Door Sills. DS Wheel Spacer Progress.
It's hard to believe, but I'm out of aluminum panels, unless the VIN plate is considered a panel. I'll install that once my title arrives.
My last two panels to install were the door sill plates. They're powder coated to match the dash and trans cover. Instead of installing carpet on the sill, I picked up a remnant stick of angled aluminum (1"x1/2"x1/8") from my local metal supplier. Man, I love that place. They always have exactly what I need, and inexpensive. It's become one of my favorite places to shop.
Here are the DS sill edge pieces cut, drilled, and prepped for powder coat. They fit just fine in my little PC oven.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...8&d=1694100771
Well, I did my best to cut the aluminum ends to match the slope of the door sill chassis tubes. My goal was no gap between the pieces, but here you can see I fell a bit short between the longer two sections on the DS. Oh, well. My build has never been at risk of becoming a show car, so why start now? :cool: A theme of stainless fasteners contrasted against dark powder coat (dash, trans cover, etc.) emerged earlier in my build. I liked it, so just continued throughout the build. These rivets are not stainless, but have the same effect to my eyes.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...9&d=1694100771
My battle with the DS rear wheel spacer is now in Round 3. I installed this 1/2" spacer because a 1" spacer caused the tire to rub even during minor suspension travel. The body also happens to sit lower on the DS, so double whammy between (1) the shorter wheel well lip and (2) lower body height. As I noted previously, the DS wheel well lip extends from the chassis about 5/16" less than the PS. (The 1 inch spacer on the PS is working well).
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...7&d=1694100729
The 1/2" spacer made a big difference, but I'm still not out of the woods. The tire still rubs, but only during extensive suspension travel (i.e. big dips in the road). I would like to keep the 1/2" spacer, so will probably trim the wheel well lip (on both sides to match). This was going to be left for the body/paint pro, but I need clearance on the DS now.
While I was looking for a 1/2" spacer (bought the one above from Speedway), I stumbled across extended thread lug nuts. Who knew? Apparently, designed for situations like adding wheel spacers. (I wasn't looking forward to removing the studs from the hub). In my case, these lug nuts provide about 0.05 inches less (1.3 mm) of thread engagement (0.62" v. 0.67") as compared to the original lug nuts without spacers.
In between all of the above I spent time on a dyno with a tuner. Looking forward to getting my dyno chart emailed over from the tuner. I'll post the results.
Happy building!
V.I.N. for the Win and Spring Rumble
Over the last several days Spring showed up in a big way in my neck of the woods. Temps in the mid- to upper-sixties! Time for the first Spring Rumble.
Boy did it feel good to stretch her legs out on the open road. Even better, I had the chance to give a first ride to a little guy. Look closely and you'll just barely make out his head in the passenger seat. He was all smiles. Upon return, he made sure I agreed to drive the Roadster (with him as passenger) to pick up the pizza. We did.
30 second first ride video: https://youtube.com/shorts/ctSnqxdus1s?feature=share
The V.I.N. is in: in even bigger news, after a short wait of two-hundred-thirty-seven days my title arrived. I won't revisit here what turned out to be a long slog through the WA state titling process. But happy to share my trials and tribulations with any Washington builder if they're interested. I plan to hand stamp the VIN on the F5 VIN plate and rivet to the top of the PS FB. Visible from inside the engine bay.
My plan for the winter was to work on some minor punch list items. Also, I wanted to enjoy some non-Roadster things I haven't done in a long time. That was Plan A. My better half had Plan B: Moving. Locally.
Suffice it to say no work on the Cobra over the winter. Instead, winter found me diligently making over a new-to-me-garage: interior wall framing, insulation, paneling (OSB), painting, and ceiling fans. The new digs are 45% of the square footage of my last garage. Admittedly, a first-world problem. Woe is me. And, I say diligently because the calendar says my next project shows up in April.
I hope others up north are getting their first Spring drives logged in the books. Perhaps our southern friends are smiling as they change oil, brought on by miles and miles of driving over the last few months? :p
Happy building!
Gel Red is Rad. Blue is Better!
As much as I enjoyed the build, this thread just didn't seem to have a proper ending. Especially after the countless hours (detours!), blood, sweat, and tears that went into it. That is until I received an email from the new owner.
Long story short, I sold my Roadster last year. There were a number of reasons. A significant part of that decision is sitting in my garage now in the form of my Coupe build. My MK4 Roadster was still in its original gel coat red when I sold it.
The new owner picked it up from paint and was kind enough to share some pictures. Although blue was not on my short list, I can say (in full honesty!) I really like the color the new owner chose. I hope he gets as much enjoyment in driving it as I did.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...8&d=1739921929
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/atta...9&d=1739921929
This seems like a more satisfying way to close out this build thread. So many memories over the 2.75 years it took to build. I still can't believe I did it.
Build on!
