Welcome and About Me

Welcome to my blog. I hope that you find this interesting and useful, especially if you are embarking on the same journey that I am. My name is Jonathan Weiswasser, and I am a Vascular Surgeon living in Montclair, NJ. I have decided to build a Factory Five Roadster (see here) and chronicle the process on this site. I will do my best to provide as much information as I can so as to help others who are involved in the same endeavor.

The mission is to build a classic car for purposes of pleasure driving. I am not a race-car driver nor do I have any interest in becoming one.

Another philosophy of the mission here is that I plan on keeping it very, very simple. I am opting against power windows and brakes, hydraulic clutches, independent rear suspension, and sophisticated electronics, etc. in favor of a simple build. Maybe the next one will be more of an exploration of the aftermarket for some of the fancy mods. On the other hand, little conveniences that add to the aesthetic do appeal to me, like the hood lifting pistons, or side pockets, or turn signal switches that mount to the steering wheel. So, what you will see in the following pages is a synopsis of the construction of a standard, complete kit, Mark IV, Factory Five Roadster.

I am not quite a novice at this sort of thing; I completed construction of a Vans Aircraft RV-8 in 2004, after 2100h of construction over 2.5y (see here). Through that experience, I developed friendships with other builders and one of them, Mr. Mike Witte, came up with idea of building this car. We researched the company and the product throughly and flew in our RV’s to Wareham, MA in late September, 2010 to tour the factory. We ordered our kits during that visit.

As far as particulars, the Roadster is a 1965 Shelby Cobra Replica. The chassis is made of welded tube and the body is vinyl ester fiberglass. I plan on carburated or fuel injected (haven’t decided) Ford 302 350hp engine, using a pre-1973 block (due to NJ state requirements, emission standards are based on the block-year of the engine). I am currently pricing shops to build the engine. The kit comes with everything except the engine, transmission, and the rear end (which I purchased from the Factory as an option).

My previous experience with cars has been limited to changing tires. I am not well versed on the nuances of the automotive engine or systems, and hope to gain a better understanding as I plod through this. Please excuse any mistakes or mis-statements in advance.

This entry was posted on November 8, 2010 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Introduction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Welcome and About Me”

john Says:
March 16, 2012 at 8:45 pm | Reply
I noticed in your build that you used the supplied wilwood master cylinder reservoir. Have you had any problem with these? I’m struggling with a leaker.
- jonweisw Says:
  March 17, 2012 at 10:17 am | Reply
  No problems for the most part.. I did have to give the whole assembly some extra attention for some leaking. Be careful that the metal, circular, worm-type clamp straddles the O-ring washer that sits between the body and the base of the reservoir. Some have advocated using heat to help create a more robust seal – check out the forums on that..
  
  HTH
  
  Jon
Geoff Kent Says:
June 12, 2015 at 7:04 pm | Reply
Thank you very much for this amazing documentary! A fanstatic write up of the build, and I’m sure I will be referring to it lots after I start my own build.

Jon's F5 Roadster Project