Breeze Engine Compartment Battery Kit – 3 Hours

Although this modification can be installed anytime, I decided that installing earlier rather than later would provide more room to drill, tap, rivet, and install this option, and after going through the exercise I would strongly recommend anyone who intends to install this modification to do so before installing the F panels, and certainly the engine. Ideally this should be one of the first tasks undertaken.

It just makes sense to have the battery in the engine compartment although the down side is that this kit is for a smaller Exide type 51 (approximately 28lb’s) the additional benefits of this kit are:
- Frees-up trunk space
- Eliminates the need for remote battery terminals (easy under-hood access)
- Allows use of a shorter positive battery cable (closer to your starter solenoid)
- Improves handling performance by lowering the center of gravity of the car by placing the battery only 3/4” above the bottom of the 4” tubes, and by reducing the polar moment of inertia (resistance to turning) because the mass is closer to the center of the car (location is between the axles).

It took longer than anticipated to install this kit mainly because of the super human strength required to install 5 x 3 1/16” stainless steel rivets (that or I am getting weaker in my old age). This is a great and well thought out package from Breeze with clear and concise instructions; you do need to make sure you have a ¼” x 20 tap and #7 drill.

Lower Control Arms -2 Hours

Three boxes of back ordered parts arrived today, one of which contained the lower control arms (LCA). In an earlier blog (November 25th, 2009) I discussed purchasing the Breeze LCA bushings and the perceived benefits, I say perceived benefits because when replacing the FFR stock bushings I find the outside diameter of the Breeze units to be 0.005” larger than those supplied with the kit.

Breeze state that their bushings have a smaller diameter to ease grease flow and provide less bind on rotation, in addition the shorter bushing is actually a little smaller than those supplied.

Plus point are the serrated ends definitely bind into the mounting wings and the OD surface is significantly smoother than the cut pipe supplied in the kit which should extend the life of the polyurethane bushings.

I did check that each polyurethane bushing was grooved to promote the flow of grease, and once installed checked that the poly bushing rotates around the steel bushing. Each of the four bolts was tightened to 110 ft/lb’s and both the bushing grease nipples and ball joints were filled with Super Lube Synthetic Grease (recommended for polyurethane bushings). Like others have recently found the rear bolt does not now have to be shortened as per the manual and Mk3Build suggest.

In summary, would I by the Breeze bushings again? Probably not, I would use the stock bushings first to see how they performed. I will keep a careful eye on the bushings and make sure they keep rotating correctly following the extensive discussions on the FF forum which discusses binding and even failure.

First Parts Arrive

Today the first upgraded parts arrived. After reviewing a number of threads on the FFCobra forum, reviewing the manual and attending the build school, I had decided to purchase the LCA bushings and offset steering rack bushings from Breeze Automotive.

The 4130 steel bushings solve the binding problem with FFR Tubular Front Lower Control Arms. The longer length prevents the frame tabs from pinching the poly bushings, and the reduced diameter permits grease to migrate between the bushing OD and the poly bushing ID. The ends are knurled so they can be firmly gripped by the frame tabs.

Solid offset bushings to lower and center the rack in the Mk3.1 Factory Five Roadster chassis. The offset is .35" which will lower the rack 1/4" and offset it 1/4" to the passenger side from the factory designed mounting points. This location centers rack travel in the chassis and further reduces bump steer. The one piece bushings insert from rear to clamp rack to the rear face of the front mounting ear. This makes the rack an integral frame member and adds to the stiffness of the front of the frame. The position is about 1/4" further forward than when installing the rack with two piece poly bushings. Material is as-machined 6061 aluminum.

Checked with the guys at Factory Five today and Stewart Transport everything is still on track to leave the factory 12/12/09.