Andy LV Hot Rod Build # 1196

[e36m3]

Like many on forum this the beginning of fulfilling a lifelong dream of building a car, something I’ve been working toward for 10 years.

Back on 1/31/2020, I used some of work frequent flyer miles and visited FFR with the goal of deciding on a Hot Rod or Truck.
I’m 6’1” so I figured I end up with truck due to head room, but Tony at FFR said I’d end up with a Hot Rod. Tony was right, I fit in the gen 2 Hot Rod much better. The truck didn’t have enough leg room and the steering wheel seemed close.
The next decision was stick or auto tranny, I went with a stick. I sat in two 33 Hot Rods with sticks at FFR and thought both had plenty of leg room.
FYI, the Speedster my head hit the roof and the covertible with deluxe nose my head just brushed the inside of the roof.

On 2/5/2020, I placed my order for the following:
Full 33 Hot Rod Kit
32 Deluxe nose w/ hood and side covers
Hard Top
Power windows
3 link Moser rear end with brake upgrade
Black leather seats upgrade – I’ve had multiple back surgeries and the individual seats felt better for my back than the bench seat.
Bike Fenders
AC

When I started out thinking about engines I looked into Coyotes, then GM LSs, read a bunch of 33 build threads, and then had an 86 Ford 5.0L HO and T5 fall in my lap for next nothing. 86 is the first year for a roller cam in the Ford Windsor family. The T5 is rebuilt, but the 5.0L needed to be rebuilt.

I’ve owned a 1995 BMW M3 for 15 years that I’ve taken to open track day events at Gingerman and Grattan road courses for the last 8 or 9 years. The M3 weighs about 3,200lbs and has modified inline 6 that has 250hp at the wheels. The M3 is faster on track than I am and can hit 60mph in 5.5 to 6 secs w/o beating on the car too hard.

My plan was to farm out the engine machine work out and do the my first engine rebuild, targeting 325 to 350hp.
But, at the end of February I fell and tore the rotator cuff in my right shoulder so I had CD Engines in Hudsonville, MI rebuild the engine for me.
2,200lbs and 325hp will be fast and I think a good balance, this car will see some track time.

My FFR kit was delivered on 5/6.
Due to covid-16, my shoulder surgery finally happened on last week on 5/19.
For the next 5 weeks, my right arm will be a sling and then I’ll be on weight limit for a few more weeks

I was able to get few things done before surgery and I'll post info on that shortly.

Thanks,
Andy

[JOP33]

Congratulations and good luck! Let the fun begin.

[e36m3]

Eric with Stewart Transport delivered my kit. Todd and Eric with Stewart were great to work with.IMG_2400.jpgIMG_2401.jpgIMG_2402.jpg
Eric is great guy and was very helpful with unloading the kit and helping me get the kit in my barn.
33 boxes of parts.
Here are some pics.

[e36m3]

It took me 8 to 9 hours to do the inventory.
It is pretty impressive that in 33 boxes of parts I only found a few errors. This what was missimg.

• I ordered the bike finder kit and FFR sent me two sets of front fenders, 1 pair of front bike fenders & pair of full front fenders, and no rear fenders.
• I’m missing the two 34746 under aluminum floor pieces.
• Left and right door sills were missing.
• A/C condenser box

I sent Dave Brigham an email and he said he'll get the missing parts sent out once the covid-19 lockdown is lifted.

The POL list highlights are:

• left and right upper control arms
• 32 grill insert
• heater control module

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

JOP33, I found your build thread useful. Just not sure about the Cowboys theme I'm grew up in Packer country in the 70s, but became a Lions fan watching Billy Sims in the 80s - not sure why...

[RoadRacer]

Welcome to the fun! Keep posting as you move along!

[FF33rod]

Welcome to the family Andy, look forward to seeing and hearing more of your build as it progresses

Steve

[JOP33]

JOP33, I found your build thread useful. Just not sure about the Cowboys theme

No worries...I get that a lot!

[JimLev]

Welcome to the 33 hotrod forum. Let the fun begin.
Add all of your car info (like a lot of us have) so when you ask questions we'll know what engine, drivetrain, etc you have.

[peterh226]

Welcome to the fun! It will be interesting to see if you have some of the body fitment issues. What Rear end are you planning on?

[e36m3]

Hi Peterh226,
3 link rearend Moser through FFR.
I see you are from Pickney, I live in Holland, MI. My sister lives Howell and my dad is in Brighton. I'd like to stop by sometime to check out your car.
I expect to have the same body fit issues everyone else has, part of the fun.

Andy

[e36m3]

1986 Mustang 5.0L HO roller cam block bored 0.030” over for 306cu”
Aluminum Speedmaster As-Cast Cylinder Heads PCE281-2048
• Combustion Chamber Volume (cc): 62 cc
• Intake Runner Volume (cc): 190 cc
• Intake Valve Diameter (in): 2.020 in.
• Exhaust Valve Diameter (in): 1.600 in.
COMP Cams Xtreme Energy 35-518-8
• Basic Operating RPM Range:2,200-6,200
• Intake Duration at 050 inch Lift:224
• Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift:232
• Duration at 050 inch Lift:224 int./232 exh.
• Advertised Duration:274 int./282 exh.
• Lobe Separation (degrees):112
Eldenbrock AVS2 carb
Eldenbrock RPM Air Gap intake
MSD Pro-Billet Ready-To-Run Distributors 8352
March Performance 30135 Ford 302 alternator air conditioning deluxe high flow pulley bracket polished kit with P410 polished AC compressor and P561 alternator Ford 140 amp polished

IMG_2426.JPG
IMG_2426.JPG
IMG_2427.JPG
IMG_2429.JPG
IMG_2430.JPG

Thanks,
Andy

[e36m3]

After inventory was complete, since the upper control arms are on back order the first thing I tackled was installing the three link rear end.

The only challenge that I ran into is to get the bushings on the lower control arms into the frame brackets.
What I did with those is I started the bushings into the frame brackets on one side and then used a wide blade screwdriver to barely start the other side of the bushing into the bracket.
I then hit the control arm with a dead blow hammer to get the rear control arm bushing fully into the frame brackets and aligned.

With having torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder and being right handed, installing the rear end by myself was a challenge.

IMG_2440.JPG

[e36m3]

Welcome to the 33 hotrod forum. Let the fun begin.
Add all of your car info (like a lot of us have) so when you ask questions we'll know what engine, drivetrain, etc you have.

I'll update my profile with my car info once i reach 20 posts which is when FFR allows users to edit their profiles. 7 more posts to go

[wallace18]

Very nice looking engine for sure!

[LonDart]

That's going to be a very nice build
Lon

[Blade]

Love that mill you've built. Would it be more practical for the compressor to be on the right since the bulkhead fittings come out there? You may have other plans.

[e36m3]

Shoulder has finally healed up enough where I can start working on the car again, still on a 5lb weight limit on the right arm thou

All my POL parts have come in except the shifter boot.

I've been doing some prep work to get some parts powder coated.
The powder coater is worried that on the upper and lower ball joints that grease will come out of the boots when they go into the 400F oven to cure.

For sand blasting, I put the boot on the upper control arm stacked some washers on the boot and tighten the castle nut hand tight to put some pressure on the boot. Then I wrapped it up with masking tape, see picture.

Those of you that have powder coated the ball joint hardware, how did you handle the ball joints?

Thanks,

Andy

[RoadRacer]

All my POL parts have come in except the shifter boot.

Ha! Same. My POL boxes came a couple days ago and that's the only part left.

[e36m3]

Love that mill you've built. Would it be more practical for the compressor to be on the right since the bulkhead fittings come out there? You may have other plans.

Hi Blade, sorry I missed your question from back in June.
You are correct, it would be more it be more practical for the compressor to be on the right side. I decided to go with a March pulley system and their system has the compressor on the driver side. I'll have to figure out how to route the compressor lines.

[JimLev]

Andy, other have cut the welds to remove the BJ so the heat doesn’t melt the grease.
Then re-weld it after it is powder coated.

[progmgr1]

Ha! Same. My POL boxes came a couple days ago and that's the only part left.

I'm not using the shifter boot that came with my kit (auto trans). Either of you is welcome to it, if you pay the postage for me to mail it to you (probably padded envelope via USPS). Just PM me with a name and street address and I'll get it on its way. Keith HR #894

[sethmark]

Andy,
Take the upper arm and spray it liberally with brake cleaner moving it around by hand until there is no grease left. This process will take a few minutes. Then put the part in the oven for 30 minutes or so which will sweat out the Remaining grease before the powder coat. I did not get any drips when I powder coated mine using this method.

[e36m3]

Andy, other have cut the welds to remove the BJ so the heat doesn’t melt the grease.
Then re-weld it after it is powder coated.

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback.
I've been meaning to you what size brakes did you go with on the back of your car? A while back I was looking at some pictures of your car in your build thread and thought I like the way the rotor looks in regards to the wheel size. For some reason big wheels and little rotors bugs me...

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Andy,
Take the upper arm and spray it liberally with brake cleaner moving it around by hand until there is no grease left. This process will take a few minutes. Then put the part in the oven for 30 minutes or so which will sweat out the Remaining grease before the powder coat. I did not get any drips when I powder coated mine using this method.

Seth,
Thanks for info on the upper arms. Did you do the samething on the lower ball joints?

Thanks,
Andy

[sethmark]

Absolutely I did. I had in house powdercoat so I had total control of the process. Flocking the parts (heating before powder coating) is a good habit anyway.

Cutting and rewelding is absurd. And I’m a welder.

[JimLev]

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback.
I've been meaning to you what size brakes did you go with on the back of your car? A while back I was looking at some pictures of your car in your build thread and thought I like the way the rotor looks in regards to the wheel size. For some reason big wheels and little rotors bugs me...

Thanks,

Andy

My wheels aren’t really that big, 17” in the front and 18” in the rear. The rotors do a good job of filling the space.
The front rotors are 11”, the rears are 11”.

[Blade]

Seth is right. I did exactly as he mentioned, brake clean the joint, cook out the rest in the dedicated stove and hot flock. worked for me.suspension parts powder coated.jpgsuspension pieces.jpgfront suspension 95 percent.jpg

[e36m3]

Last week I got a bunch of parts powder coated by a powder coating shop that is just down the street from where I work.
I sandblasted the parts before dropping them off. I had 27 parts coated in a polyester stain black finish for $162. I was expecting it to cost more.
Seth and Blade thanks for your feedback on using the brake cleaner.

My wife was out of town this weekend so I had all weekend to work on the hot rod.
I got the front suspension mounted and brakes mounted.

I had two problems, the first was on the upper control arms getting the 0.21" spacers to fit with the upper shock bushing. Some time with the belt sander with the spacers took care of this.

The 2nd problem involved torquing down the calipeir bolts.
The front caliper mounting bolts have a 12 point 12mm head on them.
I do not have very many 12 point sockets.
As someone in grew up in the rust belt, in my opinion 12 point sockers all are only good for is rounding stuck bolt heads.
So it took me 10 minutes of digging through a jar of loose sockets to find one.
I found one that was part of an 40+ year old socket set my dad had.

These have to torqued down to 90ft-lbs, the 3rd one I tighten down the torque wrench made a funny sound and the socket popped off the head.
After about 5 minutes of checking the torque wrench out and looking at the 12 point bolt I realized the 12 point 12mm socket had cracked.
I guess I’ll find out how well Lowes warrants Craftsman tools….

The satin black powder coating on the suspension is a little shinier than I was expecting, but the moser rear end is painted with glosss black so it kind of looks like I planned it that way

Here is a couple of pics.

[FF33rod]

If you want to match the FFR satin black, Prismatic Powders Silk Satin Black is excellent. The stuff is inexpensive so maybe pick up some and provide to your powder coater next time or maybe he can pick it up even cheaper.... Looking good though!

Steve

[j33ptj]

So it took me 10 minutes of digging through a jar of loose sockets to find one.
I found one that was part of an 40+ year old socket set my dad had.

These have to torqued down to 90ft-lbs, the 3rd one I tighten down the torque wrench made a funny sound and the socket popped off the head.
After about 5 minutes of checking the torque wrench out and looking at the 12 point bolt I realized the 12 point 12mm socket had cracked.
I guess I’ll find out how well Lowes warrants Craftsman tools….

Guess you put an order in with Snap-on!!! Good quality tools is a lifetime investment!

[e36m3]

Made some more progress, Fire Wall and Steering installed.

Everything went wlll, the only minor thing I ran into was the instruction manual says to cut one of the steering shafts to 14 3/8", I had to cut my down a little shorter to keep the steering shaft from hitting inside one of the u-joints.

IMG_2658.JPGIMG_2659.JPGIMG_2660.JPGIMG_2661.JPG

Thanks,

Andy

[FF33rod]

Good progress. Looking like the power steering motor is almost pointing straight down, likely significantly below the frame. You may want to look at clocking that a bit to get it higher - needs to work in conjunction with the oil pan...

Steve

[e36m3]

Steve,

Thanks for the feedback, that hadn't registered with me yet. Right now I only have it held in place one bolt, I'm running an aftermarket oil pan and need to figure out the angle to clear the pan.

Thanks,

Andy

[e36m3]

Tuesday night I was mounting the brackets for the brake and clutch switch. When I went to mount the clutch switch I found I was missing one of nuts.
I cleared the work bench, swept the floor, looked under the bench, and etc after 10 minutes I figured the same gremlin that steals socks out of the dryer laid claim to the nut.
Last night I stopped at the hardware store to get another 1/2-20 nut.
Of course after I bought another nut I found the missing one. It was attached to a magnetic strip on the top of my battery drill

Thanks,

Andy

[FF33rod]

LOL, you're not alone! I thought it would get better later in the build but it hasn't

Steve

[JOP33]

Tuesday night I was mounting the brackets for the brake and clutch switch. When I went to mount the clutch switch I found I was missing one of nuts.
I cleared the work bench, swept the floor, looked under the bench, and etc after 10 minutes I figured the same gremlin that steals socks out of the dryer laid claim to the nut.
Last night I stopped at the hardware store to get another 1/2-20 nut.
Of course after I bought another nut I found the missing one. It was attached to a magnetic strip on the top of my battery drill

Thanks,

Andy

I learned a long time ago, to avoid the wasted time, just go ahead and buy another nut (part) and the original one when then appear...it is such a great timesaver now!

Signed: MT Pockets

[peterh226]

Boltdepot.com is one of your new friends. I’ve tried to use button head screws where I can and also have to get different length stuff all the time. No matter how many I get, still seem to use them. Also I have one of the harbor freight bins on wheels organizers to attempt to keep this all together. Once I’ve determined the right bolts for an application, then they go in a ziplock bag during one of the many periods of disassembly.

[FF33rod]

Good point on the zip lock bags Peter, I do the same thing. Mark on the outside where it's from and it becomes so much easier when everything is going back together...

Steve

[e36m3]

I've ntoced in some other build threads that guys had used coupling nuts to allow easy removal of the front bike finders.
I order some class 10.9 harndened parts from McMaster Carr.
High-Strength Class 10.9 Steel Hex Head Screw M12 x 1.75 mm Thread, 50 mm Long, Fully Threaded https://www.mcmaster.com/91310A727/
36mm Long High-Strength Steel Coupling Nut Class 10, M12 x 1.75 mm Thread https://www.mcmaster.com/90331A554/

I used a digital calipier to scrib a cut line on the tubes that came with the bike fenders. Then I used my cheap harbor freight cut off wheel to trim the tubes down to the right height.
Here are some pictures of how it turned out. I was surprised I was able to get the spacers so close to the same length.

IMG_2675.JPGIMG_2676.JPGIMG_2677.JPGIMG_2681.JPG


Thanks,

Andy