Still sitting on the fence...

[Shadow_Grey]

This is a little long and I am rambling some but…
I just joined the forums and we are still sitting on the fence about getting something. I have been reading and cruising the forums for a while so here we are, middle aged, long wedded couple, empty nest, looking to our second childhood. We could basically get anything and have been weighing the good/bad…motorcycle(might fall over, easier to get hurt on), rock crawler(too much banging, bruising), boat(already have it), camper(dad & brother has them for our use), airplane(have to learn to fly) or a sports car(ding, ding, ding). Now…what kind?
My wife and I have talked about getting a MK4 F5R roadster as an option and using our banged and bruised, tired, black on black ’92 Mustang GT for the donor car. It is a mildly molested stock engined (160K miles), 5 speed car with most all the usual bolt-ons (pullies, cold-air, equal length shorty headers, dual friction clutch…). I also put ‘94 5 lug Cobra disk brakes, spindles, master cylinder, booster, axles, e-brakes, etc on it. It has coilover suspension with correct Cobra wheels too. Heading back we have an aluminum driveshaft coupled to a 3.73 geared 8.8” third member. Blah, blah, blah…
I know we can use most of this stuff as a donor car to put on a roadster and sell the rest of it but what I am asking is:
If you could do it all over again what would you do different?
How much work is it for one person with good mechanical abilities and the space to build it in? 200, 500, 1000 hours work???
Anybody in the ST. Louis area (we are in Columbia, IL) building one that we could look at or even help on?
Could we look at, sit in, and/or maybe even ride in one?
Is $20-30K about the going amount spent getting one on the road?
Please let us know your opinions, thoughts, and experiences so we can get rolling on this…

[riptide motorsport]

yes with your donor you can get the base kit and be done with paint and shipping for around$20-$25.000.00 easily. Any one with basic mech. abilities can do it and there is a ton of support here and elswhere. the C0bra should take around 200 hours to build, the 100 for paint if you do it yourself..........GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gumball]

Grey - I've been working on a Mk3 roadster for the past 1.5 yrs and it's been a great process. There are so many positives to building one of these cars that I don't know where to begin. You sound like you have the mechanical abilities and a good working knowledge of the component parts (through your donor). FFR says 150 to 200 hours to assemble the kit (not counting donor part prep), but the key word is assembly. If you want to modify things to taste and add more detail to the build, you can add substantially to that time. But, that's one of the attractions to these cars - you can make it as simple and by-the-book or as over-the-top as you prefer.

As for cost, I know of one full-on donor build that cost around $18k and it looks pretty good.

I'm located about 1 hour straight west of Chicago; you're always welcome to stop by and see one in the build stage if you make the trip north. Also, check out the "what did you do on your roadster today" thread for lots of good detail photos, including some of mine on the last page.

Best of luck on your decision.

[CDXXVII]

Grey
I would highly recommend going to a Cobra specific car show. It is important to know what you want out of your build. I personally wanted all new parts and a roadster that most resembled the original. A donor build on a budget ends up looking like a donor build on a budget. If you search the forum you will find many donor builds that ended up using very little from the original donor. My budget is closer to $55K not counting the little things along the way. Just a little denial math which allowes you to ignore the thousand or so trips to get special parts.

I am currently building the 15 year anniversary Mk4. I am still happy with my choice but if I were to do it again I would think hard about taking my time and choosing my parts more carefully. Buying a base kit and visiting sites like Breeze Automotive along with a large collection of other specialty vendors you could really customize your car to your every whim. Of course, if time is an issue a complete kit gets you most everything in one delivery. You can upgrade, change and modify as you go. You can sell most everything you don't use.

Good luck with whatever you deside. Know for sure that you will find very few members on this forum that regret ever building a Factory Five Roadster.

[CapeCoralCobra]

I went the true donor/base kit route on a budget and currently I'm still under $25K. With your possible donor, you're way ahead of what I started with as a donor. As far as time, I did mine in 13 months, and waayyy over 1,000 hours (VERY little outside help), but that included almost 3 months of prepping/refurbishing the donor parts and rebuilding the 302 before the kit arrived, 3 1/2 months for body work, paint, and wetsanding/polishing, quite a few parts fabrications and add-on accessories, and a lot of attention to detail, detail, and more detail. I am very happy with the results and have only 2 thing I am/will upgrade: '88 SD to MAF EFI conversion and some accompanying HP mods to the motor - have already collected many parts (I was so busy with everything else and knew almost nothing about EFI, I didn't realize how easy the upgrade is) and changing from donor rear springs/shocks to coil overs. I enjoyed every minute of the build - well, almost, there were a few frustrations but conquering a problem was always satisfying.
The paint isn't perfect, but I've taken it to a few car shows & cruise-ins and many people can't believe I did it in my garage. There are plenty of faster, better painted, higher tech roadsters than mine, but I still feel like I'm getting away with something every time I drive it, S#@t eating grin when I step on the gas included. Here's my graduation thread: http://www.ffcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=264427 At the time of the grad photos I was right at $23K. Without the many add-ons, I'd be closer to $20-21K. See what a donor car can look like. I'm sure there are plenty other decent budget builds. With $30K, yours could come out even better. Don't let anyone spoil your dream. If you have the pertinent skills, budget build doesn't automatically = crappy build. No disrespect intended toward those who spent $50K+. If I had that budget, I'd have spent it, too.

My $.01 (I'm on a budget.)

[Gumball]

Huge thumbs-up to Alan for representing what a resourceful builder can do with a FFR kit and a donor car. The debate over donor versus non-donor will go on for as long as FFR builds kits, but I think everyone will agree that regardless of which route you take, a donor-based FFR roadster can turn out fabulous - just look at what Alan did!

Here are a few pictures of my in-progress build, showing how a bit of creativity without too much money can work to set one of these cars apart from other kits.


The brake fluid cans are from Moss Motors - a supplier of British car parts, while the master cylinder is a new Mustang Cobra unit from FFR that was on sale for $65. The conversion from plastic reservoir topped modern master cylinder to vintage appearing piece was made possible by the addition of a pair of adapters made by Lodestone Billet Works, one of the many vendors who have established a great line of affordable add-on products specifically for FFR cars, and a pair of pre-made braided brakelines from Pegasus Autoracing (road racing supply house in Wisconsin).



The battery uses a couple of Lucas stickers from Moss and some plastic replica caps to make an inexpensive Farm & Fleet battery look like a vintage wet cell unit - and that's a Breeze battery tray that it's sitting in - Breeze Automotive is another of those great FFR-based vendors.


This is the stock FFR-supplied vintage wood steering wheel, to which I added some waxed cotton cord from a local hobby shop for a three-buck upgrade that really evokes a vintage feel.


And finally, here is a shot of a donor Mustang pedal set-up with the rubber pads replaced with a pair of original-style AC pedals that cost around $25. The gas pedal is a combination of a lever sold by Russ Thompson - yet another vendor - with a home-made pedal that I did using some scrap steel stock that I bent around a column, welded, powdercoated, and added some anti-skid tape - total investment in the entire pedal box mods was around $100, but the vintage appearance is priceless.


I hope all this helps to stir those creative juices and get you off the fence - as they say; "come on in... the water's fine."

[68GT500MAN]

Welcomke to the forum. Yes, you can do exactly what you want within your budget.
Doug