So it begins ...
 

Wow, it's all a bit exciting.

Just got off the phone with Factory Five Racing after ordering their complete kit. And from what I can gather it will be third one coming into WA, with one already here, and one on its way.

So now the waiting and shed prep begins, hanging out till it arrives.

I should give a shout to Tenrocca, not that he knows me, but a comment he made in another thread was how I was alerted to FFR and the new Mk4 kit, and so now it's ordered.

Wow.

I will endeavor to post more as I can.

Tim

:D

Well done Tim. We want plenty of pics. Congratulations.

Baz

Life is good. Congratulations, it will be worth the wait. I have seen MK4 in person and it's very nice!

Roger

Maybe I should hit em up for a commission? :)

Cant wait to see all those pics Jethrow.

Cheers

Sounds Great Jethrow,
Looks very nice of the FFR website also...
I wish you the best of luck.

I'd love to know what it would take to get this thing registered in Aus.
I mean how does it work with regard to torsion testing the chassis and complying with other ADRs?
Do you know if the Chassis will passes ADR requirements before purchase...? Or is this something that you hope you can negotiate through once it's landed. I have the same questions for other all O/S kits...

I mean, it sounds like a big undertaking and a big commitment, and I'm envious of you gents who have the knowledge and/or are able to through caution to the wind and jump in.

I'm sure every problem has a solution, and I wish you the best of luck crossing these bridges. I'd love for you to expand on this thread as your build progresses, and outline the steps you need to take as you negotiate your way through.

Congratulations & Kindest regards,
Anth

given the state of the AU dollar, I too am very interested in the status of ADR compliance of this chassis.....

congratulations on the purchase!

Hi guys.

I will endeavor to expand on this thread as I go, and provide whatever information I can.

Regarding the ADR compliancing, you are right with regards to the various issues, but given that in reality every ICV needs to demonstrate compliance, in some ways its not a lot worse than buying local.

Also I feel is that as I am actually the third (that I know of) Mk4 buyer in Perth, I wont be the first to break new ground with this kit, and in anycase, perhaps the three of us can pool to solve any tricky problems.

All just part of the impending fun to be had.

On the plus side, I reckon I am going to get a very complete kit landed to my front door for less than $35,000 aussie. And if you look at the detail in the FFR kits, its a kit of very high quality (IMHO) for that price. I could not really find comparable value to this locally.

The other thing that helped my decide to go with FFR was the amount of info they provide on their website, and via the FFcars forum. They have complete lists with photos of pretty much everything you are getting, you know what is required to finish the car, and mostly where to get it.

The photos of the car were clear and precise. You could see what it was going to look like when finished. And for someone in WA who cannot easily visit all the manufacturers, good web info is worth a lot.

Congrats on taking the plunge.

First job is throw out all the lights, then throw out the steering rack, then throw out the steering column.....then throw out the MPH speedo. After that you should be pretty much be able to take it over the pits....Oh and the exhaust will not come any where near passing aswell.

Even after you have ditch all that stuff you will be miles ahead of the Guy building a local kit.

Actually my kit is coming with a metric gauge set (they sell a fair bit to Canadia) so that one is covered. I will have to look into the rest ..... Agree on the steering rack of course.

The steering column should be from an ADR approved vehicle, with steering column lock, the headlights dip the wrong way. The tail lights are all red and not E marked.

Good news about the gauges.

Nice choice Jethrow. The best thing about the FF cars is that the whole thing is kept simple and traditional in appearance.

Good on ya Jethrow, cant wait to see a good ol aussie warts and all build thread,
Did FFR give you a lead time ?
I've emailed them a few times and never had a response, what were they like to deal with on the phone ?
Also, i believe Hunter Murrell Motorsports in the UK do a RHD version which may be of interest to you, www.factoryfive.co.uk
regards,
Dave

Unfortunately, I suspect seats wont meet ADRs either.

Good news is - I guess you could sell all the "redundant stuff" on flea-bay-usa to recoup some costs?
Either way 35K landed does sound like a pretty good deal.

Regards
Anth

Good on you for taking the plunge.

I look forward to the build photos and updates.

Having said that, I think a local build would be twice as easy.

Ben

Thx for the positive comments, much appreciated. And good to know there is a support crew I can lean on when I run into trouble, which I am sure I will.

DaveW: I have emailed with those UK guys and they have given me some tips already, and even sent a little word doc explaining some of what they do to convert to RHS.

FFR are crap at answering emails. But, they are excellent on the phone. I have been using skype to call them and its been going well. They also have excellent support on their website, and via the FFR forum, so its nearly as good as email support to the factory in any case. But if you want to talk dollars or specific kit questions, you are better off calling them.

Sounds like you have it in hand. Have you spoken with an accredited enigineer about the chassis torsion testing process, what is involved and what does it cost? I don't understand what they do, but I would have thought this would be a partially destructive process on a chassis, which is why not every chassis is tested - once a builder has a design tested and proven then others of the same design are passed.

Like I said I do not know, but I would like to know how this works.

Hey Jethrow, would you be able to PM me the docs you got from the UK ?

Are you using an agent for the costs to be incurred on the Aussie side, i'm using Yusen airfreight, they cut my australian costs by half and delivering DtoD for my engine.

regards

Dave

Actually I have taken a small leap o faith buy ordering before I spoke to an engineer - tho I plan on doing that this week. However, like I said, as I have the third kit coming to WA, I think between the three of us we ought to be able to get it sorted. If test is required, the test is not destructive. Will respond with more info as I have it.

Dave, PM sent.

Tail Lights
 

Hi all.

So while I am waiting for the kit to arrive, I can begin musing some of the details. One area I am considering is the tail lights. As albanycobra pointed out, the kit tail lights will not be good as it has no amber lenses, so as a minimum I will need to fix that.

But I do prefer the look of the original flat style tail lights. These ones I mean:

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...ail_lights.jpg

Sadly however they do not seem to be ADR approved. So in a search for substitutes, I did find these.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...ail_lights.jpg

Has anyone done anything like this, and does it look ok? They seem to be a touch bigger than the originals, but the shape is right, and they are ADR approved. No chrome trim edge though.

Comments?