Hi all
I am building Factory Five Racing's newest kitcar into a racecar! I've raced a FFR Challenge car for the past 11 years and this past year I ran into the same problem Carroll Shelby ran back in the mid 60's, aero on the cobra sucks! The class I race in, NASA ST2, I am up against corvettes, BMW's, Mustangs, etc.. and the cobra compared to those other makes really stinks for aero, they have over 10mph on the straights on me. To fix this deficit time to move to a Daytona coupe.
Lucky for me Factory Five has designed a new frame for the Gen3 coupe, and released it at SEMA 2016. It is way stiffer then the old, around 7 times stiffer! The race version - R - is even stiffer with the added bars for safety.
So, here we go. The plan is to build a race car using the running gear from my old cobra (Coyote 5.0L from F150, tremec transmission, and FFR IRS using 2015 mustang spindles/center section) and build it fast! The 2017 race season starts March 24-26, 2017 @ VIR with NASA Mid-Atlantic!
Picked up the kit Dec 30, 2016.
Picked up kit
Mark Dougherty, his sons Brendan and Matty will help me build this racecar, near Hershey PA. I will make the trek down from NH to PA just about every other weekend.
We will do a live stream of the build each build weekend. https://www.youtube.com/user/ffr48/live for the link.
Here is progress from Weekend #1 Dec 31 - Jan 3:
We got the engine in place to check dry sump tank placement, rear end in, rear suspension hung and finger tight, working on front suspension. The boys drilled a bunch of panels already to rivet them eventually. We even put the seat in and I sat in it!! lots of room, I will move the seat up for sure heh
Made a video of the weekend's work with Mark's commentary, and the days livestream spead up 50 times!
That. Is. Awesome.
Thanks for sharing and please continue to tell your story and post picture
Build weekend #2 Friday Jan 13, 2017 – Monday Jan 16, 2017.
Weekend goal = go-cart
Another great build weekend. Cant thank the Doughertys enough for their hospitality and their expert help. Mark and Brendan are great, they know their stuff!
Here are some pics from the weekend
put heat shield on the insides of the footboxes.
Engine/trans installed, installed headers, then noticed some header bolts were stripped! pulled engine back out and helicoiled bad header bolts
2015+ starter much smaller and fits perfectly!
installed Summit heater box (no AC!) in pass top footbox
driveshaft installed
figured out dash layout
3″ wheel spacers. will get hub centric later.
wheel spacers installed and looks great
rear is WIDE!
Mark designing rear wing mount using back of car as whiteboard (or redboard heh)
concept of what we are looking for
our wing mount mocked up
dash coming together. Wanted fuse panel easily accessible so mounted it on the dash. Will have to extend a bunch of wires because default location is above drivers feet. We wrapped the aluminum with carbon fiber vinyl to cut down on the reflection in the window
defrost vents are the only ones that will be connected to heater box, because racecar!
and it runs! idling away, started first try (well after we figured out the fuel pump was temporarily wired incorrectly)
after its first drive
first drive video https://youtu.be/W5CMtlo963Q
Build weekend #3 will be Jan 28-31, 2017! Stay tuned for more live video feed https://www.youtube.com/user/ffr48/live. On Weekend #3’s todo list includes: fit nose fit the doors and make open and close fit inner and outer window nets Fab seat mounts finish wiring, Racepack, cool suit, defrosters, wipers, aux fuel pump, diff cooler transponder
Pictures from build are on my website http://www.johngeorgeracing.com/gallery/index.php?/category/382
3" spacers? Are you worried about undue stress on the lcas and whatnot running them that wide?
In reply to mndsm:
My problem is per NASA ST2 rules to make the math work to get to 8:1 calculated weight/power ratio, I need to run 17x9 and 245/40/17 tires. I have 4 complete sets of this combo. Just a note, the kit was designed for 335 tires in the back.. so have to space out to use what I got. There are a bunch of people running spacers, although not that big, but will get a good quality 3" hub centric spacer for sure. I may drop down to 2.5" spacer, will decide later.
Oh man, this is one of my all-time favorite cars. And it's great that they made so many updates to the platform. You're living the dream, driving one of these in anger. Good luck with the build and it looks like you're in a talented group there.
It seems like with it being a 8.8 you could make new lca and uca to move the hub outward the 3" you need. Widening the track, reducing bending moment on the hub etc...
(You'd also need longer axles). This could actually help or hinder shock placement though. (right now the shock is acting 3" futher inboard than the line of force, moving it out 3" will reduce moment and increase direct action on the hub/wheel).
Just idle thoughts from a desk engineer...
If the car is made for wider wheels with the outer edges at the same point as his are with spacers, doesn't that mean the forces the hub will see will be pretty much in line with what it would have seen with those wider wheels?
center of force on the wider wheel will be closer to the hub face than the center of force on the thinner wheel..
_ _ | _ _ |3"spacer|------|hub|
vs
_ _ _ | _ _ _ |--------|hub|
This forums formatting yet again berkeleying E36 M3 up for no god damn reason. WHYYYY. (I had to seriously spend way more time than should be required to fix this example somewhat, I had enough dashes to represent actual inches in what I typed, forum decided to delete 90% of it and do it's own E36 M3... hub faces should be in line with each other).
Center of action is closer. enough to matter? who knows.
Does that heater require engine coolant, or is it totally electric?
In reply to Gimp:
Yes heater has coolant hoses in the back. Its just a small summit heater.
That's a lot or progress! Keep it up. Meanwhile my Type 65 is sitting in my cold garage grumbling about how it thinks it will never be finished. 
Great build, and amazing how fast you're getting it together!
I love these coupes! 
Build weekend #3 live video stream starts this Saturday Jan 28, 2017 – Tuesday Jan 31, 2017.
link: https://www.youtube.com/user/ffr48/live
Weekend goal:
finish all wiring fit body and doors fit seat fit window net finish exhaust hood hinge assembly fit rear aluminum uprights for wing
dculberson wrote: If the car is made for wider wheels with the outer edges at the same point as his are with spacers, doesn't that mean the forces the hub will see will be pretty much in line with what it would have seen with those wider wheels?
Not exactly, it's the tread centers that matter, but you're right that the wider tires could generate forces similar to this setup if the suspension geometry allows the car to corner on the tire shoulders.
Progress after 10 total days of work on FFR#48 Gen 3 type65 Coupe R build. Starting to look like a racecar!
Another fun packed weekend with the goal to finish wiring, fit body/doors, seat, window net, exhaust, hood hinge, and rear wing uprights. We got most of that list done.
New rear wing uprights look great
Modified gas pedal to shorten it up
Mark cutting out for hood louver install
Nose with all of the aero bits added (hood louvers, splitter, and cannards)
Wiring all done finally. Brendan and I stripped the chassis harness eliminating a bunch of un-needed junctions/unions. Mark worked on getting the roadster exhaust shoe-horned into the coupe, and will get that done next build weekend.
The car looks spectacular! We worked a lot on the hood hinge mechanism retrofitting a BMW E30 hood latch mechanism allowing the nose to pop up 3 inches then hinge open hopefully allowing splitter to clear the ground. Some great engineering done by Mark here. Chris Allen, fellow NASA racer and coupe owner, came by to check out the build and try out the seating position! some enduros may be in order with this beast.
E30 hood hinge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSX3zrnIjNU
Recap videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7k8_jSGoK4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN3BiNCryMc
Pictures from weekend: http://www.johngeorgeracing.com/gallery/index.php?/category/390
Next build weekend Feb 10-13, 2017. Stay tuned for more live streaming. 50 days left till we are on track!!
Mighty fine work. I can't wait to see a video of this car being driven in anger.
Looks awesome! It has come together really quickly so far.
Woah that's cool. I like the modified nose.
How fun! I left the NorthEast yesterday afternoon headed to Marks house to beat the snowmageddon 2017! The northeast is scheduled to get 18" of snow today, the day I was supposed to head down... So, build weekend#4 starts 1 day earlier
Streaming link: https://www.youtube.com/user/ffr48/live
Weekend 4 goals: nose finished doors finished exhaust done aluminum installed
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