Hello everyone,
My Mk3.1 Roadster #6153 ( I think, those are the last four digits of the FF Serial Number and I would assume that is how the numbering provisions go ) arrived at the end of July. I picked it up as an unfinished go-kart from the original owner. He purchased it in 2007 and got most of the aluminum riveted in, put the suspension in, dropped in a donor 302 and that's about as far as he got in the project.
He got carried away with life and the car sat in storage at his family's house until I picked it up in July of this year.
I got started on the project in the middle of August. I ended up having to take everything back down and build it all back up. I left the suspension and frame intact but there were still a lot of aluminum panels that needed to be riveted and there were a lot of things I wanted to change.
It is a Mk3.1, as I said before, with a powdercoated frame and 3 link suspension. It has power disc brakes all around courtesy of the original owner and I have since added power steering. It also has autometer gauges and I think that is the extent of the factory upgrades. I have since picked up a lot of miscellaneous parts from members here, as I have been religiously stalking the Classifieds section, such as a Passenger Rollbar for my girlfriend and lots of other random stuff.
I have since pulled the donor 302 and replaced it with a built 347 Stroker running a solid roller cam to 7000 RPM. I have upgraded the driveline and changed to an aluminum radiator. I have also pulled the stock Ford A9L Computer and replaced it with a Megasquirt 2 which I built and made a custom harness along with a painless chassis wiring harness.
It took me about 3 weeks to build the new engine, pull the old engine, install the new engine, finish the panels, solder the megasquirt, make the harness, etc etc etc etc etc.
Currently, I have two aluminum panels that Factory Five had sent the wrong pieces for, I'm going to call them on Monday and see if I can exchange them or just purchase the panels. The most annoying is the cockpit upper splash guards that are a PITA to begin with, the ones by your shoulders, I ended up with two drivers side pieces and no passenger side pieces. Accidents happen, but unfortunately an inventory apparently wasn't done until I received all the pieces.
Other than that the build has gone pretty well.
The car got picked up today to go into the paint shop and should be painted by mid next week. It's the only part of the build I can't do myself and frankly don't want to. I had thought to do all the bodywork myself and maybe paint it but a friend of a friend offered me a ridiculously good deal on paint for a little bit of advertising for him while I'm out and about due to all of the attention that these cars tend to draw.
This is kind of a huge condensed post because I'm not real big on introductions and I'm sure there are a million and one build threads so no sense in another step by step process especially when I didn't do any of the suspension or brakes myself. I've received a good amount of advice, help, and parts from the members here and I really appreciate how helpful the community has been so far so that is always worth mentioning.
My current project is that I have decided to upgrade the fuel system. The 347 will be making approximately 450rwhp and I will be running dual tunes for both E85 and Gasoline. With the extra, approximately, 30% fuel requirements for E85 I wanted to make sure that I have enough flow. I am running -8 Feed Lines to a BBRC Billet Rail System, feeding back to an Aeromotive FPR and a -6 Return System. The whole system is fed by a High Flow Performance 300lph Pump set in one of their AN Hangers. I am in no way affiliated with the company but if you're looking for an AN Setup, they make a Hanger with AN Fittings that drops right into a fox fuel tank. This allows you to just screw on your AN Hose Ends and eliminates any chance of leaks using Aeroquip fittings or the like adapted to the pipes. They can also modify the fox hanger that you already have for about half the price of their new hanger. I'm including a picture at the end of the posting because I think it's neat and extremely practical. Their website is
Walbro 255 Fuel Pump : Walbro 255LPH : Performance Fuel Pumps : Cheap Fuel Pump : Discount Fuel Pump : Ford : Chevy : Chevrolet : Range Rover : Dodge Ram, I don't know if I can post that here but if it needs to get edited out feel free Mods and people can just PM me if they want High Flows contact info. I'm also using their in-house fuel pump as it has extremely high flow ratings at stock fuel pressure, more than enough to support the power I'll be making on gasoline and E85.
I think that's everything for now in my massive introduction thread. I have met one of the Colorado Springs members, if there are more of you out there feel free to shoot me a message. Nice to meet all of you and I'll talk to you soon!! I'm happy to answer any questions about my build if anyone has any and I'll post a bit more detailed information later. Thanks for having a great community for me to ramble on to!
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