Bruce's Roadster #9047 Build

[BDHoneyman]

I’m Bruce Honeyman, a ‘returning’ member of the roadster building family. I was the owner of #6759, delivered to me when I lived in Boulder, CO, in 2008. It was a rolling chassis when it was destroyed in the Four Mile Fire of 2010. It has taken us nearly 7 years to get back to where we were before the fire and a BIG part of that is getting back to a new build. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see the parts sitting in my shop (now in Salt Lake City): #9047 was delivered March 27th, 2017.

The build I’m planning is a pretty basic one. The main attributes of my Mk IV:

• EFI (I live at 4,500 ft. ASL and regularly drive to >11,000 ft.)
• HP: ~ 360 – 400 (based on a 351W)
• Guardsman Blue (perhaps a darker blue) w/ Wimbledon White
• Competition dash
• Black powdercoated pipes, rollbars, etc.
• 17” wheels
• Solid rear axle (8.8”) with a 3.55:1 gear ratio; Factory Five 3-link

I’ve been reading the forums over the last few years but not really participating. One thing I’ve noticed is how the standard of the builds has increased to an amazing level over the last 10 years- I’m in awe of the craftsmanship shown in the build blogs.

I’m currently doing the inventory. My build will likely take 2 years or so.

[wareaglescott]

Welcome back. Sorry to hear about the loss of the previous car and Im sure much more for you. Look forward to following your build.

[Railroad]

Maybe just a typo, but powder coat will not work on the pipes. They do have hi temp black ceramic coatings. Good luck,

[BDHoneyman]

Thanks for the welcome.
Railroad-- it's a typo; thanks for pointing it out.
-Bruce

[BDHoneyman]

An update on my build progress:

My complete kit was delivered 27th, 2017. Below is the obligatory photo of Stewart Transport pulling up to the house. [This is my first attempt at posting photos so I hope it works].

DSC_4687.JPG

We had only lived in Salt Lake for about six months at the time of the delivery and I really didn’t know the neighbors very well. That changed that morning—about a half dozen neighborhood car guys pulled up on their way to work, pretty excited to see me unloading the roadster. ‘How is the car going?’ is about the most common thing my neighbors now ask me. Some medical issues kept me from doing much for a couple of months but I started to get going again in earnest in July. Here are some observations of the Mk IV relative to the Mk3.1 I was working on in 2009 / 2010:

• The inventory of the parts and packaging is substantially improved: I had only a couple of minor things missing and only a few backordered parts (and they quickly arrived);
• The welding on the chassis seems more uniform, with fewer welding splatters, and the powder coating seems to be of better quality;
• The manual is more complete;
• The aluminum sub-frame parts are more precisely cut and fit together well.

Now that I’ve been back on the forums for the last year or so, reading on various build topics, it’s clear that the build quality and craftsmanship have gone to a new level over the last 8 years, and one that is quite inspiring.

So far, my build has followed along pretty much a standard path. I’ve completed the front and rear suspension, brake lines and brakes, and the footbox aluminum—approximately to where I had gotten to during my last build. The only real difficulties early on were with the ‘ears’ for attaching the upper A arms: the driver and passenger sides were of different widths and the passenger side ears were not quite parallel. I eventually got the A arms in place but it took a combination of the Breeze bushings, washers of varying thickness and some moderate grinding on the inner sides of the ears.

One thing that I got a chuckle about was the length of the bolts used to clamp the straps for the fuel tank: as they were in 2009 the bolts were just short enough to make the bolt / nut connection difficult. In 2009 I grunted, swore and scraped my knuckles getting the straps on. This time I just bought longer bolts—that what 8 years wiser gets me.

Following are a couple of things I did a bit differently from the manual:

I decided to use NiCopp lines and the process went much better than it had with the soft steel lines. I practiced making the double flare (using an OTS tool and de-burring the cut) quite a bit before actually doing the lines. In principle the NiCopp, being softer than the steel, should seat a bit better in the couplings and produce fewer leaks. NiCopp rolls are relatively inexpensive and I purchased the Eastwood straightener (sort of pricey but it worked well). We’ll see how successful I was in the process when I pressurize the lines and test the brakes. In any case, I had a lot less brake line ‘art’ on my shop floor with the NiCopp.

DSC_5214.JPG

I attached the lines to the chassis using rivnuts and line clamps from Jegs. I did the line routing on the DS cross-over the the PSthe way edwardb did rather than using the fitting that came with the kit: it's a much nicer configuration.

DSC_5238.JPG

The photo below is of the DS footbox and master cylinder and brake lines. I used bulkhead fittings from Pegasus to get the lines through the firewall and stainless steel braided PTFE hoses from the master cylinders to the firewall. The bulkhead fittings add two more places for the lines to potentially leak but I like the path and look. I also bored two holes in the ¼” plate to accommodate the hoses for the remote brake fluid reservoirs and bulkhead grommets. The grommets are from Grainger. Grainger has a good selection tool for zeroing in on the correctly-sized grommet, in this case for 1/4" think material. The holes required a 13/16” hole for the grommet and hose and it was a challenge drilling ¼” steel plate with a drill that large, particularly near the bit breakthrough.

DSC_5305.JPG

My next set of tasks is the cockpit aluminum.

-Bruce

[Dagwoods]

Bruce, looking forward to follow your build. My kit should arrive mid January and I have a similar build in mind. Also, great website. Bookmarked and subscribed!
-Andrew

[Itchief]

I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your home in a fire we lost ours in January 2010 but the most important part is that you survived and have a opportunity to rebuild

I think it’s great that you are restarting the roadster build hopefully it will be better than the one you lost

Rick

[BDHoneyman]

Thanks Andrew-- my wife wanted me to archive photos on line to share with relatives and it sort of just grew into the site.
-Bruce

[BDHoneyman]

Hi, Rick, I'm sorry about your house, too. It took a while to get back to the roadster. I'm not quite to the place in the build I was at the time of the fire but will be soon. My wife wants to have a big celebration as it's symbolic of getting back to where we were.
-Bruce

[Itchief]

I agree with your wife the completion of the built will mark a big step in the recovery process

My wife calls mine my therapy and it gives me something to enjoy working on because I don’t know if this build will ever be completed

Rick

[BDHoneyman]

Smart wife! I'm sure that I will love driving the roadster but I enjoy the build process so much that it may never end.
-Bruce

[Itchief]

Bruce

FWIW I build the complete kit with the ford rear disk brakes on a solid axle and used the stop tech pads that came with the kit it required a LOT of effort to lock up the brakes

I installed EBC blue stuff pads front and rear and I can now lock up the brakes with a reasonable amount of pedal pressure and I am very happy with the brakes on the car

Rick

[Straversi]

Welcome back. Glad to hear you are back at it. Like those bulkhead fittings by the way. Nice clean look.
Look forward to following along.
-Steve

[tonywy]

This is the first time I ever heard about of a brake line straightener, thx for the tip. I agree pricey but worth it.

[GoDadGo]

Welcome Back Bruce,

I can't comprehend living someplace where my home can become Hell on Earth at a moments notice.
Sorry for your loss and doing this build will really get you back in the game.
Check out the build threads of EdwardB and great places to find reference material.

Steve

[BDHoneyman]

Thanks Rick. I've been thinking of changing the pads to something more aggressive.
-Bruce

[BDHoneyman]

Thanks Steve!
-Bruce

[BDHoneyman]

Hi, Steve,
Edwardb's blog is great. I've also been looking at your posts for great ideas and information.
One thing about a fire is that the area is now mitigated and we won't have to worry about another forest fire for some decades.
-Bruce

[BDHoneyman]

Hi, Tonywy,
I tried some of the straightening techniques I found on YouTube but none worked very well. I've only used the tool on the softer NiCopp; however, the tool is build pretty well so I think the soft steel should be no problem if you go that route.
-Bruce

[BluePrintEngines]

Glad to see the perseverance of the members on this forum, and the support of others! Great bunch of people!

Johnny @ BluePrint Engines

https://blueprintengines.com/
http://factoryfiveengines.com/

[Higgybulin]

I might be jumping ahead here but have you already got your 8.8 for the rear? If so what did ya get, if not what are you looking for?
Higgy

[BDHoneyman]

Hi, Higgy,
I bought the Moser rear end through Factory Five. It has the 3-link bracket already attached.
-Bruce