GlenH's MK4 Build

[GlenH]

Got a full day to work on the car yesterday. Started out by installing the driveshaft and then filling the transmission with oil. Added a pair of wires to the front wiring harness for future use. Installed the horns and wired them. Wired up the fan. Went ahead and temporarily hooked up the turns signals on each corner for testing my wiring of the RT turn signals. All tested out fine including the hazard switch, which was a big relief. Still need to check the headlights to make sure my high beam switch is correct.

Went ahead and installed the wiper motor so I can go ahead and wire it and the heater.


Ran the line from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder.


Temporarily installed the exhaust


Fabricated some brackets to mount the cooling overflow tank and in went ahead and mounted and ran the hoses. Need to clean up the routing of the hoses, but went ahead and filled the cooling system. I decided that it needed a little more support so I added an additional bracket at the bottom.


Also filled the power steering. May have an issue with the rack as once the air was out of the system it will not turn to the right the way I think it should. It turns left fine.



Walking from the garage to the house I came across this guy strolling across the driveway. To give you an idea of the size that is a two gallon watering can.

[GlenH]

OK folks I need some help. I attempted to do my first start today and no luck. It appears I am not getting any spark. What I have done so far.

Pulled a plug wire and used a spare plug to see if I am getting any spark. I am not.
Pulled the wire from the distributor coming from the coil and used the plug and still no spark.
Tested the wire itself to make sure it was not bad and it appears fine.

Checked the voltage on the orange wire coming from the ignition that is connected to the positive side of the coil and it's showing fine.

My assumption was that the coil was bad. Went and picked up a new coil and still not getting any spark.

I am obviously missing something. Anybody have any ideas?

[GlenH]

I spoke to Mike Forte last week and he sent me out a new distributor since we had eliminated the coil as the issue. I started pulling the old distributor off yesterday and found the problem. When I disconnected the two wires going to the coil and tried to remove them I discovered that the wire going to the negative side of the coil was crushed between one of the power steering bracket mounts and the head. I did not notice it because the it was on the bottom side that was not visible when I replaced the coil. Rather than changing out the distributor I got the wire loose and went ahead and cut off the crushed part and put a new end on what was left. Hooked everything back up and it started right up.

First Start Video

Got my wheels and tires last weekend and got those on the car. Went ahead and double checked the torque on all of the suspension bolts and greased everything.

Ran into a problem with the power steering. It appears that unless I have hooked something up wrong, that I have a bad power steering rack.

[Jdav]

Congrats!

[GlenH]

It's been a slow couple of weeks as far as progress. Find and fix one problem and another one pops up.

Managed to get my first start behind me. Figured out that I had reversed my power steering hoses. Only time will tell if I have blown the seals as a result. So far nothing is leaking. Likely an expensive lesson to double check everything if I have to replace the rack.

Got that corrected and the power steering is working like it should. However, I had power steering lines made because I just did not feel comfortable with making my own and having them hold up to the pressure. I may as well have made my own. The pressure side did not hold and I spent hours cleaning up the mess. Let me tell you with that kind of pressure the fluid goes EVERYWHERE. A week later and I am still finding it in places all over the garage. Got a pressure tested replacement hose and it is holding up.

Had a fuel leak in the coupling where two hard lines came together midway the car. Pulled both pieces and cut and re-flared the ends. Still could not get it to stop leaking. I went ahead and replaced the coupling and that seems to have corrected the problem. I will check it again in a day or two. If it still leaks I will take a step back and possibly start over.

Reworked the plumbing on the coolant overflow after several on the other forum pointed out I might have an issue.

Got the wheels and tires on the car and dropped the seats in temporarily. Dropped it off the jack stands for the first time.




I discovered that a couple of my soft brake lines needed to be adjusted so they would clear everything at full suspension travel as well as full left and right turning. Went ahead and adjusted them to a better position. Of course with having to loosen them I wound up having to re-bleed the brakes. On the right rear the adjusting caused the hard line to start leaking. Went back and tightened it back up and had to bleed that side again.

If all of the gremlins stay away I will go-cart this weekend.

[GoDadGo]

Congratulations On Getting To This Point In Your Build!

Excellent Work I Might Add, Excellent To Say The Least!

[GKindle]

Looks great Glen. I have been following your build with much interest. I pick my kit up in about a month and am looking forward to getting started. Your posts have been very helpful!!!

[pierreb]

I'm in love with the sound of that 347. Can't get enough of your first start video

[GlenH]

I couldn't wait until the weekend since the forecast is calling for rain. Decided to go ahead and go-cart last night. First was a little argument with my wife who insisted she get to ride with me on the first run. I wasn't real happy about it as the passenger side seat is not bolted in and there was not a seat belt on that side. Oh well. I have learned it's better to just say yes dear and move on.

Everything went great. I took it to the end of our driveway which is about 1000 feet and back a couple of times. No issues. The second time I did give it a little extra throttle going up the hill to the street. WOW. I can see how quickly it could get out of hand if you aren't careful.

Once back in the garage I looked for leaks. Apparently the fuel leak that I worked on has been resolved however now I have a new one. There was a small dime sized spot after it sat for a couple of hours. It is coming from the line from the fuel pump to the carb. I will try tightening a little this weekend and see if that takes care of the problem. I also have a power steering leak that appears to be coming from the low pressure hose where it meets the rack. This is another hose that I bought after I decided not to trust my own ability to make hoses and replaced the ones I had made. That one is a little more substantial. A spot about the size of my hand. I will dig into that this weekend. It is possible that it is actually the seals on the rack that are leaking because of my error in hooking the hoses up. If so I guess a new rack is in my future.

Overall I was starting to get a little discouraged due to all of the small problems over the last month or so. That first start and now the go-cart have cured that problem. Now I am as excited as I was the day the kit arrived.

Go Cart Part 1
Go Cart Part 2

[GlenH]

I'm in love with the sound of that 347. Can't get enough of your first start video

I actually wound up going a little different than I had initially planned. I wound up going with a Dart 363 from Mike Forte. It does sound great though.

[Yama-Bro]

Congrats on the go kart! Looks exciting.

[GlenH]

With the help of my youngest we managed to get the body on for the first time to do some test fitting.





I will need to do some adjusting on the exhaust and roll bar cutouts. I will also need to knock back the lip at the dash just a bit. I am sure once I get into it more there will be a lot more to be adjusted. Also need to do some trimming on some of the aluminum.

For now I can go ahead and wire up all of the lights with weather pack connectors and finalize seat position.

[jrcuz]

Hi Glen, I'm very encouraged with your progress. I'm wondering how you ran the heater hose from just under the alternator. I got a right angle heater hose fro Mike Forte but haven't tried to fit it yet.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
JR

[GlenH]

Hi Glen, I'm very encouraged with your progress. I'm wondering how you ran the heater hose from just under the alternator. I got a right angle heater hose from Mike Forte but haven't tried to fit it yet.
JR

I actually still have to come back to that. I have stared at it quite a bit, but have not decided yet how to route them.

[GlenH]

This weekend I started on the body fitment and the lights. Started at the rear with the roll bars, tail lights and gas cap. The 4 front holes for the roll bars lined up perfectly. Had to do some sanding on the two rear ones. Didn't take too much to get them to work. Drivers side roll bar went in perfectly. Had a problem with the passenger side. The rear bar would not line up with the hoop. It appeared to me that the hoop was not going down far enough. Pulled it back off and using my dremel sanded the inside of the tube a little. Put it back on and it was still a tight fit but I was able to line it up. I moved on to the taillights and after using the dremel again to expand the holes I was able to get them installed and wired up. Tested them and quickly realized when I connected the weatherpacks I had the drivers side reversed. I swapped those connections and everything worked fine until I got to the hazard and brake lights. For some reason they were not working. I dug around under the dash and found that I managed to blow the fuse. I put a new one in and everything worked perfectly. I then moved on to the filler cap and got that installed. I dropped the truck lid in place to see how it fits. I will need to do a little bit of trimming on it so it won't catch. I will leave the majority of the adjusting for the bodywork phase.




I moved to the front and started on the lights. I had to do quite a bit of sanding to get the turn signals to fit properly. Got those in place and hooked up. I tested and had a pair of wires reversed in the weatherpack. Pulled them out and reverse them and everything tested fine. I again had to do quite a bit of sanding on the headlight holes to get the headlight buckets to fit. I also had to adjust one of the holes that FF drilled. I was not lining up quite right. Connected the weatherpacks as I went I got everything installed. The first test I had no drivers side headlight. Pulled it back off to check everything and found that I managed to forget to plug the headlight in. Oops. Plugged it in and put that side back on and everything worked that time. I also tested my Russ Thompson high beam switch on the turn signal to make sure it worked. That RT turn signal setup was one of the things I was the most concerned with when I started wiring. The instructions were great and it appears that I managed to get it done correctly.



I dropped the hood in place to see how much trimming will need to be done. That will take quite a bit as it won't even sit down all the way.



Now for the part that has me scratching my head. I looked at the fit of the exhaust and realized that the drivers side hole in the body would need to be adjusted 5/8" more than the passenger side as the drivers side header is that much higher. I made sure the frame was level and measured from the floor. My first thought was that the motor was not sitting level in the mounts. I was correct, but not the way I expected. The drivers side of the oil pan is actually sitting lower than the passenger side. It is actually slightly below the 4 inch tubes, where the passenger side is slightly above them. The total difference is minimal, but I don't want to drop the drivers side any more than it already is and have the oil pan that much more below the frame. Is it normal for the drivers side to be a little higher than the passenger side?

[GlenH]

Well I haven't done very well with keeping up with posts, but not a huge amount to report since the last one. Managed to get the doors, trunk and hood fitted. They will still need some trimming and adjusting, but I will leave that up to the folks doing the paint and body. Drilled the holes in the hood for the latches as well as the holes for the windshield wipers. Finished getting the windshield to fit. Have plans this weekend to rough fit the side pipes and finish mocking up the last few items. The folks doing to paint and body work will be ready for it early next month so I need to get everything finished up. I also had a 4 post lift installed in the garage. I really wish I had it done before I started on the project. It would have made thing a lot easier.

[GlenH]

Well the garage is empty now. Dropped it off for body and paint on Monday. I am going to use the time to get the garage organized again and be ready for the final push.

Dropped by the shop yesterday to take a few parts they needed and saw this sitting there.

[GlenH]

A few pictures of the progress. I brought it home last week to go ahead and get the carpet installed and dropped it back off this week. It should be back home in the next week or so.

[GlenH]

It's been a while since I have posted an update. I finally got it back from the paint shop and started the final assembly. The first step was to get all of the dust cleaned off of everything. What a mess. It took quite a while with a damp rag or 50. Over the last week or so I have managed to get quite a bit of the assembly done. Paperwork will be going out to the state today, so hopefully I will be on the road before the end of August.

[cv2065]

Looks great Glenn! Not bad on the paint timing. Looks like you waited about 2.5 months.

[jrcuz]

Very nice Glen! I'd say I'm still a long way from finishing up on mine. I did do a first start and go-cart back on 4/11. Do you mind sharing in a pm who did your body and paint? I'm impressed. Lets hope you are on the road soon.
JR

[GlenH]

Looks great Glenn! Not bad on the paint timing. Looks like you waited about 2.5 months.

I waited about 3 months for them to get it in and then about 2.5 for them to get it done. It would have been done sooner, but they had a problem that caused a little bit of delay. They had pretty much gotten it finished and put it outside in the sun for the day to make room to work on something else. Whoever moved it outside did not set the parking brake and appears they did not have it in gear. It rolled forward and hit the curb. It wound up breaking a small piece off the bottom of the nose. They stepped up and fixed it. I looked pretty hard at it and you can't tell where the damage was. Overall they did a great job.

[GlenH]

It's been a long time since I posted any updates. I have been working on things off and on since I finally got the car titled in September of 2018. Since then I have put about 2000k miles on it. It was not complete yet at the time. I just finally finished up this past week in getting the final gremlins worked out. The one good thing about being quarantined.

Some pictures of the final build.

20200419_154845.jpgIMG_1215.jpg20200419_154910.jpg20200419_155009.jpg20200419_154950.jpg20200430_191550.jpg

[jrcuz]

Looks great Glen. Good to see you posting again. I'm still building.
JR

[Straversi]

Congratulations. Timeless look, there. Well done!
-Steve