Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Yeah, that's where I was figuring I would have to put my oil cooler. It doesn't face the right way there to get air directly through it. That was my worry. Looks like they compensated for that with a fan.
Bird's FFR Coupe-R Build Thread
- Thread starter Doug Smith
- Start date
I have 4 corner scales if you want to load balance the coupe.
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Thank you for the offer. Dad had a set that I inherited when he passed away so I'm set on those...
In other news, the PDM and Digital Dash arrived the other day. Also got a keypad and dual oil temp and pressure sensor for it. This should really clean up all of that wiring. Unfortunately I'm going to be out of town this weekend. I'm dying to work on it some more. So probably the following weekend before I get another update out.
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Forgot to add. I also ordered aluminum tube and a tubing beader to make the top water hose we were talking about. I found a guy that sells them but for the price of his I could buy the tube and a new tool and make it myself.
Ok, now I'm really interested!
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Ok, was out of town a couple of weekends ago. Had to go out of town for work last Sunday but I got a little work done on Saturday...
First, I bought a $45 tubing beader on Amazon so I could make a coolant tube to connect the Ford hose from the water pump to the one on the radiator...
And it worked pretty well...
Got it installed...
The I started mocking up the location for the coolant expansion tank. I bought the one from the 11-14 Mustang thinking it looked like it was smaller. What I didn't realize is that I think the neck on it only fits the Ford 16psi cap instead of the 21psi cap. I think it will be ok with a 16psi cap as the boiling point for the coolant is still really high. But I'm researching that a bit to make sure...
Hopefully when I get home I can finish plumbing the cooling system and get started on the wiring.
First, I bought a $45 tubing beader on Amazon so I could make a coolant tube to connect the Ford hose from the water pump to the one on the radiator...
And it worked pretty well...
Got it installed...
The I started mocking up the location for the coolant expansion tank. I bought the one from the 11-14 Mustang thinking it looked like it was smaller. What I didn't realize is that I think the neck on it only fits the Ford 16psi cap instead of the 21psi cap. I think it will be ok with a 16psi cap as the boiling point for the coolant is still really high. But I'm researching that a bit to make sure...
Hopefully when I get home I can finish plumbing the cooling system and get started on the wiring.
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Ok, a little more progress last weekend. I wasn't so sure about using the older coolant reservoir tank so I ordered one for the Gen 3 Coyote. I actually liked the way it fit better. And it was built to accept a 21lb cap instead of a 16lb cap. I doubt the difference in pressure would matter much for me but I think it works out anyway. I got the tank bolted to the frame in a spot that I think is pretty good. It just clears the coolant hose to the front of the engine. Sorry, I didn't do a great job with the pictures this time.
I sourced some more rubber hose and plumbed the vent/overflow lines and the filler line. All in all pretty straightforward. I purchased a OEM overflow line for a S550 Mustang to use. It has a check valve in it to make sure the coolant only flows one way out the vent at the top of the radiator. That hose wasn't long enough so I put a brass joiner in it for now. At some point, I might just buy a check valve and make my own hose to clean it up. But I'll go with this for now to get to a point where I can get it started. Just need to attach the vent/overflow hose to the side so it doesn't flop around.
I sourced some more rubber hose and plumbed the vent/overflow lines and the filler line. All in all pretty straightforward. I purchased a OEM overflow line for a S550 Mustang to use. It has a check valve in it to make sure the coolant only flows one way out the vent at the top of the radiator. That hose wasn't long enough so I put a brass joiner in it for now. At some point, I might just buy a check valve and make my own hose to clean it up. But I'll go with this for now to get to a point where I can get it started. Just need to attach the vent/overflow hose to the side so it doesn't flop around.
I do enjoy watching this build!
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Ok, so I went to start on the heater. Went to go get it and can't find it. Looked in my notes and I show that I never received one. I figured I'd call Factory Five and see if they would ship me another one. Thought it might be a long shot since it has been years but I figured this probably happens a lot (cars taking many years to build) so they'd be used to it. Called them up. Travis said he'd look at their records and get back to me. A couple of weeks go by and nothing. So I called again. Travis went and looked through the records this time in the same day. He called back and said they think they shipped one to me. I know I never received it because I was very thorough about inventorying parts when I received them. Anyway, they said they would give me a good deal on another one. I thanked him for his time and said I was going to look into other options. The heater they use is pretty big and looks like it is a tight fit. In researching it, there's very little in the world available (that I could find) for smaller heaters. The thinking is that I just need it to be road legal and do some de-misting. So something small should fit the bill if it exists. The only one I could find was this, which is sold by T7 Design in the UK (and by some randos on eBay).
Small and lightweight. So I'm going to give this a try... Ordered it and it got here surprisingly fast considering it had to come here from Europe. This thing is small. Also very simple. It has that heat exchanger on top. Inside there's what looks like an industrial computer fan. Connect it to coolant lines and power and hopefully it will be that easy. So I also ordered an electric coolant bypass valve so I can block off water going to it when it isn't in use. Got that as well. So now on to get them installed. My son came to visit from Illinois. While he was here, I put some of his mechanical engineering education to use and we figured out where to install both parts. I then had him design the needed standoffs and mounts and we 3D printed both. We mounted the heater up high in the passenger footwell. There was plenty of room there and I figured I should leave as much room behind the dash as possible for electronics, wiring and defroster ducting. Not a great picture but here it is mounted in the car.
Then I cut some heater hose and ran those to the heater bypass valve. It is going to be mounted to the frame on the passenger side at the front of the engine. The heater-side hoses will then run through the frame down to the front of the passenger footwell. They are going to have hot coolant in them so passing over the header shouldn't be an issue.
And here's a closer-up picture of the mount we 3D printed for it. We printed it with PLA for now for the test. But for the final version I'll go back and print another one in ABS and make sure it is good and strong.
You can also see in these pictures that I had to move the coolant tank below the frame tube. The air intake was hitting one of the barbs when it was mounted above the tube. It barely clears everything (pulleys, etc) like that. But it does. I'm going to leave it like that for now. But I think I can make adjustments to the air intake so I can get it mounted back on top of the frame like before. Off to start working on connecting the heater. More to come...
Small and lightweight. So I'm going to give this a try... Ordered it and it got here surprisingly fast considering it had to come here from Europe. This thing is small. Also very simple. It has that heat exchanger on top. Inside there's what looks like an industrial computer fan. Connect it to coolant lines and power and hopefully it will be that easy. So I also ordered an electric coolant bypass valve so I can block off water going to it when it isn't in use. Got that as well. So now on to get them installed. My son came to visit from Illinois. While he was here, I put some of his mechanical engineering education to use and we figured out where to install both parts. I then had him design the needed standoffs and mounts and we 3D printed both. We mounted the heater up high in the passenger footwell. There was plenty of room there and I figured I should leave as much room behind the dash as possible for electronics, wiring and defroster ducting. Not a great picture but here it is mounted in the car.
Then I cut some heater hose and ran those to the heater bypass valve. It is going to be mounted to the frame on the passenger side at the front of the engine. The heater-side hoses will then run through the frame down to the front of the passenger footwell. They are going to have hot coolant in them so passing over the header shouldn't be an issue.
And here's a closer-up picture of the mount we 3D printed for it. We printed it with PLA for now for the test. But for the final version I'll go back and print another one in ABS and make sure it is good and strong.
You can also see in these pictures that I had to move the coolant tank below the frame tube. The air intake was hitting one of the barbs when it was mounted above the tube. It barely clears everything (pulleys, etc) like that. But it does. I'm going to leave it like that for now. But I think I can make adjustments to the air intake so I can get it mounted back on top of the frame like before. Off to start working on connecting the heater. More to come...
Attachments
Thanks for the photos and update... cant wait to see this beast at Summit Pint
Is he drinking his wine in pints now?
Anyone else want to jump in here? I can take the abuse...
The pints make the abuse easier?Anyone else want to jump in here? I can take the abuse...
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Ok, small update. Installed the pass throughs for the coolant to get to the heater that I mentioned in the last update. Rivet holes drilled for the sheet metal above it (held in place with Cleko for now). Have put a battery on the table in my office and I'm starting to bench test the electrical. Got the Guard Dawg wireless ignition hooked up. It recognizes the key fob but it doesn't look like it is turning on the accessory circuit or the ignition yet. Gotta figure that out. More to come.
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Ok, got a little time today to work on getting the electronics figured out. I setup a pretty ugly bench test to setup the Digital Guard Dog keyless ignition and the PDM32 and display. Got it all wired up and booted up. All connected to the PC for configuration as well. I need to get hold of AIM next to find out the best way to wire up the keypad and the GPS. They both use the same 5 pin binder connector to the CAN BUS. But I only have one connector. So I need to see if there's a splitter available or if I just need to get a second one and wire them both into the same CAN pins on the PDM. Anyway, the dash looks good. Lots of work to do to figure out how to program everything. That will take a little time. But now I know how to basically get it going. I'm going to test wire up one component, probably the coolant bypass, to figure out how to do programming. Then I'll take it all out to the car and start doing the wiring. Note that after I took this picture, I did figure out how to configure the display. I was able to change the speedometer to mph and set the first number in the middle to the battery voltage. The configurability is pretty cool. I should be able to shift lights and all kinds of cool stuff based on various events.
Doug Smith
Contributing Member
Ok, went out in the garage and finished the cooling system (at least until I find something that I don't like about it or that it interferes with 
). 3D printed a mount for the electric coolant bypass valve. Got that mounted to the frame and ran hoses from the engine to it and from it to the fire wall. At the firewall I have 5/8 to 1/2 adapters that then go to the heater I bought for it that I mentioned earlier. Here's some pictures. Now on to start poking holes in the firewall to run the wire harness through start the task of connecting it to the PDM. Here's a couple of pictures of wrapping up the cooling system.
I was able to snake the hoses from the coolant bypass valve through the frame down to the firewall.
Really tough to get the 1/2" hoses in there. Hopefully they aren't kinked too much. If I find that they are I'll make them longer with a loop. I just really wanted to try to not have to do that if I could help it.
A picture of the heater from the side. The heater has 4 vent outlets. The blue things you see there are caps. I'm only going to use two on the other side that will run up to the defroster.
). 3D printed a mount for the electric coolant bypass valve. Got that mounted to the frame and ran hoses from the engine to it and from it to the fire wall. At the firewall I have 5/8 to 1/2 adapters that then go to the heater I bought for it that I mentioned earlier. Here's some pictures. Now on to start poking holes in the firewall to run the wire harness through start the task of connecting it to the PDM. Here's a couple of pictures of wrapping up the cooling system.I was able to snake the hoses from the coolant bypass valve through the frame down to the firewall.
Really tough to get the 1/2" hoses in there. Hopefully they aren't kinked too much. If I find that they are I'll make them longer with a loop. I just really wanted to try to not have to do that if I could help it.
A picture of the heater from the side. The heater has 4 vent outlets. The blue things you see there are caps. I'm only going to use two on the other side that will run up to the defroster.
It looks like you could use a couple of molded hoses for those internal s- bends. I poked around very briefly on ebay and Amazon and Summit and saw some hopeful candidates. You could even cut them out of a longer hose that has both appropriate pieces in it.Ok, went out in the garage and finished the cooling system (at least until I find something that I don't like about it or that it interferes with
I was able to snake the hoses from the coolant bypass valve through the frame down to the firewall.
View attachment 5074
Really tough to get the 1/2" hoses in there. Hopefully they aren't kinked too much. If I find that they are I'll make them longer with a loop. I just really wanted to try to not have to do that if I could help it.
View attachment 5075
A picture of the heater from the side. The heater has 4 vent outlets. The blue things you see there are caps. I'm only going to use two on the other side that will run up to the defroster.
View attachment 5076
Gary R Luisi
Member
FYI, after 4 years of leaking heater control valve I ditched the switch because the coyote doesn’t have a heater switch in the mustang and the coyote has higher pressure coolant that leaks thru the heater control switch