Voodoonoodle's 35 Hot Rod Truck Build

[Voodoonoodle]

I've been ogling this truck for about a good five years and after seeing the Mark Gearhart Drift Truck (see pic below), I was sold. I previously bought the digital version of the build manual a while back and have went through it a good number of times already. Finally, on 14 November, I submitted my order and have a completion date of 21 December. While I eagerly await it's arrival, I've been channeling all my energy into transforming my garage from a chaotic mess into something much more organized. Thus far I have mainly been consumed with wrenching on and riding motorcycles. I started out riding sport bikes back in my early twenties, then got into Harleys and even built a custom chopper (see pic below), then I got back into sportbikes and got addicted to track riding. But as I get older and arguably wiser and a little bit of nudging from my wife, and also losing several friends and aquintances in the past few years, I've come to the realization that maybe I should choose something a tad bit safer. So, I have made the decision to take the plunge and attempt to build a FFR 35 Hot Rod Truck. This has always been a dream of mine, in fact before the this truck came out I was seriously looking at the Superlite SL-C kit, but this better fits my budget and current experience. Maybe if I successfully pull this build off, that could someday be a future project. We will see.

Hopefully I won't ask too many dumb questions or embarass myself too badly, since I'm not entirely familiar with the ins and outs of the car world, and feel motorcycles are so much more simple compared to a car.

With that, below are the following options that I have ordered:

- LS Install Kit
- Automatic Transmission, 4L65E 98+
- Paintable Tilt Steering Column
- Moser Rear End
- Platinum Gauges
- Black Vinyl Bench Seats (Plan to have re-upholstered)
- FFR Powder Coated Frame
- Wilwood Front and Rear Brakes in Black
- FFR AC/Heater Kit
- EFI Fuel Option
- Aluminum Bed Kit
- Brake Reservoir Kit
- Electric Power Steering

I'm contemplating running 19x9.5 front and 20x11.5 rear wheels. I also am planning on doing a Black and Blue color theme, using a Dynamic Blue Metallic.

Mark Gearhart Drift Truck.jpg

Custom Chopper.jpg

[ChefGlennM]

welcome and congratulations. i just received mine last week. looking forward to following along with you.

[peterh226]

Welcome to the group! There are quite a few people just getting started on a new truck. Ask any questions you want...

[Voodoonoodle]

The truck arrived on 1/18/2025. I finished inventory on Monday (1/20/2025) evening. I bought various sized small baggies and individually packaged all small parts and labeled them with their part numbers during inventory. Inventory went smoothly and went a lot quickier than I had anticipated. I only had ten MIK items, most from the e-brake handle assembly, as they redesigned the e-brake and somehow during that process several components were completely left off the e-brake parts list. I also had a pretty small POL as well. The Missing in Kit (MIK) items have already shipped out and are due to arrive tomorrow.

001 Truck Delivery.jpg

002 On Jack Stands.jpg

[Voodoonoodle]

Spoke to Factory Five on 23 January after submitting my MIK parts list and was pleased to receive all MIK items except for one item, just four days later. Talk about fast! Since one of the items in the shipment were the internal snap rings for the shocks. I chose to proceed with assembling the Koni coil-over shocks. Overall, the build manual was quite thorough during this process. However, I did encounter a minor discrepancy when assembling the rear shocks. Specifically, the manual fails to mention the need to remove the clip from the bottom groove of the shock assembly and reposition it to the top groove. Fortunately, this was the only notable issue, and the process was relatively straightforward otherwise. For reference, the front shocks are part number 82-2610, while the rear shocks are part number 82-2611. Although, this can be confirmed by checking the length of the shocks when they are fully extended, as the build manual notes that the front shocks are approximately 15 inches long, and the rear shocks are 2.5 inches longer than the fronts.

003 Completed Shocks.jpeg

[Voodoonoodle]

Welcome to the group! There are quite a few people just getting started on a new truck. Ask any questions you want...

Thanks Peter! I have already started following your build on YouTube.

[Voodoonoodle]

I finally got some help the other day to remove the cab from the frame. Anyone have any advice on how to get the thing on and off without scuffing up the powdercoating? Also has anyone else experienced spots of their factory powdercoating flaking off in areas where no contact was made to the frame and what did you do to fix, just paint? I have a spot about the size of a quarter where the powdercoating just flaked off. I will get snap a picture of the spot tonight and post it.

[Guardm16]

Masking tape is the best / easiest way to protect the powdercoating when pulling the body. Foam pipe wrap for areas that are exposed to hazards like the engine bay. Painting is the best / easiest way to repair. There are several threads on the best paint color to use. I used:

Rust-Oleum 263422 Automotive Matte Finish Spray Paint, 12 oz, Matte Black It is a very good match

[Infinitybox]

I've been ogling this truck for about a good five years and after seeing the Mark Gearhart Drift Truck (see pic below), I was sold. I previously bought the digital version of the build manual a while back and have went through it a good number of times already. Finally, on 14 November, I submitted my order and have a completion date of 21 December. While I eagerly await it's arrival, I've been channeling all my energy into transforming my garage from a chaotic mess into something much more organized. Thus far I have mainly been consumed with wrenching on and riding motorcycles. I started out riding sport bikes back in my early twenties, then got into Harleys and even built a custom chopper (see pic below), then I got back into sportbikes and got addicted to track riding. But as I get older and arguably wiser and a little bit of nudging from my wife, and also losing several friends and aquintances in the past few years, I've come to the realization that maybe I should choose something a tad bit safer. So, I have made the decision to take the plunge and attempt to build a FFR 35 Hot Rod Truck. This has always been a dream of mine, in fact before the this truck came out I was seriously looking at the Superlite SL-C kit, but this better fits my budget and current experience. Maybe if I successfully pull this build off, that could someday be a future project. We will see.

Hopefully I won't ask too many dumb questions or embarass myself too badly, since I'm not entirely familiar with the ins and outs of the car world, and feel motorcycles are so much more simple compared to a car.

With that, below are the following options that I have ordered:

- LS Install Kit
- Automatic Transmission, 4L65E 98+
- Paintable Tilt Steering Column
- Moser Rear End
- Platinum Gauges
- Black Vinyl Bench Seats (Plan to have re-upholstered)
- FFR Powder Coated Frame
- Wilwood Front and Rear Brakes in Black
- FFR AC/Heater Kit
- EFI Fuel Option
- Aluminum Bed Kit
- Brake Reservoir Kit
- Electric Power Steering

I'm contemplating running 19x9.5 front and 20x11.5 rear wheels. I also am planning on doing a Black and Blue color theme, using a Dynamic Blue Metallic.

Mark Gearhart Drift Truck.jpg

Custom Chopper.jpg

Project sound s great and good luck!

[Voodoonoodle]

Masking tape is the best / easiest way to protect the powdercoating when pulling the body. Foam pipe wrap for areas that are exposed to hazards like the engine bay. Painting is the best / easiest way to repair. There are several threads on the best paint color to use. I used:

Rust-Oleum 263422 Automotive Matte Finish Spray Paint, 12 oz, Matte Black It is a very good match

Thanks Guardm16!!! Exactly what I needed to know. I will grab some of that and see how it turns out.

[FF33rod]

Thanks Guardm16!!! Exactly what I needed to know. I will grab some of that and see how it turns out.

If you want something a bit tougher, SprayMax 2K hot rod satin black (same as Eastwood 2K rat rod satin black) is a perfect match. You'll have many scuffs during the build so I waited until final assembly before doing the touchup

Have fun!
Steve

[Voodoonoodle]

If you want something a bit tougher, SprayMax 2K hot rod satin black (same as Eastwood 2K rat rod satin black) is a perfect match. You'll have many scuffs during the build so I waited until final assembly before doing the touchup

Have fun!
Steve

Thanks Steve! Will definitely give this a try.

[Voodoonoodle]

I ordered the Moser Rear End option from Factory Five. I didn't really care much for the rear differential cover that it comes standard with, so I ordered the Trick Flow Specialties 10 Bolt Ford 8.8 Inch Differential Cover [TFS-8510500]. I decided to give it a couple coats of Rust-Oleum Automotive 600 Degree Gloss Black Engine Enamel, to get rid of that raw finish. I then dumped in 3 quarts of Lucas Heavy Duty 80W-90 Gear Oil and 4 oz. of Ford XL-3 Friction Modifier Additive, before installing the newly painted rear differential cover.

With the rear differential and shocks all ready to go, it was time to install the rear suspension. Upon doing so, I ran into a problem. The threaded tie rod ends are too small to thread into the rear lower control arms. Infact, they can slide in and out of the lower control arms, without touching a thread. Anyone else had this issue? I can't seem to find anything about anyone else having had this issue. So, what I anticipated as being a straightforward and productive day did not turn out as expected.

001 Diff Cover.jpg

002 Installed Diff Cover.jpg

003 Tie Rod Problem.jpg

004 Rear End Setup.jpg

[edwardb]

With the rear differential and shocks all ready to go, it was time to install the rear suspension. Upon doing so, I ran into a problem. The threaded tie rod ends are too small to thread into the rear lower control arms. Infact, they can slide in and out of the lower control arms, without touching a thread. Anyone else had this issue? I can't seem to find anything about anyone else having had this issue. So, what I anticipated as being a straightforward and productive day did not turn out as expected.

That's strange and unfortunate. Mine were fine. You need to contact FFR.

[Guardm16]

"With the rear differential and shocks all ready to go, it was time to install the rear suspension. Upon doing so, I ran into a problem. The threaded tie rod ends are too small to thread into the rear lower control arms. Infact, they can slide in and out of the lower control arms, without touching a thread. Anyone else had this issue? I can't seem to find anything about anyone else having had this issue. So, what I anticipated as being a straightforward and productive day did not turn out as expected."

Mine was fine too, maybe the wrong Heim Joint? I didn't compare the sizes front to back, or the size for the Upper link and Panhard bar. Now that I think of it, I read somewhere FFR was changing the size of the rod ends in the rear of the chassis.

[Voodoonoodle]

Update: I called FFR about the rear end issue concerning the lower control arms and tie rod ends. They are sending out a new set of lower control arms and should be here Monday.

While waiting on the rear lower control arms from FFR and my parts to get back from powder coating I decided to move on and install the rear brakes. Unfortunately, more bad luck, after installing the bracket, I opened the rear calipers and they were red, when I ordered black. No big deal I thought, as I was kind of on the fence when choosing my caliper color anyhow. So, I go check the front calipers, just to make sure, and they are black. Now I'm waiting on new rear calipers in the correct color and will send the red calipers back.

Also, anyone that has installed the Wilwood rear brakes, does this bracket setup look correct? The instructions noted flipping flange bracket so that the flat side is against the axle flange (opposite from what is shown in the instruction diagram) for 2.50 offset rear axles, which I'm guessing this one is.

001 Rear Brake Bracket.jpg

002 Rear Brake Bracket.jpg

003 Rear Brake Bracket.jpg

004 Red Calipers.jpg

[Voodoonoodle]

While waiting for the calipers for my rear brakes, I went ahead and attached the rotors to the hats and tried my hand at safety wiring. This was a lot harder than I anticipated.

005 Front Rotor Safety Wire.jpg

[Chris H.]

Good safety wire job, looks like 7-12 twists per in, military grade!

[Guardm16]

Also, anyone that has installed the Wilwood rear brakes, does this bracket setup look correct? The instructions noted flipping flange bracket so that the flat side is against the axle flange (opposite from what is shown in the instruction diagram) for 2.50 offset rear axles, which I'm guessing this one is.

001 Rear Brake Bracket.jpg

Yes, that is the way mine worked out. I actually tried both ways to ensure a good alignment. (Note) I needed 4 of the shims to center the caliper over the rotor. The combination of think and thin shims came in handy.