| Factory Five Mk3.1 Upgrades and Improvements Jan 2008 Much Better than it ever was! Once again we have gone back to the engineering table to sharpen the blade of our best-selling roadster. This time out we kept the base chassis the same (hence the revision name Mk3.1 rather than Mk4) and focused more on improving existing parts, trim, and accessories, as well as designing all-new parts/assemblies. With the performance horse already beaten severely over the years, we turned our focus to improving the quality and contents of the kit. Over the past six months we have been integrating many of these changes into the current Mk3 kit. Without a formal revision change, and since we have brought in many of these improvements in-process, most people don’t know the dramatic scale to which this car has been upgraded. What follows is a full list and explanation of the many changes we’ve made to the Mk3 Roadster. Many of these changes were made as a direct result of the work on launching our new “Complete Kits” for the Roadster and Coupe. Still more of the changes and updates were part of the dedicated project to refine and improve the car. This newly configured and upgraded Mk3 kit will serve as the foundation from which we will be launching our new, limited edition, “Legacy Series” models later this year slated for production in 2009.. Those plans call for a serialized production run of digitized 427 Dick Smith Tribute Models, and an accompanying 289 USRRC version. Click here for more details. For now though, the total number of upgrades and changes we’ve made to the Mk3 are startling and deserve a thorough review! To make this easier we’ve designed this post with an outline right up front so you can see everything that is included. After that, we have descriptions for each part if you wish to read more about all of the upgrades. Underneath and supporting all these product changes and improvements are systems and facilities improvements that have made this work possible. Our partners at Hewlett Packard have sponsored us with state-of-the-art hardware like the new quad-core HP processor technologies powering their new workstations. Our partners at SolidWorks have sponsored us with the latest versions and upgrades of the world’s best CAD software. And lastly, our own staff of tech support, customer service and operations has grown and matured, while we’ve made larger investments in inventory and the supporting systems necessary to deliver the best customer service in the business. We hope you like what we’ve done. It feels good to improve the breed and grow our business in the face of constantly rising costs. In an economy that is, every day, forcing US companies to manufacture off-shore, we are proud to say that Factory Five’s are designed, Made and Built in the USA with American Labor. We are proud of these many improvements, and proud of our company’s continued commitment to the simple charter of “every day doing something better”. Dave Smith President Mk3.1 Changes List - All-New Mk3 Roadster seats
- All-New Aston LeMans gas cap design with integral pressure cap
- Improved Roadster Main body molds/shapes (again!)
- New design Roadster hood and hood liner
- New design Roadster trunk and all-new trunk liner
- Improved Roadster door panels, liners, and molds
- New/improved steering rack & inner tie rod ends
- New/Improved steering shaft design
- New/improved license plate light/bracket
- New/improved Three-lock set and mounting hardware
- Improved side view mirror
- New pre-flared fuel lines
- New/improved steering wheel, polished aluminum center section and badge
- New design color enamel nose, tail, and steering center badges
- New stainless steel flexible cooling hoses standard
- All-New radiator and cooling kit/assembly
- Improved design rear “traction-lock” brackets
- Improved design front upper control arms
- Improved design front lower control arms
- Re-designed rear solid-axle lower control arms
- All-New Electronic Gauge Packages
- New Koni brand Adjustable Shocks
- New Roll-bar and mounting designs
- New design Straight Tubes and Catalytic Converters
- Improved accelerator cables
- New Shifter handle and knob
- New/improved Mk3 spacers kit
- New/improved Mk3 chrome-on-brass windshield
- New/improved turn signals and tail-lights
- New/improved speedometer sending units
- All-New stainless steel optional side pipes
- All-New stainless steel vintage bumpers and over-riders
- Improved carbon rock guards
- New/improved design Tonneau cover
- New/improved design soft top
- New competition Tow hook kit
COMPLETE KIT/ADDS UPGRADES - New Complete Roadster and Coupe kits
- All-New steel OEM fuel tank and peripherals
- All-New 11” front brake kit
- All-New Solid axle shafts
- All-New Solid axle rear brake kit
- All-New rear solid axles/rear-ends
- All-New IRS completion parts
- All-New Proportioning valve/Master Cylinder
- All-New selection driveshafts
- All-New Electrical system components and kit
- Revised/Larger Driver Side Footboxes & Modified Steel for new Wilwood Pedal Sets
- All-New Wilwood Pedal Set
- All-New Accelerator pedal
- “Rewind the tape” Larger driver side footboxes (back to the pre-4.6 design)
Other - New Warehouse, Production, and Inventory systems that have improved service levels.
- New technologies from HP, Intel and Solidworks
- New Shifter Karts training program
- New heater/defroster (coming soon)
New Mk3 “Complete Kit” In September 2007, more than ten years of selling only “Donor-based” roadster kits came to an end. Sure, you can still build your FFR with donor Mustang parts, but now you can also buy almost all the parts, brand-new, from us in one big value-priced package (or as separate assemblies). The Mk3 Roadster and Coupe kits are now available in “Complete kit” form. Full details on this change are described later in this section, but we wanted to highlight this achievement right up front since many of the engineering and parts changes to the v3.1 roadster kit that follows are improvement that were derived from this “Complete Kit” project. The good news for donor car builders are that you can cherry-pick parts and assemblies from the new “Complete kit” to make your donor-build even easier. |
