Tim's Factory Five Mk4 Build Thread

[strida]

Tim,
If you talk to Dave(albanycobra) about RHD conversion he told me it was fairly simple, if I recall correctly I think he used a Cortina steering rack. Obviously moving the steering column across is fairly simple if you can weld etc.

Dennis

[Rob. Smith]

I'm impressed with the quality and 'completeness' of the Factory Five Cobras. They are the epitome of a "Kit Car"...All you have to do is assemble them. Just like a model car. There is no building involved. When they arrive in Australia maybe you have to 'modify' them a bit.
I wish I was younger ( with my now income) and had the knowledge about building a Cobra that I have gleaned from this site......BUT, I feel the frustration of those trying to register their completed vehicles.

[Jethrow]

Sorry guys for not keeping this up to date so let me amend by adding some info at this time.

When I last posted, the box had just arrived. First job was to unpack then inventory the contents. Turns out thats a pretty big job and takes up a lot of space. And trying to find a home for all the bits was certainly fun

Anyways I put together a frame to hold the body up over the chassis for storage when not working on the car.



When its time to work I push my other car out of the garage and slide the body to where the car was, giving me space to work.

The aluminium you see on the car is as the car arrived. It is all just sitting there, and not permanently attached. I will need to remove it all.

So getting on with the job proper, I started with the front end by properly attaching the forward alum panels and fitting up the front suspension.







Was relatively straight forwards with no real surprises. At this point I had not yet removed the cockpit aluminium.

For interest, the front end geometry on these cars is based on the mustang IFS from years around 2000. It is however modified somewhat with different length A-arms to the mustang to improve on bump steer etc.

As you can see, it is also quite adjustable.

[Jethrow]

Next on the agenda was the rear end.

With the FFR cars you can go IRS or live axle, and I chose the later. The axle used is a 8 3/4" unit, again from a mustang.

Whilst the unit is shown here all built up, you do actually have to strip it to attach the disk brake mounts, and clean and paint it.





Again, no real issues with this, tho I did attach the panhard mount before the axle to realise that was not gunna work, so had to remove it again, the re-attach after.

[boxhead]

All looks good, please keep the updates flowing.

Not sure if the kit specifies, but to me it looks like your front shocks are upside down.

[Jethrow]

Thanks boxhead for the comments. Ref the shocks, they are correct as per the destructions. I also thought it was better as shown as it helps to keep the main seals from drying out, as the internal oil will sit against the seals.

Anyways, was around this time that the local WA Cobra Club boys decided a bit of show and tell was in order. We arranged for a Sunday morning in March for anyone who was interested to come see.

Was loads of fun too as the street outside my house began to rumble louder and louder as the morning moved on. Have a look here









I think the day was enjoyed by all, and for most it was a first look at a Factory Five offering. I think most were impressed.

[Jethrow]

Things slowed down a little after that as I pondered the RHD conversion. I started off by assembling the main components on the LHS to see how it all should look. At first I struggled with this until I realised FFR had supplied me the wrong pedal box. I had got one from their GTM kit and it is quite different to what I had.

Anyways, a phone call and an email later it was sorted and FFR sent me the correct item.

Once I saw how it should look, I mocked up some stuff on the RHS to see how it all might look. My first attempt at this did served mainly to show me how not to do it, but hey, at least I learnt something. The second attempt was looking better, and I went someway to tacking some bits and pieces in when I decided I was not really comfortable doing this without having selected an engine, putting it in, and then seeing just how much room I really had to work with.

So time to find an engine.

Now not to upset the purists out there, but I was keen on putting in an LS1. I already had one in my Clubsport and was very happy with that engine so wanted to do the same. Also the fact that compared to the twin cam Ford motors the LS was lighter, and smaller did not hurt.

Anyways, whilst doing some research, reading adds etc looking for a suitable motor (I was keen on a low km unit) I realised this was not going to be so easy. So then I thought maybe I should expand the search to include the LS2 as well.

Of course once you realise what the market is asking for a low km LS2, I said bugger it, and ordered a new LS3 from CAPA. And I am very happy with this indeed.

Along with that order, I also got a new TR6060 gearbox along with a clutch, flywheel, slave cylinder, ECU etc etc.


How the LS3 arrives - they pack it in cardboard!

I think this has been a good direction as it does mean that for the most part, my car will have been built from 100% new parts and materials.

[Dimis]

Well done Tim, looking good, and kicking goals on all fronts...

My tiny mind thought the same thing as boxhead.

My tiny mind also can't stop thinking that if you had to turn to the darkside, why you stopped at "LS3" and didn't continue on to "LS7"?

That way you could tell your buddy "COBRA 5HO" (Ford powered G-Force I presume?) that at least yours was a "real 427"

in all honesty your buddy's ride looks fantastic in that colour, please pass on my compliments

[Modena]

ahhh, I love the smell of a crate motor in the morning!

[Modena]

Originally Posted by Dimis

My tiny mind also can't stop thinking that if you had to turn to the darkside, why you stopped at "LS3" and didn't continue on to "LS7"?[/size]

...something to do with twice the price I would say!

[Jethrow]

Next step of course was to get the LS3 and TR6060 to reside in the proper place. To start with I coupled the two together, and with the help of a borrowed hoist (thanks bro) I threw the motor in to see how it might look.





Not to bad really, tho it is a bit tight around the trans in the tunnel, especially over the top.

[Jethrow]

Moving on from here tho I did find quite challenging.

First up when considering mount options I had several things to ponder. Firstly, and this is probably unique to the FFR but they set the driveline up with the engine/trans displaced to the right by 1". This is to provide better balance for a driver who would normally sit on the LHS of the car (US style!).

I was not that keen on keeping that, and wanted to bring the motor back into the centre.

Initially I decided to use factory Holden mounts with my LS3 under the rational that if it works in the HSV, then why not for me. Also worth noting that the LS3 mounts are actually quite different to those from the LS1, being much beefier. Which of course is where the problems started.

I kinda new the LS3 mounts were different to the LS1, but I was not sure by how much, and I could not find a decent photo of them anywheres. So I just jumped in and ordered them, nothing ventured, nothing gained type of thing. Anyway after they arrived (and its amazing how much time I seem to spend waiting for bits!) and I then fitted them up I realised I had a problem.

The factory mounts were way to big. They did not fit down between the chassis rails at all, and if they did, then the would be mounted down almost flush with the bottom of the rails. Way to big. Darn. Back to Mr Google.

I should add however at this point that the trans mount I bought from Holden was actually fine and I have used this for the install.

Back to main mounts and the search. Ignoring the overpriced options I saw on eBay Oz I then found a company called TransDapt who made a generic LS mount to suit engine transplant installs. I bought a set of them (via Summit) and again had another wait till they showed up. Which they duly did. Along with a pretty neat little 1:18 scale 427 SC replica - I wonder how that ended up in there?

So now with the new mounts in hand I could begin. Firstly I had to cut out the old mounting system from the chassis, and here I must pause to congratulate FFR on their fine welding. It was quite a mission cutting out the old mounts and grinding back the big fat fillets which held them in place. Excellent work with no signs of voids at all.

With the old mounts gone, I mounted up the trans, then setup the motor in just the right place sitting on a wooden block and a few shims here and there to get it level and centred. Next was all about fitting and shaping the new mounts to match the contours of the chassis rails. Once set it up right, I could then weld them in.











The pics reminded me - I bought a mid-mount shifter from Mal Wood to move the stick to right spot. Thanks guys.

OK, up-to-date on my cobra news now, best get back into the shed and do some more!!

[Toecutter]

It is great to see the build take shape. Thanks for taking the time to record your progress. Nice welds too

[Mando]

Originally Posted by Toecutter

It is great to see the build take shape. Thanks for taking the time to record your progress. Nice welds too

I was thinking the same thing myself!

Regards.

[TerryLipford]

Tim, great pics and excellent description. I am in the process of pondering my next build, and had originally thought FF4 MK4 with the Ford 5.0 cammer engine from Tasca. But being a long time Chevy guy, I read your post with enthusiasm ! What could you pass on to someone like me, who is about to pop the order to FFR and who would prefer to run LS-3 power ? Does FFR or anyone now make a kit for what you had to fabricate ?

I will appreciate in advance, anything you pass on to me !

[Jethrow]

Hi Terry.

Thx for the comments.

Short answer is that FFR do not really provide any help in the LS3 installation. That being said, I did not find the engine installation too hard. And further to that, if I was not converting to right hand drive, I think I would have used the FFR provided modular engine mounts to get the LS3 in.

Just go for it I say. The light weight and narrow layout make it a great modern engine choice for these cars.

Also you should check out an entry by a guy named Tails over on the FF Cars site. He installed an LS1 into his Mk3 FFR and added a lot of photos!

[Jethrow]

Wow, has it really been since July '12 since I added to this thread. Slack is the appropriate word here .....

Anyways, let me see if I can rectify this a little.

Continuing on from thee last entry, the next area I tackled was the RHD conversion and footbox. As the F5R roadster in LHD from the states, I was on my own here.

I started by fabricating a new steering wheel mount for the right side. I did not duplicate the original design exactly, instead making a simpler mount.



From there I set about mocking up various arrangements of pedal locations and supporting structure and after about three goes I finally ended up with something I like.





The pedal support here is different to the original F5R design, but that is because that design had to cater for using either a Wilwood pedal set or a pedal box from a Mustang. I also took this opportunity to locate the pedals about 2" further forwards to give me a bit more feet space.

[Jethrow]

With the pedals now installed, I needed to fabricate new aluminium panels for the right side footbox. As the supporting structure is all different to the LHS, the footbox is not a straight mirror of the LHS.

That being said, doing it all new, allowed me to again create more space by dropping the floor nearly an inch. Setting your feet a bit lower takes your knees just that bit further away from the lower edge of the dash.

I did start off trying to mock the whole thing up in cardboard, but found that difficult as due to the size of the panels it was all a bit floppy. So ended up doing it bit by bit, making one panel, then installing it, then using that panel to help design the next panel.



I also widened the footbox compared to left side by allowing it to run up on top of the 4" main beams.



When finished, I think it came out pretty good



And with the other side for comparison.

[Jethrow]

With the footboxes in, time to put the engine back in and run the brake lines.

The brake lines are all 3/16" bundy tube, with SS braided lines running to the calipers.







An item of note, I used the CNC TRIPLE MASTER ALUMINUM REMOTE RESERVOIR. I added float switches to them allow for low fluid level detection.



The engine back in, fits pretty good with reasonable clearance (for a cobra).





Handbrake installed too.

[Jethrow]

Next up, fuel system.

After a false start with the wrong pump being purchased (anyone need a never been used Holley pump? Not used because it requires a bottom outlet from the fuel tank and my tank is a top outlet) I ended up getting a Walpro intank unit.

I also went with larger fuel lines than supplied in the kit going to 3/8 from 5/16 feed lines.









I did keep the Holley fuel pressure regulator however.



Third line above is for the charcoal cannister - I plan on using one from a VS Commodore.