My RHD MK4 Roadster Build log.

[Martin]

OK, I just can't keep quiet any longer. I'm so excited I might just lose control of a few bodily functions.

Assuming we make the port cut off date on the 11th January, my car should arrive in the UK on the 26th. A few days for customs and payments to clear, and we should be welcoming some sort of truck down my street with my MK4 converted to RHD. Roll on February!

Before I even post any photos, I need to say a HUGE thanks to Mark Dougherty for all his patience with me, the changes, the additions, the stupid questions and the endless "can you do one more thing" requests. Mark and his son Brendan (CookieMonster) have performed many small miracles with the car so far. The recent addition of Brian Zakrzewski (my friends all point out how good the welding is in the photo, they don't even see the car) to the the travelling builder team has ended up with even more modifications being done, and I couldn't be happier with everything that has been done so far.


RHD conversion
Engine shifted forward and left
Tilt front
Enlarged foot boxes
Remove-able champ car roll bars
... the list just goes on and on.



I for one, can't wait to share the build experience and photos (there will be 27 8×10 colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was) and give something back. Everything I know (which still isn't much) I learnt from the FFR community.

I remember when I placed the order and it all went so smoothly with Jason Lavigne, I was disappointed that there were no balloons and streamers coming down from my ceiling. Then Dave Smith posted that there were balloons and streamers at his end when I placed the order and that made me feel better.

Sadly, I am not as eloquent as Dave, so you'll have to put up with my mindless ramblings instead.

After 4.5 years (or is it 5?) and probably 3000 hours of planning, reading, researching I'm finally going to be able to turn a wrench on this project. I am very, very excited.

Mark D - feel free to chime in with anything that I get wrong, or explain badly.

Martin

[Martin]

The remove-able champ car roll bar

http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/0%20-%20Prearrival/042-1_zpsa5fc2e6b.jpg
the dropped trunk

http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/0%20-%20Prearrival/009-1_zps385bcc33.jpg
Early beginnings of the tilt front modification

http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/0%20-%20Prearrival/075_zps4e681b93.jpg

and the RHD drivers foot box
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/0%20-%20Prearrival/071_zps0cfeddfa.jpg

Martin

[Martin]

I should point out, that there are virtually NO aluminium panels that came with the kit still on the car.

There's Fortes Hydroboost, Fast Freddies EHPS all in there somewhere.

Martin

[Martin]

Symmetrical foot boxes
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/069_zpsbb5c8b66.jpg

RH steering column
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/034-1_zpsc7ebf78a.jpg

A modified FFMetal Battery box in the trunk
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/067_zpsff63c522.jpg

And a rather short drive shaft connected to a T56. Just as well Mark moved the engine forward a bit as well.
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/065_zps00260646.jpg

Martin

[Martin]

VPM sway bar mounts welded on...
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/007-1_zpsb86b8466.jpg

Fast freddies EHPS & the Breeze Flaming River RHD Steering shaft
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/060_zps6b82b68c.jpg

Relocated engine mounts
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/2012-10-13_07-01-34_229_zps42a2081f.jpg

Martin

[CraigS]

I can sure see why you are excited!! Two questions. Was the work shown above done here at Mark's shop? And is the rack more or less regular item for Flaming River? I have seen a few previous discussions on RHD FFRs and the rack was usually the hardest part to find.

[Martin]

All the work has been done in Mark's shop in PA. The car is about to be shipped over to the UK so I can get started on it.

He has really gone above and beyond. I think he's had a lot of fun with the car, almost treating it like it is his own car - that's how much care and attention he has paid to it. Every problem has been thought through from start to finish. I'm hoping to have a very complicated mechano component car to build with all the problems and fabrication pre-solved by Mark, Brendan and Brian.

Mark Reynolds found the RHD steering column for me and supplied it along with a gazillion other parts. I think there was only one thing that needed to be changed which Mark has already done. It was set up for power steering.

http://www.flamingriver.com/index.php/products/c0014/s0006/FR40023

Martin

[Martin]

This is the bit that Mark had to modify.

http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/032-1_zps47cc2062.jpg

I'm hoping he'll chime in with the details of what he had to do.

Martin

[riptide motorsport]

Too cool.........i'm truely excited for you!!! Enjoy.

[Mark Dougherty]

LOL
Martin
you were supposed to wait till you had it home.
You pretty much nailed most things.

we had to relocate the under door x braces so we could add the champ car side bars. making them easly removable.

a frame was made to mount the RHD rack which required the use of a SN95 lower joint from FFR.
we then had to extend the steering shaft so the steering joint at the footbox was supported instead of hanging out in the middle of nowhere.

did a lot of work lowering the trunk floor and moving the kickup forward a few inches.

to add the North race cars heater we decided to rear mount it and not mess with the clean firewall forward alum.

Reworked the fortes driveshaft loop making it a modular design and more easly removable.

relocated the foot box tubes so they do not interfer with Martins feet.

while making the RHD made sure the wilwood pedal box is removable after the footbox is built. also 4 more mounting points making the pedalbox rock solid.

Martin can add cats or straight tubes to the custom 4 into 4 headers the change takes less than a hour.

removable rad support to make taking the engine in and out easier.

Tilt nose front end ( learned that one here on the forum Thanks for sharing guys)

the nose tilt hinge doubles as the lower rad support

Oh there is more

[Martin]

Good point Mark.

Door frame mounts for the removeable roll bar
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/042-1_zpsa5fc2e6b.jpg

Additional Wilwood pedal box mounts
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/021-1_zps3a86282e.jpg

Relocated footbox tubing
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/023-1_zps3dbea73c.jpg

[Martin]

The straight exhaust
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/016-21_zps2845929d.jpg

The catalytic converter exhaust required for testing
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/019-22_zpsdee928a2.jpg

And a close up of the straight exhaust
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/Prearrival/006-31_zps10ab6888.jpg

Should take less than an hour to swap it over.

Martin

[CraigS]

Martin, since you may be doing that exhaust swap a few times I'll add in a technique that I really like. Use slightly longer bolts and use double nuts. Rather than any type of locking nuts these are easy to get off/on. I also always grease the bolt threads w/ bearing grease. It mostly gets melted away but seems to leave coating that helps. W/ the double nut you can usually loosen the outer nut maybe one turn w/ a wrench and the rest you spin it off by hand. Many times the inner nut works the same way. But even if you need a wrench it will be pretty easy to do.

[QSL]

wow, that is a great start to a build. VERY cool!!!

[Dan Babb]

Looks great. Love the look of the symetrical footboxes.

[Mark Dougherty]

Hi Martin
Just finished up the rack for shipping the kit in the container.
It came out great and you will be able to use it to build the kit on.
Things are moving quick. trying to get everything ready for the container. It always seems there is is a ton of stuff to do before something leaves the shop.
Later
Mark D

[Martin]

Hi Martin
Just finished up the rack for shipping the kit in the container.
It came out great and you will be able to use it to build the kit on.
Things are moving quick. trying to get everything ready for the container. It always seems there is is a ton of stuff to do before something leaves the shop.
Later
Mark D

Mark - can you send me a photo of the rack? The container will be on a truck, about 1m off the ground. I haven't found a boom crane yet, but I can get a forklift. I'll need to look at using the forklift with some cleverly deployed straps I think. Any pictures would help me visualise it and any solution I need to come up with.

Martin

[Dan Golub]

Hey Guys,

That looks like quite the list of modifications. Everything looks great, I can see why Martin is so excited. Keep up the good work.

Dan@FFR

[Mark Dougherty]

ok martin
will do tomorrow

[Mark Dougherty]

Martin
the car has shipped.
We had a blast working on it for you.
Thanks for letting us be apart of your build.
I am sure you will love it.
Later
mark D

[Mark Dougherty]

Martin
the container ended up being 5 ft. off the ground. we put fork pockets on the rack so you can just have the fork lift pick it and put it on the ground. No boom needed.
We planned before hand and had your kit ready to go. It only took us an hour to load it. LOL 2 days to prep.
I feel it should take you about 1/2 hour to unload it. Make sure to have a few friends there to help move the more than 60 boxes.
later
mark D

[Jeff Kleiner]

Don't know how I missed this thread until now but this is awesome! Congratulations Martin! You've been in good hands with Mark and Co. :) Be sure to keep us updated as the build progresses "over there".

Mark,
A big thumbs up for bringing Brian into the mix!

Jeff

[WIS89]

Martin and Mark-

What an outstanding job, with some very creative mods! The one thing I can't understand though, is why you are making Martin move the drive system back to the Left side of the car. You sure left him with a lot of extra work!! ;-o)

Martin, it looks like you have one heck of a start to your build. I love the creativity that you and Mark put into the build so far. Your ideas and Mark's work is really quite outstanding! I hope the ship crosses the pond in record time so Martin can contain his excitement and get started!!

Please keep this thread going and show us your progress. I will look forward to seeing things as they move forward. I think you are going to have one fine machine!! Best of luck!!

Regards,

Steve

[Mark Dougherty]

So Martin
any word on when It will be landing in the UK.

[David Hodgkins]

A great start to an awesome build! I can't wait to watch the rest come together!

Congratulations Martin!

:)

[Martin]

Not yet Mark.... Haven't heard from them yet.



So Martin
any word on when It will be landing in the UK.

[Martin]

30th January...

Still TBC, but that's the estimate.

Martin

[Someday I Suppose]

Great threat, Martin look forward to seeing the build come together. Mark, Cookie Monster, and Brian Z are all good people, your car started in some great hands for sure.

Mark, really like the 4 into 4 cat / straight pipe set up, well done for sure!!

Scott

[Martin]

The tension is palpable... 6 sleeps to go. I just hope customs and VAT are nice to me.

On the plus side, I have found a farmer nearby with a 3 tonne tractor which means I can cancel the other forklift/operator who was going to travel for an hour just to get here.

I think I will get minimal sleep for the next week, and even less after it arrives.

Martin

[Martin]

In preparation, I bought an engine crane. I was assembling it and discovered a few things:
1) Always buy from specialist machine shops. Brand name products from high street retailers are 4x more expensive, and not as well made. I got an industrial engine crane for half the price of the ones from the main stream retail shops that only lift half the weight and extend half the distance.
2) Having big hands is not going to be helpful. Trying to shove my hand inside a steel tube to start a nut is going to be difficult. My kids are going to be handy during the build.

Martin

[Martin]

Argh!

Shipping delays. The day it will arrive now I can't be at home.

:(

My stress levels just rose up through the roof.

Martin

[Mark Dougherty]

Sorry to hear this Martin

[Martin]

Confirmed date is next Tuesday 5th February.

It can't come soon enough!

Martin

[Martin]

It arrived yesterday.

The truck - I have no idea how he managed to reverse park a 60ft trailer down my street and still have space for cars to get past and the fork lift. Note - that's the main road that goes past my house, not the street he parked it on.
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/1%20-%20Arrival/2013-02-05083923_zps0a09f147.jpg
Safely unloaded in about 30 minutes. The truck driver was ex-forces, really nice guy, and very helpful. The fork lift guy just mucked in and helped out.

In its new home...
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/1%20-%20Arrival/2013-02-05093220_zps2c678def.jpg
I'll need to get organised before we get started. I knew there were a lot of boxes, just didn't expect them to take up that much space. I better start putting parts together so I can throw away some boxes. I have a feeling that the "boxes being thrown away" will be my measure of progress.

Signatures of some of the helpers who got it this far.
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/1%20-%20Arrival/2013-02-05131334_zps8f57c9b3.jpg
Mark wrote a good luck message on the other side which was a big help. Seeing so many boxes and so much work ahead of me was at first over whelming. Having looked at it again, it's all organised by sub-component. So when we start building, we can just pull out one box at a time and pick off one job at a time. My wife finally got her hands on the ISIS electrical system, and is now plotting her plan of attack. A couple of hours reading the instructions and she assures me she has it all sorted now - from door poppers, boot (trunk) locks etc. I'm a bit afraid of what she wants to do now. Raspberry Pi anyone?

Finally, two very happy helpers.
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u568/Martin_Stutchbury/RHD%20Factory%20Five/1%20-%20Arrival/2013-02-05185557_zps675a662d.jpg

They've heard us talking about this for 4 years. Now they can finally see it they are over the top excited. In fact, that photo is getting printed for "show and tell" on Friday at school.

One other point, my phone has finally been shown up. It takes great pictures during the day, but late at night with no light it struggles. Time for a new small compact digital camera.

More photos after the weekend inventory.

Martin

[WIS89]

Martin-

Congratulations!! I know how excited the whole family must be! The car looks right at home in your garage. The picture of the kids is priceless-- hold onto that one!!

Best of luck as you get started, and please keep us updated. I am stoked for you, and look forward to seeing your progress. All my best!

Regards,

Steve

[Mark Dougherty]

Martin
Fantastic.
I am glad it showed up with no incidents.
The car looks much better now with your lovely kids in it. Take lots of pictures, you will want them later.
Now after you find a spot for all your boxes, get that body off and and lets get started on those rivets.

[Martin]

I need to get organised a bit more. I wasn't expecting quite so many boxes!

I think after this weekend we'll have the inventory done, the body buck up and the body off, and the boxes organised so we can start.

We want to take our time with this so it is done right. Good parts can be messed up by sloppy work. I'd hate to ruin it at this point.

It's stunning to look at at the moment.

Martin

[Martin]

First day working on the car today - sort of. Still doing inventory as I move everything around. This is going to be difficult unless I can free up some more space.

1) Managed to fix my body buck. I only put 1 screw in the side bits to hold it in place, and forgot to go back and put the other 3 in each corner - when I put my T56 on it, it came loose on one corner and twisted the shelf on the body buck.
2) Organised the boxes into "weekend jobs"
3) Unscrewed the rear quick jacks, removed the trunk and hood. I still need to remove the support bar so I can remove the flip top bonnet.

I'm already becoming a contortionist, and that's just removing the bolts on the body. I need more space in the garage before I can continue.

I did manage to tune the carb on my boys new nitro monster truck (HPI Savage XS). It's a big block 4.6cc engine. Spent a VERY long time trying to get it working, 3 faulty batteries, 2 faulty glow plugs, 1 blown battery recharger, 1 faulty starter, 1 dead roto-start. When there are so many things wrong at any given time, it's almost impossible to diagnose. The engine is now broken in, needs a bit more tuning but it starts first time at the moment which is good.

I also managed to order a new digital camera that should be good for taking photos of the build. I definitely need more light in the garage as I can't see a thing in there when I'm working so I probably need a portable light as well.

Lessons learned:
1) Mark up anything that isn't fixed in it's final place/tightness etc. Missing out a few screws meant I had to spend an hour unloading the body buck, cutting up some 4x2 and fixing it to the body buck and an hour loading it all back on again. It would be a lot worse if I forgot something on the car and tried to drive it.
2) Take plenty of resealable bags into the garage, along with a permanent marker. Write on everything and sketch it out before you put it away for later. Don't put things down and think you'll remember where they go later. I won't remember.
3) My engine crane is heavy. Watch my fingers - it hurts when I squash them!
4) Only open up the boxes I need for each job I am actually going to do. It's tempting to open up every box and "take a peek". It just gets messy very quickly.
5) Take lots of photos before I touch anything, while I'm putting it together, and afterwards. Read the manual before I go outside and take it with me into the garage.
6) Do one job at a time. Don't start the next until you finish the first job. That little monster truck has taken the best part of 12 hours. Diagnosing one fault is easy, but when there are 3-4 things all joined up and something doesn't work, you waste a lot of time and effort trying to diagnose things. I'm definitely going to mention this to my wife when she starts the electrics.
7) I need more tools, and I need to be more organised. I spent more time looking for the right tool than I did using them.

Next weekend - assuming it stops snowing I'll remove the body and drill out all the aluminium panels that are fitted already. My wife is planning on doing the cut outs for the front nose art and getting started on the wiring for that. That's going to end up in my boys bedroom.

Injuries so far
1 blood blister (pliers pinched the skin)
1 burnt thumb with 1/2 inch blister (pop tart) :D

Martin

[CookieMonster92]

Im happy to see that you got your car martin. I cant wait to see more pics of you and your kids working on it. It was great working on with dad and brian at our shop doing all the cool mods . Im happy to be part of a great build. Did you see my signature on the back part of the body? lol

[Martin]

Hi Brendan. Yes I saw your signature on the fuel cap.

Aiming to pick off one job every weekend, and my wife will probably be 1 job every 4 weekends. You guys all did an amazing job. Can't wait to get the body off and get started. Just need some friends in the country to help out,but its winter so they are all off skiing or sitting in the sun.

Martin
t

Im happy to see that you got your car martin. I cant wait to see more pics of you and your kids working on it. It was great working on with dad and brian at our shop doing all the cool mods . Im happy to be part of a great build. Did you see my signature on the back part of the body? lol

[Martin]

Body off, panels written on, will be marked for drilling and removal next weekend.

The body buck I built doesn't work too well with a flip top bonnet - I'll need to fix that next weekend.

You definitely need a lot more space than we've got. Hopefully it will get better once we start to get rid of some boxes and free up some space.

I did manage to get my boys Nitro monster truck to have so much torque off the line that it will flip if you give it full throttle from a standing start. I think it does about 40mph now. I just need to get it a bit easier to start, and I think it will be perfect. It's a LOT of fun. I can't imagine what the Roadster will be like...

Martin

[Martin]

Well... 2 cordless drills, and a corded drill later... It's time to buy a new "industrial" drill. I've only managed about 20 holes in the panels so far. The cordless drills just don't have the power (14v & 18v), and the corded drill just died (it was old).

I've spent more time going backwards and forwards to the tool shop on the weekends than I have working on the car.

It's not helped by my lack of confidence (making that first hole in the chassis was a major milestone). I keep looking for photos in the manual that aren't there. I'm definitely looking forward to the part where I start using the parts from Breeze. Every box has lots of instructions on how to complete each small job.

Slow progress for sure, but progress none the less. I'm definitely looking forward to finishing the drilling next weekend when my new drill arrives. I'll then clean everything up and send it off for powder coating.

Martin

[CraigS]

good progress Martin ! I have been helping Bill3422 and one thing we learned about the boxes is to resist the temptation to consolidate. We have used the inventory sheet a LOT of times to find something Bill knew he had seen during inventory but couldn't find at the moment. having stuff in the same box it came in is important.

[Martin]

I feel like I am making no progress to be honest. I am away all week for work (5am Monday morning, to 9pm Friday night). The wife and kids don't see me, so I like to spend as much time with them on the weekends as possible. I think I manage about 2 hours on a Saturday and that is all.

One think I have noticed is, tools. You need the right tools to do the job properly. My snap ring pliers are rubbish, and it certainly showed. The pins kept moving and wouldn't work when I was trying to remove the rings.

My wife also managed to cut out the grille, oil cooler and brake ducts this weekend for the wall nose art for my boys room. I consider it practice for the real thing. Next weekend is the wiring for it.

More time organising is key I think. One box at a time... Drive shafts and rear shocks were in one box, front control arms and front shocks in another box.

Martin

[Mark Dougherty]

it is odd the layout of the boxes.
you would think it would go box 1,2,3,4 but no it doesnt.
you will get through it.

[cob427sc]

I second the suggestion to keep everything with the shipped boxes after inventory (and re-living "Christmas Morning"). After having built 5 FFR cars and now completing #6, you will need to go find items off the shipping list, sometimes not sure what they look like, and without knowing which box they are in only adds to the confusion (yea, after the first build I thought I knew everything, emptied the boxes onto shelves and then spent hours looking for pieces.). Good luck on your build. Also - if you have an air compressor, buy a 1/4" air drill. Much faster than any electric drill and smaller to get into the tight spaces. Also get an air rivet gun.

[Martin]

Finally some more progress.

Etched the chassis ready for POR15 tomorrow.

Martin

[Martin]

Chassis = 1
POR15 = 2 hands, 1 arm, 2 legs, 1 nose, 2 ears, 1 cheek, and a head of hair.

It's great stuff. In fact, it's brilliant. However, it's very messy, and you get better results by putting very little on. Two thin coats gets a better finish than 1 thick coat. If you think you are putting it on too thin, put it on a bit thinner.

Oh, and another top top, start at the hard to get to parts. When you find a hard to get to area, go to the inner most, most upside down part, and start there.

POR15 doesn't come off for DAYS... and that's with using every cleaner possible - I even took a steelo pad to my hands which seemed to work, but was somewhat painful after a while.

Either way, it's great to be making progress.

Martin

[Mark Dougherty]

cmon martin
where are the pics

[Martin]

No progress Mark. 80 hours a week have put paid to that. I have 10 days off to landscape the garden and build a small shed. Hopefully that will create enough space to work on the car.

At this rate, you might be starting from scratch with me in May.

Martin