Dec. '03 - Assembly begins
12/15/03
Pardon the cramped picture...with the garage door shut to block out the subzero wind chill, I can't get the whole frame in the frame. Nice, smooth gray powdercoating. Black is the 'traditional' color for old frames, but I don't like black for the frame. So sue me. Now I just need some suspension bolts and backordered rear control arms, and I can make a roller out of it!
12/17/03
Now that I have a fresh tank of propane for my heater I can start on the first real assembly steps...the front suspension. Didn't get very far on that, though, thanks to a stubborn screw-in balljoint on one of the FFR front A-arms. I'll may have to have it pressed in and tackwelded for security. The threads weren't very deep on the joint or the arm, and they were just stripping out.
Anyway, I just moved on to getting the first of the aluminum panels riveted into place. You can see the full frame in this shot...the body buck is out in the snow outside. Temp is about 5-10 degrees, but my 35,000 BTU forced air heater is keeping the garage reasonably toasty.
The interior body panel installation will get to follow a pretty good rhythm...
Clecko the panel in place using the two or three factory drilled holes
Mark the panels for the remaining holes and drill them into the panel and frame
Remove the panel, clean the holes on the panel and frame
Put down a bead of silicone along the panel where it meets the frame or another panel
Clecko the panel in place in all the holes so the silicone can set, running from the inside to the outer edge
Pull the cleckos one at time from inside to the outer edge of the panel and rivet
So, here's Mikey checking my work as I clecko a panel in place.
Use the clecko pliers to pull out each clecko...
Then pull the rivets...
There...step one done. BTW, the hole in the passenger side panel is where the upper radiator hose will pass through. Hopefully I can put the suspension together tomorrow...
12/20/03
I'm held up on the suspension still, but Mark Webber at Factory Five read about my problem on a post at FFCobra.com and is trying to help me out with the bad balljoint problem. Their shipping person, Kerri, is also getting my rear control arms sent out ASAP, along with my seats.
I put together as much of the front suspension as I could and moved on to getting other parts into position just to stay busy...the build order isn't critical on most of these. Here's the steering wrack bolted in, along with the passenger control arms and coilover shock. The uppers are provided by FFR with the kit, and unless you want to upgrade you just use the Mustang lower control arms. I'm planning to use the power steering at this point, but I may change my mind and go for the Flaming River rack just to keep things nice and neat. I don't like to use the Mustang rag joint, but the nicer steering stuff can wait.
I moved on to wrestling the gas tank and the plastic protector into position, and fasten it in place with the Mustang tank straps. I got a carb fuel pickup from Breeze Automotive - they're an excellent resource for FFR builders.
Not that you can tell, but I'm trying to wrestle a new filler neck seal into the tank...it didn't want to go in straight, but cursing and thumping it few times with a dead blow hammer helped a bit:
Tanked! FFR says they design a three-level crumple zone into their frame that will force the tank down and under if I get rearended. Let's hope I never have to find out.
Next I set the Mustang pedal box into position on the 3/4" rails to mark where to drill...
Temporarily in position with the '84 Jeep master cylinder. This is supposed to be the ideal one to use with the PBR Cobra brakes. The driver's footbox front wall is in place, but not riveted yet. Freakin' rechargeable drill ain't going to cut it on this project!
Tomorrow I'll start putting the rear end together, and assemble it with the Mustang control arms until the FFR ones get here. Stay tuned!
12/27/03
I started on the rear suspension while waiting on my new front control arms. Mark at FFR offered to replace my front control arms, but could only give them to me for half off because I bought them second-hand from someone else, so more delay on the front end.
First step was to bolt up the panhard bar mount, which attaches at three points - at the rear quadshock mounting points, and in a hole drilled into the back of the 4 inch driver's side main rail. The cables hanging down are the axle travel-limiting straps that will attach to the rear shock mounting points on the axle.
Here's a closeup shot of the driver's side coilover/traction bracket. It pushes the rear control arm mounting point down about two inches for better traction, I would assume.
And on the passenger side, it also includes the axle mount for the panhard bar. You'll note my nice clean POR15 paint job rubbed right off the axle tube. I'll just spray over it with some rust converter and gloss black. I guess the POR is only tough if you don't beat on it.
And here is the 3rd link bracket, which now has enough clearance for the axle breather (barely). They recommend welding this to the axle tube for any hard-core racing use. It attaches to the moose-nuts mounting point at the front of the pumpkin.
The spacers for the coilovers that FFR supplies are not very good quality...I'm either going to have to file or mill them down a bit to clear, or force the brackets open a little wider. That's it for now.
12/30/03
My pal Ken came over during the holidays, and was kind enough to help with some of the build. Mikey kept a close watch while he riveted the firewall aluminum into place.
We got the rear end just about finished...at least now you can see enough of it to see how the 3-link rearend goes together. First a view from the left, then right, then an overhead shot. Basically, by getting rid of the two upper links from the stock Ford Mustang suspension, and replacing it with the single upper link and horizontal panhard bar, you get rid of some of the biggest flaws that gave the 79-04 Mustangs such crappy handling at the limit.
