Archive for the ‘Roadster’ Tag
Overcast skies and 10 percent chance of rain, after months of drought conditions….
The Pre-Party
A generous tradition started by David Hodgkins. Here is our host at the BBQ, working hard to feed all of the guests. I met one of the Car Warriors builders from the East Coast Team, Mark Stackler.
David Hodgkins, our generous host of the HB Cruise-In Pre-Party
Another guest at the Pre-Party was Scott Merrell of Coupe Connection. He talked about the 8-stack induction system fitted on a Ford Coyote engine. Very interesting, and I may use that engine in my next project car.
The Event
More gray skies, but no mention in the forecast of rain. As usual for me, my focus was to gather as much info about Coupes as possible, so I can apply these ideas into my car project.
Also as usual, I had to look at all the other Factory Five Racing kit cars on display.
I noticed more completed 33 Hot Rods this year and more Coupes.
Highlights of the Day
I met and discussed body and paint with Jeff “Da Bat” Miller in the early morning. He has probably put the final finish on hundreds of Factory Five Racing cars over the years. Da Bat was the Body and Paint expert for the West Coast team on the Car Warriors Factory Five Hot Rod challenge.
I was lucky to meet and hang out with Karen Salvaggio and Jo Coddington as we visited with the builders and the cars on display. Karen and Jo were two members of the five lady team on the “All Girls Build” episode on Power Nation. The other ladies were Nan Gelhard, Cherielynn Westrich and Courtnie Provencher.
Here’s a picture of Karen on the left with Jo on the right. And that’s Sue from Just Get Dirty Garage in the middle. Sally Bean, one of the behind the scenes people from Factory Five, is in the background, making sure things are going as planned…..
Factory Five Racing Ladies
Factory Five Racing president Dave Smith introduces Jo Coddington to the crowd.
Meeting Peter Brock, BRE Racing
Peter Brock, the body designer of the Daytona Coupe, came to Huntington Beach for this event. I have several of Peter’s historical posters on my walls, but I wanted to meet him in person. Peter is a nice guy, and he truly loves the Factory Five Racing version of the famous Ferrari-killer from 1965.
Factory Five Racing president Dave Smith (right) introducing Peter Brock to the Cruise-In crowd. There’s Mark Stackler in the background.
The Fastest Factory Five Racing Coupe in the World
On display was the SoFast Racing Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe. This kit car holds a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Allen Grant was there to sign autographs and display the car.
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The fastest Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe and land speed record holder.
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Watch this in-car video: Ride Along 200+ MPH Coupe at Bonneville
GoPro Videos
I made a few “walk around” videos with my new GoPro Hero 3. The footage is raw and needs some editing. I will post some after I do some editing.
Just as the event was ending, it started to rain. It was only a few minutes, but it managed to get stuff wet. I guess we can call it a California rainstorm. The local weather reports did not report any rainfall….
Here are some more pictures of this great annual event. Someday my Coupe will be there, too!
The lead photo for this entry is Erik Hansen’ electric 818 cockpit. It is in “go kart” stage (a work in-progress), without a body. Click here to read Erik’s Electric 818 build blog.
By the way, Erik Hansen was part of the West Coast Team in the show “Car Warriors” in which a team of West Coast car builders competed against an East Coast team. They had to build a Factory Five ’33 Hot Rod in 48 hours. Amazing. Click here to learn more details about this competition
I spent most of the day at the 7th Annual Factory Five Cruise-In. It was great to see some of the builder/owners from the previous year, and I also met a lot of builders for the first time. I even met several of the Factory Five staff, including Scott “Honey Badger” Bell; Jim Schenck, Director of R and D; Tony Zullo, Tech Manager; and Sally Bean, Marketing at Factory Five, who does a ton of work behind the scenes of these great get-togethers.
Two cars were un-veiled today:
First, an “All-Women 427 Build Team” Factory Five Racing Roadster. The ladies built the car in one week. The build story will be on PowerNation’s “Detroit Muscle” TV in May.
Second, a special, limited edition Hot Rod magazine ’33 Hot Rod. Only 33 of these will be made, and for the first time, Factory Five will be selling the 33 ‘33s as fully-built cars. Two engines will be offered, a monster Ford engine, shown here, and a Chevy engine. I do not recall the details, but I will post them here as an update as soon as I can verify the information.
This year, I planned to gather as much information and pictures on the Type 65 Coupe, since I am always looking for ideas to include in my car. But – with so many beautiful Roadsters on display, I had to look at those closely, too.
Here are some random images from the great car show!
The 7th annual Factory Five Racing Cruise-In and Car show is next week! Come and see finished and almost finished classic cars – each one individually hand-built. The car show starts at 9AM and it is FREE.
Here is a video of what may have been the very last “Moment of Thunder” at the 2012 event. It is a slow pan showing some of the cars on display revving their engines all at once – a tribute to friends who are no longer with us: Roger Stine, Dick Smith, Robert Feddersen, Paul Mastroinni, and Andy Salvaggio.
The Moment of Thunder is much louder in person.
More details are posted on the Official Factory Five Racing website.
I will be there to see how others finished their Type 65 Coupe kits!
After several weeks, it is good to get back to work on the Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe. I finally completed drilling the rivet holes for all cockpit aluminum panels, and added a battery cut-off switch as you can see above.
Here is a hint for builders – there is a fairly large gap in the bottom right corner of the driver’s side floor and the “A” shaped piece that meets the transmission tunnel. I looked at several Coupes and Roadsters and they all have this space. However, by pushing on the A-shaped piece from behind (under the chassis and in the engine bay) – this gap can be closed up nicely. See below. . .
But what about this area, at the rear of the driver’s side door – indicated by a piece of blue masking tape – see that gap? Does something cover this space up or do I need to fabricate a replacement panel? Both sides look the same.
As mentioned in a previous post, I finally decided to mount the external fuel pump under the Factory Five Metal battery box. This is a protected location and is a low point on the chassis.
One problem will be access to the fill and drain holes for the Ford Racing differential. I had to drill out the rivets previously installed and tapped some 1/4-20 holes – this will enable the removal of the battery box when draining and filling the rear end fluid. Not the ideal situation, but I do not see too many alternatives to this arrangement.
My Ford 302 V8 has an MSD Atomic electronic fuel injection system, and I am running both feed and return fuel lines. Here is a picture of the tank end. . .
The fuel line runs from the first filter (right side of the chassis) to the fuel pump, and goes around to the driver side. Then it goes under the rear end to the passenger side of the chassis, where it goes to a second fuel filter mounted under the passenger seat, and finally to the engine.
The same path will be used for the return system. Pretty much standard layout.
Next Build Session
Depending on the weather, I will remove all interior panels and paint the under side with automotive under body paint. It is a rubberized black paint which should deaden some road noise, insulate heat and protect the panels from road debris.
Another item on the next to do list is the wiring harness. Here is a look at the main portion. . .
6TH ANNUAL FACTORY FIVE HUNTINGTON BEACH CRUISE-IN click here
Here’s a short video of last year’s Moment of Thunder – click here
Some images from last year. . . .
The Factory Five Racing Cruise-In at Huntington Beach is expanded to include both Pier Plaza and Main Street this year. On top of all this, a tour of the Riverside Auto Museum and an autocross event is scheduled for Sunday, April 28.
The event is free and open to the public, an entry fee is charged for Factory Five Racing car display space.
Click here for more information on the 2013 event.
Click here for a quick video of last year’s Moment of Thunder.
Here are some random photos from last year’s event. . . .
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