Andrew's Roadster Build Thread

[AndrewIdaho]

Christmas in July -

Early this morning Eric from Stewart delivered my MK4 Complete Kit Roadster (1010989RD). See my intro thread https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...ngs-From-Idaho for the details of the specification. With my limited help, Eric was able to get the roadster and all 40 supporting boxes unloaded within 45 min. All that was missing was the chrome roll bars (not a surprise give the recent discussions on the forum).

Eric was courteous, careful and thorough and I was very happy with the whole delivery process. I would highly recommend Stewart if you need to have your FFR car delivered.

Some pictures are included below. Next step is inventory of all of the parts. After that the process will be slow until I retire at the end of the year.

Thanks, Andrew

Boxes.jpg SettledInNewHome.jpg Stewart.jpg Unload2.jpg

[AndrewIdaho]

It has been a month since I received my roadster. As predicted, between work and looking after my mom who has dementia (my two other siblings and I split time as care givers) limits how much time I have had to work on it.

I have made progress:

a.) Inventory was completed with only a few nuts and bolts missing. It would have been more but, working with Madison at Factory Five (she did an awesome job helping me out), I discovered there were
changes in the fastener pack list between my manual and the current release of the manual. She pointed me to the pdf of the latest rev (5K) and there were some noticeable changes in the list that matched what I received.

b.) I also was able to complete the body buck following the design provided by Jazzman (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...-MkIV-Roadster Starting at post #14)
BuckDone5.jpg BodyOnBuck1.jpg

One question I have is whether I need to add a support brace as shown in yellow in the following picture. I have seen some bucks that have it and some that don't. Any insight would be appreciated.
BodyOnBuck2annotated.jpg

c.) Lastly, I have started work with the UCA taking measurements referencing Jeff Kleiner's photo ( https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...s%97-yes-again post #4 ) and reaching the
expected conclusion that I will also have to trim the adjusting sleeves by 1/4" each side to get the caster set correctly for my power steering implementation. I gave them to a friend who is good friends with a retired machinist who has a lathe in his garage to get them trimmed . I should have them back in a few days. I will re-measure and then decide if I need to trim the bolts.

Hopefully more next month.

Andrew

[gbranham]

No need to add that brace to your buck. In truth, they'd be fine just laying on the ground. You'll need to trim the UCA bolts, in addition to the adjuster sleeves.

Greg

[AndrewIdaho]

Thanks Greg for the insight,

Is there a recommended technique for trimming the UCA bolts to get a clean cut and avoid the risk of damage to the bolt?

Best Regards, Andrew

[gbranham]

Thanks Greg for the insight,

Is there a recommended technique for trimming the UCA bolts to get a clean cut and avoid the risk of damage to the bolt?

Best Regards, Andrew

Honestly, I think folks overthink this. I cut my sleeves and bolts with a hacksaw. It was a 10 minute task:

Passenger Suspension 5.jpg

[Windsor]

Is there a recommended technique for trimming the UCA bolts to get a clean cut and avoid the risk of damage to the bolt?

Cut it with whatever is available.

A bench grinder can clean up the end of the threads, just grind a short 45* taper on the end of the bolt after cutting.

Dremmel will work for this purpose, too, with sufficient time and effort.

[AndrewIdaho]

I have had more time to work on my roadster and so I have done a trial fit on the front suspension to assess if I need to trim the inner tie rods and to assess if I need the Breeze Offset Rack Mounting Kit before I place my order with Mark Reynolds for a series of items.

The following are pictures of the Driver Side and Passenger Side suspension that are set up as follows:
- Lower Control arms are parallel to 4" Tubes +/- 0.3 Degrees
- Upper Control arms are set per Jeff Kleiner's recommendation I referenced earlier in this thread (I cut the bolts as discussed).
- Bolts are hand tight or snug and are not torqued to spec (so I can disassemble the suspension if I need to trim inner tie rod as well as to install the F panels).
- Outer tie rods are threaded in as far as they can go.
- I centered the rack rotating fully clock wise and the rotating it 1 1/4 counter clockwise to set the center.

DriverFrontSuspension.jpg PassFrontSuspension.jpg

I measured the toe-in of the spindles as referenced to the vertical square tubes
- The driver side has 3/16 toe-in
- The passenger side has 9/16 toe-in

SpindleDriver.jpg SpindlePass.jpg

Assuming that I have not incorrectly assembled something or my measurement setup is incorrect (please let me know if either of these is the case), I conclude:
a.) Given I have toe-in on both sides, I should not have to move the outer tie rods further in and so trimming of the inner tie rods is not needed.
b.) Given that the toe-ins are different between the two sides, the rack is not centered correctly (off by 3/16") and so using the Offset Rack Mounting Kit could be of help to get it centered.

Let me know if I have missed something.

Thanks, Andrew