GTBradley's build - Still Kick'n!

[Papa]

Yeah, don't break your glass!

Other than that follow everything you said to me. It's all been straight forward, just a lot of trips to the DMV and a couple to the State Patrol. They will give you a two day temp tag to go to the inspection just don't go to get it until you are within the 2 two day window of your appointment - which you set on-line, BTW.

Cool. All my paperwork is filled out and ready to go. When my car gets back next week, I'll need to install the Simpsons and it should be ready to inspect. I'll take the required pictures and add them to the packet, but that should be all I need to do. My DMV is in Kiowa, forty-five minutes away, so "a lot of trips" is going to be a pain. Not to mention that the Elbert County DMV isn't open on Fridays.

Did you get a two-day temp tag for both trips the CSP in Castle Rock?

Dave

[GTBradley]

Two of the trips were really not necessary. The first was early on to get info that I already had access to on-line. The second was to pick up the two-day tag. I went in late on a Friday to get it for my Tuesday CSP appointment and was told to come back Monday - what they do if you have a Monday morning appointment with the CSP, I don’t know. I have only been to the CSP once so far, when they call soon for the VIN plate attachment I’ll go on my 60-day tag. BTW, the DMV did not offer the 60-day tag (actually written for 58 days) I asked for it once the paperwork was complete. I’m not even sure it’s officially supposed to be done - maybe a box of sprinkle doughnuts would help.

So you could set your CSP appointment on-line and then go in to the DMV the day before the appointment to get the paperwork done, pay sales tax and get your two-day tag at the same time. The next day do the safety inspection appointment at the CSP and drive right back to the DMV with your approval paperwork and ask for the 60-day tag then. That would ideally cut it to two DMV visits and one CSP visit in two days. Technically, you could do all those in the same day, but that would be tight. Once the approval comes, the point I’m at now, you need to go to a special location for having the VIN plate affixed, I think mine might be in Golden. Then back to the DMV for the final paperwork and to pay the registration fee, plus another temp tag. This is the time to request the personalized plates. The license plates will come in the mail a month or so later.

[Aircontroller]

Howdy!

What kind of garage flooring company did you go with there? Thanks!

Agree w/ Edwardb on the engine stand... you won't need it for the jobs ahead of you.

The Coyote comes bolted to a pretty stout wood cradle assembly from Ford. The crate/box framing is just tacked to it with a zillion nails.
Attachment 99084

Some careful work with a prybar will get rid of the 2x4's, and you'll have a really nice cradle in minutes. Lift the engine up and set it on a furniture dolly and you're good to go.
Attachment 99085

I installed the oil pan with the engine hanging from the hoist. Just follow the safety rules and DON'T GET UNDER THE LOAD. It's not a bad job. When it's hanging there you'll need to take some measurements and do some carpentry on the Ford wood cradle. Lower the engine back down, and start on clutch/transmission.
Attachment 99086

[GTBradley]

Well that figures, the Colorado State Patrol called this morning. They say I can come in now to get my VIN plate installed...

[GTBradley]

Saturday was the perfect day. I got my VIN plate installed and drove all over the front range plaines. Including dropping in on Dave(papa) to to see his beautiful new Cobra.

[GTBradley]

It snowed all day today so I spent time on the car. I got my Cobra nose, trunk and steering wheel badges installed. I committed fully as I did use the pins and push on speed nuts.

[Papa]

Saturday was the perfect day. I got my VIN plate installed and drove all over the front range plaines. Including dropping in on Dave(papa) to to see his beautiful new Cobra.

Nice picture on your way out of my neighborhood!

[GTBradley]

Nice picture on your way out of my neighborhood!

Isn't it? I even pulled over to take it. Too bad there are so many bugs on the windscreen. Oh well, you can’t have a clean car and drive it too.

[GTBradley]

I spent some time this week looking at options for dressing up the radiator. I like the look of the honeycomb product from Allstar/Amazon, but I wasn't sure how to attach it and more importantly how to remove it later for easy cleaning and replacement. I painted the radiator screen with black spray paint and zip tied it through the fins of the radiator just to try it out. It works great and looks nice. I finally landed on some Z bar from Amazon to hold it in place.

First I removed the rivets holding the lower radiator shroud



...then put the z bar under the lower radiator shroud and riveted it back in.



It's hard to see the z bar but it's there

[GTBradley]

The idea was to have a channel for the honeycomb to be held in place and be able to remove the top channel easily to clean or replace it without a lot of work. The honeycomb product by itself doesn't look very good on the edges and it's hard to cut with a perfectly straight line.

Edit: as it turns out, the Honeycomb bends enough to come out without removing the Z-channel and only takes seconds. The product I used was "Allstar ALL30158 19" High x 26" Wide x 1/2 Thick Honeycomb Design Radiator Screen"

Z-bar for radiator guard.png

[GTBradley]

The z bar is simply bolted in across the top with the two bolts holding the Breeze radiator shroud in place

[GTBradley]

So now everything looks clean and is simple to remove when needed




If you're wondering about the sides, it turns out the radiator fins are recessed from the side tanks and that captures it quite well. I took a high-speed test run this afternoon and the grill protection stayed in place.

[cv2065]

Agree with you on the honeycomb edges. Looks like you came up with a great idea to finish it off. Great pictures of your drive. Sun on the horizon is nice. I can't wait to have the same view!

[GTBradley]

Agree with you on the honeycomb edges. Looks like you came up with a great idea to finish it off. Great pictures of your drive. Sun on the horizon is nice. I can't wait to have the same view!

It looks like you’ll be there soon enough. I don’t know if you’ve ever driven one before, but I hadn’t and it is truly thrilling. It’s worth the wait.

[Bob Cowan]

Thanks. I saw Ken Miles' car at the Shelby American Museum in Boulder, Colorado and said "I like that". Later I dumbed it down to "what will make people remember that car they saw back in the 60's, the one that made them think "I'm gonna have that car some day".

Nailed it!

[GTBradley]

This is for those guys out there that have a loud radiator fan and want to quiet things down a bit. I hear lots of other engines use this very thing, not just the Coyote.

I have a real problem with the decibel level of my Factory Five supplied radiator fan, actually it comes from Maradyne. It appears to be a very good and capable cooling fan, but controlled by the Coyote computer, it ends up running all the time at full power. At 225 watts it amounts to some significant energy wasted too, especially considering this thing runs even at highway speeds - what is the sense in that? Once it's on it won't shut off even if the engine gets cool, not until the ignition is shut off. Mine would typically turn on no later than 80 degrees C, and sometimes as low as 75. The thermostat hasn't even opened at those temps!

This is an unfortunate design and reportedly it is this way because Ford was concerned that they didn't know what conditions these crate engines would be operating under, so they decided to err on the side of caution, as in, turn it on when the engine is on, run it at full speed and make it stay on. I know it is an inferred temperature that the computer determines based on sensors in the engine, but that fan has only an indirect relationship to the engine temp. What the fan affects directly is the radiator and keeping the radiator cool obviously keeps the engine cool. So why not control the fan based on radiator temperature? Or better yet the coolant temp just before it re-enters the engine?

What I did to address this was to install a coolant sensor in the lower radiator return hose and fed that information to a Pulse Width Modulated fan controller. BTW, Maradyne makes the only one I could find that operates at half-speed and kicks into high when needed.

sensor port.JPG

Controller part number MFA136. Sensor adapter is from Amazon Check what your radiator hose size is though, as I’ve heard from others that they needed a 40mm adapter.








The controller mounted nicely to the right side inner wheel panel (elephant ear) and the sensor wires were routed along the back of the fan. The controller is currently powered by the Coyote fan wire, but I'm considering changing to the battery. The thing is, the controller will run for an additional minute after the ignition is shut of at low speed, but not if powered the way I have it now.

In the video you'll see LEDs on the controller. At first the red LED is the only one lit and that means that ignition power has been turned on. After a few seconds the green LED lights up and you can hear the fan blowing at half speed. The center LED is yellow and it will light up when the fan is running at full speed, but that didn't happen in the video.

The fan runs significantly less than it used to and it runs at half speed when it does in these cool Fall temps. I set the on temp at 90ish degrees C, which means the fan doesn't come on at all at low driving speeds and in 50 to 60 degree F weather. It will come on when idling for extended periods, but it is quiet and very acceptable to me now. I love hearing the the pipes at idle rather than an industrial sounding fan.

[GTBradley]

I'm nearing the end of my build thread, as I really don't have much more to add, either to the thread or the car. I know these projects go on forever, but I'll go ahead and say here that the car is finished. I think what I'll do next is post a graduation thread.

It was almost exactly 11 months ago that I started this thread. I received the kit the day after Christmas and started on inventory the first of January. The first start was late April and go-kart in early May. Delivery to paint in mid-June and pick up from paint mid-September. The licensing stretched out for more than a month, but I got my personalized plate (see my avatar) on the same day as the Ford V Ferrari movie debut. I declared the car complete, nick-named it Miles and proudly drove it to the Shelby American Collection Museum in Boulder and then the Ford V Ferrari movie just last Saturday. It creates a crowd of the friendliest people almost everywhere I stop. This whole thing has been a whirlwind and I can't believe what I own now.

Thanks to everyone who posted here and for all the technical input, encouragement and compliments. I don't know where I'd be right now if it weren't for you guys - certainly not on the road. Don't hesitate to contact me if you new builders reading this need any help.

See you all on the road and at the car shows.

Bradley.

[PeteMeindl]

Congrats, Bradley! What a beautiful car - you've done a great job!

[GTBradley]

Congrats, Bradley! What a beautiful car - you've done a great job!

Thanks Pete, that mans a lot coming from a guy as meticulous as you.

[Straversi]

I love the car, the nick-name and the license plate. Well done.
-Steve

[Papa]

I love the license plate! Very creative. The car looks great in your pictures, but having seen it in person, the pictures don't do it justice. Looking forward to getting together for a drive this summer.

Dave

[Boydster]

Right On Bradley! Congratulations on a nice build and a beautiful car. I like that you found a different way to do some things... unique and original. Nice work.

[GTBradley]

Thanks Steve, Dave and Boyd. I’m honored to to be associated with builders such as yourselves.

[GTBradley]

The continuation of this build thread will be about upgrades and mods that are post build-completion. My first one is the license plate mod, I know it isn't really an upgrade, but I wanted to get in here as I've seen this done a lot on the forums, but never really saw the detail I wanted.

I decided to do the plate cut at the top because the Colorado state name is at the bottom. If it hadn't been, I probably would have drilled the hole in the plate at the bottom for the handle.

I started with a template of the light box where it contacts the trunk lid.



I don't remember if the holes were pre-drilled from FF or if the painter drilled them, but they were too low, so I made a template from cardboard for drilling new ones higher up.



After mounting the light in the new mounting holes, I measured for the depth of cut I would need in the license plate and also the width. I did, ultimately, widen the cut beyond what is shown here

[GTBradley]

To mount the plate with the original holes you also need an extension bracket. It doesn't have to be pretty as it won't be seen.



I squared the holes so I could use some press in plastic anchors for the mounting screws



The bracket extension is riveted to the original bracket with some wide head rivets. This picture is out of sequence. It's of the bracket before the square holes were made.



Next, I estimated how much of the light lens would need to be cut. What I didn't realize was that the light housing would need to be modified a bit, as well. I used a Dremel to cut the lens and a file edge to modify the light housing.

[GTBradley]

It's a nice work-around, though I still wish I had the new trunk lid that doesn't need this level of modification.



I just wish he were alive to see it.

[ydousurf]

GTBradley,

I've seen some really cool license plates in my days and yours rates right in top, with a such a really cool and clever way to convey a message using only 7 letters & numbers. Nicely done!

Dj

[GTBradley]

GTBradley,

I've seen some really cool license plates in my days and yours rates right in top, with a such a really cool and clever way to convey a message using only 7 letters & numbers. Nicely done!

Dj

Thanks, I only thought for 4 or 5 months before coming up with it. I had a long list with some really dumb stuff on it and a good short list, but this one won out in the end. My other Shelby plate was going to be IOUSHLB.

[GTBradley]

My floor mats were moving around too much and I wanted a way to hold them in place like modern cars do. Someone recently posted these locking floor mat anchors so I bought some and here's the results:

I decided the best place for these anchors was on the vertical face of the floor at the drop down. I marked the places I wanted to mount the anchors permanently in the floor mats.



I choose an appropriately size and old socket that I could use to heat up and burn holes on the mat. I saw this trick on a youtube video that Papa shared some time ago and I wanted to try it. The socket is just a bit bigger than the inner race of the bottom portion of the mat anchor. This is a nifty trick and beats the heck out of scissors or a knife.

[GTBradley]

The end result is very nice and looks just like professional mats. The anchors have a pin that pushes sideways into the existing carpet. I pushed them a little deeper and the pin went in to the Thermotec. They are solidly in place.

[Papa]

Nice job, Bradley. I plan to do the same task with the same anchors this weekend.

Dave

[GTBradley]

Nice job, Bradley. I plan to do the same task with the same anchors this weekend.

Dave

Hands down easiest/most effective thing I’ve done on the car, Dave.

[cv2065]

Hands down easiest/most effective thing I’ve done on the car, Dave.

That was cool. I didn't see that on Dave's thread. Thanks!

[GTBradley]

He hasn’t done it yet, though he probably is working on it at this very moment (instead of cruising on 65 degree day DAVE). He did the legwork and posted it here and there, though.

[Papa]

He hasn’t done it yet, though he probably is working on it at this very moment (instead of cruising on 65 degree day DAVE). He did the legwork and posted it here and there, though.

No driving yet. I'll have a ten-day temp tag on Monday and you better believe I'll be on the road if the weather is anything close to what we have today. My tasks for this weekend are to install the anchors in my floor mats and to polish and install my aluminum spats from VeryCoolParts.com. The spats are a very nice heavy aluminum and formed with an English Wheel to the shape of the MK4.

Dave

[GTBradley]

That’s good news Dave. I did buy the clear spats and will put them on today. I’ll be interested to see how your metal ones work out. I don’t do much driving on your type of road, so in 1000 miles I really haven’t had and chips show up yet, even unprotected - I’m hoping the cheap ones will do the trick.

[GTBradley]

I've decided the driveshaft safety loop is worth the effort, but I also decided to do the extra work to install a light-weight version that is intirely above the suspension. It was lot of work, but that's a good thing for me because I like doing this kind of thing.

I bought the Heavy Duty Universal Bolt-On Driveshaft / Safety Loop Kit from Speedmaster for $20. It needed to be cut off and bent, but this metal is fairly pliable and can be formed easily.



I coated it with Por15 for longevity.



Once mounted I don't see any reason it should ever have to be removed, not even for pulling the eng/trans. An added benefit is that this configuration only weighs 5 lbs.

[GTBradley]

This won't qualify for an upgrade post, but is more of a repair post. I really didn’t expect this to happen so soon

[Papa]

Oh man! What happened?

[GTBradley]

I have been happily driving my new Cobra Mk4 roadster every chance I get. I check it over on a regular basis, but really haven’t found any abnormal wear items or issues of real concern. The Coyote engine is rock solid and everything else works great. So I’ve started to forget about the possibility of a breakdown...until Monday when my clutch cable snapped! Luckily, my long country drive out in the “boonies” Sunday was uneventful, but the next day I drove about 15 miles to a tuner shop and when I was backing out of my parking spot I heard a loud pop and the car lurched to a dead stop, the clutch pedal all floppy.

Gotta give it to my insurance company, Hagerty, they’re a little more expensive than others, but they came through for me. I had a flatbed tow truck in thirty minutes and I was home in no time at no cost.

If you look closely at the picture you can probably figure out that it was my own fault the cable broke.