The 'Savage' build thread

[K3LAG]

The 818 made it out of the garage for the first time in 18 months. The orange is really bright in the sun!

53797 53798 53799 53800 53801

Loaded up and ready to go to the MVA in the morning:

53802

Success at the MVA!

53803

After we left the MVA we dropped the car off at the body shop for bodywork and paint. Next update should be fully painted, reassembled, inspected and register car.

Larry

[Hindsight]

Congrats! Your hood, fender, bumper, headlight fitment looks great.

[flynntuna]

Tasty!
:cool:

[Buzz Skyline]

Wow, looks terrific!

That's a very different looking VIN plate from mine. They riveted an aluminum plate inside my door. Yours looks like a sticker. Strange. I also don't have anywhere near as cool a number.

Did you go to Glen Burnie to get the inspection?

[AZPete]

Wow. Looks great. Congrats!

[Westview]

Wow, the car looks fantastic! Congratulations!!!

[K3LAG]

Wow, looks terrific!

That's a very different looking VIN plate from mine. They riveted an aluminum plate inside my door. Yours looks like a sticker. Strange. I also don't have anywhere near as cool a number.

Did you go to Glen Burnie to get the inspection?

Yes, went to Glen Burnie. The VIN they assigned is the same as the Factory Five chassis number.

They also applied a 2nd smaller sticker with the VIN number and another with a bar code all in different locations. They also installed the Factory Five provided plate.

Larry

[svanlare]

Looks wonderful. Congrats on getting registered.

[K3LAG]

Looks wonderful. Congrats on getting registered.

Thanks. But, not registered yet, just titled. Still have to get through our standard state safety inspection before it can be registered. We'll take care of that when it comes out of the body shop.

Larry

[mikeb75]

Congrats!

[Frank818]

White and orange, KTM colors, I like it. :)

[K3LAG]

Since my 818 wan't quite ready for the FFR Open House this weekend I decided to go to Wildwood, NJ for The Race of Gentlemen. Here are a bunch of pictures and video I took for anyone interested: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B045yeZFhXhC6v

Larry

[K3LAG]

I'm so excited I could jump up and down! Except that would be awkward given my weight. ;-)

Just passed final MD inspection. We are on the road!!!

Larry

[Mechie3]

Congrats!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I'm so excited I could jump up and down! Except that would be awkward given my weight. ;-)

Just passed final MD inspection. We are on the road!!!

Larry

Great job Larry.

[STiPWRD]

Awesome! Congrats!

[RM1SepEx]

Congrats Larry

[Hindsight]

Outstanding - big congrats!

[Westview]

Congratulations!! Maybe I'll see you showing it off in Burtonsville some Sunday morning. There are usually a couple of Factory Five cars there every Sunday.

[K3LAG]

Thanks. Not likely to see me on a Sunday morning. Usually at church then.

Larry

[Frank818]

And another road guy! Huge congrats on the success! Have a lot of fun with it, well deserved!

[K3LAG]

Thanks. We have about 100 miles on it so far. Needs a few tweaks to the alignment and once that's done we'll just enjoy it until October when it gets cool. At that time the body shop will get it to make it pretty.

Larry

[SixStar]

Great chatting with you this morning.

Let me know what you decide. I'd suggest draining the oil into a nice clean pan and looking at it in the sun first.

[K3LAG]

Well it's been a while so here's an update.

We put about 500 miles on the car through the late summer and early fall. We were just a few weeks away from putting it in the body shop for the winter for the body work and paint then the plans all changed.

We spun a rod bearing. :(

It looks like the most likely culprit is a split vacuum line going to the fuel pressure regulator but it's hard to say for sure.

After doing some research and deciding whether or not we wanted to do it ourselves, we decided to have IAG Performance put a new short block in it. They are doing the entire job. It's getting:

IAG Stage 1 Plus Short Block (https://www.iagperformance.com/IAG-Stage-1-Plus-Subaru-Short-Block-WRX-STI-LGT-p/iag-eng-1001.htm)
all the usual parts that go with a bearing failure like new oil pump, pan, gaskets, etc, etc...
matching the heads to the new 2.5l block.
an IAG AOS
a bunch of cleanup work such as some repaired connectors, replacing more vacuum lines, etc
A Blouch TD05H-16G XT Turbo
and Injector Dynamics injectors.

Once broken in it will get a nice drivable tune.

It's not a cheap solution, but with a job change and other priorities it was our best choice.

The guys at IAG have quite the operation. I'm confident we'll have a package that will be reliable and well done.

I don't want this to turn into an IAG commercial but if Keith (sixstar) wants to add some more details he may chime in.

Larry

[K3LAG]

Well, it's been a year and half since my last post. We have 500 miles on the new engine and everything is great. It's ready to get off the break-in tune as soon as we get it back from the body shop. It has been at a great shop here in the Baltimore area for about a year. Yeah, that's a long time. Between insurance work taking priority, being short handed, and the like, it has taken longer than expected but they are doing a fantastic job. The car is at a shop called APAC in Linthicum, MD. In addition to normal collision/repair work, they do a lot of body kits and other custom stuff. They kind of specialize in GT-R's but they do all sorts of stuff. Here are a couple:

9097990983

The orange one has an interesting story behind it. It's used to raise money for cancer research. Here is a video about it: Driven to Cure (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mwhjBXxmpI)

The great part is that Paco, one of the owners and the person doing most of the work on my car, is even more of a perfectionist than I am. He has fixed and tweaked numerous things on the body including reworking the headlight mounting, perfecting the gaps and more that I may share later. We are finally to the paint stage and the car is just starting to go back together. Here are some teaser pics for what is to come:

909809098190982

Larry

[Canadian818]

Looking good! I can’t imagine a perfectionist having to work with these panels and fitment. My “good enough” is taking forever!

[K3LAG]

Another sneak peek...

91033

[longislandwrx]

looks real nice. hopefully you'll be able to drive it before the summer ends.

Also any reason why you didnt go with the stage 2 block? iirc they are usually the same price.

[K3LAG]

Also any reason why you didnt go with the stage 2 block? iirc they are usually the same price.

If I remember right there was more of a price difference back then. There was another reason but I can't remember what it was. After talking it over with Keith from IAG it seemed like the best choice at the time.

Larry

[longislandwrx]

If I remember right there was more of a price difference back then. There was another reason but I can't remember what it was. After talking it over with Keith from IAG it seemed like the best choice at the time.

Larry

STi rods are a little lighter, and good for 450hp iirc... so if your goals arent crazy the 1.5 is a good choice

[K3LAG]

STi rods are a little lighter, and good for 450hp iirc... so if your goals arent crazy the 1.5 is a good choice

Plan is a nice drivable street car. Expectation is a bit under 300hp.

[biknman]

Funny I drive right by there (APAC) a couple times a week I follow those guys on Instagram and have always wanted to stop by now I have even more motivation if there another local 818 to check out!

[K3LAG]

Another teaser...

91793

[K3LAG]

A few more odds and ends but just about there...

92080

[flynntuna]

Very nice, even my wife likes the color combo. Which if you know her is High praise .:cool:

[Mitch Wright]

Great build, very nice.

[longislandwrx]

Another teaser...

91793
lol

i've got so much stuff "stored" on that tray too.

[K3LAG]

Bodywork and paint done! Time to enjoy it.

93872

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bodywork and paint done! Time to enjoy it.
93872

Looking great Larry.
Enjoy
Bob

[Mitch Wright]

Larry, the cars is awesome.

[Jim Haar]

Hi Larry, from post number "88"..... "More info to come on EEPROM availability."
Any further info on this ?

Thanks, Jim

[AZPete]

Larry, you make us all look good as another 818 hits the streets. Congrats.

[K3LAG]

Finally got the 818 tuned. 294 HP@5660, 302ft-lbs@3120

136402

[Frank818]

OMG you are still around! Nice to hear back! :)

Nice numbers, basically better than an STI back in those days.

What's causing that dip around 3300-3400?

[K3LAG]

What's causing that dip around 3300-3400?

I have no idea. I'm kind of curious about it myself. Unfortunately, due to COVID they wouldn't let us watch/be present so I didn't really get a chance to ask questions.

[K3LAG]

OMG you are still around! Nice to hear back! :)



I've been around lurking for the last few years but haven't had much to post. While there are some interesting builds going on, there certainly isn't the crazy energy there was here back in the first few years of the 818. I guess that's kind of to be expected.

[Frank818]

there certainly isn't the crazy energy there was here back in the first few years of the 818. I guess that's kind of to be expected.

Totally agree! It's like when the newest iPhone comes out.


As for that torque dip, is it too late to call them back and ask over the phone? Maybe they can remember, I mean you may waste 5mins of your life calling but to me it would be worth trying.