Herman's Factory Five Racing 65' Roadster Build Site

October 2005

10/14/2005: Stop the presses as they used to say; news flash: Herman has just purchased a Factory Five MkIII 65' Roadster. Yes, it is true. The decision to finally jump in and buy what I feel is one of the best kits out there for the money. And with it, an entourage of a dedicated group of individuals at FFCobra.com that have helped me years before today's turning point and will likely be called upon in the coming months.

It was actually Thursday, the day before, that I called Steve Dutton at FFR to discuss the kit after a thread I started a few days earlier, recalling a discussion with my wife and our jobs, and how it brought to light the fact she was expecting me to buy the kit in November THIS year, not next year. Naturally, my response was "yes, of course I was planning on that..." ; the thread made it clear I would be ordering in a month or two.

Well, Steve Dutton actually emailed me to discuss pricing. One thing led to another and the bottom line is, I decided to simply stop stalling and get this deal done with; Thursday's transaction was the downpayment. I cannot discuss the final price but needless to say, FFR did what they could to allow me to buy my dream car with a little less pain.

However, I did not tell my wife on Thursday night that I had just put down the first $1,000 to hold the kit. But on Friday morning, I gathered up the courage and asked: "hey, what is the limit on our credit card?" From there on, my wife was given the details and revealed that she was pretty sure I was planning this day about 2 weeks earlier; can't beat woman's intuition! She did NOT, I repeat, did NOT frown upon this. It wasn't a matter of "if" but "when". She called the credit card company and we eventually got our credit bumped up enough to cover the entire expense of the roadster! The options I added to the purchase are as follows:

Powder Coating
Pasenger Side Rollbar Assembly
IRS
351 Header Assembly
Blank Dash (yes, they charge for NOT cutting the holes)
Street Performer Seats ( $0 )
Wiper Kit Assembly
Body Cut Outs
Tubular Lower Front Control Arm Assembly
Carburated Wiring Harness (American Autowire 12 ckt.)

The other items such as wind wings, visors, and chrome bumpers will be bought at Finish Line as they are a bit less expensive and can be purchased well after the car has been completed. I'm also planning to add a mini-heater, dropped foot box and fresh air vents. Those will be purchased 'after' some assembly of the kit is under way. Still thining about the dropped trunk, possibly a few other items from other vendors but it's getting late but I needed to let off some excitement from todays transaction!

If all goes well, I may get the kit as early as Friday, November 4th, which incidentally, is my birthday. Needless to say, it would be an excellent birthday present! :)

10/17/2005 - With the kit ordered, my minds been all over the place trying to get a few things in order. The most important has been the garage. I don't have quite the arrangement I was hoping to have since the kit wasn't suppose to be here this early. I've made some minor adjustments, starting with the shed I built 2 years ago. It is a vinyl shed but the shortcomings of the shelves could not longer be ignored. The plastic shelves are only good up to 40 lbs. I tested it and they're right.

For the first 2 years, I utilized it anyway but made the storage less efficient. So this past Sunday, I decided to unload everything and start over. When all is said and done, and trashed the things I truely did not need, and consolidated other boxes, I had more space in between the racks than I ever had before. I was able to now move my 12 Ton press in there, the Lobaks, and there is still room. I will need this to store the 9 expected boxes from FFR when the kit arrives.

In the garage, with the 12 ton press out of the way, I moved my Gorilla rack in it's place such that it creates a little divider between where the kit will live, and the side door of the garage. And with the Gorilla rack now out of the way of the wall, I now have 14' of unobstructed garage to park the chassis.

On another tract, I didn't get permission to move the pantry's to the other side of the garage. The idea was to move the bench over so I could get about 1' more of space between my wife's car and where the pantry's would sit; with my bench in the way, it's over 1' closer to my wife's car ( 37" deep including bench vise, v.s. 22" for the pantry ). But to move the pantry's further away would have been inconvenient. So plan B is to shave off up to at least 6" from the bench. By my estimates, I can remove about 4" from the rear and 2.5" from the front. It's not as good as what I planned but it's a start.

I'm also thinking of the stuff that must be outsourced as soon as possible such as the drive shaft (shortening). Obviouisly the body will be sent to a professional but that may still be a year off. There are a few custom touches to be done on the body and hood so there's no rush as of this time, but it's on my mind nonetheless.

Also, I need to look into all of the finishing pieces that I'm going to need. Starting with Breeze Automotive and working through each vendor, it's clear I have a few hundred dollars (maybe $1,000 ) to go before I'm sure I have everything. The following list-in-progress:

Breeze Automotive:

- Performer Seat mounts
- Left and right T-Bird brake lines
- Front T for brakes
- Front banjo bolts
- Battery wiring kit

Fortes Parts Connection:

- Degas overflow tank
- Bumpsteer tie-end rods
- Off-set steering rack bushings

Cobra Earl:
- Fresh Air vent kit.

Finish Line:

- Chrome Bumpers (4)
- Wind Wings
- Sun Visors

Summit Racing:

- Additional AN fittings for fuel lines
- Tubing and fittings brake lines.
- Flaming River Kill switch w/alternator kill (on trans tunnel.)
- Drive Shaft hoop.

Other:

- Goodyear or BFG tires
- Team III Halibrand wheels.
- Mini-Heater Kit
- Dropped foot box kit.
- Mini-Cooper backup light.
- Rivets (1,000 ?)
- Pneumatic Rivet gun
- Cleckos and clecko tool
- Many many tubes of silicone
- More Loc-tite Blue.
- Bag of 1/8" drill bits or very high quality 1/8" drill bits
- Various sized hole cutting bits for dash
- Possibly pneumatic cut-off wheel.

I know there are still a few things but like many, I think I'll know it when that particular part of an assembly present's itself.

10/18/2005 - I received the Ron Davis Racing radiator today. This is one beautiful piece; the fans have a fitted shroud that has a foam weather strip between the shroud and radiator. The support bracket was also purchased as suggest by Gordon Levy. On the left side are 2 NPT fittings; I'm assuming the lower to be a drain and the upper for possible thermostat sensor for the fans. Thank you Gordon and Ron Davis for a quality piece!

10/21/2005 - I emailed Steve Dutton at Factory Five regarding status of any pickup from Stewart Transport. The email was forwarded to Seth Johnson in charge of shipping. Seth relayed that my kit was picked up on Thursday, 10/20/05. Based on Stewart Transport's estimates of 10-14 days, the kit may arrive sometime from 10/31 - 11/03.

Will be getting a couple of dollys from Home Depot later today as well as doing some fine adjustments to the space in the garage. Specifically, I am removing a half-foot of depth from my workbench. The workbench was originally a 80"x36" door on a frame made of 2"x4". While it was great for woodworking a few years back, it is rather deep for my current use. Making it an 80x30" top will facilitate my wife's Toyota Highlander access when the roadster shares the garage.

By next weekend, 10/29 & 10/30, I should have the body-buck re-built out in the back yard and ready for the body when it arrives. It will remain outside for the winter.

10/26/2005 - This morning, I had time to cut a few items outlined in the FFR MKIII instruction manual. I will say there appears to be more detail in the MKIII manual than the MKII. I ended up removing 1" from the mounting plate of the footbox, and the passenger side tab of the T5:

And UPS just delivered the Halibrand Cobra III wheels today. These are 17" rims with Nitto NT555 Extreme Drag radials, sized 315/35R-17 reares, 245/45R-17 fronts. One rim has a blemish; I'm guessing a dolly was used and dug right past the cardboard. From a distance, it's not too noticable:

10/31/2005 - Forte's package of goodies arrived on Halloween day. Recived a bag of 20 clecko's and clecko plier, Forte's off-set rack bushing, and bump-steer kit:

I did receive some word from Colin last Friday that my kit may still come by the end of the week. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!