Building a roadster (10335) w/ wife and step son. DS foot box and starting fuel sys

[Springsyeti]

My wife always dreamed of having a Cobra and my step-son is homeschooled and was looking for a project so it was decided that we would build a car. I have some mechanical experience with motorcycles and rebuilding 2 stroke motors but this is going to be a whole different animal. This experience may test our bonds a bit. We ordered the complete kit with a few extras and will be mounting a 427 engine.

I have a decent collection of tools but there will need to be additions to the collection as the build progresses. We already have a motor lift but would would like some suggestions on tools that I should be looking at before the kit arrives the first week of April?

I will be posting pics and updates as the build progresses.

In a the booming voice of a wrestling announcer - "Three enter the shop, which one will survive to drive the roadster away!?"


Oh, we are in NE Colorado Springs if anyone would like to come and watch, learn or offer commentary.

[edwardb]

Congrats on your upcoming build. Lots of threads on the topic. This is one of the more recent ones: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...Building-a-FFR. Not sure if it's mentioned there, but the build manual has a list of required tools as well. If you don't have one already, for $10 you can download an electronic copy. Not sure you'll get a paper manual with your kit delivery. Seems to be an issue with paper and printing as I understand. May go all electronic.

[GoDadGo]

Welcome Aboard!!!

A good set of basic tools plus Clecos, lots of Clecos will serve you well.
Also, any advice you get from Edwardb is 100% worth taking.
Jeff Kleiner & 65 Cobra Dude (Henry R.) are also experts.

Again, Welcome Aboard!

[hineas]

GoDadGo is being modest. His advice is always good too (especially if you want to go to the dark side and get a Chevy motor).

Building one of these cars is an amazing experience. If you are comfortable rebuilding a 2 stroke motor, you should have no problems with this kit.

As GoDadGo said, there is a list in the build manual. I highly recommend that you get the manual and read through it before you get the kit. This will help familiarize you with the process.

Here is the basic list of tools per the manual:

1) SAE and metric socket and wrench set.

I recommend having 1/2", 3/8", and 1/4" drive ratchets with a full set of sockets. You also need various lengths of extensions. I ended up buying the Dewalt set. It is a little pricey but was really nice and had everything I needed.

2) Full set of screwdrivers.

3) standard hex key set.

4) 4.5 inch long nose pliers.

5) Pop Rivet tool with 1/8" and 3/16" heads. Some people swear by their air rivet gun, some people hate them and do it all with a manual rivet tool.

6) Drill and bits

7) Caulk gun

8) 24 oz plastic dead blow hammer. We used this a lot and I recommend one.

9) Utility knife

10) Wire stripper/crimping tool

11) 7/8, 1 1/4", and 2 1/4" hole saws for body cutouts

12) Bench top vice. We used this a ton. Definitely a necessity.

13) Work bench. This was also super useful. We didn't have one but we built two of them. We also used the crate for the engine as a work bench for a 3rd one.

14) Engine Hoist

15) tape measure and T-square

16) hydraulic floor jack. Get a low profile one. We bought ours at Harbor Freight. Get the lowest profile one you can. The low profile one can barely fit it between the front tires and pipes.

17) 4 jack stands

18) Hack Saw. We found that a Jig saw with hack saw blades and a 4.5" grinder with cutting wheel was better.

19) Torque wrench. We ended up getting 3. We needed one for low torque because we swapped out our valve covers, and the bolts are 7 ft lbs. The spindle nuts are 250 ft lbs. Many people just borrow the high torque one from auto zone.

20) Jig saw for body cut outs. We ended up liking the Dremel with a grinding wheel better. We also bought an electric orbital sander.

21) fuel/brake line bender.

22) Clecos. THESE ARE AMAZING! We bought a kit of 40 and it was enough for us. Some people use more.

33) snap ring pliers. We only used these on the coil over assembly. You could probably painfully make due with pliers, but these are cheap.

34) Drill punch. You drill a lot of holes.

[facultyofmusic]

My wife always dreamed of having a Cobra

Your wife is awesome.

Excited to follow along with your build! It's a real treat to have your family do it with you. I hope y'all enjoy the build, and more importantly, the laughs, cusses, and memories you share when you put something on backwards and have to take it back off again. :P

[KDubU]

That is awesome! Congrats on making the decision….or your wife making it.

[Springsyeti]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions and I will get the manual ordered and downloaded. I watched TacoJoe's video and Clecos are on the list to buy. Plus the rivet gun. I have everything else on the list @hineas provided. Now to get the cabinets I am building painted and installed so there is room!

[John Ibele]

Welcome to the fun, and thanks in advance for sharing your experience in a build thread. You're going to have a great time, and have all help you need through this forum. Just ask away ... but also get used to the "what is my question site:thefactoryfiveforum.com" google search string. You'll be using it a lot! Cheers, John

[Jeff Kleiner]

Looking forward to following along! Have fun

Jeff

[460.465USMC]

Welcome aboard! You'll really like the extra set of hands with your wife and step-son there to help. I'm flying solo and it's pretty tricky at times.

Oh, and about which tools you should buy...um, well, I'm into my project for almost 1.5 years and still learning how hard it is to say no. Figured I had a decent set to start, but discovered a number of tools that are so helpful. I see Edwardb provided a link above to assist with recommendations.

Do you have a delivery date yet?

[JB in NOVA]

Welcome aboard! It's going to be a great adventure.

[Springsyeti]

Update: Frame dolly and delivery!!

Cost to Date: $37,393
Hours: 10.5 - 3 of us building the frame dolly. This is a homeschool project and is my instruction to my wife and step-son in tools, measuring, etc.

Here is what we ordered for our kit:
- MKIV Roadster Complete kit w/ Powdercoated Chassis
- Hydraulic Clutch
- Body cut-outs
- Leather
- Power steering
- 17" Halibrand Style Wheel/Tire package
- Wind wings
- Wiper kit
- Vinyl Dask w/ Glove Box
- Chrome roll Bar
- Red Wildwood brakes
- Stainless headers
- IRS

Other Suppliers
- Blueprint EFI 427
- Turn signal mod
- Front swaybar
- There will be more..

When does a build officially start - ordering, garage prep, delivery? Does it matter? lol..

There have been waves of excitement. The first wave was when we made the decision to build one and then going down the order and deciding on all the options. Let's do this! Order place 1.Sep.21 Shortly after placing the order with the deposit we received the order summary and folder. Then crickets until February telling us our completion date of 19.Mar.22, yes! I requested a review of the order with a tech just to ensure everything we ordered was comparable and to ensure everything needed was ordered. The response from the administrative assistant was basically, your order was placed and it will all come to you and if there are issues we will sort it out later. This didn't sit right so I placed a call and a tech called me back in a few days and the order was reviewed. There were a few issues - I ordered the wrong engine configuration and a few other small things. One was the rear end and we decided to upgrade to IRS with Wildwood brakes. We are already going down the rabbit hole so go all the way. The changes did not affect the completion date and Stewart was contacted for shipping.

I had a motorcycle trip to down the Baja peninsula planned so I would not be home when I thought the delivery would come but that wouldn't be an issue because the kit wouldn't be picked up for about a month after completion. Final delivery date, Easter morning. Thank you Easter Bunny!

Time to get the garage ready and make room. The first thing was build a frame dolly. My wife and step-son do not have much experience in the shop working with wood or tools. I met my wife just over 8 years ago and never had children of my own. I went through the traditional school system and was a firefighter/paramedic/RN for 30 years. It has taken time for me to adjust to the homeschooling and unschooling education style. Especially when the children are already adolescents. I was used to her is x and do it. You did it wrong, ruler across the knuckles sort of the thing or 50 pushups when teaching firefighters. Needless to say there were a few issues when I was involved in some homeschool projects early in our marriage and I wanted building this car to be an experience that was fun for all of us and one that Max would look back on with fond memories. Plus, I am a step-dad and that adds another dynamic.

Ok. Let's get going. I do some wood working and had some scrap lying around but needed to purchase the casters, 4x8 and 2x6. Those soft grey rubber casters from a big box store will not work. The weight of the frame will compress and make it difficult to roll around. Some packing material was repurposed for the padding since I tossed the extra carpet that was lying around for years during a cleaning and thinking "we will never need this".



Eric (Stewart Driver) showed up right on time at 0700 on Easter Sunday.


There is no way to get a tractor trailer up our driveway and I figured we would load everything on the trailer but Eric mentioned we would pull the cart with the body and frame or use a vehicle to tow it. Tractor to the rescue.


The boxes were loaded onto our trailer and everything placed in the garage.


Now we are really excited!


We didn't build a body buck and will hang the body from the ceiling. Seems like people are half and half on the threads and no issues have been reported by those that didn't build one and hung the body. A quick review of the inventory sheet and some missing things are wheels and some suspension parts. We have plenty to do in the mean time but now it really begins!

I will edit in a bit to get the pics sorted! DOH

[JeffP]

Congrats on delivery!! Now that you have the chassis the chassis number is under the steering wheel. I think the number you put in your title is typically your order number.

A bit of experience on hanging the body - I hung mine with two 2x4's run through the wheel wells and pulleys hanging it from the ceiling. After less than a month I noticed the rear end sagging quite a bit with this minimal support. I ended up building a modified body buck per the manual but shorted to just the height of the body and then attached the pullys to it. The body is now much better supported through out and no sagging. Cost of a sheet of plywood and a few 2x4's.

[CaptB]

[QUOTE=
Other Suppliers
- Blueprint EFI 427
[/QUOTE]

What was the timeline provided by BluePrint on the 427?

[Springsyeti]

What was the timeline provided by BluePrint on the 427?

Estimated delivery is 9-12 months or more! They are waiting on Dart for blocks but this could change tomorrow. I should have contacted them when the kit was ordered in Sept. We went with the Stage I motor 523hp 504ft/lb of torque with power steering and alternator. Also painted Ford blue. I will update the chassis number and thank you for pointing that out @JeffP, plus your experience with hanging the body. We will get the body buck built today.

[CABulldog]

Estimated delivery is 9-12 months or more! They are waiting on Dart for blocks but this could change tomorrow. I should have contacted them when the kit was ordered in Sept. We went with the Stage I motor 523hp 504ft/lb of torque with power steering and alternator. Also painted Ford blue. I will update the chassis number and thank you for pointing that out @JeffP, plus your experience with hanging the body. We will get the body buck built today.

When did you place the order, I order my 347 a few months ago and that had a long wait on it as well, can't remember exactly how long.

[Ted G]

Welcome aboard! Look forward to watching another sister be built (I'm 10333) and got my delivery a week before yours.

Just a note on DART blocks. I am told they are now Chinese owned and China sourced... I was also doing a DART, but once this was known, my builder and I chose to go with a Ford Racing block instead.

Good luck with the build and I'll surely be following along.

Ted

[Springsyeti]

When did you place the order, I order my 347 a few months ago and that had a long wait on it as well, can't remember exactly how long.

I ordered it a couple days ago.. Sadly.

[Springsyeti]

Welcome aboard! Look forward to watching another sister be built (I'm 10333) and got my delivery a week before yours.

Just a note on DART blocks. I am told they are now Chinese owned and China sourced... I was also doing a DART, but once this was known, my builder and I chose to go with a Ford Racing block instead.

Good luck with the build and I'll surely be following along.

Ted

Thank you for the information. I subscribed to your thread awhile back and looking to add many of your additions from other suppliers. Race to completion! LOL

[JeffP]

Thank you for the information. I subscribed to your thread awhile back and looking to add many of your additions from other suppliers. Race to completion! LOL

I'm 10315, and already took it for a spin down the street.

[Springsyeti]

I'm 10315, and already took it for a spin down the street.

Damn!!! You win for sure..

[Blitzboy54]

Congratulations and welcome aboard. Incidentally Eric was my delivery driver as well

[Springsyeti]

Cost to date: No change

Hours: Body Buck - 2 hours
Inventory - 4.5 hours
Front Suspension work - 3.5
Total to date: 20.5 hrs

How does that saying go? Life gets happens..

Two weeks have flown by and it didn't seem like too much progress was made on the car. But life happened. My wife was recently diagnosed with what we thought was MS but after seeing a neurologist on Monday it appears she has some form of a rare demyelination disease. This threw us for a loop and some family time was needed with all of us.

On to the build progress.. With some comments from others we did build the body buck and hung the body after getting if off the frame. The body does seem to flex a bit when lifted and we feel more comfortable with it resting on the body buck and not just hanging from the fenders. Yes, we know others did it without issue but our luck we would be the ones where the body looked like a potato chip after hanging from the ceiling. While drilling holes for the kayak lift I put the drill bit through the radiant floor heat pex so there goes a couple hours of running to Home Depot for parts and then fixing the pex. Tape, paint and texture will have to wait for the body to come off the ceiling before that additional project is completed and added to the list of "I will get to that later".

While doing the inventory it appeared there were quite a few things not shipped and we thought it won't impact us too much because there is a lot to build. Once we got going the missing parts are pretty integral and we will be jumping around the manual a bit. Dave with Factory Five has been awesome and the parts I found to be missing were shipped out right away and should be here tomorrow. Unfortunately the parts not shipped seem to be delayed. The big things not in our shipment we will receive that will impact us right away are:

- Adjustable Front upper control arm assemblies
- Outside rear upper bushings
- Deformed flanged locknuts
- Rod End RH thread
- Rear shock springs
- Front spindle bolts

We also have don't have a ship date for the Wilwood calipers and rotors. I will give Wilwood a call tomorrow and see if I can get any information from them. On to what we did.

The F panels were cleaned and hit with a scotch-brite pad and coated with Shark Skin after drilling. Then siliconed and riveted into place.



We have the parts for the front lower arms and installed them but then ran into an issue with one of the front shocks. The plastic dust cover wasn't sitting all the way down on one of the shock and it appears a plastic holder was crushed during assembly and will not hold if flush against the shock. Pictures taken and sent off to Factory Five to see what a tech thinks. My feeling is it should be replaced.



I was able to get into the shop today and I figured I should be able to get the IRS put together and installed. Well... I got to work on drilling and cutting the spindles. The sawzall lasted less than a second and I switched to the angle grinder and cutting wheel. Cleaned the cut surface with flap disc and then deburred the 5/8" holes drilled earlier. I double checked the manual and looked a couple threads before cutting up the new spindles just to make sure. Started to install the bushings for the rear and realized the rear upper were missing but prepped the center section with the 5/8" drill bit and deburred the holes. As I was chasing the front mounts I remembered people talking about almost breaking their wrist when the drill bit would catch. Slow and easy got it done without injury.

The studs came out pretty easy but I don't have the lug nuts and need to get one and a washer to install the new ones. The lower control and toe adjustment arms were next on the list. I was able to get one lower arm complete but the missing deformed nuts (insert your own joke here) kept the other one from being completed. The RH thread rod end and linkage adjusters are also missing and unable to install.



Time flies and it doesn't seem like much was completed in the hours spent out there.



The lack of parts has us stymied on the front and rear suspension assembly I didn't realize what all the parts noted missing were until we started putting things together. While waiting I will get the front roll bar ordered and the modified turn signal. If anyone has other suggestions on what to add or modify please chime in.

[edwardb]

...The studs came out pretty easy but I don't have the lug nuts and need to get one and a washer to install the new ones...

If anyone has other suggestions on what to add or modify please chime in.

Sorry to hear about your wife's diagnosis. Retirement and getting older has seen several health challenges for both my wife and I. We're thankful for expert health care. But still not easy. My best to both of you. Hang in there.

Do yourself and favor and don't use your kit's lug nuts to install those studs. They stand a good chance of getting damaged or at least chewed up a bit. Go to your local well stocked hardware store, e.g. Ace or Do-It-Best, and buy a grade 8 hardened 1/2 x 20 nut and a couple hardened washers. Use those instead. Also helps to put some chassis grease or something similar on the washers.

As far as working around missing suspension parts, should be lots that you can do. Obviously will depend on your build speed. But there's usually plenty to keep you busy as backordered parts arrive. Hang the suspension parts you have. Looks like you have all or most of the IRS parts. Add the missing nuts later. I've even used temporary bolts just slipped into place if those were missing. Then replaced when the parts arrive. You can drill and cleco most/all the aluminum panels. I wouldn't rivet anything except the F-panels until you're further along. Prep and mock up the gas tank if you have it. Work on routing for fuel lines, brake lines, and electrical harness. Without experience, I would tie any of that down until you have the suspensions fully installed and all the panels at least cleco'd in place. Assemble and prep the e-brake handle. Work on the instrument panel. Probably more but that should keep you busy. Good luck and have fun with it.

[Springsyeti]

Sorry to hear about your wife's diagnosis. Retirement and getting older has seen several health challenges for both my wife and I. We're thankful for expert health care. But still not easy. My best to both of you. Hang in there.

Do yourself and favor and don't use your kit's lug nuts to install those studs. They stand a good chance of getting damaged or at least chewed up a bit. Go to your local well stocked hardware store, e.g. Ace or Do-It-Best, and buy a grade 8 hardened 1/2 x 20 nut and a couple hardened washers. Use those instead. Also helps to put some chassis grease or something similar on the washers.

As far as working around missing suspension parts, should be lots that you can do. Obviously will depend on your build speed. But there's usually plenty to keep you busy as backordered parts arrive. Hang the suspension parts you have. Looks like you have all or most of the IRS parts. Add the missing nuts later. I've even used temporary bolts just slipped into place if those were missing.

Thank you for the thoughts and suggestions. There is plenty to do and as many others have said, you can never have too many cleco's and I am sure we will eat up the 100 we have quickly so I will get more ordered.

[CABulldog]

Thank you for the thoughts and suggestions. There is plenty to do and as many others have said, you can never have too many cleco's and I am sure we will eat up the 100 we have quickly so I will get more ordered.

Sorry to hear about your wife, I know how an unexpected diagnosis can turn your life upside down, It was about a couple of months ago when my wife was diagnosed with cancer that turned my life upside down and has led to little time to work on the kit I recently got as well. Hopefully your wife will be well again soon and you can enjoy spending time with your family and your project.

As for the clecos I have started with my alumminium panels I had about 250 clecos on hand and I just place an order for 50 more as I think I will need them.

[Jim Frahm]

I guess I wasn't the only one that had to tow my kit up a long gravel driveway. I got about half way there and one of the dolly tires blew out. Talk about a pucker moment.

Anyway, enjoy the build!

Jim

[Ted G]

I'm in the same boat with my build #10333. I have put together what I could (partial front suspension) and decided to put the pedal box together and run my brake and fuel lines before aluminum goes on.

Happy Building!

Ted

[Springsyeti]

Sorry to hear about your wife, I know how an unexpected diagnosis can turn your life upside down, It was about a couple of months ago when my wife was diagnosed with cancer that turned my life upside down and has led to little time to work on the kit I recently got as well. Hopefully your wife will be well again soon and you can enjoy spending time with your family and your project.

As for the clecos I have started with my alumminium panels I had about 250 clecos on hand and I just place an order for 50 more as I think I will need them.

Thank you for the words CABulldog and I hope wife responds well to treatment and you can enjoy the car together also!

On with the build..

Building this car with my step-son was meant to show him that it is ok to make mistakes and for him to see that I make them. Well I made a pretty good one this wd also put my foot in my mouth. Earlier we were installing the lower arms and he just gave the picture of the installed lower a quick glance and then proceeded to start the installation. I noticed he didn't fully read the instructions and left out the washer spacers where they mount to the frame and stressed the importance of fully reading the instructions of what we are installing before proceeding. It wasn't a big deal and nothing was tightened down and we installed the washers and fixed this minor issue.

If only he was there to watch over me later on.

The adjustable upper control arms arrived and we got busy milling the adjusting tube and ran into and issue with some spacers that did not fit over the bolt. We have taken the time to deburr the sleeves and spacers for better fitment but one set still would not fit over the bolt after deburring and needed a bit of lathe work.




Max torqued everything to spec on the shocks while I put the uppers back together and aligned them to the manual. We were done for that day and the next day he had to work so I went out and was anxious to get the front suspension in and started working. I looked at the picture of the spindles in the build manual and stopped at "they are labeled DSS for drivers side and PSS for passenger side". Yep.. You know what I did. Went ahead and installed the uppers and spindles, then greased all the fittings. Something didn't look right. I know the calipers need to attach to the spindle but oh well. Have you ever navigated with a map and compass? While navigating you made the map fit your idea of what the area should look like? This is what I did in this instance. This must be right, it is stamped DSS and just put both sides together. This is what your spindle should not look like.



The people on the forum here are awesome! People were gentle on me when I posted that picture and was flatly told they are backwards. Papa even commented that they are swapped from the truck kit. I was incensed and thought they should have put that in the manual!! They did. I didn't read the whole section on installing the spindles. It took me a moment to figure out how to separate everything after they were torqued down after removing the castle nuts. Yes there is a tool for this but I do not have it but I do have a bottle jack and was able to get them separated from the uppers.



I called Max in and showed him my mistake and how I did not read the manual all the way. I made a huge mistake but we could fix it. While removing the spindle from one lower I tore a grease boot. Max was watching me and suggested just removing the lower arms and swapping them. Brilliant! I had been out in the garage jacking things up for a couple of days and my wife suggested stopping and taking a day to regroup so I did. The next day the front suspension was reinstalled and the power steering rack also installed. Along with a replacement boot from Summit Racing because no one has one in stock without the whole ball joint. But this is what it should look like.



We also removed the installed aluminum panels and received the correct L rear upper control arm and installed it with the nuts ordered from McMaster Carr. I picked up the bolts and nuts needed to mount the steering linkage to the spindles at Ace today because our rotors should be arriving from Wilwood this coming week and wanted to get the hubs mounted in preparation. Phew.. A lot of wasted time but it was well spent with the family in the garage and for that I am thankful.

[Jeff Kleiner]

A quick heads up before you install the steering arms—they need to be oriented so that the bend in the arm angles them outward and so that the wide end of the tapered hole is down. The left and right (or driver’s side passenger side) markings relate to the rear steer hot rod suspension which is opposite of the front steer roadsters and Coupes. I haven’t looked st a manual for a while so can’t say for sure whether it’s covered.

Jeff

[BadAsp427]

Your build and the documentation you are doing is really good. I really like the way you are willing to express your "learning curve"

[JB in NOVA]

The people on the forum here are awesome! People were gentle on me when I posted that picture and was flatly told they are backwards. Papa even commented that they are swapped from the truck kit. I was incensed and thought they should have put that in the manual!! They did. I didn't read the whole section on installing the spindles.

I got a laugh out of this. I made lots of mistakes during my build, but 95% of the time when I went back and re-read the instructions I realized that I had either read them incorrectly or inadvertently skipped something. To be fair, there are a few legitimate errors in the instructions, but not that many. More often (from my experience), it was a "reading comprehension" issue. Your build is looking great, keep it up!

[Serenity]

Just wanted to check-in and see how the build is coming.

[Springsyeti]

Just wanted to check-in and see how the build is coming.

Part 1.

Thank you for checking in Serenity. It has been awhile since I updated this thread or looked at it. Summer is here and I was distracted with other projects, travel, family, blah blah blah.. Oh, waiting on parts also. There has been work the past couple of months, just not a lot. There was a lot of work, it was just redoing and fixing. This update is going to be over a couple posts because I received an error message that my post has 15 pictures and 7 is the max.

One task checked off was the rest of the front suspension and steering parts arrived. Check that off the to do list. I did not notice the taper in steering control arm and had to take them off and reinstall.



Factory Five couldn't tell me when they would be shipping the Wilwood brakes and BPE had further delays on the motor. I called Forte about a motor and he mentioned that he had brake kits also. Canceled the brake kit from Factory Five and the motor from BPE. A front sway bar was also added to the order from Forte, more on that later.

The wheels arrived and we can't wait to get to go cart stage. Hopefully it will be before snow flies.



With the help of Ace Hardware and McMaster Carr the missing bolts, nuts and washers were acquired to get the IRS finished up.



The brakes arrived and I realized I didn't have spline sockets needed to put the hat and rotor together. I didn't know at the time they were spline and bought an external Torx socket set. Not the same. Proper tools acquired and time to get the parts put together. Paige and Max received a crash course in safety wiring. A mother and son bonding moment over bloody fingers. Oh yeah. I took a bolt with me to make sure I bought the correct socket set, forgot I put the bolt in the pocket of my shirt and ordered another set of bolts. Then found the bolt weeks later when I put the shirt on. So I if anyone looses a bolt or two and needs them, let me know.



All installed and man they look sexy!





Question on the rear E brake. Should there be a circlip where the cable enters the bracket or is it just held by tension? The manual does not detail using a clip but it seems odd to have the cable enter from the bottom and not have anything hold it. There is a groove machined into the cable end like there should be a retaining clip.

[Springsyeti]

Part. 2

On to the easy part, installing the braided brake lines. Yeah, right. The brake line kit received with the brakes didn't have a fitting for the caliper so I thought I needed to use the Factory Five supplied line and banjo bolt. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS! I am well trained in F@#%^&G SH!T up. The kit I received.



What happens when you try to install an aluminum banjo bolt of the wrong specs. It started in OK and but became tighter as it was almost fully in and only needed to go in another half a turn then... Fill in the expletives.



The reality that something is wrong was evident. I looked at another build thread and noticed an angled fitting coming out of the caliper, a part I did not have. I called Wilwood and they directed me to the brake line kit to use on their site and that there should be the fitting I saw in the other build. They also told me the caliper uses tapered threading that will not seal with the banjo bolt I tried to use. The part number on their site matches the one I have, the parts in my kit were incorrect. Pictures sent to their customer service and the proper fitting are on the way. This is what I should have received.



Time to correct this **** show. Caliper removed and split, piston pushed out and time to make use of the tap and die set. Thankfully I bought the large Gearwrench tap and tie set because it had the tapered tap I needed to clean up the threads.



I was hoping for a quick hour or two in the shop when I opened the box for the front sway bar. Not too many parts and looks like it should just bolt right up. No instructions were included and a forum search told me others didn't receive instructions and just used the pictures from the Forte website. My issue was that I couldn't get the brackets for the brackets to line up on the inside of the frame member to allow holes to be drilled. It seemed the mounting bracket needed to be mounted outside to fit. I emailed some pics to Mike and he said to mount to the outside. Painted up the brackets and bolts, drilled holes in the frame and when I went to install the sway bar the bushing hits the rounded part of the frame.



Quick trip to the table saw to rabbit out the bushing and keep it from binding. Probably not needed but it seemed like a good idea to alleviate the pressure.



Problem solved and time to get this installed. What is this? The sway bar will not align with the linkage to the front suspension.

[Springsyeti]

Part 3.

There isn't enough adjustment in the bushing bracket, there needs to be more adjustment in the angle iron. Take it all apart and mill a 1/2" slot for adjustment.



Milled, repainted and back together. So much for a quick car project.



Well. Did you enjoy the circus? All of this happened over the past couple months, not just this week. LOL. Keep popping the popcorn because there is more to come. Just about all of our parts are in now and I want to get cranking on this thing. There is still a bit more of a wait on the motor but Mike is going to send the hydraulic clutch and fuel system parts so I can get that installed. Along with everything else to get it to go-cart stage when the motor arrives. Hopefully before snow really hits and we can't get it out of the driveway. We can't wait for that first turn of the key.

Parts/mods to do/order: (please suggest if not on my list)
- get the parts for the e-brake mod
- order sound/temp deadening material
- fand shroud
- order battery relocation kit
- ???

[egchewy79]

I always love it when a 1 hr project turns into an all day affair. Usually it revolves around a bolt that gets over-torqued and snaps off.
If you're ordering Breeze's fan shroud and battery boxx, also consider the upper and lower rad mounts. Might as well save on shipping. Makes life a lot easier, especially if you're using the replicaparts one piece nose aluminum, as you can easily dial in the correct radiator angle with the upper breeze hinge. I tried to home brew a lower mount, but at the end of the day it was cheaper/easier to get Mark's product. You have some tools and skills, so with some scrap material, you could make your own for cheaper.

[Mike.Bray]

If you're going to run a front sway bar be sure and run one on the rear also. These cars have a slight understeer in stock configuration and adding a sway bar to the front will increase the understeer so it's making a moderately bad handling characteristic worse.

[460.465USMC]

Question on the rear E brake. Should there be a circlip where the cable enters the bracket or is it just held by tension? The manual does not detail using a clip but it seems odd to have the cable enter from the bottom and not have anything hold it. There is a groove machined into the cable end like there should be a retaining clip.

Hi Greg. The Wilwood brakes do look great!

I did not receive an extra clip with my Wilwood rear brake/ebrake kit I ordered from F5. I was playing with the ebrake adjustment the other day, and will say once in there, it does not want to come out. Here's how it looks on mine:

[edwardb]

The Wilwood e-brake cables don't include or need a circlip at the caliper. They stay in just fine. Have installed those brakes on a couple builds and driven them a lot of miles over several years each. No issues.

Your Wilwood flex line kits included with you select the Wilwood option should have included the angled Wilwood 220-6412 1/8-27 NPT fittings. As in your info from Wilwood's site. Mine did every time I've used the optional Wilwood brakes. If missing, that's on Wilwood. I know it's maybe no intuitive, and of course hindsight is 20-20, but with the optional Wilwood brakes you don't use the standard fittings from the kit.

Looks like you have the Forte front sway bar sorted out. A little unfortunate design and timing though. For a number of years now Factory Five has been installing a bracket on the Roadster chassis for a front sway bar. That's what the two holes are behind the tie-down. Their version bolts right up. Looks like the Forte one is designed for the past when there wasn't a mounting bracket from the factory.