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Flaircraft's budget build

43K views 149 replies 41 participants last post by  flaircraft 
#1 · (Edited)
I just got confirmation from FFR today that my kit completion date is April 4th so I figure I should start posting a build log. Since I live in WA state I am having Stewart ship the kit; I would love to see the factory but just don't have the time or gas money to do a 6k mile round trip.

Build plan: The car is going to be driven frequently by both myself and my wife, so it has to be something we'll both enjoy. For her this means quiet, comfortable, pretty, reliable, and easy to drive. For me this means best possible handling and braking, with decent acceleration. And it's all got to be done on a tight budget, we're shooting for 18k including donor. This rules out $10k paint jobs, crate motors, TKO trannies, etc. for this car. It'll have to be a pretty plain-Jane donor build which may not be the most exciting to read about especially considering the number of amazing builds on here.

Donor: I got a 95 Mustang. Ugly but mechanically sound. Advantages are lowest miles of any 5-liter mustang (last year they were made); 5 liter is cheap to get upgrades for, 4-wheel disc brakes, and 5-lug bolt pattern. I scored this for $1250 a few months ago and can hopefully sell stuff off it for a few hundred bucks. It also has the optional 17" rims on it so I can use those for a while until we can afford some nicer rims, I'd love the Halibrands but they put us way over budget :(

Upgrades beyond basic kit: 3-link, CNC dual master cylinder for best brake balance (recently purchased used via the forum); QA1 shocks; SAI mod, Summit heater+piping, Summit Stage 2 intake (Weiand action plus clone); Street Demon 625 carb (modern squarebore Thermoquad); GT40P heads with multi-angle valve job and light bowl work (per DIYporting.com), I paid a total of $-25 for the heads after parting out the Explorer they came from. We are planning on a street C*bra replica, so it will have bumpers, undercar exhaust, removable dual rollbar, no hood scoop. My wife likes the British Racing Green, so after some searching I found that the Summit brand paint has a jade metallic green that looks really nice. Ultimately we'd like it to look like jolsen42's first car.

We also have an MGB that we enjoy driving, the plan is to make the two cars match fairly well (same paint, similar rims, luggage rack etc.) so I am using the MG as a sketch pad for the FFR. I've linked a couple photos, one is the MG and the other is the donor car... the MG has the V6 and T5 out of a Camaro swapped into it so it's kind of a C*bra Junior. It'll be fun to have a "his and hers" pair.

2015-03-08 16.33.23 by flaircraft, on Flickr

2015-02-19 20.53.10 by flaircraft, on Flickr
 
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#93 · (Edited)
Since my last post I have finished the engine wiring harness and placed it inside wire loom, installed my dead pedal with high/low beam switch, and nearly completed the rest of the vehicle wiring.

Engine wiring harness, finally looking nice:
2016-04-24 11.38.28 by flaircraft, on Flickr

3251e828-fef5-49ea-a18e-0764f2d0225c by flaircraft, on Flickr

Dead pedal and highbeam switch:
257b66c8-c92f-4e86-a86e-dda937bc3065 by flaircraft, on Flickr

I just need to connect the latest wiring into the dash and install the headlight relays. After that, the only wiring left should be hooking up the exterior lighting, which I don't think I can complete without putting the body on.
 
#94 ·
The motor looks great.

The high beam switch wiring seems a bit worrisome. If your foot slips off the button, it looks like it could clip the wire connectors and rip them out. Maybe it will be up high enough to not be an issue...I'd just look at it closely and see how hard it would be to try to hit the wires on purpose. If it's near impossible to do, then most likely not an issue.
 
#95 ·
It does look kind of iffy in the pic, it's better IRL lol. I was worried about the wiring as well, so I did a fair amount of testing and wound up bending the wiring blade connections to point almost straight back; the switch originally had them pointing straight out, towards the clutch pedal, which definitely could have caused problems. I'm just glad I am using individual blade connectors rather than a block-style single connector, I wouldn't have been able to bend the tabs if that were the case. If I find it's still a problem after driving it, I can make a guard/cover that attaches under the switch mount bolts and protects the wiring connection. Ideally I wanted the connections on the other side of the dead pedal, but they are really close to the footbox and after adding insulation and carpeting it looks like there really won't be enough space on that side.
 
#96 ·
Flaircraft - Just followed your signature link over here and have enjoyed reading your build to date.

I picked British Racing Green for my build (with yellow nose band), so obviously I like your idea of "matching" your MGB. :cool:

Your horn test video clip did make me laugh and I'm jealous of your go-kart videos.
( My clutch had seized, so I couldn't actually drive my go-kart. )

Good luck, Paul. :)

PS
Hope you have found a new job.
 
#97 · (Edited)
Since the last update, I have completed the dash wiring (except for the gauge lights) and also completed the chassis wiring. The only wiring that's really left is connecting the chassis wiring to the body, and I can't do that until the body is on. I also did the final mounting of the fuel line.

I also finished the PCV system on the engine. I elected to run the PCV line to the header collector rather than to manifold vacuum - unfortunately I had forgotten to weld in a vacuum bung to the header when I was building them, so I had to do it while the header was installed on the car. Fortunately it turned out to be pretty easy to access with the body off. For the evacuation bung I used 1/8 iron pipe, drilled out to an ID of 5/16". This has worked well for me on other projects, as a 1/8" pipe nipple fits perfectly in 3/8" emissions hose.

Hole drilled in the collector for the evacuation bung:
2016-05-162014.30.37 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Evacuation bung welded in the collector:
07968a66-7225-4d0f-a3d0-b3c7096a6117 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Whole system plumbed in, from collector to valve cover:
2a72e34c-88cd-465f-9429-9e08f044b30c by flaircraft, on Flickr

On previous vehicles I have always used silicone tubing to connect the PCV tubing to the evacuation bung since silicone is a much higher temperature material than rubber tubing, which is why there are two colors of tubing in the image.

Now that the wiring etc. is done I can finally attach the rest of the alumium panels, and get to test fitting the body!
 
#98 · (Edited)
Since the last update I have actually been pretty much following the manual for the first time in what seems like months. I have attached all the cockpit aluminum (except for the trans tunnel cover, since that will be removable) and the outer trunk panels:

2016-05-28 17.10.53 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After the above work, I then deviated from the manual yet again to drop the trunk floor.

Trunk panel, with area to be dropped cut out:
2016-05-28 17.15.03 by flaircraft, on Flickr

The piece cut from the FFR trunk panel will be retained as the floor of the dropped section. In this image can be seen the floor section, along with the new walls I fabricated for the drop section:
2016-05-28 17.15.21 by flaircraft, on Flickr

It looks like I can safely get a little more than 5-1/4" drop. I had originally made a pair of L-shaped sections for the vertical walls, but one of the L-shaped sections turned out to be impossible to install, so I cut that one into two straight sections.

Also, this makes me wish I had the money and garage space for a sheet metal brake and shear, this mod would have gone much faster and looked cleaner with those tools...

Adding all those aluminum panels sure does change the look of the kit - it's actually starting to look like a car now that most of the frame tubing is hidden. Enclosing the cockpit also highlights how small the passenger compartment really is!
 
#99 · (Edited)
Since my last post, I completed dropping the trunk floor and insulated the rest of the cockpit aluminum. I also sectioned the transmission tunnel cover; the forward part will be permanently attached, as I will be installing the FFR dash brace. I attached and insulated the forward portion of the tunnel:

2016-06-22 14.49.31 by flaircraft, on Flickr

The rear section of the tunnel cover will be held on with rivnuts. I also purchased the HF rivnut install tool, and used it to install rivnuts for the fuel tank access panels in the trunk, and for the driver's footbox access panel:
2016-06-22 15.33.40 by flaircraft, on Flickr
2016-06-22 14.49.49 by flaircraft, on Flickr

And, as can be seen from the above pics, I have finally gotten to the point where I can temporarily mount the body!

2016-06-22 14.39.58 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After the obligatory short test drive, I can definitely see the need for undercoating inside the wheel wells, as I heard an occasional piece of gravel impact the fiberglass. At least the gravel is not getting flung into the passenger compartment any more :) After fully attaching all the body mounting hardware, I will check to make sure the body is located correctly, mark any areas that may need trimmed, then pull the body off and start in on the bodywork portion of the build.
 
#100 · (Edited)
You will love that trunk. All kinds of smaller stuff will fit in there. Here is what I did for a lid. It's been about 4 years and I am happy how it works out.
Sorry photobucket is down. I will try again later.
Ok here we go.

 
#101 ·
Cool lid Craig, I will definitely look into something similar. It looks a lot like the lid for the sub-floor compartment in the back of my Ambassador station wagon.
 
#102 · (Edited)
Since my last update I have pulled the body back off the car and started in on the bodywork. I did have to trim the front cockpit roll in a couple of places, but aside from that the body fit well on the frame. Like many others, I also did trim the back edge of the lower trunk aluminum; with the body mounted, the aluminum was almost touching the body in several places. It would never have fit with the bulb seal installed.

The first thing I did after pulling the body back off was to wash it. At first I used powdered dishwasher detergent. I did not feel that it did a very good job, so I purchased some Dawn (almost universally recommended for washing all kinds of car parts, not just FFR bodies!) and re-washed twice; the results seemed much improved compared to the powdered stuff. I think the powder detergent actually left some kind of coating on stuff after washing, as my hands always felt slick/slimy after using it and required a lot of rinsing with water to feel clean. My hands always felt squeaky clean after using Dawn to wash the body.

After washing the body inside and out with Dawn, I dried it and then turned it upside down so I could spray bedliner in the wheelwells. I used the Duplicolor Bed Armor:
2016-06-292014.05.52 by flaircraft, on Flickr

The pistol grip for the spray can is a must, since I used almost 4 cans to put 4 coats in the wheelwells. Using the spray cans that much without the pistol grip would wreck your finger. I also found that it is important to constantly clean the spray tip on the stuff; it globs up fairly quickly, and when it does so, the spray pattern is pretty much ruined. I just got in the habit of wiping the tip with a rag every time I shook the can up (once for every minute of spraying, according to the directions). I laid the body upside down on the lawn and sprayed the wheelwells that way. That way, any overspray would hit the grass and just get mowed away in a few days. As it turned out, the overspray was very minimal.

Body after having the wheelwells sprayed:
2016-06-292014.05.27 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After letting the undercoating cure, I began trying to get the mold wax out of the parting lines. This tied for the most time-intensive portion of the cleaning process. I first used a pressure washer to blast the parting lines; this only removed about 2/3 of the wax bits. It could possibly have removed more but I only have an electric powered washer and it isn't nearly as powerful as a gas powered one. Then I tried using a wire brush on the remaining bits; this was able to remove most of the rest but there were still some stubborn bits stuck in the rougher sections of the parting line. My final solution was to do a good soak and scrub with wax remover in the trouble spots. Pretty time intensive but was able to get the last bits out. Then, went over the entirety of the parting lines with wax remover to make sure they were totally clean before I felt that it would be safe to grind down the parting lines.

While spending all the time with wax removal on the parting lines, I did discover one glob of uncured gelcoat. It was near the triple intersection point on the rear, behind the gas filler. Here is a pic of the section after having the uncured gelcoat removed:
2016-06-30 21.11.49 by flaircraft, on Flickr

I used a pick with a right angle tip to probe for and remove all the gelcoat. For reference, the body has been hoisted up in the ceiling of the garage for a little over a year, subjected to temperatures approaching 115 degrees during the summer months. If the gelcoat glob hadn't cured in that amount of time and temperature, it was never going to.

Now that I'm working on the body it's no longer being stored on the ceiling hoist. It sure is a big change to see the body sitting in the garage next to the car!
2016-06-30 21.12.52 by flaircraft, on Flickr

The next step was to roll the lower edges of the body shell and wheelwells, and round off the handful of sharp corners that the body comes with. Once that was done, I turned the car back over, washed it with Dawn one final time, and after it dried I ground down the parting lines. I used my angle grinder and after a little experimentation decided on a 120 grit sanding flap; it gave the right combination of speed and controllability.

After grinding down the seams, I began the other really time-consuming part of the cleaning process: using the degreaser/wax remover all over the body. I actually had to delay doing so for several days due to temperatures hovering around the century mark; at those temperatures the cleaner evaporates almost immediately so wouldn't allow me to do a very good job cleaning. I finally got a break a couple days ago, the temperature early in the morning was only 85 or so, so I spent about 2 hours doing a thorough cleaning with the degreaser.

Then, after degreaser, I washed with Comet cleanser as reccommended on the forum. The Comet definitely appeared to treat any last areas on the body that were still shedding water (even after washing with Dawn and using the degreaser!) The Comet also was very good at making a mess on my 3-year-old's dress (she insisted on helping Daddy wash the car :) )

Car body after grinding parting lines and Comet cleansing:
2016-07-02 14.35.56 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Next up: doing the body cutouts!
 
#105 ·
Amazingly I've found them in Home Depot and Ace Hardware. Both have a drawer stack of strange and wonderful fastenings.
 
#106 · (Edited)
Since my last update I have not had a lot of time to work on the car - tis the season of sprinkler repairs, birthday parties, and travel. Still, I have managed to get all the body cutouts done (except for the finished windshield post holes, which will get finalized during the windshield fitting process) and did all the filling and sanding of the parting lines with Rage Gold. I used a Roto-Zip bit in my Dremel to cut any holes that I didn't have the right size hole saw for (headlights and rollbars). I also trimmed back the wheelwell edges quite a bit and re-rolled them, after seeing a couple of pictures posted by the honorable Mr. Kleiner of what he typically does with the wheelwells.

Body with cutouts and parting lines done:
2016-07-13 12.29.55 by flaircraft, on Flickr

The filler has been roughed out with 40 grit; the next step is to hit it and the rest of the body with 80 grit and take care of any little spots I may find.

I also got the decklid holes drilled; not only for the license plate light/holder, but also for the luggage rack:
2016-07-07 15.06.56 by flaircraft, on Flickr

And, also yesterday I got an official job offer!! No start date as of yet but I expect it to be in the next couple of weeks. I can't believe it took 8 months to find work... the travel that I mentioned above actually was for a job interview for a different company, about 200 miles from where we live. I would have accepted that job except for the fact that a local company made an offer first. The long distance job looked pretty cool but doing the weekend commute thing would have been rough.
 
#107 · (Edited)
Since the last update I finished the rough bodywork, re-mounted the body, and attached and did a rough fit of the remaining fiberglass pieces. I also mounted the windshield, interior mirror, all the lights, and the seatbelts. I also did finally rivnut the transmission tunnel top; the last time I took a test drive the air pressure under the car tried its best to make the tunnel top start flying so I had to drive back home with one hand on the tunnel top :)

Things are going much faster now that I am pretty much following the manual. Since I may be driving it in gelcoat for quite some time, I put a quick coat of red paint over the body filler to protect it (I'm not sure how weatherproof the filler is), also, even though the red I used isn't an exact match for the gelcoat, it looks a lot better now that all the white blotches are covered up. Next up: bumpers, exhaust, hood latches, and exterior mirror. Once those are done I won't feel bad trying to get a title on it.


General progress shot:
2016-08-08 07.49.48 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Speaking of title, I actually did go to the local DOL about a week ago and try to apply for one; I went to the same office and talked with the same person who did the title for a friend's MK4 less than a year ago. When my friend applied for title, he just showed MSO and receipts, paid his fee, and was given a title for a 1965 FFR Roadster. When I tried to apply I was told that I would need an inspection, and that it couldn't be titled as a 1965. I went back a couple of days later, talked to a different person at the same office, and was told that the 1965 was OK but that I'd still need a VIN inspection. Looks like I'm going to have to keep trying more DOL offices until I can get someone who will do it correctly, which is kind of disappointing since SB5585 was signed into law 5 years ago and lot of people in the DOL apparently still don't know how it works...

When I was attaching my door latch mechanisms, I did a little searching on the forum to see if there were any tips on doing so and noticed that a lot of people have had issues with the door latch lever arm falling off. When I took my first door latch cover off, I wiggled the lever arm and was able to "break" the swage fit by hand, so it probably would have come apart on me after not many miles of use. I decided to improve the swage job and after doing so, the lever arm connection is rock solid and I can't get it to pop off no matter how hard I try (actually worked it so hard I bent the lever arm accidentally, oops!) I also did remove one of the two return springs to lessen the force needed to move the arm, although it didn't seem to make much difference; I removed the "exterior" spring which was easy enough to take off with my spring remover. I figure that if the lever arm ever does come off, I can do the popular carriage bolt mod. First I started by using my springloaded center punch to ding the 4 corners of the square drive:

Lever arm on square drive, before modification:
IMG_8694 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After using springloaded center punch on the corners:
IMG_8696 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After using the springloaded punch to get an initial swage on the corners, I then used a traditional punch with hammer to really put some mojo into it; in this image I have done the two on the right side of the image with the hammer and punch but left the other two with just the dings from the springloaded punch so that the difference can be seen:
IMG_8697 by flaircraft, on Flickr

My apologies that all the pictures came out so blurry :(

The reason I decided to use the springloaded punch first was that it is much more controllable than the traditional hammer punch (not quite as violent and I can do it with one hand, allowing me to use the other hand to hold the latch from moving around while I punch it). Once the initial swage was done with the springloaded punch, I then felt comfortable going at it with the hammer punch.
 
#108 · (Edited)
Due to being employed again finally, I now can afford to get the roadster titled (read the saga here http://www.ffcars.com/forums/28-northwest-region/573969-vin-inspection-under-sb5585.html ) Since it appears that I will be required to have a VIN inspection to get the title, I also needed to purchase new tires since the ones that came with the donor car were pretty much only good for putting around the neighborhood. Before getting laid off last year I had decided on purchasing the new BFG G-Force Sport tires due to excellent reviews for both dry and wet performance, combined with awesome pricing. I also was able to purchase some used factory rims from a 2000 Mustang GT; they have the 5-spoke design that I find attractive, they look similar to the rims on our MGB to keep with the "twin LBC" theme, and believe it or not, they are also some of the lightest 17" rims available (they only weigh about 2 lbs more per rim than the FFR halibrands!)

After some research I decided to stick with the stock Mustang tire size, 245/45-17. For one thing, the car is going to be a driver and super wide tires with a light car can make things interesting on pavement that isn't nice and dry, especially for a car that my wife is going to be driving (at least occasionally). I also know they will fit since the tires/rims are the same size and backspacing that came on the donor, and those fit fine. Finally, the stock sized tires also happen to be the most affordable and will help me stay within budget. The car will still be a blast to drive, seriously it weighs about 2200 lb and has sticky 245's on it!

I did a little shopping around to find the best price on the tires, and the guys at the local Discount Tire decided they wanted my business enough that they said they would beat any price I could find. Part of that came as a $50 internet rebate, but they still beat the lowest price (Costco) by $20 and also didn't have any problem ordering the tires, wheras the person I spoke with at Costco wasn't positive that they could get the tires. Also they said that they could get the tires in about 4 business days, which was important since I needed them before my inspection! As it turns out, I was not able to get an inspection in a week like I had been told, and actually ended up having to schedule an appointment during the next available opening which is 2 months(!) away, and even worse, in mid-October so the weather will be iffy. Sucks that I will be getting the car inspected (and therefore hopefully titled) right after the driving season ends... good thing that I picked tires that are supposed to work decent in non-summer conditions lol.

OK pics or it didn't happen. New tire and rim combo:
2016-08-24 18.36.08 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Compared to tires/rims that came on donor:
2016-08-24 18.36.38 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Roadster with new rims mounted:
2016-08-26 07.18.09 by flaircraft, on Flickr

2016-08-26 07.18.35 by flaircraft, on Flickr

EDIT: forgot to mention that I also had to shorten the tie rods a little more; I had done the initial tie rod shortening long before setting a rough alignment. Once I added some caster to the car (roughly performed based off A-arm dimensions posted on the forum), the car toed out quite a bit and there wasn't enough toe adjustability to get the toe set back to where it should be. Having the front tires off due to swapping to the new tires gave the perfect opportunity to access the tie rods and sleeves and shorten them. I removed 1/2" from each tie rod. After setting the toe I went for a drive and it's a night and day difference; the biggest thing is that the steering doesn't shake from a front tire hitting bumps like it used to.
 
#109 · (Edited)
In preparation for my inspection next month, I had the roadster weighed last weekend. I have conflicting information as to whether or not the State Patrol will need a weight slip at the inspection, but I figure better safe than sorry. Total weight came to 2140. This is with an all-iron (except for intake) 302, factory 2000 Mustang GT 17" rims with stock Mustang tire size, the Summit heater, front and rear bumpers, 1/4 tank of gas. I also still have to add the dash vinyl, carpet, paint, a handful of aluminum panels (radiator aluminum, under door aluminum, splash guards), and the mufflers and tailpipes. I'm thinking it should weigh just under 2200 when done.

Pics or it didn't happen:
WeightSlipEdit by flaircraft, on Flickr
 
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#112 · (Edited)
Yeah, those can triggers are a real finger saver. It also works well for small kids, whose fingers often times aren't strong enough to even depress the button on a can... I found this out a couple of years ago when I was making a pinewood derby car with my son for Cub Scouts, the trigger handle was the only way he could paint his car!

Looks good, has a real British Sports Car feel. (I see the MGB cousin) :wink2:
Tires / wheels combo turned out well too.
Thanks for the compliments! I really ought to get a picture of the two cars together...

Here's a couple of pics of the car with the bumpers mounted:
2016-09-21 17.36.31 by flaircraft, on Flickr

2016-09-21 17.36.56 by flaircraft, on Flickr
 
#113 ·
Your car looks great. How are you doing at hitting your original budget target?

Wade
 
#114 ·
Thanks for the compliments, hopefully it will look even better after bodywork is finished and it's in the final color. Speaking of that, my budget has potentially been increased by several hundred dollars due to the fact that my wife is insisting that we pay someone to paint the car, and I also don't want to deal with the risk of sensitizing myself or someone else with the isocyanates that are used in modern paint... the other budget increase came when I discovered that the differential in the donor car was a welded diff rather than the mini-spool the previous owner said was in the car. This meant that I was not able to sell the mini-spool and replace it with a limited-slip unit (net cost about $100). I ended up purchasing a tru-trac which upped the build cost by $350 compared to my original plan.

The cars (both FFR and MGB) will be painted PPG Neo Green, aka (ahem) 1991 Mazda Miata BRG, code HU. My wife saw some images on Facebook about a month ago of an MGB that someone was restoring and had painted it that color, and she absolutely loved it.
 
#117 · (Edited)
Last Friday I finally hit a major milestone on my build - the roadster can now legally be called a "car"! The full saga can be read here http://www.ffcars.com/forums/28-northwest-region/573969-vin-inspection-under-sb5585.html but the short version is this: the govt. officials, both locally and in the state capitol, are not familiar with the law and it took significant effort on my part to educate them on what they should already know regarding getting a title for my car. (yay I can say car now!)

I also had enough time due to the long wait for the VIN inspection to complete my undercar exhaust system. I was originally thinking about custom-making my own low-profile, zero-restriction mufflers, but then I realized that making mufflers that would also function as wave termination chambers, and not protrude below the exhaust pipes, and have zero restriction, would be a difficult task. I ended up making and installing wave termination chambers (not too hard to do) that I installed at the correct tuned length after the header collectors and then installed some straight through mufflers behind the axles. I thought about using the low-profile mufflers that are commonly used in this application, but am not sure about their flow capabilities and their wave termination ability, so decided to go this route.

A 4" diameter piece of exhaust pipe, 24" long (fortunately just shorter than the distance between the two 2" square tubes underneath the front and rear of the cockpit) was calculated to have the minimum volume necessary for a wave termination chamber, so that's what I used. I bought a 4 foot piece of 4 inch diameter exhaust tubing and cut it in half, then capped the ends and cut holes in the end caps for the 2-1/4" exhaust pipes, so that the bottom of the 2-1/4" holes coincided with the bottom of the 4" diameter chamber.

Wave termination chambers:
2016-09-23 09.59.39 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Wave termination chambers, welded to headpipes:
2016-09-23 12.43.05 by flaircraft, on Flickr

I had to clearance the termination chambers slightly in 2 spots to tuck up underneath the angle-iron seat supports. A 3-lb sledge hammering against a peen sledge set on the chamber in the correct spot made the appropriate clearance.

Clearanced chambers:
2016-09-23 12.43.32 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After the end of the termination chambers, I fabbed a pair of over-the-axle tailpipes from 4, 180 degree bends and some length of exhaust tubing. The mufflers were welded to the end of these. The tailpipes are slip-fit into the termination chambers.

Tailpipes with mufflers:
2016-10-14 12.40.23 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Complete exhaust system installed on car (I still need to install the exhaust tips):
2016-10-18 17.58.25 by flaircraft, on Flickr

I have a video clip of the sound of the exhaust sytem, but YouTube is taking forever right now (possibly due to the debate being streamed live). I will update this post with the sound clip whenever it becomes available. The exhaust is surprisingly quiet despite the fact that the mufflers are downright tiny... I noticed during my test drives with no mufflers but with the wave termination chambers installed, that the exhaust was quite a bit quieter than with open pipes, so the chambers must have a decent quieting effect.

EDIT: OK here is the video finally!
 
#118 ·
I am glad you got through the legal stuff finally. I had similar problems 2+ yrs ago moving into Va from Md. The Va law had changed maybe 7 yrs ago but the regs that the DMV used had not been updated. I had never run into that before. Whether it's cars or something else, I always assumed that when you here on the news that the law is passed the relevant regs would automatically be updated. Not here or in you state apparently. In my case I talked to two different people in the group within the DMV that handles replica titling. My first contact couldn't do anything so I asked for her supervisor and found she couldn't do anything either. Ended up going to the online DMV org chart and emailing the head of the department. Three weeks later I had my title.
 
#119 ·
I have been following your build for a while. I was also doing a budget build with a donor, but my budget got away from me a bit, but not too bad. I am also doing an under car exhaust, i went with the usual Spintech route, but I did that because using the oval tubes allowed me to package the system completely above the lowest part of the framerail. I would love to seee some more detail shots of how you ran the exhaust past the axle. Its still a bit of a puzzle to me.

You are doing a great job. Keep at it!

By the way, I might steal your trunk rack idea. :wink2:
 
#120 · (Edited)
Getting the tailpipe over the axle took some careful measurements, there isn't a whole lot of room between the tire and frame/suspension. If it were a 4-link car or an IRS car, I would have just run the pipes underneath the axle (lower control arms for an IRS car). Since I have a 3-link, the panhard rod is right where I would have run the tailpipes if they were going under the axle. My car has a stock '94 and up width, disc brake rear end. I have stock SN95 17" rims with stock sized tires on them. My exhaust system is 2-1/4" diameter. In the space between the upper half of the tire and the frame/suspension, there is about 3/4" clearance between the back side of my tires and the exhaust pipe, and even less between the exhaust pipe and the closest parts of the frame and suspension. I doubt if this would be possible with an axle/wheel/tire combo that put the back side of the tire any closer to the frame than my setup.

Beginning of tailpipe, where it exits the wave termination chamber (under the back of the passenger compartment). Note that the tailpipe is tack welded into the termination chamber at the moment, I will probably end up using a clamp or flange in the future so that this joint can be removable:
2016-10-21 10.56.35 by flaircraft, on Flickr

The first tailpipe that I made had an extra bend in it, that ended up being unecessary; compare the tailpipe pictured below to the one shown in my previous post.

Tailpipe going up and over, then back down:
2016-10-21 10.57.13 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Downward portion of tailpipe, and muffler placement:
2016-10-21 10.57.24 by flaircraft, on Flickr

View from the front of the wheelwell, looking rearwards:
14d4ec66-8a0a-43bc-a2c6-6e6518f2b032 by flaircraft, on Flickr

I purchased rubber exhaust hanger pieces from my FLAPS and fabricated hanger connectors from 5/16" round stock that either welded to the exhaust or bolted to the frame, as appropriate. The exhaust pipe connector was left round and welded to the pipe, while the frame side connector was flattened at one end so that it could be drilled through and bolted to the frame.

Exhaust hanger and frame side connector:
5a5a4aa5-c345-4644-a708-5e4d59afa35f by flaircraft, on Flickr
 
#122 · (Edited)
Since getting the registration for the roadster I have driven it as much as possible to try and put some time on it for troubleshooting etc., naturally given the weather that means I've driven it for a total of mabye an hour and a half in two weeks lol. The only real issue I have discovered is that it leaks transmission fluid while driving, which the donor never did. After lots of time under the car, test runs, more time under the car, I finally determined that it was coming from the speedometer sender. I had put in a sender with a different gear tooth count to compensate for the gear ratio change, and ultimately the problem was that I had installed a sender that was meant for the '93 and older cars. The senders are exactly the same, and have both an electrical connection and a cable connection. The only difference is that the '94 and up senders have a little plastic plug in the hole where the speedometer cable would normally go. Since I didn't have a speedo cable hooked up, my sender was leaking out of the speedo cable hole. I was able to cut up the sender from the donor car and remove the plug (good thing I saved the sender!). I don't know if the plug is available at the parts store, I figured it would be quicker to just remove it from the sender than to even bother searching the web for it...

Speedo sender plug:
2016-11-04 12.39.11 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Sorry the picture is blurry, my tablet doesn't take very good macro shots.

After installing the plug I went for a drive and no more leaks!
 
#125 ·
Will your inner rear fender ears fit
Good question. I studied the FAQ for undercar exhaust for quite a while before making mine, and routed my tailpipes in the same basic location; looking at it now, the only real difference is that my tailpipes are outboard of the coilovers rather than tucking around inboard of the coilovers. Hopefully that won't change the location of the tailpipes enough to make any difference. The FAQ didn't mention anything about problems with the inner fenders so I didn't even think about it. Guess I'll see when it comes time to install them, I can always modify them if necessary (what? yet another mod??) :surprise:
 
#126 ·
When I picked up my mail today, much to my surprise it had the title for the roadster in it! I had been told by the state patrol inspector that it was going to be a 3-year wait to get the title, since I no longer had the title for the donor car (the Mustang had been scrapped about a year before and I couldn't scrap it without transferring the title to the salvage company) and therefore the inspector couldn't verify whether or not the drivetrain had been stolen. The inspector's report included instructions for the DOL to issue me registration as "ownership in doubt", so somebody in the DOL must have missed that part... not that I'm complaining...
 
#127 ·
You are lucky. A friend in MD had a similar problem. Way back he owned a Fox body. It was stolen and then recovered but in pretty rough shape. He decided to pull the engine and trans and junk the rest. Then a kid came along and wanted to buy it as a project. Cool, a little money. Slowly over a few years he built that motor. Then the economy dumped in 08 and it wasn't until about 2013 that he could get his FFR. Tried to title it and couldn't since he had no clear receipt for the engine although he did have a copy of his Mustang title. The mother wouldn't help him out w/ a letter. he had to get a lawyer involved to get her to answer questions on a form letter he sent her. That added 4 months to his build.
 
#128 · (Edited)
The winter weather here has sucked so I have not been able to get any work done on the car in over a month; we are having near-record snowfall and low temps and may even end up beating the record that was set back in 1955. It's actually being called Snowpocalypse it's so bad... I have slowly been working on making a grille for the car but since my wife has decided to clog up her garage spot with junk from the house I don't have anywhere to work on stuff inside and outside is a definite no-go (normally I'd just back her car outside to do anything that requires lots of room, like cutting 12' long pieces of metal on the chop saw). But, since I've been going stir crazy with inactivity, I decided to capitalize on a small window of not-totally-suck weather we had a couple days ago and toted the chop saw and the metal for the grille outside to cut the pieces to length.

A short intro to the project: My wife and I both like the look of the car better with a grille, especially since we are going for the classic British roadster look. I showed her some pictures of 289 cars and she likes that style of grille, so that's what I am replicating. Some helpful info was found here: How To Make An Egg-Crate Grille - Hot Rod Network and also there have been a couple of members on this site that have done similar. I am using 1/8"x1" aluminum to make the grille, as mentioned in the above article at Hot Rod magazine.

I started by tracing the back of the air inlet onto a piece of cardboard:
2016-12-31 10.32.28 by flaircraft, on Flickr

After that was done, I laid out a 2" square grid on the tracing, and used that to determine how many pieces of aluminum I needed to make the bars and how long they would need to be. It turns out that I used up almost exactly 2, 12' long pieces of metal for all the bars.

Then I mocked them up on the cardboard just to doublecheck that I didn't screw anything up:
2017-01-17 14.49.24 by flaircraft, on Flickr
2017-01-17 17.45.31 by flaircraft, on Flickr

Next step is to notch the pieces so that they will interlock, then figure out how to hold them together, and build some mounts for the assembly.
 
#130 ·
A short intro to the project: My wife and I both like the look of the car better with a grille, especially since we are going for the classic British roadster look. .
I couldn't agree with you more. Here is a pic of my 289. I think if you went even thinner say 1/16, you could bend over the front for a more original look.



John O
 
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