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GlenH's MKIV Build

9K views 86 replies 12 participants last post by  JRCuz 
#1 ·
Well after a lot of years I am finally going to get to do it. I ordered a complete MK4 in mid March. My completion date in April 15th. Stewart has informed me that they intend to load the week of the 17th.

I have spent the last few weeks getting the body buck built along with a temporary frame dolly. I had to make the frame dolly taller than I wanted to allow me to use my trailer to meet Stewart(No way for him to get to the house). It is setup for motorcycles and the dolly will need to clear the wheel chocks. Once I get everything home I will cut down the legs to allow it to fit under the body buck.

Spent this weekend rearranging the garage to get everything in. I have two garages, but one of my lovely wifes requests was that this project does not wind up taking up space in "her" garage. Of course I agreed. Now I'm thinking that I never agreed that other things (like motorcycles) would not migrate over to her garage. I don't think that will fly so things are going to be a little tight.




I have three sons ranging from 18 to 25 so I hope to turn this into a family project that all of us can work together on. None of us have done anything like this before, but have spent a lot of time building and rebuilding motorcycle, so hopefully we can manage.



Now on to the kit.

MKIV Complete kit
Powder coated chassis
Body cut outs
3-link year suspension
Power Steering
17" Halibrand Wheel/tire package
Wilwod Brakes
Stainless Side exhaust
Chrome Driver and Passenger Roll Bar
Heater Defroster
Wipers

Going to go with a fuel injected 347 and a TKO600.


I plan to do a couple of the mods I have seen from others as well.
Breeze engine compartment battery mount
Drop Trunk
Russ Thompson Turn Signal

I have not decided on a color combo yet, but I'm leaning toward black with smoke gray stripes.

Glen
Powhatan, VA



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#2 ·
Congrats! Welcome aboard and it looks like you will have a great build. The 347 is a great engine in these cars. Likely you will end up with a lot more mods than what you have listed as some on here have created some really great ones.
 
#3 ·
Welcome GlenH, I see you're in Powhatan, Va. I'm in Stafford and my MK4 complete kit was delivered on March 23. You have alot more room than me, I only have a single car garage. Good luck.
JR
 
#4 ·
Welcome to the fray ...

Based on your setup sounds like you are ready to have a great build and a real family affair getting it done. Congratulations!

I am another VA builder up in Nokesville, VA ... just outside of Manassas.

Carl

PS ... Since mods were mentioned ...

Consider the expanded PS foot box it makes a huge difference in space and is not that hard a mod to make.
 
#5 ·
The wait is tough. Came home today to find a few goodies. Spent the evening getting the front rotors and rotor hats put together and torqued. Still have not decided if I am going to safety wire them. I will probably give it a try and see how it goes. The hardest part was finding a 12 point socket that was the correct size. I have a boatload of socket sets, but none of them had a 12 point small enough. Checked at a bunch of home supply and auto parts places with no luck. Finally found one at tractor supply. It was in a clearance bin as they were no longer going to carry it. Good news is it cost me a quarter. I knew based on others build threads that I could expect to need some more tools. I did not expect it to be something so simple.
 

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#6 ·
Yeah that 5/16 12 point socket is hard to find. I had to order one myself. I ordered some .032 safety wire from aircraft spruce yesterday, I'll give it a try.
JR
 
#9 ·
Am willing to bet that garage never looks that clean again. At least until the Cobra is completed.

Roy from Springboro
 
#11 ·
Good job on the safety wiring, I just did mine also. I should have had you do mine. Good luck on your delivery next week.
JR
 
#12 ·
Stewart called me on Thursday to let me know they would be delivering on Friday. We met at the nearby Food Lion since he could not get to my house. All went great with the exception of a Food Lion truck driver letting him know he had to move his truck so that they could drop their trailer where it was parked. No big deal we moved to the other end of the parking lot and got it done. I've got to say the driver was great.




Got everything home and into the garage.



With a lot of help from my lovely wife and youngest son we managed to get the body off and on the buck. Things are a little crowded in the garage at the moment. I need to do a little organizing. Moved a couple of the bikes over to the other garage in the mean time.



I managed to do most of the inventory Friday night and Saturday morning. I need to do a couple of more boxes that were stacked in a corner. That will get done tonight. I also want to go back through two boxes with a fresh set of eyes to make sure that the two items that were missing are not there and I just missed them.

I wanted to feel like I got something done this weekend so I started working on the front suspension. I was able to get it all installed. I was confused initially as the manual says to mount the FFR upper control arm to the top of the mount. It just did not look right once complete. I decided to take a break and look at the forum. After reviewing a bunch of the other build threads I determined that either I misread the manual or it was wrong. I went ahead and moved it down and everything seemed to line up better. The second side took no time at all once I finished the first.



I also got the rear assembly completed. I was not able to install it because one of my back order parts is the traction brackets. Hopefully those will come in soon.



I was also able to get all of the aluminum mocked up that needed to go for powder coat. I am dropping that off today and expect it to take a week or so to complete.
 
#13 ·
I wanted to feel like I got something done this weekend so I started working on the front suspension. I was able to get it all installed. I was confused initially as the manual says to mount the FFR upper control arm to the top of the mount. It just did not look right once complete. I decided to take a break and look at the forum. After reviewing a bunch of the other build threads I determined that either I misread the manual or it was wrong. I went ahead and moved it down and everything seemed to line up better. The second side took no time at all once I finished the first.

Congrats on your delivery and welcome to the fun! Yes for the side mounts (vs. the top ones) for the front UCA's if you're using the FF 2-piece spindles as I think I can see in your picture. But also looking at your picture it looks like you're in the upside down upper ball joint plate club. Very common mistake since you need to take the UCA apart and reassemble. The angle on the upper ball joints should look like this:



For the inner joints, the zerks need to point up and the attachment on the upper half of the pivot. Means you need to take it apart, flip the ball joint mount plate, and put it back together. You'll end up with the bolted attachment on the front on one side, and the on the back on the other side. But not a problem.
 
#15 ·
Well I'm two weekends in to the build. I had a charity motorcycle event on Saturday so I didn't managed to spend as much time as I wanted to, but I managed to get a lot done.

I picked up my powder coated panels.

Went ahead and put on the DS footbox, but forgot to take a picture of that.

Installed the PS footbox.



Installed the heater in the firewall and then mounted the firewall.



Installed the F-Panels and installed the brake flex lines. Thanks to EdwardB for pointing out that my upper control arm ball joint plates were on upside down. I managed to flip them over. Unfortunately I had to go buy a new dust boot for the passenger side as I ripped it open trying to get the ball joint out of the spindle.



Installed the power steering rack using the Breeze offset bushings. It took a little "adjusting" on the mounts to get the bolts to go through. A drill, dremel and some POR15 and it's done.



Installed the pedal box. I had to trim off a little on the master cylinder shafts as they were too long. I still need to figure out where the brake reservoir is going and the hoses routed, so for now the hoses are just stuck on with no clamps. Also went ahead and installed the gas pedal.



Moved on to the rear of the car and since I received my back ordered traction lock brackets, installed the rear end and flexible brake lines. This took quite a while as I had to grind down quite a few of the spacers to get everything in place. My emergency brake cables are still on back order so I will have to come back to that.



Got the fuel tank installed. Still need to figure out where to mount the fuel filter. While I was at it, I went ahead and took everyone's advice and did the quick jack bolt mod.



My goal this week is to get the brake hard lines in place and start on the wiring. Honestly the wiring is the thing that worries me the most.

The engine and transmission are ordered and should be here in less than month.
 
#16 ·
Hi Glen,

When you get to the parking brakes, be aware that some folks have reported that the Wilwood release spring wasn’t fully capable of retracting the parking brake. The solution was to add a compression spring. A 3-1/4" length, 7/16" O.D., .062 wire gauge (Hillman Item # 540120, #40) spring was recommended. To head off any potential issue, I got the local hardware store to order me a pair, and my parking brakes work flawlessly.

Also, if the parking brake cables don't come with E-clips for the caliper side, pick up a pair. My cables took 1/2" clips.

Finally, if you're installing a drive shaft loop (recommended), watch that the cables don't rub against the loop.

Other than the drive shaft loop, I think I've spent a little less than $5 of your money. :grin2:

Cheers,


John
 
#18 · (Edited)
Looking good Glen. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to install the pedal box before the firewall. I'm going to use a firewall forward piece from ffmetal. He is starting to produce them again and they should be ready soon he said. That p/s rack with the breeze off set bushings was a little trying. Like you said a little grinding and por15 and it's in.
JR
 
#19 ·
Looking good Glen. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to install the pedal box before the firewall. I'm going to use a firewall forward piece from ffmetal. He is starting to produce the again and they should be ready soon he said. That p/s rack with the breeze off set bushings was a little trying. Like you said a little grinding and por15 and it's in.
JR
I wound up having to grind down the ears on the mounts so they don't rub on the boots. What made it a little more challenging was that I was not thinking and went ahead and bolted it in and then realized I forgot to put the lower steering shaft on. As a result I had to take it back out and get that done. Slow and methodical actually turns out quicker in the long run. Less do-overs.
 
#20 ·
Had a little time to spend over the last couple of night and was able to get the brake lines run. This was a lesson in frustration trying to get the bends right. I wound up having to buy a couple of extra lines to replace the two that I really messed up on.






 
#21 ·
Hi Glen, I have a question on your master cylinder shafts, about how much did you have to grind off? I'm afraid to touch mine without some guidance.
Thanks in advance, JR
 
#22 ·
On the brakes master cylinders I took about 1/4. Only enough to allow the shaft to have a slight amount of room to release fully when adjusted all of the way in to the clevis. I may wind up needing to do more once the brakes are bled and adjusted. On the clutch master cylinder I had to do about 3/8. I just wanted to be able to adjust it in enough that the pedal was even with the brakes pedal. Again I may need to go a little more once the transmission is in and I can see how everything fits. It is better to err on the too little side as you can always go back and do a little more if you need to.

It will also depend on what you are comfortable with from a pedal standpoint. I am 6'3" so I may wind up taking a little more off so the pedals are farther back in the pedal box.
 
#23 ·
Had to pick the youngest up from college this weekend so had limited time to work in the garage. I was able to get the wiring harness installed.



Once that was done I finished out on the dropped trunk. A word of advice for those using Dynamat. Wear some type of gloves. The foil will give you a pretty nasty paper cut. My hands look like I got into a fight with a ream of paper and it won.



I am dropping off a couple of pieces to be powder coated today. Somehow I missed them the first time around. Hopefully I will get them back soon. Got an email from Mike Forte that he had posted the video of my motor on the dyno. Hope to have that soon.

 
#24 ·
Another busy weekend but was able to put some time in on the build.

Installed the Breeze battery box.



Got the fan mounted to the shroud and the shroud mounted to the radiator.



Temporarily mounted the radiator to get everything lined up and drilled.



Mounted the fuel filter and ran the fuel lines.




Put riv-nuts in the trunk to attach the covers so they can be removed.



Mounted the CNC reservoir and went ahead and bled the brakes. Had one section of brake line that just did not want to stop leaking on both ends. It was one that I did not have to flare the ends myself. Turns out that when I picked up the brake line at the auto parts store they gave me one section of pipe that was incorrect. It was not for a domestic. It would thread into the fitting, but it was not tightening down all of the way. I re-bent a new piece and put it on and problem solved.



Received my back-ordered roll bars and of course had to try them out on the car. That brings my back-order list down to E-brake cable, wheels and vinyl for the dash.
 
#28 ·
Another busy weekend but was able to put some time in on the build.

Got the fan mounted to the shroud and the shroud mounted to the radiator.

Hi Glen. Time to throw in my 2 cents. On the Breeze radiator shroud, put a couple of holes (I did 3/8") in the bottom corners. The way it sits, it will collect water (or Heaven forbid, coolant) in the bottom of the shroud.

Looks like you have a different radiator than I do, but a couple other issues that have surfaced is that the radiator gets installed upside down (not me), and the upper hose nipple ends up too close to the shroud to get the radiator hose on (Me).

Nice work on your build. You are making some fast progress.
 
#26 ·
I powder coated anything that would be visible in the engine compartment. The rest I figured were going to be pretty much covered with carpet in the cockpit/trunk and bed liner on the underside. I am still going to pull all of the hinges and a couple of brackets and have them done. The cost was pretty reasonable. I have paid about $300 so far.
 
#29 ·
Looking good Glen, lots of progress. I got the front brake line done today, but I may be redoing it after seeing your Breeze battery box installation. Also I mocked up the location and a bracket for the CNC reservoirs.
JR
 
#30 ·
Hi Glen, a question on the fittings on the bottom of your CNC reservoirs, are they just straight and what size are they? I got mine from a guy on the other forum and they are brass 90° and too large for the rubber hose to fit on.
Thanks, JR
 
#31 · (Edited)
1/8-27 NPT (pipe) to -AN (-04? -06? I can't remember). You could tap out to 1/4-18 NPT for a bigger nipple which is what the previous builder did on mine. As it turned out, one of the reservoirs leaked through the aluminum (not the fitting) so I bought new reservoirs and went back to 1/8-27 pipe to -AN.

BTW... I went to -AN fittings on hoses that are compatible with brake fluid. The slip on hoses were not doing well with the brake fluid (they were starting to break down), so I went with some Earl's Plumbing hoses that should hold up better.
 

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#34 ·
Thanks Glen, I moved it first thing this morning to the front of the X member. Should have thought it out yesterday. I hope the new routing is OK. I'm going to route the rear line on the inside of the D/S F/B then high along the outside of the 4 in tube.
JR
 
#35 ·
This weekend I was able to get the battery installed.



Emergency brake handle mounted. The cables are still back-ordered so I will have to come back to that.



Trunk and cockpit aluminum all installed and Dynomat in place with the exception of the transmission tunnel. I still need to make two additional panels for the upper trunk.






Received my back-ordered dash vinyl so I can start working on the dash and the motor and transmission are being delivered today.
 
#36 ·
Good stuff Glen. I'll be tackling the fuel lines today.
JR
 
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