New Roadster build in Ohio

[JRL16]

Hi all. Awaiting delivery of the Roadster sometime week of 4/17. My garage is all ready and just starting to build the body buck. Just wanted to thank everyone in advance for all the help that's available here. I was very fortunate to be able to order the car during the 50% off options sale as the car is option heavy and will have everything but heater /defroster because of the glove box. It will have a 427 from Engine Factory. Should be a screamer! Looking forward to getting started. I have 40 years experience in all phases of auto manufacturing and assembly so that should be helpful. Again I would like to thank all of the forum members in advance for all the help I know you'll be.

[GoDadGo]

Welcome To The Fun! If a banker can build one, then this should be a cinch for you. Good Luck & Have A Great Build!

[HB_Ryan]

Good luck... I have my Roadster being delivered on April 30th. Going with a 427 as well! Have fun!

[wareaglescott]

Good luck.
What was the time from order to delivery?

[GoDadGo]

Hi all. Awaiting delivery of the Roadster sometime week of 4/17. My garage is all ready and just starting to build the body buck. Just wanted to thank everyone in advance for all the help that's available here. I was very fortunate to be able to order the car during the 50% off options sale as the car is option heavy and will have everything but heater /defroster because of the glove box. It will have a 427 from Engine Factory. Should be a screamer! Looking forward to getting started. I have 40 years experience in all phases of auto manufacturing and assembly so that should be helpful. Again I would like to thank all of the forum members in advance for all the help I know you'll be.

>>> I built a heater that mounts on the passenger side upper foot box. It was done to keep my lovely better half's feet warm. I'll take pics and get them posted some time over the next few days. It is very simple and very minimal, but should do the trick. The best thing is that it is a very clean installation. <<<

[JRL16]

Good luck.
What was the time from order to delivery?

Ordered it during the January 50% off options sale. Had to have them hold off delivery because of vacation and other things.

[JRL16]

looking forward to the pics.

[HB_Ryan]

I ordered mine on April 4th with delivery on April 30th. Not too shabby considering i live in California.

[wareaglescott]

I ordered mine on April 4th with delivery on April 30th. Not too shabby considering i live in California.

wow that seems pretty fast

[GoDadGo]

looking forward to the pics.

I just posted the pics under Chevy Cobra's Heater.

1. 1965 CJ-3 Heatercore that I got from Autozone.
2. 5/8" Four Season's manual heater control valve.
3. Attwood 3" Marine blower and some Spectra 3" intake ducting stuff.
4. A home made aluminum bracket and some foam insulation tape secures it in place.
5. Some grommet's hold the front up where the tubes exit the front of the passenger foot box.

[HB_Ryan]

wow that seems pretty fast

FFR is bringing my car on their big rig for the HB cruise in. That saved me 2 weeks of delivery time.

[Turbroe]

Nice. GLWB

[JRL16]

Got word last week from Stewart that car would not be picked up till April 28. Looks like I'll be around the 30th too.

[JRL16]

Well things have been busy. Got the car on the 28th in the rain. Oh well. Probably the last time it will ever get wet. Got the inventory done, body on buck, all the aluminum off. Put the F panels back on after using sharkhide. Now ready to install front suspension.
Has anybody ever had an issue with lower arms binding? Breeze has bushing they say solves this problem. Never heard of it. Also they have a "bearing" for Koni's. Are these worth installing?

[edwardb]

Has anybody ever had an issue with lower arms binding? Breeze has bushing they say solves this problem. Never heard of it. Also they have a "bearing" for Koni's. Are these worth installing?

There was a problem several years ago with the sleeves in the FF control arm bushings being a bit short and they would hang in the mounts against the bushings. Also, they didn't take grease well. This has been addressed. The sleeves are longer and the bushings have grooves for the grease to flow better. Mark's parts (Breeze) do have serrated ends, which maybe is interesting, but I'm not sure it's necessary. You can use the stock parts without binding. Two hints: First, I prefer to get them greased up before installation. This lets you confirm they are properly lubed plus makes them easier to install. Second, they will be a little stiff the first time assembled. Install them as instructed in the manual, with them horizontal in roughly the final position when torqued, and you should be fine.

Haven't heard of bearings for the Koni coilovers. Those too should install just as instructed and work fine.

[JRL16]

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any guidance on hydraulic or cable clutch? I have had cables break in the past and Mike Forte's has a hydraulic one that would work. Haven't found them anywhere else. Also, any info about 2015 IRS center section bushings ? Mike has different ones that he says are better than FFR's. Thanks for all the good advice.

[edwardb]

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any guidance on hydraulic or cable clutch? I have had cables break in the past and Mike Forte's has a hydraulic one that would work. Haven't found them anywhere else. Also, any info about 2015 IRS center section bushings ? Mike has different ones that he says are better than FFR's. Thanks for all the good advice.

Many of us use the hydraulic setup from Mike Forte. I've installed a couple of them. They work well. Not cheap, but a solid choice. I've seen mention of other options, but I personally have not pursued them.

For the 2015 IRS center section, you're referring to the four mounting points on the actual center section? Not the bushings in the knuckles, right? There was a dialogue about this in another thread, and included a call and clarification from Factory Five. The bushings they provide for the center section are polyurethane with steel sleeves for the mounting bolts. They had good answers for what they were and how they were selected. I was convinced and IMO they are completely fine. I see no reason to replace them. The center section is quite rigid once it's installed. I'm not sure what would be "better" in this case plus there is very little if any experience yet with these in FF builds to suggest they are a weak point. The Mustang performance guys do replace the stock rubber mounts with poly mounts for the center section in the Mustang IRS cage. Maybe that's what Mike is referring to. But that's a completely different setup with a much heavier car, and Factory Five is already giving you poly mounts.

[JRL16]

Can't thank you enough for the knowledgable advice. You've given me a solid direction to go. Guess I'll be buying a hydraulic clutch this week. Any further advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[JRL16]

Started looking for tires and only two manufacturers have both sizes for the 28 inch wheels. Just wondering what most are using for the 18's. Really don't want to have different styles front and rear. Was trying to get either Goodyear or Pirelli but would have to get different styles. Only Michelin and Continental make both. Thanks

[edwardb]

Started looking for tires and only two manufacturers have both sizes for the 28 inch wheels. Just wondering what most are using for the 18's. Really don't want to have different styles front and rear. Was trying to get either Goodyear or Pirelli but would have to get different styles. Only Michelin and Continental make both. Thanks

Assume you mean 18 inch wheels in both cases, and also assume you got the 18"x 9" fronts and 18"x 11" rears. Factory Five recommends 255/35 ZR18 fronts and 315/30 ZR18 rears. The Factory Five prototype 20th Anniversary build has these exact sizes in Toyo Proxes R888's. Those are R comps with a 100 treadwear rating. Another possibility would be Nitto NT-01's. Also R comps though. For my mainly street driving, I looked for other choices. There aren't many. In ascending price order, I found Goodrich Rivals, Falken 615Ks, Michelin and Pirellis. No other brands that I looked at had the right sizes or tire type. For my build, I chose BFGoodrich Rival S, 245/40 ZR18 fronts, 315/30Z R18 rears. I know of at least one other build that chose the same tires. These are 200 treadwear rated, and very highly rated. Liked by the autocross guys, and could be hard to find. I found them at Tire Rack a few weeks ago.

Front:



Rear:

[JRL16]

You've been a wealth of knowledge and a lot of help. Thank you. I did look at those BFGoodrich. Nice.

[JRL16]

Just installed the IRS and something seems wrong. FFR sent the bushings for the upper and lower control arms after a while on backorder but there aren't any sleeves with them. There seems to be too much play in them to not have sleeves and I can't find anything in the documentation that says they were part of the backorder and I don't see them in the instructions. My UCA and LCA came with no bushings in them. I'm not sure they were shipped that way because of parts unavailability or that's the normal way. Seems to me they need sleeves.

[edwardb]

Just installed the IRS and something seems wrong. FFR sent the bushings for the upper and lower control arms after a while on backorder but there aren't any sleeves with them. There seems to be too much play in them to not have sleeves and I can't find anything in the documentation that says they were part of the backorder and I don't see them in the instructions. My UCA and LCA came with no bushings in them. I'm not sure they were shipped that way because of parts unavailability or that's the normal way. Seems to me they need sleeves.

This is the 2015 IRS version, and your UCA's and LCA's came without bushings or sleeves on the inner chassis mounts? Strange. They should have come completely assembled. Mine did and every build I've seen did as well. They should have come with a poly bushing half pushed in from each side, a steel sleeve through the center, and a zerk grease fitting on the outside. They absolutely must have the steel sleeves. Call FFR immediately.

[JRL16]

Called FFR and they're sending the sleeves. I guess because of the back order for the bushings the arms came unassembled but they forgot to list or send the sleeves. It must have been a simple mistake on their part because the bushings are just handwritten in the back order sheet. Fortunately everything is just loose assembled except the differential. By the way, do the rear bolts in your diff seem a little short? I can see in the threaded hole of the diff and there's about 5/8 inch left to thread. Don't think it's going anywhere. Did some searching for longer bolts and no luck. Thanks again.

[edwardb]

By the way, do the rear bolts in your diff seem a little short? I can see in the threaded hole of the diff and there's about 5/8 inch left to thread. Don't think it's going anywhere. Did some searching for longer bolts and no luck. Thanks again.

Just looked at mine. The rear mounting boss on the diff is approx 1.875 inches. The bolt in mine is .375 from the end. So exactly 1.5 inches of threads. The bolt is an M14 (.55 inches) so I'm at 2-1/2+ times the bolt diameter. Plenty. Even if you're at .625, you're at 2 times bolt diameter, which is the general recommendation for aluminum. It's should be fine.