March 30
Our trip to Florida went well. We got back Sunday about 2:30 A.M. Steeda confirmed I was having a problem with Fuel Pressure spiking too quickly killing the engine. She now has 379 Rear wheel horse power! What a rush! Can't wait to see what the Cobra will be like!

Sunday we got up and started work again. First we made sure the axles were right, and yes, third time a charm! We installed them, filled the rear end, installed the rear disks and brakes.

As I started the fun job of packing the bearings, Dad was having his own fun with drilling the spindles for the bump steer kit. This proved to be quite difficult and the 20+ dollar bit made it quite expensive. I will take some picts tonight of everything for the next post.

Lastly we installed the battery back in its place. (it was in the way to re-install the rear end cover)

Yesterday and today I have been quite sick, but I am guessing tonight I will be able to take some picts for us.

The Fuel lines are quite simple to start since we will be running the braided to the firewall the leaving some slack for final install. The brake lines will take a bit of work to get going, but they will be done by the end of the weekend if I have to get no sleep this weekend. It looks to be quite a long task and I want to make sure I do it right so we will see if I live up to that previous sentence.

Almost forgot, we could not fit all 4 tires of Dads in my car for the trip up so the one we left behind, it should be here in a day or so. Having all four rims we should be "rolling" shortly.

March 23
Lets see ... The axles will be waiting for us to be picked up when we head back down to Florida Thursday. Our front wheels and New Lower, Front Control arms showed up! They look pretty cool. We started to install one of them when we hit a hitch with the bolt holding the Coil over. We had to file down the coating in the bolt slot to fit it. It is installed in the the picture. Notice the coils have been flipped over. pretty neat.

One note on installing them. Keep the spacers on the top and the bottom ones on the bottom, do not switch them to follow the shock flipping over. It just does not work. Also notice the bump steer kit installed too. It's pretty basic, but it did not follow the instructions, they contradicted them selves, just use your instinct on that one.

As you can see we mounted our old master while we wait for our new one tomorrow. During cleaning I had cracked the lines between the master and Proportion valve. Not too bad a recreation if I say so. Guess who did this? OK, I'm done patting my self on the back!

We closed shop a little early so I could catch up on the Web stuff and pay some bills that have seemed to have slipped my mind. Tomorrow we will finish up the fronts and order our tires. I believe we will go with Nittos, Steeda swears by them as a good combo traction tire. We will probably get them when we go down this weekend and haul them back in the Mustang. We are hoping to leave Saturday so we can get some work done on Sunday.

Things are look quite good, now we wait for some fittings backordered at Summit and some Ford Parts. Most noticeably the Front Right Brake. Apparently it's been back ordered. Once I get the one last hose for the water pump to heater hose, I will mount the A/C bracket and then start mounting the supercharger bracket. Things are looking good. We are quite excited on the visual progress we have made. Me being an electric guy, I can't wait to attack the electrical stuff.  I'll work on a update tomorrow if we make any progress otherwise I guess you won't be hearing from me till Sunday.
 

March 20
Well the new axles showed up. Guess what they were the wrong ones again! These were the correct length, but were too small to fit the gears in the housing. So we are back to square one with that. We decided to put the rear end in, even without the axles. We ended up taking the battery back out so we could fill the rear end easily when we finally got the correct axles. With a collection of 7 people, we were able to get the rear end centered and setup rather quickly. Even after pounding those steel bushings back into the housing very slowly and carefully!

The new Rear coil over shocks are very cool! We had called Factory Five Thursday about the rear coil over shocks to confirm the setup. We were told they no longer use the post straight up like the original shocks so they sent us the replacement side to side mount with new directions for Friday. We had gotten a prerelease Factory Five Manual. but it still does not show the correct install.  We did not install the Quad shocks yet because we believe we are missing the mount to hook it to the frame, if not we are defiantly missing some bolts.

As you can see we drilled the pedal box as described in the manual. We found we had to take a bit out of it so the nut would fit on the end. We will be getting some bolts and nuts tomorrow to fasten the pedal box on. We are not too keen on sheet metal screws holding it in place.

We also attached the Gas tank, very easy. Tomorrow we will mount the pedal box and since we have already drilled the holes we can start our first rivets! Decided to wait until tomorrow so we can crank up the compressor for the rivet gun.

I took a picture of the whole assembly. Notice the assembly! We went and got three furniture dollies and placed them under the crate we got the engine on. Then made a quick mount to support the Transmission. A little crude, but works, we can just roll it where ever it is not in the way.

March 19
Yesterday we worked on cleaning and a bit of engine work, like installed the clutch and all. After that we got the replacement steel bushing holders for the upper control arms, everyone we talked to had not tried to remove them before and had no suggestions. So after destroying the ones we had stuck in, we setup to check the measurements this time before install. Just before we called it a night I put the rear rotors on and tried to install the rear disk brakes. We had exchanged the old ones for some new slotted ones and they had just showed up in the mail the other day. The brakes did not fit! The axles are about 1/4 of an inch too long, so the brakes do not fit on! O.K. no panic, checked it again. Still too long. So we called it a night to think it over.

Today we confirmed my fear, the axles are too long. We brought it to Ford to look at and the guy said they did not fit on right. We were suspicious of this since the aluminum of the axles were out a bit farther then we expected. So a call to Steeda and a few measurements and  the axles were taken back out of the housing. We made arrangements to have the correct ones sent next day, Saturday delivery! I told Steeda we should not have to pay for this since the boxes were labeled incorrectly. They assured me I would not have to pay. They said the manufacture has done this to them several times in the past. So here is a free piece of advise. If you are starting out new. Make sure you measure them to see if they are correct I'll give an exact measurement when they show up.

So while we wait for the axles, we attached the transmission to the Engine. Made me feel pretty good. At least I see something of accomplishment! But tomorrow, when the axles show up, a quick rebuild and install of the axle and we should be back in business. First we will install the rear end, then the tank and maybe start on the front. We are of course doing this backwards because we still do not have the front lower control arms from Factory Five, today's call said they should be shipped Monday. For the time being we may use the donor arms.

More accomplishments: we decided to use the hard steel lines from the kit for the brakes for all the reasons I mentioned the other day. Guess I'd rather be sure of the connections and I feel the stock setup would make me feel safer. Since we need to use the smog pump for the correct belt setup with the super charger, I opened it up and cleaned out everything that slowed it down. I'd be happy to explain what I did if anyone sends me a line. Tomorrow I should have more help around and I hope I can get on of the nice ladies to take some picts for me. Seams every time I think I should take one, I'm way to dirty to even go into the house.

March 17
First evening and we hit a stand still! We were ready to install the rear end and as we raised it to the frame we discovered a very time consuming problem. Stepping back a day, we cleaned out the rubber bushings from the upper control arms. Having a new axle, these were not installed. So last night we pounded them in and installed the arms. Well today we found the lower arms fit in just fine, but the uppers were at least an three inches off. And now, there is no way we can get them out a little further to install them correctly. Tomorrow we will see about replacing them or options on moving them.

Today I went and rented a engine hoist to get the engine off the stand and back onto the crate it came on. This gives me room to install the transmission and with a bunch of furniture dollies underneath, it rolls just as well.

I promise to figure the brake lines tomorrow. The fuel tank is all set for install, just need to wait to install the rear end.

Sorry not too much to say about today. After a quick trip to the Dentist tomorrow morning and return the hoist, we should be on our way!

March 16
Made it back from the trip OK. Very long trip, I hope not to be doing that again before too long!

Cool news, just before we left on Friday, the Rear rims showed up! What a welcome suprise that was. We quickly unwrapped them, checked them out then headed off.

Mean while we have sent off the Axle and steering shaft to be worked on. All the parts for the fuel system are hear now, as well all the parts we need to bolt on the rear end, and tank. Tomorrow I hope to finish putting the in tank pump in, as well attach the upper and lower control arms so that Thursday we can put them on. After that I bet we will put the aluminum back in place and start measuring the fuel lines and such. I think we will by some bulk braided AN4 line for the brakes and get the fittings matched up tomorrow. If we decide it's too much of a hassle, we may  just put the "fake" stuff over the hard lines, but don't tell anyone!

Still don't have too much to show for picts yet. Once we start putting stuff on, photos will start showing up! Well One more day of work and then it won't matter how later I stay up to do this, so until tomorrow!

March 11
Just a quick note before we leave for the weekend. Everything from LaPoint showed up! All the Parts for the Fuel lines Showed Up! Alot of Ford Parts Showed up! And we are leaving! What terrible timing! Oh well, we will be back Monday and we will restart the fun. Have a good weekend All!

March 7
We painted and cleaned parts today. I also finished up the Fuel system. I figured the parts I need and will have them ordered tomorrow. Brake system is just an E-mail away. And the front and rear harnesses are cleaned up.

The next couple of photos are those of the harness the first is the rear harness without all the stuff. The next is the harness without all the stuff not needed. basically I just removed all but the needed wires. I will attach a good ground line and some trailer harnesses for the light hookups once everything is measured and made to look factory New. Tomorrow I will see about sending out the main harness to get stripped, I'm not quite ready to attack that big of project!

 

Next we have the Steering rack, Spindles and Steering shaft. Painted up they look quite nice. I'd have taken a picture of them before, but I really didn't think it would clan up so nice (thought Dad would have said go get a new one). The engine is going together quite nice I think, Still missing a bunch of bolts, hopefully they should be here by tuesday.

To let everyone know, Dad and I will be in Florida next weekend, so do not plan on any updates next weekend.

March 6
Sorry I haven't been updating stuff. Dad was gone all week and I was sick most of it. We got a few parts Friday, all from Ford.

My Dad, My friend Chris and I spent alot of time today working on stuff. Accomplishments, We cleaned and painted the Spindles, steering rack, Foot box, Rear Disks, Dust guards, and a bunch of little parts, too numerous to list. I was able to spend a bit of time getting organized what  parts I would need to get the engine running. I installed the fuel rails, Main Engine Harness, and water pump. I'm still waiting for a several parts from Ford before I can continue the Engine Build up.

While at Ford I found it quite disturbing the amount of Parts Ford no longer makes for a 91 GT. I could not get Water pump pulley bolts, Lower control arm to axle Bolts, the hard line between the rear wheels that meets in the center, and fuel tank strap bolts. Things I could easily go get at a local Hardware store, but that sure sounds stupid to me!

After discussion we have decided to go with the original plan of AN8 /AN6 lines. I have setup the Fuel rails, and are now waiting to order the reset of the parts from Summit, once I've finished the weekend list. Presently the only problem we have is the connection from the Tank to the T-rex and the connection from the AN6 line to the tank. Not too sure how I'm going to set that up, but we will see. The brake lines are still in the works, I keep going back and forth between the Standard hard lines and the braided, I guess my only concern is the ability to connect to the existing brakes we have setup. I will give it a little more of a look tomorrow.

Oh and did I mention new parts from Ford are expensive? Thanks to the Guys at Leesburg Ford who now know me by name and have been nice enough to give me the parts at wholesale, rather then their typical inflated cost. The manager said I've spend too much money to be charged full price. Good thing to remember if you are going the new parts way.

The Costs page is pretty behind these days, I've been trying to wait to see what we keep before I add stuff again. But it will just keep getting bigger, so I will get on it tomorrow.

I promise to take some picts tomorrow before I get all dirty. The only thing we changed, which is kind of funny because it is really the only thing on the car, is take the battery and turn it around so the side post were facing front. We did this so that we could attach the main battery cable to the side for ease of removal of the battery and still use the top mounts for the external posts.

Oh, and we got a call from Factory Five Friday, they said the rear wheels would be shipped Monday and the front a couple days later! I'm happy to hear it, but we will believe it when I see it.