I'm working on my Mark IV also and just wanted to say thanks for your simple explanations and EXTREMELY clear photos. It's all very helpful. Yours is one of my top 3 favorite builds that I've been following. Keep up the GREAT work...I'm watching, learning and rooting for you!!!
I'm working on my Mark IV also and just wanted to say thanks for your simple explanations and EXTREMELY clear photos. It's all very helpful. Yours is one of my top 3 favorite builds that I've been following. Keep up the GREAT work...I'm watching, learning and rooting for you!!!
Cool, let me know if you want any more info on any of what I've done. I've got PN's and reciepts for everything and would be happy to help out anyone that may be interested. I guess I'll have to kick it up a notch if I'm all the way down in third place!
Also, if you want to see ALL of my pictures and not just the ones I post here they're at the following link.. I should prob add that into my signature at some point.
LOL!!! I said you're in the top 3...that could mean you're number one. LOL!!! Things are going smoothly so far, but I'll let you know if I have questions...which I'm certain I will.
Ok, so I got a bit anxious and decided I'd get this thing to run over the weekend. I have had a bit of pain figuring out the cooling system so I figured I'd skip ahead a bit and get it to run for 20 seconds or so just to make sure all is well with the engine and no unexpected issues. So I tightened down the plugs, wired up the distributor, programmed the fuel injection and hit the key...
Gotta click the link, not the image. Can't figure out how to get it to work any other way..
So after the first attempt I tried again. Same results. Popped through the carb a few times. Rotating distributor both ways didn't seem to help. So I decided to double check the firing order. Then it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. I've always worked on chevy's until now. I wired the distributor clockwise instead of counter-clockwise. Argh. So I swapped it all around and it went a little something like this.
I didn't run it for very long for fear of warping valves, getting hot spots in the cylinders, etc. Just long enough to get the headers starting to smoke. Mmmmm, love that smell. Now we truly are cookin' with gas
Now it's time to get that cooling system done and set the timing, adjust air fuel ratio, idle speed. Oh man. Woo Hoo!
Well I got it out for the first terror around the block this weekend. What a ride! I was grinning from ear to ear. My wife was even daring enough to jump in the passenger seat for the ride. But she made me install the seats and harnesses first! So here's a little bit about what I did before the big test drive..
I don't think I said anything about the O2 sensor I had to install so here are a few pictures of it. I installed it right where the collector comes together near the driver footbox. Just a simple drilled hole, welded on the bung and screwed it in. My welder is just a simple Craftsman 110V MIG from Sears. I use flux core wire.
Drilled hole
Welded bung in place
Cleaned it all of with a wire brush, then painted with VHT 2000F paint
Then it came time to installing the seats. I did this Saturday and Sunday. Wasted the whole day Saturday trying different things to get the slider mounting posts to work and decided to get a fresh start with a new plan on Sunday. This was a little bit trickier than I though it would be so I want to give full disclosure on what went into it for me. I used chrome sliding brackets from Summit Racing on both sides. If you are not adding sliders then no need to worry about all this.
I started by cutting off the mounting posts on the sliders. They are not going to be needed and don't have good mounting points due to the placement of the attaching plate FFR welded onto the frame.
Next I welded two pieces of plate steel between the sliding rails. The rails were 6-7" apart and offset toward the door when anchored to the seat. Good thing is the welding does not need to be pretty, just make it good and solid and don't burn through the track or it won't slide. Here's what it looked like tacked into place.
Then, after fully welding the plates on, I bolted it to the FFR seat frame with some 3/8-16x2.5" Grade 8 bolts. Another trip to Lowes for bolts... I really need to just get a box of each size one day. After bolting down the front, slide the slider back and bolt down the rear. It should look like this..
Note the position of the flat plates. The sliders are 6-7" apart from left to right, but the plates are only 4-5" apart from eachother (top to bottom). The reason for this is to be able to get all 4 bolts onto the plate below the floorpan of the car. Don't worry about it not being attached on the back corners of the sliders. I assure you this is quite sturdy once bolted in place. I also offset the whole thing toward the door so when I drilled out the mounting holes I wouldn't hit the round frame tube underneath. (The passenger seat is the one in the picture in case you were wondering)
Next you want to slide the seat all the way back. This is so when you mount it you'll be mounting in the furthest back position and sliding forward from there. Note: the seat will be crooked when viewed from the front of the car. This is by design and is the way you want it. The back should almost center to the cutouts for the shoulder harnesses and the front should bbe square with the pedals. Drill out two holes in the cross brace that you can see (it's the rear one) then bolt it in. Slide the seat forward then drill and bolt in the front with the other two screws. Here's what the frame looks like bolted in.
I'm 5'11" and my wife is 5'2". We both can reach the pedals and there is enough room to adjust it a bit further back from my position, and a bit further forward from hers. Perfect.
Next I bolted in the harnesses. Not much to say there. Just note there is a left and right shoulder strap. I did not put the crotch strap in, but I think I will just to make the belts fit a bit better.
Here's a fuzzy shot of the harnesses in the car (low-tech iPhone 3 camera).
I didn't put the roll bars in but figured I'd just take it real easy around the block. I headed down the street and hit 2nd gear. Amazing response to very little throttle. The tires easily broke loose with just a quick throttle blip. This thing is going to be a handful!
Now I've got to finish off the sheet metal and toss the body on. Really looking forward to that!
Got around to installing the petal covers and gas petal from breeze (Russ Thompson). They installed easy and are one of the coolest looking additions. Here's a picture of me heating and bending the brake petal. All the others remained in their stock locations. I used a mapp gas and oxygen kit from Lowes. It's only like $50 and is a great tool if you do minimal brazing or cutting.
Then I added the covers to the petals.
Another loose end I had was the headlight switch. I re-used the 2000 mustang switch and replaced the knob and bezel with one from a '67 Mustang. I removed the shaft from the new knob, drilled and tapped it for a set screw to secure it to the shaft on the old switch, then drilled a hole through the dash and bolted it in. Looks great. And I think the knob and bezel were only 20 bucks. Money well spent to avoid a series of toggle switches.
Here's a shot of the switch installed. More pictures of the modifications I did are on my full picasa album.
Next I test fitted the rollbars, then dropped the body into place. In that order. The FFR cutouts from the factory do not leave much wiggle room so I will trim them open a bit more after bodywork and before paint. In the end, I'll add bezels to them to give a nice finished look. Here's a shot with the body on the car.
The rear wheels are not even close to filling up the fender flares due to me narrowing the rear end. I was expecting this and will work out a solution soon. Most likely replacing the rims and tires. But I really like the looks of the wheels so I plan on finding out if they make the same wheel with a better offset and width to fit with some fat rubber. Hopefully I can find the same rim with a 10-11" width so I don't have to replace everything. But at this point, what's a couple grand?
Then I got eager to install the headlights and taillights just to see how it looks. Here are the results.
So now I've got to work up a solution for the rear body mounts (quickjacks). I've got the plan just didn't realize I had to do this until it was too late and the body was on. Should've researched a bit more I guess. Looking back I would've welded nuts on the backside of the frame mounts before installing the fuel tank. But it's too late for that now.. Fair warning if you haven't gotten to that stage yet.
Anyway, I'm very happy with how everything looks. I find myself opening the garage door and gazing at the car now more than ever.
Well, I haven't done a whole lot lately. I installed the hood, hood hinge (FFR), Hood scoop (FFR), and the rear quickjack mounts/body mounts.
To deal with the fuel tank being in the way of getting the quickjack mounts in on the rear, I cut off the ends of the quickjack bolts and welded a short threaded bit onto the end from some bolts I had laying around. I just cut off a bit and welded it to the end of the quickjack bolts. The bolts were 7/16-18 grade 8. Took about 45 minutes to make these modifications and no trips to the hardware store (for once). Also, I used loctite red and lockwashers to hold them in on the inside and it was easy enough to get an open end wrench up in there to get them tight.
Here's a couple pics of the hood hinge installed. Took a bit of work to get it all to line up nicely but it is a great quality piece from FFR and I have zero issues with the design. Only one suggestion I'd have... Buy some good quality stronger rivets. They should make a good nice pop when you put them in, not like the really easy to snap in FFR ones. You'll get a lot better hold with some good quality ones. I still used aluminum, just nicer ones to hold onto the hood since it's a major component and will be opened and close all the time. Even better would be some rivnuts or steel thread inserts but I'm going the easy route for now.. Here's what it all looke like when I got it on.
The air cleaner will eventually be replaced when I find the one I like. This one is just there to keep the junk out for now. The next thing I did was test fit the windshield. What a mess this is. I had to file out the FFR cutouts and, though I was being careful, I stripped out two of the side screws. Argh. Hopefully this will not be horrible to fix. Something to look into. Also noticed the gap below the windshield was not acceptable. So I've got to do a bit of work to see if I can get it to sit more flush. But that's next weekend. For now, This is what she looks like. Getting close!
__________________
Bill D
FFR 3378 - 503 BB, $old and missed
RCR GT40 - 1051P clone, $old
FFR 7991 - becoming a 289 FIA with a Mr. Bruce body, 331, dual quads, T-5, IRS, Trigo pin drive wheels, and Goodyear billboards http://www.bills289fia.com
Thanks guys. I'm tuning things up and finishing a bit of wiring before going off to get it registered. Not much else to report right now.. Still trying to figure out the right tire/wheels and paint color. Decisions, decisions..
I noticed the headers didn't line up right.. FFR Hooker's for 460. This is partially due to the 1" raised exhaust port design of my trick flow heads and also could be other issues because I see this is a common problem. The drivers side was ok, just needed to trim the body a bit more. But the passenger side was way off.
So I looked around on the forum and found my best bet would be to have the header flange milled down. I called 5 or 6 places before finding someone to do it. He really narfed up my pipe trying to clamp it down to his mill table, but he got the job done. I guess I may need to have it recoated if it's really noticeable. Charged me $120 after some haggling and me complaining about the dented/scratched pipe.
Then here is a shot with it re-installed. Fits great now.
I changed out my pent-roof valve covers for some fabricated aluminum tall ones I had sitting around. I had to bend in the top of the footwell aluminum to clear them, but not a huge deal and it doesn't take away from any footbox room. Just need to fabricate a new top half to fit the curve.
I picked up a set of FFR's wind wings and a passenger side mirror while the summer sale was going on. Here's a shot of the car as it looks today. Pretty much done minus bodywork and paint. Moving to a new house soon so I'm going to put that off for a while.. Not exactly looking forward to the sanding and such..
Here's another shot I took with her out in the sun. MAN SHE LOOKS GOOD!!!! I know you guys open the door in your garage and stare too. It's perfectly natural.
Did I mention that I've taken it around the neighborhood a few times? This thing is a wild beast. It takes a very light foot to keep traction in ANY gear. Time to save up for some wider rims and fat rubber. Anyone want to trade a set of 15-17's for a set of 18's with new 245/40/18 rubber???
Great job! Have a request - is that an edelbrock foam element/screened air cleaner? If so, please do yourself a favor and get rid of it. If gas splashes on to the element, it will melt pieces of it off and it will fall right in to the carb. I also found that this particular setup robs 20 - 25 rwhp per the chassis dyno I had mine on. Nice build, love the valve covers, nice clean look.
Yeah, thanks Tim. I got the cheapo air cleaner on there until I find the one I'm looking for. You know they spec it moves 1000 CFM. My a$$. I've been sucking pieces of it through from the corners. Also, I've melted one years ago on an old firebird I had. Thanks for letting others know though. It'll be ditched soon.
Happy to see that you've pretty much completed your build. That was fast. Congrats!!!
Thanks Hunter.. Although, now the never ending work begins. After bodywork it's time for all of the small things that never seem to end on a project to get it tweaked just right. If you ask me this time next year, I doubt I'll say it's DONE
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Hopefully this will not be horrible to fix. Something to look into. Also noticed the gap below the windshield was not acceptable. So I've got to do a bit of work to see if I can get it to sit more flush. But that's next weekend. For now, This is what she looks like. Getting close!
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