Kit arrived, time to join this great community

[SoManyParts]

Hey Y'all,

My name is Scott and I live just east of San Diego.

I have been in love with Cobra's since 1984 when I was lucky enough to get a ride in one. I have now been in a few others, but to this day, I have never felt acceleration in any other car that matched what I felt that day over 30 years ago... In my mind, it was an original but I actually have no idea...

Started researching FF several years ago and went to a few HB events and decided if I ever get one, I wanted to build it. Waited a little longer. Now, With my kids all out of the house (for now at least) I decided to go to Build School to see if I really wanted to take on the scope of this project. Although I love tinkering and fixing everything, but having very average auto/mechanic experience I wanted to be sure. I want the end result to be safe, reliable, and high quality, and awesome. Build school was super helpful and I ordered at the end of December. My car was completed on February 10th, picked up by Steward on the 13th, traveled very slowly across the country but made it to me on March 8.

Basic build is very similar to MANY others I see:
Mark IV
IRS
Coyote
Willwoods
Padded dash
FF Halibrands
Seat heaters
No wipers or heater...

I don't really visualize myself doing car shows, but more of a driver and occasional recreational autocross.

I have found so many helpful build threads on here. It has been amazing and inspiring to see the willingness to share ideas and helpful hints. I have to say that I don't really plan on doing a complete build blog... I am staring at computer screens all day long so the last thing I feel like doing when I am home is looking at a screen. But I will post my questions, problems, and fixes so that they may perhaps help others.

My undecided questions:

Color- I don't think I will figure this out for some time, but heavily leaning toward a dark color without strips or perhaps ghost strips. The good think is "Da Bat" is only about 45 minutes north of me, so I am outsourcing the body/paint as I have NO experience in that area.

Hydraulic Clutch??? I have seen the problems with running the clutch cable with heat/room with the Coyote. But has anyone done this successfully? If there isn't a big difference in clutch pressure/performance, is it worth it?

Oh, my Kit.... about 50% done with inventory but.... so far it looks like I have almost everything, and everything I need to start. Two FF boxes of parts made it to my house before the kit did.

[David Hodgkins]

Scott!

The 20 post requirement is waived for builders so you should now have full access.

Here are a few threads to help with pic hosting, and maintaining your thread title as you work the build:

Embedding pics:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...tures-in-posts
Maintaining thread titles:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...tle-Guidelines

CONGRATULATIONS!



PS I'm a fan of Hydraulic Clutch kits, especially the pusher-type Mike Forte sells.

[videodude]

Congrats Scott!

Sounds like a fun time to me! My build plans are similar to yours, but with a 302 from my '93 donor (I have BIG feet), and now that I live in Nevada - no wipers. Since you are in the People's Republic (where everything is illegal), you may very well be required to have both wipers, and a backup light to get past your inspection. Keep me in mind if you need to put in wipers, I have a wiper kit that I don't think I'm going to use, now that I've moved to a more "vehicle friendly" part of the West.

Have fun!

Video

[SoManyParts]

Thank you David

[SoManyParts]

Thank you Video,

Yes I do live in one very over regulated State! I may end up needing wipers, but if I do, it will be one of those mechanical wiper sets that just might fall off after the car is registered...

[David Hodgkins]

Scott,

I never needed a backup light or wipers. I am installing wipers now, mostly for resell value...

Video,
Good choice for the big feet! See my build threads for more big-boy mods...

[Avalanche325]

Welcome to the fun.

Color selection is either you know from day one, or a real struggle. I went round and round, but love my final selection.

I am a proponent of having wipers. Maybe not so much in SoCal, but if you drive it a lot, you will get caught I the rain. Fog can also catch you out in about 2 seconds.

[Fixit]

Welcome!
I'm a noob too... and my kit will be arriving in mid-May. My setup is similar to yours - and I'm champing at the bit to get started. Already have my IRS donor parts on the bench.

[Mark Reynolds]

Off topic but...
Hooray for Fixit who correctly used the expression "champing at the bit". You hardly ever see or hear that these days.
Most people say "chomping"

[GoDadGo]

Welcome Aboard!

Also, Consider Getting Mark's Seat Brackets & Fan Shrowd!

http://breezeautomotive.com/details.php?prod_id=250
http://breezeautomotive.com/details.php?prod_id=1117

His stuff is Top Notch & Well Engineered!

Steve

[lewma]

Congrats Scott. I'm in San Marcos, north county San Diego. I'll hopefully have my kit delivered in the next couple weeks. My build looks to be very similar to yours!

Mark

[ronsdream]

Congrats Scott. I went to the build school with you and it definitely was exciting to see that I could build one from scratch. I'm fortunate to have Stack down the road from me that is helping me build and saving me lots of time because of his experience building several FFR kits.

will keep an eye on your build.

Have fun.

[Murd]

Congrats, you’re going to have a blast!
I’m just finishing up my build, I have Fortes hydraulic clutch kit on my T5 and very happy. Can’t comment on how it is vs a cable as I’ve only built this one but all the research I did made it seem like a no brainer. Clutch effort seems fairly light, lighter than the 88 Mustang I took the drivetrain from, which was a cable. Instal was very straight forward, so count me in for another recommendation for Forte’s kit.

[Yama-Bro]

Congrats and welcome!

Off topic but...
Hooray for Fixit who correctly used the expression "champing at the bit". You hardly ever see or hear that these days.
Most people say "chomping"

Interesting, I've never heard that it's supposed to be "champing". I'll have to change my ways. Thanks for the correction.

[Big Blocker]

From known reliable sources . . .

"Champing at the bit" vs. "Chomping at the bit"

One definition of bit is a metal mouthpiece used for controlling a horse, and one definition of champ is to bite or chew noisily. These are the senses meant in the idiom champing at the bit, which refers to the tendency of some horses to chew on the bit when impatient or eager. In its figurative sense, it means to show impatience while delayed, or just to be eager to start.

Doc

[frankb]

Doc! I'm impressed! But, then, I'm easily impressed!

Frank B