Editor Mark Houlahan of Mustang & Fords Magazine decided it would be fun to run a series of articles detailing the process of building a Factory Five Roadster. After hundreds of hours of work and I'm sure many scraped knuckles, Mark's roadster was ready for body & paint work. Mark decided to let us take our first shot at a FFR. Check out the pictures below of our progress.

Since Mark lives in Florida and we call Nebraska our home, Mark had his FFR shipped to our buddy Dave Stribling's shop (DVS Restorations) in Crawfordsville, Indiana. A week after arriving in the Hoosier state, we headed out to pick up the FFR. When we arrived, the body, in gel-coat, was resting on the completed, running chassis. Firing up that 427 cubic inch small block for the first time was, with lack of a better word, awesome. Meanwhile down in Florida, Mark was just hoping the car would get strapped down in the trailer with at least a little bit of tread left on the rear tires.

The MKIII Roadster from Factory Five comes equipped with hinges for the trunk. The hinges mount on the outside of the car, making them visible. But, the original Shelby Cobra did not have visible trunk hinges. So, Mark found that Breeze Automotive (www.breezeautomotive.com) made a hidden trunk hinge for his FFR. Mark had the hinges dropped shipped to us and we got on the install.

After making a few key measurements, we drilled some holes and had the hinges mounted on the car. After a couple more measurements, the base plate was mounted to the bottom of the decklid using 3M's panel bond. And now, Mark has a nice clean set of hidden trunk hinges. Now, all we have to do is fix the holes he drilled to mount the old hinges. :)

This first step is very important. In order to remove the release agents from the fiberglass manufacturing process and any dirt or grease from traveling, it is a good idea to scrub the entire body, doors, hood, and decklid with a Comet solution and a Scotch Brite pad. This will prevent you from sanding any chemicals into the body. Doing this will help prevent swelling or shrinking down the road.

Once clean, we could really begin body work. The first thing that had to be done was to grind down the seams created by the molds when all the pieces are put together. Using a grinder, we flattened down the seam. The next step was to remove any gel-coat that found its way between the pieces of glass. This is done to ensure we won't get a shrink line later.

The voids are then filled with 3Ms High Strength Vinyl-ester Repair Filler. This 3M filler is used because its make-up is similar to the body. Because the vinyl-ester filler gets incredibly hard it is not used for final shaping. Rage Gold is then used to reshape the seam areas once all the voids and pinholes are filled.

Factory Five manufactures all their body parts to be about 3/16" oversize. This allows the builder to trim the parts down to their desired gap.

So, we mounted all the panels on the body and began by adjusting them so they were near the middle of their adjustment range. Using a 3/16" drill bit as a guide, we marked the panels for trimming. This technique gave us nice uniform gaps.

On the original Cobra, the aluminum was wrapped around a portion of the frame. This gave the cockpit edges a rounded look. Mark decided he would like his cockpit edges to resemble the original car.

So, we contacted Dave at Worship One Customs to see how he did it. Using a 1" piece of PVC cut in half and some filler, we started creating a rolled edge. The filler was mixed a little "hotter" than necessary to speed the hardening process. Once each section of filler was cured, it was then sanded, and the next section went on.

Even though this process was rather time consuming, it was well worth the effort in the end.

Another modification we made to the roadster was to smooth out the decklid. The mount area for the license plate and light is rather sharp and just doesn't flow with the rest of the car. So we decided to smooth this area out for a much cleaner look.

Another common FFR modification is to the hood scoop, actually the area just under the scoop. The original Cobra had a bolt on hood scoop placed over a hole cut into the hood. Since the FFR hood is molded with the scoop already in place, the hood "ends" at the scoop. So, we extended the hood into the scoop to resemble the look of the original car. Check out the pics, it will make more sense. :)

Please note: the cardboard was only used as a form and was removed once the 3M high strength filler cured.

After we were finally happy with the smoothness and all the contours, we made sure everything was sanded to a 80 grit finish. This is all that was necessary because the next step was to spray-on Spies' spray polyester. Spies' spray poly is a spray-able filler that allows us to make the car as smooth as possible with fewer steps.

We even got to take it out to one our local car shows. The Havelock show is the beginning of September every year. It is put on by the Capital City Ford and Mustang Club and held in the old downtown Havelock district in Lincoln, NE.

Once the spray poly was on, it was time for us to take the body off and apply the Lizard Skin. Lizard Skin is a great ceramic based product that will help prevent the fiberglass from cracking due to rock chips. It also serves as a nice sound deadener and it has the added bonus of being a fire retardant.

The wheel wells received two generous coats first, then the entire underside received two more coats. This should give Mark all the protection he needs when he's just sitting there doing burnouts. Those Nitto 555R's will disappear quickly! :)

A special thanks goes to Lizard Skin owner Bob Call for suppling the Lizard Skin and his advice on the application process.

After the Lizard Skin was sprayed, we mounted the body back on the chassis. We did this so we could block sand the entire car at once. With all the panels mounted and aligned, we started our blocking process with 80 grit sand paper. Once that was done and a few spots were touched up, we guide coated the body again. 180 grit sand paper was used this time to smooth everything and get the body ready for primer.

Once the entire car received three smooth coats of Spies' premium primer/sealer, the final stages of blocking could begin. The entire car was left together for one more stage of block sanding with 220. After this step was complete, the panels were removed and everything was guide-coated again. Then another stage of blocking, this time with 400.

After these stages of blocking and a final check of everything, it was time to seal the body. We used Spies' Vario sealer to ensure a solid foundation for the base and clear to come. Before the Vario fully cured, we "jambed" the body with Ford's Tungsten Gray Metallic.

After sealing and jambing the body, we let it cure overnight. Then next morning, we came back and blocked the sealer with 600. Now, the body is ready for paint.

Since we are putting stripes on the car, we decided to leave the body on the chassis until the stripes are complete. So, now it was time to spray the stripe color (Ford's Satin Silver). Before the color was sprayed, we measured the overall width of the stripes. This measurement let us know how far we needed to spray the stripe color.

Once the base color was fully flashed, we could mount the hood and decklid. After carefully aligning the panels, we were ready to start laying out the stripes.

To ensure that the stripes were centered on the car, we used both simple measuring tools (tape measures, rulers, etc.) and a laser sight. Once the center was found, the rest was just a matter of pulling straight lines at the right dimensions.

The stripes Mark decided he wanted have the 1/4" pin-stripe on the outside of each wide stripe and taper (get wider) as they go back, or foward if you look at them from the rear. This is done to help maintain "straight" looking stripes. If the taper isn't used, the stripes would appear to narrow as the go back.

After staring at the Satin silver for hours and making sure all the fine line tape looked just right, the panels were removed and masking could begin.

Now that all the crucial alignment was done, we took the body off the chassis to finish off this paint job. The car received three beautiful coats of Spies base coat in Ford's Tungsten Gray Metallic. All the panels were sprayed together to ensure that all panels would be the same color. Once the spraying was complete, it was time to unmask those stripes. :)

Now that all the base coat is done, it is time for clear. Since the Tungsten base color was sprayed over the Satin silver everywhere except the stripe area, we have one base color that is "higher" than the other. To make sure no one will ever be able feel the stripes and light doesn't reflect unevenly over the stripes, we will clear the entire car, sand the clear, and then re-clear it. Another added bonus is this will create an incredibly deep, mirror like finish.

After the last of the clear was sprayed, the car and parts were given a day to dry. Then everything was color sanded and polished. These steps help us create a very high quality paint job with a mirror finish.

After all the sanding and polishing was complete, the body was carefully put back on the chassis and all panels were carefully hung on the car.

(* A special thanks goes out to our friends and family: Jon, Bret, and Garet for helping us put the freshly painted body back on the chassis without scratching it. *)

At this point, our portion of the project is complete. All we had to do was get the car to Indiana to meet Reliable Carriers. From there, the car made its way back to Mark in Florida for completion. Mark got the car just a couple of days before the Silver Springs show in Florida. Luckily, he managed to get a couple of days off and got enough done for the car to debut at the show. Good job Mark and we hope you enjoy!