Gen 3 Coupe Budget LS Build

[smdryke1]

Hi all, first post. I have been wanting to build a hot rod for many years, and about 6 months ago, I ordered a gen 3 coupe kit.

A couple years ago, I bought a 1971 Nova to restore. Unfortunately, the previous paint job was hiding a pretty extreme amount of rust. The car nearly disintegrated while tearing it down. I had planned to have it media blasted, but there wouldn't have been much left. You would have had to sweep the car off the floor. I sold it off for next to nothing for parts. I felt pretty dumb for buying it, but I have since realized that my experience with really extreme muscle car rust was not that unique. Doctors call it EMCR

I've made several other attempts to acquire some kind of desirable project car, but I came to the conclusion after years of shopping that rust and rich baby boomers had pretty much taken all of the classic muscle cars out of reach, and I just don't have any passionate feelings about mediocre cars from the 80's and 90's. Not enough to put hundreds of hours of sweat equity into at least. Not to mention the fact that $15k worth of upgrades and an LS swap turn a $5k fox body mustang into a $7.5k fox body mustang. Restoring muscle cars can even be profitable, but upgrading newer cars is like throwing money into a black hole. So after years of trying to find a project car, I ended up ordered a gen 3 coupe kit. They seem to sell for high prices when finished, although typically they have coyotes and/or windsor based 427's, 2015+ IRS, Air conditioning, and really nice paint. This one isn't going to be that nice, but I will do my best.

I don't know if the gen 3 coupe is really right for me. From what I have seen in videos and read, I expect it to be ridiculously loud, hot, uncomfortable, harsh riding, and somewhat miserable to drive casually. But, it has the performance characteristics, the styling, and the enjoyment of building that I wanted, so whatever. I don't really have to drive it. it can just sit in the garage when I'm done.

I am expecting a kit to arrive next week. Pretty basic complete kit with almost no options, 3 link, LS mounts and headers, 17x9 & 17x10.5 wheels, power steering, hydraulic clutch, I think that is it. Oh and vinyl roadster seats, they were free and looked like the least horrible to sit in option. they are probably the worst.
I get everything wrong on multiple choice always.

I am really stretching my budget and I was going to paint the frame with rustoleum, but factory five accidentally powdercoated it for free anyways. Ha! They probably would prefer it if I kept that a secret. Wouldn't want more customers not checking the box and crossing their fingers hoping for a free chassis powdercoat. But whatever, it happened. I didn't sign an NDA.

[smdryke1]

For powertrain:
Junkyard L96 from a very very badly wrecked 2012 3500hd. The truck looked like it had a high speed collision at the top of a mountain and rolled all the way down. The steel part of the engine mounts that are bolted to the block were crushed. I bought it off ebay as it was the cheapest L96 I could find. I think I paid $1,300 or so with free shipping. It supposedly has 250k miles, so it is well broken in.
I installed a Summit 8711 cam with dual valve springs. I did not do anything else to the engine. I did not even remove the cylinder heads. Not even hardened pushrods or trunion upgrades. The cam is 234/247 @ 50 .625/.605 lift. It is the biggest cam that will fit with the available PTV clearance. I haven't seen this exact combo dynoed before, but I would hope that maybe, even with some wear and tear on the engine maybe it will make 520-530 flywheel and rev to 7,000. but that is pretty optimistic for a junkyard engine. It will probably blow up.

For an ECU, I have a holley terminator x. I am reusing my old L96 truck injectors in an LS3 manifold for hood clearance (truck intake is too tall) with aftermarket fuel rails and spacers to adapt the rail height for truck injectors. Unfortunately, because the rail hold down bolts are vertical and the injector ports are at an angle, and the adapters space the rail up vertically, the geometry of this isn't working that well. The injectors are pointed at a weird angle in the intake ports. It took a lot of TLC to assemble. I don't know if the fuel spray will be obstructed, or if it will hit an inside surface of the LS3 manifold and condense into droplets, or if the orings will leak due to the injector angle. But Im going to try to run it anyways.

I have a TKX transmission with a holley lakewood bellhousing, an ACT lightweight flywheel and ACT sport(or something, can't remember) clutch. The transmission and clutch is the one area where I splurged, but only because there is basically no other way to do this. I could have gone a little cheaper on the flywheel, but all the cheaper ones are ridiculously heavy, and the big cam, relatively low compression LS (gm says luxury sport, really its Lazy Slob) is already going to be lazy and slow revving, so I felt like the flywheel was a necessity. I wanted a hydraulic throwout bearing, but a lot of the big name ones are ridiculously expensive. I found a universal one from HOWE for I think $99, and everything seems to be fitting together now. It has a perfect gap between it and the fingers with no shims. I have put everything together except the friction disk. I wasn't ready to hit the flywheel with brake cleaner and let it start rusting at least until my kit gets here. I did not do the crankshaft-to-input-shaft dial gauge concentricity measurements that has become the cool new thing to do, but the block has never been align honed, ls engine blocks are a lot more precise than old school cast iron blocks, and I trust the lakewood bellhousing and tkx enough that im going to trust everything is concentric. Everything plunked together effortlessly with a new pilot bearing, so I think it will work just fine.

For the rear end, I got an 8.8 out of a 2001 mustang with 3.27 gears and limited slip, 5 lug axles, and disc brakes. I bought it out of a guys front yard for $300. It seems fine. I took the cover off, inspected the gears, sealed it back up, filled it with synthetic valvoline, cleaned it up and painted it and put new rotors and pads on and reman Napa calipers. One of the reman Napa calipers needs new slider pins, a little dissappointed they didn't change those, but overall, I think the rear end is ready to go in. This would have been more difficult with the cobra, but from what I have read, the wider 99-04 rear will work in the coupe. or at least I am making that guess based on the fact that everybody else spends thousands to get a narrow rear only to have to put wheel spacers on. so fingers crossed.

For tires, I ordered 315/35/17 and 275/40/17 Toyo Extensa HP 2 tires. I know there are waayyy better performance options, but these seem like decent quality and they were also the cheapest option, so... I also didn't want to have expensive soft compound racing tires slowly deteriorating while I roll the car around in the garage with grease and antifreeze on the floor for a year while I fumble around with little cheap chinese parts trying to put together a death trap car kit. Also, I ordered from americanmuscle.com and they were out of stock, so no idea when, or if I will actually get these tires. But I want to have them on there to check clearance. It seems like everybody has problems with the rear tires rubbing the frame.

I am setting it up with an LS1 accessory drive setup. I bought a power steering hose and pressure reducer kit, but I don't know yet if that will work. I'm not sure if the hoses will be long enough. I don't have the kit yet.

I had to replace the truck oil pan with a chinese knock off of a Holley 302-1 pan for clearance. The one I got off amazon is pretty junky and the pickup tube was bent. I don't know if it will work or not. I don't know if the junkyard engine will even make oil pressure, so who knows.

I am going to try driveshaft I think #16349 or something. I asked FFR and they didn't know which length for an ls/tkx/3link/gen3cp,so that was my guess. FFR said to measure, and then tell them, but I ignored them and took a gamble on 16349 on the option sheet. Hopefully they will forgive me if it is wrong and let me exchange it. Again, I always get multiple choice questions wrong, so it very likely won't fit.

So, mainly I started this to ask questions, and maybe if somebody else wants to do a similar junkyard budget build, well ok, don't use this as a guide because it is probably all wrong, but maybe some useful piece of information will come from this. It's not really that low budget, sort of, but also, really, if you look at other options, its kinda super budget. I'm hoping to have a running driving thingamabob for about 38k ish. What can you buy for that? a million times better fox body mustang that is already finished, that's what. Or a safe, reliable, brand new car from a reputable manufacturer that conforms to legal road standards... What am I doing? I'm a moron. Maybe I came to the right place.

So question 1 First, I know my Howe throwout bearing is a -4AN fitting. Does anybody know what is the FFR included master cylinder fitting? I don't have my kit yet, but wanted to go ahead and order a line (pretty sure somebody said it is not included) I want to skip around in the build manual and throw my powertrain in the chassis as step 1, mostly to free up shop floor real estate in my home garage, but I want to bleed the throwout bearing as I combine the engine/trans, and I don't want to try to access the bleeder screw through the bellhousing.
Question 2 I have seen the 3 link setup in pictures, but just to verify, can I cut off the top 2 shock brackets off my rear axle? I'm pretty sure I can, just wanted to ask before I do it.
Question 3 Rear disk brake rock guards ( i guess that is what you call them). Do people run these or not? Does it impede cooling air flow? It seems like most people are not using these on FFR cars, but I'm not sure. Just thought I would ask.

[edwardb]

Welcome! And congrats on the Gen 3 Coupe purchase and upcoming build. We love our Gen 3 Coupe. Has been on the road two seasons now. A lot to absorb in your posts. Just a couple comments: "...loud, hot, uncomfortable, harsh riding, and somewhat miserable to drive casually." I guess it's fair to think that if you haven't driven or ridden in one. My observation after nearly 4,000 miles: Loud, yes. Plan on ear plugs. Hot? Yes, without A/C. With windows and A/C, no. Harsh riding? Compared to your father's Oldsmobile, I guess so. It is basically a race suspension. But I think you'll find it's surprisingly compliant and rides quite nicely. Everyone I take for a ride is surprised how well it rides. Miserable to drive? Not at all. Again, I think you'll be surprised. Extremely nice driving and handling when set up properly. We've done several hundred mile cruises in our with no effort at all.

Regarding some of your specific questions: The Wilwood M/C's have a 1/8" NPT inlet. A Wilwood 220-9075 adapter will give you a -4AN connection. Strongly recommend you reconsider checking your bellhousing alignment. Not only is it good practice, if you check your Tremec warranty you'll probably find words to the effect that it's required to obtain warranty coverage. Don't know if that would hold up in court, but wouldn't want to try to challenge it. Regarding putting in your drivetrain first thing, you probably need to reconsider that as well. At the very least, you need to hang all the aluminum panels first. No way you'd be able to get the engine compartment ones in with the engine/trans in place. Personally I'd also minimally run the brake lines before dropping the engine in. But that's more convenience than mandatory. You shouldn't have trouble with the 315 tires rubbing the frame if using wheels with the proper offset. Guys who put 335's on the Coupe are the ones having trouble.

That's enough. Good luck and have fun! BTW, I totally identify with your efforts to restore rustbuckets. That was my first experience as well. Never again.

[smdryke1]

Thanks for the info! looks like I will need to reconsider installing the powertrain first.

As far as engine to transmission concentricity, I think it is just another thing the internet has gotten paranoid about. I'm relatively confident in how accurately gm machined the engine block and relatively confident in the bellhousing. Even with a dial indicator, there are a lot of sources of measurement error with that procedure, and a lot that isn't really verified. But in case I'm wrong, don't rat me out to tremec. i definitely checked it with a dial indicator.

[smdryke1]

With my ever shrinking budget, I went battery shopping and bought a 26R battery. It is supposed to be a group 58 I think, but those were $150 or so and I bought a 540 CCA 26R battery for $54 from walmart. I think I can make it fit.

Does anybody have any experience with Autopainthq? They seem to sell a lot of paint on ebay. I am looking at their basecoat/clearcoat Sunrise Metallic Cerulean Blue paint, but you can only tell so much from a few pixels on a computer screen. Who is everybody buying paint from? TCP, summit, eastwood, etc?

My plan for air intake is just a tapered k&n filter stuck directly in front of the throttle body. I have already threaded the IAT into the end of it. What are people's experiences with IAT in the engine compartment? Do I need to add an elbow and get the air filter closer to the ground? Do I need to cut a hole in the hood to take advantage of the high pressure area at the bottom of the windshield to ventilate the engine compartment? I don't really plan on driving in the rain much anyways.

[edwardb]

Do I need to cut a hole in the hood to take advantage of the high pressure area at the bottom of the windshield to ventilate the engine compartment...

No reason to cut a hole in the hood. Hundreds of these running around (including mine) with the hood as is and no issues. The Daytona design with the radiator tunnel not only works well for cooling it keeps a lot of hot air out of the engine compartment. That plus what goes out the side vents and bottom keeps things just fine.

[smdryke1]

I'm not saying I disagree. What you are saying is pretty much in line with what I have been thinking and planning on doing. But I was just considering alternatives before painting. I remember watching some old interview with somebody, wasn't Peter Brock, and he was talking about how the original cars were almost forced induction because they directed the high pressure air in front of the windshield to the engine air intake. Do you happen to know what your IAT's are during different driving conditions? ie stuck in traffic in July, freeway driving, etc.

[edwardb]

I'm not saying I disagree. What you are saying is pretty much in line with what I have been thinking and planning on doing. But I was just considering alternatives before painting. I remember watching some old interview with somebody, wasn't Peter Brock, and he was talking about how the original cars were almost forced induction because they directed the high pressure air in front of the windshield to the engine air intake. Do you happen to know what your IAT's are during different driving conditions? ie stuck in traffic in July, freeway driving, etc.

I've looked at the IAT in the Coyotes in the Roadster and Coupe I've built with them. Since the stock airbox isn't used and intake air is coming from the engine compartment, no surprise it's elevated over ambient. Not ideal and giving away a little efficiency and a little HP. But it's not something I've studied or looked at in multiple conditions. For my 99.9% street driving, especially the Coupe with the Gen 3, I'm not using anywhere near all the power available. So don't miss it. I've seen some guys plumb the cold air intake to the wheel well to get cooler air. But nothing I've pursued. Your situation is different than mine. With the Coyote, it's not possible to hang the air cleaner off the throttle body. The intake has a MAF sensor that has to be at least 12" away from the throttle body and between the air cleaner and the throttle body. So it's typical to have a right angle tube, then a MAF sensor tube, then the air cleaner. Visible in the picture below during the build.

Do what you want (it's your build as we say around here...) but I still wouldn't cut a hole in the hood. There has to be a better way for whatever you're trying to accomplish.

[smdryke1]

Just a quick update, still waiting for the kit to arrive. It was supposed to be here already but the Stewart truck is running a little behind. maybe soon hopefully... I ordered a clutch line and bleeder kit from speedway. I mounted the accessories on the engine and drilled and tapped a hole in the engine block for the alternator. I had been dreading and procrastinating that for months. I'm using the ICT 551669-2 accessory drive setup, not sure if it will fit.

[smdryke1]

I got the kit finally, about 7 months after ordering, and I am missing so many pieces it's not even funny. I know it is typical to have a list of backordered parts, but this is just blehh. I know people are going to say its 2022 covid covid covid etc, but Factory five hasn't been keeping up with inventory for these same parts for many years now. I know this place is a total factory five cult and all criticism is taboo here, but I really think they should be doing a better job with their parts inventory. I have already been waiting for my kit for 7 months and now several more months likely waiting for parts. it is not something people should just be so willing to accept gleefully. If dave smith put 10% of the focus into his company he puts in to his biceps it wouldn't be like this. Just remember when you want to jump in and defend factory five, complaining and mockery is one of the most important things that separates a democracy from a communist dictatorship.

Remember the free powdercoating they accidentally did to my frame that I was excited about? yeah that didn't happen. Dan Golub told me that I was getting a powdercoated frame, and it simply wasn't true. I know, I know, I didn't pay for it. But here is a hypothetical from my perspective: Lets say you order 3 pizzas from your local pizza place. the assistant manager calls you back and says they are throwing in a 4th large supreme pizza for free they made accidentally. well cool, and then you tell everybody. and then the delivery driver shows up with 1.125 pizzas, a list of 1.875 backordered pizzas, and no knowledge of the 4th free pizza. We wouldn't be happy about other businesses doing stuff like that, would we? I emailed Dan about it yesterday, I think they are just going to ignore me. They don't even answer the phone anymore at factory five. covid covid covid excuses excuses excuses.

The delivery driver was kinda weird too. He told me he would be there at 3, but then called after 1pm to tell me he was almost there. He had already been telling me stories about the fan belt on his truck and bad weather etc, I figured he probably wouldn't really even show up until 5 or 6, but I planned to be there 10 minutes before 3 anyways, just in case. When he called me to tell me he was early, I told him I hadn't left work yet and he would have to wait a few minutes while I drive home, no big deal right? Well he immediately threatens to leave and take the car back. Whatever, they shouldn't even be sending it out when it is missing so many parts anyways. There is literally nowhere for me to even start on the build. He spent the whole unloading talking about bad weather, (it was 65F and sunny) and how much his knee hurt. I'm trying to look at this kit and kinda take in the experience and everything, I mean it's not a huge deal, but to me its a relatively significant day, and I've got this guy telling me for 20 minutes about his bad knee. It's like dude, I'm not your doctor, man. That stuff is your problem. He also did something else weird that I'm not even going to get into on here.

But on a positive note, I am pretty happy with the body. I have seen some gen 3 bodies that basically needed to be cut up and glued back together because the seams were so bad and uneven, (like that one in canada in some youtube videos lastchanceautorestore or something) but this one looks pretty good. I'm actually impressed. I really like the look of the chassis. I think the welds are decently good, I'd give them maybe a C+ or so. The standard roadster vinyl seats are also really comfortable. I am pretty surprised by how nice those are.

I also got a black and white wayyyyy out of date build manual that mostly talks about how rescuing a crumbling wiring harness from a 1987 mustang is just like having kids or something, and then a huge stack of glossy brochures. If that juxtaposition doesn't tell you all you need to know about the priorities of the company, well....

[Skuzzy]

I went to Jack-in-the-box and they have been out of Coke for three days now. They cannot get it. I went to the grocery store the other day and they have been out of Fritos (made in a factory 50 miles from where I live) for three months. They cannot get any. Friend of mine went to buy a new Bronco, only to be told it would be six to eight months before it could be delivered. They cannot get parts to meet the demand.

You cannot manage inventory when suppliers cannot supply the parts. The only solution would be to stop selling kits until suppliers could supply all the parts needed. In other words, Factory Five would have to close up and shut down. Even if Factory Five wanted to produce all the parts for the kits, they would still face supply issues with raw materials. It is the world we live in today.

Factory Five is as much a victim as anyone. This not a defense of Factory Five. It is just a simple truth.

One last point. There is no benefit for Factory Five to ship all these parts after the initial order is sent. It is costing them a lot of money to pay for all those shipping costs. That, alone, is enough incentive to do what they can to get everything shipped at once.

[smdryke1]

Just to verify, we are still cutting 5/8" off the master cylinder pushrods right? And the same is true for the clutch master cylinder? I just wanted to check. Everything in this build manual seems so out of date, I don't trust anything in it.

[smdryke1]

I have only received 1 part since I got the kit. I am still missing entire categories of parts. Factory five is basically completely unresponsive. I ordered the kit in August 2021 so we are at 9 months and counting. At this rate it will take years before they send me the parts I paid for. I am not a happy camper at this point

[smdryke1]

Its been almost a year since I ordered the kit. I'm still waiting on quite a few backordered parts. But, I did recently get a couple shipments of backordered parts and the build is now really getting started. I'll post some pictures whenever I get to 20 posts.

[smdryke1]

More parts have come in and it's now almost a roller. I have had a couple small problems, the UCA turnbuckles were about 1/8" too long and ran out of adjustment trying to get to the high caster setting. I shortened those. I am having a small issue with the front brakes. But no real significant problems.

The optional power steering rack is not too impressive in quality. The splined pinion shaft has quite a bit of radial runout, definitely enough to notice when moving the rack side to side and spinning it. Moving the rack side to side really feels terribly and gritty. I know it doesn't have fluid yet, but I am not too confident in the steering rack. Maybe it is a reman unit and the core came from a really badly wrecked fox body? The outer tie rod ends are super low grade chinese junk. But if it works, it works.

I think Joey Logano definitely got some cash to vaguely endorse the performance characteristics of these cars. This is not nascar grade hardware. I think that maybe this front setup is a small step up from an chinese ebay special mustang II ifs, but only a slight upgrade. I can't believe people pay $85k to $120k for these cars finished. It aint no lamborghini.

Sure, compared to some stuff from Detroit in the 60's and 70's that had terrible suspension geometry, its a huge upgrade, but I don't know if it makes any sense at all to build these in 2022. I feel kinda like I'm assembling a Ford Model T in my garage and by the time its finished, I'm going to be completely outgunned by every electric car on the road in terms of performance. At least it will be loud, I guess. And I do enjoy assembling it, to a certain extent.

[edwardb]

Normally build threads get a lot of interest, responses, encouragements, etc. As evidenced by the nearly complete lack of responses to your thread by the forum community, your ranting isn’t getting any traction. I may regret it but can’t help responding. Not that I expect it will necessarily matter.

This site is made up of enthusiasts for the brand and for the products. Nearly all who have had good experiences and love the final result. Like me. I’m not sure what you expect to accomplish with the posts you’ve made. Factory Five isn’t perfect (and they will agree with that) and problems and/or issues are dealt with on here regularly. But mostly in a positive and constructive matter. Without the personal and brand insults, ridiculous comparisons, and ranting. If your steering rack is defective, I’d encourage you to bring it up with them. They have a well-deserved reputation for excellent customer service.

If your expectation was that your build would be like a Lamborghini, you made the wrong choice. It’s kind of a ridiculous comparison, to be honest. I assume you have an idea of the cost to buy and maintain a Lamborghini? It's in a whole different stratosphere. Your characterization of the parts used for the suspension and its overall quality, as another example, is off-base and inaccurate. That’s all I’m going to say about that without going point-by-point. The Model T reference is just silly. Your POL situation is unfortunate, but not unusual right now. It’s not just a Factory Five problem. It’s industry wide. Improving slightly, but still a big issue and likely to remain that way for some time. Patience is the key. Easier for some than others.

I hope you can stick with it and complete the build. You might even be surprised at the final result. But at the end of the day, this may not be the right project for you. And with that I’m out.

[smdryke1]

ehhh, I'm not really surprised by your sentiments. Pretty much the reaction I suspected most other forum members to have.

There's a lot of hype and marketing surrounding these car kits, and I'm just sharing my observations about the real substance behind it. It's a tube chassis with what is pretty much equivalent to a generic Mustang II IFS front setup. It's seriously antiquated in 2022.

At this point, I still feel pretty much the same way about the project as I did when I first ordered the kit. I mean I'm still excited about it. I don't intend to abandon it. I just also like to articulate all of the negative thoughts that I have as well along the way. In the middle of riveting on a panel, you never get hit with a huge wave of self doubt and regret, thinking, oh god I wish I had bought a 392 challenger! What was I thinking? That never happens to you? You just have rock solid faith at all times that doing all this really makes sense?

[Blueblood]

The wait for the POL list can be frustrating as most here can attest but once it’s all in your garage you forget about it and carry on with the excitement of a car only you will have. Many others have a similar car but this one is yours alone built the way you wanted to not how the current trends are taking everyone else who cares about those things. As Edwardb said there isn’t much more to say I hope you stick to it and if your unsatisfied with the end result you can always sell it for 85 to 120k.

[smdryke1]

Actually I have almost all of my parts now. I was not happy when I got the kit after waiting about 8 months and about 35 to 40% of the parts were missing. But factory five has been sending me shipment after shipment via FedEx. I'm pretty much over that frustration at this point. I think they should have been more clear up front that it is going to take a full year to get everything, but whatever. I'm only waiting on about 8 to 10 small parts at this point.

But no, this one wont be worth that much. Im planning on painting it in the driveway, so im expecting a 20 footer at best.

[smdryke1]

We fixed the front brake issue. FF had sent the wrong rotors, but they sent me the correct ones after a few back and forth emails.

I ran into some clearance problems with the rear drivers side coilover making contact with the panhard bar frame structure. I had to mount the coilover upside down, and shorten the 1.09" spacer to 0.75" and add spacers on the other side. not a big deal, but I was surprised to have a problem. They have done at least a few thousand kits with this same setup, does everybody have this problem?

Unfortunately my junkyard 8.8 sn95 rear end has very slightly bent outer flanges. I was randomly spinning the wheels around and noticed both the rear wheels had a very slight wobble, maybe 1/16". At first, I thought it was the chinese ffr halibrand wheels. but after doing a lot of swapping wheels around to look for runout, looking at the brake rotors, scraping all the rust off the axle flanges, I finally figured out it was the axle shaft/ flanges were very slightly bent. I ordered 2 new $86 axle shafts from summit, so hopefully that will fix the problem.

The good news with the extra wide 99-04 sn95 abs 8.8 is that I won't have any tire rubbing issues on the frame tubes behind the seats like many have had. not anywhere close. but the bad news is I now think my tires are going to be sticking out of the fenders. but whatever, it goes with the overall trashy nature of my budget build anyways.

[smdryke1]

I didn't do anything with the car for several months. I got distracted by some of my 1911 projects. I work more than full time, my wife works, and we have a 3 year old and a 5 year old, so I really only get a few hours a week that I can dedicate to my hobbies.

during the past few weekends, I installed engine, trans, driveshaft, steering, fuel tank, lines, regulator, and some footbox aluminum, and pressure tested the fuel system. I've been curious for a long time if the injector o rings would seal with the rails spaced up and the injectors cocked at an angle in the rail and manifold ports and they did just fine. the aeromotive pump is pretty quiet. I used -6 teflon ss braided for the whole system, amazon evil energy, with several riveted loops in the trans tunnel to keep it pretty far away from the driveshaft.

I spent some time rolling it around and tinkering on the suspension. I'm definitely not a race car suspension designer, but decided to make some small changes based on my subjective observations. Jumping up and down on the frame, I decided the rear suspension was just way too stiff and swapped the rear springs to 220lb. I also added a junkyard miata 19mm sway bar to the front with various hardware from ebay and amazon. I experimented with relocating the control arm pivot locations to try to induce some negative camber gain, but everything I tried ended up causing other problems, so I just moved everything back to stock street locations. I don't understand why a front sway bar is not included, why the rear springs were so stiff, why there is no antidive built into the uca axis, or why it is set up to only gain negative camber when the front suspension is almost bottomed out. I really think they could have done better.

The transmission mount plate didn't fit, for multiple reasons. Seems every gen 3 build has this problem. I made one out of 1" x 3" x .125 wall aluminum rectangular tubing and inserted .75 spacers so the bolts wouldn't crush it together.

I had to cut the diagonal brace out of the chassis for clearance for the shifter. I don't think it will compromise the chassis rigidity a significant amount. Seems like many others have had to do this as well.

The 13.5" 16349 driveshaft was a bit short with ls and tkx. I had about 1 7/8" of exposed output yoke. I installed an 11/16" driveshaft spacer, and I think I have plenty of output spline engagement with just 1 3/16" exposed. Driveshaft angle looks great, I think it will be very minimal at ride height.

I decided based on oil pan ground clearance, header to footbox clearance, and intake manifold height above the frame that it would be best to raise the engine 1" higher. I used 2 on each side 3/8" thick ebay ls swap engine plates (about $20) to space the engine up. sin 45 = .707, but the spacers are acting on 2 planes, so vertical height change is 1.414 times spacer thickness, so it spaces the engine up 1 1/16".

No part of this kit fits together easily, and some in the ff worship cult might say that is part of the fun, but I'm really just not a fan. I think something is really wrong when so many people have to cut the frame for the shifter, fabricate a trans mount, figure out driveshaft spacing on their own, etc. Seems like you have to do everything with this kit as you would to ls swap any random car.

I was looking at the included platinum gauges and I kinda think they look a little cheesy, like cheap parts store gauges. I ordered some kinda fancy expensive gauges from holley, but only because they had some kind of pricing glitch on the website. I think I purchased a gauge set for 10% of the price. I think somebody put a decimal in the wrong place, like superman 4. I think they have it fixed now. I'm hoping they don't cancel my order.

[smdryke1]

What I ordered from holley:

V8SR01SHC

They have since corrected the price glitch, so that ship has sailed. I called them and told them I think they had a mistake, and they said if that was the website price, they would honor it and send it to me when they get back in stock, supposedly in about 1 week.

its kinda art deco style, not sure if it fits the car styling all that well, but for 90% off price, I'm really hoping they show up in the mail at some point. Anybody ever use those classic instruments gauges? I hope they look better than the parts store quality ones that came with the kit.