The turbomacncheese build thread

[turbomacncheese]

It occurred to me that my donor has been disassembled and gone for quite some time, and that technically I'm doing the work for building the 818 now. Time for a new thread.

donor: 2006 Saab 92-x Aero.

Inaugural thread pic - Rebuilt front brakes that I finished yesterday.
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I'll upload some progress pics later. Looks like what I have left for parts is front arms, steering, clean the trans, surface the rotors. Oh, and build the engine. Heads are done, block/crank are at the shop. Won't buy the parts until after the machinist gives me his opinion.

In the meantime, I'm a bit concerned about hacking up the harness and trying to get it to run a fresh rebuild. Seems like it would be prudent to make sure the engine runs, and THEN hack up the harness. Thoughts?

[UnhipPopano]

Thoughts - You are putting the cart before the horse. When you at least have the aluminum in place, you can accurately figure out where everything will go and layout the harness accordingly. The neater looking work uses a sheet of plywood for laying the wires down. If you unwrap the harness now and delete the unneeded wires you will find a real rats nest latter.

[DodgyTim]

I had a running donor, then converted that to a running motor/trans on a trolley
I dieted the harness like this with the dash, pedals, abs and lights in place
Frequent starting and checking of all codes took a lot of stress out the process

[turbomacncheese]

Thanks. That's what lends to my trepidation. Somebody on the facebook group suggested I start working on the harness, and I wasn't too excited about it. Starting to get a little twitchy about running out of parts to clean/prep, and the kit fund is still about 2k short.

[phil1734]

You live in America right? Just open another credit card! 0% interest for 15 months! It's your money, use it when you need it!

Seriously though, that's how I paid for the last few grand of my kit and the first few months of rapid ordering parts. Then I spent the next year paying it all off before the interest hit. Not exactly the most sound financial plan, but the timing worked out really well between getting a new credit card and the kit. It greatly sped up the build process. ;)

[STiPWRD]

I personally don't see any reason why you couldn't start on the harness but it all depends on your skill and confidence level with wiring. I too built a fresh motor and dieted my harness and was fine with installing the motor and harness into the 818 before starting it up for the first time. Electrical tape helps keep the harness from becoming a rats nest while being dieted and fitted in the car. As long as you're diligent about the wires you remove/lengthen/shorten and label all of the connectors, you should be fine. Go for it!

[turbomacncheese]

ha haaaaa, phil, I got into a mess with credit cards in my early twenties. My credit is pretty good, but I don't know anyone giving 0 interest. My Great Dane and Doberman had an ..... argument last week, and the Doberman ended up with something like $1300 in stitches and pills. One step forward, two steps back.

STiPWRD glad to know it can be done. How did you get all the lengths right and know which direction your wiring would go?

[STiPWRD]

STiPWRD glad to know it can be done. How did you get all the lengths right and know which direction your wiring would go?

The lengths get figured out once you test fit the harness into the car. For me, this was after I had done the majority of the dieting. The direction of the wiring will depend on where you decide to place key items like the ECU and fuse boxes etc; I placed my ECU behind the passenger seat and fuse boxes under the dash. Others choose different locations and this impacts wiring.

The basic process of harness dieting for me went like this:

1. Find some open floor space, print the wiring manual and label each and every single connector (I used electrical tape and labeled with a sharpie).

2. Remove all the wiring loom and electrical tape that covers the harness (all of it).

3. Remove all of the wiring for systems that are no longer wanted. By this point you will have a box full of cut-away wiring and connectors. http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?13462-NoVa-818-Build&p=187340&viewfull=1#post187340

4. Test fit the harness into the 818. Place the ECU and fuse boxes into your desired locations and go from there. I never removed the harness from the 818 after I installed it. You will have to lengthen several parts of the harness like to the transmission, pedals, head lights, etc. http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=43664&d=1437348324

5. The last step is to re-cover the wiring with loom

You'll find lots of good dieting guides on this forum but this one helped me the most, lots of good details:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?12055-The-Savage-build-thread&p=152338&viewfull=1#post152338

[AZPete]

I'm a wiring imbecile who was able to very slowly diet the donor harnesses, way back before iWire was here. I depended on this work by Mechie3 to identify and label everything before cutting anything:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?11880-Wiring-Guide-06-WRX-Sedan-with-Auto-AC-HVAC

And, I would have saved time, weight, stress and vodka if I had the help posted above by STiPWRD and K3LAG. Tony, with their guidance, and patience, you'll be fine.

[mistasherm]

I was a college athlete and share the same wiring title as AZPete :) - we'll leave it at that - when I saw the wiring harness from my donor I almost threw in the towel. I followed every one of K3LAG's steps and got some great scoop from STiPWRD and the forum along the way. I am currently on step 4 of his post above. Expectation management; you will invest some serious hours doing this but it is worth it. Why? Like a wise builder told me (STiPWRD), if something were to go wrong electrically you will know the harness like the back of your hand and it will help you thoroughly troubleshoot any issues. Finally, you have a forum full of very generous and knowledgeable folks that have blazed the build trail and can provide you with any help or tips that you might need along the way. Go for it! Good Luck!

[turbomacncheese]

Thanks guys. I have Mechie's thread bookmarked already :) I'm gonna have to chew on this a while to convince myself I can start before testing the engine. Maybe to take off the looms and clean it up, though....

[turbomacncheese]

Jeez. She's done it again. Thrown a monkey wrench in my plans. Wifey pulled me aside in the kitchen this morning. The short of it is that she's never had a convertible (nor have I) and wants a car she can drive around town with no top (on the car!!). She is suggesting I build the 818S instead of the C, and keep my Hyundai around for miserable summer driving out here in the desert. The upside is the obvious cost savings (as long as we don't choose to add the soft top), but the down side is...well...it's a desert. The heat is unbearable. No top at 120 degrees? On the other hand, she has immediately become much more amenable to a second factory five. The 818 wasn't my first choice, but I couldn't sell her on a $40k project when I got started. I remember something about FF working on a new flagship car based on the redesigned Type 65 chassis which might be fun down the road... What to do? What to do?

[AZPete]

Hey, Tony, this is the Valley of the Sun which means we have beautiful sunny days for 8.5 months and hot days for 3.5 months. That's over 250 days when you don't need a roof, nor AC. You might use seat heaters a couple of days and wipers a couple of times, at most, from Oct 1 through June 15. During the hot summer months, use your DD with AC during the day and take your 818S out for some spectacular summer evening drives topless (the car!), or one hour up to the mountains. That's what I did with my topless FFR roadster. Remember that millions of people come here for the sunny weather and it's also why there are so many motorcycles in AZ. Then, a few years down the road if you want a soft top or hard top, you can do it. Do what she wants and you both win.

[turbomacncheese]

Do what she wants and you both win.

Pete, I've said before that you give the best advice. It sounds like you didn't have any regrets driving the roadster around, and you know our climate better than I do. Thanks.

[AZPete]

Topless is a blast. I put 9,000 miles on my Mk3 roadster and loved driving it around town, on a few cruises with the local Cobra club, for fun I drove to Holbrook, Tucson, Bullhead City, Sedona and curvy mountain roads, and evening cruises in the summer.

[flynntuna]

Topless is a blast. I put 9,000 miles on my Mk3 roadster and loved driving it around town, on a few cruises with the local Cobra club, for fun I drove to Holbrook, Tucson, Bullhead City, Sedona and curvy mountain roads, and evening cruises in the summer.

Geez Pete, keep your shirt on. Do you require that your passenger go topless too? Lol. :rolleyes:

[turbomacncheese]

Pistons are in the machinist's hands now. Got the rest of the stuff I need to put the engine together (except for some RTV, but I'm trying to find time to stop at the Subaru dealer and get "the good stuff"). Hung a couple led shop lights last weekend to replace the fluorescents. The ballasts kept blowing; I think it has something to do with the heat out here and wifey always leaving them on. At any rate, the Sam's Club special led lights are BRIGHT. If you're on the fence, just get them.

[longislandwrx]

you can order fujibond online, but my Subaru dealer keeps it in stock and they have Saturday and Sunday parts hours (Long Island is Subaru Country)


I just got a few of the Costco led shop lights with infrared motion sensors (about $30 each) and I am very impressed. Although they turn on sometimes when i walk in front of the closed garage door which is actually a pretty cool security feature.

[turbomacncheese]

I didn't think about ordering online. I have plenty of time, so maybe I'll just do that and save the gas.

Worked on TGV deleting this weekend. Technically, I started it about a month ago but stuff gets in the way.

Pulled the valve assemble, broke/cut the divider, ground it out and gasket-matched it with some cheap harbor fright carbide bits, and blasted them in my harbor fright blaster.

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Tapped the holes with my cheap harbor fright open-box-discount metric taps, and installed some m10s from Ace.

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Contoured the bolts, reinstalled them with epoxy, and put a nice finish on the insides.

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I think they came out pretty damned nice, really. If I'd known how much easier this is with a die grinder (vs the dremel I used to use) I would have cleaned up the heads a little.

[turbomacncheese]

Kit......ordered. Target production date 10-7. Could take a while to show up here, though, because I'm on the other side of the country.

[AZPete]

Congrats on this big step. What did you include in your order? I think I saw something about a sale at FFR that included the 818 so did you get something at a discount?

[wirenut]

Congrats! I've had my kit in my garage for around 4 months and I still get all giddy when I poke my head in the garage and see it sitting there.

BTW. Those TGV's look great!

[turbomacncheese]

Congrats on this big step. What did you include in your order? I think I saw something about a sale at FFR that included the 818 so did you get something at a discount?

Wheels. Wheels are included with the sale. No $500 off this time, but whatever. I was going to roll around on stockers, probably would have been plenty for my driving. I guess I might always be able to trade them or liquidate them at some point in the future. But they ARE nicer than the stockers...and at drop-shipping-only, cheaper than the set of wheels I originally put in my budget. I might run them after all, everything considered, but we'll see.


Congrats! I've had my kit in my garage for around 4 months and I still get all giddy when I poke my head in the garage and see it sitting there.

BTW. Those TGV's look great!

Thanks. I took my time and went slow. Hopefully it adds up to some powah!!

Last porting work I did was in 2007 with an electric one-speed dremel. Never again.

[phil1734]

I don't understand why more don't run the FFR wheels. I suppose they have questionable origin if you're heavy into the track days and such, but it's hard to find a decent set of wheels with the correct stagger for less money.

I rolled on the stockers (15's in my case :D) for the first few months/winter so I could sort out any issues before dropping the money on new tires.

[turbomacncheese]

That is exactly my plan. I had even gone as far (in my head) as committing to leaving the stockers on unless I had a compelling reason to spend money on the wheels. Sounds like you think it's a much better ride with FFR wheels, though. Correct?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

That is exactly my plan. I had even gone as far (in my head) as committing to leaving the stockers on unless I had a compelling reason to spend money on the wheels. Sounds like you think it's a much better ride with FFR wheels, though. Correct?

The ffr wheels weren't offered for the first year or so when that kit came out. So the early guys all went out and found their own wheels.

The stock wheels look small and narrow on the 818.
I would definitely wait until the 818 is complete before buying wheels.
Bob
73685 compared to 73686

[phil1734]

You'll definitely want different wheels down the road, so just think of it as ~$800 off the kit price.

I'm not a "wheel guy" (I've never put aftermarket wheels on any vehicle I've owned other than for winters,) but it made a huge difference on my 818. It absolutely screamed faux-Ferrari kit car before hand with the stock ones. Even the 16's just have too much sidewall and are too bland to look like they belong on a modern exotic car.

The main problem I think people run into is finding matching wheels/tire combos that are available in skinny 215-ish for the front and wide 255-ish for the rear at reasonable prices.

These were actually my old tire-rack China Special winter wheels. My donor actually had steelies.
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[turbomacncheese]

Sounds like I'm on the right track, then. Thanks guys!

[turbomacncheese]

Well, got my block/crank back last week, spent most of last Saturday double checking bearing clearances. I was going to assemble the shortblock, and realized I didn't have the sealing washers for the water-jacket case bolts. Got them the past week, and spent most of today putting the case together. Saw a little more rtv squish out than I was comfortable with, thought about it for a minute, and decided to disassemble (again) and make damned sure I was actually doing what I thought I was doing.

I swear I barely put any RTV in there, and still, on re-disassembly found this....

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Also looks like maybe I took too long getting the block together after squeezing out my gasket maker. I was also surprised to see that oily film BEHIND my bearings. Dry as a bone when I put them in there. But I did that last weekend and didn't think much of it.

Ring gaps are acceptable, but on the large end. FSM says .008 - .010 for the top ring, I'm at .020. Interesting because the max is .039. That's a pretty big spread. Whatever, the turbo engines I used to build ran about 20 and the piston was about the same diameter. Had a full skirt though. Piston didn't wobble all over the place in the bore. Freaked me out. End gaps big, extra room on the piston, better measure this thing again...looked like about .006 on piston to wall. Actually, looks like I'm every bit as garbage at measuring bores as I was afraid of, lol.

I know it ain't the right way to measure, but I stuck a feeler gauge in with the piston at the skirt, upside down. .0015 went in and came out clean and easy. But .002 wouldn't even let the piston in. If it was as bad as I was afraid of, I'd have gotten a bigger gauge in than .002. Then when I looked back at it later it was pretty clear that all the movement was perpendicular to the skirts where there isn't any real support. So I put the pistons in anyway. And found out that my snap ring pliers suck, too. Replacement pistons have the kind with little holes (standard style, I like to think of them) rather than the bent wire that comes stock and is easy to pull/replace with needle nose pliers. Had to get a new set (dammit).

All in all, This Subaru is super slow work. I could have built an entire 8v 2.5 turbo dodge motor already. Might have even had it back in the car.

[Hindsight]

Interesting - I did not know they use silicone between the journals like that. Good thing you caught it.

[turbomacncheese]

Right. The goal is to seal off those bolt holes and that junk just squished WAAAAAAAYYYY more than I thought it would. First time I ever used it between two machined surfaces. Usually on rocker covers or oil pans, where one surface (at least) is sorta round.

[turbomacncheese]

Well, pulled out some head-bolt threads. Down side of garaging on a Saturday is that nobody is open for me to call. I was on the last pull, not quite to 90. FML.

I've used time-serts before, but these threads start pretty deep. Not sure how that's gonna go.

[10LCobra]

Sorry for your troubles.

[turbomacncheese]

Thanks 10lcobra. Don't know if this will come up for anyone else, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Machine shop (and everyone of his friends he could think of to call) doesn't have the tools to fix this thread size.

The regular $100 time sert kit I used before won't work here, because they are designed to run up flush to the deck of the repair. They sell a head bolt specific kit, but it runs $450. It may be possible to modify the tools for the cheaper kit and run it all the way down, but I don't like how short the inserts are, and I think positive engagement on the insert would be a problem.

There is another head bolt kit on the market (cheaper, too) that uses longer inserts, and that's the one I'm going to get. Called NS300L. Nothing but great reviews, and thus far the guy who makes them has been super awesome. But now I have a quandary of sorts.

On teardown, all of the head bolts were extra stubborn, and 3 required the use of a 5 ft cheater. I actually sent my kids back inside in case everything let go. I'm pretty sure that's how the threads got damaged in the first place, not that I had a choice. My machinist confirmed that he had problems with 3 of the holes, but that he was able to fully torque out his plate at 90lbs, which is why he mentioned it but didn't offer any repairs. I was probably around 85 ft-lb when the threads gave up. So if I'm lucky, the other two will give up early also, and all the other holes will be strong enough. But what if any of the threads are only good for 92? I'd hate to fire this thing up through a few heat cycles, push a little boost through it and THEN find the weak threads.

Do I just say f-it and drill them all out? Inserts are only a couple bucks each, and the kit may actually come with 20 of them anyway. A Saturday morning drilling and tapping is better than a bunch of Saturdays rebuilding a rebuilt engine. I can't think of any other downsides than time, but I'll let you all know what Norm says (guy who makes the tools).

[turbomacncheese]

Apparently they're up late over there. Norm got back to me. After the standard disclaimer "It's always a judgement call" he said if it were his block he'd absolutely replace every single one. Lucky me, the kit comes with 17 of the inserts. Absolutely nothing to worry about by doing them, always the nagging fear of impending failure if I don't. I'll probably take some pictures of the process.

[phil1734]

100% agree on replacing all of them.

Sounds like your head bolts were probably over-torqued by the last guy to rebuild and you just got to experience the fallout from it.

It's also fairly common to install studs in these engines. Might be something to look into. I'm not sure what size threads they make them in (maybe there's an oversize one or something.) Only real downfall of the studs is they absolutely require full engine removal from the car to remove the heads later.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I was on the last pull, not quite to 90.


but that he was able to fully torque out his plate at 90lbs,
I was probably around 85 ft-lb when the threads gave up. So if I'm lucky, the other two will give up early also, and all the other holes will be strong enough. But what if any of the threads are only good for 92?
.

Turbo
A couple of times you mention numbers around 90. Are you talking 90 ft-lb or 90 degrees?

I had to replace some bent valves in one of my donors and I remember special procedure.
oil bolts, tighten 7.4 ft-lbs, tighten 13.3 ft-lbs, tighten 90 DEGREES. (29.5 ft-lbs for bolts (B & D))
It is 2 page procedure in the factory service manual.

I also remember not to reuse bolts as they are stretched during tightening.
Bob

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EDIT: The info above is for the bolts that hold the cylinder blocks together. I misread above:

[turbomacncheese]

I don't know how the hell I didn't mention it in ANY of this, but......ARP head studs. Instructions are 30-60-90 in the factory sequence. Sorry for the alarm, guys. Machinist torqued down his plate with studs. He also agreed that it's probably a good idea to drill them all out.

[longislandwrx]

go to the bigger studs. forget the inserts go to the 1/2 studs or 14mm will cost you about 300 in machine work for block and heads and 500 or 550 for the studs but you'll never have to worry about it lettign go again.

[RetroRacing]

Go bigger studs, permanent fix

[turbomacncheese]

I've used inserts before, I'm not worried about them failing, and I already have the standard studs. Hard enough to swallow $375 to fix this. I can't justify another $8-900 on a mild engine like this one.

Thanks though. Certainly gives me something to think about in the event I decide to build a hi-boost Subaru. Skip the drama and go straight for the big guns.

[turbomacncheese]

Went a bit more smoothly than I had expected. I didn't anticipate needing a 1/2 inch drill, although I suppose I should have. Not gonna lie, I shopped these tools on price, and NS300L came out ahead, but it was the service I got from Norm that sealed the deal on these. Super responsive, and made sure he was giving me the right answer before he'd give me any answer. These inserts are absolutely solid. Here is one, compared to the ARP stud. And don't judge me on all the wood "scraps" in the background. I was irritated last week when this thing went south and started building my dolly instead. Yeah, didn't finish that either. And yes, I bagged the block first.
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Tool comes with a jig to help with drill/tap alignment. It has a slot cut in one end, and a circle in the other for bushings. An alignment pin ensures the jig is set up properly, just hold it down firmly while tightening a bolt into one of the provided spacers.
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Duct tape, rags, and more duct tape (most of a roll when it was all said and done) to keep chips (god, so many chips) out of important places.
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Drill it, and keep blowing the chips (god, so many chips) out of the hole. The drill has a blunt tip, so it stops at the bottom of the hole. It doesn't bite, so its easy to tell when the drill isn't loaded anymore and the bit is just spinning.
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Load the tap bushing and start tapping. It came with two. A 3 flute for the heavy work and most of the tapping, and a 4 flute bottom tap for the last few threads. And don't forget to blow out the chips (god, so many chips). Once I got the first tap in as far as I wanted, I could remove it and the jig, and finish with the 4 flute tap.
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Engine degreaser for all that cutting fluid, and to help float some of the chips (god, so many chips) before blowing them out with compressed air.
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Super secret acetone source for cleanup
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I'm out of pictures for this post. Continued in the next one...

[turbomacncheese]

Some red threadlock. The kit comes with a small bottle, but I ran out after 8 or so, and had to crack into my stash. Ok, it's not a stash. It's a bottle I bought for the flywheel bolts.
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Install the insert with the provided tool, which fits into notches cut on the insert. You can see where I notched the tool to indicate the proper insert depth. Recommended in the instructions, not my idea.
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Verify the depth at 1.6 to 1.75 inches.
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After the first couple of inserts, I figured out how far to thread the second tap so the insert would bottom out in the threads at the correct height. Probably doesn't make a difference, but it felt nice to have it snug against something down there. With studs, once they are torqued, I can't imagine the inserts would move at all, even without the locktite. But it did feel a little...off...that they don't have a positive lock like the timeserts. So I checked the couple I did with the insert tool, and I thought I was going to start bending the thing and still the inserts weren't budging. I don't think there is anything to worry about here.

I double checked for stray aluminum chips (god, so many chips) with my flashlight, air compressor, and some grease, and I'm 99.9999% certain I was successful at keeping them out of anywhere important. If I missed any, they are about the size of standard dust.

In total, the kit came with the jig, two spacers, a bushing for the drill, one for the taps, cutting fluid, a ruler I didn't use, threadlock I used completely, and SEVENTEEN inserts - which is why I was able to do my whole block. The timesert kit was more expense, and only included 10. Bonus, the outer diameter/threads of these inserts are common between several sizes, so if I end up with a different type of block and the same problem, I may be able to just buy some inserts and get to work. But let's hope I don't have to.

[AZPete]

a fun and successful weekend.

[turbomacncheese]

I don't know that fun is the right word. Maybe if I had anticipated this expense, and didn't have to call all my friends to borrow a drill....

Satisfying, yes. Successful, yes. Fun...ask me again once it's running, lol.

[turbomacncheese]

Well well well, guess who showed up?
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Kids were happy to finally see it.
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I took personal time from work Monday/Tuesday in case the truck ran into problems and was late, but he was EARLY so I had all day Monday to inventory and Tuesday to remove/store body parts and aluminum. Inventory only saw a couple issues not marked on the POL, which have already been addressed by Factory Five, so no worries. I will say that it's a little...sad to pay a couple thousand to prepare for a project like this, 10k for the project, and a couple more to ship it and then get a part with rusty brackets. But I'll clean them up and paint them, and it will all be ok. Just a bit odd to have all these laser cut parts, tig welds on the frame, the whole thing computer designed... and then grass and dirt stuck to the inside of the doors. Whatever, I'm still stoked and so are the kids. This thing is going to be RAD.
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[flynntuna]

Well at least one in the family will pass the broomstick test.:rolleyes:

[Hindsight]

Congrats on the kit delivery. That's always an exciting day.

[AZPete]

That's a perfect pic to show where you started. Needs a "vroom, vroom"!

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=75902&d=1508896595

[turbomacncheese]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrmQFlQZ5zU&feature=youtu.be

[AZPete]

You are sick, Tony! Fortunately, you are starting a build, which can be therapeutic.

[turbomacncheese]

Seriously, this engine should have been back together 3 weekends ago. Found a TON of corrosion in the vent tube. Looked like swiss cheese once I started poking at it. And it looked GREAT before I scrubbed the powder coat off. I only started poking at it because it blew very VERY small bubbles after a degreaser bath.76429 Those all started as pinholes that showed up after I started heating it to get rid of some of the gunk inside. After the second hole, it was just to see how many were there.

Got the wrong cam gear bolts from flatirons, but the timing covers are beautiful.



I also spent an hour looking for the dipstick tube because that's what happens when you have 4 or 5 months between taking something apart and putting it back together. Finally found it by accident as I was quitting for the day on a shelf I checked at least 4 times.
Current state of affairs.
76430

[phil1734]

I think I lost 5-6 cumulative hours on my build looking for the ratchet I had in my hand ;)

[q4stix]

Shoot, I'm going to need to fly you to my place for my WRX daily driver engine build. Talk about clean!

[turbomacncheese]

Since I mentioned the bolts I got from FlatIrons, I gotta say that they got back to me this afternoon. I feel like they took really good care of me here, and I won't hesitate to spend money there in the future. FlatIrons Tuning: expectations = exceeded.


I think I lost 5-6 cumulative hours on my build looking for the ratchet I had in my hand ;)

No joke. I did that a couple times yesterday looking for gaskets I was holding on to.


Shoot, I'm going to need to fly you to my place for my WRX daily driver engine build. Talk about clean!

Thanks, that really did feel good to hear! Now that I've got a little practice, we should be able to knock out your engine in what, 5 maybe 6 weekends? lol.

[turbomacncheese]

Pretty sure I got everything where it's supposed to go on this engine up to the turbo except the alternator (which I'm going to have tested) and the power steering pump (which I'm going to try rebuilding). Got the front axles apart tonight. Spent about an hour on one of them during the weekend. Tried banging them through the press, no dice.

Finally, tonight, went through my bucket-o-bits that I keep next to the press and found some steel collars from when I took the wheel bearings apart. Did a fair job of staying on the cv spider. I took both boots off the axle, as well as the 3-prong gimmick on the other side so it was just axle and cv stub. Propped the steel collar up on the press plates, removed the ram so I had more room, slid the axle into the collar(stub up), grabbed the stub, raised it high and slammed it down about 6 times (a la pipe trick) and it finally let go. Did the other axle the same way and it popped off with the first go (wasn't even that hard).
76952

[longislandwrx]

Rasmus has a great write up on Nabisco about rebuilding the PS pump. i bought the o-ring kit on eBay after someone mistakenly filled mine with power steering fluid (hint don't)

mine's been leak free for a year now and making great pressure.


you are going to need long PS lines to make it work, do you have some sourced?

[turbomacncheese]

I think I came across that writeup before, plus a few videos on youtube. It'll be my first, but no reason I can't do it. And I gotta say that's the first time I heard somebody say "Don't put power steering fluid in a power steering pump." Care to enlighten me?

As for the lines, AZPete had some made around here someplace, and I'm sure he'll share the secret with me when I get that far.

[turbomacncheese]

Put in the front firewall this long weekend. drilled the two bottom floor pans but didn't attach either one. I know I'll want the rear off for access to the seats. Not sure of any reason to leave the front off, but I'll come up with something, I'm sure.

Also put my front wheel bearings/hubs back together. Checked the brake disks for thickness/runout and decided to run them as is. Put together my coilovers and tore the Koni sticker, so I guess those are pointing INSIDE now, lol.

Stopped there because when I did my inventory I noticed I was missing the zirk/cotter pin for one of the upper ball joints, and somehow did NOT register that I was missing the f'ing BOOTS. I said it somewhere else, but I can be pretty dense sometimes.

On a related note, did anybody else get opened upper ball joints from FFR?

[turbomacncheese]

Put all the suspension stuff in (minus the sway bar, which didn't fit...Cobb) and knocked a hole in the firewall for the left control arm.

Still trying to make up my mind about the motor mounts. They look good, but I could drill em and fill em with urethane, or weld them up solid. Like all other things, I should probably drive it first, lol.

Steering column, brake master, clutch master, pedal box, and loud pedal also in.

Got parts for the power steering pump rebuild yesterday, and I need to figure out how I want to handle the clutch, as well.

This part of the build is going much faster than I expected (still pretty slow for me) based on my progress up to this point, so I'm a little "caught with the pants down" so to speak on not having parts.

[Shawn818c]

moving in the right direction, keep it up! Any new photos?

[turbomacncheese]

I'll probably take some this weekend when I rebuild the steering pump. Glad to know people are interested!

[Kurk818]

Definitely interested and watching.

[turbomacncheese]

Had a good day yesterday. So good that I stopped early before something could go wrong.
79278

My parking brake wasn't engaging the disc, so I dug into it. Turns out the top strut had fallen out of it's grooves while I tried to finagle all the pieces together. Got that sorted.

Bolted up the calipers and found that I must have bent one of the dust shields at some point (probably removing the hub). The caliper stuck over just far enough bind up the disc when it was bolted on. 20 minutes with a prybar and a mallet fixed that problem. I'll probably end up getting another one, but I'm not sure yet whether I want to leave the rear brakes stock.
792807927979281

Tested the brakes with air pressure, and they grab, so that's good, too. Yes, I moved the rear brake lines so they would point towards the front. I rebuilt those months ago and bolted the lines back on before I was sure which way to point them (check one of the later pictures ). However, if you see anything else pointed the wrong way, I didn't fix that, so please tell me.

Rebuilt the power steering pump. In retrospect, I'm torn about not getting the $10 bearing and the seal that goes behind it. They both looked good, and didn't seem to be failure points right now, but I had the whole thing apart. If they do fail, at least I'll know whether or not I can rebuild the pump at that point. If I can't rebuild the pump, I'll have saved that money. If I can rebuild the pump, the o-rings were $11 shipped.
79277

And....I put the donor wheels on it and pulled it off the dolly. I just wanted to see it on the ground. I still haven't tightened the moving suspension pieces, although I had the idea of loading the family into it to push it down. Then I reconsidered the likely conversation -

wife: "Why do you need us in it?"
me: "Well, I don't have the engine in, and I need something heavy...."

Then there would be a long delay in thread updates followed by pictures of why I hadn't worked on it in a while, except instead of pictures of a smashed thumb it would be pictures of my smashed face. So I'm waiting on the suspension.
79282

I was prepared for how low it would sit because I read the shock and surprise in other build threads. You don't get to read about how impressed I was, because I wasn't impressed. Sorry. However, my wife (who has been driving the minivan) said "Wow, that's really low!!!"

Am I going to have to/want to put it back on the dolly at any point? I still haven't installed the underside aluminum, but I can't do that on the dolly anyway. If I don't need it anymore, I want to take it apart. Not a lot of room in the garage, as you can see, once the kids start dragging their stuff out, and this thing is an accident waiting to happen.

So I started cleaning up, and wifey says "You're done already?" I said "Yeah, stopping before I screw something up." And that was my Saturday.

[q4stix]

although I had the idea of loading the family into it to push it down. Then I reconsidered the likely conversation -

wife: "Why do you need us in it?"
me: "Well, I don't have the engine in, and I need something heavy...."

Then there would be a long delay in thread updates followed by pictures of why I hadn't worked on it in a while, except instead of pictures of a smashed thumb it would be pictures of my smashed face.

I'm quoting this to make sure no one glances over it. It got me to chuckle aloud, that's for sure!

[turbomacncheese]

Well, if I have an audience....no reason we can't have a chuckle or three!

[turbomacncheese]

Big, productive weekend at the Richmond house. I started out by deciding I would refill my motor mounts. Picked up some Shore 90A polyurethane from a local hobby shop for $34.83. A little heat, and the rubber mounts pop right out. 375 seems to be the magic temperature, if you're curious.
79962

Bunch of tape, some strategically placed silicone caulk, and voila...ready for pouring. I backed them in some tubs of crushed walnut because I have some sitting around. Duct tape actually worked pretty well, though, and I only had a couple small leaks.
79960

Poured and cured.
79961
If you look closely, you'll see that I shortened the trans mount almost an inch, and grew the motor mounts about 3/8. That should take care of the motor tilt issue. I almost had a confirmation, but more on that later.
79959
All things considered, this was a really cheap way to try out some super hard urethane for mounts. But I did learn some lessons. I reused the stock mounts partly because I already had them, and partly because I like that they are "captured" and movement will be limited if the urethane fails. BUT, they were a real pain to tape up into shape. I measured everything before I got started, but I think I would have picked up some silicone molding stuff for another thirty bucks and made molds of them to fill instead. As it was, I just ended up filling in all the space that was void in the stock mounts - partly because I was too lazy to figure anything else out, partly because I wanted them to be RIGID, and partly because I didn't have any ideas about what to do with the rest of the urethane when I was done anyway. To overfill the mounts like this took 3lbs, if anyone is keeping score.
If I did it again (which I might) I'd buy a bandsaw and cut my own engine mounts. Probably would have cost another 20 bucks, less if could reuse the bolts from the stock mounts, plus the cost of the bandsaw (which I probably need anyway). Regardless, I'm really happy with the trans mount and wouldn't change anything. Still a bargain. I expect these mounts to come in somewhere just shy of solid mounts in the vibration department. Probably end up going back for 70A next time because this was really fun.

Found this bit of scrap in my bucket o bits from the donor takedown. I think it was a suspension bracket in it's previous life. Did a great job holding the flywheel so I could torque the bolts properly (with locktite, red).
79966

Anyway, flywheel was on, so lets try the clutch. Clutch went easy, lets bolt up the trans. Next thing you know....
79963
I had to remove the AC compressor and my oil drain plug to get her in there. The drain plug on my donor was the really trick piece that has a lever and a 1/4 turn ballcock so you can drain the oil with no tools. But it sticks out about an inch. I know, I don't have everything plumbed like the pcv, fuel, vacuum stuff, spark plugs, etc etc.
I was hoping to see if the engine/trans sat level with my modified mounts, but something went awry. It's entirely possible that I didn't measure something right on the mounts which is totally my fault, but it's hard to see being off that far, given the mount design.
*edit* Actually, I can see where I lost about 1/8" on the mounts, when comparing them to "before photos". I'll probably end up clearanc-ing that slot on the frame so everything can drop down, but I ran out of time tonight. Everything looks square and straight, just ever so slightly closer to the firewall.
79964

Also, I think there is a plastic bit that is supposed to cover this up, but I haven't found it yet. Might have to get another from Subaru (yuck).
79965

[Shawn818c]

Very nice on the motor mounts, the whole project is really staring to come together!

Sounds like you've got a fumoto oil drain valve on there. Not sure I would run it on the 818 though

[STiPWRD]

79280
Tested the brakes with air pressure, and they grab, so that's good, too. Yes, I moved the rear brake lines so they would point towards the front. I rebuilt those months ago and bolted the lines back on before I was sure which way to point them (check one of the later pictures ). However, if you see anything else pointed the wrong way, I didn't fix that, so please tell me.
Is there a chance you switched the RH/LH sides on the rear calipers? It looks like your bleeder screw is lower than it should be, which will trap air in the caliper when you try to bleed it. The bleeder screw should be at the highest point possible.

[turbomacncheese]

Sounds like you've got a fumoto oil drain valve on there. Not sure I would run it on the 818 though

I'm planning on checking how close it is to the ground once everything is together, but other than clearance is there any particular reason? Don't get me wrong, I change a lot more oil on my DD and maybe I'll get lucky enough that it fits there instead, but still?


Is there a chance you switched the RH/LH sides on the rear calipers? It looks like your bleeder screw is lower than it should be, which will trap air in the caliper when you try to bleed it. The bleeder screw should be at the highest point possible.
With me, that is a VERY real possibility. I vaguely remember thinking that was odd, but that's about all. The calipers have "L" and "R" embossed on them, an where they are right now, the "L" is up on the left side and the "R" is up on the right side. And of course, now that I think about it, that would happen even if I switched them around...which I should probably do. Thanks.

[turbomacncheese]

Super slow day today. I scored some lightly used seats for $100, sprayed them down, cut some fuel lines (probably too short), attempted to find the straight rubber tube that I'm supposed to use for the gas filler tube, and put together the shifter bracket. I actually think that's about it. I looked at a lot of stuff, searched through my shelves for about an hour looking for random things (found the brake discs I had cut for my Hyundai last year and never installed, so that's good...), and tried to solidify some plans, but that's about it.

Good thing I forgot to post this picture last week. At least I can feel good about posting something.

80678

[Shawn818c]

Just ground clearance would be my only concern on the drain valve, i've never heard of failures or leaks from them.

[turbomacncheese]

I'll double check it. I think it stops angled away from the ground, so because of the bevel in the oil pan right there, the pan actually hangs a little lower than the valve. Thanks.

[Canadian818]

Super slow day today. I scored some lightly used seats for $100, sprayed them down, cut some fuel lines (probably too short), attempted to find the straight rubber tube that I'm supposed to use for the gas filler tube, and put together the shifter bracket. I actually think that's about it. I looked at a lot of stuff, searched through my shelves for about an hour looking for random things (found the brake discs I had cut for my Hyundai last year and never installed, so that's good...), and tried to solidify some plans, but that's about it.

Good thing I forgot to post this picture last week. At least I can feel good about posting something.

80678

I have days like that in the garage all the time. As the project nears the end you spend less time looking for things, or maybe it’s more time looking for less things.

[turbomacncheese]

Is there a chance you switched the RH/LH sides on the rear calipers? It looks like your bleeder screw is lower than it should be, which will trap air in the caliper when you try to bleed it. The bleeder screw should be at the highest point possible.

I like listening to re-runs. Heard this one today, in fact. I'm just going to leave it right here. About 3.5 minutes to listen.

https://player.fm/series/series-1324373/1806-unstick-my-dipstick?t=1107

[Ipassgas]

Man, you're making huge progress.
I too, am starting with a Saab. You started a few months before me.

You don't know it, but I'm racing you. I thought I'd catch up, and beat you to the finish line.
Jokes on me though, since I don't even have the fire wall finished yet. You're about to win, and you didn't even know you were racing! :rolleyes:

[turbomacncheese]

hahahahahahahha, I do that too!! Heads up, if I had to do the front firewall again, I would NOT put the rivets in until after the brake MC, clutch MC, and pedal box were squared away. Maybe even the front suspension. Leave that junk cleco'd as long as you can!!!

Another slow weekend. Too much time trying to figure out the wagon seatbelt spools. Provisions are blocked by the firewall, and no help from the manual except "Bolt the wagon spools here, and mind the slot." I found a few threads where guys have notched the firewall, but I didn't feel good about my ability to do that WELL, plus I really wanted the room behind the seat because wifey likes to recline more than I do. Got it sorted by mounting them in the engine bay and slotting the firewall. I don't like putting a hole in the firewall (not that it's anywhere near as big as the gaping maw I get to shove wires through later) so I'll probably end up building a shield for it. It also requires unbolting the spools any time I remove the firewall (which should hopefully not happen often).
From the engine bay...
81305
The slot...
81306
From the cabin...
81307


I also repurposed the gas tank straps from my donor to hold the firewall in. I marked holes using the firewall as a template, threaded the bolts through both, then tacked them in.
81303
I used the bolts to mark holes in the rubber sleeve for the strap, punched those out, and fed the bolts into the holes I drilled through the floor. Tightened some bolts to hold the strap in place, then ran some rivets through the floor, rubber, and strap.
81304

Added some riv-nuts for the top, and now my firewall goes on and off without me drilling any rivets or crawling under the car.

Last thing was reading up on the charcoal canister. As cheap as it might be to build one, I kinda have this free monstrosity hanging around already. I might mount it up front. Kind of a lot happening in the rear right now. We'll see!

Next weekend I want to get the seat brackets finished. I'm attempting to use the stock slider for the driver's side with aftermarket seats. Passenger can piss off about adjustability. Might get an inch or so anyway. Like AZPete said..."BUILD YOUR OWN CAR!!"

[phil1734]

The belt spools are more or less correct if on the wrong side. You'll want to preserve the anti-rotation bit of the spool provided by the tab which is why most people notch the firewall. I did it by drilling an 1/8" inch hole at each end of where the tab/slot is, then using a small dremel wheel to connect the two holes. In addition, if you (or anyone reading this) is using the iWire ECU box it won't fit with the spools on the back, and you have to space it out to clear the nut even with the spools on the front.

And I hate to bust your bubble but the firewall is still far from easily removed. Obviously your seats will be in the way but the parking brake mount also has to be removed. Which is a PITA. And the little tiny piece of firewall that wraps around the gas tank in the middle will need removed to get the passenger side out, maybe the drivers side.

[STiPWRD]

I like listening to re-runs. Heard this one today, in fact. I'm just going to leave it right here. About 3.5 minutes to listen.

https://player.fm/series/series-1324373/1806-unstick-my-dipstick?t=1107

18 gallons of brake fluid later... :D

[turbomacncheese]

18 gallons of brake fluid later... :D

Glad you enjoyed that!!



And I hate to bust your bubble but the firewall is still far from easily removed. Obviously your seats will be in the way but the parking brake mount also has to be removed. Which is a PITA. And the little tiny piece of firewall that wraps around the gas tank in the middle will need removed to get the passenger side out, maybe the drivers side.

Guess I should have been clear. I meant while I'm building. I sure as heck hope I don't have to remove it very often once I'm done!! Only thing under there to replace is the fuel pump/filter. Maybe I should make a panel while I'm at it...

As far as the seatbelt goes, it still locks when I pull the belt out too fast, and I verified that the gravity thing works on my bench. Not going to bother jacking the car way up to test. I DID pull out the child seat function thing, that flips when the belt is pulled all the way out.

[turbomacncheese]

Wow, a month goes by pretty quickly, doesn't it? Not a ton to report, as I have CERTAINLY made it to the "little wins" stage. Didn't think it would be such a challenge to get seat brackets put together that allowed access to the bolts like I want. Finished the driver last weekend, spent a good chunk of today on the passenger side.

Positive note: I've learned my lesson about only tacking metal together until I'm sure it's right, lol. Chopped up the shift cable mount (on the transmission) to try and solve a problem I'm introducing, found out it wasn't quite right...cutting that back apart was horrible. Seat bracket, I screwed that up too. Came apart much easier!! I'm happy with it, but no pictures.

I picked up a bottle of C25 from a guy on craigslist, and jesus, welding goes so fast now, and no pops or splatters...but I kinda have to learn how all over again. So I'm hiding my work until then!!

Speaking of hidden work, I spent a couple weekends trying to come up with some sort of crank to replace the FF bracket. I'm not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination, so I didn't go out and buy a bunch of stuff. I did get an approximation of what was in my head with some of the scrap I had laying around. FAILURE. Really hard to move in and out of gears or across the neutral zone (say from between 1/2 to between 5/R). So I scrapped it, and made two brackets that basically work the way FF set them up. Main difference is the longitudinal cable is in line with the shaft now, and the lateral cable approaches from the other side. Still really hard to shift in and out of gears. Is that because I don't have the clutch working yet? Because there is no oil in the trans? It didn't feel like that with the top mount before I disassembled the donor, even with the clutch engaged. Only change is draining the oil and using cables. It's really not good.

[turbomacncheese]

Other change, 2wd conversion. Could I have screwed something up there?

[STiPWRD]

Try removing your linkage off of the trans and shifting into gear by directly turning and pushing the shaft on the back of the trans. This will tell you if there's an issue with the trans or with your linkage. Even if there's no oil, you should be able to engage every gear. If you're using the FFR provided cables, it can be difficult to get into gear from the large amount of slop in those things.

[turbomacncheese]

It doesn't seem terribly difficult to move by hand side to side, and it's nearly impossible to stop in neutral when I push/pull it out of gear. Example, in 3, give a tug, pop-pop into 4. Whoops. Push, pop-pop back into 3. Thought it would feel easier at the shifter because of the leverage on the shifter arm. Much more difficult. I guess I was just concerned that maybe it was supposed to be even easier at the trans. As is, I don't see how this thing is drive-able, and I'm not a picky guy.

[Brett33]

I thought the same thing! i eventually lightened my touch and was able to find nuetral but took me a while.

from the "upgraded" aluminum shifter i have no idea what gear i am in

[STiPWRD]

Sounds like the trans is fine and it's the linkage or cables that are giving you trouble.

[turbomacncheese]

I agree. Just really surprised. I'm looking at lance's solid shifter linkage solution and another one that uses only a single rod. Maybe I'll make some headway there. Thanks.

[turbomacncheese]

I've decided to punt on the transmission linkage until I get this thing together enough to run. Bending my brain to it is taking a bunch of time, and it's not any fun to not see any progress. That said, I started screwing around with other stuff.

I'm looking for alternative brake master cylinders, but I'm having trouble finding information on the mounting patterns for any of them. Sure, I can measure mine, but how do I know how far apart the holes are on the ones I'm looking at? I found a great resource from Cardone that has a lot of information (piston size, number of ports, thread size on the ports, etc) but none of that is any good if it doesn't BOLT UP!!! Here is that link, at least.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pageturnpro2.com/Publications/201407/3154/56617/PDF/130487993789071126_CARDONE%20Automotive%20Master%2 0Cylinder%20ID%20Guide_MCID14.pdf

and now that I've done my part here, if you have a resource that gets me that info, I'll be very happy indeed.

Moving on, I made a bracket for the degas tank,to move it off to the side. Not as nice as Mechie's, but if you count the metal, gas, wire and paint, I'm in it for less than 3 bucks. Less than 2 if I get a discount for using paint and metal I had leftover from another project.
83839

And with the tank mounted....
83840

I used 4 bolts and 2 nuts from my bucket-O-donor-bolts. Getting harder and harder to find hardware that matches for these little projects, but I still have a bunch in there. That bucket has probably saved me 30 or 40 bucks so far.
And how did I get that hole spacing on the bracket you ask? What with me being pretty much a hack?

83841

That's right, dollar store packing tape. It's pretty thick, so it doesn't stretch or crinkle. Just rip a piece off, lay it where you want it, rub it really good with a thumb, then pull it and put it on whatever you need to drill. These were from the top of the manifold. I drilled right in the center of those circles there, and couldn't be happier.

[turbomacncheese]

Another slow weekend, but I think I can roll with my MC as is (more or less). I'll have some pictures of that later (maybe). Mounted the ABS controller on the floor right behind the battery. Next job is probably brake and clutch lines, but I'm camping next weekend so exactly nothing will get done then. And button up the engine. Gotta get those little bits like the purge solenoid, spark plugs, EGR figured out.

Also bolted the turbo on. I was going to replace the cartridge with a pre-fab job, but I think I'll hold off until I see how my budget holds up. Still need to get a radiator, AC unit, power steering hoses, tires (although the donors are still pretty soft and miles of tread deep), etc.

Also got the shifter mounted, still a sonofabirchtree to shift the gears but mounting it has helped considerably. I think the shifter might have been flexing, or perhaps the rubber grommets were flexing (I had it mounted to a board through those). Still sucks, but it won't get in the way of a first drive, so it's staying for now. I like Andrew and Tamara's solution, and I'll likely copy that down the road.

[turbomacncheese]

Weekends have been pretty busy around here. Just got back from vacation yesterday, so today I decided to make the parking brake work. It does, but I had to run the adjuster nut out pretty far. I think I can get some better fitment in the rotor and take some of that back off, so I might look at it when I bleed the brakes. It DOES look like I can bleed them without taking the wheels off, though, so I might end up leaving. Speaking of bleeding....

Also got the clutch line run, filled, and bled. I haven't mounted the line to the frame yet, but a couple zipties are helping out. Pretty sure I should grab a roll of brake line before I do the brakes. I ran from the MC to the ABS controller, and that plus the clutch ate up most of my FF provided lines...and I didn't even waste any. Maybe it would be enough running the brakes the manual way...only one pipe going to the back that way, after all...but definitely not enough for the ABS unless my inexperience is fooling me. Anybody reading this who is using the ABS, feel free to mention how much extra line you used.

[turbomacncheese]

Man, what a waste of a Saturday morning. Made this really sweet bracket that mounts front/center below where the windshield surround will go so I could mount something for the brakes....turns out I'm not gonna need it. Damn. I did get both front brakes plumbed in. My extra brake line will be here tomorrow so I probably won't get the rears done until next weekend. I ended up ordering a 25ft roll.

I really need to get the radiator in, buy some spark plugs, and sort out the fuel system. My plan for wiring is to only change the harness where I absolutely have to until I can verify that the engine runs. Then I'll take it apart (the harness) and make it right.

[Shawn818c]

Good plan on the harness, get it started first. Hope the 25' brake line is enough I'll be doing an ABS setup as well.

[redfogo]

Wiring is a fun one LOL I spent way to many hours doing mine. My guide might help you now or in the future. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?21030-DIY-ODBII-working-standalone-wiring-harness

[mistasherm]

I stopped keeping track at 75hrs on my harness, but then again I was a wiring rookie. I am turning the key this weekend for a first start. Hopefully the wiring is good - if it isn't, there will be a grown man crying in his garage in MD.

[turbomacncheese]

Good plan on the harness, get it started first. Hope the 25' brake line is enough I'll be doing an ABS setup as well.

I'll post back what I ended up with. I think it will be plenty if I don't make any mistakes.


Wiring is a fun one LOL I spent way to many hours doing mine. My guide might help you now or in the future. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?21030-DIY-ODBII-working-standalone-wiring-harness

Thanks for this. I'll be sure to read it thoroughly


I stopped keeping track at 75hrs on my harness, but then again I was a wiring rookie. I am turning the key this weekend for a first start. Hopefully the wiring is good - if it isn't, there will be a grown man crying in his garage in MD.


I've seen where a couple guys had problems with wiring harnesses, and it turned out to be something really simple and super easy to fix. Even if it does turn out that way, you might end up with a non-problem. I'm rooting for you over here!

[turbomacncheese]

I got the brakes run and bled. 25ft + FFR supplied tubes was enough for abs braking and clutch. I've also been keeping a little secret. You may have read Mike (Ipassgas) mention that I attempted to fit the stock brake booster, but gave up on it. Turns out that I could NOT get it to fit into that corner as-is because the mounting studs are way too long. I ended up disassembling the firewall to fit it, only to find out that the left MC port was blocked by a frame tube. I picked up a 7inch single diaphragm universal booster and drilled some holes in the mounting plate....and had just enough room to use the stock MC. For reference, the wrx booster is right around 9.5 inches, dual diaphragm. It took a little bit of thinking, and I have some plans to change a thing or two once I'm sure I like the amount of assist, but it is assembled in a fantastically low-buck way. I got the booster for $37 bucks (I know, I know, "I can't believe you bought it off ebay"...but I wasn't prepared to spend a few hundred on something that might not work or stay...swapping it out will be easy if I decide to later). Everything else is donor...."recovered."

Since the brakes are bled, I used my hand pump to squeeze about 15mmhg vac on the booster, and I was able to get about an extra inch, maybe inch and a half, on the brake pedal vs an empty booster. That was enough to convince me to post it. I think it should represent a solid middle of the road between searching for aggressive pads while getting used to a really stiff pedal and having "touchy" brakes. Since it's a universal unit, it should be easier to find MCs that bolt up, and I have a list of potential candidates. Many of them have all the ports on the right side or top, and would eliminate the near-interference you'll see in some pictures, once I put them up. I have a write-up coming together so somebody who's good at this stuff can improve it after seeing what I did, how, why, and what I might change, but it still needs some editing.

[turbomacncheese]

I got the brakes run and bled. 25ft + FFR supplied tubes was enough for abs braking and clutch. I've also been keeping a little secret. You may have read Mike (Ipassgas) mention that I attempted to fit the stock brake booster, but gave up on it. Turns out that I could NOT get it to fit into that corner as-is because the mounting studs are way too long. I ended up disassembling the firewall to fit it, only to find out that the left MC port was blocked by a frame tube. I picked up a 7inch single diaphragm universal booster and drilled some holes in the mounting plate....and had just enough room to use the stock MC. For reference, the wrx booster is right around 9.5 inches, dual diaphragm. It took a little bit of thinking, and I have some plans to change a thing or two once I'm sure I like the amount of assist, but it is assembled in a fantastically low-buck way. I got the booster for $37 bucks (I know, I know, "I can't believe you bought it off ebay"...but I wasn't prepared to spend a few hundred on something that might not work or stay...swapping it out will be easy if I decide to later). Everything else is donor...."recovered."

Since the brakes are bled, I used my hand pump to squeeze about 15inhg vac on the booster, and I was able to get about an extra inch, maybe inch and a half, on the brake pedal vs an empty booster. That was enough to convince me to post it. I think it should represent a solid middle of the road between searching for aggressive pads while getting used to a really stiff pedal and having "touchy" brakes. Since it's a universal unit, it should be easier to find MCs that bolt up, and I have a list of potential candidates. Many of them have all the ports on the right side or top, and would eliminate the near-interference you'll see in some pictures, once I put them up. I have a write-up coming together so somebody who's good at this stuff can improve it after seeing what I did, how, why, and what I might change, but it still needs some editing.

[NetWRX]

I may do something similar. I looked at it long enough to see that the reason why they might be touchy with the stock setup is the firewall is about 3/4" thinner than in the wrx and I would have to cut the studs down for it to fit. Thanks for posting this, it saves me a couple hours of frustration trying to fit the factory unit. I was thinking I would just ditch the PB, but I like your solution. I may copy it.

I still haven't done the motor mounts. I will get there soon hopefully. I'm just doing suspension, cleaning and painting things as I go.

[lsfourwheeler]

I look forward to see how your brake setup works out! I'm still just starting my build so I've hardly even thought about how to make a booster work, but I'd like to keep some sort of boosted brake setup in the car rather than going manual brakes.

[turbomacncheese]

The brakes have an adjuster, so the first half inch of pedal is always the first half inch of pedal. I think the touchiness comes from the size of the booster. I opened the manual and the diaphragms are 8.07/9.06 (not the size I mentioned earlier) and at 66 lb on the pedal deliver 1208 psi MORE than no booster. I can't find any actual claims for my booster (or most aftermarket boosters, actually), but from the things I have been able to find, I expect somewhere between 250psi and 350 psi at that pedal force with this master cylinder. Judging by the reports from people with manual brakes, I think this might be enough. If not, I can either step down to a 1 inch bore, step up to an 8 inch booster, or drilling the upper hole for better ratio (which I have not done yet). 7 inch dual diaphragm is also an option, but then I'd have to get a booster AND a master because of the interference with the stock port.

[Mitch Wright]

Nice work on the booster. For those that take the optional Wilwood pedal box and masters I believe also corrects the pedal ratio problems and allows to size the master to the caliper.

[turbomacncheese]

First start? Sorry. Lots of video like this while I tried.

https://youtu.be/GFseyh-_evE

Checked compression, dug out my pictures of the timing belt installation, checked fuel pressure, checked spark plugs. ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Then about an hour after posting for help and double checking the suggestions, I remember reading last weekend (after I tried to start it) that somebody on NASIOC had put a MAF sensor in backwards. Not sure if I did that because its an aftermarket intake tube and looks like it only goes in one way (and honestly, I'm up here posting before I bothered to pull the sensor out), but I unplugged it for grins and giggles.

https://youtu.be/BWndZIerXOk

This is the second start, because I didn't expect the first start to be the first start. I expected it to be the 10th no-start. It did fire up about as quickly, but that was with about an hour of priming the fuel pump, lol. YAY ME!!! Now I can take the wiring harness apart!

[Shawn818c]

awesome! very exciting mile stone

[turbomacncheese]

Man, I wish you could have seen my smile. I do have a shot of it, but the angle and lighting makes my slightly crooked grill look absolutely meth-head brown and half-knocked out. I edited it out of the end of the video, actually, lol.

[lsfourwheeler]

I'm starting to look into brake booster options and had a few questions about your setup. What was necessary to get the Subaru master cylinder to bolt up to the universal booster? Are you fairly happy with the fitment or you would you go another route?

I'm considering swapping to an entirely different OEM's setup but bolt pattern info is hard to find. Lotus Elise boosters and MC are tempting because they're compact, remote reservoir from the factory, and have side ports.

[turbomacncheese]

I had to notch the bolt holes on the master and save the push-pin from the OEM booster. After adjusting the pin depth, everything else is finagling it into place. I still have my booster in the scrap bucket so I can measure the bolt pattern if you need it.

As far as fitment goes...

It's good enough if you fall into 1 or more of 3 camps:
1) your goal is to retain the stock equipment, travel, and the level sensor
2) you want to see what stock feels like so you know which direction to adjust when you DO purchase brake stuff
3) you're a cheap ******* and want to just get it done.

I visit each of those camps from time to time. That said, if it's in the budget, it's likely less hassle to find a similar master with ports on the passenger side and/or top. In fairness, I'll probably do exactly this once I drive it a bit and determine whether the brakes are good enough for my needs. This would also allow for a larger dual-diaphragm booster if you decide you want one. I'm betting the price of my booster that it will be enough, since all comments I've read is that the manual brake setup is ALMOST BARELY JUST ENOUGH, unless you get some spendy pads and practice braking. I have a list of some potential masters already, so let me know if you want me to cut down some of your search time. I'll get off my butt this weekend and finish that writeup. I have some really good pictures, but it's full of notes right now that are probably not helpful for most people.

[turbomacncheese]

As promised.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayfv2qrazd5ydoc/TMC%20Brake%20Booster%20Mod.pdf?dl=0

[turbomacncheese]

Not much happening lately. I'm trying to get ahead of studying for an actuarial certification exam, and if anybody knows any actuaries, they'll confirm that exams are a TIMESUCK. But the car ain't going anywhere and I need to pick up a board to lay out the wiring anyway. Wifey had my chop mine up to help corral some puppies. I'll likely not post here again until I'm actually doing something, unless I get sad and want to share some pictures that I haven't gotten around to, lol.

[turbomacncheese]

I finished all my studying videos, and all I have left is about 70 hours of practice problems and practice exams. Since the exam isn't until the middle of November, I'm a little ahead of schedule there.

As for the 818, I'm working on the wire harness.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?29710-dieting-advice

[turbomacncheese]

Got all the chassis harness separated into its parts. What a mess. Very confident I'll be able to put it back together, though, so there's that. Next up...engine compartment harness. I'm going to double check how that one will lay out before I take anything apart, though. With any luck, I'll like how it goes and just be able to clean it up.

[turbomacncheese]

Just wanted to make note of some links I think are helpful at this stage in the wire diet. Since getting all the chassis harness torn apart, I was feeling pretty good. Tried to make sense of the ECU and fusebox mounting today, and ended up wasting a crapload of time. I really don't like the idea of just cramming **** under the firewall with all of 2 inches for clearance and no way to get to the relays except pulling the firewall or pulling the engine. And the manual is super-helpful here....they "mount over the fuel tank." With what? Some duct tape? And I managed to block off the ECU mounting location with my seatbelt spool. I like it enough that I'm going to leave it there, and move the ECU. Maybe behind the driver seat. Looks like just about enough room. I'd rather put it up front, but it sounds like a lot of the ecu wires have to go to the back of the car, which means through the tunnel.

I was hopeful that the main harness would be able to stretch where it's supposed to go, as the manual says to lay it out in the right place, and it will fit. Looks like I have to chop that SOB up, too.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?17683-advice-help-on-where-to-mount-fuse-panel
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?17281-Fuse-box-mounting
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?14763-Harley-s-818S/page4
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?18556-Curious-where-everyone-mounted-the-fuse-boxes
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?12350-Quiny-s-818s-build/page2
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44126&d=1438569626
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?14763-Harley-s-818S/page3
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?19539-Wiring-questions
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?25518-Dieting-the-Chassis-Harness

[turbomacncheese]

Still here, still chugging away, still working on the wires. Blech. I was totally set on using the crimps, and ordered a whole bag of them. I thought 18-22 gauge would do, but what I got was huge. No good. For the record, I'm convinced that crimps are superior to solder-only in every way that counts. Speed, durability, reliability. Solder only wins on cost as far as I can tell. That said, I'm not worried about the shortcomings of soldering. My harness is not going to flex specifically at a joint. At a stretch of wire including the joint, maybe, but then the rest of the wire will do the bending first. And since I already had solder, a 100ft roll of shrink tube, and a couple days off work, I got busy.

Bob's advice to label each wire with where it goes AND the wire position number has paid off in spades already. Several connectors have the same color wire in more than one place!! I also gave up on putting the harness together on a board. I didn't have one handy, my Hyundai won't easily get one, and - most importantly - I realized the very high likelihood that I'd screw it up. So I'm doing it in the car. It's amazing to me how much of this thing is going to disappear just by making it fit, never mind getting rid of the stuff I don't want.

[AZPete]

Whenever a builder enters the nearly endless maze of wiring, they disappear for months, like you have. All I can do is assure you that lengthening and shortening each wire, one at a time, will eventually pay off. I know the tunnel is long but there are lots of thrilling victories ahead. I remember that once I had the courage to add 12V to the system, each light and each gauge was a reason to cheer! Have patience and beer.

[turbomacncheese]

Not much to report. Still chugging away, but pictures aren't exciting here. I got the ECU wires all finished up, so there IS that...
Found a discrepancy in the wiring diagram. I had this bit hooked up right at some point, which tells me I labeled my wires correctly, but managed to snip through it while trimming up another wire. Pretty sure the two were supposed to go together, but I wanted to double check the book and it showed the wrong wire color, and the wrong destination. I must have convinced myself of the error when taking it apart, labeled it correctly, then forgot about the whole fiasco, lol. Thankfully, ipassgass was on standby with his harness at pretty much the same condition as mine and was able to confirm that I'm not crazy.
Basically, the HID relay gets power from a different circuit than in the book. Details here...

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?11880-Wiring-Guide-06-WRX-Sedan-with-Auto-AC-HVAC&p=356292&viewfull=1#post356292

I've had a couple other tangentially related projects going, but nothing worth mentioning here....yet. I still get in the car and fix a few wires most nights after work, and a few more on the weekend unless I need to drive to Scottsdale and share some beer and burgers with AZPete. Thanks bud! He's got the best perspective on these builds, as far as I can tell.

[turbomacncheese]

Well, for the next project, I'll know to take really good notes as I tear the harness OUT OF THE CAR. Last week I spent about an hour looking for the security horn relay, because I had a plug for it. Apparently it wasn't plugged into anything, but I labeled it "Steering column" anyway. Eventually found the other end of the ghost relay that plugged into the ghost security horn. It was all packed with the special grease. This was right after I found Mechie's thread on NASIOC where a guy claimed that the 2006 didn't get that particular horn. I believe it.

Spend another hour tonight looking for the security system shock sensor because I have a plug for that one that ISN'T full of grease. Decided to check the net and apparently that one is a dealer option upgrade, so in all likelihood, I just don't have it. It looks like the kind of part I would have just left plugged in like I did with the integrated unit, drl controller, keyless entry, etc.

The going is still slow, but I got to switch from the velcro zip ties to some plastic zip ties on the fuse and relay panels, so there's that.

104648

[AZPete]

The maze of dead-ends along the wiring path are all planned to make the end of the journey more rewarding. Your photo really cleared up any questions! ;)

[turbomacncheese]

I'm very happy to report that I'm not dead. So many things to take up time and get in the way, and the AZ summer heat in the garage didn't help. We also spent some time looking at property and bought 9 acres on the outskirts of town. Moved into a rental last month and signed paperwork to sell our old house Friday. Plans for the new house are drawn up, and we'll have a shop just over 1000sq ft. I'll get to drop some 220 outlets in there, too, so no more goofing around...getting serious. But I'll have to share about 200 ft of that with the wife. Upside, outskirts mean no HOA, which means I can put up a carport or shed and park there, leaving the garage free for fun stuff!

But now that I don't have a house to maintain, I got to put in some hours on the wiring harness. Got as close to done as I could see with that pesky ground circuit. Hooked up the battery, turned the key, nothing. Apparently it helps if you have the power supply to the fuse block hooked up. Did that, and I got a couple lights and some noise!

137339

The battery was at 11.5 volts, so I was hopeful, but all the relays and controllers started buzzing and when I checked the battery it had dropped to 5 volts. Not surprising after sitting for 2 years, so I'll take it to O'Reilly and see if they can put a charge on it.

Nothing in the bumper or fenders is mounted, so some of that wiring is not hooked up and I can't test any of it. But I am pretty pleased that I didn't let out any magic smoke. That counts for something. Forgot I have to ground out the rear door sensors, too, and also need to figure out what's up with the security light.

I can say out loud that, while happy overall, I'm a little disappointed with the wiring. In my head, it was all going to be so much cleaner, but getting anything into and around that fuse block cluster just....sucked. I pulled a LOT of stuff out as it is, and most of the wiring is pretty OK. I filled up one of those 15 gallon cans with wire, tape, and plugs. I was going to share a picture when I finished, but it didn't make sense to move it to the rental. Suffice to say that I've still got twice that much out of the car that I can toss as soon as it's running again. So that's not nothing, either. But at least a dozen times I seriously debated just ripping it all out and starting over with new wire and new connectors everywhere. I may decide to turn this car into a project again, once I've finished whatever I build after this, and that's what I'll do next time.

[turbomacncheese]

Well, it runs. Fired right up with a new batter. So fast, my wife didn't even get a video of it trying. Been sitting for 2 years and 4 months. Just a very small amount of gas in the tank this whole time. And it didn't....even....hesitate. I don't think it was cranking for a full second and it just WENT. Never had a car do that. Ever.

That said, I had plenty of lights ont the cluster this time:
"ABS", didn't expect that one.
"Brake", I had the sensor plugged in, but the fluid was low - right at the min level. Didn't plug in the hand brake, either, so that doesn't make sense. I think that one is normal open.
"Check Engine", I'm not sure what this would be about. I got rid of the air pump and the TGV valves but I don't remember that light coming on last time. Could be that I had the valves plugged in, though. My scanner took a crap and died. But I also tried the start without the MAF hooked up, since that's what it took the first time. Plenty of leaks between the filter and the TB because duct tape is holding it all on there.
"Airbag", no surprise. Might just unplug that light.
"Cruise", not real happy about that one. I left all the cruise control stuff in.
Big bright dot near the "E" on the fuel gauge. I guess that's the one that means "Quit screwing around and get some gas!!"
I think I'll spend tomorrow putting the firewall back in, then the seats, and start tieing up the wires that are gonna get in the way (lights and all that). Odds and ends like some vacuum line for the brake booster, radiator overflow, etc. Might get a gokart in next weekend if I'm lucky.

[AZPete]

All looks good, Tony, but I recommend Gorilla tape instead of duct tape on your TB.

[turbomacncheese]

All looks good, Tony, but I recommend Gorilla tape instead of duct tape on your TB.

That's a great suggestion, but the whole point was to just try and trick the MAF sensor. If I put that gorilla tape on there, that's a permanent solution!

Quick update, looks like my scanner wasn't trash after all. Worked just fine on the other car. Turns out I took a LgB wire from the ECU and branched it in to a LgB bundle that does something else entirely. So the good news is that (after pulling all the wires from the scanner display and resoldering them, lol) the scanner scans the car now. I have a few codes that I think are related to the TGV, a couple related to the air pumps, and one each for the MAF and IAT, which I believe are the same sensor.

Bad news is that I still have way too many lights on the dash. It looks like they're all on the same power circuit, so I guess I'll start there. But later. Now it's almost time for a nap.

[AZPete]

;) you took the bait.

[lsfourwheeler]

Do you have a Tactrix cable to delete some of the codes for TGV and such?

[Ipassgas]

Dang. I go away for 5 months, and you start nipping at my heels. Crap. I gotta fix the Aston, the Bug, the WRX and then get back to winning the race!

[turbomacncheese]

https://youtu.be/PjIGawBcp4o

Never mind the beard and the hair.

[Shawn818c]

congrats on reaching the go-kart milestone!!

[turbomacncheese]

Not much very remarkable, as so many people have gone before me. I really need to stop procrastinating on the motor mounts and maf sensor now.
I DO need to say that the brake booster is perfect, though. I didn't mash the brakes because wifey was with me, but it felt just like the pedal on my other cars. Once I got out of the driveway, I forgot all about it. SUPER happy with how that turned out.

[AZPete]

What? "Not much very remarkable", you say. How can you say that when your power brakes worked? This is the first 818 with a working power brake booster, isn't it? I know that you researched, and researched, and tried, and errored (is that a word?), and persevered until you found what works. All the rest of us had to get used to pressing the pedal hard compared to our DDs, but you did it! Congrats!

Next, I think you should create a separate thread about adding power brakes so others can follow. Show the parts needed, how to install and whatever else would help.

Oh, and another First: First go-kart video at night. :)

Again, congrats on taking us up another step to power brakes.

[turbomacncheese]

Yeah, i suppose that's something. I did make the pdf already and shared it here. Not really much to add outside of that, as I already did my best to make it complete. Maybe a new post with the result update would be in order, though.

[turbomacncheese]

Well, i finally got to the bottom of the maf sensor problem. It does indeed only fit the intake tube in one direction. So it wasn't installed backwards. The intake tube though, that's another story. It doesn't fit equally well both ways, but it DOES go on backwards. I flipped the whole thing around and it fired up. But the family was waiting on me for dinner so between hurrying up to get inside and slapping myself simultaneously on the back and the forehead, I didn't bother to look at the lights on the dash.

[jforand]

Congrats on the go karting. We actually timed up pretty well.

1st Start - 2/13/21

1st Drive - 4/3/21
(had to wait on rear axles, ordered after 1st start)

Bus parking lot driving as it is not street legal

1st Track - Road Atlanta 6/12/21
Made it 2.5 laps and a significant oil leak actually caught fire during a Red Flag for another guys crash

2nd Track - Virginia International Raceway 6/28-6/29
Made it the first day and had tons of fun building up the speed. Lost a piston an killed the motor first session of day two.

151152
Good times while they lasted. Body optional!

151146
Fist in the air is the universal "oh crap, that is likely expensive" signal to the other people on track.

[AZPete]

. . . And slapping myself simultaneously on the back and the forehead, lol

[turbomacncheese]

Chose to buy the $180 Tactrix OpenPort instead of the $40 knockoff because I'm slowly learning that it doesn't make sense to buy tools I need to fix before I can use them to fix my projects. I can't say whether skipping the import tool was a good idea, but getting the Tactrix was definitely a good idea. Connected on the first shot, pulled the ROM down on the first shot, took all my changes on the first shot, and uploaded to the ECU successfully on the first shot. Started right up, no check engine light, no abs light, no cruise control light. Gotta say, that feels really good. I think there is a lightbulb for the airbag lamp that we can remove, right?
151720

[Hobby Racer]

I think there is a lightbulb for the airbag lamp that we can remove, right?
151720

Even easier, if you connect the B3 wire from the large center connector to ground it will turn off the ABS light.

151724

[turbomacncheese]

I have my abs plumbed in and the light is off. It's the airbag light I need to deal with.

[Hobby Racer]

I have my abs plumbed in and the light is off. It's the airbag light I need to deal with.

Oops, you need to run +12V to B18 in the same connector. Look at the pic I posted before, its there.

[turbomacncheese]

I see. I also didn't realize the back of the cluster has to come off to even see the light. The bulb I THOUGHT I would pull is actually for the battery. Weird how some of the bulbs are accessible, though.

Is there any other advantage to running 12V besides not risking a few broken clips?

[Hobby Racer]

Is there any other advantage to running 12V besides not risking a few broken clips?

Not really. By running +12V your just faking the cluster out to think the air bag is connected and working fine.

[turbomacncheese]

Thanks. Wish I'd known a year ago. Right now I'm about sick of wires, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up taking it all apart at some point in the future anyway.

[turbomacncheese]

Turns out it takes a lot of skill to go from a want to an idea to a thing (which has only increased my admiration for most of you!). My wants exceed my ideas, and my ideas far exceed my skills, at least with my current tools. I'm spending way too much time trying to figure out how to make certain things work the way i WANT them to, so I've put the stock intercooler and motor mounts back on. I'm also going to roll back my ideas for the interior. Pretty well committed at this point to stripping it down after driving for a while and shaking it out, which will give me time to figure out what I'm going to do for the wife's hallmark truck request. Plus I'll be out of the rental house by then and have room for my tools and real space to work.
But the dang shifter. I figure driving a car means shifting gears a hundred times a week or more, and if I don't fix it now I'll be mad a hundred times a week, and i don't need that kind of negativity on a ride. My immediate plan is to turn the kit shifter around and press out the stick so it isn't bent the wrong way. That means I'll need to reverse the motion on both cables. If I can't get that to work I'll spend the money on one of the generic ebay shifters. Then I'll move on to shortening the cables as a couple others have done, otherwise if shortening the cables doesn't go well, I'll do as most and buy them. It won't take me long to spend more money on the attempt than on the cables, so I'll need a fair bit of luck and the ability to call the effort dead (not my strong suit).
I'm the meantime, here is my progress on the crank. So far, I think it's gonna work. Just need to pick up some tiny rod ends so I can figure out what the selector bracket needs to look like. Once I have that, i can probably sketch it. The large bracket will be steel, the cranks will be alunimimium. If I can't make this work, I'll buy a solution need I need to move on.

https://youtu.be/sPc9IH6Fv8c

[FFRWRX]

Exactly what I did. Mocked it up in wood and then machined the parts in aluminum. Add a few extra holes for adjustment, so you can play with shifter throw vs effort. My 'L' bracket also reversed the throw, since my shifter needed that.

153871

Rick

[turbomacncheese]

WOW. That's really something, how similar they are!

[jforand]

Same basic thing here (My wood mockup was far more primitive though). I also integrated in a lever for the reverse lockout. It is simply bicycle brake cable and it runs up to a collar on the shifter itself. I just reach down with two fingers and pull the collar up for reverse.

153964

This was early on so, NO the sheetrock screw is not how I am securing the reverse lockout lever and the spring roll pin is fully engaged on the lever arm :D Currently I have flipped the plastic FFR shifter around backwards so the cables come out the rear. I ended up shortening those to tighten things up a bit. It can get a little confusing on reversing or not revering the push/pull actions.

[turbomacncheese]

I like it! I'm not gonna lie, I wish I'd seen either of those setups before I started mine. Designing stuff is NOT something I've ever been good at, and I spent a LOT of hours getting this far. Thanks for sharing.

Was it difficult to shorten the cables? I've seen that a couple members did this successfully, but it seems a bit...fiddly?

[FFRWRX]

Was it difficult to shorten the cables? I've seen that a couple members did this successfully, but it seems a bit...fiddly?

Depends on the tools and equipment you have. I figured I had nothing to lose to try shortening them. Worst case was I mess them up and order new ones, which I would have done if I didn't try shortening them. I put some details on my build page on how I did it (post #66). I would say not terribly difficult, but a bit fiddly. I used a lathe to make/modify some parts and a small hydraulic press and silver brazing. If you are about to order new shorter ones, then cut one of the cables off near the end and see how it is made up and how to shorten it. Probably many ways to do it. There isn't a huge pulling load on them so it probably doesn't need to be as strong as the factory connection. But you certainly don't want them coming apart.

Rick

[aquillen]

I have leftovers from shortening mine (I think I do). I could send a piece if you want to see what it will demand of you to try first. You probably saw my posts on doing this. Some fab work required beside just chopping things off since you have to make your own new end peices.

[turbomacncheese]

Thanks gentlemen. I'm pretty sure that you are exactly the two I was thinking of. The silver solder rings my bell, and Art, well, you're Art, lol.
I will definitely not be using these cables, so no harm if i mangle them, and not a lot of boats out here in the desert so i can't imagine anyone needing 20ft cables so no money lost there.
I did build several cncs since I talked to you about them a couple years ago, Art, (which is why my parts aren't lopsided or crooked and the bearings fit) but I'm down to 2 routers, a laser, and a couole printers, lol. None of them suitable for making the required endpieces, i think. And no lathe yet.
I think I'll just cut one open and see. When I was a kid I took things apart just to see how they worked (I'm pretty sure everyone here did) so this will be no different.
First, i want to get everything else sorted though. I picked up a new endmill and i want to try steel on one of my routers. It would be real nice if i could cut that part in house.
Thanks for the help.

[turbomacncheese]

Well, I didn't forget about this thing and I haven't given up (although I did briefly consider selling it and buying an 80s camaro or jaguar to work on instead). Long story short-ish, we built a house on 9 acres, had to live in a rental while it was being built (with hardly any garage space), and when we finally moved it got a good hard rain that flooded the garage because the concrete wasn't sloped away enough from the bay door. Guys came out to grind it down for us which required moving the 818 outside, and while they were working, the heavens opened up and rained on it. Took me 6 months to figure out the reason it stopped working was that the immobilizer got wet and the board rusted. Anyone who's looked at the 2006 immobilizer knows why this is a big problem for us.

After MUCH consternation (and swearing), many phone calls, hours and hours of internetting, and some deep soul-searching, I lucked into another ECU/Immobilizer/Key. Ajzride sold me his, and if anyone got here searching his name to find whether he's trustworthy because they want to buy something from him, he's great. Really bailed me out, big time.

In the months of sitting, some things have deteriorated, some things were finished quickly to get it running so I could load it on a rented trailer, and some things, well.....

Most pressing is that we pushed it outside to work on the Hyundai, and the wife noticed fuel leaking from the elbow that comes off the fuel tank. I'd hoped it was a loose clamp, but it's all kinds of cracked up. I'm gonna need a replacement, not sure what to replace it with.

After that is the engine mounts. The DIY urethane I put together didn't leave the faces parallel, and when I tightened one of them down the plate separated. I had some scrap 4x2 steel that appears to have the dimensions I want, so I'm going to try some sold mounts out of those. If that doesn't work out for me, I'll attempt some IAG clones, and if that fails, I'll just make spacers that use up whatever extra thread I have on the stock mounts and settle for that.

The epoxy holding the windshield frame together has failed, so that's disappointing, but I think it should be trivial to scrape that away and add some new, although I could use some clues about what kind of epoxy would be suitable.

After that, dashboard lights and really all the lights. From there I just want to button it up and get it registered. If it works well enough, then it works until then. Maybe drive it around for a month or two and make a list of everything that I don't like (including the wiring) and rip it all back apart to finish it better with all my new skills and tools. THEN I'll paint it. Starting to feel pretty good here, but I want to build an auxiliary shed/garage for working on cars (or at least storing them) and reclaim the spot it's in for woodshop stuff. Wifey is getting pretty serious about the side-gig, so we need more room (of course).