Mar. '04 - Fuel, Cockpit, and Wiring

3/03/04

I got my new mufflers today...right above the passenger sidepipe as shipped from FFR. They supply the sidepipes with fiberglass-pack mufflers, which sound like ass (literally), so I ordered a pair of Lobak spiral baffle mufflers. No packing to wear or blow out, and a mellower sound, at least until you drop the hammer. Not that I'd ever do that. Really.

The stock Roadster kit comes with sidepipes and 'J' pipes to connect to the stock Mustang headers, which are mounted reversed with the opening facing forward, not backward. The 4-into-4 exhaust headers in the pic are an option. 1 3/4" primaries.

Looking down the Lobak...it looks pretty restrictive, but dyno sheets from those who've installed them show a decent gain in power.

3/07/04

Well, on Friday I decided to check for header clearance...I knew it was going to be a close call with the 4-into-4 headers. The 351 headers FFR provided stick out just a bit too far. I already had to cut one of the stock aluminum panels in half to install the modified stuff, and I wanted to keep the extra room, so rather than try to go back to the stock configuration, I got out the BFG and BFP and persuaded the footbox over where the #4 primary tube runs past. The rivets along the vertical edge popped, but I just folded the metal around, pressed it down as much as I could and re-drilled and re-riveted from the inside.

It ain't pretty, but it'll get covered with a sheet of aluminized heat reflecting material on the outside and carpet on the inside anyway.

Now that I rounded up some pressure plate bolts, I could start on the clutch, bellhousing and tranny. King Cobra clutch - appropriate, doncha think?

I got the bellhousing on like so...no problem. See the gray piece with the slots at the top of this picture? That's where the tranny mount goes. All the FFR builders who say they installed the tranny from underneath the car one one of these Mark II frames are on crack. I spent a few hours on Saturday bench-pressing the transmission this way and that trying to wiggle the thing up into position. Maybe they had motor mounts that had the engine resting further forward than I did, but that thing was NOT going in that way.

I jammed the truck back over to the rental place, got the cherry picker again, yanked the motor, and bolted the tranny up to the bellhousing...all the time the four little bolts on the intake manifold would hold the weight. They did. Silly me.

I pulled the distributor so it would get bent on the arm of the lift as the engine tilted back. Rena wasn't studying today since she had her pharmacy school interview yesterday and needed to 'decompress' a little, so she was out helping me. Nice day out, but still pretty chilly.

She enjoys handling the shaft...can't you tell?

With Rena tilting the tranny down as I moved the lift back and down, the tranny slipped right into place...too easy.

Give the thirsty T-5Z a little fluid...

With the cute little driveshaft in place...

Hook up the clutch cable to the quadrant, and I now have two out of three functioning pedals. Just need to get the throttle hooked up!

Got a bit more of the fuel line together and ran today...ran from the pump at the rear of the passenger-side frame rail, along the rail to the front of the driver's footbox, and up to the regulator.

I was planning to install the regulator further to the left, but I realized once the body is on it'd be a royal pain to adjust without climbing into the engine compartment, so I mounted it in the middle and adjusted the line thusly. I think I'll need to get a 90-degree AN fitting rather than use a straight fitting on the regulator outline to run the line up to the carb. A straight fitting would run the line too close to the headers.

Note the bent sheet metal of the footbox. More on that on the drivetrain page.

3/20/04

Started laying out the dash. There were a few useful diagrams on FFCobra, but only some of the measurements were useful since I'm using the larger guages....Autometer Pro-Comp style.

I picked up a Dremel tool with a hole-cutting attachment and clamped the dash down on some old plywood. If you opt to do the cutting this way, you WILL need earplugs...it lets out an ear-piercing shriek as it rips into the aluminum. Not the smoothest cuts either, but it won't matter once the vinyl covering is in place.

And with the job finished, leaning against the many wire bundles. PS2 steering wheel at the top (haven't played Gran Turismo in quite a while!)

And assembled....I won't put the black vinyl padding on the dash until I'm waiting around for the body shop to finish the paint.

Guages, left to right: Water temp, oil pressure, tach, voltmeter, oil temp, fuel level, speedo.

Switches/lights left side: hi-low beam switch, hi-beam indicator, headlight switch (not installed in this shot) and turn switch toggle (not installed).

Switches/lights right side: hazard lights, ignition switch, interior lights, horn button.

Emergency brake is all hooked up. The stock FFR kit uses the Mustang handle mounted on the passenger side of the tranny tunnel - no good if you're belted in the car. Then I got a Fiero E-brake handle that most builders mount on the left side of the driver's seat, but didn't want to fab up a bracket to put it there. In the end I picked up the Lokar Ebrake handle from Summit. A bit overpriced at $80, but it didn't require fabbing up extra brackets or cables.

The stock Mustang cables work fine routed thusly:

Here's the Lokar handle...nice piece, though the boot and trim ring are another $20, but you won't get to see that 'til I'm finishing up the cockpit. I modified the Mustang cable equalizer by cutting the cable slots in further and trimming the sides off the metal to make it narrower. Hooked it up to the clevis on the handle with a length of threaded rod with double nuts at each end. Works like a champ.

It's been a big pain assembling the engine accessories...finding bolts again...buying some nice ARP bolts that don't fit...then just using stock ones. Such fun, running to the hardware store every day or two. Y'all should buy stock in ACE Hardware...they're nickel-and-diming me to death! Oh well.

Anyway, here's where we sit as of tonight. Got the alternator bracket kit in...snazzy arrangement from http://www.replicaparts.com/. I think his kit is designed for a stock 87-93 Mustang alternator...I have a newer 130-amp 3G unit from a 94-95 car, and the clearance with the thermostat housing is very tight. Can't bring it much closer at all without grinding down one or the other, and the rod ends don't have enough threads to extend much more.

I bought a power steering bracket from Ford Racing to put the 5.0 pump on the 351...I was thinking that the bolt holes on the heads needed to line up, but after looking at some of the other aftermarket brackets out there, maybe I'm wrong. Guess we'll find out.

Got my freshly rebuilt Holley 770 cfm Street Avenger on there...picked one up from another FFCobra forum member. Got the Lokar throttle cable and bracket in place...the throttle isn't as smooth as it should be, but I'll check for binding later. All three pedals are now hooked up and ready to run.

And here we have the assembled SPAL fan provided by FFR with their bracket kit mounted to a 79-93 Mustang shroud. It wasn't yet bolted up to the radiator at this point...when I actually did try to attach the shroud I got a bit overzealous with the torque and cracked it. Oops....better raid the local salvage yard again. Radiator is an HD three-row unit from Breeze.

3/21/04

Got the headers and sidepipes on...though the sidepipes will come back off to get ceramic coated once the Lobaks get welded in. The bolts didn't want to go on one at a time...too snug up against the tubes, so I put the gasket on the header and put all the bolts in, then carefully moved the whole assembly into place and threaded them in. Tightening is tricky, especially on the driver's side (see pic). I'm already dreading having to remove them again down the road.

And one of the overall shots:

3/28/04

Got the dash clamped into position on the frame for now. Final assembly won't be for a while yet, after the body is on. I can either use the FFR-supplied screws through the vinyl dash covering, or rig up some brackets to attach to the back of the dash so it looks a little neater.

You can tell in this shot I need to tweak the steering shaft position. I can shift it a little to the right by changing the number of washers in the pillow blocks. More on that later.

First step on the wiring was to get the battery box in place. It's a custom kit from FFMetal.com, another cottage industry outfit that makes nifty upgrades for FFR builders. Factory Five provides a plastic battery box that goes in the trunk for customers who order their 3-link rear suspension option. This way I don't have to give up the trunk space.

I made up some heavy-duty 1-gauge cables for the positive and negative battery cables. Probably overkill, but it's nice to know they're in there. I should have used the same coat-hangar wire trick to mock up my cable routing, though. I just approximated it with the 'eyeball' method, and ended up a bit short. I could still make it work, but the cable was being pulled too tight and too near the driveshaft for comfort, so rather than buy another several feet of 1-guage, I bought a pre-cut and pre-lugged cable and attached it to the end of the positive cable to give me the length I need. The joint won't be visible inside the tranny tunnel. Measure twice, cut once. In my case, it's measure three times, cut once!

Here's the wiring diagram for the main circuitry. Feel free to let me know if anything on this diagram is redundant/wrong/unneeded/unwise.

I already had some nice 4 guage cable and a circuit breaker for the 130-amp 3G alternator I had on my '90 convertible before I sold it. I just trimmed the cable and put new lugs on.