Orange County engine supplier, other Coupe config questions

Hi all -
Time for me to stop lurking and ask. I want to take advantage of Dave's 50-50 sale, and buy a complete Coupe kit. Engine question - anyone have a recommendation for an Orange County, CA crate engine place?

I want to build a practical non-donor daily driver. By this I mean easy to build and maintain, I do not want to do too much modifying of body and chassis work, other than making the small hood scoops functional (Russ Thompson foot box cooling) what is needed to make things fit. I want comfort items like A/C and maybe power steering - with enjoyable performance.

My initial total budget is $45k for the complete kit, engine, trans, bodywork, paint, wheels and tires (yeah, I've seen all those posts and do have some "flex" in this number).

I am thinking 302 with FFR 14207 headers > T5 > FFR 14781 drive shaft to match the T5 > 3-Link suspension > FFR 14970 rear end > FFR 14834 solid axle rear brakes > 15 inch wheels and tires. Not sure about pin drive at this time.

More Questions
1. I noticed a lot of builders have used after-market A/C units – does anyone have experience with the FFR 13287 air conditioner/heater? Good? Bad?

2. The description of the drive shaft says 28 spline, 12.875 length for T5 or Tremec 3550 - but the rear end/axle from FFR says something about being 31 spline. Is there an adapter or something that mates the rear end to the drive shaft, or do I need some education on how all this stuff mates into a system?

3. If I go with the 3-link suspension – is it practical or possible to change to the IRS later?

4. Would most of these questions be answered by calling FFR when I place my order? I want to do as much homework on this project as I can now, so I can place the order without any loose ends.

Thanks,
Wayne

2. The splin count on the drive shaft and axles are two different things. They are standard off the shelf Ford parts, so no worries about mix and match, or parts availability.

3. Yes, you can do it. But it's going to cost you a couple thousand dollars to do it later. You're much better off having the chassis set up for IRS at the start.

1. Not with FFR, I am going with Richard Oben/North Racecars A/C unit. He supports both the Roadster and the Coupe and provides eveything you need. It's a really nice unit.

4. Research here. As good as those guys are in tech support, it's still a phone call and you can lose information in conversations fairly easily. You can keep going back to old posts on the forums and really understand what your up against. I think it's fair to say most of us plan but change/mods happen.

2. clarification on driveshaft and rearend spline count. Driveshaft only has splines where it connects to the rea of the tranny. The other end has a flange that bolts to the rear end. The rear end spline count refers to the splines of the axle where it connects inside the rearend.

Welcome to the party and hope this helps. Bill

Bob and Bill -
Thanks for the notes. I am doing more research and will also email Jason at the Factory. I still have a few weeks before the sale ends........
-wayne

Since I started this thread, I will post what I decided to do. I placed my order just before the sale ended, so I took advantage of that and got the complete IRS kit - this is a part number that is not on the website or the accessory/parts catalog - or at least I could not find it. But very glad that Rick and Jason are sharp and steered me to the package. It is complete with brakes, rear axle and all that. The FFR part number is 14943 for the complete standard width IRS. With this part number, you get part number 14940, the IRS rear end, which gives you the axle, housing and a limited-slip TractionLok diff. It also comes with rear brakes, so it is all there....

I originally wanted 15-inch wheels and tires, but quickly found out tires are not easily found. So went with FFR 14865 Halibrands, 17 x 9 front and 17 x 10.5 rear.

I removed the FFR A/C unit and will order a unit from North Racecars.

I gotta say reading thru the manual helped me configure the car, I should have gotten the manual a lot sooner.

On the engine, I received a quote for a package deal from the Engine Factory, and will get the 302, with EFI and T5z trans. Everything is there and ready to go. Well, as ready to go as they come.... free shipping if I place the order before the end of next week.

Now on to selecting the tires....... Lots of posts on that topic, will get them ordered soon also. Leaning towards Goodrich G-Force-somethings, I forgot the exact name, it's getting late.

Building - soon!!!

Wayne