Chris' 289 FIA build, #8833

[Vspeeds]

Looking good Chris. Do you have the standard width axels and are you using the standard FFR 15” bolt on wheels? Your wheels fit the body really good. Most, if not all the 289 photos I see are using the narrow width with pin drive wheels.

[cnutting]

Yes, those are the standard wheels. Wanted to try and stay in budget. Hasn't really worked that well....

[cnutting]

Checked in on the car yesterday. Looks really good. Happy with the paint sample too. Heading for the spray booth late this week/early next.

[cnutting]

While I'm waiting for paint, I've started thinking about the next steps in the process. Part of this is which direction did I want to take to reduce the sound of the exhaust. Personally, I love it. Fits the race car image. Realistically, I need to take it down a notch. Thought about going with inserts, thought about going with the catted j pipes. Then I got a message from Bob Boig. They are local and have systems for the MKIV, I have their cooling pipes already. We discussed the 289 application and long story short, I've offered up my car as a test mule and gave Bob a pipe for research. More to come, but there will be a quiet pipe option for the 289.

[chuckster]

Hey Chris. When you tak to him again, tell him he’s got another customer. I fired mine up last weekend with the catted j pipes. Sounds great, but still too loud. If he doesn’t come up with something, I may give my welder my j pipes and a couple of Magnaflo 14159’s and see how that works. Go carting my 289 this Sunday before the next snowstorm.d

[cnutting]

I will let him know. Bob's been great to work with.

[CobraboyDR]

I will let him know. Bob's been great to work with.

I would be interested in their solution to quieter pipes.

From what I can tell, the 289 pipes are unbaffled so make quite the racket. Quieting them would be a big + in my mind. Loud pipes can get annoying and make for unhappy neighbors.

[cnutting]

The body is in the polish stage, tomorrow they will be moving towards reassembly. Targeting picking the car up a week from Saturday, then it's the home stretch. A bunch of stuff to put back on, double check my alignments and torques, then the infamous Mass registration process. Somewhere in there I need to get the car over to Bob Boig for exhaust work.

Pic from last week in clearcoat:



And a couple pics from today in polish:

[cgundermann]

Awesome, love your color scheme!

Chris

[Vspeeds]

Wow! Thats a great color combo

[cnutting]

Thanks guys! Went with vintage Ford colors, Viking blue and springtime yellow.

[wareaglescott]

looks great. Cant wait to see it all put together

[japollon]

Just looks perfect Chris! Great work and great choices on your part. Looking forward to more pictures of the finished product. Joel

[cnutting]

Had a small delay on pickup but that's ok. Weather is awful here in Boston anyway, some light snow today and rain expected all day tomorrow. Last Friday it was 70, go figure...

The car is ready, it's back on all four wheels and I'm looking forward to next weekend.

[Scubasommer]

Had a small delay on pickup but that's ok. Weather is awful here in Boston anyway, some light snow today and rain expected all day tomorrow. Last Friday it was 70, go figure...

The car is ready, it's back on all four wheels and I'm looking forward to next weekend.

Looks awesome!!!
Home stretch

[chuckster]

Thanks for the tip Chris. Solved my lighting problem. FFRshould include these in all 289 kits as the unit they give you does not work with the included LED taillights.

[cnutting]

Excellent, happy to help!

[David Hodgkins]

Outstanding build!

Better put those spinners on before the wheels fall off!!!

I slay me...

[cnutting]

Outstanding build!

Better put those spinners on before the wheels fall off!!!

I slay me...

Thanks!

I made sure to add an extra static fluid reservoir to help keep the wheels on. Improved my mileage plus gave me 10 extra hp...

[cnutting]

Picked the car up from the body shop yesterday. The ride home was interesting, had a few people blocking traffic on the Mass Pike to take a look. Happy to get home in one piece!

Spent today mounting the windshield, the rollbar and some other odds and ends. Next week I will continue with the wheel well aluminum, then some underside work.

[CobraboyDR]

Picked the car up from the body shop yesterday. The ride home was interesting, had a few people blocking traffic on the Mass Pike to take a look. Happy to get home in one piece!

Spent today mounting the windshield, the rollbar and some other odds and ends. Next week I will continue with the wheel well aluminum, then some underside work.

Spectacular!

[japollon]

Wow Chris, what a beautiful 289 FIA. All of your time and effort has paid off. There are precious few examples of this particular style of car and yours is certainly at the top of the list.

What's the latest on the Boig side pipes?

[Boig Motorsports]

Chris, Would you like to test our design for quieter sidepipes maybe next Saturday? We're working on the fabrication this week! I may be able to come to you.

Boig Motorsports

[cnutting]

Thanks for the compliments!

No photos in today's update, but we do have some data. Bob Boig stopped by this morning with a prototype pipe. He basically cut out the center section and welded in a new piece as well as fitted some baffling upstream and downstream. He also brought an analog sound meter and a temporary muffler extension to really quiet down the driver's side pipe during testing.

Using the meter at chin height in the driver's seat, we took baseline numbers on the stock passenger pipe. We planned to test at idle (~900 rpm), 2000 rpm and 3000 rpm. Meter showed ~92 dB at 900, ~98 at 2000 and i stopped it at 2500 since we were about 102 dB and my finicky neighbor was outside. For reference, pain starts at ~120dB..

Next we bolted up the new passenger pipe and saw ~10 dB knockdown across the range. That cuts the volume roughly in half. Pretty impressive for a 3 inch pipe with no obvious modifications. We could easily chat during testing which was more difficult with stock.

So... Bob took my driver's side pipe and will make that the same as the passenger. I'll pick them it up next week, repaint both and reinstall.

The welds by the way, were very well done. I think we agreed that these will be known as quiet-er pipes since they technically are still loud, but much more tolerable.

[CobraboyDR]

Thanks for the compliments!

No photos in today's update, but we do have some data. Bob Boig stopped by this morning with a prototype pipe. He basically cut out the center section and welded in a new piece as well as fitted some baffling upstream and downstream. He also brought an analog sound meter and a temporary muffler extension to really quiet down the driver's side pipe during testing.

Using the meter at chin height in the driver's seat, we took baseline numbers on the stock passenger pipe. We planned to test at idle (~900 rpm), 2000 rpm and 3000 rpm. Meter showed ~92 dB at 900, ~98 at 2000 and i stopped it at 2500 since we were about 102 dB and my finicky neighbor was outside. For reference, pain starts at ~120dB..

Next we bolted up the new passenger pipe and saw ~10 dB knockdown across the range. That cuts the volume roughly in half. Pretty impressive for a 3 inch pipe with no obvious modifications. We could easily chat during testing which was more difficult with stock.

So... Bob took my driver's side pipe and will make that the same as the passenger. I'll pick them it up next week, repaint both and reinstall.

The welds by the way, were very well done. I think we agreed that these will be known as quiet-er pipes since they technically are still loud, but much more tolerable.

Great!

Would have been interedting to do a before and after dyno run.

How much ground clearance do you have?

[cnutting]

Set my ride height at about 4.5". Bob took some measurements of the pipe to ground, but I don't recall what he said. If I get out to the garage today I can take some...

[Boig Motorsports]

The clearance of the side exhausts to the ground won't be any different than the original FFR sidepipes would be as one of the "Quieter Pipes" design requirements was to try to keep the original 3" sidepipe diameter. This was to maintain the current design sidepipe's clearance to both the body, and ground. With modifications to the front and rear sections, and to the center muffler section of the sidepipe, we were able to reduce noise an approximately 10 db across the board as Chris's post reports.

By the way, Chris's build is GORGEOUS! One of the best FFR's I have seen!

Chris, thanks for the chance to work with you.

These "Quieter Pipes" will be available for FFR F.I.A./USRRC cars soon.

[GoDadGo]

Impressive, Simply Impressive!

Excellent Work, Excellent Execution!

If you aren't proud, then something is wrong with you.

[cnutting]

Thank you. I just tried to learn from the real experts out there. The team at Mike's Restoration really brought it together with the paint.

[cnutting]

Knocked off a couple more items on the list. Roll-bar is permanently mounted. As is the nose aluminum and door sills. All of the lights are in and functional. Fuel filler is 90% mounted. I added some edge trim to the body where it pokes through to clean it up a bit. I also mounted the new pipes from Boig. Fired it up today, big difference in the volume! The tone is good too. Very happy with these new pipes.

The last things on my list are wheel well aluminum and double checking all my torques and alignments. Need to bolt in the seats too and aim the headlights/trim them out.

Here are some pictures:

[monster7]

I don't have a FFR, but also looking for a quieter 289 Sidepipe! This is what i'm looking for!
My 289 FIA:
schräg_frontal.jpeg

Is it possible to have a sound vid with the quiter pipes?

BTW, this is a very nice 289 you have!!

[cnutting]

Thanks!
I don't have one but it's on my list since I've received several requests. I'll try to get one up this week.

Like your 289. Is that an ERA?

[WIS89]

Chris-

I know I have shared my admiration for your build before. However, I have to reiterate that your car looks simply amazing!!

I love the color, the accent stripe, and everything about the finishing touches. She is a really great example of the FIA car, and you should be stoked to be nearly finished.

Congratulations on approaching the finish line of your build. I have really enjoyed following your build, and admired your craftsmanship; beautifully done!

I look forward to seeing her all done, and checking out all the details!

Regards,

Steve

[monster7]

Thanks!
I don't have one but it's on my list since I've received several requests. I'll try to get one up this week.

Like your 289. Is that an ERA?

No, it's a 289 FIA from HAWK UK with an '85 302 Roller

[cnutting]

Looked that up today. Nice kit, yours came out quite sharp, a real good looking car!

[cnutting]

Is it possible to have a sound vid with the quiter pipes?

I finally got some video and posted a before and after in the main forum.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...-quieter-pipes

In other news.... I think I'm done. When I say done, I mean as far as my checklist of things to assemble, mount, adjust, etc. I'm sure I will find ways to "improve" the build, but let's say I've reached the basic level of completeness. Here are a couple pics:







The last items were aiming and trimming of the headlights and mounting the door panels. The door panels are from **********, but they needed to be modified to fit the 289 style doors. I should at some point make a list of all the typical MKIV mods/upgrades that needed to be tweaked for the 289.

Starting the registration process. My paperwork was reviewed and approved by the State Police today, towing the car down to their facility Friday for VIN assignment.

[Boig Motorsports]

Good luck Friday! Your build is breathtaking!

Bob

[stevo7896]

That is beautiful ,classic look in every way !! Nice touch with the painted louvers .

[CobraboyDR]

Your build is spectacular!

Yes, I'd love to see a list of mods needed between a Mk4 and FIA...

[chuckster]

Hi Chris, did Leo do your paperwork review? I had my paperwork review on Weds. and Leo was just great. I’m trailering mine down on Monday for VIN assignment. I look forward to reading about your experience, good luck today.