Joe and Joseph's MK4 Build #9934
Hello everyone,
I'll start by saying we WELCOME everyone's input and help. We're Joe and Joseph, father and son, building a MK4 Roadster #9934. Neither of us have mechanical experience, so I'm expecting to exercise patience as we make mistakes, redo things, and learn together.
I've had a dream of building a Factory Five Roadster for the past 15 years, since Joseph was about 4 or 5.
In August, Joseph decided to bypass his first year in college (due to COVID) to stay home and build this car with me... I couldn't have been happier.
We ordered our kit on August 18 and the kit completion date was October 31, 2020
Here are the specs for our kit:
MK IV Complete Kit
Powder coated chassis
302 Headers
3-link rear suspension
Black vinyl seats
body cut outs
power steering
Electric Ultra-Lite gauge set
Mosier 8.8 rear axle
Performance 11.65: rear brake set
15x8/9" 5 Lug Halibrand replica wheel
Sun Visors and wind wings
Assembled side louver set
Carbureted 302 engine and T5 transmission from BluePrint Engines
Kit was delivered on November 22 by Stewart. What a great company and partner of FF.
We had considered using a different shipping company to get the kit out here faster, but decided against that based on the comments on the forum. Everyone was right... they are the best. Todd was great and Mark and Shelly were super helpful and kind. They "got" how excited we were.
Some of the more notable POL parts that were not shipped:
- Halibrand wheels
- spline drive shaft
- radiator
- power steering rack
- Lower control arms (front)
- Shocks (rear)
- door latch set
Again, we welcome your input, help and feedback. We will keep you posted here and look forward to getting to know you here.
Joe and Joseph
Video Update December 13, 2020
Not sure how I missed this, but when removing the body I neglected to remove the frame mounts in the front. It looked like a little jigsaw puzzle that I could navigate. We spent a bunch of time trying to move those around the frame. Anyway, once we took those frame mounts off the body it came off easily.
Here we are with a near naked frame:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2609d4eb_b.jpg
I will say, we probably spent too much time labeling and taking video and photo prior to taking the panels off. I say we over thought it because putting it back together was not too difficult.
Again, we are still missing a few important parts so we are building out of sequence from the manual.
So far we have installed the front upper control arms and shocks. We are missing the lower control arms and powers steering rack. We've got the rear end installed but are missing the rear shocks.
Here's a quick video update. Love to have anyone's feedback on our assembly and work (CLICK IMAGE FOR VIDEO):
https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/...019341a6_b.jpgEarly Dec Update still missing parts by Joe Arioto, on Flickr
Help needed with dash wiring
Hey there Factory Five Forum Family,
Joseph and I have been working our way through everything and are having more fun than I could have imagined.
We're stuck on our dash wiring and wondered if anyone had some input for us.
We've got things wired:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c64d47a6_b.jpg
But when we plug in the various harnesses we are not getting the gauges to respond. Seems like there is no power getting to the gauges. The horn button seems to click when we press the horn button, but again... none of the other gauges seem to light up or respond to any of the sending units.
Here are some closer shots of each section:
Small Gauges:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0035a2ba_b.jpg
Tachometer:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fe54a91a_b.jpg
Speedometer:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9e36a896_b.jpg
We have not wired the lights or turn signals:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bc213cbb_b.jpg
Would that have an impact?
Lastly for now. Our fan thermo switch seems to be missing anywhere to connect. Should we have joined that in with the blue wire?
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3ef384ca_b.jpg
Thanks in advance for any insight and help.
Joe