richtersand's build #9909 - Engine In!!

[richtersand]

No need for a shield with the brake line in that location.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!

[egchewy79]

No worries, I agree that the air riveter is an amazing addition to the shop. I use it when I have a bunch of rivets to do, but if it's only a few rivets here or there I go old school. Good wrist workout

I hand riveted all my rivets. not sure if that's a badge of honor or a sign of stupidity! the aluminum ones were fine. The hardest ones were the 3/16" SS rivets that came with the breeze battery box. I almost gave myself an aneurysm and/or hernia trying to hand rivet these.

[460.465USMC]

I just got notice that the radiator is on its way. Last item I'm missing to be done with the POL is the power steering rack.

Nice progress, richtersand! You zoomed right past me. Making great progress! It looks like our builds are similar.

My kit arrived mid-October, and my radiator is also on the POL. No word yet on it being shipped though. Funny thing is my PS rack arrived with my kit. Go figure. Anyway, great work! I will keep following along. Thanks!

P.S. I have a bowtie in my stable as well. Good to know I'm not alone.

[Scott Walker]

Looks like you know what you are doing! I'm totally jealous. We received our kit in July and I'm having to stop and figure everything out. First real build for me, and it takes me two to three times as long. Good luck and I'll be following your build now.

[richtersand]

Looks like you know what you are doing! I'm totally jealous. We received our kit in July and I'm having to stop and figure everything out. First real build for me, and it takes me two to three times as long. Good luck and I'll be following your build now.

Thanks Scott! Don't let the time lapse fool you I'm spending a lot of time figuring things out also, but that's part of the fun... I have seen most guys say that at the end of their build they're a little sad that it's done. I've been trying to keep that in mind to enjoy the build journey.

Nice progress, richtersand! You zoomed right past me. Making great progress! It looks like our builds are similar.

My kit arrived mid-October, and my radiator is also on the POL. No word yet on it being shipped though. Funny thing is my PS rack arrived with my kit. Go figure. Anyway, great work! I will keep following along. Thanks!

P.S. I have a bowtie in my stable as well. Good to know I'm not alone.

Thanks Chris! I'll follow along your thread as well. Gotta love this community.

[richtersand]

Check out what came in the mail! Gas'N headers with the double collector (for an easier installation). Side pipes should arrive in the next few weeks. Purchased the set from Georgie. Now I just need an engine! Forte told me he's still waiting on the TKX... fingers crossed it's not a huge lead time.




I like Georgie's style. The headers came with this packaging

[richtersand]

Third time's a charm! See if you can spot the good tank. FFR was AWESOME here, replaced the first two bad tanks immediately, no questions asked.

[richtersand]

I was ready to rock with my fuel pump wired up and a good tank. The first concern was the fuel sock, which slides on the intake of the pump. There isn't much of a lock on the sock other than the teeth of the ring which I suppose grab the plastic on the pump.





I was a little worried about the lack of a positive lock on the sock until I saw it sit in the pump. The bottom of the tank helps support it so I think it's good to go. I might do some kind of camera inspection a few months into driving to verify it's still on there. Miraculously, I did not need to cut the tank at all to get the Pro-M hangar + pump through the opening.






Had to use the ratchet straps to pull one of the brackets on the rear frame and open it up a bit for the tank.






Finally, with the tank on. Going to run the fuel lines before closing it up with the drop trunk and sheet metal.

[egchewy79]

nice work. the dents in the previous tanks probably wouldn't have affected functionality. kudos to FFR for sending out new ones. I tried to get my sock to sit parallel w/ the walls of the sump area so that it wasn't contacting the wall, but it'll likely function the same. I was having the sock pop off when I was trying to navigate the twist/bend necessary to get the hanger in place until I bent one of the teeth on the ring holding the sock on with a small screwdriver.
Plan on dropping the tank again to install your drop trunk mod if you got the one from Russ. I didn't plan for this and had to drop it to install the pan. I think the darkwater drop trunk is installed from above.
and while you have the tank dropped again, plan on adding some short bolts and nut couplers, esp on the PS upper bolt hole, for the QJ bolts if you plan on using the "kleiner mod" for your QJs. With the tank in place, it's impossible to get even a short bolt in from behind the mounting plate on the upper QJ hole.

[richtersand]

nice work. the dents in the previous tanks probably wouldn't have affected functionality. kudos to FFR for sending out new ones. I tried to get my sock to sit parallel w/ the walls of the sump area so that it wasn't contacting the wall, but it'll likely function the same. I was having the sock pop off when I was trying to navigate the twist/bend necessary to get the hanger in place until I bent one of the teeth on the ring holding the sock on with a small screwdriver.
Plan on dropping the tank again to install your drop trunk mod if you got the one from Russ. I didn't plan for this and had to drop it to install the pan. I think the darkwater drop trunk is installed from above.
and while you have the tank dropped again, plan on adding some short bolts and nut couplers, esp on the PS upper bolt hole, for the QJ bolts if you plan on using the "kleiner mod" for your QJs. With the tank in place, it's impossible to get even a short bolt in from behind the mounting plate on the upper QJ hole.

Ha! I realized about 10 minutes after the fact that I would need to drop the tank again to get the drop trunk in. Thanks for the tip on the Kleiner mod, also planning to do that.

[richtersand]

Quick follow up on the West Marine butt connector. After ~48 hours of a gasoline test it looks as good as new:

[richtersand]

Had some fun with hard brake lines on Tuesday. I was proud of myself for not forgetting the tube nuts before flaring the ends. But then I forgot to get the tube nut towards the flare prior to making the bend!






The front hard lines are in place.






I had a challenge with the NPT <-> AN adapter on the Wilwood caliper. It would only thread in a few turns before it locked tight. Could not even get enough turns in to get the thread sealant engaged. I read online that if this happens with NPT then you slowly work in the female threads 1/4 turn at a time until it has enough engagement. Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions on this one...

[richtersand]

Connected the rear brakes from the splitter.

[richtersand]

Finished routing the rear brake hard lines from the front master cylinder. I wanted to take it straight down the 3/4" tube similar to edwardb, but the more I researched the coyote accelerator pedal bracket the more complexity it added. I would have had to figure out a way to get it through the accelerator bracket, the chassis bracket, and then out. And some of that would have been guessing on the routing without the coyote pedal in hand. In short, I saw a ton of additional complexity without much benefit so I decided to take FFR's recommended routing out the slot in the front panel, down, and back along the 4" tube. I don't have any pics yet but here's the time lapse:






I'm almost at 200 hours on the build! Link to Time Tracker

[richtersand]

Still making good progress on the build. Just heard from Dave B @ FFR, and it sounds like my power steering rack is expected mid-February. With that, my last blocker will be the TKX transmission. Talked to Forte about it and never heard so many four letter words strung together. Hopefully they start shipping soon... it's becoming a real possibility that becomes the blocker in the build.

I have been studying Shark92651's build thread pretty closely (thanks for the great detail). Between EdwardB and Shark, they've got the coyote build really well documented. Seeing Shark's LS fuel regulator setup made me decide to switch to that. In addition to being much cheaper, it is also a simpler/cleaner install having pressure fixed @ 58 psi and only running one line up to the engine bay. I was able to return the aeromotive stuff so all good. I'll post more details on this as I get the parts and it comes together.

Brake lines are 99% done. I have gravel guard running the entire length of the rear brake hardline, so I needed to pick up larger line clamps (3/8”) to accommodate the gravel guard. I’m looking forward to bleeding those… seems like it’ll be a good milestone in the build.

Made a lot of progress on the radiator. Almost ready for final bolt-in. I have both the upper and lower radiator mounts from Breeze. I have all the upper mounting holes drilled/threaded. Instead of using rivnuts on the shroud, I went with rivet-mount nuts. Turned out pretty well! The rivets are raised slightly so the plastic fan housing sits on top a bit. My current idea is to slightly elevate the housing with a washer in-between the shroud and the housing unless anyone has a better idea.








Cut off the two tabs on the cross member to make room for the upper breeze hinge. You can also see the routing of the front brake lines here.




Here it is finished with POR-15.

[richtersand]

I have been studying Shark92651's build thread pretty closely (thanks for the great detail). Between EdwardB and Shark, they've got the coyote build really well documented. Seeing Shark's LS fuel regulator setup made me decide to switch to that. In addition to being much cheaper, it is also a simpler/cleaner install having pressure fixed @ 58 psi and only running one line up to the engine bay. I was able to return the aeromotive stuff so all good. I'll post more details on this as I get the parts and it comes together.

Had a bit of a misfire here. Unfortunately, that simple LS regulator/filter setup is ONLY for Gen 2 Coyotes. Gen 3 Coyotes require 65 PSI, so I'm reverting back to the previous setup. I have documented both now, and it is a lot more complicated. C'est la vie.

Gen 2 LS setup:







Gen 3 setup:

[Rook]

Thanks for drawing this out and sharing it with us. It will certainly come in handy when I reach this point in my build.

[richtersand]

Thanks for drawing this out and sharing it with us. It will certainly come in handy when I reach this point in my build.

Glad to hear it's helpful!

[richtersand]

So I took my wife on a surprise date today to Superformance to show her what the end result will look like. She loved it, and even 6 months pregnant was able to sit in the only viking blue car on the floor. Her classic comment when we left was, "Get to work." She wasn't joking

[460.465USMC]

Had a bit of a misfire here. Unfortunately, that simple LS regulator/filter setup is ONLY for Gen 2 Coyotes. Gen 3 Coyotes require 65 PSI, so I'm reverting back to the previous setup. I have documented both now, and it is a lot more complicated. C'est la vie.

Thanks for sharing this drawing, richtersand. Very helpful to be able to visualize.

[460.465USMC]

Cut off the two tabs on the cross member to make room for the upper breeze hinge. You can also see the routing of the front brake lines here.

What tool did you use to cut through the welds to make room for the Breeze radiator mounting system? I've heard of a few ideas, but curious what worked for you?

[richtersand]

What tool did you use to cut through the welds to make room for the Breeze radiator mounting system? I've heard of a few ideas, but curious what worked for you?

Angle grinder!

[jiriza84641]

Looking Great buddy!

[richtersand]

Looking Great buddy!

Thanks!

[nucjd19]

Really enjoying your build thread. Thanks for the effort. Your videos are just great!

[richtersand]

Really enjoying your build thread. Thanks for the effort. Your videos are just great!

Thanks so much. I've been wondering if the videos are worth anything because it really just shows me scurrying around the garage. But I appreciate the kind words. Look forward to your updates as well! Hopefully those POL parts come in soon...

[richtersand]

It has been a long time since my latest post. I always saw other build threads and wondered about that and now I totally get it. Any free time has been spent diving into the build rather than posting updates. I'm also enjoying posting, but only so much time in the day!

Fuel lines are installed. I'll post some better pics of the installation but here's the pattern I made. Pro tip: get hard line to run the patterns. At first, I was using bailing wire. About the only thing this was good for was determining the length of the run. It would immediately lose its shape and I would have to build it from scratch. I did my brake lines without a pattern and a few bends could have been more accurate. I did the fuel lines using the unused steel FFR brake lines and it was game changing. I can't imagine running hard lines without patterns now. Lesson learned for me that hopefully helps someone else.



Finished installing the brake reservoir. I opted for the larger reservoirs from Scott's Hotrods. They have outlet threads in the rear and the bottom, so you can choose which you want for your setup. I opted for rear since it will clean up the look of the engine bay somewhat. Fabricated the bracket from 3/32 steel, pow

[richtersand]

The roll bar hoop isn't sitting right on the bar. I tried all the tricks in the book (i.e., forum posts) and couldn't make anything work. After working through the challenges with Dave @ FFR, he is going to send me a new one. Again, nothing but amazing things to say about customer service @ FFR.

Here's the forum post from a few weeks ago: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...-Alignment-Fit

And an image of the roll bar not fully seating on the left:

[richtersand]

I posted my interest in developing a minimalist competition dash layout, and low and behold Marcel (CDXXVII) lives just down the road from me and he made a few extra 50 thou dashes when he made his own. I'm really lucky because everything is already cut on a higher quality dash. Saved me a ton of time on this part of the build. Marcel has also been incredibly helpful with perspective, and he's an electrician by trade so he really knows his stuff. Thanks again Marcel!



Here is my final layout plan:

LED Indicator Lights
Yellow: Turn signal (one light for both turn signals and hazard lights)
Blue: High beam on
Red: Coyote MIL error

Under Dash
Odometer button
Clock button
LED gauge dimmer

Dash Switches
Ignition
Headlights (running lights, headlights, and courtesy lights)
Hazard on/off
High beam on/off
Turn signals controlled by RT turn signal
Horn button on turn signal stalk

Gauges
Vintage gauges, standard setup: speedo, tach, oil pressure, volts, fuel, water temp, clock

I will be fabricating custom glove box. I know this is going to be a lot of work, and not particularly interesting. Marcel talked me into the VW latch, which has an awesome look.

You'll notice I am not planning a power cutoff switch. I have an old corvette and have found this is unnecessary unless there's a power drain. Battery tender keeps it topped off and I think I'll be good.

[richtersand]

Unfortunately the new TKX transmission is on back order. I was initially expecting the engine package in January, so we're pretty far behind schedule. Not a huge deal, as there's lots to do on the rest of the build. I just heard today that they are getting a few TKXs in the next few weeks and I made my payment back in December so I'm on the list to get one of the TKXs. This is great news, and according to the calculations I should have my engine in the next month. Forte was nice enough to ship me the control pack and other odds and ends from the coyote so I can get ahead on this part of the build while I'm waiting on the engine.






I am knee deep in wiring at this point:

[richtersand]

Talked to Speedhut today about the dimmer for the LED lights and they recommended this dimmer (part number EPL1012-L-P). Install according to the simplified hookup, pictured below. Ordered one today.

[460.465USMC]

Great progress! (I'm a member of the turtle build club...slooooow!). Thanks for sharing tips and lessons learned. Since you're just a bit ahead of me it's very relevant. Nice work!

[richtersand]

Great progress! (I'm a member of the turtle build club...slooooow!). Thanks for sharing tips and lessons learned. Since you're just a bit ahead of me it's very relevant. Nice work!

Thanks Chris, glad we are in this together!!

[richtersand]

I initially built an angle bracket for the aeromotive fuel regulator, but in studying EdwardB's 20th anniversary build I realized that you can actually make a straight bracket with no angle that mounts directly below the 2" x 2" crossbar. This hides the ugly mount. I am much happier with how it turned out. Original angle bracket is on the left, new one is on the right. I got smarter making the second bracket and used vice grips to lock to the two together and use the original pattern as the drilling guide. You can see how much straighter the second version is. The bracket is off to powder coat now with some other odds and ends.






My son LOVEs the angle grinder so I invite him out any time I need to cut/grind some metal.






With the bracket formed, I completed the fuel line routing to the regulator. This is my first time using aluminum AN fittings and PTFE hose ends, so I have to admit that I am nervous about the seals. I purchased this Fragola test kit from Amazon to ensure things are sealed before pumping gas through the system.

[460.465USMC]

I initially built an angle bracket for the aeromotive fuel regulator, but in studying EdwardB's 20th anniversary build I realized that you can actually make a straight bracket with no angle that mounts directly below the 2" x 2" crossbar.

Great tip! I will be tackling the fuel lines and mounting the Aeromotive pressure regulator in the near future. Duly noted!

My son LOVEs the angle grinder so I invite him out any time I need to cut/grind some metal.

The true genius behind your build has been revealed! What a great helper on your project!!

[Blitzboy54]

Oh man, that kid is adorable. The first time I started getting serious about a Cobra was 16 years ago. Got very close then my wife got pregnant with our now 15 year old so it got shelved. Good for you being able to pull it off.

[richtersand]

Oh man, that kid is adorable. The first time I started getting serious about a Cobra was 16 years ago. Got very close then my wife got pregnant with our now 15 year old so it got shelved. Good for you being able to pull it off.

Ha, thanks Blitz. Making it work, mostly by getting to work after the kiddos go to bed. Hence the 12:30am posts

[richtersand]

Still making progress. I heard from Forte that my transmission is in, but still waiting on the bellhousing. Hopefully he can track something down soon.

A few updates to the build plan. After following a discussion on another thread, and seeing the unfinished look of my ignition switch, I ordered some sweet bezels/switches from CJ. I'm pretty excited about this as I'm now finished on the dash look/feel.







Following the advice of Jeff Miller and CDXXVII, I am not going to finish my dash with leather until final body fitment is complete. Still debating between screws in the front, which is era appropriate, and angle brackets in the back. We'll see. So I'm going to powder coat the dash black and drive with it unfinished for now. Also tentatively planning to drive it in gel coat for a few hundred miles to make sure all the wrinkles are ironed out. Set the gauges up for a little inspiration.






Got overzealous with the powder coating and didn't realize the tight tolerances on the steering shafts. So I had to hit the "undo" button with some emery cloth to get it back in spec. It now slides nicely into the aluminum hub. I am surprised the two flats on the steering shaft are the only fixture keeping the steering wheel from spinning on the shaft. But then again, I can only imagine how much force it would take to spin that....






Made the patterns for the inside rear trunk panels out of 25 thou aluminum sheets from Home Depot. Pretty easy job, particularly after I discovered how easy a jigsaw makes cutting this aluminum. Definitely wish I knew how easy the jigsaw makes it when I was cutting the rear trunk.






Electrical is all laid out and, with the input from some members on the wiring I'm ready to start finalizing everything.

[460.465USMC]

Great progress, Matt! Looking good!

I'm seriously considering powder coating my dash as well (permanent finish...no leather). Probably match the body color (TBD). I think the metal is a great nod to these cars heritage, and cars from the 60s in general. I look forward to hearing what you think after you get yours PCd. (The nice bonus to PC option is I won't need to try my hand at auto upholstery).

[JB in NOVA]

Really nice work! You're going to have a great car.