I didn't catch which engine you are planning on. If you are running a small block ford, then I know you don't need it. I think most of the guys that are having issues with that bolt are running the modular block.

Good luck! Have fun...

 

I guess I should have clarified my plan.

I am going to use the Ford Racing 427W with the Z heads (M-6007-Z427FFT)
with a TKO600 Transmission. IRS, PS, PB (Hydroboost)

-Steve

 

LOVE build threads. Looking forward to watching yours.

 

Fun, huh?

 

I was wondering if I need to add an access panel to the inside of the driver footbox so that I can tighten the header bolts when the engine is in. I have read several threads about people having a lot of trouble with that.

The access panel in the top of the driver footbox was already put there by FFR. I guess since many people added one, they just did it for me. I had expected to need to make that hole myself.

Mike Kelly's Spark Plug Mod was my inspiration to do some clearancing for my 351W to clear some access to rear spark plugs and header bolts. Between that, Jeff Kleiner's throttle pedal bump-out and rlampman's Firewall Forward 4.5" (I only did 3") I did ALOT of cutting, bending (the .090" firewall was a bugger), fitting, swearing, throwing and (finally) grinning when done. Now to figure out if the side panel will be removeable with self-tappers, screws and jack nuts or if it needs to be removeable at all. Need to drop the engine in, I guess.:001_tongue:

 

That access hole is actually to be able to get to the top of the pedals and the MCs of you use the FFR/Wilwood adjustable dual MC setup. Your headers and spark plugs will be below that about 5 inches down the vertical panel. I am surprised at your passenger side "F" panel. It looks to have the long hole for the rad hose tube to go through like my old MkII. I didn't think that was needed w/ the FFR radiator. BTW, I agree on the temp and the paint. Even if you get the shop up to 60 deg, those parts are probably well below that. Maybe you could take them home to warm to home temp and then bring them back to the shop to do the actual painting.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement guys.

The passenger F-Panel does have a block off plate that covers the large hole. I have not attempted to fit that yet. I also would think they would provide one without the hole with the complete kit. No problem though, I just need to get out the cover plate and fit it. I plan on powdercoating those panels black, so just getting them fitted and the holes drilled for now. I can bring the parts inside to warm them, but I think I will just wait a few weeks until it is not so cold. It is supposed to be -5F again tomorrow...
I will post more pictures when I get more done.

 

I have had a few productive days. Today was the most productive, as I had my rare day off work. Since my last post, I have finished the fitting and drilling of both footboxes and the firewall. I painted the rotors and spindles. (In the basement due to the cold we are having in Ohio) I removed all of the aluminum panels, so it is ready for the powder coat company.

I installed the IRS center section, which was a chore to do by myself. You have to get it at just the right angle to go up and turning it, finally into its resting place. That thing gets heavy after a few minutes! I was eventually able to get it in place with a bolt holding it

The rear control arms were also difficult. The frame mounts for them are very tight. Eventually, I got everything in, except the "Quadshocks" I do not seem to have them on my inventory list. Maybe I should contact FFR about it.

A very productive day today, though I was hoping to get more done than I did.

Pictures to prove my progress below.













-Steve

 

The rear control arms were also difficult. The frame mounts for them are very tight. Eventually, I got everything in, except the "Quadshocks" I do not seem to have them on my inventory list. Maybe I should contact FFR about it.

-Steve

I don't think quad-shocks are provided or required. (they weren't included with my kit in 2011).
Did you use the install the "Fortes IRS aluminum mounts"?
They are highly recommended to prevent pumpkin movement (reduce rear-end hop) and negate the use of the quad-shocks. Also reduces the chance of breaking the rear pumpkin mounts.

 

More Progress

Since my last post, I have accomplished a number of things.
The hubs and brake parts were painted to match. I did not want to put bare metal parts on that would quickly rust and show through the wheels. I painted (with brake paint) the rotors and calipers black, and the hubs silver, as well as the rear knuckles silver.



I was not 100% happy with the gap between the rear knuckles and the lower control arm, so I made a proper width spacer out of a 3/8" washer, with a larger hole drilled and reamed to accept the 1/2" bolt. I still need to torque that down, but my arms were tired after finishing the front suspension, as noted below.

I installed the upper ball joints in the front upper control arms. What a chore that was! The first one went in without a lot of difficulty, but the second one was difficult when it got down to about 3/16" from seating. After about an hour of loosening slightly then tightening slightly more, I got it to seat. Discussions about loosening ball joints on the forum compelled me to not only loctite the ball joints, but also tack weld them. I did not like doing that, but do not want them loosening up. Although I cannot immagine the second one loosening, unless it was hit by a truck.

After that workout, I was able to install the front upper and lower control arms, and the coil overs. The front spindles were next and they went on without difficulty until I tried to torque them down to spec. The lower ball joint was just spinning with every turn of the torque wrench. I went to the forum and someone suggested beveling the lower part of the spacer for clearance. I did that with the dremel and then it worked fine. Torqued the upper and lower ball joints to the spindle and cotter pins in place.





I attempted to install the front hubs, but they would not go, because the shaft is actually bigger than the size of the inside of the bearings.

A good productive day anyway. I wish I had more of these!


-Steve

 

Another Food Day!

Time to catch up on the build thread again

I enlisted the assistance of by brother to help last weekend. I wanted his opinion on the front hubs before I did anything else with them. Looking at it, he thinks I can either sand the spindle slightly, or put the bearing race in the oven, heat it to maybe 300 degrees and slip it on. I am still hesitant to do either of those, but always welcome good company. I did torque the front upper control arms to spec, after adjusting them to get them closer to the desired length. At some point, I will just have to commit to a plan to install the hubs... maybe I can do that next Wednesday when I have a day off work. Anyway, here is a picture of the driver side front.



I am having some issues with the power rack, but Mark Reynolds is helping me with that. Notice it is unadjusted, and I am still waiting on the rack extenders from FFR anyway.

With my brother's assistance, I set the rear axle width, put in all of the appropriate spacers, and torqued down the rear control arms. We also torqued the rear axle bolts to spec, after I made a brace to hold counter pressure on it from a piece of angle iron.



After my brother left, I installed the rear brakes (after painting the bare steel brake brackets).



Today, I cleaned all of the engine bay aluminum panels, as well as the hood hinges, trunk hinges, and the emergency brake parts that were bare steel. I plan to take them to the powder coat place on Wednesday.



I also cut the hole in the radiator fan shroud (from Breeze), so it will be powdercoated also, to match the rest of the panels. (gloss black)



I drilled the holes in the shroud for rivnuts. After its powdercoated, the rivnuts will go there.

I also painted the bare steel parts, and installed the required items of the Wilwood footbox so that I can send it to Mike Forte to adjust it for the hydroboost. That will go in the mail on Wednesday, again when I have a day off.

I have one week day off every two weeks, and I work usually 50-60 hours per week, so I have to take advantage of those rare days.

Things are coming together very nicely. I have only had a few problems so far, and usually they are related to my lack of physical prowess. I do wish that I had more time to work on the car, and that the winter was not so bad this year. At 5 weeks in, I think I am doing fairly well however. If I run out of things while waiting on the powdercoating and the brake and steering items, I could always clean up all the empty boxes and packing material in the shop.

More updates as I can.

Steve

LOL epic fail on the title... oh well cannot change it now.

 

More progress today

After finishing cleaning the engine bay aluminum panels yesterday, I had the pedal box ready to mail to Mike Forte for the hydroboost. I kept walking by it today, and was really not happy with the way my paint turned out. There were a couple of runs, and some fingerprints where I touched it too soon after painting. Finally, I just decided to remove the parts and sand it down to redo it. When I painted it this time, it started to look better, then suddenly was covered with orange peel. After several hours, I again tried to sand it, and that was not working, so I just cleaned the parts off with Acetone.



I will keep them and the paint in the house until tomorrow. Maybe it was the temperature of the parts and the paint. It has been much warmer, in the mid 40s this week, so I really did not think it would be a problem. If I have the same trouble tomorrow, then I will just clean them bare and send it. I can always disassemble it and paint the parts when I get them back.

Next, I filled the IRS Center section with gear oil. It already had the friction modifier in the oil, so I did not add more. I left the drip pan under the center section just in case there are any leaks. It was dry for about 4 hours after, so probably nothing to worry about. I need to decide what to do with the vent for the IRS Center section.

Next on the list was install the gas tank. This was not too difficult, the gas tank is not heavy, but it is awkward to install by yourself. The mounting bolt on the passenger side should have been at least an inch longer to make this job easier.



I started to install the fuel filter, but have not yet found a good spot for it. It is difficult to tell where I will be able to access it after the body is on. It does not fit where the manual suggests, as it would have the fuel line going from the filter toward the engine about 1/2" from the right rear shock.

Next steps:
1 Paint the pedal box mounting pieces. (for the 3rd time)
2 Mail the pedal box to Mike Forte for the hydroboost installation.
3 Take the engine bay aluminum panels, and many of the various bare steel parts, including hood hinges, trunk hinges, emergency brake handle, etc to the powdercoating place. (Excited about this part!)
4 Get the front hubs installed.
5 Paint the front rotors.
6 Install the front brakes.
7 Install the steering rack extenders and find appropriate sized bellows seals.

So many cool things to do... if ony work did not get in the way.:yes:

Steve

 

Last night, I cut the firewall for the heater/defroster and re-assembled the pedalbox brackets after repainting them again. I assembled the front brake calipers.

Today, I took the engine bay aluminum panels, and a lot of bare steel parts, like the hood hinges, trunk hinges, etc to the powder coat company. Then I mailed the pedalbox to Mike Forte for the hydroboost system.

I can't wait to see the panels completed! He said it would be 10-14 days for those.

Steve

 

Steve, if you are planning on putting sound-deadening material (dynamat, etc.) on the inside of the firewall, now is the time to do it. How do I know this? Just one more thing I did not plan ahead for.

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I had not considered that yet.

Steve


Sent from AutoGuide.com App

 

I was frustrated with the lack of forward progress on the front hubs, as the ones that I received from FFR were too tight (by my measurements), and I did not want to try to force them on. I figured I would get them on part of the way, and not be able to remove them or get them the rest of the way on. After considering my options for a few weeks, I went with the front hubs from breeze:

Breeze Automotive Factory Five Racing

These went on by hand, just slip right on there, as they are designed to do. No need for any hammers or sanding of the spindle. GREAT Product!

I still did not want to install them as bare steel, so I painted them (with brake paint)



I masked off the front rotors and brought them in the house to warm up enough for paint tomorrow.

I realized today that my fuel lines will need to be larger, so I will remove the fuel pick up and re-work the fuel filter when I get it figured out further.

Steve

 

A Good Weekend

This week, I painted the front rotors with brake paint.



Installed the newly painted front hubs and torqued them down.



Installed the front Brake calipers.



Then I installed the power steering rack with offset bushings. The instructions call for grinding clearance in the frame for the rack, so I reluctantly did that. After I was finished, I painted the now bare metal on the frame, centered the rack and torqued it down. I then installed the tierod ends, and made them as close to straight as I can eyeball them.







Next few things:
Replace the fuel pick up with the bigger one from Breeze
Install the trunk dropped battery box that I ordered today
Get the panels back from the powder coat company
Get the pedal box and hydroboost unit

Steve

 

Looks great Steve!

 

Nice work!

 

I was searching for the same information this weekend. The quadshocks do not come with the complete kit and I was stuck because I thought I had lost them for a while.

Here is the information I found after reading MULTIPLE threads. The quadshocks help with wheel hop and making sure that the pumpkin doesn't move in the wrong direction. Gives more support in a torsional fashion. Many have not felt a different with or without. Some say that if you have the poly bushings in your knuckle/spindle, then they really are not needed. I've found multiple posts saying that if you have over 350hp, then you should really look into putting them on.

Needless to say, you can always add them after without much difficulty. The kit providers you with the mounting hardware, just not the shock.

 

Some say that if you have the poly bushings in your knuckle/spindle, then they really are not needed.

yep, I have the poly-bushings installed too.
I haven't noticed any wheel hop, but then I haven't pushed mine that hard yet. (ie: no burnouts)

I haven't heard of or seen anyone install the IRS quad-shocks yet. (maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but haven't seen one)

 

The pumpkin is mounted with the solid aluminum bushings from Forte's. When I called FFR about the quadshocks, they suggested trying the car first, then if I have wheel hop, they can be added. They do not come with the kit. (As previously stated)

Steve




Sent from AutoGuide.com App

 

A Great few days!

While waiting for the powdercoating to be done, I installed the FFMetal sunken battery box. This is a quality item, only took a little adjustment of the mounting support with my grinder and it fit great!



With the lid



As also demonstrated in that picture, I removed the fuel pick up and replaced it with the larger pick up from Breeze that will be perfect for my mechanical fuel pump, and large enough for the size recommendation.

Next, I got my panels and random parts back from the powder coat company.



So it was time to get some experience with the rivnut tool.







Then it was time to install the F-Panels



and firewall



then the passegner footbox




I am so excited about my progress! I am waiting for parts for some of the next things I want to do. Maybe I will fit the trunk aluminum, and cut the hole for the battery box.

Steve

 

Looking great, keep up the good work. Oh and all the stuff Breeze sells is top notch!

Mike

 

Looks Good Steve

 

The project is looking great Steve.
I am so jealous of that beautiful huge shop! I wish I had all that space...

Keep the updates coming

 

Gotta love the all black!