Square Peg, Round Hole

[Tree]

Hi Everyone,

I recently started a Gen 3 build and registered for the forum. There is tons of great information on here and I am very grateful for everyone who has shared on here and helped others. This really seems to be a great community and I have already spent a good amount of time on this forum learning.

The start of my build has gone pretty well and I already have the front suspension and brakes on. A few small bumps along the way but nothing I could not get sorted. This build is a learning experience for me, and I am needing to figure some things out for the first time, but that is kind of the point. I am sure a lot of you all could have done it much faster them I have but I have been enjoying myself and figuring it out. Once I am able to post pictures, I think I may have you guys take a look and make sure I got everything together right. I did get the part on the control arms flipped the right way I think, however, only because of others posts on here. Thanks.

I am stalled on the rear end until I can find someone stronger to help put the rear differential in, so I thought I may as well start drilling. Taking the body off was a bit intimidating but my wife helped me, and we did not break anything, and I don't think I even swore. Yeah, I know. Truly amazing. Please hold your applause until the end.

In the manual, after the instructions to take the body off, it has two diagrams with 50 panels identified. I thought there was more in the manual about this but I also read the 33 hot rod manual, so I figured I was thinking of that and I thought I could just figure out where each piece in the extra box of aluminum panels they send with the kit fit with the two diagrams. Wow. I felt like a little child trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. "Does it fit here, no. How about over here, nope. Oh, maybe if I turn, no." I figured out some of the easy pieces, however, the only conclusion I could possible draw from this is that my parents must have bribed someone to get me into grade school. There is simply no way I passed out of kindergarten based on my skill level.

After putting that box back on the shelf and trying to pretend I did not fall flat on my face on the first attempt at that challenge, I made it up in my mind that I would at least find the home for two panels that came in a box with backordered parts. The two panels were not marked with part numbers, but the packing slip said they were front wheel slash shields or something like that. I spent longer then I would care to admit trying to find where the two panels went. Tried them every which way on every open part of the frame repeatedly without finding there home. I figured I would come on here to post a picture and ask but I was able to find the answer in edwardB’s terrific build log while I waited for my account to be authorized. The two panels I had been focusing on are replacements for panels that came shipped on the car. Duh. Wow I wasted some time trying to shove that round peg in the square hole. I guess I’m still the slow kid but now have bigger and much more expensive toys. I'm going to keep playing though.

[bil1024]

Hang in there, ask questions and post pics, that will help. I will be getting my coupe in a few weeks

[Ray]

...I am stalled on the rear end until I can find someone stronger to help put the rear differential in.

I was able to get the rear end installed in our Roadster ('93 Mustang 8.8" live axle) by myself. Built a pair of "X's" out of 2x4's and attached them together with an additional pair of 2x4's. They were placed on a pair wheel dolly's from Harbor Freight (https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-l...SABEgIIuPD_BwE). Just rolled the whole thing under the chassis and made the final inch or so lift with a floor jack.

If you're just trying to raise the pumpkin, maybe you can build a smaller version to hold it and raise it with a jack.

Anyway, good luck.

Ray

[David Hodgkins]

Tree!

Congratulations on starting your new build! I've upgraded you to full access.

Here is a thread on embedding pictures:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...tures-in-posts

And here's a thread on updating your build thread title:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...tle-Guidelines

Read over the build threads in the coupe build threads forum here for tips and suggestions:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/foru...-Build-Threads

HTH (Hope That Helps)

[edwardb]

Welcome and congratulations on your Gen 3 Coupe purchase. Sounds like you're getting a little overwhelmed. It's a big project. For some, especially if they've done a bunch before, they buzz through these things in a few hundred hours. For the rest of us mortals, it takes longer. First the usual advice you'll get from many on here -- take it a step at a time. Make it a journey of multiple small victories. Second, people like to beat up on the instruction manual (some of which is sometimes deserved I'm sorry to say...) but in your case I'd stick with it pretty closely. You won't find every details, but use the sequence they have outlined and try not to be tempted to jump around. You might paint yourself into a corner. For the aluminum panels specifically, there's not a single section in the manual where all the panels are installed. There kind of is for the Roadster, and you've probably seen a lot of builds showing that so easy to think the Coupe would be the same. It's not. I was surprised about this myself. There are at least seven different sections describing various panel installations. All interspersed with other assembly. For example, the first section describes left and right footbox aluminum, cockpit floor, and cockpit rear wall. That's it. Then 100+ pages of drivetrain, steering, brakes, etc. The back to aluminum with the firewall, and trans tunnel. Then back to wiring. You get the idea. The last aluminum pieces aren't until page 500 plus. Final comment regarding aluminum, pay very careful attention to the order the pieces are installed and exactly how they overlap. In general their very precise, and it makes a difference. If you find yourself thinking something needs to be trimmed or modified, check the instructions. You might have something wrong. I've now been through all the pieces, and made very few adjustments to the aluminum panels. Hope that helps a little.

[Tree]

Thanks. Do you think I would be safe to drill all the panels which came installed on the frame for a project to work on now? I am not riveting them in place just yet.

[John Dol]

I use a black sharpie to trace all the panels that mate to a frame member. This way you can take them out, lay out the holes, drill them and when you put the panel back in place you can drill through the hole into the frame. I tend to start in a corner and cleco the hole after drilling is complete. Then do every other hole towards the other side putting in cleco's. Once that is done I drill the in between holes. When all holes are drilled and you are ready to install remove the panel, take of any burs, and use caulking to help bond the panel and reduce rattling.

Hope that helps,

John

[edwardb]

Thanks. Do you think I would be safe to drill all the panels which came installed on the frame for a project to work on now? I am not riveting them in place just yet.

You'll get different opinions on this. Here's mine. Keep in mind the panels are put on the frame with a handful of zip screws primarily for shipping purposes. The guys at Factory Five do a good job, and usually locate them all pretty well. But I still prefer to confirm the exact location and do the drilling at time of actual assembly. Which, as I described earlier, for the Coupe is spread throughout the assembly process. One thing you can do now, before removing them, is take a magic marker and trace around all the frame locations on the back side of the panels. That gives you an outline of where to place the rivets. You could even lay out the holes on the panels and drill them now. Then drill into the chassis and cleco as you go at actual assembly. But I'd be cautious to make sure the locations are all accessible to drill and pull rivets when the time comes. I also think straight and evenly placed rivets make a difference in the look of the build quality. So suggest keeping that in mind too. See, you thought it was an easy question? Lots of different way to approach this. Do what works best for you.

[Alphamacaroon]

To build on some of edwardb's comments, I used all the FFR drilled "shipping holes" as starting points for drilling holes and assembling my aluminum, but if I had to do it all over again I would completely ignore them and re-drill and fill. Especially in the complex footbox areas I think I could have fit the panels together perfectly if I started from scratch whereas aligning everything with their holes is going to require me to use one or two strategically placed "re-enforcement plates" (i.e. f*ck-up covers) to make the corners and edges look crisp and straight. I suspect the quality of the FFR panel alignment for shipping really depends on whether or not it was done on a Monday or a Friday just before quitting time Just something I wish I would have known at the time.

[Tree]

Thanks everyone. I have now marked the panels that are on the car with a sharpie showing the frame location and started drilling. I did take a lot of pictures of the panels placement for reference if I need to go back.

I also wanted to clarify and make it clear I was not trying to rag on the manual. That time wasted was all on me and I certainly should have looked ahead in the manual but got over confident and thought I could figure it out. This is a learning experience for me and I am enjoying figuring this stuff out. I have gone into this with the expectation that I was going to waste a lot of time looking over things and making sure I get things right even if I need to redo something over and over. I am bit of a fool and a bit of a perfectionist at times, so this is probably going to take me awhile but the experience has value to me so I am good with that.



Now that I can post pictures, I have added a couple shots of the front suspension before I got the brakes on. I would appreciate it if you guys could take a quick look and make sure things are right. I have not torqued most of it down yet so if something does not look right I can easily adjust.

IMG_0650.jpgIMG_0649.jpg

Also, just in case anyone was wondering what the replacement panels look like that left me chasing my tale, I have added a picture below.

IMG_0858.jpg

[Alphamacaroon]

Looks great at first glance! Although I think you might be missing a jam nut on the tie rod ends? Also I noticed you put the nut towards the front on the lower arm— this is backwards from what I remember the manual showing, but this is definitely the right way, because if you do it the way the manual shows you won't be able to remove the bolt once you put on the radiator aluminum. Keep in mind that you'll want the rear bolts to be facing the opposite way (nuts towards the rear) as a similar problem will occur with the engine bay aluminum panels (coincidentally shown in your second picture). I know because I just noticed it on mine and switched it around before it was too late.

Edit: I just noticed that your passenger-side lower arm bolts appear to be backwards from your drivers side. I would make sure each side has the front bolts with nut facing forward and the rear bolts with nut facing rear. Also (you might already know this) you'll have to throw away the nuts you reverse and replace them since they are one-time use only (even if you only tightened them and didn't torque yet).

[Alphamacaroon]

And speaking of those mystery panels you got (the engine bay aluminum I referred to earlier), here is where they go:

IMG-1381.JPGIMG-1382.JPG

I was lucky because mine came attached to the car

[GThompson]

Stick with it!!! I’m in year 12 of my 2-year build plan... To keep it rolling along DO NOT START CUSTOMIZING!!!! I couldn’t leave it the way Factory Five designed it, nor could I hand it off to someone else for the body & paint work so I’m learning the joys of fill, sand, feather, repeat... BUT, when it’s done, I’ll be able to say “no, it’s not a TVR”, “yeah, I built it”, and “well, I painted it, so that run is my fault”. AND, when I take it to an autocross and I whack those Webers open (that I tuned) I’ll get a HUGE smile on my face knowing “yeah, I built that!!”

One tool that is a big help is a rivet spacer, an accordian-looking thing. I don’t remember where I picked it up but you can set the spacing you want and mark the holes, then drill the holes. They don’t have to be absolutely perfectly spaced but within 1/8” of evenly spaced and in a straight line looks great.

Good luck and keep plowing forward!

[John Dol]

Another way of doing that is to get elastic (from like Jo Ann fabrics) and mark it evenly. Then when you stretch it, it makes even spacing whether that 2", 3" or what ever spacing you want.