Herman's Factory Five Racing 65' Roadster Build Site

February 2006

2/1/2006 - I received the Sourthern Rods mini-heater today, along with Quality Roadsters passenger and driver side directional vents on Tuesday. I took some pictures of the heater in side the dash to give myself an idea of just how small it is (forgot to take pics of QR's vents but I'll do those when they eventually get installed.) Also took a couple of shots of the FFMetal Battery Box in progress:

2/4/2006 - I had the driveshaft shortened on Friday and it turned out pretty good; South Bay Driveline even installed the supplied U-joints as part of the charge. The shaft was shortened to 11", which allows for 1/2" of play. It'll have some POR15 paint on it or rattle-can paint later on this week.

Today was all about re-working the original fuel pump and fuel filter location with the FFMETAL Battery Box installed. I wasn't 100% sure how it would all turn out and if I would need to refabricate new SS braided lines and buy additional fittings. As luck would have it, the positions I originally chose for the pump and filter worked out much better than I had imagined. With the current arrangement, the filter can still be services as well as the pump, and the huge plus in all this is I only needed to replace just ONE fitting ( -8 AN 45 deg. hose end from tank to pump. I was able to retain the short 4" hose that linked the filter and pump together, and the long line from the pump to the regulator worked out just fine after rellocating the hose clamps. The bulkhead fitting for the return line worked out as expected, using just the small section of steel from the original bracket. So no new hoses needed to be assembled.

I finished the days work with removal of the engine and back onto the cradle. I will be removing the tranny and bellhousing later in the week to begin performing the final cuts to the Lakewood in order to clear the 3/4" engine chassis member near the starter, and to remove the 1.5"area below the frame rails.

2/6/2006 - This evening I had time to completely remove the bellhousing and block plate, and drove over to John's home (spdemon) as he had volunteered his plasma cutter to remove the 1.5" of bellhousing that sit's below the main rails, and about 1/8" more from the starter section that's interfering with the 3/4" square tube in the engine compartment.

It took John only 30-45 minutes or so to cut both pieces, which isn't bad when you consider it wasn't much work for him to cut as opposed to me trying the same thing with a reciprocating saw.

For the starter section, he cut the block plate with the plasma cutter but after we talked a bit about the bellhousing, we agreed to take only 1/8" off instead of 1/4" off (always easeir to remove some more later since you can't "add" more material back. For the bellhousing, he simply used a Makita angle grinder and he even smoothed out all of the slag from the plama cuts he did.

John simply did a professional job IMO. All I need to do now is simply clean and paint the bellhousing and bolt it all back together! Thanks again John!

2/9/2006 - I put the bellhousing and tranny back together yesterday evening after a little bit of a stuggle due to a misaligned clutch. Somone on the forum suggest I simply use a C-Clamp on the clutch fork to loosen the clutch and allow the transmission to slip in. This worked out quite well.

I purchased a pneumatic nibbler from Harbor Freight for only 19.95 and within 30 minutes, I was able to cut-out the battery box access hatch. I was off by about 1/16" at the hatch holes but I can easily fix that (enlarge the holes a bit). Not my best work but with carpeting, you'll never know - hopefully!

2/11/2006 - Today is a limited time day due to guests arriving, however, I found some time late yesterday and early this morning to dig into the details again. I have just finished ordering a set of "harsh environment" toggle switches from McMaster-Carr after mulling over the type of switches I wanted, probably since November when the kit arrived. In the end, the plain old bat-style toggle switch won out but I still wanted something a bit different for the bat-style handles. I discovered come dust/moisture resistant silicone covers for the toggle switches in their "Accessory" area. They had several types and I decided on using the complete hood with "armor". There was no actual picture, just a drawing but I believe these will match up well with the aluminum bezels of the Autometer gauges; hope to have pictures sometime next week of these armor covers.

The next phase of the dash was switch placement. This has been a work in progress for longer than before the kit arrived, looking at everyone elses dashboards for ideas; in my opinion, this is the 2nd most important area to concentrate my personal preferences on. That started with the style of gauges I chose ( Autometer Ultra-lites. ) This set the tone for how the rest of the dash would be laid out. I went with the 427 SC layout but I made a few changes in terms of switch and indicator positions; in the end, I arrived at what you see in the picture. The only hole not cut yet are the 2 indicator lamps (LED's) and the push-button horn switch. You may ask, "where's the ignition key?" There isn't one. I have hemmed and haw'd over this decision for over a year (on and off) and it wasn't unitl I ordered the switches that I decided NOT to use an ignition switch. I'll post my thought on why at a later date but the short answer: it just seemed right.

The next issue is the heater. The Souther Rod's min-heater has a 1/2" hose adapter soldered onto the 3/8" tubing that winds through the core. I've decided to not use braided lines for this part of the build. The main issue here is the water shut-off (ball style) that I will incorporate for those times when I don't want heat. This entails using a normal hose, not a braided one. I will still use a few of the Russells or Earls fittings at the pump and manifold, and for the inlet/outlet but in order to run the heater inlet/oulet with AN fittings, I will have to remove the current hose copper hose adapters and sweat on some adapters for the NPT type adapters to mount onto before I can use NPT-AN adapters.

I dismantled the Souther Rods mini-heater and removed just the core; it's a very simply mechanism when you look at it. No magic here.

2/14/2006 - Happy Valentine's Day! Gave chocolates to my favorite girls today (wife and 2 daughters) which served as a nice diversion while I stole away in the garage.

With the engine in place, it's now time to tackle the long anticipated electrical wiring. I believe that 60% of this task is purely planning. If planned out correctly and all of the materials have been obtained, it should be a fairly straight forward process. The trick here is to think in terms of the I-Squared electrical system as opposed to the conventional fuse box. I spent a considerable amount of time today just drawing out the 3 sections of wiring: front body and engine compartment, rear-body and trunk compartment, and the dashboard/firewall. The picture I ended up with isn't good enough to post but it does help the thought process.

The initial wiring started with the engine since it's not going anywhere at this point of the build. So far, I've only run the wires to the crimp terminals at the following units: oil temperature sender (oil pan), oil pressure sender (next to the oil filter), water temperature sender (intake manifold), radiator fan thermostat switch (thermostat housing), electric choke (on carb), and 2 wires from the hydraulic brake switch.

*EDIT 7/6/2006* I've kept this photo of the old motor, mostly to point out the various sensors. I now have a new CHP 347 Stroker motor installed. Wiring though, is still relevant despite the motor swap.

My original thought on this build was to try and hide all the wiring but the more I thought about it, the harder it seemed to do with the limited space; the MSD is the big challenge since I have a mini-heater along the firewall. Since the wiper motor is going to be exposed somewhat, I will probably ut the MSD in the engine compartment over the passenger footwell. Direct heat is not a factor here so I think I'm good to go mounting it there. I will still try to cover up as much wiring as possible but we'll see. That's not my priority for now.

The other issue I'm facing is where to put the 1+1 Power Controller. Part of me would like to put it below the trunk floor with a piece of plexiglass over the top. I would have to come up with some type of ventilation ( rear facing holes with a mesh overf it, and some perforation holes in the plexiglass.) Or I could just leave it on top. Haven't really decided yet.

I also bought some LED indicator lamps for the dash (left and right turn signals.) Purchased them at Radio Shack for just a few dollars.Drilled out a couple of holes using a 7/32" drill bit and shaving a little more with the drill bit until the lamps just go in. They are deep enough for when the vinyl cover goes over, there will still be enough threads to secure it (no "hose clamp" work around!)

2/18/2006 - I made some more progress on the dash today. A few things to go over. First, the signal indicator LED's I purchased are the wrong voltage. 2.3v LED's are ok for PCB's but not for the application I slated them for. I went back to Radio Shack and got the 12v versions. I tested them and they are bright enough even in daylight.

Over the past week, I received all of my switches from McMaster-Carr. I also ordered silcone dust covers with metal tips to match the gauge bezels a bit. However, two of the SPDT switches, ON-OFF-ON, had a problem in their "down" positions. With the dust covers on, the toggles will re-center themselves after a few seconds. With the cover's off, they stay in position but in my opnion, they are only "lightly" locked into place as opposed to when the acutator is in the "up" position. I contacted McMaster-Carr and they are shipping me out 2 new toggles. I will return the other units on Monday.

I did mock up the dash again and spent a good 4 hours on wiring up the switches. With the exception of the 2 switches I'm returing, and the LED indicators, the wiring behind the dash is 90% done. The only switches not wires are the external switches on the car ( brake switch and the thermostat switch for the radiator fans.)

If you're interested in how I kept track of the wiring, go to this link to the spreadsheet I used.

In the picture below, I used some split loom to clean up the wiring and protect it from the aluminum mounting brackets as it snakes through the gaunlet of gauges. The overall thickness of both harnesses precluded me from putting everything into one large split-loom. Even with the 3/4" loom that I had, it would not have been enough. As it turned out, two levels worked out fine; the inner level for all the switch wiring and the outer level for all the gauges.

The connectors at the far right are for the temperature sensor for the radiator fan activation, and the brake lamp switch.

2/19/2006 - Another day of progress; aside from 3 loads of laundry as interruptions, and a lunch-time break with the kids, I decided to take a break from the electrical and do an initial fit of the headers; my neighbor dropped by and helped me out this afternoon. This turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had hoped but from what others have said on the fourms, it was to be expected. I discovered I couldn't really use the ARP stud kit I had bought over 2 years ago; the flange nuts are simply too large in diameter. I used the header bolts from FFR for now and torqued the bolts as best we could given the limited space. Afterwards, we mounted the muffler section and I noted that the driver side pipe at the very tip, is 1" further away from the chassis than the passenger side. It was visibly noticable which prompted me to do the measurement. When it comes time to reweld the Lo-backs in place of the muffler, it will give me an opportunity to make a minor correction to get it even with the passenger side. Overall, it was a good day and the car is yet another step closer to being functional.

*EDIT 7/6/2006* I decided to remove some of the header photos, however, I loved this particular shot below and decided to keep it.

2/25/2006 - Saturday I was determined to get something done about placement of the I-Squared Engineering 1+1 Power Controller. Since it will reside in the trunk, it was determined prior to today, that I finish everytying that sits between the fuel tank and the trunk floor since I've decided it will sit on the passenger side of the trunk panel. With that, I had completed the fuel level sender wiring and fuel part of the fuel pump. What's coming into view on the elcectrical part of the build, is that the hardest parts appears to be applying the split loom and anchoring it down. I finally have the technique down but it's still not as simple as it might appear.

At any rate, I completed the ground wires to both units and riveted down the trunk panel (note in the photo, the fuel "breather line" and the fuel filter off to the far right filled with fish tank filter charcoal.).

I mounted the dash again to determine the location of the speedometer cable hole as well as getting the wiring for the brake pressure switch. The dash layout is basically completed; the only things missing are the 2 LED signal indicators just above the steering column, and the heater hose shut-off knob (a standard choke cable.):

Also during the week and through Saturday (but no pictures) I had permenantly mounted the Sourther Rod mini-heater, the MSD 6AL ignition (see the overhead shot of the engine to get an idea of it's final location), the clutch and throttle cables, and the passenger-side aluminum floor panel with Breeze Automotive's seat bracket. It was a weekend with a lot of little detailed progress but still moving progress forward towards the engine fire-up slated for sometime in March.