P100DHG Build Thread - Gen 3 Coupe #138

[P100DHG]

I put my build on hold for the last 2 weeks while I digested and sorted this out.

If you want to get to the meat of it and skip this just play the video but here is the back story. Some of it is in the video but this is the full story.

My father-in-law who had helped me on the rear suspension and some heavy lifting really wanted to install the engine with me. After bleeding the brakes with my wife, I called him up and we agreed to install the engine when he was back in town. So on a Friday afternoon, I got off work early and we got together. Roush had represented to me under a salesman that has since retired that it would come with instructions on how to install it. I thought I was going to get the type of manual that Factory Five has made. What I got was Tremec's install sheet (no pictures), Quicktime Bell Housing's install sheet and some engine data about the Dyno. If you've read Tremec & Quicktime's install sheet they are basically worthless.

So I called Roush, got the sales manager Dennis Corn on the phone. Super nice guy who explained that this type of thing is passed down basically with verbal and hands on experience and that no one writes an install guide to these things. But he was so patient and nice and promised me he would teach me. Between what was available on the internet and his explanations we were going to get this engine in. So he left me with some homework. The homework was to lay out everything on the floor and work bench of my garage and get familiar with the parts. Well that's what we did Friday afternoon. I have an older 27" iMac in my garage and that same afternoon started to pull up YouTube videos on how to put the clutch fork on the bell housing, the housing on the transmission and transmission to engine and naturally we started mocking up everything and researching and realizing we were short certain Grade 8 hardware (I talked about in my previous post) which I went out and bought that evening. The next afternoon we met back up and we assembled and installed everything and installed the engine into the car but the engine wouldn't fully seat on the chassis mounts which we resolved Sunday (long story how I got it but if you run into trouble I can explain).

Anyway, Dennis called me Monday morning first thing and we ended up connecting Tuesday morning. I told Dennis about my Extra Credit! He was really excited and happy for me. Very encouraging guy. But what came next really felt like a punch in the gut. I was sick. He said, "did I check to make sure that after I installed the transmission to the engine that the crankshaft still had between 0.005" - 0.010" of endplay in it?" Naturally I asked why and he said, "because in rare instances after installing the transmission, the transmission input shaft can bind on the crankshaft and force the crankshaft forward and press it against the thrust bearing, and if I ran the engine like that I would blow out the thrust bearing and I would be in for a rebuild at my expense." He left me with, "go research it." Even as I type this it makes me sick to think that could happen. It was a real possibility that I could blow thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours of work.

Now you have to put yourself in my shoes because I've never done any of this so my mind goes to worst case scenario. If something was wrong I'd have to pull my engine out of my car and it wasn't a cake walk getting it in. Well I did a quick google search and then another and another and could not find anything about checking the endplay after the transmission was installed. So I called Factory Five and Dave B. whose been building engines for the last 25 years explained to me how unlikely it would be that such a situation could arise but he couldn't find a reason not to check the endplay. We talked about it for like 30 or 45 minutes, Dave is the BEST. I called 3 other reputable people here in Los Angeles. One guy basically said the same thing as Dave. Another guy said he does the check regularly and another guy said the chances of binding are very small but why not check.

I got the impression no one was going to say, "you're good to go" and have blood on their hands. Unprompted all of them came up with the same method of testing and I was careful not to give anyone any ideas so that way my information was pure. All said get a pry bar, wrap it in padding of some sort and place the pry bar behind the harmonic balancer and see if I could move the crankshaft forward and then backward by putting the pry bar behind the flywheel through the starter hole and pushing the crankshaft backward using the bell housing backplate to leverage off of. They said you can see it. I can tell you my eyes aren't good enough to see it (I have perfect vision but I don't have a microscope for eyeballs). The last guy explained to me how to measure it which I covered in the video. That's something I can get behind, DATA! No one could describe to me how much force it would take but the consensus was "not very much." I can confirm this. It doesn't take much at all. Some said this is a problem in automatic transmission applications others said this is a Chevy issue but everyone said CHECK IT. So I used a micrometer and stand from Harbor Freight. So I did the test, and there is endplay, and it's the proper amount. THANK HEAVEN! Learn from me and do this check before you install your engine/transmission into the car it will save yourself the agony of pulling your engine out if there is a problem. Piece of advice, attach the mount for the micrometer to the oil pan. If you've already installed your engine into the car, do not place the mount on the chassis. Luckily there wasn't any issue with endplay in my case and I can continue building!

Sorry for the blinding polished parts on the engine

[edwardb]

I personally haven't heard of checking the crankshaft endplay at that stage. While installing the crankshaft and lower end of the engine, yes. The only thing that would hold things up is from the input shaft into the crankshaft pilot bearing. The bell housing wouldn't seat if the input shaft isn't in the bearing. Then a matter of it going in so far it bottoms out or hangs up somehow. I personally do measure the input shaft and make sure it's the proper length for the bell housing, which with a common (and the recommended) parts has never been an issue. There's actually a considerable amount of in/out free play in the input shaft/pilot bearing that would prevent the crankshaft endplay from being affected. At least with the combinations I've had experience with. But now that you've confirmed it's OK, all good I guess. What I am surprised about is no one said anything to you about checking the bellhousing alignment. You said the Quicktime and Tremec instructions were basically worthless. But actually as I recall this is mentioned in both. Tremec even makes a point that if this step isn't followed, it could jeopardize your warranty. Almost makes me wonder if the guy from Roush was maybe thinking of this check versus the one you did. Who knows. But this is a pretty big deal. You'll get lots of guys on here that will agree. Plenty of YouTube videos. This one from Summit gives the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxNn4qk_KlM.

[P100DHG]

Yup, did all that. Also the dowel pins were already set into engine by Roush. Maybe “worthless” is a dramatized word but if you put it into context and realize what I thought I was getting, an instruction manual with pictures, part lists and a step by step guide and what I got.... You’re right though if I gave the impression don’t read what it has to say or follow the directions and throw it in the trash I didn’t mean that, I was being flippant. So DISCLAIMER: Read everything and follow directions. Thanks for your input here Paul, always love to hear your advice!

-Danny

[Dave Tabor]

Did I read that you used bolts to pull the trans the last fraction of an inch to mate to the bellhousing?

Dave #17

[P100DHG]

Did I read that you used bolts to pull the trans the last fraction of an inch to mate to the bellhousing?

Dave #17

Yeah I made sure to use a torque wrench to do it though. It was touching the dowel pins and aligning correctly so it was fractions as you said. If I recall I set it to 15lbs and it never clicked so the force was far less. The idea was to get them to mate without breaking something. My final torque was 35lbs once everything was totally together. I mentioned this to all the experts I spoke to (I’m happy to list everyone if you guys want to cross check with them on you’re own builds.) but to summarize, Dave B. who puts the coyote kits together with Dan at FFR told me that sometimes they slide right together and other times they have to use that technique. I lightly greased my splines on the input shaft and crankshaft to aid in mating. I was careful not to glob it on and contaminate stuff. Not sure if it would. I was just being careful cause this was my first time. I was using an abundance of caution I took about 45 minutes or 1 hour to get it together. The transmission and bell housing are heavy and the engine moves a lot suspended on the crane. Hard to give an accurate description of the feeling or force I used but it felt smooth, not fighting against something. Meaning with little force it went together.

[P100DHG]

Parts on Order:

So after installing my engine I've been taking some time to just stare at it and understand what I'm up against. Understand the plumbing job to come. I intend to finish out the radiator sheet metal, mount the radiator and AC condenser. Then plumb everything, not sure if I am going to tackle the dashboard or electrical after that but plenty of time to decide.

But now after my engine is installed I see a problem with the location I put my filler neck. It's too low... I will certainly have air in my system. So I looked for a solution, the good news is, the problem has been solved for me, bad news is I might have to remake that engine panel after relocating the filler neck unless I can fit my power steering reservoir in that position. Anyway, my good friend who lives down the street owns a Cobra, it's got a name 427Blur. It's on FFCars. Anyway he wasn't the original builder but he was having some overheating issues with it. He took it to a guy, Penzer Auto Concepts in Monrovia, CA who fixed the issue. The trick is getting the filler neck at its highest possible point. In the case of the Daytona and Cobra that's tough to do with a 351W block. So I looked to my friends car to find the genius solution and luckily I have pictures of his engine at different points in time to reference.

Before the fix
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After the fix
IMG_8003.jpg

What we are looking at is he moved the filler neck to the intake manifold like a Chevy. I googled and googled and googled, hours of googling for 2 nights straight, I thought I would find it and I couldn't. So yesterday I stayed at home with my son who has been sick with a bug, it was nice to take some time to be with the cuddly guy and just hang. During nap I snuck into the garage and it came to me, if anyone knows what this thing is it's going to be Mark from Breeze Automotive and.... Of course he did! He said it was made by Cobra Earl who isn't around anymore but with a little research we were able to find it. Mark doesn't sell it but he knows all things, so lots of praise to him! It's now made by TD Motion and it's called:

Sold as a Kit:
302 – 427W FORD ULTRA THERMOSTAT HOUSING KIT

Sold as an Adapter:
BILLET FORD / GM THERMOSTAT HOUSING THERMOSTAT HOUSING – 302-351W

I opted to buy the adapter and one can buy the Chevy Intake Manifold Filler Neck from Jegs or Summit made by a number of different manufactures (I opted for JEGS Intake Manifold Fill Neck Kit Polished and value engineered my purchase as theirs was on super sale for the holidays and I already have a filler cap I like)

Notably I also ordered Vintage Air Gen IV Servo Heater Control Water Valve Kit. This is to replace the Thermotion valve supplied by FFR because a 351W doesn't require a bypass style valve like the Coyote does which eliminates more stuff and I intend to put this valve in between the bulkhead and the AC unit so under the dash eliminating clutter in the engine compartment. Question is will it work with the heater control supplied by FFR? Will it fit in the space?.... Stay tuned.

Lastly I am changing out the supplied heater bulkhead connectors with these:

Beduan 5/8'' Hose Barb Thru-Bulk Bulkhead Straight Hex Union Stainless Steel Fitting

Anyway, I'm confident the Filler Neck Manifold Adapter will work, (which is the keywords I kept googling and coming up short on) but before you go on a buying frenzy give me some time to sort out the other parts and see if things work or not but this is the direction I am heading.

[P100DHG]

I'm pushing these short updates rather than holding back right now because I am hoping it will help someone at a similar point. Also I am aggregating my research findings to this thread so it can be a one stop shop of sorts for these common questions that are spread out over multiple threads and posts. I am finding my answers but it's required searching around.

Tremec TKO600 Tail Shaft Donut
So I posted a question HERE as it relates to the backend of my transmission where the drive shaft inserts. When I posted the question, I knew the driveshaft went in somewhere but didn't understand what I was looking at. I installed my engine not knowing what was what, figuring I would address it later. This is the part where you probably are like... How the hell is this guy building a car knowing literally nothing about cars?.... The answer is research! and Paul's brilliant explanations . So here is what we are looking at.

IMG_4547.jpg

The shipping seal commonly called a donut needs to move out of the way. As I understand it, it needs to come out or get pushed in. Jumping straight to the point, I took mine out. If you notice it is sitting proud of the rear seal and so I could easily grab it with a vise grip from it's inner portion/ inner diameter, staying clear away from the rear seal (that's the outer most piece of rubber). I spoke to Tremec and they said it can be removed or it can be pushed in and they recommend pushing because a lot guys mistake the rear seal for the donut and attempt to rip the rear seal off the transmission.... Or get so crazy about taking the donut out that they damage the rear seal with screwdrivers and pliers and the like. Mine was a perfect candidate for removal so that's what I opted for.

In some cases the donut does not sit proud as it did in mine and is recessed as in this example found HERE

image.jpg

It becomes very difficult to remove and thus pushing it in might be the better option but here is where my hands-on knowledge now comes in. It's rubber and it wants to hold onto that tail shaft for dear life. It's stretchy and so when you pull on it, it doesn't really move, it just stretches. Patience here is key cause if you damage that seal it's a sad day. I just took my time with it and it came out working various sides. Now if I understand physics, pushing it in is likely just as difficult as pulling it out so I'm not sure how that would be even possible because it wasn't easy getting it out and not damaging something but I guess it is since it's recommended but the internet is filled with frustrated guys dealing with this issue.

For reference here is it naked, without the donut

IMG_4659 2.jpg

Here is the donut

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Notice the outer ridge on the donut, well there is an inner ridge on the rear seal so those ridges touch which is another reason why I don't understand how it can be pushed in without damaging something but clearly if they recommend it, it's possible. And just to note the metal thing in the center is the tail shaft, and from what I can tell that hole in the middle isn't for anything. But the driveshaft slides in there and fits over that tail shaft and displaces that donut.

I decided to explain this because I know I am not the only one who has this question or is/was confused so I might as well swallow my pride and admit I could have benefited from this explanation honestly.

[jdavis500]

Good point. This caused confusion for me as well. The donut was so far in, I had no idea it was not part of the seal. I couldn't understand why the driveshaft wouldn't mate. Hopefully, your post will save novice builders like me time in the future.

[P100DHG]

TD Motion Filler Neck

This part is my savior, without it I would have had over heating issues for sure. As I said in my previous post, I bought just the adapter rather than the whole kit so I could choose my own GM/Chevy manifold filler neck/ thermostat housing (that’s what a lot of parts distributors call it) and it was a little cheaper to do it that way because of the holiday sales. Some interesting things to note:

1. You will need a new gasket after taking off the old intake manifold water inlet. I ask TD Motion if I could buy one from them and they gave me one at no charge. Don’t reuse the old gasket.
2. Due to a combination of factors I had a small issue. I have AC and Power steering and the working room for the adapter I couldn’t get a wrench on the provided 5/16 x 1” and the 5/16 x 1.5” hex head bolts (particularly the 1.5” one) so I purchased stainless Allen style bolts in the same sizes. Fixed the issue.
3. The hose that came with my engine that connects the water pump to the TD Motion adapter was not compatible so I bought a pre-bent 5/8” heater hose. Total rip off frankly at $15.
4. The 1/4” barb fitting that came with my Jegs filler neck I swapped for an AN fitting so it will match the stainless braided lines in the rest of the car. Also the thermostat housing I bought had 3 ports in the back for a heater connection I presume... I plugged all 3 for now till I tackle that later in the build. Not sure if the heater hose comes off that or off the top of the intake or either. I still need to review the schematics. To be continued...

The install process is straightforward what I didn’t fully grasp was the orientation of the thermostat, I took a picture and sent it to Danny Penzer and of course I had it upside down so he saved me. Thankfully I had the foresight to ask someone. He also gave me a pro tip and said drill 1/8” holes opposite each other so I have a small bypass. Since he fixed my buddies car and it runs great I have no reason to question his judgement here. The correct orientation looks like this:

09BB0AD9-F4D4-4964-A377-0A5265499DD0.jpg

Final install looks like this:

DFDE68C9-4974-49B6-9F1E-3F3AFD9F11A0.jpg

Vintage Air Heater Valve and 5/8” Barb Bulkhead Fittings

The Stainless 5/8” Barb Bulkhead fittings worked great. It saved a ton of room compared to the FFR provided bulk head fittings. It’s just needed on the heater side for this particular application. Just to note I think the Termotion valve will fit behind the dash with some coercing. The problem is I didn’t have foresight to but it behind the dash. I was drilling holes per the directions and I didn’t think this many steps ahead. The thermotion bypass valve has offset connectors and would require the holes to be drilled in a different places. I didn’t realize all this until after my panels were powered coated and permanently installed. But the Vintage Air valve is the perfect fit. However the particular valve I bought might not be the perfect solution for everyone and here is why. The valve I bought is open or closed it can't be regulated. So it all the way open or all the way closed. They do make one that can be regulated it’s marginally more expensive but like the thermotion valve it requires a control module and dial. I don’t mind buying the other one and returning this one but I’m thinking about how I want my car to look and I want it to be super clean, free of clutter and this might be a blessing in disguise because I can install a simple on-off-on toggle switch for my AC and Heat. Also I live in Southern California and it’s summer here like 360 days out of the year. Also I imagine that 427 is going to be warm despite all the lizard skin insulation I put in. Okay enough with the justification let’s move on. Here is how it looks installed:

F5EBC1D5-C36C-49F0-AFA3-157AAB6E6F91.jpg

Here is how it works. The red wire if for 12v power. The black wire is permanently grounded and this tells the valve to stay closed. The blue wire is going to be on a relay and switched to ground. When the switch is activated the valve opens and hot coolant comes into the heater and begins to flow through. The small block ford does not require a bypass valve so this application is very good. Without the Barb style bulkhead fittings in either the vintage air or thermotion the behind dash application isn’t possible. It wouldn’t have enough room.

On to mounting the AC dryer and power steering reservoir (coming today in the mail). I’ll plumb everything and then on to the radiator sheet metal.

[P100DHG]

I started on plumbing the AC today. No good way to hide the AC fittings from the bulkhead to the dryer and compressor. So... it’s going to need some elbow grease. The fittings are aluminum, they come scratched, pitted and have machine marks on them from bending or welding. They are dull and well not on par with where I am going with this build. No doubt they do the job they are supposed to, but fit and finish are #1 on this build. I don’t mind the extra work or even rework to get it right. I decided to polish my fittings. I used the following materials and processes, I experimented with different methods but skipping a step or doing something different didn’t yield the desired results.

I am going to break up the fitting/connector into 3 parts. You’ll notice the nut, the tube and the hose fitting. The hose fitting and the nut requires no sanding but the tube does. It’s pitted, dull, and even has machine marks where they bent the fitting. I played around with different grits of sandpaper 400, 320 but I settled on 220 which got out the pitting and machine marks nicely. But now the tube looks worse than when I started, which is good. Gotta start with a good foundation. Next I used Red Scotchbrite and went over the tube with the red Scotchbrite. I didn’t touch the hose fitting or nut those are left alone and not sanded at all (I know I said this already but I’m driving the point home).

After prep is done we can now polish. We need 3 products all made by Mothers. We start with PowerMetal (this is for scratch removing, it will get out our sanding marks), Mag & Aluminum Polish (this will bring a bright shiny luster to our parts), and finally Billet Automotive Metal Polish (which will bring the parts to a mirror like finish). I used the same pad for all 3 polishes and just applied the polish directly to the fitting with my finger. The buffed them with a Ryobi 6” bench grinder and the same polishing pad I used to bring the rivets and screws for my panels to a mirror finish. A reaction occurs between the polish and aluminum, it will begin to leave a black residue. This is a very good sign, this means the polishing is working, if we didn’t see this it wouldn’t be working. In between each product wipe the black residue off and enjoy the fruits of your labor, with each step the fitting will become more and more shiny. Just a note, kept the protective plastic plugs on my fittings while polishing.

The results are remarkable. It’s a total transformation. I honestly can’t believe how good they look. Now, I am not going to do every fitting but the 2 that come off the bulkhead and the 2 that comes off the compressor are getting this treatment the rest I am just leaving alone.

The first picture shows the before and after, the top fitting is not polished and the bottom is polished (pictures don’t do it justice). The second picture shows them installed you can see my reflection in them. The third is the polishes I used. The fourth I mocked up the panels cause I was curious how things are looking and I’d say they are looking quite well. I think they will conceal the plumbing very nicely. I plan to have the upper firewall panel that has not been powder coated behind the engine wrapped in diamond stitched leather. Should be a nice little touch.

IMG_4823.jpg IMG_4827.jpeg IMG_4825.jpg IMG_4833.jpg

[P100DHG]

Thought Capsule 2.0

Sorry guys not a lot of pictures in this one, more like an entry into my build journal.

So as you might have read I’ve taken some design liberties under the hood and with my seat design. One area of the car I’ve lamented is the dash. The gauge layout is packed in one corner. The gap between the trans tunnel and the dash leaves room for improvement as others have done. Though the FFR supplied GPS gauges are nice they aren’t going to work for this level of build. I would have liked to use them but there are a few problems with them from a design perspective. One is they lack dimension, two is they are back lit and not side lit and lastly they are just too generic for this build, they don’t have enough character. In early December, I visited North Hollywood Speedometer (when I did a restomod '64 VW Bug more than a decade ago I bought my gauges there) and Ralph the owner and I spent an hour talking through my options. What we’ve tentatively decided was, we need to get some original Smith’s Gauges and restore and customize the faces. I love nice watches. My favorite brand is IWC and the way they make and design watches is very inspiring. The watches I love use dimension, raised Arabic numbers, crisp fonts. Their Pilot's chronograph and Portuguese Chronograph are great examples of this. What does this have to do with Smith's gauges? Well, they aren't 1 dimensional like the gauges that come with the kit. They have raised and lowered sections of the dial face, so this should help give some dimension to a very flat and boring dash. Also black gauges aren't going to cut it here, we need something that plays off the seats, interior leather and silver powder coated metal feel. So brown gauge faces are what I am going for and just to pull in the outside color in, maybe a blue clock, could add a nice contrast. There are some other ideas I have to make it more classy and high end but I'll leave those a surprise. We are going to start this mid January and it will take several months to work through, design and fabricate.

Rewinding to November. I began to develop some really great connections through my brother, one is a guy named Dorian Valenzuela he owns a shops called DV Mechanics and he is known for his impeccable Alpha Rameo restorations (he's helped answer some engine and mechanical questions for me) and the other guy is Tim Gregorio. I really like the the dimpled kick panels and floor boards on the Singer Porsche as I mentioned in my preview post. So I was looking at reverse engineering what they had done with theirs and I was having my brother look at pictures of their interior with me and we were talking about the rubber domed pieces in the floor board and my brother says, “let’s ask Tim.” I couldn’t believe he knew someone there. Anyway as it turns out Tim is the head of client relations at Singer and he was there when Singer got its first roots. So my brother connected Tim and I and we talked and as it turns out we actually live very close to each other, so a week or so ago he came over to my house and took a look at my car.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Tim brought so much knowledge to the design process it’s amazing. While I was interested in placing my gauges and laying them out and talking design, Tim was more interested in my seating position. He asked if I was going to use the FFR supplied steering wheel. I told him I wasn’t planning on it. So he said I should get my desired steering wheel on first. Get my seating position dialed in and then layout the gauges so they aren’t obstructed. Absolutely genius! Seems obvious now but it wasn't obvious to me at the time, that's for sure.

It was also nice to bounce ideas off of someone who does this at such a high level. One of their cars starts at $400,000 is my understanding and they have like a 4 year waitlist. But even better than all this was to just talk shop and cars with a guy who knows so much about them. Everything from a Tiguan to a $400,000+ 911. So I just want to thank him for his time and I definitely got a lot out of our meeting and also it was nice to know I am heading in the right direction. Tim was kind enough to offer to come back and we can figure out the gauge layout once I get my gauges set from North Hollywood Speedometer. Also I'm starting to think about AC ducting and vents and how I want that to be laid out.

While all this percolates I’ve gotta finish the plumbing....

I did order my steering wheel. I got the Momo Grand Prix and Russ Thompson is going to modify the hub to match the bolt pattern

momo-grand-prix-mahogany-woodsilver-spoke-350mm-street-steering-wheel-faf-automotive-441533_2000.jpg


Hose Mock Up

So I really don't want to see hoses and wiring everywhere, even a clean plumbing and wiring job it's what I'm after, I'm after concealed. I have been figuring out my hoses and fittings working through the various sizes, styles, etc. But now I've got everything ready to go. I've got my power steering rack converted to AN fittings, my heater fittings installed on my intake, I have my power steering reservoir mounted in the former position of my inline radiator neck. All hoses exit and enter on the passenger side down a single path. I mocked up everything in scrap wire, VF Sales will cut and assemble the hoses for free because I bought the fittings and hose from them. I label the wire, what area of the car it's for, what fittings it goes to and from, and VF Sales will cut the hose to length based on the length of the wire and assemble it to the fittings. If you open the thumbnail you can see the path of travel of the wires. What goes where. Once I get the hoses made I'll get you guys better pictures of the path of travel. I'm just illustrating the process here.

Exposed:

IMG_4969.jpg

Concealed:

IMG_4968.jpg


I’ll give an update mid January once all the parts come back in from the various vendors. Happy New Year!

[P100DHG]

So a quick update. I had a setback. I hadn’t attached my chassis transmission mounting plate to the transmission mount until this past weekend and it wouldn’t align. The problem is that the motor mount interferes with the block, cocking the transmission off in one direction. A common problem according to FFR and Roush on Dart blocks. I have to relieve the excess metal on motor mounts so that means the engine has to get suspended by the crane, motor mounts out, fixed and reinstalled. As Dave B. put it, it’s all part of the journey. I’ll document the process. My wife is out of town and I have my 3 year old solo so probably next weekend it will be done.

Also Ralph at North Hollywood Speedometer had a setback, one of his guys has to take extended personal leave so he can’t take on my project. He referred me to Pete at Nisonger Instruments. He specializes in Smiths gauges and he’s going to take on the project. Sending him the deposit Monday to get going. If someone needs a set of GPS gauges I’ve got some for sale. I’ll make you a good deal.

Power steering is plumbed. I’ll go over that in the next update. Once I get the motor mount issue resolved I’ll finish the radiator and interior sheet metal. From there I think the electrical will go fast and I might if I’m lucky have this this firing by end of April. I’ve got sinus surgery scheduled for early February so that will be a setback for sure. Also major factor is getting my headers modified to have a collector, O2 bung installed and if I can a ball and swivel joint installed. Lots of items to check off the list, no rush but I just need to keep making steady progress.

[P100DHG]

REWIND!:

I am going to keep this short and to the point.

Remember when I said here, "I had a real issue getting the engine mounts to line up, it took hours to get it just right. In fact I stepped away from it Saturday and came back Sunday with a fresh head and strength and got everything seated. My advice here is get the passenger side mount dowel pin and stud seated first. Then work the driver's side."

Well here is why!

On the block just below the mounting points is a buttress. It is meant to strengthen this area.

IMG_5113.jpg

This buttress interferes with the motor mount causing a 1/8" gap. That gap is enough to cause huge issues. One issues is its going to be extremely difficult to marry the mount to the mounting points on the car. Secondly, the transmission will not align. See picture of gap.

IMG_5078.jpg

The solution is to trim the mount in my opinion. FFR said shave the engine block. Roush said modify the mounts. I went with Roush on this one because it's cheaper to replace motor mounts than the block if I screwed up.

IMG_5116.jpg IMG_5117.jpg

The result after install was night and day. My new philosophy with this build is 1mm might as well be a mile. That's the difference this made. The process was, I suspended the engine in place with the engine hoist and removed the motor mounts, shaved them, tested them, shaved them, tested them and so on until they sat flush, reinstalled them, and the engine glided into place. 3 days of fighting alignment to get my engine in previously, took 3 seconds this time, no exaggeration. Once again I have swallowed my pride and hope you learn from my issues.

Transmission Mounting:

The directions are hard to tell but if you are doing a SBF (289,302,351, blah blah blah) & TKO600 pay attention here. The directions to me and to everyone else that have looked at them show the L shaped flange at the end of the transmission mount facing down.

Screen Shot 2020-01-21 at 9.30.13 PM.jpg

WRONG! IT FACES UP!

IMG_5148.jpg

When it's down the transmission is cocked off to one side dramatically, when its up it's correctly aligned.

INCORRECT RESULT: - FACING DOWN

IMG_5118.jpg

CORRECT RESULT - FACING UP

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I have little dignity left at this point... But I great sense of accomplishment! ONWARD! I am glad to put this behind me and moving forward.

This is likely my last update until after my sinus surgery. So look for something middle to end of February. From here I am confident the build will speed up my goal is to have my gauges being made and my sheet metal at powder coat while I recover so that time is productive.

[edwardb]

Those extra webs on the DART block interfering with the Energy Suspension mounts is talked about quite a bit on here, and happened to me too on my #7750 Roadster build with a DART 347 build. My engine builder also said to notch the mounts, not the block. They ended up looking just like yours and solved the problem. He said the same thing. Why would you cut into a couple thousand dollar block and not a pair of hundred dollar mounts? Agree as well about that rear transmission mount. It's purposely designed to go multiple directions to accommodate different engine/trans combinations. Which I like compare to the A-frame used on Roadsters. But the instructions are confusing and also in my case didn't work. Your final alignment is exactly how it should be.

[Nerglhad]

Putting the body mounts under the vent screens is a rather clever way IMO of hiding the rear body mounting bolts. As has already been pointed out, they're not functional. Even if you cut them open, not much is going to happen. There's an aluminum panel on the other side that walls off the hatch area. Carpeted if you're doing that. The Coupe that Factory Five wind tunnel tested had vents behind the rear wheels. But not on the back. https://www.factoryfive.com/whats-ne...esting-report/

Another possibility and what I have done on my Gen 3 coupe. I cut the fiberglass and fit the screen so it would be able to attach similar to the side screens with a flange behind the back panel. I did not like the fake look of the body behind the screen and having to deal with the sharp edges of the screen against the paint. I used the right hand body mount on the left side and left body mount on the right side relocating the mounting locations to the body. I did not want to have bolts protrude out the back of the body so I fabricated two sheet metal plates and welded studs as appropriate to connect to the body mount brackets. Once positioned I attached the sheet metal plates to the inside of the back panel and then laminated them in place with a couple layers of fiberglass Matt.

[P100DHG]

Another possibility and what I have done on my Gen 3 coupe. I cut the fiberglass and fit the screen so it would be able to attach similar to the side screens with a flange behind the back panel. I did not like the fake look of the body behind the screen and having to deal with the sharp edges of the screen against the paint. I used the right hand body mount on the left side and left body mount on the right side relocating the mounting locations to the body. I did not want to have bolts protrude out the back of the body so I fabricated two sheet metal plates and welded studs as appropriate to connect to the body mount brackets. Once positioned I attached the sheet metal plates to the inside of the back panel and then laminated them in place with a couple layers of fiberglass Matt.

Great idea. Excellent explanation. I love it. I am going to run it by Jeff Miller who is doing the paint. Get his blessing. He will be doing all the body alignment, door fitment, etc on my build I have no appetite to attach that. I don't want anything to crack so I have to get his blessing. If he green lights it I am going for it.

[Nerglhad]

Happy you like the idea and I would be happy to send some photos if you have any questions. I think if you hold the reversed brackets in place as described you will see how easy it is. A little tight to get the bracket installed over the stud so don't use a stud any longer than necessary. I am approximately 85% done with my coupe but always enjoy reading about yours and other builds.

[P100DHG]

Happy you like the idea and I would be happy to send some photos if you have any questions. I think if you hold the reversed brackets in place as described you will see how easy it is. A little tight to get the bracket installed over the stud so don't use a stud any longer than necessary. I am approximately 85% done with my coupe but always enjoy reading about yours and other builds.

If it isn’t too much trouble I would love some pictures. Thank you!

[Nerglhad]

39D94279-27EB-4C72-BF91-651C4FE65BFE.jpeg39D94279-27EB-4C72-BF91-651C4FE65BFE.jpeg

If it isn’t too much trouble I would love some pictures. Thank you!

Can you send me an email address, I tried but I apparently do not know how to attach photos on the forum .
My email address is [email protected]
Text 308-991-8206
Would love to stay in touch. Enjoying my build very much and 85% done.
Doug Dahlgren
FFR 000069
Holdrege Ne.

[Nerglhad]

Would you be able to provide your email address? Was not able to send pictures on the forum . My email address is [email protected]
Send me an email and I would be happy to reply with some photos.
Doug Dahlgren
FFR 000069
Holdrege Ne.

[P100DHG]

Quick update. Radiator tunnel is ready for powder coat, and I picked my gauge colors. Speedo, Tach, volts, fuel, water temp and oil pressure in brown with white writing and adding a clock that’s going to be blue with white writing. I am going with a counter-clockwise speedometer just for fun and mechanical odometer for the vintage look.

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The guys a North Hollywood Speedometer were nice enough to let me use their Pantone book. One of their employees saw pictures of the car and a sample of the leather and his response was, "that makes me want a cigar and a glass of whiskey." which is the exact emotional response I am trying to get when people see the car even though I don't drink or smoke LOL!

The radiator tunnel went surprisingly fast which means when I am recovered from surgery the assembly should be quick, I have a couple plumbing items but I don’t see it taking more than a day or two and I can finish plumbing and head straight into under-hood wiring.


I have my dash layout set but I won’t reveal it till later. Keep you guys on the edge of your seats, LOL

[P100DHG]

I took my radiator panels to powder coating Thursday, he was doing matte silver for another customer when I walked in so he turned them around in a day.

IMG_5231.JPEG

I am waiting on parts from various vendors.

Boig Motorsports

I need to use some corrugated flex hose between the engine and radiator tunnel then I am transitioning to the Coyote Upper Cool Tubes Hose to give a nice clean polished look in the radiator tunnel. I made a block off plate for the hole in the tunnel so I don't have a giant opening there. I thought about remaking the entire panel but I figured that was entering the land of obsessive. I am using the Boig's Lower 351W cool tube for the bottom end. (lower hose back ordered till end of February)

Summit Racing:

• 3/4-5/8 Molder Heater hose I hope this is the right size But need this to clear the Trutrac system on my engine.
• PowerGrip hose clamps
• MSD Ignition Coil

Ebay

• Vintage Air #8 90 degree AC hose fitting.
• Parker #8 AC hose 8ft length

Tire Rack

• BRAILLE EXTREME USE BATTERY 21# WITH MOUNT (back ordered till end of February)

So for now I am setup to just wait and recover from surgery on Wednesday but it's really nice to have all the parts in front of me because I swear it takes more time getting parts then actually assembling anything. I am going to start polishing rivets for the radiator tunnel and screws for the upper engine surround once I feel better. Plumbing should be done by end of month. Then on to the dash and electrical in March. I would like to have a full set of gauges installed prior to first start so I can keep things monitored. Also gotta get my headers sorted out before first start too. Big list but I think it will go fast.

I really don't want to rush it cause I've spent so much money and I love working on it so no reason to push any particular timeline. One surprising thing is the box of parts I have of things I am not using. I am amazed at how big it's getting... Lots of wasted money and resources frankly. I'll know next time what to deleted if I decide to do a Roadster. One of my final posts of this build (a long way away) I plan to make a list of what I didn't use and what I substituted and save some future builder some money and shamelessly solicit those who want to buy this stuff from me LOL!

[P100DHG]

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the delivery of my car and like any good TV anniversary special, this post is a look back at the last year and a sneak peak into the future of the car. What a year it’s been! I decided early summer of 2018 I’d think about buying a kit car because I was looking for a project my son and I could do that he could be involved in. At the time he had just turned 2 but he loved tools and the plastic play ones wouldn’t do, he wanted the real ones. I had a bunch of wood working tools and spinning blades and kids just didn’t seem compatible. I had also finished a 6 year long journey of remodeling our 1st home, a home I had no plans to leave. The 1600sqft 2 bedroom 1.75 bath house we lived seemed ample for us and our son and we were sure we didn’t want more kiddos. My wife and I bought the home built in 1950 from the original owners and I was very proud to have purchased it from them at the age of 28 and being just the second owner of the home my thinking was that if it was enough to raise their family in it would be good enough for me, I always considered it my forever home and I remodeled the entire house myself over my years of ownership and it was impeccable. So life seemed very stable and a good time to consider taking on a big project and learning something new.

In August of 2018 Factory Five had their summer sale and I was looking at a fully optioned out Coupe and I would qualify for 50% off options. I placed my deposit but I was still on the fence because it was a sizable chunk of money for a bunch of parts. I postponed final delivery twice and but in December of 2018 I felt like I was ready to plop down the dough and fully commit. The order was fulfilled in January 11th 2019 and delivered Sunday, February 8th one year ago. That weekend was quite a turning point because on Friday February 6th my wife and I went to look at preschools for my son and passed by a beautiful home near one of them and we called on the sign just to be nosy... well our curiosity got the better of us cause on February 20th we had opened escrow on that house. The race was on, to sell our house and move. But looming in the garage was my new project delivered by a semi truck with a special crane and 30+ boxes of parts.

I had 60 days to take this car and make it a roller. Something I could steer down my driveway and onto a trailer and fortunately for me that happened and on April 26th we officially sold our home but we hadn’t closed escrow on the new one. But the owners of the home we were purchasing let me put it in the garage ahead of the closing of escrow. 2.5 months of renovation at the new house and we moved in July 5th. We were here a week and then left for 2 weeks on a family vacation with my in laws and back for 3 weeks and then gone again for another 2 weeks with my parents. I had lost the whole summer working on the car. If I wasn’t such a focused person I might have dropped the ball on the Coupe but fortunately I have laser focused type personality and I’m good at multitasking too. In the midst of all of this I had torn down a property (retail store) in a good part of LA to develop a high end retail storefront and the future offices of our family business which I completed on December 23rd.

It was a busy year to say the least but something quite profound came of it because in the time it took me to get where I am today it allowed me to develop my design ideas, edit and come up with new ones. From a frame and a bunch of boxes I have a fully assembled suspension and driveline with my engine in, custom panels, working brakes, a fully plumbed fuel system, steering system, some incredibly upholstered seats and I am very close to done with my cooling, heat and AC systems. There have been some highs and some lows, it’s also been extremely therapeutic to work on and at times stressful but it’s been a great bonding experience to share with my father in law and son. The sense of accomplishment so far is quite high.

Could I have been further along in the build?... sure I could have but I feel like I’ve come along way without taking any short cuts. It’s a lot of money to rush through, better to spread it out and hit all the details. Plus I’ve enjoyed documenting the process and helping other guys with problems I encountered and solved.

I look forward to the next year of building and with that I leave you with a sneak peak, an inspiration photo if you will of what’s to come.

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Thanks for a year of reading through my posts

- Danny

[edwardb]

Interesting story. Thanks for sharing. We changed houses, and went through some major remodels, in the middle of my 20th Anniversary Roadster build. That build also took about a 6 month sabbatical. So I have an idea of what you went through. Good luck getting going again. These builds take a lot of time and energy. Not always easy with the rest of life going on. And I say that with grown kids and being retired.

[P100DHG]

I realize my last real update was almost a month ago. I am fully recovered form surgery so that's great and I am ready to get back on the car. I mounted the powder coated panels for the radiator tunnel and finished plumbing the AC system, just a couple more crimps on some fittings but I’m waiting to fit my headers before I finalize those. I am waiting on parts still. Boig Motorsports is still at least another 2 weeks out on the lower and upper radiator tubes and I imagine Nisonger Instruments is much much further out on the gauges, also my battery is back ordered, I am an A-Z guy and I don't want to skip around but I am going to move on to drilling out the floor pans and interior sheet metal and get the body back on and mount up the seats and mock up the exhaust. I'll have to circle back to plumbing later. Once I have the exhaust sorted out I'll move on to wiring which I haven't even looked at yet. In my unique scenario having EFI on the car, I need to sort out customizing my headers to have a collector and bung for the O2 sensor.

Here is where she sits now with the radiator tunnel completed. I can't wait to show off the finished product on plumbing because it's high end hot rod clean especially considering that I have AC, Heat, Power steering which adds a lot of hoses. If I could make it invisible I would but that's just not possible. (Sorry for the upside down photo I’ve got figure out why that happened because it definitely wasn’t taken like that)

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[CTHiker52]

Danny, thank you for taking the time and making the effort to share your thought processes and sep by step instructions for your build. I’m in the process of sorting outage details of my Coupe build. I learned a lot. Sometimes it is just as important to learn what you don’t want as it is to learn “WOW that’s a great idea l’m going do that”. I can’t wait to see pictures of the finished product. The journey (build) to me is just as important as the destination (finished car).

Thanks. CTHiker52 (Gary)

[P100DHG]

Sometimes it is just as important to learn what you don’t want as it is to learn “WOW that’s a great idea l’m going do that”..... The journey (build) to me is just as important as the destination (finished car).

Thanks for your kind words Gary. I completely agree with your post. It's definitely important to know what you don't want as much as what you do. From big ticket items like seats, exhaust, gauges, it's all money I could have saved myself looking back. Then there is the smaller stuff, fuel system hoses and hardlines, even when I added the air conditioning option to the car FFR sent me a compressor and my engine came with one. My engine came with an external fuel pump and wiring harness and fuel lines, I should have deleted all that but I didn't know. On the flip side planning for what you do want is infinitely more fun, creative and rewarding. So I completely relate to that comment. For me the journey is all about the build. I'm sure once it's done I'll keep tinkering and it will never be done.

[CTHiker52]

Danny, to a true car guy the car is never done. Tinkering is almost as much fun as the driving.

CTHiker52 (Gary)

[P100DHG]

Last of the Plumbing

I just couldn't wait any longer so I continued on without the parts from Boig but it does sound like they will be shipping imminently. Also there was a miscommunication with Billet Specialties on their AC compressor. There is a manifold that attaches to the compressor that drops the AC lines from the top of the compressor to the bottom. The directions say, don't mount the manifold until the AC system is ready to be charged. I called them because if I waited that long I would have an issue installing it because my radiator hose would interfere. They said it was fine to install now, they just like people to wait because when installing the engine they don't want compressor oil to leak everywhere which makes sense. I had the last two fuel hoses made that go between the bulkhead and the EFI system, so plumbing is almost done, here is my final punch list before filling everything with fluids. It's very clean and I couldn't be happier.


Cooling system - Waiting for Cooltubes

Engine - Waiting on Oil Pressure sender for Smiths Gauges

AC system - Ready for Refrigerant

Fuel system - Ready For Fuel

Transmission - Ready for Fluid

Power Steering - Ready for Fluid


You will likely notice I moved around some of the fittings on the AC system before finalizing everything. I did this to get everything way from the headers. Everything got a nice polish on it and is ready to go. One of the AC lines that runs from the compressor to the condenser was installed and cut to length but the compressor side hadn't been crimped. My vise is mounted on a large chunk steel that I rubberized. The plus side is that I can move it around, down side is it's strong but not as strong as being mounted to a bench. So I moved it over to the car and set it on the frame tubing and crimped the -8 fitting right on the car. I realized after doing that, that I could have just clamped the AC crimper to the frame but hindsight is 20/20 and the job is done.

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I am very pleased with the final product.

Interior Cockpit Sheet metal

I moved on and finished drilling all the floor pans, and cockpit area, the riveting is by far my least favorite part of this project. I put the body back on per David's advise and I am am ready to mount the seats. I should have this done this week and I'll do a write up on that. So by the early next week my interior sheet metal (not including the dash and future custom panels associated with the dash) should be off to powder coat. Then on to the exhaust system and wiring. I am getting so close to first start I can taste it! My goal was by end of March but it's looking like mid summer will be more realistic with all the custom touches (gauges, exhaust, senders, etc)

284108E5-6136-4CB7-85FA-5F48D39809DE.jpg DEF68B71-9ECA-4D71-A4E6-334C0329310E.jpg

You might notice my super slick gear shift knob. My father in law made it. Can you see the reference...

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[P100DHG]

I hope you find this a break from the news that surrounds us right now and I wish everyone good health and a swift financial recovery from this terrible situation we are all in. Stay home, enjoy your build and if you are thinking about building one just use this time to read and learn.

Installing the Seats
Finally lots of pictures and not much to say except they fit. Just to recap, I tried 4 different Sparco seats, the QTR-R (way too big for the car wouldn't fit at all), EVO II US (too big to slide), 2019 EVO GRP (very snug on me), GRID-Q (the seats I bought). The criteria was I wanted a FIA rated seat. The reason wasn't because I intend to race but because I wanted something that had a certification behind it because I am concerned about my safety and my passengers safety in the event of an accident. I am using the Sparco 90º seat bracket and Recaro seat sliders.

I did the following for each seat. I made fresh templates for each seat, I did not reused my templates, nor did I position the seats in the same way as you will read about.

I first I attached the 90º brackets to the seat sliders. Note that the slider release faces inward. After that I attached them to the seat. I maxed out the recline and they are still very upright. I used the highest setting on the front and the lowest on the back.

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Next I made a poster board template of the bottom of the seat. I measured the width and length and cut it out. I taped the template to the bottom of the seat sliders and made a rubbing of where the holes are and marked forward with an arrow

IMG_5600.jpg

Remember that you just made a rubbing of the bottom side and that we need the top side. So detach the template and flip it over to reveal the embossed markings. I next made a rubbing of the top side to reveal the embossed markings

IMG_5601.jpeg IMG_5602.jpeg

I placed the seat in the car, mocked up the doors with tape, I checked my clearances

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I then removed the doors and marked the position of the outside corners of the sliders on the floor pan with a Sharpie and climbed in and gave them a test fit, making sure I was aligned with the makings I had made. I then checked the seat position through the front window and back window openings to make sure they looked squared up with the car. The passenger side was great, and so I assumed the driver side was about the same but is was not. In fact, check out how far off center the steering wheel was. I adjusted the seat and remarked it. It's easy to mount the seat in one area and forget about countless other areas of clearance so check, recheck and check a third time.

IMG_5604.jpg

Once everything was set, I matched the 4 corners of my templates with the corners marked on the seat pan and drilled my holes. Everything went great 3 of the holes in the passenger side hit steel but only 2 on the driverside did so I'll break out the welder and weld some braces for those areas so they hit steel.

IMG_5605.jpeg

The bolts I am using to mount the slider to the floor pans are 5/16 x1" bolts, washers and locknuts.

[P100DHG]

The seat sliding lever bar wouldn't fit and required some blacksmithing. I tried heating it up with a plumbing torch and propane gas but the flame isn't hot enough so I pulled out the Mapp gas and plumbing torch and it worked great. I heated up the joints, straighten the bar and re-bent it.

IMG_5596.jpg

They were also way way way too long so I cut them to length and mounted them nicely under the seat, they work great and are concealed. I will have to re-powder coat them but not a big deal.

Fun family photo last week

IMG_5551.jpg

Cooling System Update

Got my cool tubes and mocked them up. Top tube works great but the bottom tube isn't right (after talking to Bob there may have been a production issue) so I am sending it back and he's going to fix it. I'll do a whole write up on it once everything is done.

General Update

Since I don't have my gauges or sheet metal I can't start on the dash. My battery came last week so I am going to try to figure that out and get the trunk sheet metal in. That should leave a lot to go out to powder coat once this whole thing is behind us.

I'll spare you the lecture and just say, stay home, stay safe, stay healthy and let's get past this.

[P100DHG]

There are a lot of small details to iron out so I worked on those the last couple of days. Fortunately everything was a fail, because with each fail I learned something.

Fail #1:
I decided to attach my throttle cable to my EFI. I lined everything up and drilled a hole through my firewall. I made a template and then a bracket, it was very crude and it was never intended to be the final product but merely a stepping stone to a final product. Well I connected everything up and found out that the spring pressure on the EFI wasn’t enough to quickly lift the pedal and shut the throttle. Instead it slowly returned which could be dangerous. What I learned was I'd need to get something with a throttle return spring so I ordered Summit Racing Billet Aluminum Throttle Cable Bracket SUM-210239BLK. Additionally I bought what I believe will be the right adapter for the FFR provided throttle cable Summit Racing Billet Aluminum Throttle Cable Bracket Adapter SUM-210243BLK. It's going to look a lot better and function better. I did get more practice making templates though. So here is a picture of Fail #1

IMG_5622.jpg 5D56887D-4671-409B-9448-488F1EFB93AF.jpg

Fail #2:
So this is a work in progress that was one fail after another but in the end I think I found my design direction. So I have this vision for my "floor mats" I'm calling them floorboards and I got working on those today. I made a template and assumed I'd be using a 1 1/2" punch and bead die and laid out my spacing for that. The reason I wanted to use a bead die was that it would match the look of the grommet in the seats. Well after doing all that work I punched a hole & bead in a scrap piece of metal and unfortunately I just didn't like how it turned out. I was trying to use a domed piece of rubber and make some unique looking floor boards similar to those that Singer Porsche makes (I posted a picture of those in a previous post). But I did like the contrast between the flare and the domed rubber.

IMG_5615.jpg IMG_5626.jpg

I still wasn't pleased with the rubber look. It just didn’t strike the right chord for me in person. Looks awesome in photos but in person I just think it missed the mark in terms of looking high end. So I took a scrap piece of leather and wrapped the rubber dome in leather by streching the leather over the dome and the result was awesome. The whole thing just evolved. So I did a full sample with contact cement and glued everything together and it worked great! So the final pick is the flared hole with a leather wrapped rubber dome.

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Now I just need to remeasure the pattern and make the floor boards.

It's all part of the process and it's fun to make progress and let the design vision flow and change, it's part of making something custom and quality.

[Straversi]

We must have been inspired by the same Singer Porsche. I came home from SEMA in 2017 with a dozen photos of a silver and blue Singer with the stainless/rubber floor matts. The rubber in the dimple holes didn't seem to offer much grip. The grip came from the open heel pad under the pedals. My photo is before carpet and a few adjustments to even out the stainless. I like the look and how simple it is to vacuum out and clean. This might not even be the final piece in the photo. I think I made two or three before I got the look I liked. Gotta love what the scrap pile teaches you.



Yours looks a lot more professional. Great work!
-Steve.

[P100DHG]

Feels good to get it right!

Throttle Cable Complete
So I took a less traditional approach to routing my throttle cable. It’s completely concealed until it couldn’t be. You can reference my previous post here on how I routed my throttle cable but to pick up where I left off, I exited the firewall, used a 1/4” x 1/2” grommet, linked up to the Summit bracket. You most definitely need to buy the Lokar cable adapter, it works perfectly and the provided bracket doesn’t work at all. It’s disappointing to spend another $20 on an adapter. I feel like they shouldn’t include any adapters charge $20 less for the bracket and just buy the right one separately. Also someone wrote in their review that the spring tension on the throttle return is too strong. I’d agree. The two springs provided are way too strong and one spring is still a little firm so I ordered new springs from McMaster Carr it’s another $10 to get the right throttle feel. I went with these 3” extension springs and I am running it with two on my setup and I’m very pleased.

This is the adapter it comes with you can see why it wouldn’t work.

2CACF2C7-B84C-4229-9F08-8645754D3C6D.jpeg

And this is the finished product

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It now has the right pedal feel and quick throttle return response.

These are the grommets I bought from Summit.

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Floor Boards
The floor board metal work is complete. They need to get powder coated silver. The domed rubber pieces are Danchuk 812 body plugs actually. Pricey little pieces. Danchuk is local to me ur no discount. I need 40 at $5 each. Yikes!!!! If you don’t mind flat tops the 810s are $2.50 each. Check them out on Summit Racing. I am imaging that the edge of the floorboard will need a small piece of leather trim just to cover the edge. Also a small leather mat with maybe diamond stitching for a heal pad for drivers and passengers side. Interesting the rubber body plugs are flat on the bottom side and prevent the floor board from sliding so I probably won’t need to fasten them. There is one issue, which is that they can’t be removed without removing the seat... I tried to think of a way but I don’t see a way to do it realistically without scratching the leather seat, so it’s going to be inconvenient to deep clean, having to unbolt the seats and remove them to vacuum under the floor boards but it’s not my daily driver so it’s a compromise I can live with I guess, maybe something will come to me.

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I’m annoyed that it rotates the images I have no idea how to fix that sorry...

I love the metal foot pad that Straversi did to the right of the gas pedal, very cool and original solution. I’m trying to think how I can make that integrate it into my idea of what I want to do with the interior upholstery. I’m going to let it percolate.

I just want to say it’s so much fun working on something other than the engine bay especially the part of the car that I am going to get to interact with regularly. Makes me very very very excited to get my gauges and start mocking up the dash, though who knows what is going to happen with those since Nisonger Instruments is in New York State...

Stay healthy everyone!

[P100DHG]

This post was updated on 4/10/2021 to reflect a brand new design using 3D printing and a desktop CNC machine

The next series of posts will cover interior updates, cooling system updates and electrical system updates. I'll post them over the next three days. The most significant of the updates I'll post today because why not get good info out there for people to use right away. After all we are all sitting around at home either building or planning anyway.

Horn Button
Well... lets talk about the horn button. Presumably we want it where we know it, center on the steering wheel. Why relearn an item that can prevent an accident. Not much of the stock setup makes it easy to install a horn button so everything here is going to need to be custom.

So here is what you will need:
1. Russ Thompson Turn Signal
2. A steering wheel with a 6x70mm (2 3/4") bolt pattern (includes, MOMO, Sparco, OMP to name a few)
3. Russ Thompson to modify the steering hub for the new bolt pattern (yes you can do this yourself but Russ can do it for you when he modifies your steering hub anyway)
4. a machinists lathe or mill or XY table for your drill press
5. Tinkercad - free online software to design in (literally a 7th grader can design in this which is about my limit.)
6. 3D Printer
7. Easel - free CNC software to design in
8. 3018 Pro Desktop CNC
9. Brass Sheet 0.025" Thickness x 6" Width x 12" Length, 22 Gauge
10. Soldering Iron
11. Some stuff from McMaster Carr described below


This is going to be lengthy so strap in. It took hours and hours to figure this out so this should save you some time. I did ask Russ if he could help me with the machining but he's slammed with orders right now so I was on my own. So I know a lot of machinists will cringe but given the state of affairs in the world right now I am not leaving the safety and comfort of my home so I do not have access to a machinists lathe nor did have access to a large CNC mill or manual mill for that matter. I just couldn't bring myself to spend $700 on a bench lathe to use it once, nor do I want to get sick seeking out a machinist locally. Maybe if the stock market was still at 29,000 but since we are heading to 15,000 better save the money. I have an XY table on my drill press and some milling bits I've used on other projects so that would just have to do. I am also terrible at the Etch-a-Sketch (you'll too find out why that important).


1. You've got Russ's turn signal system, you've got your steering wheel with a 6x70mm bolt pattern and Russ has drilled and tapped the hubs for you. You've installed the turn signal system. Things look good now lets make a mess. So the first issue that is glaringly apparent when you mock up your steering wheel is that the inside diameter of the hub is too small to accept a horn button. It won't seat. I mounted mine up and scribed a line on the hub so I could know how much material I'd needed to remove. I also recommend marking 12 o'lock on the inside of the hub for later reference.

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2. The next part is hard to do but straight forward to say. Remove the material inside the scribe line. I had to do this on an XY table which is exactly like an Etch-a-Sketch. Try making a circle on an Etch-a-Sketch... NOT EASY and in my case not possible but I guess under pressure I did a pretty good job actually. I cleaned up my work with a die grinder. It looks a little rough but the horn button is going to cover it anyway and it's got added grip .

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3. Mark and drill a 3/16" hole opposite the cancelling tabs just off center of the hub in the 9 o'clock position. Be sure to remove the drill bit from the hole and clean it several times while drilling because the aluminum clogs the channels of the drill bit. I some how forgot to take a picture of this, though if you look at step 7 you'll see the position you need to drill the hole

4. With the hub finished you can breathe a sigh of relief and remove the turn signal from the mounting adapter on the steering column. There is a screw at the 7 o'clock position that needs to be back off. Don't unscrew it all the way, just loosen it still the turn signal slides off.

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5. I then designed isolators and a horn contact ring to use with the Dorman 49319 Horn Connector. Clipped the spade connector off and replaced the spring with a new Compression Spring, 1" Long, 0.148" OD, 0.112" ID from McMaster Carr. You don't need the black tube it comes with either. I then sanded the wire ferrule down on the Dorman Horn Connector so it would slide freely on the horn contact ring and inside the groove of the horn contact ring isolator. So, I bet you're like. "$8 for a wire and a ferrule are you kidding me?" I bought this connector prior to designing this system I am going to try to figure out what size wire ferrule is best in the future but since I am not mass producing them I think this minor inefficiency is okay. I then 3D printed the isolators.

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6. Drill a hole 7/32 in the nylon spacer inside the ring 180 degrees from the canceling tabs on the Russ Thompson Hub and in the side of the steering column

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7. CNC the horn contact ring from a brass sheet that is 0.025" Thickness x 6" Width x 12" Length, 22 Gauge. Unfortunately you can only buy shims that are spring steel or stainless, I tried stainless but unfortunately I wasn't able to solder to stainless so I had to CNC it out of brass.

https://youtu.be/zEZ3B1paHII

8. Solder a scrap piece of wire to contact ring and file down. You'll be feeding this wire through the hub so leave it long, you can trim it later. Just to be clear this is not the Dorman Horn Connector wire, that wire gets lengthened and fed through the 3D printed tubular isolator and the nylon bushing on the column.

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9. Assemble - Everything should slide freely, the canceling tabs do not hit the inner isolating ring. You should be good to go. Make sure you drill a self tapping screw into the new isolator on the column so it doesn't have a tendency to slide or spin or whatever. Also the picture of the hub, the wire needs to go opposite the tabs. The picture is just to show fit.

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10. The head of allen style bolt that normally secures the hub to the steering column is too big. I replaced it with this: https://www.mcmaster.com/91253A622/ for max clearance inside the hub.

11. Now I had an issue with the way my horn button was wired. On the back of my button the center position is meant to go to the horn relay and the outer position grounds to the hub. Actually the outer position can ground the hub OR the spring on the side grounds the hub. It has both because it's a generic button. Anyway I needed to switch those positions to make things fit and it was as easy at taping off the spring on the side of the horn button. But attach wire to the back of the horn button per your application.

12. Install the horn button, go lock to lock on the steering wheel verify everything is good with a multimeter and BOOM! or should I say BEEP BEEP!

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I had asked a while back about getting a horn button to work here and didn't get a response so I hope this helps someone else. I know this seems complicated but if you want to get into 3D printing and desktop CNC this is a great way to do it.



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WOW that was a mouthful and since you took the time to read this far guess what?

I am giving you the designs. I believe in this community of builders and I believe those who come up with amazing ideas should profit if they want to, but this isn't my day job it's a hobby so I am sharing all my designs to be used for personal use and not commercial purposes and I am going to say explicitly there is a copyright on this design. So to you vendors, this may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes. Copyright 2021 - Daniel Goldman.

And because I don't want you to sue me if you botch this install, use at your own risk.

Designs may be updated and subject to improvement so check back to see if there have been revisions I'll post the date here. The latest design is 4/13/2021.

You can download, edit or manipulate the designs for your build here:

- Horn Ring Isolators: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9hwpsN52xOq
- Horn Contact Ring: https://easel.inventables.com/projec...rqCScuhLb5PRJA

Just to add a note, in Tinkercad you can ungroup objects. That said by grouping objects in a certain order you are able to achieve the shape that you want and then combine it with another shape you want. I’m not sure that Russ has the exact measurement from the nylon bushing to the end of the column this can be adjusted in tinkercad for your specific build by ungrouping the object, taking a measurement of your column adjusting the value in tinkercad and regrouping the objects. I know this might seem overwhelming but if you watch a 10 minute tutorial in tinkercad on YouTube you’ll figure out how to do this and if you’re totally stuck PM and if I have time I’ll try to help.

[P100DHG]

So my cooling system is finally done. To accomplish what I wanted for my Small Block Ford setup I needed to go full Frankenstein. I opted not to go with Boig's 351W upper hose which has a built in filler neck. Instead I opted for the TD Motion GM manifold filler neck conversion. Additionally I complicated things with the placement of my overflow and power steering reservoir, blocking an easy path from the manifold to the radiator. I still can't see a better place for the reservoirs in hindsight so hopefully I made the right decision and to accomplish the clean look I didn't have any other choice. But I am very pleased how things ended up coming together.

The most straight forward of the two tubes was the lower tube. It's Boig's standard 351W lower tube for the Gen 3 coupe. I opted to match the satin black frame so that it was incognito. No reason to draw attention to it.

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For the upper tube I went with a variation of corrugated tube and cool tube. Starting from the radiator I used Boig's coyote tube. The tube is a straight shot and stops just on the other side of the radiator tunnel allowing me to pick up from there with corrugated tubing. I made a filler piece between the radiator tunnel and engine bay to give a nice clean look. I polished the upper cool tube (I've become proficient at polishing aluminum and stainless) the best part is that if you screw up you just start over. I used a similar process as the AC fittings but took it a step further as I wasn't able to get the desired result with just 220 sand paper and red Scotchbrite, plus polish. I started with sanding, 120, 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 all by hand. Then moved to the polishes all Mother's brand, first the Powermetal Polish, then the Mag & Aluminum Polish and then the Billet Polish. I applied them with a microfiber towel and just rubbed and rubbed and rubbed, all by hand. I tried doing it on a polishing wheel but by the time I'd get everything adjusted and installed I had scratched it and had to start over so I did the whole thing on the car after installation. If you scratch it, you have to start at the beginning, no shortcuts (trust me I tried).

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Past the radiator tunnel I came off the cool tube with a rubber 90º fitting which I then attached to the corrugated hose provided in the kit.

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I ran the hose around the 2 reservoir tanks and up to the TD Motion filler neck. You can see I used a combination of heat shrink clamps and traditional hose clamps depending on where things were and if they were visible. I bought a chrome cover for the corrugated rubber fitting that attaches to the filler neck but opted not to use it because all my other fittings were black and the heat shrink clamps would match more closely.

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On the Boig cool tubes I used 1 3/4 to 2" heat shrink clamps and on the corrugated fittings and on the lower water pump fitting I used 2 - 2 1/4 fittings.

[P100DHG]

This is the shortest of the 3 updates and probably the most disappointing despite the amount of time it took. I fabricated a battery tray. I bought a generic Summit Battery Tray and cut it apart and welded it back together, I figured it was easier than fabricating one from scratch. I wanted a rear mounted battery. I wanted it in a safe location so I mounted it off center over the differential. The fit is very tight. I am using the Braille 21lb Battery I found Tire Rack to have the best price and they include a hold down. I wanted an AGM battery and this fit the bill. AGMs can be mounted on their side so that saved a lot of space. I wrapped a nylon tie down around it so it can be removed relatively easily. Access is very limited and the tolerances came down to a 1/32" or just a millimeter. Space is at a premium back there. I did this in an effort to keep my engine compartment clean. I am going to have an access hatch in the trunk. I am not carpeting the interior and instead will have a leather diamond stitched trunk mat that can cover any access panels (there are already 2 for the fuel sender and the fuel pump/pickup). From here I can begin the trunk sheet metal and make any necessary cuts now that I have everything in place. I am working front to back if you can tell. I don't plan on making any extra storage compartments in fact I am vacillating about sticking a spare tire back there. Not because I need it but because I like the look. I don't see a car that requires earplugs to have any thing functional about it except going fast. Probably not going to be doing any road trips in it, probably just local shows and vintage track days. Anyway finishing the trunk sheet metal would mean all that's left is the custom dash and by then hopefully the stay at home orders will be lifted and I can go get some sheetmetal and get the interior panels off to the powder coater. I have turned my attention to electrical but I don't see any major updates on that for a while.

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[P100DHG]

I have been dabbling here and there. But my main focus has been electrical and I'll do a full write up or several on it in the future. I ordered a MSD 6a Ignition Controller and a MSD Blaster SS coil but Ontrac threw them over my fence in the pouring rain and so as you can imagine they went straight back to Summit for an exchange. But in that box was the 2ga wire I ordered for the connection between the starter and the battery and the jumper point which I located in the trunk (I'll post a picture of them later). So that's wired and so is my fuel pump. My main point of posting now was because I located my ignition switch, light controls, AC/Heater control, and fan speed knob (more to go but this is a good start)

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I love the location, it puts everything at my finger tips but in this configuration the knobs just don't look good. I asked my father-in-law to turn me some knobs and with nothing to do the next day he sent me these pictures. I just love them!

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I am doing the same powder coated matte silver for all the interior panels as I did under the hood. I mean whats better than metal, leather, wood and 475hp!

For those of you who don't have a skilled woodworker in the family but like this look, you can go on Etsy and look up wood guitar knobs (huge selection and they look awesome). Anyway the headlight switch I will epoxy the knob onto the triangular shaft, the rotary switch for the fan speed is a 1/4" half moon and I purchased inserts here.

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You might ask why I went with a keyed ignition over a push button start and that's because I loved the keys with the FFR logo (it's going to be the only FFR branded thing on the car) and I love the idea of turning a key. Makes it feel vintage LOL. I will have to say filing the hole for the ignition was a massive pain in the rear end.

But more along the lines of placement of electrical components is where to locate the hazards or high beams not sure which one yet but one of those will be activated using the momentary switch on the Russ Thompson turn signal stalk. I am going to use a Standard Motor Products LR35 12V Flip-Flop Latching Relay. When the momentary switch is pressed it will turn on the flashers and when it is pressed again it will turn them off. It can be used to control anything really as it's a dry contact relay.

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[Straversi]

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Is this the new FFR snorkel kit? So we have FFRs in electric and 4 wheel drive and now submersible? Kidding. Love the updates.
-Steve

[P100DHG]

Is this the new FFR snorkel kit? So we have FFRs in electric and 4 wheel drive and now submersible? Kidding. Love the updates.
-Steve

LOL. Don’t give away my secret spy tech.