Project Lightning Coyote

[Snowman]

I ordered the Coupe kit at the beginning of August and am anticipating an early/mid December delivery date from Stewart. Been doing tons of research, much of which came from this forum. Decided it would only be fitting to document the build, and as another forum member explained to me it will add a bit of pedigree to the build. Plus it will be enjoyable to look back on the build. I took a que from P100DHG on his build thread by putting a table of contents at the beginning. Hopefully this proves helpful as the build progresses. Happy building foilks!

Table of Contents:

1. The plan Updated 9/17/20

2. The kit and parts list

2.1 Delivery

3. Engine build-up

3.1 Engine Build Plan Updated 10/04/20
3.2 Engine acquisition and tear down
3.3 More engine tear down Updated 11/16/20

4. IRS

4.1 Acquisition
4.2 Diff Install

5. Transmission and engine mate

6. Getting it to a rolling chassis

6.1 Steering

6.11 EPAS mounting
6.12 EPAS complete
6.13 RT Turn Signal

6.2 Suspension and Brakes
6.3 Wheels and Tires

7. Coatings (non-body work)

8. Fuel System

8.1 Fuel Pump
8.2 Fuel Pressure Regulator

[Snowman]

Table of Contents Continued:

9. Electrical and Wiring

9.1 Door poppers w/magnetic switches

9.10 Fob Prototypes

9.2 Battery mount
9.3 Battery Disconnect
9.4 Coyote Computer and wiring

9.41 Coyote FPCP harness

10. Comfort Items

10.1 HVAC

10.10 A/C Evaporator

10.11 Heater Valve and Control

11. Driveline install

11.1 Engine Mock Up

12. Plumbing

12.1 Tube Straightener
12.2 Fuel

12.21 Fuel hard line

12.3 Oil

12.31 Remote Oil Filter and Oil Thermostat
12.32 Oil Lines

12.4 Brake lines

13. Dash

14. Soundproofing

15. Aluminum Panels

15.1 Engine bay X panel
15.2 Cockpit Aluminum

16. Body

17. Reassembly

18. Final assembly (post body and paint)

[Snowman]

It all started when I had a little too much TV time when COVID hit. Watched a recent movie about Fords racing in the 60s, then saw some shows about FFR kits being built. Looked up FFR and it was love at first sight with the Coupe! Did lots and lots of research most of which thanks to this forum. Also, feel it appropriate to make a couple of shout outs, EdwardB, P100DHG and Logan to name a few. I think I’ve read Paul’s thread at least 3 times from beginning to end and made many pages of build notes. I do not intent to copy Paul, but he gave me a ton of inspiration and just reading his thread answered so many questions for me (a must read for any others considering taking the plunge).

This might be a little controversial, but I’m using a junkyard F-150 Gen 3 Coyote and building it up to hopefully a little spicier than the standard Gen 3 crate (more on this later). Planning to use GasN exhaust, just sounded so good on Paul’s. The Coyote will be mated to the Tremec T-56 with all the standard clutch components using the Tilton hydraulic TOB. This will be connected to a junkyard sourced and cleaned up (possibly refreshed internally) 3.73 IRS with Torsen LSD. 18” wheels wrapped in more than likely some Pirelli of some flavor. I want to do something different than the halibrand wheels and at the moment the Torq Thrust from American racing are catching my eye…we’ll see.

Color will be a gray with some type of subdued stripes, thank goodness I don’t have to commit to that decision until much, much later. More than likely this will be something that happens when I start talking to whoever is going to paint it, it certainly won’t be me!

Still considering suspension options, which is why I deleted the Koni’s. Right now looking into QA1 double adjustables and Ridetech double or triple adjustables.

Dash will be a digital dash from AEM, I love the programmability of it and since space is so limited it just seemed to make the most sense over traditional gages. Made a gentleman’s agreement with P100DHG for some trick vents, hopefully that works out. Working a solution for an elegant dash mount for an iphone. UPDATE: Found the iPhone mount solution I was looking for. Not going to bother with a stereo. I ‘want’ a glove box, but not sure I ‘want’ to do it, lol . Plenty of time to figure that one out.

Interior design is still barely an image in my mind so that will have to evolve organically as the build progresses. I have a friend/coworker that is into 3D printing and they have agreed to make some small parts for me. Hopefully that will make for some fun design touches.

Last thing...the "Lightning" part of the name in no way is indicative of the Ford Lightning truck and that part will remain a mystery for now. If anyone figures it out please PM me . I will reveal all closer to the build graduation.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Ordered a complete kit with the following options:

Powder coated chassis
Body cutouts
Coyote install
IRS
A/C
Carpet
Side windows
Front and rear sway bars
Big wilwood brakes

Deleted (love that they do this):

Gauges
Exhaust (headers and pipes)
Seats
Front and rear Shocks

Other key parts I ordered:

GT350 intake manifold
87mm Bullitt throttle body
Moroso 20570 oil pan with corresponding pickup
Ford Performance Control Pack
Ball joints and tie rod ends (upgrades from the kit provided pieces)

[P100DHG]

Congrats on the order and the upcoming build! Excited those vents will get put to some good use. I like your chosen deletes. Even the new ball and socket headers, though adjustable, needed professional modification so better get ones that work out of the box. I’m excited to follow and watch that table of contents fill up, keep the updates coming and good luck!

It goes without saying don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us if you have questions.

-Danny

[Erik W. Treves]

The F150 Coyote is up to the task for sure - my F150 Truck has been sporting a Whipple for over a year now 10-12 lbs of boost and pulling trailers all around.... no problems! And they are not too bad to find a reasonable price. And for what it's worth I added the the blower right at 45,000 miles and I am at 63,000+ now...

[Snowman]

Congrats on the order and the upcoming build! Excited those vents will get put to some good use. I like your chosen deletes. Even the new ball and socket headers, though adjustable, needed professional modification so better get ones that work out of the box. I’m excited to follow and watch that table of contents fill up, keep the updates coming and good luck!

It goes without saying don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us if you have questions.

-Danny

Thanks! You've helped quite a bit already. Still doing lots of research, especially with my crazed Gen 3 F-150 engine build, but I'm making headway and parts are starting to arrive . Check out the slick iPhone mount I found (updated post #3 with link)!

[Snowman]

The F150 Coyote is up to the task for sure - my F150 Truck has been sporting a Whipple for over a year now 10-12 lbs of boost and pulling trailers all around.... no problems! And they are not too bad to find a reasonable price. And for what it's worth I added the the blower right at 45,000 miles and I am at 63,000+ now...

Glad to hear it will be robust platform. The gen 3 F-150 is proving to add a couple of additional parts challenges, but my research seems to be zeroing in on a viable plan. I do plan to stick with N/A, I think that will be more than sufficient power for me and my build. It is nice to know it can handle that much boost. I have a small supercharger on my straight six jeep and it was a ton of fun...until I did a ported aluminum head and cam shaft upgrade and now I need a bigger supercharger

[Snowman]

I've read through many of the Coyote section threads. I'm sure I'm not the first (I never am), but I have yet to find anyone who has used a Gen 3 F-150 Coyote. It doesn't necessarily make sense to do so unless you are interested in having the dual fuel (DI and port injection) features of the coyote. I love engine tech and I find that a very appealing feature. The reason I'm not going down the Gen 3 crate route is NOT to try and same money, I will spend close to if not a little more in building up the F-150 engine. It's much like the car build, I enjoy tinkering and building engines. I'm actually finishing up a project on my Jeep's straight six. And for the same money I've put into that I probably could have done a V8 swap by now, but I like the straight six and building it and learning are fun to me. Nuf said.

So hopefully I will have a junkyard F-150 Gen 3 in my hands before the end of the month. I have found them within reasonable driving distance for $3000-3500 as a complete engine. Once I have it the plan is to replace a few things and maybe do some tweaks and hopefully I'll get a bit more out of it than the crate motor. I'd like to be in the 550-600HP range, but anything over 500 will make me . To get there I'm going for the Comp Cams Stage 2 NSR, a GT350 intake manifold, Bullitt throttle body, some head porting and if possible minor porting to the intake to make sure the transition is smooth. I will also replace the phasers, timing chains, timing crank sprocket and oil pump gears to eliminate any weak links/possibly worn items.

Once those hard things are done I'd like to take it to an engine dyno so when it's time to plunk it in the car it should be tuned to about 90% of what it needs to be. The remainder of the in-vehicle tuning I plan to tinker with for drivability that suits me.

Challenges specific to the F-150 Coyote I've found out during my research:

1. The first is the engine harness, it is different. The F-150 uses a MAP sensor, not a MAF (that led to a whole other batch of research on speed density vs. mass air flow tuning). No big deal, as Paul would say, Mustang replacement engine harnesses can be had new from dealerships selling parts online for around $200. Also discovered another fun fact (confirmed by email from ford performance)...The Mustang Gen 3 uses the same engine harness for automatic and manual transmissions. I don't believe that was the case for the Gen 2 (I'm clueless on the Gen 1). Update, harness is proving difficult to procure. Something about a national backorder. I plan to make a trip to the local Ford dealership next week to see what kind of information I can find on it. I ran into a similar problem when the slave cylinder on my car (Diesel Chevy Cruze) died, took about 2 months for that to get sorted out. Thankfully it was still under warranty at the time.

2. GT350 intake manifold (this one is less F-150 specific) requires the use of the Bullitt 87mm throttle body, NOT the part referenced in the Ford Performance Parts Catalog. The reason has to do with the servos on the two different throttle bodies using a digital signal vs. an analog one respectively. Besides it makes sense on the Bullitt since it came out in 2019 with he GT350 intake manifold on it. A throttle body adapter could be used, but why not upgrade when going to all the rest of this trouble and expense. SIDE NOTE: hindsight being what it is, had I not already purchased the GT350 intake (may have jumped the gun on that a little) I would have just gotten the 2018 Mustang GT intake. The performance differences are not that much and the 2018 can have some porting done to it that puts it nearly on par with the GT350. Oh well, at least I can say I have a Voodoo engine part on my build

3. The hole for the EVAP solenoid on the intake manifold will have to be plugged somehow, likely with a solenoid. Thankfully those are pretty inexpensive. The F-150 has a different setup and solenoid altogether so this is just one of those little details that annoy you when you figure it out pretty late.

4. Water pump pulley size. Logan and I had a discussion about this and I still need to fully investigate this one. It's possible the pulley on the F-150 is smaller since that engine never revs as high as a Mustang motor, plus it may also have a greater cooling demand for towing. That is a seemingly easy thing to overcome as well.

5. Not much of a challenge really, but the timing cover will need to be replace just like with the previous generations of F-150 Coyote. Those can be had for around $150 so not a big deal at all.

6. Oil consumption/burning seems to be more prevalent on the F-150 Gen 3 coyote. The F-150 forums all have lengthy discussion threads about this topic, more so than the mustang forums. To the point that Ford has a TSB out on it specifying a very detailed (and good IMO) procedure for measuring oil consumption and it if fails, the corrective action is for a new long block. More on this in my next post, but I did find more carbon build up than I would have liked when I tore the engine down. My plan is to do a leak down test once I get my heads back from porting. Those test results will guide future decisions.

I suspect as far as money spent on the engine build, the port work (not doing this myself, I have a guy for that) and/or the engine dyno are what will drive it over the cost of the crate. Still, with the crate you do have to replace the oil pan and pickup, the flywheel, and the air intake piping so those costs are there regardless of path chosen. It'll be interesting to see how it all comes out.

Other fun facts I've discovered about the Gen 3 F-150 vs Mustang:
The crank, rods, pistons, rings and heads are all the same part numbers for both. This makes sense given both have the same compression ratio. I was surprised the heads are the same. In fact, with the exception of the cams and phasers (timing marks only) all of the components in the heads are identical.

Water pumps and pulleys are identical also.

Oil pump is different and apparently has different thickness of gears. Very specific from MMR.

F-150 balancer is different, it is a 4 / 6 rib combo vs the 6 / 6 on the mustang. Easily fixable with a replacement and provides the opportunity to get rid of some rotating mass, that stock one is really heavy! Like 15 lbs, I think the ATI unit is close to half that weight.

Those are the biggies I've run into so far. As I find more I'll update this post.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Last weekend I made a little road trip to scout and hopefully score an engine to start working with. Found one I though would fit the bill from a 2018 F-150. Over the past week got it torn down and sourced about 75% of the parts it'll need for the planned build.





One thing I pickup in advance was this lift plate from MMR. That thing is brilliant and well worth the money IMO





I like to think the Jeep is looking at like when you bring a new puppy home and your dog is confused as to what this new creature is, lol



Continued...

[Snowman]

It came from an accident vehicle and had a broken valve cover. I went for the gamble and talked the price down a little bit and drove away with it for $3,250.





The cam caps are thankfully numbered and all oriented the same way. Should make reassembly a little easier. I also read the that cam cap bolts are also torque to yield, can anyone confirm??





Almost down to just the rotating assembly...



Torn down as far as I'm hoping to go.





Overall I'm quite impressed with how easy working on the Coyote is. I really did enjoy the tear down and I'm looking forward to the rebuild. Not sure this thing ever saw an oil change as there was a good deal of sludge behind the oil pump. All of that is cleaned out now and gears replaced with some billet ones. The spark plugs looked great when they were pulled, but was surprised at how much carbon build up there was on the pistons when the heads came off. Did some research on oil burning and it is a thing on Coyotes. A leak down test may provide some insight on if blow-by is the culprit. Also found that many resolved oil consumption with a new PCV valve so one of those is on the way too.

Question to the any engine experts...if a leak down indicates some ring issues can new rings be installed in these blocks as long as cylinder liners (should probably really be called a coating, lol) are in good shape? Read an article about the PTWA from an interview with Ford and it indicated that rings could be replaced with out any further honing (probably not enough material there to hone anyways) as long as original cross hatching was intact.

I have a running tally on the deltas needed for converting the F-150 Gen 3 to Mustang/crate equivalent for those that may be interested. Once I have the finally tally and parts list I'll post that delta. I'm spending significantly more than that because I wanted to spice it up a bit and we all know HP costs $$$. Plus I'm trying things I've never done before as a novice and so far it's turning into a great learning experience.

Interestingly enough if I do need to have any cylinder work done the least expensive path is to just get a new block from Ford Performance which is already finish honed to 93mm. Not sure if line honing the mains would be necessary, but that would be neat to get a block that doesn't require any machining if that were the case. A set of liners costs just about the same as the new block then all the machine work to go with them and it becomes cost prohibitive unless you want to overbore for a few extra cubes. At that point, may as well go for the stroker and just go fully down the rabbit hole, lol.

Hope you all enjoy the pics!

Cheers,
Patrick

I ordered headers from Gas-N and once those arrive the heads will be taken with headers and intake manifold for porting.

[Snowman]

A couple of quick minor updates.

I scored this little gem yesterday:





Found it on car-part.com and the price was pretty good at 550. Had to make a trip all the way down to San Diego (almost 4 hours for me), but I think it was worth it. I'll get the case cleaned up and treated with Por-15, give it a pair of new seals for the axles and do a flush on it with fresh fluids. I love junkyards, but they pressure wash everything whether holes are covered up or not, lol.

Also, on the return trip I dropped the heads off with my machinist in LA for a valve job and porting. My engine machinist has not done coyote heads before and asked me if I could find out what the installed valve height is (gen 3 heads). I'm waiting on a reply from Ford Performance, but if any one out there knows please share.

Thanks,
Patrick

[Rsnake]

Congratulations Snowman! I ordered my coupe around the same time with the same anticipated delivery date.
Since we are both in California they might be on the same truck. Great build plan, I am looking forward to seeing your build move along and more details on the coyote build. Since I hate typing I am planning on putting my build on YouTube as it's easier for me.

[ken33]

pictures ?

[Snowman]

Been a good little while since I've made any updates. In prep for the kit arrival I decided I needed to make some minor improvements to the workspace so I've painted the entire inside (walls and ceiling) of my garage white and added a bunch of LED work lights. Looks like an operating room now when it's all lit up, lol. Got a pack of 8 lights from amazon for $99. Can't complain about that.

With the garage all ready to go I moved back to working on the engine some more. There was a lot of carbon build up on the tops of the pistons and the intake tract was very wet with oil. I researched this a bunch, lived in denial for a good bit, then decided I should do something about this. Some things I found:

1. The F-150 motors are notorious oil consumers.
2. Ford has a TSB out there about it.
3. Sometimes it's just a bad PCV valve, but my research on this was not definitive.
4. If the Ford dealership tech follows the full TSB and the engine consumes more than a certain amount the customer gets a new long block .
5. Worst case scenario is I may have to replace the block, good news...replacement gen 3 blocks can be purchased from summit for around 850 and they often have them in stock (maybe that's a bad sign...meh, moving forward).

Decided I wanted to replace the piston rings with gapless ones from total seal. I talked to the guys at total seal and they reassured me I could replace the rings with no detriment since the gen 3 blocks have the sprayed in cylinder liners. So I pulled all the pistons tore them all apart and this is what things look like before and after the 1st round of cleaning:







The Rotel really helps cut through the carbon build up, lol. Seriously though, the can was just the perfect size!

The cleaning is going in phases with multiple soakings in the solvent, but the final looks pretty darn good. I have a couple more left to go, but I should have that knocked out this coming weekend. I'm still waiting on rings as I found out the dimensions for the gen 3 pistons are different than previous generations (not only in bore diameter). Ultimately what the guys at total seal and I came up with was to just send them one of my pistons and they will figure out the correct spec for the rings and package them all together for me. Then comes the fun task of ring filing and fitting the pistons back in the block. I'm actually looking forward to that process even though I know it will be tedious.

Last thing, I found that if you nag Ford Performance enough they sometimes give in to what you want . I was able to get all the Gen 3 engine build specs from them. If anyone is interested PM me and I can send you the file they gave me.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

A very good friend of mine recently pointed out something to me about this project that I knew, but was doing a good job of suppressing from my conscience...I have never driven a vehicle that has this kind of power to weight ratio! With a little internet research, luck and timing on my side I did this on Sunday:



I figured this is about as close to a test drive as I'll ever get. It was as bare bones as you can get for a FFR roadster. The owner of the driving experience company claims it has 375HP and weighs in at 2200lbs. No reason not to believe him, it was running an older mustang 5.0. The great part is that is had no power steering, no power brakes and no electronic nannies to cover up for poor driving skill. I had to follow a pace car so that also helped keep me from doing anything colossally stupid. Halfway through my second lap I new for sure that I am building something that I will truly enjoy and as long as I respect it and it's capabilities I should be fine.

For those that are unfamiliar with this part of Cali, I am lucky enough to live only 40 minutes away from Willow Springs. While there I also had the opportunity to talk to a driving coach who works at what used to be the Toyota driving school. There are definitely some good opportunities to run my completed build on the track with instruction from a professional. There are actually a few driving schools on site and HOD frequents the track. Probably a good idea for learning how to drive something like what we build if you have no experience with it. I look forward to it!

Parting eye candy:



Superformance, owned by the same driving experience company that has the roadster.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Rsnake]

Snowman, has factory five completed your coupe order yet and has Stewart given you a firm date yet?

[Snowman]

Yes, kit is completed and Stewart is picking up on 23 or 24 Nov. They are quoting a delivery between 1 and 4 Dec and will give me a more accurate date as it gets closer. The delivery before mine is in Wisconsin and they might have an airplane to pickup in Chicago which is what's driving the 4 day range in delivery date.

Have you gotten a good status on your kit yet? Todd from Stewart did mention to be there are two California deliveries on this load.

[Rsnake]

I haven't received a pickup date yet but he wants me to reach out next week, it would be amazing if they could pick it up next week with yours. My son will be home from the Marine Corps for two weeks and really wants to spend the entire time in the garage building with me. I can only imagine how excited you must be!

[Snowman]

Yay! Christmas came early this year, lol.







That was a really cool experience and Eric from Stewart was great. Really cool guy!

Like a kid on Christmas morning I couldn't wait to start playing with the new toy. Started the inventory the same day and by the following morning that chore was knocked out and email sent off for the very few items I needed to add to the POL. Well done Factory Five!

I got all the aluminum panels off except for the left footbox outside wall since there is a screw behind the body. I'm going to leave the body on for a bit with the current goal of getting it to a rolling chassis first, then the body can come off. Front suspension is loosely installed, but hub nuts are on backorder so that's as far as it goes for now. Steering is also loosely installed while I sort out the electric assist steering.

More build updates to come...

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

The first car I ever owned was an 85 1/2 Ford Escort 5 door. It was as bare bones as it gets, 4 speed manual, AM only radio, no power anything to include steering. So oddly I actually like the idea of manual steering...one less accessory on the engine, one less fluid to worry about and excellent feedback from the road. Twenty some odd years later though I admit I enjoy the ease of parking with power steering. So when I found the electric assist kit from epowersteering I thought it might be worth a shot. They don't have a coupe specific kit, but I went out on limb and grabbed the one for Mk4. I took a play out of Paul's book and did a lot of staring at the space where I wanted it to be. Seriously, this took like 3 or 4 of these staring sessions until I could puzzle it out and I think I finally settled on it going just forward of the steering column pillow block with some minor fab work.









The bracket can be clocked up and is made from mild steel so it can be persuaded to bend to my will (hopefully). Worst case is I can use it as a template to make a more appropriate bracket. Once in it should be tucked up nice and out of the way.

I will admit it is going to be a tight fit, but there is still over an inch between the brass fitting of the inboard most master cylinder and the body of the power steering unit. This will allow the master cylinder to be removed with out disassembling the all the steering. I also found a good location for the steering ECU and I think that will get mounted using a 3D printed bracket.

The coolest part of it is the amount of steering assist is variable with the turn of a knob so I can have full manual steering and also enough assist to make parking a breeze, and no power steering fluid!

Cheers,
Patrick

[Rsnake]

Congratulations on the delivery. Let the fun begin.
Your epas makes me rethink my choice of the KRC.
Looking forward to your build.

[Snowman]

Congratulations on the delivery. Let the fun begin.
Your epas makes me rethink my choice of the KRC.
Looking forward to your build.

Thanks!

I got the mounting bracket tacked in this evening. Once it's burned in the rest of the way and cleaned up a bit I'll post an update with pics. Unfortunately it will be a long time before I can report back on how well the electric assist works vs. traditional hydro power steering. I don't think one way is necessary better than the other, just down to personal preference.

Any word on when your kit will be showing up?

Patrick

[Rsnake]

I am being told Christmas Day! What a great Xmas gift. It will be fun building at the same time you are.

[Snowman]

Bracket for the electric power steering unit is fully welded in. It's probably been 15 years since I've done any welding and it looks like it, lol! I intentionally didn't take good pictures of the finished bracket, the welds are a little embarrassing even for a hobbyist that never got any formal training on welding. I should have made more practice welds, but it's done now and it's certainly strong enough. Thankfully this bracket won't be visible unless you start taking things apart. Once the body is removed and I get the to point of installing panels I'll get some paint on the bare steel and areas of the frame that will need some touch up. Unfortunately it will be quite some time before I can report back on the electric power steering functionality.



The steering shafts still need to be cut down, but the hardest part of this mod are complete and I'm pretty happy about that.



Quick question...Does anyone have any good suggestions for the frame powder coat touch up? A particular paint or other coating product? I'm not super concerned about it, and worst case is I will paint all of the engine bay frame with something. I'm sure I'm not the first person to make a few scratches in the powder coat, plus the nose was in contact with the top of the frame in a couple spots during shipment and rubbed off the powered coat so I knew from he beginning that I would need to do some touchups or somehow address the bare steel spots.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

I've read many folks doing door poppers and I like the idea a lot, but I want to do something a little different. Instead of having an RF fob and another electronic unit I'm trying something little more manual. The idea is to mount a magnetic switch on the inside of the body just rear of the door near the quarter window to be able to swipe a strong magnet near. This will activate a relay that energizes the door popper solenoid. I'm working with a friend to 3D print a little coupe shaped fob (similar to what Tesla does with their keyless fobs) that has a strong magnet imbedded in it. I got the magnetic switches and neodymium magnets from amazon. A quick test with a multimeter showed that the switch will activate from a little over an inch away with a strong magnet.





The proximity of the roll cage to the switch mounting location is the only real concern I have. It will certainly work in principle, we'll have to see how the application of this goes.

Should be a fun experiment and if it works I think it will add a bit of a cool factor. Kind of like a secret knock knock code, lol.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Been a while since I've made any updates to the thread so I figured I should at least write about what's been done lately.

The front hub nuts and all the IRS control arms are still on backorder so I've been keeping busy with odds and ends.

IRS diff is coated in POR-15 and hung. There were some gaps created between the IRS mounts and bushings when I tightened down the mount bolts. I didn't like them so I shimmed the forward mounts, but this dictated slightly longer bolts (140mm vs. 130s included). Thankfully McMaster to the rescue, or at least once the oder arrives, lol.

Fuel tank is installed (temporarily) with fuel sending unit and fuel pump in. I was riding the struggle bus when trying to install the tank, but I eventually succeeded by using some extra long bolts to suck the tank straps up to where I could swap to the included hardware. For the fuel pump I went with the Aeromotive unit, very impressed with the quality of this unit from a fitment perspective. Obviously I haven't run the pump yet, but it's rated at 340 lph which I'm sure is more than enough and should also allow the use of E85 if I ever so desire in the future.

Coyote pedal (APPS) is almost in, lol. I need another mandrel for my rivet nut setting tool. I impatiently, and unsuccessfully, tried setting one with a bolt, nut and washers. It can wait to be done right. I have to give a shout out to EdwardB and shark92651 for their write-ups on installing the the coyote pedal. I was truly stumped with how to install it. I don't think I replicated either of their ideas, but their write-ups gave me what I needed to get what I am truly happy with on installation. Also, much credit to EdwardB for installing that thing with the footbox sheetmetal in place. It was bad enough with complete access while sitting in the empty engine bay, LOL!

A/C evap/heater core unit installed. This was another item that seemed to challenge me more than it should have. It is definitely a tight fit and the funny part is after trying all sorts of modified positions to get it right I came back full circle to exactly (or as best I can ascertain) the location the pictures in the FFR manual call out. I guess I should trust the manuals a little more than I have been . It's in and I'm happy with it.

I started on installing the brake and clutch MC reservoirs. I went round and round in my head about using what FFR supplied vs. something like the triple chamber Tilton unit and eventually settled on using the supplied reservoirs. I realize this means that both brakes share the same reservoir and this is a slight hit on redundancy, but since there is a dedicated emergency brake I'm good with it and they are perfectly good pieces. Final install to come on those pieces.

Next up is getting the heater control valve mounted, going to try and get it mounted inside the footbox to reduce some of the engine bay clutter. I think I have the mount location figured out, but the bulkhead fitting location will have to come once I have the engine in for mock up. I'm hoping to do something like P100DHG did with his, but obviously I'm using a Coyote instead of SBF so we'll have to see what that brings for challenges.

I think that brings everything to current. I'll post pictures tomorrow once I get the reservoirs and heater valve installed.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Nigel Allen]

For a coyote you will require a 4way heater valve, so that coolant flow is maintained when the heater is not required. I couldn't find a mechanical 4way valve, so I got a vacuum operated type, removed the vacuum motor and converted it to cable operation.

[Snowman]

For a coyote you will require a 4way heater valve, so that coolant flow is maintained when the heater is not required. I couldn't find a mechanical 4way valve, so I got a vacuum operated type, removed the vacuum motor and converted it to cable operation.

The valve that comes with the Heat and A/C kit is a bypass type valve, two inlets and two outlets. I believe this fits the bill and allows coolant to flow continuously whether going through the heater core or bypassing the heater core and with it's variable control this meters how much coolant flows through the heater core thus providing temperature control.

[Snowman]

Adding in a few pics as promised:

This little guy and I went round and round yesterday, lol. Just a difficult shape to work with in space provided to get clearance around the A/C lines, the outboard drain and the motor housing while trying to make sure all the supplied brackets will line up with a good mounting spot. The forward inboard mount is the one where I had the most trouble.





Aeromotive fuel pump unit. I really like the clean install of this unit. Ya know, because it's so visible on the completed build. Peace of mind I suppose.



The IRS installed, please don't judge the POR-15 paint job too harshly. Painting is not my strong suit. I tried to get a picture of the gap between the forward IRS mount and the bushing. It's a solid 3/16 inch gap, not sure if this is normal, but I don't like it so I'm shimming it. Once I had my shim installed I didn't like how few threads were sticking out of the nut so longer bolts are on the way.





I will probably do a block only engine mock-up as I'm waiting for parts to come in. I think this might be helpful as I continue to get major system components installed (PMC, RF fuse panel, fuel plumbing, some of the brake pluming, chassis wiring layout, etc.) while waiting on the key suspension parts to arrive.

Cheers,
Patrick

[P100DHG]

Great progress. I think you’re heading down the right path going for that clean engine bay look, I think you’ll be able to jamb that heater control in with some careful measurements. I too was impressed with the quality of the aeromotive fuel pump. It takes the AN fittings so nicely too.

So I read your post about one brake reservoir. I think you’ll be fine with one but FFR will sell you another. I bought a second one through them. I really like the quality. Far superior than the Tilton reservoir in terms of looks IMO.

Keep it up!

[Snowman]

I've read many folks doing door poppers and I like the idea a lot, but I want to do something a little different. Instead of having an RF fob and another electronic unit I'm trying something little more manual. The idea is to mount a magnetic switch on the inside of the body just rear of the door near the quarter window to be able to swipe a strong magnet near. This will activate a relay that energizes the door popper solenoid. I'm working with a friend to 3D print a little coupe shaped fob (similar to what Tesla does with their keyless fobs) that has a strong magnet imbedded in it. I got the magnetic switches and neodymium magnets from amazon. A quick test with a multimeter showed that the switch will activate from a little over an inch away with a strong magnet.



The proximity of the roll cage to the switch mounting location is the only real concern I have. It will certainly work in principle, we'll have to see how the application of this goes.

Should be a fun experiment and if it works I think it will add a bit of a cool factor. Kind of like a secret knock knock code, lol.

Small update for this, my friend 3D printed a couple of prototypes for the fob:









The do have the same magnets in them I used for my magnetic switch test and seem to work pretty good. If all else fails they'll be cool fridge magnets, lol.

The one that looks kinda beat up is what I was playing with for "post-processing" which is apparently the correct term for sanding, finishing or shaping a part after it's been printed. My friend tried her version of post-processing and it got a little out of hand, but she was kind enough to give them both to me to play with. I found that I could get some decent results by normal finish sanding stepping up in grit levels. The best I had was 1000 so I'm sure if I take it finer and then work it with polish I can actually get pretty darn good results. These are made from PLA which is not known for a high quality finish, it prints extremely easily is relatively inexpensive and is best for prototyping.

I need to do some research on a good material that finishes easily. Not sure what the final color will be, but I really like the first hack at this. Good to have friends that want to be part of the project and use it to refine their own skill sets in the process

[P100DHG]

Plastidip works well and has a nice soft touch. I’ve used it on 3D printing parts and looks pretty good, or go crazy and get some bondo, really perfect it and paint to match. Fantastic idea and so cool!

[Snowman]

Minor update on a few things.

I cleaned up the mounting bolts on the IRS with the shims I talked about, nothing really photogenic there. Glad that is done and I torqued the bolts down. Also picked up some Dykem torque stripe to give that a try and use to keep track of what I've put final torque on. Never personally used it before, but I've broken many a torque stripe while working on aircraft.

I got the brake MC reservoirs mounted up, but took it all back apart to prep my bracket for paint and for got to take a picture, that will have to come after I get it all put back together.

Finished the accelerator pedal now that I have the correct mandrel for 1/4 - 20 rivuts. I'm very pleased with how that turned out, feels very solid and the location feels good to my feet

New favorite tool, making holes is fun!



Heater valve and control box are installed and I'm pretty happy with where it landed. I ditched the bracket for the valve and I think this mounting is much cleaner, keeps it out of the engine bay without a ton of hot heater hose going inside the passenger footwell.



Added some old school chafe protection and these hoses will run directly to their corresponding connections on the engine. I'm going to copy a little of what Edwardb did with the plates he made for his heater hose and AC line bulkheads, but mainly to provide a seal for the heater hose holes since they are a little oversized. The over size didn't happen on purpose, but it was a happy mistake that I'm glad worked out the way it did. I'm going to try and use as many gates powergrip hose clamps as I can...afford (that's probably the real limiter with those). Again, clean engine bay and I love the look of them. I found a really good source for silicon hoses of all kinds that sell by the foot and are priced reasonably, I feel. https://www.siliconehose.com



I thought this was a slick little cubby hole to stash the control box for the heater, it seems like it will be nice and out of the way and can be easily removed if necessary in the event that a maintenance issue arises (hopefully not!).



Installed the fuel pressure regulator and filter. Again keeping with the clean engine bay theme I'm putting this at the back near the tank where there is plenty of available space. This will help things look kinda cool for my plans on the fuel supply line to the engine. I'll install a gauge on the FPR for initial setup and tuning and then probably remove after that. I will add a trunk access panel to aid the adjustment and filter servicing, I might be looking for excuses to use my new favorite tool



Tons of little stuff still to come, as much as I'd like to get all the suspension completed I'm actually having fun solving all of these little challenges and I know every hour I put into the build gets me closer to completion no matter how long from now that is. This is such a fun hobby!

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Plastidip works well and has a nice soft touch. I’ve used it on 3D printing parts and looks pretty good, or go crazy and get some bondo, really perfect it and paint to match. Fantastic idea and so cool!

Thanks!

I hadn't thought of coating them. I'm hoping it sees heavy use , is the plastidip pretty resilient?

The concept in my head is not to have a super detailed model, but more of a representative shape that is comfortable in the pocket. Truly is inspired by the way Tesla does theirs. Personally not a huge Tesla fan, but good ideas are good ideas in my book.

[Snowman]

Got some good work done this weekend. Just like most everyone else it seems like the frame cross braces above the transmission in the engine bay just needs to have a panel on them. Plus it also makes a good place to mount some firewall type components.

Sheet metal work is pretty new to me, so I wanted to make it as easy on myself as possible. Without any actual knowledge of sheet metal I picked up a small panel of 5052 aluminum in .052 thickness. I did find that it cuts like butter and is easy to shape and trim. I haven't tried any bending yet, but it's softness makes be think it will be more malleable than the 6061 that comes on the rest of the car.



I will say the thing I'm enjoying the most are the clecos, those are just plain cool to play with.

What I don't have are any good tools for cutting sheet metal. Open to suggestions for a gadget that won't eat up floor space in the garage, lol.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Also knocked out the battery mount this weekend and I'm really, really happy with how it turned out. I committed to an optima before I ordered the kit. Been running one on my jeep for over a decade, drained it at least half a dozen times (deep cycle) and it just keeps on ticking.

First I installed 5/16-18 rivet nuts. Those suckers will certainly give you a serious forearm workout, lol!



Then I used a .25 inch thick aluminum bar to bring the smaller tubes to the same plane as the larger. I didn't have to use the rivet nuts here, but they make it nice if I ever need to remove the battery tray in its entirety



With the battery tray bolted down in place. This actually took me quite some time to get here. Since I used all countersunk fasteners they kind of need to be spot on. An inexpensive set of transfer punches from HF and a lot of patience gave me the results I was going for.



I borrowed the battery from the Jeep for mock up and a photo. I plan to use a yellow top deep cycle since I don't need the extra posts for this application.



I also started laying out some of the wiring and playing with some locations. I'm a bit of a wiring nerd so I'll probably do a few non-standard things like bulkhead connectors instead of using grommets to pass wires through. Doesn't look like I'll be adding any connections, I'll just replace the connectors to the front and rear harnesses with ones designed to mount on a bulkhead. There will be a lot of wiring work to get it the way I want, but thankfully I enjoy that sort of thing.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Last update for this weekend. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this most excellent product from Russ Thompson. One heck of a guy and had a much quicker turn around than I had an anticipated.



The little spacers had to be filed down in my case since I already locked the angle on the steering shaft in place with the EPAS unit, oops. Next time (not sure there will be one, lol) I'll be sure to have all the steering parts in hand before welding in a bracket. No worries though, only took about 30 minutes with files to get them fine tuned to where they needed to be. Still impressed with the quality of the turn signal, you just don't fully grasp that until you have it in hand.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Snowman]

Been working a bunch more of the little things in the background over the past couple of weeks. Nothing earth shattering, but just keeping forward momentum while I'm waiting on suspension parts and a radiator. Plenty of stuff to do to keep me busy for at least the next month or two.

I wanted to run NiCopp brake and fuel lines. Those only come in coils and straightening by hand does not produce great results or at least not the result I was looking for. Tube straighteners can be purchased online for way more that I felt was reasonable and they seemed simple enough devices so I thought I've try making my own. For about $25 in parts and hardware this is what I came up with:





Since I'm running 3/16 for brakes and 3/8 for fuel I thought I would be slick and add two different sizes of rollers:





This is the first time I've played with the NiCopp line and I really like it so far. If it seals up easily then I'm sure I'll like it even more

The 3/16 was very easy to straighten and the pic above shows a couple minor bends left in it which was from me trying to dial in the amount of pressure on the rollers and I tried straightening too much at once with out a helper or some kind of support, lol.

The 3/8 was a bit more challenging to work with.. The rollers I got are actually little too big so if I used too much pressure it would flatten out the tube which obviously won't work for AN tube nuts. I found I could get pretty good results on the 3/8 if I took it really slowly and made many light pressure passes. I would end up with a very slight arc and I was able to tweak that by hand into something straight enough that you can't notice once you start bending it up for the crazy shape the fuel line ended up being.

Overall I consider it a success and highly recommend it to anyone that wants to make their own hardline from a stock that comes in a coil.

[Snowman]

After the tube straightening experiment it was time to bend up a hardline that runs from the FPR to the panel that covers up the "X" in the engine bay which I'm using like a bulkhead. It took me two tries to get it right. One the final bend of the first line I pulled a bonehead and bent it the opposite direction Oh well, more practice and the material is not terribly expensive, plus I had enough to give it another shot. Success this time and I'm quite happy with the result:





Stills needs some cushion clamps to hold it in place and I didn't have any 3/8 on hand so waiting on McMaster to deliver. Those will get riveted in place with 3/16 steel Q-rivets.

The NiCopp bends up beautifully and for the AN tube nuts it took a single flare like it wanted to. No pictures, but I used the Summit Racing version of the flaring tool that many have from Eastwood. It looks identical to me and works flawlessly. Money well spent IMO.

I'm still waiting on some -06 AN fittings before I can finish up the two flex lines to/from the FPR. I'll do one flex line from the bulkhead fitting up front to the fuel rail. I think it'll result in a really clean look with the FPR out of the engine bay.