Car just completed...What things should go wrong in the first few trips?

[Buzz]

You can always expect a few issues to rear their heads in the first few shakedown miles and it sounds like you had quite an adventure! Like others have advised, pay most attention to the critical issues; in other words the ones that could cause a catastrophic event if they fail. Brakes, steering, suspension (double-check your lug nuts!!), fuel lines, wiring and cooling system.

Turn on everything electrical while the car is idling in the driveway, let it run and see if any switches get hot, fuses blow or wiring starts to smoke. Watch your temp gauge and make sure your cooling system is up to snuff. Is your charging system working? etc etc. Take care of the critical stuff and from there on out have fun tweaking the minor things as you discover them.

One other thing I noticed looking at the pics in your gallery (see below) - your front end appears to be sitting way high. At highway speeds and above, you will gather a lot of air under the front, and depending on how fast you go, it could become an issue. If nothing else, it will look a lot better if you can lower it a bit. Enjoy!!

[jhv48]

After a few hundred miles of my sorting my FFR MK III car out, I paid a professional to put it on a lift and go from the front to the back tightening and checking every nut and bolt on the car. Took him the full day to do the job and cost me about $900, but I wanted another pair of hands and eyes on my car.

And, by the way, he didn't find a thing that needed more than mild tightening. I then drove much more confidently!