Category: Misc.

So it’s time for ride height and alignment. I’ll give a little overview of how I did it.

First was the steering rack. Back when I installed the rack and steering shaft, I followed the procedure in this post on the Factory 5 Forum by Karlos from a few years ago. So I knew my steering rack and wheel were centered.

Ride height is next. After a little fiasco I had with severely uneven shocks to acquire an even ride height, I figured that we have to adjust the shocks in small amounts and equally to maintain the same spring pressure side-to-side and very close to equal heights. I did as a guru on the Forum suggested and with the suspension hanging, set the collars right down on the springs. I measured the shocks from the top of the spring collar to the top of the threaded tube to make sure they were equal. The fronts and rears were at 2.5″. Even though I used silicone spray on the threads and did my adjustments with the suspension hanging, I still could not turn the collars by hand once the spring started compressing. So I used my Koni shock adjustment spanner that I had previously gotten from Breeze (cheaper than Amazon!). Got the rear frame height set to 5.5″ with 3″ on both shocks and the front crossmember is at 4.25″ at center with 3.25″ on the shocks. Good place to start as I expect it to settle and also to have to adjust after getting the body installed.

Next I wanted to make sure the 8.8 is square in the chassis. This is done with the panhard bar and the Breeze adjustable lower trailing arms. I measured in several places from the axle (not the brakes or tires) to the frame and found that while it was square with the frame, it was sitting about 1″ to the right. I ran strings on jackstands off the rear sidewalls and then measured from string to chassis and confirmed it was over too far. Adjusted the panhard bar and got it solid in the middle. Cool.

Now for the front suspension. Caster & camber, then toe. I used some alignment plates I borrowed from a friend of mine… I had tried the wax paper thing and the tires just tore it up. Didn’t have any large plates around nor any floor tiles. These turn plates worked very well and it was quite easy to turn the wheels back n forth many, many times. I also used the FasTrax Caster / Camber Gauge along with their toe plates.

Setting the caster gets you started, but it will change as you then adjust the camber. I was shooting for +8* caster, -.5* camber for a power system. I mistakenly wasted about 2 hours when I realized I was using the wrong 0* mark on the FasTrax scale and only had 3* caster set in when I was reading 8*. Be sure to use the right scale. So as I set the caster and camber, working back and forth, the adjustment amounts got smaller and smaller until it all came right into place. Beautiful. I did NOT have to cut or modify the upper arm tubes in any way. I had read of so many people that did need to do this that I was expecting to.

I did one wheel, then the other. Went back and forth and double checked several times. She’s good. Time to work on Toe.

First step was to center my steering wheel and strap it down. I ran a ratchet strap to the brake pedal to hold the wheel centered. Using the FasTrax toe plates made it really easy. I clamped a level to one wheel (making sure it was against the wheel lip and not being held out by the tire sidewall… the 17″ers dont have much sidewall bulge) and found the wheels only had about 1/4″ toe in, but by checking with strings, they were pointing out to the right. I brought both tires back to straight, verified by running strings and measuring from string to the frame back by the door latch area. Very small adjustments make a big difference when measured that far away. With the wheels set straight, I was easily able to use 2 tape measures to check the toe. Got her adjusted to 1/8″ toe in… each tire toed in 1/16″ from straight and verified by the 2 tapes across both tires.

Went back and double checked everything… ride heights, equal shocks, rear square and centered, steering wheel centered with tires straight ahead, caster, camber, toe in. Shes set pretty good, I think, and I feel good about the way I measured and verified.

[edit] To sum up my settings… 5.5″ rear height, 4.25″ front height, R Front caster +8* camber -.5*, L Front caster +8-8.25* camber -.5*, total toe in 1/8″ [end edit]

One step closer to go-cart!

Been working on getting her squared up and setting ride height. Going pretty well until setting the shocks on the front. To make the frame tubes even off the ground, the front right shock is screwed down 2.5″ with the front left being at 3.375″. Everything is assembled correctly, points are greased, nothing is binding… I’m at a bit of a loss. The shocks really need to be even so they are placing even weight on each corner.

I’ve reached out to the Factory Five Forum to see what the pros say. I hope to get this settled by tomorrow.

Still pretty cold out, but got some work done. Finished up some temp mount plates for the rear taillights so I can keep them installed when I start driving the Go-Cart…

…and installed my quick release steering hub onto my new steering wheel. Fits good, feels great, looks even better…

…And started on the front alignment. This is an interesting part of the build, as its not a direct science. Takes a lot of adjustment and going back n forth on the settings to get it right. I’m using a Fasttrax Alignment tool with the added toe plates. Pretty easy so far, just takes time…

Cool. More tomorrow.

So its been, like, a month and half since I’ve posted. Between work and the weather, I have not been working on the Boss very much at all. When I do, it’s like an hour at a time before I’m freezing and have to quit.

One thing I was able to do is mod up the door latches so they are more dependable and work better. This involves a carriage bolt, a few washers and a locknut. The mechanism is all swaged together from the factory that makes them, but the swage is such that it is easily overcome with a screwdriver or through regular use. The details of this mod are all available on the Factory 5 forum, where I got the details. The next part of this mod is to drill and tap the lever knob for a #8 screw so that swage doesn’t come apart too soon.

I also filed the stop pin so the lever can move further, allowing a complete retracting of the door latch.

So I’m on vacation this week, and I am determined to get some serious work done.

Today I worked on my rollbars, getting them to fit correctly.  Seems when I first fitted them, I tightened the bolts way too much and oblonged the stainless steel. Its good now, although it took a few hours to right that wrong.

Decided to work on some exterior lighting so I can get this thing driving as soon as the weather turns nicer. Up until now, I’ve just been using wiring nuts to temp connect my lights to their harnesses. Time to do some connectors.

I’m using Weatherpack connectors. They use seals around the wires and in between the connector halves to seal out moisture and dirt. It does require a special crimper to do these… luckily I was able to buy a set of jaws for my Pertronix crimper.

So first it’s stripping the wire, installing the seal and them crimping on the contact.

Then we install the contacts into the connector.

When we have both connectors installed…

Its very easy to lock them together and seal out all the trash.

On to the rear tail lights. Here, I am only using 3 wires because I have  trailer light converter to make all 4 tail lights work as both running lights and blinkers. From Factory 5, you set it up so either the upper pair or the lower pair work as brake or turn signal, but not all like I’ve done. Anyways, 3 wires going to 2 lights requires some jumper work…

so I can send the power off to 2 connectors (1 for each light assembly). Same method for crimping and assembly…

And Voila! Illumination!

Thats it for today. My hands were getting cold and it was past Scarlett’s dinner time, so packed it up. I have lots more plans for this week, so stay tuned…

Hit the road yesterday with the trailer and Boss427 body in tow.

Made it to Whitby’s and back in 1 day… 14 hours and 670 miles. And at 10.2 mpg, that means we sucked up about 65 gallons of gas. Whew. Hello hydrocarbons.

I was impressed with Jeff at Whitby’s. He took the time to show me around, talk to me about my car, made me feel good that I was going to like what I got back. We spoke about options and details and he was patient and listened to everything I had to say.

This is just 1 room at Whitby’s. There’s 8 Factory 5 Roadsters and a ’33 in this pic. Thats my #9042 in the lower right. Cant wait to see what it looks like in another 6 months…

Tomorrow, I leave with the Boss body, hood, trunk and doors for Whitby Motorcars in Greensboro, NC.  If you click on the Customers button, there’s about 5 pages of cars that they’ve done in many different stages. They will go from the simplest small job to body work, paint & return to complete builds of Factory 5’s.

Whitby’s is going to have the body for a while. If they send me pics, I will certainly post them up here. In the meantime, say bye-bye….

Uber thanks to my old friend Bo for helping me get the body buck and the body into the trailer, and to another awesome friend Chip for the loan of the trailer. I couldn’t do this without you guys.

[edit]: So yes, I’m farming out the bodywork and paint. I’m a very good mechanic, but that doesn’t mean I can do anything. I know my limitations, Without the knowledge and experience, there’s no way I would have the patience to do this work. I’ve been told these bodies need at least 80 hours of work to be ready for paint, and I would end up with something crooked with lots of fisheyes and sanding marks. I know when to pay the pros. 😉

Peace-Out.

Started assembling my hood and trunk hinges today. The Roadster has an unusual hood hinge in that it’s a 4 link arrangement, allowing the hood to lift and then tuck in, to prevent the front edge from digging into the body.

Once I started putting all the pieces together (I had all the steel powdercoated last year), something struck me as not so cool.  There’s lots of side-to-side and front-to-rear alignment adjustment, but then there’s these wavy washers designed to go in between the bolted hinge points. When everything is bolted down tight on the shouldered bolts, it has a lot of flex and slop in the hinge assembly.

I may be proven wrong when everything gets assembled, but I didn’t like this. I also didn’t like that the wave washer is right up against my powdercoat, which could wear over time and then the steel starts rusting.

The copper-looking thing in the middle is an oilite bushing installed in the hinge arm.

If I removed the wave washers, with the nut tightened down to the shoulder bolt, that left a ton of room and made things even worse. Off to ACE Hardware for some washers. The idea is to use washers to take up the space so that the nut is tightening on the last washer and clamping everything together.

Here’s a comparison of what I did. The bottom assembly is with the wave washer and the top is without, but with a washer added to eat up the space. This worked wonderfully. I am able to use the nylock nut to fully tighten the hinge (tightening on the bolt threads and not on the shoulder), then back it off about 1/16 turn so that the assembly moves smoothly but with little to no slop.

Here’s the hinge installed and ready for the hood. The top bracket gets riveted to the hood. The 2 carriage bolts at the bottom are adjustable for side-side and fore-aft. There’s another pair of carriage bolts underneath to adjust height. In the background you can see the drivers side hinge laying flat.

Another update this evening as I’m on vacation and getting some work done… as well as a big update coming soon.

I am on vacation later in January, so im taking the opportunity to move the Boss 427 body, doors, trunk lid, hood and hood scoop down to Whitby’s Motorcars down in Greensboro, NC. They are a premier Factory 5 body and paint facility. They also provide any level of assembly or finishing that you need. I will be getting all body work and paint done by them. I know it takes a lot of work, and I don’t have the patience nor the skill or experience for the level that I want on this car. A man has to know his limitations…

To prep for taking the body down south, I need to do a few things, one of which is to premount the exterior lights. I started with the headlights.

Time for more mods, right? Since the car is going complete LED lighting, I chose Watson’s Streetworx 7″ LED headlight system. This will replace the sealed beam halogen as supplied by Factory 5.

As I was putting these together, I was confounded by these little clips that hold the lamp to the adjustment ring. I assembled it as it should be with the screws and clips secure but not clamped down.

Next day when I got up, 2 of the clips had broken. Just from sitting overnight on the table. Can’t imagine what would have happened when installed in a rumpity rump car.

Since the LED kit uses a lens housing and a replaceable H4 style lamp, after much thinking and posting on the forum, I decided to glue / seal the lens housing to the adjustment ring. I would then make some small tabs out of aluminum and use standard #6 hardware to attach it all together.

 

Another item is that my new LEDs have 3 parts, all hardwired together. The LED unit, an LED driver and a plug. My plan was to mount the driver outside the bucket for cooling, but I’d have to drill about a 2″ hole to fit it through the bucket. Instead, I cut a slit from the lip of the bucket to where I drilled a 1/2″ hole for the wore and grommet. This way I was able to slip the wire through the slit, work the grommet into place and secure the slit. Now the lamp is inside while the driver is outside.

I will post up some.more pics when the units are assembled and on the car.

 

Continue reading “Headlights”

In the forums, it’s been discovered that the coolant overflow tank is too small for almost any engine larger than a 302. Since mine is significantly larger… More mods!!

I bought a Canton tank from Summit that looked like it would fit well. There’s not much space left in the engine compartment, so I decided to mount it to the front X member. Since the mounts would never line up, I made an aluminum plate to secure to the X member with 2″ Adel clamps. Then I would bolt the coolant overflow tank to the plate.

This worked well. It left enough room to get the hoses to the fittings and fits right between the battery box and the power steering.

Locked it in place, ran the hose from the pressure cap and an overflow hose to the ground and filled it up. I’ll be running it to check a few things one weekend soon… This will be one of the things to check.

Getting pretty busy in the engine compartment….

1. 

In the few times I’ve been sitting in the car, I’ve confirmed exactly what I always suspected…. It’s beyond small. Im a pretty big guy, so to help, I decided to install a quick release steering wheel.

I don’t have a lot of pics. It involved buying a kit from Breeze Automotive (Mark makes so many wonderful parts for this car). It requires welding a spline to the end of the steering shaft and them modifying the wheel mount.

The wheel mount is a beautiful piece of billet aluminum that Mark has custom made for us. It bolts to the QD on one side and the steering wheel on the other. To make sure it mounts to your wheel, you get to drill and tap it. 😁

Once installed, the wheel is secure with a bit of looseness. Im happy with bit for giving me increased access as well as a small level of additional security. I will update this post with another pic or two when able.