September 9, 1999	First Factory Five visit, met Mark Webber (above) and Dave Smith. Excellent people! I got to drive the factory car powered by a Ford MotorSport 460 crate engine, rated at 560 hp. This car was amazing, just a small tap on the gas would spin the tires, and snap your neck!
October 2, 1999	Traveled to Stuart, Florida to Cobra Auto Parts, and picked up most of our donor parts. Donor engine came from a 1990 Mustang. SN95 rearend wasn't available at the time, so it would have to be shipped later. It was a long day, with 8 hours of driving each way, but, saved about $500 in shipping cost.
October 5, 1999	Ordered engine rebuild kit from Summit Racing Equipment. The kit included .030" over TRW forged pistons, Sealed Power rings, Clevite 77 main and rod bearings, cam bearings, high volume oil pump, Fel-Pro gasket set, freeze plugs, assembly lube and plastigage.
October 11, 1999	Sent engine to machine shop, Russel's Automotive, in Hampton, Ga. Engine is being bored 30 over, cam bearings installed, rods resized, crankshaft polished, and the entire rotating assembly balanced. The flywheel was surface cracked so, it was replaced with a Ford Motorsport piece. ARP rod bolts were requested also.
October 12, 1999	Purchased a 3/4hp bench grinder from Lowes and removed the guards so that it could be used as a buffing wheel. The stock Mustang valve covers, accessory brackets and other misc. parts will be polished over the next few weeks while the engine is at the machine shop.
October 16, 1999	After seeing an ad on the Cobra Forum, we traveled to Cleveland, Alabama to pick up front and rear chrome bumpers, overriders, and sun visor kit. Klay Henderson had purchased his kit from someone nearby, and was not planning to use the parts When leaving for Alabama, the alternator failed on the RX-7 and had to be replaced.
October 28, 1999	Ordered the kit today!!! Kit was ordered with: Front lower control arms, hood hinge kit, windshield wiper kit, black leather interior, chrome roll bar, rear coil over kit, rear control arms with no spring perches, adjustable seat tracks, and body cut-outs. The frame was ordered without the spring supports and without paint. The frame will be powder coated locally after some minor mods. The kit was ordered with a 14" steering wheel since we plan to use power steering.
November 1, 1999	Engine machine work is done. Picked up this afternoon. Engine lower end partially assembled in order to check deck clearance. The compression ratio worked out to 9.9:1 (with 61cc combustion chambers)
November 3, 1999	Bearing clearances were checked with Plastigage. Rod bearing clearance was at the upper allowable limit so rods and crank were returned to the machine shop to be checked. Crank & rods checked OK. The new Clevite rod bearing thickness was measured and found to be at the lower limit so they were exchanged for .001" under (.001" thicker) bearings.
November 5, 1999	Bearing oil clearance rechecked with Plastigage. Everything checks good. Block painted Ford blue.
November 7, 1999	Engine lower end assembled.
November 8, 1999	Built an additional work bench (need more space). Ordered Trick Flow cam, P/N TFS-51402000 Specs. 221/225 duration @ .050" and .499"/.510" lift (w/1.6 rockers)
November 9, 1999	Purchased Comp-Cam double roller Magnum timing chain set P/N 2138. Ordered Crane Cams hydraulic roller lifters P/N CR3653.
November 26, 1999	Bought a 70mm Edelbrock throttle body, 70mm EGR spacer, idle air control valve and TPS on E-Bay
November 29, 1999	Still polishing donor engine aluminum. This little job is taking a lot longer than expected, but the parts do look great.
November 30, 1999	Ordered Autometer Phantomtm Speedometer, Tachometer, Oil pressure, Oil temp., Water temp, Volts, and Fuel level gauges from CarParts.com after receiving 33% off coupon. Total price w/shipping $245.59.
December 7, 1999	Received Water Temp, Voltmeter and Oil Pressure gauges.
December 11, 1999	Found some 24# injectors on eBay with very low time on them. Won the bid for $120 +shipping
December 12, 1999	Installed camshaft and checked with degree wheel. Timing chain installed. Installed new roller lifters. Installed timing cover.
December 13, 1999	Received new Trick Flow heads (P/N) TFS-51400002) from Hawaii Racing. Very nice! Made an adjustable pushrod from an old pushrod to check required pushrod length and piston to valve clearance. Still need some new roller rockers so that I can make the checks and install the heads.
December 16, 1999	Received speedometer, tach, oil temp and fuel gauges.
December 23, 1999	Received new Crane roller rockers from R& E Racing.
January 1, 2000	Checked valve to piston clearance by using modeling clay placed on top of the piston and rotating the crankshaft through a couple of cycles. I measured .130" & .160" intake and exhaust respectively. Trick Flow recommends at least .080" & .100" minimum. I'm well within limits and could even use 1.7:1 rocker arms without clearance problems. (Photo)
January 4, 2000	Received Motorsport pushrods P/N M-6565-L312 from Barrnet Racing in Atlanta. These pushrods are hardened for use with guideplates and are 6.804" in length. Trick Flow recommends pushrods .500" longer than the stock 6.25" pushrods so these are .054" longer than recommended so the rocker arm geometry was checked. The rocker arm pivot center is 1.150" above the guideplate surface which is exactly as recommended.
January 8, 2000	Heads are installed and valves adjusted.
January 10, 2000	Polished the 70mm Edelbrock throttle body and EGR plate.
January 12, 2000	Received a used Trick Flow Street intake manifold that was advertised on the Cobra Forum. The manifold was used for only about 6 months and is in nice condition with only minor cleaning required. (Thanks Gary)
January 19, 2000	Drove to Factory Five Racing (Wareham, Mass) to pick up the car kit.
January 22, 2000	Picked up my kit! Everything was available at pickup time except the 4 into 4 headers (which I decided to get about a week ago) and the rear upper and lower control arms.
January 26, 2000	Received Fel-Pro intake gasket set (P/N 1250) from Summit Racing. The standard gaskets that came with the overhaul kit were to small for the intake ports on the Trick Flow heads. Also got a set of ARP flywheel bolts.
January 27, 2000	Installed the intake manifold. The gaskets were contact cemented to the heads and then trimmed to match the port shape exactly. Alignment between the Trick Flow heads and intake manifold is very good.
January 31, 2000	Built a body buck to support the body while the chassis is being assembled.
February 1, 2000	Received and installed Auto Specialties underdrive pulley set (P/N 620125) that was ordered from Internet Racers Supply.
February 3, 2000	Picked up some parts from John Bleakly Ford in Lithia Springs, GA including: 'King Cobra' clutch kit P/N M7560C302, AC eliminator kit P/N M8511A50, Bellhousing clutch fork shield P/N E6ZZ7513A, Pressure plate bolts P/N N602549S51M, Transmission shifter seal P/N F4ZZ7277C, and the fuel tank seal where the fill tube enters the tank P/N F4ZZ9072A.
February 7, 2000	The body was removed from the chassis and placed on the body buck. All sheetmetal panels were removed and the frame partially sanded.
February 11, 2000	Sanding completed and bare spots touched up. The frame was painted metallic silver using a synthetic enamel with a urethane hardener added. It took about 2 hours to do each coat.
February 12, 2000	Purchased 1987 Lincoln Mark VII disk brake rotors and 73mm calipers. The parts fit perfectly and installation of the front suspension is nearly complete along with some sheetmetal panels.
February 14, 2000	Ordered a hydraulic rivet gun from Harbor Freight Tools. Installed battery tray.
February 17, 2000	Removed quad-shock brackets and installed rearend to check clearances and to determine the new location for the quad-shock brackets.
February 21, 2000	Installed fuel tank and 190lph in tank pump from Excessive Motorsports. Ordered clutch quadrant and adjustable cable from Pacifica LTD Performance
February 22, 2000	Received 4 into 4 headers from Factory Five Racing. The only parts still on backorder are the rear upper and lower control arms which Factory Five says are being powder coated.
February 24, 2000	Received 3.55 ring, pinion and installation kit from National Drivetrain.
February 25, 2000	Drilled driver side floor panel.
February 26, 2000	Drilled passenger side floor panel.
February 27, 2000	Dropped off rearend at 'Straight Line Performance' in Fayetteville, GA. The rearend will be narrowed 5" and the quad-shock brackets moved inboard about 10". The shorter axles are being made by Moser as there was not enough material to respline the original axles.
February 28, 2000	Received the 75mm Pro-M Bullet MAF from Threshold Performance. Also received Russel Stainless Steel Teflon brake hoses from Summit. Ordered a 12 ton hydraulic press and bearing separator from Harbor Freight to use when setting up the rearend gears.
March 2, 2000	Riveted both floor panels and passenger footbox.
March 3, 2000	Installed fuel lines and remote oil filter. Completed install of power steering rack.
March 5, 2000	Installed Russell braided stainless steel Teflon lined brake flex hoses.
March 6, 2000	Picked up my narrowed rearend and Moser axles. Everything was done correctly and looks great, very nice welds. Straight Line Performance also welded my modified gas pedal and my brake pedal which was shortened 1.5" between the pivot and master cylinder rod attach points.
March 7, 2000	Installed transmission tunnel panels.
March 8, 2000	Installed front brake lines along with an adjustable proportioning valve from Wilwood.
March 9, 2000	Installed brake line to rearend.
March 10, 2000	Rearend was installed to run the brake flex line. The rearend had no brake lines on it so new ones where made and installed along with new caliper flex lines.
March 11, 2000	Lower coilover shock mounts where drilled 1.5" inboard to clear the brake calipers.
March 17, 2000	Test fit steering shaft and installed steering shaft cover.
March 18, 2000	Installed engine and transmission. The clutch arm that I was given with my donor parts was from a late model Mustang and would not fit so a new one was purchased from Ford.
March 19, 2000	Installed Pro-M bullet MAF and mounted with modified factory bracket.
March 21, 2000	Assembled braided stainless fuel hoses and installed. Earls 'Tube-Mate' adapters were used to connect the lines to the fuel rails and steel feed lines.
March 22, 2000	Drilled and fit trunk aluminum panels.
March 23, 2000	Removed unused circuits and installed rear harness and positive battery cable.
March 24, 2000	Installed computer harness. Each harness is being unwrapped, unused circuits removed, plugs rerouted, connectors cleaned, checked and rewrapped. Dropped off the drive shaft at Atlanta Driveline to be shortened, balanced and new universal joints installed.
March 25, 2000	The donor harnesses were supposed to be from a '90' model Mustang. As it turns out the rear harness is from a '93', computer harness is an '89', engine harness is a '90'(yeah), dash and trans harness are from an '87'. What a pain in the butt! Many circuits are wired differently from year to year so all of them have to be modified to conform to the '90' wiring schematic that I purchased from Helms.
March 26, 2000	Trunk panels were cleaned and polished by my helpful wife. She did an excellent job.
March 27, 2000	Mounted ignition coil. Traced each wire one by one from the computer to verify all the connections. Some plugs had to be rewired due to the differences from year to year in the harnesses.
March 28, 2000	Rewired dash harness instrument pod connectors. Gauges and indicator lights work properly now. The instrument pod won't be used in the final build but I needed it to work for now to get the engine running. After the engine is running the harness will be rewire to the Autometer Phantom gauges and all the unused circuits eliminated.
March 29, 2000	Installed the stainless braided lines to the remote oil filter.
March 31, 2000	Installed an adjustable power steering valve and stainless flex lines from Heidts Hot Rod Shop.
April 1, 2000	Installed starter, starter wire, mounted the starter relay and modified the front harness so that it could be neatly routed with most of the wires hidden in the engine bay.
April 2, 2000	Installed ignition wires and started the engine today. WOW! Does this thing sound great. Power steering rack leaks badly and will have to be replaced. (One step forward, one step back)
April 4, 2000	I found that the passenger sidepipe was 1.5" higher than the driver side so the engine frame mounts were modified to tilt the engine 2 degrees to the right. The pipes are even... now the location for the oxygen sensors can be accurately determined.
April 5, 2000	Started removing unused circuits from the dash harness.
April 6, 2000	Hydraulic press arrived from Harbor Freight tools. Assembled the press.
April 8, 2000	Removed rearend and disassembled. Found that my bearing separator was too small to remove the pinion bearing. Have to wait till Monday to get a larger one. Spent the day cleaning, painting and detailing the rearend parts.
April 10, 2000	Picked up a bearing separator from 'Tools & Equipment Warehouse' here in Atlanta. The tool has a 4.5" capacity and worked fine to remove the pinion bearing. Spent the rest of the day adjusting the pinion and carrier shims to get the correct gear tooth contact pattern. The hydraulic press works great.
April 11, 2000	Received dash indicators lights, wiper switch, headlight switch, and ignition switch from Finish Line in Florida. The people at Finish Line are very helpful and my order arrived quickly.
April 12, 2000	Installed rearend, hopefully for the last time.
April 15, 2000	Designed a circuit for a low fuel light.
April 16, 2000	Continuing to trim down the dash wiring harness.
April 17, 2000	Received a VW turn signal switch from JC Whitney. The turn signal lever can be pulled to operate the high beams.
April 19, 2000	Picked up a headlight relay from the VW dealer and figured out how to wire it to the VW turn signal switch.
April 21, 2000	Completed installation of rear brakes and bled the brakes with my wife's help.
April 24, 2000	Installed trunk aluminum panels.
April 28, 2000	Installed new power steering rack, yeah, no leaks. That's the good news. The late model rack and the 87-93 rack have different outer tie rod threads, so mine will have to be replaced.
May 7, 2000	Installed new tie rod ends. Still waiting for a replacement steering hub from Factory Five Racing so that I can get the steering shaft welded and finish the steering assembly.
May 8, 2000	Ordered Compomotive wheels from Motorsport Specialties. 15 x 7.5 front with 5" BS and 15 x 9.5 rear with 4.25"BS. Ordered tires from Tirerack.com. Ordered heater assembly from Vintage Air.
May 11, 2000	Tires arrived today. They B.F. Goodrich TA radials, 275/50/15 rear and 235/60/15 front.
May 17, 2000	The Compomotive wheels arrived today. They were packaged very well and had no shipping damage.
May 20, 2000	Got tires mounted and installed wheels on car. Tire clearance looks good so far but of course the body has not been mounted yet.
May 21, 2000	Finally found a used fan shroud. Installed the electric cooling fan and overflow canister.
May 25, 2000	Continuing to eliminate unused circuits from the dash wiring harness. Drilled the dash and installed the Autometer gauges and Lucas switches. A separate dash harness was made using Molex connectors (ordered from Radio Shack.com) so that the entire dash can be easily unplugged from the car.
June 5, 2000	Spent several days designing and testing some circuits for a six light annunciator panel. The engine is EFI so I decided a 'Check Engine' light should be available. Several other sensors were already installed (Brake, Low Coolant, Low Oil) so these were used. A 'Low Fuel' light and 'Battery' light were added and finally an electronic panel light dimmer circuit was added to the circuit board.
June 6, 2000	The circuit board was designed on the computer and printed out. I used a reversing film to make a negative from the printout and then used the negative as a mask to expose a photosensitive copper clad board. The exposed board was then developed in soda ash and etched in ferric chloride to remove all the copper except for the circuit trace.
June 9, 2000	Made a hinged aluminum panel to mount the fuse block below the pedal box. The panel can swing down when released in order to change/check fuses without laying on your back on the floor.
June 13, 2000	The O2 sensor fittings were welded into the collector area of the sidepipes by 'Atlanta Aviation Repair'. The headers and sidepipes were dropped off at 'Performance Coatings' in Jonesboro, GA for silver ceramic powder coating.
June 16, 2000	Began modifying the heater unit (50615-VUH) that was ordered from VintageAir . The unit was to large to fit behind the dash without hitting the back of the Autometer gauges so the blower was separated from the heater box and mounted in an aluminum box mounted on the engine side of the firewall. The heater box was then modified to supply defroster and heater air that is drawn from the cockpit. Complete pictures are on the Interior page.
June 22, 2000	Picked up the headers and sidepipes from 'Performance Coatings' (770) 478-2775. The parts were polished in some kind of vibrating beads and really look great. The total price seemed pretty reasonable at $345.
June 26, 2000	Made the header collector gaskets from the provided gasket material and installed the headers and sidepipes. The passenger side took about 10 minutes to install. The driver side...about three hours.
July 5, 2000	Completed the installation of the heater box and blower assembly. A few more hours straightening out the wiring harness and the body can be mounted.
July 10, 2000	Ordered some trim pieces from Finish Line they included: roll bar grommet kit, defrost vents, hood & trunk emblems, aluminum vent louvers, bumper grommets , windwing kit and brake vent covers.
July 14, 2000	Parts arrived from Finish Line.
July 17, 2000	Purchased an '86' Mazda RX-7 turn signal switch and turn cancel cam assy. These parts are about $250 from Mazda but , I was able to find them in excellent condition at the local Pull-A-Part for $10.71. The switch is small and installs in the dash rather than on the steering column. The cancel cam is an electronic unit that wires to the switch. I mounted the cancel cam in the foot box just aft of the firewall. The switch also incorporates the dimmer switch.
July 19, 2000	Installed the blinker switch assy. and cancel cam. Pics
July 21, 2000	Got the steering shaft welded and installed.
July 22, 2000	Completed building and testing an electronic radiator fan controller. Pics
July 23, 2000	Mounted the body on the chassis. It's really starting to look like a car!
July 24, 2000	Completed the installation of the interior aluminum. Pic
July 26, 2000	Installed windshield assembly. Installed gas cap assembly. Pic
July 27, 2000	Assembled trunk latch, fit trunk lid and driver's door to body.
August 3, 2000	Installed head lights, brake lights and turn signal lights. Fit roll bar to body.
August 4, 2000	Installed windshield wipers. Pic
August 6, 2000	Installed A/C in the garage - wah-hoo, what a relief !
August 9, 2000	Completed misc. wiring, sidepipe mounts, shifter boot, set approximate alignment and adjusted ride height.
August 11, 2000	First test drive! WOW!! The car drives great. Put 10 miles on the car driving around the neighborhood. Need to provide more clearance around the driver side sidepipe where it exits the body because it is hitting the body.
August 14, 2000	Purchased West Systems Epoxy to bond the hood hinge to the hood and to fill the mold separation lines on the body from Aircraft Spruce & Specialty
August 15, 2000	The hood is fairly flexible so I built a hood frame out of wood to hold the hood in the right shape to match the body contours while it was being worked. Pic
August 16, 2000	Spent several hours adjusting (beating, pounding, twisting, swearing, etc.) the hood hinge frame so that it would lay flat on the inside of the hood.
August 17, 2000	Bonded the hood hinge frame to the hood. Pic
August 21, 2000	Continuing to fill and sand the inside of the hood. Pic
August 28, 2000	Completed the inside of the hood.
August 30, 2000	Cut out glove box door, made hinges and inner side panels. Pic
August 31, 2000	Installed 68-73 VW glove compartment latch and made bottom panel for the glove box.
September 1 ,2000	Received Sony Explod ES M750 stereo receiver from Crutchfield.
September 3 ,2000	Made defroster ducts. Fiberglass cloth was laid over polyurethane foam that was cut to shape and then epoxy resin was applied to the cloth. Pic
September 4 ,2000	Began installation of the hood hinge and hood lift cylinders.
September 6 ,2000	Ground down all the body mold lines and covered with straight 105/205 epoxy.
September 7 ,2000	Sanded the filled body lines with #80 paper on a long body file.
September 10 ,2000	Completed installation of the hood hinge and hood lift cylinders. Reinstalled and aligned the doors. The outer surface of the doors was somewhat concave so filler was used to re-contour them.
September 11 ,2000	Applied the second coat of epoxy to all the body mold lines. The epoxy was mixed with 410 microlight fairing filler this time.
September 12 ,2000	Sand body.
September 13 ,2000	Applied the third layer of epoxy to the body mold lines.
September 14 ,2000	More sanding.
September 17 ,2000	Built an enclosure for the air compressor so I wouldn't blow up the garage when I was painting.
September 21 ,2000	Disassembled the body and removed it from the chassis.
September 25 ,2000	Completed the center console assembly and covered with leather. Pic
September 27 ,2000	Filled and sanded the trunklid inside. Pic
September 28 ,2000	More filling and sanding. Figured out how to tell when you're done filling and sanding: When you can't stand to look at the piece any longer... you're almost half done.
September 29 ,2000	...more of the same.
September 30 ,2000	Made defroster cutouts and installed defroster vents and ducts. Pic
October 1 ,2000	Cleaned out the garage in preparation for spraying the primer.
October 2 ,2000	Applied FeatherFill polyester primer to body. Pic
October 4 ,2000	Completed glove box interior panels.
October 5 ,2000	Finished covering center console. Pic
October 5 ,2000	Installed the radio antenna and made a defroster duct for the driver's side.
October 8 ,2000	Applied a light dusting of black lacquer to the body to use as a guide coat and block sanded the body and body panels.
October 9 ,2000	Completed sanding the body.
October 10 ,2000	Applied 2nd coat of primer to the body and panels. EP-2 catalyzed chromate epoxy primer was used this time. The primer is supposed to remain flexible and have excellent adhesion when used over fiberglass. The primer shoots very well when reduced 15%. Pic
October 13 ,2000	Wrapped and secured wires in the driver footbox and dash area. Installed footbox cover.
October 15 ,2000	Wet sand primer.
October 16 ,2000	Applied EP-2 primer to any thin or sand through areas.
October 18 ,2000	Installed stereo and rear speakers. Pic
October 19 ,2000	Covered the dash with leather and installed. Pic
October 21 ,2000	Finished sanding the body...again.
October 23 ,2000	Painted the stripes on the body: 2 coats of KS-10 white sealer primer, 3 coats SG-26 Shimrin white base coat, 3 coats of PC-5 Prism Pearl Blue and 2 coats SG-100 intercoat clear. Pic
October 24 ,2000	Color sanding (500 wet) the intercoat clear in preparation for the main body color.
October 27 ,2000	Applied the main body color: 2 coats of KS-11 black sealer primer, 3 coats of SG-11 Marine blue, 4 coats of KBC-5 Cobalt blue Kandy, and 3 coats of UC-35 clear coat. Pics
October 29 ,2000	Color sanding body with 500 wet to level the stripes. When this is complete the body will be sprayed with 2 coats of flow clear and then micro-sanded and polished.
November 3, 2000	Sprayed body with flow-clear.
Nov. 4-10, 2000	Sanded body with 1500, then 2000 then buffed with 3M Perfect-It III Rubbing Compound on a foam pad then finished with 3M Perfect-It Foam Polishing Pad Glaze. Pics
November 11, 2000	Installed body on frame. With the help of 3 friends, my wife said it took 7 minutes to install.
November 12, 2000	Installed windshield, front and rear bumpers and body hold down bolts and radiator inlet aluminum. Pics
November 13, 2000	Installed rear splash guards and tail lights. Obtained insurance and registered the car at the DMV.
November 14, 2000	Installed side louvers, front splash guards and the remaining lights. Pics
November 15, 2000	Installed the trunk lid, trunk lid lift cylinders and license plate light. Pic
November 16, 2000	Installed roll bar and roll bar grommets. Worked on carpet. Pic
November 17, 2000	Helped my wife complete the carpeting. Installed badges. Took long beer break!
November 18, 2000	Installed hood, hood hinge and hood latches.
November 20, 2000	Installed the doors and door latches, seatbelts and seats. Took the car for it's first legal test drive at about 9pm. It was about 35 degrees, but my wife and I still drove 30 miles. Yah-hoo!
November 21, 2000	The car is basically finished, only a few small items remain such as the sun-visors, windwings (the supplied attaching hardware doesn't fit the windshield), seatbelt bezels for the shoulder harness (I need to finish making them) and weather stripping for the hood, trunk and doors (which hasn't arrived yet).
November 22, 2000	Installed the wind wings. I picked up some stainless steel allen head bolts and cap nuts from the hardware store and mounted the wind wings by drilling the trailing edge of the chrome windshield frame.
November 24, 2000	Completed the seatbelt bezels, polished and installed along with the shoulder harnesses.
November 27, 2000	Took some photos of the completed car. The photos are higher resolution so they will take a little time to load. Pic1, Pic2, Pic3, Pic4