Coupe-R build in Seattle

[Jphoenix]

Running a carb - that's cool, so am I!

Dave
Gen III #17
22,500+ miles

I like EFI, but not afraid of carbs. I like this brawler, first carb I’ve had with external adjustable float levels. I’ve run webers but, especially on the Formula Mazda, they’re a pain in the butt.

[Jphoenix]

Dash wiring complete, functional test successful, no defects noted. It's not a typical Coupe dash since it just needs to be reliable and functional for racing. Still have to mount and wire up the MSD box, but for now it's all working as planned.

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[PNWTim]

Dash wiring complete, functional test successful, no defects noted. It's not a typical Coupe dash since it just needs to be reliable and functional for racing. Still have to mount and wire up the MSD box, but for now it's all working as planned.

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Looks pretty functional to me!

[Jphoenix]

Good news from AVAIAD this morning, all the dry sump parts are on the way. Spent the day getting the bonnet on, located, but needs trimming.

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[Namrups]

Just a couple of things:

When I mounted my bonnet, I found that even with my body in the location spelled out in the manual, when I went to mount the doors the door hinges hit the body and I had to move the body forward to clear, making the bonnet now not fit. After fixing that I found that when I added the bonnet struts they also caused the bonnet to move. Lastly, the rubber bumpers along the bonnet/body can also cause the sides of the bonnet to flexin/out. It took me a lot of "adjusting" to get it looking good.

[Jphoenix]

Thanks Scott. That’s a good tip, so I’ll do the doors next, before I do any trimming on the hood.

[Jphoenix]

After starting on door hinge cutouts yesterday, I read a few threads here on bonnet fitting and decided to finish the door hinge cutouts, but not fit the doors until after the bonnet is fit. The way the bonnet sits now, it does not appear I'll need to move the main body at all. EdwardB's thread on body fitting was very helpful and I concur with his finding that the main body fit per the manual is pretty darn good.

The door hinge cutouts were pretty straightforward - of course the Coupe-R complicates things with its door bars in the way of the door and its frame, but I see I can simply cut them as GTRich did (and probably others, but I could not find any other threads or photos of how the Coupe-R doors are modified).

Finding the location of the hinge cutouts was easy, using a 12" drill bit to pilot a hole above and below the hinge mounts, squared it up and laid out the cutouts per the manual and int worked out quite well, with just a minimum of additional trimming need on the driver's side, but more trimming needed on the passenger side to get the door hinge to close fully.

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[Jphoenix]

Next, I adjusted the bonnet slightly to move the left side forward .25" and started to trim the aft end of the bonnet 1/8" at a time to get it to sit down. The left side is pretty close to the primary alignment point where the wheel cutout meets the pontoon edge. When those two points align, then I'll have the bonnet in the correct location. The right side need to come aft quite a bit, but needed to trim more on the left side because the bonnet is well oversize - and that's good. But slow and steady wins the race, so I spent the entire day laying out trim line with masking tape, taking a little off on each pass, the adjusting the hinge points and pontoon position and it started to look pretty good after a while. I also read that the struts have an effect, so installed those prior to starting.

I used only two 1/4" bolts to fasten the front hinges on each side of the body mounts so I could adjust the bonnet left and right if required after trimming - or during final trimming. I did notice that my hinge mounts are something like a 110 degree angle, so don't have the problem I've read about where wedges were needed on the bottom. The mounts are different from those shown in early photos in the manual, so maybe FFR fixed that?

After some hours with the sander, I've got it close. At the end of todays work period I believe the right side hinge mount needs to come back .400" to meet the datum point, the left side is within .100" and the entire bonnet needs to move to the left about a half inch, give or take. So that I'll do tomorrow and proceed with final trimming, probably install the latches to see how they pull the bonnet in at the top of the quarter panel. Also install the bumpers now that the hood just barely fits down into the recess. This is really not nearly as bad as I expected, so by this time tomorrow, I should have a nicely fit bonnet.

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I found EdwardB's body fitting posts to be very helpful - after installing the hinge point rod ends, I had not thought about adjusting them to get the bonnet level with the pontoons, but soon realized that have a decent effect on the body fit. Also I read his comment about cutting out the lower bonnet valence to clear the radiator and side tunnels, I was wondering why I kept seeing photos of that parts being trimmed so far back - I removed my radiator and sheetmetal so I did not run into that problem, so glad I read about it now and can trim that part before I put the rest of the engine bay together, much easier to access now! As EdwardB said, there is not mention of this need to trim the lower valence in the manual.

Thanks to everyone who posts here to help us all along with the mysteries of putting these cars together.

[Jphoenix]

More sanding on the bonnet today. I moved the entire bonnet to the right about a half inch on the front mounts to try to cure a bulge on the left side and the bonnet aft edge bowed in on the right side. Then I adjusted the rod end horizontal location a bit more aft to get the wheel cutout and pontoon datum set. Got it pretty close now.

Next I need to decide where the end of the pontoon will be located. I'll use the inner fender panels per the threads here and mount it on the forward side of the pontoon as suggested by Erik T.

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[Jphoenix]

Finally getting the bonnet close to where it should be, going to install the pontoon wheel arch pieces to help solidify the position, then work on gaps after I mount and trim the doors. Erik T's video on how he did the doors on Logan's Coupe-R was very informative, so I started by lining up the doors best I could and marking the cutouts for the side-intrusion bars and cut them out. The doors fit nicely in the door cutouts now, but still have to trim to fit - after I cut the door frames and put them back on. Following EdwardB's tips, I'll make sure the bonnet is closed and locked prior to trimming the doors.

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In other news - the dry sump parts from AVIAD arrived this morning, so I can get the engine back together, new TKX from Summit delivered yesterday - so no further obstacles to finishing the car.

[Jphoenix]

Spent all day yesterday fitting the driver's door. Complicated by the side intrusion bars, but mostly the door fitting in the hole. I had it quite good - then I un-latched and opened the bonnet causing a big gap to appear in the front of the door. I was warned about this and is why I was working with the bonnet latched. Now I have it close to fitting again, but obviously need to finalize the bonnet and body fit and lock them down, then go back to the driver door. I put spacers on the inside as shown in EdwardB's thread and that helped pull the door in - I also ran out of adjustment on the door hinge mount as he did, until the spacer was installed.

After sleeping on it, I need to get the body centered left to right and bolted down, then make sure the bonnet is good, then finish the doors. As has been said by the folks having done this before - all the body parts have relationships to each other that must be negotiated.

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[Jphoenix]

Another day on the driver door, getting much better now with the spacers in the frame and the hood trimmed even more. When I close and latch the hood, I can see it moving the body, so trimming the hood to relieve the stress is helping. Takes a long time because just want to trim off a very little bit each time, then latch it down, adjust the door again, open the hood, check the door, latch the hood again, check the door. Also learned I need to latch both sides, so slowly but surely.

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[Jphoenix]

The driver door opens - and it closes and latches. Calling it good, but need to do more work on the bonnet fit on the left side, then I suspect 2 more days to fit the right side of the body (including cutouts for the 1.5" frame tubes on the bottom that I see is required for this fit) the right side of the bonnet - which is close, and the right side door which also appears to fit pretty well after an initial trial.

Patience is a virtue

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[Namrups]

Looking good Jim! It is a process for sure. Keep working at it and it will all work out.

Scott

[Jphoenix]

Thanks Scott, I’m enjoying the process. Got the inner fender well installed to locate the left pontoon. Then threw the passenger door on from across the room and it fits pretty good in the initial stage.

Taking Erik T’s advice to mount the inner panel on the front side of the pontoon.

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[Jphoenix]

Doors are done, they close and latch and the latches are installed, eventually will do final gaps after I get the bonnet finished. The bonnet needs more adjustment of course, move a little here, adjust up a bit, then to the side - never-ending it seems.

Took a page from Dave Tabor and got a wing from WingLogic, 72" wide. Gotta get the engine buttoned up and the TKX modified for mid shift and get it in. Plenty to do yet.

I put the suspension in the street ride height so I can easily move it on and off the quickjacks.

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[Jphoenix]

Fire system going in.

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[Jphoenix]

Lines run to the cockpit and engine compartment. Two fire pull handles, one on the center console above the brake bias knob, the other on the outside left front for course worker access. Close to the main power shutoff.

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Next up is the AVIAID dry sump oil tank, I'll put it in front of the engine, aft of the steering rack, I recall that's where John George located his.

[kabacj]

Lines run to the cockpit and engine compartment. Two fire pull handles, one on the center console above the brake bias knob, the other on the outside left front for course worker access. Close to the main power shutoff.

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Next up is the AVIAID dry sump oil tank, I'll put it in front of the engine, aft of the steering rack, I recall that's where John George located his.

Looking good Jim!

That's going to be a very fun track car.

John

[Jphoenix]

Thanks John!

Fabricating mounts for the dry sump oil tank now.

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[PNWTim]

Pretty sweet. Do think you will run it at PIR sometime in the future?

[Jphoenix]

Pretty sweet. Do think you will run it at PIR sometime in the future?

Yes we do 3 races per season at PIR.

https://www.icscc.com/season.php

[Jphoenix]

Welded up the oil tank mounting brackets. Painted them with white POR-15.


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I’ve sent my fuel tank plate back to FuelSafe so they can fix the mis-wired cannon plug, so I decided to have them install a 45 degree fill fitting and a fuel level sender as I may do some enduros. ICSCC has an enduro each race weekend and it’s a good way to get lots of race time - which I’m going to need as driving this car will be significantly different from the Formula Ford. So I’ll use the fuel filler in the rear fender, but plumbing it with the Coupe-R cage will be a challenge.

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[Dave Tabor]

PIR a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CyGqwHzb_I

I had moved my daughter into the University of Oregon the day before - brought all her stuff and my car from California...and then spent the the remainder of the week touring the Columbia River Gorge area in the Type 65...

Dave
Gen III #17
23,000+ miles

[Jphoenix]

PIR a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CyGqwHzb_I

I had moved my daughter into the University of Oregon the day before - brought all her stuff and my car from California...and then spent the the remainder of the week touring the Columbia River Gorge area in the Type 65...

Dave
Gen III #17
23,000+ miles

Nice run! Our first race of the season there is without the chicane, so going into turn 1 (actually 4 with chicane?) is always interesting with no chicane.

[Jphoenix]

In preparation for installing the engine and transmission into the car, I need to modify the TKX 18084 to a mid shift configuration. I bought the mid shift kit from Summit, made by Silver Sport Transmissions. At first it seems disassembling the box and cutting off the ends of the outer shift rods appears to be a daunting task, in fact, it's pretty simple. Knock out three roll pins, remove the tail shaft housing, cut off the shift rod ends using the included spacer as a guide and slap it all back together with the new shift blocks. The last photo shows all the parts removed lying on the paper towel - replaced by the mid shift assembly.

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[Jphoenix]

Ready to go in. I'm using a Hays hydraulic throwout bearing.

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[Jphoenix]

Engine goes in for the last time. I wanted to try and install it with the dry sump oil tank in the chassis and it turns out I have plenty of room. The transmission rear mount was a bit of a puzzle at first, but I figured it out and it's all settled in now. Time for reassembly to start in earnest.

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[Jphoenix]

Got the driveshaft collar installed, then decided to modify the driver's side outer aluminum panel so I can remove it to gain access to the brake and clutch cylinders, so I cut it similar (but larger) to the cutout on the passenger side. Now I can install the body (for the last time - sigh) and still gain good access to that brake/clutch area. Also will do the typical threaded screw attachment scheme to the upper panel as most have done.

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I've also been sanding off the white powder coat where it's flaking off. Interestingly, it just falls off in some spots and is well adhered in others, so I just sand off the flakiness and paint ti with white POR after proper prep. I suppose I should tell FFR and maybe they'll give me a $699 credit towards a MK V?

[JimStone]

It's really too bad your powder coat is flaking off. The frame must not have been prepped for powder sufficiently, whether not cleaned or etched correctly. I'd be pissed.

Knowing FFR's customer service, I'm sure they'd make it right.

[Jphoenix]

Yes, definitely a prep issue. But only in certain spots, some areas are good. FFR has always been very responsive - and very accommodating when I change things last minute, so no doubt their customer service is probably the best I've experienced in a very long time.



I was always going to have to touch up paint anyhow with all the welding needed for things like seat back mount, window net brackets, dry sump bits, etc. The white POR is a perfect match for the powder coat they use. In any case - it's a race car, it won't be pretty for long

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[Jphoenix]

I decided to complete installation of the cockpit aluminum prior to installing the body. I'm using screws to attach the center console top plate and the diagonal plate aft of the console so I can have access to all the fluid and electrical lines running through the top of the tunnel.

In addition, I wanted easy access to the transmission fill port, so I fabricated an access panel using screws and rivnuts. For the screws holding the console panels in place, I used a combo drill bit/10-32 tap I found on Amazon and it works a treat to make drilling and tapping all those holes - took about 10 minutes to tap them all. Here's the bit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWSYQ4E...fed_asin_title

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[Jphoenix]

Fabricated oil cooler mounting angles, located and installed radiator ducts. Setrab oil cooler with AN12 fittings. Still have to locate and install the oil thermostat and remote filter mount.

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[Jphoenix]

Fabricated brackets for the side pipes using FFR roadster side pipes connected to Georgie’s headers. They fit great and should be a bit quieter than the normal side pipes.

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