JB in NOVA's MK4 build : First overnight road trip!

[460.465USMC]

Brake System Fill and Bleed

The O-ring was sitting on top of the inlet port, instead of around the indentation in the middle of the inlet port body. Because the plastic adapter is constrained with a circular clamp, having the O-ring at the top of the body does nothing at all. As I recall, these plastic adapters were already installed on the master cylinders when they arrived in the kit, and I had left them in place assuming they were installed correctly. I was wrong!

Once I did that, the MC leaks magically stopped. Next, I worked my way around to each caliper, attached a nylon hose to the bleed valve with the other end submerged in some brake fluid in a plastic bottle, and pumped the brakes until I got flow. I didn’t worry about air bubbles at this point – I just wanted to get the system basically filled. My tiny reservoirs made this process a little tedious. They empty out in just four pumps of the brake pedal, so I had to constantly refill to make sure I didn’t air-lock the master cylinders. Anyway, this process went reasonably well, and I soon had filled brake lines.

To my surprise, I had only one leak (from the rear T-junction), which I easily fixed by tightening the compression nut. Honestly, with all the bending and flaring, and fitting and refitting, etc., I expected much worse.

With my system now filled and leak-free, I did the final bleed process. Because I was working alone, I followed this technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi4BnNA3Ep4. Basically, as I bled each brake, I ran a length of clear nylon tubing from the bleeder into the reservoir. Doing that from the rear brakes required several feet of tubing. Then I just pumped the brakes repeatedly until there were no more air bubbles. This method is especially good for very small reservoirs like mine. Instead of having to constantly worry about the reservoir running dry, the fluid just recirculates from the brake to the reservoir, and you can pump the brakes as much as you want until you are convinced there is no air in the system.

After that, my brakes were firm and felt great – no sponginess whatsoever. I confirmed by hand that they are stopping the rotors. So, for now, it looks like I have brakes!

J

Hello JB in NOVA! So, first I had to wrap my small mind around the idea you are not actually referring to one of my favorite Chevrolet cars from the 60s. Once this west coastie figured out you are referring to northern Virginia (you are, right?), it made sense. (I used to own a 1969 Nova, and I'm a bowtie guy at heart, but I've become a big fan of F5 and these MK4s).

I've read your entire thread, and really enjoying your documentation, pictures, and lessons learned along the way. I too am a "Noob". I have already noted several tips for future reference from your thread for when my kit arrives. The one above about brake bleeding (I've never done this either) is probably my favorite so far.

Thanks for your investment in the forum, and keep on with your build! It's looking good to me!

Chris

[JB in NOVA]

Hi Chris. Yes, I'm in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, DC (we call it "NOVA"). Thanks for the kind words. It's definitely been a learning experience for me, but so much fun! This forum is an invaluable source of information -- I use it almost every day. The forum members are very generous about sharing their knowledge and experience. It has helped me avoid a lot of mistakes during my build (although not all of them, as you can tell from my build thread). Good luck with your build!

[JB in NOVA]

Just a couple hours in the garage tonight, so not a lot to report. This morning, I purchased some 12v bulbs from the local auto store to test the turn signals and hazard circuits. They both tested “sat” as we used to say in the navy – i.e., they both worked fine. They blinked like a charm.

I was curious why you need to actually load the flasher circuits to see the blinker function. What I learned is that old-school blinker relays contain an electro-thermal mechanism that requires at-load current to operate properly. Apparently, inside the cylindrical “flasher” housings are three components:

• An electrical contact that conducts electricity into the wire
• A piece of gently curved spring steel to which the electrical contact attaches
• A resistive wire wrapped around a smaller piece of spring steel

When you activate the turn-signal relay, the thermal flasher connects to the turn-signal bulbs, allowing current to flow. Initially, the conductive spring steel does not touch the contact, so the only thing that draws power is the resistor. Current flows through the resistor, heating up the smaller piece of spring steel but sending very little current to the lights. After a pre-set amount of time (e.g., ½ to 1 second), the smaller spring steel component heats up enough that it expands and straightens out the larger, curved piece of spring steel. This forces the curved spring steel into the contact so that current flows to the lights unimpeded by the resistor. At that point, with almost no current passing through the resistor, the smaller spring steel quickly cools, bending back away from the contact and breaking the circuit. The cycle then starts over and repeats, creating the familiar "clicking" sound we all have come to recognize as a blinker. 100-year-old technology, but still ingenious!

Here's a fuller explanation: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/turn-signal2.htm

I had no idea that’s how a flasher relay works, and I’m not even entirely sure if that’s how the FFR-supplied relays work. But now that I know, it makes sense that you need to load the circuit in order for it to operate correctly. In any event, I was really happy to see my turn signals and hazard lights working properly. One more thing crossed off my punch list.

The other thing I did was wire a “flash to pass” function using the push-button on the RT stalk. I used a generic Dorman 88069 30A 5-pin relay purchased from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

I wired it pretty much as Russ instructs. I attached one of the black wires from the VW stalk to ground. I attached the other to pin 85 on the Dorman relay. I cut the “LT BLU-HDLT SW/ DIM SW” and made it into a three-way pigtail. I attached two of those leads to pins 86 and 87 of the Dorman relay and the other to the high-beam toggle switch in my lower dash support. In essence, this uses the 12v headlight power to (1) trigger the Dorman relay when the stalk button is pressed, and (2) send line voltage through the relay (when activated) to the high-beam circuit. Finally, I connected pin 30 of the Dorman relay to the two-brown-wire output of the high-beam toggle switch. This momentarily powers the high-beam circuit when the stalk button is depressed, while leaving the low-beams on. In other words, “flash to pass.”

I hooked up a 12V bulb and tested it out, and (to my pleasant surprise) it worked perfectly the first time:



Paul is right, wiring is fun (when it works). At this point, I can comfortably state that the Russ Thompson turn signal system is relatively easy to install both mechanically and electrically (at least for the turn signal and flash-to-pass functions). And his instructions were 100% accurate.

Progress continues . . .

[460.465USMC]

Thanks for the write-up on the flash-to-pass! Another tip added to my growing list of tips and wanna-dos on my build.

[JB in NOVA]

Work has been insane the past few weeks, but I finally got some time in the garage today. The first thing I did is put the tires on the car for a rough front-end alignment:



It was cool seeing the Roadster with tires for the first time! One thing I noticed right away is that the rear flexible brake lines were rubbing against the rims:



Also, for the past few weeks, I’ve been noticing some weeping from my rear brake-line T-connection. It was less than 1 drop per week, but I couldn’t seem to get it to stop. I think the culprit was that I’d installed one of the fittings too close to the frame, which made it difficult to fully tighten. You can see this from one of my earlier pictures:



So I decided to re-do the rear T-connection. Before I did that, though, I put the car on the ground to make sure there weren’t any other interference problems:



I didn’t see any additional interference problems, so I put the car back on jacks and re-did the rear T-connection. I found that I got better clearance from the frame by connecting the mounting plate to the inside of the ¾-inch tube, rather than to the outside as the manual instructs. Here’s how it ended up after I modified it:



While I was at it, I readjusted the rear flexible lines on both sides so they would not rub against the rims. I did this by manually holding the line in the correct position (i.e., with the line pointing away from the wheel as it exits the brake) while slowly tightening the banjo bolt:



I re-filled and bled the brake lines, and everything now seems to be leak-free and interference-free:



Progress continues . . .

[jrcuz]

JB, good work getting the leak fixed and repositioning the rear lines. Mine had been on the chassis dolly for so long the first time I had the tires on and dropped it to the floor I almost thought it was low enough to trip over.
JR

[JB in NOVA]

I’m in a bit of a holding pattern. I’d set aside my entire Sunday as “E-brake” day. I woke up early, excited to start this new phase of the project. But as I unwrapped my E-brake components, I realized I was missing Part #15167 (Fixed Gear), which is obviously an indispensable part. I scoured everything and every box, and it is definitely missing. No one to blame but myself – I should have caught this during my initial inventory, but I saw a big bag of E-brake parts and “assumed” it was complete. Lesson for future newbies like me: you really have to open every one of those zip-lock bags (even the ones wrapped up with packing tape) to ensure you have all the invoiced parts.

Anyway, no harm, no foul. FFR is sending me one as we speak. In the meantime, I got started installing my sound insulation. Today, I finished the PS footbox. Talk about a tedious process! It’s not exactly difficult or challenging – just tedious and time-consuming, sort of like tiling a bathroom. And not particularly fun in the Washington DC August humidity:



I’m using Kilmat 80 mil (https://www.amazon.com/Kilmat-Deaden.../dp/B0751CBXBT). It gets good reviews on Amazon, but I can’t personally vouch for it yet in terms of noise reduction. Install is fairly easy, and it seems to adhere very well. I will update once I actually have a noise generator installed in the engine bay.

[jrcuz]

I'm with you JB, I'd be finished with my heat/sound barrier install if it weren't for this heat and humidity we're experiencing. Later this week looks promising though. I only have a single car garage with a small window a/c unit and it is pretty useless this time of year.
JR

[JB in NOVA]

I’m still working on small projects as I wait for my E-brake part to arrive. In the meantime, I replaced my valve covers and air filters with “Cobra” branded parts from Summit. (valve covers: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-6582-A; air filter: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-9600-C302) These are very high-quality parts, and I am happy with them. My only regret is that I didn't coordinate with Blueprint beforehand to have these installed; it might have saved me a bit of money. Note to future newbies like me: make sure you discuss with your engine builder exactly what you want in terms of cosmetics. Some of these things come from third parties, so your builder might have to order them as part of your build. I should also note that I needed to use different bolts than what Blueprint used because the holes in the Summit valve covers were a little bigger than the Blueprint covers. I used these bolts, and they worked fine: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ARP-400-7508

Here’s how the 347 looks with the new covers:





This leads me to another question. I am planning on running the FFR accelerator cable from my Russ Thompson pedal to the Blueprint/Sniper linkage. I note that some folks have rotated their Sniper EFI unit 180 degrees, so the throttle linkage is on the passenger’s side. Mark at Breeze Automotive also recommended doing this so that the accelerator cable runs in a longer, smoother arc, instead of having to make two 180-degree turns coming out of the DS footbox and then mating with a driver’s-side throttle linkage.

Is this what most folks have done? Is this a simple task, or are their hidden problems with rotating the Holley Sniper 180 degrees on the engine? I see some electrical and plumbing connections that might need to be adjusted, but it doesn’t look too difficult. Still, I'm always hesitant to change things without knowing exactly what I'm in for. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Caddy Dad]

Hi JB,
I went with the mechanical throttle linkage so I can't comment on swapping the EFI 180*. However, my lesson learned tip is to insulate the grey wire connector coming off the distributor. I used a piece of shrink tubing. That wire can be used for the tachometer and is also used to set the rev limiter. I'm using the EFI tach signal coming from the Sniper to run the tachometer so I just tucked the grey wire into a pocket on the block. My grey wire accidentally shorted to the block while at idle and unknowingly set the rev limit to 2K. That was a real head scratcher until BadAsp427 enlightened me.

Cheers!

[TMartinLVNV]

I’m still working on small projects as I wait for my E-brake part to arrive. In the meantime, I replaced my valve covers and air filters with “Cobra” branded parts from Summit. (valve covers: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-6582-A; air filter: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-9600-C302) These are very high-quality parts, and I am happy with them. My only regret is that I didn't coordinate with Blueprint beforehand to have these installed; it might have saved me a bit of money. Note to future newbies like me: make sure you discuss with your engine builder exactly what you want in terms of cosmetics. Some of these things come from third parties, so your builder might have to order them as part of your build. I should also note that I needed to use different bolts than what Blueprint used because the holes in the Summit valve covers were a little bigger than the Blueprint covers. I used these bolts, and they worked fine: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ARP-400-7508

Here’s how the 347 looks with the new covers:





This leads me to another question. I am planning on running the FFR accelerator cable from my Russ Thompson pedal to the Blueprint/Sniper linkage. I note that some folks have rotated their Sniper EFI unit 180 degrees, so the throttle linkage is on the passenger’s side. Mark at Breeze Automotive also recommended doing this so that the accelerator cable runs in a longer, smoother arc, instead of having to make two 180-degree turns coming out of the DS footbox and then mating with a driver’s-side throttle linkage.

Is this what most folks have done? Is this a simple task, or are their hidden problems with rotating the Holley Sniper 180 degrees on the engine? I see some electrical and plumbing connections that might need to be adjusted, but it doesn’t look too difficult. Still, I'm always hesitant to change things without knowing exactly what I'm in for. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I have not seen anyone rotate the Sniper for this reason on our cars. I have the Lokar cable and it runs smooth even with the two bends. The throttle cable is run around the front to the right side of the motor for small block fords with the late 80's and 90's EFI because the throttle body was on that side rather than on top.

[JB in NOVA]

Caddy Dad and TMartinLVNV, thanks for the info! I think I will leave the Sniper as-is for now. I can always change it up later if need be. While I'm waiting for my E-brake part from FFR, I decided to prepare my rear cockpit wall for the Breeze cubby modification. I went with the dimensions recommended in the Breeze instructions, which requires 2.5-inch radius curves on either end. For those cuts, I used an adjustable hole cutter that I purchased from Home Depot:



This did an “OK” job, but the cutting surfaces are not really designed for metal. So once a well-defined groove was set, I used my Dremel tool to finish cutting the 5” diameter arcs. Then I used an angle grinder to make the straight cuts. After that, I used the Dremel to sand down and smooth out the edges:



I'm happy with the results, and any imperfections will be covered up by the bulb seal provided in the kit. After that, I cut 1” openings for the seat heater wiring and drilled and cleco'd the rear wall. It looks great in place!



I’m still waiting for a dry (not humid) day to paint all of my remaining panels, so final installation will have to wait. The other thing I took care of today is running a 3/16” hard line from the clutch master cylinder to the inside DS footbox wall. I used a 3/16”-inverted-flare-to-3AN-male bulkhead connection from Summit to pass through the panel. (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/AAF-ALL50104).



I also finished the DS footbox soundproofing:



I'm slowly approaching engine install, and I can't wait!

[TMartinLVNV]

No matter what you decide on, this makes it way easier to mount your cable connections with a lot of adjustment. I read about this on Papa's (Dave) build. For about the 100th time for me, his build is a great source of information.

https://www.amazon.com/Fast-304147-E.../dp/B00BBOLWTM

[Fman]

JB, your build is looking great!

I am looking forward to seeing your engine get dropped in... we are about in the same place, I am hoping to get my engine by the end of the month!

[JB in NOVA]

My E-brake fixed gear arrived just in time for the weekend. I’ve read enough build threads to know that the E-brake installation can be tricky, so I set aside an entire weekend to figure it out and get it done. Over the past several weeks, I’ve given careful consideration to doing EdwardB’s “pulley” modification to avoid running the tension cables under the 4” frame tube. Although I really like this mod and agree that running the cables under the 4” tube is unsightly, I ultimately decided not to do it. As a newbie, I’m worried that I will create more problems for myself than I will solve. So I decided to do the basic FFR installation for now -- I will reevaluate the setup later.

Assembling the E-brake itself is straight-forward—it took about 20 minutes. I primed the steel parts in advance to help prevent rust.

I knew from others’ build threads (and from the build school) that clearance between the E-brake handle and the tunnel aluminum is a common problem. And sure enough, I had that same problem. In this picture, you can see how close the handle is to the tunnel. The forward lever-arm bolt was scraping along the aluminum:



This problem has been well-documented in this forum, and there are many suggested solutions. I ended up doing an “all of the above” approach. First, I reversed the direction of the bolts on the lever arm so the heads are on the tunnel side. I also trimmed the tunnel aluminum, being careful not to get too close to the edge of the boot. In the picture below, the boot outline is drawn in silver, and I cut away a section for the forward angle bracket and another section for the arc of the forward lever-arm bolt:



This helped somewhat, but still not enough. Consulting the forum once again, I came across this excellent suggestion from Karl:

Hi Bruce. Could be, but I can't spot any differences based on what I see in the photos. I think this is just one of those cases where the assembly instructions can be improved upon. If you bench assemble the e-brake as shown below (rear angle bracket on the outboard side of the ratchet, front angle bracket on the opposite side of the ratchet) and then install with both angles on top of the chassis bracket I'll bet clearance to the sheetmetal will be adequate.

-Karl

I partially followed Karl’s suggestion by putting the front angle bracket on the inside of the lever arm (as shown in my picture below), which has the effect of pushing the front of the E-brake assembly outboard a bit more, increasing the angle. But I kept the forward angle bracket beneath the chassis bracket, per the FFR instructions.



This improved the clearance quite a bit:



For completeness sake, these are the changes I made to the FFR instructions:



Together with cutting the sheet metal (especially the section that allows the forward angle bracket bolt to protrude through), this seems to do the trick.

[JB in NOVA]

Next, I routed the cables to the rear calipers per the FFR instructions:



Driver’s side rear brake connection shown below:





If anyone sees any problems with this routing, please let me know. In the meantime, the E-brake seems to work fine. It’s a little rickety, and it definitely will be difficult to reach from the driver’s seat with the harness on. But I’m satisfied it will perform its basic function of being a parking brake.

My only concern is that the cables seem rub on this bracket attached to the 4” tube:



Even though the cables have a plastic protective coating, It doesn’t seem like a good idea to let them rub against this edge for a long period of time. I'm thinking about gluing some sort of rubber or nylon friction surface to this metal edge to prevent excessive wear. Before I do, though, does anyone have any other suggestions (other than the “pulley” mod, which I’m aware of) to avoid wear-and-tear in this area?

[JohnK]

Nice work on the e-brake. I put a protective "sleeve" over my e-brake cable housing in areas where I was worried about it rubbing the frame. I bought several different types of tubing at the local O'Reilly and finally settled on this one. It's flexible enough to be able to slide it on with a liberal dose of soapy water, and once the water dries it's pretty well fixed in place. Fuel line tubing in the same dimensions was way too stiff. Not sure I'm a fan of the cable going over the edge of that bracket, even with a protective sleeve. Can you slide it over a touch so it's resting on the 4" tube? If you can get it over a bit and put a protective sleeve on it, you should be good to go.

[Jeff Kleiner]

My only concern is that the cables seem rub on this bracket attached to the 4” tube:



Even though the cables have a plastic protective coating, It doesn’t seem like a good idea to let them rub against this edge for a long period of time. I'm thinking about gluing some sort of rubber or nylon friction surface to this metal edge to prevent excessive wear. Before I do, though, does anyone have any other suggestions (other than the “pulley” mod, which I’m aware of) to avoid wear-and-tear in this area?

Easy-peasey; I've done this on several cars. Use some 1/2" O.D. nylon spacers screwed to the round tube to help direct or guide the cables away from the bracket and to keep them separated so that they aren't contacting one another. Here's are a couple of examples.





Jeff

[JB in NOVA]

The Cobra project got put on the back burner for a while as I took some time off to go sailing. What a great way to reset!



I’m still thinking about Jeff's suggested method of separating and routing the E-brake cables. I plan to do something similar. In the meantime, I went ahead and installed the trunk divider for the Breeze cubby modification and installed sound proofing in the trunk area:




This was relatively straightforward. The only modification I made in the trunk area (aside from the Breeze cubby, Russ Thompson drop trunk, and the “Kleiner” bolt extensions) was to fabricate interior side panels between the rear cockpit wall and the trunk triangle panels:



Several others in this forum have also created interior filler panels like this, and I understand they used to come standard with the FFR kit. Not sure why FFR stopped providing them, but they are useful for creating a nice, even surface for carpeting the interior of the trunk area. They weren’t hard to fabricate, but this seems like a perfect item for Mark to add to his inventory at Breeze!

[jrcuz]

Looks nice JB, I was on the fence with the drop trunk and decided to not do it. I may regret it down the road. Enjoy the holiday.
JR

[JB in NOVA]

I spent some time this weekend working on the radiator. I’m using the Breeze fan shroud and Breeze upper and lower radiator mounts. Because the Breeze upper hinge mount requires cutting the FFR mounts off of the ¾ inch cross bar at the front of the engine compartment, I wanted to get this done before the engine is installed.

Assembling the FFR radiator and fan with the Breeze shroud was relatively simple:



As with all the Breeze parts I’ve used so far, everything fit together perfectly. Attaching the hinge to the upper channel was also straight forward:



At first, I was a bit confused by the written instructions regarding how to properly orient the hinge (the instructions say to put the “hinge pin facing down,” but this is somewhat ambiguous when the radiator is on the bench top). Anyway, this picture in the instructions cleared everything up for me:



The next step was to remove the FFR mounting tubes that are welded to the ¾ inch cross bar. I must admit I was paranoid about damaging the cross bar after reading another builder’s unfortunate experience with this. I used a cutting wheel on an angle grinder to cut through the welds, being careful to cut on the “sacrificial” side of the weld, not on the cross-bar side. I switched to a Dremel cutting wheel for a couple spots where I couldn’t get the angle grinder into position.

Once this was done, I used a chisel to work the mounting tubes away from the cross bar.



After working the mounting tubes back and forth for a couple minutes, they broke free, leaving some remnants still attached to the cross bar. I was able to chisel these remnants off without doing any damage to the cross bar:



Finally, I used a 60-grit sanding wheel on my Dremel to sand everything smooth:



Then I touched up the bare spots with semi-gloss paint.

[JB in NOVA]

Attaching the radiator to the frame using the Breeze upper and lower mounts was straight-forward and problem-free. The instructions are very clear, and the parts fit perfectly. Here’s the upper hinge mount installed, with the lower radiator still being supported by a floor jack:



I used an i-Phone app called “Angle Pro” to dial in the angle to 51 degrees. Then I installed the lower mount hardware. Here is the fully installed radiator:



The lower mount uses rubber hoses on either end to provide a “resilient” mounting system that is supposed to reduce stress on the radiator:



As always, if anyone sees anything wrong with my installation or has advice about how to improve it, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. I will be temporarily removing the radiator to make way for the engine install.

Here’s the other thing I managed to complete this weekend:



If all goes well, the drive train should be installed by next week! It’s amazing that I’m already at that stage – all those tiny steps have really added up:

[JohnK]

Very nice work! The radiator install looks great. I can't wait to see your engine go in.

[jrcuz]

Everything looks great JB. I used the Breeze radiator mounts also and am very pleased with everything Breeze sells. Can't wait for your drivetrain install pics.
JR

[egchewy79]

The one ton hoist may not be enough to get your small block in the mounts. Set it to the 1/4ton mark and give yourself enough length on the chain. The ram on the hoist will hit the radiator cross member before the mounts get close to the brackets, by a few inches. I had to lengthen the chains on mine and basically swing it into the mounting holes. Use a leveler if you have one and I needed 2 others to swing in into place.

[JB in NOVA]

egchewy79, thanks for that advice! I'm a little confused by the suggestion that I put the hoist at the 1/4 ton mark -- you're saying extend the arm out to its furthest setting? Is that safe? I was planning on keeping it on the 1 ton setting, but I guess you're saying that won't be enough to actually get the engine far enough into the engine bay to mate with the mounts before the ram hits the cross member. Not quibbling with your first-hand experience, but I'm nervous about setting the hoist at just 1/4 ton (500 lbs) (I think the engine/transmission weighs more than that).

Sorry if that's a stupid question. This is my first engine install . . . ever.

I do have a leveler, and I will have two extra people for the process.

[edwardb]

After all the work putting in the radiator, you're going to want to take it back out to install the engine. You need all the room you can get at the bottom to push the hoist far enough back. egchewy79 is right. The 1 ton version has been mentioned by many as barely enough to get the job done. Even with the radiator out. 20/20 hindsight (sorry) but the 2 ton version is the better choice. Make sure you have plenty of help and watch that the hoist doesn't get tippy with the engine that far out. I've heard of guys having to stand on that size hoist.

[jrcuz]

JB, I used my 1 ton H/F hoist and a carb. plate. I have a leveler but didn't use it (no particular reason) I hadn't installed my radiator yet. Had 1 helper in the cockpit pushing down on the tail of the trans. You will be surprised how quickly it happens. Check your motor mounts for fit to the eng. block before you get the eng. in. Mine being a Dart block is cast with webbing where the mounts bolt to the block. Rather than grind down the webbing we decided to modify the mounts. Yours should be OK if BluePrint uses Ford blocks. I agree with edwardb have your heaviest helper ready to get on the rear of the hoist, that would have been me but we were ok.
JR

[egchewy79]

I had to insert my SBF engine 3 times. the first time, the hoist was set at the 1/2 ton setting. after getting the drivetrain in the car, it was evident that we were not close to the motor mounts. took everything out, dropped the drivetrain on an old tire, and adjusted the hoist arm to the 1/4 ton setting. tried again, and again fell short. took everything out and lengthened the chain (chained directly to the block). third try was a charm, but had to "swing" the drivetrain rearward like a pendulum and drop it into the mounting brackets while others were holding tension...not ideal. we had one guy who's job was to jump on the back of the hoist if it started to tip. I have a T5Z, so it's likely a bit lighter than your TKO. I estimated my drivetrain to be just around 500lbs, so I was probably pushing the limits of the hoist set at 1/4 ton. if I had to do it over, i'd consider swapping out for the 2 ton version.

on a side note, I've heard of others able to successfully come in from an angle. I have no experience w/ this whatsoever, but a possible solution.

[JB in NOVA]

Gentlemen, thank you for your advice. I humbly bow to the wisdom of the forum! I certainly don't want my first engine install experience to involve "iffy" equipment. Today, I was able to return my 1-ton engine crane (for a full refund) and exchange it for a 2-ton model. As luck would have it, the 2-ton crane was on sale at HF, so it didn't actually cost me much extra. And now I have prior experience assembling engine cranes!

[JohnK]

Good call on the 2 ton lift. I bought the same one. One other nice thing about it is that it takes up zero garage space because my friends are always borrowing it.

[NA5KAR]

Hi JB. Great build thread. I'm chugging along on my build slowly here in Florida. When I saw the picture of your 1 ton hoist, I got excited thinking I had something to contribute. Scrolling down, I'm glad others were quick to advise the 2 ton. I had the same experience. Had the 1 ton and put it in place as a dry run to see where everything lined up. I found that the (centered) chain would have put the engine down about 6" forward of the mounts. Johnny from Blueprint told me that my engine/trans combo weighed about 676 lbs. I have the 302 with a T5 trans. I swapped the 1 ton for the 2 ton at HF as well. I used the 1 ton boom position and it went in easy. One other thing I learned from the forum, specifically Papa's build thread, is to make sure to set the car in the right position to use the hoist. Otherwise, the hoist wont roll under the frame of the car. Front wheels on blocks and rear wheels on blocks, but quite a bit higher than the front. Look at Papa's thread to see how he did it. Best of luck on the install.

[JB in NOVA]

I’m still making preparations for the drive train install. In the meantime, I took care of the E-brake cable routing problem I mentioned earlier. As I noted above, I didn’t like that one of the E-brake cables was rubbing against the seat bracket on the 4-inch tube:



Jeff Kleiner had a good suggestion involving nylon spacers to guide the cables away from the bracket. I did a modified version of his suggestion using a couple of 5/8” double-cable clamps, which I think are typically used for motorcycles. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I drilled a hole through the center of each clamp to receive a 3/8” stainless steel socket cap screw. Then I tapped threaded holes in the 4” tube and fastened the clamps in place to pull the cables slightly away from the bracket. To avoid chaffing, I put nylon tubing over the cables – the tubing gets snuggly captured by the brackets but still allows the cable to slide through. Here’s how it looks:





I tested the E-brake several times, and everything seems functional. I’ll keep an eye on it down the road to make sure it isn’t causing chaffing problems.

The other thing I did is pull the Roadster out of the garage (technically, my son pushed it out with me steering) to do some garage rearrangement in preparation for the drive train install. Here’s #9822 seeing the sunshine for the first time!

[JB in NOVA]

Big day today! With the help of a couple friends and my dad, we got the drive train installed. After all the preparation and build-up, the entire process only took an hour. But it was a fun day.



A few notes about the preparation. First, I was pretty sure these brackets (rear bracket shown below) could be used as lift points, but I went ahead and verified with Blueprint to be sure. Better safe than sorry. Their answer: yes, those are the lifting brackets for my Blueprint 347 engine.



One other issue I came across was that the engine-to-bracket bolts provided with the FFR kit were too long. They bottomed out before tightening. But my Blueprint engine came with properly sized bolts in those mounts (and they were grade 8, versus the grade 5 FFR bolts), so I used the Blueprint bolts instead. In the picture below, the Blueprint-supplied bolt is on the left, and the FFR-supplied bolt is on the right:



As noted above, I traded in my 1-ton HF crane for a 2-ton crane, which worked great. I used an engine leveler attached at the 1-ton setting for the install:



For the install, I pretty much followed the guidelines many others have discussed. I put the front tires on wheel dollies and put the rear end on jacks to create a better angle. I used the leveler to put a severe downward angle on the engine and then reduced the angle and lowered the engine as my helpers guided it into place. The only problem we had was that the driver’s side engine mount was initially about ½ inch out of alignment. But after some adjustments with a pry bar and then tightening down the mounting nuts, we got everything sitting flush and centered.

Before we popped open the beers, we pushed the car out for a “photo shoot” with its new engine:



As always, if anyone sees anything wrong with my install, please let me know!

[JohnK]

Congratulations JB! That's a big milestone. I can't wait for the video of first start.

[460.465USMC]

Right on, JB! Looking good! Cool to have your Dad and buddy along to help/witness this accomplishment.

[JB in NOVA]

465USMC, thanks for the kind words. BTW, my dad is from Wallace, Idaho, not too far from Spokane. If I recall his stories correctly, Spokane was the "big city" they used to drive to when they could save up enough gas money.

[jrcuz]

Well done JB and crew, Install does go quickly, I was surprised when we did mine. My left eng. mount also required some massaging with a 2x4 and sledge hammer. When I disassembled the crate my eng. came in I think I had enough lumber and screws to build a small house. Friend and builder Tom came over yesterday and we removed the body so now I can finish the XMAT and do the carpet.
JR

[TMartinLVNV]

Awesome. Big milestone accomplished.

[bldr.rob]

Congratulations!! That's a great day!