Month: August 2019

So I went ahead and installed both seats. I’ll keep these to go ahead and get me through inspection and such, but they will not be around long. They dont match the personality of the car and they dont look good. And I will never like the idea that both shoulder wings are bent at different angles.

I added a sticker I bought a long time ago to the windshield.

Installed my Tangent lights in the oil cooler scoop. I bought the manufacturers prototype set, as it was all he had left when he was going out of business. Remember I installed all LED’s a little while back. Later on, I’ll rewire the blue lamps to come on with the ignition like a set of DRL’s. Now, the blue and white Tangent lights are tied together and are selectable with the headlights on.

And here’s a few shots of how the lights look.

Last, I installed the Mike Everson / ReplicaParts inner radiator scoop liner and a Speedway nomex / honeycomb radiator protection. All went it very well. I may paint the aluminum the same color as my stripes a little later.

Also in the nose section is a set of plastic scoop adapters that mount behind the brake cooling holes. These adapters adapt down to a 3″ round exit. I cut and sanded the scoops to fit…

…and then used some aggressive sealant / adhesive to bond them in place. Used an old F5 Forum trick to hole them in place… a couple of yardsticks and some thread-all with nuts.

Once they were dried and solidly in place, I installed and secured the SCAT hoses feeding the footbox fans. These things will move some serious air… probably more than I need. 🙂

Got to wqork on the pipes. I really cant run it at all right now because I am in the suburbs and the open headers are not terribly friendly. No big deal, went well. Used stainless bolts, washers, lockwashers and nuts with some anti-seize. Pipes look amazingly straight and level. Surprising…

Thanks for staying with me.

Now all the front lights are in and working, time to install the front bumpers. I bought the units from Finishline. Turns out they have a little different mounting method than the ones from F5. The Finishline pieces use a welded in nut, where the F5 piece has a bracket. The difference is you can mount the F5 at an angle, but the Finishlines will not.

The Finishlines use a 3/8-16 thread. I’m also using their front body grommets, which have a 3/4″ hole. So I used McMaster Carr and got some 3/4″od, 1/2″id aluminum tubes with some 3/8id x 1/2″od nylon bushings. Stuck the bushings into the tubes and then the 3/8″ threaded rods fit right in there. Works nice.

This is where some would disagree with what I’ve done. They like the bumpers to angle down and back to match the angle of the nose grill opening. This really does not bother me, and I actually thing they would look add if they were angles that much. Onward..

Finished the upper radiator cover by Breeze today. Here’s a few pics to show how it cleans up a kind of sore area.

Decided to install some lights today. JW Speaker 8700 evo 2 LED headlights and the Factory 5 front and rear parking / turn signal lights with LEDs in em. Yes, they are really that bright.

So now I start into Final Assembly. These are a lot of smaller, more detailed items that may not be very impressive (no “WOW” factor), but it’s all parts that make up the car as a whole. Some of the stuff is outside and visible, some of it is buried deep.

First up, 2 items that make it easier to work on the car and 1 item that must be done now for safety.

I installed the Breeze polished stainless steel hood and trunk prop rods so I can work in those areas without a 2×4 to hold things open. I decided against using the gas struts provided in the kit simply because I don’t like them. Gas struts don’t last long and they are a pain in the ass when they get weak. The classic prop rod doesn’t really get in the way and these from Breeze look really nice.

They are supposed to mount through a steel frame member, and I did that for the hood. But on the trunk, I would have had to drop the fuel tank, and I didn’t really want to. So I used an Adel clamp to hold the end of the rod to the floor and a cotter pin to hold it in place. Otherwise, all installed as Mark from Breeze intended. I did shorten the trunk rod about 4″.

Next up is the fuel cap and filler hose. I really needed to do this as I can smell gas in the garage. This consists of a large Cobra-accurate aluminum fuel filler with a modern click-type sealing cap inside. I did not use the self tapping screws supplied, but instead used oval head stainless screws with washers and stainless nuts on the inside. You’ll see me do this a lot in the upcoming pages. I also replaced the fuel filler pipe gasket where the tube goes into the tank with a Ford Mustang piece. Its a better piece in the long run. Installed a ground strap from the fuel filler to the chassis and good to go!

Last item I started, but needed to take the dog for a walk and do some chores. I got 2 clecoes installed in the Breeze upper radiator panel. This serves to make an otherwise ugly area on top of the radiator look nice and closes off that area when the hood is open. It prevents hot air from circulating back over the top and through the radiator when idling, and also seals off the top of the radiator, keeping the cool air going through instead of over.

Kinda hard to see, but its one of those things. You may not notice it, but you sure would if it wasnt there.

OK, more tomorrow.

Couldnt get this to load with the previous post.

She’s cracklin’!

Friday, 8/16 I get the call. The Boss is definitely ready to come home. Cut the day short at work and drove to Greensboro, NC and met my brother. We had a nice dinner (spicy Thai!) a few good beers and polished the night off with a very good 40 year old single malt.

Next day, we head to Whitby. Turns out, Jeff had a bit of a surprise for me and a select few of the local Factory 5 owners. I met Dave Smith, owner & president of Factory 5 and the #1 F5 Guy.

Then of course, there’s the car. It is freeking gorgeous. Whitby sure does take their time doing the work, but when it’s done, it’s beautiful.

The paint and bodywork is done and beautiful. Lots of compliments from everyone there… even Mr. Smith. 🙂 Roll bars are polished (remember that mess?) Everything opens and closes with a nice click. Heater defrost vent is installed, roll bars are all drilled (they are now just sitting for ease of transport).

I fired it up on open headers and drove it out to the trailer, got her loaded up, paid my bill and headed home.

Made a nice trip home. No issues. Got her home and my good friend was nearby, so she came over and helped offload. We took a great video, but for some reason, cant upload to this blog. Have to work on that.

So anyways, The Boss is home and I’m ready to get started on the final items. Stay tuned, its gonna be a fun fall…

Remember when I was trying to polish these badboys myself? They looked like this:

…and that was after grinding and sanding away for hours on that RH section. I finally gave up and gave em to Whitby’s to polish while they were doing the Boss’s bodywork and paint. Got a picture back today…

How do ya like those? Beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful… just a few days ago, I received and posted this pic of the body after it had been clear coated. The reflections of the shop lights show a surface that’s uneven and although beautiful, it’s not yet quite right enough…

So the next work they do is to wet sand the clear coat to make it perfectly smooth and straight, despite the 3 colors of paint underneath. Once it’s buffed back up… hoo, boy, does she look even better.

Thats it for today. Planning on picking up the BOSS 427 on Saturday, Aug 17. Jeff at Whitby’s says it’ll be ready…