The KR Performance & Restorations...
The KR Performance & Restorations crew is getting close to squirting some fabulous Ford colors on our Roadster. Bob Roeder and Aaron Kester even displayed their handiwork to date at their Mustang club's local show. We bet the Roadster was quite the attention getter, even without its topcoat.
In the last installment of our project series (Oct. '07), we barely got a taste of the talent that the crew at KR Performance & Restorations had to offer on our Factory Five Cobra (FFR) replica project. With just a week or two to get some work on film before our deadline, Bob Roeder and Aaron Kester had time to perform only a few basic body prep steps and start on our hidden trunk-hinge upgrade installation.
This month, the KR Performance & Restorations staff had plenty of time to get some serious work done on our project. The FFR body has improved over the years, and the Mk III piece shipped with our Roadster kit needed minimal work to get it looking good. Besides the work needed to get the body straight and ready for paint, we had the KR guys add a few popular upgrades that will take the FFR body to the next level, giving it the look of a real aluminum body instead of a fiberglass one. These extra steps are optional, of course, but as we all know, it's the extra steps that separate the good car builds from the great ones.
At this rate, our Cobra replica will be getting color in the next installment and should be on the road by the end of the year (it's September 2007 as we write this). There's hope we'll have the completed project at the '08 Silver Springs Mustang & Ford Roundup in Ocala, Florida, just weeks away from when you get this magazine in your mailbox. We hope you'll come see our project in person.
 When we wrapped up our last...  When we wrapped up our last installment, we had just finished installing a pair of hidden hinges to replace the chrome pot-metal exposed hinges. Before moving on to the rest of the project, the guys at KR wanted to get the trunk lid mounted and fit to the body. Using measurements taken during the hinge install, the location for the nut plate is marked. |  After trimming the fiberglass...  After trimming the fiberglass in the area of the nut plate mounting point for a better fit, the guys used 3M's Panel Bonding Adhesive (PN 08115) to bond the nut plate to the inside of the trunk panel. |  Once fully cured, the trunk...  Once fully cured, the trunk lid can be installed and adjusted using the built-in adjustment slots found in the hinge itself. |
 With the mounted trunk lid,...  With the mounted trunk lid, and using the hidden hinge kit from Breeze Automotive, the rear of our Roadster project is really shaping up and has a more accurate, smooth profile. |  Before the doors can be fully...  Before the doors can be fully trimmed and adjusted, the door hinges are centered in their horizontal and vertical adjustments. This will give us the most adjustment room in any direction. |  After measuring for the 3/16-inch...  After measuring for the 3/16-inch door gap, we used painter's tape to mark the material edge. Be sure to remove the material from the oversize panels, not the main body openings. |
 A uniform gap on all body...  A uniform gap on all body openings is the sign of a well-assembled car. The nice thing about a vinyl ester/fiberglass body part is that you can easily trim the part to get the body gap you're looking for. We wanted a 3/16-inch gap. As you can see by the placement of this 3/16-inch drill bit, we have some work to do (the doors, hood, and trunk are cut and shipped oversized just for this step). |  Once the initial trimming...  Once the initial trimming was accomplished, Roeder and Kester mounted the door latches and strikers so that the fully latched door could be adjusted further and the final body opening size sanded to our measurement. |  The striker is spaced out...  The striker is spaced out with washers for now, and later we'll cut stainless or chrome spacers to the proper length. |