someone who was doing the IRS and touring shocks like my build. My recall is that, even if my plan is entirely street driving, the sway bars will help significantly with roll when cornering. As best I can tell from reading in the forum, I can still easily do that add on the front (suspension and brakes are complete). Is that correct?

On the rear, I'm planning to start the IRS tomorrow, so I'm wondering if there's anything I need to hold off on there if I'm going to add the rear sway bar.

Thanks,

Pat

[AndrewIdaho]

Hi Pat,

Like you I read the the forum daily to learn what I may be facing as I progress my slow build (MK 4 delivered late July). Also I am not sure if I will need sway bars or not. My reading leads me to believe that the front sway bar kit can be added later relatively easily. The rear sway bar, on the other hand, would require disassembly of the rear IRS suspension to add the the sway bar mounting brackets. Since I have not installed the IRS yet, and following the advice of Paul (edwardb) to add the brackets while doing initial install, I contacted Factory Five and ordered the rear sway bar mounting bracket and longer toe link bolts for about $65 shipped. I received them quite quickly and the brackets are in the items to be powder coated.

Best Regards, Andrew
ps parts ordered:

PN Description Qty
15997 16000-Left Side Swaybar Mount 1
15997 16001-Right Side Swaybar Mount 1
HHBOLT 0.625-11x2.5x1.25-N 5/8 x2.5” Toe Link Bolt 2

[Blitzboy54]

Hello and welcome aboard! What a shop. I live in the Albany area and I am originally from Buffalo.

Reach out anytime and good luck

Go Bills.

[PMD24]

Hi Pat,

Like you I read the the forum daily to learn what I may be facing as I progress my slow build (MK 4 delivered late July). Also I am not sure if I will need sway bars or not. My reading leads me to believe that the front sway bar kit can be added later relatively easily. The rear sway bar, on the other hand, would require disassembly of the rear IRS suspension to add the the sway bar mounting brackets. Since I have not installed the IRS yet, and following the advice of Paul (edwardb) to add the brackets while doing initial install, I contacted Factory Five and ordered the rear sway bar mounting bracket and longer toe link bolts for about $65 shipped. I received them quite quickly and the brackets are in the items to be powder coated.

Best Regards, Andrew
ps parts ordered:

PN Description Qty
15997 16000-Left Side Swaybar Mount 1
15997 16001-Right Side Swaybar Mount 1
HHBOLT 0.625-11x2.5x1.25-N 5/8 x2.5” Toe Link Bolt 2

Thanks for the details Andrew. Will be speaking FFR today and I the very least will order the brackets and bolts.

[PMD24]

Looked forward to diving into the IRS this morning. After 2 hours I had one wheel stud installed and its crooked. Used a Lisle wheel stud installer and an impact wrench. The nut and stud galled. Took over an hour to clean up the threads. Now I'm noticing that visually the stud doesn't look perpendicular to the hub face and on the back side it appears to reflect the same thing. Visually it looks like the inner edge of the head is not seated as close as the outer. I can get a 0.010 feeler gauge under the outer edge and a 0.026 under the inner edge. The installer also marked up the face of the hub.

I also went through the FFR studs and lug nuts and after trying multiple combinations I can't get a single nut and stud to thread together by hand. Studs have tiny dings on threads, apparently from rattling around together in the Dorman box with no packing material. The nuts have specs of what looks like plating slag in the threads. So, several questions:

> I bought the installer based on recommendations from the forum but the one stud didn't go in as easily as anticipated, threads got damaged, and I think it's crooked. Was that a fluke? Should I keep going?
> Do I need to remove the one stud? I tried to pound that one edge into place from the back side, but no luck. If I remove it, can it be reinstalled or do I need to find new.
> Should I be purchasing better quality studs and nuts? Or is trying to chase these with one another acceptable? If the recommendation is to buy better quality, what brands are good quality?

Thanks,

Pat

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[PMD24]

Chased all the studs and nuts and cleaned up all the threads last night. All set with those now. Pulled a second stud into the hub using a breaker bar instead of the impact wrench. Also put a hardened washer under the Lisle tool. Using the washer did prevent the lip on the Lisle installer tool from digging into the hub, and the stud went in well this time. Much better control using the breaker bar. But, I couldn't get it 100% seated. Biggest problem is holding the hub from twisting. So, I dropped off the hubs and studs at a local garage to press the new studs in for me. They will also seat the two that I did.

Great sale at Harbor Freight for Black Friday. Picked up a shop hoist today. Didn't have one and have many other uses for it. Planned on this purchase for engine install but decided to grab it now because I'm planning to use it for a solo install on the differential. Saw posts on that this week (edwardb as I recall).

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Drilled out rear spindles. Used a low cost 5/8 reamer from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D89TZK1Z?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 Worked really well on the aluminum using low speed. Hopefully it will work well on the steel front mount holes of the center section.

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[Mike.Bray]

If you ever pull the engine out with the body on you'll need to make an extension for the HF 2T hoist from 2" x 2" x 1/4" x 36" RHS. Don't ask me how I know:)

[PMD24]

If you ever pull the engine out with the body on you'll need to make an extension for the HF 2T hoist from 2" x 2" x 1/4" x 36" RHS. Don't ask me how I know:)

Thanks. Good to know. Hopefully I won't be facing that!

[PMD24]

Spoke with Factory Five tech regarding the switch to power steering and adding the sway bars. Both easily doable at this stage, and I can return the manual rack so the cost on the steering upgrade is very reasonable. Directed me to send email to sales to get details on return and place orders for both sway bars and power steering. Awaiting response.

Reamer worked great on front mounts of center section. Working solo so I cut off the side of the box and slid the center section out still resting in the foam shipping base. Tipped one side up and slid a Harbor Freight furniture dolly under it. Propped each side up with a piece of 2x4 and reamed both holes in a matter of a few minutes. Planning to roll this under the frame and use the solo lifting method in edwardb's 25th anniversary build thread.

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[Mike.Bray]

You will be so glad you went with the power steering. I know I am.

[luey2011]

Hi Pat,

im in greece. I have a mK 4 and am building a Gen 3 coupe right now. I think you met my buddy Eric.

Pm me if you want to get together and talk about your car!

Andy

[PMD24]

You will be so glad you went with the power steering. I know I am.

Thanks Mike. Read through your entire build thread yesterday. So impressed. I took lots of notes and bookmarked many of the links you provided. Thank you for sharing all of the detail.

The more I get into this project, the more I wish I had been exposed to car stuff when I was young. In particular, it would be awesome to have the engine knowledge. One question on the power steering... Can you tell me more about the Breeze centering kit. I'm sure other rookies would be interested as well.

Thanks,

Pat

[PMD24]

Hi Pat,

im in greece. I have a mK 4 and am building a Gen 3 coupe right now. I think you met my buddy Eric.

Pm me if you want to get together and talk about your car!

Andy

Hi Andy, yes I recall your name from my meet with Eric. Will definitely reach out. Happy Thanksgiving!

Pat

[Mike.Bray]

Thanks Mike. Read through your entire build thread yesterday. So impressed. I took lots of notes and bookmarked many of the links you provided. Thank you for sharing all of the detail.

The more I get into this project, the more I wish I had been exposed to car stuff when I was young. In particular, it would be awesome to have the engine knowledge. One question on the power steering... Can you tell me more about the Breeze centering kit. I'm sure other rookies would be interested as well.

Thanks,

Pat

The Breeze kit replaces the rubber bushings in the rack mount with machined pieces of aluminum that have the hole off center. Turning them moves the rack one direction or the other to get it precisely centered. Helps to eliminate bump steer.

https://breezeautomotive.com/shop/offset-rack-mounting-kit-for-ffr-roadster-and-coupe/

[jengum]

My complete MK4 kit arrived on Halloween around 10AM the same day as yours. Mark said he had one more stop in NY before heading to Ohio, that was you in Spencerport. Mark was great and helped with getting everything in the garage. I just finished up with inventory and got the body hung from my garage ceiling and staged all my components in the loft above my garage. I'm from the Buffalo area and now residing in Capital District. Trying to figure out how to update my profile but I think I know who to PM. Best wishes with your build...Jen.

[PMD24]

The Breeze kit replaces the rubber bushings in the rack mount with machined pieces of aluminum that have the hole off center. Turning them moves the rack one direction or the other to get it precisely centered. Helps to eliminate bump steer.

https://breezeautomotive.com/shop/offset-rack-mounting-kit-for-ffr-roadster-and-coupe/

Thanks Mike. Will check it out further. No word back from FFR sales on the steering change. Will check in with them again on Monday.

[PMD24]

My complete MK4 kit arrived on Halloween around 10AM the same day as yours. Mark said he had one more stop in NY before heading to Ohio, that was you in Spencerport. Mark was great and helped with getting everything in the garage. I just finished up with inventory and got the body hung from my garage ceiling and staged all my components in the loft above my garage. I'm from the Buffalo area and now residing in Capital District. Trying to figure out how to update my profile but I think I know who to PM. Best wishes with your build...Jen.

Thank you. Same to you. Let me know if you plan to do a build thread and I'll follow along. Also, if you are ever in the area and want to stop in and compare what we are doing/not doing, please reach out. I'm pretty sure that once you've hit 20 posts, you'll be able to edit your profile.

[PMD24]

Power Steering Upgrade Question - spoke with FFR this morning and the recommendation on the upgrade is to buy from local auto parts for lower cost, no shipping, and no return shipping on the manual rack. They said to ask for an 87-93brack plus the line kit. FFR price is $299, but for that price the manual rack needs to be returned (no credit) because it's part of the complete kit. So rough cost will total out around $400.

Started at NAPA. They were $131 plus $86 core and couldn't provide any info on the line kit. There were also questions on length, 1 vs 2 pc mounting bushings, and rod ends.

Went to Advance Auto - $156 plus $105 for Cardone "performance", $129 plus $105 for Cardone "standard", performance vs standard were different lengths. $73 for pump to gear line. Hose-type return.

O'Reily details below:

MasterPro 101-0106 $107 plus $20 core = $127
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime Warranty
• Unit of Measure: Each
• UPC: # 884548879966
• Hardware Included: Yes
• New Or Remanufactured: Remanufactured
• Rack Length (in): 45-1/4 Inch
• Total Turns Lock To Lock: 3 Turn
• Input Shaft Diameter (in): 3/4 Inch
• Number Of Mounting Holes: 2
• Gasket Or Seal Included: Yes
• Outer Tie Rods Included: No
• Distance Between Mounting Holes (mm): 393mm
• Input Shaft Diameter (mm): 18mm
• Input Shaft Length (mm): 60mm
• Pressure Port Thread Size: 9/16-18 Inch
• Rack Length (mm): 1149mm
• Inner Tie Rods Included: Yes

MasterPro 101-0107 $124 plus $105 core = $229
• Unit of Measure: Each
• UPC: # 60199212868
• Hardware Included: No
• New Or Remanufactured: Remanufactured
• Total Turns Lock To Lock: 3 Turn
• Number Of Mounting Holes: 2
• Weight: 14.79 Lbs.
• Outer Tie Rods Included: No
• Distance Between Mounting Holes (mm): 393mm
• Input Shaft Diameter (mm): 19mm
• Input Shaft Length (mm): 50mm
• Pressure Port Thread Size: 9/16-18 Inch
• Rack Length (mm): 1143mm
• Return Port Thread Size: 5/8-18 Inch
• Inner Tie Rods Included: Yes
• Hydraulic Or Electric: Hydraulic
• Mounting Bushings Included: Yes

Would appreciate any input or guidance anyone has to offer, any good or bad experience with any of the above aftermarket products, need for extenders, etc. There's also the option to pay the premium to get the complete power setup from FFR and return the manual rack.

Thanks,

Pat

[PMD24]

Made the decision to purchase the power steering kit from FFR. Once I factored in the lines, extenders, adapter, etc, it wasn't much more cost and I'll know that I have everything I need for my first time through that. Also ordered the Breeze centering kit that Mike Bray recommended. Got that yesterday. New rack should be here tomorrow. Did a lot of reading on manual vs power and like most things, there are differences of opinion. But it seemed like everyone who upgraded to power was glad they did it. Hopefully I'll be in that same camp.

Also added the power steering pump to the Blueprint order. My engine build hasn't even started yet so there was nothing involved in adding that... except $$$.

[PMD24]

I've made some decent progress over the last couple of weeks. Haven't kept up with the updates here because I always pick working on the car versus the computer. Anyway, I'll get caught up with updates on my progress. The updates here probably won't be the same as how things progressed.

I started to research sway bars after reading Jeff Kleiner's recommendation to install them if using the FFR touring suspension, which I have. Seems there's lots of differing opinions on this topic but ultimately, I decided to add the sway bars. Ordered them from FFR along with the power steering rack and the trunk struts suggested by Mike Bray.

Bought this awesome little vintage power hacksaw at an auction a year or so ago. The fella selling it was there, elderly, probably late 80's. He was a machinist and restoring this saw was the first retirement project he did in his home shop. It's an amazing piece of equipment, raising the saw blade on each return stroke and using a set of double tooth cogs to incrementally lower the blade to maintain cutting pressure.

Used it for the first time to trim the front UCA adjustment sleeves.

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[danmas]

That looks amazing. I love tools. Was it fun to use?

[Mike.Bray]

I remember my father having a powered hacksaw although it wasn't as heavy duty as yours. He used the hell out of it.

[Rebostar]

I love that saw. Where can I find one!! I hit all the auto swap meets looking for cool old tools. Great score! I ended up with the Harbor Frieght power saw. Local pick up. Northern Tool "Klutch" saw was the same as the HF except white paint and added shipping.

[PMD24]

That looks amazing. I love tools. Was it fun to use?

It's something else to watch it do its thing. Lifts the blade on the return stroke, automatically adjusts as the cut is made to maintain pressure on the cutting stroke, and stops the cut when complete. I'm reading about posting videos here and will post one of it working.

[PMD24]

I remember my father having a powered hacksaw although it wasn't as heavy duty as yours. He used the hell out of it.

Since I picked this up at auction I've been focused on building my shop so this is the first that I've used it. I also used it to trim the rear IRS spindle. It's definitely going to be a go-to for all metal cutting. One thing I really like about it, is how small it is. Yet, it can cut up to 6" x 6"!

[PMD24]

I love that saw. Where can I find one!! I hit all the auto swap meets looking for cool old tools. Great score! I ended up with the Harbor Frieght power saw. Local pick up. Northern Tool "Klutch" saw was the same as the HF except white paint and added shipping.

Thanks. It's definitely an old treasure. Not sure that you can find one. Maybe try the machinery restoration groups and sites. I was just fortunate to stumble on to it at a small online auction that was nearby. Most all auctions are now online (HiBid, Level, etc) Problem is this thing would be a fortune to ship. Even though it's quite small, it's way heavier than it looks. I think it's going to be a tough search. It was patented in the 1914 timeframe and introduced in 1922.

Check back. I'm going to try to post a video of it working on the IRS cuts.

[gbranham]

The Breeze kit replaces the rubber bushings in the rack mount with machined pieces of aluminum that have the hole off center. Turning them moves the rack one direction or the other to get it precisely centered. Helps to eliminate bump steer.

https://breezeautomotive.com/shop/offset-rack-mounting-kit-for-ffr-roadster-and-coupe/

I thought this kit was really only needed on pre-MkIV frames. Maybe I'm wrong.

[PMD24]

Attempting to paste a video of the 102 year old hacksaw in action on the UCA adjusting sleeve.


https://youtube.com/watch/HAexjUtgSC0

Ok, so I made the "watch" change to the URL, but it still posts as a link. Trying again:


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HAexjUtgSC0

[PMD24]

Trying again using the instructions posted by Blitzboy54 on 9/15/24


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAexjUtgSC0

[PMD24]

Thanks for the patience with my figuring out how to embed videos. Thank you to Blitzboy54 for the instructions posted in the forum. Here's another video of the Racine Junior tackling the ear on the IRS spindle.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLI-94oZx4

[PMD24]

I thought this kit was really only needed on pre-MkIV frames. Maybe I'm wrong.

I went back and read the description on the Breeze site and it indicates that it does apply to the MK4. I've noticed with some of their other items they have called it out when it only applies to earlier models. Hopefully Mike will provide his thoughts on your question. Thanks for asking.

[danmas]

The video is marked private…

[PMD24]

The video is marked private…

Thanks for letting me know. Should be public. Will check it out.

Update: just checked YouTube and both videos are public. First time using YT so I don't know what else to check.

[edwardb]

I went back and read the description on the Breeze site and it indicates that it does apply to the MK4. I've noticed with some of their other items they have called it out when it only applies to earlier models. Hopefully Mike will provide his thoughts on your question. Thanks for asking.

I installed the Breeze parts on a Mk3.1 (needed) and on my first Mk4. I wasn't sure they were needed as the centering adjustment put them exactly centered. I didn't install them on my 20th Anniversary Mk4 or the Gen 3 Coupe. No issues and the rack centered perfectly in both cases and both driven a lot of miles. IMO this is one of those mods FF has addressed. Installing them doesn't hurt anything but not sure how it helps.

[PMD24]

I installed the Breeze parts on a Mk3.1 (needed) and on my first Mk4. I wasn't sure they were needed as the centering adjustment put them exactly centered. I didn't install them on my 20th Anniversary Mk4 or the Gen 3 Coupe. No issues and the rack centered perfectly in both cases and both driven a lot of miles. IMO this is one of those mods FF has addressed. Installing them doesn't hurt anything but not sure how it helps.

Thanks. Since I have the part I'll install it. When I do my next build :) I'll consider skipping it.

[PMD24]

I now have the front and rear sway bars and new power steering rack so back to the front suspension to make a few changes.
> Powder coated the bushing mounting clips for the front sway bar. Installed the bar and re-torqued the lower shock mount bolts. Left the sway bar heim joint bolt just snug for now. Will check the sway bar angle with the car on the ground, make any needed adjustments, and then torque that bolt.
> Disassembled the UCA adjustment sleeves, added some anti-seize, and reset the dimensions per Jeff Kleiner's zerk-to-zerk for power steering; 9.75" front, 8.5" rear. Left pivot bolts just snug for now. Will torque after final alignment.
> Double checked that all bushings and ball joints were greased with Valvoline Red
> Applied witness marks to all torqued bolts

Except for the follow-up items noted, the front suspension is now complete. Back to work on the IRS.

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[PMD24]

I did a solo install on the center section so I'll go through the details and provide some photos that might help others doing solos. As mentioned in a prior post, I left the center section sitting on the foam base it was packed in, cut the side of the shipping box, and slid the foam and center section out. I tipped up on side of the foam and slide a Harbor Freight furniture dolly under it. Rolled that over to the chassis and started to rig things for lifting. Borrowing edwardb's lifting method, I placed four rachet pulleys on the end of my engine hoist and tied short bowline knots on the end of each rope, slid those over the corners of the center section and put temporary bolts in the holes to prevent the bowline loops from slipping off. Using the rachet pulleys I lifted the front to clear the frame and then raised the back until it was level and used all four pulleys to slowly guide it into place. It worked so well I'd recommend it even when extra help is available. You'll see in the photos that as I lifted the center section closer to the mounting bushings I had to remove the temporary bolts. I just screwed bolts into the opposite side of the rear mounting arms so I still had a bolt in place to keep the loop from slipping off. On the front mounting arms I clamped the two front ropes together using a rachet type clamp. That allowed me to remove the temporary bolts without concern about the loops slipping off the arms, and it also pulled the loops away from the mounting points. You can see the end of the blue rachet clamp in one of the last photos.

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[jengum]

Thanks for this. This will definitely be a help to me when I get to my solo install.

[gbranham]

That's a nice job! I also used ratchet straps when I installed mine by myself, but didn't think to bust out my engine hoist. While the ratchet straps made it doable by myself, it was by no means easy. Bet the cherry picker would've made it much less difficult.

Greg

[PMD24]

That's a nice job! I also used ratchet straps when I installed mine by myself, but didn't think to bust out my engine hoist. While the ratchet straps made it doable by myself, it was by no means easy. Bet the cherry picker would've made it much less difficult.

Greg

Here's a photo of the rachet pulleys I used. They can handle 250 lbs each. Obviously, that's not needed here but I wanted the larger 3/8 rope. They're a little more friendly than rachet straps when it comes to releasing them for adjustment down. The downside is there is no mechanical advantage on the lift. However, that could be easily remedied by adding a pulley. Wasn't needed for the weight of the center section. Amazon purchase https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006P39KPM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

207715

[PMD24]

Attention newbies. If you are using the (edit: FFR supplied 2015 IRS 11.65 standard brakes. Does not apply to Wilwoods) and haven't read ahead in the manual, supplemental instructions, or forum, you have to do another cut on the rear spindles. People have installed the spindles and discovered that afterward and it results in disassembling everything or making a challenging cut in place. This second cut is in a location where my trusty power hacksaw won't work and I'm definitely not using the sawzall again. That's a bit like performing surgery with a jackknife and leaves you with a mess to cleanup if you want it to look decent.

Years ago I cut an 8" x 3" extruded aluminum handicap stair rail that was too long for the stairs I was installing it on. Cut that on my compound miter saw with an old 40 tooth carbide tipped construction blade. It made a perfectly smooth cut and went through it as easily as a tough piece of hardwood like hickory. I couldn't do this spindle cut on the miter saw but figured why not use the table saw. I had a non-ferrous blade for the saw. It worked great and made a very clean, quick cut. In fact, this is how I'd do all the spindle cuts if I could do them over. Also, if you don't have a non-ferrous blade I wouldn't hesitate to use a carbide tipped wood blade like I used in the miter saw. I'd choose something finer than the 40 tooth mentioned above. Maybe something like an 80 tooth finishing blade.

Here's the cut taking place and a photo of the finished product.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9pTijz9E1M

And a shot of the cut after a few minutes of polishing with a small wire brush in a dremel tool. So much better than the other methods I tried.

207720

[PMD24]

... and no that's not blood on the towel in the background . Its red loctite. I stole an idea from someone on the forum. I think it was Johnk. I plugged the two holes on the IRS spindles by tapping them and installing set screws with red loctite. edwardb used a small cover he made, and one screw, which works too.

207721

[AndrewIdaho]

Attention newbies. If you are doing IRS and haven't read ahead in the manual, supplemental instructions, or forum, you have to do another cut on the rear spindles. .......


Hi Pat,

I follow your build with great interest as you are making great progress, (months ahead of me) and you are very thorough in your documentation of what you are doing which I appreciate.

This post has put me in a bit of a panic as I have assembled the hubs to the spindles but have not installed the spindles yet. In researching this additional cut, after reading your thread, I see the cut documented for the 11.65" IRS brakes but can find nothing with respect to the 12" Wilwood brakes that I ordered with my kit. I have seen a post from Paul (edwardb) that this cut was not needed for the Wilwood brakes. Can someone confirm that I should not remove this additional ear, as I would hate to cut something off that I should not.

Thanks, Andrew

[gbranham]

Hi Pat,

I follow your build with great interest as you are making great progress, (months ahead of me) and you are very thorough in your documentation of what you are doing which I appreciate.

This post has put me in a bit of a panic as I have assembled the hubs to the spindles but have not installed the spindles yet. In researching this additional cut, after reading your thread, I see the cut documented for the 11.65" IRS brakes but can find nothing with respect to the 12" Wilwood brakes that I ordered with my kit. I have seen a post from Paul (edwardb) that this cut was not needed for the Wilwood brakes. Can someone confirm that I should not remove this additional ear, as I would hate to cut something off that I should not.

Thanks, Andrew

Scratching my head, too. I only made one cut on my spindles, and had no interference with the standard 11.65" Mustang rotors and calipers. Ive since upgraded to the bigger Wilwoods. I'm also running 18" Halibrands. Maybe smaller wheels need the 2nd cut. Dunno. ***Edit*** I looked back at my build pics, and I never installed the Mustang calipers on the rear; I upgraded to Wilwoods after I put the 11.65" rotor on the hub and didn't like them. In looking at the supplemental IRS instructions, I see where the top ear for the standard caliper bolt needs to be cut if using the Mustang calipers.

[Blitzboy54]

I just put mine together and needed no additional cut.... curious


https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204385&d=1726954634

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=204386&d=1726954634

[TXeverydayDad]

If you’re using Wilwoods, don’t cut that tab, as it’s the mount for the caliper.

207736

[PMD24]

Hi Pat,

I follow your build with great interest as you are making great progress, (months ahead of me) and you are very thorough in your documentation of what you are doing which I appreciate.

This post has put me in a bit of a panic as I have assembled the hubs to the spindles but have not installed the spindles yet. In researching this additional cut, after reading your thread, I see the cut documented for the 11.65" IRS brakes but can find nothing with respect to the 12" Wilwood brakes that I ordered with my kit. I have seen a post from Paul (edwardb) that this cut was not needed for the Wilwood brakes. Can someone confirm that I should not remove this additional ear, as I would hate to cut something off that I should not.

Thanks, Andrew

Andrew, apologies for causing the panic. Folks have clarified below that it doesn't apply to the Wilwoods and I've gone back and edited the post accordingly. I've also gone back and reviewed the manual and the supplemental instructions. They certainly aren't clear about it only applying to the FFR standard IRS 11.65 brakes and I wasn't able to find supplemental instructions on the Wilwoods.

Pat

[PMD24]

If you’re using Wilwoods, don’t cut that tab, as it’s the mount for the caliper.

207736

Thank you for clarifying.

[PMD24]

Blitzboy thanks for weighing in. I've edited my post to warn about the second cut not applying to Wilwoods. By the way, those wheels are killer!!

[AndrewIdaho]

No worries Pat, I appreciate the level of detail you are posting and keep up the great work.
Andrew

[PMD24]

Spoke with FFR this morning. Engineering says no snap rings required on Roadster LCA ball joints. They are in the kit because they are required on the hot rod. Thank you to everyone who weighed in on this topic. Definitely pleased to get that confirmation on top of what the pros here advised.

[PMD24]

Still catching up here on where I am with the build.

Applied neverseize on UCA and toe arm adjusters and prepped rear UCA to set rough alignment at 11.5". Original plan to get there was to use a 3ft piece of 1/2" type L copper tube through the mounting bushings and then use a framing square to rough the dimension. The 1/2" tubing is a perfect fit inside the bushing. After verifying that the tubing was straight, I inserted it through the first bushing. But when it hit the second bushing it was a good 1/8" off center; a lot for such a short distance. Went to plan B.

Laid out two parallel lines 15" apart on a piece of cardboard and then set up two lasers on the lines. Placed the arm on the laser line so the laser passed over the approx center of both bushings. I then adjusted the center of the heim joint to the 11.5" rough alignment setting.

208049

208050

Set the dimension on the toe arms per the manual. Snugged up lock nuts on UCA and toe arm adjusters. Greased all bushings with Valvoline Red. The manual called out greasing until the grease came out the flutes along the steel bushing. LCA bushings are not fluted. Others are. LCA did take grease as it should. just not fluted.

[PMD24]

IRS assembly went really well. Arms and shocks went into all frame mounts with no adjustments required. CV axles went in smoothly with a slight tap or two at the end using a plastic dead blow hammer to get the final seating position. Supported the shafts with a kayak strap while attaching the spindles; worked great.

208116

A couple of valuable learnings here. See the end of that bolt near where I cut off the brake ear? It shouldn't be there! My bad. The instructions do say to remove it before cutting the ear, but when I cut the ear, the hub wasn't installed, so there was no bolt to remove. Then when I put the hub on I just installed all 4 bolts. It needs to be removed because that hole is where the brake support bracket mounts for the standard FFR 11.65 brakes. Luckily the red loctite hadn't cured and the bolt came out easily.

The second learning was about torquing the bolts that secure the hub to the spindle. Working solo I did the first one on the floor, trying to get to the torque value while also trying to hold that odd shaped spindle. Got there, but the wrestling match was a real challenge. 140 lbs of body weight doesn't go very far against the lever arm of a torque wrench! For the second hub I verified I could get the torque wrench on all of the bolts with the single installed, and did the final torquing with the spindle mounted on the car. Pretty obvious now. Wish I would have thought of it for the first one. IRS is complete. Just need to wrap up the rear sway bar.

208117

[PMD24]

Rear Sway Bar

Had the frame and bushing mounts for the IRS rear sway bar powder coated. Installing those went smoothly. The ears on the frame mounts where the heim joints and bushings connect turned out to be too close together. First attempt at spreading them with threaded rod didn't do much. Given how short the ears are I got uncomfortable with the amount of bending that would be required, having the ears angled out, and subsequent stress on the welds. I measured the heim joint and bushings versus the frame mounts. One side needed about 0.2cm in order to fit; the other about 0.3cm. Using a bench grinder I slowly removed material from the larger bushing for each side, being careful to not add too much heat and regularly quenching. Cleaned up the grinding burrs and installed the heim joints to the frame and sway bar ends. Rear sway bar complete.

208120

208123

[PMD24]

Tackled the rear brake calipers. Wow! Like every other time I've done brake pads I wondered why someone hasn't designed a system that improves the clip design. The stock system is the most "unfriendly" I've come across and there are quite a few comments in the forum on how challenging they are to assemble. Some thoughts that might be helpful to others... Once you've measured the pad space in caliper with verniers, added the thickness of two clips, and filed the pad tabs accordingly, install the pad on the side opposite the piston, first. There's better access to hold the clips and position the pad on that side. Tip the pad so the upper edges of the tabs engage against the clips, then slide the bottom of the pad (where the spring is) along the caliper until it's in place. It's also helpful to have an extra set of hands to hold the clips so they don't slide out of place, when inserting the pad tabs. I used a couple of small c-clamps to keep the clips from sliding when I did the first pad.

I pre-assembled the mounting bracket on the spindle and found that the washer that the manual says to install on the upper mounting bolt isn't thick enough to fill the gap between the boss on the spindle and the caliper mounting bracket. The bracket rests on the spindle casting and doesn't contact the washer at all. This raises two concerns for me... if I torque this down will I distort the bracket and consequently end up with the caliper out of alignment with the disk, and second, if I add washers/shims to get good contact with the boss, will the bracket still be parallel to the disk? I ran out of time and will follow up by getting some measurements and providing some follow-up photos with markup. Hope to do that today.

[PMD24]

Getting closer to the point where panel work will ramp up. Check out the awesome Christmas gift from my wife!

208290

[gbranham]

I was on the fence between Wilwoods and the stock brakes. I went with stockers, but when I had the same experience as you assembling them, I threw them in the trash and went in the house to order Wilwoods. Hah!

[PMD24]

I was on the fence between Wilwoods and the stock brakes. I went with stockers, but when I had the same experience as you assembling them, I threw them in the trash and went in the house to order Wilwoods. Hah!

Good decision. After my experience I finally understood why people pay the crazy price difference. Better braking, but secretly it's really about escaping the stock brake assembly experience :)

[gbranham]

Good decision. After my experience I finally understood why people pay the crazy price difference. Better braking, but secretly it's really about escaping the stock brake assembly experience :)

In truth, I didn't need much of a push...I should've ordered the Wilwoods from the get-go, but after trying to cobble together those stock calipers and pads, I had enough. Seriously...are they not the most ridiculous thing? I've done a lot of brakes over the years on a lot of different cars, but those take the cake.

Greg

[PMD24]

For others who might be struggling with these calipers I put the small c-clamps described in post 65 above back on one of the calipers to show where they were placed. Here's a photo. Note that when I actually did the assembly the pad on the piston side wasn't there.

208375

[PMD24]

Spent several hours today sorting through several issues with one rear brake setup.

Snugged up the bolts on the support bracket and measured the gap where the washer is installed on the upper bolt. There was a 0.046 gap there. No contact at all. The bracket was contacting the spindle casting preventing the bracket from being drawn up tight on the washer and spindle boss.

Feeler gauges in gap at upper bracket bolt:
208386

This is the area where the bracket was contacting the spindle:
208387

Using a cylinder burr in a dremel tool, the spindle material causing the interference was removed and I was able to get the upper bolt to tighten against the washer and the spindle boss. First issue resolved, but a couple more to go.

[F500guy]

I went straight for the Wilwoods, including electric parking brake. Not cheap but actually pretty easy and adds a little bling....

[PMD24]

Measured the distance to the rotor from the top and bottom of the brake bracket and there was a 0.125" difference. I don't have a dial indicator so I stuck a bolt in the top hole of the mounting bracket and took several feeler gauge measurements of the gap between the end of the bolt and the rotor as I clocked the rotor to numerous positions. Despite being held against the hub with a couple of lug nuts the rotor wasn't sitting on the hub straight.

208405


Wasn't sure if it was binding on the studs or the hub but when removed and put on backward it was clear that the interference was at the hub, not the studs. Rough measurement with verniers confirmed the issue. The hub opening in the rotor was 0.015 off round through an arc of around 30 degrees. Worked that area back to round using a fine stone in the dremel, cleaned up the rest of the opening, and repeated clocking the rotor and taking multiple measurements with the feeler gauge. Issue resolved. On to issue 3.

[PMD24]

I wish I had done that earlier but at this point I've cut the ear off the spindle so I'd have to tear the bulk of the IRS apart, buy new spindles, and reassemble. Alot of builds use these brakes, so, I'll systematically work through all the poor quality control, clean up the issues, and move on. Plus documenting the details here will help others.

[PMD24]

On to issue #3. With the mounting bracket properly seated on the upper spindle boss and washer, and the rotor now on the hub and properly seated I measured the distances from the top and bottom of the bracket to the rotor. BIG difference. Top is 2.175 and bottom is 2.050. Assuming it was possible that the caliper mounting points may be designed for a difference I mounted the caliper and was very surprised to see that it was skewed off center in the opposite direction that the bracket was off. In the photo below you can see the nubs on the caliper casting that align with the center of the caliper. The top nub is somewhat centered on the rotor while the bottom is skewed to the right. Interesting because the bottom of the mounting bracket is actually closer to the rotor than the top.

208415

So, since the mounting bracket is off by 0.075 to the right at the bottom mount and the shims used to mount the caliper are 0.075, I added an additional shim to the bottom mount. The result, shown below, looks pretty good, especially considering what I started with. The only problem now is that I used one of the shims needed for the right brake. Maybe that side will be off in the opposite direction and the bottom shim won't be needed. If not, Runnings may have a shim. Runnings has an amazing selection of fasteners and hardware. Tons more than the big box stores and major hardware chains.

208421

[gbranham]

You are definitely detail-oriented, I'll give you that!

Greg

[PMD24]

Yeah, left brained anal engineer. As frustrating as these brakes have been, I've enjoyed working through it. And, it's one of those things that I want right, not just ok.

[jengum]

I found another set of FFR instruction for 11.65" rear brakes (8.8 axle) that show to trim the clips to keep them from falling out. Discussion on the clips or photos are absent from the IRS rear brake instructions. They show a pretty good trim for the clips...I'm wondering if the clips were somehow causing the pads to bind in the caliper.

208457

[PMD24]

jengum, thanks for sharing. I did have the supplementals instructions which include the photos that you shared. The trimming of the clips is to allow them to settle fully into the slots so the ear is captured for providing the spring force. My clips fit in the slot without trimming. As it turns out trimming the clips would make them fit more loosely in the slot and result in them falling out more easily. The pads were tough to fit because they were actually longer than the space in the caliper minus the thickness of the two clips. Seems that many folks in the forum have experienced this same issue. Thanks again for providing the info and attaching the photos.

Pat

[PMD24]

Tackled the PS rear brakes today. Brake mounting bracket interference with the spindle was worse than DS. Had to grind off even more to get the bracket to seat on the washer. Rotor opening also needed grinding. Like the PS, it had one area that was so off round it could be spotted simply by looking at the rotor resting on the outside edge of the hub. Took some time but got it cleaned up so it seated properly. The good news is that the third issue that I had on the DS, I didn't have on the PS. The bushing and shim on the upper and lower mounting bolts put the caliper nicely centered on the rotor. I used an .075 washer to check it out but need to find another shim because I had to use 2 on the DS lower bolt. Now short one. Hopefully Runnings will have one and I can wrap up the rear brakes tomorrow.

[jengum]

My bad. I was using an old FFR instruction for the IRS 11.65 brakes. I see that the latest FFR instruction (Rev C at top of document) now shows the clip installation for the IRS 11.65 brakes. For some reason the lower right title block still shows Rev A.

[PMD24]

Making the switch to an in-tank fuel pump. Blueprint says 255lph and 60psi. That leads me to the Walbro GCA3366-2 on the ProM hangar. Any comments on this decision and selection would be appreciated.

Pat

[gbranham]

That's what I did, and many do.

[M22_COBRA]

Pro M hanger is a nice piece, but you usually have to trim the tank opening to get it in per the instructions. If I did it all over I would use Oetiker clamps on the main body vs the supplied worm drive, may have lessened the size of the hole I had to trim. Also make sure you get the electrical wring harness for your pump, and fuel rated solder seal wire connectors or shrink wrap. Happy Building!

[PMD24]

Thanks M22 - will check out everything you mention before going any further.

[PMD24]

Picking up where I left off on post 80, rear brakes are complete. Found some shims at ACE hardware and finished mounting the PS rear caliper.

Installed the emergency brake cables on both sides. For newbies like me, be aware that it's a challenge. The lower star head bolt for mounting the caliper is directly in front of the hole where the cable end is fastened to the caliper.

209158

First attempt was to insert the cable into the hold with the screw backed out. While that worked for getting the cable past the smaller diameter screw threads, I wasn't able to tighten the screw because the flange on the head wouldn't clear the metal sleeve on the end of brake cable. Next attempt was to fully tighten and torque the screw and insert the cable after. This is likely the only way to get it assembled AND it requires the hole being opened up as described in the manual. I did not have the issue shown in the manual where the cable end does not fully seat in the hole. Once the flange on the cable end is worked over the head of the screw, the flange does contact the caliper casting and seats fully.

209160

209161

One thing I want to reshare is using reamers to enlarge or oblong holes. There are lots of testimonials in this forum on the drill binding and wrist twisting from trying to use a drill bit for doing this. I picked up the 1/2" and 5/8" reamers shown below from Amazon. They are relatively inexpensive and worked perfectly on the spindles, center section, and calipers. No binding, no twisting, and no sprained wrists.

209162


Next up... routing the emergency brake cable. Instructions don't work.

[PMD24]

The manual and supplemental instructions indicate the brake cable should be routed around the rear of the shock. The first photo below shows that making the bend around the back side (left side in this photo) of the shock without kinking the cable, is pretty unlikely. Since the cable angles down out of the caliper I elected to continue the routing in that direction and run it on the front side of the shock. To keep the cable from contacting the CV joint it has to be fastened to the spindle or control arm. I couldn't access a good mounting point on the spindle so the cable was fastened to the front ear of the control arm

209195

Cable fastened to control arm ear. Camera angle appears to show possible interference between the nut and spindle, but there is clearance.
209198

Better angle showing nut clearance at spindle and cable clearance at CV joint. This positioning works through the full range of motion for the suspension.
209199

[PMD24]

Making the switch to an in-tank fuel pump. Blueprint says 255lph and 60psi. That leads me to the Walbro GCA3366-2 on the ProM hangar. Any comments on this decision and selection would be appreciated.

Pat

Got the hanger and fuel pump out today and it's a definite no-go. The pump inlet is off center and the sock has a 45 degree connection, so neither works with the hanger. I spoke with Summit before placing this order and they said this was the right choice. I asked about the GCA719-2 that I read about here in the forum but they couldn't find any info on the pressure. They also seemed to indicate it's no longer available. So, I placed the order.

My research now points to the GSS340. The Walbro website doesn't provide pump curve data to establish what the flow is at 60 psi, but it does state 210lph and 80psi so it's highly likely it will flow at 255 at 60. Will speak with Walbro on Monday to verify, and then pursue the return with Summit.

[PMD24]

Spoke with Walbro directly. A real live person picked up the phone on the second ring. Knowledgeable and great service. GCA719-2 and GSS340 are both still available. GCA719-2 is a kit that includes the GSS340 pump along with the sock, electrical whip, hanger hose, clamps, and some misc hardware. GSS340 is a stand-alone pump. GSS340 will develop the required 60psi at 255lph. Details on performance, including pump curves, for various TI products can be found at aftermarket.tiautomotive.com. TI owns Walbro and has made their pumps for many years. The number to reach Walbro direct is 989-672-8383.

[PMD24]

Drained center section and added 3.3 pt of Motorcraft 75W-85 synthetic hypoid gear lube with 3.5oz of Motorcraft friction modifier. This filled the case to just below the fill hole. Installed vent. Shortened the vent tube a bit and fastened it to frame. Used a Dorman 924-284 (Amazon) differential vent on the end of the tube.

209776

[gbranham]

I'm curious why you drained a new diff, only to fill it back up. They ship from Ford full, or nearly full. I only had to add a smidge to it, and it also already has friction modifier in it.

[PMD24]

I'm curious why you drained a new diff, only to fill it back up. They ship from Ford full, or nearly full. I only had to add a smidge to it, and it also already has friction modifier in it.

I was able to detect oil through the fill hole only by sticking a piece of wire in and down, so I wasn't sure how much was in there. Decided to drain it to measure amount. Upon draining I noticed a few small metal shavings, so I elected to replace it. I also couldn't detect any odor of friction modifier... but I also have a bad sniffer so can't be sure about that.

[PMD24]

Catching up here on some things that were completed recently. PS footbox, floor and under-door sheet metal wrapped up. Panels went together well.

Power steering rack installed with no issues. I had ordered the Breeze centering bushings and then found that there was some debate here on the need for them on the MK4. Installed them and did use them to shift the rack approx 3/8". Don't know if that amount matters, but it's now centered. The slot in each of the bushings, which are normally at 6 o'clock are now at 5. Also, I was able to get the 53 1/16" dimension specified in the manual, using the FFR provided tie rod ends, and no trimming of the tie rods.

In photo, rotors appearing to point outward is due to setting camera on wide angle.
209871

Pedal box installed. No issues other than the clutch pedal/frame interference thing that seems to be very common. Read a few times here that this interference issue was resolved on more recent MK4's, while others indicated it wasn't. In my case the pedal contacted the frame with approx. 1.5" of travel left to the front wall. Of the two options discussed here in the forum I chose grinding of the pedal arm web over altering the frame. Both options alter the existing structural integrity so neither gives me a warm fuzzy. My logic in choosing the grinding was that the hydraulic clutch likely puts my pedal force well below what the arm is capable of for handling manual forces on builds with much heavier clutch pedal requirements. But, I'll be sending the photo below to FFR tech support for a nod and will report back on their response.

EDIT - UPDATE 2/3/25 - spoke with FFR tech. As expected they couldn't give an absolute yes or no on the material removed from the pedal casting, but didn't express concern. The important thing that they shared was that the pedal striking the frame should not be a problem. Full travel needed should occur before hitting that stopping point. They were more concerned with over-travel and impact on the clutch master cylinder. They suggested that once I have the drive train in, hydraulics operating, and work through adjusting the clutch, that I add a stop to prevent excessive pedal travel. When I get to that point, I will post a new entry that refers back to this post, to ensure the end result is shared.
209872

Steering shafts and bearings installed with no issues. The upper u-joint is a little close to the footbox bearing retainer. It doesn't rub, but I will shift the whole assembly down by 1/8" or so. I have room where the lower u-joint connects to the rack. Spring washers went into shaft and tube without issue and there is no lateral play that might have required the set screws described in the forum.
Photo below shows how close the upper u-joint is to the bearing retainer. Easy fix.
209874

[PMD24]

Just a quick item for those doing the pedal box for the first time. The manual shows a photo of the switch brackets being held in place for marking the point to drill the mounting hole in the pedal box casting. Note that when you mount the bracket do NOT mount it there. The second photo shows the bracket mounted on the front side of the drilled casting web. It's important to place it there because the switches may not reach the pedal arms if the bracket is mounted on the rear side of that web. In the photo below you can see that if the bracket was 1/4" further back the switch would not contact the pedal arm. I do have some concern that the switches won't reach the arms when pedal adjustment is done, but will address that if/when it happens.
209875

[PMD24]

After years of trying different things to prevent caulk from drying/curing in the tube I finally found something that works. Got it at Lowes. Don't have the packaging but I found it in the paint section near the brushes and rollers. No more tossing partial tubes of silicone as you work through the sheet metal stages.

209893

[gbranham]

I always just shove a drywall screw in the silicon tube. Keeps it from drying out for months

[PMD24]

My notes from the Build School indicated a 4th hole should be drilled in the pedal arm where the ball stud is fastened. Using this position would improve pedal feel and make it less touchy. I checked back with the instructors because that would put the alignment with the hole through the footbox, way off. Both instructors confirmed that adding a 4th hole would improve feel and drilling a new hole through the footbox would ensure better alignment of the cable. I drilled the 4th hole but upon checking the location for the hole through the footbox to align with that hole it would be into the retainer of the steering bearing. I elected to use the third hole from the end and drill through the footbox aligned with that. In the event the 4th hole is needed, the new hole through the footbox will provide acceptable alignment.

Pedal arm with 4th hole added:
210351

New cable location through footbox:
210352

[PMD24]

Another item in my notes from the Build School was to remove the 3/4 " cross brace to the rear of the pedal arms or grind some material away where the accelerator pedal arm comes in contact with the cross brace, to eliminate the possibility of the arm being wedged in place and stuck against the brace. You can see in the first photo below that the tip of the pedal arm contacts the brace on its front face. It seems like it would take a lot of force to wedge that arm there, but, since the instructors mentioned it, and it's a potential safety issue, I decided to address it.

210353

Instead of altering the frame, I chose to add a stop in the footbox behind the lower pedal arm, using a piece if 1/8" steel.
210354

Installed.
210355

Potential interference issue resolved.
210356

[PMD24]

Ran my first brake line today. First for me and first on the car. I'm using the FFR supplied 3/16 pre-flared lines but didn't want the coils for using up excess length, so I had to do some cutting and flaring. Started at the master cylinder for the front brakes and using brazing rod I bent a mock-up of the routing from the master cylinder to the front of the footbox. The brazing rod is easy to hand-bend and holds it shape for use as a template. Using the template and a 1 1/8 socket in my vice I did the bends in the FFR tubing. Had to do maybe three rounds of putting it place, removing it, making small adjustments, and rechecking it in place. Once that was done, from the footbox to the tee at the front DS was pretty straightforward. Coming out of the footbox I rolled the line up and over the 3/4 tube, and then along the 3/4 tube to the tee. Slid the fitting at the end of the line near the tee, up the line and out of the way, and marked the line for cutting. Removed the line for the final time, cut it to length, deburred, and flared it. Reinstalled. I oriented the tee different from what FFR showed in the manual. I figured this particular line would be the most complex to bend and didn't feel the need to address an additional 90 and 180 at the tee. I went straight into the tee. For the line to the PS I'll 90 out to the X bar and work my way across.

This line took 4 hours. I enjoyed every minute of it and learned a few things.
1) I want a tubing bender. In the Build School we used benders and the socket method. Some of the bends in this complex piece would have come out visually "cleaner" with a bender. But even with a bender I would have used the socket in a couple of spots where the bender would have been challenging to use.
2) In one spot I used a 3/4" socket for a tighter radius. The Build School instructors indicated 3/4 was about as small as you should go on 3/16 tube, to avoid kinking.
3) I'm thinking hard on springing for the Eastwood turret style tool. We played with it in the Build School. So slick and almost foolproof. If my flare on this piece ends up leaking I have to bend an entire new piece. I'd like to have more confidence in m flares. Plus it's an excuse to put an awesome new tool in my arsenal.

Front brake - master cylinder to front of footbox. No loops for excess length.
210416

Footbox to tee at DS F-panel
210417

[gbranham]

Nice job! Brake line work is very satisfying, isn't it?

Greg

[PMD24]

It is indeed, but I think that's true only for detail nerds (like me). Funny thing is I've been reading more about brake lines here in the forum and I'm already thinking about pulling this first line out and redoing it with Nicopp and my new Inline Tube bender and Eastwood flaring tool that are on the way. Mostly just to see if I can get a cleaner run with the Nicopp versus the coated steel. I also came up with one of those middle of the night ideas for leak testing as I go. More on that after I try it out.

[Mike.Bray]

I love running hard lines! Get yourself a nice bender and some Nicopp and amaze yourself.

[PMD24]

Installed the Pro-M hanger and Walbro pump. Had to switch out the female spade connector on the black wire to 1/4". After reading here about heat shrink compatibility with gas and finding some conflicting opinions, I did some web research and found that the manufacturers do not recommend PVC, polyolefin, and other common heat shrink materials for submersion in gasoline. Nylon and Viton are fine for submersion, and both can tolerate ethanol. Ordered some Viton heat shrink tubing.

Cut the connector off the black wire and removed the yellow insulator off a 1/4" female spade. Tested the Viton's shrink capability on a piece of wire (white wire in photo). Crimped new connector on black wire and applied Viton shrink tube.
210623

210624

Leads connected to pump.
210625

Prepared the tank opening by grinding one small spot for the return tube to pass through, using a Dremel with a tapered grinding stone. I did not grind the larger opposite side as shown in the instructions The hanger was very close to fitting with just the one smaller area of material removal. Did my best to minimize grindings getting into tank and used a magnet and vac to clean it when done. Also ran the vac with the nozzle at the grinder while removing material.

I started out with the pump mounted in the hanger with the Walbro sleeve around it. Walbro rep indicated the sleeve reduces vibration and sound transmission. It was only a few bucks, so I decided to use it. But, when trying to insert the assembly into the tank, the sleeve was actually working against me because it was preventing me from springing the tube in against the pump casing to get it through the tank opening. I disassembled the pump and cut away the sleeve, leaving only the two pieces on each side of the pump where it contacted the hanger. This did provide some spring in the return tube but it still wouldn't go in. And I couldn't grind the one spot any deeper. It was so close! All I needed was about a 1/16". Decided to take a little material off the edge of the tube where it was catching on the tank opening... and that did the trick. Removed the assembly, added the sock, and reinstalled.

With sleeve prior to trimming.
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Sleeve trimmed and upper edge of tube trimmed.
210631

[Highplainsdakota]

Looks great! I did the same thing with the sleeve and distal tube trimming. Careful of installing and removing the filter on the bottom too many times. I think that’s best as a one time on connection. Also it’s helpful to draw flow arrows on the top tubes so you don’t forget which is in and out. Easy to figure out with a picture but easier still to do it now. It will save you 3 minutes.

[PMD24]

Agree. Marked them "S" and "R" on top of hanger before starting.

[jengum]

... and no that's not blood on the towel in the background . Its red loctite. I stole an idea from someone on the forum. I think it was Johnk. I plugged the two holes on the IRS spindles by tapping them and installing set screws with red loctite. edwardb used a small cover he made, and one screw, which works too.

207721

Is there a reason for plugging these holes or is just for visual aesthetics? I just finished up cutting off the ears as shown in the build manual (and for the 11.65 brake mounts) including the 5/8" hole enlargements.

[PMD24]

I can't answer that in terms of there being a potential issue with them open. I'm guessing if it was critical to cover them FFR would have included it in the manual or we'd see it throughout the forum. I noticed that the openings led to the rotating assembly so it took only a few minutes to thread them and put an allen screw in there.

[PMD24]

After recent post by Erik Treves regarding the misconnected wires in the dash harness plug of the Ron Francis harness, I laid mine out on the shop floor and checked all plugs. Sure enough, I have a bad one. Called FFR to see what their direction was. Dan advised that RF has asked that the issue be brought directly to them for resolution. Spoke with RF. They asked for photos of both sides of the dash harness connector. Photos sent Friday morning. Will update this post once they get back to me.
211495

3/19/25 Update - Zero followup from Ron Francis on their harness issue. Spoke with them on Monday and they said they'd track down the status and call me back. No call back. Called them again on Tuesday and they said they were having "production" look at it and would get back to me by the end of the day. No call back. Sent an email to FFR to make them aware of their supplier making commitments and then not following through. As always, FFR's response was immediate, and very willing to help. I shared that I wasn't really looking for help, just thought they would want to know that their supplier wasn't handling this at the same level of customer service that Factory Five does. We discussed buying the tool and changing the wires myself but since Ron Francis asked to handle this directly. I'll wait and see what they say, before messing with the harness. So, I'm 7 days in with no follow-up from Ron Francis. More to follow.

3/20/25 Spoke with Ron Francis. They recommend replacement of the dash harness. Sending a new one along with return info to send the old one back.

3/26/25 Received the replacement dash harness today, along with a shipping label to return the old one.

[jengum]

Time to check my RF harness...we had the same delivery dates. I went ahead and tapped and plugged the holes.

[PMD24]

Update added to post 108 regarding the Ron Francis harness issue.

[PMD24]

Back in post 99 I showed off my first attempt at bending brake lines. Well, not first. It took a few lengths of tubing to get that one section in. But, I decided to tear it out and switch to nicopp. Here's a few photos of the nicopp. Only took a full 25ft roll to get these the way I wanted them!!

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These lines were done a couple of weeks ago and I've already torn out the section from the master cylinder to the tee. I did't like how close the tube was to the back of the fuse block (missed that factor when doing my layout). And since I'm going to redo that line I pulled the trigger on switching to the Tiltons. I know it's a controversial topic, but after much research I'm making the switch. So.... more tubing bending. Good thing I'm enjoying it. I also returned the bender I bought from Inline Tube and bought a Ridgid.

[gbranham]

It's very clear that someone who is assembling the RF harnesses simply had one end of that weatherpak inserted into the jig rotated 180 degrees with respect to the direction the wires run. Seems like a 10 minute fix with the proper tool to remove the pins.

[Mike.Bray]

Wiring can be so tricky. Holley had an issue with their EFI harnesses a couple of years ago, the kind that caused intermittent issues. The worse! The finally tracked it down to one of their automated terminal crimpers being out of calibration. A small issue in manufacturing sure caused a lot of headaches for a lot of people.

[Wizbangdoodle]

Seems like everyone is having this same problem with the RF harness. The really annoying thing is, when you call about it, they act like your harness is the only one with a problem. Maybe they should just send the de-pin tool with the harness.

[Blitzboy54]

Bummer about the harness.

Build is looking sharp. Very clean and your making very good progress

[cv2065]

Mine came backwards back in 2018. I just used the de-pin tool and fixed it.

[PMD24]

I agree that using the tool and switching the pins is easy but I figured if I messed with the harness and then had an issue later... well you know how that plays. Either way, it's like Wizbang said, they know this is a problem, pretend like they need to research it, and then take their time about it. Just really poor customer service. Given FFR's high standards when it comes to customer service, I'm surprised that they aren't addressing it. Day 10 and still haven't received the replacement.

[PMD24]

Wiring can be so tricky. Holley had an issue with their EFI harnesses a couple of years ago, the kind that caused intermittent issues. The worse! The finally tracked it down to one of their automated terminal crimpers being out of calibration. A small issue in manufacturing sure caused a lot of headaches for a lot of people.

Intermittent problems of any kind are a nightmare to resolve. Intermittent electrical has to be the worst. Sure hope I don't face that!

[gbranham]

I agree that using the tool and switching the pins is easy but I figured if I messed with the harness and then had an issue later... well you know how that plays. Either way, it's like Wizbang said, they know this is a problem, pretend like they need to research it, and then take their time about it. Just really poor customer service. Given FFR's high standards when it comes to customer service, I'm surprised that they aren't addressing it. Day 10 and still haven't received the replacement.

Agreed...not great customer service. The good news is you're a long way from needed that harness, so hopefully it's not slowing down your build.

Greg

[PMD24]

Installed the brake/clutch reservoirs. Bought three and then learned about the fact that the bias design results in no benefit in separating the reservoirs. But since I had them, I installed all three.
Just for fun, I tried a little engine turning (jeweling) on the sheet metal mount. Didn't do a structured layout but it still came out pretty cool. Check out the photo of my engine turning tool! I ordered a couple of 1" Cratex abrasive sticks and may try a more precise layout and jewel the firewall.

Engine turning on the reservoir mount:
211807

Elaborate engine turning tooling!
211808

Reservoirs and Tilton MCs installed:

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211809

[Grubester]

I will install the reservoirs soon, too, but I'm using all three because having separate reservoirs for front and rear brake master cylinders creates a redundant system if one of them fails/leaks.
At least the other one gives some useful braking. I'm I missing something here? Yes, there is the balance bar but that is a mechanical connection outside of a leaking/failing master cylinder circuit,
whether front of rear. Let me know what I'm missing. Thanks!

(can't seem to access the attachments)

[Mike.Bray]

I will install the reservoirs soon, too, but I'm using all three because having separate reservoirs for front and rear brake master cylinders creates a redundant system if one of them fails/leaks.
At least the other one gives some useful braking. I'm I missing something here? Yes, there is the balance bar but that is a mechanical connection outside of a leaking/failing master cylinder circuit,
whether front of rear. Let me know what I'm missing. Thanks!

(can't seem to access the attachments)

If one brake system fails all of the force from the brake pedal will go to the failed system. In other words, with a balance bar the force goes to the weakest side first.

Clear as mud?

[Grubester]

Actually, I have another question. How do you determine the height of the master cylinders: tops of the lids w.r.t. where the fiberglass body will be? I haven't had the body on since original delivery, and it isn't convenient now to do that. It seems there should be a dimension above or below the 3/4" square tubing that can be used as a "keep out" point. Thanks!

[Grubester]

Seems clear, but it sucks that there isn't some redundancy.

[Mike.Bray]

Seems clear, but it sucks that there isn't some redundancy.

Yep. That's why it's important not t have a MC failure!

[PMD24]

I've reposted the photos to post 120. Not sure why they disappeared, and the word "attachment" showed up.

[PMD24]

If one brake system fails all of the force from the brake pedal will go to the failed system. In other words, with a balance bar the force goes to the weakest side first.

Clear as mud?

To elaborate on Mike's post... let's say the front brakes fail and fluid is lost. Now consider that the bias bar is a lever with the pivot point in the middle. One side now has no resistance, so now when you push on the pedal, instead of the rear MC pushing fluid, it simply moves the bias bar forward instead of compressing the MC piston.

[PMD24]

Actually, I have another question. How do you determine the height of the master cylinders: tops of the lids w.r.t. where the fiberglass body will be? I haven't had the body on since original delivery, and it isn't convenient now to do that. It seems there should be a dimension above or below the 3/4" square tubing that can be used as a "keep out" point. Thanks!

I don't have my body on either but my understanding is that the body sits about 3/4" above the 3/4 tube. You mount the reservoirs as high as possible for gravity feed to the MC's, yet low enough to get the caps off. Where they are shown in my photo is temporary. I plan to raise them for bleeding, then lower them to a bit below the top of the 3/4 tube. Photos in post 120 have been reposted. For some reason they disappeared.

[Tango]

A genuine thanks for the explanation on the balance bar/dual reservoir as well as the discussion on the reservoir height in relation to the body. I have been working over some of the same concerns.

[PMD24]

Added an update to post 108 on the dash harness issue. New one received from Ron Francis.

[PMD24]

Following some discussion in a separate thread, I pulled the Tilton MCs and trimmed the pushrods by about 1/2". Since the Tilton MCs have 3AN pressure ports and the front line from the MC to the front tee will need to be altered, I ended up changing my routing and fittings. I came out of the MCs using banjos, then hard lines to bulkheads at the front of the footbox. From there I used regular flares to the front and rear. This resulted in additional joints at the bulkheads but I feel better having the AN joints and the line from the bulkhead to the rear tee is now a solid line with no joints.

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The vertical line on the footbox is now covered with a radiant barrier for protection from the header.

If I had to do this over I would use 100% AN fittings. Granted, you have to have the tools to do 37 degree flares, but, in my opinion, the investment is worth the many advantages of ANs discussed in other threads here in the forum.

Pat

[Mike.Bray]

Nice job! That's the way to do it.

[Justin]

Nice work, well executed!

[PMD24]

Just for the heck of it I took a shot at engine turning (jeweling) the firewall. Turned out reasonably good. The challenge when doing this on a drill press is that it is essentially impossible to apply the exact same pressure and duration on each stroke. Best results came from light pressure and a very short duration. I ended up with some jewels here and there that were slightly darker, and used Mother's polish to blend them slightly, then polished the whole surface for consistency. Jeweling material was a 1" Cratex abrasive stick. Since the drill press couldn't handle 1 " stock, I removed the chuck and arbor from the drill press and used a small lathe chuck with an arbor that matched the drill press taper. Next step will be a wipe with lacquer thinner to remove any polish residue and then apply Sharkhide to eliminate oxidation.

212560

[PMD24]

Been over a month since the last post. Not much progress since then due to other spring priorities.

But, I did receive THIS in late April. Really pleased with how it looks. Ordered late September 2024. Delivery quoted as end of December. Standard Blueprint 347 with TKX, but took 7 months to get it. I wasn't ready so it didn't matter, but multiple changes to the delivery time and only updates were when I inquired. I've had a few questions since receiving the engine and James at Blueprint has been extremely responsive.

214020

214021

Now that I have the engine I sorted out what I wanted to do with the throttle cable and ordered a Lokar cable and bracket. Primary driver behind not using the FFR supplied cable is access to the ball connector at the top of the foot pedal once the footbox is closed in. It would be nearly impossible to get to the top set screw and thread a cable into the end if I ever had to do that in the future.

Time to step up the amount of time on the build so I can get this beauty in.

[jengum]

Hi Pat. I'm getting close to ordering a BP347. Is that the engine base package with option 2 TKX transmission package? How flexible is BPE with substitutions or deletions? I noticed the QT bell housing versus the aluminum bell housing shown at the BPE website. Is the oil pan depth equal or less than 7.5"?

[PMD24]

Hi Jen - my BP order was originally option 1. When I later switched from manual to power steering, I called them and added the power steering components to the front drive. Engine was BP3473CTFK. Front drive BPP302FDE, TKX was BPPTKX600SB, and optional steel bellhousing. Other than the steel bellhousing, mine is the standard. Didn't pursue any other options or deletions. I worked with James Clark, 308-236-4181. I'm sure he can address the things you are considering.

The oil pan depth from the gasket to the bottom of the pan is 8".

Pat

[Mike.Bray]

Watch that oil pan that it doesn't hang below the frame rails. They make lousy skid plates.

[PMD24]

Thanks Mike. I'll reach out to Blueprint on that. This package is specific to FFR as part of their partnership so I'm hoping there's a positive answer.

Jen, I'll put an update on this post after I talk to them. Hopefully tomorrow.

Update 5/20/25. Response from Blueprint is... "The oil pan is a deeper sump, however, is typically flush with the bottom frame rail of the MKIV chassis. You shouldn't have any issues with the oil pan hitting while driving."

I think I will also check in with the techs at FFR to be double sure. Will update again once I do that.

6/8/25 Update: Heard back from Dan at FFR after providing him with the specific model number of the pan. He indicates that the pan may be flush with the frame but could sit slightly below depending in the final angle of the drivetrain. So, I guess I'll start by checking it once the engine is in and go from there. I'm guessing changing that pan would impact my warranty.

11/21/25 Update - engine in, pan hangs below the frame by a good 1/4". Pretty disappointing. This is Blueprint's FFR roadster engine. It's configured specific to this car and they even have a 6 page spec sheet detailing it. Yet, they supply it with an 8" pan when it's common knowledge that doesn't work. And FFR is apparently ok with that.


Pat

[PMD24]

Gas-N sidepipes have arrived. They are truly a work of art! Headers are being ceramic coated and should arrive soon.

214075

[PMD24]

After three months with essentially no time for work on the car I'll be back at it on a regular basis.

Gas-N headers arrived a month or so after the sidepipes, so delivery on the headers was around 8 months. Ceramic coating looks great and will help with radiant heat transfer to the footboxes. Verified that both left and right were shipped, as some have received two of the same side. Did a test fit on my Blueprint 347. All good. Access a little tight for a spark plug socket. Have ARP studs and Remflex gaskets ready to go.

217532

[PMD24]

Polished the engine bay side of the footbox tops and sides using Mothers, then coated with Sharkhide. Looks good and will provide an excellent barrier for radiant heat transfer. I'll also be lining the inside surfaces of the footboxes with Second Skin Damplifier sound deadening. The Damplifier will be applied so that every aluminum panel joint has an overlapping layer of Damplifier, creating complete air sealing of the footboxes. The footboxes will be under negative pressure relative to the engine bay, so controlling air leakage from the engine bay into the footboxes is really important. With an exterior radiant barrier, good air sealing, and ceramic coated headers, footbox heat should be a non-issue.

For anyone who may have an interest I shared some technical info on heat transfer in another post, https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?50895-Heat-amp-Sound-Mat-Installation&p=576082#post576082



217904

Also drilled out the row of rivets where the side panel enters the tunnel and replaced them with the rivet head facing the engine bay. Purely cosmetic but glad I did it. Looks much better. You can see the tunnel rivets on the far right of the above photo that were pulled from the inside. Pretty ugly. I'll be drilling those out too. I know they probably won't be noticeable, but I can see them now, and don't like how they look.

[PMD24]

Before I installed the polished inside footbox panel for the driver side, I removed the FFR throttle cable and replaced it with a Lokar TCP-1000HT48. Impressed with the quality. I also went one foot longer than the FFR supplied length. This will improve routing for less extreme bends and reduced friction. I also like the connection method at pedal. More friendly if changes are needed in the future. Went with the Lokar XTCB-40HS2 billet cable bracket for the Sniper2. Perfect fit and will look great. I like the look much better than the stamped metal bracket from Amazon. The folks at Lokar were a pleasure to deal with as well. The billet bracket was on backorder and they agreed to ship the cable ahead of time and then cover the shipping on the bracket.

The hole above the cable penetration is the original hole through the footbox panel. The Build School instructors recommended drilling a fourth hole in the pedal arm and attaching the cable there to improve throttle feel. That in turn requires a new hole through the footbox at a lower point, so the cable aligns with the connection point. The upper hole will be plugged with a rubber plug and sealed on the inside with Damplfier.

218005


Pat

[PMD24]

Applied a small sheet metal patch at the base of the inside DS panel. Like others I ended up with a pretty significant gap there. More than I wanted to fill with caulk or rely on aluminum tape to cover/seal. I'll go over this with the same Damplifier used on all panels.

218151

Relative to application of the Damplifier, I'm not focused on making a template or using the carpet pieces to match the aluminum. I'm applying the material so that the edges are reasonably close to the perimeter of the panel and then applying an overlapping strip at all panel joints. It doesn't matter if this strip is applied before or after the panel sections are covered. The important thing is a complete air seal.

Still haven't figured out an acceptable way to seal around the smaller tubes in the footboxes. The gaps there are pretty significant. Too big for caulk. Plus, that will leave an ugly mess on the outside. Aluminum tape seems a little flimsy for the gap size. Plus, the sticky side facing the engine bay will end up covered in crud. Cutting a thin piece of aluminum to match that crescent shape would work, but then I have more rivets in an ugly pattern showing in the engine bay. Probably not too visible in that location. Any input on other solutions would be appreciated.

Pat

[PMD24]

Relative to the application of the sound deadener (or heat mat if using that), if I could do it over, during pre-fitting, I would mark the panels on the inside, for the perimeter of the Damplifier, and apply it on the bench, prior to final installation of the panel. Then, after the panel is installed, I'd apply the overlapping strips at all sheet metal joint locations. I'll take this approach on any remaining panels.

[gbranham]

Applied a small sheet metal patch at the base of the inside DS panel. Like others I ended up with a pretty significant gap there. More than I wanted to fill with caulk or rely on aluminum tape to cover/seal. I'll go over this with the same Damplifier used on all panels.

218151

Relative to application of the Damplifier, I'm not focused on making a template or using the carpet pieces to match the aluminum. I'm applying the material so that the edges are reasonably close to the perimeter of the panel and then applying an overlapping strip at all panel joints. It doesn't matter if this strip is applied before or after the panel sections are covered. The important thing is a complete air seal.

Still haven't figured out an acceptable way to seal around the smaller tubes in the footboxes. The gaps there are pretty significant. Too big for caulk. Plus, that will leave an ugly mess on the outside. Aluminum tape seems a little flimsy for the gap size. Plus, the sticky side facing the engine bay will end up covered in crud. Cutting a thin piece of aluminum to match that crescent shape would work, but then I have more rivets in an ugly pattern showing in the engine bay. Probably not too visible in that location. Any input on other solutions would be appreciated.

Pat

Butyl rope caulk works well for this. Its black, and comes in a roll. Its round and probably 1/4" in diameter. Cut a piece of appropriate length, and press it into place, then form it as needed. Not really visible from the engine bay, especially once the engine is in. I used it to seal up several spots around the firewall and trunk walls, too. Pretty good stuff.

[PMD24]

Holes cut/drilled in Firewall Forward for heater. Repeating the warning to NOT use the template in the manual. It is NOT correct. Make your own. Lined FF with Damplifier and installed. Heater mounted. Half the screws on the heater were stripped. Replaced with #10 screws. Also loosened the screws around the heater motor mount and rotated it so the wires come out the bottom. Felt that this orientation is better relative to water intrusion and preferred it for wire routing as well.

Also installed rivnuts and mounted the wiper motor.

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218450

Also installed fuse panel and primary wiring harness. Chose to not hinge the panel. I will extend the length of the ground wires on the flashers now in case I do elect to hinge it later. They are pretty short and wouldn't allow for the panel to swing down.

[PMD24]

3/8" Nicopp fuel lines run. Used Earls 3/8 compression x 3AN fittings on ends for transition to SS braided flex.

Final bends at the rear were based on previously sorting out filter location for future maintenance access, and routing of flex lines.

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[Waterman]

Looking good. Nice to see the project moving along. Good to see you mounted the wiper motor up higher than I did. The tubing bend to first wheelbox will be easier than mine was.

[PMD24]

Mounted fuel filter. Good access from below. Location of filter and routing of the flex lines was planned prior to running the nicopp so I didn't have any tight bends in the flex lines or strain at the fittings. Flex line clamps were fastened with pop rivets, except locations that couldn't be accessed for drilling out in the future if needed. Those few were tapped and mounted with socket head screws. Connections at the tank were left loose. Once I have the regulator installed and front flex lines made-up I'll pressure test with air, then do the final connections and tightening at both ends. That will verify the integrity of almost all of the fuel system before fuel is in the tank.

218871

[PMD24]

Installed rear harness. Drilled the hole through the firewall in line with the edge of the tunnel on the driver's side instead of the location shown in the manual. The new location provided a straight shot down and into the tunnel. Had I been doing throttle linkage, this location probably wouldn't work.

Also, I recently read about a stalling issue being traced to the fuel pump connector at the tank, and some quality issues with how that connector was assembled. When I checked mine they didn't look so good. Pins weren't aligned very well and one wasn't seated and clipped into place. Seals were all messed up. 3 out of 4 were misaligned relative to the slot inside the body of the connector. What you see in the photo below is exactly how it looked out of the box.

219067

I removed the tape and disassembled both connectors. In the photo below you can see the tab that sticks out and locks the pin in place when slid into the connector. Inserting a small screwdriver into the bottom slot of the "P" shaped opening, depresses the tab and allows the pin to slide out.

219068

Inside the connector there's a rectangular opening that the seal should slide into. In my case, 3 out of 4 of the seals were not oriented to allow the seal to slid into the rectangular slot. The second photo below shows how the pin and seal should be oriented to slide in properly, engage the tab, and fully seat the seal. The last photo shows one of the reassembled connectors.

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If you haven't done your rear harness yet, or still have access to it, it might be a good idea to take a look at how those connectors are assembled.

[PMD24]

E-Brake Woes

I've been keeping a list of things to go back to, holding off on completing them for a variety of reasons. Decided to get a few of them off the list. One was the rear axle nuts. Assembled the ebrake handle, bracket, adjuster and clevises. Since this was a test fit and temporary use for torquing the rear axle nuts, regular nuts were used in place of the nylocs. Ran into a few issues. A couple of these issues have been documented by others, but no harm in sharing again.

The cable lugs that attach to the clevises at the handle were crimped on the cable at points that resulted in the cables being different lengths by maybe 3/8". The first time I assembled everything it was pretty clear that one cable would draw up tight while the other would still be slack. Went back over each cable and confirmed they were seated properly at the calipers on one end and the frame bracket on the other end.
219653

Decided to hook the cables to the handle and do a few pulls to see if that resulted in anything changing. But, with the adjuster unscrewed as far as I dared, it came up short by 3/4" or so from reaching the attachment point on the lever arm.
219654

Using a couple pieces of scrap metal as extenders I hooked it up temporarily and ran through several cycles of on/off. No change. The DS would lock up nicely while the PS rotor could be moved by hand. You can see in the photo that one of the cables in the clevises is loose.
219655

I torqued the DS to 98 ft-lb + 45 degrees, then disassembled the clevis and reconnected only the PS clevis. Set the brake and torqued the PS to the same spec.

Ultimately all of this doesn't matter much since this was temporary to torque the axle nuts. Like many others, I don't like the cables running under the frame, so I'll be adding the pulleys, cutting off the cable lugs, and using the Lokar cable block to even up the lengths. More on that in a future post.

I also have the issue that others have reported where the end of the front bolt that holds the handle to the arms, doesn't clear the aluminum panel. I confirmed that the mounts to the frame were over on one end and under on the other and shifted the positioning in the mounting slots to the position providing the most clearance. The bolt still contacts the aluminum.
219660

I'll be removing the handle/lever assembly for painting, so when I reassemble it, I'll place the head on the inside, the nut on the outside, use a 1/4" shorter button head screw, and a low profile nyloc nut. Putting the head on the inside should give me acceptable clearance.

[gbranham]

Just bend the ebrake bracket on the frame a bit to clear the aluminum.

[PMD24]

Just bend the ebrake bracket on the frame a bit to clear the aluminum.

Thanks. Will give that a try while it's still installed temporarily.

[PMD24]

Converter Wiring

Opened up the rear loom to check out the wiring for potentially tying in the converter there and ultimately decided to do it at the dash. I can make the converter reasonably accessible for replacement if needed in the future. The front location will leave me two purple wires running from the dash to the rear of the car. I can make use of both; one for the reverse lights, and one for trunk lighting.

Any input on my approach on tying in the converter would be appreciated.

My plan is as follows:
> On the main chassis harness I will cut the black ground wire leading into the black connector for the rear harness, and splice in the converter, black chassis to white converter in, and converter white out to the other side of the cut black chassis wire.
> On the main chassis harness I will cut the tan taillight wire leading into the white connector for the rear harness, and splice in the converter, tan chassis to tan converter in, and converter tan out to the other side of the cut tan chassis wire.
> On the main chassis harness I will cut the yellow left turn wire leading into the white connector for the rear harness, and splice in the converter, yellow chassis to yellow converter in, and converter yellow out to the other side of the cut yellow chassis wire.
> On the main chassis harness I will cut both of the purple brake light wires leading into the black connector for the rear harness. The two purple wire cut stubs at the black connector will be removed by removing the pin from the connector. The two purple wires coming from the main chassis harness will be traced to determine which one comes from the brake switch, and which one comes from the Hot Rod column connector. The one purple wire coming from the switch will be connected to the red converter in. (Note that there is no converter out associated with this.) The other purple wire that goes to the flat Hot Rod column connector will be removed.
> On the main chassis harness I will cut the white right turn wire leading into the white connector for the rear harness, and splice in the converter, white chassis to green converter in, and converter green out to the other side of the cut white chassis wire.
> All connections will be made with crimp butt connectors and sealed with heat shrink tubing.

On the dash end of the rear harness the black male connector has two purple wires that lead to the DS and PS taillight looms. These wires will be cut of at the connector, and the pin will be removed. These two wires are unused and can be utilized for other things, such as the reverse lights and trunk lighting.

[gbranham]

219680

[PMD24]

219680

Thanks. I used that schematic to do mine. FFR manual is pretty skinny on detail.

[PMD24]

PS Rear Tab Removal

Cut the tab off the frame at the PS rear above the tank strap mount using a cutting disc, then ground it down a bit, leaving enough material to maintain the integrity of the weld. Applied some paint. Carpet will ultimately hide it all.

219741

[PMD24]

Final E-Brake Install Complete

Removed the temporary ebrake setup detailed in post 152, disassembled and painted all bare metal parts. Removed handle screws and reversed them so the heads are on the inside, which provides more clearance at the sheet metal. Reinstalled handle assembly. I then drilled/filed out the end of one of the clevises to accept a 1/4" bolt.
220240

And filed the radii on the inside so a nut would sit flat inside the clevis.
220241

The clevis was then attached to a Lokar WCA8070 Connector Block with a 4" bolt. The nut inside the clevis is captured and does not turn. A locking nut is on the outside of the clevis. The Connector Block is threaded but I did not use it that way. The 4" bolt simply passes through the block.
220242


Ebrake cables were then cut with a 3" cutoff wheel and sheathing removed. Cables were inserted into the block and secured with the 4 allenhead screws with blue Loctite. In this photo you can also see that I did not use the carriage bolt on the rear L-bracket. Replaced it with a button head cap screw with the head on the bottom. I did this because the clevis/adjuster assembly was contacting the nut and screw threads when the carriage bolt was used. I don't love the angle at which the cables come out of the pulleys, but this is about as good as it gets to avoid going under the frame. Ebrake install complete and functioning well.
220243

[Dondero14]

Hi Pat,

Great job on your build so far. I just stumbled upon your build thread today and it has had some great information for myself to look into and prepare for as I get to that point of the build. I started my build last month and have a very similar setup so I'll definitely be following along to better prepare myself for the bumps along the way. All the pictures you've posted and great attention to detail is much appreciated from a readers perspective. Funny how some of the issues I've ran into you have address and brought up in this thread, which I wish I had followed along earlier in the past. Needless to say I've enjoyed learning from your build and look forward to following your thread.

Mark

[PMD24]

Thanks Mark. It's great to hear that you are getting some value from my thread. I got so much benefit from reading other's threads, that I decided to document mine. I'm sure much of it is repetitious but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I read here on the forum almost daily and learn something every single time!


Pat

[PMD24]

Forte Windshield Bracket

Installed the Forte windshield brackets this afternoon. No instructions provided, but pretty uneventful after doing my forum homework. JohnK gave me some specific guidance and topherchrisb was kind enough to send me a set of his positioning disks (see photo below). Like others, I cut the tip off the top and bottom rear corners due to interference with sheet metal. You will also need to drill one new hole above the bottom rear one, which isn't usable. Not sure why Forte drills it there. On the PS side you can't that location for drilling. And on the DS you would be right up against a frame member with your drill bit. Also, others have drilled a new hole below the top front hole because it is close to the edge of the frame steel. I decided to use that hole as supplied. It ends up being maybe a 1/4" from the edge, but I believe it will be fine. If these brackets ever move, I'm going to have something bigger to worry about (like being upside down with a crushed windshield).

I also didn't use the flange bolts and nuts supplied with the kit. I went with shorter 5/16 x1" grade 5 bolts with nyloc nuts. The temporary bolts in the photo below are grade 2 and will be replaced with the grade 5.

Note that the center hole is NOT drilled at this time. This hole is for the quick release pin. It will be drilled after the windshield is properly positioned on the body, similar to when the windshield post are marked for drilling when you aren't using these brackets.

220301

220302

One last thing... if anyone needs these positioning disks, let me know. I'll send them to the first person who asks (at no cost). I'm paying them forward.

Pat

[Mike.Bray]

Or if you want t make your own positioning plugs here's a sketch.

220315

[PMD24]

Been lax in keeping up to date with posts here, but progress is being made. Did all the fitting of the trunk sheet metal. Went well. Spun my wheels for a while going through boxes and inventory details trying to find the sheet metal pieces that are on the inside of the upper trunk sidewalls. They show in the manual in several photos but not in the box 10 inventory or the Box 99 sheet metal list. They also don't show in the sheet metal diagram in the manual. Spun my wheels some more searching the forums but couldn't find anything specific to those pieces. Reached out to Waterman who lives nearby and recently completed his car. Got a confirmation that those pieces are no longer part of the kit. Should have texted him an hour or two earlier!!

Did a little trimming and grinding here and there to provide clearance at welds.
221055

Also, Kleiner mod in place. I had originally planned to tack weld nuts on the back side of the plates instead of using the couplers. Decided to stick with Jeff's approach because the coupling will provide a longer stretch of support for the loom that will cover things in the future.
221054

After thinking through how many times I would be installing and removing the lower floor piece I decided to make a change at the PS fuel tank mount. I cut out the sheet metal to allow the piece to slide fully over the tank mounting bracket and bolt. I had previously cut of the frame tab that's above that mounting point as well.
221056

Made up a small cover that slides over the tank mount bracket and also covers the hole for the frame tab above (which I cut off). Cut the slots in this piece with a 1/8 thick masonry blade for an angle grinder. Perfect width for the bracket slots. So, this new piece, along with the one in the kit for the opening at the bottom of the bracket, will make for a clean, finished look.
221057

Disassembled everything, completed the sheet metal drilling, reassembled and drilled most of the frame holes. Removed side pieces to begin prep for coating the wheel well sides with Raptor.

[PMD24]

Prepped several aluminum panels for Raptor application. Applying it to exposed sides of panels in the wheel wells. F-panels were already installed so sanding was challenging, even with a large and small detail sander. Sanded with 80 grit (mini detailer was 60 grit). Plus I had to do a bunch of masking. Note to self for next build... coat panels before final install.
221103

Sanding the rest of the panels was quick and easy.
221104

Everything was wiped down twice with acetone and Raptor was rolled on with a 4" roller with 1/2" nap. Two coats, one hour apart. First time using this product. Easy to work with and looks great.
221105

221106

Have a little bit of touchup to do where tape was in the way. Will do that when splash guards are installed, so touchup can be done on everyting.

Wore a respirator and goggles and glad I did. Even with a fan blowing out one door and another door open for air to come in, I was shocked at how strong the odor was when I took the respirator off. Crazy bad! Even after the one hour wait for the second coat it was still strong. Sprayed the second coat and ran the ventilation for 3 more hours. Had to close up the shop for the night though. Odor was still pretty strong in the morning, but ran the ventilation again, and moved the panels to an adjacent storage space for final cure.

After seeing how this turned out I wish I had coated the underside of the floor panels. Will do that on my next build!

[PMD24]

Converter Install

After reading a few times about converter failures I took a look at both front and rear splicing and mounting options. Ultimately decided to do it behind the dash. Primary driver of that decision was having the two purple wires available in the rear harness for other uses. Also, in the rear of the car it wouldn't be that much more accessible, and it would get more moisture exposure in the rear. Granted, it's a sealed unit but moisture is pretty good at finding its way into places you don't want it.

Spliced it into the main harness with crimp butt connectors using a good crimping tool, not stacon pliers. Then sealed each connection with adhesive lined shrink sleeves. Also updated post 155 with wire by wire details of the connections and unused purple wires.
221463

Added loom to clean things up and mounted it on the bottom of the 2x2 tube to the right of the steering shaft. Good access if replacement is needed. Fastened in place with a heavy duty zip tie. I may end up moving the inertia switch once I get further into the work behind the dash.
221464

[PMD24]

Engine and Transmission In

Did a solo install of the engine and transmission last week. Went in without a problem in an hour and 15 minutes. Didn't lift the rear of the car or lower the front. For lifting, Blueprint had a pair of brackets on opposite corners. I moved the one on the rear to the front where the distributor was fastened. On the rear I used two standard lifting ears from Amazon.

221866

221867

When the transmission was close to level and still forward of the 4" tube the driveshaft was inserted. I loosely zip tied it to the 3/4 frame member above so it couldn't slide out. Over the course of the next several days I sorted through several issues. Mostly minor except for the dreaded "pan below the frame". I was pretty sure it was going to be a problem, was hoping for the best, but no luck. Blueprint has a specific set of packages associated with the partnership with FFR. They even send you a link to a unique webpage with the various options. I don't understand why FFR allows them to configure it with an 8" pan, given the number of people that end up with an issue. Several months ago when I checked the depth I contacted both Blueprint and FFR. Blueprint said it should sit flush. FFR sounded less sure that would be the case. So, over the last week or so I got really good at lifting the engine part way up and sometimes forward. Probably moved it a dozen times. Here's what I worked through.

> The DS motor mount didn't want to sit down into the indexing hole even with leaving the block mounting bolts loose. Lifted the engine a few inches several times while sorting out the transmission mount, driveshaft alignment, etc. Happened every time I lowered it into place. Could get it to seat by tapping it into place but wanted to track down the cause. Ultimately, after making the adjustments detailed below, it drops into the mounts perfectly every time.

> A tab on the PS of the transmission interfered with the e-brake mounting bracket. By lifting the transmission as high as it would go in place and pushing it toward the DS, I was able to cut off the tab using a 20V one hand recip saw.
221869

> With the transmission mount in place and the motor mounts fully seated, the tail of the transmission was contacting the top of the 4" tube. One 1/4" spacer was enough to get it to clear.

> The position of the transmission at the mounting point was skewed to the PS by approx 3/4". I could move it toward the DS about half that distance but did not have adequate play in the motor mounts to move it further. Lifted the engine a couple of times and reset it but no change. Lifted the engine far enough to be able to remove the motor mounts. The mounting holes are slightly oval as supplied. On both mounts I marked opposing sides of each oval to remove maybe a 1/16". A small change here would allow for quite a bit of movement at the tail of the transmission. Dropped the engine in and it slid in perfectly, without the DS mount hanging up on the indexing pin. And the transmission mount lined up perfectly.

> The oil pan was hanging below the frame by approximately 1/4 inch at the rear. In two steps I added two more 1/4" spacers under the tranny mount. It made no difference. This does make sense though. The rear of the pan is very close to being in line with the motor mount so lifting the end of the transmission begins a rotation of the pan with essentially no upward movement. Started by adding three washers under each of the four motor mounts. Ended up with four. Four measured out at 0.30". The washers have essentially the same contact area as the machined surface on the block and provided sufficient lift for the rear of the pan to be slightly above the frame (maybe 1/16th inch). I considered adding another washer but decided to go with it this way. The pan is now above the frame.
221870

I know there's a regular debate regarding the angle of the driveshaft to the differential and the need for adjustments when using IRS, but while into this I decided to check it out. With the 3/4" of spacers in place under the transmission mount the difference was three degrees. For fun, I pulled the spacers and it moved to approx 6 degrees. So, I chose to leave the spacers in.

With that complete, all mounting connections were tightened and torqued. Any connections without locknuts got blue loctite Torque values were based on bolt size and grade, wet.

Tomorrow I will connect the driveshaft and the drivetrain installation will be complete! Major milestone!

[PMD24]

Rear Harness Wiring Changes

Had previously run the rear harness through the firewall and back through the tunnel to the rear of the car. A friend who recently got his MK4 on the road (Waterman) had stopped by and advised me to start to dig into the details of the wiring before securing the harness in place. Good advice. Over the next few days I spent several hours getting my head around the wiring for the Sniper2 EFI, seat heaters, neutral switch, reverse light, USB ports, and trunk lighting.

Removed the rear harness, laid it out on my 4'x8' work table, opened all of the loom, and began to make changes. Before removing from the car I marked the loom at each of the locations where I wanted the additions or changes. As I opened the loom I marked those same locations on the wire bundle with a piece of tape.

I also opened up the Holley EFI harness to facilitate changes to how various wires split out of the loom, to better match how I was laying out my wiring and locating relays and connectors.

The following changes were made to the rear harness:
> The blue fuel pump wire from the Holley harness was added to the rear harness. The tan RF fuel pump wire was cut near the fuel pump connector and pulled back to the cockpit for use as the power feed to the seat heaters. The blue Holley fuel pump wire was spliced to the tan wire at the fuel pump connector.
> For the reverse light, a switched ground will be used. Adjacent to the transmission reverse switch location, split-off ground wire was added by splicing the two stripped ends of the cut ground wire back together, wrapping that splice with the split-off wire, soldering these together, and sealing the joint with adhesive lined shrink tube. This new wire will be the ground side of the reverse switch. Added a new ground wire from the other side of the reverse switch, running back to the reverse light. (Edit - Power for the reverse light will be a new brown wire. I chose to run a new wire instead of using the other available purple wire so that only one purple wire is in the rear harness, for clarity in the event of future troubleshooting. The second purple wire was removed from the rear harness.)
> Seat heaters - the tan RF fuel pump was pulled back to split out of the bundle near the end of the tunnel. This wire will be the power source for both seat heaters. Each seat heater has a short ground wire for grounding direct to the frame. I still need to sort out the changes at the main harness and fuse block for the relay and inertia switch. More on that in a future post. For now, I have a power and ground for the seat heaters sorted out.
> Neutral switch - I prefer the neutral switch over the clutch switch for start. May ultimately wire in both, but for now I need provisions in the rear harness for the neutral switch. Decided to repurpose the existing e-speedo pigtail since my gauge uses GPS. Moved where it comes out of the bundle. A pigtail with matching connector is available through Summit but decided to cut the connectors off and use weatherpaks.
> Trunk light - moved where the license plate wiring comes out of the bundle several inches toward the front so it exists the harness in the upper trunk area. Moved the other purple wire that was freed up via the converter install to exit at this same point. Laer I'll tap into the ground in this bundle, for the trunk light.
> USB port - decide to not add USB ports. Don't recall ever using one in my daily driver, even on trips, so I certainly won't need one in this car.

[edwardb]

Amazing shop remodel. Congratulations. Shop work is even more fun in pleasant (and warm) surroundings. At least for me... Good decision regarding the power steering. You won't regret it. You will probably need to think about some way to turn down the boost so it's not too light. I know, probably not want you want to hear after the effort and $$ to add it. But often the standard boost is too much. Couple of approaches but they can be added later after you have a chance to drive it. For the Breeze offset bushings, that was definitely a thing on Mk3's and earlier. Everyone was chasing bump steer. This was before the FF 2-piece spindles basically eliminated it. Plus the PS mounts from that era were slightly off center. I had them in my Mk3 build and they worked as advertised. I put them in my first Mk4 and they adjusted out exactly centered so basically didn't do anything. I didn't put them in my second Mk4 or any builds since. FF fixed the centering issue. Bump steer is a non-issue. Confused about the comment that the kit uses rubber bushings. Not the case. The stock rubber bushings are removed and the kit includes poly bushings which have little/no movement. Won't hurt anything to put them in now that you have them. But I haven't found them necessary.

[PMD24]

Amazing shop remodel. Congratulations. Shop work is even more fun in pleasant (and warm) surroundings. At least for me... Good decision regarding the power steering. You won't regret it. You will probably need to think about some way to turn down the boost so it's not too light. I know, probably not want you want to hear after the effort and $$ to add it. But often the standard boost is too much. Couple of approaches but they can be added later after you have a chance to drive it. For the Breeze offset bushings, that was definitely a thing on Mk3's and earlier. Everyone was chasing bump steer. This was before the FF 2-piece spindles basically eliminated it. Plus the PS mounts from that era were slightly off center. I had them in my Mk3 build and they worked as advertised. I put them in my first Mk4 and they adjusted out exactly centered so basically didn't do anything. I didn't put them in my second Mk4 or any builds since. FF fixed the centering issue. Bump steer is a non-issue. Confused about the comment that the kit uses rubber bushings. Not the case. The stock rubber bushings are removed and the kit includes poly bushings which have little/no movement. Won't hurt anything to put them in now that you have them. But I haven't found them necessary.

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I will pay attention to the power steering and adjust accordingly when the time comes. I went back and looked at my post regarding the centering bushings but didn't see a reference to rubber. Wherever it was, I'm guessing I was just referring to 'rubber" generically. If you get a minute to point out where that was, I'll edit it so folks aren't confused by my comment.

Pat

[PMD24]

Driveshaft and Safety Hoop

Applied blue loctite, connected the driveshaft, and torqued the screws to 70ft-lbs, in line with spec for size, grade, and wet. That was a lot of torque for the screw size! Installed the Metco safety hoop. Went in perfectly. I did need to flip the rear bolts on the transmission a-frame. Normally one would install bolts like that with the nut on the bottom so that in the event a nut comes loose you have some chance that the bolt will stay in the hole. In my case I needed to place the nut on top because the tip of the bolt and nut interfered with the safety hoop mounting bracket.

222330

[PMD24]

Radiator and Breese Components

Assembled the Breese fan shroud, and upper and lower mounting hardware. Good instructions. Went together with no issues. Sharing a few things that may help others.

I cut the tube pieces off the frame with a 20V cutoff tool and 3" wheel. Felt like I had better control than with my larger 4 1/2" tool. I chose to cut the tube piece instead of the weld because the weld is much harder material. Also, I didn't want to risk cutting into the frame tube. After the piece of tube was removed, I used a 4 1/2" grinding wheel on the welds. Once the welds were ground, the remaining side of the tube piece that was against the frame tube, peeled off easily. Did final cleanup for paint with a file and orbital sander.
222397

222398

222399

When mounting the fan on the shroud, the fan wiring pigtail goes to the side of the shroud with the wider flange.
222400

The instructions say to clamp the hinge in place, lay out 14 holes, and drill through the radiator channel and the hinge at the same time. I recommend drilling the holes in the channel first, then clamping the hinge in place and getting a hole drilled on each end, adding clecos, and then drilling the rest, similar to how the aluminum panels on the car are done first and then the frame holes are drilled. The stainless hinge is pretty hard material and this approach allows you to move clamps and add clecos close to where you are drilling, so everything stays where you want it.
222401

222402

Before laying out the 14 holes, note that you are also going to be drilling two 1/4" holes for the 3" bolts and spacers coming through from the fan shroud side. Pay attention to where these two holes fall on the 14 rivet layout. I didn't, and Murphy's Law worked perfectly. Both 1/4" bolts fell right where rivets were. No big deal. I simply drilled the rivets out and drilled the 1/4 holes, but you can avoid that by noting where the 1/4" bolts will go. Lay out the 14 holes so the 1/4" bolts go between rivets, or better still, in place of two rivets.
222403

Although it's not needed structurally, I also chose to install four fasteners along the bottom of the shroud, and will add a third fastener to the top. Did this because it seemed like a spot where vibration (noise) might occur.

[PMD24]

Radiator Mounted

Installed the radiator and lower Breeze mount. Pretty uneventful. Clamped the upper hinged to the frame at level position. Used a floor jack to hold the bottom. As recommended by many here I used the sheet metal side pieces to set the angle. Checked the angle out of curiosity. Came out to 47 degrees from horizontal. FFR's PS sheet metal fits well. DS , not so good. I'm not sure if I'll use them or try Mike Everson's. Don't need to decide that now.

DS sheet metal sits high compared to PS. Even when shifted to the PS to line up edge with radiator fins, the cutouts are still end up about 1/2" above the holes in the frame for the quickjack bolts. Ultimately it won't align with the radiator opening because they are mad by FFR for the radiator sitting 5/8"off-center toward the DS; whereas the Breeze upper mount has the radiatr centered.
222688

222692

[gbranham]

And you're fighting the unsquare 3/4" tube your Breeze hinge is fastened to. It's just not square in the frame. Mine certainly wasn't. Mine sloped 'up' to the driver's side, which explains your situation.

Greg

[PMD24]

Yep, mine slopes the same way. But, when I fastened the hinge to the 3/4 tube I set the bottom of the radiator level... and they still fit poorly on one side. Seems like most all do. Not complaining. It's all part of what makes it a fun and challenging project.

[Blitzboy54]

Those FFR radiator shroud pieces are hit or miss. My first build they fit ok, but my second they where not even really close. You might consider making your own?

[PMD24]

Those FFR radiator shroud pieces are hit or miss. My first build they fit ok, but my second they where not even really close. You might consider making your own?

I like that suggestion... an excuse to buy the Eastwood Versabend!

[PMD24]

Breeze Lower Radiator Tube

Installed the lower radiator tube and connecting elbows. Messed around with it for quite a while after seeing photos here on the forum where the tube passed over the sway bar. I couldn't get a layout that I liked. The elbow at the pump came out too close to the belt, clearance at the sway bar was ~1/16", and the elbow at the radiator connected to the tube at an angle. The layout that I liked the most placed the tube under the sway bar. I also wanted more length on the radiator side of the lower elbow. Found a hose at NAPA (their #9070) and cut a new elbow from it that gave me the added length I was looking for. Hit the tube and the Breeze mounting bracket with Flitz polish and a wipe of Sharkhide.

222739

222740

222741

For the upper connections I have a Boig tube with filler neck coming. Tubular Auto is now selling the Boig products.

[PMD24]

Raptor On More Aluminum Panels

I shared in a prior post that I wish I had coated the exterior side of some of the aluminum panels prior to install (floor panels), so I took the opportunity to apply Raptor to the exterior side of the trunk panels and some of the rear cockpit panels. With the tunnel still being exposed aluminum I needed to choose where to make the transition to the Raptor finish. Decided to place the transition at the vertical 2x3 frame member. I will still have to coat the underside of the floor panels in place. Will probably do that in the spring when I do the underside of the body.

222743

222745

[PMD24]

Rear Harness Fastened In Place

Completed all of the changes to the rear harness as detailed in post 168. Put everything back into the loom. Changed a few split-off locations and sorted out routing for the license plate/truck light loom. Left extra length for fuel tank sender and fuel pump. If I ever need access to the fuel pump, the tank will need to lowered. That Pro-M hanger is never coming out through the access hole in the trunk floor. Debated cutting a large triangular opening between the frame tubes in the area and adding a large cover, but it was still questionable that the cross brace would interfere with removal. Ultimately decided that lowering the tank would take similar effort... and likely won't be needed, at least for a while.

222865

License plate/trunk light loom
222866

[PMD24]

Rear Fuel Hoses Redo

Sharing some info on problems that I had with stainless steel fuel hose/fittings supplied with my engine from Blueprint, in case others run into this. Note that I have not seen any mention of this on the forum and I was not able to determine the cause. Maybe I was assembling the fittings wrong or tightening incorrectly. The supplied fittings have no marking to indicate manufacturer. I had called Blueprint when planning the fuel line routing to find out the manufacturer in case I needed additional or different fittings, but they were not able to tell me the manufacturer, indicating their suppliers change from time to time. Ultimately, I decided to switch to a known manufacturer with a good track record.

Rear fuel hoses were previously made up and mounted in place with a plan to test the full length of each line at once. Instead of doing that I decided to test the flex lines alone before installing the trunk sheet metal. Using an Earls test kit each of the hoses were pressurized with oil free compressed air to approx 75psi. All three failed to hold pressure. After double checking the ferrule nuts for tightness, I removed the hoses from the car and switched to submersion testing to see the leak points. All leaks were occurring at the ferrule. Again checked tightness and all seemed ok. Disassembled one and reassembled with new ferrules. Same result. Tried tightening beyond typical and still leaked. Made up another hose and tightened less, same result. Disassembled a few of the fittings and could noy establish the cause. Decided to ditch the BP hose and fittings and start over with products from a known manufacturer. First stop was Hot Rod Hose. Unfortunately, they were out of the hose that I wanted. Moved to Earls. After tallying up my total and seeing the cost, I choked and decided to look elsewhere. Ended up with Fragola through Summit. New hoses made up and tested. One minor leak, quickly remedied with slight tightening. All rear hoses reinstalled and AN connections tightened. Will leave trunk sheet metal off until fuel pump/regulator pressure test.

Earls test kit (note that the kit doesn't include the gauge):
222879

Final Installation:
222880

[Dondero14]

Pat this just made my heart sink because I just ran mine with the blueprint provided SS lines just a couple days ago. Sorry to hear about your issue and thanks for throwing that out there. I will be sure to check mine. I did a little looking around last night when I read the post and saw someone mention to possibly lube the threads to get a better bite. Not sure if you've already done this or if its worth the try at this point. Crossing my fingers that I don't run into the same issue.

[gbranham]

I used Evil Energy throughout my fuel system. Cheap, readily available on Amazon, and great reviews. I've had zero leaks, knock wood.

Greg

[PMD24]

Pat this just made my heart sink because I just ran mine with the blueprint provided SS lines just a couple days ago. Sorry to hear about your issue and thanks for throwing that out there. I will be sure to check mine. I did a little looking around last night when I read the post and saw someone mention to possibly lube the threads to get a better bite. Not sure if you've already done this or if its worth the try at this point. Crossing my fingers that I don't run into the same issue.

Hopefully yours will be fine. I haven't come across others having the same problems so maybe I just got some bad materials, or it was my assembly method. The odd thing is that these fittings are really straightforward. And, the Fragola's went together with no issues. Yes, you should lube the threads and the ferrule, but that's more about reducing binding as you tighten. Also, it's very easy to overtighten these types of fittings, so go lighter at first, test, and then tighten more if needed.

Pat

[Waterman]

Pat, Sorry to hear about your leaks. You were the one that mentioned during my visit a few weeks back about the inline fuel gauge and that helped me test everything... not just the lines. I used the gauge as a RETURN. Instead of the 2 lines going to the Sniper, the 2 lines went to the gauge to create a loop. I then temporarily powered the fuel pump to test pump, relay/wiring, lines, filter, set regulator pressure AND this test flushed the line thoroughly. Had a small leak in the regulator gauge connection plug otherwise all good. As you know I sourced all my fuel line and fittings from Breeze and all went together well. Maybe do similar test before first start. Others may not know I have changed a bunch on my MK4 to convert from a old carb 302 to a new 347 w/ sniper2.

[PMD24]

Pat, Sorry to hear about your leaks. You were the one that mentioned during my visit a few weeks back about the inline fuel gauge and that helped me test everything... not just the lines. I used the gauge as a RETURN. Instead of the 2 lines going to the Sniper, the 2 lines went to the gauge to create a loop. I then temporarily powered the fuel pump to test pump, relay/wiring, lines, filter, set regulator pressure AND this test flushed the line thoroughly. Had a small leak in the regulator gauge connection plug otherwise all good. As you know I sourced all my fuel line and fittings from Breeze and all went together well. Maybe do similar test before first start. Others may not know I have changed a bunch on my MK4 to convert from a old carb 302 to a new 347 w/ sniper2.

Thanks Anthony. I sure am glad that I bought that handy Earls test fitting. As I was making up the front hoses today (all tested good) I was thinking about the same thing you describe. So, your details are timely. I like the idea of testing of everything, even if I've already tested all of the flex lines. Still a ways to go before I'm ready, but getting more time on the car lately. I'm hoping for a January first start.

Pat

[PMD24]

Fuel Lines Complete

Installed the regulator and front hoses. Much happier with the Fragola hose and fittings. One leak at a ferrule, slight tightening, and good to go. For leak testing the entire system I tied the throttle body hose connectors together using a 6AN bulkhead elbow I had on hand. At the tank I put a plug on the supply side and the test fitting on the return. Pressurized the whole system to 75psi. Lost 10 psi in an hour. Disconnected the elbow at the throttle body and tested just the return side, anticipating a small leak at the regulator o-ring fittings. Held 75psi overnight. The next morning, I tested the supply side. Dropped 10psi in an hour. Went through all of the connections checking tightness. Got about 1/8 turn on one of the NiCopp compression adapters. Tested again. All good. Reconnected supply and return to the throttle body. Fuel lines are fully tested and ready for fuel!

223534

223536

When I was making up the stainless steel flex hoses, just for the heck of it, I tried several of the ways various manufacturers recommend for cutting the hose (hacksaw, chisel, high leverage cable cutters, cutoff wheel, etc), including trying different kinds of tape. I landed on masking tape and a 3" cutoff wheel in a 20V cutoff tool. I took photos of each of the tests and hope to share the details when I have more time.

[gbranham]

Electrical tape and a cutoff wheel worked best for me, too. The purpose-built big ole pliers I bought merely crushed the PTFE.

Fuel lines are looking good!

Greg

[egchewy79]

Electrical tape and a cutoff wheel worked best for me, too. The purpose-built big ole pliers I bought merely crushed the PTFE.

Fuel lines are looking good!

Greg
Same for me. It’s amazing how sharp that braided steel line can be. My fingers looked like a shower head after handling it.

[PMD24]

I found that the less sticky the tape is, the better. I had a little bit of drafting tape around and that was the best. It's like masking tape but less sticky. It's probably hard to find these days since drafting on mylar or paper is a thing of the past, but I also mess around with some art stuff and similar tape is available in art stores. In my testing stickier tape tended to open up the mesh a bit when removing it, which made getting the ferrule nut on a little tougher.

[PMD24]

Power Steering Hoses Installed

FFR hoses were waaaay to long for my liking, so to make things easy I ordered the Breeze kit. As always with Mark's stuff, great quality and great instructions. You still have to make-up the hoses for your personal routing/length. Mark's instructions are very clear on checking for chamfers to establish the need for the extra sealing washers. I did use the washers and have no leaks at static pressure.

223591

[PMD24]

Overflow Tank

Started to mount the FFR overflow tank using the provided stainless mounting plate. Didn't like how the rectangular plate lined up on the pitched upper 3/4 frame tube and really didn't like the idea of no support provisions for the lower end. Tossed the mounting plate into the spare parts bin and made a new upper mounting plate out of 1/8" aluminum. Clamped material to tube and marked bottom edge level, and top edge scribed along frame tube. Sides were marked perpendicular to bottom with width similar to the plate provided by FFR. Using a piece of 2x4x1/8 aluminum angle a mounting plate was made for the lower 3/4" frame tube. Bottom edge was marked level, sides were marked perpendicular to the bottom and aligned with strings hung from the upper tube at the mounting plate edges. The strings were also used to measure horizontal at the lower frame tube for the angle needed on the top of the bracket. All cuts for both brackets were made with a variable speed jig saw. Drilled holes in both brackets for riveting to frame tubes, and holes for overflow brackets. Used a hand file to soften the corners and clean up the edges. Sanded both with 120, polished with Flitz, and sealed with Sharkhide. Installed brackets and mounted tank. Looks good and rock solid.

223614

Two new brackets on bottom, FFR bracket on top
223615

Brackets and tank installed:
223616

[cc2Arider]

Nice job Pat! :)

Craig C

[PMD24]

Horns

Started to prep for mounting the horns but didn't care for the FFR mounting method. Started to prep a bracket out of 1/8 aluminum but recalled that I had just recently freed up the stainless mount that FFR provided for the overflow tank. As luck would have it the holes in the overflow tank bracket were spaced at ~4", just about right for the spacing on the horn mounting studs. Checked the hole size in the FFR horn brackets and found that by using a size P drill to enlarge the holes in the overflow bracket, the knurled boss on the horn stud would engage nicely. Drilled out the two holes, added a third rivet hole at the top of the bracket and installed the bracket and both horns. Looks better and more secure. Ready for wiring.

223639

[eljessup65]

Horns

Started to prep for mounting the horns but didn't care for the FFR mounting method. Started to prep a bracket out of 1/8 aluminum but recalled that I had just recently freed up the stainless mount that FFR provided for the overflow tank. As luck would have it the holes in the overflow tank bracket were spaced at ~4", just about right for the spacing on the horn mounting studs. Checked the hole size in the FFR horn brackets and found that by using a size P drill to enlarge the holes in the overflow bracket, the knurled boss on the horn stud would engage nicely. Drilled out the two holes, added a third rivet hole at the top of the bracket and installed the bracket and both horns. Looks better and more secure. Ready for wiring.

223639

Make sure to test them and make sure you are happy with the tone. A huge part of how the horns sounds is linked to the mounting strap provided.

[PMD24]

Sniper 2 EFI Wiring

Holley Sniper2 wiring removed from loom to allow for changes to split-offs for my personal routing and possible removal of unused wires (more on this later). Temporary EFI wiring completed as detailed below. All connections are crimped or soldered. After first start, final routing configuration will be decided, connections will be redone as needed, and all wires will be re-loomed. I anticipate changing all engine bay loom from the split plastic to something more cosmetically appealing.

The Blueprint 70 page FAQ document and Holley's 80 page detailed Sniper manual are NOT current relative to the Sniper's current harness configuration. Both documents refer to 10, 8, and 7 pin connectors, while the current configuration is 16 and 6. More importantly, wire colors referred to in these documents are different in some cases on the 16/6 harness. For example, both documents refer to a light blue ground trigger (Pin C on the 10 pin) for fan relay ground trigger. However, on the 16/6 harness, Pin B, black/yellow, of the 6 pin I/O harness is designated as output #1 (-) for fan trigger. The Quick Start Manual does show the current 16/6 configuration. Engine is a Blueprint 347 with distributor and coil.

Made EFI wiring connections as follows:
> S2 main harness red direct to battery (+), will be connected later
> S2 main harness black direct to battery (-), will be connected later
> S2 main harness pink to RF harness tan "Electric Choke"
> S2 main harness blue direct to fuel pump
> S2 main harness yellow to Coil (-), coil (+) gets power from RF harness orange "Coil/EFI"
> S2 throttle body M8 Can1 to 3.5" Display, harness Can2 not used
> S2 throttle body O2 to sensor in exhaust bung
> S2 throttle body coolant sense, installed by Blueprint to temperature sensor in intake manifold
> S2 main harness white - not used
> S2 main harness 3pin connector - not used
> S2 I/O harness Black w/yellow stripe, Output 1 Ground to RF harness green fan "Thermo Switch". All other wires in the I/O harness are not used. Possible exception is grey tach out. See question below.

Holley states explicitly that the engine ground should be 1 ga or larger (wow!), wired direct to the battery. They further state that grounding the engine to the chassis is not sufficient for their electronics. I have the braided engine to frame ground in place and will leave it (no downside) but will add an engine to battery direct ground as well. Might get crazy and go less that 1 AWG!!

Holley also states that once EFI wiring is complete and verified, all unused wires should be de-pinned and removed. Will be doing this also. Need to do some homework on locating plugs for de-pinned slots.

The 6 pin connector has a grey output wire for aftermarket tach. Vintage Gauge info says use coil (-) or ECU tach out. Any thoughts on one versus the other would be appreciated.

Any critique on where I'm headed is welcome and appreciated. If any changes are made to the above detail, I'll edit this post accordingly.

Thanks,

Pat

[PMD24]

Make sure to test them and make sure you are happy with the tone. A huge part of how the horns sounds is linked to the mounting strap provided.

Thanks. Didn't know that. Will check the sound tomorrow using a jump pack.

Pat

Edit - Checked horn sounds. They sound like... well, car horns.

[PMD24]

Heater Tube Alterations

I mounted the heater before installing the engine and ended up being unable to install the elbow on the left connection tube due to interference with the PS valve cover. Even if I had installed the heater after engine install I don't think I could have installed it far enough to the right because the wiper assembly also has to fit in this area, to ovoid the elbow interference. No big deal removing the fan/motor and pulling the coil side, but altering the tubes is a little more involved. My plan was to cut off both threaded fittings install 45 degree elbows, reconnect the threaded fittings, and go with straight adapters from Vintage Air. I thought about altering just the one tube with the interference but concluded that having the two tubes shaped differently would prevent me from getting them back through the holes in the firewall.

Considered using compression fittings but decided against them due to size. I've read here on the forum that compression fittings wouldn't work because the copper is thin wall. That's not the case. The tubes appear to be type L hard copper which is fine for compression fittings, and others have used them here successfully. In fact, you can use compression on thin wall and even soft copper. Inserts for thin and soft are available to support the ferrule compression, similar to the concept applied for compression on pex and other plastic-type plumbing tubing.

First step was to cut off the threaded fittings. I chose to make the cut leaving more length on the core side for two reasons; to allow room for heat transfer wrapping during soldering and for another cut if ever needed. Joints were cleaned with emery tape and flux applied.
223702

Elbows were then soldered on the fitting side first. Used a higher temperature solder for this side so that it would be less likely to re-melt when soldering the final joint.
223705

Next, the plastic box was wrapped in aluminum foil for protection from radiant heat from the solder flame. I'm using a b-tank (acetylene) so it's quite a bit hotter than propane. The acetylene is a big advantage over propane because I can get that joint up to temp very quickly which minimizes heat transfer down the tube toward the core. The tubes were also wrapped with heat shield putty to prevent heat transfer up the tube to the core solder joints. It's likely that the core solder joints were done with a lead free high temp solder and I'm using 50/50 for the final joint so I could probably get away with just a wet wrap on the tube, but these heat shield products work great, and I had this on hand from when I did a bunch of solder joints on the manifold for the radiant heat in my shop floor. They also come as spray-on gels that evaporate and leave no residue. The putty is a reuseable product.
223708

223709

Installed the straight tube adapters from Vintage Air. The final assembly is a little off-parallel because the tubes coming out of the heater are off-parallel. Ultimately this solution allows for heater core removal with no cutting. I'm waiting for the manifold adapter for connection of the heater supply hose. That will be here in a couple of days. I'll then install the valve and hoses. Might sort out a way for a low pressure compressed air leak check before filling the system with coolant.
223710

[Mike.Bray]

Very crafty. I like it.

[Waterman]

Pat, I also saw the 1AWG recommendation on the engine ground to battery minus. In my case I had some 6 AWG on hand so used that. Rear mounted Battery to a bellhousing/engine bolt, flowing thru the tunnel. Easy to run and tie in at both ends. 1AWG sounds a bit crazy and only really comes into play during cranking IF the existing braided straps are compromised.

[jengum]

Hi Pat,

Did you use the 6-5/16" horizontal dimension to locate the heater shown on the template? I'm curious because it looks like there's some room to move it towards the windshield wiper motor a little bit unless there's some interference on the back side with the dash tubing. I'm using the FF forward just like you. Where did you get the straight tube adapters? I don't see them mentioned in the FFR heater instructions.

[PMD24]

Hi Jen,

I didn't use the dimension provided because I had read that the template was inaccurate relative to the tube locations, so I made a new template from scratch, copying the mounting flange, screw locations, and core opening, which were all correct for my heater. Tube holes were wrong on the template, so I relocated them accordingly. I then sketched the shape of the motor end on to the template so I could eyeball wiper location and how far I could push things towards the PS.
223752

Send me message if you'd like a copy of my template. It might save you some time from starting from scratch.

I taped the template in place, then held the wiper motor in place, looking at future access to pull it if needed, and assessing the location and arc of the drive cable. I moved the template a couple of times and ended up at 4 3/4" from the edge of the firewall. There's a gap of about 1/4" between the fan motor and the wiper assembly. I also kept the edge of tube holes about 1/4" above the horizontal part of the firewall forward to allow clearance for the rubber tube grommets. During this exercise I also marked the mounting hole locations for the wiper.

The straight tube adapters came from Vintage Air. They also sell 5/8 hoses with a molded elbow which allow you to do you connections to the water pump and manifold without using an elbow and then a hose coupling to the 5/8 hose. That eliminates two joints. Turns out I had previously found that hose in the Gates catalog and bought it from the local O'Reilly Auto parts. I'll be installing the hoses soon and will post those details.

Hope this long-winded reply is helpful.

Pat

[PMD24]

Pat, I also saw the 1AWG recommendation on the engine ground to battery minus. In my case I had some 6 AWG on hand so used that. Rear mounted Battery to a bellhousing/engine bolt, flowing thru the tunnel. Easy to run and tie in at both ends. 1AWG sounds a bit crazy and only really comes into play during cranking IF the existing braided straps are compromised.

Yeah, that's a pretty hefty cable and like you, I'm going lighter. Initially I thought they wanted it because the FFR standard is rear mount battery so they wanted a larger cable due to length. But the flier that called that out was a Blueprint/Holley document and didn't seem to be FFR specific, so unsure what's behind that recommendation.

[PMD24]

Upper Radiator Hose

Installed BOIG tube with filler neck. Really like the look of it, but it sure is pricey. Also like the look of the Gates Power Grip hose clamps. Connected the overflow tank as well.

223781

[cv2065]

Upper Radiator Hose

Installed BOIG tube with filler neck. Really like the look of it, but it sure is pricey. Also like the look of the Gates Power Grip hose clamps. Connected the overflow tank as well.

223781

Are they still selling these? Mine was defective at the filler neck.

[PMD24]

Are they still selling these? Mine was defective at the filler neck.

Tubular Automotive now manufacturers and sells the BOIG products.

[cv2065]

Tubular Automotive now manufacturers and sells the BOIG products.

Yes, it's been that way for a bit. They only list the lower tube on their site and have removed the upper, so don't think they are producing anymore. Thought you might have bought it recently.

[PMD24]

Bought it roughly mid-December. Called, asked about the tube with filler neck. He said he had 10 coming in. Sent a check and it arrived a couple weeks later.

[cv2065]

Bought it roughly mid-December. Called, asked about the tube with filler neck. He said he had 10 coming in. Sent a check and it arrived a couple weeks later.

Ok cool. Good to know. Maybe they will swap this one out.

[PMD24]

Transmission Fill Plug Challenges

Had a half hour of free time and decided I'd quickly pull the fill plug on the transmission and get the oil in. Ah, not so quick! Couldn't get the 3/8 ratchet head even close to fitting in there due to interference with the e-brake mounting bracket bolt. Dug around in my old tools and even a 50 year old Craftsman with a pretty small head wouldn't fit. Tried a universal and ended up close to 90 degrees and couldn't get it to turn. Removed carriage bolt from mounting bracket and rotated it out of the way and the smaller Craftsman ratchet just fit. Removed plug, added 3 quarts, but still no overflow. Calls for 2.7 quarts. Confirmed that the car is level. I'll just leave it at 3. Order two new plugs. One with an allen head socket and one with a hex head. Will see which one I like fit-wise and go with that instead of putting the old one back in. If I do go with the socket head I'll need to cut the short end of an allen wrench to get in there. Might also try a regular square head brass pipe plug. That might prove to be the most accessible.

I know I could have filled it from the top but I wanted to see the overflow. Turns out I didn't see it anyway!

You can see in the photos below, that the rachet fits only with the bolt and bracket out of the way.
223967

223968

An interesting observation on this is if I just reinstall the original plug and put the e-brake back together, once the cockpit is finished and carpeted, I'd need to make up a tool to pull the plug (1/2" piece of 3/8 square stock tack welded to a length of bar stock). But, this exercise also shows that future access to the nut on the top of the ebrake bracket carriage bolt would have to be through the side or top of the tunnel. It's simply not accessible from below. Fortunately, that's pretty unlikely.

[Blitzboy54]

Transmission Fill Plug Challenges

Had a half hour of free time and decided I'd quickly pull the fill plug on the transmission and get the oil in. Ah, not so quick! Couldn't get the 3/8 ratchet head even close to fitting in there due to interference with the e-brake mounting bracket bolt. Dug around in my old tools and even a 50 year old Craftsman with a pretty small head wouldn't fit. Tried a universal and ended up close to 90 degrees and couldn't get it to turn. Removed carriage bolt from mounting bracket and rotated it out of the way and the smaller Craftsman ratchet just fit. Removed plug, added 3 quarts, but still no overflow. Calls for 2.7 quarts. Confirmed that the car is level. I'll just leave it at 3. Order two new plugs. One with an allen head socket and one with a hex head. Will see which one I like fit-wise and go with that instead of putting the old one back in. If I do go with the socket head I'll need to cut the short end of an allen wrench to get in there. Might also try a regular square head brass pipe plug. That might prove to be the most accessible.

I know I could have filled it from the top but I wanted to see the overflow. Turns out I didn't see it anyway!

You can see in the photos below, that the rachet fits only with the bolt and bracket out of the way.
223967

223968

An interesting observation on this is if I just reinstall the original plug and put the e-brake back together, once the cockpit is finished and carpeted, I'd need to make up a tool to pull the plug (1/2" piece of 3/8 square stock tack welded to a length of bar stock). But, this exercise also shows that future access to the nut on the top of the ebrake bracket carriage bolt would have to be through the side or top of the tunnel. It's simply not accessible from below. Fortunately, that's pretty unlikely.

The easy button here would be to drain it from the bottom and fill at the shifter. You can pull the cover off the mid shift and fill from there or slowly from the rear most shift location. This is only if you have access by removing the tunnel or at the very least the shift boot.

[PMD24]

The easy button here would be to drain it from the bottom and fill at the shifter. You can pull the cover off the mid shift and fill from there or slowly from the rear most shift location. This is only if you have access by removing the tunnel or at the very least the shift boot.

Yep, but as noted, I wanted to see the overflow... which I never saw anyway. I even contemplated doing that after not being able to access the plug, but decided to fix it now, since I'll be draining the ATF and replacing it with Syncro at 500mi.

[PMD24]

Update

Tried the Allstar aluminum hex head plug first because it was a well-made part, but the head was really large and interfered with the frame mount for the ebrake. Next, I tried the standard square head brass pipe plug. Probably ok but might hit the reassembled ebrake bracket bolt when trying to back it out. Ended up going with the hex socket head plug. Tightened it with the long end of a 3/8 allen wrench from the cockpit (bracket and bolt still disassembled), but wrench won't go on from below without shortening the short side of the wrench. Ordered a cheap 3/8 allen wrench from Amazon and will cut off part of the short end and put it in the toolbox drawer with others, but labeled for this use.

[PMD24]

My Electrical Drug Habit

So I've come to the conclusion that getting into the electrical must be like a prescription drug habit. Haven't personally been down the drug path but the electrical work on the car seems a lot like what you hear about the drug thing. First you get into it because you really have no choice; you have to do some to get through the pain. Then as you get into it and it works, you decide it's not so bad and you keep going with it. And then you go a little further, and then further, and suddenly you step back and take a look at your situation. It's clear that it has gotten out of hand...
> Remove rear harness from car after installing it when the manual said to. Then remove all loom on the bench and make numerous changes.
> Dig into the EFI wiring and remove that from the loom to make changes there as well.
> front harness - same, but decide to not pull it out just to remove that one pesky thermo switch wire
> sending harness - many habit satisfying opportunities here, still enjoying
> main harness - loom removed and rat's nest heaven
> dash harness when using the Vintage Gauges - the ultimate high
> RF fuel pump relay - remove fuse block just to get a good look at the block's bus arrangement and other potential changes to use the relay for something else... even though I don't need it.
> tear out inertia switch and move it to the PS to tie it into the small blue ground wire on the Sniper2 fuel pump relay

There's more, but I'll leave it at that. Obviously, all of the connections you see in the photos below are temporary (including the inertia switch taped to the frame). Once everything tests out with first start I'll clean things up and document all changes here and in the build record that stays with the car. Keeping notes as I go.

224016

224017

[PMD24]

Front Harness Installed

Front harness was mostly in place when I discovered that I didn't need the thermo switch wire. Decided against removing it just to take out that one wire. So, I sealed the end with heat shrink and tucked it into the loom. Fastened the rest of the harness along the upper tube, down the front, and across the bottom of the radiator. Made up the jumpers and connected the horns. Fan connection made with a Weather Pack.

I'd like to wrap up the harness side of the Weather Packs for the lights but with the body off I'd be guessing on the length for the pigtail. Can anyone provide a length? I'll be using the standard kit supplied headlights. Thanks.
224086

[Waterman]

I think it is time for you to put the body on before finalizing wire routing/terminations. Then you can see where the wires will run so not to interfere with oil cooler opening for example. I had my body on and off several times during this period. Using the straps from the ceiling method you alone, can take the body on and off in just 5 minutes. If weather was better I would concentrate on getting to go kart stage but maybe best to get basic body sorted now.

[gbranham]

I added weatherpaks to the bare wires of the harness for each corner of the car, for the headlights, park lights and taillights. I didn't shorten the harness...juat left it as-is. Once the body was on, I realized I had plenty of length, and could've shortened them a few inches. However, the extra length wasn't an issue, and I just coiled it up and zip tied it behind each light. Easy peasie.

Greg

[gbranham]

Also, for the headlight buckets, I drilled a 1.5" hole in them, and installed a split grommet, so I could pass the weatherpak connector through it.

Greg

[PMD24]

I think it is time for you to put the body on before finalizing wire routing/terminations. Then you can see where the wires will run so not to interfere with oil cooler opening for example. I had my body on and off several times during this period. Using the straps from the ceiling method you alone, can take the body on and off in just 5 minutes. If weather was better I would concentrate on getting to go kart stage but maybe best to get basic body sorted now.

Yeah, been thinking about that, but not there quite yet. I'm focused on getting to first start. Just starting on dash wiring. Also, I don't have any of the cockpit rear or trunk sheet metal in place. I was thinking that I'd want that sheetmetal and the dash in place for first time putting the body on. Does that make sense?

[PMD24]

Also, for the headlight buckets, I drilled a 1.5" hole in them, and installed a split grommet, so I could pass the weatherpak connector through it.

Greg

Thanks Greg. I haven't even looked at the headlight install yet, but will keep that in mind when I get there.

[PMD24]

Coolant Senders

Limited on ports for coolant temp on the Blueprint 347. I removed the brass pipe plug that's on the DS of the manifold behind the distributor and moved the sensor for the EFI that Blueprint installed on the PS of the distributor, to the DS port. Installed a 1/2" NPT x 5/8" hose adapter in the PS port for the heater connection. Installed the sender for the dash gauge in the thermostat housing. All three pipe threads installed with high temp pipe dope, no teflon tape.

I know the location for that dash sender is less than ideal. I considered a tee at the hose adapter location and decided that was less than ideal as well because the sensor will be out of the coolant flow path whenever the heater valve is closed. Without flow that sensor will not provide reliable temperature readings. At least in the current location, once the t-stat opens readings will be reliable. I'll also have the EFI screen available for a while and will quickly get a feel for when the dash gauge should be registering.

224381

224383

224390

[PMD24]

Top Mounting Holes for the Heater

I posted previously about getting larger screws for mounting the fan side of the heater through the firewall and into the core side. Core side is just thin plastic and a couple of the screws were stripped out of the box. Larger screws worked ok, but I still didn't love it. Then I stumbled across a post where a forum member added a strip of sheet metal behind the plastic. Can't remember who posted that by kudos to whoever did. I had a strip of 040 hanging around from when I cut something else from the original unused firewall. It was a little off-straight on one side but fit in there nicely and is completely hidden. I marked the hole locations, drilled holes for some small temporary sheet metal screws, applied some black RTV, and screwed and clamped it in place. Once the RTV is dry I'll remove the screws and use them again to mount it in place temporarily without the fan. I'll make the hose connections and leave the fan off so I can leak check my solder joints (post 198) during first start.

224467

224468

[PMD24]

Primary Power Wiring

All primary power wiring is in place, some temporary, some final.
> Battery neg to frame. Chose a flat surface at the upper x-brace gusset vs securing to the round tube. Drilled and tapped for 3/8 bolt. 4ga marine cable with Fusion lug at battery and 4 ga x 3/8 fusion lug at frame end. Don't normally use lock washers but did use one on the 3/8 frame connection. Will likely bite into tinned copper connector since it's pretty soft.
224540

> 4 ga marine cable from battery negative to starter mount. 4ga x 5/16 hydraulic crimp connectors on each end. This cable was routed along the inside of the 4" frame tube and fastened in place with cable clamps. Space was left above it to route the positive cable along the same path.
> 4 ga marine cable from battery positive to starter. Fusion lug at battery and 4 x 5/16 hyd crimp connector at starter. This wire was routed along the top of the negative cable and secured in place with wire ties.
224541

224542

> Braided ground strap from motor mount to frame flat surface.
224543

> Wasn't planning on a battery(+) bus but when I added the 3 harness ring terminals to the starter stud, along with the battery feed, the nut wasn't fully threaded, which didn't work for me personally. Mounted a 4 post bus on the underside of the firewall forward sheet metal overhang, above the bell housing. Ran a 4ga marine cable from the starter to the bus, 4ga x 5/16 hyd crimp connector at the starter and bus. Bus studs are 1/4". Didn't have 4 ga x 1/4 tinned connectors but ordered some and will replace the 5/16 ones for final wiring. Connected IGN battery feed and fuse block ACC battery feed to the bus. Both have 5/16 ring terminals which will be replaced with 1/4" for final wiring.
224544

Other stuff:
> Alternator out connected direct to battery (+). Brown unused wire in the alternator loom removed from harness.
> Blue starter solenoid wire connected temporarily. It just barely reaches the stud with no slack for decent routing and securing. Wire will be cut behind the dash and a new longer wire will be spliced in and reconnected at the starter.
> Replaced 1 1/4" battery lug bolts with 1 1/2" to allow for a little extra length for other direct connections to battery lugs.
> Thought a lot about a disconnect switch. Wouldn't do it for the security thing but thinking it may be handy during the rest of the electrical work. Decided to leave it out for now and if I find that I'm disconnecting the battery all the time, it's an easy add.

[PMD24]

Heater Hoses Finally In Place

After adding the reinforcing to the heater core plastic mount holes, I reinstalled the core side of the heater with a couple of temporary screws. Left the hose off the manifold connection until coolant came out, then hooked up the hoses and finished filling the system with coolant. I found a Gates hose that has an elbow at the end. Using it instead of an elbow with a coupling to the hose eliminates four joints. Vintage Air also sells a hose that looks like it may be the same as Gates one I found. I left the fan side off the heater for now for leak checking during first start.

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[tundra2050]

Nice detailed photos. I also like your heater solution.

I'm in need of your expertise with this. I'm building a 289 FIA and the heater supposedly butts up against the speedometer on the passenger side. FF suggested moving the heater slightly toward the driver side. I'm looking to install a 302 dressed as a 289. Do you think the core fittings will be too close to the valve covers or air cleaner? Maybe since I'm going to have to move the heater over, can I raise it up a little higher on the firewall? Just worried the duct might be too tight going over the top of the box for the defroster vent.

Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks! James

[PMD24]

Nice detailed photos. I also like your heater solution.

I'm in need of your expertise with this. I'm building a 289 FIA and the heater supposedly butts up against the speedometer on the passenger side. FF suggested moving the heater slightly toward the driver side. I'm looking to install a 302 dressed as a 289. Do you think the core fittings will be too close to the valve covers or air cleaner? Maybe since I'm going to have to move the heater over, can I raise it up a little higher on the firewall? Just worried the duct might be too tight going over the top of the box for the defroster vent.

Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks! James

Hey James. Not sure that I'm the right source for specifics so maybe someone who has built an FIA will weigh-in. But, I will offer a few thoughts.
> I don't think you have to be concerned about the valve covers or air cleaner. My interference was caused by the firewall forward. With your focus on period correct I assume you won't be using that. Many have installed the heater with the kit supplied firewall and a 302 based engine and the tube elbows clear the valve cover. And if your air cleaner is large and extends further out than the valve covers I believe the tubes will be below it.
> When I first posted about the interference I had, someone pointed out that I had installed the heater before I should have (presumably meaning before the engine). I did that because I wanted to cut the hole with the firewall out of the car. In retrospect it wouldn't have changed a thing. I couldn't have moved the heater any further toward the PS anyway because of the wiper motor.
> I don't know if your FIA will have wipers but that will be a watch-out with moving the heater up and over. You'll need to avoid interference with the wiper gearboxes.
> Relative to hoses over the top of the box I haven't gotten to that point in my build but it seems to me that with the box more toward the center of the car, you wouldn't need to cross the box.
> I think your best bet might be to do the firewall and frame drilling now and put a few rivets in it. Once the engine is in you can position your heater and check out clearances on both sides of the firewall. You can then remove the firewall to cut the hole. Even if you have routed some wiring through the firewall it's easily pulled out. Or cut your heater hole in place with a jigsaw.

Hope this is helpful,

Pat

[tundra2050]

Pat, that's very helpful. Stupid me, I went back through your thread and realized you had the firewall forward. I do plan on adding wipers and will keep placement in mind. Seems like if I only have to move the heater slightly away from where the wiper motor will go and at the same height in the instructions, I should be fine. Thanks again for the insight!

[PMD24]

Remflex Gasket Trimming

While test fitting the Remflex gaskets I discovered I couldn't get them in place over the spark plugs when using header studs in all holes. Decided to do a full-on check of gaskets, stud/nuts, and spark plugs. Turns out the gaskets overlap the sparkplug holes preventing access for a sparkplug socket. Spoke with Remflex and confirmed that I had the right gasket and discussed trimming. They indicated there was no issue with trimming in the areas near the bolt holes (around the ports is more sensitive to how much material is removed). The gaskets have a stainless steel wire mesh layer. Working slowly with a die grinder and periodically checking the fit, material was removed at each of the spark plug holes. Once complete, both headers were installed using studs. At two locations on each side the stud nuts were not accessible with a socket. When a universal was added I could get access but the universal would scratch the header during rotation. Two studs on each side will be replaced with hex head header bolts. Also, when the spark plugs were removed, gaps were checked. All were wrong (engine was dyno'd by Blueprint). Six were 0.032, two were 0.030. All were re-gapped to 0.035 spec for NGK.

Gasket Overlap On Spark Plug Hole
224834

Mesh Layer In Gasket
224835

Trimmed Gaskets ( 2 of 4 locations on each)
224836

[jengum]

My Electrical Drug Habit

So I've come to the conclusion that getting into the electrical must be like a prescription drug habit. Haven't personally been down the drug path but the electrical work on the car seems a lot like what you hear about the drug thing. First you get into it because you really have no choice; you have to do some to get through the pain. Then as you get into it and it works, you decide it's not so bad and you keep going with it. And then you go a little further, and then further, and suddenly you step back and take a look at your situation. It's clear that it has gotten out of hand...
> Remove rear harness from car after installing it when the manual said to. Then remove all loom on the bench and make numerous changes.
> Dig into the EFI wiring and remove that from the loom to make changes there as well.
> front harness - same, but decide to not pull it out just to remove that one pesky thermo switch wire
> sending harness - many habit satisfying opportunities here, still enjoying
> main harness - loom removed and rat's nest heaven
> dash harness when using the Vintage Gauges - the ultimate high
> RF fuel pump relay - remove fuse block just to get a good look at the block's bus arrangement and other potential changes to use the relay for something else... even though I don't need it.
> tear out inertia switch and move it to the PS to tie it into the small blue ground wire on the Sniper2 fuel pump relay

There's more, but I'll leave it at that. Obviously, all of the connections you see in the photos below are temporary (including the inertia switch taped to the frame). Once everything tests out with first start I'll clean things up and document all changes here and in the build record that stays with the car. Keeping notes as I go.

224016

224017

Hi Pat,

Nice progress on your build. I'm curious about the heater placement with the firewall forward on the cockpit side. The 3/4" dash hoop support on the DS defroster outlet is a common interference problem with routing the flex hose. Some builders cut out the tube and others leave it in by routing around it. Did the forward movement of 1-1/2" with the heater mounting alleviate the interference any better? I didn't want to start a discussion about the benefits of defrosters on an open air roadster. I know the PS defroster outlet is even worse for flex hose routing.

[PMD24]

Hi Jen,

I haven't really gotten into what you're asking about yet. Been focused on getting to first start so I can button up a bunch of things that I'm leaving open for that. I'll take a look at the heater ports and that center brace tomorrow and update this post. I'll include a couple of better photos as well.

Pat

Update: Sorry for the delay Jen. Wasn't able to get down to the shop yesterday. Below are three photos of the heater. I will likely try to avoid cutting out the center brace. All 4 outlets are on the downstream side of the coil so any can be used to supply any outlet. I'll likely focus on the heat vents with smaller ducts to the defrosters. HVAC design engineer early in my career so I'm comfortable stating that any opening can go to any vent and small changes in duct sizes will not make a material impact on airflow. I haven't really thought through duct routing yet but will post detail when I do. LMK if you want any photos from different angles.

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[PMD24]

Clutch Master Cylinder and Hose

Bench bled the clutch master cylinder and connected the FFR supplied 4AN braided stainless hose using a 3AN to 4AN adapter at the Tilton series 75 outlet. Connection at the TOB is 4AN. Started out trying a gravity bleed but pretty slow so switched to pressure bleed using the same bleeder used for the brakes. Put the pressure cap on the reservoir, pumped the tank to around 12 psi. Three rounds and no more air bubbles. Pedal is firm and rear wheels can be turned when transmission is in gear and pedal depressed.

This is the bleeder that I used.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095JYYQ2P?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_ti tle_3&th=1

[PMD24]

First Leak

Blueprint's start process includes reestablishing oil pump prime (oil drained after dyno). Hooked up a temporary gauge and went through the routine of cranking the starter with ignition and fuel isolated. Pressure established in seconds. Afterward I noticed a puddle of oil under the power steering pump. Tracing the source to the outlet on the pump I felt a piece of an o-ring sticking out of the pump fitting. Disassembled fitting. Looked like fitting was assembled at the factory with the o-ring dry and when tightening it bound and moved out of position. Replaced with a new lubed one, repeated crank, all seems to be ok. O-ring seemed to be an odd size. I have a big selection of -rings but the cross section diameter on this one was small for the OD. Ended up going one size smaller to get the same cross section diameter. It goes into a groove against a dowdy washer so I think the cross section is the most important. Will keep an eye on it. Might ask Blueprint to send me an o-ring, just in case.

Good news is easy fix and not on one of the fittings I installed!

224962

224963

[PMD24]

Gas-N Headers and Sidepipes Installed

Headers and sidepipes installed. Pretty uneventful. I did decide to switch from the ARP studs to bolts because the washers that ARP supplies and wants used with their studs protruded just far enough over the edge of the header flange near the spark plug locations, that I couldn't get the spark plug socket past them. I had already changed a couple on each side from studs to bolts because the studs were too long near the header tube curve, preventing socket access on the 12 point nut. So, in the end I switched all to bolts. It was handy though to use a couple of studs to hold the gasket initially.

Ceramic coated header
225304


Temporary sidepipe for first start
225307

Like others I mounted the pipes on opposite sides so the mounting bracket was facing up for temporary use. The Gas-N rubber bushing, when disassembled, was a perfect fit into the rectangular slot in the frame hinge mount, and the arm was the perfect length for this temporary setup!
225308

Getting close to first start!

[Mike.Bray]

My ARP header studs had 12 point flanged nuts and no washers. They all cleared fine except for two on each side which were too close to the pipe.

[PMD24]

My ARP header studs had 12 point flanged nuts and no washers. They all cleared fine except for two on each side which were too close to the pipe.

It did seem a little odd that they were flanged nuts and included washers but I did some web searches and everything I could find said if the hardware comes with washers, use them. Probably would have been fine without but it's switched over to the bolts now, so I'll leave it.

[PMD24]

Lokar Cable and Bracket

Finished installing the Lokar throttle cable and billet bracket. It looks good and is so much smoother than the FFR cable. I went a foot longer on the cable to allow for smooth sweeping bends. The setup also has great adjustment features. In a matter of minutes I was able to adjust it for the complete travel of the throttle to match the pedal travel to its stop. Ignore the yellow and orange ugly wires. Temporary runs for first start.

I forgot to take a photo of the cable routing but will add that here tomorrow to show the smooth bends.

225330

[Mike.Bray]

If you secure that cable somewhere around the midpoint it will be even better. Mine is attached to the valve cover, you can see it in this picture.

225342

[rponfick]

Bought it roughly mid-December. Called, asked about the tube with filler neck. He said he had 10 coming in. Sent a check and it arrived a couple weeks later.

For you MK5 guys, just for information purposes on radiator tubing. I just got the upper from Tubular for on my MK5, BP 347". It is same as MK 4, but they make it fit with curved rubber end hose attachments. I also made a lower prototype for them and they will soon be out with it for the MK5.
Ralph

[PMD24]

Adding a photo showing the throttle cable routing and clamps.
225389

[rponfick]

First Leak

Blueprint's start process includes reestablishing oil pump prime (oil drained after dyno). Hooked up a temporary gauge and went through the routine of cranking the starter with ignition and fuel isolated. Pressure established in seconds. Afterward I noticed a puddle of oil under the power steering pump. Tracing the source to the outlet on the pump I felt a piece of an o-ring sticking out of the pump fitting. Disassembled fitting. Looked like fitting was assembled at the factory with the o-ring dry and when tightening it bound and moved out of position. Replaced with a new lubed one, repeated crank, all seems to be ok. O-ring seemed to be an odd size. I have a big selection of -rings but the cross section diameter on this one was small for the OD. Ended up going one size smaller to get the same cross section diameter. It goes into a groove against a dowdy washer so I think the cross section is the most important. Will keep an eye on it. Might ask Blueprint to send me an o-ring, just in case.

Good news is easy fix and not on one of the fittings I installed!

224962

224963

Looked at mine after seeing your PS leak post. Mine looks like it has the plastic washer used, similar to that on the rack outlets. Not sure if they have two types of gaskets.
Ralph

[PMD24]

Ralph, my understanding is the dowty washers are used both with and without an o-ring. The Breeze power steering hoses included washers but those fittings didn't have the o-ring groove so I assembled those without the o-ring.. On my BP347, the fitting on the pump did have a groove and there was an o-ring there. It appears they didn't apply any lube to it prior to tightening and it just pinched out of the groove. You could actually see and feel it sticking out. Sounds like you don't have the same washer type so hopefully yours is good.

Pat

[PMD24]

Front Suspension Help Needed

Getting ready for first start so wheels were mounted and the car was placed on the shop floor for the first time. I then noticed that the PS front wheel is extremely toed in. First thought was that I assembled the upper UCA incorrectly but checking that against numerous posts here, all appears to be ok. Checked zerk to zerk for both sides and they are identical, 8.5 rear, 9.75 front. Trimmed rear sleeves are on the rear for both sides. Steering arms point out as they should.

When I did the FFR power steering I centered the rack doing a slight adjustment with the Breeze bushing. My recall is that I used the end of rod (for centering) without the rod ends mounted. I then adjusted the rod ends to the 53 1/16" shown in the manual, with equal threads at both rod ends.

I've just read the detailed post by Karlos and now wonder if I centered the rack incorrectly. His post indicates the boots have to be removed to access the inner joint for measuring the centering. I didn't do that. Wish FFR had provided some installation info.

Scratching my head here. What have I got wrong?

Thanks,

Pat

Photo showing the PS front toed in.
225459

Drivers side
225460

Passenger Side
225461

[Jeff Kleiner]

Nothing is wrong; it's just not aligned yet. If you have the steering wheel visually centered and the PS side appears toed in you'll need to lengthen the tie rod on that side. In reality if the PS side is toed in so is the DS...they split the difference but if you make them alike the steering wheel will be off center. Toe gets adjusted and the wheel centered during final alignment.

EDIT: By the way, to make the tie rod linger or shorter you need to loosen the clamp on the boot so that it isn't captured to the inner tie rod. Take the locking nut loose at the outer tie rod end and then turn the inner tie rod to make it longer or shorter as needed.

Jeff

[PMD24]

Jeff, thank you. I was going down a rabbit hole on what it was going to take to pull this apart, so I appreciate the good news.

Also, I owe you a call to talk about your paint cue. Will reach out tomorrow.


Pat

[PMD24]

First Start Final Prep

Finalizing things for first start
> Put the car on the tires for the first time and moved it in front of the overhead door. I can't move it outside for first start since it's like Siberia out there. But, I'll put a tow strap on it and hook it to my side by side in case of a disaster that requires me to get it out of the building. Don't want to burn down my new shop!
> Put 5 gallons of gas in the tank and hooked the pump up to a jump pack. Flushed a few cups of fuel into a glass jar. One small speck of something but otherwise pretty clean.
> Temporarily connected supply to return and cycled the pump again. Set the pressure regulator to 60 psi and checked all connections. No leaks.
225464

> Double checked EFI, dash, and sensor wiring. Verified all potentially live wire ends temporarily taped off.
> Connected battery and fired up the EFI. Using handheld screen, completed setup for the initial run.
> Checked coolant level and power steering fluid.

[Waterman]

What are you using for break-in oil? Remember to run till warm like Sniper manual says so as not to foul plugs, unless issues. I had to burp oil filter to get oil pressure gauge to work and air bubble removed from pump. I did that with starter running but coil disconnected. Enjoy.

[PMD24]

What are you using for break-in oil? Remember to run till warm like Sniper manual says so as not to foul plugs, unless issues. I had to burp oil filter to get oil pressure gauge to work and air bubble removed from pump. I did that with starter running but coil disconnected. Enjoy.

Running BP break-in oil. Yep, will run to full temp. BP repeats that over and over in their startup docs, so I'm taking it seriously. I'll shut it down only if I have to for a leak or other issue. Oil pressure established a couple of days ago using starter and mechanical gauge.

[Mike.Bray]

Front Suspension Help Needed

Getting ready for first start so wheels were mounted and the car was placed on the shop floor for the first time. I then noticed that the PS front wheel is extremely toed in. First thought was that I assembled the upper UCA incorrectly but checking that against numerous posts here, all appears to be ok. Checked zerk to zerk for both sides and they are identical, 8.5 rear, 9.75 front. Trimmed rear sleeves are on the rear for both sides. Steering arms point out as they should.

When I did the FFR power steering I centered the rack doing a slight adjustment with the Breeze bushing. My recall is that I used the end of rod (for centering) without the rod ends mounted. I then adjusted the rod ends to the 53 1/16" shown in the manual, with equal threads at both rod ends.

I've just read the detailed post by Karlos and now wonder if I centered the rack incorrectly. His post indicates the boots have to be removed to access the inner joint for measuring the centering. I didn't do that. Wish FFR had provided some installation info.

Scratching my head here. What have I got wrong?

Thanks,

Pat

Photo showing the PS front toed in.
225459

Drivers side
225460

Passenger Side
225461

This might help.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?19175-Steering-Rack-Install-Setup-Procedure

[PMD24]

First Start Attempts and First Start

First start finally happened on Thursday. I've watched several first starts here and can't recall seeing one that didn't start, so the pressure was on! Despite obsessing over all of the details, especially wiring, and then lying awake at 3am Wednesday night going over it and over in my head, it didn't go as smoothly as hoped. It's really too bad too. Attempts one and two were just dumb; simple things that I missed while focusing on wiring, fuel, coolant, etc. First try was just like when I cranked it for the first oil pressure check. Cranked fine but no fire. Turns out it was EXACTLY like the oil pressure check. I never plugged the fuel pump connector back in.

Ok, now for an "official" first start. Second attempt, it cranked for a few seconds and fired up but didn't want to stay running. Another forehead slap... cover still on the throttle body (see video 1). BP doesn't want you to start it and shut it down cold because the EFI will then oversupply fuel and foul the plugs, but I'm sure the plugs didn't like the AFR with that cover on either. Shut it down and removed the cover.

https://youtu.be/8WLHUhEfDKU?si=_qRA890uth7wzaGm

A few seconds later I cranked again. Success! Sure would have been nice to notice those two little things. I would have had a real first attempt first start. For some reason this video won't embed so for now please use the link. Will try the embed process again tomorrow.

https://youtube.com/watch/uS7ZjLS-LLw?si=dVev0nqnQD9QJjss

Left it running at around 2K rpm per BP startup process. Dash gauges for volts, oil pressure, rpm, and water temp all working ok, Water temp and rpm aligned with EFI handheld screen. Water temp came up as expected but didn't seem to begin leveling off around 185. When it approached 200 I shut things down. First thought was coolant but I was really diligent about venting at the radiator and manifold while filling the system. Decided to start by checking coolant once cool enough to remove the cap. While waiting I made a call to Jeff Kleiner to chat about paint. We talked for a few minutes about the first start. Jeff confirmed that my coolant fill process sounded ok, but when I mentioned that I wasn't sure if the fan came on, he said there would be no missing it, and if I wasn't sure, then it didn't come on.

Coolant level checked out ok. That pointed to the EFI not calling for the fan to come on, I then recalled reading in the Holley startup info that the fan 1 output needed to be turned on in the software, and on/off temperatures set. Sure enough, fan1 output showed off (which it should because the engine temp was around 130 right then), but the temperature settings were both on 260. Sure glad I watched that water temp closely. Why in the world would Holley have the default at 260? How about 200! Or even 100 for a default! Anyway, I set the temps at 185/195, restarted the car and the temperature leveled off in the 185 range. First start complete. Yessss.

BIG milestone complete. Will get into some of the initial tuning when I have more time. Also, I can now clean up all of my temporary wiring.

[jengum]

Way to go Pat!