Rookie builder joining in on the fun. I picked up my 33 Hot Rod from Factory Five a couple months ago. While touring the facility the Candy Red and Black 33 in the show room caught my eye and has been my inspiration as I go along.
-Complete 33 Hot Rod Kit
-Went with the bare frame - Powder coated Soft Candy Red
-Ford Racing 302
-Dyers 671 with Dual Edelbrock 500s
-TKO 600
-Mickey Thompson Sportsman Street Radials
-Billet Specialties Street Lite wheels 15x6 and 15x10
Since I am a couple months in I will post a somewhat recent picture of the current state (if I can figure out how to post) and then post the photos of how I got to this point. Long way to go and a lot to learn, but this has been a blast so far. Many Thanks for the hospitality of the Factory Five guys who took the time to show me around the facility and load the truck and to the many builders with great build threads out there.
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 05-14-2017 at 08:02 PM.
Reason: Added Current Photo
After waiting a couple months for the kit to be ready I heard from the trucking company that they would be delayed so I flew out to MA on a Friday night, rented a truck, picked up the kit on Saturday and drove it back to Illinois. Excitement kept me awake the entire way only stopping for gas. BTW, for those considering the same there is a Budget Rental place at the end of the road Factory Five is on.
Got the kit home and with the help of my wife we unloaded everything into the garage. I started by building a body buck and went through 2 or 3 iterations before I ended up with something I liked.
I then used a portable sand blaster to prep the frame in the driveway. Big mess but after a few all nighters had things ready to go to the powder coater. Left while it was slightly raining outside and by time I made it to the powder coater the frame had flash rusted. Not a problem, they sand blasted again and all turned out well. I did learn something after the fact in that powder coating three layers, chrome, candy, then clear will completely cover your vehicle serial number. Something I still need to tackle.
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 08-04-2015 at 01:58 AM.
Began the inventory process which takes a while. I saved the larger bags of bolts, washers, bits and pieces towards the end and ended up opening each bag and sorting all the pieces out on the bench. It wasn't obvious what a few parts were until I made it through the process of elimination.
While searching for colors to powder coat the frame I ended up looking more and more into what powder coating I could do in the garage myself. I ended up buying an Eastwood dual voltage powder coating gun and a little Eastwood easy bake oven for the garage it has worked out very well. I have been powder coating all the smaller parts myself and I think it has saved quite a bit of time on the build. The parts shown here are polished aluminum/clear, flat black, and reflective chrome. Still learning but having fun in the process.
Shock spring retainers were on backorder so started installing other parts that I could like the pedal box and steering rack.
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 08-04-2015 at 01:55 AM.
Received the 8.8 rear axle through Factory Five and got that installed although it was a bit challenging to do by myself. I ordered the standard rear brakes with the kit. Needed a little help with how the brackets should mount to the axle. Called Tony and he sent me the pics and instructions which was very helpful. I show a photo of mine installed. I ended up needing a couple shims to center over the rotor. The deformed locking nuts were a pain though.
Spent a couple weeks trying to figure out what tire/wheel combination I wanted to go with. I ended up going with Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R on 15" Billet Specialties wheels. I went 8" wide in the front on 6"rims and 12" in the back on 10" rims. I only went with 5.5 inch backspacing in the back and after install I'm glad I did. The shock mount is pretty close when using 15" rims. I also thought I read in another thread someone thought the front calipers would need shaving to fit 15" rims, but on mine the front wheels fit over the calipers in the front with no problem. I had to shave the calipers in the back a bit to make them fit.
I also test fit the body on the chassis for the first time after powder coating (again with the help of my wonderful wife) so I could begin measuring firewall placement. I did find center line of the frame which helped the process. Next I drilled and tapped lots of 10/32 holes for the button head screws.
I did find center line of the frame which helped the process. .
I found that the centerline needs to be established with the firewall tubing and the tubing at the back of the passenger compartment. I used a laser on a ladder and took a lot of measurements until I found the sweet spot.
The front clip wanders off center an 1/8" and the back wanders off to one side by 5/16" that rear clip dimension would have your 8.8 offline with the chassis if you just centered from both ends.
love the pics.
Dale
hemi33
Looking great so far! That blower looks fantastic!
I too am planning on emulating Tony's Candy Red/Black car, although I'm thinking of a dark charcoal gray on top maybe. I love how your frame looks and the silver control arms look great. I might flip that, silver frame and candy red suspension bits. We'll see.
Looks like a well organized bench, can't wait to see more of your build.
Thanks Wallace18, Dale, Jay, and Erlihemi for the comments. Ready to post more pics tonight. I took a similar route with measuring center - laser, long straight edge, plumb bobs. The rear of my frame off similar to others. Yeh, Tony's car in the showroom is an eye catcher and as soon as I see where I am at next time I have the body on and determine if I need to fender it I will check into a larger set of tires for the rear. Wouldn't hurt to have a radical set in the garage ready for the right occasion.
Sorry about posting a rush of photos. Another day or so and I should be caught up with where the build is at today.
Think I missed the photo of the narrow clearance with driver side rear shock mount and 15" wheels in the back, so I added that.
Firewall pieces were too large for the garage oven, so prepped the pieces and took them to Tim at ThePowderPro. He is a great guy and worked the parts in same day for me. Couple hours later and I was back in the garage installing them. Removed the harmonic balancer so Dyers could customer fit a blower pulley for it. Test fit the engine and measured distance between the timing chain cover and the steering rack. I really wanted to have the 3" belt for this. Ended up going with the 2", but more on that later.
Family was over for the 4th of July and the guys hung out in the garage and Thanks to their help we got the engine and transmission installed without scratching things. I am not sure if anyone else has had to do this but my engine hoist wasn't long enough to fit engine and transmission in from the front. I ended up installing the engine first from the side, then installing clutch, bell housing and transmission from the inside of the car. Realize that is a one time thing and I'll need to rectify the hoist situation before if I need to remove them.
I then went to work on the steering linkages. I was doing well until my last cut with the 4.5" cutoff wheel. I didn't have a good enough grip on the grinder and it decided to kick back on me when I only had about an 1/8 of an inch to finish my cut. In a split second it flew out of my hand and tangled with my pants and leg. All good now, but that was close. After a bottle of peroxide and some bandages I was able to finish up the steering links.
Ordered and received the Ford Racing Shorty headers. Not too pleased with the ceramic coating on the passenger side though. There is a small section of the coating that is hard to see from the top of the car that is messy. I went back and forth on whether or not to send them back and ended up deciding before final I was going to ceramic coat headers, exhaust and mufflers to match so I ended up keeping it.
Dropped the harmonic balancer off at Dyers blower shop and Bill gave me a tour of his machine shop. Again, amazing the great people you meet while doing a build like this. I was able to view some of the intake options and see the progress on the other parts. After measuring distance to steering rack I opted to go with a 2" blower pulley and 1 v groove pulley figuring that should fit without issue and once installed if I see I could fit a 3" pulley I would go down that path at a later date. Ended up that distance to steering rack would accommodate the 3" pulley, but the water pump ended up being my biggest clearance issue.
I ended up going through a bit of trial and error with the water pump clearance and settled down on the Moroso electric water pump. It still required pulley spacers for clearance. I notified Bill at Dyers late one night and the spacers were ready for me next day. Customer service there was just fantastic. So on the bottom end I have the harmonic balancer, a single vgroove, a 3/4" spacer and a 2 inch blower pulley. There is only about 3/8 of an inch between all that and the steering rack so to install everything I needed to remove the rack and then re-install.
I also received the 1" intake to blower spacer (really a 1" aluminum plate) and installed which gave clearance for a Mallory distributor and crab style cap. Everything is loose fit mock up right now as I continue to close out the loose ends. Alternator bracket setup will likely be next. Will be interesting to see if I get this running some day so it doesn't turn into Garage Art.
I also took on the exhaust. Deciphered the bracket setup, ground the pieces to fit, powder coated and installed. Pretty pleased I was able to get a pretty clean look with the basic kit parts. I don't have the U-Bolts tightened fully yet though in case I get the urge to go magna flow or something else before ceramic coating it all.
Something I put off too long in the build was the brake line install. This was largely because I know how poorly I have done electrical conduit bends in the past, lots of trial and error. I did my first 60" run using the supplied hard line and it turned out okay but I ended up deciding to go with -4AN braided stainless steel lines. Drilled and tapped all of the hose clamp holes front to back and used 10/32 button head screws to fasten them down.
I do need to see if I will have any clearance issues with the run up the rear vertical on the drivers side. Will need to look closely next time I fit the body on.
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 08-04-2015 at 11:16 PM.
Pretty awesome build - it's turning out great! Not to be a downer, but you might want to think twice about using all braided line for your brakes. Even though it's made for it, the line will slightly expand during braking and the pedal will feel spongy. Having short pieces of flex line isn't an issue so maybe you could compromise and just run straight lengths most of the way and then use flex where it gets complicated. The stock brakes on these cars aren't known to be stellar in the first place so anything you can do to improve them is a bonus.
Looking great so far. Loving the Red frame. Agreed with Arrowhead regarding the brake lines. Probably worth another attempt to get some hard lines in there.
Thanks Arrowhead and Bill for the input on the potential squishy brakes. I still have the hard line handy and inverted flare/-4AN fittings so I will hold on to them. I looked at the runs and the most obvious and convenient place to splice would be the drivers side horizontal run. Picture below. With using the button head screws on the line clamps it shouldn't be that difficult to tackle. Near Richmond/Wisconsin boarder.
Okay, finishing up picture upload to get up to current state.
I received the backordered grill in from Factory Five. You can't tell from the forum pictures, but that is a nice hefty piece of aluminum. Each vertical run is individually welded. Very nice. I have it over with Tim at ThePowderPro now. After seeing the stuff he does with motorcycle cylinder head fins I simply asked him to get creative with it. We discussed possibly reflective chrome on the front of the ribs and front surround, candy red on the side of the ribs and flat black on back but I left it up to him to go at it noting we can always strip it down and try again if we don't like it. Anxious to see how it returns. Also left him the Ford Racing rear axle cover and Optima battery Aluminum.
I then worked on mocking up the trunk aluminum. I ended up using flush mount RivNuts versus rivets for aluminum to aluminum fastening. I got those done and sent them over to powder coating. Got them back and mounted the under tank piece and am beginning the placement of the Boyd tank. The welding done on that thing looks amazing. I still have many holes to drill and thread for the aluminum panel to frame fastening. Not sure why I am going through all that but it only takes a minute or so to thread each hole so I figured why not.
I am a bit concerned about the height of my fitting for the pickup tube connection. I am planning on using -8N from the pickup fitting to the Fuel Pump, and to regulator. In the picture I show the -8N 90 to 3/8 NPT. It is loose fit right now so it will go down a bit but wondering if I need to worry about the body resting on top of that connection or if I'll have a little space above it?
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 08-06-2015 at 09:03 PM.
Got some time to work on the car last night and today. I had one last 1/4 -20 to drill/tap to finish mounting the Boyd tank. I also drilled all the under tank aluminum holes in front and to the sides of the tank. On the back of the under tank aluminum I used flush mount rivnuts as I have that piece sitting under the lip of the vertical aluminum. I then spent most of the day today drilling/tapping the holes in the frame for the trunk aluminum and was able to get it temporarily installed. Probably had the aluminum panels on and off about 4 times. Ready to work on something different.
I still have to drill the larger fuel fill neck hole and have a few more aluminum to frame holes to drill on the angled bar and a few behind the vertical but I wanted to get things positioned in place so I can begin to measure out where I want the fuel lines and battery cable holes to pass through the aluminum. Then I will uninstall most of the aluminum and set in on the shelves for later.
Best I can remember you have to put the body on before mounting all the trunk aluminum. You most likely will have to remove it. Check your manual but, I am pretty sure. Remember you had to remove the floor to get the body off from FFR in the beginning.
Did a quick inventory to see if I had enough fuel line parts to get going on that. Will need to order some additional -8AN and -6AN fittings and adapters and AN style fuel filter. I'll also need to round up the fuel filler neck from Boyds. While waiting on those to arrive I'll start determining where I am going to mount everything.
Thanks Wallace18. I need to remove them for room to finish my exhaust, fuel lines and electrical as well. I took a lot of photos for future reference. It helped to see where I should run the fuel line pass throughs and to see how far off the dual tail pipes were so I can work on adjusting those. Passenger side exhaust droops down a few inches compared to driver side. Expected though as I don't have things tightened down yet. I didn't get any additional brackets with the dual exhaust, just clamps. I guess I will need to fabricate some once I determine if I'm staying with those exhaust tips or not.
Began to drill fuel line passthroughs in under tank aluminum. I wanted to go behind the tank between tank and vertical trunk back wall and got concerned if I had mounted the tank too far forward. Additionally still had the concern about my -8AN 90 and fitting being too tall so I thought I better check with fiberglass on before going any further. Hard to see but took some photos. With my tank fully forward the return -6AN 90 just touches the body so I'll need to adjust my tank back a bit for that. Didn't find any issues with height clearance of the -8AN fitting. I will test fit the waterfall tomorrow night to ensure no clearance issues with that. If okay, looks like I will still route fuel lines behind the tank after I tweak it back a bit.
Was getting dark, but took some photos with body and roof on.
Additional Thanks to Barrel for noticing and confirming that my tank was mounted a bit too far forward. With the body and waterfall now on I positioned the tank back a bit for clearance. Will need to remount it and clean things back up.
Decided to take the plunge and go with the Infinity 20 circuit harness setup. Kind-of jazzed about getting close to doing the wiring and keeping it simple and clean. At least that is the upfront plan, we'll see how it turns out.
Got some time back on the build. I ended up relocating the Boyd tank back about a half an inch from where I originally mounted it. Scrapped the idea of running the hose lines behind the tank and ended up running them in front slightly more to the drivers side so I have some room for the bends in the -8AN hose line.
Once I was able to see where the lines would exit the under tank aluminum I determined where I wanted to mount the fuel pump and filter and then removed the tank and aluminum pieces so I had would have more room to work. Photos of pump location shown. I still have to temp install the brackets for the fuel filter and then powder coat all the brackets flat black.
Powder coater hasn't had time to work on my grill yet. I stopped by and picked it up so I could do more test fitting. After seeing pictures of it installed, really second guessing color scheme for it. It will be interesting to see what we finally go with. One day thinking flat black, next all chrome, next multi-color.
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 08-27-2015 at 01:31 AM.
Received my Infinity Box parts except for two power cell boxes. Jay was nice and sent me the cables and Master Cell so I could start on the wiring. Been rounding up the metal and mounting hardware so I can begin fabricating the under dash and trunk panels to mount the boxes. Photo of what you get in a 20 circuit kit shown minus the two power cells that I will receive once they are done testing them.
I determined where to mount the fuel regulator. Regulator comes with one 90 bracket that mounts to the back of the regulator. Used some aluminum angle to duplicate it so I could mount it all to the firewall. Powder coated and installed so -6AN return line will drop down to the right of the angled frame tube and the -8AN supply will come in from the left side of the frame tube.
I've also been working on prepping the passenger compartment aluminum. Took one whole night and the next morning but got 116 holes drilled and threaded in the frame rails and over 140 holes drilled in the driver, passenger and driveshaft tunnel aluminum. I have the panels off to the powder coater now.
Yes, I've been thinking about it but I am not quite sure what I will use yet. I'm thinking of a small bead of silicone or a thin gasket material that I can cut into thin strips to set on top of the frame rails between the aluminum panels. I'm liking the gasket idea if I can find a thin enough roll of something cause it won't squeeze out the sides when tightening it down like silicone might do. I am trying for as clean a look from under the chassis as possible. I'll need to search and see what I can find.
Last edited by Midwest 33 Build; 08-31-2015 at 03:36 AM.
Also got the passenger compartment aluminum panels powder coated. I am doing a temporary install to ensure all holes still line up and to to take some photos while everything is still clean before applying heat and sound protection. Still have to do the Rivnuts for the tunnel cover but here are some pics of where it sits right now.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to finish that up, work on the transmission tunnel and mount the inner firewall for the electronics.
Mounted an under dash panel to start placing the electronics. Guessing I'll change the arrangement a few times before I am done but decided to go with this layout to start. I haven't received the PowerCells yet from Infinity Box but used the MasterCell to determine the spacing for the aluminum stand offs to support the one that will go under the dash next to the MasterCell.
I was able to pickup my Infinity Box PowerCells so I mounted the front PowerCell and spent the weekend building a box for the electronics that will be located in the trunk. I mounted the MegaFuses on the inside. The short battery cable run I currently have will be replaced once I determine where I want to mount the battery cutoff switch. I ordered a blank In-Motion box when I ordered my kit so I could have all the spacing and holes ready to go if I add another box in the future. Behind the blank box and the Power Cell I drilled 2/12" holes to route the cables to the inside and split a length of vacuum hose for grommets for them. The boxes are on 3/4" stand-offs so I can just route the cables around and under each of the boxes.
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Originally Posted by Midwest 33 Build
