mikeb75's build thread

[07FIREBLADE]

No problem. Im fighting the new door frames and door latches trying to get the window to roll up and down all the way. It's not fun easily going to be the hardest part of the build outside of my initial diy harness diet. Now wiring harness are a cake walk. Got to love iWire.

Put here's a quick pic of what you want the door/hardtop gap to look http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu293/deathpanda949/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-04/0C42136E-FA71-4E1C-A941-3A35CF7DB4B5.jpg (http://s657.photobucket.com/user/deathpanda949/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-04/0C42136E-FA71-4E1C-A941-3A35CF7DB4B5.jpg.html)

[mikeb75]

Thanks for the HT alignment tips Fireblade. I'll confirm the alignment today.

I did check the headliner aluminum orientation, and I agree it's asymmetrical. I used the better fitting orientation, but am still having issues because of how I wrapped the headliner material around the aluminum sheet. A small trim on the passenger side (1/2") should allow it to fit better and make better contact for gluing. And speaking of glue... was using 3M 77 adhesive... piker.... found type 90 yesterday, it's got to be better :)

Hatch glass: yup, been there, done that.

Lastly, the brackets can be unbolted to remove the hardtop. That's why I used a pair of "L" pieces back to back.

[07FIREBLADE]

Got it. I just want to let you know. Have you gotten to the rear struts yet? I'm still trying to figure those out and ffr has no idea where they go yet. It wasn't installed on their car and they're not going to release another manual revision for awhile. I've been asking.

[WRXForward]

The rust information is helpful. I took a look at a WRX that had lived most of its life in Vermont and I don't think I've ever seen such rusty brake calipers. Could only imagine what the rest of the undercarriage was like.

[mikeb75]

Yea, gas struts are sitting on a table next to the car... so far the 2x4's been working just fine :)

Actually, since there is no mention of them in the manual revision I was kind of intimidated, but I've been looking at the hatch propped open for a few days and I think its just a matter of setting the hatch to a 'good' open angle with said trusty 2x4, then marking where the gas struts should go.

I've had a setback with the "L" braces... Loctite epoxy holds like crap... maybe just the humidity in the air when I'm setting up, but the epoxy doesn't harden well, nor does it hold the fiberglass strongly, so the brackets have pulled off after tightening down the bolts.

Anyone have a recommendation of a good structural epoxy? I'm thinking of using an instant holding Krazy type glue to position the brackets, then putting a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy over them.

[Hindsight]

For gluing brackets, I just use clear JBweld quick cure (5 minute epoxy). It's very strong and comes in the twin tubes so it's easy. Wayne sent a link to some stuff a while back but it's $50 and you need a special gun to dispense it. For when I'm patient and need a lot of strength (especially when adding glass cloth), I use West System epoxy which is VERY strong but expensive and their fastest cure is still pretty slow. When you use West System, you get their 105 epoxy in whatever size, and then you choose the hardener based on cure time and what you are working on. eBay usually has the best prices. Ensure you get the pump kit (300 pump kit they call it) - you just screw one pump on the epoxy and one on the hardener and it puts out exact amounts needed. You can store it with the pumps attached - they double as a lid. Also EXCELLENT epoxy for laminating fiberglass.

http://imgur.com/rlVaKNY

[07FIREBLADE]

I did what hindsight did. Also you can glass for a permeate bond after you get everything in place with the epoxy. That's my plan at least. I know the trusty 2x4 works but you cant carry it with you.

[Hindsight]

Oh one other tip if you didnt do this already: make sure to 60 or 80 grit sand the aluminum, and also sand the fiberglass enough to take the gloss off. Also drill some holes in the aluminum to help give the epoxy something the grip on. Lastly, most epoxies dont reach full strength right away so I always wait overnight before putting much pressure on it.

[mikeb75]

The hardest thing about installing the side windows is cutting the holes in the door skins. If you remember the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy has to make the leap of faith… pretty much the same thing.

Now that I’ve done it I can say a few things:

The manual is useless. It says:


With the door closed, measure 0.50” forward from the hardtop and mark the tape. Also mark
Cut the top of the door.
Push the hard flocked weatherstrip onto the outside of the window slot.


And shows a close up of the back edge of the slot. If you look really close and squint (and sit upside down) you might also see that the weatherstrip extends over the first crease in the door skin.

The hole needs to be further outside than I initially thought. I marked the door skin 1/8” inside where the hard top edge met the door and continued out for ¾”. Not enough. Took 1 1/8” inches to get a big enough opening, and could probably use a bit more to allow the weatherstrip to relax a bit more.

You can not install the window without the slot cut in the door skin unless you totally disassemble the door. I tried.

Every door is different so YMMV.

Still need to do the final up and down adjustments and figure out where I want the control installed. But for now it’s pretty freaking amazing to have a windows installed that goes up and down.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160605_15_10_06_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160605_15_47_22_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160605_17_18_57_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160605_17_50_25_Pro.jpg

[Frank818]

Wow, that must have taken a while to cut that looooooong straight line on the door. Your car is going to be so awesome with this top. Not that it's not without, it is awesome, just not "so awesome" yet. lolll

[Aero STI]

Cutting that slot has got to be nerve racking. Did the inner door frame come with the coupe retrofit?

[mikeb75]

Cutting that slot has got to be nerve racking. Did the inner door frame come with the coupe retrofit?
Yes, the coupe refit has the different door frame that accepts the window rack. I preferred the old frame since I figure it was stronger, but want windows need this frame...


Wow, that must have taken a while to cut that looooooong straight line on the door. Your car is going to be so awesome with this top. Not that it's not without, it is awesome, just not "so awesome" yet. lolll
Took a little while, just using a Dremel - not more than a few minutes. Was a bit of a nervous moment, but after the first plunge cut was committed, so just got on with the program :)

[bbjones121]

Looking good. Thank you for doing this before me :)

[AZPete]

Yes! Also thanks for the pics and tips. Since my retrofit top and new nose should be on a truck this week I'm studying your work over and over. Nicely done.

[mikeb75]

A couple of observations on installation of the driver’s outer door handle:

Another hole in the door skins. Take a deep breath. The template helps… but ->

The template positions the opening too far back towards the rear edge of the door IMO. The door bars have a different – larger area around the latch that interferes with the lock cylinder. It’s close, but I’d recommend moving the template forward ¼” to get a bit more clearance for the lock cylinder.

Unless you are better at Rubik Cube puzzles than I am you are going to have to disassemble the inner pivot on the door handle to get the backing plate from FFR onto the threaded posts. Don’t lose the spring! And position the spring before attaching the M6 nuts (it'll make more sense when you look at the handle & FFR mounting plate).

The FFR door connection between the outer door handler and the door striker/latch isn’t even close. Whatever revision I have doesn’t align well and presses against the window glass. Technically it opens the door, but no way can I use it like it is. Actually, the original Mazda threaded rod that the instructions say to cut off was actually much closer than the FFR piece – just a heads up before you cut yours off like I did…

Don't get too hung up on the lock connector referenced in manual-P. I didn't get one because (If I remember correctly) they're still working out how to get the lock to actually work.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160622_20_45_12_Pro.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160622_22_11_58_Pro.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160622_22_12_14_Pro.jpg

I guess I will spend tomorrow trying to find a better position for the latch connection and maybe modifying the FFR piece.

[07FIREBLADE]

There is a revision to that bracket. That was the original one and they redesigned it. I modified those to begin with but was having trouble with the window rolling down and clearing the the door mechicism. I'll post a photo later tonight

[mikeb75]

Switched to the other door handle actuator bar and lightly modified it and everything works well (enough), clears window and the door opens from the outside. I’ll probably trim the ear off to save the 2 grams.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160623_13_52_16_Pro.jpg

Also, here is a picture of the interference between the lock cylinder and the door frame. If it wasn’t in such a crappy location I’d cut the door bar part down slightly. But for now the lock turns via the key, so good enough. Still, just saying, ¼” will save you a headache!
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160622_22_35_03_Pro.jpg

[Frank818]

Those little details are always frustrating, but in the end your car will be so beautiful and functional!

[mikeb75]

A few more details that may help other door finishers:

Using the Tamara/Andrew thread I had a bunch of small tapered screws to attach the lower part of the door skin to the inner door panel. However, it was very easy to strip the plastic inner panel when applying enough force to bring both together. So I epoxied little aluminum rectangles to the inner door skin where the holes were located. This gives enough extra purchase to pull the two door skins together quite well.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160625_09_09_01_Pro.jpg

Used a ¾” aluminum L epoxied to the top of the outer door skin to firm up the flimsiness and give a backing to the inner door skin on the upper part. This method was first described by Hindsight (I think) and is highly recommended. Really firms up the door upper part, which is especially important if you cut the outer skin for the window.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160624_15_42_51_Pro.jpg

Watch the gaps at the front and rear of the hard top if you’ve got one. They can be really tight, especially with the padded inner door panels. I didn’t notice at first and tore up a bit of the rear corner of the padded panel on one side. The other side I knew what was coming and spent time clearancing and used tape to protect.

The aluminum trim panels are completely wrong for the padded door skins with the window door bars, they would put the handles too low to be able to attach to the door bar.

Depending on how tight you pull the two door skins, I bowed the fiberglass outer slightly which added to the rubbing on the driver’s door. I actually had to make a relief cut to relax the fiberglass. Over the winter I need to spend time correcting this, but for now it works.

If you pull the skins tight the inner door handles will stick out too far using more than 1/4” spacers. I had to trim down the 2” screw, but no big task there. The handle still protrudes a little too far at the front, I may have to profile the spacer to give the correct angle. Again, winter task.

Overall, the doors aren’t too hard to finish, as long as everything before them is correct. Setting the door bars, outer door skins and windows took a lot more time. The doors are fairly solid feeling now that they’re complete. A bit more sound-deadening and maybe some more stiffening on the plastic panels would do good here.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160625_13_49_13_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160628_16_55_16_Pro.jpg

[07FIREBLADE]

Very nice. I've been fighting the windows on my car for the longest time. I had one side working well and took the top off to do some repairs and tweaks now I can't get it back together for the life of me.

[Hindsight]

Nice work! If you have rubbing on the door against the side sail when you go to close the door, one trick I have done is to loosen the hinge bolts a bit, move the door until the striker is very close to the latch, but not touching it, then wedge a wooden shim (like you'd use when framing a door in your house) between the rear bottom of the door and the side sail. Snug up the hinge bolts, remove the wedge, then slowly push the door in. If the latch BARELY clears the striker and is closer to the top of it than the bottom, that means the door is as high as it can possibly be and have the latch still working. This gives you as much clearance as possible between the trouble point of the door and the side sail. It ended up working for me.

I like your idea about the rectangles to give the screws something to grip on to. I stripped one of the holes in my door panel without applying much pressure at all so I will definitely use your idea the next time I have the panels out.

[Frank818]

There's a lot more space than one could think inside those doors. Good thing, it looks superb with the window and mechanism!

[mikeb75]

First: Happy 4th to everyone!

We’ve been committed to keeping an air to air intercooler for this build. Since the plan has always been to go hardtop we didn’t have to futz with the engine cover & weird IC ducting from FFR. Instead we built a fan shroud to sit on top of a late model STI IC. Knowing the limitations of the stock type IC we went with pusher type fans and a pretty good seal between the shroud and the IC.

The second part of the plan was to use the roof scoop to vent cold/pressurized air to an upper plenum on the IC/fan shroud. We’ve used Kydex (a heat shapeable plastic) to build the first version. Epoxy, rivets and silicone hold the structure together with some weather stripping and aluminum tape to seal it so the high pressure air is forced through the IC core.

The prelim testing will be run with thermocouples before and after the IC to watch temperatures under load. Will report back results when we get some. If this works well I want to fab up a ‘better’ system using carbon fiber sheets (saw a really sweet CNC router I’d like to get my hands on).
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160701_14_44_54_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160701_15_10_45_Pro.jpg
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http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160703_11_08_52_Pro.jpg
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http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160703_16_33_23_Pro.jpg

[mikeb75]

Just back from vacation and a package is delivered from FFR – double happy day! It contains refit parts for the inner door handles and the rear hatch gas struts. To be honest, I took one look at the new door pulls and put them back in the box… they’re a bit ghastly.

The gas strut refit however – come to papa! No instructions available yet (on the website or in the box)… but I’m tanned, rested and ready – let’s do this. Actually the install is pretty simple. There is a round split collar that goes around the triangulating supports for the roll bar that a ball joint threads into for one end of the gas strut. The other gets a plate that screws into the side rail of the hatch.

There isn’t a ton of support for the screws… feels like they only just go into plastic and fiberglass. I may look at reinforcing this later or switching to the original plates that are drilled to accept button head screw/riv-nuts.

Loosely attach the collars, attach the gas struts and close the hatch. I measured about 2” from the outside part of the collar to the square tube and the gas struts have ¼” travel left when the hatch is fully closed – and it opens a good amount.

This makes me hugely happy… 1 less thing on the to-do list and I don’t need to pack a 2x4 everywhere I go!

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160818_17_14_26_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160818_17_14_36_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160818_17_16_09_Pro.jpg

[STiPWRD]

Looking good, I like your IC duct design. I gotta get a set of those gas struts for the engine lid on my S, I'm still using a 1/2" aluminum tube to prop it up.

[ben1272]

Your car looks great! I have never been through your build thread before....dont know how I missed it, but it was definitely worth finding!

[Frank818]

Gas shocks look cool! Your IC ducting/box too!

[AZPete]

Thanks, Mike, for the posting how the hatch struts fit. I've got back from Jackson Hole last night to find a box from FFR with Hardtop Update Pack - stuff for hatch struts, inside & outside door handles. I already bought nice inside handles and agree that the plastic handles in the update Pack are cheap looking. Hey FRR, some instructions would be nice.

[bbjones121]

Thanks, Mike, for the posting how the hatch struts fit. I've got back from Jackson Hole last night to find a box from FFR with Hardtop Update Pack - stuff for hatch struts, inside & outside door handles. I already bought nice inside handles and agree that the plastic handles in the update Pack are cheap looking. Hey FRR, some instructions would be nice.

What handles did you get for inside?

[mikeb75]

they look like this:

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160823_13_59_32_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160823_13_59_29_Pro.jpg

They seem to have been included because FFR changed to some nice pull cables to open the latch/striker which don't work with the original door hardware. They're SMALL -like 1 finger pull small.

I was able to use the original door handles and hard lines without much issue; though there is a small fitment problem with the Subaru handles.

[bbjones121]

they look like this:

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160823_13_59_32_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160823_13_59_29_Pro.jpg

They seem to have been included because FFR changed to some nice pull cables to open the latch/striker which don't work with the original door hardware. They're SMALL -like 1 finger pull small.

I was able to use the original door handles and hard lines without much issue; though there is a small fitment problem with the Subaru handles.

Sorry, I meant the nicer ones that azpete bought. I received my plastic ones the other day also.

[Frank818]

Those are the new FFR inside door handles?

[mikeb75]

Finishing plasti-dip on the bonnet and going over some problem areas. I'm pretty happy with the fixability of plasti-dip. I put about 3 coats over the problem areas on the front fenders and they look pretty good. If you look closely there are some straight lines where I cut off the worst 'dip areas and didn't blend between old and new, but just the new spray areas look very good.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160912_12_03_04_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160913_16_50_16_Pro.jpg

Put trim on the bonnet to reduce rub against the fenders (still a little too tight, need to reposition passenger slightly and patch dip- again) and in the cut-outs for the grills.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160913_16_50_22_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160913_17_39_42_Pro.jpg

I have the mesh rough cut and painted, but got side-tracked working on a stay for the bonnet/hinges. The hinges appear to be pulling the riv-nuts out of the front bar so the bonnet is looking unsafe when open.

[AZPete]

Very nice, Mike. You are making me like matt finish. It looks mean!

[Wayne Presley]

Looks cool

[turbomacncheese]

I was just reading about plastidip and watching a bunch of videos a couple days ago. Looks like pretty cool stuff, but I saw a picture of one that looked like it started to disintegrate when the guy tried to strip it. Also looked pretty thin, so it wasn't obvious whether it was too much time in the sun or just not enough coverage. Seems fairly idiot proof (good for me!)

[Wayne Presley]

Which plastidip did you use?

[mikeb75]

OG plastidip :)

Performix brand. Gallons have blue label with yellow lettering (from ebay; from Amazon can is unwrapped with plain white label). Haven't tried other products.

58514


turbomacncheese, it's easy to get off, as long as you put enough material down! Right now I'm at about 6-7 coats total. The first two or three are very thin - and I could see a problem trying to peel off at this stage. After the 'base' has been laid down the other coats build thickness pretty fast, and peeling at that stage is (too) easy.

the only problem I have with 'dip is it's too fragile. Rubbing will pull up the material, which is too easy to do when fitting panels, I'm of a mind that 'dip should be applied after the bodywork is installed. Don't treat is like paint -it isn't. It also shows scuffs which invariably happen when building or fixing the car.

The good news is after a thorough clean I was able to re-spray and get a nice finish again.

Thanks everyone!

[Mechie3]

The hinges appear to be pulling the riv-nuts out of the front bar so the bonnet is looking unsafe when open.

Did you use three rivnuts per hinge? Two go vertical and one goes horizontal. If you only use two on the top you're putting a huge moment on the rivnuts which would pull them out. That's where the horizontal one comes in to prevent that.

[mikeb75]

ahha, user error! (2)
Let me see if I can get a rivnut into the back of the bar and drop some JB weld into the existing rivnut holes and get this stabilized.

[Mechie3]

I'm working on getting a tech page setup for my website with install instructions for everything. Sorry I didn't let you know earlier.

[mikeb75]

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/WP_20160915_17_31_19_Pro.jpg

finishing details... soon

[Frank818]

Mike did you install the hinge brackets directly on the hood or you use something to flatten out the surface (hood is curved, hood hinges aren't)?

[mikeb75]

Mike did you install the hinge brackets directly on the hood or you use something to flatten out the surface (hood is curved, hood hinges aren't)?
Stacks of washers. I bonded the studs directly to the hood and use different height stacks to fill the gaps.

[turbomacncheese]

OG plastidip :)

Performix brand. Gallons have blue label with yellow lettering (from ebay; from Amazon can is unwrapped with plain white label). Haven't tried other products.

58514


turbomacncheese, it's easy to get off, as long as you put enough material down! Right now I'm at about 6-7 coats total. The first two or three are very thin - and I could see a problem trying to peel off at this stage. After the 'base' has been laid down the other coats build thickness pretty fast, and peeling at that stage is (too) easy.

the only problem I have with 'dip is it's too fragile. Rubbing will pull up the material, which is too easy to do when fitting panels, I'm of a mind that 'dip should be applied after the bodywork is installed. Don't treat is like paint -it isn't. It also shows scuffs which invariably happen when building or fixing the car.

The good news is after a thorough clean I was able to re-spray and get a nice finish again.

Thanks everyone!

Thanks. I suspected that might be it, so I'm glad you agree.

[Frank818]

Tnx for your response Mike, quick and easy idea, I might copy. I'll send you money for your patent. :)

[mikeb75]

Won't say done; but here it sits... pretty much fully assembled:
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/246f0020-de43-438f-9a98-5968cddba938.jpg

I've scheduled the state inspections required for Maryland registration and titling... near the end of October; so it's another hurry up and wait. Doesn't look like I will get any track time this year, but I should be able to do some street testing as soon as the car is plated. I have some ideas of things to address in the short term and over the winter.

But for now... garage queen.

[Frank818]

Whatever emoji for thumbs up. :)

[Hindsight]

Congrats Mike! Why no track time? Due to registration or season change? If registration, you can always just tow it on a rented u-haul trailer to the track.

[mikeb75]

thanks Hindsight,

reasons for no track this year is pretty much all time related:
-No tags mean I haven't been able to drive more than around the block, so the car's never been over 35(ha) MPH. I won't take this car on the track until I do some regular to high(ish) speed driving; not confident enough in the build yet.
-There are no available sessions at the close track; I think the only thing left with the organizer I have run with in the past is at VIR, 5 hours away.
-I don't own a trailer, or even a vehicle that can tow... that may change someday in the near future :)
-I'm c#ickens#it (ha)

[RM1SepEx]

Mike, make sure you put many coats if you want to be able to strip it easily. I did one of my Miatas as a test case with a Plasti Dip experienced friend. We did 9 total coats on a Miata, about 3 1/2 gallons of dip.

59246

[mikeb75]

Mike, make sure you put many coats if you want to be able to strip it easily. I did one of my Miatas as a test case with a Plasti Dip experienced friend. We did 9 total coats on a Miata, about 3 1/2 gallons of dip.


Yup, got it! I have enough material to strip later! (I know since I've pulled some areas to respray). Definitely one of the important FAQ's about 'dip

[STiPWRD]

How about some out of the garage photos? Have you checked out summit point? I can understand not tracking it without some road miles though.

[mikeb75]

How about some out of the garage photos? Have you checked out summit point? I can understand not tracking it without some road miles though.

Fair Enough !!
Yesterday afternoon was pleasant, the sun finally came out and so did the big camera.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6303.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6305.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6313.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6308_1.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6310.jpg
(no idea why banana... FIL's work)
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6317.jpg
(shot to scale: I'm 5' 7")
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/cars/818%20build/IMG_6319.jpg


I also ran the engine for 30 minutes and took a quick neighborhood spin; there is still some heat coming through the firewall from the engine bay, which itself gets quite hot. I will need to look at better sealing off the firewall and adding some more insulation.

Driving was good! After fixing the alignment issues and making sure the car was set up square front to rear I can say it feels nice and planted when I leaned into the go fast pedal. There is a little 's' section to the road I live on and while accelerating the car reacted well to direction changes. Also, the LSD is doing it's thing out back. I definitely feel it at slow speeds. Going to be interesting when I start taking corners in anger.

So the exhaust is pretty loud -knew that. Audience could hear the car around the corner long before seeing it. But in the car the most prominent noise is actually the turbo when it comes on... lots of fun there!

Summit is actually the closest track, but their schedule is also the most limiting. I'll take another look at the various leagues that run there...

[RM1SepEx]

Mike, have you checked your headlight alignment? I've struggled to get mine high enough and aimed properly.

[STiPWRD]

There we go! The coupe roof looks great! Is it me or is the front lower than the rear? The wheel gaps look bigger out back.

[Frank818]

Love the yellow door handles and gauge bezels! Yellow on black really stands out!

What 3rd brake light that?

[Frank818]

There we go! The coupe roof looks great! Is it me or is the front lower than the rear? The wheel gaps look bigger out back.

I noticed it too, I think it's the tire size.

[mikeb75]

yea, back is riding a bit high... but it's cool! If it's good enough for the Red Bull F1 team ;)

3rd brake light is an ebay special, Red 24 LED 12V car high mount third brake stop tail, basically this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-24-LED-12V-Car-High-Mount-Third-3RD-Brake-Stop-Tail-Light-Lamp-K-/231377005815?hash=item35df24ecf7

Headlight alignment is still on the list to do. I'm hoping since they're aftermarket there will be enough adjustment to get it fixed.

thanks all!

[Martin]

That car looks bad a** in matt black.

Great build.

Martin

[QBlades]

Good job! I am actually in maryland as well and currently working on the body. Please let us know how the titling and registration goes. I'll probably PM you later to find out additional details once my is closer to ready.

[PSUalum1986]

looking good, Mike! I will have to catch up with you some time and see the progress in person.

[6t8dart]

That thing looks plain evil in black...but im not so sure about the banana glued to the roof, it might attract hoards of monkeys whenever you stop.

[mikeb75]

That thing looks plain evil in black...but im not so sure about the banana glued to the roof, it might attract hoards of monkeys whenever you stop.

Plain evil is the best kind of compliment, thanks!

Banana... eh what's an imbecile like me going to do :)

[Hindsight]

Mike - Love it! I love the old front end with the hardtop. Very cool looking.

Dan - RE the headlights - the only way to get them aimed right is to get some retrofit projectors. I have some sitting on the shelf waiting to get installed. Will post a writeup.

[AZPete]

I really like the matte finish and agree it looks plain evil. I've now added matte black to my short list of colors.
Mike, I'm having trouble getting the top edge of the power window to seal against the felted molding so if you've got any hints, I'd love to hear. OTOH, all your photos have the window down so maybe you're having the same problem.

[mikeb75]

Mike, I'm having trouble getting the top edge of the power window to seal against the felted molding so if you've got any hints, I'd love to hear. OTOH, all your photos have the window down so maybe you're having the same problem.

Drivers side lined up pretty good, but passengers side has about 1/8" gap between the window and the felt molding. I am going to be heavily reworking the doors & windows over the winter to correct the door alignment/twist and get them to open/close freely.

I'm not thrilled with the windows: cutting the slot in the door skin was really sketchy and I don't feel like the results are good enough. Add to that I don't feel the window rail path is correct for the amount of 'curve' needed to get the window to follow the door line.

I can tell you that I over-cut the opening on the passenger side, and this greatly affects the window path. I went back with some flat aluminum and epoxy to reduce the size of the hole and use the weather-striping to push the window in. Actually, the result from this mistake looks pretty good (to my eye), and I plan on using this method on both doors when I revisit the issue:
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/WP_20160606_17_10_57_Pro.jpg
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/WP_20160606_17_13_25_Pro.jpg

It's not the best picture, but you can see that the aluminum is under the door skin and the weather striping actually sits on the aluminum.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/MikeB75/WP_20160608_20_02_53_Pro.jpg

Another idea I found was by watching a Daytona Coupe build on youtube by The Wizard. He is adding power windows and has framed the windows to make sure they position correctly. I think a guide frame at the front of the window in the sail panel might help a lot as well as cleaning up the gap between the door and the HT:

https://youtu.be/1d4cMa_u4e4

Overall, the window guiderail mounts and rollers don't have enough adjustment for me to get the passenger window to tip in enough to close perfectly. Additionally, since the door skin is required to push against the window from the outside to 'hold' it in position it's hard to pre-fit the window and check the alignment of the guide rail/rollers - which again is very aggravating!

Actually my drivers side fits well and I don't have the same problem with a gap... which is annoying since that's the side where the door has always fit worse. Go Figure.

[AZPete]

Thanks for the advice and also making me feel I'm not the only guy having trouble fitting the windows. I've only been working on the driver side, so far, but I cut the door in a straight line from molding to molding and then discovered the window is curved - duh, I should have checked first. Tonight I'll remove and remount the door at a different angle, fingers crossed. I haven't yet tried to fill the cut with the supplied molding but I'll try what you've done with an aluminum backer.

[mikeb75]

Finally, this is the week for inspections. Cross your fingers for me everyone (please!). Tomorrow is MD state salvage (pay us sucker) inspection and Friday is safety inspection.

Really hoping to have the car on the road by the weekend.

[AZPete]

Fingers crossed for you. Thanks for your help.

[STiPWRD]

Really hoping to have the car on the road by the weekend.
What time should I expect you?

[wleehendrick]

Finally, this is the week for inspections. Cross your fingers for me everyone (please!). Tomorrow is MD state salvage (pay us sucker) inspection and Friday is safety inspection.

Good luck!

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[Frank818]

I won't wish you luck cuz I think luck is for those who aren't prepared and you are prepared. Let's rather hope that the inspection guy isn't too mean for whatever reason!

Let us asap once you get news! :)

[mikeb75]

Score. Have registration and temp tags.

Time for a frosty beverage.

[AZPete]

Yippee!

[STiPWRD]

Awesome!

[Frank818]

HURRAY!!!!!!!! Take a couple more frozen ones for all of us!
Now we want a picture of the car in action on the streets!

[mikeb75]

Just finished getting insurance straightened out. The 818 was added to my primary policy at same coverage levels (and comprehensive at that) for $585 per year. Score one for being a middle aged bast@rd.

Still need to pass safety inspection. Had to cancel since insurance wasn't in place on Friday, rescheduled for this week.

Took first real drive today, but don't think the video camera stayed put, mount came loose. I have a new gropro and mount arrived today, so next time...

Tried bedding brakes, and think I got them, but never really smelled the resin baking stage...

Throttle is a bit notchy, its hard to modulate power at very low throttle, need to check cable and throttle body for binding.

Need a bit more sealing of engine compartment, heat and fumes. Some Al sheet work needed to fill last gaps.

But holy -isht I got to go grocery shopping in the 818 and then bought beer :cool:

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[mikeb75]

Captured some footage this morning on shake-down run. Nothing too exciting...

http://youtu.be/cFFuTqH2-aM

[AZPete]

"Nothing too exciting"? On a shake-down run, no smoke, no leaks and no tow strap are all exciting. Congrats!
I'm going back and watch it again.

[Canadian818]

I'm with Frank, that's plenty exciting!

[Frank818]

Hey Mike, I missed that but how did you paint/wrap/whicheversolution your Inside yellow door handles?

[mikeb75]

Hey Mike, I missed that but how did you paint/wrap/whicheversolution your Inside yellow door handles?
Frank, it's just yellow enamel spray paint

Failed safety inspection yesterday... inspector was steering lock-to-lock to test the turn signal canceller. Have tire rub since I never installed steering rack limiters (hey, I know what the limits are :) ). He popped the steering union between the rack and steering column shaft. The steering wheel would turn with a notchy feeling, but the wheels wouldn't move.

Back story here is that we've used a JDM solid union that FIL picked up from ebay or somewhere... and it required quite a bit of massaging to get it to fit on the splined shafts, both steering rack and steering column. I had to widen the bottom of the union and grind a relief slot into the rack input shaft to allow the pinch bolt through. The column shaft was a closer fit -just required a lot of torqueing to collapse the U on to the shaft.

So when I got the call from the inspector I figured the bottom of the union had popped off (has happened once before), but no it was the top that was slipping on the splined shaft. I tried to torque down the bolt so I could drive the car the 4 miles home, but couldn't get it secure enough. Had to have the car flat bedded home.

The car is now up on jack stands and the whole front end is off. The bolt securing the upper end of the union was OEM and it was not particularly strong. The threads are not stripped but actually pancaked flat so it was never going to hold strongly. I know the chance is remote, but it's kind of horrifying to think if this had failed on the track at high speed.

I've replaced the bolt with a grade 8 flanged lag bolt and added a second grade 8 nut past the threaded end of the union. Feels a lot more secure now, but still need some additional stress testing to make sure the splined shaft doesn't slip.

Next up are steering rack limiters, replacing the instrument console (one of the turn signal indicators doesn't work -tried replacing the bulb, I think a trace is burned out) and will readdress the side mirrors and doors.

[Canadian818]

Sorry to hear about the fail, but it's good that it went wrong now and not on track or dangerously in traffic.

[Frank818]

Ugh, sorry about that.
Why did you use that solid union?

[mikeb75]

JDM 'yo! Its got to be better...

Or I'm an imbecile who invites extra work and disaster at every turn. Probably a mix of both...

[mikeb75]

working through my punch list of things to get fixed before safety inspection attempt 2:

The right turn signal indicator hasn't been working on the instrument console. I ordered a replacement console and both turn signal indicators work but the console doesn't illuminate when the head lights are on after I changed out the bulbs... something hinkey is going on.

I disassembled the old console and found the fuseable link for the turn signal indicator had burnt out. Jumpered it to fix.
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Then replaced all the bulbs again and tested. Two more links blew. I'm beginning to suspect the ebay special LEDs I've been using are the cause of the problem... either that or I have a strange short in the wiring harness.

I went to the other console, found the single burnt fuseable link and jumpered it, installed all the old bulbs and tested/installed it. Will hope it holds until the re-test. Quite a not fun problem.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

working through my punch list of things to get fixed before safety inspection attempt 2:

The right turn signal indicator hasn't been working on the instrument console. I ordered a replacement console and both turn signal indicators work but the console doesn't illuminate when the head lights are on after I changed out the bulbs... something hinkey is going on.

I disassembled the old console and found the fuseable link for the turn signal indicator had burnt out. Jumpered it to fix.
6078160782

Then replaced all the bulbs again and tested. Two more links blew. I'm beginning to suspect the ebay special LEDs I've been using are the cause of the problem... either that or I have a strange short in the wiring harness.

I went to the other console, found the single burnt fuseable link and jumpered it, installed all the old bulbs and tested/installed it. Will hope it holds until the re-test. Quite a not fun problem.


Mike
A fusible link blowing by the bulb can only be caused by the bulb. I suspect the LED is in backwards.
Light bulbs are not polarity sensitive. The LED's are.
Bob

[mikeb75]

That makes sense. Thanks Bob! Will stay with the incandescent bulbs for now.

Another mini-update, been addressing the door fitment. I can say the doors fit a lot better if they aren't 'tucked' at the front under the fenders. Doing that puts stress and torsion on the door skin which makes it nearly impossible to fit in the opening without rubbing.

I've relaxed the doorskins and like magic, they just fit now. Still doing fiberglass work before final assembly, but I should have them done this weekend. The windows seem to fit in the opening better also. I bought some channel stock to make guides, but I don't think I need them at this time. I may revisit this as I'm looking at doing a bit of body work at the door to A pillar junction, but right now focused on completing reassembly and safety inspection.

[Frank818]

I disagree with Bob. Many LEDs aren't polarity sensitive because they are protected against misplacement, but on the cluster usually you are using unprotected polarity sensitive LEDs that require the right amount of resistance. You need to solder a resistance inlne.

Is this what you are using?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/50-Pcs-LED-RGB-Common-Cathode-4-Pin-F5-5MM-Super-Bright-Bulb-Lamp-NEW-/171989600261?hash=item280b610805:g:RUgAAOSwl8NVYxy Y

[mikeb75]

Nope. Too nice.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pack-Twist-Socket-Blue-T5-37-73-led-5050-SMD-Instrument-Cluster-Dash-Led-Light-/121166355449?hash=item1c3613dbf9

[mikeb75]

Set a goal to fix the doors so I took completely disassembled each side: fender, doorskin, door frame, hinges and windows. After about 15 hours fixing the door alignments, epoxying & fiberglassing and resetting the hardware I think I got it pretty close. Here is the passenger side almost all buttoned up :

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I just have a few hours left to finalize the drivers side door and reinstall the fenders & hood and I'll be up for another try at the inspection this week.

[Frank818]

Sorry I'm not saying anything about the windows, other than it seems difficult to get right, but did you cut the top inner portion of your front rear splash guard (piece close to doors)? I know there is a slot to slide it through the hood support bracket but it seems you cut a pie of off it.

I like your idea of the FFR mesh in that part. Will probably do the same. Tnx.

[mikeb75]

Yes, had to notch out the splash guards to get them installed correctly. Can't remember exactly if it was an installation order (and being lazy), or a positioning problem.

[mikeb75]

Drivers door finished. Door skin alignment not quite as good as passenger (again :( ), but opens and closes well and only about 1/4" away from the body line at the bottom rear corner. I do like how the drivers side window aligns with the hardtop line, I will be adjusting the passenger window limiter to get the same effect.
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Adding block off plates to the interior at the junction of the hardtop and interior side panel aluminum has made a huge difference in the heat and noise in the passenger area. Probably because my oil cooler is right behind me on the drivers side and the intake & turbo on the passenger side.
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Took a 15 mile shakedown run and no major issues - other than almost being hit by a mail truck! They pulled out from a stop sign directly towards the passenger side. Major swerve-o but the car performed well, kept me pointed in the correct direction and out of the ditch -sure was doing 25, but still too exciting.

On the mechanical: there is a clicking from the rear driver corner, speed dependent, but not consistent and stops when brakes applied. Maybe a brake pad rub, need to check rotors. Also sounds like the oil cooler may be banging against something, I'll need to update those mounts.

Steering system holds up well under abuse, but the new rack limiters seem very limiting. I need to double check the clearances with the car on its wheels.

Inspection attempt 2 is tomorrow, I think I got all the rough areas fixed.

[Frank818]

Yeah, the bottom rear is too much inside. What causes that?

Good luck for tomorrow man.

[mikeb75]

Yeah, the bottom rear is too much inside. What causes that?
If only I knew... I had it PERFECT when I marked the holes. I think it's the rear striker/latch mount that most directly affects the rear corner.

Inspection attempt 2 failed but I'm SOOOOOOOOO close! Just need to :
-Adjust parking brake : MD requires positive engagement at around 8-10 clicks. Currently set for end of travel
-Revisit the turn signal canceller : I know it works at the end of steering travel in both directions, but I think inspector wants it to trigger earlier.

I should be done this process on Friday!

[mikeb75]

Passed Inspection this morning. I guess this completes this phase of the build thread!!! Don't actually know what else to write here right now :)

[Frank818]

AWESOME!!!!!!!! Huge congrats!!!

The build is done. Now drive. :) And post vids. :)

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Passed Inspection this morning. I guess this completes this phase of the build thread!!! Don't actually know what else to write here right now :)

Congratulation Mike,
We are at 1 year post registration. A couple thousand road mile and a couple thousand track miles.
KAIZEN year.
Enjoy the ride.
Bob

[AZPete]

Congrats, Mike. I'm amazed at what MD puts you through since here in AZ they just check that the major parts aren't stolen. I hope the weather is good enough for you to put some miles on.

[Hindsight]

NICE! Huge congrats Mike. I know that was quite a process for you.

[mikeb75]

Welp, that didn't last long. I know what my next project is going to be <sigh>

http://youtu.be/H7DInTn44uY

Apparently the noise I though was the oil cooler knocking wasn't... engine. Guess you can add me to the list and send a Nelson ha-ha my way. :)

Engine autopsy will have to wait a bit until I can pull it. Leaking oil from passenger side but haven't been able to get under car to inspect it yet. Will do so in the next few days, need to mod my jack stands a bit.

Sounded like this pretty much the entire way home -horrible clatter. I did manage to limp it home; wasn't sure it would make it a few times -it definitely got worse as I went, but honesty I figured the engine was toast based on the behavior right before the big noise, so I wasn't really worried about saving it. I though the noise was from the drivers side heads, but the oil leak is on the passenger side.

Other info:
Engine was acting unhappy during test drive. I had run it up to 70ish and about 10 PSI boost. The oil temperature started rising from 190 to 220 (oil cooler and fan were running at this time). Was sluggish until about 4.5K, then it seemed to spool up quick, was thinking turbo/WG problem. I did hear a significant amount of wastegate flutter during one hard pull, but that's the way this turbo/internal WG had been on the dyno runs.

The CEL light was from missing evaporative controls & missing TGV's which was known since I'd removed them during the install. I need to check if there are any new CEL codes.

[Hindsight]

Oh man, that was tough to watch. I can just see the gut-wrenching thoughts floating through your head as you realize what the issue was. Well.... at this point at least you can get a new bottom end that will take 600+ HP for future upgrades! Have you made any plans just yet on the direction you'll go?

[frankc5r]

Ouch! Does not really sound like rod knock but maybe more like piston. Did you happen to be taking data like knock and inlet air temp. I looked back thru your build thread and not sure if u are using fans to flow air thru your air/air. Fans that try to push thru a restriction sometimes have a real drop in flow.
I feel your pain. I had a finished project drop off hoist just after painting. everyone one here I am sure will do whatever they can to help.

[Frank818]

[QUOTE=mikeb75;258066Guess you can add me to the list and send a Nelson ha-ha my way. :)[/QUOTE]

Haawww-haaawwww

No seriously, that's the worst timing for this expression. Your suggestion is really bad, Mike.

The engine wasn't running well before that sharp ping we heard?
At least you manage to bring it back, hopefully it didn't amplify this issue. Can't wait to read more details. So sorry for you, after the huge well deserved smile of plating the car... that. :(

[mikeb75]

Yea, and no data either... damn datalogger hasn't been writing to SD card. Working with vendor to troubleshoot... and who needs to datalog on a fun drive.

Actually looking forward to pulling engine and building out the replacement. Interested go try an alternative turbo placement and IC.

Not planning to go crazy on the build, shooting for 320-350 at the wheels. Also going to look at if the heads are salvageable, and if the valvtrain can be built for a 7500 or higher redline. Think honeybadger or beefybadger.

Lets see where this adventure goes (been drinking and watching The Grand Tour!)

[DSR-3]

Ouch! Keep drinking and keep your good attitude!
At least you didn't get out and find a con-rod laying there- that's no fun either...
Congrats' on the inspection Pass. Good luck with BUILD Phase 1.5.

[AZPete]

Oh crap! I think I'll go get a drink, too. So sorry.

[mikeb75]

Happy New Year All! May 2017 see the ends of your projects in progress and the beginnings of many more!

We're going a bit backwards... but after 2 actual working days (only a few hours each) we've got the car back to this state:
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A few design/assembly choices made getting the fenders & hardtop off more difficult than it should have been. A few extra riv-nuts instead of rivets on the front splash guards would make a much easier job; will do the replacements during the reassembly.

There was some oil left in the pan, just under the 'low' mark on the dipstick. There was some metal in the oil -but it was dark not coppery. Also, there was a bunch of water in the catch can - can't wait to figure that one out... Haven't dumped the coolant yet, that's next; will see how contaminated that is.

Plan to get the engine pulled next weekend if the weather cooperates, then the fun starts! We have a line on a replacement engine, nothing too fancy, but should be quite satisfying.

[Canadian818]

Haha, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" right? LOVE that movie!

Looks like the tear down is welll underway, will you just be swapping in a used engine or a rebuilt one?

[mikeb75]

Haha, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" right? LOVE that movie!
Ding, ding, ding - WINNER

Looking at used engines, not going to say before committed. A bit gun-shy about re/building a hybrid with the 200K mile heads.

[Frank818]

Well that is backwards in order to go fwd later on. Sad to see that right after registration. :( Or at any other time.

[mikeb75]

On today’s episode of ‘Dude, your engine’s jacked!’ we try to find the point of failure on a 192K mile ‘03 EJ205.

For our new contestants, a quick recap: during drive engine suffered huge loss of power/hesitation. There was a constant knocking sound that corresponded with engine RPM – knocking bad been intermittent before that. Also, a severe oil leak -the pan wasn’t dry, but below ‘low’ on dipstick and left a nice puddle on the garage floor.

Saw some very fine debris in the oil recovered from the pan.
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Pulled spark plugs; a bit sooty, probably from running rich, but no evidence of oil on plug tips.
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Oil pickup and pump also had some debris in it.
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Took off oil pan and found the mother lode! Chunks and grit.
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Didn’t see any obvious damage to crank & con-rod big ends, but didn’t grab & shake them. No burnt or discolored ends.

Looked in the heads intakes, valves are still there. Maybe a tiny bit of oil on one of the valves.

Very little oil in the intercooler/intake pipes or throttle body.

Quite a bit of oil on top of the block around the rear oil galley plug that had a pressure transducer installed.

Some oil evident weeping from the rear main seal.

Sooooo, anyone want to put down a marker before we pull the heads?

Looks so empty... must fill with something... soon.
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[Wayne Presley]

The bearings are gone, the copper metal flake paint job on the inside of the pan tells me that.

[Frank818]

Mike, now that we know for sure it's the bearings, will you repair or change engine?

Also I'm looking at your empty rear end and are those all of the wire harnesses that go in the engine bay or you completely removed some?

[mikeb75]

Frank, not planning on rebuilding engine; will replace.

That's pretty much all the wiring. The signals & light portion of the harness was removed with the rear bumper cover. So there is starter, alternator, engine harness to connectors, and a few misc. sensor leads, and the GPS antenna - most everything is zip tied out of the way right now.

Wayne, the metal flake is nice, but you should see the chunks. I thought about panning for gold... I think I'm going to have to tear it all the way down to find the failure. Oh well first time for everything -and I don't have to worry about breaking something.

[Frank818]

Still planning on the same engine specs or you might consider something different, like displ, or # of cyl, etc. Just curious to picture what you would put in next. :) It's sad this one died I admit! But it's also an opportunity for something new in the future.

[mikeb75]

Dropped a bunch of coin today... but now have one of these sitting in the garage:

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A JDM EJ207 v8 with dual scroll turbo, up-pipe, down-pipe and ECU. Estimated 50K miles on the clock and looks completely unmolested (ha -until we get our hands on it).
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Can't tell you how nice it is to have a relatively clean engine without rust & corrosion on every surface. Bolts came out so nice and easy.

Let the games commence!

[bbjones121]

Nice!

[Frank818]

Nice stuff man, nice stuff! I wish I could spend my money on improvement parts that I'll have fun with, but I spend on useless parts required for regulations, so I damn hope you make that engine great and have a lot of fun with it! :) Why don't you do like Hammond and learn how to drift with it? (S01E13) :)

What's your goal? I mean besides dropping it in, are you planning on changing something?

[mikeb75]

Thanks all! Actually, we're planning to install it without major modifications.

We will take off the oil-not-a-cooler and relocate the oil filter as the previous install had.
The turbo & exhaust headers are not going to be changed.
We'll keep the intake manifold & injectors as they come right now - except for the cold air intake system that was in place.

The biggest changes were doing during this install will be a small-overhaul of the fuel system: installing a Holly HydraMat with the Walboro 255 fuel pump to avoid having to run a surge tank. The fuel lines are going to be changed out from rubber to PTFE braided with AN-6 hardware.
The oil cooler will be replaced with a 1 size larger core (still Setrab) in the same location, but I will fix the body panel so the cooler actually gets air (inspired by Canadian818).
The harness bar is going to be reinforced and we will make a couple of track specific additions.

Frank, the ongoing saga of your trials to be complaint bring a tear to my eye -such a load of crap work. I thought MD was bad, but I won't complain about it again; promise!

[Frank818]

No worries Mike, tnx for the support and subscription to my temporarily dead channel. lolll

Your list of tasks sounds interesting, many hours ahead but all good stuff and little improvements that will make the car even better. Maybe that engine blow up didn't happen for no reason.

I might have missed the whole thing about your build, but who's "we"?

[mikeb75]

Father-in-law is my partner in crime.

[STiPWRD]

Congrats on the new motor, but sorry to hear about the old one. You could probably part it out or rebuild it and have a spare. The new motor looks very nice though, good selection!

[mikeb75]

This update has been a long time coming -there has been no point on writing about disassembling the car or refreshing the motor.

So… not quite done yet, but the ‘new’ motor is in.
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The fuel system has been overhauled – installed a HydraMat which required significant modifications to the tank, replaced or replacing the fuel lines and filter.
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The wiring has been worked over -behind the dash is moved and re-organized. Not really better, but the fuse box is now in the passenger foot well.
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The Engine & bulkhead wiring harness is cleaned up a bit and we’ve added the control wires for the intake AVCS.
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We will keep plugging away

[Hindsight]

Nice work! Bet it feels good having the new motor in there now.

[Sgt.Gator]

Did the "new" motor come with a JDM ECU?

[mikeb75]

Did the "new" motor come with a JDM ECU?

Yes. Otherwise i'd be in trouble trying to get carberry figured out.

[Frank818]

installed a HydraMat which required significant modifications to the tank, replaced or replacing the fuel lines and filter.

Why? If I recall others with same tank had no issue dropping the mat inside.

[mikeb75]

Why? If I recall others with same tank had no issue dropping the mat inside.

Rev 1 gas tank. First had a marginal opening size to get the hydramat in to the tank. Then the surge cup in the tank interfered with the hydramat lying flat.

I put up a video on the build channel , but basically I cut open the top of the tank, cut out the surge cup, added baffles with hinged doors, installed the hydramat, added aluminum tie downs and a top plate, reassembled the pump then finally welded the tank back together. Took a few days to complete -I knew it was going to be a big (intimidating) job, but in'm glad I did it.

[Frank818]

Gen1, I got Gen1. :( I'm an old school like you. :) Awesome job you did there. No way in hell I have time or will to get the tank off, that mat will have to sit in place without any modification. I recall redfogo did without a prob but I wonder if he had gen1 or 2 tank... I thought Gen2 was worse.

[mikeb75]

We figured out an easy way to fill & purge the cooling system. Remember that we are using a different radiator that does not have a front rad cap, so filling and getting all the air bubbles out of the system was a major pain - it took a few days of start/heat/stop cycles.

So we added an inline radiator drain valve right in front of the radiator inlet.
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Now we can run a bit of hose to a fill reservoir that is placed above the highest point in the car and the system looks to happily fill and purge -left the rear expansion tank cap off and got eventually had a splash on the floor.
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Still need to run the engine and heat cycle to push the last of the trapped air through, but I'm thinking this setup will work for that as well.

The good news is we're getting close to being able to start the new engine!

[Wayne Presley]

did you do my cooling system mod?

[mikeb75]

did you do my cooling system mod?

Yup. 90 degree barb and JB weld (I like to nuke it from orbit...)

[mikeb75]

Welp, this weekend was a bit disappointing...

Was planning on first start, but rather we got to spend 2 hours tracing an electrical problem - the 80 AMP fusible link in the engine bay fuse box blew. I had shorted something when disassembling the switch console. Interesting problem: with the master power on we would get power through OBD2 to the RaceCapture and the horn, but the instrument cluster and everything else was dead. Replaced that and back in business.

Then we got to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out why no oil pressure (or any oil for that matter) when priming the system with the starter. Our first guess is the Killer-B oil pick-up isn't installed properly (I had some concerns about it but stupidly gave it a go). Headers are back off and next get to drop the oil pan... again. fun.

[Canadian818]

Do EJ's build oil pressure with just the starter? Obviously my engine is a different animal but I seen no movement on my oil pressure gauge when cranking. I removed my turbo's oil feed line and confirmed she was pumping. Then on first start up I wrapped my 100psi gauge! Turns out rotaries run a fairly high pressure, lol.

[RetroRacing]

Rotary's do build pressure with the starter, 10-14psi
our ej builds about the same with the starter. And yes, Mazda turbo oil pump will put out stupid oil pressure at start up, we see 130psi!

[mikeb75]

Yay, have oil pressure!

Had to replace oil pickup tube - for some odd reason the Killer-B ultimate oil pickup was incompatible with this EJ207 block. There was a slight gap between the face of the pickup and the block after the bolts were snugged down... strange since this same pickup fit perfectly on the prior EJ205 block.

Also had to replace the oil pressure transducer I added at the oil filter block. Go ebay garbage; transducer arrived dead - read 2.5 volts at 0 PSI. For now I have a 500 PSI transducer installed, which will be bad for correct resolution and scale, but at least it reads .5v at 0 PSI.

onward.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Yay, have oil pressure!
Also had to replace the oil pressure transducer I added at the oil filter block. Go ebay garbage; transducer arrived dead - read 2.5 volts at 0 PSI. For now I have a 500 PSI transducer installed, which will be bad for correct resolution and scale, but at least it reads .5v at 0 PSI.
onward.

Mike,
Your ebay oil pressure transducer is probably good, but just put in the wrong application.
For example. A sensor that read minus 100 to plus 100 PSI would read 2.5 volts at 0 PSI.
Bob

[Frank818]

Keep up the good work Mike, we want to see you on the road very soon and driving a for a long long trip in perfect sound harmonics.

[mikeb75]

Mike,
Your ebay oil pressure transducer is probably good, but just put in the wrong application.
For example. A sensor that read minus 100 to plus 100 PSI would read 2.5 volts at 0 PSI.
Bob

Was a possibility, so checked. Nope, its a 0-150 range, and voltage never varies regardless of actual pressure.

[mikeb75]

First and most important thing: thank you to everyone who makes it possible to enjoy my freedom and hobby - especially those to whom this day is dedicated.

Second and less important thing: engine breathed fire for the first time in the 818 today -good times

http://youtu.be/SfK9D1ttoh4

Lots of other updates are coming, but this one was a pretty major fight to get to. After fighting the oil pickup issue and the oil pressure sensor the fuel pump died. Wasn't quite sure how I was going to deal with that since I assed up the fuel tank when I assembled it, but pulling and replacing the fuel pump was a 30 minute job, almost as easy as changing out a non hacked tank one.

[Frank818]

Lol, your vids are so funny. He said "10sec" but it was 28sec.
Re-loaded, re-first, re-start! Great thinking!

I like the end! You turn around, re-smile and re-thumbs up!
Well yeah! Thumbs up for the re-engine!

[AZPete]

Re-thumbs up! Fire extinguisher still full and it makes good smell. Re-Congrats.

[mikeb75]

Thanks guys! Was a good day. :)

[Hindsight]

Congrats Mike!

[mikeb75]

This car needs a rear wing -because race car!

First step is to build the wing mount. Other builds have put together very nice pieces -we put together something simple because of limited skill level and tools available. For whatever reason, I bought 1.5” square tubing. I’m sure 1” would work just as well. We have a Harbor Freight cut-off saw and originally a Dewalt metal cut-off wheel that was crap -wasn’t flat so the blade vibrated and didn’t cut true. A second (thicker) blade solved that problem.

With the hard top there is just enough room to situate the wing if it’s at the extreme back of the car, so within those limitations we measured, planned and said a quick prayer -then off to make some cuts.

First, the rearmost box was 33” wide and would stand 17 ¾” over the rear most tube of the frame. Tacked it together and lined it up on the back bar. John had the good idea to use a piece of PVC to steady the box while we got measurements and checked for squareness & true.
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The upper braces are 21” and will tie in to the rear strut brace using the upper bolts. Initially we had a stack of weld on tabs, but with the 1.5” tube there would only be 2 faces to weld, a 1” and 1.5” seam. We looked at boxing the end of the tube, but then saw some hefty angle iron I had bought for another job. Perfect. We get a huge amount of overlap for weld seams and can cut to length (3”) to tie into the bolt and let the side tube rest on it.
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Cut the upper tubes to length and weld them to the back box. Last step is to add tabs to the rear bar. Those weld on tabs came in handy here and with a 1” length of angle iron we have a strong mounting bracket. The brackets were drilled and we ran lag bolts through to anchor the wing mount and still allow removal.
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I am still checking clearances, but there seems to be enough room to install a hug-jazz muffler between the transmission and vertical stay. Also, I should be able to add a rear crash bar to the outside of the wing mount at the height of the shifter linkage. Lastly, I need to relief cut the angle iron to make a cross bar about 5” in front of the back bar to complete the wing riser stays, and I’ll use this same piece to anchor the rear corners of the hard top.
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Some finish welds (heh) and paint and this job should be done!

(timelapse of a very long day)

https://youtu.be/09UgQ_Byp4c

[mikeb75]

Very happy with how everything is looking now that we've put the hard top back on for sizing and fit. Some preview pics
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[mikeb75]

Been busy with the punch list of things to fix/finalize or rebuild, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel -actually I'm in final re-assembly with nothing major to fabricate!

This update is to the interior treatment of the hard top. As most C builders know, the headliner assembly is a bit of a black art. There is a roll of (pretty nice actually) headliner material and an aluminum sheet that is cut to sort of fit in the raw fiberglass recess formed by the air channels.
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And as most C builders know, the aluminum panel doesn't really like to stay up with mortal glues.

So I trashed it. Instead I bought some replacement (and not quite as nice) headliner material and a can of 3M High Strength 90 spray adhesive. The first change was fixing the ridge formed by the bonding of the plastic air channels to the inside of the hard top. My initial thought was to sand down the edge to smooth it out. After the first hour of sanding I wasn't so crazy about that idea. Never fear - I have Bondo... er Evercoat Rage Gold.
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A few applications later I had smoother transitions from the plastic to the fiberglass. Didn't need to be perfectly smooth because the headliner is foam backed. Next to glue in the headliner material.
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I covered the A and B pillars first, then the main area front to back. For my first time applying a headliner it isn't terrible... about a '6'.

The spray adhesive is crazy strong. I peeled up one of the B pillars to try to improve the seam and it didn't come off without a major fight... and sanding... and acetone. I think it will be pretty robust for a few years.

Then I made fill in blocks to address the gaps between the upper firewall and the windows. Again, if you're a 'C' builder, you know the black stripe on the vent windows is where the firewall sits - and you know that because these windows are mounted to the outside there is a gap between it and the firewall. A small block stuck here first wrapped in gold reflective foil because race car then the front wrapped in headliner because vain with a little gasket applique to address the curve of the glass does the trick to fill this area.
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Again, about a 6 out of 10, but much better than how it was. And everything (almost) seals up tight which is a HUGE improvement from how it was. I think some Alcantara and a bit more skill in application would really transform how the interior looks. Maybe for build phase 3...
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Oh, and spare a thought for my partner in crime. FIL may have a detaching retina -so major world of suck there. We will find out more tomorrow.

[fastzrex]

Thanks for sharing your install. Solves many little top install details.

[Frank818]

Nice headliner Mike.

Did you get to fix your non-fitting-again doors?

Are you in MI?

[mikeb75]

Nice headliner Mike.

Did you get to fix your non-fitting-again doors?

Are you in MI?

Finishing up some aero bits... then the doors. Maybe this time they will actually fit (I changed the way I anchored the side panels)... or it will be a 6 beer job -'cause after 6 they'll look fine regardless of how crooked they are.

And, nope, in Maryland... starts with an M

[Frank818]

Caution there, after 6 Duff they'll look fine, yes, but only to you! loll

[mikeb75]

This past week(s) have been a hard push to finish up putting the car back together. Wife said: finish it so you can start the next project (kitchen) - and I said "Yes, ma'am".

Other than the headliner install the only other thing of note was the underbody aluminum/splitter/diffuser. I captured some vid/pics of it, but since I did things very differently than a typical install -don't know how useful it will be to anyone. Because I'm running the race splitter out front and have boxed in the passage to the radiator I did not install the vented aluminum sheet provided by FFR up front. Instead I installed it out back under the engine to smooth the transition to the diffuser. I have the option of turning up one or more of the vents if I need more air into the engine bay. I also had to make some relief cuts for the twin scroll (OEM) header, so it's not a totally flat under-car.
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Then I used the original back aluminum sheet from FFR up front to close out the splitter to under the battery tray. Apparently I do things backwards all the time...

Regardless, after a quick respray of plasti-dip to clean up the body work modifications here it is -don't have a name yet, but I'm really happy with how it looks. I just sent the first engine tune log out for review, so as long as everything looks good there I should be able to get it on the road for some shake down drives soon.
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(I hope photobucket doesn't barf on these high-er res shots)- NOPE, it did. Edited with 50% embedded pics.

YAY

[STiPWRD]

Pics say to upgrade account to enable 3rd party hosting - Photobucket barfed?

[mikeb75]

Yea, not going to pay for someone else to make money from my pictures... fixed now, thanks!

[STiPWRD]

Looks killer!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Looks great Mike

[frankc5r]

Nice install on headliner and diffuser. I've saved for when I do mine.

Where u get the nice screws/bolts to mount diffuser?

Thanks

[mikeb75]

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FZ2S7GC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

20 pieces for $30, and very nice stuff.

And thanks everyone, really satisfying to have it to this stage... just wish it didn't rain this afternoon so I could do a test drive.

[Frank818]

The wing looks great with the hard top!

Seeing your long front splitter, I was surprised to see your rear diffuser is very pushed inside. Don't want to stick it out more?

[mikeb75]

I thought about having more diffuser stick out, but I was a bit limited with the aluminum sheet I had on hand. This is the absolute limit I have and still have a tiny bit of overlap between the diffuser & under tray. And the diffuser matches up well with the body line of the rear cover. I kind of like it this way, seem a bit more 'old school' race car, rather than the current Aston Martin Super Diffuser look. And I think I have enough wing to balance the splitter.

And I just got back from a quick lap. Whoa (just like Neo). The '207 is a whole 'nother animal. So smooth & quiet. Even with the not muffled exhaust (just a resonator) it's much quieter than the last set up that had a cat & muffler (melon launcher). I'm a fan! The turbo & bypass valve noise are much louder than the exhaust note.

[wirenut]

Man Awesome!

Post a video so we can hear it in action.

[Hindsight]

Nice work! Looks fantastic.

[flynntuna]

Wow, making me second think the dicision not to get the top.

[mikeb75]

a little video from a test lap to verify engine/oil pressure/tune

http://youtu.be/V9Y9uV_SKQw

Sound from GoPro isn't the best... and good god I need to get the alignment fixed - car tramlines like a SOB.

[fastzrex]

Very cool, thanks for the video, and congratulations!

[Frank818]

Mike, your gopro makes it look like you dropped a diesel in there! I agree, you definitely need to change that gopro. loll

But it's nice seeing you back on the road!!

[mikeb75]

Just got back from 2 weeks of vacation (spent obsessing about the car... not!). I made a few changes and fixes:
-Updated ECU map that fixes AVCS activation
-Fixed alternator belt squeak (tensioner had gotten tres loose)
-Fixed exposure setting on GoPro (low light is not your friend)
-Added an external mic near the exhaust pipe (sound is definitely not diesel anymore)

new video from same test loop:

http://youtu.be/rpsyw-36HjY

Things to fix:
-Alignment is still hot garbage
-Oil temp sensor isn't working, need to replace

[Frank818]

Definitely less diesel and more Vince Diesel! lolll ooooooh that one came from far away. lol

What do you use as tools to align the wheels? Or maybe just your eyes? :)

[mikeb75]

What a difference having a correct alignment makes to drivability. The rear was SUPER out of spec initially -and after installing new wheels I had to pull the knuckles in, so I eyeballed it and it was nicer to drive (a lot less tramlining).

Just got an actual alignment done, and the drive home was great -tracks perfectly straight and doesn't get upset by bumps at all.

Sunday is the first baptism, test & tune day with the local autocross club - so excited!

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Front
Camber: -1
Caster: 4.5
Toe: 0.03

Rear
Camber: -3
Toe: .06

[Wayne Presley]

Alignment is everything on these cars

[mikeb75]

Alignment is everything on these cars

So true!

The front adjusters were bottomed out (and I was lazy -didn't want to cut them), so front camber sucks. I'll be fixing that in the future.

The rear was fine, the adjustable links made it easy to set up. And it's so nice to finally have the steering wheel perfectly centered... could never quite get it perfect on my own.

[Frank818]

-3deg at the rear?? FFR suggests -0.5, why you got so much camber there?

[mikeb75]

Because racecar

[Wayne Presley]

Mike, I ran -3° front camber and -2.8° rear camber on FFR's 818R

[mikeb75]

When discussing the setup we knew the front was limited. With the large front to rear imbalance I expect the car to trend to understeer. I'm ok with that for now as I have no experience driving a RWD car at all. I'd rather deal with push than oversteer at this point, but this isn't the final alignment.

Once the front is sorted I'll be on the rack again, and we will have a better front to rear balance. And since Wayne is the definition or race car -and race driver I expect that balance to be -3 up front and -2.8 in back ;)

[Frank818]

Ok now I understand why only -1 up front. :)

[mikeb75]

Unfortunately it's a short one. I completed 1 run and did not post a time because of an off-track (my fault -went outside a gate) and then had to park the car. Fuel leak with gasoline smell in the passenger compartment and actual fuel on the belly pan under the engine.

Car with war paint:
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To add insult to injury, the GoPro was set to camera not video. LAME.

It was a great day though!

The car drive perfectly to and from the event 35 min away via highway. At 70(ish) it's not bad, more tire noise than engine noise. There was some scraping over bridge expansion joints, so rough roads and speed bumps are to be avoided.

I felt a bit like a rock star, lots of questions and people coming up to talk. I got to give my UPS driver a ride for the 1st run (he's been after me to get the car out to the Auto-X events for over a year! and he did bring me about 1/2 the parts for the car), but since I cut the day short I had to welsh on several other ride-alongs people had asked about.

Impressions from the 50-something second first drive: This car is going to be very good at driving hard. Slaloms were easy -much better than the STI where I was fighting the heavy front end. Decreasing radius turns were interesting, since the car is so rotatable because of the LSD and weight dist. I could set and change the corner line with throttle or brake and the turn in seemed good and it was SOOOO responsive.

I need to check where the fuel is coming from. The smell/issue only happened during hard cornering, I could drive to and from the event no problem without a whiff of gas, so it's probably the level sender seal. Worst case there is a leak from the weld where I had the can open. I will try removing the side panel first, rather than going after the seats and firewall.

Second issue: some of the riv-nuts that hold the belly pan on came out at some point, so it's drooping in the middle of the front edge. The event parking lot was not smooth, so I definitely bottomed out a few times. Need to check if the holes are salvageable, otherwise I need to figure out a different way to mount the belly pan.

[Frank818]

To add insult to injury, the GoPro was set to camera not video. LAME.

DOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lollll
That sucks.

About the leak, a lot of chances it's the god damn fuel level sender. That thing seems to resist most of the sealings you can throw at it.
But, it's not on the passenger's side...

It is a damn responsive car, I hope you can get the gopro set right and oops I mean you can race it some more without issues and feel all you can up to its limits. And report to us.

If you want that already great paint to look more war, you could throw a little dark green at it. :)


Rock star? Hey man, I thought you were a rock star already. What a shame. lolll

[mikeb75]

Found an oil leak from the thermostat. One of the NPT to AN fittings had a slow drip when oil was circulating under pressure, left quite a mess on the belly pan that I confused for gas. I backed that fitting off and applied more thread sealant. After letting it cure overnight fired up the car today and looks good. Idled for 5 minutes, no drip.

I leaned the car over at 8* using jackstands and I found a weep at the fuel level sender -par for the course. Have new gaskets in the mail so I'll give that a try. I figured there would be a problem with my welds, but I don't see any evidence of that yet. It would be nice if the level sender fixes the problem since I only had to remove the side panel to get to it.

Fingers crossed.

[mikeb75]

1 $.68 gasket later and the fuel leak seems fixed.

I found more oil leaks at the oil filter block off plate when I was replacing the failed riv-nuts for the under engine pan. Annoying...

I am waiting on a resistor to fix my non-functional oil temp sender before I put the car back together, hopefully soon! This time I'm going to find an empty parking lot and hoon around it a bit to see what else leaks before driving to an event.

[Frank818]

1 $.68 gasket later and the fuel leak seems fixed.

Excellent! It means my 100 CAD$56.00 gaskets should fix my leaks too.
What? What's so funny? HAAAAAWWW-HAAW!! lolll



I found more oil leaks at the oil filter block off plate when I was replacing the failed riv-nuts for the under engine pan. Annoying...

Is that something you can block with RTV or it's a sign of a problem?

[mikeb75]

It looked like a weep from the NPT to AN fittings at the oil filter block off plate. I wrenched them down tighter. It that doesn't work I have thread sealant. The AN fittings shouldn't need sealant... but it was hard to tell exactly where the oil seep was from. I need to watch while the engine is running... but I don't have a lift so I'll be lying under the car. Not exactly looking forward to it.

Frank, i'm sure your gaskets will work... you should be set for 100 years if you do an annual change :| (can't imagine dealing with all the import and registration crap you've been through)

[mikeb75]

Stupid gas tank is stupid. Still had fuel coming out of the level sender when cornering. On a lark I tried both the factory and replacement o rings since they fit when nested. That actually seems to have done the trick, no leak on the next test drive.

Next problem was leaking from the AN oil hose to the thermostat. I think I figured out the problem, the hose end is a threaded compression type fitting. The rubber hose showed marks/impression from the previous install -I had removed the hose ends to clean everything after the engine failure. Reinstalled that hose as it had been. I just cut 1/2" off the end and the hose end was a lot harder to thread on. I will leak test tomorrow... and I may have to do the same thing to the hose ends that supply/return to the filter block. Not thrilled about that...

[Frank818]

Oops, come again on the stupid fuel tank. I thought you already had the replacements o-rings, does it leak with 1 replacement o-ring?
Or did you now try with both the FFR and replacement rings at the same time (2 rings on and you fitted the sender on top and tighten)?

[mikeb75]

Leaked with just 1 replacement o ring. Seems better with 2 o rings: the replacement + the original FFR ring nested one inside the other

[biknman]

Mike,
I have special compression tool from Kool Tools to make AN lines. Also have a AN fittings test set to pressure test the lines once made. If you'd like to use them. :-)

http://koultools.com/product/push-lock-hose-tool/

Dave

[biknman]

Do you still have the stock fuel tank? You could cut out the mounting ring and weld it to the FF tank so the OEM gasket seals better.

My 2 cents. But I never used the secondary fuel sensor nor my stock tank in the race car or my 818 as I've always had a fuel cell and used a AIM MXL dash channel to mate with the OEM main level pot sensor at the fuel pump to do my fuel gauge readings. These guys: http://www.ironcanyonmotorsports.com/icm-fuel-sender/ make a sensor adapter thingy to do this easly.
Dave

[mikeb75]

biknman - you have all the cool tools!!! Unfortunately I'm using SS braided lines with threaded hose ends. Not sure your tool would be correct, need to read more (and that setup looks SWEET).

Stock fuel tank is long gone. This is my last gasp with the FFR tank, if I still have problems with it I'll probably go the Art route (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?20434-Art-s-818-build&p=292051&viewfull=1#post292051) - his fuel tank is a work of Art -no pun intended. I'm thinking a slim 10 gal aluminum cell behind the passenger seat will be my goal. I could use a touch more leg room and don't think I'll need the range of a larger tank.

[Frank818]

Leaked with just 1 replacement o ring. Seems better with 2 o rings: the replacement + the original FFR ring nested one inside the other

Seriously? I know I know, the answer is "yes". DOH! lolll
I didn't know it was possible to fit both at the same time. Will do!!

Man oh man this build is rich of useful data for my build.

[biknman]

Nice tank! ��������

[mikeb75]

Sorry, not a lot to share right now. Got some IRL issues that are taking up all my time, and probably will be so for the next week or so... but it could be very good for me.

Enough of my cryptic crap. I have been playing with using a Raspberry PI as a dedicated screen for the data logger instead of the Amazon fire cheap crap tablet. There are some compelling reasons to do so: it's hard wired to the logger and configured to auto launch after the raspberrian OS starts up. Having a turn-key solution seems much better. Also the PI based solution with touch screen is MUCH faster and more responsive than the fire tablet (they must have used a real dog of a processor).

To hard mount the screen/computer enclosure I bonded some studs to the inside of the case with plastic adhesive. The threaded stud length is 1" and I'm using 1/2" spacers. 3/4" would have been better for visibility, but there wasn't enough thread left to get the washer & nut on... may revisit this to try to get a 5/8" spacer.
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Also, after the fuel issue I remembered I really wanted an extinguisher in the car. Thanks Walmart (on the drive home from auto x), this is fine (even if the mount was a bit of a bear to get seated). And a LOT cheaper than at amazon (admittedly that was 2lbs vs the 1lbs I installed).
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[mikeb75]

And happy day before the kids go back to school!

Took a few hours yesterday to recheck the oil and fuel lines. Found a fuel leak from a fitting I did at the fuel filter. The PTFE line hadn't been cut smoothly -I probably roughed it up when I was trimming back the SS braid outer sleeve. Anyway, it had a slow dribble of fuel. Recut that line end and now it seals up properly.

Spent about 15 minutes idling and checking for any other leaks, didn't see any... so I'm sure all is good now :rolleyes:

Reinstalled the underpan and diffuser and will keep an eye on it. However, I'm waiting on a replacement oil temp sender since the ebay crap never shows a raw value change from 5v. I'm not surprised its toast, it was included in a $20 temp gauge. Am replacing with a higher quality sender and will dump the gauge since it will be included and shown on the logger screen. The only issue is having to wait for it to arrive before I reinstall the side panel (severely access limited in the current mounting location).

Will do more test drives when I can, the plan is to hit the next auto X test and tune late Sept.

[mikeb75]

Oh-Hi everyone. Still here... still plugging away
73957

Chasing a problem with the AVCS with the tuner. First checked and replaced the neutral safety switch that had failed. Then had to get to the ECU to run continuity and impedance tests for the AVCS wiring -passed.

I'm happy to say in the 'C I was able to pull the seats and middle firewall in about an hour -and I didn't have to pull the doors/hardtop or anything else. It's not as bad as I feared.

This morning I pulled one of the OCV solenoids and tested it, works fine. After chasing my tail for 4 days I finally re-loaded the current tuner map and ran a full reset on the ECU... eureka finally seeing AVCS activity.

Now I can finally get back to tuning and try to figure out why the boost seems very low on this map (as opposed to an earlier map with no AVCS activity).

I'm booked for the second auto-x test & tune Sunday. Glad I'm finally making some progress so I don't have to cancel (yet).

[biknman]

Good luck! Wish I was here this weekend to come watch!

[mikeb75]

Yesterday was a Total Success!

Very super totally happy with how the car ran. Still a few things to fix/finalize but what a car.

http://youtu.be/QAh4P8m_8BM

[Frank818]

We would like to be as happy as you, but youtube tells me your video is not accessible, am I the only one?

[frankc5r]

We would like to be as happy as you, but youtube tells me your video is not accessible, am I the only one?

I clicked on it and it played just fine.

[mikeb75]

We would like to be as happy as you, but youtube tells me your video is not accessible, am I the only one?

Sorry - premature postulation. (hit post here before video was totally uploaded. SO. VERY. HAPPY.)

[Frank818]

Sorry - premature postulation. (hit post here before video was totally uploaded. SO. VERY. HAPPY.)

lollll Ok I admit, I was too quick.

It does seem to run great, did you beat any record time?
Also, how did you change engine so fast between Run 1 and Run 2? Sounds a million times different.

[mikeb75]

It does seem to run great, did you beat any record time?
Also, how did you change engine so fast between Run 1 and Run 2? Sounds a million times different.

I plugged in the external microphone :mad:

As for times, the best time of the day was a 39 by a very well prepared corvette driven by a very good driver. I think I posted the 8th fastest time of the day out of 40. Since i'm a total auto-x noob I figure that's pretty good.

[lsfourwheeler]

Enough of my cryptic crap. I have been playing with using a Raspberry PI as a dedicated screen for the data logger instead of the Amazon fire cheap crap tablet. There are some compelling reasons to do so: it's hard wired to the logger and configured to auto launch after the raspberrian OS starts up. Having a turn-key solution seems much better. Also the PI based solution with touch screen is MUCH faster and more responsive than the fire tablet (they must have used a real dog of a processor).


Curious to hear about the setup with the Raspberry Pi. What touchscreen are you using with it and what software provides the interface?

[mikeb75]

Raspberry PI 3 + official Raspberry PI 7" touchscreen + case.

Running the Raspberrian OS + a distro from RaceCapture/Pro. This works in conjunction with the RaceCapture/Pro 2 data logging hardware I have installed.

Here is the post on the AutoSports Labs website:
https://www.autosportlabs.com/create-a-dedicated-dash-for-your-racecapture-for-about-100/

You are committed to using the RaceCapture/Pro hardware to make this work, but I had installed this much earlier, so not an issue for me.

[lsfourwheeler]

Raspberry PI 3 + official Raspberry PI 7" touchscreen + case.

Running the Raspberrian OS + a distro from RaceCapture/Pro. This works in conjunction with the RaceCapture/Pro 2 data logging hardware I have installed.

Here is the post on the AutoSports Labs website:
https://www.autosportlabs.com/create-a-dedicated-dash-for-your-racecapture-for-about-100/

You are committed to using the RaceCapture/Pro hardware to make this work, but I had installed this much earlier, so not an issue for me.

Thanks for the info! It's something I may look into doing as well.

[DanielsDM]

Raspberry PI 3 + official Raspberry PI 7" touchscreen + case.

Running the Raspberrian OS + a distro from RaceCapture/Pro. This works in conjunction with the RaceCapture/Pro 2 data logging hardware I have installed.

Here is the post on the AutoSports Labs website:
https://www.autosportlabs.com/create-a-dedicated-dash-for-your-racecapture-for-about-100/

You are committed to using the RaceCapture/Pro hardware to make this work, but I had installed this much earlier, so not an issue for me.

I have the same setup: Pi3, 7" touchscreen + case, RaceCapture Pro Mk2. Also have the OBDII to CAN adapter. Just need to finish the car so I can use it.:p

[mikeb75]

Another WOT log pull. Tune allows me to run to a 6500 RPM redline.

http://youtu.be/q8cMjlRMt3Y

This car is stupid fast. 3rd gear pull from 39 to 83 MPH, about 3000 to 6700 RPM -and I have about 1300 RPM in reserve -should be an 8K redline when all is done.

I did cook the wideband harness at the Auto-x -ran it too close to the turbo. Luckily we have the tools and technology to rebuild it better, stronger and faster than before...

[Wayne Presley]

Love it, how much RWHP do you have?

[Frank818]

About 10mph per second, pretty good!

I love the dials you have on the video, we can see everything.

You rebuild widebands?

[mikeb75]

Love it, how much RWHP do you have?
No idea - only doing road tuning at this point and since I haven't been able to get a weight I can't use the road dyno. Want to say "enough", but I do need to get this figured out to properly classify the car in the auto-x series I'll be running.


About 10mph per second, pretty good!

I love the dials you have on the video, we can see everything.

You rebuild widebands?
Yea, acceleration curve was stout and looks like 16PSI is the max boost right now.

I rebuild toasted wideband wiring harnesses, but that was just a snip and solder job :)

[mikeb75]

Heh, playing with the fakin'-dyno in RomRaider I have an estimate of 275 HP at wheels and 243 TQ.

My assumptions are 2100 pounds of vehicle weight(ha) and 150 lbs of me (true). Kinda cool, going to have to play with this some more:
74304

[taco20]

Heh, playing with the fakin'-dyno in RomRaider I have an estimate of 275 HP at wheels and 243 TQ.

My assumptions are 2100 pounds of vehicle weight(ha) and 150 lbs of me (true). Kinda cool, going to have to play with this some more:
74304


Hey man when your are ready for some real power I will sell you my twin scroll turbo and I can upgrade mine. I am pushing 375hp/425tq with mine and only 18-19psi to do the job. If you think it moves now you will be in for a big surprise.

[mikeb75]

Ran another WOT pull since my wideband data didn't record. Weather was a little nicer so car was a little faster:

http://youtu.be/goRqCZr6X_Q

Using road dyno on the pull data:
74569

294HP@6375RPM & 244lbf-ft@4998RPM

Peak boost:17.4

Reading the data log I'm out of injector - duty cycle maxed at 95.25

[Frank818]

300hp at 17psi? Oh right, you got a 2.0L now if I remember.
I love looking at your on-screen gauges, I'm far from there on my out of focus one hand cell phone videos. lolll

Buy some Injector Dynamics ID1050x, they are absolutely awesome with a flawless idle.

Do you get dust accumulating between the door skin and side sail?

[mikeb75]

Buy some Injector Dynamics ID1050x, they are absolutely awesome with a flawless idle.
Will probably go that way when I'm ready to step up the power. Right now I'm actually satisfied with the way the engine is running & power level... at least until I get some actual track time


Do you get dust accumulating between the door skin and side sail?
Tons. And gravel - makes me second guess putting vents behind the front wheel splash guards.

[Frank818]

And how does the platidip handle the dirt and gravel in that area? No scratches, chips or anything?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

We were at a track that hadn't be paved in years. Once the tires got hot, they would throw sand and gravel into every nook and cranny.
The gravel between the bottom of the door and the top of the side sail is a problem. It scratches our fiberglass, every time opening the door. We have totally sealed the wheel well in front of the door. The downside to that is that no air comes out between the fender and the door. It would be better if the area was slopped away from the car so it would be self cleaning.
Bob

74639

[mikeb75]

Like Bob said -it's looking rough. I don't have Plastidip in that area, though. In getting proper door alignment & clearance I found the 'dip was just too fragile. Instead, I have Krylon rattle-can for plastic gloss paint in that area -both on the sail panel and the mating surfaces of the door. It's actually the same paint I used in the 'gloss' areas for the inlets and hood outlets.

On the plus side, the vents in the splash panels insure I get fresh air and road grid into the passenger cabin from just in front of the doors; all the benefits of having a 'R with shorty windscreen while still having the greenhouse of a proper car -so it gets HOT. :)

[DanielsDM]

Ran another WOT pull since my wideband data didn't record. Weather was a little nicer so car was a little faster:

http://youtu.be/goRqCZr6X_Q

Using road dyno on the pull data:
74569

294HP@6375RPM & 244lbf-ft@4998RPM

Peak boost:17.4

Reading the data log I'm out of injector - duty cycle maxed at 95.25

What is causing the big dip in the torque curve between 5300 and 6100 rpm?

[mikeb75]

What is causing the big dip in the torque curve between 5300 and 6100 rpm?
It's a software interpretation of a data log (of RPM vs time) -so I don't know how much of that is artifact. If I change the 'smoothing' value in the software it totally changes the shape of the curves & affects the peak #'s.

Take it with a huge grain of salt.

[Frank818]

Bob, awesome. I thought the dirt was coming from the side of the car and not the wheel well. I'll seal mine, air can escape from Craig's top fender louver for me.

Mike, plastidip is fragile everywhere?
So it ain't better than wrap then.

[mikeb75]

Mike, plastidip is fragile everywhere?
So it ain't better than wrap then.

durability wise, it seems about equal.

Installation wise- tape off the car or section and spray, 15 minutes between coats.

Repair wise- use a rattle can to do spot fixes. Or peel up damaged sections and respray.

Cost- i'm about $300 in materials total for a full spray and 4 coat respray -so about 1.5 jobs.

Looks wise- your wrap wins hands down!

[phil1734]

Make sure to seal around the door hinges. There are some pretty huge gaps around those brackets and taping them up made a huge difference for me in terms of sand/gravel in the cockpit.

I also modified the wheel well panel there to allow air through the rear of the fender, but still protect the front of the rocker from stone chips.

[Hindsight]

I ended up making completely custom fender liners. The FFR-provided ones didn't fit well enough to install.

[mikeb75]

Third Auto-x session: another test & tune event with the Capital Driving Club in Frederick MD. Again the car worked well and aside from the lack of front end camber & bite my driving is the limiting factor. I was pushing a bit harder so I had an "off" and clipped a few cones, but of the car/drivers present I posted the 7th fastest time: fastest of the day was 39.4 and my best was 42.6. The top 10 cars were 6 Miata's (all at some level of crazy & prepared), 1 corvette, 1 S2000 and 1 god knows what (but still a bodied car) and the 818C.


http://youtu.be/8aXQFeiHheg

I may make another track event this year if I'm lucky, but I expect this was the last. Over the winter I need to address the front alignment & fender rub, re-tub the rear wheels, figure out a better fuel tank and firewall, fix the seating position and try to get a front hoop/cage built. Getting the car weighed would be nice also.

There were a number of people who came up to me and knew what I was driving - so I think word is starting to get around.

Oh, and there was a 2017 Alfa Romeo 4C at the event -driver had the car for about 700 miles. Absolutely beautiful car and I should have gotten some pictures of it with the 818 - I think they were about the same size. Would have been interesting to compare.

[Hindsight]

Nice Mike, sounds like a good list of winter projects.

[Frank818]

The 4C could be a great match to some 818s, it's a car about as light. Costs a lot more though. :) You got the best car out there, Mike!! Best driver too?

[biknman]

Awesome job! Tires and some left foot braking (as a form of anti lag) maybe?

[mikeb75]

Winter is dragging on, but the 818 poked its nose out of the garage to see its own shadow on Friday. Actually, I have not been working on the car at all- I was laid off late last year and with no salary no funny money.

The hiatus did allow me to focus on many of my lagging home projects (about 3 years worth :mad:), so in truth I've been very busy between looking for a job, doing holiday things and laying a floor and painting the house.

Happily, I signed an offer letter for a new position last week, and I am getting excited about the new challenges the job will bring. The only downside is I'm going from a 0 minute commute to over an hour each way to/from Baltimore, going to be interesting to see how this works out.

One car related thing - actually the reason the 818 was out of the garage; I had to replace 2 failed air control valves on my daily driver (STI). It would have cost well over a thousand dollars to have the work done at my friendly neighborhood Subaru shop (never mind the stealership). But when I was talking to the shop owner about doing the job he smiled at me and said "You have this- you built a car already!" So he sold me a pair of take-off valves he had in his parts pile (for a LOT less than OEM new) and said it would be about an 8 hour job. I put the STI in the garage Friday morning and finished up Saturday at 3:00. What a chore - basically all the accessories had to come off the top of the engine and I had to loosen the intake manifold. It might have been easier if I pulled the IM completely off, but I managed to replace the parts without doing so - used a lot of extensions and swearing.

I would probably not have been able to complete this job if I hadn't built the 818 before hand. Having the comfort level of tearing down the accessories and knowing I'd be able to put it back together - absolutely priceless!

I will say that my 818C is not water-tight! It rained all day Saturday, and there was quite a bit of water in the drivers side footwell near the center tunnel. But free car wash!

With my new and much more limited schedule I am going to try to run a season of Auto-X (all Saturday events) and should be able to run 1 track day.

Best wishes for 2018 to everyone here!

[Canadian818]

Congrats on the new job, and thanks for sharing. I too find myself taking on more and more challenging projects since I started building my 818. Two weeks ago my dryer stopped putting out any heat, so my wife said I’d better call someone to get it fixed. I was like “I can build a car, how hard could this be?” My wife rolled her eyes as I started tearing the dryer apart and smirked as I was sat on the floor covered in lint watching YouTube videos. But it wasn’t all that hard and I’d fixed it for less then what a repair guy would charge for just showing up. Still not sure where the extra screw came from, haha.

[mikeb75]

Ha, only one leftover bolt from the reassembly! And I know exactly where it goes... Just couldn't be arsed to put it back behind the drivers side cylinder head for a support bracket

[mistasherm]

Mike - CONGRATS ON THE JOB! Thanks for coming by the garage and checking out my build. Now that you are "local" during the workday we will have to meet work for a "working lunch" (build/car talk) at the Harbor when the weather turns.
Ty

[Mitch Wright]

Congratulations Mike on your new job.

[biknman]

Congrats maybe we can do lunch one day since you closer to Ty and myself?

[mikeb75]

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to starting next week. And definitely we will have to try to get together for lunch once I figure out where everything is :)

Was hoping to have an 818 related post today since I took the car in for my 'emissions' inspection - which I knew I would fail since the car runs a JDM ECU now, but after speaking with the site manager I have to wait to hear back from the MVA to schedule an interview/inspection by a VEIP manager to get an exemption. Not exactly the information I got from the MVA help line - I was under the impression the site manager would be able to do it... a bit aggravating since I expected to have everything done today while I still had 'free' time to do it.

[mistasherm]

Mike - hmmmm, I too was under the impression that the emissions site manager could produce the necessary paperwork and disposition needed to obtain the state exemption. Please document your experience if you get the chance or grab any contact information from those that prove to be helpful. I am sure it will all work out though.
Ty

[mikeb75]

Emissions exemption done. Total non-event, talked to the guy, submitted my exemption paperwork, drove to VEIP station and five minutes later had exemption certificate.

I had to supply my insurance declaration stating the car was a pleasure vehicle not to be driven more than 1000 miles per year, pictures of the front, rear, side, interior and engine compartment.

The most exciting part, other than driving the car on a 32 degree day to/from Frederick was springing a coolant leak and having the engine compartment full of steam. And it was a pretty serious leak, because after I pulled into a shopping center to let it cool down and add water all the water ended up in a puddle under the car. -_-

Probably a hose let go, or maybe the barb on the cross over pipe to degas (Wayne md). Won't know until I get the car up and the belly pan off. Not ideal since auto-x season starts in 1 week... But such is the joy of a car I built :rolleyes:

[Frank818]

Sorry about the laying off but Congrats on the new job! loll
And also congrats on the exemption!! YEAH!! :D

[mistasherm]

Mike - sorry to hear about the coolant adventure....congrats on the emissions exemption - you have blazed the trail for me when the time comes.

[mikeb75]

TL;DR - elbow radiator hose from POS donor sprang a pinhole leak.

Finally got a chance to get the car up on stands (yesterday's nice weather and my strong desire to get back to driving/tracking the car helped). Pulled the belly pan and added water to the upper coolant tank but didn't immediately see the leak. Started the car, threw a CEL and about barfed... but pulled the code and it was just MAF under voltage - low battery will do that.

Finally opened my front bleed valve to start flushing the system and heard the relieving trickle of fluid on the floor (not from me). Peeked under and saw the culprit - a pinhole leak in the rubber elbow from the crossover outlet to the corrugated tube. That's an easy enough fix. $15 from Amazon and a Gates replacement is on the way (those crazy Mishimoto players... charging $100 for a replacement silicon hose kit -- sure it will make the car faster, but don't have that kind of coin burning a hole in my wallet these days :rolleyes:).

The moral of the story: if you donor was a million mile pile, change out the rubber hoses.

(and hoping that was the only problem)

[Frank818]

At least you, you get your parts shipped! lolll

Rubber hoses are incredible! They can withstand a crazy amount of time/mileage IF left on the engine without touching them. But as soon as you remove them, they die.

When should we expect our next video? :)

[mistasherm]

Mike - drop me a line when you have an AutoX weekend planned - would love to come out and see the rig in action.

[biknman]

Mike - drop me a line when you have an AutoX weekend planned - would love to come out and see the rig in action.
Ditto :-)

[mikeb75]

Soon -I hope! :)

[mikeb75]

Ok, haven't had anywhere near enough time to work on or drive the car since Feb (job... not that I want to be unemployed... just sayin'), but finally got a few minutes over the glorious weekend to take care of some jobs that needed to be done.


I replaced the lower ball joints at the front corners. The first I had nicked the dust boot when originally installing and it wasn't holding any grease - rather is squeezed it out all over the lower suspension arm. The second I bashed the threads when removing the wrong one (sad, but I forgot which was good and which was bad).

But the real reason I was working on the front end was 0* camber. That sucked. I wore down the outer shoulders of the tires rubbing on the fenders when auto-xing, so this needed to be fixed. I had bought a tool quite a while ago with the intention of cutting the threaded studs on the upper arms, and amazingly my plan worked out perfectly.

Go Harbor Freight!
88704
Their portable band saw made the most perfect cuts on the threaded studs and the hex couplings. Never before have I cut anything threaded and not had to clean out the threads - until now. We trimmed 3/4" from the longer (fixed) threaded stud. I had measured that there was 7/8" difference between the longer fixed and the shorter swivel threaded stud, but kind of chickened out and backed off a bit. Still came out pretty good - the adjuster is about perfectly centered now and am still able to get both jam nuts on after I trimmed the very ends of the adjuster.
88705
88706
88707

Ballparking with the jack and a level it looks like we are able to get a fair amount of negative camber now. As soon as I get a chance to get the front re-aligned I'll report back with the results.
88708

[mikeb75]

Just got the car aligned. Pretty much maxed out the adjustment range as it sits:

Front


camber
-2.9
-2.8


caster
2.0
2.6


toe
.03
.03



Rear:


camber
-2.4
-2.4


toe
0.07
0.08



got to check my records, think the toe settings are wonky, but it sure is nice to have some actual camber up front. Car feels a little darty, may be from additional front bite and the slop in the steering (quick release or play in steering column actual mount).

the guys at the shop also showed me that if I can get the rear lower arm mounts to slide outboard (the holes are slotted), that would help a lot with the caster.

[taco20]

Just got the car aligned. Pretty much maxed out the adjustment range as it sits:

Front


camber
-2.9
-2.8


caster
2.0
2.6


toe
.03
.03



Rear:


camber
-2.4
-2.4


toe
0.07
0.08



got to check my records, think the toe settings are wonky, but it sure is nice to have some actual camber up front. Car feels a little darty, may be from additional front bite and the slop in the steering (quick release or play in steering column actual mount).

the guys at the shop also showed me that if I can get the rear lower arm mounts to slide outboard (the holes are slotted), that would help a lot with the caster.

Hey with those Caster number the car will feel darty. It will get worse the faster you go. The more Caster you can add will stop the darty feel and help it be stable at speed. Try getting above 4 degrees for the street and see how much that helps.

[Wayne Presley]

what tires and springs are you running?

[mikeb75]

Stock road springs that came with the kit. 350# up front and 275# back

The tires are 225 and 255 F/R