TXeverydayDad's #11001 Roadster Coyote build

[TXeverydayDad]

The time has finally come to start my own build thread! The intent is to use it as documentation for myself as well as provide an opportunity for family and friends to be a part of the build.

This roadster will be my first build and an opportunity for me to learn as I go, together with my family. The goal is to have a good time together as a family in building the roadster but also an opportunity for the kids (ages 10, 12, 14) to learn practical engineering skills, fabrication and basic tool handling etc. It’ll be a non-donor street cruiser and I have lots of plans and ideas from reading the forums over the past 8 years or so. Exactly which of those plans and ideas that materialize and actually make it on the build remains to be seen.

I’ve been planning for this build on and off for the past 10-15 years and in January I took the plunge and placed the order on Factory Five:

• Complete Roadster Mk4 kit
• IRS + 3.55 rear end
• Power steering kit
• Hydraulic clutch kit
• Vintage gauges
• Dual chrome roll bars
• 18” Halibrands
• Black Wilwood brakes
• Front and rear sway bars
• Carbon Fiber Dash
• Black leather seats
• And a few other options as well

It will be a Coyote build. The plan was going with a gen 3 but given the current circumstances, it’ll likely be a gen 4. A little more intimidating, but probably not too different in the end. It’ll be mated to a TKX, with a hydraulic TOB.

This will be the first time I’m doing anything like this so I’m grateful for any and all input, comments and suggestions, especially when I mount things upside down and inside out...

The completion date was March 23


Stewart Transport picked it up on April 3 and Mark with Stewart Transport showed up in TX on April 11. It was a perfect day!






#11001 is now in the garage and we’ll spend the next few days doing inventory, prepping the body buck and getting to know the roadster. It’ll be exciting to see how everything goes together and get a feel for all the parts.


So the journey begins! 😊

[JayOH]

Congratulations! Looking forward to following along.

[dbo_texas]

Congrats! Looking forward to following along. I'm working on a MK4 in Austin,TX currently. Somewhat similar build as you, just using a T56 instead of TKX but otherwise most of the same stuff (power steering, hydraulic clutch, 18s, CF dash, etc). Good luck on the build.

[Its Bruce]

I recently completed my build in Cypress. Feel free to PM with anything.

[GoDadGo]

Man I Miss The Build Process!

...With that said, Welcome Aboard!

[ydousurf]

I still remember the joy and permanent smile that one gets when they see that beautiful 18 wheeler pull up to your house with your dream inside. Like a child on Christmas Day and getting that “One special gift” from Santa. I still have that feeling forever burned in the ol’ brain pan. I guess it only gets topped when you eventually drive-it for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, count to infinity… times. Anyway, lots of knowledgeable and helpful family out here to help. Enjoy your build TXeverydayDad! We’ll all be following along!

Doug

[460.465USMC]

Welcome aboard, TX! Sounds like you've done a great deal of planning (and dreaming!) for your build. Congrats on the delivery. I hope it's a great family project for you all.

I'm also going with a Coyote on my Coupe build--love the Gen 3 in my Roadster--but a ways out from ordering the motor. I will be closely watching what is available (Gen 4?) once I'm ready to order. I'll stay tuned to see what you come up with.

[TXeverydayDad]

Thanks for the welcome! I really appreciate this community!

Seeing the 18-wheeler pull up really does make you smile.

Regarding the Coyote, it'll be interesting to see what happens, if the gen 3 comes back or if Ford just launches the gen 4 crate. I have no insight or connections at Ford so I'll just have to wait patiently.

/Sam

[TXeverydayDad]

We’ve spent the past few days going over inventory and finding storage spaces for all the boxes in the garage. The rollbars are the only backordered items, and there were a few minor items missing, so it’s all good. It was actually a fun experience to go through all the pieces and both see and handle them first hand.

A heads-up to first time roadster builders and something I wasn’t aware of or had seen in any other posts earlier. One corner on the fuel tank is bent up for tire clearance, and is not due to transport damage. Just an FYI that I haven’t seen mentioned before.


We also built a body buck with a shelf for holding the carpet pieces flat and store the trunk, doors and hood. The plan is to hoist it up in the garage and get it out of the way. The buck sits on the frame dolly so I can move it around easily, and the design is based on edwardb’s.






A few surprises – this was the first time handling the body and lifting it off the frame was an experience. The body is both firmer, yet more flexible than what I was expecting. The headers were smaller than I expected while the rims were both wider and lighter.

[Ashaw65]

The blog and pictures are very helpful. Thanks for posting.

[TXeverydayDad]

My pleasure Ashaw65. This forum and its very detailed build threads have been very helpful for my planning and now act as great references as I build my own, so just glad to pass it forward. I expect this build thread will also be helpful to myself as I progress and forget what I've done in earlier steps...

[gbranham]

Congrats! I have that exact same white folding table, and used it to lay out the dozens and dozens of nuts, bolts and screwbags, in numerical order. Helped a lot!

Greg

[TXeverydayDad]

We’ve spent the past 2 weekends drilling holes. I’m taking a page out of wareaglescott’s playbook, fitting and drilling all the panels as I remove them, in preparation for powder coating. The panels are generally well cut and fit well apart from a few ‘transport’ screws that were quite poorly placed, especially on the firewall.



I followed the manual for installation order, starting with F-panels, firewall and passenger footbox. Took a lot longer than expected. A combination of the kids and I getting used to the process, finding the optimum speed for proper drilling and aligning the holes for both access and aesthetics. Moved on to the driver’s footbox and then the rest of the cockpit which went a lot faster. Now only the 2 large trunk pieces remain to be completed. I can highly recommend boelube lubricant. Makes a significant difference when cutting through the steel.









I will be adding a drop trunk. I lifted the tank in place to get an idea of the dimensions and settled on 24”x14.5”x5”. Got a 2’x4’ aluminum sheet and will fabricate the box out of that. Planning to put my basic sheet metal brake to use and we’ll see how it turns out.



A question that I had and that has come up a few times is how many clecos you 'need' for the build. If you’re fitting all the panels and want all of them mounted at the same time, you’ll need more than 50. With 50, as I have, you just need to disassemble finished sections as you go.

[TXeverydayDad]

The past two weeks have been focused on completing the panel drilling and dry fitting the drop trunk. So far so good but it's a lot of panels...


My design for the drop trunk made installation a little more difficult than what it needed to be, but it goes in and fits.






We also had some family help to lift the body buck into its storage location, until it’s needed again. A little cumbersome but it’s tucked away and secured now.


Next is prepping/deburring the panels for powder coat and taking them in to be coated. Then we can finally start building the car, and not just removing stuff.