Damien's MK 4 Coyote Build

[4.6 litre]

Welcome to my MK 4 Coyote Build Thread. After I took my RIF this past January, I had two weeks to develop an order for the Factory Five (F5) Winter 50/50 sale. Not knowing anything about this process, I did as much investigating as possible to get an order in before the end of January. It was chaotic to say the least. And of course, being a novice, I made mistakes in placing the order.

My initial plan was pretty simple. Order an MK 4 Complete Kit from F5 and have Mike Forte provide me with the powertrain and the rear end.

My Build is a Mark 4, 5.0L 420HP Coyote, 8.8”, 3.55 Diff, IRS, Custom Coyote SS Headers, 17” 5-lug Halibrand wheels, upgraded front and rear Wilwood brakes. No PS or PB at the present time but this may change.

For the time being, expected additions and modification to be ordered are:
Hydraulic clutch
TKO 600 transmission with mid-shifter and spacers
Thompson turn signals
Breeze engine compartment battery box
Accelerator, Clutch and Dead Pedal mod.
Cockpit and trunk heat and sound insulation
Powder coated panels
Tunes
Foot Box vents

The Coyote engine and the ECU arrived yesterday. The MK 4 Complete kit will be delivered Monday, June 23rd. The body buck will be suspended from the garage ceiling.

Photos to follow after Monday.

[2bking]

Congratulations! I'm looking forward to following your build thread

[carlewms]

Congratulations...now the fun will really start. Carl

[4.6 litre]

Thanks Guys,

I've been over your build threads many times. All the build threads on the forum have been a tremendous help. I'd be lost without them. I'm really looking forward to the build.

My wife and I will be celebrating our Build this weekend while attending the annual Rock the South concert featuring Charlie Daniels, Lynyrd Skinner and Phil Robertson. I've only lived in Alabama for the past 4 years. Before that I spend 23 years in San Diego building the Atlas rocket product line. Before every launch all the launch ops personnel would sign off with, Go Atlas, Go Centaur. I guess now, it’s Go Coyote. It probably should have been Go Cobra but we know what kind of trouble that can get you into when referring to a F5 roadster.

Regards,

[4.6 litre]

Steve is 45 minutes outbound and hauling.

Damien

[4.6 litre]

Skinner – Skynyrd, see what happens when you use spell check. I’m doing my best to save face. BTW, they were awesome.

Complete kit came today. Here are some photographs:















Time to start the inventory.

[4.6 litre]

Finally the Buck is up. Way overdue. Can I get a level?

[2bking]

Well, the waiting stress is over and now the fun begins. I see that Coyote peeking out of the crate!

[4.6 litre]

Thanks,

It's now onto bigger and better things.

[superjoe]

Damien, my plan is also order a complete kit and ask Mike Forte for the powertrain and rear end. But I saw you also listed some parts like Hydraulic clutch, Thompson turn signals etc. Are these things needed for the build or it is some extra feature you want. Since I assume besides the engine/transmission/rear end and such as wheels tires, complete kit shall have everything needed as the manual said. Thank you.

[4.6 litre]

I've been away from this Thread for a while because I didn't want to clutter it up with preparatory car details.

Below is a photo of the front LCA brackets with the control arm inserted. It’s a nice fit.

0623151013a_resized_zpsa0b235b9.jpg

Below is a photo of the rear LCA bracket with the control arm inserted and a spacer inserted in the rear bushing on the right. There is still a large gap between the between the front bushing and the bracket.

0623151013a_resized_zpsa0b235b9.jpg

Per the Manual “The rear bushing mount on the chassis is wider to be able to accept OEM arms so use the large shim washers provided to take up the extra space.”

Q1) Am I using the shims correctly?

Q2) Should I insert an extra shim in the rear LCA bracket to take up the gap or just torque it down as is?

Regards,

Damien

[2bking]

Hi Damien, welcome back. I hope you can find more build time now and make some progress. The pictures are identical so the space you are asking about isn't shown. I think if the space is less than a shim or washer thickness, tighten the bolt to close up the gap.

[4.6 litre]

Page 39 of the Assembly Manual addresses adjusting the Control Arm with the following instructions.

"Slightly loosen the three pivot bolts using a ⅝ and 11/16” wrench.
Loosen the jam nuts on both ends of each adjusting tubes using a 1⅛ wrench. Turn the adjusting tubes to lengthen or shorten the arm.
After you have adjusted the arm to the desired length, tighten down the jam nuts against the adjusting tubes, and then tighten each of the three pivot bolts"(emphasis mine).

Q. What is the criteria for determining the desired arm length?

Thanks,

Damien

[2bking]

Page 39 of the Assembly Manual addresses adjusting the Control Arm with the following instructions.

"Slightly loosen the three pivot bolts using a ⅝ and 11/16” wrench.
Loosen the jam nuts on both ends of each adjusting tubes using a 1⅛ wrench. Turn the adjusting tubes to lengthen or shorten the arm.
After you have adjusted the arm to the desired length, tighten down the jam nuts against the adjusting tubes, and then tighten each of the three pivot bolts"(emphasis mine).

Q. What is the criteria for determining the desired arm length?

Thanks,

Damien

The adjusting tubes set the caster and camber. For now it doesn't matter unless you have power steering and may want to check out the adjustment range in case you need to modify some of the parts. But caster is difficult to measure without alignment tools.

[4.6 litre]

Thanks King.

I will be installing PS soon. I am going to purchase it from Mike Forte. Right now I need to purchase the famous 32 mm socket.

I'll post some photos when I finish the front suspension.

Damien

[4.6 litre]

Just reading Carl Williams thread, I need a 36 mm socket.

Thanks Carl

[carlewms]

Damien,

BTW I found mine at an auction I believe.

I just decided to change from manual to power steering. What setup can Mike provide?

[4.6 litre]

Carl,

2bking sent me some information on rebuilt units so I haven't talked to Mike Forte yet. After I do I will post information. Having ball joint issues now.

Regards,

Damien

[4.6 litre]

Seating the ball joint with the spindle is suppose to be a simple task which everyone is suppose to know how to do. How do I know this is a problem? Because I can't torque the castle nut on the lower control arm. The castle nut and the ball joint shaft are rotating together. I was told to pull the spindle toward myseft so the spindle and ball joint will lock together allowing me to torque the castle nut. Didn't work for me. Below is a photo of the tilted ball joint.



Can anyone help me solve this problem?

Thanks,

Damien

[2bking]

You can try hitting the spindle with a hammer to drive it down the taper (in some place a small dent won't matter) but the better way is to use an impact driver to tighten the nut.

[4.6 litre]

If you have installed ball joints with an impact drive before then this is not a difficult task.

Mevotech's (the balll joint manufacturer) technical support was excellent and they even called me back from Toronto to check on my installation progress. I tried many times to install the ball joints according to the manual but to no avail. 2Bing and my good buddy Jeff Gilbert, shown below, recommended using the impact drive. Most thought the drive could damage the ball joint. After many tries using a torque wrench we gave up and used the drive.



Below is a photo of the passenger side ball joint. The driver side is the same.



There was a couple of problems that we encountered.

1) The lower shock absorber shims are too thick and they needed to be filed to fit. Others have noticed this too.

2) The upper control arms required anti-seize grease. The jam nuts and adjusting sleeves were difficult to rotate. We disassembled both UCA's and greased them.

3) The manual tells you to torque everything down as you go. Many of the nuts are nylon or self tightening nuts that can only be torqued a couple of times before they need to be replaced. It's probably better just to tighten them down until after you know the installation is correct and have done a preliminary alignment. I had to undo a couple of bolts that were in a tight spot and were torqued down to 106 lb/ft.

This was the first time I needed on-site help. Jeff has his own Cobra. Although not a F5, his Cobra uses the same type of UCA. His help only cost me 2 beers and a new Wounded Warrior baseball cap.

Still learning, slow and steady,

Damien

[JIMOCO]

In regards to locking down the castle nut, Mark Dougherty did a safety inspection on my roadster and did not like the shim I added below the nut. Instead he took it apart and added a cone shaped sleve over the ball joint spindle that raised the lower control are up enough that the nut torqued properly and the grease cover did not get crushed. I think it was a very good solution. I believe the parts are available at your local auto store.

[4.6 litre]

In regards to locking down the castle nut, Mark Dougherty did a safety inspection on my roadster and did not like the shim I added below the nut. Instead he took it apart and added a cone shaped sleve over the ball joint spindle that raised the lower control are up enough that the nut torqued properly and the grease cover did not get crushed. I think it was a very good solution. I believe the parts are available at your local auto store.

Jimoco,

So none of your grease covers were crushed at all, not even the upper ball joint? Even while using a wrench to tighten ball joint and before the ball joints were seated the grease covers were crushed. Do you have any photos of your installation, no biggie if you don't?

If the crushed covers are a safety problem and the cone shim solved the lower ball joint problem what do you use for the upper ball joint, the same cone shim?

I never really expected the ball joint installation to be a problem. From the manual, I expected it to be pretty much cookbook.

Damien

[4.6 litre]

Damien,

BTW I found mine at an auction I believe.

I just decided to change from manual to power steering. What setup can Mike provide?

Carlewms,

Mike Forte has a standard quote for the Coyote PS. It includes Coyote PS pump, reservoir, PS fitting rack and PS Rack FFR.
I talked to Breeze and they don't have a setup for a Coyote engine. 2Bking gave me some good cost saving advise that might be of interest to you also, call him.

Hope that helps,

Damien

[4.6 litre]

Guys,

Since I will be greasing my CV and ball joints, are their any recommendations for chassis grease?
Right now I'm using general purpose lithium grease that came with the gun I purchased from Harbor Freight. Is that good?

Regards,

Damien

[JIMOCO]

Damien - I had no trouble with the upper ball joints only the lower. I would send a picture but the spacer is completly covered by the spindle assembly and castle nut. I will ask Mark about the product he used and your question about the upper ball joint.

Jim

[JIMOCO]

Damien,
Check out the web page below. It will link you to ebay and will have a picture of the type of spacer that was used on my lower ball joint. I don't know if it is the proper part number for the Ford ball joints. I am sure you can probable find the correct match at most auto parts suppliers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2719181...lpid=82&chn=ps