Carl's and Phil's Mk4 Roadster Build Thread

[hineas]

Last week I rode Amtrak up to my brother's house and picked up the car and drove it home. This is the first time the cobra has been at my home in Colorado.

The drive was almost exactly 300 miles long. It was a great drive and the car performed well. We did have a minor setback because the coolant sensor for the EFI failed, but otherwise the drive was perfect.

My brother took the car in to be aligned a week before I drove it home. The alignment shop does a lot of racing vehicles, custom cars, etc. When we asked him to do 6 degrees of caster, he said "that is too much for a street car, are you sure?" He explained that most of his customers that do 6-8 degrees of caster only do it for race day then drop it back down to 2-3 degrees for the street. My brother told him we wanted 6 degrees. He agreed to do it and told us we could come back to get it dropped down to 3 any time. Well, the 6 degrees of caster feel great and I'm more than pleased with the alignment. The car drives straight, it corners beautifully, and it goes exactly where I point it. It is a joy to drive.

Once I got the car home I started to do some more work on the car. We haven't installed the over-riders yet, so I installed the front ones. That was a simple install and they look great! I haven't installed the rear ones since I still need to trim down the threaded rods (I did the Kleiner modification) for the rear body mounts before I install them. I plan on drilling out the threads on the rear over-riders so they slide over the threaded rod and then sandwich the mounting plate between two nuts.

I also wanted to get the soft top installed. We purchased the premium top so I can drive during the colder months and to help with the sun. I live in the desert and we have over 300 days of sunshine here. The winters are cold but sunny here so the top will expand my driving season (but I will need to buy some non-summer tires!).

I opened up the premium soft top from Rod Tops and it is truly a premium product. I didn't realize that it came packaged in vinyl pouches that can store in the trunk, which was a great bonus. I was impressed by the quality when I pulled everything out of the box. I was impressed with the instructions. I cannot recommend the top enough.

Installation took me about 2 hours. We haven't done any body work yet, so I didn't want to permanently installed the mounting point just behind the doors. I ended up running to the hardware store to by a different nut that wasn't a nylon lock nut. The issue with the clevis joint in the back is that you can tighten the nut that holds it in place but it is not easy to loosen. So I opted to use a non-locking nut so I can remove the mounting point when we do paint.

Once those two holes were drilled and the mounts installed, the rest was easy. I installed all the rods and the top without issues. I drilled and installed the snap that goes on each side of the windshield. I had to remove the side mirror, which was a big fat pain in the patoot, but it went well.

After I put the top on, the wife and I went for a drive. I was impressed that at 70 mph, there was no buffeting or flapping of the top and everything was rock solid. I am impressed. Today I went for a drive with the windows out and there was enough air flow without the side windows. I also have the zippered back window but I left that up today.

I did call Rod Tops and have them add the rear corner windows, which really helps with visibility. I highly recommend those as well.

Sadly, I just looked it up on the Factory Five website and the top is no longer offered! I suspect you can contact Rod Tops directly for an order. I hope they put the top back on the Factory Five site because it is a great product.

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[DW66]

FFR took it off the website due to Rod Tops not being able to get the top material. I spoke with Chad yesterday and he has been waiting for top material since April 2021. I am now on the wait list. If anyone has a top for sale I would be interested. Thanks

[hineas]

Wow! We must have been lucky to get ours. We ordered it last summer (several months after April) and got it just before Christmas.