Ehansen007 Father/Son 289 build

[ehansen007]

Well hell, here we are again!

Most of y'all know me from such builds as this.



and this



and this (in 48hrs with two incredible teams)





and finally this!



Needless to say I didn't do it alone and it was the culmination of so many great talents found here on the forum who became amazing friends like Dave Smith (and family), Sally, Jeff M, Tony, Erik T, Dave H, Karen, Glenn, John, the Mikes, etc, etc. The power of many can accomplish anything!

Okay almost caught up? But wait there's more! LOL.

Been 10 years since the last 289 build and I have missed it a ton. I've worked on a few cars since then; mostly a 87 Jeep Grand Wagoneer I bought for $500 and an 84 Rabbit GTi I made up for by paying way to much! I'll keep the Jeep forever I think but was just happy to get my money back on the Rabbit.

The first 3 years were a blast and got my son Jason into building cars (he still builds Legos a ton) along with me, attended some SEMA shows, and met the whole FFR crew over time but... well...the last 7 haven't been that great. Lost my whole side of the family with my sister first (breast cancer at 53 in 2015), then mom at 77 (accelerated Alzheimers in 2022), then dad at 82 (Lung Fibrosis back in April). Just too many gut punches for me and barely made it though it. However, I found something new that I mentioned in my other 289 post; that this would push me into writing. With no plans or experience, I published my first book with some funny life/golf stories along with a tribute to my family . This was a challenge I never expected but was so cathartic in dealing with my loss and the book has been well received. If anyone is interested you can find it here!!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDN3VY1H...%20sideways%20

I can tell you that you never know how many true friends you have until you ask them to read and review a book for you. LOL. And I lucked out. Still it's a tough process and promoting a book is simply damn damn difficult. However, with the momentum I had (before Dad passed), I started writing a second book (and I'm not sure if I'll make it through to the end) but it's all about this stuff right here and tentatively titled- "CARS- and other four letter words." Simply put it's about the vocabulary one builds while working on, driving, breaking down with, flying (yes flying), and completing any tumultuous journey with a vehicle.

So, all caught up and enough about me.

My son Jason is just a good dude. Or so my friends tell me. At 18yrs old he's 6'-4" 190lbs and still growing (hello Kirkey bucket seat!). The kid is a great student, was a great water polo goalie, and he's fun to hang out with (when not on his phone LOL). He manages a bike shop in San Clemente while going to school and coaching HS Water Polo and will most likely head to Cal Poly SLO next year. I told him no more girlfriends so we can get this build done! He's been helping me out with my builds a little here and there and now he's ready for his own.

. More pics of him to come.


Well that's pretty much it. Onto the build!! We'll let this here YouTube Video kick it off!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7kqWRB9VNE

[i.e.427]

Welcome Back E!

Frank

[FF33rod]

Welcome back Eric!
Really enjoyed your build thread hints and videos during my '33 build, helped a lot.
Life throws us lots of curve balls and we need to just keep swinging...
I love the family builds, enjoy the time Will be watching

Steve

[ehansen007]

So to kick this build thing off I wanna thank my sponsors. They are all super cool and I've worked with most of them on past builds and even if I didn't get free stuff or even a discount I'm proud to mention them here.

[ehansen007]

I told myself I'd never do another build without a lift. And for those who are going to spend $40-50K I highly recommend spending the extra $2500 to save your back and make the build way more fun and easy. For this build I bought a new scissor lift from Wholesale lifts (www.liftswholesale.com) and worked with Dave Copass. He gave me a discount and more importantly found a shipping company to deliver with a liftgate and a pallet jack. The guy who came was a pro and it was no issue so not sure why many shippers wouldn't do it.

Anywho, here she is. With my limited space in a two car garage with 12ft ceilings this one fit the bill. I had already bought a similar one from Harbor Freight 10 years ago but well, that's another story...so onto this one. It's semi-portable weighing in at 1200 pounds and can be moved around the garage when needed, pretty easily with a small dolly. It's also got a lot of nifty attachments that can be added to pick up the frame just about anywhere. One thing to note though. It sits about 4" high at rest so, like the last one, I'll be using 2x6" some wood runners to park over it when the car is running.



We used it to put the new cover on the shortened 8.8



When the truck came we were able to just lower the lift and slide the chassis/body onto the lift with two people. Ted Lasso the pup supervised.



We raised it up to work on the front end at chest height until we got to the spindles and boy...pin drive...that's a whole other thing with FFR.
Soooo...then we started on the rear end!!



For this we were able to lower the lift down to the rear and even shift it side to side while lining it up. It was still tedious and that damn thing is heavy so just as we were trying to balance the rear end and jack stands, we were like "Man one more person would be perfect". Just then a kid selling pest spray services walked up and said, "What are you guys....man, I'm not even going to try and sell you anything...I just want to help!" And so he did. Young Cole, whom we never met before, stepped in excitedly and helped us install the rear end until his ride came. It was awesome.

[ehansen007]

Okay we got the photobucket stuff figured out. Few more pics of the build. Pretty much as normal while trying to figure out the Pin drive all over again. Deja Vu city. We did a few mods to widen the footbox and well see how it goes when we drop the motor in. I know it's tight. Just ordering a bunch of parts and waiting for the motor from BluePrint and the Transmission from Tony Shand. Oh yeah the steering rack tabs were only about 1/2" off so not sure who took a lunch break on that one but it was bad! Oh well.

[ehansen007]

Oh yeah, while I was up north spreading pops around in Monterey and SF, we stopped by Canepas and it was there that I found my target build. While I can never get it totally correct (due to the trunk- and maybe the wheels- I suppose I could have gotten the kidney bean wheels from Vintage Wheels but that ship has sailed), wew'll get it close! We've already got it black! But this car is amazing and the first actual race car build from AC that Shelby had built for road racing only. All the others were road cars modified for the track. New challenges will be the dash with the glove box and maybe the webers (if we decide to truly test ourselves!). Here she is.

[7litergt]

Awesome start, cant wait to see how this one comes together. My buddy was just at Canepa about a week ago and sent me some pictures of 2136 - I totally missed the fact that the trunk lid is reversed

Working on a 289 build myself; just went through the front end pin-drive IFS dance over the last week. I now have a much better understanding of why the 2 piece spindles dont work well for pin-drive applications. Looking forward to seeing this build!

[ehansen007]

If you think that trunk lid is a trip check out this "Nassau exhaust!" Stainless cross over exhaust that feeds into the fake(!) side pipes???? What. The. Heck.

4 into 2 into 1 into 2? I had to double then triple take on that one!

[7litergt]

What the... I get that the X-pipe will help with scavenging, certainly a little more hp to be had - but why leave the full side pipes? Seems odd haha.

Also looks like an unused junction (fuel maybe?) under the drivers seat.

[ehansen007]

Yeah so random. Anywho, I thought about those kidney bean wheels but my son is having none of it. Very hard no so that's fine, I'd lose money on it since I already have the FIA wheels. Still got some work done on the pedal box and, more importantly, installed the EPS. It was fun to read my old instructions back after so many years away. The measurements still work though. Just need to measure twice, cut once and fit up around 10 times and adjust and it was time to weld it. Now just to get the bracket powdercoated.

I also welded the nuts for the rear quick jacks before I forgot to do it and put the gas tank in.













Finally I had my old pal Tony Shand build my T5 transmission with an S10 tailshaft for me. The last one was so smooth and reliable I went back to him instantly. Also he's just a great guy. Since BP engines is dragging their feet, I may cancel with them and go with him instead!

[ehansen007]

Okay we're back.

Installed Brakes, got the wheels powdercoated, stenciled the tires with my own custom stencil and had them mounted up. They are actually bead balanced which I had never heard of. Next comes the 289 motor build.

[ehansen007]

I also made these little guys again and posted up a DIY guide here.



Then I went to work making the aluminum heads look cast by knocking down the edges and hitting them with an Needle scaler and then painting them with Ford Grey