Project Deimos: An LS Coupe Build

[edwardb]

Well. you can't say you haven't seen one before now! Factory Five's display Coupes plus yours. Awesome! Have a safe trip home. I'm sure you're anxious to get started. Have fun with the build. If you're at LCS, be sure to look me up.

[JimStone]

Time to let the real fun begin!!!! Factory Five is always worth the drive!

The 12x6' trailer with platform on top worked great, so thanks again for the idea!

Congratulations!

Thanks GoDadGo! I'm having a blast so far!

That sounds like a great experience. A lot more eventful than the Stewart truck coming to my house. What part of Michigan are you in? I am building a coupe in that state down south of you.

Brent,

It really was a memorable experience. Had to take 2 days off work, 28 hours of driving, but really was well worth it to see the factory and meet the people behind the company.

We live a about 1000 feet north of the Indiana/Michigan line in Niles Michigan. So pretty much South Bend, which is where we work, send our kids to school, shop, etc etc. Where in Indiana are you?

I've been following your build thread - lots of cool ideas and custom stuff there - keep up the good work!

Sounding like a really solid plan Jim. Nice to "kind of" meet you when Dave called me while you were doing your pickup yesterday! Hopefully we'll be able to do it for real and in person soon---hinting again at LCS next month It's a really good way to check out a bunch of cars, meet other builders and gather lots of ideas before and during the build process. Oh, one other thing, fantastic garage update but now it's just too nice to work in!!!!

Jeff

Jeff,

Dave had me cracking up. He asked if I had any plan for paint. I said it was a few years away but that Jeff Kleiner happened to be a few hours south of me. Dave gave me a bit of a strange look, so I asked him if he knew you. He didn't say anything - just whipped out his phone and called you up right there!

I am thinking of getting to the London show if work/family permit. I've never been to it. Sounds like a good place to meet some Legends and steal some build ideas.

And, yes, I'm a bit of clean freak with my garage now. Luckily, I'm blessed with multiple garages and I have a detached 2 stall garage to do my "dirty work" in.

Congrats! Safe travels

Thanks! Everything went extremely smoothly.

Well. you can't say you haven't seen one before now! Factory Five's display Coupes plus yours. Awesome! Have a safe trip home. I'm sure you're anxious to get started. Have fun with the build. If you're at LCS, be sure to look me up.

Thanks Paul! It's hard to believe there is a Daytona sitting in my garage! Loving every minute.

I'll definitely look you up if we're able to make the LCS.

[JimStone]

Working on Inventory now. Taking my time and getting familiar with each part.

Here's some pics of the Coupe arriving at our home:












"Flew" the car off the trailer with my two hoists

[460.465USMC]

Beautiful sight to see! Such a good feeling to get the kit into the garage.

Enjoy the inventory process. I seem to like the first 75%-80%, but it gets a bit tedious at the end. That's self-inflicted because I examine every bolt, hose, clamp, toe arm, washer, etc. Definitely cuts down on the surprises though later in the build.

Have fun!

[JimStone]

Beautiful sight to see! Such a good feeling to get the kit into the garage.

Enjoy the inventory process. I seem to like the first 75%-80%, but it gets a bit tedious at the end. That's self-inflicted because I examine every bolt, hose, clamp, toe arm, washer, etc. Definitely cuts down on the surprises though later in the build.

Have fun!

Thanks Chris! I'm checking every nut/bolt too. Letting my OCD run wild!

[burchfieldb]

Looks like the boys are having fun! One of mine is already driving and the other one is probably thinking it might be a good first car for her. I am in Columbus Ohio, the other southern state. Hopefully you don't have too many missing parts and FFR got thier inventory system sorted out. I got mine right after Covid, so things were a little out of wack. Hope to see you at LCS, I won't be road worthy yet, but will still be there.

[JimStone]

Looks like the boys are having fun! One of mine is already driving and the other one is probably thinking it might be a good first car for her. I am in Columbus Ohio, the other southern state. Hopefully you don't have too many missing parts and FFR got thier inventory system sorted out. I got mine right after Covid, so things were a little out of wack. Hope to see you at LCS, I won't be road worthy yet, but will still be there.

FFR has definitely worked out the inventory part since your post-COVID experience. It is very organized now with complete parts list and sub-lists, each denoting specific boxes of parts. Only a few minor bolts and a gasket missing from my kit, and just a handful of parts on the POL that I wont' need for months.

And, yeah, not sure a racecar is the best first vehicle for your daughter. Or second, third, or fourth.

[JimStone]

Finished inventory. It was a very satisfying experience that I really enjoyed. I took other's suggestions and made of copy the parts list for each box, then taped the list to the front of each box for easy identification.

I requisitioned an unused bedroom downstairs as my parts storeroom.










This last pic is my upgrade goodies corner:

[egchewy79]

if your garage reno is any indication of your attention to detail, the coupe will come out fantastic.
what kind of doc are you? I'm guessing ER or anesthesia. Looking forward to seeing blue surgical towels in your future build pics.

[JimStone]

if your garage reno is any indication of your attention to detail, the coupe will come out fantastic.
what kind of doc are you? I'm guessing ER or anesthesia. Looking forward to seeing blue surgical towels in your future build pics.

Thanks! I am pretty anal-retentive - I suppose that may help in a project like this.

I'm actually an Internal Medicine doc. If I could do it over again, I'd pick Anesthesiology. Maybe Dermatology (make bank giving Botox injections and lip fillers to housewives, haha).

[GoDadGo]

You've Got Me Wanting To Build A Coupe!

........From The Dark Side For Sure!

.....https://youtu.be/7StrICb7EJ8

[JimStone]

Hard to believe it's been nearly a month since the Coupe arrived.

I've learned a few things in the past month:


1) I won't have time to document a step-by-step timeline on this thread. It'll have to be more pictures and comments.

2) I'm going to be my own worst enemy when it comes to doing anything efficiently.

I can't seem to be satisfied with anything as is. For instance, the Koni shocks that come with the kit are powder coated red. Well, my color combo is going to be metallic grey, black, and gold accents. No red. So I became determined to paint them gold.

In order to do that, I needed to sand blast the red powder coat off. My puny 8 gallon air compressor wasn't going to cut it, so I ordered and installed a 60 gal compressor for media blasting and to eventually paint/Cerakote parts. I made the mistake of getting a harbor freight siphon media blaster and wasted a weekend trying to get it to work consistently before chucking it in the garbage. So now I'm waiting on an Eastwood media blaster.










In the meantime, since I can't do the suspension without the shocks, I've had to skip around the build manual.




POR-15'd black the part of the steering rack that was ugly dull gray powder coat, then installed



Prepped the tank with the Pro-M hanger, Breeze big bore relief valve, and genuine Ford filler neck seal




Have been powder coating some small parts. Set up a powder coating booth / old oven in the outside garage before the kit arrived.






Experimented with some powders from Eastwood and Prismatic to find which ones I'll be using






I also got the Wilwood pedal box installed with replacement 5/8" master cylinders (instead of kit supplied 3/4") and 13/16" MC for the hydraulic release bearing.

Test fitted the steering shaft components.


I'd like to take the body off to get easier access, but I'm waiting on my Braum Orue seats to arrive to test-fit. All the dimensions online are similar or smaller than the well-trialed Corbeau A4's, but I'm still nervous they won't fit.

[JimStone]

The garage has become a nice place to hang out, even when not working on the car.

Here's our little guy watching Pirates of the Caribbean while I do some charting for work.

[Higgybulin]

That's awesome!
Higgy

[burchfieldb]

I like it, starting him young hanging out in the garage!

[TangoUniform]

Amazing build so far and you just got started!

[Alan_C]

The garage has become a nice place to hang out, even when not working on the car.

Here's our little guy watching Pirates of the Caribbean while I do some charting for work.

So where did you source your neon signs? Do you know of someone who is licensed to make Factory Five signs and banners?

[JimStone]

So where did you source your neon signs? Do you know of someone who is licensed to make Factory Five signs and banners?

Alan,
I made the LED the signs myself. Watched some tutorials online. Was tedious, but not too hard. Still probably cost about $125 a piece with the parts and power supplies. Was a fun winter project.

I showed Dave Smith pictures of them when I picked up my kit last month. Said sorry for the copyright infringement. He didn't mind

[JimStone]

I've been working on the suspension. It's been dragging on because I didn't like the Koni shocks being bright red. So I finally got my sandblasting setup worked out and was able to get the shocks prepped and painted. Can't powder coating them filled with gas (may become a pipe bomb in the oven), so I used wheel paint and clear coat. Turned out okay and much more to my liking and color scheme.












Got the pumpkin installed. That was interesting. Used a combination of my electric overhead hoist and brute force. The diff is a salvaged 3.73 Torsen from a mustang with 15k miles. Will be the only used part on the car. Earlier, I opened it up to inspect and clean it up. Looked perfect inside. Replaced the axle bearings and seals. Filled it with Motorcraft XY 75W85 QL differential fluid and Motorcraft XL-3 friction modifier.

And yep, powder coated the cover gold. Too bling? Unless you climb under the car you can't see it anyway.









Quality control manager keeping a keen eye on my work:










Powder coated a bunch of stuff. I don't know why, but I really enjoy doing it.

[JimStone]

The real news is I received my seats today. They were backordered a few months, so I was eagerly awaiting delivery.

They're Braum Orue seats. I've never heard of anyone using these (or any Braum seats) in a Coupe, so I was taking a risk. Braum doesn't have a free return policy - is 15% restocking fee plus you have to pay shipping back. But I really liked them and Braum has great reviews despite being a fairly new player in the market.









The dimensions were very similar to the much talked about Corbeau A4s. So tried them out and they fit! Kinda!








They'd be perfect if I was 6 foot tall, but I'm 6'2". To get the drivers seat back far enough I'll definitely have to move the seat belt tabs. And I may need to make a modification to the cockpit rear lower sheet metal to make an extra 3/4 or 1 inch of room. That will probably make the difference between a very comfortable seating position and not.

[JimStone]

So made a rookie mistake

The outer tie rods would not connect to the spindle steering arm in the correct upward facing fashion.








A simple search and of course there's a million threads about this. I had the steering arms switched side-to-side. I had already torqued down the spindle nut and read these are not reusable. $20 for one nut?










See anything wrong here?

[Skuzzy]

Wrong? Absolutely! That garage/shop is waaaaaaayyy too clean! My gosh man, get some grime on that floor!

Seriously, looks good to me.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Good to go. Carry on!

Jeff

[WIS89]

Jim-

I think you are off to a great start! However, I have one observation that I feel compelled to share...

The "Gold" on your shocks and pumpkin looks much closer to Navy gold than Notre Dame gold to this Navy guy! Can I expect that any blue colors will be similarly reflected? Asking for a friend. HAHA

I've enjoyed following along. I especially like your helpers and the time you are spending together. I can say that the time I spent in the garage with my boys was by far the best part of my still-in-progress build! Even though they are doing their own thing now, the memories we shared will sustain me for a long time. Enjoy this time with them and have fun!

I also love your LED work! The signs came out awesome, and they look great in your "OR level clean" garage!

All the best!

Regards,

Steve

[460.465USMC]

The real news is I received my seats today. They were backordered a few months, so I was eagerly awaiting delivery.

They're Braum Orue seats. I've never heard of anyone using these (or any Braum seats) in a Coupe, so I was taking a risk. Braum doesn't have a free return policy - is 15% restocking fee plus you have to pay shipping back. But I really liked them and Braum has great reviews despite being a fairly new player in the market.

They'd be perfect if I was 6 foot tall, but I'm 6'2". To get the drivers seat back far enough I'll definitely have to move the seat belt tabs. And I may need to make a modification to the cockpit rear lower sheet metal to make an extra 3/4 or 1 inch of room. That will probably make the difference between a very comfortable seating position and not.

Thanks for the seat info. I'll need to solve this eventually as well (I'm 6'1"). In the meantime, I'm watching what you and others are doing.

As for mistakes, $40 and a little of your time ain't bad. I'd say you're doing pretty darn good so far. Keep up the good work.

[JimStone]

Wrong? Absolutely! That garage/shop is waaaaaaayyy too clean! My gosh man, get some grime on that floor!

Seriously, looks good to me.

Haha, I was just thinking I needed to mop the floor.

Good to go. Carry on!

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!

Jim-

I think you are off to a great start! However, I have one observation that I feel compelled to share...

The "Gold" on your shocks and pumpkin looks much closer to Navy gold than Notre Dame gold to this Navy guy! Can I expect that any blue colors will be similarly reflected? Asking for a friend. HAHA

I've enjoyed following along. I especially like your helpers and the time you are spending together. I can say that the time I spent in the garage with my boys was by far the best part of my still-in-progress build! Even though they are doing their own thing now, the memories we shared will sustain me for a long time. Enjoy this time with them and have fun!

I also love your LED work! The signs came out awesome, and they look great in your "OR level clean" garage!

All the best!

Regards,

Steve

Thanks for the comments Steve!

You must be seeing the flakes of 24 karat gold leaf I added from the Golden Dome. Like they do on the Notre Dame football helmets.

The gold will just be a few subtle accents. No blue. Will be a Ford dark metallic grey color, with all exterior aluminum/chrome powder coated black.

Thanks for the seat info. I'll need to solve this eventually as well (I'm 6'1"). In the meantime, I'm watching what you and others are doing.

As for mistakes, $40 and a little of your time ain't bad. I'd say you're doing pretty darn good so far. Keep up the good work.

Regarding the seats, I actually won't have to modify the cockpit aluminum or cut off the seat belt tab. To make the seats fit back far enough for me (6'2") I was able to trim the reclining mechanism to gain an inch, then bent the seat belt tabs out some. I've been working on some custom seat mounts.





Thanks for the encouragement guys!

[JimStone]

Got the Wilwood brakes assembled.







Obligatory safety wire picture.







Everything went together well except the front right rotor. I noticed a very slight wobble/misalignment when spinning the wheel. I took it apart and made sure the rotor was nice and straight, which it was. I was pretty frustrated, thinking the hub assembly must be bent or not concentric. However, it ended up being the easiest fix possible - the little ring that goes in the center of the rotor was not seated completely. A few whacks with the rubber mallet and all was good.







Put together the parking brake handle assembly. Then realized that my kit didn't come with the parking brake cables because I didn't buy rear brakes from FFR. I got my rear Wilwoods from Summit with a discount code for $300 less than what FFR sells them for. Well, make that $150 less after having to order the cables from FFR. I haven't installed those yet.

[JimStone]

Now working on getting the Braum Orue seat mounts all sorted. Have gotten a little bogged down here.

As I said a few posts ago, I was able to figure out a way to not have to modify the cockpit aluminum or cut off the seat belt tabs to get the seats back far enough for me (6'2") to fit comfortably. I don't have the steering wheel installed, so hopefully I'll still feel that way.

The seats come with some really nice dual mechanism seat sliders. However, I'm not going to use them. These seats are pretty wide and deep. With how the transmission tunnel aluminum fans outward going forward, the sliders would allow maybe an inch of adjustment before the seats hit the aluminum. So instead I made my own seat mounts out of 1.5" square steel tubing, to be fixed in position.

If a shorter person needs to drive the car, can always do what Dave Smith says he does when driving his Coupe - put a pillow behind him.





First, used Ram Board to make template for drilling into the seat pan. Will be using 3/8" button head bolts coming up from underneath into the mounts.





Took an idea from EdwardB (what's new) and riveted cage weld nuts inside the mount tubes for the button head bolts to fasten to.








Got a few new tools from Vevor - a company I've really grown fond of for their quality-to-cost ratio. And free shipping.







Unfortunately, I was powder coating the mounts when mid-bake my oven element bit the dust. So, waiting on a replacement element before I can finally finish this part.

[Kbl7td]

I found keeping the seat sliders helped with tilt. While they don’t slide much, and inch or two like you said, it really allows a lot more adjustment for getting the extra bit of tilt or not as needed.

[460.465USMC]

Hey, no more posting pictures of tools I "need". Following along on your seat solution. Thanks for keeping us posted.

[JimStone]

I found keeping the seat sliders helped with tilt. While they don’t slide much, and inch or two like you said, it really allows a lot more adjustment for getting the extra bit of tilt or not as needed.

I didn't really think about that... I think I'll see how my stationary mounts go. If I'm needing some more adjustability after I get the car on the road then I'll have a winter project to entertain myself with.

Hey, no more posting pictures of tools I "need". Following along on your seat solution. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Yep, always another tool I "need" too. I am liking this car-building hobby, so hopefully I'll have a lot of opportunities to use this stuff.






So here's the powder coated mounts. I'm finishing up getting the cockpit panels mocked up and drilled so I can test my seats/mounts.

[JimStone]

I stripped her bare and have been working on panels






The body went in the outside garage









I had actually already made the trunk box last year based on Paul's descriptions. Notched it for the frame, cut out the hole in the trunk, and got it mounted.








Also got the tank in and made a different filler neck retainer, similar to what Paul did (what's new?)

[Namrups]

Just a thought. In my pic I have the same jack stands but I mounted them on rollers. Makes moving the car around a lot easier and gives a couple of inches more ground clearance. Still do it this wat with the completed car. Very stable.

[JimStone]

Good idea Scott. The extra few inches would be nice and then I could roll it outside when it's time to spray raptor liner, though that won't be until next spring/summer

[460.465USMC]

I had actually already made the trunk box last year based on Paul's descriptions. Notched it for the frame, cut out the hole in the trunk, and got it mounted.

Nice progress, Jim. And, great job on the trunk storage box. I want to make one as well. Did you happen to record measurements/dimensions you used? I can reinvent the wheel here, but if you happen to have these, I would ask for a copy.

[JimStone]

Nice progress, Jim. And, great job on the trunk storage box. I want to make one as well. Did you happen to record measurements/dimensions you used? I can reinvent the wheel here, but if you happen to have these, I would ask for a copy.

Thanks Chris!

I claim no credit for the box. All Paul, of course.

Dimensions are:

23 in W x 16 in L x 5.5 in D

0.04 inch aluminum on the sides and 0.06 inch for the floor (and eventually the lid).


Here's where Paul talks about it and shows pictures:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post317071

[460.465USMC]

Thanks, Jim! I've spent enough time in Paul's Coupe build thread I should have it memorized by now. Link is bookmarked now--should reduce the likelihood of having another senior moment. Thanks again.

[JimStone]

Finally finished the seat mounting. It will work well for me. I do wish I could have figured out a way to have a few inches of front/back adjustability, but it just wasn't going to work with these Braum seats that are about as big as could be fit in this car. But I'm happy with the seats. They look good, are nice quality, and are comfortable.

I've bought some yards of vinyl that match the seats (white, black, and carbon fiber) from Braum to use in my interior.









Here's the underside of the car showing one side of the mounting, which needed an extra bracket made out of angle iron and a backing plate for extra strength since the seat pans are not very thick.











Been working on fitting / drilling panels. Pretty much done except for the ones that will need me to put the body back on first to fit.

I made the front of both footbox tops removable for access to the pedal box and AC components











A few tools I've become quite fond of:

Rivet spacing tool by Mittler Brothers - $42 from Summit Racing





Rivet Nut driver attachment for my impact drill. I was highly skeptical this $40 Amazon item would work, but it has been awesome. I have a Harbor Freight rivet nut setter, but I was going to have an aneurysm trying pull those stainless rivet nuts with that. And I broke two hand-threaded insert tools. But this thing does a dozen stainless rivet nuts in 5 minutes, no sweat.

[JimStone]

I first bought a GM drive by wire gas pedal, but I returned it because it was big and bulky, and was going to be a pain to mount.

The only other option is a Holley unit, which is much more streamline and I found very easy to mount.

The pedal is ugly, though, so I got Breeze's gas pedal that matches the Wilwood pedals, did a little modification and got it to fit very well.







I made a dead pedal out of .20 inch aluminum plate to match the Wilwood pedals





So here it what it all looks like:




The pedal spacing seems just fine. I have size 12 shoes, but I don't think my narrow driving shoes will have a problem catching the wrong pedals.










Last update is I got the radiator mocked up with the Breeze fan shroud







I did need to make some 0.20 inch spacers for the mounts. I'll also need to get a bit longer button head bolts to accommodate the spacers.








I'll probably work on mocking up the AC now and get the condenser mounted

[Kbl7td]

You’ll likely find that the seat shoulder bolster will hit the body once it’s on. I have to trim my portion of the body as well.