11/27-29/09 Drill Holes, Drill Holes, Drill Holes.

There are tons of holes to drill. I started in the on the rear panels and trunk floor. I then moved to the cab of the car. I did the back panel and all the attached rear panels.

I am trying to get all the holes drilled in all the panels that I can before taking all the panels to the Lone Star for powder coating. I stopped at Lone Star on Tuesday and looked at color options. I am thinking either Chrome or Anonized Aluminum. I think it would be cool to have the panels the color of the car but I haven't totally commited to the colors. I am leaning towards navy and orange.

11/24/09 Another Trip to Kotzur Racing

I stopped by Kotzur Racing today as I was in San Antonio. I took Matt Kotzur the rear end so that he could have the gears changed over to 3:55. I am going to have the rear end powder coated gloss black to match the frame.

The engine work is coming along. Matt had the heads ported and polished and were getting ready to be reassembled. The other parts for the engine are being assembled. Trick Flow cam, Melling high volume racing oil pump, Motorsport roller lifters, Speed Pro pistongs, etc. Matt felt like the engine parts would be ready after Thanksgiving. I will have to look at my schedule to make sure I get back into San Antonio next week.

I need to get with Tom Crowther at Crowther Racing to see what his schedule is like. He is going to help my rebuild the engine. Tearing down was fun. I hope assembling it will be cool too!

11/23/09 Drill Firewall Holes and Assemble Passenger Footbox

I spent about an hour drilling the holes for the firewall and assembling the passenger footbox.

11/21/09 Start Assembly of 3-Link Rear End, Assemble Drivers Footbox

I started to get all the parts for the 3-Link rear end together today. I am missing the coil b springs for the coil over Koni's. Another item on back order.

I assembled the drivers footbox and started drilling the holes needed for mounting to the frame. I am undecided as to what I am going to do with all the aluminum panels. I an thinking powder coating but what color?

11/18/09 Drilled Holes in Front F-Panels

I started drilling the many holes that will be needed to rivet all the aluminum panels to the frame. Only had a few minutes to work on the car today so I spent 30 minutes getting this done.

11/15/09 Disassemble Rear End

I started to disassemble the rear end. I need to reverse the brake backing plates so that the brake calipers on the front of the axle. I determined based on markings on the differential that I have 2:73 gears. I am going to take the rear end in to have the gears changed to 3:55. I am also going to have the rear rotors turned and get new brake shoes.

I am working on determining what parts I will need to get the brake lines run.

11/14/09 Donor Parts and Front End

I dissassembled the front spindles from the donor. I am going to take the rotors to be turned and get new brake pads.

Installed the coil over shocks, lower control arms and upper control arms. Everything is set in loose as I still do not have the upper ball joints. I do not want to install anything final until all the parts are assembled.

I reversed the upper control arms so that they are the same on both sides as suggested at the Build School.

I also installed the transmission brace to the frame.

11/13/09 Assemble Front Coil Overs

Spent about 1/2 hour today assembling the front coil over shocks and gathering the lower control arms and upper arms.

11/11-12/09 Inventory Parts and Wipe Down Frame

I had not finished the inventory of all the boxes and it was recommended that be done at the Build School. So I sent the evenings of the 11th and 12th finishing opening all the boxes and checking off all the parts. I also consolidated some of the boxes to free up some space. Getting organized for the build is important.

The frame had lots of water spots on it from transporting it home in the rain. I wiped down the frame to remove all the water spots and road grime. Looking good.

11/09/09 Pickup Frame from Powder Coaters

I went to Lone Star Powder Coating first thing Monday morning to pickup the frame. It turn out excellent. I will unload it in the evening with a little help from some friends.

11/6-8/09 FFR Build School

What a great experience. We spent 3 days putting together a FFR kit. Jim and Charles, the instructors, are a wealth of information and helpful building ideas. I took tons of pix and videos to help we refer back to during my build. I recommend the experience for anyone considering a build.

10/18/09-11/5/09 Clean Donor Parts and remove aluminum panels

I spent the next two weeks working on cleaning up the donor parts. I also removed the aluminum panels from the frame. I ordered the frame bare metal and was going to look at options for paint of powder coat. I dropped the frame off at Lone Star Powder Coating in San Antonio before flying out to Detroit from Build School. Lone Star did a fabulous job powder coating the frame and price was right. I also have the engine totally torn down and I am using Kotzur Racing in the San Antonio to do the machine work. Matt Kotzur knows FFR kits and is helping with the specs for the engine I want. Off to build school.

10/17/09 FFR Kit arrives

I spent the morning working on clearing out space in the shop for the kit. I was trying to get all the donor parts organized and stored. Kit arrived around 11am. I helped the Stewart Transport driver unload the kit. It was about 15 boxes and the body and frame assembly. A couple of friends came over in the afternoon and helped me lift the body off the frame and store it on the body buck.

10/6/09 Donor Parts Arrive

Ordered a donor Mustang from Cypress Auto Salvage. Mike has been real helpful. Ended up with a 95 Mustang with about 95k miles. Doesn't look like a whole car.