MJS Coupe Build

[MSumners]

Time to get the new build thread kicked off. Finished the roadster build just over a year ago and missed the build process and decided to go with the coupe for the next project. Ordered on new years day last year and took delivery today. I actually delayed delivery for a few months as there were simply too many irons in the fire to even consider taking delivery and getting started. Had a sizeable flood at a cottage early in the year and spent the entire summer re-renovating the lower level. Still crazy busy however planning to build similar to the roadster, at least 20 minutes most days of the week and the progress comes surprisingly fast.
Build plan / ordered:
Coupe complete kit, bare frame, IRS, Coyote gen 3 (or 4 depending on timeline), PS, red Wilwoods, QA1's, classic instruments gauges, gasn pipes, non-halibrand wheels, kirkey highbacks, NRG quick release wheel. Most parts I've actually already acquired over the last 2 years.
Goal is to keep the build as simple as reasonable and clean.

Can't wait to get started and really excited my son (8) is old enough to be interested in helping and learning.
Delivery was complicated by the crane on the truck being broken, we actually lifted the chassis onto my dolly, then had a flatbed tow truck back up to the Stewart truck so we could roll it off. Really actually went quite quick and was smooth. Also really excited to have the new space to work in and have a lift.

Going to get through inventory obviously first. Ive read through the instructions at least once but will have to follow them for progression as a know the panel install is a bit different for the coupe. Anything recommended as a must-do prior to taking the body off other than what the manual says? That likely wont be for a bit.
POL list is very short. Only two things missing are the wiring harness and one other part that I'm currently forgetting.

[JimStone]

Congratulations on the delivery! I look forward to watching you're progress. If this build is anything like your Roadster, we're in for a treat

And that's one heck of a workshop space. I think you're good on headroom

[Namrups]

Welcome to the coupe family! You will love it.

[David Williamson]

Welcome to the "Coupe" world. Wow nice shop
David W

[Jim1855]

Mike,
Congrats on the coupe. Looking forward to seeing it.
There are now 4 coupes under construction in the Grand Rapids area.
The new shop looks great, big upgrade for the previous garage.
Jim

[MSumners]

Wow I didn’t realize there were 3 others in the area building a coupe. Probably a crew at the meetups you host that I always miss. Agreed on the build space. Amazing! having a lift to work with and I’ve hardly started.

[Jim1855]

Mike,
I'll probably organize a winter, "let's tell stories (lies) about cars" coffee at some time or maybe a group lunch, dive bar of course. I'll keep you posted.
There're four roadsters as well, including my Challenge Car.
Jim

[Mark Eaton]

Nice! And I love your work space. I need to up my game in my shop and get some of those fancy floor tiles!

[MSumners]

Inventoried and got the body off and panels removed. I’m taking some time prepping and refitting the panels before I send them out for powder coat. I’ll probably drop them off when I get the chassis done might as well do it at the same time to save a trip.
The only two things on the entire inventory I haven’t found yet are two specific fittings. Before I give up hope and notify factory five I’m going to go through the listed box again to check.
Already making a small pile of things I know I’m not using.
Re-introduced to my friend the cleco today.

[Bob Brandle]

Welcome to the Coupe Group Journey!
Amazing shop you've got there.
What are some of your key build/design or ultimate usage plans for your Coupe?

[MSumners]

Mike,
I'll probably organize a winter, "let's tell stories (lies) about cars" coffee at some time or maybe a group lunch, dive bar of course. I'll keep you posted.
There're four roadsters as well, including my Challenge Car.
Jim

Sounds great

[MSumners]

Welcome to the Coupe Group Journey!
Amazing shop you've got there.
What are some of your key build/design or ultimate usage plans for your Coupe?

Thanks! Planning a coyote and TKX. Love the idea of the aluminator but 28k!? Ordered IRS. Power steering. Heat and AC. Gasn pipes. I haven’t completely ruled out the t56 at this point and need to look into it more. My goal for the build is to keep it reasonably simple (yes goals are made to be broken) and build something I can drive as much as possible. Would love to get it to the track sometime and learn some things (looking at you Jim) but lately time constraints make this nearly impossible. So generally street, cruising, very little track time, simple-ish build with serviceability. And more importantly get my son involved as much as he is interested.
My current plan has been to take the build all the way through to completion and do body and paint as well. Would definitely need to do a lot of research and a mentor (or 4) for that process but certainly have some time.

[MSumners]

[MSumners]

Lots of adjusting, angle grinder, drilling, fitting and repeating.

[rhk118]

Congrats and welcome! Looking forward to following along. Love your space!

[MSumners]

Not too much time lately for the build. Have managed to get all of the aluminum panels (pre body install ) fitted drilled and removed. Also managed to test fit the front and rear suspension and noticed everything actually fits very well. I remembered adjusting the mounts doing the roadster build and anticipated having to do the same but none of that was required here.

Anyone think I should do anything else before sending off to powder coat?

[UpNorth]

Hi,
Could you comment on your BendPak lift set?
Looks like they’re « integrated » in your garage, am I right?
I built my Coupe on 4 candle posts and thought many times that I should’ve get a set like you did.
Thanks.

Francois

[MSumners]

Hi,
Could you comment on your BendPak lift set?
Looks like they’re « integrated » in your garage, am I right?
I built my Coupe on 4 candle posts and thought many times that I should’ve get a set like you did.
Thanks.

Francois

The bendpak lift is the 6mds-F-EXT. in the mid rise flush mount version they make a regular length and an extended length. In retrospect maybe I should have gone with the regular length but too late now and works great. I planned out the lift when I was designing the barn and much easier to get the concrete correct on a new pour as you can pour around the framed out area and install conduit for the lines to run. The controls are just to the right of the lift and near the wall so it has easy air line and 220v access. In the area under the lift support base there is 5-6" of reinforced concrete so would be a bit more work to install after the fact given the depth.
The extended version seemed like the better idea at the time as I'll be using the lift for a humvee project and a ram truck as well. If you've ever pulled wheels on and off a humvee you know why. Each one seems about as heavy as the coupe frame. It doesnt lift so high you can just walk under the car obviously, so doesn't have that feature you would get with some 2-posts.
I've never had a different lift or ever really worked on one but I can say I love the fact that the platforms are essentially out of the way when you are working. It was a bit to install but really not too bad and the instructions are very clear. Just a bear to hammer drill the 3/4' mounting holes through the rebar. Looked for some images of the install in progress. The platforms do descend and sit completely flush with the floor so if not being used you wont trip over anything. Overall if doing it over again, for my intended use, I would pick the same lift.

[burchfieldb]

You may want to check your mounts for the IRS to see what your drive line angle will be. Mine was pointing down at .5 degrees towards the floor, which caused some issues. I ended up having to make custom bushings to fix the problem.

[MSumners]

You may want to check your mounts for the IRS to see what your drive line angle will be. Mine was pointing down at .5 degrees towards the floor, which caused some issues. I ended up having to make custom bushings to fix the problem.

Thanks for the heads up. Haven’t ordered the engine yet so won’t be test fitting things beforehand though. However, doesn’t this get adjusted by spacing the tail of the transmission off the mount?

[burchfieldb]

Thanks for the heads up. Haven’t ordered the engine yet so won’t be test fitting things beforehand though. However, doesn’t this get adjusted by spacing the tail of the transmission off the mount?

If it is pointed down, it causes the drive shaft angle to be too much, and the transmission was hitting the frame. You can check without the engine and transmission, install the center section and use a digital angle gauge on the driveshaft mount face. Use the frame as the horizontal zero point.

[MSumners]

Working on a few final things before sending the frame out for powder coat. Making the driver footbox lid removable and added a hinge. the hinges is 16” SS and after fitting it powder coated it black. I’m going to try to powder coat as many of the small bare steel bits as I can in the little convection oven. Things really turn out surprisingly good using the simple process. Getting pretty good at loading that little tiny oven up.

[MSumners]

And…. I just looked back at my images of the body before removal. I’ll be making a new driver footbox lid, HA. Seriously cannot believe I just did that. At least I’ll have a nice black hinge to use on something else.

[burchfieldb]

And…. I just looked back at my images of the body before removal. I’ll be making a new driver footbox lid, HA. Seriously cannot believe I just did that. At least I’ll have a nice black hinge to use on something else.

Yep, happens to the best of us. I drilled some holes in my frame for the screw clearance size, instead of the tap drill size, got them mixed up while switching bits in the drill. I will be welding, grinding, and redrilling those. I also cut a piece of sheetmetal referencing the wrong edge on my pattern and now it is too small.

[MSumners]

Nothing major going on just getting some sub-assembly steps done and ordered aluminum for the replacement footbox panel, thicker trans tunnel and front firewall lower section. Wow has aluminum spiked since I last ordered! Got the wilwood rotors together and safety wired, fuel pump assembled with the 255 Wal bro and ProM hanger and fuel tank ready, shocks assembled. Looks like the wiring harness is on the way that was the final POL. I picked up a few things from the 12 days sale including the windshield wipers, lithographs for the walls and the FF steel sign. Put a chrome powder coat on it and got it hung.

[MSumners]

Was able to make the new trans tunnel cover and the replacement footbox lid. Used 0.063 6061 t4 for the trans tunnel cover and I think this is about the limit for my small box brake. For the last lip I used the official humvee bumper hitch support piece which weighs about 35 lbs and works great as a bench brake. Slowly plugging away powder coating all the small pieces I can.

[MSumners]

Has anyone popped these brass pins out to disassemble ? Looking to powder coat. Looking for any advice or pointers.

[MSumners]

Tested the fuel resistance of the black powder coat I’m using by soaking a test piece in gas for 6 hours. Looks completely unscathed. Test passed. This is prismatic stone black.

[Stangarang]

Mike, I wanted to start with nice build up to this point. I love how you mention getting your son involved. I have planned to build my Coupe with my oldest son as a bonding moment. I haven't ordered my coupe yet. I have around $25,000 in parts though. Keep up the good work. I plan to follow your build as a reference.
Michael

[MSumners]

Is that the correct rough placement of the radiator tunnel upper piece? Can’t seem to find it in the manual, looks like some changes were made since the images.
Thanks for any input!

[burchfieldb]

Yeah, that is about where mine landed.
Screenshot_20231231_094611_Gallery.jpg

[MSumners]

Yeah, that is about where mine landed.
Screenshot_20231231_094611_Gallery.jpg

Thanks !

[rhk118]

Is that the correct rough placement of the radiator tunnel upper piece? Can’t seem to find it in the manual, looks like some changes were made since the images.
Thanks for any input!

Mine is pretty close to that as well, angles just slightly more forward. I'm not going to rivet that piece to the sides until the hood is fitted, that way can angle forward or back a little if needed to reduce the gap to the hood as much as possible (hope that makes sense).

[Namrups]

Mine is pretty close to that as well, angles just slightly more forward. I'm not going to rivet that piece to the sides until the hood is fitted, that way can angle forward or back a little if needed to reduce the gap to the hood as much as possible (hope that makes sense).

Initially I used the factory bent angle just as was posted here. It left a large gap between this piece and the hood. I removed mine and "flattened" the bend so that the hood now rests on the bulb seal.

Waiting to fit the hood before riviting this piece on is something I wish I had done.

[MSumners]

Thanks for the Recs!

Finished mocking up the rad tunnel. I had to trim a bit off the lower edge ( just over 1/8”) of the radiator and shroud to get it seated enough. Otherwise it wouldn’t quite sit low enough for the upper mount ears to sit flat.
Also shifted the radiator far to the driver side to minimize the outlet interference.

[MSumners]

Mike, I wanted to start with nice build up to this point. I love how you mention getting your son involved. I have planned to build my Coupe with my oldest son as a bonding moment. I haven't ordered my coupe yet. I have around $25,000 in parts though. Keep up the good work. I plan to follow your build as a reference.
Michael

25k is a lot in parts! Hopefully that includes an engine!

[rhk118]

Also shifted the radiator far to the driver side to minimize the outlet interference.

Good move - Shifting the radiator to the DS will also leave the gap needed for the lower condenser line (if running AC) later on. Not there yet, but anticipating it!

[Stangarang]

25k is a lot in parts! Hopefully that includes an engine!

Not yet. I have Wilwood brakes with electric parking brake. A T-56 with Shift relocation kit. Centerforce dual disc clutch. BC Forged rims 18x12 and 18x10. I plan on an Aluminator Coyote with a Roush 750HP Stage 2 Supercharger. Already have a new Moroso oil pan and pickup.

[Stangarang]

Good move - Shifting the radiator to the DS will also leave the gap needed for the lower condenser line (if running AC) later on. Not there yet, but anticipating it!

Check out Youtube channel Cobra Daytona Build. I saw one of his videos mention that he moved the radiator to the side and ended up with it hitting the nose hinges. May want to check fitment now.

[MSumners]

Check out Youtube channel Cobra Daytona Build. I saw one of his videos mention that he moved the radiator to the side and ended up with it hitting the nose hinges. May want to check fitment now.

Thanks for the heads up I’ll look at that placement