Factory Five Roadster Build Part 1: Project Snake Charmer

As previously mentioned, you'll need four jackstands for the Roadster kit to sit on during the build. I chose these Powerbuilt aluminum jackstands. At 2 tons capacity each, they are more than enough to support this project. The aluminum stands are light and easy to maneuver, and the rubber-coated head prevents scratching the powdercoated Roadster chassis.

Getting Underway
With the project safely tucked away in its work area, it was time to perform a thorough inventory of parts shipped. Remember those 20 or so boxes mentioned earlier? I got real intimate with those over the course of the next three evenings and half of a Saturday. Counting nuts, bolts, washers, brackets, and more takes time, but in the end you know what you have on hand and where it is kept.

It's a good idea to write on the outside of the box what the major contents are and the original FFR box number. Luckily, I was short only two rod ends and the horn button-not bad for over 1,000 pieces! Notice the shelf Greg and I built into the body buck to store the majority of the boxes.

Before work can commence on the chassis, the fiberglass body needs to be removed and stored. Following the hefty FFR build manual, I fashioned a cockpit brace and duct-taped it into place. This brace prevents the fiberglass body from flexing too much in the weak under-door area (weak only when not fastened to the chassis).

Once the brace was positioned, I enlisted my neighbor Russ Aljoe, his son Brett (Mr. Crazy Shorts), and 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Associate Editor Michael "All I wear are free T-shirts" Johnson to help lift the body from the chassis and place it on the body buck.

The first time removing the body was unsettling, but we'll have to put the body on and off the chassis several times, so I better get used to it.

With the body in place, the body buck rolls nicely over the chassis when I'm not working on it, too.

Over the next several months, this is a scene that will no doubt be repeated dozens of times when I get home from work and want to spend an hour or so on the Roadster build. I will simply roll the body buck (with the body and boxed parts) into the driveway, turn on the overhead light, fire up the computer, and start swinging wrenches.

For the first few nights, we performed our first step in the FFR build manual, which was to mark all of the preinstalled aluminum panels before removing them from the chassis. These panels are installed with just a few tapping screws used strictly for shipping purposes. Some overlap other panels, and it will be difficult to determine their placement without some sort of identification. A Sharpie does the trick and wipes off easily with lacquer thinner during final installation.