33 Hot Rod may be in my future?

[Vinny33]

My name is Vinny, I have been looking into the FF5 33' Hot Rod and would be thankful to any current owners
for advice on do's and dont's regarding building this car. I have a good background/experience with cars, but have never built a kit car before. Any advice/experience with FF5 and the process from anyone who has been through it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Vinny

[wallace18]

Check the 33 build threads. Lots of info there. Best of luck to you.

[Barrel]

[QUOTE Any advice/experience with FF5 and the process from anyone who has been through it would be greatly appreciated.

Vinny. My experience with Factory Five has been mostly good, and likewise with the kit. But the kit is not perfect and has body work problems as you will find out when you start reading the build threads here and on the other forum too. Numerous promises from FF to provide the dimensions of the HR steering rack were never honoured which forced me to provide Unisteer with my own dimensions for a RHD unit and this was not as easy as it sounds. This episode and another parts order that was so poorly handled at their end means that in my experience FFR does not warrant exaggerated flattery, but they are very nice people and I love my 33 Hot Rod! You will need to be patient with the build and know when to walk away from it.

Cheers,
Neil.

[Vinny33]

Thank you! I'll check out the 33 build threads. By the way, I see you are also in Florida, I'm in The Villages south of Ocala. Do you have any recommendations on painters and/or good sources for engines, transmissions, and rear ends in this part of the state? I called a painter in Orlando and told him what I was planning on building and he gave me an outrageous quote of 8-10 thousand dollars for prep and paint. That is half the cost of the kit!

[Vinny33]

Thanks Neil, I appreciate your honest feedback and will do my best to read up on the forums before I get started.

Regards,
Vince

[ram_g]

Thank you! I'll check out the 33 build threads. By the way, I see you are also in Florida, I'm in The Villages south of Ocala. Do you have any recommendations on painters and/or good sources for engines, transmissions, and rear ends in this part of the state? I called a painter in Orlando and told him what I was planning on building and he gave me an outrageous quote of 8-10 thousand dollars for prep and paint. That is half the cost of the kit!

Read more threads, also visit the "other site" at ffcars dot com. While many have been able to control paint costs by doing some or all of the work themselves, the cost for "full service" body work and paint for any of the FFR kits can indeed be in the $8K to $10K range. How much did you expect to pay through the complete process? The cost of the kit is only about a half to a third of the total it will run you, if you are a typical builder.

My experience: I am about done with my build of a non-donor Roadster. Cost after I'm all done with paint etc. will be about $45 to $50K and calendar time taken close to 7 years (I stopped counting costs at about the halfway mark). Now the elapsed time for my build is certainly on the slow side, but not completely outwith the data. Have I had a blast? Absolutely. I am already contemplating which FFR kit to do next!

[bbksv]

I would have to echo the other guys in the fact that you should scour the other build threads first. The biggest pain for me has been the fact that I would do something one way then decide I want it another way...or think I can go a cheap route only to have to change it later. Just do it right in the first place...and reading all the build threads will help you do that.

[wallace18]

Thank you! I'll check out the 33 build threads. By the way, I see you are also in Florida, I'm in The Villages south of Ocala. Do you have any recommendations on painters and/or good sources for engines, transmissions, and rear ends in this part of the state? I called a painter in Orlando and told him what I was planning on building and he gave me an outrageous quote of 8-10 thousand dollars for prep and paint. That is half the cost of the kit!

Vinny, that is not a bad quote for paint and bodywork. I paid close to 15K for mine. I bought my donor parts from Prestige Mustang near Atlanta. However buying from FFR vendors may be best in the long run. It depends on your budget and how much work you want to do on the donor parts. I am about 45 minutes away from you in Alachua, FL. PM me for my phone # if you would like to talk some.

[gtaroger]

Welcome to the forum.When I was ready for my paint,I was given prices from 10K to 5K. I found a guywith a shop that said he would do my car over the winter in his spare time when his shop was slow. He did it for $3500.00.

[Barrel]

Where I live I expect to pay anyone who works on a car between $80 to $100 per hour unless its at the car wash! This includes mechanics, auto electricians and body work guys. If the $3500 figure included materials I would have got about 35 hours labour for that.

[Vinny33]

Thanks, do you have any idea how many actual hours he spent on it? Did he do all the prep and paint work? Did you take the body and panels to him or did he remove them from the car?

[68GT500MAN]

Welcome to the forum. I will jump in on the paint question, it all depends on what the end results desired are. I helped with the build of two roadsters here in the valley that used two methods not mentioned here. The first took his roadster up North where a fellow FFR builder had a "painting 101" class. For the cost of materials and sweat equity his car was painted a solid blue. The other took his roadster to a local MACCO shop and they painted his car a single stage blue for under $1000. This was about 10 years ago and they are not "top hat" paint jobs, but they both have won many show award over the years.
Doug