Factory Five's main theme is to not have to reinvent the wheel. Their idea is to retrofit components which have already been designed by others. They build their frames to accept the things that basically make a late model Mustang go, stop and turn. Mustang parts like the engine, transmission, brakes, steering, etc., are all designed to fit into this car.
So with that said, our donor parts are from an '03 Mach 1, which was hit in the right front. We bought our 'donor pallet' from a company in Phoenix Arizona called AMP Performance. Instead of buying a wrecked car and tearing it down, we bought the parts already removed from the car and had them shipped to our house.
12/12/2006 Factory Five Mark III Roadster Delivery Day!
12/20/2006 - Installed the SAI modification.
12/24/2006 - This evening I got the passenger footbox, matching pedals and steering column installed.
1/1/2007 - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT'S 2007! AND WE GOT THE BACKORDERED REAR END SUSPENSION PIECES 12/26/06! So far, the rear end is in and I'm waiting for the tires to be mounted so we can adjust the ride height. Without knowing the clearances with the wheels on, we'll have to wait for that as well. Without that I can't finish running the brake lines. Likewise, we're still waiting for the front lower control arms, so we can't do anything with that either.
1/6/2007 - The rear wheels clear everything, so today we got the tires mounted and balanced. With that done, we were able to get the ride height set and rear end of the car all tightened and torqued down. In these shots you can see the VPM 3 link sway bar and VPM 3 link reinforcement bars.
1/28/2007 - LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE HAVE A ROLLER!
Welp!...the front lower control arms came on Friday the 26th, the car was actually a roller on Saturday evening,
however I wanted to finish getting the brakes bled first. With that, the kids have taken their first ride
in the car...by me rolling back and forth about four feet or so. I would say their ride was rated at
about 1/80 HP. :)
Another development this week: I spoke to Karl Gess at Gess
Motorsports in Chicago IL. They can do body work & paint, as well as complete turnkey cars. I saw the work
they did on Steve Brannan's car from Lake St. Louis...it turned out beautiful. SO...my plan has changed a
little... I have placed my name on Gess Motorsports list for an opening they have at the beginning of April.
So it looks like we'll have a completed Mark III Roadster THIS YEAR! Even MORE reason to get to the Woodward Dream
Cruise in August! :)
2/9/2007 - Got the engine in today! MAN that's a big momo. Welp, the big parts for now are done, and now begins the slow time for me......the wiring. :\ This is the part (at least for me) that I will not SEE quick progress. However, I still expect to feel a high degree of accomplishment....mainly because I HATE WIRING SO MUCH! :) I DID get my wiring harness back from Roger Stine, and man it looks great! Connectors are labeled, wires are the proper length for this car body, etc. I'm hoping to hear the engine start by the end of the month, and the first go-kart ride in March.
4/17/2007 - Okay....so we missed the March go-kart date, BUT!
...I have news!
8/31/07
Through an unfortunate turn, we had the car shipped from Gess Motorsport, Inc. to Wayne Presley.
Wayne does incredible work, and I truely look forward to seeing our car upon completion. I know we'll have an incredble, one
of a kind of machine when it's done. Feel free to check out Wayne's web site.
In fact, I suggest it! Check out the cars he's built!
11/24/2007 - Okay everyone! I know it's been a while since I've sent
an update, so here ya go...
Wayne's making great progress. He'll be picking up the body sometime after Thanksgiving. Since we'll be at Disney the first
week of December, Wayne will most likely deliver the car the second or third week of December. I don't have many pics of
the progress, but here are a few....
I had a chance to meet Wayne and Eric Treves while on vacation...what great guys! ...AND what a great wealth of knowledge Wayne is!
12/10/2007 - ...are you ready? It's not completed yet because we're still waiting for the wheels to be finished and shipped back to Wayne, HOWEVER.....in case you'd like to see a picture of the car in its current state, feel free to take a peek! :D
03/13/2008 - LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!! Are you ready for this!?! Our car is finished! THIS is our Cobra! Wayne also has his dyno dialed in, and he sent us the dyno sheet from that as well. It peaked at 316 RWHP, which translates (assuming a 15% drivetrain loss) to about 371 flywheel horsepower. It looks like delivery day will be 4/3 or 4/4. The State Police inspection is scheduled for 4/11. Then on to the Department of Revenue, for the license and we're on the road with OUR COBRA! Holy cow, I can't believe it!
04/02/2008 - Today is the day Wayne Presley delivered the Cobra! What can I say....just look at the pics. I CAN tell you this though, after seeing the car now in person...these pictures are almost a waste of time. The car looks so much better in person than in these pictures, its almost not worth posting them.
For those of you who'd like to see and hear it move...
You might want to right click this and select "Save Target As...", then remember where you saved it
First Drive! - 6.5 MB
04/10/2008 - Inspection day at the Highway Patrol. And WE PASSED! Here are some pictures of Katy, Rebekah and Joshua's first ride in the Cobra. We also got some action shots pulling in to Mobile for a quick gas stop on the way.