NUHale's MKIV 7275 Build Thread - FFR Premium Top Review

[nuhale]

I'm getting some more movement in my knee so trying to spend some more time in getting 7275 graduated. Couple items on the punch list to wrap up including brakes. Started with some brake envy after seeing Michaels build at Spotlight in GA when picking mine up. He has the "Cobra" big brakes with brembo rotors. Just cool looking. As I'm not ready to pull the trigger on another $500+ project I think I'll just give a pad change a go. This is where things got tricky. Have not a clue what rear setup I have so did some hunting around on the fourms to figure it out. Decided on Hawk HPS pads and ordered HB580F.627.... WRONG. These are the 88 Tbird pads and are larger than the pads I have... maybe should have checked before I opened the package (THESE ARE AVAIL FOR SALE ). Round 2... Did some more digging and found the right profile from 99-04 rear mustang brakes. Ordered HB183F.660.... WRONG. The (660) designation is the thickness =.660" Caliper wont fit... They make a .585" version I found.. Ordered and they better fit! For future reference my pads are Hawk HB183F.585.

Working on some covers for the gap in the front of the rear wheel next. After this I'm pretty much done for now. Have some new seats that should give a few more inches of room but will hold off on that for a project down the road. Will have the UCA's swapped for the newer ones with alignment in a couple weeks once weather turns. I was planning on getting some new tires as the proxies 888's I have are 10+ years old. Still the plan but the Nitto 555G2's I want are backordered for who knows long. Won't be long now...

[nuhale]

Just finished most of the items on the punch list... dare I say that its done??? Swapped out the Wagner pads with HAWK HPS as listed in previous post. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. I couldn't lock up the wagners if I had the pedal to the floor. These... no problem! I can feel the difference.

Well pictures to come but I afraid to say 7275 is DONE, GRADUATED!

[Blitzboy54]

Congratulations!!!

[Jeff Kleiner]

Attaboy Bryan! Congrats

Jeff

[Robodent]

Congrats. I’m sure it’s something to be very proud of. Hope this summer at some point I hope we can get together and I will be able to see it in person. Rob

[nuhale]

Well... spoke too soon....

Went out for 20min cruise and was smelling brakes something awful. Assumed was the new pads rubberizing. Got er' back in the garage and the front PS wheel was too hot to touch. Wheel coming off first thing tomorrow to assess issue/damage. Guessing its a stuck piston or caliper slides. Will figure it out.

[Al_C]

Look, you can graduate, or you can be done. Different items. You are graduated! Fact is, you will never be done. Good for you! Pat yourself on the back and thank your lucky stars (or something like that). Cory and Al are expecting you in McHenry, so you are "effectively" done. Celebrate the moment! Watch a Cubs game! (well, that might be painful...) Go stare at your car and admire it!

[cv2065]

Congrats! Looks great Bud!

[nuhale]

Look, you can graduate, or you can be done. Different items. You are graduated! Fact is, you will never be done. Good for you! Pat yourself on the back and thank your lucky stars (or something like that). Cory and Al are expecting you in McHenry, so you are "effectively" done. Celebrate the moment! Watch a Cubs game! (well, that might be painful...) Go stare at your car and admire it!

Thanks for the kind words al. I’m more than satisfied with outcome. Your right. Alsways soemthing else to do. Was the draw to this from the get go. And by the way... cubbies put up a 7 spot in 1st inning as I was finishing up. Good omen.

[zarnold]

Look, you can graduate, or you can be done. Different items. You are graduated! Fact is, you will never be done. Good for you! Pat yourself on the back and thank your lucky stars (or something like that). Cory and Al are expecting you in McHenry, so you are "effectively" done. Celebrate the moment! Watch a Cubs game! (well, that might be painful...) Go stare at your car and admire it!

Yes, definitely graduated! Congrats! Now for the fun stuff.

[jiriza84641]

Congrats Brian! Always something to do!

[BadAsp427]

Way to go Brian, Congratulations.

[nuhale]

Big Milestone!



Also got the Ultrashield Race seat (similar to kirkey low back) in today and was amazed how much more room my 6'-4" corn fed butt had. Sits back and lower and it's pretty darn comfy now.

[Al_C]

So here's a really tacky question: is your speedo a GPS unit? If so, you'd be getting "credit" for all those miles on a trailer between Chicago and Georgia... Or, did you actually drive them? ...just kidding!

[nuhale]

Picked up a Ultrashield cobra seat from Paul P. a few weeks back as roadster is a little tight (but manageable) with my 6'-4" 265lb frame. I mocked it up a few days ago to see what benefit this really can give and WOW, what an improvement. I can work pedals without angling my foot and knee against the tunnel.

I ordered a second to match which won't get until mid june but starting to figure out how to mount these. I felt pretty comfy with the seat mounted directly on the floor.

Q: How did you mount your Kirkeys or ultrashield alum buckets? Looking for some thought starters. With the low padding do you feel the bolt head? Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated.

[Railroad]

So here's a really tacky question: is your speedo a GPS unit? If so, you'd be getting "credit" for all those miles on a trailer between Chicago and Georgia... Or, did you actually drive them? ...just kidding!

I do not think the GPS speedo logs anything with the key (power) off.
Now some hour/meters are vibration recording.

[nuhale]

Finally got into the local performance shop this morning to get tuned. I was going to go the Lund direction but quite honestly with their prices being hiked and the lack of personal interaction & dyno I opted for a local shop (DMark Performance). They were SIGNIFICANLY lower in cost and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I was curious what a tune would bring this Gen2 beast as I thought it runs pretty good out of the crate. I noticed the difference immediately. Faster response on the lower RPM's. I did notice a slight drag, almost sluggish below 3K RPM before tune... GONE. Got a few pulls on the dyno. Hit 412hp @ 390 torque.

I was out cruising on Sunday and was in Wisconsin for a bit. Filled up and realized that the premium was only 91 octane and had no ethanol. Tuner said maybe causing a very slight dip in performance but admitted had never had a non ethanol situation before. Also said I could get a small bump in power if I went to a larger CAI. I just re-did mine getting rid of the spectre setup. Went with a 3.5 tube from air cleaner to throttle body. He recommended going to 4".. doesn't make sense to me as the throttle body opening is 3.5". I'll leave it alone for now... All in all happy with the numbers and the improvement of performance.

EDIT: I failed to mention I'm running a 3.27 rear end. Maybe get some stronger numbers if I go 3.55

[Railroad]

Gears will not significantly change anything on your dyno sheet. 91 to 93 octane might pick up a few numbers. The ECU will adapt through sensors feeding it.
I agree 3.55 gears will be better suited. If you find a 3.73's in a rear, they will really wake up your ride.
Your numbers look good. What tuner did you buy?

[nuhale]

Gears will not significantly change anything on your dyno sheet. 91 to 93 octane might pick up a few numbers. The ECU will adapt through sensors feeding it.
I agree 3.55 gears will be better suited. If you find a 3.73's in a rear, they will really wake up your ride.
Your numbers look good. What tuner did you buy?

SCT x4 7015

[GTBradley]

I think you are right where you should be on hp. You got 11hp more than I did and it represents more bhp than Ford lists it at, which I attribute to the intake and long tube headers. Congratulations. I like the color.

[Jeff Kleiner]

...failed to mention I'm running a 3.27 rear end. Maybe get some stronger numbers if I go 3.55

From what I have read (and we all know that if it’s on the internet it is undisputedly true) when using an inertia type dyno like a Dynojet, etc. that sort of gear change will show a higher torque number and lower horsepower number. Of course the engine is producing exactly the same either way. It’s some sort of phenomenon that’s got something to do with how the time/speed calculation is done. Numbers aside I’m sure your butt dyno would feel more grunt—-especially if you went to 3.73

Jeff

[jiriza84641]

Finally got into the local performance shop this morning to get tuned. I was going to go the Lund direction but quite honestly with their prices being hiked and the lack of personal interaction & dyno I opted for a local shop (DMark Performance). They were SIGNIFICANLY lower in cost and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I was curious what a tune would bring this Gen2 beast as I thought it runs pretty good out of the crate. I noticed the difference immediately. Faster response on the lower RPM's. I did notice a slight drag, almost sluggish below 3K RPM before tune... GONE. Got a few pulls on the dyno. Hit 412hp @ 390 torque.

I was out cruising on Sunday and was in Wisconsin for a bit. Filled up and realized that the premium was only 91 octane and had no ethanol. Tuner said maybe causing a very slight dip in performance but admitted had never had a non ethanol situation before. Also said I could get a small bump in power if I went to a larger CAI. I just re-did mine getting rid of the spectre setup. Went with a 3.5 tube from air cleaner to throttle body. He recommended going to 4".. doesn't make sense to me as the throttle body opening is 3.5". I'll leave it alone for now... All in all happy with the numbers and the improvement of performance.

EDIT: I failed to mention I'm running a 3.27 rear end. Maybe get some stronger numbers if I go 3.55

Thats a great run Brian, I did an some tuning this past Monday while up by Sten place in Woodstock (some nice roads over there) pulled a WOT in 3rd gear at 112mph, lets say I need a booster seat or cushion cause it pushed me down into the seat. Need to do a couple more on Monday and hopefully LUND says the tune is complete.
They also adjusted the idle RPM from 920 to about 800 ( ill see is it can top down a little more), also indicated is was getting rich at the higher RPMs, and cut that down too.

[nuhale]

So of course a gremlin shows up right before London.... Looking for some ideas:

Up to a week ago my fuel gauge was working "ok". I ran out of gas on a quick drive which was the leading indicator... prob should have noticed that I had 1/4 tank of gas for some time.

ISSUE:

Fuel gauge appears to read ok when power on (no engine). When engine running fuel gauge jumps to Full. As I had access to fuel sender from replacing it I was checking some of the usual suspects. I checked the line feed and get a constant 4V from the fuel gauge with bother power on or engine on. Was looking for a voltage spike to sender indicating a possible bad gauge. I checked continuity at the ground (rear harness ground going back to the main feed behind dash). With just ignition I get good continuity. With engine on my meter stops beeping indicating continuity and gives an ohms reading. I grounded sender directly to chassis and it seems to show good result so this should suffice for the trip to London. Any ideas on what could be causing this? Need to start somewhere when I return and any thoughts from the group is appreciated.

Also a bit nervous about the root cause and it possibly causing a bigger issue.

NOTE: I have the old fuel gauge where set point at E and F is calibration. I did this and it was not the issue.

[Al_C]

how was the sender grounded previously? i.e. is the grounding to frame new or was it always that way?

[nuhale]

Sender was grounded thru rear harness leading up to the main harness that pigtails to all other grounds in Ron Francis harness. I cut that and directly grounded sender to chassis. Speedhut recommends that fuel gauge and sender share same ground wire. Guess it all comes together at the chassis to battery terminal (checking that too)

[BadAsp427]

Have you taken the sensor out of the tank and manually moved the float up and down? It's possible you have a problem with either the float falling off or the sender actually not working.

[nuhale]

Not the sender. That was checked. Another update on my “patch”. When I’m at idle it works. When I drive or increase rpm the sender moves to full. This is maddening. Only thing I can think of is alternator??

[edwardb]

As you're troubleshooting, keep in mind the sender is purely a variable resistor. If the kit supplied older Mustang variety, it's 145 ohms full, 22 ohms empty. Which you can read by probing with your ohms meter across the terminals while moving the float. Measuring voltage coming out of the sender is incorrect and won't help you solve anything. The circuity in the gauge reads the ohms from the sender and moves the needle accordingly.

As far as grounds, my standard practice is to add at least one additional ground at the rear harness. I just add it to the ground wire(s) that are in the rear harness. That gives at least one redundant ground in addition to the large single one by the fuse panel. Which I personally find a little inadequate and also a single point of failure. If both grounds are good, I wouldn't worry about the Speedhut recommendation for the gauge and sender being on the same ground wire. Keep in mind that's a generalized recommendation and they don't know you have an all steel one-piece welded chassis. With a solid ground connection to the frame from your battery, anywhere on the frame should be a good very solid ground connection.

[Al_C]

work around for this weekend: start full. meet at hinsdale oasis. fill yours when I fill mine.

[nuhale]

Great weekend in London! Was great to meet a lot of folks from this forum in person.

My issue was not resolved but went anyway just watching my odometer trip miles. No issues to report other than getting stuck in a rain storm on saturday that was crazy.

I got some good ideas about this from some folks (thanks Henry!) and guessing this a battery grounding issue. I have a 4ga wire off battery to frame. The connection is a 1/4-20 rivunt with the ground and the coyote PCB ground screwed down. Guessing this is nearly not enough with the engine running. My fuel gauge appears to work without engine running/low idle. Once I get driving the gauge jumps to "F".

Going to add another ground directly to frame on chassis engine mount where I have the engine ground strap. Hoping this will do the trick and all will be well. If not gonna just buy another gauge from Speedhut.

[BadAsp427]

Great weekend in London! Was great to meet a lot of folks from this forum in person.

My issue was not resolved but went anyway just watching my odometer trip miles. No issues to report other than getting stuck in a rain storm on saturday that was crazy.

I got some good ideas about this from some folks (thanks Henry!) and guessing this a battery grounding issue. I have a 4ga wire off battery to frame. The connection is a 1/4-20 rivunt with the ground and the coyote PCB ground screwed down. Guessing this is nearly not enough with the engine running. My fuel gauge appears to work without engine running/low idle. Once I get driving the gauge jumps to "F".

Going to add another ground directly to frame on chassis engine mount where I have the engine ground strap. Hoping this will do the trick and all will be well. If not gonna just buy another gauge from Speedhut.

So, just to be sure, you cleaned off the powder coating under the ground wires before you tightened everything down with that 1/4-20 bolt right???

[Jeff Kleiner]

Bryan,
As I suggested when we were looking at it the other day I’d gather all of your grounds together to the engine ground lug that you have on the engine mount pedestal. Stainless is a less than stellar conductor so the rivnut in the chassis tube that you currently have the battery and PDB screwed into may well be a weak link.

Good luck!

Jeff

[nuhale]

Update on my fuel gauge issue. After a consulting many of ya'll, several calls with speedhut, hours of investigation and process of elimination it turns out my darn gauge was the issue. Speedhut repaired it under warranty and upgraded it to the new electronics (had the old manual calibration only one). Popped the new one in, repaired/reassembled all the things I pulled apart and presto... works perfect. Yes, calibrated it to 7/8 tank for ohm match for sender.

Next time I run into an issue with one of the gauges (had my oil pressure sender go already) I'm looking directly at speedhut first.

[nuhale]

Covid has me bored again. Brakes have been an up a down thing with me. At first I had the 99 GT brakes FFR provides with the wagner quiet pads. Car did stop but even with my boost I could not lock the tires up. I upgraded to the HAWK HPS pads front and rear and this combo was more than sufficient for my needs. I drive it hard but only on street so not reporting any type of track performance. Guess I couldn't leave well enough alone as I decided to upgrade to the mustang "Cobra" big brake setup. Rockauto sells a 98 cobra setup from powerstop for a very decent cost which includes calipers, rotors and pads.

Picture of my 17" with the 10.5" GT FFR "Stock" brakes


Rotor comparison between GT and COBRA:


Most of what I found new or refurbished did not have the "COBRA" embossing. I really liked this touch and preferred to go with new so I chose the power stop and put my laser engraver to work. Filled in the engraving with testors white enamel.



Overall really like the difference. Here's them before and after...



Overall this is a easy upgrade. I'm sure many will find a big difference from the GT. I'm running a hydroboost so quite honestly going from the GT with Hawk HPS to these with Powerstop pads it is slightly reduced in performance. It's still pretty darn good so I'll stick with these pads. If I get another itch maybe upgrade to Hawks or EBC red stuff pads.

Credit to Michael Craven for providing months of brake envy...

[BadAsp427]

Very cool......

[Al_C]

Looks good! I'm impressed with the laser engraver, too.

[mcwho]

Do these big rotors work with 15" wheels, I am looking aat the Power Stop calipers, anyone think we need slotted and drilled rotors, may never do a track day.

[nuhale]

Do these big rotors work with 15" wheels, I am looking aat the Power Stop calipers, anyone think we need slotted and drilled rotors, may never do a track day.

To my knowledge, no. It's a tight fit with 17" wheels. I recommend you talk with Gordon Levy about best options on the 15" dishes.

[nuhale]

Driving in the Rain/FFR Rod Tops Premium Top Review:

I picked up a rod tops FFR premium top last winter from another builder that opted not to install. Was always back and forth with this decision but the right time/place came into effect so I pulled the trigger. I've not seen a ton of reviews on this so figured I would give some of my perspective now that I've used. I don't plan on driving in the rain/inclement weather if I can help it but getting stuck in the worst kind of rain while at LCS last year made me think having one better than not.

Install - Pretty straight forward. Mine turned out to be a little unique as my windshield was not the correct rake. When I went to correct I found why. The hole in the DS body for windshield upright was cut way too large. Painter had the windshield set to hide the hole. I machined some new escutcheon plates that extended to cover the hole. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN INSTALLING THE RECIEVERS behind the doors. I had a bonehead move and overtightened cracking my clearcoat. Back to my local painter to fix this July. Other than this was pretty simple.



Use- I read some feedback about the rubber seal on rear bow that meets the body can cause some damage to clear. Just a 5min test drive created some rash I had to buff out. Another builder gave me great solution. Put down a strip of painters tape as intermediate between rear bow and body. I now keep a roll of black 3" and 1/4" strip. I use the 1/4" to create a guide then lay down the 3". Works perfectly and with black you barely notice. I was moving fast before my first rain trial run and the rear bow came apart and fell hitting the body behind the PS door leaving small gash in paint... again back to the paint shop. . Need to be more careful I guess. The side windows are a bit of a pain but manageable once you figure out how to get them on/off both in and out of car.



Overall- Was in a pretty good rain for the first trial run. Over an hour of good downpour and was at various speeds (both highway and city). I was fairly impressed at how well this top worked. I expected more water getting in. I had a few leaks where water was getting in between the DS windshield upright and windshield itself. Also had some drips top middle of shield. I had already done some work to seal the uprights trough body with 3M strip caulk and weather stripping in doors. No leaks there which was great. Getting in and out is a challenge as I'm a big guy (6'4"/270lbs). A little bit of Tetris and I figured it out. Overall nice top and I'm very happy with the performance.