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Factory Five Roadster Build, Part 19 - TechClosing The Book On Our Factory Five Replica Build From the September, 2008 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan Photography by Mark Houlahan
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Finishing a project car can be a religious experience for some-a huge weight or burden off their shoulders. No more late nights grinding away at a metal hulk; sanding for untold hours until your fingertips bleed; or taking that first nervous drive down the street after installing the running gear and hoping you put the brakes together right. Once your project is complete, tagged, and insured, the short trips to the corner gas station or a few laps around the block begin. Success leads to longer and longer trips as your confidence builds in what you've taken so long to painstakingly build in your garage or home shop. We're happy to announce that we've come to the same point in our Factory Five Cobra replica project. We've installed the last part, thrown away the last box, and had our project car tagged, insured, and aligned. Now it's time to put some miles on it and see what she'll do. Our Roadster has been a very enjoyable project from many aspects. For starters, there's the something-different factor. Sure, we get a thumbs-up or "nice car" when we drive our '66 Mustang, but when you're driving the Roadster, you're undeniably a rock star! You can't stop for gas without a 15-minute conversation about the car, and for the uninitiated, when we tell them we built the whole car ourselves, save for the engine and paintwork, the questions start right back up (which is why we keep FFR DVDs in the car with us). We can say that the build of our Factory Five Roadster has not only been rewarding but also fun and educational. Meeting fellow builders, attending their build parties, and discussing upgrades and options at events and on the ffcobra.com forums is something we don't see too often in the Mustang world. Building a project like this also taught us new procedures we've not used in the past, and allowed us to purchase tools we didn't have (hey, it's always good when you can use your project as a valid excuse to hit the tool store). We're looking forward to displaying the completed project during the fall show season here in Florida, and who knows where we'll take it in 2009? Look for a full feature on the Roadster with specs, build costs, and more in an upcoming issue, but for now, let's wrap up our build with a few safety items, an alignment, and a road test.  1 For street use, an oil-to-air...  1 For street use, an oil-to-air heat exchanger is probably something that wouldn't be required, and frankly could keep the oil too cool, causing advanced engine wear. But what would a 427 SC replica be without an oil cooler in the lower nose? We ordered the optional FFR oil cooler kit, which uses high-quality Setrab products and braided -10 cooler lines.  2 Fitting the cooler into...  2 Fitting the cooler into the nose can be tricky. Sliding it in from behind requires careful attention as the cooler is wiggled, angled, and slid into place. The cooler bolts to the lower radiator aluminum panel for retention. We also mocked up our Mr. Gasket Shadow AN fittings to start on the braided line routing.  3 To combat having the oil...  3 To combat having the oil too cool for the engine during normal driving, we picked up this billet thermostatic sandwich adapter (PN 502ERL, $99.99) from Earl's Performance Plumbing for our Roadster project. It easily attaches to the block before installing the oil filter. AN -10 lines are then routed from the adapter to the cooler in the nose to complete the cooler's connections.  4 Before we can have our...  4 Before we can have our project aligned, the chassis' ride height needs to be set and the Panhard/rear axle setup centered. The ride height is easy to adjust with the Roadster's Bilstein coilover shocks. With the weight off the suspension, a simple twist of the adjustment collar will raise or lower the ride height. Adding tension to the spring increases the ride height.  5 To measure ride height,...  5 To measure ride height, simply measure from the bottom of the 4-inch round tubes of the frame to the ground. Using a tape measure can be tricky, so it's best to make a simple gauge that'll fit between the frame and the ground. We had a bunch of old light-switch covers in the junk drawer, so we cut a pair of them to match our desired front and rear ride heights and adjusted the suspension until they fit. Don't forget to roll the car back and forth after each adjustment to settle the suspension.  6 With the ride height properly...  6 With the ride height properly set, you can see how much more room there is between the wheel opening and the tire compared to the dimensions seen in photo 24, later in this story (that image was taken before we set the ride height).  7 While the car is in the...  7 While the car is in the air, the side pipe's rear hangers are installed as well. The mounting brackets are included in the kit, but you'll need a single late-model Mustang exhaust hanger isolator as part of the installation.  8 Now that the ride height...  8 Now that the ride height is set and our rear axle centered, it's alignment time. We took the Roadster in our Pace American enclosed trailer to J.B. Alignment Service in Groveland, Florida. There, Jim Schoenberger took great care to set up our Roadster with the alignment specs we desired. Jim has worked on just about every domestic suspension, alignment, and brake setup out there and the Roadster's adjustable A-arms were no problem. No high-tech hardware here, just simple alignment tools and decades of knowledge.  9 With the alignment and...  9 With the alignment and ride height set, we also had Jim check out the pinion angle one last time and lock it in by tightening the upper link locknuts. Our first testdrive after the alignment was smooth as silk.  10 While we completed much...  10 While we completed much of the interior in our last installment, we didn't install our passenger restraints. The kit-supplied restraints are a standard latch-link five-point restraint that works fine when used in the proper application/seating scenario. With the retro low-back buckets, this style of restraint really isn't the best option (if we had high-back racing seats with belt slots, we'd be fine). Instead, we opted to upgrade our restraints to Schroth's Profi-II FE camlocks (PNs vary by color, $255 per side) from HMS Motorsport. These belts are a four-point setup that are DOT approved for street use and don't require an anti-sub belt, which wouldn't work with our style of seat anyway. The Schroth ASM (anti-submarining) mechanism is a specially stitched fold of the inboard shoulder harness. In the event of a collision, this harness stretches at a different rate than the outboard shoulder by releasing the stitched area, which in turn allows a small amount of upper-body rotation.  11 This photo shows the special...  11 This photo shows the special camlock with the push-button release. The red push-button not only allows easy belt removal, but is also easy to spot in case of an emergency (on the track or on the street). The words "PRESS" are embossed into the button just like late-model seatbelts, so anyone can understand how to get you out of the vehicle. The camlock does accept a single or double anti-sub strap if your seat and racing organization require it. Basically, you can drive on the street in a four-point configuration and then have a five- or six-point for track days.  12 The labels sewn into the...  12 The labels sewn into the belts spell it right out with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard code. The belts are also SFI 16.1 and FIA approved and are date coded for quick and easy inspection by your track's safety officials.  13 The mounting points in...  13 The mounting points in the Roadster work well with Schroth's mounting hardware, though you will have to cough up your own retaining nuts, which are 7/16-20. We picked up eight zinc-plated nylon locking nuts through an online hardware supply house.  14 The shoulder belts in...  14 The shoulder belts in the Profi-II line are the wrap-around style usually used for rollbar mounting. To properly mount the shoulder harnesses in the Roadster, Schroth's bolt-in mounting brackets (PN SRB23C, $6) were required. Here, we test the length and position of the mounting tab in the shoulder harness before installing it in the Roadster.  15 The finished installation...  15 The finished installation in our Roadster (using the silver versions of the Profi) makes for a strong visual statement while allowing safe and easy use of the belts. The camlock is much easier to understand and use, while the Profi's 2-inch lap belts are much more comfortable and safer than a 3-inch lap belt.  16 In the rear of the trunk,...  16 In the rear of the trunk, where the shoulder straps are bolted in, the initial adjustment for the shoulder belts is handled. Final tightening is done at the shoulder strap in the passenger compartment. Always tighten your lap belt before your shoulder belt. The only downside to the excess belt material you see here is that it can clutter up the trunk, but we have an idea of how to fix that.  17 We lifted this idea from...  17 We lifted this idea from ffcobra.com forum member "Nice Guy Eddie." Essentially, it's a false trunk wall made from a section of pegboard, two large spring clips (like the ones used to retain garden tools), and a section of matching black carpet. We cut the pegboard to shape, mounted the clips in the proper position to snap onto the rollbar tubes, then cut and glued carpet to the front side.  18 Now you see it, now you...  18 Now you see it, now you don't. With about fifteen minutes of work, we now have a nice, clean trunk once again and we can easily pull the trunk wall down to access the belt adjusters if we need to make any further corrections to the shoulder belt length.  19 One concern the folks...  19 One concern the folks at HMS Motorsport had in our application was head/neck support in an open roadster with a low-back seat. The Miata, BMW Z3, and so forth all have modern high-back seats. After some discussion, we located this great headrest assembly from Cobraearl's FFR Accessories ( http://home.mindspring.com/~egroce/); it simply attaches to the factory rollbar with bolts or hook-and-loop strips. We opted for the hook-and-loop installation for quick cleaning and maintenance. We're still considering something for the passenger side, possibly a slip-in headrest with a custom bracket.  20a I've been accused of...  20a I've been accused of being a member of the safety police, but I'd rather have our readers be safe and prepared than injured or worse. Case in point-every vehicle I own has a fire extinguisher in it and the Roadster will be no different. Well, it'll be a little different, as we went for some bling since the extinguisher is so visible. The unit we installed is a HalGuard HG100C ($125.95) from H3R Performance. HalGuard is a clean-agent fire extinguisher that produces no mess when dispensed, doesn't create any visual impairment, and is EPA approved and rechargeable. The HalGuard product is perfect for protecting your classic or late-model car or specialty vehicle and looks great doing it...  20b ...We ordered the optional...  20b ...We ordered the optional billet band clamp (PN BB100P, $87.95) and flat-surface mount (PN BMF01P, $48.95) for cockpit mounting and quick access. NHRA-legal rollbar mounts are also available. Many Roadster owners place their fire extinguisher under the dash at the front of the transmission tunnel. It's a nice place visually, but we were a little concerned about access in an emergency situation. Eventually, we opted for between the seats in a horizontal mounting plane with the quick-release pin facing up. A quick yank of the pin straight up and the extinguisher is free to do its job. We can quickly inspect the pressure gauge in this mounting position as well.  21a Finally, to protect our...  21a Finally, to protect our Roadster from the elements, we gave the crew at Covercraft a shout for one of their new all-weather Weathershield HP car covers. Weathershield HP is a single-layer weave product, making it incredibly compact for storage (just what we needed with our Roadster's diminutive trunk space). It's extremely water resistant and dust-proof, while offering UV protection...  21b ...Careful measuring...  21b ...Careful measuring of your custom vehicle will get you a one-of-a-kind fitted cover for your car, no matter what wing, mirrors, rollbar, and so on may be mounted to it. The cover fits great and is easy to store in our Roadster's trunk. We're completely happy with it.
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