Shakey's Daytona Build

[Namrups]

I mounted my throttle return spring bracket on the same bolt that holds the coil in place. This gives a straight line to the throttle linkage on the Sniper.

[Mick40]

That shut off is just plain cleaver. Nice build!

[Shakey]

First of all, there is a lot to catch up on. I feel like I have made a lot of progress in the last two months. One big help is the huge number of boxes and parts that FFR has been shipping out recently. I got 3 or 4 big shipments from them in like a two-week span and currently only have one part missing on my POL list.

While I was still waiting for those part deliveries I decided to tackle my fire bottle install. May have gone a little overkill here but I have always liked the idea of a in cockpit fire pull handle. I am not planning to race in any series that requires it, but I went that way anyway. I decided to go with the Safecraft Model LT 5LB bottle. I also went with the stainless lines and that turned out to be a bit of a challenge. I found stainless to be very difficult to work with and went though two 37 degree flaring tools in the process.





Mounted the bottle right behind the passenger seat. I was able to get 3 bolts into a frame tube and the other were just rivnuts into the aluminum. It move a little but I think it will be solid enough.





Here you can see the -6 AN bulkhead fitting for the agent line and the cable gland for the pull cable pass though. I like that I was able to run hard line from the bottle thought the trunk floor.



Mounting the pull handle was a bit tough too as I was trying to minimize the radius of the cable bends and not hit any frame tubes when picking a dash location.





I mounted 2 Fire nozzles in the cockpit and one in the engine bay.

More to follow shortly.

V/R

Shakey

[F500guy]

Nice idea, I know it is to late for you but this kind of plumbing would have been a great place for swage-loc type fittings, no need to flare and easy to install.

[Shakey]

F500guy,

That's a great idea. I didn't know a fitting like that existed. I will definitely keep them in mind for the future.

Thanks,

Shakey

[Shakey]

Well, I finally got my front spindles in the mail from FFR. Not that I was counting but, it was almost 7 months to the day from when my kit was delivered to when I got the front spindles in the mail. After getting theses bolted up, I was able to get the front brakes and wheels on too. I did have a little trouble getting the upper nut on the spindle to torque down but, some forum member suggested giving it a bit of a tap to get the tapered ball joint to seat in the spindle and after I did that, the nut went on just fine without the ball joint spinning.





Front brakes mounted. 14'' fronts that I ordered from Gordon. Still surprised at how wide the rotor is. Took some work with a carbide bit and Dremel tool to get the upper caliper mounting bolt to fit.



Front brakes with front wheels mounted, wheels are 18X10 and have plenty of clearance.





All four wheels mounted!

More to come soon!

V/R

Shakey

[Shakey]

I think I have the final layout for the dash put together. The only things I need to add are a few switches for Hazards and High beams as well as a glove box. I found that I don't have many switches in the car at all. I am using the digital guard dawg so that eliminates a few switches. There is definitely room to add more switches in the future if I find that I need them.'









This last photo is a closeup of the center of the dash and you can see that I added an analog clock to the dash. I always thought that cars with an analog clock were classy. It is the same autometer Platinum gauge series that FFR provides with the base kit so it matches. You can also see the two round guarded push button switches on either side of the A/C panel. Those will be for the door poppers. I am planning to have the DGD remote open the doors from the outside but wanted an easy way for the driver or passenger to be able to open the doors from inside the vehicle. I will have normal door handles installed as well.

I was pretty set on covering the dash in a black micro-suede which is the same material that my Corbeau seats are covered in. Lately, my wife has been trying to talk me into covering it with black leather. Not sure which way I will go yet. I still have some time to decide.

Lastly, I got an e-mail from my engine builder today and my engine is schedule to be built the week of May 1st. I guess there is a huge production issue at Comp cams so they are having to source the cam from another vender and that process added another couple months.

Thanks for reading.

V/R

Shakey

[Shakey]

Its been just over a month since my last build update. There has been a lot going on with the build and I have definitely gotten behind on my posts. I am hoping to have time soon to get caught up. The big news for this post is that I finally got my last POL part delivered on April 25th. It was the upper steering shaft pillow block bearing. As a reference for those waiting on parts, it was just over 8 months from kit delivery until my last part was delivered.

During FFR's mad rush of getting parts out the door over the last few months, I also got my hydraulic clutch kit which came with the final reservoir that I needed. So, I got started on how I was going to mount them. I took clues from a lot of builds on this forum but mainly from Namrumps. I think you will see in my pictures that my solution looks a lot like his. I had always wondered why people run 3 separate reservoirs and the only answer I could seem to come up with was the following. They want to keep their front and rear brakes on separate systems so they don't have a total failure and if they are going to run a high temp brake fluid it might not compatible with their hydraulic clutch throw out bearing. This was the case for me.

So here is what I got...











The front of the car is slanted down slightly. I decided to take advantage of this and "stair step" overlap each individual reservoir. By doing this I kept the reservoirs level with the ground and made their overall footprint smaller.

I got the bracket I made powder coated and should be ready for final assembly in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for reading.


-Shakey

[Namrups]

I noticed you mounted your main electrical shutoff close to those. Keep in mind that the splash guards that get mounted to the hood are also in that general location. Hope they don't interfere with each other.

[Shakey]

Thanks Namrups,

I'm hoping I'll be OK with the cut-off switch. It is aft if the splash panel by a few inches. It should be just above the exhaust. Thanks for the idea on the brake reservoir mount!

Shakey

[Shakey]

Well I finally got the tires mounted. I waited until I got all my suspension parts from FFR before ordering the tires. I finally got my front spindles in the mail and mounted so, I went ahead and ordered the tires. I wanted to wait as long as I thought reasonable just so they would not sit and age while I was building the car. So, here is what I ordered. Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3. Fronts 275/40R18, Rears 325/30R19. I read a bunch of reviews on them and the big thing was that they came in the sizes I wanted. I decided on a staggered size front and rear and I know the fronts are about an inch bigger than what FFR recommends. With all the tires mounted on the frame there is no rubbing, to be determined if they rub on the body or not. I always thought the front wheels in the FFR recommended size looked a little small compared to the wheel arch. Anyways, here is what they look like mounted.

Had to grab a pic of the wheels in the sunlight.









And finally, the pic I am happiest about.... The car is on the ground for the first time! Finally feels like its becoming a real automobile. I have ridden in a type 65 before but I forgot how low they were. In the pic below it is sitting at about 5 inches ride height. I figured it would settle a bit when the engine and trans are in.



Thanks for reading. More to come soon. I am currently on a trip out of town where I can't work on the car. Plus side is that there is plenty of time for more forum posts.

V/r

Shakey

[Namrups]

Love those wheels!

[John Dol]

Keep in mind this is not critisism merely a suggestion if its even possible.
With the reservoirs could you mount the first one on the bar thats supporting the front foot well aluminum and then have the other two on the bar that you have all three of them currently? If so the bar thickness may also afford you to lower the resrvoirs to line up at the top. If this is possible it would look cleaner in the engine bay without the angle iron and nuts sticking up.

HTH

John

PS wheels look killer!

[Shakey]

John,

That's a good idea. I played around with that a little bit but I would have to use through bolts instead of rivnuts and I am not sure if I can drill the holes straight enough to get them to line up perfectly. I had a lot of trouble getting my through bolts to line up when I mounted my battery cut-off switch. I also already drill and mounted the rivnuts for the angle iron. In the future if I feel the need to clean up the engine bay I might go with this route.


Shakey

[Shakey]

Before I install my engine, I wanted to do the firewall coating for the engine bay. While I was doing that, I decided to coat the underside of most of the cockpit aluminum and the underside of the car. For the engine bay I decided to use the second skin firewall product and I used U-Pol Raptor liner for the underside of the car and panels.

Below is what the firewall came out looking like. The product itself is very thick and if you are going to spray it on they recommend you use their spray gun that they sell. I ended up rolling it on and using a brush for the tight corners. I think the texture came out well. I did 4 thin coats over a two day period. I will say that it was a bit tricky getting this product to go onto my test piece. To get it to stick and not crack and flake off I ended up lightly sanding the panels, they cleaning them with brake clean and priming them with rustoleum flat black enamel. The firewall then stuck to that just fine. I also had to make sure the ambient temps were alright. It calls for 50 degrees F or warmer for at least 24hrs after you apply the product. This was tough to get in Washington without a heated space, even in the spring. After the firewall dried for a week, I sprayed it with flat black engine enamel for the final color you see below. The firewall product dries to a dark grey.



Here is a close up of the unpainted firewall finish that was rolled on.



I ended up spraying on the Raptor liner with their gun. I have used this product before and it sprays on well. I also used flat black enamel to primer these panels. I will mention that I got a self etching primer to use on the panels but it ended up flaking and cracking. The flat enamel seems to go on and look the best.








That's all for now.

Shakey

[Shakey]

After the long wait, my engine has finally arrived. I have the transmission and all required parts to get the powertrain installed. So its full speed ahead on getting motor in.

When the motor arrived I used the same cart that I did for the kit arrival and it worked like a champ. I pulled the cart up to the hydraulic lift gate of the delivery truck and the driver agreed to use his pallet jack and roll it right on the cart. Then I strapped it down and used the old lawn mower to tow it down to the garage. The cart is low enough that I was able to use my engine hoist to get the motor off the cart and onto the ground.

The engine turned out exactly like I wanted with the exception of one thing. They sent the engine to me with a multi-port fuel injection intake manifold installed and I am using throttle body injection. One quick email to them and they had the correct one overnighted and I already have it installed. I also got started on indexing the bell housing and have my required offset dowel pins on order. Here is a recap of some of the stats for the engine.

Dart SHP 8.2 deck block, 363cu. in.

11:1 compression

Bullet racing cams Hyd Roller: Dur 244/248 .600 gross lift

AFR 205 Heads

Billet Specialties Tru Trac

And here it is...







And the next pick is so that I can say this Ford actually does have some blue on it.



I also got the T-56 all prepped. I just cleaned it up and put of couple of coats of Duplicolor engine clear on it.



I have a couple more things to tidy up in the trans tunnel and then I'll get the motor in once it is mated to the trans.

-Shakey

[JimStone]

That's one beautiful engine!

[John Dol]

Could’ve told us to put on sun glasses before we got to the pulley pics
Did they dyno it for you?

[Shakey]

Thanks guys. I got a pretty good chuckle from that last comment.

No dyno numbers. I plan to go to the chassis dyno when I have the car together. I am guessing about 530hp based on internet research. Ford claims 500hp out of theirs and I have a bit more compression, slightly bigger cam and heads.

Shakey

[q4stix]

I'm late the the party, but the build is looking great!
The engine is really going to pop against the firewall and I'm a fan of the wheel color choice too

[Shakey]

Hey thanks q4stix,

I have not made a post to this thread in a while and I am way overdue for an update. There is more info on the build on this other thread. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...-a-Gen-3-coupe. I am getting really close to the first start so, I have been spending every free moment working on the car and have neglected my build thread.

The overall look for the car is inspired by the 1966 lemans winning GT40 which is why I chose the bronze wheels.

V/R

Shakey

[rhk118]

Shakey, How do the A4 seats fit relative to the seatbelt tabs? I assume they sit in front of the tabs but how far back can you recline the seat? Will it go to the back of the roll cage? I have a set of the Corbeau Evolution X fixed back and I need the seat back farther back to have a comfortable distance to the steering wheel (I.e. not directly in my lap). I can wedge my seats back on an angle and they are OK, but a recliner if it fits might work great.

Engine looks , and your work on getting the transmission mounted was very thoughtful and will be of help to me.

[Shakey]

Hank,

It's tight with the A4 seats in there. I have not mounted them yet. I needed to cut off part of the metal bracket on the seat to get them to slide between the seatbelt mounts. I have bolted the belts in and with the bolt head in there the seat no longer fits between the mounts. I will be using the low profile seat slider which will raise the seat a bit and I am hoping that will allow the seat to slide all the way back. Right now the part if the seat that prevents it from going back further is where the seat back contacts the frame near where the door striker is. That's one reason I am using the sliders is so that I can play around with the seat recline and find the most comfortable position. When I get them fully installed, I'll post more details.

Shakey

[Shakey]

After I got the drivetrain fully installed, I started pushing hard to get all the odds and ends cleaned up prior to the first start. The majority of the work was wiring. I got all the gauges wired up as well as the fuel system, Fan, Coil, ignition box, T56 reverse lockout, distributor, and the last bit of wiring cleanup from the terminator X. Looking back now it was quite a bit of wiring but pretty straight forward. I had to make a couple calls to Holley tech support, but they were super helpful.

I got the distributor installed and made my first set of spark plug wires from scratch. I basically bought bulk hyperspark wires in black and the terminals and went at it. It was fairly simple. I also phased the distributor per the instructions for the Holley dual sync distributor.

Before the first start, I had to get the power steering plumbed. The instructions said to not run the pump dry so this was a must. I got the universal hose kit (77900) from billet specialties as well as their remote power steering reservoir (77910). Not cheap parts but they were nice and came with almost everything I needed. With the tru-trac system and a Ford Power steering rack you also need to run the Billet Specialties flow control valve (RP1300). This basically reduces pump flow to 2gpm for the Ford rack. I am glad I called Billet Specialties tech support because I had no idea that I needed to run a flow control valve. I will mention here that I initially installed power steering lines incorrectly. I had the high pressure line going to the 5/8in port per Unisteers website and this was incorrect. In my case the high pressure line went to the 9/16in port towards the front of the car. Here is a pic of the power steering reservoir location and connection to the pump.



Getting the radiator hoses plumbed was also pretty straight forward. I did have one pop off after the first start. It was the lower one that connects to the water pump inlet. I basically had to use a rigid coupler to get the connection solid because connecting the FFR provided coupler to the FFR provided lower flexible hose did not hold up well. The FFR provided coupler needed something to grab on to. I also got the overflow tank mounted next to the power steering reservoir and routed the overflow hose down below the car.

I also got the Forte mechanical throttle linkage installed. It needs a little adjustment to get it right, but I set it up to be as progressive as I could. Here is a pic of it installed.



Here are some pics of the engine bay in its mostly complete state. I still need to do the A/C system.





Ford Strokers starting procedure is pretty simple. He basically says to run a conventional oil and prime the engine really well and then go for it. Per his procedure, I primed the oil pump in the motor and turned the crank 90 degrees and primed again then did another 90 degrees. Basically do this until you are all the way around. I then turned on the terminator X and did all the initial setup. The fuel pump and all the gauges were working 4.0. I then did a static timing check with the fuel pump fuse removed and timing looked good and I was getting oil pressure at the gauge by turning the motor with the starter. I put the fuel pump fuse back in and went for the start. After some cranking I gave it some gas and it wanted to start but I let off of the starter and on the second attempt it started right up. It took some gas to get the motor started and to keep it running. The EFI definitely needs to do some learning. It sounds great and it is LOUD!!! It has a nice choppy idle and I love the old school V8 sound. Here are some videos of the first start.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Ffyl-pfn7U8

https://youtube.com/shorts/X18l4i_xsw8

Next post will be the first Go-kart drive.

Shakey

[jgray]

Awesome! Congrats! What a great sound. I’m realizing I need to look at the forum more - our builds are quite similar. I really like everything you are doing. I have a fire suppression system that has had me somewhat flummoxed for the last couple of weeks and your photos help. I very much lime the way you have done your dash. I’m working on mine right now and realized, after seeing your photos, I had forgotten about the wipers. Love your wheel color - I have halibrands but intend to paint them gold/gunmetal. Your videos are motivating to me!!

[DesertSn8ke]

Glad I read your comment about the BS Flow control valve. My 363 and TKX are supposed to arrive tomorrow. Mine also has a TruTrac front dress. Still waiting on my wheels, they should arrive in the next month or so. Hopefully sooner than later.

[Shakey]

Got the first go-kart completed! The car was basically ready to go after the first start but was delayed a bit due to having to swap the power steering lines and tuning the Terminator X EFI. I spent a little extra time doing static timing checks to get the timing right. I basically left it 3 degrees retarded from what Holly has programmed in the ECU. 36 degrees total timing seemed like a bit much to me. I will eventually take the car to the dyno and have a professional tune it up much better than I could. I also spent some time messing with the Idle settings in the handheld and the screw on the throttle body. It seems to be happiest set at about 900 RPM idle.

The couple drives I went on were awesome. The car drives great and is very tight and smooth. The clutch is not heavy but firm and very smooth. Having an engine like that in such a lightweight car you basically don’t need any gas to get it moving just ease off the clutch and it gets going. I did notice the suspension sag about a half inch in the couple drives I went on.

Below are a couple videos of the drives and some walk arounds/engine sounds from the driver’s seat.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZbeVgi5ztgk

https://youtube.com/shorts/FntL1ALsOjw

https://youtu.be/60s3aYEYH4A

https://youtu.be/PvhlSkQPAnU

https://youtu.be/UgUdCH6X0tA

[burchfieldb]

Looking great, sounds awesome!

[jamminj]

I love how great that engine sounds!
the chop is phenomenal.

[rhk118]

Sounds amazing!

[Shakey]

Thanks for all the comments. I was really pleased with how it sounds. There have been some other threads recently talking about Cam specs so I thought that I would post mine below.



Since the first go-kart, I have been messing around with some idle tuning and gone for a few more drives. I also replaced the distilled water that was in the cooling system with some actual coolant so I will be good to go for this winter.

I got the driveshaft safety loop installed. I used the summit racing universal hoop that it seems everyone uses. I did make some brackets to help mount it. With some rivnuts I was able to get it installed. Just a coat of paint for now but might get it powered coated in the future.

[Shakey]

After that, I got going on the A/C hoses. I used the recommended master cool crimping tool. In some of my pics below you can see a silver line where I marked the hose before crimping and how it elongates about 1/8 inch per side. I was able to get all the hoses installed and hooked up a vacuum pump and it held a vacuum overnight, so I figure the a/c is good to go until I get it charged. For those using the Tru Trac system from Billet Specialties, it was a bit tricky getting the hoses hooked up to the rigid manifold that comes on the compressor. I had to use one #6 90 degree fitting with the high pressure port and one #10 135 degree fitting for the low pressure port. All these fittings came with the FFR a/c kit but were not mentioned in the manual. This was the best way I could figure out to get them connected without any major interference between the hoses or frame.













Next up, A/C wiring and trans tunnel panels.

Shakey

[Shakey]

I am out of town for work and because I can’t work on the car that means its time for a build update. I am planning to do a number of posts over the next week or so and I thought that I would start with the seat install.

Overall, I’ll say that the seats fit but it’s pretty tight and there are some modifications that I did to the seats and the seat tracks. I guess I’ll start by going through the modifications that I did. First, I turned the bolts around that mount the tracks to the mounting plate. I also had to trim the length of the bolts a bit so that the tracks still function. This way I was able to drill holes in the car floor and allow the bolts to recess in there and this lowers the seats about ½ inch and puts the mounting plate flush against the floor. I also used the weld nuts that Edwardb used and inserted the mounting bolts from under the floor. I used a death wheel to cut slits in the handle on the seat track and then bent up the handle and welded the slits together so that the handle sits up off the floor. I also had to cut back the metal bracket that holds the reclining lever so that it would fit around the seatbelt mounting points.



Here are the holes in the floor that the seat tracks sit flush.



You can see the bolts I modified in the bottom of the above picture. You can also see how this allows the seat track to sit flush against the car floor.

[Shakey]

These two pictures show how I modified the bracket where the recline lever is.

[Shakey]

I also did the trans tunnel in black suede before I put the seats in for the final time.

[JimStone]

I've been looking at those seats. Any thoughts on them thus far? Comfortable?

I'm 6'2" - do you think they'd be good for someone my height?

[Shakey]

I've been looking at those seats. Any thoughts on them thus far? Comfortable?

I'm 6'2" - do you think they'd be good for someone my height?

Yes, I find them comfortable. The seat bolstering is prominent and they definitely hold you in place. I am 6ft 4in about 210lbs and I fit just fine. It does feel a bit like you are wearing the car not sitting in it. For big and tall folks you definitely would get more room if you used aluminum race seats bolted directly to the floor. I really like the look of them and so far they are pretty comfortable.

Shakey

[Shakey]

The reverse lockout module that I used is from Modern Driveline. It is a very small piece and fairly inexpensive. I did have one failure of it early and it was replaced very easily by Modern Driveline as it was under warranty. The second one is still working 4.0. Pictured below.



The wiper motor I used is they same one that most seem to be using lately. The specialty power windows WWK-2 kit. I installed it by drilling a hole with a hole saw through the firewall panel and I put the motor body on the inside behind the dash and the output part of the motor is inside the engine compartment. Have not hooked up the wipers yet but it is all wired. I will say, it looks like there are going to be some interference issues with the wiper arms and the mechanical throttle linkage. More on that when I get it installed.

Pic below is top down looking a the wiper motor passing through the firewall.


Here is a pic of what you see of the wiper motor looking from the front of the car.


Here are a few pics of the gauge lights that I got wired.

[Shakey]

I got a few go cart drives in the books and was kind of looking for stuff to do on the car and came to the conclusion that it was time to put the body on. I am planning to just drive the car for a summer in gel coat and then get it painted professionally next winter. First up for the body was prepping the underside for raptor liner. I lightly sanded everything and then added some high strength fiberglass filler to the areas on the body that looked “thin” or not even. I mixed up the filler based on recommendations from my local fiberglass supply store. https://fiberglasssupply.com/ I am lucky to have these guys in town and they recommended an epoxy, 1/8in fiberglass strand, and cab-o-sil. If anyone needs details on the mix let me know and I’ll post them. It was cheap, easy and works great from what I can tell under limited use.

Once the body was on the ground, I added some bracing in the form of gorilla tape and a 2x4 to keep the body stable while turning over and while on its roof.





Here is a close up of where I marked and added fiberglass filler.



Then, I masked for overspray and layed down the raptor liner.

[Shakey]

Next, I got the wife and some friends to help flip the body over again and got it on the frame. I had no issues getting the body on with rear hatch side panels installed. During install, I felt like the body had a natural place it wanted to sit. This did not necessarily line up with what the book called for and I think it went well. The rear hatch is centered, and the rear wheels are centered in the wheel well so I am happy.







Here are some pictures with the hood on too. More on that in another post. Hood still needs raptor liner.

In the picture below the rear ride height is set at about 5 and 1/2inches so the wheels will get a litter tighter to the opening at final ride height.





Special thanks to my wife for the below glamour shot.



Check out some driving videos on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ShakeysDaytona