Was able to get a lot done today, and was itching to get back into it after a very busy weekend of other things. Looking back on the the session, it was one of those build sessions where you examine the goal and the associated problems/complexities at the outset, and then spend lots of idle minutes really deciding if you want to delve into it. Then, it just starts, and the momentum that follows is intoxicating and is what makes building so much fun.
I started the day with something easy that’s been bothering me for some time. I had been told by many that the inner tie rods needed to be trimmed in order to get enough toe in on the alignment. As I haven’t done my rough alignment yet, it has not been an issue, and up till now I have been under the impression that trimming the rods back was something reserved for the power steering setup (which is what we were told in build school). My good friend Mike R (who is parallel building) was over yesterday and insisted that I needed to trim them back. To illustrate, he had me dial the outer rods in as far as they would go, and it then became clear that there was going to be very little toe in, if any. So, I was cleary wrong. This morning, I disengaged the outer rods from the steering arm and broke out the angle die grinder with a ceramic cutoff wheel to do the honors. 1″ was removed from both sides.
green marks the spot - 1" from the end
Trusty angle die grinder with cutof wheel - havent used it it 6 years and it fired right up!
sparks and dust
garbage
back to normal. Im going to order a replacement nylock from Spruce.
Next, I decided to start preparing the dash. I had done a little work in this area the other day, but I was somewhat mystified by how the dash gets positioned on the dash hoop, as the plans are (as usual) very very vague. Is it supposed to be flush (which would necessitate some trimming)? Is it symmetrical from one side to the other? What is the hole in the top center for? I little poking and posting on the forums helped some, but what I learned (which I think is correct, but am not 100%…) is that the TOP corners of the DASH HOOP (ie, the chassis) sit 3/16″ below the top surface of the DASH ITSELF at the outermost edges (ie, where the hoop ends). This sets the vertical alignment. It should also be noted that the the distance between the top surface of the dash and the hoop varies along its length. I then measured and marked a centerline on the hoop, just for shits and giggles – I wanted to see if the hole in the center top of the dash had ANYTHING do do with ANYTHING.
using a plumb bob to find the center of the hoop. Ultimately not neccesary.
If you assume that the center hole (which Im told on the forums is a reference hole) aligns with the center of the hoop, then the steering column hole would need to be moved WAY over to the left – so much so that it would interfere with the RPM or speed gauge (whatever goes there). Alternatively, if you plan that the horizontal alignment is set by centering the steering column in the hole (which makes a little more sense), then the reference hole is about an inch over to the left in relation to the center of the hoop.
reference hole is offset from center of hoop.
3/16" reference lines to position it vertically.
After figuring this out, I was more comfortable with the holes that I was making for the Russ Thompson turn signal unit. I then went ahead and cut a notch for the turn signal harness and also finished the cutouts for the gauges. I did this according to the plans – with a snips, although I used a dremel to cut rather than bend the tabs off. I used a file to take the nub down so it would be nice and flush with the rest of the circle. The ignition switch hole was a little more pesky, but no big deal.
notch for turn signal wiring
I didnt bend them out as the manual would have you do, instead resorting to the dremel.
bigger holes
Next, I started to take on the wiring for the turn signal. This is a little more complicated than what I had anticipated, but nothing ridiculous. I spent a little time (pondering) on the forums and found that the best resource for this and for the rest of my wiring situation is the mark 3 build site. In particular, the wiring schema for the Russ Thompson signal, the Massflo efi, and the Ron Francis harness is all detailed nicely there. I started with this diagram, which outlines how the turn signal interfaces with the RF harness. The first step was the insertion of a pair of molex connectors between the turn signal apparatus and the wiring harness, something which would enable me to remove it later if necessary. The molex connectors are not weatherproof (in contradistinction to the weatherpack connectors) but they dont need to be as they are interior.
crimping pins
short harness from the molex to the connector block
Completed, with the terminal block.
I then started wiring up the terminal block suggested by the mark 3 build site. I happened to have a bunch of these left over from airplane construction. Dont let any of this get intimidating – there is no big mystery here – just wire it like the schematic This required terminating a small harness from the turn signal (from the molex) in some ring connectors. I didn’t have any crimp-on ring terminals, so I resorted to soldering them with heat shrink protection.
Another moment of pause came as I began pondering removing some of the connectors on the Ron Francis Dash Harness. I was also unsure about one of the unmarked wires in the turn signal bundles. I just grouped it with the wire of the same color, as they were all originally grouped that way. I then mounted the terminal block temporarily and began to consider where to put the relays, and decided on the inside of the firewall; one of them doesnt have a screw-mount, so I will epoxy it into place. Thats it for today..
T block on the big crossmember roughly in the center.
Another view
Making some changes to the Ron Francis Dash harness to allow it to connect to the terminal block.
Temporary placement of the headlight relays and the small T block for the Headlights.
Jon's F5 Roadster Project 
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