I dig this video bro. I have an Everett Morrison kit that my dad purchased back in 1991. I'm lost trying to find parts but your comment about there's really no instructions was perfect, I figured out a couple weeks ago that there's gonna be a ton of Fab work. I will go to Factory 5 for certain stuff like Windshield frame. I agree with you about keeping it simple, wind wings are gay! Thanks for this video because I now know it can be done...I was actually intimidating till now

Thank you so much for being brave enough to say a 427 is not needed for this car! I 100% agree with you

my recomendations: If you build a car, multiply your estimated money and time need by 2 at least. Think what do you want to use your car most. racing or just driving around the town? Highway trips? This answer a lots of question: do you really need semi slick tyres, stiff suspension, wind wings, EFI or carburetor (nitrous?), manual or automatic transmission... And the most important thing: respect the car, it is light, relatively super-strong, and very dangerous. Snap oversteer, no impact protection etc. Be careful but enjoy the ride of your life :)

Great tips!! I had finally been able to buy my dream car after saving for years. I bought a 2001 Lonestar 66 MKIII that has a longer chassis for us larger guys. That let's me sit lower and have more leg room for my height. The last owner had installed a vintage 302 bored with T5 5 speed with an Edelbrock 4 barrel from an old 1974 Ford Grand Torino from a junk yard to save money I guess, which i upgraded alittle. 👍 The other things I added later was an upgraded fake carbon fiber dash with new guages, glove box, moved the battery cutoff next to the shifter for safety, new fire extinguisher, new trunk mounted chromed battery box, new wiring system, short front throw quick shift, GoodYear billboard style 15 in tires, with cheaper Crager Hallibrand look rims, an MSD box, race jack bumpers, larger radiator and larger fan cuz it was always overheating in the SoCal heat, and meatball and vintage race stickers becuz i love that nostalgic look! 🥰👍 I've owned her for almost 5 yrs now, and love to use her as an everyday driver.🥰 I attend local shows, take my daughters to lunch at our local outdoor malls, and to the gas station here where I live in SoCal. I love how she turns heads everywhere I go! People even ask if they can take a pic with her. I love showing off. I always loved the sound, and the exhaust POP when I'm downshifting... 😜😜🤟🤟 She's the only car i ever truly loved since I was an 8 yr old kid, and is beautiful in the Guardian Blue with 2 white stripes.🥰🥰 Love your videos! Keep 'em comin!👍👍🥰 Cheers to many years of enjoyment! 🥰🥰🙏🏼🙏🏼🤙🤙

"An average guy who built a kit car." It appears you did a damn fine job of it. Even your video looks pro.

You’ve got the look of that absolutely spot on! The wheels and tyres and ride height are perfect!

This is a bucket list build for me! Great info!

I have watched all your videos....they are outstanding! I have a Shell Valley Replica being delivered in late January. I have taken everything you have said to heart. Interesting enough I had planned on a carburetor for my 351 windsor, but now you have me re-thinking the electronic fuel injection........ I really liked your video on wiring as I have never built a car before, but to be headed down the same road as you come January. I'm super excited and thankful for your videos.

Your videos are such a great source for all of us on youtube. I have an edelbrock proflow 2 on an amc 401. Your recommendations are spot on. Never buying a carb again. Your videos on how you set up wiring are great.

Without first seeing your video I “followed” all your recommendations. Ford 302 with Edelbrock Pro-flo 4 EFI, Tremec TKX. I love it and drives in the country or along the coast are magical. Besides building one you can buy one built and upgrade and rebuild without the fabrication tasks. Simple, fun, fast, unique, beautiful - what more

I have over 100,000 miles on mine. Great video, agree with everything you said. Wish I had used screws in a few places. Currently dealing with a faulty clutch switch.

Your filmmaking skills are rivaled only by your mechanic skills which are rivaled only by your taste in cars! Awesome all around!

Your car is stunning, and serves as my inspiration car when I start mine! I really appreciate your honest recommendations, too.

Its been my dream to build one of these, thanks for the advice!

Love how you edit your vids. Great stuff!

Thanks for your video, i agree with everyone of your recommendations,. Ordered my kit last week and looking forward to the experience

Thanks TJ, great video as usual and discussing crucial points. Personally, I think your point about ride height setup / suspension setup was the most important one to consider for me. It makes a huge difference in how you setup ride height and suspension and it matters whether you daily drive or only once in a while, and the most frequent road conditions in your area, and whether you constantly need to park in some public parking lot, etc. We certainly wouldn't push the car in full-send on public roads like we'd do at a racetrack, so extreme race modifications are unnecessary most of the time, and if anything, they can add more discomfort when just cruising. Thank you for these videos and keep up the great content.

Great video - some sound advice in here. I completely agree with the styling/body comments. the shape is beautiful as it is, no need to bling it out.

Awesome advice. Thanks. Always looking for recommendations!

You hit the nail on the head. I agree. 100%!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas on an FFR build.

Recommendations were all great. Thanks, good job.

Great advice. If I were to build one I would follow your advise to the letter.

Thanks for the ideas . Definitely going your route.

This is the first video of yours. I thought your recommendations were spot on. Using the KISS method is perfect for the Cobra replica, or for any car, is the way to go. Put your time and effort into the quality of the build. Thank you for sharing.

Best comments ever. Makes complete sense. I hope to build one and it make sense to make it as user friendly as possible. THANKS.

That was a very crisp and insightful video. Thanks and best wishes.

Great video. These recommendations are solid!

My top 5: #1 - Windsor stroker motor 500HP +. It's the lightest weight motor out there, easy to work on, easy to get parts. Stock Cleveland's ,302's, straight windsor's, 360 truck motors just don't have enough power and torque. (I'd rather have too much than too little.) The Coyote has plenty of power, but it just doesn't sound like a Cobra #2 - 750 or 850 ddbl carburetor depending on where you live. (I'm old school.) #3 - Independent rear suspension. Mine is solid and I regret it. Especially driving hard in the curves like on Tail of the Dragon. #4 - Disc brakes all 4 corners! I had drum on mine - ugggh!. #5 As fat as a tire as you can fit on the rear! Not a race tire, but one down. The more rubber that meets the road the better. They last surprisingly long, due surprisingly well in the turns including wet roads, and they just plain look awesome. just one man's opinion!

Great to see another great video. Great information as always. I’m ordering my kit soon and have your videos pinned. Thank you 👍

U kept your car classy I really enjoyed the video. U can take it to the country club and fit in, Even the opera. My friend always tells me simplicity is the best design, because it never goes out of style he tells me. Fantastic job! 👏

Thanks for the great insight as always joe! Love your videos

100% on point, built one several years ago, went with a ford motorsports 345 hp 302, x-aluminum headsand e-303 cam, naturally aspirated via edelbrock, on a tremec 5-speed.. More power than you will ever use on the street..besides, the car was designed around a small block .

You are so right keep it simple I love the way you did yours. I think it’s the best build I’ve seen it’s the closest to the original.

Great Video Awesome info your Cobra is so clean looking. 👌 cheers

Very cool video and very cool recomendations too. I also enjoyed the "don't re-invent the wheel" approach too which can add a lot more costs to building these kit cars.

I have a ff5 mrk 2 and carb ed it and enjoy the tuning and sound, smell and look of the 302 much better. I put power steering in my car and enjoy driving it in the mountains of Virginia. At 75 , I don’t horse it much but it is a beast and fun to wrench on. You really don’t need 500 hp in something this light to have a joyride in. Buckle up! Paul

Very good points I think as when your building a car like this you want to get right first time and not regret it. Saying to one's self I wish I'd done it this or like that. Love the car.

This was very informative. Thank you very much. Have not decided if I’ll do a cheater or a cobra yet

Love your car and appreciate your opinion on simplicity but would really love to see stripes, if even subdued ones on your car. Would be perfect then, in my opinion. Thanks for the video and suggestions.

Great video. I have been wanting to do one of these for a long time but family needed to come first. They are all grown now so maybe, if I can make some garage space, this might be the time. I saw a Cobra (not an FFR kit) last summer that had a crazy motor in it. Not sure the transmission but the guy had $30k into the motor build alone and he said he had it dyno'd around 550 HP at the wheels. I just don't see how that can be practical, like you said. But different strokes...

I have the Pro-Flo 4 on my 408W MK4 Factory Five cobra. First start on the new setup a few weeks ago. It runs like a top!

Top thanks for this. It's always good to consider everything on paper or in your minds eye before committing to metal. I was hooked on these things 30 years ago when a man called Tony Calvey took me for a "quick spin"... he had a 6.0 V12 in his. It was election day, when I arrived to vote, I ticked the wrong box, drank 4 beers and smoked a pack of cigarettes. It was silly fast.. I need one of these ! The thing is as sexy as they get.

Thank you for your great advice!

Thanks for sharing man.

Thanks for the tips.

Total Awesomeness brother

Great video. Your point about engine selection was right on. I've seen some Cobras with ridiculous motors making well over 500hp, and my thinking was always that's just too much power for such a light car. At 2200-2300lb or so with so little weight on the axle big power will break traction at will, and on a 90" wheelbase car that'll get exciting quickly if it happens on a corner. In the early aughts I helped a friend build his Mk3, and he went the donor route and bought a Mustang GT with a built 5 liter. Far as we know it was making 325hp or so, but that seemed like a good fit for the car. Enough power to make the car fast (and fun) but not so much that it'll break traction at an inopportune time and send you into the weeds backwards. At the limit they're squirrely cars so learning to drive one fast takes time.

I definitely had analysis paralysis when I was building mine last year. I would sit there and think " Once I make this decision I am going down this pathway which will be much harder to reverse later on.... Am I sure I want to do this????" LOL! The FFR Forum was my life jacket during my build. Agree with you regarding street use and color. I am painting mine a solid color with no stripes. 347 carb engine is way more than enough power. I am thinking maybe down the road doing stacked injection.....Way far down the road. One thing I would have changed would have been going from the 3 link to an IRS rear end. Great video!

I’m about halfway through your video but like the look of your Factory Five Cobra by the way and agree with you” keep it simple stupid right? “ I’ve always been a white letter in on the tires but other than that and perhaps a little more comfortable seats. I think he got a really good looking Cobra. Thanks for sharing.

Building one of these is on my lifetime bucket list. I really appreciate you taking the time to share what you've learned. Terrific content. Thanks!

Thank you for the video! it's very encouraging I'm still in the process on my kids I wish I could go to The forum and make use of it but I can't stand the thing it's like the Borg and Star Trek is just amazing I get lost and I don't do anything but sit in front of my computer but this video helped a lot 😁

Tks for the info..i just picted up a factory 5 kit. 2005 mk3 half done .getting it to gocart stage..body work and paint next.

Good advice! Thanks.

Great vid. Beautiful car! I’m jealous.

A friend of mine built one with an old school (1980's) 5.0 with a vortec supercharger. After almost sliding off the road one too many times, he took the thing off and ran a GT40 intake.

Im agree with all these thing said here. Very clever tips, sr. 🤟🏻

I've been in a Cobra which had an Automatic transmission, I thought it was fantastic .

Good video. Some great talking points to consider.

...an average man building a kit car! Yeah right! Sir! This thing is absolutely beautiful! Your less is more interpretation is awesome! Keep it simple is the key (IMO) to these AC’s! I love delete stripe cobras! 👍🇦🇺

Ty Joe

Nice video and build, I am also running Edelbrock PF4 and have been very pleased with it. Also would recommend to anyone building a FFR to go with IRS rear, very good ride with IRS.

I have a factory five Mark 4. It has a Vortech T trim race blower with a 750 Holley blow through carburetor. It has a 14 to 1 air fuel ratio at idle and performs flawlessly. I like the nostalgic look of the Holley carb. And it's easy to tune and work on. I built one of these cars with a Vortech T trim with fuel injection and I'll never go back to fuel injection

Taco Joe, I really like the look of your rims & tires. I have a Factory Five Mk4. Do you mind sharing the type of rims, size and those billboard tires?

Great video!

A beautiful car. I think each individual's preferences should be based upon what they want, recognizing the repercussions. When I built mine, I wanted to utilize the original components with upgrades to improve performance while retaining the original appearance. The top loader close ratio trans was perfect for me. I loved the 427 side-oiler torque. With this engine, the compression ratio determines its character. I've seen ones with 9:1 cr that are like cooking engines. For me, if you want power steering - buy an early Corvette.

This is exactly how I wanted to do mine I wanted to keep it as simple as possible so it’s easy to work on because I’m a technician by trade so I don’t want to spend all day working on it if something breaks.

Nice car, good tips.

Good video, nice prospectives for those just starting out

This video is great and incredibly insightful. Thanks for putting these together. I was wondering your opinion on Pin drive hubs, or adapters to go with the original look/feel, vs sticking with the five lug factory five halibrands? I must say your FF 15"s really look pretty damn close to the originals! Thanks again!

I put a 460 in my MK II build and while it sounded amazing, it was definitely overkill, wish I had used a 351 for handling alone. I also used a Tremec TKO II with a midshift kit, that was something I would do again.

Great points. Thanks!!!

Great advice, make the car what it is going to be, a daily driver. I also agree with having minimal bling. Unless it is going to be a ghetto car. I also think the AC bodies look best in a dark color. It really shows off the corves.

Great points, thank you

Love my FFR MK3, but unlike you I bought mine and it meets all my needs. I drive it everyday it isn’t raining. Has a donor 4.6 EFI 5 speed. I just love the lines of the Cobra, always wanted one so I finally bought one. Thanks for taking the time to do the vid.

I would have had the hood scoop on there it just doesn’t look right with it not being there great video thank you for posting it

Great stuff.

Thanks Joe, I have been doing my own research for the last couple years. I know that what I'm looking for is with a more modern motor and trans. In my past I have had Performance Boats and Street Rods. Im looking for a turn key Cobra 5.0 Coyote, 3 link rear and for transmission I'm still in the air. Thanks

Such a great video - THANKS TacoJoe... actually a comment and a question. I resolved myself just from watching this to acquire a more entry-level fuel injected V8 rather than a beast!!! AND I am wondering how you feel with your standard trans.? My first 3 cars were standard - including an 88 Mustang GT but I'm thinking that driveability and foot box space would be best served by an AOD... but I fear NOT having the iconic "leaned-forward shifter"... any regrets with your standard?

OK, random question, was the acceleration run at 1:12 in Hugo area (or somewhere around there)? I think I recognize that road as one my buddies and I frequently drove back in our high school days.

Hey TJ! Love the video..Thanks you! Question? For me, the "loopy idle" is something that just makes the car ! Can I still get that effect with EFI? And what's your recommend on a smaller v-8 that would work. Thinking the 302 might not. Newbee questions...sorry.

Have watched several of your videos… fantastic job and certainly appreciate your perspective! Question: Any thoughts or hindsight in regard to buying the basic vs full kit? It’s obviously quite the price difference initially but I have to wonder if there’s really that much difference given how many parts still need to be purchased with the basic. No judgement - just curious if what ever amount of premium may exist on the full kit is worth it.

I’m just curious, what Corvette do you have that was a comparison to your cobra?

I looked through some (all?) of your other build videos but don't recall seeing anything on the turn indicators. How did you implement them? Stem on the wheel? Not having seen this, I'd opted for a four-speed automatic with the 4th gear an overdrive. FFR should have my kit ready in another 6 weeks or so. Thanks for making the Cobra videos!

Hi Joe did you purchase the sound insulation kit?

very good

Great video! I have a question regarding rear suspension, did you opt for hard axle or IRS? I’m leaning IRS. Thanks in advance for your response.

Thanks for the video. What’s your opinion on manual vs power steering?

Thank you for all your videos!!! Off topic question, I’m 6’1” with size 13 shoes, do you think I’ll fit comfortably? I’m researching my build now, like your 300hp setup, I’m looking for a fun weekend cruiser.

Très belle toujours un rêve inaccessible trop chère

Also did you get the vynal or leather seats

I put 3.50s behind a C6 in a wagon this year (up from 2.70s)... kind of waring with myself over putting gears in that I would normally be upgrading from versus MPH/RPM calculations. And yeah, winging a 400 Ford to 3200RPM to go 75MPH is pretty much forcing the issue on moving to an overdrive. Easy to take those overdrive transmissions for granted these days.

What do you do for insurance on these? I plan on driving mine about 10k a year. Im not seeing insurance options for something like that.

I’ve been searching to build one, the problem i live in Lebanon, is it possible to build the whole replica by factory five and have it shipped all the way to beirut? I mean install the engine transmission and all is needed to have a driving car? Thanks in advance

To find what is really "fun" to drive.... one only needs to look at Carroll Shelby's personal "SC" Cobra! 289ci - C4 automatic, and no side exhaust.

Was it crazy expensive to get the body work done to clean up the panel lines?

I am not sure what you were trying to say regarding the best engine/exhaust sound. Can you please clarify which you think is best? Carbureted? Throttle Body Fuel Injection? Sequential Port Fuel Injection?

4:55 Interesting, I've been on the Factory Five scene for over 18 years and I've never heard of anyone that built their car with a 4 speed. Going back to the MK1 the most popular transmission is probably still the T5 World Class like from the Fox Body Mustangs.

If I were doing one of these, I would not necessarily go with recommendations. It's nice to know all of your options before you make your move, but I say build it exactly the way you want it. You have to own it, drive it, maintain and be seen in it. Build something that handles the way you want, and looks so good you just want to wax it everyday. Simple can be good, but it can also be boring. I recommend building to your level of expertise in order to maintain interest in the project and ownership. That's just my two cents. - As I have built successful racing cars, I can add that a good differential will make all of the difference. Do your homework on differentials!

Controversial suggestion: Straight six. 2JZ or a XK6 in this thing would be absolutely MONSTROUS. It would rip up everything. Everything.