2021 Apple Hill drive - Sacramento area
Quick video of our Apple Hill run from last Saturday. We had some very nice weather, great peeps and some really nice Cobras!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKba6hhV8h0
Door latch modification (door latch mech and lost one of my balls)
I have had a few issues with my door latches so I thought it would be a good idea to add this to my build thread for future builders. The drivers side latch broke and would not open and I lost the stainless ball on latch arm on passenger side. It is never a good day when you loose one of your balls. FFR told me they have no latches available so I guess they also don't have any spare parts laying around. I ended up pulling both sides off and did the J. Kleiner mod on the center swivel and found a solution for the stainless ball.
Highly recommend if your building a car to do at least the J. Kleiner mod, you might get lucky and not loose one of your balls :-)
Here is the J. Kleiner mod you are basically adding a carriage/flat headed bolt in the center pivot mechanism to capture the arm on the pivot. It is a very good idea and thanks to Jeff for coming up with this solution because it works great and is an easy fix. What ends up eventually happening is the pressed on arm comes off the pivot point and your door will not open.
I had a couple flat head bolts laying around in my garage I used but you can you use any flat headed bolt of your choice. The bolt size is 5/16-8 about 1" long with a washer and nylock nut.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...2&d=1634181621
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...3&d=1634181621
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...4&d=1634181621
One thing I also had to do was grind an opening on my door to allow for bolt head. Without doing this you will have issues with the latch binding up. I used a pneumatic grinder on very low speed, it is easy to grind through the fiberglass. Just be aware of the backing plate no need to go through it.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...5&d=1634181621
For the stainless ball issue I found threaded stainless balls on McMaster Carr. I ordered (2) 3/4" stainless threaded balls part number 6954K12 with 10-24 threads. I picked up a couple 10-24 stainless bolts, washers and lock washers from Ace hardware.
Link to threaded balls:
https://www.mcmaster.com/stainless-s...hreaded-balls/
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...6&d=1634181621
Final ball latch mount, I also added some blue loctite to the threads. Nothing better than getting both of your balls back.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...7&d=1634181644
This is what you end up with, I actually like the larger 3/4" ball better than the one that comes from FFR because it is easier to move the latch with your hand. You have a much better improved door latch now.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...8&d=1634181644
LED headlight upgrade - Lucas Tri-bar
With daylight savings coming to end I have driven my car in the dark a couple times now and the 60w halogen bulbs did not produce much light. I also live in the country with no street lights along with deer and small animals all over the place at night. I found these LED headlight bulbs that were very easy to install inside the Lucas Tri-bar headlight. If you are looking to upgrade and you do not have a sealed beam headlight these are definitely worth the money. They are plug and play and only draw 26W and claim to be 300% brighter than halogen bulbs.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Running the Pacific Coast Highway
Today is VETERANS DAY - if you are a Veteran THANK YOU for your service!
You build this car and then start picking destinations you want to visit. The Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California was high on my list, we decided to tow 9818 down to San Clemente where we have family to stay with. We took a couple days and ran up a section of the PCH from San Clemente to Huntington Beach and back down the I-5 through Oceanside and Torrey Pines. It was a great time, cant wait to come back and do it again. Weather turned out to be great, we did have some fog in the morning which lifted to sunny skies in the afternoon. We also hit Cars and Coffee Orange County Saturday morning which is always a treat, easily over 600 cars there with everything you can think of attending.
A few pics from our trip...
Dana Point Overlook
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...6&d=1636670553
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...8&d=1636670553
San Clemente hilltop - evening fog just beginning to roll in
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...7&d=1636670553
Failed Wilwood Clutch M/C - 2100 miles
The weather has just been fantastic here this week so today I took 9818 out for a mid morning drive, 65 degrees out could not get much better. I am up to 2100 miles on the car now and unfortunately I had my first semi major mishap with the car, I noticed my foot starting to slide on my clutch pedal along with my heel sliding on the rubber pad and not being able to shift gears as easily. I immediately knew I had a leaking clutch MC, ah ****!!! Fortunately I was only about 3 miles from my house and able to make it back home to avoid the tow of shame. I had the time today to actually pull the MC so I got right to work. It definitely is leaking from behind the boot, I must have bad luck because I would hope these MC's last longer than 2100 miles :mad: oh well it is what it is... and definitely not a fun project pulling that little sucker out either. There is little to no room in that tiny compartment, I ended up dropping the fuse panel and got some of it below. I called Wilwood and they are going to warranty it out for me and sending me a new one tomorrow. Overall the car has been performing great, I did have a couple other small items my RT turn signal will not hold in upright position (right turn) and at 1400 miles had a DS leaking valve cover gasket I ended up replacing.
Here is the little bugger...one thing that threw me was the fluid coming out of the clutch MC looked very dirty (you can see the color of it on the white towel) almost had a grey color to it. I do not really know how this would be possible with only 2100 miles. I will have to really flush out the system when I re-bleed it. Maybe someone has explanation for why it would look so bad?
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...8&d=1638415290
Before the clutch MC mishap I did get a chance to pull over and take a quick snap of 9818, sure is fun to drive :cool:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...7&d=1638415131
Factory 5 build review - 289 with a Roush 427 500+ HP
I am adding this video to my build thread, it is on a very well built 289 but many of the upgrades and ideas can be applied to the MK4. Thank you again Vspeeds for bringing over your awesome car as mentioned in the video one of my favorite cars to date.... definitely not a bad way to spend a couple hours talking some shop! Also trying to generate some small donations for Sheena Rutherford Go-fund me, anything is greatly appreciated.
Cheers :cool:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-f...yle-rutherford
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYypZiWWUJQ