As many of you already saw on the regular roadster forum, I finally ordered my kit after years of coveting the cars I’ve seen you guys build.
So, as I await delivery, I figured I’d go ahead and start my build thread since I’ve technically already started my build—I’ve been working on figuring out how to incorporate ABS into the car, am very close to done, and will be posting a write up here once I’ve finished that project on my test bench.
I’ve ordered the MKIV complete kit with IRS, power steering, and Coyote install parts. Despite the controversy surrounding the issue (please refrain from raising your arguments about this), I’m going nonroll bars. I just think the street version 427s Shelby put out look so much better without them. If I do some stupid stuff and it’s my time, so be it.
In addition to the kit, I plan the following:
Gen 3 Coyote w/ TKX from Forte
ABS system from 2008 GT500
RaceTCS traction control
Forte hydraulic clutch and slave
Forte QR windshield brackets
Breeze upper and lower radiator mounts
Breeze front battery kit
Breeze cubby kit
Breeze fan shroud
Watson push-button ignition
Whitby seat belt bezels
Whitby center console
520 E-brake
Finish line seat track
Replica parts radiator bezel
Not solid on my rim choice yet, but I am a fan of the Bullitt rims on these cars. Probably order from LMR.
I will be doing a full blackout on all metal parts—all the normally chrome/polished pieces.
Main body color will be a shade of blue. Im considering getting the equipment from Spectra Chrome and doing a metallic blue like what you can see being laid down in one of the pictures here: https://spectrachrome.com/buyersguide/
I’ve got my chassis dolly (thanks to one of the local forum members) and build my buck. My tools are cleaned, garage organized, and ready to start throwing my money into this endless pit! Can’t wait for delivery.
And, thank you all in advance for all of your support and answering my likely many stupid questions.
Last edited by Mbufford; 08-23-2023 at 06:08 PM.
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
I really like you're plan to skip the roll bar. The look will separate yours from most of the other Cobra replicas. Clean and smooth
Convertibles have been a part of my garage for many years. Mostly old Corvettes. My MK4 is actually the only convert with a roll bar I've ever been in.
"You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have."
I really like you're plan to skip the roll bar. The look will separate yours from most of the other Cobra replicas. Clean and smooth .
That’s partially the point—I think it looks better. But it’s also historically accurate. Many, if not most, the street production cobras had no bars. I think it just looks way cleaner. As a tall guy, it wouldn’t save me in a roll over anyway, and I’m more likely to give myself brain damage by banging my head into the thing than I am to roll the car anyway.
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
Welcome aboard! You have some really nice options for your build. I agree the roll bar delete will make your Roadster stand out. It's great you have a clear vision for your build, and doing it your way. You're in for a blast.
Chris Coupe complete kit delivered: 4/22/24. Build Thread. Coyote. T-56. IRS w/3.55. Wilwoods. PS. HVAC. Side windows. MK4 Complete kit. Build Thread Index. Delivered: 10/15/2020. Legal: 7/25/23. Coyote Gen3. TKO600 (0.64 OD). IRS w/3.55. PS. Wilwoods. Sway bars. This build is dedicated to my son, Benjamin. Build Thread.
That’d be a huge help, I’m sure! I’ll text you when I have the specific time, but they’re picking up tomorrow and so far it’s looking to be either Sunday or Monday for delivery.
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
Mbufford, I think our kits are on the same Stewart truck! Mine too was scheduled for 21st pickup, delivery after the weekend 190 miles South of Frisco. Good luck!
BUDFIVE
Excellent! The driver is on his way from Florida and should be at my place by noon tomorrow. Then there’s another Frisco delivery a couple miles from me, and one in Mansfield. I’d guess he’s headed to the hill country after Mansfield. Time to get excited! Although, after I receive shipment tomorrow, I have to turn around and jump on a plane to Minnesota for a couple days…
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
Mine might be the last one on the truck, Todd with Stewart said there were 5 coming to Texas. I assume mine will show up after he drops off BUDFIVE’s car.
Kit arrived today and I got my inventory knocked out this evening. Since I had a couple buddies over for the delivery, I took advantage of the manpower advantage and pulled the body off already. IMG_0487.jpgIMG_0488.jpgIMG_0483.jpg
Once I get all the boxes moved to my storage room, I’ll be able to get started!
How heavy was the body with buck? I see you are using a cable lift attached to the ceiling and I have been thinking about doing the same when I do a build to keep the floor space as open as possible.
How heavy was the body with buck? I see you are using a cable lift attached to the ceiling and I have been thinking about doing the same when I do a build to keep the floor space as open as possible.
The body only weighs around 80 pounds. The buck probably weighs around the same.
I used two kayak hoist sets I got off Amazon for fairly cheap. Hoisting it all up wasn’t the easiest thing—it took some strength, and you’ll need two people minimum for this. But, I don’t anticipate taking it up and down more than a couple times, so I’m fine with it.
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
Day 2: after I finished working for the day, I got all the boxes moved to my storage room and got started with predrilling my panels to send off for coating. Realized pretty quick that my limited amount of 1/8” clecos I had sitting around wasn’t going to be near enough for this project. So, I jumped on Amazon and ordered a 50-pack.
Doubt I’ll get much time to work on it again before the weekend. But I’ll be spending all day Saturday in the garage.
I finished fitting, predrilling, and removing all the aluminum panels, and will drop off for coating this week. I got the front suspension installed and rough aligned. But I stopped before doing the brakes to make brackets for the wheel speed sensors. Since RT brackets aren’t available anymore, I found a picture online of one, used it as a template, and started cutting them out. I didn’t get to finish because my wife invaded the garage to tell me I had to get ready for a wedding we’re going to (read:I’m being forced to spend the evening with my wife’s boring friends). I’ll get the brackets wrapped up sometime this week, and be ready for another productive weekend.
Got the Differential painted and installed today. As many others have discovered, doing this alone is a PITA, but a little creative use of ratchet straps and a jack makes it possible.
I should be able to get the IRS and rear brakes done this weekend.
I got the IRS installed today. The only part that gave me any trouble were the toe arms—they had to be removed, chocked into the vice, and spread out quite a bit. I didn’t get as far as I’d have liked though—I was hoping to getting around to painting the rear calipers today so I could install the brakes tomorrow.
But I had a fight with my grease gun… it’s a super old grease gun I got when my grandfather passed, but it doesn’t take cartridges apparently. I ended up buying a new one and had a fight with it because the plunger wouldn’t go into the grease tube. So, after fully disassembling lubing up the plunger, reassembling, and cleaning all the damn grease from my hands, tools, and workbench, I was back on track.
I suppose it’s a good thing that the most frustrating part of the build so far has been my grease gun.
Well, I hit my first major WTF moment of the build. I ordered my kit with the standard 2015 IRS brakes option. I prepped and painted the calipers yesterday, and went to install them this evening. Once I downloaded the instructions and saw it saying I needed to cut another ear off my knuckle, I was taken back a bit. It would have been nice for that to be something mentioned before I painted and assembled my entire IRS!!
So, I got on the trusty forum and found some old threads explaining that this brake kit is for 15” rims—nobody mentioned that when I ordered my kit! What’s worse, they call it 2015 IRS Brakes—but it isn’t 2015 brakes at all! So now, from what I’m seeing on the forums, my best recourse is to just go buy ACTUAL 2015 IRS brakes, and now I’m stuck with a brake kit that isn’t returnable because I painted them, and likely no one will want to buy from me.
WTF Factory Five!
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
Well, I hit my first major WTF moment of the build. I ordered my kit with the standard 2015 IRS brakes option. I prepped and painted the calipers yesterday, and went to install them this evening. Once I downloaded the instructions and saw it saying I needed to cut another ear off my knuckle, I was taken back a bit. It would have been nice for that to be something mentioned before I painted and assembled my entire IRS!!
So, I got on the trusty forum and found some old threads explaining that this brake kit is for 15” rims—nobody mentioned that when I ordered my kit! What’s worse, they call it 2015 IRS Brakes—but it isn’t 2015 brakes at all! So now, from what I’m seeing on the forums, my best recourse is to just go buy ACTUAL 2015 IRS brakes, and now I’m stuck with a brake kit that isn’t returnable because I painted them, and likely no one will want to buy from me.
WTF Factory Five!
Here's a video of AAron cutting that ear off with the spindle on the car if you're interested. It's a pain, thankfully I'd watched this video before I got too far and was able to do it before I put it on the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uc9DSQU-vU
Well, for those who didn’t see the thread in the regular Roadster forum, the brake issue got worked out: I sent the 11.65 back for a refund and bought some EBay new take-offs from a Mustang.
Got the brakes bolted up, with zero issues. So, I’m happy about that.
Once I got the brakes on, I proceeded to work up my E-Stopp install, which turned out pretty good. I just used a piece of 1/8” 6061 plate, and mounted to the front side of the fuel tank hangers. I ordered the 2015 Mustang e-brake cables from Rock Auto, but had to resize them both. I tapped the hole on top of the knuckles so I could bolt down my home-made cable clamps—I tried drilling out a couple 3/8” cable clamps and those failed miserably. So I replaced them with plumbers strap, works perfect.
Since my in-laws came over for Christmas Eve, I spent some time in the garage mocking up the base mount for the ABS. It’s very solid with just Clecos holding it together, and should work out just fine. I tried to leave enough room for the Breeze battery box. From pics I’ve seen from others, I should be good with this setup.
More work on the ABS mount today. Next, I need to disassemble, paint, and reassemble. Though, I won’t likely have much progress over the next several weeks because of work.
Minor update: I got the power steering rack installed, and learned the hard way that if you didn’t install the steering arms correctly, then you’ll have to disassemble your front suspension to fix it. So, that sucked. But, everything is right now.
I also reworked my E-Stopp mount. I wanted to use plate for mounting so it would be easier to access for maintenance and cable adjustments. The plate flexed when I operated the brake though, so that had to change. I went with a piece of 4x1 channel. I’ll still be able to access the setup from the bottom without much trouble, but this fixed the flex issue. IMG_0758.jpgIMG_0759.jpg
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
I got the power steering rack installed, and learned the hard way that if you didn’t install the steering arms correctly, then you’ll have to disassemble your front suspension to fix it. So, that sucked. But, everything is right now. IMG_0758.jpgIMG_0759.jpg
Yeah, I did that too. Thankfully my hub nuts weren't fully torqued yet, it was easier to just take the hubs off.
Got the ABS plumbed to all four wheels. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting on my Whitby brake boost kit and my Forte hydro clutch kit, so I had to leave the 1/4” supply lines dangling until those come in and I get my foot box together. I’ll find some other things to work on while I wait.
Productive weekend overall. I got my fuel tank in today, along with my pump (Aeromotive Stealth 18638). From what I’ve read from others, I was one of the lucky ones for whom the tank when right in and no trips to ACE were necessary. IMG_0789.jpg
I have my black braided 3/8” lines and plenty of AN6 fittings. But, I’m waiting on my fuel filter assembly to show up before I run lines—I’ll be using a screw-on cartridge filter (Trick Flow TFS-23006). My pressure regulator is also en route (Aeromotive 13129) I went ahead and installed the passenger foot box too, since the fuel lines will mount to the side of it on the way to the firewall. IMG_0787.jpgIMG_0788.jpg
Last edited by Mbufford; 01-08-2024 at 10:32 PM.
MKIV Complete Kit # 207585
Ordered 8/19/2023. Completion date 11/11/23. Delivery date 11/27/23
Not much of an update, since I’m waiting on parts to show up for all three of the projects I have ongoing with the built. But, I was able to run by metal supermarket and get a chunk of 2x4x1/4” aluminum angle. So I fabbed up my reservoir bracket. I’ll get it painted and ready to mount. But, I’ll wait until I’ve done the cutting and moving things for the Whitby brake booster kit before I permanently mount the reservoir.
A simultaneous progress of projects on the build, since they’re somewhat interrelated.
I got the Whitby brake booster mod installed, along with the foot box and steering linkage. I also got my Scott’s reservoir mounted with 3/16 rivnuts in the 3/4 tube. I still have some plumbing to figure out, which I’m working on this evening.
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Originally Posted by Lickity-Split
