Herman's Factory Five Racing 65' Roadster Build Site

September 2006

9/5/2006 - Over the past Labor Day weekend, I made a disturbing discovery. Nothing that will stop me from getting the body on the 9th, but I'm glad I caught it. While working under the car (putting in some stops for the steering rack) I noticed moisture on the back of my hand. It was on the driver side brake line. I thought perhaps during the bleeding a couple of months ago, it had spilled on. I wiped it off with Brake-Kleen but was now suspcious. As I feared, the next morning, it was moist again. I reviewed the torque settings for the banjo bolt side because it was wet from the caliper down to the "U" loop but dry on the bulkhead side. So I whipped out the torque wrench and torqued both sides. The passenger hit 25 ft-lbs. without any issue and wasn't leaking anyway. But the driver side just kept spinning ; now it was "dripping" fluid at a regular rate. :(

On Sunday, I bought a new PBR caliper and noted the thread pitch was just like the previous caliper. Now a little background is in order. This was a problem initially found on BOTH calipers. I called Max at 5 Star asking for the right banjo bolts. And he sent: coarse threaded banjo bolts (actual measurments were M10x1.5). He said this was the bolts specified for the "2000 Mustang Calipers". I really didn't believe him but decided to try. Well, both went in and both went in tight. I wasn't sure at that point if I had cross threaded it or if it was like this on purpose. Well, I think I answered the question. I took a bleeder which is a M10x1.0 and it fit's in pefectly without any problem. My gut was correct and this will be a $60 lesson on questioning even the most seasoned parts person.

So the PBR is on, and the correct M10x1.0 banjo bolt is on order. I should get it by Wed. and be back on the road by Thursday at the latest. While I was at it, I ordered M10x1.0-35mm Speed Bleeders (the 30mm were just 5mm too short.) I'll be able to bleed both sides pretty well at that point.

I also confirmed with both John Rymer (spdeamon) and Ken Pike at Street Rod Painter that this coming Saturday will be the day he mounts the newly painted body. Stay tuned for a lot of pics.

9/14/2006 - Well, the reason for the big gap in time is due to a dead PC. On Friday morning ( 9/8 ) the PC died and never came back. When I got home from work, I did a little bit of work on it but I decided it was more important to get the FFR ready for Saturday. I gathered everything I could think of that might be used for the body fitting: aluminum panels, rivets, bulb seals, windshield, some tools of my own, a drill and drill bits, wrenches, etc. I then tried to sleep around 11:30PM. Funny thing, all night long I forced my eyes closed! Some sleep that was. I woke up at 4:30AM Saturday just ahead of the alarm. I swear to you, I've never felt this excited in a very long time; a lot like a kid on Christmas morning!

At 5:10AM, John showed up with his uber-cool trailer. This guy doesn't mess around. He had an electric winch to haul my car into his cab, saving me from starting the car up and pissing off a bunch of neighbors. The trailer is self-leveling, anti-sway control, and electric brakes over dual axles. Ramp unfolds to a low profile, perfect for our cars. Lot's of room to store boxes. Trailer sported lights for illumination, a of course strap and loops to firmly strapdown the car. Simply a great trailer. We left around 5:30-5:40AM and arrived at Ken's 3 hours later. This included a gas stop and breakfast! Much better than my first ride of 3.5 hours non-stop. John could get this thing up to 70mph at times instead of our slow and steady 55mph with a U-Haul open tailer. (We got home in 2.5 hours with only one gas stop!)

Greeting me at the entrance to Ken's was Ken himself along with my newly painted body. It looked like a saphire jewel. I could not believe how well this came out. We shook hands, looked over everything, and soon after, we went right to work putting the body on. No drama here except to make sure we don't scratch the paint. Over the course of 6 more hours Ken and his helper (Josh) aligned things, put on the hidden body mounts, allowing for the marine patch "stuff" to cure. It doesn't take a lot of time to cure to nearly rock hard but it still takes at least 15 minutes. The doors were probably the hardest things to align but it got done. I helped a little with the windshield bolt, and some of the mundane things like "hold the body like that for a few minutes". :) The only electrical I could install were the headlamps.

During most of the day, I talked to various people that dropped off their FFR's or jus dropping in to take a look at Ken's shop or asking for quotes; normal business stuff. I met one older couple (Dennis and his wife) that dropped off an FFR he started on but just could not finish; Ken will be finishing this car but it'll be a lot of work. Only the suspension, engine, rear end and wheels were installed. Ken will have to rivet in every alum. panel, and do everything else from a roller on up. Engine was only in the short block stage. That too will nee to be built up a bit. All of the parts were still in boxes.

Another gentleman from San Francisco had an already bulit FFR with a Novi super charger shipped directly to Kens. Saturday was his "first" look at the car up close. He was set on painting this new car a Lexus Spectra Blue Metallic like Wayne Presley's car but when he saw Ken's version of the Daytona Metallic Blue (Nissan 350Z) on my car, he may be reconsidering the color.

Me and John scanned a lot of cars in the shop; including mine, I think I counted at least 12 "Cobra" bodies in various states and a GTM. Mine and 2 others were the only ones completed with paint. It was interesting looking at some of the others. Next to the paint booth was one with HUGE rear fenders. John's thought was it reminded him of a grasshopper with it's rear legs in the 'launch' position. This paticular car sports a 1100HP supercharged motor according to Ken. It does has 335/17 or 335/18 tires out back. The large start button reads: "ROCK ME". :)

The day concluded at 2:30PM. I paid Ken and shook his hands one more time, thanking him over again on the wonderful paintjob. I know I say I didn't build this car to be a show car, but the way this thing looks, it begs to be shown off. Ken, if you're reading, this car will be a huge moving advertisement for you!

By the end of the day ( 5:10PM) I had this sitting in my driveway. Talk about having a WIDE smile. I just could not get over the fact that I NOW own a beautiful car, built with my own two hands, and knowing there's not many in my area (there's one E-M in progress a few blocks away.)

So you may be wondering why no side pipe? Well, the header is a 302 header that was bought AFTER the initial body fitting back in April, when I had the 351 headers. The 351 headers sat too low but now the 302 sits 1/2" too high and 1/4-1/2" too far forward, as seen in the photo. However, the passenger side is dead perfect! Thanks Hooker! :(

The follwing Sunday, I installed all of the illumnation and tested. Everything works as expected. The only thing not hooked up is the license plate illumination. This will be a special routing from near the backup lamp area inside the trunk, up to the trunklid via a jamb-tac. This allows for short run as the wire is tapped from the parking light wire that runs across from the passenger side park lamp to the driver side park lamp, rather than route a line all the way back into the front trunk area, up to the hinge area and to the license plate illumination. Should get that taken care of sometime in the next week or two.

9/25/2006 - Over the past 2 weeks I've spent some time on some detail work while waiting for the driver side header to arrive (should be tomorrow). I have installed the Finishline Accessories "wind wings", and the FFR supplied center rear-view mirror. I also managed to finish the under door aluminum and carpeting that goes over it. The driver side was the first side and the fit wasn't all that great. I didn't position the aluminum as well as I probably should have. The trim strip that goes over it after carpeting is splayed out a bit on the forward section so I needed to trim off one side for about 4" . The passenger side worked out better after having seen what I did wrong on the driver side. No problems with the trim here.

Under the door aluminum on the passenger side, is where I ran the wiring harness from the I-Squared system, through a couple of slim wire channels normally used for network wiring along interior walls or kickboards. . I left the carpet "drooped" over it instead of gluing it on because if I ever need to access it, I'll have an easier time. I may use velcro here but the space between the sport seats and this area is so narrow, you would probably never see the carpet flapping loose down there.

Hope to have more progress on the headers tomorrow!

9/27/2006 - Well, yesterday I received the new set of headers (I only needed the driver side) but after putting on the header, it was obvious this was not going to work! I've repackaged the new headers and will send them back. At this point, I've put out a call to FFCobra.com members and everyone has been more than eager to help me through. Every suggestion has been appreciated, even if some were redundant or obvious. Hey, they don't know me from Jack so I expect to get every bit of info from the trivial to the complicated. It's all good and again, much appreciated.

At this point, my first option is to modify the current motor mounts. I figured if I could make the mounts "narrower", the engine should sit lower. To accomplish this, I will elongate the holes that come in contact with the engine block itself. I'll try for about 1/4" and perhaps on both sides for better adjustability. Then with all bolts loose, I'll nestle the engine back in and massage both sides until I'm sure I can get a good fit.

Plan B: If Plan A fails, I'll try either solid motor mounts or Mustang Convertible motor mounts. Both are reportedly not as tall than the Energy Suspension poly mounts. The only thing that get's me is, it shouldn't come to this; after all, FFR sells the poly mounts as well! I'm praying Plan A works out better. I did post a few pics of the recent situation. Note on the second photo, I removed the nut/washer after the picutre was taken; I have at least as much clearance as the nub, if not more.

9/28/2006 - Tonight I decided to tackle the motor mounts. I elongated the holes by 1/4" to allow them to move inwards. This allowed the engine as a whole to drop ever so slightly, however, it gave me precious room to massage (rock) the motor such that the driver side exhaust finally cleared the cutout in the verticle direction. However, the forward interference still exits. I took my die grinder and proceed to knock off about 1/16". With this, if I pull the fender out a bit (simulating the splash guard), I get about a 1/16" gap. So we're making progress now. My next step is to elongate the holes on the header; not much; about 1/16" but that should help give it about a 1/8" gap all said and done.

I need to thank everyone on the forum that were all pulling for me with advice and suggestions on how to get this resolved. While the engine is now slightly canted, the main thing is, it fits, if even barely.

9/30/2006 - Yestereday evening, I got home and immediately fired up the air compressor. As mentioned on Thursday, the plan is to elongate the side-pipe holes just a little bit; about 1/16" on average. After this was done, I painted both side pipes. It's an ugly job I did with the aluminum high-temp paint from a rattle can (which is another reason why I didn't paint my own FFR body.) I didn't have time yesterday to do much more except to put the pipes on after they had dried enough to touch and mount them back on. The driver side now "just" misses the body. This tells me that when the splash guards go in, I should have adaquate clearance.

Today, as I close in on the end of my 3rd year since I officially started the project ( October 14th), I resolved the final little bit of this exhaust pipe episode. As Richard Oben and perhaps others have said, putting in the front splash guard will help with exhaust/side-pipe issues more than I would know.... and Richard was right (who are we kidding... of course he's right; he builds these things on a regular basis!!!!). As of this moring, I clecko'd in the driver side splash guard and pictures show what I think will be adaquate clearance. Unfortunately, during the whole process, I managed to chip the paint; fortunately, I was given some touch-up so I'll be detailing that area later on.

On thing I didnt' like from FFR was the use of a small #8 SS sheet metal screw to secure the bottom of the splash guard to the body. I decided to fabricate a couple of simple "L" bracket and secure it using the unused U-nuts and SS bolt that used to act as the side-body mounting hardware. I did this for both sides and I feel it helps secure this area just a bit better; overkill ? Perhaps, but I felt better about it.