Coupe on order!!

[Owlknight360]

Put down a deposit on a coupe last week! Very excited. Completion date set for February 23. My goals for the build are as follows:

1. Have fun with my old man
2. Road worthy
3. Autocross
4. Track days (road coarse lessons/time trials)

Couple of parts already outlined.
LS1 motor from an '01 Z28.
T56 trans from same car.
8.8 rear end with Watts link.
FFR SN95 spindles + tubular LCAs
Thinking about using a fuel cell...

Custom parts I'm thinking about:
wheel wells (I've stumbled upon Ron Schofield's blog; lots of cool custom parts that has the wheels in my head turning)
Different headlights (Ranges from crazy; using C6 corvette headlights/housing to more sane: aftermarket 60's vehicle headlights)
Rear air dam
Fender flares (similar to what you see if you google superformance coupe)

Any thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
Also located out of Louisville if anyone is near by.

[vnmsss]

Congratulations on you new Coupe order, and welcome to the madness!!!! With a completion date in February, you'll be making good use of your straightjacket over the next few months!

Karen

[skullandbones]

Owlknight,

You have good taste. I was at the Barrett Jackson and saw a blue and white Superformance coupe with those exaggerated wheel flares. I have to tell you, that car was getting more attention than any other car in the display (even a GT40)! So modifying the FFR coupe should be pretty amazing. Good luck and good build. WEK.

[riptide motorsport]

Sounds fantastic.............congrats and welcome!

[jkrueger]

WooHoo! Another LS coupe. Congrats on the order.

JC

[DARKPT]

Congrats on the order! If you can pry yourself away long enough, go see the London Cobra Show in London Ohio (just west of Columbus) next June. There were about a dozen Coupes there this year including several Superformance.

[Hankl]

Raise your right hand and say after me,

"I (State your name), do swear/affirm, that upon acceptance of this "Revered Coupe Jacket", will willingly subject myself to all manner of frustration and abrasion that my FFR Type 65 will provide. I further pledge that any and all fellow Coupe builders will have free reign in using the cash available in my wallet as they see fit to improve my build plan. I will not look down upon our fellow Roadster builders, but rather take pity on those not talented enough to build a race car with a roof, So Help Me God!"



It is my pleasure to present you with the "Revered Coupe Jacket", Here's your sign!!



Hank

[Russ Thompson]

Welcome aboard, we are all here for you! :-)

[Jacob McCrea]

Welcome; you will enjoy the project.

[bil1024]

Coupe is awesome enjoy

[Garry Bopp]

Welcome to the "coupe group". Hope you like lots of attention because these coupes draw huge amounts of attention wherever you go. Enjoy!

Garry

[Owlknight360]

Much appreciated, thanks guys!
Working out two objectives right now....
-which spring rates to start with on the suspension
-Stewart transport or go get it myself (getting it myself has the added benefit of picking up some Sam Adams Barrel Brew collection, only available in Boston!!)

[Owlknight360]

Oh, VNMSSS;

I saw that you are working (or finished) some suspension modifications. The thread I found was missing lots of the pictures. Do you have any threads/blogs detailing the suspension workings of your car? (I realize that my use of an LS motor will most likely throw off any and all relavance to my build...)

[willy]

Welcome, you have your prioritys right #1 HAVE FUN that is the most inportant one everything else will work out.

[vnmsss]

Owlnight360......The suspension mods we made over the last three years were all done to my IRS-Coupe (from you original post, it looks like you're building a solid sxle car)

My new Coupe (just finished a couple of months ago) is an 8.8 (solid axle)....No mods to the rear suspension on the 8.8 car. I've been making lots of mods to my Coupes over the last three years (door bars, seat mods, etc.), and would be glad to share any info I have with you!

In regards to the LS motor, I LOVE them (have Corvettes too), and am excited to watch your build! If you go to the other forum and search for Coupe for the 25 Hours, you'll find tons of pictures and posts on everything we did in our first two seasons (2009 & 2010) in campaigning the car. The 2010 Coupe for the 25 Hours thread is on this forum, and I have a large blogpost on this forum too.

2011 Build
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...ighlight=HOurs

Coupe Challenge
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry...lding-a-Legend

Building a Legend (blog link)
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...ighlight=HOurs

Karen

[CJROADGLIDE]

Hello neighbor,I am also in Louisville,and am wavering between a Coupe and a Roadster.I would be interested in speaking with You and collaborating when possible.I dont have any body skills but am an industrial maintenence tech and a welder.

[Owlknight360]

Hey CJROADGLIDE! Sounds good. I'm have expeirence with working on cars. Welding/painting I have novice skills. Body work, going to be learning quickly! Picking up the kit end of February, so I got a little time yet.

[Owlknight360]

For those interested, sent my final bill into FFR yesterday! (most money I've ever spent at one time)

Hoping to pick the car up in March!!! Woot, Woot!

[STLMARSHALL]

Congrats! Is the engine ready yet?

[Owlknight360]

Hate to say it, but I got nothing ready....was working on my camaro (long story) and now trying to get my truck back together (ripped off rocker panel to repair rust). So basically once it gets here, it will become priority 1!

I have done a little research into suspension set up....need to do more!

[CobraKai]

Congrats! Post lots of pics so those of us coming after you can benefit from your experience!

[mr-pantera]

Good luck!!

[Owlknight360]

Car received, photos put up in albums under my profile.

[Fluge]

Congratulations!!

Have fun!

Marc

[Made_In_America]

Congrats on the purchase.!!
Those fender flairs you mentioned aren't from SPF just so you know. They were made by George from Cars By Exotic: http://carsbyexotic.com/index.php for his Daytona LeMans which started as an SPF car. I am planning on making a little less aggressive flair because that car uses a ridiculous 18x13 wheel to fill that space and they cost over 5K without tires. I am still trying to figure out the best way to extend the track safely and use a more common wheel size. Anyway, thats just some of the info I have gathered in my research. Good luck with the build.

[Rodster]

Welcome to the madness! You will have tons of fun, and you will meet lots of great people, too!
-wayne

[STLMARSHALL]

Car received, photos put up in albums under my profile.

Congrats Steven! Looking forward to another LS build. Please go to photobucket.com and open a free account so we can all enjoy the build with you.

Notice my easy to click on photobucket account below.

[Owlknight360]

Thanks guys!

Made_In_America, thanks for the link! I was wondering who made those cars. I'm thinking best thing to do is lots of mock ups and then go to wheel/tire size...or maybe vice versa, let my budget dictate the amount of flare!

Thanks Mike! I will definently use the photo bucket. I was trying to figure out how to not email pictures out, post here and to facebook; gets rather time intensive!

[Owlknight360]

Signature test; photo bucket link

[STLMARSHALL]

Works good! Here is your 1st linked pic from your account:

[John Dol]

Owlknight,

Welcome and congrats. There's a good bunch of people hanging out here ready to help you in any way they can.

John

[Owlknight360]

Ok so I have a couple of stupid questions...I tried searching but have had no immediate luck.

Q1: FFR front lower control arms. They come with 4 washers. My assumption is that these washers are placed between the frame LCA mounting brackets and the LCA bushing to fill in the slight gap that would be there without the spacers?

Q2: FFR front upper adjustable control arms. I believe that I have two driver side UCAs. I have mounted the upper ball joints in the UCAs so that they angle outward away from the car per the directions. When I go to install them with the non adjustable conrner facing front per instructions...I can't. Both arms with with the ball joints angled out and non adj corner facing front, only work on DS; any attempt to take them apart and flip results in the ball joint angled inwards.

[Fluge]

Let's see what others say but this is what I recall reading/doing.

I think the front arm on the LCA fit between the ears without washers. The rear arms required a single washer in each side to take up the space next to the bushing. On the rear arms I did change the steel tubes with the breeze sleeves which are a little longer than the FFR sleeves. I drilled out the hole on the supplied washer so that it would fit around the sleeve. The idea is that the sleeve "wedges between the ears. If this is the final installation I would install the arms and then with the arm horizontal, torque them down. The arm should move up and down freely. Don't forget to grease the bushings.

I have different UCA but from my recent reading one of the arms has the adjustment bolt at the front and the other a the back. The ball joint should be angled down and away from the car on both sides. The manual hasn't been updated.

Hole this helps and doesn't confuse re issue more.

[Owlknight360]

Well after some absence I'm back. Unfortunately my Dad passed, so that took a couple of weeks, and my number one goal on this project out of the picture. Second I have way too many vehicles that can be considered projects; so I've sold two of them. All my cars were in various states of repair, so I picked up a new Mazda 3 so that I can focus on the kit. So now I'm down to the mazda 3, my 95 camaro (parked, not too sure what to do with it), the kit car and a 2001 parts car for the kit.

Where to start....I need to bring my tools over (kit car is at a different location than my residence), there is something bent in the transmission of the 2001 that prevents me from using 1, 3, 5 and reverse gears, and frame modifications.

Frame wise, I'm thinking lowering the steel for the seats and door bars. I'm going to need a welder!

[CobraKai]

So sorry to hear about your dad. Take care and keep us posted on the build.

[tcoon]

Owlknight...be sure to check out vnmss' blog on the Salvaggio seat mod. I would highly recommend this for BOTH driver and pass seats. Makes seating position and comfort light years better, and I believe it actually strengthened the frame. Rick Anderson (rocket) has the template set up for the mod and can send them to you.

[Owlknight360]

I'm 6' 2", and was thinking I should probably work on the seat mod prior to putting door bars in the way! How do I get in touch with Rick Anderson (rocket)?

[tcoon]

Try [email protected]. Of that doesn't work you might try to pm vnmss and contact through her.

[MDR]

Just found this thread, first of all so sorry for your loss. I lost my dad in 1990, it's a bit@h, will always miss him. Just wanted to say hello, I'm across the river in Floyds Knobs but work in Louisville. I have a early mk1 roadster that I've been beating on for some time, would love a coupe, maybe some day. I usually keep the roadster on my side of the river, but if you need anything give me a shout out. Hope the build is going well, I would like to check it out some time.

Mike

[Owlknight360]

Thanks!