Average Build Times:

[dino] "Well...my car was done in 48 hours....well, that's not exactly true....we had a go cart(a damn quick one!!!) in 49 hours and 45 minutes!!!!! Of course...I had 63 people who knew what the heck they were doing helping me! I had the body, doors, and trunk on about 3 days later...windshield on about 5 days later, and hood on 3-4 days after that. I just got THE BEAST primered today....but that's no ones fault but mine...coulda been done 3 weeks ago. If you're working by yourself...I would guess between 110-160 hours unless you go real fancy...that could easily double that figure."

[BB] "A lot depends on the condition and mileage of the donor car. I live in Mass and got a donor out of New Hampshire for only $950.00, but it had 128,000 + miles on it and a broken
odometer to boot. The car had a lot of rust, and it took many hours (about 80 or so) just to get the darn thing apart. Then I was confronted with worn out parts. I have put in about 60-80 hours cleaning, painting, and replacing parts, such as bushings, brake lines on the rear end, rebuilding brakes with new master cylinders, Converting to five bolt rotors and drums, etc. Plus it is much harder if you are doing it alone, without help to position parts, and getting things aligned, etc. I bought my donor in June, had it apart by the time the kit arrived on 11/11/00. Once the parts are ready, the assembly goes together pretty fast. I now have my front end in, my steering in, the rear end in, gas tank in. This week I should have gas lines and drivers and passenger aluminum in and should be ready for engine and trans. sometime next week. Process is slow but exciting and I am going through the fastest learning curve of my life(retired teacher). Could not have done it alone though, without the help of the Cobra forum. It has made all the difference being able to post questions and view pictures of each step off of some of the sites. Locate your donor as soon as you can after you order your FFR."

[RB] "I spend 2 months building the car and donor parts prep. Picked it up July 1998 by Aug 1998 had it registered and Sept 1998 on the road driving it. Worked mostly days and no weekends on it over the 2 month period."

[AV] "I kept track (roughly) of how much time each step took in the build manual. I then transferred it all into a note book. It all added up for me to be something like 320hours. This included tearing down the donor & cleaning refurbishing stuff.

I kept a pretty good routine of working on mine for two hours each morning, (before going to work),so I was getting up around 4 to 4.30 every morning. I also spent 10 hours every Saturday on it, and my daughter would come "help & just hang out" with me.

We made it a Saturday "thing" where she'd help with some stuff on the car in the morning, and I'd take her out to lunch right after taking her to her gymnastics class. This way, I spent time with her, and took a "break" in the middle of the day to watch her do something she liked. She was 8 when we built our FFR.

My "schedule" allowed me to dedicate 20 hours a week to the kit, and I spent Sundays with my family (so my wife would still recognize me ). I had mine on the road four months after starting on it.

Funny, how I was so excited during the last few hours of the build-(I just couldn't wait to be done.).......but then it was a little sad when it was all finished, (kind of like when you are a kid-and you notice that you just ripped open the last Christmas present.)

I tried not to hurry. I took my time to enjoy the building process. ....For me it was kind of like therapy or something,,,being able to work on a car without having to worry about the owner complaining, about how long it would take ,or how much it was going to cost. (I am a mechanic by trade)

I actually think the guys who put 'em together too fast miss out on something.
Building the car is "part" of the whole experience, it should be enjoyed, not rushed (kind of like foreplay)."

[RT] "I worked on my first one 2 hours in the evenings and 20 hours weekends, ready to drive, less paint and body work, in two months."

[1668] "My car took me about 600 hours. Yes, it seems to be more than most everyone else, but it was fun. If I did the car again I'm sure that it would be way less, but I over-did some things. (like polishing the trunk by hand...should've bought a polisher...but I did get a nice all over tan w/ the reflected sunlight.)

My recommendation is to plan out the next step last. By that I mean spend a day finishing a part of the car. Do not start the next section, but plan it out. Measure everything, sketch some ideas, re-measure. Then go to bed. Your brain will be thinking of the car when you are trying to sleep and you might realize that you were about to make a mistake or you may think of a better way.

If you don't do this be sure to measure TWICE, cut ONCE."

[JC] "My kit arrived July 28, 2000 and I just started on the body work last weekend (1/8/01). I have a really fast go-cart that is probably 90% done. I also had a six week period where I did virtually no work on it (I was waiting for my motor guy and did not want to miss something by skipping around the manual). Also, over the holidays, I really did not work on it for about 3 weeks. Now I am back into it again. I expect to be done around the end of February. I said I am about 90% done, but the last 10% is going to take a lot of time and detail to get everything right. I did most of the work by myself, and probably have 350 - 400 hours in it already (including the donor tear down). I have never done anything like this before, and if I was not happy with something, I would redo it until I was. I knew I would regret not doing a nice job so I am taking my time but I am still anxious to get it on the road. One things became VERY obvious from the start...The proper tools make all of the difference in the world!!! Also, there are times when some friends came in handy too!"

Builders:

[mi] "Contact Gordon Levy
480-446-8442

He does excellent work, and stands behind his product."

[SB] "Mike Mack at Tri-State Motorsports built my car in 1998"

[JP] "Richard Chaney of Turn 1 Motorsports in Titusville, Al Kahmi in Orlando, and Mike Mack of Tri State Motorsports in Brownstown, PA and Tequesta, FL, are the builders I know of down here. Where in Florida are you, you can probably easily check out each builder's products in one or two days. There are also a couple of recently-completed FFR's with first-class worksmanship and detailing for sale by their owner-builders down here."

[CD] "I attended the school Mike Mack sponsored last year and had an opportunity to look at various cars under construction in his shop. He knows his stuff and builds a quality car.
At that time he had been involved in over 70 cars either building, modifying, or completing for the owner who started but could not finish. While i have not seen the work of other builders, I can say Mike builds a fine car and is a straight shooter. I have seen some of his completed cars and I only hope the one I am building myself somewhat approaches his quality of work. He takes a lot of pride in his work and really knows his stuff."

[1389] "Gordon Levy does some incredible work. Been to his shop and I know you would be very pleased with the end result!!!"

[CG] "C&M Street Performance is a builder of Factory Five Racing Cobra Replicars. If you are looking to have a Cobra built by professionals contact C&M Street Performance today at 1-800-994-RODS(7637)."

Where to buy parts online?

[M3] "I typically use www.autozone.com . Sometimes I try www.carparts.com . Then I go to NAPA to actually buy the part(brick and mortar) but their online site is not very good."

In fact, I'm buying virtually all of my engine/trans./fuel system/etc. from their B&M outlet in Texas. Best deal I could find. And, great service."

[ll] "Rent a power washer or buy one they are great for parts cleaning. I've used the ones that attach to a compressor and a hose worthless. You need power the more the better."

Go back to the FFR FAQ