Paul2stl #9122 Graduated

[Paul2STL]

Hi, everyone just received my MK4 kit from Stewarts lastFriday the 11th. The complete date wasJuly 8, but Don had 8 other cars on the truck to deliver and I’m in the Northwestso that put me at the end of the line. Anyway the delivery went smooth, Don was great he gave me a lot of infomost I already new like the two forums and the best colors for resale. I ordered a base kit during the 50/50 sale and got about 26 options. I will be numbering the car #12 because my order number from FFR was 122286 the day Iturned 12 years old. I found that to be pretty cool and not that I am superstitious or anything. Completed the inventory already and have a good list of back ordered items, which most have came in since it took so long to get my kit. Major items holding me back are IRS components, but they should be here soon. Ordered the fuel injection kit and assumed it came with the fuel tank, straps and filler tube. Well you know what they say about assumptions LOL. That was the one over sight on my part. I am really excited to get started and have majority of the parts on hand. The body is on a buck now, the buck I got from a fellow forum member thanks RR20AC. I have been following the forums for years so I do not have too many dumb questions. Not sure if I will start a build thread or not.
IMG_2334.JPGFullSizeRender.jpgIMG_2433.JPGFFR Rig.jpgBox on truck.jpgDrives seat.jpgIMG_2437.JPG

[GoDadGo]

Congratulations & Welcome Aboard!

You Have Just Embarked On An Amazing Journey!

[RR20AC]

Glad to help Paul. We will be cruising before you know it! Jim

[cgundermann]

Congrats Paul!

[Bdmac58]

Awesome! Congratulations.

[DadofThree]

Congrats Paul! Welcome to the club!

[Papa]

Congratulations, Paul!

[Dougs Garage]

Want to say - congratulations, Paul! I was wondering if anyone else opted for a base kit like I did. Got mine with lots of options at 50/50 also. It might be more work starting from a base but that means more fun. I am in Las Vegas and have gotten through suspension and brake assembly on my MkIV. Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions .I have solved a few issues by looking at other folks solutions. Saves time and money. If you come across a roadblock ,post it and most likely someone will have had the same issue. I am curious what powerplant you will be using. Doug

[Paul2STL]

Thanks everyone, my plan is to be driving in gel coat in a year, we will see LOL. Doug I am using a Coyote backed by a T-56. Got the whole set up from Forte. I chose the base kit because I knew with all the different options it would be cheaper then a complete kit, if purchased during the 50/50 sale.

[Paul2STL]

Well got some work done on the build the last two weeks. Started by pulling most of the raw steel parts that come in the kit to paint with gloss black POR-15 to match the frame. Everything went together as planned on the front suspension. Except for the upper A-arms that were sent with the ball joint, mount upside down. Realized is after had both balljoints on. I had a few coworkers over tohelp get the IRS center section in. That went in without too much trouble, torqued the bolts down, and moved on. Initially put the lower IRS arms in the wrong side but caught that pretty quick and fixed before moving on. Marking all the torqued bolts with red paint markers as I went along so as not to forget. I am using the stock 15 Mustang rear brakes so I had to do a little massaging to get them to work with 17” wheels and clear the weights. Post more on that as I read miss informationabout what would and would not work. Would have moved on to mounting the Wilwood pedal assembly but I am still waiting on the modified brake pedal from Whitby. I am using Whiby’s complete power brake kitw/Wilwood pedals. Ordered the kit from them at the end of May, received most of the kit two weeks ago, but still waiting on the pedal. Therefore, I pulled the components for the Coyote power steering out and mounted the rack npinion. Had to paint the spacers from the kit that I missed on my first pill of raw steel parts. While I had, the paint out I touched up partsof the frame that had been chipped from installing the IRS. Gloss black POR is a perfect match for that.

[Paul2STL]

Made some progress on my build cut some blocks out of 2x10sI had at work. Used the wood to stack upunder the back wheels and a couple on car ramps to get the height above thelift. Went pretty well, had about 3” underthe frame and about 1” under the front and rear wheels since the stand hadwings on it. Got on my butt and push itout with my feet. Had one of the guysfrom work help me load it on my trailer to take back to work. Took her off the block and down on her ownshoes for the first time. Got her readyfor the engine install that weekend. Pushedher all the way back in the garage and put her up on the stacked block in therear and sat the front wheels on 4x4s to get the engine hoist under. Had plenty of room in a 2-car garage to getit in without opening the garage door. With the Coyote and the T-56 matted, I had a couple of friends help getthe power plant in. One was pushing downon the tranny while we lowered her in. When it was almost in, we attached the headers then dropped it all theway in. Took about 2 hours from start tofinish, that thing fits like a glove in the engine bay. Did that a few weeks ago and have beenworking on wiring lately. Plan to pullthe engine back out and get all the engine panels

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
On her own feet, I removed the heater, reservoir and radiator for the install.
[IMG][/IMG]
Pictures of the engine and trans ready to go in.
[IMG][/IMG]
Engine in tight fit but its in.
[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG][IMG]

[Straversi]

You are flying along and making it look easy. Looking good.
-Steve

[RR20AC]

Looking good Paul. I see you got the stainless brake lines in and you bumped out the heater box. Would like to come out when you have your first start. Let me know.

[cgundermann]

He's zipping right along!

[Paul2STL]

Glad to help Paul. We will be cruising before you know it! Jim

I will let you know Jim, but I have to get my fire wall fixed first. I cut it out an inch to far toward the center and the heater is to close to the CMCV valve. Plus I am going to pull the engine back out to get my engine bay aluminum panels powder coated. Any suggestions for a local powder coater? I was thinking about taking them to Kens in Parkland.

[RR20AC]

Chris has one , mine was good then had some trouble which they fixed. So I can't endorse them

[cgundermann]

I have had really good luck with ~

http://www.premierpowdercoatinginc.com/

Chris

[rx7922]

Hi Paul, love the setup, i also want to get a t-56 transmission, question, for you though, with the coyote motor and the t56, what was the size of your driveshaft?

[mlewis]

Hi Paul. Impressive progress !! I revived my kit a week after you and I'm not nearly this far along ... I wanted to get a build thread going but have not had a chance.

I have a similar build, but going with the TKO-600

I plan to keep an eye on your build progress (and motivation).

Mark

[Paul2STL]

[QUOTE=rx7922;304319]Hi Paul, love the setup, i also want to get a t-56 transmission, question, for you though, with the coyote motor and the t56, what was the size of your driveshaft?[/QUOTe
The overall length from the trans housing to the diff flange is 9". The shaft tube itself is a little over 3". So with the slip yoke overall length should be around 13". I had it made by http://mitchelldifferential.com/ they make the ones FFR sells. Haven't received it yet, but will post pictures when I do.

[Paul2STL]

Hi Paul. Impressive progress !! I revived my kit a week after you and I'm not nearly this far along ... I wanted to get a build thread going but have not had a chance.

I have a similar build, but going with the TKO-600

I plan to keep an eye on your build progress (and motivation).

Mark

Thanks Mark, I will be pulling the engine back out and having things powder coated so two steps forward one step back. The good thing is once I get all my parts from the powder coater should be quick to build up to a point to first start. Hopefully by the 1st of February.

[Paul2STL]

Thinks, Chris I saw them on my search and they had some good reviews. Will have to go by there and get a quote. I narrowed it down to them or Forever Powder Coating in Olympia its a little farther, but I work on Ft. Lewis so not that far from there.

[Yama-Bro]

It's looking great and you are making some serious progress!

[Paul2STL]

Well it's been a while since my last post on the build. I have been making some progress, holidays and powder coating got in the way so my February 1st start date is out. Built my own battery box out of stainless sheet metal I acquired from work, turned out pretty good. Binding stainless sheet is no easy task without the right equipment.



Managed to powder coat all my parts myself except for the fire wall, fan shroud and driver front foot box panel. They are just to big to cook in the $50 home oven that's in the garage. Did find a powder coater that did it for a decent price of $150 for all three plus powder cost, because I wanted a color they didn't carry in house. They gave me the left over powder which was good because I missed a few things from the first three rounds of powder coating. I think I powder coated over 50 parts. That took a lot of time cycling through all those parts, spraying base coat, cooking, spaying gloss and cooking again. Great money saving DIY project, but sure ate up a lot of build time. Put Lizard Skin sound control and heat barrier on the tuff to reach area when I spray. Another idea I got from Edwardb.




The booth I made out of crate box from the Coyote came in handy. First parts coated was home made Coyote engine sling mounts in this pic.



Put the body on for seat fitment probably could have waited, but wanted to see the body on with wheels on it and on the ground.



Also received my drive shaft from Mitchel Differentials.

[cgundermann]

Looking great! Very cool that you did your own powdercoating!

Chris

[RR20AC]

Heater box bump out and the lizard skin look great Paul. Can't wait to hear her roar.

[TheBabyBadger]

VERY. VERY. COOL. That engine just looks MEAN!

[WIS89]

Paul-

Everything looks great. Nicely done with the powder coating!

You are making swift progress, even with the time you put into the powder coating. I don't blame you for dropping the seat in; feels good to sit there and looking things over!

I have enjoyed following along!

Regards,

Steve

[Paul2STL]

Made some more progress the last week or so.



Install my home powder coated aluminum panels along matching rivets I did. Powder coating over 160 rivets was a test of my patents. Had to do in two batches and found that too much clear coat would cause it to turn whitish color so for the second coat I did with out the clear. I had a professional powder coat the fire wall and fan shroud.



I ran my 3/8 OEM nylon fuel line up the passenger frame rail and no return line in the engine compartment. Running a stock Corvette fuel filter/pressure regulator near the fuel tank in the rear.



I rolled on Lizard Skin on some of the foot box panels that will be hard to reach once they where installed. Spraying the Lizard Skin will be a messy job so the less I have to spray in a hole (foot box areas) the better. An Idea that I got from (Paul) Edwardb and (Jim) RR20AC. I taking a lot of good ideas from both those guys. Their builds are top notch with a high attention to detail.



And the fuse box and engine wiring set up for the Coyote. Cant wait to finally drop the engine in for good. That will have to hold off for now in the process of taping up the whole car to spray the four layers of Lizard Skin in the cockpit and trunk areas.



Next update hopefully will be the Lizard Skin laid down and tape pulled off.

[cgundermann]

Very nice work!

Chris

[Paul2STL]

Thanks Chris,

I love your paint scheme, maybe I could see it in person sometime. I plan to be go carting in the spring and take it down to Da Bat for paint in the Fall.

[CraigS]

Your car is looking great. Do you know what the temp rating for the plastic fuel line is? It will be quite close to the header tube there.

[sbhunter]

Where did you get your fuel regulator/filter? I like the idea of putting it at the tank and not having a return line from the engine compartment.

[cgundermann]

Thanks Chris,

I love your paint scheme, maybe I could see it in person sometime. I plan to be go carting in the spring and take it down to Da Bat for paint in the Fall.

Your welcome over anytime - I’ll be done with my car this next week, but, I’m headed down to Havasu for six weeks...

Chris

[Paul2STL]

Where did you get your fuel regulator/filter? I like the idea of putting it at the tank and not having a return line from the engine compartment.

I bought it as a kit from Mike Forte along with my Engine and Trans package. He suggested the kit since my car is a base model from FFR you don't all the fuel system parts you need. I like the way it looks also compared to 2 hard lines coming into the engine compartment. You can get the filter/regulator and lines from Summit. Common stuff from the LS swaps, but will work with Coyote since the regulator is set at 58psi and Coyote needs a minimum 55psi. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wix-33737

[Paul2STL]

Your car is looking great. Do you know what the temp rating for the plastic fuel line is? It will be quite close to the header tube there.

Craig, Thanks for looking out. It is rated at 375 degree distortion point. That's direct heat applied. I was worried at first, but when I connected the fitting I used a heat gun directly on the hose and slide it the hose on. I had to get it pretty hot to get it to start and melt. I have about 2 inches if not more, should be enough air space to keep temps down on the line itself. Coyote sits a little more forward than a small block. Now is this all in theory so I will keep an eye on it when I run the engine.

[RR20AC]

Car is looking great Paul. That trailer should work well for you too. Thinking about a wench setup and may go with a mid pedestal with a snatch block. Then just remove it after the car is up the ramp. Would solve the cable dragging over the lip. Hope I didn't make to much racket leaving yesterday. Take your time spraying that lizard skin. It is so thick that it slings out of that gun compared to spraying.

[Paul2STL]

Picked up a trailer to haul the roaster to auto cross and car show events.



Had her loaded up for her first trip. Since it has been so cold here I took her into work to spray the Lizard Skin. I am fortunate to have a nice heated maintenance bay to get the job done over the long holiday weekend.





Here a shot of it after the first two coats of Sound Control. It was a messy job, but I am very please with how it turned out. Thanks goes out to Jim (RR20AC) for the loaning of the spray kit and the tip for double taping along the edges. The difference this make in the cockpit is huge. I rode in one with it and one with out, makes the car feel solid. No doubt I will be using this in future car projects.



Another shoot of the cockpit again a messy job and with a lot of prep work. The results are awesome. Now just have to wait 24 hours for it to fully cure. I am giving it 36 hours, planning to pick her up on Monday. I left the trailer in the opposite bay so it will be easy to roll her up into the "Cobra Cave". Then assembly will be quick I have everything ready to put her back together. Except for the dash, I need to start working on that once I get her all back together.

[RR20AC]

Looks like a great setup. Can't wait to race you at auto-x♨️

[Paul2STL]

Dropped the engine/trans combo with drive shaft in for good.

Mounted the headers using Stage 8 locking bolts and some Permatex Copper Anti-seize lubricant. Went in even easier this time had help from one of my coworkers.

The transmission sits a little leaning toward the driver side. Is this normal for Coyote builds with a t-56? Not worried to much about it just wondering if there is something I did wrong. Mounted the transmission with out any spacers that gave my drive shaft the straightest shot towards the rear diff..

Attached the aluminum flange of the drive shaft to the adaptor provide by FFR. Used some blue lock tight and torqued down the bolts.



Fill the trans with Redline ATF, used about 3.5 quarts. I've read that it should take 4, but with the trans leaning toward the fill plug it started to drain out at 3.5. Should be good will check again when the car is completely level, right know on jack stands so don't have it exactly level.



Once it was filled I sealed up the shifter with a little RTV and tightened down the bolts. Got a 427 shifter style shifter that had to be drill out so the bolt could pass through to tread into the Tremec shifter. Put it in the bench top drill press worked out great.



Hope the next update will be a video of the first start if every thing goes as planned.