Vijay and Remy's LS3 Mk4 Build

[VKannan]

Hello all,

I'm a little late in starting my build thread. This will be a father-son build, and we are a bit on the younger side. I'm in my late 30's and my son is 6 and 1/2 (the 1/2 is very important at this age). We both love cars and also love to build things, so a FFR Mk4 makes a lot of sense. I want this to be something that we build together and then spend his childhood driving around in together. I've got a map of my 10 favorite choices for driving roads in the US and the same for Europe, and I'd like to tick both of them off before he graduates. We used to live in France and Switzerland, so a return to Europe for a couple of months road trip sounds great.

With that being said, I've taken an atypical approach to my drivetrain. I don't have any particular desire to make this car a tribute, and with road trips being the objective I want the most reliable platform possible. I've always been a big fan of LS swaps, and there have been so many of these engines built that if something were to go wrong it would be fairly easy to find a mechanic to fix it. Plus, they are relatively cheap (my engine/transmission/ecu/clutch/flywheel/bellhousing/etc. combo was $14k delivered).

5. LS3 unboxing.jpg6. Transmission delivery.jpg7. Transmission unboxing.jpg8. Clutch and flywheel.jpg9. Bellhousing indexing.jpg10. Bellhousing install.jpg

I took delivery of my Mk4 complete kit on March 31, 2023, but decided not to start building until after I attended the Mott Build School, which was April 14-16. I cannot say enough good things about the course and its instructors Jim Jennings and Todd Baumann. I have very little automotive experience. I'm in medicine, but my son and I built a small bass fishing boat before this, so I know how to rivet and how to make a basic wiring harness, but that's it. When I was doing inventory in the two weeks before the course, I continually had to google image search for the pieces to know what I was holding. After the course, I know what everything is and where it goes and how to put it there. I feel like I can do this.

1. Delivery day 2.jpg2. Delivery day 1.jpg3. Delivery day 3.jpg4. Body stand.jpg