home building

[65fia289]

I have been reading through the threads here. A lot of the post are from people who had Unique build the car for them. What about the home builders? How was the kit for you? Please describe your experience with the ease/difficulty of the Unique kit. I am referring to the FIA 289.
I like the quality look and correctness of the Unique 289, but I also like the Factory Five (hopefully, soon to be released 289 body) because it is really home built. I like the fact that Mr. Weaver from Unique actually responded to my email. Something I cannot get anyone at Factory Five to do.

Scott

[Brent]

There are A LOT of people on this forum that started with a pallet kit and built it in their home garage.

The only time my car left the house was for paint. They do take up a great deal of room when you have a spare bedroom and an attic full of parts and the body is off of the frame. If I do it all over again I will do it the same way. Anytime a thought or idea pops into your head or you get an impulse to work on it at midnight (-: it is just outside your door. It keeps you with the family during your build and becomes part of the family very fast.

I built the motor at home and went through the Toploader at home as well.
My wife knows what parts washer fluid smells like (-:

[brfutbrian]

scott, it really all depends of your level of experience and your confidence in your ability.as for myself i grew up around streetrods and racecars and have my hands in many, so for me the deluxe pallet kit was very easy and enjoyable, but no challenge for me. i think if you can change a clutch or a timing chain and have that not be challenging, the DPK shouldnt be too much of a problem mechanically. body wise, the unique body cant be beaten when it comes to prep for paint, not to mention the dead on body shape and the doors that fit and dont sag. IMO if you really want a challenge bodywise get the ffr.
as far as the ffr being more home built, i go along with that. but sorry the 2 cars dont compare. besides, youll get more than enough time spent doing the build to say "i built it myself". if you liked having your email answered, do yourself a favor and call unique and talk to to one of the weavers. youll be glad you did. later , brian

[eliminator]

Did my 427 at home, 18 months worth. Then last year did a 302 for Juan's 289 car at home and we built a Turnkey minus (engine and transmission) at home. Have 2 1/2 car garage and storage building, the spare bedroom was utilized too! A nice garage just for the build would be convient but not necessary.

[Mike Geddes]

Hi Scott.
I built my 427 pallet kit at home....even spray painted it myself.
I did this back in 1991 when my kids were a lot younger and like
some others on this thread, I played the 'midnight maurauder' on
many occassions....kids in bed....go play with car.
It took me 18 months, but apart from the time to spray the car,
I never spent more than a 4 hour stretch at a time working on it.
And given that I went through one harsh Canadian winter period
in that 18 months, when working in a standard 2 car attached
garage can get a bit rough...I figure it came out great.
You just have to get a bit inventive about storing a rolling chassis
and the main body and still get a car in there as well.
The quality of the kit and fitment of the parts makes things easy.
When I built mine the Weavers gave me a 2 page Xerox build instruction
manual......the manual is 100 fold better now.
I suppose I did mine from start to finish.....I picked it up in Gadsden
Built it....and took it back for the first Unique Homecoming.
When you get a kit....whoever it may come from (I suggest Unique for
overall quality and after sales service and support )...don't let building it become an obsession....it will drain you....enjoy building it..take you time..
think twice or even more...do once.
And....ask a lot of questions to the bodies on this forum....there's a
tremendous ammount of talent in the Unique Group....Not withstanding the
fearless leadership of Alan and Maurice.
Go for it...visit the factory....you will be more than suitably impressed.
Most of all, get tuned up to enjoy the build....and then the ride.
Cheers....Mike

[Justin Upchurch]

Scott,

Maybe Brent will chime in about his neighbor building the FFR, funny stories, and his neighbor has told him that he wishes he purchased a Unique. The Unique is just downright EASY to build. Mine was delivered in Janurary as a painted DPK with the motor installed and it should be ready for Homecoming. The engine was built in California, so it had to go somewhere, and since Unique put it and the trans in for $200 it went to them. I will have over 100 hours in my kit, but this is because of some extra plumbing I have done. Everything on the kit lines up and fits correctly, the doors and trunk fit very well with a consistant gap. To say the least I am very happy with the product, in fact I don't think there is a more "completable" kit on the market. I have built mine in a 2 car garage with hand tools, to date the only extra tools I have purchased are an angle drill, bolt cutters, snips, rivet plyers, and some larger wrenches.
If your car comes un-painted it will take some more time, because you have to pull the body off, but this isn't a bad thing because doing the wiring and attatching some of the accessories is easier with the body off.
IMHO buying an FFR and putting a 289 body on is a bad idea. There are some pictures on CC of an FFR with a Contemporary 289 body, and in my opinion the car sits like a 4X4. If you want a 289 buy a Unique, ERA, or Kirkham. I like dealing with the Weavers, and as you have already noticed they are ALWAYS there to answer questions either by e-mail or over the phone.

Justin

[JeepSnake]

Scott -

We took delivery of Mom & Dad's 427 DPK in late August (I think) of 2001, fired it for the first time at Thanksgiving, and they drove it in all the Christmas parades in December 2001. My Dad, my brother, & I built the car in my parents' basement, with basically nothing more than hand tools. We had a couple of brackets made at a local shop, etc., and we sent the body out for paint. But, other than that, we just worked at it a little every day. (And, no, we aren't pro mechanics or bodymen!)

If you've ever done any restoration/rebuild/"fixing-up" work of any sort, the Unique kit will be fun & refreshing for you to build. No rust, no odd assemblies that make you scream, "Why the $#$*%$%* did they do it that way?!?!?" And, the most intimidating part to me was simplein the end: wiring. Unique's manual & numbering system are great - other than a loose connection we missed, everything hooked up and started up fine on the first try.

Sandy & I were impressed enough with the Unique kit, and with the ease of building, that we wanted a car of our own. Though we had planned to build, we wound up buying a used 289 FIA.

Hope this helps!

[Brent]

I have now built both, a FFR and a Unique.
Big block Unique and a 347 FFR

I would probably not build another FFR if the donor car was free and the kit was 1/2 price.

If you add all of the options to the FFR to match (sort of) the Unique (tubular a-arms, aftermarket brakes, chrome rack, upgraded door panels, chrome roll bar, aluminum fuel cell, Griffin radiator, front fans, good side louvers not the flat bent metal ones they use, etc.etc.etc. If you add everything the Unique kit is not much more than the FFR.

1 more thing, the Unique does not look like it was rear ended and not fixed.

[65fia289]

Thanks for all the responses! Very interesting reading.


Scott

[scott]

it doesn't really take that long to complete a deluxe pallet kit.be ready to buy lots of stuff from summit or jegs. also lots of fasteners from your local haardware store .the wiring is simple if you follow the instructions. it takes much longer to paint the car than it does to assemble,especially if you are building for driving pleasure only and are not planning on having a concourse show car. unique will even mount the motor and trans if you are buying from some one close by who will deliver. my problems revolved around engine problems ,trans leaks and even a bad stub axle seal all which were quickly corrected by the vendors. You can have your car up and running in a few weeks with good planning on your part

[daveg]

Scott,

I was pretty much a novice. Just watching car shows on TV and slight help with Father-in-law's T-bird restore. (All he had me do was scrape rusty parts - not too exciting). I was lucky that I hooked up with Gerry while waiting on mine and helped him build his and then he helped me build mine. Having been through it twice, it is very simple. Gerry bought and mounted his own 427 top oiler and toploader - I had Maurice do mine at Unique.

I really enjoyed the build but still feel safe enough in the car to take kids/wife on rides. As a novice, not sure I was up for a complete home-built like the Factory Five. Unique build was easy and straight forward. This forum was great for tips - as the others have said, puttering in the garage after the kids have gone to bed is something that was great about the build.

Dave

[pgermond]

Looks like all the veterans have weight in, so here's my $0.02.

Ditto what has already been stated - it is an excellent experience. One you will never forget. I would do it again in a heartbeat if it wasn't so difficult to register a car in CA.

I built mine in 9 months start-to-mostly finish.... in a two car garage and the use of a spare bedroom! (I had to build a shed first to store all my wifes crap, er.... stuff in. I was working under the gun due to the CA registration requirements, so the body was off to the painter in less than a week after delivery (he had it for eight weeks). My wife was out of town the majority of the time I was building due to a family illness, which allowed me to be in the garage after work till 10 -11 PM every night and I dedicated every weekend to working on the car. Even played hooking a few day from work (remember Brent? )

I can't describe the satisfaction of being able to tell me people I built this car, and my wife usually beats me to it (she is proud as well).

The Weaver's are there for you ever step of the way to answer questions, and this forum is an invaluable resource. I would hit a snag - post a question at 8-9 PM, and 15 minutes later I had answers. Hell , when I was wiring the car Alan was headed out on vacation and gave me his cell # in case I had any questions. In my opinion, you can't get any better than that.

I purchased the top loader and 406 from SA. Assembled all the the braided lines, etc and this car hasn't leaked a single drop in the over two years it's been on the road - pretty amazing for an FE (I used to build FE's when I was in high school and they leaked like a rusty bucket).

It is one of the few things I've done in my life that has given me more satisfaction and pleasure than I can express in an e-mail.

Good luck on your decision.

[Naumoff]

Scott,
You will not be disapointed in the fit and finish of Unique's Body.
The chassis is beautiful and functional.
Car is very solid. The car goes together very easy.
I have a 427 and would like to do a 289 when the budget permits.
Top notch Car and top notch people.
No back orders and support from the Weavers and owners on this sight
is second to none.
Put a couple of hundred miles on her yesterday.

[Roar]

Hi
I have a 289 Unique 1991 model
I did not originally build the car my self but stripped it down totally and restored and rebuilt it, put a new engine and gearbox into it and will try to finish the project in May.
My brother has a FF 427 from 1995 and have done the same to his car, so we have been working in paralell.
Our impression based on these two cars are that the body in mine is far better
as the mould in his is not cymetrical. Also the way the bonnet is fixed is better in mine even after an update in his (We had to modefy the new upgrade parts from FF to it fit). One of the reasons behind the thinner body in the FF is that it they have re- inforced it using metal bars and aluminium plates. The tume Frame looks more solid on the FF. On the other hand the new window for mine did not fit but does on a lot of other replicas so somthing is not right. I have bought some parts from FF as they responded but Unique did not. So this works both ways. My new enhine is a 347 stroker, fuel injection with a SN 93 supercharger and a T5 transmission. This lead to a 3 cm shorter drive shaft and a new support frame for the gear and a few other mods. My impression is that it is a well built kit and I would not trade it for an FF. The FF is a different consept built around a Mustang doner car, and this has a lot of advantages, but looking at my brother he is preparing to replace most of those parts anyway but using upgrade kits from FF.
One of my biggest problems has been to identefying the parts on my car, and here I belive that Unique cold save some telephone calls if they had nade a more detailed list. I live in Norway so parts are not available in the same amount as you have. Working with the car is easy and even though i took alot of photos I hardly ever use them. If you do buy a kit make sure they paint the frame under the dash, mine was not and it did not look well.

Roar

[excelguru]

The build was very straightforward with no surpises. You'll have to buy the usual fasteners, radiator hoses, a battery, hose clamps... that sort of stuff. Nothing unexpected. No welding or fabricating! The bodywork is also pretty straightforward for the painter, I believe. I've heard some stories about the amount of bodywork required by the FFR's. Their bodies may be better now as that was several years ago.

I bought mine as a deluxe pallet kit with the engine & tranny already dropped in. All of these cars, regardess of manufacturer, require all the same parts eventually. It's nice when 99% of the parts come from the manufacturer because you know it all fits!

And you just can't find better people to deal with than the Weavers. You should come to the Homecoming in early May. I'll try to make it this year.

[chris knueven]

scott,

i sent ya a email....but i will chime in here as well....i have a little bit of
time twisting wrenches(20 yrs/ase master tech) so take this as you see fit....
i did my deluxe pallet kit from start to finish in a whopping total of 4 weeks !!!!...
i am single so that might make a difference...

2.5-3 weeks was paint,rest was assembly.

as for the five brand, i will not comment on a public bulletin board but i have
some very distinct opinions and will be glad to voice them in private.....

feel free to email...
chris