Fmans Dart 427 build #9818 - 14" Leather steering wheel

[Fman]

Another masterpiece from Ken Pike, this guy is a true master at his craft. Cant wait to get the body on next week!

[JohnK]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see the body on the car.

[thebicman]

You'll have to tell Ken its a no go. Can't believe you didn't notice all those rectangular squares. WTH. Seriously paint looks amazing. Beautiful color combo. Curious about the hood. No latches?

[Fman]

You'll have to tell Ken its a no go. Can't believe you didn't notice all those rectangular squares. WTH. Seriously paint looks amazing. Beautiful color combo. Curious about the hood. No latches?

Ken is mounting the hood and did all the fitment prior to paint so I assume it will have latches...Ken does amazing work, hard to believe that started as a red gel coat body!

[460.465USMC]

Really like your color choices! Haven't seen many (any?) like it. How exciting for you! Can't wait to see it back on the chassis and all together.

[KDubU]

Very nice! She will look fantastic once you have her all together.

[John Ibele]

Way to go Fman! Looks gorgeous. Congratulations.

[Blitzboy54]

This is almost exactly the color scheme I was going to go with. Feel honor bound to switch it up a little now.

Looks fantastic, Congratulations!!

[Fman]

This is almost exactly the color scheme I was going to go with. Feel honor bound to switch it up a little now.

Looks fantastic, congratulations

Thank you... it turned out like I was hoping. Ken really does great work, feel super fortunate to have him so close to where I live. I definitley did not come up with this color scheme myself, feel free to use it or modify the recipe. It is actually from a Backdraft Cobra. I contacted Backdraft and they were super cool and gave me all the color codes.

For anyone interested here are the OEM paint codes.

BMW sterling gray 472
Mercedes black 040
Ford race red PQ

Cheers!

[Fman]

I am getting play by play photos from Ken so I am adding them to my build thread! She is transforming into a Cobra...

[JB in NOVA]

Wow, that is stunning! Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Blitzboy54]

Looks so good

[BadAsp427]

Looking fantastic. Colors look great together... Nice!!!

[timwert65]

Very nice Fman! loving the blacked out look against the dark silver metallic

[toadster]

I had installed a manual gate for my fresh air system, after reaching down a few times to open and close the vent I decided to improve it by adding a cable push/pull system to open and close the vents. This is also much easier to do now than once the body goes on the car. I picked up two choke cables and a pack of cable stops.

Dorman choke cable:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dorman cable stops:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I ended up using some 1" L alum channel I had in my garage to make the bracket to hold the pull lever. This cable system is really nice to open and close the gates and is much easier than reaching down with your hand and doing it on the gate. It was a cheap upgrade less than $20 all in.

Here is drivers side cable run, I wanted to keep it away from foot box pedals and throttle linkage. It runs on the outside of the fuse box. I had to flip the gate 180 degrees to allow the actual gate to slide upward to open. Pretty easy swap, couple new holes and had to add extra piece of carpet to patch up the small gap. I also trimmed some of the sheet metal on the vent to clear the back of the pedal box assembly. The cable is held in place with a cushion clamp that is bolted with a nylock nut to the footbox.





I mounted the pull knob on outside of the drivers lower cross member area. The passenger side is in the same place. This seems to be a good spot, even with knob pulled out 2.5" there is plenty of clearance to get in and out of the car.



Passenger side gate and pull knob, no modification was needed other than drilling a small hole in the actual gate. The cable runs along the top of the footbox and hooks around the back area to the gate. All of this is completed hidden and cant be seen when car is on the ground.

you've inspired me to spend more LOL

have you thought about a safety switch to ensure the doors are open before the fans turn on? just wondering what would happen if the blowers kicked in and the doors were shut...

[Fman]

you've inspired me to spend more LOL

have you thought about a safety switch to ensure the doors are open before the fans turn on? just wondering what would happen if the blowers kicked in and the doors were shut...

Todd, always here to help people spend more $$$

I did run the fans with the gates closed and it seemed to not be a problem, motors did not change RPM's or sound overloaded... definitely would not recommend doing it long term. I don't think the gates seal up 100% and a minute amount of forced fan air will get through when they are closed. I kept it really simple, one toggle switch for both fans. It is really easy to tell if the gate is open and closed with the cable length. You definitely could add some type of safety switch but I don't know if it would be worth the effort. I think having two toggle switches would be an upgrade to control each fan separately with two different switches.

[Nigel Allen]

Fact: with the gate/s closed the fan will not be moving any air, the load on the motor will be reduced and the motor will draw less current. Technically the motor could eventually overheat if it is relying on airflow over it's body to keep cool, but is unlikely as the motors are small, low current and it can still radiate heat into the surrounding air.

Cheers,

Nigel

[460.465USMC]

Looking Sweeeeeeeet!!

[Fman]

Lots of driving today, picked up the car from Ken Pike in Yuba City then headed over to Grass Valley to visit Elliott Franklin at the Mustang Corral. Elliot built my 427, he is swapping out oil pans for me. Going from 8" Canton to a Champ 351-RR 7" rear sump to bring it up in-between the frame. She should be home middle of next week and I can start working on my final punch list items.

Could not be more satisfied with the paint from Ken Pike, he did a fantastic job!

[nucjd19]

I decided to install a remote brake bias adjuster on my build, I am not sure how much I will actually use it but definitely will be a "nice to have" item. I do not think my brakes are adjusted 100% properly right now, so I am planning on fine tuning as I begin to drive the car. I ended up going with the Wilwood brake adjuster knob and Tilton 90 degree 3/8-24 adaptor. If you choose to do this the only modification is the Wilwood inner cable is too large and will not fit into the Tilton adaptor without enlarging the hole. Not really a big deal but I am sure the Tilton bias adjuster would fit without modification.

Once again huge thank you!!! I installed the Biase

I tried initally to install without the 90 degree adaptor and it was not going to work. There is just not enough room on either end of the bias adjuster, for a clean install you definitely need the over priced Tilton fitting and they are definitely proud of that little sucker!

Wilwood remote brake bias adjuster:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tilton 90 degree adaptor: (3/8-24)
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/til-72-560

I mounted the knob on the right side under the dash, I chose this spot because it is easily accessible when driving, cant really be seen when car is on the ground and does not interfere with driving or getting in and out the car. It seems to be turning easy with no binding and a smooth operation. I did have to move my inertia switch over to make it fit (just realized I have to put a rivet in that hole)





I routed the cable up under the dash



I added a pillow clamp to hold the cable and keep it away from every coming near the Forte throttle linkage



A shot of the Tilton 90 degree adaptor with the cable mounted

once again......huge thank you! I have installed the brake bias as well and it is tight in the foot box. This fixes my issue! Also...... I love your paint!!!!!!

[toadster]

Lots of driving today, picked up the car from Ken Pike in Yuba City then headed over to Grass Valley to visit Elliott Franklin at the Mustang Corral. Elliot built my 427, he is swapping out oil pans for me. Going from 8" Canton to a Champ 351-RR 7" rear sump to bring it up in-between the frame. She should be home middle of next week and I can start working on my final punch list items.

Could not be more satisfied with the paint from Ken Pike, he did a fantastic job!

looks amazing!!!!!

is that a GT500 in the background?!?!?

[v1-vr]

Beautiful Car you have Travis
Perfect color
Your a craftsman for sure
Thanks again for the loan of your hoist ohv iij

[Fman]

One other item I ended up changing on my build is my Gas 'n pipes. I sold my standard Gas 'n pipes and went with the Gas 'n "Touring pipe". After go-karting around a bit I realized the standard pipes were a little louder than I wanted. I guess I am officially getting old Fun for the first five minutes but not something I wanted to deal with long term. I also wanted my wife to enjoy driving around in this car. After bolting on the touring pipe I think I have found the sweet spot for me. Still has a nice tone with the 427 but not "in your face" loud and ear piercing or requiring ear plugs when driving around. There is still plenty of pushrod V8 muscle when you get on it.

The touring pipes are about 10 decibels quieter than standard.

Here is a nice video explaining and hearing the difference between the Standard and Touring pipe.

[Fman]

I am starting to work on post paint items that need to be finished up so #9818 can get on the road! Made some pretty good progress over the last couple days. Got my exhaust mounted, adjusted and hangers installed, Lemans cap & fuel filler, headlights, running lights.

Wanted to post about headlight install, the FFR manual IMO was not too good about how to actually install the headlights.

Headlight bucket with 3 prong connector and 4 screws mounted to body. Also note the two adjustment screws. I also had to enlarge the hole in headlight bucket to fit the grommet.



Headlight bezel, it uses 3 gold small screws. The tabs align with the headlight and lock it in with the screw. I read up on these tabs breaking or being very flimsy but so far they seem to be holding fine, I guess time will tell once the car is on the road.




Note the lower golden colored tab, that actually helps lock in the headlight ring. It is important to have it orientated in correct position. Another tip if your headlight ring is loose you can bend out that tab a little help snug it up.



Lucas PL700 Tri-bar lights installed, I really like the vintage look of them and they fit perfectly into the FFR headlight bezel.

Picked them up of Amazon from this vendor.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Also was able to get my oil pan swapped out for a Champ 351-RR 7" deep rear sump. My previous Canton 8" was hanging 3/4" down below the frame, learn from my mishap... go with a 7" deep pan and never look back. The Champ sits up inside the frame rails now.



Exhaust hangers installed, I painted them satin black. One item I did change up was rather than drill through the backside of the frame into the footbox area I tapped the two holes. This seems to be working better for me, no bolt protruding into the footbox. I used blue loctite on the two bolts holding the hanger and will keep an eye on them once I start driving.

[Fman]

Was also able to get my Lemans cap installed and fuel filler connected up. I chose to run 10-24 hex bolts rather than screws into fiberglass. I just felt like this looked better and was a more secure way of mounting the Lemans cap.

Note: My hole for my Lemans cap was about 1/4" too small, make sure check this on your body. Much easier to enlarge hole in gel coat rather than after paint.



I cut the rubber hose down to 4 1/2" which seemed to be about the right length, yet another trip to Ace Hardware (must be on at least 45 visits there since I started building this car) to pick up 10-24 bolts, washers and nylock nuts for the underside.

[Fman]

I was able to get my front end finished up, over riders, headlights, running lights, Michael Everson radiator panel, breeze vent screens, cobra emblem. I had the ME radiator panel powder coated satin black. I still have a couple fog lights to install but I won't tackle that until later on down the road.

Radiator panel link:
http://replicaparts.com/Roadster%20a...nel%20page.htm




Also finished up running my license plate light and tail lights. I ended up using a 1/2" hole in trunk and rear lower deck to run the wire. I found a long zip tie which worked really well to fish the wire through the trunk lid.





Finished wire run and zip tied up to the hinge.



I was also able to get my side vents mounted with the 427 badge. I used double sided gorilla tape on both the badge and side vents. Side vents are a combo gorilla tape/velcro, I wanted to make them removable if I ever needed to take them out. The side vents are painted BMW sterling gray, Ken Pike painted them with the car.

[JB in NOVA]

Looking good! Did you powder coat your louver vents? Or just polish them?

[Fman]

Looking good! Did you powder coat your louver vents? Or just polish them?

JB, they were painted the same color as the car. I thought about polishing them but got lazy so I just gave them to my painter and had him shoot them when he did the car.

[Fman]

Splash guards are finished up...

In the rear fender area I added one extra piece in-between the cockpit and front section of the rear fender area. This area had a large gap and the door trim piece did not really cover it up much.



This is gap that was covered up, not sure if it was necessary but I had some extra bulb seal and figured I would put it to use.



The rear overriders were definitely more difficult than the front. I had to cut off the all thread (7/16-20) and chase out the holes in the overriders to fit onto the two threaded rods sticking out. Once I was able to thread the nuts on it went pretty smooth, but getting those nuts on was not super easy. This is after I cut to length and added some anti seize.



I used a pneumatic grinder to chase out the holes in the overriders. It smoked a drill bit quickly so I went to the carbide grinding bit and it did the job.



The rear of the car is finished up

[norcalLo]

B e a uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu t i f u llllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fman]

Outside of the car and engine compartment are finished up, I am working towards getting the cockpit ready to go. I had limited time today but was able to get a few items checked off my punch list.

I installed the Breeze upper radiator cowel cover kit, what a nice piece that comes finished in black powder coat. I was glad I did not have to remove the hood, the cowel went on easily with the hood mounted up. This piece serves two purposes, it cleans up and finishes off above the radiator and prevents hot air from recirculating from engine compartment back to the fan. As many have already mentioned everything from Mark Breeze has been awesome along with his customer service! I really like the "MADE IN THE USA" stickers on all his products

https://www.breezeautomotive.com/sho...th-ffr-hinges/




I installed the door straps, just like FFR manual says, some rivets and good to go.



Also got my rear view mirror mounted with the Darkwater customs bracket, nice polished piece. I did not want to mount the mirror on the dash.

http://www.darkwatercustoms.com/view...rror%20Bracket

[Salty Chief 35]

Fman,
From one fireman to another, I would like to say well done. This is one good bad a$$ hot rod. I have cobra envy!!!
Regards
Jeremie

[Fman]

Fman,
From one fireman to another, I would like to say well done. This is one good bad a$$ hot rod. I have cobra envy!!!
Regards
Jeremie

Thanks brother it has been a fun experience building this car, looking forward to getting it on the road.

Stay safe out there....

[Blitzboy54]

Just such a good looking setup. You gotta be excited . Congratulations, looking forward to the graduation photos

[egchewy79]

Also got my rear view mirror mounted with the Darkwater customs bracket, nice polished piece. I did not want to mount the mirror on the dash.

http://www.darkwatercustoms.com/view...rror%20Bracket

[/QUOTE]

just curious, when did you order your mirror bracket from darkwater? I ordered in Jan and haven't seen anything from him yet.

[toadster]

Also got my rear view mirror mounted with the Darkwater customs bracket, nice polished piece. I did not want to mount the mirror on the dash.
http://www.darkwatercustoms.com/view...rror%20Bracket
just curious, when did you order your mirror bracket from darkwater? I ordered in Jan and haven't seen anything from him yet.

I'm on his waiting list as well

[Fman]

Regarding the DW mirror bracket, I ordered it a few months ago back in October and received it early January. I just placed my order for the trunk access panel from DW, I am sure it will be a couple months before I see it.

[egchewy79]

Thanks. Chris from DW did email me back saying he was backed up from the freezing in TX last month.

[Fman]

Progress continues on my final punch list...

I was able to get sun visors, wind wings and breeze side mirrors mounted up. Not really too difficult but I thought I would post up some pics to show how all the brackets are installed. The Breeze side mirrors are a nice addition to the setup. I did not want to mount my mirror on the body with the supplied FFR mirror that comes with the car.

A shout out and thank you to Tim Lee who brought his newly finished Mk4 out to my house yesterday, it was nice to see all the wind wings, mirrors and sun visors installed on a car which made my install much easier. His car turned out great, should have snapped a photo!

Breeze billet mirrors
https://www.breezeautomotive.com/sho...m-made-in-usa/

Everything installed...




Wind wings are from **********, they have the COBRA logo on the outside which adds a nice custom look. The Breeze mirrors attach perfectly to them.




One thing to look out for is making sure the door clears with the wind wing folded down. I left about 1/4" clearance from
the door which seemed to be about the correct install location. Chances are you will never have it this low but always good to make sure there would never be a chance of catching it on the door.



Sun visors installed, I did add a lock washer in between the mount and windshield to reduce the number of threads going into the windshield. My painter told me not to have more than 2.5 threads past the mount going into the frame. Apparently you can crack the windshield if these screws go too far into the frame. I did not want to take any chances.



Here is a pic of the washers installed, I picked them up at Ace hardware.

[JB in NOVA]

Fman, great job! You are almost ready to hit the road. Question: Where did you get your interior door panels, they look nice. Are they from Herb's? Are you happy with the quality and fit?