Team leaders from left to right:
Scott Harris - Customization
Jim Wilkinson - Suspension
Mark Gibson - Wiring and Dash
Steve McGilvrey - Engine
Jeremy Luchini - Head of build
John McEleney - CEO, SolidWorks Corporation
Adam Venti - Drivetrain
Lorne Silkes - Tooling
Richard Morse - Paint and Body
Scott Stanley - Wiring co-lead
Here's some cool pics from Richard's shop....he took delivery of our roadster just two days before Christmas and pulled off a miracle to get us the final product just 3-1/2 weeks later.
You can also see pictures of some of our best decisions on the project....a mahogany dash to match the steering wheel. Credit goes to Mark Gibson....who labored through about 15 coats of poly. And a special thanks to Scott Harris for a couple of outstanding - eleventh hour decisions to deliver both a custom set of engine bay louvers and a steering wheel center that features the SolidWorks logo.
- Jeremy
Its painted......its running.....
....and its on the way to New Orleans.
SolidWorks World 2007
SWRoadster unveiling will be at 3pm in the Partner Pavilion.
See you there....
I'll post all the great bodyshop and paintbooth pictures after the conference....the car looks and sound incredible.
- Jeremy
Here it is...the SolidWorks Roadster....built afterhours and weekends by SolidWorks employees in only 4 months! The car is now at Advanced Speed getting the body and paint work completed in time for its unveiling at SolidWorks World 2007 in New Orleans.
Plenty more final build day pics and video to come....
- Jeremy
The engine is in the car......Yes!!!!
Big thanks to team leader Adam Venti for setting the pace....It was a big thrill to get the engine and tranny dropped in today.
Also thanks to all those who gave up their entire Saturday to work on the Cobra - Tom Sherman, Kaamil El-Rayees, Scott Stanley, John Pehl, Marc Leizza and Scott Harris. Team leader Mark Gibson was away from the garage getting the dash custom drilled as well.
For those of you who've never assembled a drivetrain....call Adam...he'll get you up and running. It was really cool to see how simple the system really is up close.
Bearing, plate, flyweel, clutch, bell housing, starter, and finally the transmission.
Enjoy the photos...and thanks to Mark L. for bringing his outstanding Ferrari 328 by the garage.
- Jeremy
Saturdays are becoming the - can't miss - build days around the garage. As we push forward, all sorts of cool work has been tackled, including: alignment of the front wheels, installation the wheel splash guards, initial body-on fit, and layout for our custom dash. We rolled the car out of the garage for the first time as well, and all of the team leaders agreed that, although a kit, this is still one heck of sweet looking ride.
- Jeremy
The great Autumn weather had me short on help this past Saturday so I recruited my ace builder "Luc" Luchini to help with the rest of the days work. The cockpit aluminum work is all but wrapped up now so Luc and I decided to tackle some carpet installation. Actually we just did a dry-fit to make sure we had all the remnents. While Luc took a break for some water, I began installing the bulb-seal that goes between the aluminum and the fiberglass body. We also took a look at the horn sub-assembly purchased at Breeze. Team Leader Adam Venti dropped by to inspect the brakes again, quality a must, and began tackling the e-brake installation. On Friday, Nick Iwaskow dropped off a cool banner by our big sponsors HP and ATi.
- Jeremy Luchini
Download SWRoadster.wmv
Fellow FFR customer/builder Jesse St. Laurent stopped by the garage for a visit and offered some joy rides in his fully built roadster. A perfect autumn day made for some serious fun and gave the build team the recharge it needed. Work continued on all fronts: Wiring, cockpit aluminum, suspension torque down, and quality check on the brakes. Thanks to everyone who joined in on the fun including Jesse, his dad, team leaders Mark Gibson, Adam Venti, Lorne Silkes, and build team members Scott Stanley, Chris Trapeni and Avelino Rochino.
- Jeremy Luchini
Now that the drivetrain team is all but finished up with the fuel and brake lines, we've begun work on the trunk and cockpit sheet metal. This is a time consuming process which involves a variety of steps to get the sheet metal perfectly fit to the frame. First we align the sheet metal pieces with a tap screw (used for grounds) and then we use a nifty rivot spacing tool (aircraft supply) to get our marks down. Then we make a small punch for each cut to avoid the drill bit from 'walking' away from the mark. Then the piece is drilled into place, using temporary Cleko loks as we go, to simulate a rivot hold. The drilled aluminum then comes off for us to clean (acetone) and the edges are deburred. For final fit, we spread a fine bead of silicone between the steel frame and the aluminum panels, before the rivots go in, to avoid metal on metal road noise. Once the rivots are in and the silicone sets up, the panels are ready.
- Jeremy Luchini
Today wiring tea
m members Chris Morse, Jim Ferrater, Joe Duca, Scott Stanley as well as the fashionably-late Lorne Silkes did some rough wiring-harness routing to see roughly how things will fit. Final placement and looming will be done once more sheet metal is in place (that way we can drill holes in it) :-)
At right, Chris zip-ties the fuse box into place while the guys figure out how to make 57 wires invisible.
Not too many problems here -- we need a wire for a possible future reverse light (the car doesn't have one, but might need one to pass inspection),
Below, Scott shows the Front Lighting harness who's boss.
-- Mark Gibson
Cool cars and cool people. That's what is was all about this week as the build team leaders spent the day among the FFR community getting to know a little more about Factory Five and parts vendors such as MPE Racing, Disc brakes R'us and Breeze Automotive (Just one of the great advantages to being located in Massachusetts is the close proximity of all these companies). It was a great time at the factory - taking in a quick tour led by Jesper and spending plenty of time getting ideas for our own build. On the way back from Wareham, we toured MPE Racing and Disc brakes R'us, the vendors who supplied our IRS and ceramic-coated exhaust. Pretty cool seeing all the powder-coated color options you can do on a FFR kit, from fuel lines, to pedal boxes, to frame, to transmission, to calipers, to aluminum panels, these guys can make everything under the body ridiculously awesome looking. The biggest treat of the day, for me, was the trip to Breeze Automotive, where I must have spent 3 hours with Mark and Tina, an incredibly warm and friendly couple, in business selling everything you need for a cobra (if you're going the non-donor route on a build - like us). We picked up all sorts of great products like a gas tank guard, overflow tank, front mounted battery box (Mark's own design - and the best I've seen), dash mounts, exhaust mount insulators, gas pedal and pedal covers, and more...
Yes - we could have stayed in Concord and ordered all this stuff over the internet and maybe tried to stir up a Cobra conversation with the FedEx guy, but we all know technology and shipping will never replace the advantages of face-to-face time with those you want to do business with.
- Jeremy Luchini
With the arrival of the front lower control arms and the mount/balance of four mondo BFGoodrich Radial T/As (courtesy of Lorne), Jim, Mark, Adam, Lorne, and Jeremy set upon the "half-hour" task of installing the front suspension. "We've got all the parts, what could go wrong?" we asked. A partial list:
Nonetheless, a mere 4 1/2 hours later, with only the very occasional (okay, constant) use of a dead-blow hammer and colorful language, the job was complete! And the results are worth it. We've got wheels! We haven't yet, but as of today we could lower the chassis onto its own tires.
Special mention goes to Scott Harris, who took one for the team by battling the vicious finger-biting rear calipers as he mounted rear disks and pin-drive adapters. Don't worry Scott...it'll feel better when it quits hurting!
-Mark Gibson
So this is what $100 gets you when powder coating parts. Of course, you have to drive into the bowels of Lawrence (twice) to get that price, but I think you would be hard pressed to beat the price and a turn around time of less than 24 hours.
At first, I just wanted to powder coat the spindle adapters (bottom center of picture), but Frank's (from Royal Powder Coating) minimum price was $50 and he said he could do a lot more for not much more money. So, Lorne and I went through the boxes and build manual and found every piece of the FFR kit that was not already finished in some form or other and I brought them all down to Holly Street in Lawrence. You can see from the picture that the overhead for his facility is not that high, contributing to the super low price!
I dropped them off on Tuesday at 8:30 am (don't worry, Frank is there at 4:00 am, so you can't be there too early) and picked them up at 8 am the next morning. He did a great job. Wednesday night, I re-assembled the door hinges (left of picture) and loosely mounted the spindle adapters on the spindles. The rest of the components shown are the side pipe brackets (center of image) and pieces of the hood hinges.
Now I know where I will be going when it is time to do some powder coating for my restoration project of my 1974 Jeep CJ-5.
- Wilkie
The halogen shop lights came in handy for the first time as the sun sets earlier now. The build team faces a big challenge to get the driver side footbox and pedal modifications just right. As like most older sports cars, there is very little room for the driver's feet. We're still aiming to make the driving experience as comfortable as can be, but with only 14 inches of leg room - and the need for 3 pedals (gas, brake and clutch), this is not going to be easy. Here is a shot of Lorne Silkes working on the footbox.
- Jeremy Luchini
We've purchased and delivered the entire drivetrain this week. Team Leader Adam Venti is seen here shopping for goods at the famous Forte's part supply in nearby Burlington.
Thanks to Shawn Liu, Jason Harris, Mark Leizza and Eric Lafond for giving up their Saturday and helping get the entire passenger-side footbox installed as well as the new gas tank!
Wow, what an evening in the garage!!!
Jeff Ray, COO of SolidWorks, dropped by to check out the build. Richard Morse taught all of us the fine art of evaluating the fiberglass body before prepping and painting.
And thanks to Nancy Buchino, Don Swaverly, Cholly Nachman, Christine Morse, Tom Sherman and Kaamil El-Rayees for doing a great job on the first pieces of aluminum panels. The front F-panels and firewall are all set. Plus, while we wait for a gas pedal, Nancy, Don, Cholly and I installed the pedal box.
Other shots from the evening...
So how many SW employees do you think it takes to put in a rear differential?
Four. And it wasn't that easy. But with the right brainpower for the job, they got it done.
Thanks to John Sweeney, Earl Hasz, Tom Sherman, Kaamil El-Rayess, SolidWorks co-founder Scott Harris, and Team Leader Jim Wilkinson!
Jim had the team assemble everything they could (brakes, shocks, brackets...) while we wait for control arms and the steering rack:
I'll be posting the team members names and responsibilities at the garage, so we can highlight who has worked on the car and what stages we're at.
- Jeremy Luchini
Thanks to Eric Lafond, Hailong Li, Tom Sherman and team
leaders Howie Buccieri, Adam Venti and Mark Gibson!
Howie and Adam built one heck of a work bench with vice, and then organized the tools (Lorne – nice purchase!).
Hailong and I unassembled the body mounts.
Eric and Tom marked up the aluminum panels for assembly.
And all of us carefully removed the body from the frame and placed it on the buck.
Wednesday, Jim’s suspension team will get their first chance to visit the garage, maybe assemble some shocks.
Thursday, Chassis team meets again (so far Cholly, Don, and Christine have committed to helping) – We’ll rivet and silicone the first pieces of the aluminum to the frame.
Howie will get ramped up on blogging this week so I don’t have to email everyone each night.
Okay Gear Heads, we’re all set for the build!
The offsite garage, pictured here, has been stocked with all
of our stuff, including the kit, the body buck, our tools, and shop supplies. All of our team leaders have visited the site
and will direct you around what to work on.
A couple of special notes: The property owner, Danny, is a wonderful guy, and very easy going, please
respect his property, especially his Ferrari 512 Boxer parked right next to our
Cobra. :)
I have posted all the cell phones of all the team leaders at the site in case of questions or concerns. There are plenty of safety glasses, gloves, and a first aid kit. Make sure to put an extra pair of work clothes in your car or office so you don’t ruin your business attire.
- Jeremy Luchini
Factory Five has a really cool video gallery showing all kinds of videos of their cars. Here is a link to a time compressed video that shows a couple guys building the car, and it only takes 8 minutes and 31 seconds. It really is a "quick overview" of the build process.
We're planning that our build will take about 16 weeks or so, but we're budgeting a lot of time since we have a lot of newbies (like me) and we can only work nights and weekends. During the day we have to keep working hard to make SolidWorks CAD even easier to use and more powerful so all our users can focus on designing great products (I know, a plug for my favorite CAD... I won't do it too often).
- Mike Volpe
The first post on a blog is always a bit odd... what do you say when you know no one is going to read this post until a bunch more have been made and this one is relegated to the bottom of the list? So, I will simply describe what we are doing and the reason for this blog to exist. A group of employees from SolidWorks is going to build an FFR 65 MK III roadster from Factory Five Racing.
Why? Well, first off, it will be a blast. We have a bunch of "car guys" around the company, but there will also be a ton of "newbies" on the project as well.
Second, we always like to support our customers, companies who design cool products using SolidWorks CAD software, and Factory Five is one of those companies. There are a lot of other companies that design using SolidWorks CAD and we hope to have as many of them participate in the project as possible by offering advice, donating parts and even picking up a wrench now and then.
Finally, we are trying to raffle or auction the car off for the benefit of charity. [We're all hoping to get a chance to drive it first, as payback for our hard work! :) ] We're still selecting exactly how we're going to do that and who it will benefit, so more to come on that later - there are lots of issues to navigate with insurance and local raffle/auction rules, so we're just not sure how it is all going to work.
- Mike Volpe, newbie car guy
