Roadster down the shore - Stangrob's 289 build

[Stangrob]

Hi folks,

Well, with my inventory wrapped up I figured it was time to get the good 'ole build thread fired up. First, a quick disclaimer - I can bike to the shore from my house - I'm was never at the pay scale to have a house on the water. Whew, I feel so much better with that off my chest. But I'm still close enough to smell the salt air on a good day :D

I guess I'm technically building a 289 USRRC car as I opted to not get the luggage bumps on my trunk. Here's a quick rundown of my kit and how I've spec'ed out my build:
- Pin drive front suspension for Vintage 15" FIA wheels
- Narrowed Moser 8.8" rear with 3.55 gears (pin drive width)
- Power rack and pinion
- Wipers and heat/defrost (required by NJ)
- Blank dash (looking at using a street 289 layout as I want to use the speedo...)
- Leather low-back bucket seats

Driveline-wise I'm building a 331 using a vintage '68 302 block. Mike Forte is supplying the hardware.
- Crower hydraulic roller (15522 cam)
- Edelbrock Pro-Flow4 port fuel injection
- Edelbrock E-Street heads with roller-capable valve springs.

Speaking of Mike, he's also supplying the TKX five-speed (.81 OD) with the mid-shift kit, bell housing and clutch setup.

To my surprise I think I've actually picked my paint scheme already. At the end of the day I opted to go traditional with Viking Blue with a white nose stripe. That will look good with the black side pipes and natural finish FIA wheels.

The plan for this weekend is to take the body off the frame and put it on the body buck in my backyard. Then it'll be time to start prepping the aluminum to be removed, but first I'll be taking a boatload of photos and marking all of the panels for position. I plan on predrilling everything, so I have work to do before I start installing the suspension. I guess that's a good thing as I'm still waiting on my pin drive LCAs and spindles.

And here are a few pics of the car being delivered and in my garage. The fun is about to start!

Rob

[tundra2050]

Nice Rob! I was thinking about pre-drilling aluminum as well. I want to stick with the natural aluminum look but will sharkhide as I install. I'm still waiting on LCAs. Keep staying steps ahead of me. Gives me some good ideas.

[Stangrob]

Nice Rob! I was thinking about pre-drilling aluminum as well. I want to stick with the natural aluminum look but will sharkhide as I install. I'm still waiting on LCAs. Keep staying steps ahead of me. Gives me some good ideas.

I was honestly originally planning to powder coat the aluminum in the engine bay but now I'm leaning towards a brushed finish with Sharkhide. I keep reminding myself that I have a budget, and I'd prefer to spend that money on something like power brakes. All of these things really add up!

Rob

[jts359]

Its a tough call but Like I said before go with the power brakes, Ed

[Stangrob]

It seems that the past week or so everyone has been busy, so I haven't been able to corral enough guys together to help pull the body off the frame. Thankfully today I was able to call in the cavalry and get the deed done! I have to admit it was a major PITA to get it off the frame - it was really tough getting the rear of the car around the trunk sheet metal (and I had the body pulled back as far as I could) but I eventually coaxed it off. We had six guys so that helped. I keep hearing that it gets easier the more you do it - I sure hope so! I don't want to fight putting the body back on when it's finally all done and painted ;)

Now that the body is on the buck in the backyard I can start working on the aluminum. First, I need to mark the panel alignments to the frame and each other, then take a bunch of photos. Then it'll be time to mark and drill a boatload of holes so I can re-assemble everything and drill the frame and the other panels. That'll take me awhile I'm guessing...

Thanks for everyone's patience as I know you've all been through this, but it's great to share the process with guys who get it. My wife, who is a saint, will listen to me but I know she's just being nice :)

Rob

[Stangrob]

Things are going a bit slow on the build front. I'm waiting on a powder coating estimate for the engine bay panels, plus I can't start my front suspension until I get my pin drive suspension pieces. Christmas is right around the corner, so I understand the delays. I'm hopeful that I'll get my info and parts after the holiday so I can get moving.

In the meantime, I took a drive up to MA yesterday to visit Mike Forte and pick up a bunch of parts. If you haven't been to his shop, it's quite the place. It's a real old-school speed shop - LOTS of stuff to check out. I picked up my TKX and lots of engine parts. Eleven hours round-trip but was worth it.

Rob

[tundra2050]

That's pretty cool! Bummer about the parts not being in yet. I bet that drive would have been nice in a 289.:D

[Stangrob]

So yes, I got a surprise yesterday - two boxes from Factory Five! The good news is that I got my wiring harness and engine/trans mounts. The bad news is that they also sent me a fuel tank (which I already have). I reached out to the parts guys as it seems my POL has stuff on it that they already shipped. Oh, and I still didn't get my front suspension pieces so I'm on hold until that arrives (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Yesterday was Fedex/UPS day as besides the FF stuff, I also got a bunch of parts from Summit, Mike Forte, and FFMetal. When I was at the Good Guys show in Delaware this past summer Summit was giving out 10% off coupons that expired on the last day of '25, so I ordered my headers, fuel filter, 90-degree oil filter adapter, plus a bunch of ARP hardware. Mike sent me my Howards hydraulic roller cam, and my .090" firewall and trans tunnel top also came. I'm definitely running out of room in the garage :D

While I'm waiting on the suspension pieces, I'm finishing up the pre-drilling of the engine bay aluminum. I've decided to have it all powder coated so as soon as I finish up the prep work I can hand it off. I'm still going over color swatches but it's really what variation of silver will I go with. Choices, choices...

Rob

[Stangrob]

So, full disclosure - I'm not the fastest builder. I am enjoying the process and doing what I think needs to be done to make me happy with the results. With that being said...

Today I was finally able to drop off the nineteen engine bay panels to the powder coater. LOL - it took me a lot longer to get all the panels the way I wanted them, but I think I did a decent job. Mostly adjusting some of the bend angles to get a better fit. But at some point you have to realize it's good enough and move on. I also set up the heater/defroster on the FFMetal firewall - I couldn't imagine cutting the FW while installed. And yes, I ended up making my own template for the heater as the one in the instructions was just not usable. I should have the panels back late next week, so in the meantime I can get some of the suspension and steering parts prepped for installation. But my pin drive pieces are still AWOL so that's annoying.

On a positive note, I received my remote brake booster on Saturday, and started looking at how I can install it in the trunk area. It's not as big as I was expecting, which was a nice surprise. It'll definitely help clean things up under the hood, and I don't mind running a few more brake lines to plumb it in.

Rob

[tundra2050]

Nice! Enjoy the process.

What are the dimensions of the FF heater/defroster? It's supposed to fit with the regular firewall right? Makes sense to have the FWF if you have a glove box and need the extra room behind the dash.

Hopefully your other parts start rolling in before your panels come back. Can't wait to see some building going on.

[Stangrob]

Which dimensions do you need? Do you want the piece that mounts to the front of the FW (blower) or the rear (heater core w/ducts)?

The heater is meant to mount to the regular firewall - I just opted to upgrade to the thicker one. It'll also work with the FWF kits as well, but I understand that you need to make adjustments to the inlet and outlet lines as the FWF moves the heater enough that the lines will hit the back of the PS valve cover. But there are ways around that ;)

Nick @ FF told me last week that the Ops team is supposed to be building control arms this week - hopefully they'll make some pin drive ones while they're at it. I'd really like to take care of the front suspension sooner rather than later.

Rob

[Bguetter]

Rob, just a heads-up on the FFR heater for the 289 cars. If you are using the traditional 289 dash layout with the speedo over on the passenger side it will interfere with the heater.....ask me how i know! Haha. I couldn't tell whether you are using the FFMetal firewall forward kit.

[Stangrob]

Rob, just a heads-up on the FFR heater for the 289 cars. If you are using the traditional 289 dash layout with the speedo over on the passenger side it will interfere with the heater.....ask me how i know! Haha. I couldn't tell whether you are using the FFMetal firewall forward kit.

Thanks for the head's up - I recall reading that somewhere before but the confirmation is appreciated. As cool as the righthand setup for the speedo is, I actually wanted to use my speedo so my plan is to go with a 289 street layout for the dash. My car will definitely be a hybrid of the 289 FIA, USRRC, and street cars - hopefully the purists won't mind :D

Rob

[Stangrob]

I hope everyone is making out OK with the big winter storm hitting most of the US. Here in Jersey, we got less snow than originally expected (9" vs. 16") but instead we're now getting sleet and freezing rain. Hopefully I won't need my generator...

So while I'm waiting for my engine bay aluminum to be powder coated, I figured I'd get some pieces ready for installation. I broke out the UCAs and checked to see if I could at least hit the measurements in the manual for the power steering cars. Short answer - no. The front links were fine, but the rears bottomed out before I could hit the number. On top of that I'll be running the pin drive front suspension, so from what I understand the measurements are even a bit shorter. So, I did what a few before me did and shortened the aluminum adjuster and each steel threaded piece by 30mm and 10mm respectively. That small tweak gave me enough extra adjustability to hit the numbers. Next up I'll assemble the coil-overs and start working on the pedal box. Unfortunately, I still don't have an ETA on when my front suspension pieces will be shipping, so I'll skip that part for now and probably instead install the power steering rack then move to the pedal box.
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On another positive note, I got my side pipes back from Boig/Tubular Automotive. Nice guys to work with, and boy do they do a nice job of packing! I only unpacked one pipe, but I also noticed that it seems they turned the exhaust tip a bit more towards the ground, which I think is a good idea. Since I did their exhaust mod to cut down on the sound, I can only imagine that pointing the side pipe tip down can only help.
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Thanks!

Rob

[Stangrob]

Evening folks!

So, I decided that since I got my panels back from the powder coater that I had to start putting things together, even if I had to go out of order on the assembly process.

Since I only have my UCAs at this point I installed those along with my F-panels. It felt good to actually do some bolting and riveting :D
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I'm hesitant to install the rear suspension without having more weight up front, so instead I riveted in the firewall and started installing the pedal box assembly. Pretty straightforward stuff - had to take 5/16" off of the MC push rods, including the clutch MC. I set up the balance bar per the specs, knowing full well I'll have to dial them in later.
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As I mentioned earlier, I'm installing a remote brake booster in the trunk, so before I install the rear suspension I wanted to work out all of the mounting details. I'm using Breeze's cubby, so I have to juggle things a bit to make everything fit. On top of that I'm using FFMetal's battery box, so I need to crank that into the equation as well. What I've decided to do is add a 1"x2" box steel tube under the upper tray that will be used to mount the RBB. I'll show details on how that'll work in a bit, but I think I have a good solution. I was originally going to weld in the 1x2 box tube, but after looking at it further I'm going to bolt it in. That way I can have the new piece powder coated to match the frame, and I won't have to grind off the powder coating on the frame for welding. I was pretty happy with the fit of the new tube and tomorrow I'll plan on setting it up for bolt-in.
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On a closing note, I did get some good news on Monday. I've been working with Nick from FF on the pin drive suspension kit, and he's been talking to Operations about when they'd have my pieces ready. Honestly I was getting a bit antsy and wanted more than a "they're coming" from FF. Nick initially said that the LCAs would be another few weeks, but then later in the day he said he found a set for me :D He said they'd be sent out to me on Tuesday - I'm still waiting on shipping confirmation but I'm very optimistic that I'll have my missing pieces in the next few days!

Rob

[tundra2050]

The powder coated panels look great! Hopefully those LCAs show up soon. Keep it up!

[RobHartley]

Looking good Rob! I'm still waiting for my Canadian Completion kit with all my suspension, steering and brakes, but its with the shipper!

[Stangrob]

Hey guys,

Hmmm... I'm still waiting on my pin drive kit - must be stuck in the shipping department at FF. Hopefully I'll get a shipping notification soon ;)

In the meantime, I decided to focus on the remote brake booster mount. I want to start working on the rear of the car soon, and I'd rather have the RBB mounting all figured out beforehand.

Last week I posted a few pics of the start of the process. I used a piece of 1"x2"x.120" box steel tubing to make up the new frame member. Originally I was going to weld the section into the frame, but instead opted to bolt it in for a number of reasons. The 1" box tubing in the rear of the car is thick enough to tap, so I used 1/4-20 button head bolts to fasten it in place.

Because the Breeze cubby wall comes back 11" from the front of the trunk, it doesn't leave a lot of space for a mount, so I came up with a slim mount that uses a pair of 3/8"x6" bolts that are welded into the 1x2 box tube. I then used 1/2" OD tubing and some 14ga steel to make up a mount that slides over the studs.

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I welded a pair of 1/4-20 bolts to the mount, which matches up with the SS mount that FF supplies with the RBB. With this setup I can easily remove the booster from the frame mount for servicing, or if/when I need to get to the battery (yes, the booster will overlap the top of FFMetal battery box). I also plan to print a support that'll go under the booster can to take stress off of the rear mount, even though I think it's pretty darn solid.

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To finish the installation, I'm going to use braided brake lines to connect the RBB to bulkhead fittings going through the trunk floor, which will then hand off to #3AN hard lines. I also need to run a hard line from the engine bay to the RBB for vacuum. But that's a detail for another day.

Rob

[NJMike]

Hi Rob,

I finally found you build thread, I had been looking in the Roadster section, then I had a moment of clarity and remembered that you are building a 289.LOL. Looks like you are making good progress, although it sounds like you are having some of the same parts frustrations that I am experiencing. You did a great job with the Remote Brake Booster, hope you don't mind if I use your design. I had been thinking about doing a hydroboost brake system, but your design seems like a better solution.

Your powder coated panels look great. I was on the fence about powder coating but ended up getting my engine compartment panels powder coated, that was a great decision. I'm very happy with the outcome.

Have you done anything with your engine yet? I dropped all of the internal components to Rich at Bison about 2 weeks ago. We will touch base at the end of April, hopefully he has made some good progress by then.

Mike

[Stangrob]

Hey Mike!

I was just thinking about you - was going to check in on your progress :)

I'll have more photos of the remote brake booster installation posted soon. I'm finishing up the installation of the hard lines right now. I also designed and printed up some brackets for the hard lines to mount them to the chassis. If you end up going this way I can print you up a set if you're interested. BTW I had originally considered a hydroboost setup as well, but after hearing some of the headaches that guys encountered, I'm feeling a lot better about the RBB.

So, I'm still waiting on "paperwork" before I can send my block off to Bison. I'm hoping to have that all wrapped up in the next week or so, then I'll bring the block to him for prep. We agreed that I'd hold off on the reciprocating assembly until he checks out the block and decides how much of a bore I'll need to clean everything up. He can then balance everything at that point as well.

Thanks for the compliment on the powder coating! I'm very happy how the panels came out, and it was a bit more reasonable than I expected.

BTW are you having Bison machine your block for a one-piece rear main seal?

Thanks!

Rob