TNT - MK3 FFR Cobra Build Thread

[gbranham]

Looking good! Cooler weather coming to our part of the country this weekend!

Greg

[tnt_motorsports]

Well I spent some time in the garage the last two days after our summer trip to Canada to see family. I got the firewall support and under dash panel from Mike painted and installed. Today was parking brake handle and cables.


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[tnt_motorsports]

I continue to plug away on the Cobra. I've installed the fuel regulator to the firewall. I've also continued to sort through the dash wiring. I ordered some Billet push buttons tonight and will eagerly await their arrival.

[Mike.Bray]

You can order the Billet pushbuttons with no pigtails and he will ship you loose connectors and pins. Saves you from having to splice all those wires.

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[tnt_motorsports]

You can order the Billet pushbuttons with the no pigtails and he will ship you loose connectors and pins. Saves you from having to splice all those wires.

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Thanks Mike! I have emailed him to ask if he can do that. I appreciate your insight to save all the splices.

[Mike.Bray]

Thanks Mike! I have emailed him to ask if he can do that. I appreciate your insight to save all the splices.

My wife taught me to not be afraid to ask, they can pretty much only say yes or no. Or in her case she says "It's not your birthday"

[cv2065]

Thanks Mike! I have emailed him to ask if he can do that. I appreciate your insight to save all the splices.

I'm sure he will. The owner Nelson from BB is a really good guy. He'll answer any wiring questions that you have as well.

[tnt_motorsports]

Well the UPS man delivered my Speedhut gauges today. I can't wait to get my dashboard and wiring cleaned up.

I debated on the Autometer Ultra Lites but decided on these.

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[Blitzboy54]

I like those a lot.

[tnt_motorsports]

Well I didn't get to the dash this weekend. I decided to finish installing the trunk panels and adding cutouts for the fuel pump and sender. I'll take them back off soon and paint the necessary surfaces then rivet them in.

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[tnt_motorsports]

Great day in the garage today. I glued the vinyl on my dash and installed all the gauges and switches. Since my kit is almost 20 years old the backing had started to peel off the vinyl. I took a risk and pulled it off. I think it turned out pretty good.

Now onto wiring things up.

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[gbranham]

Looking great!

Greg

[tnt_motorsports]

Looking great!

Greg

Thanks Greg. It's coming along but almost time to put it in storage. I want to park my truck in the garage for winter. I'll probably put it away after Thanksgiving.

[tnt_motorsports]

Spent the weekend wiring up my dashboard. Switches, gauges and interior lights are pretty much done. It's coming along very nicely. It certainly is a rats nest of wiring I will need to organize. Next will be electronic power steering from 520 Speedworks and seat heaters.

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[tnt_motorsports]

Spent some time in the garage today working on the Cobra and watching the crazy Lions game. Unbelievable how that game went!

Anyway I got the wiring behind the dash cleaned up. It fits much better against the 3/4" tube. I also got the electric power steering from 520 Speedworks mocked up. I'll spend some time next weekend welding things up. Then I will work on that wiring.




Waiting on Black Friday for a decent parts order. Mostly drivetrain stuff like clutch, flywheel, bellhousing, transmission etc...



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[tnt_motorsports]

Well I had a little help around today so I had the boys and the boss help me organize the storage unit in preparation for the chassis. I ordered lots of Black Friday parts like wheels, bellhousing, flywheel, clutch, TKX transmission and a few other odds and ends. I managed to save about $1,000 today with the sales. That feels good!

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[tnt_motorsports]

Well Santa (FedEx) came early so I have my tires mounted and the car will go into storage tomorrow. I need my garage space back for my truck, 2012 2500 Ram Cummins. These Midwest winters play heck with it. Boy it wasn't happy this morning at 0F even with the block heater plugged in.

I will continue to procure parts for my spring push. My goal is to have a drivable car next summer.


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[TTimmy]

Great seeing the progress on this car! Real bummer that you need to put it away for winter. Maybe you can sneak over and work on it while in storage?!?

I feel like no matter how much space I have it is never quite enough. Lucky for me a friend of a friend just bought an old Kmart building not too far away … I can spread out a bit more.

I hope spring comes early for you!

[tnt_motorsports]

Well the car made it to storage this afternoon. Not too bad of an activity. I will procure parts now for spring after our 3 week trip to Florida at the end of next week.

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[tnt_motorsports]

Great news from Smeding Performance today! My engine was finished up on the dyno and will be headed my way very soon. I'm getting very excited to get this beast and bring my car home.
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https://youtube.com/shorts/txs2EQ0dj...Gkkq43vjiDCAuR

[Mike.Bray]

Smeding are great! You won't regret going with them.

[tnt_motorsports]

Smeding are great! You won't regret going with them.

Thanks Mike! They were great to work with and the price was better than what I could build my own for. I opted for the expert build with warranty at a better price.

[tnt_motorsports]

Well my engine arrived on Friday. It was nice because I had the day off so I didn't have to run home. The TForce driver was awesome and rolled it right into my garage!

I was busy until today, but got it put on the stands and started the install the Ram flywheel and QT bellhousing. I indicated the transmission mount and its 0.048" to the driverside. I have ordered the 0.021" Lakewood offset dowel pins. It sucks that it is off this far but I guess that is why they make the dowel pins. Now I wait for parts from Summit.

Anyone have advise on how to get the dowel pins out? I tried a punch from the back side and some taps with a ballpeen hammer. I also tried vise grips. I have spreyed them with PB Blaster to see if that frees them up. Tomorrow I will try twisting with vise grips or a pipe wrech.

I will probably bring the car home on Friday if the weather cooperates. If not, I have plenty of drivetrain assembly to do.


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[Mike.Bray]

You might need a dowel pin puller. They're not cheap, maybe you can rent one?

[tnt_motorsports]

You might need a dowel pin puller. They're not cheap, maybe you can rent one?

Thanks Mike! I'm going to check with O'Reilly Auto Parts to see if they have one.

[cv2065]

Thanks Mike! I'm going to check with O'Reilly Auto Parts to see if they have one.

My local didn't have one so I bought this. Worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006LUELJO...d_asin_title_7

[tnt_motorsports]

Thanks! I bought something similar on Amazon. It should be here on Wednesday, the same day the new dowels arrive.

[Mike.Bray]

Now I know where I can rent (borrow) one if I need it

[tnt_motorsports]

Now I know where I can rent (borrow) one if I need it

Well Mike the puller worked amazing. Amazon to the rescue for $60!

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[Mike.Bray]

Well Mike the puller worked amazing. Amazon to the rescue for $60!

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Great! I've used dowel pin pullers before and always had good success with them.

[Dash]

I tried everything (c-clamp, hammer, dowel puller, cursing, etc), but one of my dowel pins would not budge. I ended up buying a $10 pneumatic air hammer and it pushed it right out. Sorry I did not see this earlier. But for future reference.....

[Mike.Bray]

Those little tricks like dowel pin pullers can come in so handy. When I was about 14 I was tearing down a small engine and couldn't get the flywheel off. It was on a tapered fit to the crank and wouldn't budge no matter how hard I pried or pulled. My dad came out, probably to see why a 14 year old boy was cussing so much, and told me to hang on while he went to the toolbox. When he returned he had me put pressure with a couple of big screwdrivers and he gave the shaft a good whack with a hammer. Popped right off!. I never forgot that and have used it many, many times since then. Ball joints are a good example. I thought, and still do, that my father was a genius.

[gbranham]

Ah yes, Mike... a good whack with the BFH, a.k.a The Persuader can unstick a lot of things...

[Mike.Bray]

Ah yes, Mike... a good whack with the BFH, a.k.a The Persuader can unstick a lot of things...

Yes but it really wasn't that big of a hammer. At the time I thought it was witchcraft lol

[tnt_motorsports]

decent afternoon and evening in the garage. I got the offset dowels installed and my bellhousing dialed in to 0.005" which is awesome. It ended up better than I thought it would after my initial measurements and ordering of the offset dowels. Then I got the flywheel, clutch and bellhousing installed. I will take another stab at mounting the TKX tomorrow. I couldn't get it to align by myself, so I'll ask my son for some help.

Nice to have the tv in the garage... I watched the Blue Jays get smacked by the Twins, then Denver beat Wiscosin in the Frozen Four, and now watching #BP32 win the Illini 100 at Farmer City. I guess I'll switch to the WoO Sprints as I enjoy a night cap, Rum Ole Fashioned!

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[tnt_motorsports]

Another good day in the shop, or at least that is what I will tell the group here. Struggled a little bit with hardware and had multiple trips to Menards. Oh well, the transmission and starter are now mounted. Adapters for the oil pressure and water temperature are ordered. My son was a godsent that helped get the transmission mounted.

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[tnt_motorsports]

A somewhat productive weekend.

I started on Friday re-running wires for my fan and fuel pump. I did not realize the Sniper 2.0 PDM controlled those items, so I re-did the wiring for those. It is cleaner and helped eliminate a couple extra relays.

I spent Saturday morning putting the seat heaters in my FFR seats. Unfortunately they are the old fiberglass seats. They will do for now, but I will upgrade at some point to the metal frame seats. Overall the process was simple and didn't take too long. I finished up the passenger seat today after our son left.

Today I welded up the 520 Speedworks steering bracket and then welded it into the frame. I hit it with the vintage high temp black rattle can. I still need to weld the steering shaft. I forgot to do that today. It is currently just tacked.

I also grabbed 4 gallons of 93 octane fuel from the Speedway gas station when I was there filling my sons Jeep up. I'm getting close to dropping in the engine, so I figured it would be incentive to keep moving.

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[tnt_motorsports]

a few more pictures of my seat work

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[tnt_motorsports]

Overall great night in the garage! I got the engine assembly installed. It was great to have the help of my son and wife! Not too far away now from a first start. I had some struggles lining up the transmission bracket. The TKX was sitting on top of the bracket. A little prybar action between the top cover and the 3/4" frame in the driveshaft tunnel fixed it. Eveyrthing is in and tight now.


Tomorrow is some gardening and then my wife said I can play car after I get my chores done, lol!

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[tnt_motorsports]

Had an ok day in the garage today. The yardwork and garden took longer than anticipated so that cut into my time. Oh well, if the boss ain't happy, no body is happy!

Anyway, battery cables are run, secured and ready to connect to the battery. Starter is wired and and ready to connect to the dash wiring. Amazon delivered these new dollies that will help make moving the chassis around easier. Amazon also delivered my Innova timing light.

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