Ted G's 427 Cobra Build #10333 - Aluminum Spats

[Ted G]

Click Here for my latest post "Aluminum Spats, Complete"


Well, with about 2 weeks out from delivery of my roadster, I decided to finally start my build thread.

I have been watching, dreaming, persuading and planning this build in my mind for over 15 years. Why didn't I pull the trigger 15, 10 or 5 years ago? Divorce, kid's college funds (3), career changes, etc, etc .... But on September 11, 2021, I pulled the trigger and sent in my down payment. As an Army Veteran, it just seemed timely to place my dream order on this day, 20 years after 9/11. Although waiting 7 months has been tough, I am actually grateful for the wait; it has given me time to really think about the decisions about for this car and what I really want. I have made some significant changes to the order, received tons of tips, and have had time to prep my "garage" and sort out a build plan.

My first order had almost every upgrade from FFR you could think of. But with the supply channels affected by several factors in the world, I found myself constantly changing my order, upgrading some parts, and purchasing early to avoid a plethora of backordered parts. I already started working on some items I outsourced for the past few months with things like Wilwood brakes, my IRS rear end, and of course the "Crib" she'll be built in for the next year or so... some of you call that a garage.

I have never built a car, but have always worked on, tinkered with and been a car lover. My current everyday driver is a well upgraded Jeep JK Rubicon; yes, I do the Jeep wave all the time. I did all the modifications to my Jeep, but never built something like this. I have been lurking in this forum for the past 8 months waiting on my car with much anticipation. Thank you to all the great guys (and girls) who provide so much knowledge and help all the time. I also am part of a great bunch of Cobra guys (CSX, FFR, Superformance, Backdraft) here in the Sacramento area and we attend Cars & Coffee almost every Saturday morning. The Factory Five community, as well as the Cobra community, is why I decided on a Factory Five Roadster.

Enough about me, here is my build specs so far: (updates in red)

Factory Five Final Order:

• MKIV Complete Kit
• Body Cut outs
• IRS w/Complete Kit
• Battery Cut Off
• Heater/Defroster (no defroster)
• Black Leather Seats
• Trunk Gas Strut Kit
• Carbon Fiber Dash w/Glovebox
• Uncoated Chassis (went with Ford Blue)
• Deletion of Headers
• Deletion of Side Pipes
• Deletion of Gauges
• Deletion of Manual Steering Rack
• Military Discount - $500

Aftermarket Orders:

• FF Metal - Trans cover (in leather) & Forward Firewall
• Breeze - Cubby
• Breeze - Radiator Shroud & Lower Radiator Mount
• Breeze - Upper Hinged Radiator Mount
• Breeze - Seat Adjuster
• Breeze - Offset rack & spacers
• Breeze - 1.75 Roll Bar
• Russ Thompson - Turn Signal Kit
• Russ Thompson - adjustable gas pedal
• Russ Thompson - Drop Trunk and Roll Bar Grommets
• Finish Line - Side louvers, emblems, center cap, grommets, vent screens,
• Gas-N - Side pipe in brushed nickel
• Gas-n - Headers for 351w bare
• Forte - Mechanical Throttle linkage
• Forte - Wilwood Brakes 12.88" - Red
• Forte - IRS Center section and spindles
• Forte - Front Sway Bar
• Metco - Driveshaft Safety Loop
• NRG - Carbon fiber steering wheel quick release
• Speedhut - Custom colored gauges (to match body color & stripe)
• ESR - 18" wheels CS-11
• Summit - Helix Power Steering Rack
• Various other parts from Summit, Amazon, Herb's, e-bay

Engine, Transmission & Paint:

• Motor - 351w stroked to 427 Elliot Franklin, Grass Valley, CA
• Motor - CVF front end, polished
• Motor - CVF custom valve covers
• Trans - TKX - Elliot Franklin
• Body work - Ken's Custom Auto Body
• Paint - Ken's Custom Auto Body
• Powder coat - some panels and chassis
• Color??? Who Knows (going with Porsche Night Blue Metallic and GT Silver Metallic stripes)

I'll be doing all the normal things and upgrades that most do, including sound/heat insulation, powder coating some things; polishing others, brake cable upgrade, Kliener mod, heater mod, etc. I do plan on doing a unique gauge layout, unique chassis color and a few "me" mods.

I'm also thanking everyone in advance for all the help I know you'll provide. I promise to pay it forward down the line.

Here is my obligatory cradle pic:


Ted Greenman
Build #103?? I'm guessing #10327 (I was close, #10333)

[Mark K]

Congrats on the new thread, brother. Looking forward to it.

So it begins.jpg

[Vspeeds]

Looking forward to following your journey. Give us a shout if you ever need anything.
Eddie

[JohnK]

Hey Ted. Congratulations on the impending delivery. What an exciting time! I'm sure the anticipation must be killing you. Sounds like you have a great build plan.

I'm a little ways away from you in Los Gatos, but I have a free body buck available if you're interested.

Can't wait to see your build updates.

-John

[Fman]

Congrats Ted, you are in for one awesome journey. If you ever need anything please reach out. We are all looking forward to watching your build progress.

And thank you for your service to our country, we all greatly appreciate it!

Travis

[Ted G]

Hey Ted. Congratulations on the impending delivery. What an exciting time! I'm sure the anticipation must be killing you. Sounds like you have a great build plan.

I'm a little ways away from you in Los Gatos, but I have a free body buck available if you're interested.

Can't wait to see your build updates.

-John

Thanks John for the offer of a body buck. I received one from from a friend (Dave) in this area about a month ago.

[460.465USMC]

Hi Ted. Congrats on your upcoming kit arrival. You have an impressive build list. It should be one sweet build! Glad to hear you are already so connected with the local Cobra crew, and here on the forum as well.

[Ted G]

Thanks Chris! I have been following your build and it looks impressive!

[CaptB]

You may want to include Forte's throttle linkage, didn't see it in your list but I may have missed something. Welcome to the circle of trust for 427 builders!

[toadster]

woo! exciting times!!

[Ted G]

You may want to include Forte's throttle linkage, didn't see it in your list but I may have missed something. Welcome to the circle of trust for 427 builders!

Yes, I missed that but already in my inventory. Thanks

[Ted G]

8 months of waiting for delivery has let me prep, organize and plan the garage layout. I started with prepping the floor and laying down an epoxy coating. Then paint, extra shelving, and a plethora of banners, signs and flag for decoration. My daughters helped paint the stripes on the wall and the chassis dolly. I also added electrical outlets and ample lighting. I also have a Jeep and I can take the top off with a lift... I'll use this lift to store the body until I'm ready to take it to Ken Pike for body work and paint.

I also added a 2,000 lb winch that will allow me to raise up the chassis and work under when I need to during assembly.

Here is a little video I did and pictures below: https://youtu.be/HrMUBIAu8-o

Adding electrical:


Epoxy coating the floor:


Almost ready:


The winch and more electrical and lighting:


My daughter's birthday card to me.... Yea, she thinks I'm old.



Ted

[ydousurf]

Ted,

Looks like you have a really great build planned! I think if one can get a preliminary sense of your future success, then we only need to look at your garage preparations. Nicely done!

I'm a Jeeper and always a appreciate a fellow - {Peace Sign}.

The card was really cool and sweet of your daughter. It will be extra special having family involved to help build your dream together.

Anyway, make sure to video tape the delivery day. That was such a magical moment for me and the entire neighborhood for that matter. All the best on you build journey. I'll be following along...

Doug

[Ted G]

Build before the build....

During the past few months, I worked on my garage and strategically ordered some items that kept showing up on back-order in other's build threads. Wilwood brakes seem to be months out all the time along with IRS parts, Front UCA's and a few other things. Thanks to Mike Forte, I was able to pick up my set early and at least get the safety wire completed pre-delivery of my kit. I also had Forte deliver my IRS center and spindles.
IRS and Brakes.JPG

I completed the wilwood hats on all four corners with the safety wire:
WilwoodHat2.JPG WilwoodHat1.JPG


I also applied POR-15 to the center section as well as smoothed out the mold lines from the rear knuckles for a clean look. I personally love the Ford Blue with Silver:
IRS Center3.JPGIRS Center.JPGrear_knuckles.JPGrear_knuckle2.JPG


I have Elliot Franklin building my Motor (427 Dart), but I am dressing it my way. Here are my valve covers from CVF that I had to customize with a 427 badge. Some of the older CSX's had this badge on the covers:
valvecover3.JPGvalvecover1.JPG


This was just my start before delivery.

Ted

[460.465USMC]

Hi Ted. Isn't POR-15 amazing stuff? Messy, but seems to me to be a very high quality coating. You raised the bar with the Ford Blue. Nice!

Nice bling with the valve covers!

[Ted G]

Hi Ted. Isn't POR-15 amazing stuff? Messy, but seems to me to be a very high quality coating. You raised the bar with the Ford Blue. Nice!

Nice bling with the valve covers!

Yes, POR-15 is great and I love the way it spreads evenly. I was very skeptical about brushing paint onto metal.... but no brush strokes. Thanks for the compliments Chris, and thank you for your service!!

[JB in NOVA]

Wow Ted, your set up is impressive, and your project seems very well planned. I'm looking forward to watching your build!

[Ted G]

Wow Ted, your set up is impressive, and your project seems very well planned. I'm looking forward to watching your build!

Thank you sir!

[Ted G]

Well, Stewart Transport pushed me back again. I guess I'm the second to last on the truck and they think this coming Saturday I'll have delivery. Not complaining about Stewart, just so anxious to get started. A couple of things happened last week. I finally ordered my custom gauges from Speed Hut and had a very interesting/strange interaction with them. So, now I'm just going to wait and see how the final product looks before I either praise them or not. The selection of my gauges has solidified the general paint scheme of my build which is really such a relief. I'll be going with some sort of very dark Blue with some sort of Silver stripes with pinstripes. Suggestions are welcomed!!

Not sure who owns this, but I love this color scheme:
Dark Blue.PNG

I've also received my wheels. Although I love the Halibrands, I just wanted a different look and went with these ESR CS11's. They are 18x10.5 and 18x8.5.
Wheels2.JPG

This past weekend, I played around with a dash template that someone from my C&C group gave me. Although I am going with a Carbon Fiber dash, this helped me get an idea of how I want my layout. I'm going a little unconventional... I ordered a larger 4 1/2" tach (instead of the 4") and the water and oil temp gauges are 2 5/8" rather than the 2 1/16" standard. They are custom color and I centered the speedo in dead center of dash along with volt, fuel and oil psi. The gauges will closely match my color scheme with the silver stripe in two of them. I printed the gauges to actual size and placed them in position. Obviously I'll have some switches, turn indicators, start key, etc. but you get the idea:
DashLayout1.JPG

Saturday seems so far away !

Ted

[Ted G]

Call from Stewart Transport

Delivery day is tomorrow afternoon! It has been a long 7 months! I'm sure I'll get little sleep tonight and go figure; I have a huge meeting tomorrow morning.


Wait, am I being "punked"? Tomorrow is April Fool's Day.

[JB in NOVA]

Call from Stewart Transport

Delivery day is tomorrow afternoon! It has been a long 7 months! I'm sure I'll get little sleep tonight and go figure; I have a huge meeting tomorrow morning.


Wait, am I being "punked"? Tomorrow is April Fool's Day.

That would be too cruel for an April fool's joke! Good luck!

[CABulldog]

I am guessing yours was the El Dorado Hills kit I saw on the truck while he delivered mine this morning. Have fun building.

James

[Ted G]

I am guessing yours was the El Dorado Hills kit I saw on the truck while he delivered mine this morning. Have fun building.

James

Yes, I'm guessing yours was the San Jose Kit..... Enjoy!

[Ted G]

Delivery on April Fool's Day

Chassis number 10333 was dropped off today. Months and months of waiting, prepping, buying, and changing decisions finally comes home. Chassis # 10333 is here!

Mark from Stewart was a delight and worked hard to get the truck in front of my house. The small streets were just another challenge.
FFR Truck.JPG
Inventory.jpgHome2.JPGFFR Truck3.jpgFFR Truck2.JPG

Found the manual:
Manual.JPG

and the chassis number:
F5R1010333RD.jpg

I already started working through the inventory. POL is pretty big, but no real major stuff that I can see at this point. Big items on POL were dashboard, windshield, gas tank and various bolts, and thing I may not need for a while.

Ted

[CABulldog]

Yes, I'm guessing yours was the San Jose Kit..... Enjoy!

Yes that was me, Mark was awesome, I honestly did not think it was possible to get an 18 wheeler on my street. It requires a blind side reverse in off a busy street. I held traffic for him and he made it look easy. Mine is build number 10323. Still have not decided if I am going to do a build thread here or not, I am not very good at keeping up with them . Ironically I was originally due to be in the Elk Grove area yesterday/this weekend but other stuff ended that one, which turned out perfectly. Once these cars are both done we should arrange a meet at a cars and coffee.

IMG_4466.jpgIMG_4476.jpg

[WIS89]

Ted-

Congratulations on the delivery! I remember getting my roadster like it was yesterday -- although I won't tell you how long ago it was...

I also have been meaning to tell you that I love the garage layout you have; the racing stripes really help! I may have to steal that idea when my garage gets done.

Congrats again, and I look forward to following along! Also, so happy that it wasn't a nasty April Fool joke!!

Regards,

Steve

[Ted G]

Yes that was me, Mark was awesome, I honestly did not think it was possible to get an 18 wheeler on my street. It requires a blind side reverse in off a busy street. I held traffic for him and he made it look easy. Mine is build number 10323. Still have not decided if I am going to do a build thread here or not, I am not very good at keeping up with them . Ironically I was originally due to be in the Elk Grove area yesterday/this weekend but other stuff ended that one, which turned out perfectly. Once these cars are both done we should arrange a meet at a cars and coffee.

IMG_4466.jpgIMG_4476.jpg

Hey James,

We are 10 cars apart. I have another friend who go his car two weeks ago and is #10327. Weird he got his before yours. Yes, we should get together after build if not before. We have a great group out here in the Sacramento area.

Ted

[Ted G]

Ted-

Congratulations on the delivery! I remember getting my roadster like it was yesterday -- although I won't tell you how long ago it was...

I also have been meaning to tell you that I love the garage layout you have; the racing stripes really help! I may have to steal that idea when my garage gets done.

Congrats again, and I look forward to following along! Also, so happy that it wasn't a nasty April Fool joke!!

Regards,

Steve

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the compliment... that was my two daughter's idea. It was a great April Fool's day!!

[Ted G]

Day three since delivery.

I worked on getting the body off and maybe some aluminum. Thank you to my daughter Capri and the neighbors who helped me remove the body. I think they are excited as I am... well almost.

Here are the first pics with the body removed:
2 Chassis_Aluminum.JPG1 body buck.JPG3 Body is off.JPG


Then I tackled the aluminum and even drilled out some of the panels around the footboxes.
IMG_4754.JPGIMG_4755.JPGIMG_4756.JPGIMG_4757.JPG

This was way easier than I thought and really gave me a good sense of what my plans for the chassis will be. I plan on doing a few minor modifications to the frame before paint. Mainly in the rear for the battery and the drop box mods and of course cutting off the extra tubes where the Breeze radiator mount will reside.

Overall, a pretty productive weekend... To bad work will get in the way this coming week.

Ted

[Ted G]

A pretty productive weekend on #10333.

The bare chassis came in pretty dirty and needed a lot of prep for coating. Oils used for cutting and drilling and all the shaving from grinding, welding, etc. needed to be cleaned up quite a bit. I also did a few minor mods to the trunk area where I am putting Russ Thompson's drop trunk. I am also making room for a battery box just behind the RT drop box in front of the IRS center section. Here are a couple of pictures of that mod at this point. Mind you, I will be customizing some panels for the battery box and drop box that I'll show later during the build. You can see that I cut the cross members, but reinforced the trunk area with more tubing.
DropBoxMod1.JPG DropBoxMod2.JPG DropBoxMod3.JPG


I started with a pressure wash with a degreaser. That definitely took off about 90% of all the grime. Then I started to wipe everything down with degreaser... after two are three wipe downs, I felt it was a clean as it could get. I then used POR's metal prep to essentially etch the metal prior to paint. I know I may get some slack from this, but I am painting my chassis a custom color rather than having FFR powder coat it black. I also heard several stories of so much weld splatter, that I wanted to avoid that. But honestly, FFR did a great job getting most of the splatter off. A local shop quoted me $2,000 to powder coat it so I opted to paint my chassis. Here are some pics of the primer coat. I used Self-Etching primer as I have had great luck with my Jeep using this process.
Chassis2.JPG

I love my version of a poor man's lift. I can easily get under or just tilt to get a better weld... my upside down welding technique isn't the greatest and it can hurt/burn.
Chassis1.JPG ChassisTilt.JPG

Primer completed:
ChassisPrimed.JPG


This week I hope to have the chassis completed in Ford Blue and start my build next week. Aluminum panels (about 75%) are currently at the powder coater; I'll have them in Silver Vein.


Ted

[Ted G]

Factory Five created a piece of artwork with this frame:

[toadster]

great job Ted! looking good! what primer/paint are you using?

[Ted G]

great job Ted! looking good! what primer/paint are you using?

Self etching primer rattle can..... For the top coat, it'll be Farm/Implement paint in Ford Blue with a little combination of POR15. Just got word that my powder coater is done with the aluminum panels and I'll pick up tomorrow. I can't wait to officially start building.

[Fman]

Nice work Ted on the drop trunk mod, that will be much cleaner and more functional not having that cross member. You can probably also squeeze in an extra pair of socks with that now!

[Ted G]

Thanks Travis, I think the battery location mod will be pretty cool too. Just a personal preference on having it in the trunk with little, if any loss of trunk space. My welding technique was not as rusty as I thought.

[Ted G]

Good weekend with some fabrication in the trunk area for the Russ Thompson drop box and redesigned battery box. The reason I'm doing this before chassis paint, is that fabricating this box requires a lot of manipulation with the aluminum panels and I wanted to avoid scratching the final paint. Both the drop box and battery box are now completed and I pulled it all out for later installation after chassis paint. I'm a bit delayed on some POL parts, including a few bushings for the IRS and fuel tank, so I'll have to work on other things like fuel lines, etc. My plan is to get as much of the build done with as little aluminum panels installed as possible.

I've already posted a couple of these pics, but thought I'd include them all with the finished product.

Here is the chassis reconfiguration in the trunk:
DropBoxMod1.JPG DropBoxMod2.JPG

Then, I moved onto redesigning the RT drop trunk back wall to include the battery box:
DropBoxMod3.JPG DropBoxMod5.JPG DropBoxMod4.JPG DropBoxMod6.JPG

I will likely add a hinged door to cover the battery, but here is the final product:
DropBoxMod7.jpg

Also, very excited to get a delivery from Speedhut this past week!!!! I had a very strange interaction with them and was very worried what they would end up looking like... but in the end, I think they are beautiful! Now if I can just get my CF dashboard (on POL). This may give you some insight to what my final paint will look like (some sort of dark blue with silver stripes):

DashGauge2.JPG DashSpeedo.JPG

Chassis paint should be next in this thread. Meanwhile, I'll work on pre-drilling some of the panels that just came back from powder coat, and polishing the engine bay panels.

Ted - #10333

[CaptB]

Like the guages. Speedhut is awesome.

[Ted G]

CaptB, yes they are awesome, but my experience with them was really weird.

The sales person was so unhelpful and said I could not do what I wanted to do (color of the gauges). She said I could only have a "logo" on them and had to use their colors on the background (even though the software allows you to add your color as a jpg). Then, she said that I could not do stripes on the speedo or fuel level either. When I said that they had stripes as an example on their website, she claimed it was a mistake and they could not do that anymore. I asked if I could speak with the person in the art department, she said we don't let them speak with the public. This was just so strange!! So I agreed with their color background and doing just logos.

Finally, in the end, the person in the art department sent me my proofs. We had a to make a little change and then I asked the art person if I could do a navy blue background... and she said no problem. Then, I asked if I could add stripes and I have the artwork for them... She promptly sent me back with proofs with everything I wanted!! What the heck?

Seems the sales person didn't know much, but the art person was friendly, accommodating and gave me complete customer satisfaction. I am very happy with my gauges after all that.

[AgileYeti]

Ted, I am not sure which is better, your trunk mod or them gauges! Both are stellar for sure. Having that extra trunk space and removing the cross bracing is going to be awesome for storage; I'm jealous. You are making this car your own and it is coming out great so far! I received my first POL box yesterday so I bet you will have some goodies arriving soon too.

[zee]

Ted, I am not sure which is better, your trunk mod or them gauges! Both are stellar for sure. Having that extra trunk space and removing the cross bracing is going to be awesome for storage; I'm jealous. You are making this car your own and it is coming out great so far! I received my first POL box yesterday so I bet you will have some goodies arriving soon too.

I am not speaking from the place of knowledge, so this is merely a curiosity: is there a downside to removing the crossbar? If FFR added them, I suspect there was a reason? To help with rear end collision perhaps?

I am just wondering if there's a downside to removing them.