NISMO_RB25 Texas 818S Build

[NISMO_RB25]

Hi Everyone,

I decided it was time to finally start posting the progress on my build. I have my first child due on Thanksgiving, so my progress may be a bit slow over the next 6 weeks. I am on a sabbatical from work until early January, so as long as I can sneak out of the house every once in a while the updates will continue. Building a kit car has been a dream of mine for a long time, but I wanted something with a turbo and not a replica. The 818S is exactly the kind of build I was looking for and like many of you I put my deposit down a year ago and then started looking for a donor.

Before we get to the build here is a quick shot of my daily driver and the truck I use to get parts and take out the trash. My addiction to boost isn't limited to any one manufacturer although I will admit the Skyline was my dream car and I got it for a great price. it is one of the federally legal ones.
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The donor was a 2006 WRX Wagon with 119K miles. Most fun negotiation ever when I explained that I was going to tear the entire car apart and I could careless that the body and interior were near perfect. I drove it for several months until the water pump went out. Once I got it apart I found it had a brand new timing belt and pulleys, but they had failed to replace the pump at that time. I will never understand why anyone would do a timing belt and not replace the pump while you are there.

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Why everyone needs a truck.
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Reason 428 to own an old backhoe. Apparently the hay fork can also be used to lift a stripped out wrx to put it on a trailer. That cowboy hat is my father as we both laughed that once again the backhoe was the solution.

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[NISMO_RB25]

Here was the kit on arrival. It went into storage for about a month while I finished getting the WRX stripped down so I could fit it into the garage.

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[NISMO_RB25]

I took all the body panels off an put them in storage as they were guaranteed to get damaged in my garage.
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One of the best recommendations I got was to either build or invest in a frame dolly. This one has worked out great allowing me to move the kit car out of the garage and pull in another car when I am done for the day. The other nice thing is the kit is perfect working height if you are sitting on a small rolling automotive stool.

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And reason 429 to own a backhoe was that with some straps you can lift an 818 frame onto a car dolly without having 4 people. BTW as tempting as it seems three people was just not enough to get it on the dolly. Unless you and your friends are body builders get one more friend or a backhoe.

[NISMO_RB25]

Assembly work started late last week as I was waiting on some parts from powder coating. If you are wanting to get started on your build, but don't wan to get everything done at once you can start by pulling everything off the firewall and then going through all the boxes and getting out the parts. This picture shows everything you need to get started minus the firewall panels which are in the box.

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While I was waiting for the parts I started with dieting the harness. My only advice here is to follow the threads in the wiring section.

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Once the parts arrived I had a pretty productive couple of days. My rivets started looking a lot better once I finally used the guide tool for spacing. In addition to picking one of those up an air powered rivet gun is worth it's wait in gold after you just finished drilling hundreds of holes. Speaking of drilling, a right angle drill is a good investment and if you cut the shaft of drill bit down so that the bit is only a couple of inches long you can get into some of the corners easier. Just remember you will likely have to use a manual rivet gun for those areas.

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Today I put in the new lighter flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate. I found that when trying to do all this by myself that some ratcheting straps on the transmission will allow you to get the transmission bolted back on without killing your back.

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Those same straps came in very handy to getting the motor dropped in as I could tilt it however needed to make it work. In addition to removing the oil filler neck, don't forget to remove the oil dipstick. If you take the heat shields off the bottom of the headers then you should have no issues getting the engine in. If you want to make it even easier take off the plastic intake under the manifold and the oil dipstick tube.

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I didn't get a picture of it, but I ended up running a strap vertical which worked out better than the one you can see in the above picture.

[NISMO_RB25]

And the final update for today is the motor is in place and Fedex showed up with the two inner CV joints that mate up to the Quaife differential output shaft.

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[Erik W. Treves]

So..you might want to grab those door hinges off your donor....also your upper control arms look like you have them upside down...the upper ball joint should be tilted towards the car (inboard) not out....moving right a long though!!

[NISMO_RB25]

So..you might want to grab those door hinges off your donor....also your upper control arms look like you have them upside down...the upper ball joint should be tilted towards the car (inboard) not out....moving right a long though!!

I pulled the hinges off already. Good catch on the upper ball joint. I thought for some reason mine were on correctly, but I looked through a bunch of build threads and apparently I am wrong. Not looking forward to pulling those back out since I almost ripped my bench vise off the table putting them on. :)

[AZPete]

Nice start, NISMO. Congrats on the arrival of the 818 and especially for the arrival of your first baby!!!
I'll PM you about some donor parts I'd like to buy. Check the "notifications" at the top.

[freds]

I may have missed it,....where are you located in TX. I'm NE of Houston near IAH.

fred

[NISMO_RB25]

I am near San Antonio so not all that far away.

[NISMO_RB25]

A decent amount of progress today, but only because I chose not to fix my incorrect front suspension. :)

Here is a pick of the assembled rear axle using the stock outer, the FF provided middle section, and the inner joints to mate up to the new diff.

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For the rear suspension I didn't heat up one of the shock collars enough and spent way too much time beating it into submission. The second one was well heated and dropped in with no effort. When assembling the rear arms make sure you keep the two bags of spacers separated or plan on measuring them to figure out which ones to use. I must say installing those spacers can be a pit of a pain so having a few pry bars or big screw drivers and a mallet helps.

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I also realized I didn't have the transmission mount and had to go hunt that down. If I don't have a baby tonight I will be at it again tomorrow. :)

[wallace18]

You should not be working that hard if you are pregnant. LOL.

[Wayne Presley]

You should not be working that hard if you are pregnant. LOL.


Now that was funny!

Great progress BTW

[metalmaker12]

A decent amount of progress today, but only because I chose not to fix my incorrect front suspension. :)

Here is a pick of the assembled rear axle using the stock outer, the FF provided middle section, and the inner joints to mate up to the new diff.



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For the rear suspension I didn't heat up one of the shock collars enough and spent way too much time beating it into submission. The second one was well heated and dropped in with no effort. When assembling the rear arms make sure you keep the two bags of spacers separated or plan on measuring them to figure out which ones to use. I must say installing those spacers can be a pit of a pain so having a few pry bars or big screw drivers and a mallet helps.

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I also realized I didn't have the transmission mount and had to go hunt that down. If I don't have a baby tonight I will be at it again tomorrow. :)

What diff you using, how you going to lock 02-04 stubs in with a closed LSD?

[wleehendrick]

For the rear suspension I didn't heat up one of the shock collars enough and spent way too much time beating it into submission. The second one was well heated and dropped in with no effort.


Funny, I had no issue assembling my coilovers... I was prepared to heat them up, but they all dropped right on.


When assembling the rear arms make sure you keep the two bags of spacers separated or plan on measuring them to figure out which ones to use. I must say installing those spacers can be a pit of a pain so having a few pry bars or big screw drivers and a mallet helps.

I picked up a super-cheap pair of calipers from Harbor Freight... would I trust them to a mil? probably not, but they've earned their keep identifying the spacers.

P.S. Someone suggested a rattail file drill attachment to ream them out; I got one from Amazon for $5.

[NISMO_RB25]

you lucked out on the coilover collars. I would have never gotten them on without heat. I picked up a caliper from Summit and it has definitely proven valuable when I drop the spacers and managed to kick them across the garage.

[NISMO_RB25]

I ended up changing the ball joint and then changing it back as the angle wasn't correct as can be seen in the picture. Today was spent moving the LCA to the outer most holes which was a lot of grinding, cursing, hammering, and more hammering.

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[Erik W. Treves]

your looking at it at full droop, when the control arms are in ride height the ball joint is almost straight up and down...your car build as you want...I didn't validate the wagon install though either...

[NISMO_RB25]

your looking at it at full droop, when the control arms are in ride height the ball joint is almost straight up and down...your car build as you want...I didn't validate the wagon install though either...

Thanks for that. This is my first kit car build and I appreciate any input. I have gotten far too good at swapping them out so I will take another look once I start adjusting ride height.

[NISMO_RB25]

Well the little girl has decided she is happy where she is, so we have scheduled an induction on Wednesday before daylight.

They were both helping me in the garage today.

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I drilled a couple of hundred more holes today and used clecos to hold everything in place.

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The sad part is removing it all for powder coating.

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[metalmaker12]

Congrats man!! I have a little girl 3 now and were having our second which is in progress, if you have any questions shoot me a pm etc

[NISMO_RB25]

Thanks for the support. We have had a busy couple of days with not much sleep, but my wife and new little girl are both home and everyone is healthy. I can pretty much guarantee my updates will be slow going for the next month. :)

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[AZPete]

Congrats to all three of you!! We are all glad to hear that the baby girl is home and happy. She is darling! I'm not surprised that you are exhausted and I predict that you won't get a full nights sleep . . . or many rivets set . . . for quite a while. Enjoy the time, as it goes quickly and what seems like only a month she'll be asking to borrow the car. Wait, it will be the 818 Dad built! :)

[Mitch Wright]

Congratulations, what a beautiful girl.

[Xusia]

VERY cute! Congrats!! :)

[metalmaker12]

Awwww, very beautiful, congrats

[RM1SepEx]

Congrats, your first? BTW caution: They Grow UP! :-)

[Canadian818]

Congrats, your first? BTW caution: They Grow UP! :-)

And they grow quick! I blinked and my daughter was starting school...

Congrats!!

[RM1SepEx]

Starting school... mine's 17 and hormonal! LOL

[longislandwrx]

Wonderful... congrats.

[Mechie3]

Now you have to sell the car. You didn't finish before the baby came. Game over. ;)

Congrats!

[NISMO_RB25]

The interior panels are now installed along the sides and hopefully tomorrow I will get started on the pedal assembly and steering column. The textured powder coating looks great and I will definitely use that for the remaining parts. If I haven't said this enough the air rivet gun is awesome.

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[NISMO_RB25]

The pedal assembly along with the brake and clutch master cylinder are now installed. I used a riv-nut tool and almost got it stuck trying to get the top riv-nut in place for the gas pedal.

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[NISMO_RB25]

Since my donor is an 06 I am using the drive by wire pedal. The mount provided by FF put it at a very odd angle and low. Here is the factory mount:
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Here I cut off the top portion, drilled one extra hole, flattened the bottom tab, and like magic it lines up perfectly with the other pedals.

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I would recommend two people to put the steering column in so that one can line it up while the other mounts it in place.

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[Mechie3]

What rivnut tool is that? Does it work well? The inner shaft on my harbor freight ones deformed after doing 2 of the 1/4-20 rivnuts. I want to rivnut the body in place instead of riveting and don't want to do the screw/nut method for all of them.

[NISMO_RB25]

What rivnut tool is that? Does it work well? The inner shaft on my harbor freight ones deformed after doing 2 of the 1/4-20 rivnuts. I want to rivnut the body in place instead of riveting and don't want to do the screw/nut method for all of them.

It is just a cheap one I got from Northern Tool. For the price if it doesn't hold up I can just buy a couple of more. I have only done about 4 so far, but I think as long as you adjust the tool correctly it should hold up.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200308963_200308963?cm_mmc=Housefile-_-RECEIVED-_-707-_-CONF

[RM1SepEx]

I found that I needed to grind the face of the tool's insert to get the stud fully threaded into the nutsert. I have done more than 100, mostly 10-24 inserts with mine from Harbor freight

[NISMO_RB25]

Well after 9+ years, two kids, and moving out of TX and back to TX, I am resuming the build.

Today I got the brakes to all work.
Unfortunately when I went to fill the transmission the axle seals are leaking. New seals should be in this week.

[NevaLift2Shift]

Well after 9+ years, two kids, and moving out of TX and back to TX, I am resuming the build.

Today I got the brakes to all work.
Unfortunately when I went to fill the transmission the axle seals are leaking. New seals should be in this week.

What part of Texas are you in? I'm going to have to slow my build down if I want to make the longest build time record, haha. Currently at 6-7 years.

[NISMO_RB25]

What part of Texas are you in? I'm going to have to slow my build down if I want to make the longest build time record, haha. Currently at 6-7 years.

I am close to San Antonio. Wife said I can't buy another project until I finish or sell this one, so 100 degree weather seems like the perfect time to be in the shop. We need to hurry up before FF discontinues some of the add on parts we might want.

[NISMO_RB25]

This time around instead of using a frame dolly, I am using this Quickjack. It is amazing how much easier it is to do things when you have the right tools.

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[NISMO_RB25]

Today I finally got the electrical to a place where I could turn the key. I am missing the sub harness for the fuel pump, so once that arrives I may actually get to start this thing. I ended up mounting the engine fuse box in the front and the couple of engine plugs were able to be unwound with just the extension of three wires to make it back to the motor.


https://youtu.be/GECVyTj38SM

[NISMO_RB25]

The harness loop backs are truly amazing. I decided to mount my engine fuse box near the battery in the front which means all the headlight plugs, radiator fan plugs, horns, and so on are closer to where they need to be. By cutting and extending just three wires on this brown plug, this connector made it's way back to the engine. The black connector that goes to the same location needed no modifications. Two wires to extend the plug for the alternator and A 4 gauge wire that was terminated on both ends, plus a fuse block, took care of the rest.

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[blomb11]

Congrats that is exciting! I am right behind you just need to crimp a couple starter cables and I ready to try turning the key for the first time to see if things power up nicely. We will see how my harness dieting goes...

[NISMO_RB25]

Congrats that is exciting! I am right behind you just need to crimp a couple starter cables and I ready to try turning the key for the first time to see if things power up nicely. We will see how my harness dieting goes...

Awesome! I still have shifter setup to do to be able to drive it, but not catching fire immediately was a relief.

[jforand]

I myself am about to hit pause on my R build as I am moving to Austin TX from Atlanta GA next week.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?35230-JForand-Atlanta-Build

It is always good to have friends in new places. Currently, I plan to leave the car behind in Atlanta and focus on the new job. It is looking like property is NOT cheap around Austin and I will be commuting into the city for the foreseeable future so I need to stay fairly close. No basements in TX also puts a hurting on all the shop stuff, equipment, and parts storage I have (in a full basement) in Atlanta....

It looks like I have made it a bit farther than you thus far, but not complete yet. I managed to get it to the go karting stage and up to the track twice, but blew up the motor starting the second day of the second outing. I have been working on the body for the past 8+ months off an on while waiting for the new engine build.

Anyway, I may be able to help answer some questions from time to time.

[NISMO_RB25]

I myself am about to hit pause on my R build as I am moving to Austin TX from Atlanta GA next week.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?35230-JForand-Atlanta-Build

It is always good to have friends in new places. Currently, I plan to leave the car behind in Atlanta and focus on the new job. It is looking like property is NOT cheap around Austin and I will be commuting into the city for the foreseeable future so I need to stay fairly close. No basements in TX also puts a hurting on all the shop stuff, equipment, and parts storage I have (in a full basement) in Atlanta....

It looks like I have made it a bit farther than you thus far, but not complete yet. I managed to get it to the go karting stage and up to the track twice, but blew up the motor starting the second day of the second outing. I have been working on the body for the past 8+ months off an on while waiting for the new engine build.

Anyway, I may be able to help answer some questions from time to time.

Thanks and welcome to the oven we call TX. Austin traffic is a nightmare, so I generally stay away as much as possible. The drifting scene is pretty strong in TX so I see a lot of people from Austin at the track that is fairly close to me.

[NISMO_RB25]

It's Alive!! It is also 100 degrees in the shade here, so progress may slow down while await some shifter parts.


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6HlTk4E_ZLs

[NISMO_RB25]

Well today I spent way too long trying to make sure my headlight wiring was functioning, only to realize I hadn't connected the harness at the interior fuse box. Oops. works now.
I made a bracket to hold the big fuse box in front and so far I am really liking this location. My buddy who helped me replace my timing belt ~8 years ago when I first started the project, reminded me it probably needs to be changed due to age now. Doh!!
Timing belt, bell crank, and shifter are all on order now.

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[NISMO_RB25]

Another scorcher of a day in TX, but I manged to diet the harness for the rear lights and another half dozen wires out of the front. I realized today that my door open light is on the dash, so I am going to have to figure out what I need to short to fix that.
My engine needs to come back out to replace my timing belt due to age and zero miles....
On a positive note, some goodies arrived today from http://zerodecibelmotorsports.com/
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[RPGs818SNA]

If either B13 (blue white) or B14 (yellow) on the corner of the center connector (green) of the dash is grounded, the door light comes on. Cutting both wires should fix it for you. Good luck with the wiring, especially with summer coming in a few days.

[Dave 53]

I've driven off and had a door fly open more times than I'd like to admit. A few times I've forgotten to shut the door all the way at the track after fiddling with the 5-point harness. Just 2 days ago the passenger door missed my wife's car by inches as I backed out of the driveway. I hadn't shut it all the way after having it open the night before to work on something.

I'm taking this B13 and B14 info and putting on my to-do list: Add open door dash light.

[NISMO_RB25]

For peace of mind I pulled the motor and replaced the timing belt that was 8+ years old with zero miles on it. I cut the trans mounting point out and lowered it. A little light trimming on the transmission with a file and everything cleared. Current feels like temp is 105 degrees so that's it for today.
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[NISMO_RB25]

It turns out getting my drift car ready and going drifting has been taking priority over the kit car. The real problem besides the 105 degree days is that I am just tired of the wiring at this point. Everything works, just so much more to remove to clean it up.
I did remove the small fuse box that is with the larger engine box, so that is something. The last couple of days have been installing a new radiator, jacking the car up in the air, bleeding the system, finding leaks, realizing I didn't buy enough coolant, and after a few heat cycles getting all the air out.
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This coolant funnel kit made this a lot easier.
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It was great to see all the air come out and have nice coolant temps.
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Next up is probably shifter and cleaning up the wiring for some go kart action. :)

[NISMO_RB25]

Having a 2006 donor I went too far with dieting the harness and ended up removing the security module. After ordering an entire new harness and nearly a year and a half later I have a running car again. Great to see a few active builds still on here and I will try to make more updates along the way. Today I was just about ready to give up and found that I had the immobilizer box and the keyless entry box plugged into each others ports. Out of all the very specific slotted connectors, why those two are matched I will never understand. Car is back to running and now I will be a little more careful with my wire dieting going forward. :)

[Ajzride]

Man you should have posted something in here, it wouldn't have taken much prompting for me to sell you mine at a bargain so that I could go buy an aftermarket ECU. And I've been over to SA a half dozen times in the last year, could have dropped it off for you.

[NISMO_RB25]

Man you should have posted something in here, it wouldn't have taken much prompting for me to sell you mine at a bargain so that I could go buy an aftermarket ECU. And I've been over to SA a half dozen times in the last year, could have dropped it off for you.

Lesson learned. I try and go drifting in Houston at HPA a few times a year also.