https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/blog.php?151-Martin Builder community site for Factory Five Racing. en Tue, 05 May 2026 00:46:02 GMT vBulletin 10 https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/images/misc/rss.jpg https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/blog.php?151-Martin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?349-Oops Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:59:24 GMT Well, the order process was simple, and in many ways I am still getting over the disappointment of placing the order and not having balloons falling... Well, the order process was simple, and in many ways I am still getting over the disappointment of placing the order and not having balloons falling down around me and fireworks going off outside. It was happening in my head, but Dave Smith assures me they felt like balloons were coming down around them when I place the order.

A few days ago, I made the final payment on my base kit. Where I come from, we would say crickets bro'. Meaning you say something funny, or something monumental happens and all you can hear is the crickets (grasshoppers). I kind of feel like that now as the realisation of the fact that I have to build the car next dawns on me.

So far we have:

• Fast Freddies Electric steering pump
• Fast Freddies Lexan Windscreen
• Lodestone Billet Works Fuel Clamps
• Lodestone Biller Works Brake Line Clamps
• Lodestone Billet Works Fuel Line Clamp Holder
• Lodestone Billet Works Quick Release Windscreen Clamp
• Second Skin Audio FFR Roadster Pack
• Casey Design Products Billet Door Hinges
• Casey Design Products Modular Dash (RHD) (twice, different sized holes for gauges)
• Tangent Hidden Roll Bar mounts
• Herbs Standard Door Panels
• FFMetal Firewall Forward
• FFMetal eBrake Cover
• FFMetal F-Panel replacement
• FFR Wind wings
• FFR Sun Visor
• FFR Bumpers and Over riders
• FFR MK4 Spindles
• FFR Floor mats
• Forte Drive shaft safety hoop
• Breeze Ford 8.8 IRS cover plate
• Fortes Ford 8.8 IRS rear end
• Fortes Torsen T2 with 3.27 gears
• Fortes IRS Girdle
• Battery cut off switch
• Whitby IRS Spherical Bearing Kit
• Whitby Single Full Width Roll Bar
• Whitby Bezels for Seatbelts & roll bar
• Whitby Side Vents
• Vintage Performance Motors Front Sway Bar
• Vintage Performance Motors IRS Rear sway bar New, 4 position, weld on
• Vintage Performance Motors Aluminium differential mounts
• FFMetal battery box
• Replica Parts Under dash Support Panel
• Replica Parts Radiator Aluminium Panel
• Replica Parts Wind Shield Trim
• ISIS 3 cell pack, InLink IR Remote, InDash wiring harness, InReserve Battery
• FF Racing Base kit
Standard width IRS
Uncoated chassis, no cut outs
Upgrade tubular control arms
Upgrade to IRS standard width
Shorty headers (under car exhaust)
Upgrade to Wilwood performance brakes
Competition high back Kirkey seats
FFR shocks (double adjustable)

Still a few bits to go. I'm holding off on wheels, tyres, exhaust, air conditioning and soft top till I know what happens. Engine and transmission is going to have to wait (Stack systems are EXPENSIVE!)

Mark Dougherty will be picking it up in a weeks time. He's doing the under car exhaust and the LHD to RHD conversion + a few other custom mods for us. Can't wait to come over in a few months time and spend a week putting it all together.

Sadly, we will have to pull it all apart before we can ship to to the UK and begin the build process all over again.

Only 4 months to wait...

Martin ]]> Martin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?349-Oops https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?247-FFR-Kool-Aid Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:23:48 GMT Finally managed to get around to ordering the kit. After attending the open house this year and drinking some FFR Kool Aid I can finally say we've ordered the kit.

With everything else going on in life, the order process was over in about 2 minutes and the trumpets and fanfare that I could hear in my end while I was talking to Jason kind of fizzled out. The order process was so simple it was kind of a let down. I guess spending nearly 4 years reading and planning paid off.

Big thanks to Mark Dougherty and Jason Lavigne for all their patience of the last few months. More vendor orders will be getting placed in the coming weeks (North Race Cars, Levy Racing and Breeze Automotive).

I'm actually a little bit terrified now - no more talking/reading, I'll soon have to start doing.

Martin ]]> Martin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?247-FFR-Kool-Aid https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?124-Let-the-spending-begin Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:23:53 GMT It’s taken me a few weeks, but I’m making progress. Buying parts sight unseen is nerve wracking and trying to figure out if everything fits/works... It’s taken me a few weeks, but I’m making progress. Buying parts sight unseen is nerve wracking and trying to figure out if everything fits/works together is a real challenge when you haven’t even seen them in person.

Being in the UK, exchange rates, paypal, authorised international limits etc. have all conspired to slow us down, but I think pretty soon, we’ll have all the small orders “done”.
• Second Skin FFR Pack = done.
• Casey Design Products modular dash (RHD) and billet door hinges = done.
• Lodestone Billet Works fuel and brake line clamps, quick release windscreen clamp = done.
• Fortes New Ford 8.8 IRS and Torsen T2 with 3.27 gears and girdle = done
• Fortes drive shaft safety hoop = done
• Herb Frasers door panels = done. Herb actually promised them to me free a few years back and he stuck to his promise and refused payment when I got back in touch the other day. Unbelieveable.
• Tangent hidden roll bar bolts = done
• FFMetal firewall forward kit, eBrake cover, and replacement F Panel = done

Next on the list are orders for Vintage Performance Motors, Whitby’s, NorCal Replicas, Cobra Earl and that will see us about done before we do the big orders - the kit from FFR, the brakes and suspension from Gordon Levy and everything else is coming from Mark Reynolds at Breeze Automotive.

If you think shipping across the US is expensive, try shipping across to the UK. At this stage, I don’t even want to consider European taxes, import duty etc.

Roll on summer and the next FFR sale... ]]> Martin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?124-Let-the-spending-begin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?123-The-Planning Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:22:36 GMT The plan was to buy the complete kit, but after 3 years on the forums, “Would be nice” became “Must haves” – thanks to you lot. Having a forum is... The plan was to buy the complete kit, but after 3 years on the forums, “Would be nice” became “Must haves” – thanks to you lot. Having a forum is like having a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. One side tells you how to do it right, the other side tells you all the things you could spend your money on.

Getting a complete kit didn’t make sense when I knew we’d want to upgrade so many parts and with no resale market in the UK, it would be difficult to get rid of anything extra. So onto plan B...

Being in the UK, we needed to do a LHD to RHD conversion because FFR doesn’t offer it. The original plan was attend build school. After a quick call with Mark Dougherty, an offer of “get everything shipped to my place and I’ll store it for you until you are ready, and we can work through everything you need to know on YOUR car” meant that before I knew it, I had committed to a week in the US working with Mark.

The plan was to get a crate engine, or a turnkey engine from British American Engines just down the road from us. Just as I’d decided that turnkey engine was the way to go, my wife decided to speak up again. More immortal words – “You can’t build a car like this and not build the heart of the car. I’m not going to let you buy a turnkey engine engine”.

Nuts! I know nothing about engines. So onto Plan C...

A quick call to Fortes, and I’m committing to a second week in the US taking part in the engine build experience.

Now we need to start talking about engines/parts/drive train. They are expensive. More than I thought, but cheaper than the UK for sure. The British American Engine guys would definitely build a great engine for us, but it wasn’t allowed any more.

At this point, I had to make a tough decision. Despite wanting to order everything now and get on with it, the fact that I need to pay for the engine 18 months sooner than I had thought meant we’ve had to delay it for another year.

The final plan...

Buy everything for the car this year. Pay for the engine components early next year. Fly out with the wife to Wareham for the FFR Open house in June (sadly, 2012), spend a week at the Forte engine build experience, then spend a week with Mark sorting out all the major headaches before pulling it apart again and shipping the parts to the UK.

So what I am doing now? Buying all the parts, shipping them to “a guy on the internet” and not seeing them for 15 months. Sounds crazy to most people, but so does the idea of spending a small fortune on a car that is only good in the summer (and this is the UK summer I am talking about), smells, is loud and uncomfortable and will probably cost me £4000 to get insurance every year. All the people I’m looking to work with or do business with over the next few months have all been brilliant so far, no complaints from my end. ]]> Martin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?123-The-Planning https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?122-MK4-Roadster-for-the-UK-(it-s-going-to-be-a-long-journey) Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:21:18 GMT A little over three years ago, my lovely wife turned to me while driving along the motorway and said she wanted to take up a hobby together. First... A little over three years ago, my lovely wife turned to me while driving along the motorway and said she wanted to take up a hobby together. First thoughts of “oh no, she wants me to take up Salsa lessons with her” were quickly washed away when moments later the immortal words of “I want to build a car” were uttered.

I nearly drove off the side of the motorway.

We got home an hour later, and 20 minutes later I showed her a picture of the AC Cobra and said “What about this?” Immediately, I got a “Yes that looks nice”.

I definitely married the right one.

A few more hours of Google searches and I was a bit disappointed with what I’d found so I extended my search to the US. Then I came across Factory Five Racing and the obsession began.

I know nothing about cars, I couldn’t even call myself a car guy. But I do remember reading a comic book when I was only about 5 years old and seeing a picture of the AC and thinking it was the most beautiful car in the world.

I reached out to Ian Hunter here in the UK who put up with my naive questions and invited me around to his house to see his MK3.1. They are even better in person, and his car, well – let’s just say that at 120db he was complaining that it was too quiet and he wanted louder pipes. As soon as I walked up his driveway and saw his car parked I couldn’t stop grinning. I think I smiled for about a week after that visit.

Too much time spent on the other forum, and I was going bonkers. I didn’t really post much, but I read almost every post on the site from the day I found it, and even went back through thousands of posts from the archives.

I went from knowing nothing, to knowing exactly what I needed (ok, I should probably say wanted). If I am only getting one shot at this, I better make it good.

The economic recession didn’t help much, we saved the money a few times and just as we had the cash, something else came up that took priority. I wasn’t too disappointed to be honest because it was definitely the right thing to do, but it was getting time to step away from the keyboard and into the garage and I was a little bit on edge.
Then I got “the nod”.

It’s time to start buying bits she said... so I did...sort of... ]]> Martin https://v1.thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?122-MK4-Roadster-for-the-UK-(it-s-going-to-be-a-long-journey)