John in KC - Roadster Build Thread

[JMD]

Hi all, my name is John and I've been on these forums for months gleaning info for a build I planned to start later this year. As it turns out things moved along quicker than I first thought and I've actually already started! I booked a build school for this coming weekend a couple of months ago for one of my sons (16), my father (81), and myself to get an idea of how to go about doing this, but wound up receiving delivery of my kit and have already started! This forum has already been a huge resource in the many questions I've had in just the first week of the build. I did spend the past few months reading through countless build threads on the forums, watching videos and taking about 12 pages of notes with build tips and lessons learned from other's mistakes. Hopefully that smooths out the process a bit, but we shall see!

I haven't had a project car in a long time, but spent a lot of time working on and driving cars & motorcycles between college and when we started having kids in our late 20's...so it's been about 15 years. Before kids I participated in autocross events, several track driving schools (at VIR & Rockingham Speedway), and even made it to Tail of the Dragon with a group of friends and fellow enthusiasts. I've owned a '69 Camaro SS back in 2004 that I performed a restomod in during college (kept me out of trouble) and then had a '93 Mazda RX7 for a number of years. I've also had several sportbikes and standard motorcycles over the past 20 years. The '69 Camaro was my dream car, but I overbuilt it with a supercharged 383, loud exhaust, no power anything...it was a sweet car but not easy to live with. Sold it to pay off student loans. The RX7 was a beauty and did everything well. It was practically the perfect car, with the exception of the 80+ vacuum lines (or however many there were). I definitely had a love/hate relationship with that car. I've been eyeing a FFR MKIV for the past 7 years and finally got the chance to make it happen this year. (Almost pulled the trigger back then, but found out kid #5 was on the way...there went any extra time and money!) I feel like the MKIV will combine what I loved most about the RX7 (handling and lightness), motorcycles (open air motoring), and my '69 Camaro (American muscle and simplicity). I know it's an incredibly impractical car, but I'm thinking I'll be able to drive it more than I would a motorcycle, so that's a plus. I would love to get into motorsports again someday, so while I'm not looking to build a track car right now at least it's something that can evolve over time to do most anything I would want to get into.

That being said, here's what I went with:

MKIV Complete Kit
302 - Blueprint long block being fully assembled by Mike Forte w/ Sniper II EFI, alternator & power steering pump
TKX 5 spd
IRS 3.55 ratio
FFR power steering rack w/ supplemental parts from Forte
Wilwood brakes from Gordon Levy (to fit 15" wheels)
Hydraulic parking brake from Levy
FFR sway bars front & rear
FFR Dual rollbars - black
Gas N stainless headers & touring sidepipes
15" Halibrand wheels
Pro M fuel pump hanger
Walbro 255lph pump
Fragola 6000 PTFE fuel lines
FFR heater/defroster
Forte external hydraulic clutch
Forte mechanical throttle linkage
Forte TKX mid shifter
Breeze cockpit storage cubby
Breeze upper & lower radiator mounts
Breeze stainless lower radiator hose tube & clamp
Breeze Coolant Fill 'T' kit
Breeze radiator shroud
Breeze front battery box
FFMetal Firewall forward & transmission blank cover
Metco driveshaft safety loop
Pertronix Digital Rev Limiter
Flex A Lite radiator fan 238
Derale 12" cooler for PS fluid
Scott's Hot Rods Remote Reservoirs
Billet Specialities 2gpm Flow Control Power Steering valve
Summit Racing Stainless Overflow Tank
USB ports
...and more add on's as I go!

I spoke to a few people who have built kits (or are in process) and decided not to go the donor route and have an engine/trans built and delivered. Building an engine sounds like a lot of fun, but added to building the car I think it would be a bit much all at once. I also don't want to disassemble, clean parts, and reassemble, find missing components, research what works with what...simplicity is the name of the game here and I want something to drive down the road ASAP. Assembling all new parts sounds about the right amount involvement to me at this time in life.

I will start adding posts with build pics and hopefully point out things that I wish I had known ahead of time that may help others as they go about their build. My goal is to have a functional, driving vehicle by the end of the summer. Maybe that's optimistic, but that's the hope. I'm also keeping track of my hours as I'm curious if the '300 hour' estimate is anywhere near accurate. Guess we'll find out!