Ken and Matt's MK4 Arizona Build #9925 Thread Delivered 11/7/20

[kmseddon]

Hi Everyone! Our first build post of our father-son project from Scottsdale, AZ! As a cancer survivor I try to teach my kids to see the glass as half full. So we tried to turned this difficult year of a pandemic and being stuck at home into a blessing. We decided to take advantage of the time to do a father-son build project. My 5 daughters didn't seem to mind since there is plenty for them to watch on Netflix. We used this forum to research and ordered our complete kit on August 4th. Here is what we are going to build:

Here's our build plan:
FFR Complete Kit, black powder coat
Windsor 351 w/ Holley Terminator and EFI Cobra oval air cleaner and heads
T5 transmission
2018 IRS, 3.73 gear ratio
Power steering
Vintage gauges
Windshield wipers, sun visors, and wind guards,
Halibrand wheels, 15"
Wilwood brakes
Driver side roll-bar, chrome
Gas-N pipes (lower noise ones)
Polish interior engine aluminum panels to mirror finish like David Hodgkins did, but use our own tools.
Lizard coat interior panels and trunk like Paul did
Drop trunk from Russ Thompson w/ trunk gas supports
We are likely to put battery in the trunk
We thought about expanding the foot boxes since we are both tall, but it seems like way too much work for little ROI.
Radio: I was able to get a 3,000 watt marine waterproof amp w/ embedded bluetooth new for $50. So we will add it in the trunk with some speakers and see what we get for

Likely color: we are going for period racing colors and want the car to look like this when done complete w/ stickers:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/albu...hmentid=139461

We already got Wilwood brakes to do a special powder coating to the correct competition Gulf orange color that was on the Ford GT40s at Lemans:
brakes.jpg

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/albu...hmentid=139459

Car photo.jpg

Wife even made us up mechanics shirts. She didn't understand the right cobra, but get's an A for effort
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/albu...hmentid=139462

Car arrived November 10 and have spent a lot of time inventorying parts. We originally though a quick pass would be enough, but realize enough screws or bolts are missing here and there to warrant spending the 5 hours going through everything. Admittedly, this was a good training exercise because there were many parts we didn't recognize. To be fair, FFR had almost everything there except for the parts on backorder like radiator, wheels, power steering shaft, and driver's side foo tbox panel. FFR is also great at helping us identify the parts (thank you David Brigham). But we have plenty to get started on.

Thanks already to Paul (aka EdwardB), CFranks, and others for the advice getting us to this point. This was a great trick to get the lower control arms into the supports that were a little narrow without having to grab a hammer. They need to add this to the assembly manual

How to expand for lower control arms.jpg

FFR trunk.jpg

My son is a Junior Mechanical Engineering student as ASU, and I have a few C2 Corvettes that I keep up, but this will be a great experience for both of us. We thank all of you who have gone before us for all the details you have put in this forum and the millions of questions you will likely answer for us. If you have read this far, thank you already.

Matt pic on Day 1.jpg

A few things we think the instruction manual should include in the next rev:
1) Don't expect to put rivets on the little part of the F panel behind the bracket for the upper control arm.
2) Don't put as much silicone on the panels as shown. Really you should only put some between the holes you drill in the aluminum panel. Don't apply to the frame. If you put it over the holes, then the silicone will collect all the shavings when you drill the frame. Less is more.
3) Even though the part says DSS, that does NOT mean it is the spindle that goes on the driver's side.

With that said, we got the inventory done, and are working through the front suspension. Here is where we are. Still trying to figure out how to torque everything when some of the parts move or bolts/nuts can't be reached with a torque wrench. We know cotter pins are loose and are the upper control arms. But does this look right so far before we put the wheel hub on?


Front Suspension 1.jpg
Front Suspension 2.jpg
Steering arm drivers side.jpg

[mosh1999]

You may want to modify the front upper control arms to allow more positive caster in the 6-7 degree or more range. It allows the front wheels to return to center on their own much easier after turning. Easiest to do it now. There are many builds that show how much to cut.

[kmseddon]

Wilwood's with 15" Halibrands work around

It's been a little while since our first post, but we have been waiting on back order parts, researching, and modifying rear brakes to allow Wilwood's on a 15" wheel. First off thank you to Paul (aka EdwardB) for his great thread and advice along the way. Thank you to Jason at AZ Cobras for helping modify the rear spindle and for mounting plate for the Wilwood's. Because of clearance issues, the hat is bolted from the outside which made the safety wiring a challenge. Not all perfect curved 'S' like in the video, but after torquing the bolts we only had so many options to run the wires. Reading ahead in EdwardB's thread I realize we made the same mistake and we'll have to adjust spacing on upper control arm and lower control arm between the nuts. We welcome any advice if you see something wrong or that can be done better. Thanks!
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[kmseddon]

Cooling system completed

We've been delayed waiting on some parts. Thank you Vince and JB Nova for all your help on the cooling system!! Great advice and I appreciate your help and all the effort everyone puts into this forum. I managed to get everything installed and I thought I should post how the story ended. I was able to use a dremel with a thick metal grinding bit to take off the metal blocks from the top. I just had to cut at the welds a little below where the two pieces of metal lined up to make sure I didn't cut into the aluminum that was staying. Just took my time slowly grinding and then stuck the end of a claw hammer in between the two and pried them apart. No problem. A little sanding to smooth out the powder coating on the top bar and some POR15 Top Coat Glass black and you would never know those two block were ever there. It helps to see how others install the hinge so you know where to drill. It helps to plan out where the rivets are going to go in relation to the bolts to have proper spacing. I also put in 10-32 nutserts in the fan shroud like bossman Paul suggests with 5/8" bolts to hold the fan to make future removal easier. The lower support seemed easier than others. My radiator is straight across on the bottom. I didn't see a reason or need to cut any "V" in the tubing. Not sure why this is done. Used iPhone and able to get 51 degrees of angle. We are only going to hold off riveting the upper shroud in until the engine and body are in place and fully understood. Powers teering rack and Breeze battery box just showed up so doing that next. Thank you again Forum et al. for all your help.

[460.465USMC]

A warm welcome to the forum! I couldn't agree more on the helpfulness of this forum. Guys are so willing to share.

My kit is fairly close to yours (mid-Oct. delivery). Looks like you and your son are enjoying the process so far.

[Jazzman]

I'm a bit late to the party, but congratulations on your build. I also live in Scottsdale. If you find you need something, please don't hesitate to contact me. However, it sounds like you have it well in hand at this point! There is a small but growing group of builders in our area. Glad to have you!