Danny Boy's Mk4 Build - Putting the project on hold for a while...
Hello FFF! Dan here. This forum is a library of treasures. After spending countless days pouring myself over build threads, I’m starting on my FFR build! Nice to meet all of you, and I look forward to conversing with you all! LET’S GO BUILDERS!
I ordered my FFR with the following options:
- MkIV Complete Kit
- Powder-coated frame
- Gen3 Coyote + T56 Magnum
- Coyote headers with Integrated Cats.
- 2015 IRS
- Wilwood Brake Kit
- 2018 IRS 3.55 Center Section & Spindles
- Manual Steering Rack
Some decisions I made when placing the order:
Q: Cats or no cats?
A: There are 2 reasons as to why I opted for cats: The smell and the reduction in sound. I’ve read on many threads here that the roadster is deafening, and I’d like to drive my roadster without requiring earplugs.
Q: Donor or new components?... or try my luck at the junkyards?
A: This decision was an easy one after considering my time constraints on this project. I don’t own the house in which I’m currently building the car, and I’d like to have the car registered and ready to drive within the next 10 months. This plus a demanding day job meant I won’t have the time and energy to find a donor just to rip out all the components and debug the parts to ensure they’re in working order. The original plan was to get a donor, but that quickly changed after carefully evaluating the situation I’m in.
Q: Rear suspension setup. IRS? 3-link?
A: IRS. If I’m building a cobra then I want it to drive like one!
Q: Manual or powered steering rack?
A: In the beginning I was very concerned with steering difficulty in parking lots with a manual steering rack. After driving my friend's kit car with a manual rack, however, I realized that it's not bad at all. Once the car starts moving it's fine. Manual it is for now! If I ever get tired of it, I'll purchase a power steering rack and install it. It can't be THAT difficult, right? (famous last words.)
Q: Why do this now? Why not do this after you get married, have kids, get kids through college, retire, etc?
A: Because I've talked to too many people who told me "you're doing the thing I wish I did when I had the time to do it." I realized that there will never come a time when building a kit car is a "financially wise" idea, nor will there ever be the perfect circumstances to get started. You either do it or you don't. I choose to make my cobra dreams a reality, and the best time to do it is now.
A bit about myself:
I’m a 27 year old engineer currently residing in Northern California. Building a car of my own is a life-long dream, and the time just felt right. I’m an engineer who mainly works with computers. I’ve done various mods / self maintenance to my cars, but never something as big as a FFR. ...but I dive into this adventure knowing that I won’t be alone! The fantastic build threads from you forum veterans give me tremendous confidence. I’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants and I’m beyond excited.
Let the building begin!
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Steering rack and column adventures!
It’s time to get started on the first 2 panels. The Cleco fasteners are a lifesaver. I’m so glad I got these. Decided to order 50 more of them in anticipation for the rest of these aluminum panels. Anyone wanna bet on how many Clecos I’ll be swimming in by the end of this project? :P
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Mounting the manual steering rack was more trouble than I anticipated. The driver side mounting bolt went through the bracket nice and smooth, but the passenger side was very obviously misaligned. Perhaps this was just a bad welding job? I’ve seen this on other build threads, so I guess it’s not just me.
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I used a level to check alignment of the mounting holes and expanded the mounting hole with a dremel. The bolt went in nicely on both ends and the steering rack was in. I hope what I did won’t cause any big issues down the line. The rack is very secure as fat as I can tell, but any calls of warning from the experienced folks would be great.
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I ended the day by finishing up the steering column. The manual said the splined end that goes into the steering rack is tight, so one might need to use a mallet to get it in. Mine was REALLY, REALLY tight. I had such a hard time getting it in that I was scared of never getting it out ever again, so I only hit it enough so it’s somewhat secure but not completely in. I have a feeling I’ll need to take it back out some day in the future when I align my steering wheel or something.
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I know the telescoping steering shaft is a common pain-point for these builds, but I underestimated just how much of a PITA it would be. GOD this thing is IMPOSSIBLE to get in or pull back out. I’m just gonna leave it be until I get to wheel alignment phase. I might need an air-hammer just to get it back out.
Dear past self:
- Good job buying those Clecos
- Even better job buying that dremel from a while ago!
- The telescoping steering shaft is really freaking hard to pull back out once it’s in even just a LITTLE too far. Don’t push it in unless you have to.
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Pedals and awkwardly finagling the pedal assembly into the footbox
IRS, front spindles, brakes and hubs are all still nowhere to be seen so we’re skipping over that for now. Let’s jump into the pedals.
The willwood pedalbox assembly was actually really simple and straightforward; as expected from willwood. The pedals are super close together though. Without putting the pedals in I’m already a little worried about footbox spacing. Other build threads confirm my fear. Alas, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. The pedals can be shifted by an inch or so to each side so I hope that will be enough space. If not I’ll just ask santa for driving shoes for Christmas. :P :P :P
Having my vice clamp onto the pedalbox bracket made the whole process so much simpler. I’m sure it’s possible without it, but it just made the process much easier. I highly recommend it.
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Brainfart section: Perhaps I’m just really really new at all this car building stuff, but I COMPLETELY forgot that I don’t need the clutch cable or the clutch quadrant for the coyote engine. D’oh! I spent a good 30mins trying to figure out where my clutch quadrant and cable was only to realize that they never came and probably just isn’t a part of my order. The engine+trans package I ordered already includes a hydraulic line that connects to a hydraulic throw-out bearing installed by FFR. All I need is a hydraulic line that runs from the clutch master cylinder to the transmission and we’re good.
Now here’s the hard part: Putting the pedalbox + bracket INTO the driver-side footbox. I didn’t take pictures for this part because I had such a hard time getting it in. I didn't stop until it was all the way in and seated onto the frame. Without pictures, here’s what i can say that helped:
1. Loosen the pedals a bit. Getting the bracket in isn’t the problem. Getting the pedals AROUND the top frame cross-member is the problem. If you loosen the pedals and the hydraulic pusher stems enough you can work around the cross-member much easier.
2. Do consider installing the clutch pedal AFTER putting the pedalbox in. I didn’t do this but if I had to do it again I’d probably remove the clutch pedal just so I have an easier time.
Regardless, now that it’s in I don’t even plan to take it out again. The mounting screws that come through the front-facing firewall and the bracket is a little tight, but a small ratchet wrench does the job just fine.
And now I’m tired! Time for dinner! Tomorrow I plan to start bending brake-lines and fuel-lines. I visited JohnK who lives just a short drive away. He was incredibly kind and allowed me to borrow his line benders, the eastwood flaring tool, as well as other related tools. I’m so excited to bend my own hard lines! Stay tuned!
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Kind Strangers, Bespoke Tools, and Brake Lines. Pt 1
You know how before you knew much about cars you’d think “gosh I’d be terrified of fixing my own brakes… What if I mess them up and get into an accident?” Well I’ve got news for myself. It’s brake line time.
Few weeks ago I visited JohnK (his build thread here https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...bias-adjuster)) to check out his build. Drove to his place super excited (you know what they say about managing expectations when it comes to strangers…) and was blown away by his incredibly detailed and quality build. John was everything I hoped for in a fellow builder and more. Super friendly, super resourceful, and incredibly generous. Seeing the pictures on his build thread was one thing, but seeing it in person was a whole new experience. I was especially impressed by his stainless-steel brake-lines. I highly recommend checking out his build thread.
John lent me some tools for bending, cutting, flaring, and straightening out brake lines. He also sent me off with a coil of ni-cop brake-lines to practice with. These resources proved invaluable later on.
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Kind strangers, Bespoke Tools, and Brake Lines Pt2
Ni-cop lines, compared to the lines supplied by FFR, are much softer. In fact they were bendable with just two fingers. These were excellent for mocking up the line route before going in with the real-deal. The instructions provided by FFR have a few extra loops here and some risky looking bends there; I decided to use it only as a guide and take my liberties when I see fit. The Rigid brake-line tool was a little tricky to use at first, but once you get used to swinging the handle around it’s quite easy to use. I made a mock-up line for master-cylinder to driver-side-front-brakes. Looked a little rough, but they did the job.
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Thanks to John’s line cutting and flaring tool I did not need any extra loops or unnecessary bends to take up slack. I had lots of fun cutting and flaring the lines. There’s something about purpose-build tools that serve one purpose and do an outstanding job at that one thing that just… makes me smile. These eastwood flaring tools are worth a pretty penny indeed.
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Kind strangers, Bespoke Tools, and Brake Lines Pt 3
I then used the mock-up as a template to bend the real lines. This time much slower, much more careful. Not all was smooth sailing though. I cut and flared the lines without putting on the fittings… TWICE!! Luckily the line-cutter has a recess area that fits the flared portion of the brake line so you’d only trim off about 1/4inch per mistake. In one instance I made the perfect line bend only to realize the fittings were on the wrong side of the bend. That one mistake cost me a good hour as I straightened the line again just enough for the fitting the pass through without messing up the bend.
In the end the results were excellent. Here are some pictures:
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I’d say bending and routing my own hard brake line was both harder and easier than I expected. I spent much more time than I thought I would, but the results were much better than I expected. I thought flaring would be a pain, but that was the easiest part. I thought straightening a bent-line would be simple, but that was the hardest part. I don’t java any advice to my past self other than to go slow and think each step through. Overall a wonderfully educational experience.
By the way, the manual says to drill 3/16th holes for the FFR provided brake line brackets. If you didn’t buy 3/16th clecos, drill ⅛ homes for now so you can hold it in place with your 1/8 clecos. I drilled 3/16th holes on one side before realizing I had no way to hold it in place. Here’s a picture to illustrate what I mean. Note the clecos are copper coloured (meaning they are 1/8 clecos). The other side I had to buy a tiny c-clamp to hold it in place.
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I want to end this update with another big shout out to John. Without his generosity I would have bought the cheaper line-benders from amazon and messed up a bunch of perfectly good brake lines. It’s really fortunate to have such kind strangers on this forum. Thank you.
