Casey Family Build Thread (coupe)

[QSL]

We have basically finished our roadster http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-factory-five-roadsters/281647-casey-family-build-thread.html

So now its time for the coupe, but this car is going to be for my wife Julie so it will be built to her liking.

So far what we have on order/planed

Base kit
Automatic trans
A/C
IRS
Ron francis wire
In dash screen with backup camera and side view.
FF spindles
Gordon Levy front billet arms
Gordon Levy front and rear wilwood brakes
347 stroker with edelbrock heads cnc ported, roller rockers, med cam, fuel injected stacks
1/4 scale RC version of the car with a aluminum body. :)

picture of me on the phone with Gordon making the "big" purchase :)

[QSL]

few more pics!!!14183141821418114184

[Timb]

Congrats. My wife was the deciding factor as well for the coupe. We looked at a roadster but her knees hit the dash and the coupe provided just enough extra space. Have fun with the build I'm sure some of it will be familiar if you have done a roadster. What type of auto are you thinking of? If it were me I would likely go with a 4R70W with a standalone controller

[QSL]

we have not picked a trans yet. I dont want to modify the tunnel a lot so that will be a factor. We did the roadster in a year but plan on taking two years on this one. We are going to slow it down a bit.

[WIS89]

No offense, but I just don't see how that engine is going to fit into that car; a bit of a tight fit I think... ;-o)

However, I guarantee that it will SCREAM!!

Congratulations on a fine start. LOVE that engine! The scale model will be a nice touch as well!

Best of luck with the build!

Regards,

Steve

[Rodster]

Mike and Julie and family -
Excellent! I was going to say you guys can come over and visit my Coupe project, but at the rate I am going, I might have to come over to your place so you can show me how to do stuff instead!

Looking forward to the Casey Family Coupe thread stories!

-wayne

[Made_In_America]

Lucky man. My now ex-wife hates cars and hates the fact that I love them. Not the reason for separating but thats awesome that you can enjoy that equally with your wife and family. Looking forward to following your build again and starting my own.

[xlr8or]

Mike let me know when you get it and I can bring mine up and we can go through some of the differences from the roadster.

[QSL]

thanks everyone!

We are really excited, however we still need to do the finishing touches on the roadster... not to mention start driving it!

[MRSQSL]

Not to mention we need to actually ORDER the Coupe still...

[frankeeski]

Congrats Casey family! Looking forward to seeing you folks actively involved over here on the sponsored site. Can't wait to see more progress with the coupe coming.

PS. Since you're moving in over here you might as well add an avatar to your profile.

[QSL]

good call frank. Figured we would do this thread over here this time. It just feels like the right place to move forward with. :)

[QSL]

MRSQSL, I keep telling you... I NEED TO WAIT UNTIL ALL THE FUNDS ARE CLEARED INTO THE BANK. Dang, talk about impatient. :)

[GWL]

Awesome, I have enjoyed watching your roadster build and now it starts all over again. It is so cool what your family is doing together. Not the car but doing it all together.

Keep the momentum going, George

[QSL]

thanks george. we do our best. These cars are really great for the family. The price of admission is alone worth the experience.

[loeffler1]

What a great start for the new years!!

[jkrueger]

Cool! I enjoyed following your other build.

JC

[Presto51]

Congratulations on this new build. You guys did a really great build thread on the “other” site. My girlfriend kept asking me every week how/what are the Casey’s doing and when you finshed Scoopy she was a little sad, so now I can tell her, “Well here they go again”.

BTW Mike, how did such a handsome brute like you wind up with such a young hottie? :)

[QSL]

BTW Mike, how did such a handsome brute like you wind up with such a young hottie? :)

Easy, when I asked her out on a date, i told her i had a cobra. Just did not tell her it would take 20 years before i showed her. HEHEHE.

[MRSQSL]

Progress has been okay considering we have no Coupe. Still waiting on some funds. Hopefully we can get it ordered in the next couple weeks. My valve covers arrived last week. I like them, but told Mike we absolutely have to paint the bottom portion of the intake black. 144591446014461

[QSL]

wow! julie took pics, resized and posted?!?! Dang, guess i am fired!!!

[WIS89]

I just LOVE that stacked injection!! Man, it just screams look at me, I go really, really FAST!!

Can't wait to watch your progress, and totally stoked that you are doing it with your family!

Good luck with the build, and keep the pics coming!!

Regards,

Steve

[ss95003]

You said this is going to he her daily driver. I am sure you have, but just wondering if she has gone and sat in one yet. Not the easiest car to get in an out of. wouldn't want to do my daily errands in it.

[QSL]

No, it's not a daily driver. She has a truck and works from home. She has sat in one and gone for a ride. She wants one so we can go on cruises together and bring the kids since only 2 can fit in the roadster.

[xlr8or]

She has sat in one and gone for a ride.

And she squeeled like a school girl every time I hit the gas. :o

[QSL]

LOL, she still talks about how crazy that ride was! LOL

Good news! Got confirmation of funds! So a call to FF is due tomorrow to officially order the kit!!!! I could have ordered it before, but i kinda like to have money in hand before doing a purchase like that. You never know what can happen.

[frankeeski]

Told Mike we absolutely have to paint the bottom portion of the intake black.

Agreed Julie, Just painted the lower on our new engine gloss black and it looks killer. The polished upper really pops now sitting on top of the gloss black lower. I'll try to update my engine thread this weekend with some pics so you can see it. Not stacks like yours, but at least you'll see how cool the contrast looks.You're well on your way, let the Coupe build begin!

[QSL]

frank, what process did you use to paint? high temp? any special prep?

[QSL]

OK everyone we are now officially cooking with fire!!

Coupe is on order and FF really took good care of me even though we dragged the order on for so long so a big kudos to them!!!

Ordered the kit as....

Base coupe
No powder coat
competition seats
body cutouts
IRS components
302 headers
manual steering rack
Deletion of gauges
Heat/AC option
Floormats
two piece front spindles
17" wheels

So we will be finallizing our garage clean up and re organization for the build. We should also have the roadster completely done by the time the coupe shows up!

Congrats to JULIE!!!! :)

[loeffler1]

QSL
I am going to make a suggestion. I used FFR AC and I think you can get a better buy. Check previous threads on AC. I think I could have saved a bit of money not to speak of also saving space. I wish I had gone IRS also, but they say the solid axle hooks up better. We'll see.

[QSL]

Thanks for the heads up! I have seen the other packages for the AC available. The thing that made us go with the FF unit is that we were able to still take the 50% off deal since this was a package we had quoted during the sale. So the cost of the AC upgrade was only $600. I hope its atleast worth that!! Would love to see pics of your install.

We dont have a strong opinion on the IRS. We went with 3 link on the roadster. Really, the only things that lead us to the IRS on this build were, price (good deal), Different build then our roadster and Auto trans. From what i understand, the IRS may help with the trans as we can use an even shorter driveshaft if need be.

The 3 link we have in the roadster so far has been awesome. Very, very predictable driving. The car shoots straight too. Honestly, dont think you can go wrong with any configuration. Levy 5 link looks really cool to me too.

[cobrajj]

That's great news! Looking forward to your coupe build, as that was what I wanted to build before deciding to do the roadster. Are you going to have power steering for Julie? Jim

[QSL]

Jim, at this point the plan is manual steering and brakes. She wants to keep that stuff out of the bay as well. I did offer power steering to her, but she wants to try manual first. In the roadster the steering is great for me, but she is a tiny little beast, so i am not sure how that will workout. Fortunately adding this option at any time is pretty doable.

[MRSQSL]

I'm not sure how I feel about being called a "tiny little beast", but he's right about the power steering. I would like to keep the engine bay as uncluttered as possible. I realize it needs to be functional, but I'm sure I can start lifting weights, right? Maybe if I get going now, I'll be able to work up to 5 lbs by next Christmas. Hee, hee.

I (or more likely Mike) will take and post pics (hopefully tonight) of the goodies that arrived via UPS today. I didn't want to open the box without him. I'm anxious though. Doing a little giddy dance each time I walk past the box. It's from Gordon Levy, so it is has to be AWESOME!!!!

Anyone who read our roadster build thread knows I'm a rambler. It wouldn't be an update without a personal tale. Feel free to stop reading now. Before Christmas I took the truck in to find out why it was making a horrible clunky noise behind the center console when switching between hot and cold (climate control). They said it was actuators and they would order the parts and call me. No call. I finally gave up on the waiting game and phoned them on Tuesday. They discovered the parts had come in (probably 3 weeks before). I scheduled service for today and told them on the phone that I would be waiting in person for them to complete the task. I arrived this morning to find they had no clue who I was or why I was there. I attempted to explain the actuators. They looked like I was speaking a foreign language and pulled up my records in the computer. I was told they would take me home. No. I. AM. WAITING. They tried to persuade me it would take 3-4 hours so I should go home. I. AM. WAITING. I was sent off to the lounge area where I entertained myself (and possibly inadvertantly the people around me) for approximately 3 hours. At this point, the service manager came to me and announced they would have to remove the dash and there was no way they could finish the job today. I was shuttled home and told it would be ready tomorrow afternoon at the absolute earliest. Grrrrrrrr...how hard could it be to change two little actuators? Seems like they would've known they had to disassemble the dash prior to the three hour mark. I'm a patient person, but I feel like they aren't being fully honest with me. Not a happy camper. Sigh.

[Gordon Levy]

You crack me up.

[frankeeski]

You crack me up.

So spill it Levy, what you send um?

[MRSQSL]

So spill it Levy, what you send um?

You can tell Frank, but I don't want to look. I want to be surprised. Wait, I already know what's in there. Well, I'll log off and run some errands so I won't see the answer. :)

[Gordon Levy]

Billit arms

[QSL]

Finally got home and Julie opened the box! Good looking stuff!!! Julie already tried to install them onto herself, but fitment was poor. LOL.

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[JJ'snakepit]

Well I haven't been to this forum is quite some time and guess what I found. A cool build thread... I definitely have to talk to you Mike this weekend.. Like Christmas every day for a while eh Julie? You will have to modify your Passenger foot box for mike. When it is stinking hot out you will take your car Julie with the Air. JJ

[frankeeski]

You can tell Frank, but I don't want to look. I want to be surprised. Wait, I already know what's in there. Well, I'll log off and run some errands so I won't see the answer. :)

Although I already knew having talked to Mike this morning I figured I could increase my post count. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[QSL]

give us a day and time and we will shoot over!

[CraigS]

Julie, GO WITH POWER STEERING!! There are many options for mounting the pump that could make it less noticeable. The saginaw GM pumps are pretty small when you get the ones w/ a remote reservoir.Here is just one option
http://www.krcpower.com/products/b-cast-iron-power-steering-pumps/b-cast-iron-pumps/krc-50020000
You could also go w/ Fast Freddy's electric pump for more options.
http://www.fastfreddiesfabrications.com/shop/
Search both forums for install pics.

[QSL]

I keep forgetting about the fast freddy setup. those are cool. For sure need to look at where we could hide that.

[Dan Golub]

Hey Mike,

It looks like you guys have quite the setup for the Coupe there, lots of SHINNY stuff. Glad we could help you out on the kit, let me know if you need anything else.

Dan@FFR

[ss95003]

Congrats on the order. I am looking forward to this thread.
And sorry I could have sworn I read in the other thread this was going to be a DD for her, my bad.

[QSL]

Thanks Dan for your patience. We are thankful for everything you guys do. So easy to work with, i know i can always count on you guys.

ss95003, no problem man!

[MRSQSL]

Thanks for the PS advice. The Fast Freddy's one looks really interesting to me. Mike is going to shove me around a little so we can see what I think of manual steering. That sounded abusive. I get to sit in Scoopy and he'll push me down the street so I can try to steer a little. This should be an adventure. Maybe I'll see if Aly will video it. Should be good for a laugh. I imagine that will give me a taste of manual brakes as well. Hope Mike isn't pushing with his shins right by the quick jacks just in case I happen to test the brakes unexpectedly (insert evil giggle).

[Pedalmasher]

Do you have an engine stand? You can borrow mine if you like -

DV

[QSL]

I have a stand, but my buddy is borrowing it :) LOL, so yea, i think maybe i could borrow yours :) If you dont mind!

[xlr8or]

Good choice on the control arms. Make the alignment very easy among other things.

[QSL]

We need to look at your car again sometime. Looks like we can still use your hoist here if that's ok for now :)

[xlr8or]

No problem on the hoist. I have a rolling chassis dolly you can use if you want to borrow that too.

We'll have to work out a time to meet up. When is your delivery date?

[QSL]

How high is that dolly? Thanks for everything!!!

We dont have a date yet. They are telling me they are 3-5 weeks on delivery.

[xlr8or]

It puts the bottom of the frame about 20 inches off the ground. Great height for working on sheet metal and suspension, especially if you have a short stool to roll around on. It's had one coupe and two roadsters assembled on it.

If you want to come pick it up we can go through my coupe and you can see my new shop this is almost finished. I'll PM you my new address. I moved out near the Wild Animal Park.

14520

[MRSQSL]

Okay, that new shop is amazing! Can't wait to see it in person.

[h82crash]

Congrats, guys! I'm so jealous. (Like I'm burdened with only having a Roadster) :-)

Tom

[vnmsss]

Ditto!!!


Julie, GO WITH POWER STEERING!! There are many options for mounting the pump that could make it less noticeable. The saginaw GM pumps are pretty small when you get the ones w/ a remote reservoir.Here is just one option
http://www.krcpower.com/products/b-cast-iron-power-steering-pumps/b-cast-iron-pumps/krc-50020000
You could also go w/ Fast Freddy's electric pump for more options.
http://www.fastfreddiesfabrications.com/shop/
Search both forums for install pics.

[QSL]

I believe we have decided to go with the fast freddy power steering setup. It looks like we could hide it pretty good.

[MRSQSL]

Week -6: I'm only guessculating at the negative 6 time line. FF hasn't given us a due date yet. I guess conception was 1/17/13?

Anyway, this was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we headed off to Pedalmasher's house. He was kind enough to let us borrow his immaculate engine stand (thank you). That thing is spotless. I'm afraid I'm going to scratch it or get it dirty. Eeeeeep! Wait, I should go back a little. Mike told me a couple weeks ago that I should keep my eyes open for some IRS parts. I forget the exact names (which is probably why I never found them). I wanna say knuckles and a hub and a pumpkin. We can pretend anyway. So there we are at Derrick's (sorry if I spelled that wrong) and he tells us how and where he got his. I'm following along in the story until he says "third member". Hmmmmmm...mental note to ask Mike if a third member is the same as a "pumpkin". We load up the stand and have a nice chat. He has decided to do his own body work on the roadster, so I'm anxious to see pictures in the future. It seems like a daunting task, but I'm sure he'll have no problems.

We hopped back into the truck (yes I got it back from the dealer Friday) and made our way to JJ Snakepit's house. Turns out he has some IRS parts he's willing to sell us. Yay! OMG!!!!! I LOVE his dash and his gauges. I can't wait until he's done. I am SOOOOOOOOO getting gauges from the same place. So, we are in his garage and he and Mike are discussing IRS and JJ says something about a "center section". Mental note to ask Mike if a center section is the same as a pumpkin and/or a third member. We strike a deal and I now have my missing IRS parts. Super yay!!!! JJ also let us borrow a rolling stand that the trans would fit nicely on (assuming we ever pick out a trans). Thank you JJ!!!!

After all this "shopping", we decide to go to lunch. JJ tells us about a yummy Mexican place and off we go. Delicious food, excellent company, perfect weather. What more could you ask for????

We return JJ to his house and head back towards Corona. One last stop. This is to a guy that is making an aluminum body for us (quarterscale). We have a 1/4 scale RC Cobra and a 1/4 scale RC Coupe, but the body on the coupe is fiberglass and is on a chassis that we don't want to move around much. Mike has another chassis that we will put this aluminum body on and hopefully paint to look like Coupey (what I call my unborn coupe). He is making a ton of progress with the metal and I can't wait to see the completed product. This is the same man that welded our roll bars for us.

We returned home and went out in the garage to clean. I organized the parts cabinet while Mike ???? Now that I think about it, I don't know what Mike did. I guess he must've cleaned the rest of the garage. How self centered am I?

Sunday morning we took a drive over to Scott's (Xlr8tor) new pad. His shop is perfect. Mike and I are extremely jealous. I suspect Mike is more jealous of the garage and I'm more jealous of his kitchen. WOW!!! Very nice kitchen. Probably the dream kitchen of every wife on this forum except maybe Frank (your wife has my dream kitchen too - I'm allowed to have more than one dream). Scott had already let us borrow the engine hoist back when Scoopy was without engine and he is continuing the loan (thank you). On top of that, he threw in a dolly that we can use to build the car on and not have to jack the coupe up all the time. I'm very excited about that. I took a ton of pictures of his car so that I could replicate certain things and because it's always good to have extra pics for build time. Truthfully, I think the car is gorgeous and I wanted pictures to ogle in my spare time. All the way home, I was whining to Mike that Scott's car is so nice and his house is nice and wah, wah, wah. I think Mike is going to let me find someone to redo the floors in the kitchen. Super, extra huge happy faced yay!

We got home and immediately rushed out in the garage to stare at Scoopy and get started on Coupey. I needed to take the horns off the manifold (excuse my terminology if it is wrong) so that I could mask off the correct areas and paint the manifold black. The nuts wouldn't come off of the sides because the horn stuck out too far. I could get the nut up to the bottom of the horn, but not off. Grrrrrrr. Many of the nuts I couldn't break loose myself and had to get buff husband to effortlessly tap them into submission. The next task was to remove the linkage screw in the middle. Can. Not. Loosen. Mike walks over and points out the allen wrench is the wrong size? Yeah, but it's close. The bigger one is too big and the smaller one is too small. Metric? Really? Grrrrr. Did you know the linkage is on a spring and when you loosen it enough it yoinks just like when taking a 1911 apart for cleaning? Good thing the pieces didn't shoot across the garage (like with the 1911). With everything finally loosened, I was able to grapple with the nuts on the sides and pull those off as well. Excellent. Mike came over and attempted to lift up on his half of the stacks while I lifted up on mine. Grrrr. They were stuck down with something that turned out to be red. Looked like lock tite to me. Mike pulled out the butane torch and made MEEEEEEEE put heat on the manifold. Noooooo!!!!! I only burned part of one rag. Let's just say that I don't like torching as much as welding or soldering. Mike pried the horns off and we lifted them gently to place them gingerly on the counter (where they still sit). I undid the studs and Mike and I (mostly Mike) used carb cleaner and hosed it off with water. Now I should be able to mask it up and then paint it. I saw the forecast this morning and my plan to do it this weekend is going to be foiled by foul rainy weather. Guess I'll have to hang out on the sofa with an intake and some tape tonight.

Kind of a long way to say we got some stuff and we got the intake ready for paint. Sorry. I guess I missed doing updates. Mike will be by later to add pictures.

[QSL]

Some pics!!!

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[QSL]

Last pics!

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[frankeeski]

Good progress! Can't wait to see manifold painted, but I am a bit partial.

[QSL]

should have it painted this weekend and back together. we are trying to collect parts, but not go crazy quite yet. Besides i still need to finish up the roadster. I am out there now and trying to get the oil cooler situated. We also want to get the garage setup before the coupe gets here. IE clean up the space, put some more crap in storage, etc. I already installed a larger flat screen in the third bay with a bose mini theater. That way i can sit back in the sofa and watch julie... kinda like the roadster build. Damn, cheap labor rocks!!!

[MRSQSL]

Week -5:

It's actually looking like my -5 guess is going to be pretty close. Mike forwarded me an email this morning saying the completion date on the Coupe is 2/16. Woohooooooo! Of course, Stewart has to actually transport it which could take a couple weeks. I'm going to continue my negative countdown with the current numbers until I know better.

I didn't get around to working on the intake during the week and the rain came as expected. Mike nagged enough (wait, what's the manly word for nagged...cajoled?) that I went out in the garage Friday night to actually do some work. Now that I think about it, perhaps it was Saturday morning. Regardless, I discovered that the red stuff was still attached to the manifold. Grrrr...Mike suggested Goof Off. Scrub, scrub. Nope. Mike suggested butane torch. Screams of "I don't want tooooooooooooo")!!!!! Nope. I suggested we do nothing. Smile, smile. Nope. We ended up going to the store and getting a round wire brush thingy that attaches to the hand drill. At first, I was terrified. Mike proclaimed it would be simple and just to be aware that it'll grab onto the sides, but I should have no trouble muscling it back. Worst case, he says, is take my finger off the drill trigger. Okay, I reply, but red flags were waving in my mental wind. It actually turned out to be a step below slightly scary and maybe a teeny bit almost enjoyable. I was quite impressed by my handiwork and plopped on the sofa with the intake and some tape. Probably should've thought to get a razorblade before I got settled, but what's a project without an extra trip or seventy to the tool box?

I created a masterpiece of tape. Truly, I've never taped anything that wasn't a wall before and I was impressed with how quickly I was able to learn. Mike is an excellent teacher. He was working on Scoopy the whole time (will update that thread later). Anyway, we laid down a large garbage bag on the garage floor (raining for 3+ days at that point) and Mike told me to shake, shake, shake. When my arm was jello-like, I was allowed to stop shaking. I was all ready to aim the paint can and squirt away. Mike must've missed the gleam in my eye since he didn't reach out to rescue the can. He was attempting to give me instructions, but I was impatient. I mean, I've seen him paint a thousand times. Squirt, squirt, paint, paint. Whatever. Looking back, I probably should've paid more attention to his words rather than the shiny metal can in my hand. My first squirt missed the manifold completely. I was rather shocked by my complete lack of skill. After a couple of button mashes, Mike leapt across the garage and knocked the can from my out of control finger. He did the first coat while explaining the proper technique. I got upset that he was doing all the fun stuff and ordered him to give me back the can. I am SO mature!!!! He refused and about 10 minutes later, kept a very close eye on me while I attempted layer two. I improved vastly during the next few coats and ended up with a product I am extremely proud of. Taking the tape off was uber fun and I was a little sad when it was over.

The horns are resting upon the intake once more, but they are not attached. First of all, I need that icky red stuff that's hard to remove so that I can restick the metal chunks together. Then I need longer studs. When I was unscrewing them, we discovered they were all hand tight and then when testing the length, Mike declared they were too short. Sad face.

I will admit that I did NOTHING else Coupe related over the weekend. The rest of this will be the normal blathering on and on, so those only interested in the car need not read any further. We were fortunate enough to steal a smidge of time from Karen Salvaggio (sorry if I spelled that wrong). She and her gorgeous racing Coupe happened to be close to us so we popped over to visit. I have to admit I was a little scared to meet her. I've seen the threads on her build and the races and I figured this is a woman that really knows her stuff. Eeeeeep! She's going to think I'm a pitiful excuse for a female since I don't want to race and I call stuff thingamabobs. Couldn't be further from the truth. I LOVE Karen. She is definitely a woman that knows her stuff, but she is incredibly friendly and supportive and I got the impression that she was just as thrilled about us getting a coupe as we are (even though it'll be an automatic and I'll never race it). I absolutely loved the side supports she added and I think Mike will weld them up for me. Yay! I am also a huge fan of the lumbar support she uses as a booster seat. MUST buy one. The rearview mirror is another must. I can't tell you how relieved I was to sit in her car (thank you Karen) and be able to see out. I was really getting concerned that I'd have height issues. The seats were comfy and the booster seat helps a ton and I fit really well. There is definitely an art to getting in and I suspect I'll continue to look like a drunk flamingo for years to come. That's okay since I'll look like a sober flamingo driving it.

Sunday afternoon Frank and Julie came over. It's always a ton of fun to hang out with them. We had a delicious dinner (I didn't cook) and laughed a whole lot. Thanks guys!!!! That's about it. I don't think I'm leaving anything out (juding by the length of this update, I doubt there is anything I could've possibly omitted). It finally stopped raining this morning, so yay!!!! Hope it stays dry so we can take the roadster out (once Mike fixes the linkage). Mike will be along shortly to add images.

[QSL]

Pics!!!

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[QSL]

Forgot this pic!!! Very fun day, thanks a ton for letting us play with your car!!! :)

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[frankeeski]

No mention of the security light? You know, the cool, wicked bright light that doesn't look ghetto. :) We enjoyed dinner, thanks again!

[MRSQSL]

I was gonna talk about the light, but I was afraid everyone on here would find out what awesome contractors you and Julie are and then we'd have to stand in line to get the kitchen and bath done. The light is super awesome and mind numbingly bright. Thank you!

[frankeeski]

I just loved the description Mike gave me of the type of light he wanted. I had everyone in the lighting store laughing their a$$ off.

[David Hodgkins]

Good Stuff! You guys are doing a killer job of documenting the build so far.

:)

[Barrel]

Pics!!!

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Yayyyyy! A picture's worth a 1000 words.:cool:

[CraigS]

Julie, thanks for starting another FFR so I have another build thread to check. But jeez, did it have to be a coupe? You know that requires that I now look at another section of the forum every day to find this thread. All these extra mouse clicks!! Ha, ha. Actually, an autocross friend has a coupe that I lust over every time I see it so I am jealous! Great job!

[MRSQSL]

Maybe we'll do a hot rod after this so you will have another section to check. Hee, hee.

Oh and I figure that if a picture is worth 1000 words, I'll just have to get Mike to post more pictures so I can put in more words. Loophole!!!!!!

[loeffler1]

Third pic in post #66 is worth more than a thousand words. No disrespect intended!! Hottie indeed. You gotta be careful with us old guys, pacemakers and all!!!

[MRSQSL]

Third pic in post #66 is worth more than a thousand words. No disrespect intended!! Hottie indeed. You gotta be careful with us old guys, pacemakers and all!!!

I'm incredibly relieved pic 3 in post 66 wasn't a shot of Mike. :D Thanks for the compliment (blush).

[vnmsss]

Julie....What a pleasure it was to meet you and Mike last weekend! I truly appreciate your kind words, and am totally stoked that you are building a Coupe. It's been great following your family's roadster build over the last year, and I look forward to seeing your family, and that beautiful roadster, at Huntington Beach this year! :)

Karen

[CraigS]

One kind of a funny advantage to Freddie's steering has to do w/ how often you may need to push your car around in the garage. Bet you never thought of this, but if you turn on the key, you have power steering. No need to start the engine. Cool !

[MRSQSL]

Week -4:

Jingle bells, jingle bells. It's not Christmas? Huh. Well it is here!! Late last week, I heard the groan of the UPS brakes and the glorious ding dong of the doorbell. "Gooooooodies" I screeched as I raced for the door. Wilwood boxes. Excellent!!!!!! When Mike got home, I knocked him over and forced him out into the garage to watch me open the new boxes. I can't remember at this point if it was the front or rear set (I think front), but they were pretty. Lots of boxes with lots of parts that I hope go together and make nifty brakes. Mike will have to announce the important technical info. They are metal and pretty except for the calipers which are red and pretty. I know one set is 4 piston, but I don't know about the other. Six?

Saturday morning was a ton of fun as we went on a cruise with some other FF folks in the roadster. Had lots of fun. We returned and decided to clean the garage a smidge to move Scoopy over to the other side and the coupe would be welcomed home on the same side we built the roadster on. Mike got carried away and ended up parking diagonally in the garage. I don't think there is room for my new toy now. Sad face.

Nothing new to report on the coupe as we don't have it yet. I did make the huge payment. Wish the guy at the bank who was going to put in the wire transfer wouldn't have repeated the amount to me over and over "just to make sure". Large numbers make me nauseous when the money is going OUT of the account. It'll be worth it though.

Poor Steve had to get three teeth pulled tonight, but when we returned home, Mike announced I had goodies in the house. REALLY????? AGAIN?! Wooohoooo!!!!! This time the box was from Levy Racing. YES!!!!!! I wasn't sure what all would be inside. A quick swipe with the razorblade and bling was once again unleashed. Wilwood!!!!!!!! The other brake set arrived. I love, love, love, love, love the annodized blue fittings he sent. I have no idea what they do or where I'll stick them, but they are small and adorable and BLUE! Hee, hee. As I was unpacking, I pulled out a caliper. Ooooooh! It's so tiny. It was adorable. I turned to Mike with love twinkling in my eyes. Look! A baby caliper. He rolled his eyes and explained it's for the parking brake. Oh. Okay. So cute. I continued to unpack and discovered a second one. My eyes shot to Mike's in confusion. Two? Another eye roll. He told me they are racing brakes and so I need two. Ummmmm...okay. If you say so. I think they are adorable, so I'll take as many as Gordon wants to send. Wait, I mean they are manly racing parts with extreme performance attributes. Is that better?

[QSL]

pics of the goods!!!

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[Gordon Levy]

I'm glad you like them. You still crack me up.

[xlr8or]

Gordon she's even funnier in person.

[dallas_]

I believe we have decided to go with the fast freddy power steering setup. It looks like we could hide it pretty good.

Good choice. I love mine. Plus you can always turn it off if you like manual steering better. :)

[frankeeski]

Gordon she's even funnier in person.

X2!

[MRSQSL]

The DMV isn't entertained by me. :(

[Gordon Levy]

DMV isn't entertained by anyone.

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Gordon she's even funnier in person.

X3.

[MRSQSL]

X3.

After over a year of lurking (on the other site), my BFF finally posted!!! Wooohooooooo!!!!! Oh and thanks for the compliment. :)

[QSL]

what?!?! nobody thinks i am funny?! That hurts, That hurts really bad :( thanks guys...

[QSL]

We just got our 1/4 scale body back tonight. Looks Awesome! We have a functional mini V8 engine for it too. Next step is to build the chassis!

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[xlr8or]

That's pretty cool. You should get one made for the full size version.

[Pedalmasher]

OMFG!! He even fabricated the flip gas cap??!! Wow...

[Rodster]

Julie -
When you and Mike get to the differential installation step, can you do a video of this process? I am going thru this now and it really is a royal PITA. A video of this process (in the Casey Family style, of course) would be really great..... and you could enter it into America's Funniest Videos and win some cash. Throw in a puppy or borrow someone's baby to increase your chance of winning.....

Looking forward to some good entertainment as you and Mike document the Coupe build!

Thanks,
wayne

[Pedalmasher]

Wayne - (and I'll remind Mike) - If you're using an aluminum center section, I found that there was a 1/4" tall x about 3/4" long "tab" that stuck out, that made it VERY much harder to install the center section in the frame. After trimming the tab to the level of the case, it was a breeze. As many have mentioned before, the center section install should happen before any of the rear alum sheet panels are installed. I used a floor jack to support the housing from below, align the axle shaft holes with the front/rear of the car; with the pinion pointed upwards. Then pulled it upwards from above, turning and lifting at the same time to orient the axle shaft holes left/right.

If you're stuck, or need a second hand, let us know - I'm always looking for an excuse for a motorcycle ride...

Derrick

[Rodster]

Derrick -
Arg.... I took the cover off. The Factory is sending me the correct rear brake adapter - I have the squarish plates that are for the non-IRS. Arrg.

I will add you to my "go to" list.... I've been bugging Spider Larry a lot.....

Got my engine today!

-wayne

[MRSQSL]

Got my engine today!

-wayne

Pictures????? I wanna see!!

[Rodster]

Pictures????? I wanna see!!




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More posted on WordPress, click here (http://wayneyoshida-kh6wz.com/)

[MRSQSL]

Very pretty!!!!! When are you going to put it in?

[Rodster]

Julie -

I really have to get going on prepping the engine bay - Footboxes, brake and fuel lines, pedal box, and a set of temporary wheels and tires are needed!

I am thinking of getting a build party going, but I need to powder coat the engine bay stuff....

At least I have all the parts to build it (er - I have all the parts from the parts list....)

Now I really need free time....

When it stops raining - I need to have another BBQ!!!

-wayne

[MRSQSL]

Week -3?:

Very little to report. The only thing I managed to do for the coupe this week acutally caused more work. Mike and I went to work Saturday (we work for the same company), so we stopped by the hardware store over in that area which has a little bit of everything. I followed him down the "hardware" aisle and watched while he pulled studs out of boxes and muttered. After a bit, he said a bad word and stomped back down the aisle. I followed behind like a cute little puppy right into the metric section? Metric? Really? Apparently the studs for the intake are 8 mm. Who knew? Wait was it 18mm? Hmmmmm...well there was an 8 in the number. Got the studs, worked for a few hours, ate and went home. Turns out the studs went from being too short to being too long. Mike said they would need to be cut down. I noticed he didn't say "HE" would cut them down. I'm scared. We also went to Napa and I obtained Ultra Gray something or other. I think this is the stuff that the stacks get squished down on during installation. Mike said we needed to wait until we got the injectors. Okay. About an hour later I asked him what he meant. We don't have injectors? I had no idea. I can't imagine what one looks like. I suspect what I see in my head is nothing like the actual part. Sort of like "points". Had no idea that's what a point was until a few (hundred) years back when Mike was working on a car. Things should be named to indicate what they look like. Take a bearing for instance. Does it look like a bear? No. It looks like a "monut" (metal donut).

[QSL]

Just ordered the fast fredies power steering kit. Looks cool. Should have at the end of the month!

[kevin12973]

I was at Mooch fest Saturday and was checking out your coupe getting aluminum panels fit. Looks like its ready for the body! Wish I took a pick for you.

[MRSQSL]

Ooooooh! Did you hug it and pet it for us????? I'm so excited. Yay! Mike emailed me this morning and told me it is supposed to be on the Stewart shipment this week and the number is 596. Woooooohooooooo! Can't wait to find out what the delivery date will be. We will have to have another party to welcome it home. You made my day. Thank you!!

[QSL]

Man, it would have been cool to see a pic!

thanks for the heads up.

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Happy Birthday MrsQSL!!!!!

[MRSQSL]

Happy Birthday MrsQSL!!!!!

Awwww! Thanks!

[MRSQSL]

Week -2:

Wasn't much of a coupey week, more of a Scoopy week. On the Coupe side, we found out our number is 596 and that it will be put on the delivery truck this week. I am very anxious to get the delivery date cemented in or at least velcroed in. I want to be able to make plans.

I didn't do anything to the engine, although Mike moved it from one end of the garage to the other. Apparently engines get bored with the same view day in and day out.

Mike accomplished a lot on Scoopy though. He got the license plate installed (I went Friday to pick up the new plates and Aly got her driver's license - congrats to her). For the record, the DMV will not allow you to keep your appointment if it is at 12:35 and you arrive at 10:35. They give you the regular ticket and make you wait with the regular people. Anyway, hopefully Mike has a picture so you can see the glorious plate modification. He also installed the access plate for the top of the footbox. He figured that would keep some of the excessively hot air from attacking us in the cockpit. Maybe not so much since we cruised out to Frank's house Saturday afternoon. Let's just say I was glistening when we arrived. For you back east folks, keep in mind it was almost 80 here this weekend. Anyway, he stuffed those pool noodle things in the door/body areas Sunday and then he and Steve went out to pick up ladies...I mean return a movie and grab dinner fixings. Apparently the noodles didn't stop that heat completely either. I imagine it had to be better though. That scorching leg heat is overwhelming for me. While it burns the hair off of Mike's calves, it hits me in the face. One half of me is more red than the other. Not so attractive.

If all goes well, we should have a new arrival very, very soon. Yay!!!!

[David Hodgkins]

I saw your post "over there" and look forward to the arrival of Coupey.
I'm busy putting my son's '66 Mustang GT coupe together but will carve out time to witness this historic event!

:)

[CraigS]

Try window AC unit foam instead.
http://www.frostking.com/air-conditioner-weatherseal/
get the two inch x two inch size. It's very easily compressed so you could fill anything down to maybe a 1/2 inch gap w/ it. And it's dark grey so kind of disappears in that area just ahead of the door hinges. Nearly any hardware or big box hardware store will have it on hand.

[QSL]

word on the street is Julies coupe was in the panel area during mooch fest!

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[xlr8or]

Can't wait to see it Julie.

[MPTech]

Very Cool thread Mr. & MRS. QSL. I followed your roadster build posts and will enjoy this one as well.
I wish my wife got excited about the Fed-Ex boxes and knew where stacks go! She still refers to my car as "cute" and tells my friends I'm out in the garage working on my little car! No respect. :eek:
btw, I have PB, PS, and IRS on my roadster and highly recommend them all. Not licensed yet, but I did drive it without PS & PB when first go-karting, and I'll just say I like it much better now with them installed.

Great build! (jealous of your stacks! I LOVE them) keep the pictures coming :cool:

QSL, just curious, with one build under your belt (and a primo build at that) what lessons learned will you incorporate into this one?
If your going to install an automatic, does anyone make a select-a-matic shifter for a SBF?

for the record:
My wife and daughter helped me install the motor the first time, took about 1/2 hour and way too much communication)
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a78/MPTech/P1190008.jpg

I did it by myself after that in 15 - 20 minutes.

[Pedalmasher]

I have 2 challenges for your coupe build:

1) SLOW DOWN!! You "missed" a lot by rushing the build... (my opinion)

2) Touch pad electronic shifter for the Auto trans...? (or - shift lever that looks like a manual shifter)

[QSL]

thanks for the comments guys and we are very excited.

MPTech, honestly other then already having experience, I cant think of anything that was a major problem or that we would change. We are completely satisfied with the build. Thats why we ordered the coupe a little different then what we did with the roadster, so we could have a different building experience.

-base kit, just to see really what the difference is.
-irs, so we can build something other then 3 link
-No powder coat, so we can add some frame bracing.
-Fast freedy power steering, because it looks cool.
-Efi stacks, because they look kinda like webers, but are different.
-etc.

For a trans we are going with a AOD trans. There are electronic controlled trans units with computers that you can use a paddle shift or push button selector, but to do it right would run 3-4k. But the main factor against it is that julie simply does not want it. She just wants a standard shifter on the trans tunnel. So i think we will get it modified so we have auto and manual valve bodies, but thats about it. She does not even want the manual valve bodies.

[Rodster]

thanks for the comments guys and we are very excited.

MPTech, honestly other then already having experience, I cant think of anything that was a major problem or that we would change. We are completely satisfied with the build. Thats why we ordered the coupe a little different then what we did with the roadster, so we could have a different building experience.

-base kit, just to see really what the difference is.
-irs, so we can build something other then 3 link
-No powder coat, so we can add some frame bracing.
-Fast freedy power steering, because it looks cool.
-Efi stacks, because they look kinda like webers, but are different.
-etc.

For a trans we are going with a AOD trans. There are electronic controlled trans units with computers that you can use a paddle shift or push button selector, but to do it right would run 3-4k. But the main factor against it is that julie simply does not want it. She just wants a standard shifter on the trans tunnel. So i think we will get it modified so we have auto and manual valve bodies, but thats about it. She does not even want the manual valve bodies.


Whew. I almost thought she would have said "shifter on the steering column"

[MRSQSL]

Week -1:

Zero progress. None. Zip. Zilch. Poor Mike was sick ALL week and then Steve got the flu. I haven't been in the garage in the last week other than to put the sprinklers on rain delay and grab something that I left out there.

I do have news to report. We adopted a dog over the weekend. He came with the name Tucker and is an Australian Cattle Dog. He loves Mike sooooooooo much. Follows him everywhere and cries when Mike leaves the room. Fortunately, he's beginning to realize I'm almost as amazing as Mike and is starting to like my company as well. I don't have a good picture, so I'm going to attemp to snag one Aly posted on Facebook. Let's hope this works. 15672

Oh and I have no idea when the car is arriving. Haven't heard from Stewart. Mike may have, but he didn't tell me. Grrrr...

[CraigS]

Well you are lucky as can be. The all time best dog we ever had was a mutt Aus Cattle Dog too. He had different markings than yours but we also named him Tucker. If yours is 50% what ours was you are in for a long and happy friendship. Congratulations!!!

[MRSQSL]

Coupey is coming!!!!!!! Tomorrow!!!!!!! Actually, I'm sad. I mean, I want the car to get here. I REALLY want it to. I'm sad because I think I might be alone when it arrives. The kids could be in school and Mike at work. I wanted it to be a family thing. Mike is going to see if they can deliver it in the late afternoon so maybe we can all be here or at least me and the kids. That made me feel a lot better. They have to do a delivery in PHX tomorrow and then us. Yay!!!!!!! We have a LOT of garage cleaning to do tonight so it has a nice, pretty spot to live in. I picked a bad day for a dentist appointment. Dang! I'm super excited the big day is finally almost here. Bet I don't get much sleep tonight.

Craig, it's so neat that you had the same kind of dog with the same name. Hee, hee. So far, he has been an excellent dog. We are having issues with the Sheltie we have. She isn't loving Tucker as much as we do yet. All three dogs are currently laying on the floor in my office (okay, two on the floor and the Chihuahua is laying on my chair behind my back). They are fine, but if Tucker stands up and walks near the Chihuahua, the Sheltie will get upset. Really upset. It's odd she's so protective over a dog she can't seem to stand. Hopefully we can get this little glitch worked out. I love all my dogs and want them to be stress free and happy.

[BFFofMRSQSL]

Congratulations on your new addition! He's a cute little guy.

[Pedalmasher]

Excitement!! Keep us updated!!

[Rodster]

Julie -
At least you will be there to receive the kit. Got the call from Stewart and they said, "we'll be there tomorrow." What!

In my case, I had to be in the office, then school, and had to get a friend to meet Stewart Transport.

On top of all this, they were re-surfacing the streets in my neighborhood. And the trailer couldn't make the turn into my street, so driver Bob and my friend Dennis had to wheel the chassis / body and all 26 boxes down the street to my house at the end of the block. I am sort of glad I wasn't there, and yet - it was like the expectant dad being away from the first born child . . . . .

Exciting - better than Christmas!

Here's Bean one of my animal nephews saying Hi to Tucker. . . .

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[MRSQSL]

Good news and bad news. The car should be arriving around 7:00 tonight. I'm so happy the whole family will hopefully be a part of the delivery (sorry you missed yours Rodster). The bad news is that there is some damage on the nose according to the driver (not his fault as it happened during the Mass to PHX portion of the trip). It sounds like they are willing to make it right, but we need to see it first to see how bad it is. Fingers crossed it's a little rubbing and Jeff will have no problem getting it fixed. Sounded more like a gouge though.

[xlr8or]

Woohoo... !! :D

Make sure you check everything else as well. If the body was damaged that means something moved and your car may have as well so check the stuff that was on the opposite side of where it was hit and around the seams between the body parts.

[leriksen]

I'm sorry, I smiled at his name - in Australia 'Tucker' is slang for 'food' - ie you give your dog his tucker...mate of mine had a blue one, called Tacho, went everywhere in the car with him. We have 2 rescue kelpies, who love to play with heelers (which is what we call that breed here).

Dog on the Tuckerbox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_on_the_Tuckerbox)

I'm very excited to see you put the coupe together - I'm torn between the coupe and the roadster, so having the same people build both will hopefully answer a lot of questions. Have fun!!!

[QSL]

Kit was delivered!!!!

Thanks for the stand Scott, it worked great!!!

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[Pedalmasher]

Nice!!

[MRSQSL]

I want to go in the garage!!!!!! I love my new car. Yay! The stand makes it high enough that I was afraid to sit in it, so no Casey butts have touched it yet. I couldn't resist doing a little inventory last night. I LOVE inventory. I would be willing to travel around the country doing inventory for new owners. I may need a couple days of training at the FF facility so I can figure out what all these parts are supposed to be called (again with not naming things correctly) and my travel would need to be paid. Hmmmmmm...I don't see this being a viable career path. Sigh.

The truck arrived on time last night and it was filled with my Coupe, two roadsters and one hot rod body (which I never did get to see since it was so deep in the truck). I had 20 boxes, but one actually belonged to Mike for Scoopy, so that's cheating. A few things are backordered, but since I don't speak car, I'm not really sure how important they are. There does seem to possibly be an issue with sidepipes. They are definitely not here and may or may not be backordered. Mike emailed FF last night and they are checking into it for us.

The damage looked really bad to me, but Mike and the driver didn't seem terribly concerned. A picture has been sent to Jeff Miller to see if he can fix it. The car was too close to the front of the trailer and a big hole was worn into the fiberglass right at the back where the spoiler is. I've found a way to strike just the right pose when standing at the rear of the car so that I look completely natural (at least in my mind) while covering up the flaw. I'll practice this weekend at the welcome home party.

Anyway, the delivery went smoothly except that I was so excited when the truck pulled up, I forgot to get a pen to mark off boxes and progress ground to a halt until I fetched one. Oops. The neighbors came out to watch and I suspect the other residents were surprised to see another truck dropping off another car. This is most likely the last for us though. No more money and no more space. Maybe when the kids grow up and get married, they'll get a car and we can foist ourselves on their delivery and inventory (and build). Maybe we'll have grandkids one day. Hmmmmmm...I'm gonna have to live a long time so I can keep seeing these cars get delivered.

I forgot to mention that my power steering arrived the evening before Coupey. I had a bonehead moment (as usual) when I pulled out the pieces and parts. I got to the reservoir thing and handed it to Mike while commenting that the power steering was smaller than expected. Okay, so I'm an idiot. I thought the reservoir was the entire system. D'oh!!!! Anyone want me to come do inventory for them? Anyone?

[Timb]

I couldn't resist doing a little inventory last night. I LOVE inventory. I would be willing to travel around the country doing inventory for new owners. Anyone want me to come do inventory for them? Anyone?

Aww dangit my daughters had the same idea....maybe you could take the west coast and give us the east :) Congrats on the delivery you are going to love the coupe!!!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PJsy4WnFHAo/Ti3-tqkRuBI/AAAAAAAAADc/-wTFsRQoxKo/s400/Megbox.JPGhttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E_96A1c2C6A/Ti35BhPxB_I/AAAAAAAAADM/7Vv2TduzFJs/s400/Ash+inventory.JPG

[Fluge]

Congratulations....brings back memories...

Makes me want to do it all over again...and I'm not even done yet.

Marc

[MRSQSL]

Aww dangit my daughters had the same idea....maybe you could take the west coast and give us the east :) Congrats on the delivery you are going to love the coupe!!!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PJsy4WnFHAo/Ti3-tqkRuBI/AAAAAAAAADc/-wTFsRQoxKo/s400/Megbox.JPGhttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E_96A1c2C6A/Ti35BhPxB_I/AAAAAAAAADM/7Vv2TduzFJs/s400/Ash+inventory.JPG

I give up. You win the inventory contest. Your kids are so darn adorable, everyone is gonna want to hire them. Besides, Mike keeps telling me I'm on my own building this one, so I think I'll be a little busy. Maybe your girls can come help me build instead.

[CJBergquist]

Congratulations. Let the games begin.

FYI, mine came with a ding in the same place...Jeff fixed it..:o

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3643/3487990706_ce665e27b1.jpg

[MRSQSL]

Wow! If you took that picture and photoshopped it so the gel coat was red, I would swear to you that was our car. The damage is identical. I mean, IDENTICAL!!!!! Did Jeff have any issues fixing it or was it a piece of cake for him? I'm really surprised Stewart hasn't figured out they can't load the coupes however they are loading them. Don't get me wrong, I love Stewart and would use them again. Maybe Factory Five should tape a piece of that foam stuff along the back before they leave the factory.

[vnmsss]

Congratulations on your new Coupe!! Really sorry to hear about the damage, and I know between Stewart and Factory Five, it will be made right.

I'm heading over to Cal Speedway (Fontana) with my new Coupe for the weekend, so will unfortunately miss the welcome party. Will look forward to seeing you in the next few weeks, and to following your Coupe build!!

Karen
PS....I'll be in garage 62 and welcome anyone that wants to stop by! :)

[xlr8or]

Congrats on the delivery Julie.
I had a much smaller but similar mark in the same area but mine didn't go all the way through. You should be just fine sitting in the car on that dolly I did. If you want to be sure just tie it down to the dolly with some straps.
You'll find that with the car up at that level the rivets and drilling will be much more comfortable. You can build the entire chassis minus engine/trans on there then just lift it off with the engine hoist like they did when removing it from the truck.

PS: I'm going to have to miss the delivery party on Saturday. :(

[MRSQSL]

Karen, have fun with your coupe this weekend. I'm a little jealous you get to drive yours while I only get to pet and ogle mine. Some day. If I ever accidentally say "wanna race", I don't mean it. We all know how that would turn out. :D

Scott, Mike had originally suggested we use tie downs, but after he observed and shoved and observed some more, he decided the stand was definitely sturdy and encouraged me to climb in. Bawk, bawk! I haven't yet. I'll probably pull myself up into it over the weekend. I'm anxious to get building and finish inventory, but this is a super busy week for me. Thanks again for lending us the stand. I'm super bummed you won't be able to make it this weekend. Nobody else is allowed to not come!! The weather will be gorgeous and we'll order some delicious pizza.

[QSL]

crazy how it seems these all get damaged here. Nothing that some of the extra red tape could not fix. Almost looks new now. LOL

[Pedalmasher]

Perfect place for a CHMSL...

dv

[Gordon Levy]

Congrats, I look forward to following the build.

[MRSQSL]

Perfect place for a CHMSL...

dv

I'd like to buy a vowel please. :)

I Googled that, so no explanation is needed now (Google images to make sure I fully understood). Just for future reference, if you are talking to Mike, abbreviate away. If you want me to have any clue what you're talking about, I need stick figure diagrams, arrows and very basic explanations with non-technical words.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

[Pedalmasher]

Hee Hee - I did that on purpose - - Knew you would be up for the challenge!!

In fact - I'm wondering how many others "Googled it"...

See y'all at 7:30...

DV

[Rodster]

I guess I am lucky, then - I have no visible damage at all on my Coupe body parts or boxes of parts - and I was the second to last shipment in that huge trailer. I have noticed other people getting fancy Factory Five logo boxes. All of my stuff came in ugly, plain brown U-Line boxes, except for my Halibrands and some small back ordered parts.

And, Yeah Pedalmasher - I had to Google that, too.

Looking forward to seeing your Coupe and meeting everyone at the Pizza gathering!

[Pedalmasher]

Yes!!!!

Here's challenge part 2:

Julie's car will be different from Mike's, cause her's might have a "PRNDL"...

Ready,

Google!!

DV

[JJ'snakepit]

Congratulation Mike on Julie... I am sorry I won't be able to make it tomorrow, I have a lot of catching up to do. HB is coming real soon and I am bringing my car. I was hoping to at least drive it off the trailer. I am sure Coupey is going to be awesome.. Relax and enjoy the build.. I too look forward to reading this thread.. Have fun tomorrow take lots of pictures.... JJ

[CJBergquist]

Jeff did a great job. There is no evidence of any damage.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/7884965538_4b5d66c834.jpg

[QSL]

it was a big weekend for us! Lots of fun, thanks to everyone that came to our welcome home coupey party! Also had the kids change the brakes on the challenger too :) LOL.

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[QSL]

last batch of pics!

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[MRSQSL]

Week 1:

Finally into the positive numbers. Woohoo! It's been a long wait, but Coupey is home and has been officially welcomed and/or blessed by the SoCal Factory Five community. Thank you to everyone who made the trek out. I wish we could have car parties every week.

Saturday morning Pedalmasher arrived right around 7:30 and off we headed to Cars and Cosi in Temecula. Scoopy performed beautifully as usual. I'd admit to a moment or two of giant smile while we were "racing" Derrick on the freeway, but that would be illegal and I'm quite certain we would never do anything like that. For the record, motorcylces are really fast. Anyway, he said we are definitely still smoking. I wasn't happy about that, but it is either the intake gasket or the valve seals. In my unprofessional opinion, I'm thinking the symptoms match valve seals more, but I would way rather replace the intake gasket than remove whatever pieces and parts have to be pried apart to fix the seals. Mike is on his own (I think) since I have my own toy to play with now.

After the car gathering, we lead the caravan home, passed out beverages and oohed and aahed over the new car. I think maybe the others love the coupe as much as I do. It's irresistable. Ever tried to stand next to it without reaching out and petting it? Impossible. The pizza arrived and we chowed down. Unfortunately, people had other things to do and the party goers trickled away until it was just the two of us (kids weren't home). I jumped into inventory with a modest amount of progress. One would think that after having done inventory and built Scoopy, I would have some clue what all the little thingymabobs are this time around. Nope. Even Mike was commenting that he was seeing new parts. Well, new as in not on the Cobra, not new to his brain. I had plenty of questions which he was forced to answer. I thought I could use the process of elimination to figure most of it out on my own, but when you have four different parts that all look as if they don't belong on a car, it's difficult to decide which is which. I finally decided that since there were four unmarked boxes on the paper and four oddly shaped objects before me, they most likely match up and it's safe to check them off and move on. It's not like FF would grab miscellaneous items to wrap up and throw in the boxes just to mess with people, right? Speaking of wrapping, I don't know what's going on anymore. When we got the first kit, all the boxes were white and the contents were gently placed inside in whatever form they originally came in. This kit had brown boxes and mostly everything in them was wrapped in brown paper. I'm not complaining. I'm simply wondering if something happened in shipping previously that caused them to overdose on brown wrapping paper. EVERYTHING was wrapped. For instance, the strut things for the hood were wrapped. Those brown papers are huge so unwrapping took quite a few wrist flicks and I was tired after a few boxes.

Mike and I were exhausted by the time we called it quits. With the opportunity to take Scoopy for a spin and then having so much fun talking to people and discussing the car, we were overstimulated and needed some sleep. I didn't make it past 9:00.

This morning, we got up and the guy who built our little aluminum coupe body came by to grab some more tubing for the frame he's making. He walked up the driveway, saw Coupey and fell in love. I think I may have seen him hug the car when he thought we weren't looking. I'm not sure exactly what we are going to do yet, but with help we are going to revolutionize the dash. Well, that might be an overstatement. We will work with him to design a dash that is slightly less rectangular than the stock one. He needs the gauges and stuff first, so it'll be a long time. Speaking of gauges, Mike convinced me I should get customized gauges from Speedhut. I spent about an hour this morning playing with different ideas on my iPad. I really couldn't find anything that floated my boat, so I opted to search the internet for other companies that could custom make gauges. I found that Autometer has a custom shop now and I picked out the number and variety of gauges. When I went to the part where you could begin the customization process, a screen popped up announcing I needed flash. Nooooooo!!!!! Apple and flash can't co-exist. I shut off my iPad in a huff and stormed downstairs. I guess I'll try again tonight on Mike's computer. All I know is that I don't want anything I've seen so far. I love JJ's gauges but when I try to picture them on my dash, it doesn't work as well as it would in a roadster. Sigh. If making decisions is always going to be this tough, I'm in big trouble. Oh and we are back to blue and white for the car. That's this weeks color choice. Ask me again next week.

I feel like I'm leaving something out. Hmmmmmm. I know. I finished inventory today while Mike changed the brakes on the Challenger. Aly and Steve helped some also. He still needs to do the rears. I think everything was in inventory (other than the backordered stuff) except for the footbox cover and the sidepipes. Mike says he'll contact FF for me since he wants to ask them about the small chip in the windshield anyway. It's way up high and I'll bet nobody noticed it over the weekend. If I think of anything important that I missed, I'll log back on tomorrow and add it. As it is, Mike keeps asking what I'm typing. I think he's concerned I'm telling all his deep dark secrets. I'll save those for week 2. :)

[xlr8or]

Great pics and commentary as usual. Wish I could have made it there.

[bil1024]

Great thread! Enjoy

[Rodster]

Yup, you guys missed a great event.

Julie, there are some weird-looking metal parts for the Coupe. Be careful when you inventory the rear brakes for the IRS - The Factory sent me a brake kit for the solid axle, so now we have to do some exchanging. The critical part is a pair of crescent-shaped metal pieces that are used to mount the calipers to the spindle (you know, the thing that looks like it came from a bag of jacks......) I got a milled square-ish piece instead.

Kinda reminds me of that Neil Young song Rust Never Sleeps when it goes - "you pay for this, they give you that. . . "

Hmm. Now that I think about this, that song also applies to some steel parts like door hinges and rear hatch hardware, that are not powder coated. . .

[Made_In_America]

Dakota Digital has some nice gauges you may want to take a look at. I really like their MVX series.

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm

[MRSQSL]

Thanks for the link. There are some really interesting gauges there. I actually designed a set I really like with Autometer yesterday and sent Mike the link so he could see. He liked them, but he's concerned about quality. Sad face. I'm definitely stuck now. This link added another dimension of uncertainty as now I have other options. I wish I could see them all in person so I could get a good feel for how they look and quality and such.

[Jacob McCrea]

Great thread! Enjoy

Agreed; I'm enjoying following along from afar.

[QSL]

Been collecting some 1-1/2 dom tubing, Tube dies and other misc. bits. We hope to start on the coupe this weekend with the big work being completed by 03/17. We are adding some side impact bars and additional support in the front for Julies high speed 45mph runs. :)

[QSL]

just brought home the 40+ feet of 1-1/2 .120 dom tubing.

15929

[vnmsss]

just brought home the 40+ feet of 1-1/2 .120 dom tubing.

15929

Awesome! Not sure if you're using your own door bar design, but we have a set of jigs which Hank fabbed up for the door bars on the new car. We kinda figured the jigs would be like the travelling pedal benders, and you're welcome to use them.

Karen

[frankeeski]

just brought home the 40+ feet of 1-1/2 .120 dom tubing.

15929

Looks like fun!

[QSL]

Awesome! Not sure if you're using your own door bar design, but we have a set of jigs which Hank fabbed up for the door bars on the new car. We kinda figured the jigs would be like the travelling pedal benders, and your welcome to use them.

Karen

that would be great! PM inbound

[MRSQSL]

Pop quiz. You are undoing the header bolts and you drop a thick e clip. Where does it fall? A) Straight to the ground where it rolls gently to rest right by your foot and you can easily bend down and retrieve it. B) Straight down under the exact center of the car, so you can't reach it from any angle. C) At an angle uncalculable by man which will lodge it firmly between the footbox aluminum and the frame with the bottom of the "E" under the aluminum so that it is impossible to pull up. The answer is C. Perhaps the coupe will not have this issue, but we spent the weekend working on the Cobra (don't ask why I'm updating this thread instead of that one). Mike had to take a screwdriver and a few yoga classes to get it unwedged. And so began week 2. Okay, that's a lie. Week 2 started on Saturday morning. We got up and headed off to the Temecula Rod Run with some friends. We did not drive Scoopy as the weather has been pretty bad (rain) and we didn't register as participants anyway. I guess this is an annual show where they block off a main street and park cars (1972 and older - I think) along the sides. Tons of people showed up. We saw two Cobras. I think both were Factory Fives, but I wouldn't swear to it. We also saw a GT40 which was a Superformance. The guy was entertaining serious offers only of $250,000 or higher!!!! Where's that shocked icon? :confused: :eek: I don't see it so we'll go with those two instead. The highlight of the show for me was a Chihuahua pulling a very small wagon. I snapped a picture on my camera, so I'll probably be responsible for posting since it isn't on the camera Mike uses.

After the show (where I didn't get any new dash or gauge ideas), we headed home. Karen came by to see our cars and let us pick her brain once more about building the coupe. I love her!!!!! We'll meet with her again in a week or two for the jigs to do the side impact door frame mod. I'm sure I'll have more dumb questions by then. As Mike and I were discussing later, Karen is extremely intelligent and I feel like she is telling me important, logical, well thought out things and I'm stumbling around saying things like "car is pretty" or "car goes vroom". :)

Saturday evening didn't go as planned. I was going to mark and photograph the footbox aluminum and then remove it. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling great so I sat in the garage and watched Mike remove the sidepipes and header bolts (and throw e clips into positions you couldn't replicate if you tried 1000 times). It didn't bother me so much, but one of the sidepipes was sticking out too far and you could see the bolts (headers to pipes) through the body cut out. He decided to remove the headers, cut off the necessary amount, weld on new flanges and reattach. Fortunately, we know an amazing fabricator who came by Sunday morning to help.

Before I get to Sunday, let me point out something so incredibly stupid that I can't believe it took me until last week to realize. Because we are doing frame mods, the frame is not powder coated. Because the frame isn't powder coated, I can't go shoving suspenion parts or any other parts on. This made me sad. I wanted to build when I finished inventory. It'll be worth it, but how idiotic that I figured I'd do inventory and hop straight into building.

Okay, so Sunday Martin came over to help with the car. He is the one that made mini coupe in aluminum and also welded our roll bars. I have to say that if anyone in so cal needs any work done (especially hot rods or muscle cars), this is your guy. Okay, commercial over. The first thing they tried was using an old ban saw to cut the pipes. I'm not entirely certain what went wrong, but I believe it wasn't cutting at the desired angle (probably something to do with shims). Martin offered to take us to his shop where he had tools that he knew could get the job done. To make a long story short (instead of a short story long like I usually do), the three of us (mostly those two) spent the day putting the headers and pipes on and then taking them off and perfecting the millimeter or so that annoyed them (dang perfectionists) and then repeating. Up, down, up, down. I think I have massive leg muscles now. Okay, maybe not massive. In the end, Martin took the headers home so he could weld the flanges at his shop and will be returning them this evening. I spoke with him a tad more about the coupe dash. He showed me a picture of one he had fabricated for a truck. I believe my dash worries are over. Now back to the gauge confusion. Oh, so I was supposed to do the coupe panels Sunday while Mike and Martin were working, but there wasn't enough room in the garage or enough hands for two projects. Nothing accomplished for me.

Yesterday evening, Mike and I did yet another leak down test. I wasn't strong enough to get the stupid quick disconnect connected, so Aly had to come out. She couldn't do it either, so she ended up disconnecting and connecting the other end which worked well. Nothing more than 8% on any cylinder. The spark plugs look better than they did before Mike removed the PCV. It appears the valve cover gasket may have had a leak (I think that's the one he told me). It may still be that the intake gaskets are bad. I don't know. I'm sure we will be dismantling things for awhile until the problem is solved.

Alyssa is currently registering for classes for her senior year. She brought me the form to sign last night. I was delighted and extremely jealous to see that she is trying to get into a welding class. I've spent the day pondering ways to quickly learn extreme movie makeup so I can pass as a teen to take the class with her. Think I may need a fake ID as well. Maybe she will make me one of those pretty welded roses I saw on the other forum in the off topic section. I should show it to her and plant the seed now. Insert evil giggle.

[WIS89]

Karen-

Once again demonstrating that you ROCK!!

Great thinking on the jigs, and even better idea to share them. Your generosity is inspiring!!

Regards,

Steve



Awesome! Not sure if you're using your own door bar design, but we have a set of jigs which Hank fabbed up for the door bars on the new car. We kinda figured the jigs would be like the travelling pedal benders, and you're welcome to use them.

Karen

[jkrueger]

Julie

I feel your frustration with not being to get going on the build. We spent a week doing frame mods before we could paint and start putting the car together.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg253/jkrueger485/Daytona%20Coupe/IMG_5583.jpg

PS: the white looks good in this picture, but I'd advise against it

[xlr8or]

Julie you forgot option D) it flies off and is nowhere to be found until right after you purchase and install the new one.

[MRSQSL]

Julie

PS: the white looks good in this picture, but I'd advise against it

I actually had no plans to paint the frame white, but we DID discuss it at one point. Out of curiosity, why would you advise against it? I'm guessing it shows every greasy fingerprint, smudge, streak, etc.

[MRSQSL]

Julie you forgot option D) it flies off and is nowhere to be found until right after you purchase and install the new one.

I don't like option D. I've experienced option D too many times.

[Rodster]

Use a magnet when you are removing critical small parts that may be un-obtainum. Really helps when installing shims in the IRS. You have to deal with a handful of those little washers, and then thread a bolt thru a stack of stuff. . . then something moves, and that stack of washers falls out, and they roll all over the floor in different directions. And at least one of them will roll into a crack in the garage floor, probably on its way to China or something, never to be found, so now you have to stop the build, because you ran out of those little shims.

Go like this, holding a magnet in one hand and a punch to thread all the parts thru, and chase the parts and punch with the bolt:

16096

Even more fun when you have a camera in one hand, as in the above picture...A video of this might be more helpful.

[MRSQSL]

Mike still needs to post pictures, but I'm going to try to get two off of my camera and onto here. One is that adorable dog and wagon I mentioned. It was the best shot I could get since I was basically chasing it through the crowd. The other is the $250K Superformance. 1613116132

[jkrueger]

I actually had no plans to paint the frame white, but we DID discuss it at one point. Out of curiosity, why would you advise against it? I'm guessing it shows every greasy fingerprint, smudge, streak, etc.

You are correct.

[QSL]

Julie, post pics of what?!? YOU DID NOTHING OVER THE WEEKEND. No pictures to show. However, i may be posting pictures of MY progress on MY roadster thread.

P.S. Make sure dinner is done when i get home... :) LOL.

[thestigwins]

P.S. Make sure dinner is done when i get home... :) LOL.

Haha you're in trouble now ;)

[MRSQSL]

Din din is on the lawn along with all your clothes. Sleep well!!

[QSL]

That was good din, din! Thx for getting my clothes out for work tomorrow too! Best wife ever!

[QSL]

Just ordered up some goodies!
-TCI Streetfighter Aod trans
-Wilwood pedal box
-Wilwood master cyl
-Motor/Trans mounts

Hopefully we should see them this week. This will help with mock up of the engine/trans as well as the footbox so we can make the necessary frame mods to make it all work.

[frankeeski]

That was good din, din! Thx for getting my clothes out for work tomorrow too! Best wife ever!

Sprinklers go on at 6, so there is your wake up call.

[Presto51]

That was good din, din! Thx for getting my clothes out for work tomorrow too! Best wife ever!


Sprinklers go on at 6, so there is your wake up call.

And Here's Your Sign :rolleyes:

[BFFofMRSQSL]

what?!?! nobody thinks i am funny?! That hurts, That hurts really bad :( thanks guys...


Julie, post pics of what?!? YOU DID NOTHING OVER THE WEEKEND. No pictures to show. However, i may be posting pictures of MY progress on MY roadster thread.

P.S. Make sure dinner is done when i get home... :) LOL.

Mike, you are officially funny. I literally LOLed.

[frankeeski]

Julie, YOU DID NOTHING OVER THE WEEKEND. No pictures to show.


I think Mrs.QSL is going to have plenty of pictures for you to post this week Mike. She Kicked Butt on the build today (Saturday) and still had time to run to get lunch for her two helpers. Her welding skills are getting better as well. Enjoy the rest of your fabrication this weekend you two.

[QSL]

Julie with the LEGEND Karen! :) Last week. I guess I lied there was a pic.

16207

[QSL]

Nice progress this weekend. It felt really good to get some work done! Thanks Frank!! Julie will post the comments, but one technical thing I would like to add. If you plan on doing the front bars like we did. Mock up your footbox pedals first. We are using the wilwood setup and IF we were using a clutch the 1-1/2 tube would interfere with the clutch pedal. We are going automatic, so its not an issue.

[QSL]

more pics

[QSL]

more pics

16220 16221 16222 16223 16224 16225

[QSL]

I like this pic.

16226

[frankeeski]

How about a picture of the COOL bending machine.

[MRSQSL]

Week 3:

So, do I lie and tell you how amazing I am as a welder and fabricator or do I tell the truth and admit that Frank finally got a chance to see how useless I am and what Mike has to endure? I think I'll go with the truth on this one.

Friday was package palooza! I actually went to work with Mike (we work for the same company, but different locations) and we only worked part of the day because Steve had to be picked up from school. It was nice coming home around 3:00 and not having to work, work. I'd like to suggest we do that every Friday. Anyway, we pulled up and found two packages by the door. One turned out to be my side pipes and the footbox cover which was missing from inventory. The other package was the headlight covers, MSO and little VIN plate. About an hour later, a giant semi truck pulled up in front of the house. I was jealous that someone was getting a new nifty something until I realized the recipient was ME!!!!! My transmission arrived. Wooooohooooo! The excitement was short lived as they had put fluid in it, only partially installed the plug and shipped it. So much for the rug and the box and the garage floor and the cement driveway. Mike got it all cleaned up while I hugged the transmission. It's adorable! Alyssa came home and a short while later, UPS showed up. Yay! Mike got the header bolts he was waiting for and I got my motor and trans mounts. Not sure if anything else arrived in that package, but I also got some stuff I had ordered for the house (in a separate package, not from Summit). I'm positive the UPS guy hates us. He has been to the house almost every single day for the last week or two. I think of it as job security for him, but I suspect he doesn't feel the same.

Okay, so with all the packages rifled through, it was time to get down to work. Frank would be arriving Saturday morning and I needed to have the footbox aluminum off, the steering temporarily mocked up and the garage cleaned up (had to move the boxes and there was stuff everywhere). I thought I was high tech with my screwdriver kinda handle thing with a socket attachment so that I could remove all the footbox screws. It was tedious, but I got most of them out. Unfortunately, one or two were hidden behind the body and were unobtainable. I moved on to the steering. I found the upper shaft and the pillow thing and other assorted doodads in one box, but the long bendy shaft was nowhere to be found. I remembered seeing it during inventory and recalled it was in a tube, but the only tubes I could find were definitely not it. I couldn't see the inventory list well because Mike was working on his car and my car was shoved up against the lists. I ended up wiggling through the frame and wedged myself in enough to spy the missing shaft on the list. Why would they put it in a completely separate box????? I found it and proceeded to the installation portion. Other than being out of shape, it went smoothly. I'm going to have to build up arm strength. By the time I ratcheted all the bolts in, my arms were tired. I also unwrapped the steering wheel and temporarily installed the hub thing so I could jam the wheel onto the shaft. The goal was to drop (gently lower) the coupe onto pieces of wood so that I could test out the height to see if the steering needed to be moved (thanks to Karen for pointing this out).

Frank arrived Saturday morning and we got to work. Nothing went as smoothly as I had envisioned, but we survived. This is where Frank really got a taste of why wives shouldn't be in the garage. At one point he even said "if I wanted to listen to fighting, I'd have stayed home". Hmmmmm...I hope his wife isn't reading this. Sorry Frank!

The final discovery was that Mike is larger than I am. I know, rocket science, right? If I use a booster in my seat, we should both fit (snuggly for him). The steering was high for both of us and I found it to be too far to the right. Frank was able to mark my comfort area so that Mike can cut out whatever needs to be sliced off and the steering components altered. Can you tell I'm not 100% positive how that's going to be accomplished?

It was time to get the frame back up, body off and frame torn apart. Sadly, the cart the frame sits on didn't like the engine hoist (what we were using to raise the car) and it was a heavy experience for Frank. Fortunately he's strong and he didn't break any body parts (or at least he hasn't admited it yet). I ran off to get lunch while they began the cutting process. I returned to find they just needed to grind down the new tube a hair. That hair must've belonged to the largest, hairest monster on the planet. 15 minutes later, they were still grinding. Lunch was consumed and the bar was welded in. During this process, I sat and watched and occasionally got up to take a picture or hand someone something or just view from a different angle. I'd like to say I did an amazing job, but alas I was pretty much statue-like.

The process on the other bar was basically the same except now the steel plate in the front of the driver's side footbox where the steering shaft goes through was in the way. No biggie. Mike and Frank did some measuring and some slicing and grinding. I'm really impressed by how great the new bars look. Frank was a huge help and had some very good ideas. Thanks Frank!!!!! Oh and once the body was off, I could remove the rest of the footbox aluminum. Frank looked at me like a crazy person when he saw me undoing all the screws by hand. Mike ended up handing me a drill with the socket attachment. What?! Why didn't he give me this sooner?????!!!!

They didn't get around to bending any metal yet except for one test piece just to make sure Frank's magnificent bending machine worked. Yup. It works. Thanks for lending it to us. Karen was going to be retrieving the jigs for the door mods and I'm hoping the next update will include some progress on those and lots of pictures of the "COOL bending machine".

After Frank left Saturday, Tool Monkey Me cleaned up the garage except for the heavy things I couldn't move. Mike will tell you everything was heavy and he did all the work, but don't believe it. While Frank and Mike had been working on the bars, I undid all the steering stuff and repacked it (except for the hub thing that will eventually go to Russ Thompson).

Sunday morning we went back out into the garage, but we both looked at the cars, talked about how much we like them and decided to relax the rest of the day. My biggest problem is that I'm supposed to be attaching the door frames and hinges so that they can be certain the door and the door bars they are fabricating will work together. I got all the important door pieces out of one box and discovered the hardware was in another. This wouldn't have been an issue except it was box 3 which is on the very bottom of the box stack and I had already moved and unmoved the boxes once during the weekend. Aly says she'll help me when the time comes (for a small fee). Nothing else was accomplished. I hope the weather is as nice next weekend and I really hope Frank will be able to come back to help. I think Mike was spoiled with having a real assistant with muscles and logical ideas. Alas, Mike will be stuck with me for many more years...poor guy.

[DARKPT]

Excellent progress! You mentioned the steering wheel being a little far to the right. Some other builders reported the same issue with their Coupe recently. You can confirm the position by putting the dash in place to see where the steering column aligns.

Just a heads up, the dash piece might need a little trimming in order to mock this up...

[vnmsss]

Thanks for another great update, Julie...I enjoy reading your reports. :)

I'll bring the jigs over this afternoon, and am looking forward to checking in on the progress. Very cool that Frank has been able to come over and help as well. He's a gem! (and when you're lucky, you get blessed with Julie's company as well...Which is always 2x FUN!)

Karen

[vnmsss]

....Forgot to add.....LOL at your comment about the packing "wisdom" in having to search through multiple boxes for the parts needed for any particular job....Maybe one of the tips for future builders is to sort the parts after they do the inventory....Of course, that assumes one knows what all those "thing-a-ma-bobs" are! :cool:

See you this afternoon!

K
PS.....Tip #2346: There's a cool template provided in the manual that doesn't match the screw holes for the LeMans cap....Ask me how I know. :)

[MRSQSL]

Yeah, I was whining like an infant about the way the boxes were packed. Not only are parts for one job in multiple boxes, but now everything is wrapped in that brown paper and even when you open a box, you can't see what's in it. You start pulling out paper and discover some of it is empty and some of it is full, but you never know until you mush it all around. It's like digging for parts in a sandblaster if you put too much sand in there. Well, maybe not. Even though I'm complaining, I'm not really complaining. I would way rather FF took extra care to package the parts so they don't get damaged than to toss them all willy nilly in a box to scratch and scuff each other up. I was telling Mike I wanted to get big see through containers and take everything out of those boxes. Either I didn't say it out loud or he didn't care as I can't remember him actually responding to that comment. Definitely some repacking somehow is in order. Karen, you are 100% right about having to know what the thing a ma bobs are first though. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you this afternoon. Thanks again for driving all the way over here to bring me more goodies. Oh and thanks for tip #2346. Can I get a written copy of tips 1-2345? I may need those. :)

[QSL]

Man, i am really excited about the jigs. I want to get this all done asap so we can get the frame powder coated and start putting it together.

We also need to fabricate before coating...

-Weld in pedal brackets
-Weld in mount for auto trans shifter
-Weld in fast freddies power steering brackets
-Fabricate and weld in rear trunk X brace
-Fabricate and weld in rear impact protection.
-Move steering wheel mount.
-Side impact bars.
-Move Dash brackets if needed.

[Jacob McCrea]

-Move steering wheel mount.

I aligned it "left to right" with the dash, but didn't lower it before powder coating. What I am thinking of doing, for simplicity, is flipping the support bearing upside-down on the existing mount, boring a 1.5" hole through the 2" tube, and welding a spare piece of 1.5" roll cage tubing into the hole (essentially creating a tunnel through the 2x2 square tube). My sense is that this would be both the easiest way to do it, and the strongest.

[QSL]

interesting idea. Will look at that some more. One issue we will have with that is the russ thompson turn signal needs that lower mount, but there may be another option.

[Timb]

Unless you are using a removable steering wheel I have to wonder how much dropping the column through the 2" tube is going to impact getting in and out.

[QSL]

It feels like very little. The right dropfor us is about 1.5". We are going to mod for the max and if need be, its much easier to raise then lower.

[STLMARSHALL]

I did the same thing with the wheel. With the stock wheel the leg room is a little tight. But with the small MOMO wheel it is fine. I just flipped the bearing upside down on the stock mount and drilled a small hole in the 2x2 frame.

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr2/mmarshall01/Build%20sequence/DSC00462.jpg

http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr2/mmarshall01/2010%20Progress/DSC_4353.jpg

[QSL]

great pics, thanks for sharing!!!

Karen, thanks for the shipment today! You rock!!!!!

[Rodster]

STLmarshall - good tip, I need to check my fit with the stock steering wheel - my steer shaft is way too much to the right - but this may be due to some change in the pedalbox area - if the steering shaft were to be "centered" in the correct location, it would interfere with clutch travel. So, I think The Factory may have fixed one problem, but created another problem.

Julie - On locating parts, it will be good to re-pack or stage them in groups - I re-packed all of my stuff and marked the box with a group name, like "front brake parts," "IFS parts," "radiator / cooling" and so on. BUT - if you do this, make sure you also note what box it originally came from - based on the parts list. Then, when you need a certain jobby-doo, you can look it up on the original F5R parts list and find it easily.

This is probably why it took me 2 days to take inventory, but so far it is worth it - even though I have Coupe parts in every room in the house, I can find exactly what I need..... I need to get building so I can get rid of the "inside boxes"

Looking forward to ***pictures*** of your progress!

-wayne

[Rodster]

Man, i am really excited about the jigs. I want to get this all done asap so we can get the frame powder coated and start putting it together.

We also need to fabricate before coating...

-Weld in pedal brackets
-Weld in mount for auto trans shifter
-Weld in fast freddies power steering brackets
-Fabricate and weld in rear trunk X brace
-Fabricate and weld in rear impact protection.
-Move steering wheel mount.
-Side impact bars.
-Move Dash brackets if needed.

Julie's chassis is going to be one battle-ready vehicle soon - can't wait to see the chassis mods completed!
-wayne

[cobrajj]

I know it's a lot of work, but when I inventoried the parts I listed the parts by number, description on the outside of each box. As each item was removed, it was crossed out.

[MRSQSL]

Something needs to be done. Dealing with the boxes the way they are is going to drive me insane. I don't remember this issue so much with the roadster, but maybe I just blocked it out. I like the idea of writing on the outside and crossing it off as used, but I also like the idea of grouping into assembly sections. Needing to know the original box number messes that up a little. I'm trying to think of an easy way to accomplish all of that. I'm a big fan of spreadsheets so maybe I'll do something like that. Still...I need to be able to identify the jobby-doos (that makes the third word this week that makes me smile) which is enough of a challenge when they are in the correct boxes. I'll have to think about this. The next update should be interesting. :)

[Rodster]

Where's that search tool when ya need it - Julie said, "I love inventory. . . . " :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Spreadsheets - that might do it, but sounds like too much work. Although - I think you can get the parts lists in PDF from the Factory. Then you can copy - paste. Oh. Wait. Jason said that the list is not always the latest - your packing slips are the latest source for part numbers and qtys.

It really is not that terrible of a chore, now that I am done with that.

You have some kids that can have fun organizing the parts, right?

Let's see. You'd have a box of Jobby-Doos, then Do-hickeys, then thing-a-ma-bobs. Then another section for aluminum sheet shapes. Then rubber-licorice-looking soft thingies. Then you have to deal with all the screws, bolts, nuts, nylocks, washers, rivets (in 2 sizes), and some other weird fasteners I have seen for the first time.

Pictures of all the parts would help.

Anyone remember Heathkit electronic project kits? Amazing and great instructions, with actual size drawings of all the parts!

Still - this really is a fun project, right? :D :D :D


-wayne

[MRSQSL]

I love doing inventory. Not so fond of trying to find things AFTER inventory. Imagine how huge the inventory packet would be if there were pictures or drawings of each part!! It would be amazing!! I suspect most men have waaaaay fewer issues than I do so probably not feasible for FF. Mike thinks I should just leave well enough alone, but when he and Frank turn their backs this weekend, I'm gonna repackage the parts. Shhhhh...

[vnmsss]

I love doing inventory. Not so fond of trying to find things AFTER inventory. Imagine how huge the inventory packet would be if there were pictures or drawings of each part!! It would be amazing!! I suspect most men have waaaaay fewer issues than I do so probably not feasible for FF. Mike thinks I should just leave well enough alone, but when he and Frank turn their backs this weekend, I'm gonna repackage the parts. Shhhhh...

;) Do it!

[Timb]

Anyone remember Heathkit electronic project kits? Amazing and great instructions, with actual size drawings of all the parts!

Still - this really is a fun project, right? :D :D :D


-wayne

Wow that brings back some memories from my youth....built my first digital alarm clock in 5th grade

[Pedalmasher]

Wow that brings back some memories from my youth....built my first digital alarm clock in 5th grade

Methinks Wayne might still have some kits in stock... :D

[frankeeski]

but when he and Frank turn their backs this weekend, I'm gonna repackage the parts. Shhhhh...

NO YOU'RE NOT! If I have to bring you a pair a Red Wing Boots and lace them on your feet myself, you will be fabricating this weekend. End of story. :)
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa78/frankeeski/4-redwing-boots_zpsb036dd08.jpg

[MRSQSL]

I'd like a pair in purple and with a slightly higher heel. Oh and I wear a size seven. :D. Thanks! Hee, hee.

[MRSQSL]

Week 4A:

I'm kinda cheating by updating early but I wanted to explain my evening adventure while still feeling the highs and lows. It's necessary to temporarily attach the doors so that we (Mike) can cut the bars for the side impact. I expect to be laughed at but only silently behind my back. Steve agreed to help me so the two of us attempted to decipher the pictures in the manual. Yeah. I suspected we were doing it all wrong which was confirmed when Mike came over and turned my bolts around and Steve looked at the door and said one part was upside down. Sigh. Here's the lesson I learned. Bolts that have a square head are treated differently. Look for a lump welded on one side of the steel which the side of the bolt is supposed to catch on so that you don't need a wrench to hold it in place while tightening. Please explain to me how I'm supposed to know that? There is nothing in the sandwich making process to prepare me for this. I'm allowed to make sexist comments since I'm a woman, right? Seriously, I've never seen such a thing. In theory, it's an excellent idea. In practice, not so much. The bolt was long and kept wiggling. We ended up holding a wrench on it anyway. My other tip is for the large steel piece that attaches to the door. This was the thing I put on upside down. Make sure the extra lump goes toward the top. The doors are currently temporarily attached. I hope they don't fall off by the time I get in the garage tomorrow.

Other bit of news is that my wheels arrived. Yay!

I'll update Monday to discuss the fabrication happenings as well as the visit from Karen earlier in the week.

[Pedalmasher]

I'd like a pair in purple and with a slightly higher heel. Oh and I wear a size seven. :D. Thanks! Hee, hee.

Here ya go...16304

[Rodster]

;) Do it!

Do it! (after the fabrication weekend)

[Rodster]

Methinks Wayne might still have some kits in stock... :D

Yup!

[MRSQSL]

I was gonna post an example of a super sexy high heel boot, but most of the purple ones are hideous. I suppose I could wear actual shoes instead of flip flops today, but I'm fairly certain the shoes are not the cause of my lack of fabrication skills. Probably has more to do with my immense inability to lift anything heavy mixed with never having discovered the mechanical reasoning chunk of brain which I'm nearly positive has since dissolved (if it ever existed). Oh and being scared of loud noises and sparks. I'm afraid my hair is going to catch on fire plus they hurt sometimes when they hit you. Did I mention I don't like the metal scraping metal noise or anything involving sandpaper? Yeah, this build should be interesting. You should've seen me trying to reason through the door installation last night. Pitiful. Oh and I didn't have enough washers. At first I was surprised and maybe a little annoyed but then I realized I have no idea what a washer is for, so it probably isn't a big deal, right? Yeah, I think I'll get some when it's time to do final assembly. They must have SOME function. Sometimes they make the part look prettier. Is that why we need them?

[Hankl]

Because you asked...

http://www.ajaxfast.com.au/downloads/Technical%20noteFunction%20of%20a%20Washer.pdf


Hank :cool:

[crossle45f33cf]

Hankl
Thanks for sharing that informative article.
I'm too old and lazy to go through the math but the rest cleared up some misconceptions for me.

[MRSQSL]

I read the whole thing, but the math was waaaaaay out of my league. I'm good with using them not to pretty things up but to keep from damaging surfaces or applying equal tension. I got a little lost with how to figure out if the bolt is a stronger material than the washer. In that case, it's going to have to be a matter of whether it is prettier with one washer or two. Thanks for the info. I feel much smarter now.

Hank, do those straight jackets come in women's sizes? I didn't get one. Sad face.

[QSL]

frank came by today and helped again!! Thanks a bunch frank, your help is really appreciated. We put in about 7hrs today and got the lower bars done. They look great. Pics to follow tomorrow.

[Pastenseverb]

Hey Guys, It's looking great and I'm anxious to see another build from you. Julie, I would like to hire you to narrate my build thread. You're amazing. I noticed in one of your previous pics and saw what was on the TV. What were you watching that was in my back yard?
Keep it up.
D


15856

[vnmsss]

Awesome! I knew you guys would make good progress today. :) I worked on my Coupe most of the day as well, and just got back from the Legends of Riverside event where Bob Bondurant was the honoree. Lots of great photos from the early Coupe development days at Riverside Raceway. Some great shots from Sebring and LeMans too. It's so cool that we're building our Coupes just a few miles from where it all began......Had dinner with one of the guys on the project who knew Ken Miles very well....Great stories, and truly humbling to be in the company of all those amazing people. OK.....Back to the garage! Karen

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/snkbtn/2011%20Legends%20of%20Rivderside/Bondurant1_zps4e1736a4.jpg

[Hankl]

Julie,

It's a "One Size Fits All" Jacket, so you can share it within the family, sorry I missed your jacket, but here it is!!


Raise your right hand and say after me,

"I (State your name), do swear/affirm, that upon acceptance of this "Revered Coupe Jacket", will willingly subject myself to all manner of frustration and abrasion that my FFR Type 65 will provide.
I further pledge that any and all fellow Coupe builders will have free reign in using the cash available in my wallet as they see fit to improve my build plan.
I will not look down upon our fellow Roadster builders, but rather take pity on those not talented enough to build a race car with a roof, So Help Me God!"



It is my pleasure to present you with the "Revered Coupe Jacket", Here's your sign!!

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w284/hankl_album/straight_jacket_backFS-1.jpg

Hank :cool:

[QSL]

thanks hank, I already received one of those though from Julies family before I married her. :)

Here are some pics of this weeks progress.

Technical stuff...

-jigs rock!!! thanks a lot guys!!
-Frank rocks!! thanks a ton buddy! I had a great time!
-Weld in some bracing to the door strikers to keep them into position. This worked great! Pics attached.
-Use the original square bar at the back going up to the 1-1/2 tube. Looks good and makes a ton of sense. Thanks for that frank!
-Saws all rocks!
-Franks custom built tube bender is the bomb!!!

Julie to post later.

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[QSL]

couple more pics!

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[QSL]

Few more!!

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[QSL]

almost there :)

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[QSL]

and always my favorite.... the end of the night shot!

16347

[frankeeski]

I am going to add a bit of input to the build text this time. The Jigs do Rock! Hank did a great job thinking these designs out and the flexibility they offer is tremendous. I have spoken to Karen and gotten permission from her to add to her blog as well. I am going to ask Hank if he would not mind if I do the same thing to his blog as well. The 55 degree call out in the blog is inaccurate. This is not Hanks fault, it just boils down to that the degree wheel and indicator on his bender may need to be calibrated. The bender we used for Mr. and Mrs. QSL's car does not have a degree wheel, therefore we use a digital level to get precise bends when doing repeated bends. Before we started we wanted to confirm the angle so we could do the math and get proper angles bent. We set the jigs down on a level surface and measured the upward angle of the other end. The pictures below show that we were just shy of 50 degrees.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa78/frankeeski/IMG_3932_zps8abe75ee.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa78/frankeeski/20130323_113255_zpse3462d2a.jpg
Keep in mind that if you are not using a degree wheel and indicator on your bender you can just bend, check it against the jig, bend a little more, if needed, and repeat. The process for the bender we are using is that once the tubing is snug in the bender the angle of the tubing is checked, I think we had 4.2 degrees. Then the tubing is bent while the digital level is on the portion of tubing bending up. We bent the tubing to 55.2 degrees at first. That, minus the 4.2 degrees we started with, gave us 51 degrees on the digital level. It was a bit short of the angle we need so we chucked it back up in the bender and bent to 57.4 degrees. Checked it again and we were right on the money. So here is where we were at; 57.4 degrees minus 4.2 means we ended up with about 3.2 degrees of spring back after bending. Remember that each batch of tubing is a bit different and each piece for that matter may not have the same amount of spring back. We hope this helps the next builder using the jigs and/or following the Competition Coupe format.

[CraigS]

Great progress but the "attachments" don't work. Pics work fine.

[MRSQSL]

Week 4B:

I don't know what's going on with the "attachments". They are pictures, just like the rest. Hopefully it'll get fixed soon.

Karen came by early in the week to deliver some gifts. She had the jigs for the side impact bars as well as a gas tank. Yay!!!! Thank you SOOOOOOOO much. I originally wanted a fuel cell, but then I saw the price. Once I regained consciousness and pulled myself off the floor, I realized I could live with a regular old tank. (We need to find a new money tree since our last one seems to have died.) Karen and I ended up chatting for about an hour. I was enthralled by her racing stories. I could've listened all day. Unfortunately, she had places to be as did I.

Saturday morning Frank was scheduled to arrive around 10:00. I needed to run to Lowes to get several items. My list wasn't exactly in technical form. I believe what I had written was "flappy sanding thingys, welding magnets, wd40 and band saw blade". Steve and I planned to start in the tool section, but the pretty gardening section caught my attention and the cart magically veered off towards the vegetable seeds. With zucchini seeds and necessary starter accessories, I decided we should probably attempt to find things on the actual list. The tool section was much less inviting, but we rambled up and down the aisles searching for any of the aforementioned items. Flappy sanding thingys were discovered first, but we needed a 4.5 inch disc with a 5/8 "arbor". What is an arbor? I asked Mike before I left and he told me "hole in the middle". Why is it called an arbor then? This goes back to my original complaint about naming things. Petcock. Bung. Caulk. What were you people thinking???? I hate asking for caulk. I end up over pronouncing the "l" and then it is obvious I'm afraid to say it any other way and it's all awkward. It should've been called slink or splam or something. I digress. No flappy sanding thingys. Next stop band saw blade. We found one with 24 TPI, which I can only assume means teeth per inch. Steve and I didn't want to try to pull it out of the box to measure it against the one we brought with us (wood instead of metal). Instead, we fell back on our super scientific methods. Steve held the box while I squished the original blade. We decided that with a little effort, it probably would be possible to squish it into that box therefore the one inside must be the right one. Done. I ended up having to ask for the welding magnets and the WD40 as well as a plastic storage bin (I had an inventory plan). Everything went well except for the welding magnet. I called them by name. I tried describing them using wild gestures, colorful descriptions, etc. No luck.

It was just before 10:00, so I ran in the house, got my flip flops (chanklas in Spanish - makes me smile) and threw them on over my socks. La, la, la. Waited for Frank. He pulled up, took one look at my feet and told me to get in the truck so we could go buy shoes. Snicker, snicker. I explained that I was fairly certain his concern last weekend about my little bare flip flopped feet would be curtailed with sock coated flip flopped feet. Way more protection, right? I changed back into my boots and the fabricating fun began.

Let me shorten this tale immensely. Mike and Frank measured, cut, bent, welded, discussed and ground (just a hair). I stood on my left foot then my right foot then I sat. Repeat. I'm not sure how many different ways I can say thanks to Frank. I'm afraid if I say it too much, he'll stop believing it's sincere. I feel the same way about thanking Mike, but there are infinitely more ways I can show Mike I mean it.

In the end, I have gorgeous bottom halves of side impact bars. Oh and Mike let me weld a little spot. I suspect that part will fall off in the next day or two. I was vastly relieved to see he didn't post any pictures of my "weld".

Jim and his wife stopped by. They claimed they were just there to pick up the radiator jooby-doos we told them they could have, but I'm fairly confident they wanted to watch Mike and Frank work. I told Jim my plan for inventory was to pull all the hardware bags out of the assorted boxes and put them in one plastic storage bin which I would keep near the top. This, I guessed, would help the build go a little more smoothly. I'm not sure Jim believed me until we discovered his radiator parts were in box 4 which was second from the bottom in the giant stack of boxes. After he lifted four or five of the hefty contraptions, I think he fully understood why I've been whining so much about the availability of what I need when I need it. I was hugely thankful he did the heavy lifting both to remove the boxes and to put them all back. I haven't begun the repacking process (to get the hardware out), but mostly because I'll have to move all the boxes to do it and that seems like a lot of work.

Mike is contagious. We caught Frank giving the thumbs up sign multiple times Saturday. He needs to work on the goofy face, but he'll get there soon. I tried to get a picture, but wasn't ever able to capture the moment. I don't know if Frank is going to come back next weekend, but I know he'll be back eventually since we still have his bender and other assorted tools. Speaking of tools, I'm fed up with always having the wrong one for the job, so I told Mike we needed to go on a tool shopping spree. Sunday we went to Sears and Harbor Freight. I believe I have a happy husband now. I know I'm happy. He saw a tool that he offered to buy for me and I have to say I now regret not taking him up on it. It's a lime green roundish contraption which has a bunch of different socket sizes. I guess you are supposed to use it like a ratchet. Here's why I need it. I canNOT EVER get the correct size socket on the first try. It takes me half a dozen tries and a bulk of the time the one I decide on is wrong. If I had that, I'd probably save 25 hours over the life of the build in unnecessary trips back and forth acquiring the correct size. I also saw an adorable all pink tool box at Sears. LOVE it!!!!!!

[QSL]

retry on posting pics!

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[QSL]

second batch!

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[vnmsss]

retry on posting pics!

16368

How cool is that!!! Go Julie!! ;)

Karen

[68GT500MAN]

Julie is making the sparks fly!

[BFFofMRSQSL]

retry on posting pics!

16367

Mike, you're just as sparkly as Julie is. :)

[WIS89]

Mike and Julie-

I love to see the little man out there working hard! Those are memories he will never forget, and lessons that will stay with him forever! I treasure the things I learned working with my Dad, and just know that he will be super proud to know he had a role in helping build mom's car!! You guys are way too cool!!

Regards,

Steve

[QSL]

got our mini coupe back today!!! Yea, that's a real running v8 in there. All 1/4 scale!

16384 16385 16386 16387 16388 16389

[Rodster]

I was gonna post an example of a super sexy high heel boot, but most of the purple ones are hideous. I suppose I could wear actual shoes instead of flip flops today, but I'm fairly certain the shoes are not the cause of my lack of fabrication skills. Probably has more to do with my immense inability to lift anything heavy mixed with never having discovered the mechanical reasoning chunk of brain which I'm nearly positive has since dissolved (if it ever existed). Oh and being scared of loud noises and sparks. I'm afraid my hair is going to catch on fire plus they hurt sometimes when they hit you. Did I mention I don't like the metal scraping metal noise or anything involving sandpaper? Yeah, this build should be interesting. You should've seen me trying to reason through the door installation last night. Pitiful. Oh and I didn't have enough washers. At first I was surprised and maybe a little annoyed but then I realized I have no idea what a washer is for, so it probably isn't a big deal, right? Yeah, I think I'll get some when it's time to do final assembly. They must have SOME function. Sometimes they make the part look prettier. Is that why we need them?

Julie -
The part about noises - invest in a good pair of hearing protectors. I got a set a long time ago, after a long woodworking session with a router machine - after I turned it off, I could still hear the noise - not good, a symptom of hearing loss.

I got a pair of Peltors from a woodworking store - they are great - and they help me get close to the work without blasting out my ears.

Wait. You guys shoot, right? You probably have a set of plugs you can use. Try that next time you have a build session. Then you can safely ignore anyone asking ya something, like, "Hey - when's dinner?"

Nice work and I wannna see a VIDEO of the bender curling a tube!

wayne

[crossle45f33cf]

Frankeeski
Did you design/build the tube bender yourself?
Any chance that you could post some plans?

[Rodster]

Seen this?
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/fast-n-loud/videos/lesson-in-welding.htm

[MRSQSL]

Week 5:

FAIL! Saturday was Aly's birthday party (she turned 17 Wednesday). We spent the entire day waiting on her and her friends hand and foot. Sunday was Easter, so we decided to take it easy. We ended up going on a hike which then turned into an off road Jeep adventure. It was a ton of fun, but we accomplished absolutely nothing on either car.

Marcel (lmmargheritis - probably butchered that spelling) came by Saturday. We spent a couple hours talking cars and Mike took him for a ride. Although he owns a roadster, he had not ridden in a Factory Five until this weekend, so I feel special that our little Scoopy was the first. Anyway, I'm anxious to see his car one day as it sounds like it'll be immaculate.

Okay, so I guess we did do one Coupe thing. Mike called Rick to ask him a couple questions about the side impact bars. Mike had measured for the top bar and was concerned it would interfere with the door frame. Rick said Karen's coupe had that problem, but he told someone else to cut the bottom bar on the door and then raise it up and weld it back in. My only concern with that is where the bar will end up. Seems like that would be in the little door opening. Mike assured me there was nothing in there that would be an issue. Oh, okay then. Carry on. I offered to use the hole saw to cut the bars if Mike wanted to use the chop saw on them first. He hesitantly agreed. Pretty sure he doesn't want to do all the work himself. I suspect he had a mental image of me using a drill press with hole saw attached. I can only guess that he ran through all the possible bloody scenarios before deciding I couldn't do too much damage. He agreed to let me, but then we never actually got around to it. I'm not sure whether to frown or kiss each finger in relief.

As far as I know, we don't have any major plans next weekend, so perhaps we can get out and do some fabricating. Happy Easter!!!!

[frankeeski]

Frankeeski
Did you design/build the tube bender yourself?
Any chance that you could post some plans?

Send me a PM and we can discuss it.

[cobrajj]

Cosi is this Saturday, if you want an early morning drive and check out some cars. Jim

[QSL]

pics, but julies comments to follow!!

16528 16529 16530 16531 16532

[QSL]

couple more... Oh, the confused look is because I just told her pizza hut no longer had the pizza bites!!!

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[WIS89]

Hey y'all-

Quick question. Is that a build plan/schedule on the wall in the pictures? If it is, is it something you would mind sharing with some of us? It looks pretty well organized and thorough--- from what I can tell in the pictures. Of course, only if you don't mind. Thanks and keep up the good work, and keeping us so well informed!!

Regards,

Steve

[Erik W. Treves]

that looks like the inventory list.

[MRSQSL]

Yeah, it's an inventory list. Sorry. Wish we were as organized as you thought we might be. :) By all means, feel free to ask any questions. I am clearly not a secretive person. I'll answer ANY question. If I don't know the answer, I'll ask Mike. Now that I think about it, I like the idea of a schedule/build plan. Hmmmmm...

[MRSQSL]

Week 6:

Not fail!!!! Okay, it wasn't like an epic weekend as far as the amount of work that got done, but I did lots on my own and was very proud of me. We had to take Tucker (dog) in Saturday morning for a consult on training. He wants to be the alpha male, but the Chihuahua hasn't figured out how to be submissive and it is causing some aggression issues that could be potentially dangerous for the little dog. Tucker will be heading off to boot camp next week. I'm really going to miss him. Super sad face.

When we got home Saturday, Mike made a beeline for the garage and I followed. I had told him previously that if he used the chop saw to cut up the tubing, I would use the drill press/hole saw contrapation to make the cuts (I call them fish mouths since that's what they look like). He explained that the first step was to figure out what lengths to cut the pieces. Okay. We did the math and came up with 5.75. The meat of the tube needed to be 4.25 and the hole saw was 1.5 and it had to be cut on both sides, so that equated to 5.75. I was very happy that I understood this. I marked the first tube and Mike chopped it off. Eventually we had 6 mini tubes. He taught me how to clean up the ends, so I did that on the sander. Yay me! I didn't sand off any skin. The Sharpie came out and I was ready to draw a straight line down the length of the tube. This was a little more challenging since the tube is round and the square (it's an L, not a square idiot who named it) is not round. I struggled through one or two when Mike noticed my lack of speed and suggested I put the metal on the floor next to a 1 x 2 and draw a straight line using the wood. What? That would work????? He showed me. Well holy schnikes, it DOES work! The rest of the lines were drawn mega quickly. I still had to mark 3/4 of an inch on each end so I'd know where to slam in the hole saw. With that accomplished, I marked a line on the tool at the apex so I'd make sure my long line matched up with that line and also put a line on the hole saw so it would be all lined up too. Lots of lines. Frank's idea of silver markers comes in handy for many of the places I have to smoosh in ink. Anyway, Mike showed me how to stuff the tube into the tool and how to use the drill press along with WD40. I got about an eighth of a second into the cutting project when I realized cutting is loud. I raced inside and grabbed my custom ear plugs, shoved them in and was oblivious to anything anyone said for about the next three hours. Don't ask me why it takes so long to cut those fish mouths. It just does when you're me. I would like to point out that no matter how impeccably you mark the tubes for the cuts, measure again after you have hole sawed through one side. I can pretty much guarantee your original line isn't going to be in the right place anymore (for the opposite end). I blame it on the wobble of the drill press/saw. As you could see in the pictures, Mike walked over at one point with the camera and started taking pictures. I tried to ignore him, but when he said Pizza Hut got rid of the sliders before I ever even go to try them, my head snapped up with that horrified look which he managed to capture on digital film. Sigh. Tell me you've tried them and they were small and stale and horrible. I'm positive I saw a commercial for them just last week. Not fair Pizza Hut. Not Fair.

The rest of the weekend consisted of work on the roadster. Oh. No it didn't. I had to take the clutch pedal off the pedal box. That didn't go so well. Stupid little e clip or c clip. Who thought it would be smart to make a clip where you have to shove little prongs in and then squeeze and lift in just the right way to pull the clip off? That had to have been an April Fools joke. I despise those clips. I can never get them off!!!!! Mike ended up doing it, but not before frustration drove him back to the toolbox to get something to adjust the angle of the tips. Can we please invent something better? It's a great concept, just horrible in practice.

Okay, so I painted the bolts on the quick jacks for Scoopy with a rubberized dipping coating thingy. It wasn't easy since it kept skinning over. Mike promised that if I let him use one of my nice paint brushes, it would wash off. I knew he was wrong when he said it, but I convinced my doubting brain. Guess where that brush is now. Yup. The trash. Grrrrrrr... Plus, I said HE could use it. He did one bolt and then relinquished the chore to me. He claims I'm better at it. Whatever. I'm not better at anything. That's not true. I'm not better at most garage related things.

Scoopy also needed some handy dandy rollbar bezels. What looks like a 15 minute project was actually two days of work. I think Mike did an amazing job (with my help). Yay!!!!! Oh and he changed the headlights. I wasn't sure at first if I liked the new ones, but I'm a fan now. Huntington Beach is right around the corner so I'm betting a good bath and wax is next on the list. Oh and we'll wash and wax the car too. :)

I'm bummed we missed all the fun Cobra events this last Saturday. There was the breakfast and attempt to fix Nice Guy Eddie's car. There was also a cars and Cosi in Temecula. Wah. I don't think we will make it to AHA this weekend, but we will definitely be in Huntington Beach.

So, I had the best weekend of my garage career. I accomplished very little, but I did so much of it on my own. I hope the rest of the build continues that way.

[narkosys]

keep up the good work! you will be a coupe expert in no time!

which headlights did Mike install?

P

[MRSQSL]

He installed pretty ones. :) Lucas tri bar lights. There is a post with pictures on the last page of our roadster build thread on the ffcars site. That was a mouthful. I believe there is a link in Mike's signature.

Here, I added a picture to save you the trouble of having to go search. The one on the driver's side is the new one. The one on the passenger side is the old one. 16545

[Rodster]

Julie and Mike -
Excellent progress! Keep it going!

-wayne

[Rodster]

Hey y'all-

Quick question. Is that a build plan/schedule on the wall in the pictures? If it is, is it something you would mind sharing with some of us? It looks pretty well organized and thorough--- from what I can tell in the pictures. Of course, only if you don't mind. Thanks and keep up the good work, and keeping us so well informed!!

Regards,

Steve


I am using something someone posted for the Roadster. The Coupe is similar, so it applies...... It's on the other forum....

[MRSQSL]

Week 7:

Since there isn't much to report, I figured I could do a quick update on my iPad. This was another Scoopy weekend since we are getting ready for the big Huntington Beach show. I updated that thread earlier. I only accomplished two things for my poor ignored car. When we checked out Karen's coupe, she let me sit in the driver's seat. She had a great booster seat which she said was a lumbar support from a Ford dealership. After trying to find the same thing from several different stores (and enduring several attempts at getting me to sit in a child carseat), Mike took me over to a dealership where I purchased a lumbar support. yay! I tried it out in Scoopy and discovered a large height difference and extra comfort. It DOES make a difference which way it is turned. I highly recommend this for the women passengers in your life. They will possibly be able to see out as well as having extra stiff suspension padding.

The other accomplishment was sanding the edges of the bars I cut last week. I thought it would be scary but it wasn't at all. There are no pictures though. As I'm sure many of you saw on the other forum, safety was a hot topic this week. I have to be honest, I really didn't feel like taking pictures because I knew they would be used as more evidence of our unsafe work habits. I was wearing glasses and gloves, but not hearing protection or a mask. I believe the request was either that we stop posting pictures of us working or put them on a website with a disclaimer. Since i dont have a blog anywhere else, here is the disclaimer. If you chose to read this thread and/or show it to anyone of any age, please do not attempt anything we do. Use common sense and read the safety warnings and manuals. Don't do anything we do just because you see us doing it. We are not trained professionals and it is not a closed course. Wait, wrong disclaimer. Well, you get the picture. Be safe whether we are or not. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, hopefully the pictures will continue in the coming weeks. I can assure you there will be very little work done on my car the rest of this month. April always seems to be extra busy for us and this year is no different.

[68GT500MAN]

Keep up the great work and post some more photo's (the safety police are not looking). I look forward to meeting you and your family at HB.
Doug