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EdwardB�s Mk4 #8674 20th Anniversary Build

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#1 · (Edited)
EdwardB’s Mk4 #8674 20th Anniversary Build

*** 5,000 mile report posted 06/19/019. Direct link: https://www.ffcars.com/forums/6064898-post491.html ***

Time to get rolling on another build thread. After a 1,680 mile round trip from Michigan to Wareham, as of August 6, 2015, Mk4 #8674 is now sitting in our garage. This is a 20th Anniversary Edition Mk4, number 03 of 20. This will be my third Roadster build, but a significant first. This is the first build where I am the original owner and taking delivery directly from Factory Five. The first two were purchased from their first owners as partial builds. The Mk3 had a good head start by a pro builder, so a great introduction. The Mk4 was only several months started, so almost like a new build. But time to go it alone from the very beginning. Plus Michigan gave me a really tough time the last go around without my name on the Certificate of Origin. So not going there again.

I thoroughly enjoy driving the completed Roadsters, going to car shows, and cruising whenever I get the chance. Absolutely a blast. The social aspect is great too, with our local club, the extended forum and Factory Five community, etc. But I also really enjoy the whole learning, planning and building process. Each time the builds were completed, I found myself missing the building. With my retirement earlier this year, it didn’t take long to realize another build was something I wanted to do. After some studying (and soul searching) decided it had to be another Roadster, and just to change it up a little spent quite a bit of time planning a 289 FIA build. I was ready to order one during the 50/50 sale several months ago. But then the 20th Anniversary Edition Mk4 was announced, and I was immediately hooked. I called and ordered it while at a rest stop in New York on the way to this year’s Factory Five open house, just minutes after it was made available for purchase. The plan is to sell #7750 when the new build is completed. #7750 is in it's first driving season this year, and now all sorted out and truly a pleasure to own and drive. Frankly, I can’t imagine letting go of it. But that’s the deal, and I’m sticking to it.

So let’s get down to the new non-donor build. The planned use is almost exclusively street cruising. The overall theme is a classic look and feel with completely modern mechanicals and premium driving. Because of the fully optioned anniversary edition, many aspects are already defined. Some of the specifics: Grey powder coat chassis, white powder coat on underhood panels and footboxes (intended to simulate the fiberglass of the originals), balance will be grey powder coat to match the chassis. 2015 Mustang IRS with 3.55 cast iron center section, FFR front spindles, front and rear sway bars, 13 inch front and rear Wilwood manual brakes, Wilwood pedal box with hydraulic clutch, engine driven power steering with 3.0 turn rack, upgraded Koni double-adjustable shocks, 18 inch FF Halibrand style wheels, new Coyote engine with footbox mods to maximize space, Stainless headers, GAS-N side pipes, TKO600 trans with Liberty’s shift mods, leather Roadster seats, Lizard Skin insulation, competition dash (tentatively) with glovebox, Speedhut gauges with GPS speedo, seat heaters, Breeze front battery, dropped floor in trunk, wipers, bumpers and overriders. Undecided about a heater. Haven't done one yet, and haven't missed it. But maybe it's time.

That’s probably enough for now. I’m planning a number of the little mods and touches learned from the first two builds, and maybe some new ones along the way. Notably absent will be a sound system. Spent a lot of time on that with my last build, and find it not very practical. One of my goals is to have a really clean Coyote installation. Not easy with all the wires and hoses. I’ve seen some really great examples. I’ll see how I can do. Color is still undecided. I’m kind of stuck on red, and could easily do that again. But looking at some other options as well. It will have stripes. I’m going to take my time. This isn’t a race. Plus even though I’m retired and have more time than before, I also have other things going on. I’m expecting a roughly two year build, like the first two.

There are 19 items on the backorder list. Many are minor, and won’t hold anything up. A couple others (front spindles, IRS parts) I’ll be watching closely. I’ve completed my inventory. I had a few missing and wrong parts. But not bad and I’m expecting will be quickly addressed. Probably my biggest observation, and I won’t say much at this point, is that I think I might be one of the first people to tackle the new 2015 Mustang IRS. I saw it in person at the Open House, and it’s really impressive and I think will make a great build. But it’s early for FF too. I’ll report more about it in the build thread as progress is made. I do already have the center section, knuckles and hubs on hand and ready to install. Talked about that in this thread: https://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fa...81-2015-mustang-irs-components-so-begins.html.

Going through everything, I'm generally pretty pleased. The windshield is now marked as made in Taiwan. The last two were from China. I wonder if they've changed vendors? It seems decent quality with everything nice and tight and clean. The new wheels are noticeably improved over the previous ones. The new tooling and new vendor has produced some nice parts. But those 18 inchers are huge! We'll see how that all turns out. The chassis looks good. The grey powder coating isn't real glossy, but it's nice. It seems they may have done some extra work prepping it before PC. I don't see much weld spatter. At least in many of the obvious places. Having a whole box of white PC'd panels before doing any fitting or drilling is different. I'll need to take care of those. The body looks good. All the panels match up OK at the parting lines. The new front quick jack mount brackets are interesting. I'll still do my usual grommet installation, but now even more to hold things up. I've got the newer style front UCA's. In general, interesting to see how they continue to make interim improvements to the same version. All good I think.

In the true spirit of no pictures it didn't happen, here are a few of pics of the delivery process.

From another forum member who saw my car in final assembly. Mine's on the RH side:

On the rack and ready to go:

Parking with the big dogs at a rest stop in New York on our way to Factory Five:

Loading onto the frame cart:

In she goes:

Me looking a little sweaty, while my wife does her best Vanna White impression. Factory Five posted this pic on their Facebook page:

Safely back in Michigan, ready to roll back out:

Yes, we used every inch:

Home in the garage:

Just a few boxes. All are in the basement now:


Here's the new IRS chassis setup, before anything installed. I suspect many will be interested to see this:


Here is a slideshow of all the pics taken during the delivery process, if you want to sit through them all: Delivery Slideshow by edwardb123 | Photobucket

I’ll take the body off and start dis-assembly of the rest of the panels next week, in and around Woodward Dream Cruise activities. I’m going to store the body off-site this time around, rather than having it on an elevated buck like my last two builds. I won't miss the head bumping and sore back working under that thing. I’ll get the frame up on the 2-post and start plugging away. Stay tuned for much more!
 
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#160 ·
I continue to be amazed at the small, elegant innovations and attention to detail! Great, great job, eb.
 
#162 ·
Grove Box

Your glove box door looks great. Flush with a Very nice fit.

You are doing an awesome job.


Jack
 
#163 ·
Your glove box door looks great. Flush with a Very nice fit.

You are doing an awesome job. Jack
Hey Jack! Thanks. Hope to see you and your beautiful Roadster at London again this year. I just registered.
 
#166 ·
Hello Paul, I would like to go to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course earlier in the week of the London show. The Ohio Cobra Club rents the track for two of three days. I was talking with a couple at the Holiday Inn last year who did the track day. The husband blew up his Daytona coupe but the wife spoke very highly of the two day driving school that she did in her roadster. Something like $150. First I need a new set of tires and maybe a driving suite.

Jack
 
#167 · (Edited)
Fuel Lines Installed

Today I completed the fuel line installation. It’s basically done with just a few fittings to tighten when the tank goes in the last time and the engine is installed. First let me make one thing clear. I didn’t use any of the FF supplied fuel lines or fittings. That’s a personal choice. The kit supplied lines and fittings, plus the additional ones called out for the Coyote installation, work fine and could certainly have been used. Plain and simple I wanted rigid stainless steel (SS) like my last build for the fuel and brake lines. That takes you down a specific path for fittings to make it all work, and before you know it, none of the FF supplied parts are used. Again, my choice.

There has been lots of discussion and recommendations for the Coyote fuel system, including pump size, supply and return line sizes, etc. The FF Coyote instructions say to use a 255 LPH pump. The Ford Racing instructions say 155 LPH. Guys have used both. I went ahead with the 255 LPH in tank pump from Breeze, which Mark provides with enlarged outlet and inlet tubes for 06AN fittings using his adapters. I decided to use 3/8 inch tubing for both the supply and return lines. 5/16 inch supply and 1/4 inch return line is included with the kit, and data shows this will supply plenty of fuel for the Coyote. But some regulators, including Aeromotive like mine, recommend 3/8 inch for supply and return. There has been a lot of chatter about fuel pump life, pressure from too small fuel lines, etc. Since I was going to use SS, it wasn’t a hard decision to go ahead and just use the 3/8 for both. No downside once bought and installed. Easy now. Real hard later. Decision done.

The SS tubing is from Inline Tube, a source many have used. I’m lucky because they’re local for me. So I’m able to pick up the 3/8 inch fuel and 3/16 inch brake line material in person and specify the tubes are left straight. No shipping, no coils, no straightening. Nice. I used a 10-12 inch length piece of Aeroquip PTFE Racing Hose on each end of both lines, and there will be another about 20 inches long from the regulator to the Coyote. I used Aeroquip FBM1134 PTFE 06AN fittings for all. I have the ability to put flares on the 3/8 inch tubing with my Eastwood flaring tool. But even with a flare and a tube nut, it still takes an adapter to attach the 06AN fitting. Mark at Breeze sells a very nice 3/8 inch OD Tube to 06AN male compression fitting (his #21608) and those work great. Install onto the end of the bare 3/8 inch SS tube and instant 06AN connection. FYI, they are Ham-Let Stainless Steel 316 Let-Lok compression fittings, considered a very high quality piece and rated for 1000+ pounds. I think they’ll do. I had to look them up because I wanted to be sure about installation. Their instructions say 1 and 1/4 turns, and that’s what I did. They seem rock solid. I've got the same fitting on the fuel tank supply line and the fuel rail inlet on the Coyote. I found a fuel filter that I thought would fit and do what I wanted on Summit. A Trick Flow TFS-23006. It’s a 10 micron filter with a spin-off base and easily handles the required fuel flow.

I found out during my last build that 3/8 inch SS is not particularly easy to bend. I used my little Eastwood combination tubing bender, and it was all I could do to bend the 3/8 inch tubing with its short handles. So I picked up a new Ridgid 36097 tubing bender. It’s just for 3/8 inch and nearly double the handle length. Worked very well. Glad I did that. I picked up a 10 foot piece of 3/8 inch copper tubing from Home Depot, and used that to make patterns and when fitted, duplicated in the SS. You only get one chance with SS, and with my limited experience I’m not willing to work without a safety net. Best $8 I spent. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I was able to make the supply and return lines each in one piece. The challenge wasn’t making them so much as getting them into the chassis when done. But they're in and won't be coming back out. The saving grace was the simple bend and short returns I used going into the engine compartment. OK, enough words. Here are some pics.

This is the Aeromotive regulator mounted at the firewall, and the supply and return lines in the engine compartment. It’s not obvious in this picture, but I had to make a new bracket for the regulator to stand it away from the firewall one inch. The main harness for the Coyote needs to pass behind it.


The tubing passes in front of the PS footbox and down the chassis 4 inch tubes. The SS clips are also from Inline Tube. They’re made for a flat surface. But bend the tab and they work fine on the curved tube. All the clips are installed with the provided 10-32 SS button head screws into tapped holes.


Rest of the way down the 4 inch tube.


Then up and over the rear suspension. I’m well away from any moving parts. I unhooked the coilover and pushed the rear suspension to the top limit. The UCA is still several inches away from the tubes.



This is the location of the fuel filter. Directly in line with the supply tube and easily accessible from the wheel well to spin off and service the filter. I had to modify the bracket slightly, but that was easy and then mounted here perfectly. You can see the end of the two 1/4"-20 mounting screws tapped into the frame.


Trunk side view of the lines, filter, and attachment to the fuel tank.


Next is brake lines. More of them, but will be a comparative ease to form compared to the 3/8 inch tubing. I’ve got the routing all planned. Now just need to do it.
 
#168 · (Edited)
Brake Lines Completed

This week I completed the stainless steel (SS) brake lines. I did SS lines on my last build, and happy with how they turned out so did them again. As I mentioned in my fuel line update, the SS tubing came from Inline Tube, a local source for me so I was able to pick up the 10 foot sections in straight pieces. I also bought the SS tube nuts and SS flat line clamps from Inline Tube. I have the Eastwood Pro Tube Flaring tool from my last builds. I did my entire last SS build with two bad flares I detected right after I made them. One I didn’t have positioned properly so the fold was all wrong. The second had a tiny crack, so I did another. The rest were perfect the first time every time. This time around, I had quite a challenge getting good flares. Read all the instructions (again), watched lots of videos, did every tip/hint I could find, and still about half had one or more splits. I talked to the guys at Inline Tube. They said no one else had reported any problems but bring my tool and tubing over and they would take a look. They did several flares with my tool in my tubing and (of course) they were perfect. They also did a few more with my tool in material they said was the hardest they have to flare, and they too were perfect. So convinced it was operator error, I did more practicing. Finally, I determined I was using too much force on step 2. Call it adrenalin, too many Wheaties, whatever, I was pushing too hard. I lightened up a bit, and was able to get consistently perfect flares. I don’t know why I didn’t have this same issue the last time around. Clearly I was working a little differently. Proves that practice and having the right touch is pretty important. BTW, steel flares with this tool are not nearly so sensitive. You can mash step 1 and step 2 all the way to the stops and get amazingly perfect flares every single time. I'm also happy to report I did all the brake lines without a single instance of doing the flare before installing the tube nut. That's a record for me. But I'm sure I'm the only one that does that...

I’ll cut to the chase. Once I had everything done and installed, I decided to go ahead a bleed the brakes. First to make sure I really did have good flares and no leaks. And second to make sure the Wilwood stuff all worked properly. As long as it took to get the Wilwood brakes, I didn’t want to take the chance that something needed their attention and I’d be back in the waiting game. I’m happy to report no leaks anywhere, a hard pedal, and brakes seem to be working properly. Whew! Kind of a big milestone in the build.

Now for more details of the installation. This is my first time using a Wilwood pedal box with the MC’s inside the footbox. My last build had the Wilwood box, but with a hydroboost unit and regular double MC on the outside. After looking at a lot of routing schemes, I ended up with the rear brake line down the inside corner of the footbox, and the front brake line out of the top outside the 3/4 inch tube. More details in the pics. I used the provided FF steel lines to make patterns of the more complicated pieces, and then duplicated in the SS tubing when satisfied with the fit. I was careful to mark the exact location of the bender on the pattern as I was making it, and then using those marks the SS pieces came out just right. Like the fuel lines, I was able to use a single piece of tubing from the front to the back. So from the rear MC to the rear tee it’s one piece. No unions. Nothing wrong with unions, just fewer parts, flares, and eliminates possible leak sources.

I’m using the CNC reservoirs, so hooked up the supply lines to the three MC’s. I was able to fit the three lines through the unused clutch cable hole. It was in the perfect location plus eliminated having to drill through that thick (and hard) footbox front. This pic also shows where I brought out the front circuit. It’s on the outside, so will be partially hidden with the body on. Also had to get it below where the front harness cable will be attached.


This is how I routed things inside the footbox. All the hydraulics are there except the pressure line for the clutch. It will get routed behind the 2x2 tube down to the clutch after I install the engine/trans.


Front DS from the MC, and the tee going to the PS. These line clamps are Allstar ALL18320. Padded clamps are fine. I just think these look a little cleaner. Strictly a personal choice.


Front crossover along the top of the X-frame, again with the Allstar clamps and tapped holes.


PS front. Nothing too exciting here.


For the rear circuit, went down inside the corner of the footbox as already stated. I confirmed the Coyote DBW pedal assembly is far away from the line. I’m not sure a more traditional accelerator pedal, cable, etc. would be the same.


Out through the bottom of the footbox. Still need to put some filler in the hole. It had to be big enough to get the tube nut through since I had to pre-flare the line with the flaring tool in my bench vise. The reflection of the camera flash makes it look there's a flat or kink in that bend. There isn't. It's a smooth bend.


Down the outside of the DS 4 inch chassis tube. These are the Inline Tube line clamps. Same as I used for the fuel line, just a different size. Held with 10-32’s in tapped holes.


Then up in front of the rear suspension, similar to the fuel lines.


To the rear tee on the DS. Because of the location of the flex line bracket, there isn’t enough height to the trunk floor to put the tee directly in the fitting as FF shows in their instructions.


Then over to the rear PS. Again, not too exciting. There is a line clamp directly underneath where this picture is taken. Same location as the other side, also not shown. Couldn’t get decent pictures because of all the suspension parts going on under there. Made it interesting to reach up in there to install them.


That’s it for the installation. Looks pretty simple when it’s all done. But it’s a bit of work to get there. For the bleeding, I “bench bled” the MC’s on the car, with temporary lines from the MC’s back to the open top of the reservoirs. Just pumped the pedal until all fluid. Then, with the regular lines back on the MC's, I used the CNC pressure cap to pressure bleed at each caliper. With 4-5 pounds of air into the top of the reservoir, just crack the bleeder and wait for the air to come out and only fluid flowing. No pedal pumping. It’s way too easy. Just watch the level in the reservoir. I went around twice just to make sure all the air was out. The Wilwoods are interesting. All the calipers have a top and bottom bleeder. Make sure to use the top one! For the rears, there are bleeders on each caliper. The instructions say to do the outside one first. I used exactly one 32 oz bottle of Valvolene DOT 3&4 synthetic brake fluid. When done, did lots of pumping and no sign of any leaks anywhere. Held the pedal down hard a couple times for one minute plus, and seems to hold fine and again no leaks. Obviously I’ll continue to keep an eye on it, including especially when it’s go-kart and driving time. But looks good now.

Next step is to get serious with electrical. I already have the rear harness in, but need to finalize it. Then going to get the main power wiring in including the Breeze front battery mount. It’s snowing now (no comments please!) but the weather forecast is showing lots of 40-50-60’s starting in the next day or so, the weeks ahead, and into next month. I think we may be turning the corner! Ready to get back out driving with #7750.
 
#169 ·
edwardb: I absolutely love the work and attention to detail you are putting into your build. I have followed all of your build threads, This one is Great. Gave me some great ideas that I have used in building mine as well. Thanks and Keep going. Lookin Good

Ed.
 
#170 ·
You're welcome and thanks very much for the encouraging words. I've said it before and will say it again. The build is a blast and it's fun to share and then hear it's helpful to others. We're all learning together.
 
#171 · (Edited)
This Week’s Update

It’s been a busy week with the build plus other stuff, but still made some good progress. Also a setback unfortunately. More about that later. After completing the fuel and brake lines, the next step was to finally install the rear harness. I did the usual routing down the inside DS top corner of the transmission tunnel and to the upper trunk floor. But then took it off to the side a bit around the added 5 inch box in the lower trunk area. Just made the routing a little neater without getting too tight between the tank and the box. Plus there’s enough length to still have enough wire on the DS corner. Before attaching the rear harness with padded clamps and rivets, I did pull two extra wires through it. One for a trunk light, that I’ll add to the courtesy light circuit along with the cockpit footbox lights. The other is off the brake circuit. I have an idea for a center brake light. We’ll see… I also shortened the fuel sender and fuel pump wires to make it a bit neater back there.

With the rear harness installed, did the final installation on the upper and lower trunk floors, trunk box, and rear cockpit wall. That’s it for panel installation until final assembly with just a few pieces left. Then installed the gas tank for hopefully the last time. I added tie wraps around the sender and pump plugs. I haven’t used an in-tank fuel pump before, and haven’t had any issues with the sender plug. But I’ve heard of several guys having problems with the connectors being loose or intermittent. Not a huge tragedy for the sender, but not good for the fuel pump obviously. I have to agree the locking tab is a bit less than a positive lock. A larger size tie wrap cinched around the connector and holding the tab seems like easy insurance. A short trip to my friends at Ace for a longer bolt on the PS fuel tank strap (common problem…) and I was good to go.

Rear harness and balance of trunk panels installed:


Now with tank installed. At the top of the pic you can see I put the little blocking plate for the PS tank strap on the outside and secured it with screws versus inside, riveted, and buried under the carpet, insulation, etc. Since I chose to not use the trunk floor access panels, being able to drop the tank relatively easily is important. The PS tank strap won’t swing out of the way unless that blocking plate is removed. So tried to make it a bit easier. Hopefully it will stay right where it is for a long time. Never get tired of seeing that rear suspension. It's a beautiful thing.


Top side of completed trunk area. As already mentioned, I'm leaving the braces.


Completed cockpit area. For you warm climate guys, that red thing in the background is something we cold climate guys call a “snow blower.” Fortunately haven't had to use it too much this year. Thought I would use this opportunity to educate those who miss out on the real joy of winter. :)


Next I decided to wrap up my dash mounting. In my previous update I showed how I mounted four 90 degree tabs on the back of the instrument panel. Now to give them a matching mounting location on the 3/4 inch dash tube. I located the tabs on the panel to have enough space for a 10-32 nut plate on the dash tube. The dash tube isn’t thick enough to tap threads. A nutsert might work, but finding the location and the proper angle would be quite difficult. So I took some steel nut plates (from McMaster, where else?) and drilled a hole in each end with a countersink. Then attached them to the tabs on the dash with some 10-32 screws, dabbed on some JB Weld, and clamped the dash in the intended location. With the JB Weld cured, removed the screws, removed the dash, added a little more JB Weld around the plates to fill any gaps, then installed two flush rivets into the previously drilled holes. Not going anywhere soon. Four locations look something like this:


Then installed the dash with longer 10-32 socket head screws into the four mounting locations. Like this one. They're easy enough to reach with a long ball end Allen wrench. I purposely mounted them in locations with a nearly straight access from the bottom.


The dash mounting turned out really well. With the top mounts, and the three braces along with bottom (small one each side, wider one in the middle over the tunnel), will be rock solid. I achieved my goal of a strong and serviceable dash mounting without screws through the front. I’m not going to kid though. This method is a little tedious and may not be for everyone. Also one of the reasons I’ll never build one of these in the 300 hours (or whatever) FF advertises. The dash will have to come off one more time for wiring, but looks good sitting in the chassis for now:


My next step was to install the Breeze front battery mount box, and get started on power wiring. Got the box mounted temporarily with clecos. Mark’s instructions are awesome. He even included a right angle grease fitting for the LCA since the battery blocks that location. I don’t remember that from the last time I installed one of these.


But in the process of installing the battery box, I made a somewhat disturbing discovery. I noticed that a small section of weld was missing from the front x-tube. About 3 inches long. You can see it just above the LH corner of the battery box. I can’t believe I didn’t see this before. I’m not going to dwell on it, because it’s being resolved. I sent a picture to FF using the customer service email address, and expected to follow-up with a phone call later in the day. But in less than an hour, Dan at FF called me instead, and we have a plan to fix. I don’t weld, so will have a welder come to my house to TIG weld the missing location. Dan is having some touch-up paint mixed to match the anniversary color. FF is of course picking up the tab for everything. Dan was great and they are really stepping up. He said the welding is checked multiple times, and especially for these Anniversary kits where some additional checking and clean-up was done. So he couldn't imagine how this was missed. Nonetheless, it was. This area is almost completely hidden by the battery once installed. So however the final repair turns out, it will be gone and mostly forgotten. Setbacks happen during every build. Just need to address and move on, which I plan to do. More wiring ahead.
 
#172 ·

But in the process of installing the battery box, I made a somewhat disturbing discovery. I noticed that a small section of weld was missing from the front x-tube. About 3 inches long. You can see it just above the LH corner of the battery box. I can’t believe I didn’t see this before. I’m not going to dwell on it, because it’s being resolved. I sent a picture to FF using the customer service email address, and expected to follow-up with a phone call later in the day. But in less than an hour, Dan at FF called me instead, and we have a plan to fix. I don’t weld, so will have a welder come to my house to TIG weld the missing location. Dan is having some touch-up paint mixed to match the anniversary color. FF is of course picking up the tab for everything. Dan was great and they are really stepping up. He said the welding is checked multiple times, and especially for these Anniversary kits where some additional checking and clean-up was done. So he couldn't imagine how this was missed. Nonetheless, it was. This area is almost completely hidden by the battery once installed. So however the final repair turns out, it will be gone and mostly forgotten. Setbacks happen during every build. Just need to address and move on, which I plan to do. More wiring ahead.
Excellent customer service to resolve an issue, as usual from that Wareham bunch!
I had a similar issue with the PS rear upper shock tower not fully welded out. I was fortunate in that I didn't have a coated frame but didn't notice it until after I had POR15'd and painted the frame. I weld, so I fixed it and re-painted it, but should caution folks to go over their frames closely. There are litlerally hundreds of welds and it isn't hard to see why one gets missed in between the jig and rotisserie. FFR makes a component kit we assemble. Make sure of what you're putting together!
 
#174 ·
I had several reasons for not getting a powdercoated frame. When I went to the 2013 Open House and saw the welds all being MIG, I knew that with differences in wall thickness on different size tubes and not resetting the machines in between, there would be some that had less fusion and penetration than others. I also knew I would be making frame modifications. You didn't have the same choice with the 20th Anniv. Model. I sure hope it all works out for oyu. Your builds sure do reflect a high standard.

I did find that the welds on the 4" main tubes and those cross-tubes, to me, had less fusion at the toes than the smaller welds. I went over several welds with my TIG rig and added some heat and in a few places metal. Another benefit to running the TIG torch over some of the more visible welds is the weld bead sure does smooth up nice and pretty!
 
#175 ·
I'll second that! Going over and double checking as much as you can. Things get missed it happens? When I got my kit I went over the frame all around and found some welds I didn't like and a few spots not welded all the way. I took out a few and welded over all of the spots. Plus rather then bolt some of my stuff the frame I have welded it on instead. But my frame came powder coated from FFR. Had I known I would have left it and done it when I got the Kit. But live and learn. I had to have one of my Rear driver side Lower Control Arms on my IRS replaced because both the Tabs for the shock mounts were welded in the wrong placement and not welded on the inside. Called FFR sent them a picture and they were really good about it and replaced it without any hesitation at all, problem solved. Build is look good edwardb!

Ed.
 
#176 · (Edited)
Power Wiring Completed

Today I finally finished the power wiring. Took longer than I planned, but what’s new about that. I did a front mount Breeze battery box on my last build and was very happy with it. So once I confirmed the Coyote installation would have enough room, did the same for this build. I received the front mount kit from Mark some weeks ago, and had it powder coated with all the rest of the parts. Also for the last build, I spent a lot of time looking at other builds and how the power wiring was done. Came up with my own spin on lots of good ideas, and that’s what I did and it has worked very well. This build is almost a carbon copy. The +12 volt battery wire is routed along the chassis to the master disconnect below dash center. Off the switched side is a large wire back to the starter, and another smaller wire to the RF panel and harness behind the dash. The battery ground is routed to the chassis near the battery. Pretty simple and straightforward. Note the firewall mounted solenoid is not used in this arrangement. With a mini starter the solenoid is not required, and the master disconnect serves as a gathering point for the main power wires. But in this case was the added work of integrating the Coyote Power Distribution Box (PDB) into the power wiring scheme.

I talked about this some earlier in the build thread. The 2015 Coyote controls pack has a much different PDB than the previous version. I determined early on, based on the size and configuration of the PDB, as well as the wiring harness, that it had to go in the engine compartment. Not behind the dash as usually the case for the previous version. With that determined, now how to get power to it. The controls pack comes with a long #4 power cable and a smaller ground that is intended to be taken directly to the battery. I saw no reason to use this if I supplied adequate power from the normal power wiring. I took the power leads from the Coyote PDB directly to the power at the master disconnect. There are four separate ground leads in the Coyote harness. Those Ford guys were pretty serious about getting a good ground! Three will go to chassis ground where the harness ends up. But I chose to home run the one lead back to the battery ground itself, as the instructions showed. Just to eliminate all doubt. I’ll provide more details along with the pictures.

First up is the battery. I chose an Optima group 51 yellow top, just like my last build. This is Optima part number 8071-167. That’s important because of the location of the positive and negative posts. They also sell a reversed version, but that puts the positive post very close to the chassis x-frame. I strongly recommend avoiding this. Here you can see the start of the #2 battery cables I installed. The kit comes with #4 cables, which I used on my last build and for the relatively short runs with the front mounted battery, they have been fine. But since I eliminated the separate #4 cable provided with the Coyote controls pack, I chose to go to the larger size to carry both the normal power plus the Coyote PDB. I picked up the #2 cable at West Marine. It’s very nice quality marine grade cable. Not cheap, and probably overkill. But they sell it by the foot so I got the exact amount I needed. Note also here the chassis ground location. The smaller ground lead is from the Coyote PDB mentioned previously. I'll add one of the engine ground wires to this same location after the engine is installed. When I mocked up the Coyote in the engine bay, I measured the location of the front crankshaft pulley. These cable locations clear the pulley by about 1-1/2 inches. And for you guys that notice such things, I do have the battery ground installed. But the positive battery lead I just set in place for this picture. While working on the build, I have it disconnected and the cap over the post.


One other thing you don’t see in this picture, and it’s a pretty big deal. The missing weld on the x-frame. Refer to my previous update showing the missing weld. It’s hard to see here because it’s partly behind the battery. But it’s been welded and the powder coat touched up. If you didn’t know it had been repaired, you wouldn’t know it. Even if I pointed it out, you probably wouldn’t see it. That’s huge and a giant weight off my mind. I didn’t take any pictures after the weld was completed, because it hurt just to look at it. There was damage 1-2 inches each side of the weld. But now done and gone. I’ll post about the touch-up paint at the end of this update. Factory Five has stepped up and done what was necessary to get this fixed, so kudos to them.

Back to power wiring. Here I routed the wiring in convolute down the chassis tube with a breakout for the starter wires. I measured the exact location for the two wires while the engine was mocked up, so these should bolt right into place when the engine goes back in. The smaller wire is the blue start signal wire. I put a piece of shrink sleeving around it. This wire is from the Coyote harness because the PCM controls the start process in this setup. This wire originally was at the engine end of the harness. I stripped back the harness enough to get it to the firewall so it could go to the starter along with the starter battery wire. Just cleaner that way.


Then up to the master disconnect and Coyote PDB. Here you can see a branch of the Coyote harness going to the dash area. There it gets connections for the fuel pump, start circuit, DBW, clutch switches, etc. The branch on the LH side along the top of the PS footbox goes to the PCM, engine, fan, etc.


This is a closer view of the finished power wiring. Doesn’t look all that great, but this whole area is behind the engine and below the body cowl. No way to make it very pretty short of covering it all up, but I’m not going to bother with that. The only thing not done here is the 8 gauge wire poking through the hole into the dash area. That’s the main power feed to the RF harness. More work to be done there. That hole also needs to be enlarged because that's also where the rear harness leg needs to go through.


Here is a picture of the power wiring area with a couple of the covers off so you can see the wiring layout I ended up with. The main battery power is the larger #2 cable on the lower post of the disconnect. The starter wire is on the top post going to the left, and the RF harness feed going to the right. So switching on the disconnect makes power available to the starter and RF harness. The smaller leg coming out of the Coyote harness next to the red cap on the regulator is the chassis ground mentioned earlier that goes to the front and the blue starter wire going to the starter. The large lead coming off the hot side of the switch is a #4 cable powering the Coyote PDB. It goes through the Ford supplied 250 amp fuse, and then another short #4 cable going to the front power tap on the PDB. I’m not completely sure why the 250 amp fuse. Nothing in the circuit should draw anywhere near that kind of current. IMO something is going to need to be dead shorted to pop it. But I guess that’s the point. Anyway, our friends at Ford thought it was necessary so I used it. I made a little bracket to hold it in the position shown. There is a second +12V power lead in the Coyote harness through a mating connector. But when you take the harness apart, it’s attached to the main power lead. So I routed it to the fused side as well. You can just see the smaller lead under the PDB.

So obviously with this wiring arrangement the Coyote PDB will always be on as long as the battery is connected. The instructions say this is necessary to store self-learned programming and error codes. A minor side benefit is the harness behind the dash includes an available constant +12V lead. Ford labels it HAAT, or Hot At All Times. Have to love it. I’m going to use that for the clock and also the speedo GPS. Speedhut provides a power wire that supposedly makes the GPS wake up more quickly if current is always applied. But with the PDB always powered, would switching off the master disconnect stop a running engine? My educated guess is probably not. The alternator would likely still keep everything alive. But the engine would not start with the master disconnect off, for a number of reasons. So I’m OK with that. I’m putting fuel pump and EFI switches under the dash, so either of those would kill a running engine if needed. Not to mention the ignition switch.


All of the #2 and #4 lugs, battery terminals, and triple wall sleeving used was from DelCity. Great supplier. For my last build, for all these larger connectors I used their Fusion products or solder slugs. However, for DD's and most factory built cables these kinds of connections are typically crimped. But because of the large cable and connectors the crimpers and dies are typically pretty expensive. Certainly too expensive for occasional home use IMO. But I ran across a cheap hydraulic crimper somewhere online (don't remember where...) that had a bunch of positive reviews. So I thought I would give it a try. Model number is YQK70. They're all over the place. I found it for $37 including shipping on eBay. That's just crazy. It's a bit on the cheap side (think Harbor Freight quality) and I can't say it will last a lifetime. But it came with a number of dies, and for the larger stuff (#2, #4 and #8) it does a decent job. The crimps are six-sided and seem very solid. I bought a few extra lugs and practiced/experimented before committing to the final parts. I did pull tests and cut some in half. Solid copper through the section. I went ahead and still used the Fusion (solder) connectors for the battery terminals. But all the rest of the wiring shown here was done with this crimper. Something to check if you're interested.

Right before I took these pics I did a little checking. With the battery leads connected (and all loose wire ends accounted for!) with a test light I could find +12 volts in all the right places. The master disconnect is switching the right stuff. I also checked the aforementioned HAAT wire in the Coyote harness behind the dash. It's alive. So power is getting through the Coyote PDB and harness. Baby steps but I'll take it for now.

I’ll be wrapping up a few more details on the wiring and then start masking and spray my Lizard Skin sound and heat insulation. By then I should have the transmission and will drop in the engine. Still have dash and RF harness wiring to finish. But could first start be too much longer after that?

Last update is the touch-up paint. After some searching, I found a company in Texas that packages touch-up paint for powder coat and include some of the Tiger Drylac colors. I contacted them about the specific Tiger Drylac DB 703 Glimmer, 49/84340 power coat used on the Anniversary frame. They said yes they could provide it. Received it yesterday and the match is perfect. I don't think you could find the repair. I'm impressed (and relieved...). Here's a picture of the spray can with the company name and website. $15 plus shipping. Not bad. That is officially my last mention of the missed weld and repair. It’s done and over with.

 
#178 · (Edited)
Lizard Skin Insulation Completed

Yesterday I sprayed the final coats of the Lizard Skin and removed all the masking. Today it was dry enough to finish cleaning up, start putting on some parts for the final time, and take a few pics to share. I did a pretty extensive write-up about the Lizard Skin process and results for my last build. So not going to repeat it all. The thread is here: http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fac...42954-lizard-skin-application-experience.html. I’m happy with the final result, and based on my first two builds and actual driving experience, the stuff does the job. In addition to the sound and heat properties, I really like how it seals everything up. There’s no denying though it’s a lot of work. From a pure hours standpoint I’ll bet no more than fitting, peeling, and sticking one of the other more traditional products. But the hours masking, then getting ready for spraying (especially if you’re not really set up for it, which I’m not), and cleaning up afterwards is some effort. But now that it’s done, I would do it again.

First up was to install the last couple panels. I still had two left on the driver’s side footbox. The outside top and side will be saved until the body is ready to go on. Not pictured, but another step is to fill any gaps between the aluminum panels, the frame, around seat belt tabs, etc. The Lizard Skin doesn’t stick well to silicone caulk that a lot of guys use. There are several seam sealer products that work well. For this build I used grey and white Marine Tex epoxy. The white matched the white aluminum panels nicely. The grey is really more black, but still worked OK. I put tape where there were any gaps, usually on the finished side, filled with the Marine Tex epoxy, then removed the tape after it set up. Left nice clean filled joints. With the Lizard Skin added over top on the inside, should be good.


I took a DA to all the panels that would get Lizard Skin and then did all the masking. Pretty much an all-day process. This was ready to spray with the exception of some more drop cloths I had on the floor and on the garage door.





Note I left the Coyote harness in. I didn't feel like taking the power wiring apart and the harness back out (again). I just wrapped it with tape and sprayed around it. Also visible in these pictures are the wiring harnesses for the heated seats. This is exactly how I’ve done the last two builds. Located the connectors and relays for under the seats, then routed the wires along the inside corners of the cockpit up to the dash area where I mounted the switches. I used a little contact cement to initially hold the wires in place. The wires end up buried in the insulation and carpet and completely disappear. These are the CobraHeat heaters mentioned in a previous update. The supplied harnesses aren’t long enough to be installed this way, so it’s necessary to stretch them a bit. In the process, also changed the power wires to enter at the dash switches rather than at the seats the way they’re wired. These means it's only necessary to have three wires between the seats and the switches.

I used the Lizard Skin undercoat gun as before. It works pretty well with the settings I describe in the detailed thread. But the stuff does sling everywhere. You cannot have too many drop cloths. As the Lizard Skin write-up describes, the sound insulation (SC) product is sprayed first. Here I did two coats in the trunk and cockpit. I got a little heavy handed trying to make sure I had plenty in the footboxes and managed to get it too thick and it started sagging and running. Took a little post spray clean-up and touch-up. Turned out OK, but not my finest hour… Then the next day I sprayed two coats of the ceramic heat insulation (CI) only in the cockpit. I tried to make sure especially the footboxes got a full heavy coats, and this time without making a mess. Worked out OK. Just like in the last builds, used pretty much all of the 2-gallon pail of each product. This is how it looks now:




I put the e-brake handle back in for hopefully the last time. Also installed the DBW assembly (accelerator) and brake and clutch pedals. These are the AC pedals from Forte that bolt directly onto the Wilwood pedal arms. They look good plus are a bit narrower than the Wilwood pedals. It’s hard to judge from this picture, but there’s 1-1/2 inches from the RH side of the accelerator pedal to the footbox wall. Then 2 inches from the LH side of the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal. I’m very happy with this spacing, and very similar to my previous SBF builds. It is possible to have decent pedal space with a Coyote. Thanks again to 2bking for his outstanding footbox mod design.


Now I’m full on into electrical wiring, including the dash and installing the RF harness.

Plus I'm taking #7750 out of storage next week and will get it ready for another great driving season.:grin2:
 
#180 ·
#183 ·
Dash and Wiring Harness Underway

Today it starts in earnest. Yes, all this stuff eventually fits. But easy to see why some builders get intimidated by it. This is the regular RF harness plus the Coyote harness. There will be some pruning. Depending on how you lay out your dash, it can really help. In this case, because of where I have the ignition and headlight switches, shortening those legs off the harness helps a bunch. I'm also thinking I'm going to need to modify the Coyote harness some. Right now, everything routes to the DS footbox. But there's only so much room in there.


 
#184 ·










Paul,
There are many ways of completing these things. No one way is better than the other. For those guys who want to keep clutter to a minimum, another option here is to mount the battery under the trunk with a Breeze relocate kit (still easy to access when required) and mount the battery disconnect on the back wall of the cockpit above the transmission tunnel (hides the connections). The Coyote black box fits nicely under the dash above the transmission tunnel and is hidden if using a console kit. The Coyote wiring harness then comes through the firewall at the far right as described in the FFR manual and runs on the dash side of the firewall (hides the wiring harness). There is still enough room behind the dash for the heater and the wiring harness is long enough to locate the ECM above the PS footbox on the outside of the 3/4" steal square tubing (hidden). All components are easily accessible but all are out of sight. Main power runs from the battery through the disconnect then to the starter. All covered with loom and hidden under the car. Power to the blackbox comes off the starter post and runs out to the right of the car low along the PS footbox, then up and through the opening on the far right of the firewall (opening provided by FFR). This cable also runs along behind the dash to the blackbox. With this set up, the firewall contains the fuel pressure regulator only. No other holes and no exposed cabling.
Just another option.
 
#185 · (Edited)
Paul, There are many ways of completing these things. No one way is better than the other. For those guys who want to keep clutter to a minimum, another option here is to mount the battery under the trunk with a Breeze relocate kit (still easy to access when required) and mount the battery disconnect on the back wall of the cockpit above the transmission tunnel (hides the connections). The Coyote black box fits nicely under the dash above the transmission tunnel and is hidden if using a console kit. The Coyote wiring harness then comes through the firewall at the far right as described in the FFR manual and runs on the dash side of the firewall (hides the wiring harness). There is still enough room behind the dash for the heater and the wiring harness is long enough to locate the ECM above the PS footbox on the outside of the 3/4" steal square tubing (hidden). All components are easily accessible but all are out of sight. Main power runs from the battery through the disconnect then to the starter. All covered with loom and hidden under the car. Power to the blackbox comes off the starter post and runs out to the right of the car low along the PS footbox, then up and through the opening on the far right of the firewall (opening provided by FFR). This cable also runs along behind the dash to the blackbox. With this set up, the firewall contains the fuel pressure regulator only. No other holes and no exposed cabling.
Just another option.
Thanks for your comments. Absolutely right. There are many ways to wire these things. Each has it pluses and minuses depending on a lot of factors. I'm sharing what I decided for my build. Whether others come to the same conclusion is of course their choice.

There are two different major points here. (1) Front or rear battery. I've done both and simply prefer the front battery. The power wiring is short and direct, and based on where it's routed, pretty much disappears once the engine is installed. Either is OK though. (2) Your comments about where to mount and route things for the Coyote I do not believe are for the 2015 version that I'm installing. It's a bit of a game changer. The PDB is much larger than the previous version. While nothing is impossible, based its size and the very large harnesses around it, I don't think it would fit behind the dash like the previous version. Maybe it would fit in a center console, but I don't want a center console. Also, the PCM cable off the engine will not reach the PCM location you described. Where I located mine is about the limit of where it will reach. All of that has to be weighed against design objectives and builder's preferences. IMO to completely hide the harness on the 2015 Coyote setup would require a major rework of the provided one. I've made some minor changes, but I'm not going to get into the primary connections to the PCM or PDB.

I know of a couple other 2015 Coyote builds, and they ended up with the PCM and PDB in similar locations as mine. Perhaps from seeing my build thread, but I believe more because they found that's where they need to be for this Coyote version.

It wouldn't be hard to put a cover over the center wiring location I've installed. I've seen other builds cover this area and it looks pretty nice. It's maybe something I would consider for the future, but I'm going to withhold judgment until I've got the engine installed. I'm thinking it's going to be pretty well hidden plus with all the other wires and tubing on a Coyote, kind of more of the same. It also wouldn't be that hard to hide the Coyote harness section I have along the top corner of the PS footbox. If planned properly, it could go through the footbox instead of on top. There's enough length. I just didn't choose to go that way.
 
#194 ·
Clutch Switches, Wiring, Tires

The 2015 Coyote controls pack has two clutch switches – one for the top and one for the bottom – as described in previous updates. The Ford provided switches are obviously made to snap into a production vehicle pedal box, and unwieldy to say the least for the Wilwood pedal box. The most challenging I think is the bottom switch, and I had not come up with any good ideas until a post from another forum member grluisi150. He took an approach I never considered, and it works great. Involves using the Ford provided switch, mounting it next to the clutch MC, and actuating the switch with a tab added to the MC. Note this is only applicable if you’re doing a hydraulic clutch. Yesterday I completed the fabrication, threw some paint on it, and this morning finished the installation. Works great!

I made the mounting plate from .090 aluminum. My first version just used the rear pedal box mounting bolt, but I wasn't satisfied it wouldn't turn. So rather than drill another hole through the pedal box I made another slightly longer plate and used both pedal box bolts. Also rather than trying to use the mounting clips molded into the switch, I cut those off and used a couple of cap screws through some existing holes in the switch. I tapped some threads into the base, but since it was only .090 thick (and only aluminum) wasn't happy with only two turns on the threads. So I riveted on another little piece that gives more threads plus provides a pocket for the switch to fit into. The switch mounting seems very solid. This is in an area in the footbox that wouldn't be very friendly to service once everything is closed up, so getting it right the first time is pretty important. The actuator piece for the MC pushrod is 1/8 steel strip stock.


All painted with Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black (good stuff) and mounted. The lead from the Coyote controls pack isn't seated yet. Just checking (and adjusting...) the length.


This is with the clutch pedal all the way against the back of the footbox. There's still about 1/32 inch of travel left on the switch, so it's not bottoming out. I put a test light on the leads, and the switch closes with the clutch pedal about 1-1/2 inches from the back of the footbox. Perfect.


Based on feedback from other builders using the 2015 Coyote, and indirectly from Ford Racing, the purpose of this switch is only to prevent the engine from starting unless the clutch is pushed in. So installed like this it will do exactly that. The top switch is apparently part of the solution to prevent stalling at idle so it doesn't need the speed dial module like the previous version. For that I'm using a brake light style switch for the clutch pedal arm mounted in the pedal box just like FF shows for the brake pedal arm.

In the meantime, wiring continues. I’ve now stripped off most of the wrap and convolute on the provided Coyote harness that is through the dash. It’s just going to work better after adjusting some of the lengths and reconfiguring it a bit. As delivered, nearly everything was on the end by the DS footbox. With the bulk of the RF harness in the same area, was just too congested. So I’m adjusting it a bit. Looks worse before it gets better, right?


Another decision for this build has been tires for the 18 inch rims. The choices are somewhat limited, but after looking them over had pretty much decided to go with BFGoodrich Rival S tires. After hearing the supply is somewhat limited and 2016 production hasn’t started yet, decided I should snap up a set. They were available at Tire Rack, so clicked the order button yesterday. The fronts showed up on my porch today. Come on Tire Rack. 20 hours from order to receipt? You’re slacking. The rears shipped from Connecticut, and are due here tomorrow. The rears are the customary 315/30’s. For the front, the choice was 245/40 or 275/35. After studying the dimensions, decided to go with the 245’s. On paper they looked very close in size to the 255/40 Nitto NT555 Extreme ZR’s on #7750. And those go right to the wheel well lip. The 275’s would have stuck out quite a bit. I took a couple of quick pics of the new front tires. It’s a little hard to tell, but they are only fractions of an inch different than the Nitto’s I have now. I’m also seeing the Rivals are not directional like the Nitto’s. Interesting.



Certainly can see the very low profile of the 18-inch tires. Not a huge difference from the 17-inch tires, but all you 15-inch tire guys are probably cringing. It’s a different look, that’s for sure. Also evident from this picture is that good old #7750 is back in the house. I retrieved it from our off-site storage bay yesterday after its winter hibernation. It wasn’t real excited to start after sitting since late October, but it’s fine now. After checking everything over, took it for a 5 mile or so drive. Was only 35 degrees, but sunny, so actually pretty comfortable. It ran great and I can’t wait for the real driving season to start back up. Looks like it will be at least another week.


Back to the wiring.
 
#195 ·
Nice job on the clutch switch Paul!

...I’m also seeing the Rivals are not directional like the Nitto’s. Interesting...
Not directional which seems to be falling out of favor in recent years but be sure that your installer knows that there is an inside and an outside when you get them mounted.

Cheers,
Jeff
 
#196 · (Edited)
Not directional which seems to be falling out of favor in recent years but be sure that your installer knows that there is an inside and an outside when you get them mounted. Cheers, Jeff
Thanks Jeff. I see the "inside" marking now. In multiple languages. :smile2:
 
#200 ·
I'm curious what the weight of the 315-30-18 tire and wheel combo is. I weighed my 275-45-17 the other day and it came in at 47lbs.
Hey Mark! The rear's just arrived, so I weighed everything.

Rear 18"x 11" FF Halibrand style replica wheel = 25 lbs
Rear BFGoodrich Rival S 315/30ZR18 = 29 lbs
Total = 54 lbs

Front 18"x 9" FF Halibrand style replica wheel = 23-1/2 lbs
Front BFGoodrich Rival S 245/40ZR18 = 25 lbs
Total = 48-1/2 lbs

I believe these numbers are pretty accurate using a 50 lb spring type fishing gauge. Best I have. Less air of course. :) The weight for the tires exactly matches the UPS shipping weights, and they don't come with anything except a few nylon bands between the two tires. The weights for the wheels are slightly more than the 21 and 23 lbs FF lists on their website, but those are also marked as estimates. I'd be curious how these numbers stack up to the similar size 17's on #7750, but I'm not going to take them off to find out.

For grins, here is a quick pic of the new BFGoodrich Rival S 315's next to the Nitto 315's on #7750. Both are meaty.

 
#202 · (Edited)
Wiring Update

Progress continues with the wiring. I have everything in place now. Just need to make all the necessary connections and (hopefully) wrap it up. In a previous update I showed the power wiring from the front mounted battery to the disconnect along with the Coyote power distribution box wiring. Now for the rest.

First was the Ron Francis harness. I made a number of mods to the harness as supplied to make it fit a little better plus integrate with the 2015 Coyote controls pack harness. I removed the 33 hot rod specific leg. After checking the required lengths, I shortened the headlight and ignition switch legs. This makes a big difference in how the harness fits. Each was about one foot too long for where I located the respective switches. I removed the blue solenoid start and clutch interlock wires since they’re not needed for the Coyote. The only blue wire remaining is direct from the ignition switch to the start sense wire in the Coyote harness. I removed the cooling fan power and sensor wires from the front harness. This is provided through the Coyote harness plus eliminates a connector from the already crowded front harness through the DS footbox. I’m going to use the cooling fan circuit in the RF harness to power the aux outlets under the dash. I eliminated the connector on the gauge sending unit leg. Since only three of the wires are required (tach, oil pressure, water temp) I connected them directly and added them to the alternator leg since they go to the same place on the engine. Finally I broke into the fuel pump circuit in the RF fuse box and added the connection to the Coyote harness. The power and control for the fuel pump comes from the Coyote PDB and PCM, but it uses the existing RF wiring harness to get the +12V back to the in-tank fuel pump. It also uses the existing RF relay and inertia switch.

The Coyote harness also needed a little massaging to install the behind the dash wiring a little better. Nearly all of the connections were on the DS footbox end, which is already really congested. So I stripped back all the wrap and insulation, moved things around some, and then re-wrapped. In the process, adjusted the lengths of the various connections (clutch switches, DBW, ODB, etc.) to more closely match the installation. On the other side of the firewall, I previously mentioned moving the blue starter wire from the PCM location to the PDB location so it could route to the starter along with the battery cable. I also broke out the cooling fan wire and then routed it through a new harness I made for the PS front which has wires for the Tangent driving lights that will be in the front oil cooler, same as my previous builds. In the process, added a wire to the cooling fan wire back to the dash so I can have an indicator light when the fan is running.

With that all done, installed the main RF harness into the chassis along with the fuse panel. I did the power wiring much like my last build. I used a Blue Seas Systems bus bar for the main power. I have an 8 gauge wire from the switched side of the master disconnect to the bus bar. Then the three main power wires from the RF harness are attached. These are the same three wires that are normally attached to a firewall solenoid instead making just a 6-8 inch trip to the bus bar. Then I added a Blue Seas Systems 150 amp fuse to the alternator circuit. Typically DD’s have a fusable link in the alternator circuit. In stock form the RF harness has no protection from an alternator failure. Not typically a problem, but still something I prefer to add.


Again like my last build, I’m using an American Autowire headlight control module. This module handles the current of the headlights and low/high beam switching along with providing a flash to pass function. These were discussed some on the forum a couple years ago. Unfortunately, due to some failures, they were taken off the market and are no longer available. The failures were traced to interference from analog MSD ignition boxes (good old MSD takes it on the chin again…) and I’ve never had any issues with the same headlight control module and digital MSD box in #7750. But just in case I picked up a couple spares while they were still available, and will use one of them on this build. Since the module needs direct battery voltage, it has a separate circuit breaker. So I made a mounting bracket for the control module, circuit breaker, and another circuit breaker for the Tangent driving lights. The bracket allows the harness legs to pass behind it. The two circuit breakers get their +12V from the main power bus bar. The rear harness can be seen just below the headlight module.


It’s not very pretty yet (probably never will be…) but this is how I’ve got the RF harness and the Coyote controls harness installed behind the dash. The connector at the top is from the Coyote harness. Still lots to do here to complete the point-to-point wiring and clean everything up.


The center dash brace also has quite a bit going on. Two auxiliary outlets, two switches for fuel pump and ignition, the previously shown Watson’s Streetworks headlight reminder and turn signal buzzer, and four relays. The relays use sense wires from the ignition and headlight switches for the headlight reminder, aux outlets, and running lights.


I ended up mounting the fuel pump inertia switch all the way over on the PS side firewall extension. It was just too crowded on the driver’s side. It’s relatively accessible behind the dash next to the glovebox. Barely visible in the LH side of the pic is the ODB connector that I'm installing on top of the 2x2 tube under the glovebox. Again just because it's crowded on the DS.


Finally, the DS footbox is 100% complete except for the flex line from the clutch MC to the slave. I’ll install that after the engine and trans are installed. All the wiring is installed including RF harness and fuse box, clutch and brake switches, front harness, DBW module, and RF and Coyote harness ground wires. The footbox is already narrowed from the stock version to provide space for the very wide Coyote engine. So this is a very busy place! But it’s all there now.


Late today I applied voltage and very carefully checked what's installed to date. So far everything is working as it should. I have power at all four corners where it’s supposed to be, and all the loose wires have power at all the right times. So far so good. That’s the update for wiring for now. Will be taking a few days break for an out of town trip, but back at it next week when I hope to get the chassis portion wrapped up and then start the instrument panel.

Couple of other parts updates. I’ve been going back and forth on what to do with the roll bar(s). I did a Breeze DS roll bar on my last build. The look is great. But for a couple of reasons I want to do dual roll bars on this build, and I just wasn’t sure I wanted to do the welding and finishing thing for two of the Breeze roll bars. Plus I already had the chrome DS roll bar that came with my kit, and they just don’t seem to be worth too much selling on the forum. So I went ahead and ordered/received a chrome PS FF roll bar. I had a parts credit with FF from the welding mishap (like I said before, they stepped up on that one) so it was a no-brainer to go ahead and go with the dual FF roll bars. On another note I happened to notice a little bit of brake fluid on the bottom of one of the CNC reservoirs. I cleaned it up thinking I had just gotten a little sloppy when filling them, but it was back a couple days later. Several more rounds and confirmed it was leaking. Just barely. Took a few days to form a small droplet along one side. But leaking is not an option on these, so called CNC. They were very nice and said to send it back and they would either repair or replace. Better now than when the build is done, so back it went. Finally, I ordered my TKO600 transmission and found it will be a few weeks longer than I expected for delivery. I’m doing the Liberty’s Performance modded version again like the last build (love it) but found they are very busy and a bit backed up. I have plenty to keep me busy so won’t affect the overall build schedule. But will keep me from putting the engine back in for a little while longer.

On a separate but related note, through the forum I met a local fellow car enthusiast who was interested in seeing my builds plus has a nice shiny new 2015 Mustang GT. So today, with the weather finally being very pleasant, we had an enjoyable visit. We spent some time looking at the new build and talking Factory Five for awhile. Then we took a fun cruise in #7750 (never gets old) and he let me drive his new Coyote powered Mustang. Very impressive. Whet my appetite for the Coyote in the Roadster, to say the least. I think it's going to have enough "go." Hey George! Great meeting you today.
 
#203 ·
..... Coyote powered Mustang. Very impressive. Whet my appetite for the Coyote in the Roadster, to say the least. I think it's going to have enough "go.".....
You're going to love that engine. In fifth gear mine pulls from 800 RPM up without bucking. It's very smooth and at 3500 RPM the power from the beast starts to roar.
 
#204 · (Edited)
Why not go with a T56? For what you are spending on the Liberty’s Performance TKO600 you'd have a readily-available 6spd capable of withstanding 700 tq and a wider range of gear selection.

http://www.tremec.com/menu.php?m=105
 
#205 ·
Why not go with a T56? For what you are spending on the Liberty’s Performance TKO600 you'd have a readily-available 6spd capable of withstanding 700 tq and a wider range of gear selection.
I appreciate the suggestion, and it's not a bad idea. But quite a bit more expensive ($700) than even the modded TKO. Plus I already have all the other parts for the TKO installation -- Quicktime bell, hydraulic clutch setup, transmission mount, driveshaft, etc. I'm not going to start changing all that around. I've got plenty to work on and waiting for the trans isn't going to affect my overall build schedule.
 
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