Progress on Many Fronts This Week

We seem to be moving from one major system of the vehicle to another, always returning to work a little more on the wiring. Could it be that I'm intimidated by so many wires? Perhaps...

We received our driveshaft and installed it. The donor driveshaft is almost four feet long. An indication of just how small the Coupe will be is that the driveshaft on it is just over a foot long! After seeing how big the u-joints are, we may have to change or eliminate our plans for a second cupholder for the car. The cupholders are for things like cell phones and sunglasses since there is no storage within reach of the driver.

A neighbor's friend volunteered to weld up a custom accelerator cable bracket. The original bracket stood too tall with the replacement of our stock intake manifold. I think it looks great! We finished installing the cable right after this picture was taken.

We installed the ignition coil and the starter relay on the driver's side of the engine compartment.

We did make some progress on the wiring. We've pulled together many of the wires needed for the switches and gauges on the dash, and we have a rough plan to organize them. Of course, the plan might not be evident just yet...

We ordered and received a new ignition lock (the donor was a dud), a windshield wiper system, and a set of floormats. The radiator whould be here this week, and we continue to wait for the wheels.

As for the surprise? Well, we were expecting a visit from the owner of a Cobra Roadster this weekend to pick up some parts we didn't need. He decided to ship the parts rather than make the 800+ mile round trip to pick them up. I can hardly wait to drive my first 800 miles in this thing...

Steering and starting electricals

This week we installed the steering rack and the steering column.

We also started running wires... lots and lots of wires. Since we bought the donor parts on a pallet, we did not get a chance to see and label each electrical connector as it was removed from the car. As a result, it has taken some detective work and several wiring diagrams to figure out what goes where.

Making matters a little more challenging, the donor was a convertible with all of the bells and whistles. The Coupe won't need many of the items wired into the donor, and I will be removing many of those wires in the upcoming weeks. The process is called a "wire diet" and should result in having far fewer wires to cram under the dashboard. Space under the dash is at a premium since we purchased the air conditioner kit.

This is the dashboard aluminum. It came with the holes for the gauges already drilled. There is a smaller switch panel that sits below the center guages and above the transmission tunnel. We will need to mark and drill it for the various toggle switches that go there.

Next week we will have a special surprise in our update! Stay tuned!

EXTRA EXTRA!!

I couldn't wait to post this update. Dropping the engine in the car is a big milestone. It is nowhere near ready to start up, but it feels good to see such a big part of the car in place.

My 20-year old 3rd assistant builder dropped by today, and we took advantage of some beautiful weather and 2 hours of annual leave to drop in the motor.

As for the wheels, those are not the wheels and tires I bought to use on the car. I picked these up at a salvage yard to use so we could put the motor in. We've been pushing it from one end of the garage to the other just because we can! :-)

ENGINE + TRANSMISSION = ONE LONG WEEKEND!

This weekend we pulled together all of the new parts we purchased to refurbish the clutch. Everything between the engine and the transmission is new: starter, block off plate, pilot bearing, flywheel, clutch plate, pressure plate, release bearing, and clutch fork.

We remounted the old exhaust headers so we could attach the engine hangers. We removed the engine from the engine stand and started adding cutch parts. Except for a hammer-smashed thumb (mine), this went smoothly. Next it was time to lift the 50+ pound transmission and hold it with millimeter precision while pushing it through all of the clutch parts towards the engine. It was as hard as it sounds, but it is done!

We also completed the modifications to the firewall needed to install the air conditioner. I didn't take a picture of it before tearing it back down, but you can see the hole created in the firewall anticipating the re-install once the engine is in.

One last shot of the kit for this week. We continue pulling pieces out of boxes and bolting them on. It's only a matter of time before we run out of boxes! Til next time...

Lots of Little Things This Week

We tackled a ton of little things this week as we draw ever closer to installing the engine. We installed the new air conditioning compressor with its custom bracket. We also installed several replacement wheel studs as the originals were damaged.

The brake master cylinder was installed. We'are awaiting a "final answer" on the proper way to plumb the brake lines before we connect all of the lines. At that point, we'll be able to bleed the brakes! Speaking of brakes, I finally figured out how to attach the flexible rear brake lines. We bought parts for the '93 Mustang that are new, but I needed to figure out how to attach them to the axle itself. We cut the bracket a bit and drilled a hole in the axle bracket; now it looks like it belongs there!

We installed the back of the transmission tunnel cover and fitted the cockpit rear wall.

Our wheels are another week or two away. Otherwise, the only part we're still waiting for is the radiator! We ended the day Sunday fitting and cutting the firewall to accomodate the air conditioning system. This week we have to find some aluminum and figure out how to bend it to create a "bump out" for the firewall.

We are also pursuing a few parts: grippy brake pads since our car won't have power brakes, one last brake line connector, and an intake manifold bolt that I broke weeks ago.

Once the air conditioning systen is installed in the firewall AND we receive the wheels, we can put the engine in the car. The engine install is probably 3 weeks away. Til next time...

Field Research

A well-known engine tuner for kit cars lives about 200 miles away, and Saturday he held an annual "Dyno Day", inviting people to his shop to test their car's performance on a dynamometer. We decided to go, hoping we could get some pictures of the little details of these kits that aren't mentioned in the assembly manual.

What we got was SO MUCH MORE! While the only kit cars on the premises belonged to our host, one of those cars was a real monster. With a V-8 engine fed by two turbochargers AND a supercharger, this car has over 700 horsepower measured at the rear wheels. He painted it the very same colors we plan to use for our Coupe, and my assistant builder got a real treat when he went for a ride in it!

Our host was very generous, providing lunch for all attendees and even a t-shirt. As we talked at lunch, it became obvious why there were no kit cars driven by any of us to the event. It turns out we ALL have cars at home that are partially-built. Hopefully, next year at least some of us will have something finished that we can bring with us.

We did manage to get some work accomplished this week on our Coupe. We added the passenger footbox, found a way to mount the rear brakelines on the axle, and started sorting the dozens of little pieces of aluminum that will round out this car later.

Rollin' Along!

With a nice long weekend, we made some great progress! We have the front suspension mounted. With fully adjustable upper control arms, this is probably the most "race car" part of the car.



On a roll, we grabbed the rear suspension and installed it as well. We did some head scratching while we sorted out what fastener went where. The mix of donor and new parts coupled with a kit that is supposed to work with many model years of donor makes for fasteners that sometimes don't quite fit.


With all four corners on the car, we could mount the wheels and tires and push it around the garage. Problem is, the wheels are still 3 weeks from arriving here.


The work didn't stop there. We mounted the fuel tank and finished running fuel lines to it. We mounted the pedals. We also temporarily mounted some of the aluminum panels removed a few weeks ago so we could drill holes in preparation for riveting it together. We removed the windshield and rear window and cleaned the duct tape goop off of the body.

Next week you should see some aluminum panels mounted back on the car. We're painting the outside of the panels with truck bed liner to give it a tough, matte black finish.

It's interesting how much research we have to do during our "down time" to prepare for the next steps. We look for photographs of other cars that have been built and consult with fellow builders in an online forum. The fourteen year old pushes me to spend time in the garage, so we must be doing something right!