Bill Elliott's "Living the Dream" build thread.

[Bill Elliott]

DAY 1 Car arrives. (June 24th)
Today was exciting. The cobra arrived , earlier than expected. Eric from Stewart transport was amazing. Great guy. You can't go wrong with Stewart. Got everything unloaded into the garage. The body is on the buck and frame on the lift. The inventory is going great so far, completed 32 of 45 pages so far. Missing items are very minimal also , maybe 3 or 4 items . My POL list is also very short. I am on sensory overload after this first day , excitement of what has happened the first day, running a list in my head also at the same time thinking about next steps before I finish what I am doing, and also thinking of items that I still need to get. I really am enjoying the inventory.

I have a couple questions about some of the items and was wondering should I post them here or on my build thread, I am not sure if my build thread (still need to start that) would get enough exposure for questions. I will start posting some questions tomorrow, as I expect to finish inventory tomorrow.

I look forward to sharing my experience and getting advice as needed. I have read lots of stuff here ,just hope I can easily access things that were really good bits of information.

[Bill Elliott]

So far I have been finishing communication with Factory Five on missing items ( I discovered the gauges I received were not the Ultra Lite's but some other version like Platinum Gauge.IMG-0569.jpgIMG-0570.jpg

I have been working on the most dreaded part of the whole build, the sheet metal. But also I passed a milestone today and got the "A" piece mated up to the driver side foot box, I believe this is the hardest part of all the sheet metal to tweak and fit! IMG-0585.jpgIMG-0584.jpg.

[Bill Elliott]

Ok gonna try to fix those sideways pictures,,,,,sometimes this forum is more difficult than the actual build, lol.

[Bill Elliott]

IMG-0584 (1200x800).jpgIMG-0585 (1200x800).jpg

embedded pictures are fine, as a thumbnail they are sideways?

[egchewy79]

Already drilling and clecoing on day 1?!
Take your time and do a thorough inventory. Mark the panel where it overlaps the frame to center your rivet holes and to evenly space your rivets. If you truly received the kit today, you’re flying.

[Bill Elliott]

Already drilling and clecoing on day 1?!
Take your time and do a thorough inventory. Mark the panel where it overlaps the frame to center your rivet holes and to evenly space your rivets. If you truly received the kit today, you’re flying.

Not day 1, just day one of posting build thread,,, received the kit on 24th of June. Thorough inventory complete , I was only missing about 6 items. Already got them reported to FFR and they are on order.

[Bill Elliott]

Today I finished all the metal that is going to powder coat guy tomorrow and I will pick up the F panels that he just finished.

[Bill Elliott]

Picked up my F panels today from PC and dropped off the rest of my items for PC that will be done next week. This guy does really good work. This is "Cobra Charcoal" from Prismatic Powders.
f panel.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

front lower control arm.jpg Put on the control arm. I switched the dust boot to the energy suspension, it did not have a retaining clip. Once the spindle is sitting on there will that be all that is needed to keep a good seal?

[Bill Elliott]

Since I have read so many threads on the issue of the upper control arms I felt pretty confident in what I was doing. Only issue I had was with the hacksaw collapsing on me, ( I hate hacksaws. They seem so primitive). So I got out my pneumatic cut off wheel. The sleeves were cut with the hacksaw but the legs ( I don't think I can call that a bolt) I cut with the cut off wheel, that first one came out to a real clean cut. The Blue tape is so I would remember those are the left hand threaded sides.
upper control arm adjusting sleeve 1.jpgupper control arms adjuster.jpgupper control arms.jpg

[F500guy]

I did not trim the bolts and did notice that there was a limit due to the bolts touching in the middle after trimming the sleeve, but hopefully it will be fine, if not atleast those are easy to access and trim later if I can not get a good alignment.

[Bill Elliott]

Lots of talk about people fighting with the upper ball joints during install. Some have even not bothered with them and put Howe brand in or others. I put a wire wheel to the threads and they went in very easily. After all was said and done I checked to see how short I could get the rear leg on it, 7 1/8 so I have all the adjustment I need available.
ball joint threads.jpg
driver upper cntrl arm.jpg
adjustment sleeve distance.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

So today was another 12hr day at work , but I still put in some time on the car. My goal is to put at least an hour of work on the car on my long days. Days that are more normal I can put more time in.

Today I finished putting the driver side upper control arm on and getting it adjusted as per Jeff's recommendations for power steering.

upper 3.jpg upper 4.jpg upper 5.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

Front shocks. I am amazed at the fit of things thus far. 2 spacers between the mounting ears and the shock are a perfect fit. I reassembled them to make sure logo on springs, bolt heads and nuts and label on shock body are all uniform.

shock left.jpg shock right.jpg

yes, I still have to put the zip ties on right now

[Bill Elliott]

Worked on the front rotors, the safety wire is very tedious work.

IMG-0644.jpgIMG-0643.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

Center section in.

center section.jpg

[danmas]

That is such a grand feeling, isn’t it?

[Bill Elliott]

Yes it's a big relief, I feel like progress will speed up for a bit. If I could get a day off , that would help.

[Bill Elliott]

Got the front brakes on and clearances are good.
brakes.jpg brakes with wheel.jpg

[danmas]

Are those the Aero 6 willwoods? If so, same ones I have.

[Bill Elliott]

Just testing pictures to see if I figured out the whole sideways thumbnail problem

side view.jpg

seems , I did.

[Bill Elliott]

Are those the Aero 6 willwoods? If so, same ones I have.

these are the Wilwood 12.88 that I ordered with the kit. Didn't know they were called Aero 6

[danmas]

these are the Wilwood 12.88 that I ordered with the kit. Didn't know they were called Aero 6

I see. Mine are actually the 15s but the caliper looks very similar. Either way, sweet looking kit...

[Bill Elliott]

Putting the new stud's in. This tool makes it a breeze.

stud installer.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

A couple small things done today. Putting in the control arms for the IRS . Those definitely need some persuasion . The mounting tabs were quite a bit off, about a .25" The problem with the bolt washer method is that on the rear mount for the lower control arm, when you try to spread them the further forward tab would move ( I am definitely not an engineer) but the rear one wouldn't . I believe when you try to spread them only the one that has more space from the welds will bend. I needed the furthest rear tab to bend so spreading with bolt and washers did no good. Had to use the BFH on the on tab . All is well now , both uppers and lowers are in.
I discovered that I was missing the adjuster link for the toe adjustment arms, so finishing the IRS will be delayed a bit.

IRS driver.jpg IRS pass.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

Received this yesterday.

Screenshot (189).jpg

I just really didn't like the design and fit of the kit supplied parking brake.

[danmas]

Received this yesterday.

Screenshot (189).jpg

I just really didn't like the design and fit of the kit supplied parking brake.

I agree. Have the same

[Bill Elliott]

More IRS stuff. I figure that I could get most everything on except the toe adjustment arms until those adjustment links show up ( hopefully they are in stock ).

drv cv and irs.jpg

[F500guy]

Same issue seems everyone has on the control arm, the jig is off by a bit. I did a little spread, little trim of front and rear bushings to get the clearance. I to have the E-brake option, just remember to swap R/L for clearance to the shock.

[Bill Elliott]

Got these yesterday, what a beautiful thing

side pipes.jpg

Gas'n regulars

[Bill Elliott]

Rear brakes are on now along with the Wilwood EPB. Still waiting on rear toe adjustment arm link adjusters.

rear brakes.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

Progress is a little slow lately. I have been working 6 days a week for most of the weeks since the arrival of the kit. I am still very excited about this and having fun. I always make time for working on the car even if it is just an hour or two.

I have mounted the pedal box and master cylinders , I will be receiving the wilwood 13/16 m/c tomorrow to switch out with the 3/4 kit delivered one. Per recommendation of Paul and others, with the Tilton hydraulic release bearing this is needed.

mastercylinders.jpg cockpit 1.jpg

Tonight I got the steering shaft set in place, no washers needed to clear the 3/4 tube. I saw many threads about mounting the bearing in the cockpit side vs the engine bay side of the footbox ( I believe it was Rich that stated "you'll thank me later").

steering shaft 1.jpgsteering shaft 2.jpgsteering shaft 3.jpgsteering shaft 4.jpgsteering shaft 5.jpg

hear we go again with the flipped pics,,,,,, arghh

[Bill Elliott]

mastercylinders 3.jpg

Fixed it. Maybe someone can explain why. So if I put multiple pictures in an email to myself , when I open the email to save the pic to my computer it will only download it when I right click on it. If I send a single pic to my email, when I open the email I can right click on it and just "save as xxx.jpeg" When I do it that way it will upload in correct orientation.

[F500guy]

What is the benefit of mounting the bearing on the inside of the foot box? I need to check my engine/clutch information as I only have the 3/4 supplied by FFR with my SBF 427 from BPE

[Mike.Bray]

hear we go again with the flipped pics,,,,,, arghh

There's a long explanation about cell phone pictures and computers and rotation that I won't bore you with. You can Google it if you're interested.

One simple and sure fix is to copy the pictures from your phone to your computer then open them in Paint and do a Save As to a jpeg. This will orientate them correctly.

[cc2Arider]

I concur....and furthermore, just to be sure I'm not hogging up the database memory, I typically "reduce picture size" by 50% and then upload here

Craig C

[Bill Elliott]

What is the benefit of mounting the bearing on the inside of the foot box? I need to check my engine/clutch information as I only have the 3/4 supplied by FFR with my SBF 427 from BPE

I believe it has to do with making it easier to remove dd shaft if you have to make adjustments on the rack.

[Bill Elliott]

Today , after another 60 hr work week, I started fuel tank , pump, and filter assembly. I am feeding the horses via a Aeromotive stealth 340 pump and filtered with a Aeromotive canister style 10micron filter. Pump is in the sump area with the sock on and return line also in sump area.

The only thing I was questioning is the 3/8 npt to an6 fitting in the filter. It went in about 3 or 4 threads and that was all it would go. I put permatex high temp thread sealant on. Just want to make sure things are as they should be.

fuel filter.jpg and here is what the fitting looks like before install Screenshot (1).png

fuel pump 2.jpg fuel pump 1.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

First fuel line made and pressure tested, pump to filter

fuel line 1.jpg fuel line 2.jpg

[Bill Elliott]

Received my final parts for rear suspension and have all that done.

rear susp. complete.jpg

Passenger footbox also tonight.

passenger footbox 1.jpg passenger footbox 2.jpg

I will also say that silicone is anti-seize compound's evil twin. That stuff gets everywhere.