Mar '14 - Wiring, Cockpit

March 9

Way late on the updates this month...damn day jobs getting in the way of important stuff an' all. Anyway, got the main cables properly mounted along the frame and grounded. Had to wait on the main cable until a frame mod was made to accomodate the mid-shifter on the TKO transmission I picked up from a cool Aussie-Jerseyite on Long Island.

A good friend of mine and fellow FFR-builder (and brilliant mechanical engineer) stopped by to help with getting a tranny tunnel 3/4" cross tube relocated. Moving it back about a little over an inch should do the trick nicely. I shoulda learned to weld.

Got the brake/clutch master cylinder reservoirs in place...the quick bracket I cut out of some spare sheet aluminum turned out to be entirely too flexible, but adding a second layer of sheet metal stiffened it right up. A lot of builders have had problems with seepage through the welds on the sharp-looking CNC reservoirs, but I have the newer model with a sealer coat on the inside, so it should be all good. Just need to pick up some fittings and lines to hook them up to the master cylinders on the Wilwood pedal box.

I ditched the FFR heater/defroster unit for a generic one from summit that I can mount on top of the passenger footbox, as I did on the rebuild of FFR-3144. By just running the ducts into the dash area I keep enough room for a proper glovebox.

With those holes in place I could rivet the FFMetal firewall in place...modified from the stock design with thicker aluminum and relocated to provide more room behind the dash, which will come in handy.

Also got the steering shaft hooked up...the MkIV design moves the steering shaft out about an inch and a half to help make room to stuff the wide modular motors in the engine bay, not that I needed it.

March 23

Got the fuel lines in and mounted up to the fuel pressure regulator, and the starter solenoid, starter power cables and alternator charge circuit in place, I was ready to start on the main harness...

March 28

Using the Ron Francis harness designed for the FFR cars, there's much less work to wiring one of these cars, so I'll save time, but customizing a universal harness was actually a part I enjoyed on the past projects. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be adding some bells and whistles. Got the fusebox and main harness section in place, but realized I needed to wait until I get the brake, clutch, and throttle pedals hooked up before trying to snake the harness through where it needs to go, or I'll end up redoing it later.

Then I was ready to start mocking up the dash, and realized FFR sent me the dash for a MkI or II kit...the steering wheel hole is in the wrong location. Not hard to work around, but I won't need to, they're sending out the right one. Should arrive right when my custom Speedhut gauges get here - I decided not to use the stock Autometers provided with the kit this time.

And I most of the rear cockpit panels riveted into place...gotta wait on the last one until the front truck panel is in and riveted (found out the hard way on that last time). That brought us up to the last weekend of March...still waiting on the rotating assembly for the motor to arrive...at this rate I'll have the car ready and waiting on the motor before I can try to fire it up the first time and take it out for some go-carting.