Month: February 2017

Big day for the Boss 427 as she starts to get her parts bolted on. Today I installed the rear axle and suspension. I upgraded to spherical bearing, solid rod-end lower control arms for something more solid and adjustable.

(info overload alert) This is a 3 link rear suspension. It uses all solid rod-end connections and a coil-over-shock suspension.  Very adjustable and very solid. The rear axle is from Moser. I’m running a 3.54:1 gear, which will work great with the torque of the 427W and the .62OD TKO600 transmission.

Also managed to get the steering rack installed. This is a brand new power steering rack, which I will need for the large front tires I’ll be running. The centering of the rack came out perfect, no adjustments needed.

Headed out Sunday am to meet the Capital Area Cobra Club for breakfast, then will be back in the garage. Thanks for staying with me for updates.

Spent 2 days fitting and drilling all of the engine compartment aluminum. These parts are all going out for powdercoat. Used all of my clecos, which are spring-loaded pins used to temporarily hold sheetmetal in place.

Also gathered all of the bare steel pieces (hood and trunk hinges, exhaust brackets, etc) and had those ready for the powdercoater, too. The steel will all be gloss black, like the chassis.

More this weekend!

With the help of 2 friends, Chip & Bo, we got the body off today and onto the body buck. The body will live the next few months (at least) on this support while the rest of the roadster is being built.

Next I marked all the aluminum panels where they overlap and where they will be mounted to the frame. Then I removed all the temporary screws and removed the panels. Now I’ve got the bare basic frame. As Bo said, “Like an artist’s empty canvas”.

Tomorrow I start drilling and temporarily reassembling.

Met some new friends  from the Capital Area Cobra Club this morning at Boatyard Grill in Eastport (Annapolis). Lots of good people and a few very nice cars. I was the slowest one to eat because I was talking so much. Lots of experience building cars here. Looking forward to getting to know these folks better.

Here’s a video of 3 of the cars leaving. 2 Cobras and a Daytona, all Factory 5’s. Yes, there were spectators, thats who you hear speaking.

Started putting together the coil-over Koni shocks today. Found I am missing 2 snap rings for the front shocks that are not listed on the inventory. Will get that taken care of. Otherwise, got all 4 shocks assembled with no issues.

First things first… I need to do a complete inventory of everything F5 sent me. There’s 37 pages of stuff that needs to checked and its all packed in 21 boxes. I’m not even touching the car itself yet. So Inventory, inventory, inventory.

Plan right now is to be done inventory by Monday evening when Chip & Bo are coming over to help take the body off and get it mounted on the body buck.

Update 10:30pm Friday night: Inventory complete! No missing or wrong parts. I think tomorrow I’ll separate some parts for powdercoating and maybe assemble the shocks.

Today, the actual Factory Five arrives…. Yeah, I’m excited. And I just about went bouncing through the yard when this rig backed up to my house…

Then he opened the rear doors and there she is… “Boss 427”

With the help of the driver and my friend Chip (Mustang Man Extraordinaire), we got it unloaded and into the garage. We also moved the 20-something boxes of parts into my sunroom.

Just got the call! My car is loaded on the Stewart Transportation truck in Massachusetts and will be delivered Wed, Feb 15 between 11 & 2. I’m taking the day off!