Project Deimos: An LS Coupe Build -- Garage Reno and LED Signs

[JimStone]

Hello Factory Five Community and thanks for taking a look at my build thread!



In February I finally clicked the “Submit” sale button on the website after a few years of hovering over it. The Spring Sale and promised summer price hike was the final push. I also got free powder coating as one of the first 10 kit purchases of the sale. April 28th was my completion date. I’ll be making the 28 hour round-trip to Wareham the week before Memorial Day to see the factory and pick up my kit. Maybe I'll get to meet Dave Smith. I can’t believe how close the day has become!

I’m a physician with the Veterans Affairs Northern Indiana Healthcare System. I’m no mechanic. I do basic auto maintenance –oil changes, brake jobs, etc –but that’s about the extent of my wrenching experience.

Some will say I’m not qualified to do this. That’s fair, but I’ve lived by the idea that anything is achievable with enough tenacity and it’s gotten me pretty far. I am a pretty advanced DIY’er, enjoy researching and planning projects, and learning new skills.

That said, I realized this is a whole different ballgame. If it wasn’t for this forum, with the knowledge and support it provides, I probably wouldn’t have the confidence to try this. So thank you to those who have documented their builds and continue to give their wisdom.










My leisure reading material the past few years






Fun fact:
I’ve still never seen a Coupe/Daytona in person and didn’t even know Factory Five made it until 2 years ago.




I’ve always been a big car guy. When I was a kid, my Dad bought a project 68’ Mustang fastback from Arizona, sight-unseen, assuming desert cars don’t rust. Well, that one was the exception to the rule. The day it was delivered, my Dad drove me around the neighborhood once –the blacktop visible through the floorboards—and barely made it back to the garage on less than 8 cylinders. Over the next years, I fondly remember the time working with my Dad in the garage - the welding, the cutting and grinding, the body filler and sanding. Unfortunately, we got stuck on a few aspects of the restoration and my Dad lost heart and ended up selling it unfinished. I’ve pined over that car ever since and dreamed of doing my own restoration one day with my kids.

Fast forward 25 years and I’m finally in a place where I have the time (kinda) and resources to pursue this hobby. While I’d love to tackle a 60’s Mustang, being a novice, I think all new parts sounds like a better starting point.

I have two young boys, 3 and 6, who are also obsessed with cars and love to help Daddy with projects. This will be a unique and memorable bonding opportunity, like I had with my Dad.

[JimStone]

I’m calling this car Project Deimos after the mythical Greek God of Terror (I’m an Ancient Greece nerd). I’m planning an LS engine with 625 HP, so terror is what I anticipate experiencing the first time I put my foot fully down.



My goal is a beastly street car, with the occasional autocross or track day for fun but not real competition. This will be far from a purist recreation of the original Daytona, obviously starting with the LS engine. I’m going for a mean looking resto-mod like car.

I’ll be incorporating several modifications/deviations from the standard kit. But, I will be standing on the backs of giants (I’m looking at you Edwardb) – very little will never have been done before.

With my work and family obligations, this will be a slow go – I’m anticipating 3 years—and that’s okay. I’ll probably have spent 4 hours researching for every hour of hour of actual build progress, and that’s okay too.


Here are the details: please critique!




Type 65 Coupe Complete Kit and following options:

- Chassis powder coat
- Independent Rear Suspension
- A/C Kit
- Power steering kit
- Stainless headers
- FFR side pipes – but will probably sell and get Gas-N
- Front sway bar only
- Carpet
- Body cut-outs
- Coupe side windows
- Delete gauges and front brakes


Drive train
- Blueprint LS3 - 427ci (625HP / 565 TQ)
- Holley Terminator X Max Engine Management
- Drive by wire throttle body/pedal
- Quick Time bell housing
- McLeod twin disc clutch
- Tilton hydraulic release bearing
- GM T56 transmission
- 8.8 IRS diff – got a like-new salvaged 3.73 Torsen with 17k miles from Georgia


Fuel
- Walbro 350 LPH fuel pump
- Pro-M hanger
- Aeromotive regulator
- Trick Flow canister filter
- 3/8” stainless lines, supply and return
- Breeze big bore check valve
- Ford original fuel cap
- Ford original filler neck seal


Side Pipes
- Still deciding if I really need the Gas’N pipes


Brakes
- Wilwood 12.88 inch drilled and slotted brakes, front and rear, black calipers – got same kits from Summit Racing as sold by FFR with discount codes for ~$450 less in total and free shipping
- Stainless brake lines


Wheels
- Forgestar F14 19x10 Super Deep Convex, 19x12 Ultra Deep Convex , gloss black


Gauges:
- Custom Speedhut gauges w GPS speedo


Seats
- Braum Elite X (would they fit?) vs Corbeau A4


Other upgrades/mods:
- Power Specialty Windows wiper kit
- Chase Bay compact windshield washer reservoir/pump
- Tilton 3 chamber reservoir
- IDIDIT High/low beam relays
- MOMO Eagle steering wheel
- NRG steering wheel quick disconnect
- BRE coupe mirrors
- Moog tie rods
- Howe Racing ball joints
- Energy suspension boots
- LED headlights/fog lights – thinking Morimoto Sealed7 headlights and XB fog lights
- Breeze radiator fan shroud
- Fabricated trunk storage
- Fabricated glove box
- Russ Thompson turn signal continuation by TJ Mountain MetalWorks
- T56 reverse lock-out module
- Digital rear view mirror
- Digital Guard Dawg push-button start



Body/Paint
- Would love to have the skills and patience to do this myself. Realistically? Jeff Kleiner is a few hours’ South… Hope he’s still doing this in a few years.


I welcome and appreciate any and all criticism and advice. I anticipate making many novice mistakes. So please speak up if something looks wrong or dumb.

[Higgybulin]

I used to attend the VRod rallies in Niles 15 yrs ago! Welcome to the insanity!! Good luck with your build, it looks like a great list.
Higgy

[edwardb]

... I’ve still never seen a Coupe/Daytona in person and didn’t even know Factory Five made it until 2 years ago.

We can fix that you know. I'm only 3+ hours away on the other side of the state. Just spent a couple hours yesterday with a prospective buyer/builder seeing one for the first time. I think the ride sold him. My schedule is pretty flexible if you're ever interested.

Congratulations on your upcoming build. It's an adventure for sure. I'm a Coyote guy (and not bashful about it) but your build plan sounds exciting. Will be following along.

[Namrups]

Welcome to the "club"! I was in the same boat as you are as far as my build experience when I bought my coupe. Between Paul's (EdwardB) build thread and willingness to answer any and all questions, and the rest of the forum members I can say I am the proud owner/BUILDER/driver of an awsome coupe that I built with my own hands! Be patient and plan ahead. Don't be afraid of asking questions (there are no dumb or silly ones!!) Don't rush or cut corners and before you know it you will also be another proud owner/builder/driver!!

[GoDadGo]

I’m calling this car Project Deimos after the mythical Greek God of Terror (I’m an Ancient Greece nerd). I’m planning an LS engine with 625 HP, so terror is what I anticipate experiencing the first time I put my foot fully down.

My goal is a beastly street car, with the occasional autocross or track day for fun but not real competition. This will be far from a purist recreation of the original Daytona, obviously starting with the LS engine. I’m going for a mean looking resto-mod like car.

Welcome Fellow Dark Sider!

Looks like you are going to have an amazing build.
Three suggestions that I hope you take which I think will likely make your build better and a lot easier:

1. Go See Paul's (Edwardb) Car & Check Out His Type-65 Build Thread!
2. Consider Taking All Advice He Gives You!
3. Get Jeff Kleiner To Paint It!

As far as your driveline choice goes I love it, but it will take a little time to get comfortable with all that power. How do I know, well it is because my brother has a beastly 427 LS & T56 in his 1999 Trans Am (Mecham #9 Shown Below) and that car is a crazy fast, even without the Nitrous, so your car will be a mega beast and deserve it's name of Deimos for sure.

https://gm-efi.com/car-feature-skunkworks-mecham/

Good Luck From The Dark Dart Side!

[460.465USMC]

Congrats, Jim! Welcome aboard. Yours is the second LS Coupe build I've seen announced this week! Very cool. Can't wait to see you get your build underway.

I came into my first build with what looks like similar experience and skills as you, and was able to do it. Of course, with a ton of help and advice from the forum. Lots of smart, helpful folks here who are so kind to help us new builders.

Looks like lots of fun aspects and options to your build. You have a couple eager helpers. What's better than that?

Congrats again!

[Rsnake]

Congratulations Jim and welcome to the coupe family!
What's up with all the LS coupe builds�� A great engine choice and I might go that direction on my next one.

[JimStone]

After a quite exhausting and trying day at work, seeing all these wonderful messages has really brightened my mood
So thank you all for the words of support!





Higgybulin: Thank you for the encouragement and luck! Who'd of thought Niles, MI was so well-known!? Down the road in Buchanan is Red Bud Motocross track, which is pretty well known by motorcycle folks. Then there's Sturgis, which is really famous for it's motorcycle rallies.



Edwardb: There is no Coupe I'd rather see in person than yours -- and that includes the original Daytona's. I'm serious about that, haha! Your million view build thread was the first page I bookmarked on this site and I've read through it in entirety at least 4 times, and continue to reference it frequently. FFR might as well print it and ship with the kits as a build manual supplement! I've learned so much about custom car building from your writings and really appreciate your contribution to this site. My in-laws live in Windsor and Dearborn so we're over that way fairly frequently, so I just may have to hit you up on your offer!



Namrups: Your enthusiasm and support is always appreciated. Your build thread was the first that I followed "live" from beginning to end, and seeing your beautiful car now provides great motivation and inspiration!


GoDadGo: Dark Side it is! Your recommendations are spot on and I plan on following them whole-heartedly. It's amazing the power these LS engines can put out with just a cam change. Stroke them and the numbers are unreal. I would be perfectly happy with the 376ci LS (still 530 HP!), but for $2k more why not!? I'll rarely use all the power, but I'll know it's there and it'll sound meaner too.


460.465USMC: Thanks for the encouragement! You can't be experienced doing something without doing it for the first time. My boys and I will learn together. No better time than now!



Rsnake: Thanks for the congrats! I'm actually going through your youtube videos for the 2nd time while waiting for my kit. Thanks for doing those. Yep, the LS engine is kind of a sweet spot between old and new. Maybe the uncertainty with the Gen 4 Coyote has steered some to "The Dark Side", as GoDadGo says. I explored them all - Windsors, Coyotes- but ultimately the LS was perfect for what I wanted: pushrod but with modern EFI, smaller footprint, something I may actually have a chance at troubleshooting myself if something were to go wrong with it.

[GoDadGo]

GoDadGo: Dark Side it is! Your recommendations are spot on and I plan on following them whole-heartedly. It's amazing the power these LS engines can put out with just a cam change. Stroke them and the numbers are unreal. I would be perfectly happy with the 376ci LS (still 530 HP!), but for $2k more why not!? I'll rarely use all the power, but I'll know it's there and it'll sound meaner too.
.

I totally that I agree that spending the extra $2,000.00 made perfect sense.
.............If your plan is to run an Iron Block the added weight really isn't an issues.

[JimStone]

I’ve wanted to renovate my garage for a while, but it became a prerequisite to taking on the Coupe project. My house is blessed with several garages (a big reason I bought the house), so I designated one as my workshop/man cave. I wanted a nice place the family to hang out and enjoy ourselves, whether working on the car, watching sports/tailgating, watching movies, etc. I may have gone a little overboard, but it turned out pretty awesome.








We were basically using the garage as a shameful storage dump. The original home owner restored antique Chris-Craft boats, which is what the steel gantry system was for.









I tore out an ugly dog wash station and planned to put in a cabinets and a big farmhouse sink











Replaced the old, mostly broken, fluorescent tube lighting with 4500k “Daylight” LEDs including an accent hex-grid light system. I fixed the beat up walls as best I could. Then I fixed some cracks in the cement and diamond grinded in preparation for the floor coating. I used a Home Depot rental floor polisher with a diamond grinding disc/pad– it was a major pain in the butt and I’d definitely rent a better floor grinder if I decide to finish my other garages.











The floor coating I applied was from Versatile / Garagecoatings.com – was very reasonably priced and seemed like good quality. First, I put down epoxy basecoat. 100 lbs of epoxy flake was thrown over the wet epoxy with complete coverage. After drying, the flakes are scraped and excess was collected with about 40 lbs reclaimed. The next layer was clear polyaspartic, which is much stronger and UV resistant than a standard epoxy topcoat. It turned out great and I think will hold up well.

[JimStone]

I installed a Vevor electric hoist with 2200lb capacity onto the existing gantry system because why not?








My son helping prepare for cabinet installation









The cabinets are from New Age Products, are pretty nice for the cost, and were delivered on pallets to my garage door for free. I got Birch butcher block countertops from Home Depot. I needed to modify the sink cabinet to fit the farmhouse sink I got from Wayfair. And of course I put in a beverage fridge.

[JimStone]

I wanted some Coupe-related LED signs for the garage walls. There were some custom sign options online, but they were pricey and not exactly what I wanted. So I thought why can’t I make them? I'll have to say, I was surprised how well they came out.







I started by taking an image from Google then used Windows Paint (Photoshop is beyond me) to make modifications. I used a program online that enlarges the image so it can be printed on multiple pages. I used the blown up image as the template for the sign.








I used 3/8” clear acrylic sheet and taped the template on the back so it shows through.



I then used doubled sided tape and super glue to adhere silicone 12V LED strip over the template lines. Each strand has wires soldered to the LED strip that are put through little drilled holes in the acrylic to the backside where the wires all get bundled and connected. 30-50 separate LED strips are required per sign, depending on the complexity. They are powered by 12V DC transformers.


I got really into it and ended up making 4 signs.
















It was a fun winter project.

[JimStone]

Finished Garage

[Namrups]

WOW! Nice work all around! I can tell your build will be awsome!

[460.465USMC]

Wow! Pretty incredible, Jim! What a cool space for your build and family to enjoy hanging out. Yep, heading back over to my build thread to delete my garage pics. If your garage rehab is any indication, your build is going to be a blast to follow. And those LED signs, just dang cool. Again, well done!

[M. Townsend]

Beautiful place to gather and share your passion with family and friends. Nicely done!

I'll be following along and look forward to your build.

[jbs72697]

That looks AMAZING!! Excellent work!

[GTM_Vet]

Man very nice! I need to get off my lazy butt and tighten up my garage also! Getting GTM in a few weeks (Completed) and need to make room number 1 so I can fit it and the Vette which wont issue once I unclutter it but I really need to motivate myself to redo the floor slap some paint on the walls and update the lighting also! I really dig those hex light!

[Lidodrip]

What an amazing transformation! The LED signs look fantastic, great job!

James

[JimStone]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the comments

The truth is that I made a decision to spend money on the garage that I could have put towards my drive train. Because of that, I'll be waiting a bit to get my engine / trans. I'll have plenty to do, and I'm in no rush, so I'm not too worried about it.

[Slow and Slightly Angry]

The garage and signs look fantastic. Congrats on pulling the trigger and welcome to the club.

If nothing else, I'd say you could subsidize your drive train selling those coupe signs! I'd by one for sure.

[JimStone]

The garage and signs look fantastic. Congrats on pulling the trigger and welcome to the club.

If nothing else, I'd say you could subsidize your drive train selling those coupe signs! I'd by one for sure.

Thanks!


My wife suggested I sell some signs to pay for the 2 post lift I was thinking about. The amount of time it takes to make the signs, though -- it'd make much more economical sense just to pick up a shift at work.


I ended up deciding not to do the lift for now anyway. I was worried about the permanence of lift and not being able to move as freely around the car and open the doors. I may change my mind later.