svl 818

[Frank818]

What a nicely finished interior! Apart from the doors. loll

[svanlare]

All I see Pete is the great work done. We all have a long list of things still to do and fix, but I think it is only the builders themselves focused on that list.

[Frank818]

10 thumbs up (no emoticon for that here)

[AZPete]

Yup, it's amazing how flaws we normally overlook are obvious in photos.
Oh no, that sounds like the family holiday photo! :eek:

[svanlare]

Not quite ready to take it out for another test run, but I did get the engine started today, very, very close to being back to the go-kart stage!

[Frank818]

What are you working on?

[svanlare]

After my test drives, the issue that kicked off the current work was all of the coolant lines leaked. When I took them apart, I had metal filings in the tubes to solve :-( That lead to pulling the motor, replacing the water pump, the timing belt and redoing the coolant lines. While the engine was out.... I replaced the clutch, replaced engine mounts, finished the engine bay, did the rear ABS, added the parking brake, hard mounted the wires and ... here we are 5 months later after the test drives.

I ended up doing way more work to the engine than I expected, so I was a little worried that I would have a bit of debugging to do to get it running again. Happy to have the engine start again as now I feel like I'm back to where I was in Feb in regards to the engine and much further in terms of cleaning things up and making them permanent. I had given myself a goal of getting to go-kart stage again by thanksgiving (lots of folks will be at our house) and so I was pushing to make it, but didn't quite get there. This is a hobby for me, and it is done-ish when it is done-ish, so I try not to cut too many corners to hit a date. I have a couple more coolant issues, and a quick alignment before I can drive again.

I think where I'm at now car from the firewall back is pretty close to final. Lets call it I've reached the penultimate version of the engine bay. From the firewall forward is still pretty much all held together with zip ties with the notable exception of the coolant lines which are all hard mounted solidly to the chassis. Between Thanksgiving, work travel and the next race, it will be until mid Dec before I get back to serious work. I'm now planning my approach to the next phases.

From here, it all turns into my fantasy for how it will come together. I'm sure reality will rear its head and divert me in places through this. I think I'll get all of the wires in the center tunnel finished, and I'll mount the sheet metal under the seats. Then I'm moving onto mounting the body. My hope at that point is to get the car registered (zero interior work done) after that so I can test drive it at will and start putting some miles on it, thus shaking out issues while I can still easily take things apart and work on them. Then I can do the interior. Somewhere in there I'll do the top and when all that is done finally get it painted. Let's call it another year+.

[Frank818]

I know that stuff. But you're finally out and now the steps back are forward. I think another year is fair.

[svanlare]

OK, I failed to get the car running by Thanksgiving and I failed to get any time in the garage between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but today I got the car back into driving form! (I did get a race in, so not complaining too much).

The coolant system is holding together this time without any leaks. I know that I have an air bubble off the top of the radiator that I haven't been able to clear, but enough coolant seems to be making it around the system that the passenger side pipes warm up and the fans kick on. Certainly good enough for now until I figure out a good way to manage the coolant fill. I've done wayne's mod, but that only seems to help at the rear. The problem as I see it now is right off the top of the radiator the hose that makes a 90 turn and heads down; it is higher than the fill spout, and I need to find an aggressive sized hill if we are going to get it below to make a fill easy.

The other challenge I had was I could not shift into gear after the car was started. Nathan help me and I re-bled the clutch line and that problem seems gone. After that I was able to run the car around the block a couple of times. The great news is that everything seems to be working, although I now have a punch list of things to adjust or fiddle with before the next run. I'm delighted to be starting 2017 having moved into a new phase of the project.

For months now I have been watching the body threads, I'm hoping to pull all the panels out of storage tomorrow and start the process of clamping everything to the frame. After that, I'm off on trips until mid Jan. I'm looking forward to having the car look more like a car instead of a sand-rail. I'm sure that will generate it's own list of issues, but they will be all new issues instead of repeating the same steps that I have been doing for a while now.

[Frank818]

Oh man. :( Many fails, but you're fixing. You need to spend more time on it. :)

I've done my splash guards (well, 3.5 of em), so I believe with the next few pix I'll be posting you'll see everything of my body work, hopefully that could reduce your time on yours.

[svanlare]

I've made progress in both of the last weekends. I'm happy to be working on new things for a bit, but I'm sure I'll get to work on these more than once each :-)

I've pulled all the panels from the side of the house and cleaned them up. Then I made a run to harbor freight for clamps and started on the back end of the car. Of course, before you can actually put the bumper on, it needs a whole for the exhaust.

While I was investing in hole saw bits and making fiberglass dust, I took care of the lights as well (and the fuel cap). I had Marked the reverse light holes wrong, but fixed it before I actually started drilling. Doesn't always happened, but I was worried about screwing up the fiberglass and checked twice. Would have just been a pair of speed holes that nobody would see but me, but it worked out this time well. I'm sure I'll be learning about fiberglass work soon enough, but happy to put it off a couple more weekends.

While all of this went smooth, it took more time than I thought it would. In some of the body threads I've been reading I was ready for the transmission mount bolts to be in the way, but I still ended up putting the bumper on and off a fair number of times. I haven't pulled out the template for the rear vent, so I just went as far as an exhaust hole so that I could get the bumper on in the right place.
http://i.imgur.com/SYr0NE2.jpg (http://imgur.com/SYr0NE2)
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Once the lights were in the bumper, I ended up finishing the wiring instead of the body. Stop lights, reverse lights, blinkers and flashers all work right. Tail lights don't come on with the light switch so I'll have to debug that still. After 2 and half years of only looking at the car as a chassis and parts, I'm quite delighted to see it with the back end clamped on.
http://i.imgur.com/xanBdRe.jpg (http://imgur.com/xanBdRe)
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It is clear it is going to take a good degree of slow adjustments to get everything to line up well. Given the huge gaps on the cover at the back of my car, I'v got some books on the corners to hold it down while I work on other things.

This weekend was all rain so I worked on cleaning up the front of the car. While I was excited to be starting on the front body, I knew that I really should take care of the lose ends up front first before I put the body on. I've been using white zip-ties as temporary attachment and black zip-ties when something is in it's final place. Sad to say that after 2 days of drilling and riveting clamps in place, I'm probably the only one who can tell all the work that was done. So no photos of the wiring work, although there are no more white zip-ties poking up everywhere. I also finished the ABS wiring (haven't tested yet), and everything other than a couple hoses are complete up front.

I'm sticking with the plan that if I get the front and back all final, once the body is on I can get is registered while I finish up the interior. At least that is my plan. But where things are now, if I take the body off again, I'm ready for autocross testing.

[Frank818]

Your panels fit very well! You should have little important trimming/adj to make, that's good news, keep on going, keep the spirit high!

[svanlare]

Actually, after a week of sitting in the right spot with so weight on the corners, the cover is fitting better already. On the road again for work, but just placed an order for parts (mounting studs, clamps, etc) so I should be busy again when I get back.

[Frank818]

I was mostly referring about the rear of rear fenders-to-bumper. They look perfectly spot on.

[svanlare]

That is more a "lucky rather than good" situation. It is pretty close though, I have to trim at bit at the top and I think it will fit well.

I can tell I've started on new things as opposed to redoing old work, two boxes of misc parts showed up today! And Brian over at iWire gave me a suggestion on how to fix the lights (fuse) and that sorted the tail light issue without having to do any debugging. New car parts and an item checked off the to-do list, not a bad garage day considering I just walked off a plane and home again.

[Frank818]

Nice sentence, here's what I can come up with:

You can tell you've started new things when new parts boxes show up.
You can tell you've assembled new things when new empty parts boxes pile up. :)

[svanlare]

I've not been good about updating the blog. Sorry about that.

I cut out the vent in the back and it is looking much better. Like most, I had to notch the bumper to fit the bolts from the transmission. Once that was done, the rear fits together pretty well. There will be a bunch of trimming and fine work before everything is bolted in place, but I'm happy with how it all came together.
http://i.imgur.com/4XqKkvb.jpg (http://imgur.com/4XqKkvb)
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I don't have a shot of it, but since I used a Boyd tank, now was the time to come up with a new way to connect the fill line to the tank. I ended up hacking a 90 degree and 45 degree set of gates fuel lines with a joiner in the middle. Worked pretty well. I have to finalize a method for the vent line but happy with the results. Sorry, I'l have to do an install photo later.
http://i.imgur.com/uX4kVWr.jpg (http://imgur.com/uX4kVWr)
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I ran into a problem with the connectors on the front ABS, the connectors I had and the ones that Brian used in the harness didn't match up. I'm sure this was my mistake somewhere as I gave Brian the harness. I can't thank Brian at iWire enough, he sourced some new ones, and I spiced them into the harness. With the ABS all wired up now, I could focus on just cleaning everything up front. I've done a fair bit of wrapping up the front end of the car (securing wires, brake lines, etc) and it is now time to start the front half body.

I pulled the panels out from the side of the house and cleaned them up yesterday. We got a large quantity of rain last night, so they ended up with a little more cleaning today.

http://i.imgur.com/ByJson7.jpg (http://imgur.com/ByJson7)
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In preparation I reread Franks, Hindsights, and The Body Thread before I started mounting things. I only used tape for a while and jostled parts around. I got things to fit ok by the time I took this shot, but I was really unhappy with the way the hood fit.

So I took everything apart and tried again. I needed to cut the nose a bit up by the radiator, and then managed to get everything to fit pretty well on the second take through this. I didn't take a shot of the second fitting, but everything lined up much better. I pinned the fenders to the side panels, and lined up the bumper to the center line of the car. From there the fenders hit the bumper pretty closely. I've taped everything in place and I'll call it good for now. I'm going to try and get the windshield mounted this week, and then work on the headlights. After that, I think I can finalize everything and start drilling holes.

http://i.imgur.com/Yl41w0o.jpg (http://imgur.com/Yl41w0o)
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[Frank818]

Just be careful if you ever remove the front fender supports (if you have the new nose?), if you don't put them back exactly at the same place and angle, everything will align differently.

[ben1272]

Just be careful if you ever remove the front fender supports (if you have the new nose?), if you don't put them back exactly at the same place and angle, everything will align differently.

Do you think tracing the supports (and other adjustable tabs for that matter) onto their corresponding frame/frame tabs with a silver sharpie (or equivalent) would allow a good enough re-fitting to preserve the body panel alignment?

[Frank818]

Yeah I think yes. That's what I wanted to do, but I prefer to spend 30mins on the car rather than getting a white or silver sharpie at the local store. That's how much I am running after working time on the car, might differ for you. Of course that 30mins would have saved me half a day once already...

You have to mark precisely all the moving areas. I mean all the places where you can move a part.

The top new nose fender supports.
The lower new nose brackets on the lower rad supports.
The lower bolt of the flat bar on the lower support.
The upper bolt of the flat bar on the upper rad supports (those welded on the frame by FFR).
The exact spot on the upper new nose rad supports where you bolt the fender (you can slide left-right on that support).
And the exact height of the rear upper fender close to the side sail and windshield.

With all that you should be good and if you aren't, you definitely should be very close so a little adjustment would work, instead of restarting from 0.

[Harley818]

After set the panels the first time, and was happy with the alignment (i documented my process in my build and in the body thread) I've been using the cleko's for locating the panels and it seems to come together pretty repeatably every time.
I've had every body panel off and on multiple times (like everyone else) and the cleko's work well. If you drill the 1/8 hole in the wrong place first time, its just 1/8 hole which you can fill if you need to.
Also, after wasting a lot of time aligning the front bumper, fenders and hood with the lights, I gave up on the lights and it was easy to align the front. Now I am adding the lights after the fact, and its pretty easy to see where they interfered with the supports, buckets and front fender/bumper.

[svanlare]

Your blog was definitely one of many I read a several times before I started the body. I've had the body on an off many times now and getting much quicker to getting back to a baseline. I'm sure when I add the headlights into the mix I'll have a bunch more time before I'm happy again.

I have cleoko's attaching the side panels to the car, and one each attaching the fenders to the side panels. I marked the center line on both the nose and the support, so I can very quickly put the bumper in the right place and then attach each fender with clamps and tape. Then the hood drops right in each time now.

I have a windshield installer coming over on Thursday.

I would love to start fine fitting things after that, but this weekend is dedicated to getting the track cars done before the next race at the end of the month. After the race, I'm hoping to then start drilling holes for real. I've got a bunch of fiberglass material showing up next week and so it will also be time to start mounting the studs to the fiberglass. I have Mechie's hood hinge installed and I'm very excited about getting the hood attached.

My Mom had the best quote when I sent a picture of the car in this state. She said I have "really spiffed up the vehicle! It's now a head turner vs. a curiosity"

[svanlare]

I guess this falls into the good news/bad news category. I have quit my job and am taking some time off while I search for my next one. This is the first time I've taken a break in my career, so we'll see how it goes. Sadly I wasn't able to make it to Huntington Beach this year, so bummed about missing that. In the solid good news category, I'm hoping to make some solid progress this month. Yesterday was my first day off, and today is my first interview, and I've got a big honey-do list, but even given all that I'm sure I'll get more time than the day a month that I have been averaging for a while now.

Last month I managed to get the windshield installed. The installer had a couple gaskets on his truck and we found one that worked well. Install went pretty smooth.
http://i.imgur.com/U4e78uU.jpg (http://imgur.com/U4e78uU)
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http://i.imgur.com/oa9pq5E.jpg (http://imgur.com/oa9pq5E)
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And then for my first day off work, I dug out the door frames from the back of the garage where they have been since I got them. I should have painted them right when I got them as they had several rust spots. The wire brush solved that and I got though primer and paint yesterday.

http://i.imgur.com/pCGJSes.jpg (http://imgur.com/pCGJSes)
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http://i.imgur.com/vRzb1Eb.jpg (http://imgur.com/vRzb1Eb)
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I have a race coming up in a couple weeks (Lemons race at Thunderhill if anyone else is going), so getting the race car running is the top priority given that deadline. Even with that, I should be updating more often now!

Today's job if to find the fiberglass shop so I can buy some supplies and learn how to do fiberglass work. I've got a couple books on the shelf and plan on working through this example thread 22433 post #86 (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?22433-Wow!!-FF-really-dropped-the-QC-Ball-here!&p=257859&viewfull=1#post257859)

[Frank818]

Very nice finish on the paint!

[svanlare]

I'm now between jobs and thought I would have a ton of time to work on the car. Except I'm walking all around SF doing interviews and not walking around at home working. Seems I am doing even less than when I had a job.

I did manage to get the headlights in the right place and have started bolting down the front. That was not a casual job! Once I was happy enough (there was no way to get to "right" here, lots of pushing, pulling, clamping, tape, etc and then good-enough). Bondo or something similar will be called on to get the joints looking much better.

I've started updating the photos after moving them to another site, we'll see how fast that goes, but it certainly more up my alley than the fiberglass has been.

[svanlare]

Making progress, although nobody but me will be able to tell. I was stalled on the lights of all things, but now that all the parts associate with the lights are in place (buckets, lights, bumper, fender, hood), I am mouthing the bumper to the frame and then i'll work on mounting the hood to the hinge. Today I got all the bumper brackets built.

I tried a couple different approaches, but I liked this one as once I have the splitter attached, can unmount the bumper from the top (although I hope I never need to)
http://i.imgur.com/Sqw1bAC.jpg (http://imgur.com/Sqw1bAC)
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The brackets are now getting a couple coats of paint, and then I'll bolt them all into place.
http://i.imgur.com/KVJbLyr.jpg (http://imgur.com/KVJbLyr)
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As I said, the car looks like is has for a while now, but instead of all the front fiberglass "resting" on the various attachments points, it is getting firmly bolted in place now.
http://i.imgur.com/8ZwlFuv.jpg (http://imgur.com/8ZwlFuv)
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I've also updated photos for most of this blog. One more page to go and I'll be done, hopefully tonight. I like having the large photos in place, but I've been adding the thumbnails incase imgur ever decides to charge for hosting at least everything is on the FFR site.

[Frank818]

Ah you have to design those small brackets to better hold the old bumper in place? Due to lack of support?

It's true with the new nose this is completely different.

But the front is probably the most difficult part to align, on both old and new noses.

[svanlare]

I think the new front would be easier as it all one piece, but would have to have someone who has built both confirm that. Now that the lights and fenders are all bolted together and behave as one unit, I kind of think I'm now at the step of aligning like the new front end.

I feel like I qualify for a degree in custom brackets :-) The manual calls for using washers to make it fit. My bumper fit best a little higher than what would work well with a washer, so time to break out the grinder and cut some stock aluminum! They don't match the quality of the hinge right next to it, but painted black they should not be too visible if anyone other than me ever peeks at them.

I'm waffling on what to do next. I may try the doors so that I can check the fit at the windshield where everything meets and then finalize the hood and bolt it all down.

[Harley818]

Hi Steve,
take a read in my build thread.
I agonized over the lights and finally just took them out, aligned it all, then added the lights from behind. Worked way better and will save you untold headaches.
Also you need to get the doors in to get them aligned to make sure it all fits together OK before you bolt it down.
The door fender windshield interface is tough to get right as well.
Looking good though....

[svanlare]

I thought when I quit my last job, that I would have a ton of time to work on the car. Boy was I wrong. This summer was swamped with a house remodel, getting Nathan ready for college (there goes my partner in finishing this project), contracting and interviewing, oh and I bought a fixer-upper boat because I apparently wasn’t busy enough nor had enough hobbies. In any case, I had far less time than before. I accepted an offer this week, and finally made it back to the garage. When I went to enter my progress in my tracking spreadsheet, I realized I haven't touched the car since the start of August. Way to long a gap.

When I started this project, one book on kit cars I read said to finish a project like this you must spend 15 min every day on the project. Even if it is just cleaning the tools and organizing things. The notion I believe that it is never just 15 min, as once you go into the garage. . . Anyhow, I’ve been spending way less than my required 15 min a day. Time to correct that before I start working again.

I have the front bumper where I want it, and wanted to get the fenders and windshield in place before I finalize the hood. I’m definitely going to redo the drivers headlight as I’m doing that. Hopefully the 3rd time is the charm. first I did the driver’s side, and then I did a better job on the passenger side, and now back to the drivers. Going to use your approach Harley and finalize the fender and adjust the light from behind.

Do get the fender/windshield/door intersection right, it was time to do the doors. What a PITA. I’m certainly happy now that I’m done with the drivers door and I enjoyed the time it took to get all the parts right, there were moments when I was taking the door off “yet-again” that I was thinking this was never going to end.

Big thanks to those that documented this before me. While Wayne’s and Tamra’s photo’s no longer work, the text was spot on and helpful. Frank, your’s was the third that I kept referring to while I was working on this.

http://i.imgur.com/KPgAHfx.jpg (https://imgur.com/KPgAHfx)
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Andrew-amp-Tamra#post204333 (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?16067-Andrew-amp-Tamra-s-818SR-EM-Autox-Hybrid-Destroked-Long-Rod-Build&p=204333&viewfull=1#post204333)

VCP-Door-mounting-Tricks (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?15697-VCP-Door-mounting-Tricks)

Frank818-1993-VW-VR6-Turbo-donor-Build-Thread#post259509 (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?12179-Frank818-1993-VW-VR6-Turbo-donor-Build-Thread&p=259509&viewfull=1#post259509)

Like all of these, I mounted the latch to the frame with countersunk bolts.

http://i.imgur.com/cIrA5FZ.jpg (https://imgur.com/cIrA5FZ)
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I also had brackets that didn’t match quite right on the pods, but a vice and a few wacks with the sledge and they fit just fine. It’s funny, at the start of this project anything that didn’t fit right and I would spend a ton of time figuring out what I was doing wrong. Now I mod the parts to fit however needed and don’t even think twice. For the doors, I needed to bend the striker plates and I needed to cut away part of the subaru latches and grind away part of the door frame so the latches wouldn’t bind.

http://i.imgur.com/qGec2Bq.jpg (https://imgur.com/qGec2Bq)
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While I was modifying parts, I cut away the tab that makes the child locks work so I don’t have to worry about them.

http://i.imgur.com/ZFeH9CV.jpg (https://imgur.com/ZFeH9CV)
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I gapped the doors with paint sticks and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

http://i.imgur.com/2uCw65K.jpg (https://imgur.com/2uCw65K)
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I have to post a short video of the door opening and closing. Nobody in my family was excited about being hauled into the garage to see this, after a couple afternoons and countless cycles of mounting and unmounting the door and it is quite satisfying to have the door klunk closed properly.

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https://youtu.be/6eSJS8LpTOI

I still have to mount the door panel, but even just taped on, I’m thrilled to have it working.

[Frank818]

Closing the door for the 1st time really is one of the best feeling during the build. I'm glad you finally made it, 2.5months without working on the car is a long time and yes do that more often and it will never end, so I'm happy you found a new job for which now you have time to work on the car. loll

[svanlare]

Every time a finish a job, the little voice in my head says next time this is going to be soooo much easier. I got to test that theory out and the passenger door went MUCH faster than the drivers door! I didn't do the inside liner this time as I'm taking both doors apart tomorrow to touch up the paint, and then to be really done with them. now onto the hood and back to the headlights.

[svanlare]

Made good progress on the front end. Built a couple more brackets for the fenders and to hold the hood quick-locks. Thought I might be able to finalize the fenders and then attach the hood, but I broke a tap on the fender mount. Spent the rest of the time I had before dinner getting the tap removed :-( Ah well, at least it was two steps forward and one step back instead of the other way around.

[svanlare]

I have the fender mounting points done and I moved onto the hood. I bought a hood hinge and mounted the studs to a couple blocks I fiberglassed to the hood. Everything was going great until I showed off the hood before letting the epoxy cure for 24 hours. The studs popped off and I had to start over :-( So I ground off the epoxy (now fully cured), and set everything up again. I used the bracket to make sure the studs were placed in the right spot.

https://i.imgur.com/6s0MiAk.jpg
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This time I waited 24 hours before i tried it out to make sure everything was good, then I glassed over the studs so that they are really in place now.

https://i.imgur.com/Qu5ctzS.jpg
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While the hood work was curing I decided it was time to get the windshield and lights finalized. I hadn't tapped the holes for the windshield surround nor put the dash seal in place up to now.

I had previously cut out a hole to access the brake fluid and the clutch, but didn't fully understand the issue that the windshield seal poses to accessing the fluids.

I do now.

I'm still trying to get the car running with a body by next week before I go back to work (but also need to get the track car running and my new boat broke last week so that is taking a couple days to sort out). So rather than order the remote reservoir (clearly the right idea), I pressed ahead with the hole I had already cut into the windshield surround.

I spent today merrily first mocking up a surround in cardboard, then poster-board then aluminum. While it took the better part of the day, I'm pretty happy with the results as I have a nice hole to access the fluids and the car seals up nicely from the cabin.

https://i.imgur.com/RVAwm4i.jpg
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https://i.imgur.com/JUcHKxL.jpg
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https://i.imgur.com/eGJeMOn.jpg
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https://i.imgur.com/6YreWFQ.jpg
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To get to the windshield however, the doors had to come off, as did the fenders. So while this project started as trying to get the hood hinge sorted out, I ended up working on several other projects first.

I have taken the doors completely apart to touch up the paint on the frames. When I put them together again, I'll do the door liners as well. It won't be much of an interior, but it is a nice start.

I should also be able to permanently mount the lights and route the wiring.

One week to go before the next job starts, but I'm optimistic I'll have a "mostly" running car that I can start the registration process on and then legally start sorting out issues on the road!

[Frank818]

Not waiting for epoxy to cure, common mistake we all did. Just try to do it once! :)

The remote reservoir is a bad idea for some types of brake fluids, I got hit bad by that and swapped back to the inside dash solution. But I do have a remote reservoir for the clutch. Looks like a pretty big hole you cut on the surround. And I'm not sure I understand why you modified the surround-dash alu seal? 1st time I see such a hump (square) in it.

I see you managed to bolt the surround on the frame (looks like 1/4-20s), I couldn't at all, there's at least 1/4" or room on mine, would stretch the FG too much. Will probably will the gap with something this winter. Are you sure you can clear the doors up to full opening? With door panels on, of course.

[svanlare]

We'll it was my turn to get too excited about the hood hinge and not wait for the epoxy (said 3 hours on the label...). I haven't gotten back to the hood as I'm finishing up the windshield, dash and doors before get back to the hood.

My surround does have about 1/8th gap and I did have to flex the fiberglass a little. The screws are 10-32 with rubber backed washers . I taped the chassis instead of rivnuts, figuring if I ever strip one I can add the rivnut at that time (same that I did for much of the other fiberglass to frame).

I built the box, because when I put the aluminum in place, it defeated the purpose of the hole in the surround and I couldn't really get my hand in there to work the covers easily. The box gives me lots of room and cleared the dash so I figured i was good (also, now the I purchased a brake, I've been finding "box" projects to go with all the various brackets I've bent up for this car). I am planning on adding a cover over the hole, but that is definitely down the list of tasks at the moment.

The doors do clear the windshield, I had everything bolted up and finalized the windshield before I started cutting and drilling the frame. I have the subaru mirrors on for now and plan to mount some carbon fiber ones to the doors after I get all the body panels bolted in place.

[svanlare]

Lots of progress over the last couple days, but not many photos. I need to get better at that, but I'm trying hard to get the car running with a body before the end of the week. Every time I get stuck somewhere, I just pick up another job until I figure out what I'm going to do with the first one. With the other commitments I have, I really need to finish tomorrow, but I can squeeze some time in the rest of the week if really needed.

From back when I was go-karting the car, I just had a fuel fill capped off with a bag. Finally got around to finishing the fill pipe and the vent line to go with it. If I get the car running, I'll head to the gas station and test the fuel gauge and the fill & vent.

I also finished up the fenders, and headlight mounting. All the top panels now have hinges and quick locks. I still need to adjust the fit on all the panels and then readjust the quick locks, but all the hoods are now attached and working!

I'm mostly through the door panel for the driver's door, but I haven't started on the passenger one yet. It will have to be a string tomorrow :)

I've run the engine up to temp a couple times now to fill the coolant and purge all the air pockets. Not sure I'm totally done there yet, but I did discover a leak at the hose to the bottom of the radiator. I've re-clamped it and we'll see how that goes tomorrow.

Finally, I ran the wires for the headlights and found the passenger wires were too short for where I wanted to run the cables. So I spliced some additional wire to "stretch" the runs and everything fits fine now. Somehow I have lost the high beam bulbs, so I've order new ones, but the rest of the lights all work.

I think checking the leak and re-mounting the doors is all I need to finishing to pull the car out of the garage for the first time with it's skin!

https://i.imgur.com/TVQpbw3.jpg
76481

[svanlare]

Success, it is a happy day!!!!!

I Put the doors on this morning, and then warmed the car up again. It leaked :(

So I chased down the leak at the radiator again, and used a gates power clamp this time. I tried the airlift for the first time, and the system held, and that worked like a champ to purge the air pockets and get a nice fill on the first try. After that, I had a view that I have not had for a LONG time, an empty garage.

https://i.imgur.com/vI2G3cn.jpg
76503

And waiting for it's first run looking like a car!
https://i.imgur.com/bv6beFz.jpg
76504

I added a vent line to the fuel fill, and finished all of that yesterday, so once the car was running, my first stop was at the gas station. When I got to see Pete's car, he had a printed book showing the history of the car. I'm going to copy that idea as I had people ask about the car at that first gas station stop. It was nice to see the gas gauge move after filling the car.
https://i.imgur.com/NWOky4l.jpg
76505

So I was able to test out the car with a body finally. Everything worked great, and I hit the goal of having a running car before I head back to work. There are LOTS of details to sort out (finish adjusting all the panels, fender liners, strange smells, brake lights stay on when the car is parked, etc...) but I put a good 15 miles on the car today without any issues. I pulled in an let it cool off every 5 miles or so and it remained leak free, and started right up each time!!!!!!!!!

Definitely going to pull the steering column and shorten it a bit, and will probably swap out for a FFR wheel. Add those to the list of "details" like the rest of the interior.

https://i.imgur.com/SCXiGVs.jpg
76506

Now I need to fill out my paperwork, and find a day to spend at the DMV to start the SB100 process.

[turbomacncheese]

Nice!!

[mikeb75]

Congrats on a successful maiden voyage!

[Hindsight]

Big congrats! It only gets better from here.

[Mitch Wright]

Congratulations.

[svanlare]

Thanks all! Looking forward to the next phase

[AZPete]

Congrats, Steve! Gas stops will continue to be about 20 minutes of questions, you'll soon get more confidence and venture further from your garage, friends and co-workers will be amazed you built your own car, and the pride of accomplishment never ends. Your next goal is to drive it to the Huntington Beach show in late April, which is only 375 miles. I'll buy the first beer.

[svanlare]

Thanks

When I look back I'm stunned at all that has gone into the project. I took it on in part to learn new things and certainly feel I added new skills in abundance. Looking at your car Pete while I was waiting for my kit to arrive was a big inspiration, as was seeing yours in the much more finished state later.

As for the gas station, it sure felt good to say "I built it"! I'm definitely going to print a book to answer the questions.

I'm planning on making it to Huntington Beach in the car this year, no matter the finish state of the rest of the car and I will happily buy a round.

[longislandwrx]

awesome job!

that tire looks low, but it could be how you parked

[svanlare]

Thanks, and good call on the tire, it was low. Strangely both driver's side tires were low, but not the passenger side. One of the easier fixes I've done :)

The SB100 process has been very well documented and the DMV had no issues. I now have a couple months to get the Highway Patrol inspection and the Smog inspection so I can go back to the DMV and finish the registration and get plates.

Now road legal and waiting for the insurance agent to call me back and confirm that is squared away.

https://i.imgur.com/rIwI49t.jpg
76538

[Frank818]

Wow, you're already done?? I'm impressed, I thought you'd have a least a few months to go to complete it! Congratulations!
And nice gaps on the body panels, especially the rear fenders to engine covers, I'm jealous. :)

[svanlare]

Done --- Hah! Still a long way to go there :) On my spreadsheet I called this milestone "street legal" and I have to say I'm super excited to be able put some miles on the car and to actually use it as a car as opposed to just a project.

My new job starts on Monday, so the last couple weeks have been a blur of projects as I was running up against the deadline. And just when I thought I had the car on track, life threw some roadblocks in the way so I ended up cutting some corners to get here. Once I got car rolling, I started the registration process on a whim. Turned out to be much easier than I expected. I still have 3 more trips to go (CHP, Smog and then DMV) before I get to plates, but I'm optimistic they won't be too bad.

I cannot guess how many times I've had the body on and off, adjusting, timing, pushing pulling, clamping, etc to get the body attached and the panels where I want them. I've still got to trim the edges on the 3 trunk lids to get them to sit where I want. Then I think I'm going to try and wrap the car like you.

Once I sort out my work schedule, I'll see if I can get the car past "street legal" to "presentable" by Huntington Beach. If not, well, at least I can cut down on the amount of blue tape before I drive down :)

[Frank818]

I thought your new job started last Monday. Hopefully you'll like it! Cuz you know, if you quit again you won't have enough time to complete your build! loll

Yes you have to remove the body panels 100 times before all is done, it's crazy.

I see you too needs to do many trips here and there for registration. I though SB100 was easier than that, I think there are about 5 rules or less but didn't think you have to tow the car 3-4 times to get all done! I feel you. Or like Avatar people would say, "I see you". :)

[svanlare]

I don't think the car is required for the first or last step. The first step they just wanted money and the last one verifies all the paperwork you collect along the way. The CHP and the Smog checks definitely require the car.

Working on driving through the first tank of gas and figuring out the car's issues.

The first is the car is REALLY LOW and I have scraped the front a couple times and I don't have the spoiler on yet. When I was checking the car out after today's drive, I noticed I cannot really get my shoe under the bodywork. Measured the clearance and I'm now running around with less than 3 inches of clearance. I don't know if the collars have slipped or something else has settled, so I'll be redoing corner weights and an alignment soon.

Also, when I first start out temps are fine. Then a little into each drive (about a mile), the temp soars all the way up to the red line for a minute, then drops back to the first hashmark where it stays the rest of my drive no matter how I'm driving (20 miles today). I wonder if that is where the thermostat is opening or some other change as the car transitions to fully warm. At least once it settles back down, it hasn't gone back up on any of the drives so far. Going to have to watch this and investigate more.

I also need to clear all the check engine lights. I just have to find where I put the COBB tuner since it has been a while since I've last seen it in the garage :)

[turbomacncheese]

Then a little into each drive (about a mile), the temp soars all the way up to the red line for a minute, then drops back to the first hashmark where it stays the rest of my drive no matter how I'm driving (20 miles today).

Seems like the kind of thing a thermostat might do if it were slow to open. Is it new?

[Frank818]

Slow opening thermostat is my guess as well.

[AZPete]

Steve, did you loop the heater pipes? I think coolant must flow from one to the other or the thermostat goes on strike.

[svanlare]

I did loop the heater pipes, and my guess is something with the thermostat, but will have to debug. I'm delighted that once the car does this little stunt, the temps stay cool after that just fine. As for did the car do this before? I don't know. I bought a salvaged car and all I know is that "it ran when parked". Since then I have swapped out the water pump (timing belt, etc) after my first round of karting when I joined the "mike club" and pulled the engine.

My hope is to reset the ride hight this weekend, and to find my tuner so I can clear the check engine light and try again. The thermostat I'm going to have to live with until after thanksgiving.

[svanlare]

Got everything all set up for thanksgiving; I managed to raise the ride hight to the right place (and lock the coil-over set screws this time) and gave the car an alignment. Gave plenty of rides and nobody complained that there wasn't a door liner yet for the passenger side; I think because the door frame has a nice bar to hold onto :-)

I worked a bit on the coolant temps, and have decided I still had air in the system. I rigged a valve for bleeding air of the radiator, and after running the car a couple times and bleeding each time, the problem has gone away. I may run a long bleed line from the front to the rear, but as the problem is solved so I'm really hoping it just stays solved while I sort out other issues. Getting close to 200 miles on the car so feeling this is likely solved enough for now anyways. Going to flush the coolant and see how the fill goes next time

The car has pretty much sat since thanksgiving until last week. I took a morning off work last week for my CHP appointment. It was a clear morning but below 40 degrees. It didn't seem so bad while driving, but I was pretty cold standing in the shade waiting for the inspection. The good news is the officer was cold too, so after a very quick trip around the car, we went inside and did paperwork. I have now cleared the second of 4 steps for California registration, so far it has been pretty smooth. I have my smog inspection next week and then back to the DMV to finish it off.

Cleared the check engine light, but it came right back on. Mostly smog equipment that is no longer on the car. Hoping I can program through the COBB tuner that these error conditions should be ignored. That will be some quality time with Google I suspect.

The biggest issue at the moment, is the car keeps popping out of 5th gear. It drives fine down the freeway for a while, then it will just start popping out. I do a post just on that to see what suggestions folks have. I have until Friday off an at home, so planning on clearing items off the car's to-do list.

[turbomacncheese]

Every overheating issue I've read about related to bleeding was persistent and got worse as the car ran, which is the opposite of what you described. Is the outside temperature much different from when you had the problem? Glad bleeding it seems to have fixed your problems, though, and good luck with that transmission.

[svanlare]

It was weird that it would go up and then finally drop. I could feel the side pipe on the passenger side was cool until right before the temps dropped, so it seemed it wasn't flowing around the car until the thermostat opened, and then once it did open, it was circulating enough around the car to keep things cool. I was pretty worried as it would usually get to 220-240 before it dropped, but then would hold between 180-190. Today the peak was 187 after 25 miles of stop and go and some freeway traffic so happy about that.

Thanks for the wishes on the transmission. I guess if I can't figure it out, I could be picking up a six speed one.

[AZPete]

Steve, mine did the same at least ten heat cycles. You're topping it up each time it cools down, eh?

[svanlare]

Yes, each time it cooled down I would top it up until the problem went away. Seems to have worked!

[Frank818]

So the trick is to get your CHP appointment in the winter when it's cold? :)

Glad you passed half of em, are the next 2 more difficult than the 1st 2?

[svanlare]

A cold morning definitely helped the inspection :)

For smog I can register by year of body (~1965 since unknown) or year of motor (2007). Clearly going the 1960's route so it should be an inspection of the PCV system and then lots of paperwork. Here is what they sent as a checklist. I've got all that paperwork ready to go.

Cleared the check-engine light this morning just in case. I didn't realize you cannot modify engine maps with the COBB tuner until you take the class on EFI (for $149 :(), which then lets you download the tuning software only after proving you know enough not to call tech support immediately by passing their test. Took that this morning, then spent time with the tuning software to figure out how to modify a ECU map. In my case using a stock map and ignoring errors from parts that are no longer on the car. Going for a drive at lunch and hoping to check that off the list.

https://i.imgur.com/2fHdMCE.jpg
78268

[Frank818]

Hum, there are more stuff involved than I thought, but the good news is there is a law specific for these cars, it's not blended with any kind of cars. There is no way you can fail, seeing your build.

2018 is your year, hell yeah!

[svanlare]

I'm now done with step 3 of the registration process, the smog inspection. It took two visits to the BAR, a little more work on the car, 1 visit to get the lights and brakes certified, and 1 visit cancelled because it was raining. This morning was the final visit and the smog step is now complete!

I was surprised that at the first visit we spent so much time on paperwork and checking it over in detail. That is where, even though the DMV didn't check it off, the BAR required that I get the brake and light certificates since that paperwork was missing. They also failed me on the PCV system since I used a 1/2 line marked heater hose instead of PCV/Fuel hose.

Replacing the hose was simple. Now that I knew what kind of hose markings I was looking for, I purchased some more and in a few minutes the problem was solved.

Turns out finding a brake and light inspection shop that knows what to do was difficult. I called several shops and knew I was in trouble when the first question was "what was the year and make of the car so we can look up the specs". I finally called my Porsche mechanic who recommended a shop that when I called up, said, "oh yeah" we have done plenty of specialty constructed vehicles, and he wanted to know all about the car since he had done a ton of cobras but no 818's. We talked about what they would check and I realized I had two lights that where going to fail the exam. So I finally hooked the handbrake light to the dash, and installed the license plate bracket and more importantly the license plate lights. With that done, I took the car to the shop and the after an the one hour exam, I was good to go. I had worried if I had the headlights adjusted right, but we did the final adjustment there at the shop and that was pretty awesome to get that done and know it is now right.

So now I have to pick what I want for a license plate and head to the DMV.

[AZPete]

Congrats on clearing that 3rd hurdle in the CA DMV journey!

[Frank818]

Congrats! One last step to go through!

I never thought there would be so many details in CA but they look fairly easy and straight-fwd to fix, so that should not be too stressful, thank god. It does seem to need a lot of back and forth with the car, though. Can you drive the car for all these times you went somewhere for those 3 steps?

[svanlare]

Thanks!

After the first visit I had a temporary registration so I was able to get insurance and drive. So I took every option to do so! I was able to drive the car to all the appointments and have a have put more that 300 miles on the car. And today I made a quick trip to the DMV, turned in the big pile of paperwork that I had collected and walked out with plates.

Now that this step is done, it is officially a fully legal California car.

5th gear is still problematic. I've not wanted to break into it until after this was done in case I cannot get the car running again for a while. Worst case, I'll find another transmission. Once I get this running again, I'll move onto the body and interior.

Super excited to be through this hurdle and have plates!

[svanlare]

And the photo for proof!

https://i.imgur.com/y4QNhow.jpg

80625

[Canadian818]

Awesome! Congrats!

[flynntuna]

Congrats, with the mild winter were having, it should make for some great driving days.

[svanlare]

We have had great weather for driving around!

First thing I did this weekend is open up the transmission to see if I couldn't get 5th gear sorted out. A mechanic friend said it is usually synchro (in which case I'll be getting another transmission) or the nut at the end of the gear train. Since that was work I did converting to 2wd, I'm hoping that was it. So I opened everything up, torqued it to 120 Nm and re-bent the end to secure it. It was about an 8th of a turn further than when I did it the first time, so I did have it loose.

The project went quicker than I expected and everything is now back together, but I need to add oil. I didn't have any oil to refill the transmission, so I'll run and get that in the morning and give the car a nice run and see how 5th gear works.

https://i.imgur.com/wYgfTls.jpg

[Frank818]

Hey Steve, so how's that 5th gear running?

[svanlare]

Progress has been slow.

Wayne had a similar MT5 transmission, and so I purchased that and got the shipment. I have had time to clean it, paint it, and add new seals. I've done most of the dismantling of the back of the car and have everything but the axels disconnected from the transmission. Once i get that one off the car, I'll have to move the shift fork, electrical connectors, Speedo, and re-do the 2wd conversion. While I would love to finish this weekend, but I'm behind getting a car ready for the next Lemons race, so that will take priority until the end of the month.

I would REALLY like to the get transmission in and the car running again in time for FF's show in Huntington Beach this year. The body is still exactly as it came from factory five and i've done very little work on the interior, but I would still love to get the down to so-cal and back. So push come to shove, I might have to take a day off from work to get there.

https://i.imgur.com/psypkPK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XvOTJde.jpg

[lsfourwheeler]

How'd you prep the transmission for paint? I degreased mine with foaming degreaser but I'd say it's a long way from being clean enough to be paintable.

[svanlare]

It wasn't too bad to clean up. I did a better job on this one than the last one. This transmission was cleaner than the last, more "crusty" than greasy. So here is the before picture. First step was I wire brushed it, then I used a little simple green to clean up some more of the oil, and then dried and went at it with a smaller wire brush. After that I sprayed a metal prep (I no longer know the name as the label is gone), dried and then painted. I wasn't looking for perfection and there is plenty of dirt in the corners that I just sprayed over :-)

http://i.imgur.com/71CNWu3.jpg (https://imgur.com/71CNWu3)

[lance corsi]

Do you have plans for your old transmission?

[AZPete]

Steve, for incentive to get that tranny in and running, I'll buy your first 3 beers at HB. Get to work!

[svanlare]

@Lance, I have no plans for the transmission.

I've never rebuilt one before, so I have this thought that if I store it in the garage, some day after the body and interior of the 818 is done, I'll open it up and see if I figure out what was wrong. Of course, it may just sit in the garage until I move and have to deal with it...

[svanlare]

@Pete, I'm making progress and hoping to take you up on it.

I'll make no progress this week as we are racing at Sears this weekend, but after that I should be able to get it running again. I managed to remove the old one, and get the new one partially installed this weekend. I couldn't figure out how to get the axels out without mostly disassembling the rear suspension, so I'll be redoing the alignment too. I have 1 half back together, now I need to get the other half, then convert to 2wd, hook the rest up of the bits, bolt on the rear, fill it up and drive south to meet you for a beer. It will definitely won't be a show car as it will be a still be a work in progress, but hoping to be ready for a road trip.

[svanlare]

OK, the rear suspension is hung again. Being able to put the car back on its feet feels like a good step. Once I convert to 2wd, torque and seal the transmission I should be able to sneak in a little time each night after work hooking things back up. Then alignment, fill and test!

[svanlare]

Last weekend I missed out on a ski trip, but I did get to work in the garage! So I finished putting the car back together, did the alignment again, filled it up transmission with plenty of fluid (after talking to Wayne, too little is way worse that too much as 5th gear is the one that will get starved for oil). So after a quick run to warm it up and make sure nothing fell off, I went for a 30 mile freeway trip to spend some quality time in 5th gear. Success! The new transmission is working just fine.

With that done, I sent in my money to Factory Five for a slot at Huntington Beach. It will definitely be in the "under construction" category, but I'm committed to making it down now. I'm hoping there will be a group from NorCal this year I can tag along with for the drive down.

The only problem I'm still trying to sort out is the car gets pretty hot before the thermostat opens. It seems like the heat from the turbo makes it to the expansion tank which starts filling the overflow tank (and overflowing that tank). But once the thermostat opens and hot water runs to the radiator and back, everything stabilizes and temps stay nice and steady from there. I have a small aluminum tank that I think I'll swap out for a larger (or stock) overflow and see if that contains everything through the warm-up phase.

If I can solve that, then I might get rid of the Cleco's holding the interior panels in place and make the car generally more presentable. If not, it is a go-kart with the body tacked in place, but I'm still up for the road trip!

[lance corsi]

Steve, the reason the temps spike is that Subaru put the thermostat on the inlet side of the engine. All other thermostats I know of are placed on the outlet side of the engine cooling circuit, which means that as the thermostat opens, hot fluid in the engine is purged until cooler fluid reaches the bimetallic thermostat spring, then closing the thermostat. On the subie, as the thermostat opens, cool fluid is immediately brought into the engine, thereby closing the thermostat before the engine has a chance to purge the hot fluid on to the radiator. Once the incoming fluid is warmed up, the thermostat can remain open, but it is this delay that causes the hot fluid to overflow your catch can.
To remedy this situation, I have chosen to run without a thermostat, but instead use a temp sensor to monitor fluid and operate an in-line electric water pump, which will modulate flow to control engine temps. I've also removed the impeller inside my stock water pump to facilitate fluid flow through the system. I'm also using a dual pass radiator and Evans waterless coolant.
Subaru used to have their thermostat on the exit side, but have since changed to the present setup. It probably provides quicker warm-up times in the cold climates.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

The only problem I'm still trying to sort out is the car gets pretty hot before the thermostat opens. It seems like the heat from the turbo makes it to the expansion tank which starts filling the overflow tank (and overflowing that tank). But once the thermostat opens and hot water runs to the radiator and back, everything stabilizes and temps stay nice and steady from there. I have a small aluminum tank that I think I'll swap out for a larger (or stock) overflow and see if that contains everything through the warm-up phase.

Steve,
Sound like you have some air in the system causing you temp surge.
Do you have the heater tubes looped together?

Mine is working well and doesn't need any exotic bleeding procedure.
1. I have to bleed line coming from the crossover tube. (wayne's mod) I have an 1/8" pill in this line to let air flow but restrict water.
2. I have a 1/4" hose from the bleed port on the radiator to degas tank to automatically bleed the radiator.
Works great.

Attached is a 4th gear chart at NCM. Temp hold at 190.
Bob

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=83574&d=1522849728

[svanlare]

Lance and Bob, thanks for the ideas. I've made Waynes suggested mod and I copied from someone the idea of hose up front with a ball valve to fill the fluids.

Once the car gets to temp, it stays very consistently between 185/190, so this is really only an issue with warmup. I've been very temped to pull the thermostat, I may do that as a test.

Not sure I'm ready to move to an electric pump and controller, but we did that on one of the race cars for a bit before we swapped engines again (we have now stuffed a 2007 350Z motor into our 94 300Z body). I think all the pumps and parts I used are still floating around. No way that will all be done by the end of the month, but now you have me thinking.

[svanlare]

1 weeks to go and I sure wish I was working on cosmetics instead of plumbing…

Last weekend I pulled the thermostat, drilled a 1/8th hole in the plate so that there would be some water flowing no matter what. I put it all back together, and took a test drive. It seemed to help the warm-up phase as the car didn’t overheat and then settle down. The bad news was the thermostat housing was leaking. Cranked the bolts down a little more and that seemed to solve that. So then I went on a 30 mile freeway drive. The warmup phase is indeed better but the car runs at about 220-225 as I roll down the freeway, so I drove slow and made the temps stayed just below 220. When I got home, the front was leaking too. Argh!

I assumed that I had air in the system and that the bleed didn’t go as well as I hoped. I have done Wayne’s mod for the rear, but the front driver side has hard tubes that go up and over the steering rack leaving a high spot there. So I ordered some various tubing and a bleed valve so that I could do something about the high spot this weekend.

With a handful of various elbows, joiners, a straight tube with a tap I cut off some of the hard tube I had, and added a bleed valve to the high spot up front. Everything went together pretty smooth and the fill worked easily as well. I ran the car up to temp in the garage and it seemed good. So I let it cool off and then went for a drive. The warmup didn’t peak out, but once I got onto the freeway I had the same problem of the temp running up past 220. At least this time I didn’t have to slow down to have them stabilize but still warmer than I would like.

So back to the garage, and this time I decided to pull the thermostat, and just deal with getting this dialed in right after the Huntington Beach show. After I put it back together, of course the thermostat leaked, but at least the front isn’t. There must be some trick to the subaru thermostat that I don’t get as I every time i put it back together it leaks and I have to crank it down harder to get it to seal. So I cranked harder (I am worried about snaping the bolts off, but they held) and I think I have it. I ran the car around the block pretty hard, and temps stayed below 190. I will try the freeway tomorrow and hopefully get a long run in so that I feel confident I can make the 400 mile drive to LA next weekend.

A 1/8th hole was probably too small, but it did make a difference. While I have the thermostat out, I’ll probably test it and then maybe drill two more holes.

I also like Lance’s idea of using an electric pump, but that will have to wait a bit before I attempt it.

If this works, I think I’ll pop some rivets in the car to get rid of some of the cleco’s holding it together and build something to attach a phone charger to and a cubby to to hold my wallet and phone. That will be the maximum extent of body work and interior that I think I’ll be able to accomplish before the trip.

Bob, is your radiator still at the rear of the car? I do believe I had air in the system, but I think I finally have a way to get it all removed during the fill. I don’t have a restrictor in the hose on Wayne’s mod, and that line does get very hot quickly.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob, is your radiator still at the rear of the car?

No, could not get enough air through it in the rear. Switched to the front.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?12534-MRG-MotorSports-818S-Build&p=225632&viewfull=1#post225632

Bob

[AZPete]

Steve, the thermostat should have a rubber gasket around the outside edge. The FSM shows it separate but the OE thermostat comes with it. Could your thermostat housing leak be from a missing or damaged rubber gasket? The thermostat toggle goes at the top.

I've had some coolant problems recently that turned out to be a leaking cap on the coolant reservoir - the small tank on the top of the engine, not the expansion tank. So, check that cap for wear.

To bleed the system I've previously followed the suggestions here for multiple heat/cool cycles, but this time I followed the FSM and it's much easier & faster. Fill coolant reservoir, replace cap, start the engine and rev 5 or 6 times to <3K RPM within 40 seconds, kill engine, fill reservoir . . . repeat until the reservoir stays full. This worked for me and was much faster than waiting for the engine to reach full temp each time.

As incentive, I remember saying I'll buy the first 3 beers at HB11. Also, see David's thread about the Best Under Construction Award!

[Sgt.Gator]

This may have nothing to do with your issues, but whenever I see perplexing temp problems I always start at the radiator caps. Subaru uses two different caps that unfortunately both fit and accidentally get swapped all the time. So the first check is if the right cap is on the expansion tank and on the radiator. This has been noted in some other threads on this forum but it's easy to overlook.

A copy of a post I made on the LGT forum.:

Note the Expansion Tank (up by the turbo) uses a different cap from the Radiator! Because they look alike and fit alike it is common to reverse them or replace a defective one with the wrong cap. There is a difference!
If you get them wrong it can lead to weird cooling issues that will drive you insane trying to track down what the problem is. If you have cooling issues the first thing to do is check you have the right cap in the right place.

Be wary of aftermarket performance radiator caps with a higher bypass.

For example Mishimoto states clearly that you do not use the 1.3 bar cap supplied with their performance radiator for the radiator!

Here's what they say:
"Included 1.3 bar radiator cap raises the boiling point of engine coolant to provide a safer and more efficient system"

But then the fine print!
"Caution The provided Mishimoto radiator cap should replace the stock cap located on the expansion tank. The stock cap attached to the radiator should be installed on the Mishimoto Performance Aluminum Radiator. The Mishimoto radiator cap is a two way valve, while the stock radiator cap is a single valve. Due to the difference in construction, the Mishimoto cap cannot be used on the radiator. If the Mishimoto cap is fit on the radiator, overheating may occur."

And to confuse you they show the supplied high pressure cap ON the radiator!

https://cdn.mishimoto.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/M/M/MMRAD-WRX-01_4_4.png

https://www.mishimoto.com/subaru-wrx-impreza-sti-performance-aluminum-radiator-01.html


This is what the LGT Expansion Tank OEM Cap looks like. It has "Ears" and marked 108 KPA. Part Number: 45137AE00B. You can also use the WRX/STI cap: 45137AE003

http://parts.subaru.com/images/parts/subaru/productimages/fullsize/45137AE003%201.jpg


This is the Radiator Cap. No "Ears" and marked 137 KPA: Part Number 45137FE002

http://parts.subaru.com/images/uploads/(101)%20parts.subaru.com/fullsize/a_20150812_1011320756.png

You can remember them because Subaru wants you to fill-flush-service thru the expansion tank so that cap has Ears. They don't want you to use the Radiator cap so it has no ears.

[svanlare]

Trying hard to take you up on those beers Peet. I'd really prefer to drive the car as opposed to trailering it, so one more day to get ready. As for the under-construction award, if it goes for the most zip-ties and cleco's I have a good shot.

Bob, I missed that you moved it back. I have to catch up on your threads a ways it seems.

Thanks Gator, I'll be double checking the caps this morning!

[svanlare]

I do have the right caps on the car, so that probably isn't the issue.

With the thermostat out, the car ran 60 miles between 170 and 180. Going to call that good enough for this weekend and so I'm going to make the drive south and then try fully solving this when I get back.

I'll do a nut and bolt check tomorrow night and for now, just trying to decide now which tools should go in a bag just in case :-)

[svanlare]

We all tanked up before the drive down the coast. I'm running in good company and looking forward to a nice drive.

https://i.imgur.com/gQApQ0W.jpg

[Mitch Wright]

Fun

[lsfourwheeler]

If I drove by a gas station with those cars there, I would've stopped for gas even if my tank was full haha

[turbomacncheese]

If I drove by a gas station with those cars there, I would've stopped for gas even if my tank was full haha

I was just thinking exactly that, and you beat me to it.

[Frank818]

3 different FFR models at the same gas station... that'll never happen here! You're lucky!

[svanlare]

It got even better! I ran with some great company. I started the trip with ~500 miles on the car and added another 900+. That was an absolute blast, just wish there were a few more 818's at the show.

https://i.imgur.com/tHRUCH9.jpg

[svanlare]

The car ran great with the thermostat out. For most of the drive it was a little cool ~160 degrees, and in LA stop and go traffic is stayed between 190 and 205. I think I'll get a new one (since they are cheap), drill a few more holes than the one hole I did last time, and try that next.

Great first trip, I have a punch list of things I want to do to the car now, but I'm REALLY happy to have put some serious miles on the car and with how well it did. I'll try to get some more photos pulled together soon.

As for the show, came in second to Pete's Coupe, but that isn't a surprise, he has built a stunning car.

[Shawn818c]

Amazing photo!