Jul-Aug '14 - Gokarting, body and getting on the road

After the successful first start it was a matter of getting ready for the all-important gokart stage to do an all-around function check of the transmission, clutch, brakes and getting a few warmup and cooldown cycles on it to burp the cooling system. Also to put the seats in and bleed the brakes and clutch one more time. Rena tested out the driving position while working the pedals, while Mikey supervised

I set it down on the floor to roll on its own wheels for the first time and eyeballed a few adjustments to the front alignment to get it fairly close-ish...

Then it was time to roll it out into broad daylight and try to make it go... And there was no-go on the first attempt. Hydraulic clutch needed some adjustments to get it to disengage enough to get the transmission in gear.

After adjusting the throw on the slave cylinder a bit, it was better but not quite perfect. I couldn't get it to go in gear from neutral with the motor running, but found out I could start it while in gear. Probably not the best thing to do but it shifted fine once rolling. My next-door neighbor stopped by to serve as test co-pilot for the maiden voyage. Brave soul! Didn't set anything on fire and he had a shit-eatin' grin after feeling the rush of a 400+hp gokart with untested brakes. They got tested in short order. Ran it out of gas...forgot I only had a little bit in the tank for the first run of the motor.

After a few more adjustments to the clutch throw and more gocarting to break in the clutch a little it started to work great. Then it was just a matter of buttoning up all the remaining loose ends...and I got in such a hurry I didn't take many shots. Attempted to tidy up the wiring behind the dash a little bit, shortening and re-terminating some of the ends and routing the EFI harness. With the glovebox and speakers I really only had one available spot for the computer, behind the dash where it will be a major pain in the keester if it has to be replaced. Not sure how easy it is to remove the dash with the body on in the Mark IV kits. Got the trunk aluminum finished up, including the dropped trunk floor to gain a little more space, courtesy of Russ Thompson and Dave Borden's work. Last step was to close up the driver's footbox, install the bulb seal and foam insulation on the frame tubes and aluminum panels where they contact the body, and put the body on.

Had a couple of friends over to help with that operation. During some of the downtime between other projects I already had the tail and front signal lights installed on the body.

And with the body in place I could perform the necessary contortions to install the sideposts for the windshield and the windshield itself, and it suddenly looked like a car!

Then I could start on the hood, doors and trunk, headlights, and other finishing touches. The amp for the stereo system went bad, so no sounds other than the glorious V8 symphony for now. Which is just fine, actually. The dropped trunk floor gains me back some of the space I'll lost to the subwoofer on the upper shelf of the trunk.

Put on one of the rollbars and took it down to the alignment shop to get dialed in...still missing a few trim items in this shot. They had three guys working on the rear suspension for quite a while since it's such a pain in the keester with the FFR control arms, requiring removal each time to make adjustments. Finally got it dialled in as close as they could to my specs, -1 degree of camber front and back, 1/16" toe in, and as much positive caster as they could get in the front. They ended up only able to get about +4.5 degrees in the front before running out of adjustment room on the rear leg of the front upper control arms. It'll do for now.

I was a little nervous about the 4" filter, but it cleared the hood scoop just fine once it was adjusted and in place. Wouldn't have cleared with a 351 block.

Had to take 'er down for my traditional shot in front of the Vietnam memorial at nearby Freeman Park. Here's a shot of the last project in almost the same location... LINK. Earlier this weekend I took it down to the state police inspector to apply for a title, and also got a temporary tag so I could drive around.

And a rear quarter view. FFR did a great job on the Mark IV bodies, getting rid of the peak in the trunk, and most of the 'perky butt' to get closer to the original body lines. It looks much better from just about all angles, though I was soon to find out the peak in the trunk served a purpose - it allowed a normal fit for a U.S. standard-sized license plate to fit between the light and the trunk handle in the back. The Mark IV design requires some modification either of the light, the license plate itself, or both. I just made a few trims to the license plate even though that's probably not kosher. I don't think they have any European sized-plates available.

Compared with the same angle on my MkII rebuild of FFR-3144, you can see the more pronounced upswing of the rear renders and trunk compared with the newer MkIV design. That also makes much more of the gas tank visible. Not a big deal but I'm quickly getting used to the new shape and the old one is starting to look strange to me.

Then on the way home I discovered another electrical gremlin that was draining my battery rapidly. Took a tow home, some research, and head-scratching before I figured out what it was...I had never tightened down the 100-amp fuse terminals I have on the alternator charging circuit - it was making intermittent contact and so not charging.

Then another gremlin reared its ugly head and I got stranded in this neighborhood for a while. The TFI modules used in the ignition system are notorious for causing intermittent problems when not installed properly with the right heat-sink grease. They are also prone to failure, particularly with any of the non-Ford parts store brands. Most MassFlo or Ford EFI users keep a spare in the trunk, as I'll be doing. It was fairly entertaining since it was right in front of a daycare and most of the kids were over at the fence gawking and asking what it was.

After it cooled off a while it fired right back up and I was able to run to a nearby friend's house and get a replacement module installed.

Here's Rena taking it for a quick run around the neighborhood. Still have a few kinks to work out - going to have to drop the transmission to fix the notorious Tremec leak. I tried once before but should have used something beefier than the anaerobic sealer they specify. All things considered it would have been simpler to just go for a strengthened T-5. Still getting an intermittent cut-out from the ignition system - probably TFI or stator, but it's very rare now and starts back up almost immediately.

And that pretty much wraps up this project for now. Carpet and paint will have to wait a while. Mikey finally got to go for a ride (several now actually). He's not able to jump over the doors any more, but with a pillow stuffed in between the seats between them and the transmission tunnel he seems to be pretty comfortable riding around in it. Still likes to look cool and we even got him some matching Doggles. Stopped by the wifey's work at the pharmacy drivethru for a visit - a little deja-vu from my first build, just over 10 years ago!.

Might have to rig up a go-pro to do some Teton Pass runs and/or hit the last few autocrosses of the season. Might have to add some sway bars in the Spring.