Aledo Snake

[DIBaledo]

I thought quite a bit about writing a build thread since my build will be quite slow and intermittent. I live in Aledo, Texas, which is where I will be building my Roadster, only part time - about half of the year. At least for the next couple of years, my build will take place on weekends during the time we're in Texas; other times. I'll just dream about what I'd rather be doing. However, I plan on including a few different modifications to the "typical" Roadster - some may question them, but I'm all in on it. With this , I decided to share my adventure. There may be gaps of a few months every now and then, but in the end, I hope to share my progress for suggestions, questions and comments... and maybe a few oohs and ahs.

Basically, I ordered my complete kit last February and it arrived last week after a long 9 month wait. While I have some basic knowledge and experience, I still consider myself a complete novice, but, in fact, I feel like I have already "built" at least 20 FFR Roadsters simply by reading and re-reading and then re-reading again, the many remarkable build threads that experts and novices alike have generously taken the time to share.

My plan is not to build a full on race car, but a car that stands out on the street, but if some foolish thought enters my head, I can take to a track and let 'er go. (probably not)

My order included a Complete MK4 Kit with most of the standard options. I did include the Kirkey lowback racing seats which give me the ability to customize both their size and looks when finally installed in the cockpit.I went with 18' Halibrand Replicas. Carbon dash, rear cubby, EFI in-tank fuel system (Pro-M hanger), power steering, FFR stainless steel exhausts, IRS and heater/defroster..

Some of the different options I included were the result of speaking with many of you and countless discussions with Mike Forte and Gordon Levy. It all started with my decision to go with a Ford Racing Aluminator 52XS Cobra Jet Racing Engine. I coupled that with a Tremac T56 Magnum with a Forte hydraulic clutch. With that combination, I should be able to fly this beast with the addition of a couple of small wings. On the other hand, it will teach me to be light on the throttle and respect what lurks beneath the hood. To that drivetrain, I added Gordon Levy's front billet suspension with QA-1 double adjustable shocks with Eibach springs. In order to stop as quickly as this will accelerate, Gordon hooked me up with a set of Wilwood Big Brake discs all around.

Even though this is going to take me about 3 years to complete, I'm hoping to have a lot of fun building and learning about what goes into these cars. In fact, building it and adding my own touches may be the most satisfying part of this adventure.

David...

[Mike.Bray]

Welcome to the adventure and always good to see a fellow Texan on here!

[DIBaledo]

Delivery as scheduled couldn't be easier. My kit was at FFR for about 3 weeks before it could be picked up; just enough time for a lot of the important items on my POL to be included in the actual delivery. After inventory, almost everything was accounted for. only major discrepancy was the bushings to mount the IRS center section - they were checked off as included but nowhere to be found.



Put away and ready to begin...



And the engine will stand by in the garage for a while until it's ready to install

[DIBaledo]

A little bit of work completed over the past week on the front suspension and brakes. These are the Gordon Levy Billet Control Arms and Wildwood Big Brakes. Looks like automotive art. It will be a shame to get it dirty, but it will be driven....







With the steering rack added



David....

[F500guy]

Those suspension pieces look nice, is the camber adjustable with out removing the upper Heim joints? Looks like Caster adjustment you would need to remove the the lowwer A-arm to adjust the heim joint, is that correct?

[DIBaledo]

Uppers are easily adjustable without removal - very, very easy. I believe that the lowers can be adjusted as well without removing them, but I will have to check when I get back to Texas next week. One of the benefits of this design is the greater adjustability of the suspension as a whole. Gordon Levy has used these in a number of cars he has built and/or campaigned. The only difficulty, and it wasn't that difficult, is that you have to drill different mounting points for the lower arms and the upper shock attachment. I'm very impressed with the build quality and they truly do look special.

David...

[D-Dubya]

David,

Welcome to the madness, as I have heard others say when we join. Looks like you have a nice build planned. I ordered my MKIV in April and it is not scheduled to deliver until mid-February but I am receiving my BP 347 tomorrow (a bit premature but they finished it 6 months early). I am not far from you in Newark, Texas. Would welcome the opportunity to connect. Are you going to the DFW Chapter of the Cobra Club in Midlothian this Saturday?

Doug

[DIBaledo]

David,

Welcome to the madness, as I have heard others say when we join. Looks like you have a nice build planned. I ordered my MKIV in April and it is not scheduled to deliver until mid-February but I am receiving my BP 347 tomorrow (a bit premature but they finished it 6 months early). I am not far from you in Newark, Texas. Would welcome the opportunity to connect. Are you going to the DFW Chapter of the Cobra Club in Midlothian this Saturday?

Doug

Doug,

I will be out of town until early next week but look forward to the opportunity to connect and discuss our adventures. PM me about getting together.

David...

[DIBaledo]

I’m back in Europe for the next few months, so there won’t be any progress on the project. However, I did accomplish, what for me seems like quite a bit over the last few weekends. Basically, the front suspension and brakes are buttoned up, the steering is in (temporarily), pedal box is in, the rear suspension is now complete with the brakes and parking brakes and the gas tank is in. Next steps when I return will be to focus on brake lines, fuel lines and aluminum.
Using the Wilwood pedal box with the Coyote DBW accelerator pedal is a bit of a chore, but everything went smoothly after shaving down the exterior of the accelerator supplied with the Coyote Ford Performance Pack. In fact, it fit perfectly without changing the pedal size or turning the pedal upside down as suggested by the manual. I have no interference with any frame members and full range of motion for the pedal.





Am I missing something here? It seems that everybody has problems getting the pedal to fit. I seem to have lots of room for my feet (size 13) and I’m happy with the location of all the pedals relative to each other. Also, I have plenty of room to put in a dead pedal left of the clutch.

David...

[DIBaledo]

I was dreading installing the IRS center section by myself. It seemed heavy and unwieldy. Additionally, it had to fit precisely between the mounting brackets with no room to spare. Much to my surprise, it was very simple and went in without any problem. The whole job was completed in less than 30 minutes. The secret - an ATV jack. Just put the pumpkin on top of the jack angled it up and over the frame member and, voila! it went right into place. Can't recommend the ATV jack/lift enough. I also used it to put my gas tank in place and it went right in without any modification to the tank straps using the hardware supplied. no need for longer bolts. The lift held the tank in place and allowed me to bend the straps to fit perfectly. I purchased my ATV lift from Summit Racing (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/otc-1545)



Rear suspension and brakes complete. I obtained the Wilwood brake kit from Gordon Levy - it fit and looks great! Gordon also hooked me up with a Wilwood electronic parking brake - no issues with cables - just a simple wiring harness and another button on the dash or somewhere that looks good. They're pricey, but I think they are well worth it. I also installed the QA1 double adjustable shocks - Ultimately, I mounted them upside down (not shown here) so that the adjustment knobs were at the topp and easily accessible without removing the wheels.



David....

[DIBaledo]

An amazing thing is happening as I am building my Roadster. I actually feel like I am learning something about cars and how they operate. I used to think of myself as a bright enough guy; able to bullsh*t my way through most anything. But now, I feel like I really know a little bit about what I'm talking about. Maybe it's a false sense of confidence, but after reading all the various build threads on the forum, going through my inventory, reading the build manual and creating my own build notes, I actually feel like I'm learning and, at the same time, embarrassing myself when I can't shut up about my project when talking to others.

This is simply FUN!!! Who would've guessed...

David....

[cc2Arider]

Hi David,

Your progress looks good!

How did you spec the QA-1 valving and spring rates? Or did Gordon set that up already?

Craig C

[Ted G]

Looking great!!

[DIBaledo]

Craig,

Gordon suggested shock and springs based on his experience with these cars. The fronts spring are 600#; the rears are 400#. The literature that came with the shocks included some basic suggestions for adjustments for types of ride/comfort level - 2 clicks for rebound; 4 for compression, etc. Actually, my plan was to set up the shocks at a high comfort level and then have Gordon Levy fine tune them.

David...

[DIBaledo]

It seems that this is a never-ending problem, but like others, I am learning to be patient. I received my kit in November. A large number of the items on my POL were already included when the kit arrived. Now, it is causing some delays. I still have some major parts on POL in addition to a bunch a small pieces. The major ones include: Coyote Headers, Fuel Sender, IRS Fastener Pack and Carbon Fiber Dash. I was able to obtain the nuts and bolts required for the IRS Center Section from McMaster Carr. They were not cheap, but purchasing them directly allowed me to continue with the build. That's probably not a reasonable solution for the Fuel Sender, Headers and Dash. Does anybody have any idea what the lead time and availability is for these parts? I've asked FFR and awaiting their response.

David...

[Mike.Bray]

From experience I can tell you the squeaky wheel gets the grease with this company. I received my kit at the end of May, car has been in go kart stage for a couple of months and the bodywork is done. I'm about to mount the body to the chassis and I'm still waiting on door latches. I'm thinking I might be driving with the doors duct taped closed.

[edwardb]

If you're using the kit provided Mustang fuel tank, the sender is widely available. Millions of them used in 87-97 Mustangs. OE looks like part number E9ZF-9275-AA. Anywhere from $30/$40 and up. But even with the tank mounted, if you either leave the trunk floor aluminum off, or leave the access cover off, it can be installed later in the build. Up until you're ready to put fuel in the tank for first start. Headers can be added late in the build as well. Dash is a little bit of a pain. But basically, if these are the only parts you're missing, you can build the nearly the entire car working around those items.

[DIBaledo]

I received a response from FFR almost immediately. Some of the parts on my POL are ready to ship, but they are still waiting for information on the important ones. As Paul points out, it may be easier to source the fuel sender elsewhere but the dash is a bit more problematic. Perhaps it is possible to mock up the dash on a spare piece of aluminium until the carbon fiber dash is available. That way I’ll be able to begin the wiring when I get back to working on the car. Since I purchased the forward firewall from FFMetal, I have the original firewall that may work if I reverse it for a dash mock-up.

I’m impressed with the speed that FFR responded; now we’ll see how they follow through.

David…

[DIBaledo]

From experience I can tell you the squeaky wheel gets the grease with this company. I received my kit at the end of May, car has been in go kart stage for a couple of months and the bodywork is done. I'm about to mount the body to the chassis and I'm still waiting on door latches. I'm thinking I might be driving with the doors duct taped closed.

Mike,

Breeze makes a door latch kit that is supposed to be much better and stronger than the one that comes with the kit from FFR. I have a set waiting to install when I get to that point. I believe that they require some modification on the door to install but nothing significant. They may be available much quicker than waiting for your POL and may function much better.

[Mike.Bray]

Mike,

Breeze makes a door latch kit that is supposed to be much better and stronger than the one that comes with the kit from FFR. I have a set waiting to install when I get to that point. I believe that they require some modification on the door to install but nothing significant. They may be available much quicker than waiting for your POL and may function much better.

I've looked at the Breeze kit and it's quite a job to install. From what I've seen and heard the new design FFR latches are nice and aren't bad to install. I'm in weekly communication with FFR on these, my preference is to use the FFR latches.
.

[MB750]

My fuel sender and pickup were also POL, which I was replied to by Chris Sturtevant at FFR that they just got a batch of both in and should be shipping next week.

[DIBaledo]

I've looked at the Breeze kit and it's quite a job to install. From what I've seen and heard the new design FFR latches are nice and aren't bad to install. I'm in weekly communication with FFR on these, my preference is to use the FFR latches.
.

Good to know. It will be quite a while before I’m ready for the door latches. Perhaps I’ll have the FFR latches by that time and give them a try. Hope you receive yours soon. You build looks incredible and it would be nice to see it driving around the metroplex sooner rather than later.

David…

[DIBaledo]

My fuel sender and pickup were also POL, which I was replied to by Chris Sturtevant at FFR that they just got a batch of both in and should be shipping next week.

Thanks for the info. On another note, as you can see above, I purchased a fully built and modified crate engine. I wouldn’t even know where to start if I included an engine rebuild for my kit. In 1970, my Dad and I rebuilt the engine in his Camaro RS. At the end of the build, we had some pieces left over and couldn’t figure out where they went. We took it to an engine shop and they started over. I don’t think they had any parts left over. Anyway, watching your build has taught me quite a bit about how these engines work and I truly envy your knowledge and ability. Thanks for sharing.

David…