Curvy Road G3 Coupe Build

[forcefed1]

After 16 years of waiting for the "right" time, I finally ordered my first Factory Five!
11 years ago I was sure it would be a GTM. During that time i have bought and still own some other cars similar to the GTM but, nothing quite like my first factory five love the 65 Coupe.

Aside from lots of pictures on the internet, I have only seen a Gen 1 up close and it was not complete.

Recently my son and I had a chance to test drive a MKII cobra. It was a basic build with a 4.6. no additional options. I mostly drove it so I could cross it OFF my list of future cars for my collection. Something different happened. WE LOVED IT. but at 6'2" I didnt fit in it. My friend offered it to me at a very attractive price. I did some research on ways to modify it so I would fit and researched other options i could add to make it more my style. During that process one thought kept coming back to me. The satisfaction I get from cars is as much in projects i get to do as the drive. I dont currently have any exciting car projects on the horizon and winter is coming.... I would much rather build the exact car I want than buy someone elses and modify it even though it will cost more.

As soon as I discovered the revisions on the 65 Coupe i was Hooked.

Tomorrow a friend of mine, whom wanted a road trip, leaves for MA to go pick mine up.

Here's the details of the build:

It will be a street car with the classic style and shape but modern race car looks I plan to build it as a local show and go car. I track other cars several times a year and plan to take this to the track some also. However i do not plan to have this be my "track car" carving out the fastest laps I can. Simply put its way easier to replace my BMW M Coupe than the time and effort i will have in this car and the tirewall never seems to ask anyone about that before making a mess of it...

Specifics on my our order sheet

Gen 3 coupe complete kit
black frame
2015 IRS
Coyote motor
factory five coyote Power steering
factory five coyote A/C
front Aero bumper

2015 Coyote motor from Mustang GT
MT-85 6 speed
3.73 performance package rear end


I am considering power brakes and ABS
also looking into traction control.

[wareaglescott]

Welcome to the forum and enjoy the build process. Love my Coyote powered roadster. I think you will be very pleased.
Do you have a color in mind?
What other cars are in your collection?

[GoDadGo]

Welcome Aboard!

The New Type-65 Is The Very Best Of What Factory Five Racing Has To Offer!
As for me, I'm a big fan of 6 forward gears and those 3.73's will really wake up that Coyote.
Also, consider getting the Kirkey Race Seats to give a little extra room since you are less than vertically challenged!

Again, Welcome Aboard!

Steve

[John Dol]

Congrats on the order, you will be pleased as the coupe is a gorgeous car and even more so now that it has been redesigned.
Post pics, we like those!!
Good luck on the build.

John

[forcefed1]

Thanks Guys,
It has been a whirl-wind week! very exciting! not much sleep.

For an update,
I finished up the little projects I had left to do in the garage and on my other cars to prepare for the kit's arrival.

I washed the floors and got everything ready for the BIG DELIVERY.

then the parts started to arrive!

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it just didn't look right for a few days.
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I bought a "crank a pallet" kit from a salvage yard in GA. They also sold me all the IRS components from the same car
a 2015 Mustang GT with ~20K on it. It came complete with ALL the parts needed to run the engine on the pallet and a complete chassis wiring harness.


My friend Bo went to pick the kit up for me. He wanted a road trip to MA. He finally returned at 2AM in the cold and rain.
We IMMEDIATLY unloaded everything and started inventory.
No way was I sleeping! This really was like the best Christmas morning ever from when I was a kid.
Very exciting!
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I didn't find any mistakes on the missing parts list.

Most of the parts came. Several big ones are missing for the IRS like the rear arms.
the power steering rack is also missing. I guess I wont have it rolling on tires this week.

[forcefed1]

Later when my son finished school we continued the inventory and then began assembly!.
We got the front suspension all together with the help of Tim who stopped over to check it out.
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We even stopped to powdercoat the steel spacers metallic red and paint the spindle hubs.
I really enjoy being able to take the time and do the job correctly from the ground up.
the torque wrench really got some use in this section.
Factory Five does a very nice job packaging everything. They really make it easy for you to move through the build with all the clear directions and photos.

The gen 3 manual seems to be up to date.

[forcefed1]

For today I took the parts from the IRS apart.
We sandblasted all of the non aluminum parts, painted the spindles and rear end and prepared the brake hardware for powdercoating. I'm not sure what color we will make the calipers yet
I don't have the upper and lower bars for the rear suspension yet so we wont be getting to far on this section.


it's supposed to be cold and windy all weekend. I plan to work both days on the build with Nate

[RumRunner]

Congrats on the new project! Can I ask where you are located?

I built a GTM and am considering a 65 - would love to see the kit if you're close.

-Michael

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GTM #327, LS3, G50/20, Kooks, AC, Ron's Tanks, Crash's 4-port HCV, Shane's Bolts & Plenum & etc., plus a lot of other stuff. Finished November 2013.

Not-up-to-date Build Site: http://rumrunnergtm.weebly.com

[forcefed1]

Congrats on the order, you will be pleased as the coupe is a gorgeous car and even more so now that it has been redesigned.
Post pics, we like those!!
Good luck on the build.

John

Thanks John! I'm very happy that I am able to work on my very own factory five! thanks for your support! I would also love to see what your coup looks like!

[John Dol]

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Here's one from a little while ago.
Getting the last little things done before paint. Hopefully get that done over the winter period, and get it on the road next spring/summer.

John

[forcefed1]

We got a few more things finished this weekend.
Removed the 2015 IRS sandblasted and painted the cast rear end aluminum colored.
Also modified the rear spindles and blasted and painted/powder coated those.

The rear suspension arms are on back order with the help of a friend and a rubber hammer we installed the carrier.
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While installing the gas tank i discovered there are some bends in the tank rim flanges to create more clearance for the straps. Those bends have to be removed before the straps will pull the tank up enough into the frame of the coupe. It looks like the gas tank has been reworked with out telling factory five. IMG_9295_1024x768.JPG


You can see here the I used some washers to wedge the top bolt into the frame bracket making it very easy to turn the nut without holding the bolt since there is no way you could get a wrench around it.
once the flanges were flattened the tank went right in.
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next onto the Willwood pedal assembly.

[John Dol]

My tank was like that too. Used clamps to get them close enough to get the bolt in. Then used the bolt to do the rest.

John

[edwardb]

While installing the gas tank i discovered there are some bends in the tank rim flanges to create more clearance for the straps. Those bends have to be removed before the straps will pull the tank up enough into the frame of the coupe. It looks like the gas tank has been reworked with out telling factory five...

Those bends in the tank rim have always been there. No surprise. FF's manual in the fuel tank installation section says "At the locations on the tank where the tank straps come near the tank, use a pair of pliers and bend the bent parts flat." Hopefully you have the Gen 3 Coupe manual. It was recently released and should have been sent to you.

BTW, following your build closely. My Gen 3 Coupe is scheduled for completion on the 18th. Hopefully won't have to wait too long for my friends at Stewart to get it here.

[forcefed1]

in the last week I was able to get the pedals mounted. I sure do like that willwood pedal assembly. Nice stuff!

With that finished I moved into the sheet metal of the pedal boxes and engine aluminum. A few friends stopped over the check things out and gave me some help on saturday. I decided to powdercoat all the the panels on both sides. After researching colors for a few hours, I finally choose SPEEDWAY BLACK from prismatic powders. It's a dark grey with lots of fine metallic in it. The powder itself is a low gloss. not a satin but not a bright gloss. I have used this color for the center of some 3 piece wheels. For those I followed with clear coat to give it extra shine.

After drilling all the panels. I coated them in my shop with the help of my son Nate. To cure the powder I use an old kitchen oven. Those side panels are the MAX that oven can handle!
I will be getting all the larger panels coated at a friends shop with a much larger oven.

here are a few pictures.

Got to love those cleco clamps. I'm real pleased with the look of the final boxes. the contrasting rivets on the grey look SICK Like a well machined prototype part!

I know I will be covering most of this up with heat shielding material But it's nice to get the foundation top notch too.

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for the top drivers side foot box panel I tapped the holes 8-32 and used some Stainless steel button head screws.

A great time was had by all!

[nkw8181]

Looking good! Mine should be getting loaded up with Stewart today. Where are you located?

[forcefed1]

Man I'm struggling to pick a color for this build. SO MANY GREAT COLORS.

I have been seriously looking for months. The color I keep coming back to is pretty close to another car I own close to Candy red. I really want to have a different color. BUT I REALLY like the candy red and metallic grey combination.

Every week i change my mind when i see someones build that i like. Then every OTHER week i come back to the candy red type colors. choosing the color will no doubt be the hardest part of the build.


This week i did not get to work on it much so far...however see my thread in the Modular engines area.

I did get my coyote running on a pallet using all the original donor car wiring and sensors.

My plan at this point is NOT to use the ford controls pack or factory five chassis wiring harness. Sure using those parts would be easy and guarantee success, But, I bought this car for a project to do some things that others have not.
so if i can I will pave the way for any followers.

speaking of pave the way.

I got my front brakes in this week and trail fit them.

[forcefed1]

For rear brakes I'm using the 2015 mustang GT performance package rear disks and rotors. they are about 13.5 " diameter dual piston caliper. I do not have my rear suspension parts from factory five yet to verify. It looks like they will fit with out any modification.

For front brakes, I wanted to use the ford 15" front rotors and 6 piston calipers from the 2015 performance package. Internet research showed that I would need to have 19" wheels. I am not going to use 19s Im going to use 18s.
SO i purchased some 2015 mustang gt 14" 4 piston front brakes. I got all rotors and loaded calipers in like new condition from a 2016 car with 8500 miles on it for 300$ shipped! WOW these things are MASSIVE!

I will design and fabricate some brackets to adapt them to the FFR spindles.

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They clear the suspension parts just fine

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I will have to modify the spindle lower brake attachment point. It looks like I will have to tap a new hole for a custom bracket.
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I own and operate a CNC machine shop and have 18 years engineering design background with degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering. Modifying and fabricating some custom things here and there will not be too hard.

The wheel I have shown here for mock-up purposes is a 17" Fikse fm-5 three piece with a deep dish. IT BARELY CLEARS! but 18" wheels will clear for sure.
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I also took some time to paint the M-82 transmission.
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[nkw8181]

Looking good! looking good! did you media blast your brake calipers?

[forcefed1]

I did blast them. The photos show them before I put some VHT header paint on the non friction surfaces.

[forcefed1]

In the last week I made some decent progress.

I got the rest of the panels drilled. My son and I spend Sunday Powder coating the ones we could fit in the oven. The larger ones will be heading to my friends shop to coat next week.

I also got the Coyote and MT-82 (stock 2015 Mustang GT) transmission installed!

MAN what a tight fit! I have installed some VERY tight engines over the years. Id say up to this point the twin turbo 911 was THE WORST. Well not any more. Coyote and MT-82 win the trophy for the tightest fit!

I had it rigged diagonally with a chain from the front drivers side to the rear passenger side. That really hurt when it got in the chassis. When I had to angle the nose of the tranny down, It tilted the engine from side to side. This made the top head hit and the bottom oil pan hit since it was hanging diagonal. I had my daughter come out and stand on the nose of the tranny to help it at the correct angle.
Im sure I will pull it out a time or three in the next few months. Next time I will rig it more on the center line front to back so it hangs and tilts correctly keeping the heads and oil pan away from the sides.



With the engine and tranny installed,
I also got the shifter modifications designed and transmission mounts figured out.
well rev one at least.

Im working on fabricating my design later today after work.

[Jacob McCrea]

"For front brakes, I wanted to use the ford 15" front rotors and 6 piston calipers from the 2015 performance package. Internet research showed that I would need to have 19" wheels. I am not going to use 19s Im going to use 18s.
SO i purchased some 2015 mustang gt 14" 4 piston front brakes. I got all rotors and loaded calipers in like new condition from a 2016 car with 8500 miles on it for 300$ shipped! WOW these things are MASSIVE!"

That's pretty neat; I was wondering what it would take to make the latest 15" rotors work. The greater offset of the rotor should give more wheel choices than I had with a comparable setup. I used the same calipers, but 14" front rotors from a '12 GT500 (which have very little offset) and an adapter kit from Fully Torqued Racing. It was not a perfect fit and the wheel choice is about nil, but it was cheap and worked. I look forward to seeing how the calipers adapt to the FFR spindles on your setup.

[David Hodgkins]

Great start so far!

I upgraded your account for full access and you can update your profile now. In case you want to embed your pics (full size) instead of using attachments, read this thread:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...tures-in-posts

Do me a favor and throw some dirt on the garage floor. It's WAY too clean!!

[forcefed1]

I opened the power steering parts this evening and discovered it mounts right where my AC compressor sits.
Does anyone know if there is a way to do power steering and A/C?

perhaps I will need to figure this one out on my own.

[forcefed1]

I worked on the mt-82 shifter base this weekend.
It came out great! I had to do a little cutting and tweaking on the first billet adapter but after several hours of that I think I have a final design. I plan to mill out a REV-2 tomorrow but REV-1 is already feeling pretty good.

The shifter feels nice and firm and with it tilted forward, placement is very nice.
As you can see im able to retain the reverse lockout too.

Im 6'2" and 195#. From what I can tell this shifter location is going to be about as good as it could get.

I also designed a rear transmission mount which I plan to mill out from a chunk of aluminum tomorrow too

ill post some photos in the next thread to catch you all up.

Sorry David. No dirt on the floor yet. though the inside of the machining center is a mess. Just a few shavings of metal.

[forcefed1]

looks like i wont be uploading full size photos right away. I dont have time tonight to figure out how to make an album on teh forum and get it all working the first time maybe tomorrow.

until then here are a few thumbnails to hold you all over.

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the alternator sure is close to the shorty header! i think i will change these headers for the SST long tube ones.
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my daughter had to stand on the transmission to get the noise low enough so the oil pan would clear in the front.
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fabricating shifter REV-1
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rev 1 installed after some hacking!

looks and feels solid. retains stock lockout.
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[Erik W. Treves]

I like the shifter! FOr the alt.... the V6 one fits much better and uses the same pickup points on the motor. It allowed me to run my shorty headers.

also... any thoughts of selling (ME) one of those shifter conversions blocks?? mine works... but I am a sucker for aluminum pieces that are shiny!

[forcefed1]

That's good info on the alternator.

I will fabricate shifter REV-2, which incorporates all the hacking, in a day or two and make 2 right way. Id be happy to send you one as payment for all the gleaning I have done of your G3 coupe build.

[Erik W. Treves]

Oh wow... that's not necessary... but thanks!!!

[forcefed1]

This week I moved efforts into getting the FORD MUSTANG GT full wiring harness working.

the last few wire harnesses i gave a "hair cut" to were from the late 80s early 90s before CAN bus.

I must say the 2015 Ford wire harness I have is very well assembled. the connections are nearly all unique and they use about 5 materials to wrap the harness for protection from all sorts of situations. I could note get over how they selected the proper gauge wire for each application VS making it all from 18 gauge wire.

Two weeks ago I connected my entire 2015 ford Coyote donor engine together on a crate. All my drivetrane parts are from a mustang GT. I connected the full engine and chassis wiring harness together with several of the other modules all removed from the car.
I stripped a 12 gauge ground wire from some house hold wire i had laying around. I took that ground wire and some nuts and bolts, Bolted the
ground points all through the wire harness to the copper ground wire. After connecting every thing together i hooked the ground and positive leads of the wire harness to a battery.
I also connected the OEM gas tank. I ran 8 feet of rubber fuel line to the engine fuel rail and added a few gallons of gas.
With only oil in the engine, I was able to cycle the clutch switch and using the OEM starter switch I pressed start! I got some clicking but no cranking. I played with it for a few more attempts. I got the same thing every time. the start switch LED would cycle when i pressed the start switch. NO cranking through. Eventually I placed the key fob right up against the PATS antenna. I learned from a video online that if the FOB battery is dead, holding the fob right against the antenna will make it work.

THE ENGINE RAN! right there on the pallet.

It ran well for about 20 seconds. using the OEM throttle I was able to rev the engine. Then it stalled out.
I was able to use my OBDII scan tool and clear codes and run it again to start seeing sensors and all sorts of things.
It was pretty cool!
Over several attempts the car would only run pretty well for 20 seconds and stall. I determined the fuel pump was priming the system when initialization but once the engine was running the fuel pump was not on.

I ordered the Ford factory wiring diagram book from online.
it's about 200 pages, Ford produces it. It has every wire and connector and most every circuit diagram all organised and put together. It's all specific to my donor 2015 Mustang GT

Using the book I quickly determined that there is not a fuel pressure sensor on the engine fuel rail as I had assumed. There is also not a pressure sensor in the gas tank. I had thought the sensor was in the tank. the wiring diagrams show it about 12 inches from the tank. inline.
I am missing this sensor and the fuel line. I found the connector on teh wire harness where it goes.
I ordered the sensor from RockAuto online.
I was not able to find the correct sensor anywhere local. The car is too new for anyone to have a part listing.

I should see the sensor in a few days.

Mean while, Time to give this wire harness a much needed hair cut!

lots of the chassis wire harness systems could be removed.
thing like the power seats
mood lighting
power locks and windows and mirrors
all the GPS and stereo stuff.

With the factory wiring diagrams in hand laid out the whole harness on the garage floor.

using two friend some nail clipping scissors and an old race seat, I spent several hours carefully cutting the harness tape and removing all the looming from the harness to expose all the wires.

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as you can see we made it pretty far through all the wiring.

my initial idea was to lay the harness on a sheet of plywood. it proved to be WAY to big for that to work.

[q4stix]

You're far more ambitious with the wiring than I am! Good work on it and great use of the seat haha.

Do you own your own NC mill?

[Dlirium]

I've been considering different rivet / powder coating options as I wait for my coupe delivery (schedule for Feb 18). Odd the things that occupy your time once one is actually on order! I appreciate the attention to detail on your choices, and may copy / plagiarize! :-)

[Presto51]

Very nice build, but I must say that your garage is WAY too clean, don't how you work in that environment

Keep up the great work

Ron

[nkw8181]

Looking good! Keep up the good work! I am curious about the PS and AC issue. I will have both as well but haven't received either yet. What hits?

[forcefed1]

I have been making steady progress.

first let me say that after an estimated 50 man hours. the OEM ford mustang GT wiring harness WILL NOT be a good option.

I got about 50% through cutting wires, I tested the harness. the engine still ran.
So i got confident and cut a bunch more wires and even played with installing the harness as you will see in the photos.

I cut too many and im getting NOTHING.
I started RECONNECTING some modules and still had nothing.
I can say this for lessons learned.
If i were to attempt this again, or if anyone else wants to try it. You will need to plan to keep the BMS module. the 15 model cars need it to start because of the key fobs. I was able to thin off most of the chassis wires before having any problems.
I started and the end of the wires and worked backwards. I looked up each connector and every wire on that connector and choose if I was going to cut the wire. this is not the best way to go. in hind sight. most all the wires do go. and since I only need the wire not the connector on the end, Identification of the wires to keep and the start of the circuit and clipping all the rest is the way to go.

all finished I only had about 10 wires left from teh circuits leaving the BMS.

If anyone wants to attempt this.
1 Buy the book from ford
2 Plan to keep most all the wires under the hood part of the harness.
3 strip back the tape on the harness leaving the BMS about 2'
4 identify the wires you want to KEEP
5 unplug teh modules you think you can remove.
6 verify the engine works still
7 start cutting wires one at a time you think you want to remove and start then engine every 5 or so.

plan to have a pile of crap you have to hide in the car some place. the main fuse panel and BMS, the fuel pump control module and the fuel pump and pressure switch and of course the ECU at a minimum.

For me it was the space problem with keeping the extra large modules that killed it. Once I started laying the harness in the car, I could not figure out a clean way to package everything. I will have AC in my car. and heat. so hiding all those modules near the engine but not in plain sight got REAL HARD.

Then after spending a few hours trying to solve the problem of "which wire do i need to reconnect" and seriously looking at shortening EVERY wire left to clean up the mess. Then still having a big ball of crap from the modules left over...

I threw in the towel and called Jegs for the ford performance controls package. That was always my backup plan. I just wanted to prove that this was a bad option for me first. I also wanted to prove that it COULD be done. and for those who like wiring diagrams and soldering and dont mind the unclean install and extra complexity. GO FOR IT!


here are some photos showing how far I got.
as you can tel there was a pile of stuff still left to install.
I did a TEMP layout under the dash area to start routing things.
once i got it all hooked up for the engine to run again. I was not pleased.
I was also not pleased when the engine didn't start after several hours of testing with my meter I concluded the bus which tested to still be connected in all loops, was not doing what it wanted.


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[Erik W. Treves]

I have that T-shirt unfortunately. While we are there you might want to look at the AEM system.... it IS more expensive...BUT... if you ever need to re program the ECU it will be cheaper and WAY less complicated.... having to do over again myself.... AEM!

[Dlirium]

I have that T-shirt unfortunately. While we are there you might want to look at the AEM system.... it IS more expensive...BUT... if you ever need to re program the ECU it will be cheaper and WAY less complicated.... having to do over again myself.... AEM!

Got a link for us?

thx!

[Erik W. Treves]

Call VeryCoolParts.com

you can get info on

http://aemelectronics.com/products/p...-efi-solutions

[forcefed1]

Great timing Erik.
I purchased a ford performance coyote controls pack.
I dont really feel like i got much for the money especially given that i have all the same parts already on the floor. I'm just struggling to make them talk.

12 years ago I had an AEM standalone system and worked with in an MKIV supra. It was a very well engineered system with lots of options. I spent countless evenings plowing through datalogs tweaking things. back then i didnt see any limitations. today its likely even more over the top.

Ill go that route too.

Plus it gives me the option of easily working with other systems like your instruments.

[Higgybulin]

Did you take any pics of the front brake brackets you made up?
Higgy

[edwardb]

You may want to take a closer look before going that way. At least know what you're getting into. You mention you have a 2015 Coyote motor from Mustang GT. That's the Gen 2 Coyote. AEM's website only talks about the 2011-2014 Coyote. They're quite different. Digging a little deeper into some AEM forum posts, at least as of several months ago they don't directly support the 2015+ Coyote. Some pretty deep workarounds or part changing options are described.