Building a Factory Five Roadster
Detailing the planning and building of my Factory Five replica Cobra.
The planets finally got into alignment and one of the three companies I’d been trying to talk to about getting parts finally got back to me. I think I have the rest of the parts I need worked out and should have a quote real soon.
I’m not going to say what the total was. But it hurts. A lot.
Its going to be gorgeous this weekend, though, so it should be a good time working on the car with the garage door open!
I’ve been looking at various options for increasing trunk space. Given the point in time the trunk sheetmetal gets handled, better to make this decision sooner than later.
I looked at Cobra Earl’s touring trunk setup and decided I didn’t like the idea of cutting out trunk support members. Although it provides a bit less continuous space, I decided to go with Dark Water Custom’s trunk storage kit. While there I also picked up the rather nice rear storage box.
The seats I’m hoping to use are my Recaro SRD seats from my old 911. My first attempt to fit them made me think they may not fit, but if they do I may buy a second storage box and put them behind the seats instead of between them, as the SRDs can flip forward. Time will tell. I’m not terribly optimistic I can get the seats to fit.
Thats the word of the week.
I’m picking up the kit in two days. Thankfully I did, in fact, make a reservation for the trailer. I’ve also got the garage mostly ready. I even ordered the I-Squared wiring system today, and a set of tire pressure sensors.
And yet, I haven’t placed the order with Fortes.
I really, really, really need to do that this week.
Its been a busy weekend on the prep-for-the-kit front. Five hours of cleaning and organizing the garage today means I’m pretty close to having room for the kit come next Saturday.
I got the foam put on the buck, and positioned some temporary shelves. I also figured that the buck is going to be there for a while, so I started to Pimp My Buck. Some stickers went on, some old license plates, and I put two magnetic tool holders and some hooks to hold my creeper.
I’m not sure yet where I’m going to put the buck in the garage, and its still got a lot of stuff out in the middle of the garage, but I think I need to get the car in there and the body on it before I can move it into its final location.
I also got some theme-related stuff done on the website. There’s some minor formatting problems, but I should be able to fix them pretty easily. I integrated the Gallery software with WordPress, so I can easily post pictures and albums.
One week to go!
I don’t have much new to say about the Cobra project. The buck is done, but still upside down in the garage. The kit order has been finalized, and the trailer reserved to go pick it up a week from right now. I’ve had parts and tools start to trickle in, but I haven’t ordered any of the important stuff like the mechanics of the car or wheels. I really have to get moving with those!
This weekend I have to get the garage cleaned, the buck re-oriented and I may go pick up a tool storage chest at Costco.
I spent quite a while last night working on the buck. They say it should take 2-3 hours for two people… I’ve been doing it by myself, so its taking a bit longer. I’ve modified the design a bit, partly because the plans I linked to before weren’t all that detailed. They mentioned shelves but never described where they went, for example. I also raised it about two inches.
I’ll probably finish it this weekend. Its gotten a bit unwieldy in the garage and it’ll be a lot easier to flip it over if I can put it up on dollies and roll it outside.
On other notes, I started getting the first trickle of parts and created a spreadsheet to track what was ordered, what it cost, when it was ordered and when I received it.
Still no reply from Fortes. I’m annoyed now. Don’t publish an e-mail address if you aren’t going to give reasonable customer support with it. Its been a full week now.
I really have to call Factory Five today and firm up the order, as well. Hopefully I can do that at lunch.
Pictures:
I’ve gotten the buck about half done. The top, which actually supports the car, is all set. The problem is, I need to put four 38″ long legs on it, and associated framing… which means flipping it over.
And its heavy.
Really, really heavy.
And when I’m done, I have to flip it over again.
A body buck, that is.
Part planning is coming along, but a final list of parts I need is still waiting because Mike Forte from Fortes Parts has been slow getting back to me. Its a small shop, and I know how running a small business is. I’ll be calling him tomorrow.
Until then, my highest priority is building a body buck.
I’m still working on getting the total parts list put together for the car. I’ve decided on the I-Squared 1+1 system for the electrical. Picking up some new sheetmetal from FFMetal.com (their Grand Slam kit). I’m also going to pick up the touring trunk from Cobra Earl. (I realize I should link these, but I haven’t figured out how to do that in WordPress, yet.)
For the drivetrain, I’m currently planning on a 351 Windsor motor, with the Mass-Flo EFI system and a Tremac TKO 600 transmission. I’m undecided on rear-end gearing as well as mid vs standard shifting. Brakes are going to be the 13 inch front and 11.5 inch rear Cobra brakes. I’m still debating power vs manual brakes and steering.
I expect I’ll have the parts list worked out in the next day or two.
I’ve started ordering other stuff. I ordered a hundred clecos and a cleco wrench last night, and got the air riveter from Amazon today. This weekend I need to clean the garage and build the body buck, if the weather cooperates. Next weekend, I think I’m going to pick up the stainless rolling tool chest at Costco, if I take the tonneau off my truck.
Its going to be a busy couple of weeks!
Saturday I took a trip down to Factory Five. It was the third time I was there, first having been for a tour a year ago and again at the open house last summer. Even though I’d done a tour before, my girlfriend and I, as well as her father, did another one. Its really an impressive place, worth a walk through when in the area.
The kit is ordered! I don’t actually remember all the details of what I ordered — the paperwork should be here later this week and I’ll post what it was. Its basically the roadster kit with IRS, the convenience sale package and associated other minor bits and pieces.
Today I got the call — the car will be ready on the 31st! Thats actually quite a bit stressful because I need to clean and organize the garage, as well as build a body buck. Turns out my parents are in town that weekend, which will be cool. They’ll get to see the place.
I’m still working out the plan for everything else. I spent a bunch of time on the phone this evening with Mike Forte from Fortes Parts. I’ve got at least a partial list of what I want to order put together, but I need to get the quote list from him to get the order in.
So thats where I am right now. Exciting!