Shark92651's MK4 Coyote Build #9327 - Graduated!!

[KDubU]

Very nice indeed!

[Traveller]

Looks great - love that color scheme!

[shark92651]

Well yesterday I brought my car home from the body shop and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Grubbs Motorsports in Garland, TX did an outstanding job! Now I need to pull the seats and trans cover and start installing the carpet and finish up the last half-dozen or so items left on my punch list. The sun was starting to set when I got home so the color almost looks maroon in the pics I snapped before I put it in the garage. The colors really change depending on the lighting. Here are also a couple pics that were taken at the shop before I brought it home.

[shark92651]

I still need to finish carpet, but I couldn’t resist popping some of these “finishing touches” on the roadster. I came up with a paint scheme for the engine and coil covers that mirrors the body paint and Grubbs Motorsports did a great job with the paint. The plastic melt rivets were replaced with stainless button heads to put it back together.






The Coyote engine badges are from billetbadges.com, the same as used by wareaglescott and at least one other member.




Here is a shot of the "centering post" that Grubbs came up with and molded into the fiberglass of the hood. You can see the receiving bracket in one of the engine photos above. The idea of this is to perfectly center the hood when it is closed and remove any lateral movement. I am planning to open up the hole a bit on the bracket and putting a rubber grommet in there to eliminate any metal on metal rubbing or scratching.

[Straversi]

Beautiful! Love the colors. Neat idea on the centering post. Haven’t seen that before.
You are having a great holiday weekend for sure.
-Steve

[D02G]

looks great!

[TMartinLVNV]

Outstanding. It turned out fantastic! The engine covers paint ties it together well.

[KDubU]

Wow, that is stunning! Congrats and the engine bay paint scheme really is sharp.

[wallace18]

Super Job!

[RJD]

Wow! That turned out beautiful. Congratulations on a stunning car. Well done.

[GoDadGo]

Congratulations!
.You Must Be Thrilled!
-Well Done!

[GTBradley]

Like,like,like!

[shark92651]

Today I took my brother out for a short cruise and got lots of looks and thumbs ups! When I got home I made a short walk-around video in the sun.

[JB in NOVA]

Love it! Nice job.

[wareaglescott]

looks great. I know you must be thrilled.

[Fman]

Awesome! Double thumbs up for your color combo and that attention to detail in the engine compartment. And thank you for putting together a great build thread, I visit your thread often to help guide me through my journey.

You really put together one amazing car!

[Higgybulin]

Dude, looks GREAT!!
Higgy

[cv2065]

Looks fantastic! Love the Ruby Red!

[broddins]

Wow! The paint is flawless! I like the wheels also. Now, I'm thinking of getting a new set of wheel and tire packages for my roadster.

[shark92651]

This week I removed the seats, racing harnesses, shift knob, trans tunnel cover, e-brake boot, and door catches so that I can install the carpet. I almost hated taking the car offline as the weather has cooled off this weekend and I would love to take it out, but I want to get it finished up. I managed to get all but the under door carpet pieces installed this morning.

For the trunk I used 3M Super 90 spray adhesive, which worked well with the stretchy material I used in the trunk. The cockpit carpet doesn't stretch so I wanted to use outdoor carpet adhesive so I have time to shift parts around before it sets. I installed the bottom half of the rear cockpit wall but did not have very good results - it wouldn't hold and I really had to roll it on very firmly to get it to grab at all. After a PM to EdwardB I discovered that the notches in my trowel were just too small so I wasn't getting enough adhesive on the wall. I picked up a notched putty knife at Home Depot for a few bucks and it works WAY better. I believe the notches on this one are about 1/8" to 3/16". I used just over 1/2 a gallon of Dap Weldwood Carpet adhesive to install all the cockpit carpet. I mostly used the notched putty knife to spread the adhesive, and some paint stir sticks to dap it into the tight areas where the putty knife would not fit. After positioning and pressing into place, I used a small roller to roll it flat and a clean plastic putty knife to press down all the seams.




Before gluing each piece into position I test fitted and trimmed each one. Nearly every piece required at least a small amount of trimming, especially the floor pieces and the piece at the rear of the transmission tunnel. Once the rear cockpit carpet was in place I re-installed my fire extinguisher bracket and installed the shoulder harness trim bezels I picked up from replicaparts.com.






I didn't want any carpet between the floor and seat brackets of the Breeze seat mounts, so I had to cut around those. I first marked where the bolts are and punched holes in the carpet so it would mostly lay flat. I did not use any cement on the floor bracket and once I had the entire floor carpet piece in place and rolled, I came back with a razor knife and cut out around the bracket.




Since I made a leather-covered, removable trans tunnel cover, I cut the top off of the trans tunnel carpet and trimmed each side so that the carpet stops just under my rivnuts. I plan to tuck each side under my trans tunnel cover and then screw it down. Hopefully the carpet on the sides and rear won't make that too difficult.

[shark92651]

Because the accelerator is so close to the side of the footbox, I like the idea of a heel pad to reduce wear and tear on the carpet and to allow the foot to slide more easily than it would against the carpet. I picked up a small black pad at www.heelpadwarehouse.com - yes that is an entire web site dedicated to heel pads believe it or not I picked up some leather sewing waxed thread and a needle on Amazon and I spent a couple hours hand-stitching the pad to the footbox carpet. I test fitted the pad and decided this was the best orientation, it runs just above the round frame tube and just far enough back to protect the carpet during full depress of the accelerator, while not interfering with it's movement (it's kind of tight in there and I didn't want it jamming up on the pad, so I moved it a bit forward). I then taped it temporarily to the carpet and pulled it back out to hand-stitch it.




After I stitched the bottom side of the pad, I masked off the carpet and sprayed some Super 90 in there and then pressed it into place. I figured this would help ensure the pad didn't "poof out", although I'm not sure that would happen anyway. It took me a couple hours to stitch this thing up. I used "tapestry" needles you can find at Michael's to help with this. I also pre-punctured holes in the pad using an awl. After pushing the needle and thread down from the top through the bottom, I would use a 2nd needle in the "return" hole on top to help guide the needle and thread back up. It was very tedious and took a couple hours, but I am glad that I did it and I like the finished product.




At this point I think I will clean up my seats, harnesses, and other parts and get the car back into driving condition. There is quite a bit of dust and gunk on the seats and harness from the bodywork - definitely a body-on paint job makes a bigger mess of the interior of the car. I am going to take my under door carpet pieces to an upholstery shop for some edging so those outside corners look nice and neat. Those pieces should be easy enough to install with the seats back in place, or so I hope.

[shark92651]

I have read that the FFR floor mats can shift around and bunch up in the footbox so I wanted to avoid that - not only is it annoying but can be dangerous if it happens around the pedals. I like the clips that are built into the floor mats of most daily drivers so looked for something like that. I found these AZERONE car mat carpet clips on Amazon and they were only $9.99 for a set of 8 clips.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rch_asin_title

I used a 25mm hole punch that I had from a previous project and the entire job only took about 30 minutes. I laid the mats in place and determined where I wanted the clips. The bottom half of the clip has a bent nail and you press it down into the carpet and then slide it forward to lock it into place under the carpet backer. Once the bottom clip was in place I put the round piece on top and then put the mat back in place and pressed down to put an imprint on the plastic backer of the mat. That left just enough of an indention to punch out the hole in the correct position. I installed the clips in pairs, one side at a time and test fitted the mat before marking for the 2nd set of clips. It was a quick and easy job and seems very secure and looks great.

[mburger]

Looks good. Great idea.

[460.465USMC]

Nice find! Another must-have added to my list when I eventually get to that point.

Your finished MK4 looks awesome! Looks like a very clean build. Thanks again for sharing your learnings!

[shark92651]

We had an event at our business this morning and I really wanted to take the car so I hustled to finish it up before Saturday. I'm about 99% done at this point with just a couple more things I want to do before I call it finished.

I finished up the carpet and got everything reinstalled in the cockpit.






Like many others have done, I used a local automotive interior shop to sew some binding on the exposed edges of the under door sill carpet.




I ordered the Dark Water Customs door sill trim at the start of my build (that I still need to trim and install) so I won't be using the FFR supplied trim. I ordered some D-bulb seal from McMaster Carr and installed that around the inside edge of both doors. I also installed the Herbs door panels that I had him finish with some of my leather hide I bought for the dash and trans cover.




I bought this aluminum bezel and battery switch key that fits over the FFR supplied battery cutoff switch. It was a REAL pain getting the bezel installed after carpet since it required me to get under the car and reach in and install and tighten two hex screws, one of which was completely blind - the battery switch is way down behind the engine, and above the bell housing. To further complicate it, you have to hold and turn the bezel to find the threaded hole. Doing this by myself was very difficult. I eventually managed to get it done by using silicon to "glue" the screw onto the end of an allen wrench, find the hole while under the car, then leave it hanging while I go up top, climb into the car, and hold the bezel with one hand while reaching in from the top of the transmission tunnel and turning the wrench. I don't want to do that again!

I tried to polish the trim pieces on the side of the trans tunnel cover but I'm not happy with how they turned out. My plan at this point is to remove them and paint them matte black. I think it will look nice with the stainless oval head screws.




I used some RTV Silicon to put my grilles in the brake ducts and oil cooler opening. This is the same powder-coated hex aluminum I used to make the radiator screen. I also need to put my fog lights back in the oil cooler opening.

[Rook]

Wow. That looks fantastic! Great attention to detail. I’m making a note about that heel pad, and the floor mat clips, and that transmission tunnel cover, and the door sill carpet stitching...

[shark92651]

After spending a couple hours trimming the Dark Water door sill trim and polishing it, I decided I didn't like the look so I will be selling them. I went with the FFR supplied trim and I like the more subtle look. I felt I had too many shiny bits in the cockpit as it is and I think the rubber trim, along with painting my trans tunnel trim black, will tone it down a bit and will look better. I put a bead of silicon on the sill to help hold the trim in place.




I bolted my fog lights in behind the oil cooler grill, just need to adjust the lights a bit to center them better.

[GBarrow]

[QUOTE=shark92651;326241]I didn't get as much time to work on my kit this weekend as I would have liked, but my back-ordered control arms did come in late Saturday and I received my dropped trunk kit from Russ Thompson.



I cut the ends off of the rear spindles using my angle grinder and a cutting wheel, cleaned up with a flap disc.



I had a heck of a time swapping out the wheel studs. The FFR recomended method to remove the old studs (grab head of stud in vice, bang out with hammer) worked pretty well but their method to draw in the new studs with a lug nut and washer did not. I got one in with great effort, but about 1/2 way through the 2nd stud the lug nut was getting destroyed, the washers were bending up, etc... So I went to Home Depot and bought a large bolt to use as a punch, ground down the threads on one side, and used a socket in the vice and beat the studs in with a 4lb hammer. It took about a dozen blows to fully seat each stud, but I got them all in.



Here are the completed spindles and hubs. You can see the socket and hammer blows marred the hubs a bit, but I guess it shouldn't cause me to lose too much sleep since they will be hidden.



I also ordered up some stainless bolts and couplers from McMaster Carr for the rear Quick Jacks mod.

Shark,
I'm just getting started on a build very similar to yours, MK4 complete kit, IRS, Coyote, etc and thank you for all your insights! I'm really enjoying your build thread. Lots of great info and lessons learned that are already benefiting me. I know it's been a while back, but do you remember the specs on the bolts and couplers you ordered from McMaster Carr for the rear quick jack mod? I can't find that info on the forum, probably because I'm too new to know how to search properly.
Thanks for the help!
Barrow

[David Hodgkins]

I have read that the FFR floor mats can shift around and bunch up in the footbox so I wanted to avoid that - not only is it annoying but can be dangerous if it happens around the pedals. I like the clips that are built into the floor mats of most daily drivers so looked for something like that. I found these AZERONE car mat carpet clips on Amazon and they were only $9.99 for a set of 8 clips.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rch_asin_title

I used a 25mm hole punch that I had from a previous project and the entire job only took about 30 minutes. I laid the mats in place and determined where I wanted the clips. The bottom half of the clip has a bent nail and you press it down into the carpet and then slide it forward to lock it into place under the carpet backer. Once the bottom clip was in place I put the round piece on top and then put the mat back in place and pressed down to put an imprint on the plastic backer of the mat. That left just enough of an indention to punch out the hole in the correct position. I installed the clips in pairs, one side at a time and test fitted the mat before marking for the 2nd set of clips. It was a quick and easy job and seems very secure and looks great.

LOVE this! What a simple solution to a common problem. How come I've never seen this before? WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??

[shark92651]

Shark,
I'm just getting started on a build very similar to yours, MK4 complete kit, IRS, Coyote, etc and thank you for all your insights! I'm really enjoying your build thread. Lots of great info and lessons learned that are already benefiting me. I know it's been a while back, but do you remember the specs on the bolts and couplers you ordered from McMaster Carr for the rear quick jack mod? I can't find that info on the forum, probably because I'm too new to know how to search properly.
Thanks for the help!
Barrow

McMaster keeps a nice record of all past orders. Here are the parts I ordered for that mod:

18-8 Stainless Steel Coupling Nut
18-8 Stainless Steel Hex Head Screw
18-8 Stainless Steel SAE Washer

[shark92651]

I finished up a few more minor details before I call this one "done" (or say I am done, I'm sure the tweaks and mods will continue for a long time).

I pulled the aluminum trim pieces off the sides of my trans tunnel cover and painted them matte black with Brownell's Aluma-hyde II. I would have liked to powder coat them but these pieces were too large to fit in my oven and I didn't want to bother paying a minimum charge to take them to the powder-coater. Aluma-Hyde is a very durable firearm finish product and once fully cured, can take up to 10 days, should resist scratches pretty well.



I measured the stacks of washers on my door strikers and ordered appropriate size aluminum spacers from McMaster to replace them. I also cut the bolt to size and put the stainless acorn nuts on them. Looks more finished.



I looked at this gap between the body and the striker plate for quite awhile trying to think of a good way to fill that gap. In the end I just cut a small section of the D-bulb that I put in the door and used that. Looks ok I guess, couldn't really think of a better solution at this point.

[shark92651]

Well I guess it's time to call #9327 graduated! Of course I'm not done working on it, probably will never be, but at some point you have to say "that's it, I'm done". When I started this project in mid-2018 I really didn't fully comprehend the amount of work and the obsession this would become, but was excited and ready to see what I could build. I'm so thankful for everyone on this forum for providing inspiration, motivation, guidance, and technical support! This really is the best, most helpful forum of any topic that I have been a member of. For those of you that are just here for the graduation pics and summary, I built an FFR MK4 with a Gen2 Ford Coyote crate motor, ford performance clutch, and TKO-600 5-speed w/synchro upgrade from Liberty Gears. The car has IRS, dual anti-sway bars, has KRC power steering, Mike Forte external hydraulic clutch, Wilwood 13" disc brakes, 18" FFR halibrand style wheels, FFR stainless headers and side pipes, and dual stainless breeze roll bars. And without further ado, here are the graduation pics.

[Kool AC]

Beautiful!

[Nigel Allen]

A stellar build. Thanks for sharing your journey.

Cheers,

Nigel

[TMartinLVNV]

Outstanding work and results! Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

[nuhale]

CONGRATS! What's the next project?

[Jeff Kleiner]

Well done David! Enjoy it

Jeff

[Straversi]

Congratulations. Beautiful work and great choices along the way. Thank you for sharing your build. I’ve enjoyed following along.
-Steve

[wareaglescott]

Congrats. Looks great. Very nice work. I enjoyed following your progress along the way. Hope you enjoy many happy miles!!

[cgundermann]

I have read that the FFR floor mats can shift around and bunch up in the footbox so I wanted to avoid that - not only is it annoying but can be dangerous if it happens around the pedals. I like the clips that are built into the floor mats of most daily drivers so looked for something like that. I found these AZERONE car mat carpet clips on Amazon and they were only $9.99 for a set of 8 clips.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rch_asin_title

I used a 25mm hole punch that I had from a previous project and the entire job only took about 30 minutes. I laid the mats in place and determined where I wanted the clips. The bottom half of the clip has a bent nail and you press it down into the carpet and then slide it forward to lock it into place under the carpet backer. Once the bottom clip was in place I put the round piece on top and then put the mat back in place and pressed down to put an imprint on the plastic backer of the mat. That left just enough of an indention to punch out the hole in the correct position. I installed the clips in pairs, one side at a time and test fitted the mat before marking for the 2nd set of clips. It was a quick and easy job and seems very secure and looks great.

Super nice idea to hold those in place. I’ve tried several things and those rascals shift around and can truly be a hazard.

Chris