Camera's 818C

[Shawn818c]

you'll need a rack limiter so the tires don't hit the frame. Wallace used something similar from Tractor Supply, but I found these on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IL5GGO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Also, up front I'm using a 1.75" to 1.5" 45* silicone elbow to keep the corrugated coolant lines out of the wheel well.

[STiPWRD]

I'm running the shaft collars as well to limit the steering. I found the split version a bit easier to install.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/312237658599?hash=item48b2d091e7:g:vqgAAOSwjBhcCy~ D

[Shawn818c]

I'm running the shaft collars as well to limit the steering. I found the split version a bit easier to install.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/312237658599?hash=item48b2d091e7:g:vqgAAOSwjBhcCy~ D

are those actually 5/8" width? I was only finding the split versions in 1/2"

[STiPWRD]

are those actually 5/8" width? I was only finding the split versions in 1/2"

The exact ones I bought were 1/2" wide. The ones in the link I just found quickly as an example.

[mcamera]

You guys have some awesome feedback. I appreciate you pointing out my mistakes and helping me avoid future problems. My 2020 manual did show that I installed the lower control arm rear mounts upside down if you trust the picture. There's no mention of putting the shorter flange towards the outside of the car or anything like that. I spent a few hours removing and rotating those. That may have improved clearance 1/4" (see pics below of before/after) but did not solve the coolant hose interference. I'll be close to interfering with the side pod as pointed out but I'm not going to worry about that until I get my wheel spacers and alignment dialed in more. But a good thing to keep in my mind.

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I don't think I can move the coolant hose coupler back enough to stay within the frame for the splash guard. I've ordered a pair of 45 degree silicone elbows to bring the coolant hose in. I'll have to drain and refill my coolant but a great suggestion, thank you.

I've ordered a pair of 1" ID double split shaft collars for the steering rack. After seeing that full steering lock doesn't leave a lot of clearance to the sway bar link, now I DO want to limit steering at least a little. Maybe I'll need to limit the steering more when I get the splash guards / side pods on, but either way I'll need these.

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Less exciting but more satisfying, I made a couple aluminum brackets to support the bottom of the coolant degas and overflow bottles. I didn't like how they just hung out there asking for a fatigue failure of the top mounts. The degas bracket uses a 1" and a 0.75" spacer for the bottom mounts (can't be seen in the pic) with M6 bolts. These holes must have been leftover from a bracket I removed but were the only mounting spots close by. Luckily there were 2 so the bracket won't rotate. The overflow mount is 1/8"T x 1.5"W aluminum bar bent 90deg with a rubber grommet to hold the post on the bottle. I'm waiting to paint several brackets all at once, but they'll look more finished in gloss black.

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[Shawn818c]

Sorry, I hate to be the bearer of bad news (or maybe you know already) but where you have the cush clamp on your brake line is where the fender well aluminum rivets to. However, you should still be able to go-kart no issues.

Awesome progress!! I'm impressed, crushing me for sure...

[RPGs818SNA]

The latest digital manual, which FFR sent me upon request, adds a photo and a short note saying that the shorter tab goes up. It’s probably worth asking for.
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I love your brackets, especially the dogleg one for the degas bottle. It’s simple and elegant, and not beyond first time builders like me. Thanks for sharing it.

[mcamera]

Shawn my heart dropped when you said bad news but luckily that's a small issue. I can move that when I get to the fender well install. I didn't like how the soft line was flopping around when I turned the steering wheel. My driver's side hose was really close to the sharp threads on a sway bar mount bolt. Thanks for the heads up!

RPG I'll email FFR. I'm a first time builder too so it took me awhile to figure out a simple design for both. It looks so simple once you see the final product, but it took some trial and error. I was trying to use some scrap 90deg aluminum that was only 0.75" wide to make the overflow bracket and it was this funky box design with several rivets... I decided it was worth it to buy some wider 1.5" flat aluminum and just bend it. The grommet needed a 0.75" hole which was much easier on the wider aluminum. I'm really proud of the dog leg bracket on the degas bottle. That took me 3 prototypes to come up with. I didn't want to mount the bottle to the frame since the engine moves and I thought I only had 1 hole to mount to on the engine head which would allow the bracket to rotate. I tried this crazy bent bracket that attached to the top degas mounts but decided it didn't offer much support. Then I found that 2nd hole on the engine head behind the coil pack wires and things looked more straight forward. If you need metal that's not readily available at your hardware store I recommend OnlineMetals.com. Cheap prices and my stuff always comes the next day. Shipping larger pieces of metal was way more expensive using McMaster Carr. Good luck on your build!

[Shawn818c]

Shawn my heart dropped when you said bad news but luckily that's a small issue. I can move that when I get to the fender well install. I didn't like how the soft line was flopping around when I turned the steering wheel. My driver's side hose was really close to the sharp threads on a sway bar mount bolt. Thanks for the heads up!

RPG I'll email FFR. I'm a first time builder too so it took me awhile to figure out a simple design for both. It looks so simple once you see the final product, but it took some trial and error. I was trying to use some scrap 90deg aluminum that was only 0.75" wide to make the overflow bracket and it was this funky box design with several rivets... I decided it was worth it to buy some wider 1.5" flat aluminum and just bend it. The grommet needed a 0.75" hole which was much easier on the wider aluminum. I'm really proud of the dog leg bracket on the degas bottle. That took me 3 prototypes to come up with. I didn't want to mount the bottle to the frame since the engine moves and I thought I only had 1 hole to mount to on the engine head which would allow the bracket to rotate. I tried this crazy bent bracket that attached to the top degas mounts but decided it didn't offer much support. Then I found that 2nd hole on the engine head behind the coil pack wires and things looked more straight forward. If you need metal that's not readily available at your hardware store I recommend OnlineMetals.com. Cheap prices and my stuff always comes the next day. Shipping larger pieces of metal was way more expensive using McMaster Carr. Good luck on your build!

Yes, minor for sure. On the passenger side I went to the upright and now the brake line rubs on the sway bar, going to make a stand off or something.

Did you get the aluminum collars that STi posted?

[mcamera]

Yes, minor for sure. On the passenger side I went to the upright and now the brake line rubs on the sway bar, going to make a stand off or something.

Did you get the aluminum collars that STi posted?

I haven't seen how the wheel well aluminum sits yet, but I would think I can install the aluminum and just mount my hose the same way it is now on top of the aluminum.

I bought similar shaft collars on Amazon. Same dimensions but 1/2" wide.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT9R1L6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Scott Meyer]

Here’s a shot of most the wheel well aluminum. We did the same on the brake lines since there was no guidance on where to mount them. We’ve cut and trimmed the aluminum panel to fit around the brake hard line to flex line mount.

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[mcamera]

Here’s a shot of most the wheel well aluminum. We did the same on the brake lines since there was no guidance on where to mount them. We’ve cut and trimmed the aluminum panel to fit around the brake hard line to flex line mount.

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Thanks for the pic Scott. The spot I mounted mine brake line was the only spot that kept decent slack in the line at full steering lock (no wheels on). But now that I've put the wheels on and see that I'm going to limit steering, the mounting location should be a little more flexible. I'll likely just cut any aluminum that I need to when I get there.

[mcamera]

Things are looking good. I bought 2 silicone elbows and installed them. A great suggestion from Shawn. On the driver's side this pulled the coolant line completely out of the wheel well. At full steering lock (~1.25 turns) my tire still hits the elbow and my firewall. At 1 steering wheel turn, there is clearance to everything so that's what I'll set my steering rack limiters to for now. Just a reminder that my car is on jacks so the wheels are at their lowest. When I set the car down, the wheels will be pushed outwards a little due to suspension geometry. What you see here is the worst case scenario (wheels have no load / big road bump / jumping a river Dukes of Hazard style).

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On the passenger side I couldn't push the solid aluminum coolant pipe back any further and the elbow still stuck into the wheel well. I removed the pipe and bent it a little more. Now everything clears. There were no problems routing the accordion pipe with these elbows. They don't force the connection into the LCA's or anything like that.

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My tires do go beyond the firewall when turning, but I think it'll still clear my side pods since they don't come all the way up to the firewall. Still to be confirmed when I get further in my build.

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Bleeding my coolant system today and waiting on my ZDB shifter. Then I can go kart for the first time!

[RPGs818SNA]

If you need metal that's not readily available at your hardware store I recommend OnlineMetals.com. Cheap prices and my stuff always comes the next day. Shipping larger pieces of metal was way more expensive using McMaster Carr. Good luck on your build!

Thanks for the link to OnlineMetals.com, Mcamera. I had no idea that there were so many shapes, sizes, and alloys of aluminum. I recently had to make an angled spacer to go between my 2.5L NA exhaust header and the kit tailpipe to keep it from hitting the frame. I went to the local metal recycler to get a 0.2” thick 4”x4” piece of aluminum. In their pile of pieces, there was a 4x10 piece 0.19” thick with a few small holes drilled in it. My template showed I could fit 3 spacers, 2 for practice and one real. It cost a dollar. With a router table and hack saw, I made this spacer that lowered my tailpipe 2.5 degrees, clearing the frame nicely. Like you, I find creating novel solutions most enjoyable. Hope you get to go karting soon.

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[mcamera]

I finished insulating the cabin this weekend. There isn't much room between my seats and the side of the car, so I put the insulation on the outside of the panels in that area. The Noico foam insulation says it's good for 190ºF, so we'll see how it does an inch from the coolant pipe carrying 210ºF coolant. I have the butyl/aluminum faced sound deadening underneath the foam too.

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I used 4.75" of wood blocks to set my ride height all around which settled out to 4-5/8". I'm debating going up to 5" for rough Michigan roads. We also have a lot of steep curbed driveways in my area directly off of 50mph roads with no turning lane. I don't think anybody will appreciate me slowing down to 2mph to crawl over a curb.

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I've started on the body work and it's messy. I'm already annoyed that FFR gave us 5/8" long screws to attach the tail lights through 1/2" of material. There are almost no threads to get the nut on. Looks like I'll have to find longer black screws.

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[Jetfuel]

Thanks for the link to OnlineMetals.com, Mcamera. I had no idea that there were so many shapes, sizes, and alloys of aluminum. I recently had to make an angled spacer to go between my 2.5L NA exhaust header and the kit tailpipe to keep it from hitting the frame. I went to the local metal recycler to get a 0.2” thick 4”x4” piece of aluminum. In their pile of pieces, there was a 4x10 piece 0.19” thick with a few small holes drilled in it. My template showed I could fit 3 spacers, 2 for practice and one real. It cost a dollar. With a router table and hack saw, I made this spacer that lowered my tailpipe 2.5 degrees, clearing the frame nicely. Like you, I find creating novel solutions most enjoyable. Hope you get to go karting soon.

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I'll be cautious using aluminum in the exhaust system, the extreme temperatures and contact with dissimilar metal will accelerate the corrosion and cracking, and the difference in expansion will most likely make it a loose joint in no time thus creating a leak.

Jet...my .02

[J R Jones]

I concur with Jetfuel. The corrosive gas/condensate in the exhaust will not be kind, and corrosion of the steel exhaust will accelerate corrosion of the aluminum spacer, like an anode.
jim

[RPGs818SNA]

Thanks Jet and Jim. I had no idea that the aluminum would cause so many problems. Fortunately it’s just for the go kart stage, and will be replaced with a real tailpipe with muffler. It was fun to design and make, and solved my immediate problem, but next time I’ll use stainless.
RPG

[FFRWRX]

I’ve used header gaskets before that are “dead soft” aluminum; fairly common. Is that much different than what is shown here? I honestly don’t know, but I don’t think it is unreasonable to try it.

[mcamera]

My girlfriend's parents are coming up tonight for a vacation in Traverse City and her dad is really into cars, so I temporarily rigged up the FFR shifter so I could take him for a ride. The shifter feels awful, the turning radius isn't great, and there are no seatbelts, but it's drivable! The engine pulls great up to 4000rpm with the mildest Cobb tune. I didn't want to go any faster in my neighborhood which is good because I forgot to tighten my lug nuts. Out of all the things I checked I forgot one of the basics. But that's why you take it easy on the first drive. They're torqued down now. I also saw a cop fly by on the main road with his lights on and decided to park the car just in case.


https://youtu.be/0K_LPKSOsU4

Rear bumper is looking good and I'm waiting on the ZDM shifter that I hope greatly improves the shift quality.

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[mcamera]

My family and I were having a great vacation in Northern Michigan until we hit a deer on the highway yesterday. I was driving my mom's Equinox next to a truck and didn't see the deer until they ran in front of the truck. I missed the 1st one but hit the 2nd one at about 70mph. Nobody was hurt, just a few scrapes and ringing ears from the airbags. We were grateful the deer hit low and didn't come through the windshield. It makes you appreciate the safety in modern cars and wonder how well the 818 would do in a crash with its low hood and no a-pillar or roof structure. I didn't think you would feel a 200lb deer that much when hitting it with a 3500lb car, but it felt like driving through a wall.

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[mikeb75]

Happy to hear no one was injured, sorry about the accident!

e=mc^2 ... lots of energy to dissipate, glad it went through your car (mostly).

[Jetfuel]

Thank God you all were not hurt.
Count your Blessings
As for an 818...it will take the legs out from under making the deer land flat way high on the hood and that’s as far as I want to think about that scenario

Jet

[J R Jones]

Mcam, That is a lot of air bag deployment. Looks expensive. If the windshield was also broken, I would predict a total.
I had a buck take-out the LF fender and left doors on my E46 BMW which totaled that, but no air bags were involved. CL parts made it a DIY bolt on. Even the right color!
The blue on that SUV looks great. Mom OK?
Yeah you don't want to confront animals with an 818s or a motorcycle.
jim

[mcamera]

Thanks for the kind words. My mom is fine, she was in the back seat furthest from the impact. We're waiting on the insurance adjustor to tell us if it's totaled. It's a 2019 Equinox so it's still worth a good amount of money. It'll be close.

[mcamera]

I cut out the side vent and gas cap hole on the driver's side. I'll paint the vent and gas cap black but I don't think I like the wirey mesh and thick surrounding metal on the side vent. I may cut the vent larger and just do a thicker black mesh behind it without the metal border. I need to look around for inspiration before I cut the hole bigger.

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I received 1 glossy and 1 matte headlight bucket so I emailed FFR. Their supplier updated to the matte style and I just happened to get 1 of the old glossy buckets. They shipped me a matching matte bucket within a few days. I taped the headlight in place to help hold it while I drilled my holes. It would be really hard to hold it in place with 1 hand while drilling with the other hand because it slides around so easily. This also gave me a chance to step back and make sure it was centered well with the body opening. I drilled in the middle of the body flange as directed but in 2 places that put my hole right next to the bucket. The bucket flange is round and narrow in a couple spots which doesn't help. My bolt would go straight into the side of the bucket at the angle needed to be flush on the body. You can see in my pics that the bolt wouldn't sit flush on the body because it was hitting the side of the bucket.

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I debated how to get those 2 bolts flush. Drilling in another location with a flatter flange would rule out the entire outside perimeter of the headlight which would mean no support on that side of the bucket. Cutting the bolt shorter wouldn't help because the nut was actually jammed up against the side of the bucket, forcing the bolt to follow that bad angle. I eventually ran to the hardware store and bought some smaller #6 countersunk bolts. The bolt/nut is small enough to allow a better angle and the smaller head means it sits lower in the countersunk hole of the body flange so it doesn't stick out. In the pic below they're the 2 bolts on the right side of the bucket. You'll also notice just above the headlight that I had to re-drill 1 hole because the bolt landed inside of the plastic headlight bracket where I couldn't reach to attach a nut.

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I'm still working on trimming/molding the headlight lens with a heat gun. I want the perimeter to be as flush with the body flange as possible for the double sided tape. I don't want 1 area to have a gap and be constantly trying to peel the tape up. Did everybody paint a black perimeter on the lens on the outside? I'd like to paint the border on the inside of the lens so the paint doesn't get chipped from road debris. But I don't know if that will adhere/hold up well with the double sided tape?

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[FFRWRX]

I don't think I like the wirey mesh and thick surrounding metal on the side vent. I may cut the vent larger and just do a thicker black mesh behind it without the metal border. I need to look around for inspiration before I cut the hole bigger.


I agree, not crazy about the look with the metal surround. A thinner one maybe? Or as you say, a clean vent cutout with the metal behind it. I'll see what you come up with. :)

[idf]

[QUOTE=mcamera;457047]I cut out the side vent and gas cap hole on the driver's side. I'll paint the vent and gas cap black but I don't think I like the wirey mesh and thick surrounding metal on the side vent. I may cut the vent larger and just do a thicker black mesh behind it without the metal border. I need to look around for inspiration before I cut the hole bigger.

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I had originally installed the vent and border powder coated black and decided I didn't like it. I cut out the vent larger and left it open with the inner fender well painted black. I think it looks good and hopefully flows more air.148392

[J R Jones]

Warning Mcam, Counter sink head fasteners are problematic with plastic parts. The head shape puts a spreading clamp load on the inside of the hole and will cause radial cracks around the hole.
Any flat bottom head is better, Socket head button head, phillips head or slot head. Even a carriage type fastener could work, but that head diameter is usually larger. "T" bolts could work but are rare.
The 818R guys enlarge the side vents and go for a sharper radius on the leading edge of the scoop for more air. (Hobby Racer & Sgt Gator)
jim

[narkosys]

for the side vents, have you seen VRaptor's side scoops (http://vraptorspeedworks.com/818-side-scoop-louvers/)?

[Scott Meyer]

Seems like we got the same poor QC on the headlights as you did. Couldn’t understand how they can send out one glossy and one matte. It’s not the same plastic once you begin sanding on them. We’ve gone a different route…it’s not done with preparation yet but a taste of what’s coming…
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[mcamera]

I had originally installed the vent and border powder coated black and decided I didn't like it. I cut out the vent larger and left it open with the inner fender well painted black. I think it looks good and hopefully flows more air.148392

Thank you for the pic, that's exactly what I was thinking. I wasn't sure how nicely a black fender well would do as a background but yours looks great. This is what I'm currently planning to do. I'll still wait until I get the fender well mocked up before I make my final cuts though.


Warning Mcam, Counter sink head fasteners are problematic with plastic parts. The head shape puts a spreading clamp load on the inside of the hole and will cause radial cracks around the hole.
Any flat bottom head is better, Socket head button head, phillips head or slot head. Even a carriage type fastener could work, but that head diameter is usually larger. "T" bolts could work but are rare.
The 818R guys enlarge the side vents and go for a sharper radius on the leading edge of the scoop for more air. (Hobby Racer & Sgt Gator)
jim

FFR has you countersink all of the holes for the headlight install. You can't leave the bolt head standing proud for the lens install, and there isn't enough fiberglass for a counterbore. I used smaller bolts for 2/5 connections on the driver headlight as needed for space constraints, but I still plan to use as many 10-32 bolts as possible on the passenger headlight for your concerns. The larger head will distribute stress better. In theory it's not perfect but I haven't seen any issues from previous builders. The perimeter of the headlight also gets glued in with silicone so that may take a little load off the 5 mounting bolts.


for the side vents, have you seen VRaptor's side scoops (http://vraptorspeedworks.com/818-side-scoop-louvers/)?

I haven't seen those before so thanks for suggesting them. They look cool but I'm still leaning towards the larger opening concept.


Seems like we got the same poor QC on the headlights as you did. Couldn’t understand how they can send out one glossy and one matte. It’s not the same plastic once you begin sanding on them. We’ve gone a different route…it’s not done with preparation yet but a taste of what’s coming…
148396

FFR said they arrive pre wrapped so they never see them. You would think there would be a part number change or revision # to differentiate them but I guess not. Those will stand out! Are those hydro dipped?

[J R Jones]

Mcam, FFR spec'd something I do not agree with? How can that be? I must be wrong.

Plastic windscreens on motorcycles have used plastic screws and nuts that limit clamp force.
In this case consider nylock stop nuts that will not loosen when snug, not tight.

Opps, you already did that. Good on you.
jim

[Scott Meyer]

Michael,

No, I’m teaching myself how to do real carbon fiber skinning! Also doing our engine cover (818S) now…

[mcamera]

I received my ZDM shifter and it's a really nice piece. It's not a direct drop in for my setup though so I'm weighing some options.

If I mount on top of the rails it interferes with my passenger seat and my handbrake
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If I hang it underneath the rails, my handbrake is good but the stick hits the passenger side rail
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If I raise the shifter 1.5" I gain enough clearance to my passenger seat but still interfere with my handbrake
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If I raise the shifter 3" I have lots of clearance to my passenger seat, the cables go straight back through the firewall, and this was my favorite position for comfort. But it interferes with my handbrake, requires I raise the center console, and I'm concerned about shift effort with such a short stick.
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I talked to Craig about straightening the stick so it's not leaning towards my passenger seat and he suggested a couple other things. One of those was to order an early MR2 stick (AW11, not the SW20) which has the same ball as his ZDM shifter and has a bend going forward, not towards the passenger side. For $25 on Ebay I'm going to give that a shot. I'm hoping that allows me to hang my shifter underneath the rails without interfering with the passenger rail, and it won't interfere with my handbrake. Mounting the shifter low also gives me the option to add a 3" stick extension to reduce effort and bring the stick to a slightly higher/more comfortable position.

If it still hits the passenger rail, I'll be looking to move the handbrake and mount it on top of the rails. Passenger seat clearance TBD with the straighter stick. If that's still a problem, onto raising the console!

2nd headlight was easier to install but I still needed smaller #8 bolt/nuts in a couple areas. The fender had larger gaps to the bucket so I used an extra bolt to help pull it tight. I had to put the hood on just to remind myself of what I'm building.
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[J R Jones]

Mcam, I can be uninhibited with suggestions, so off the wall:
Presidents are square and level, but you could consider a small to moderate tilt to the left, or a small tilt aft. Both?
That might put the knob/shaft where it is comfortable.
If it 1-2 degrees it might be perceived as a fault. More than that shows intent.
jim

[roadrashrob]

Michael,

Is moving the whole unit forward just a bit not an option? Reason I ask is I have the ZDB shifter as well, but I had switched to a front mounted fuel tank and my seats go back a few more inches. My shifter looks like it is in approximately the same physical space on the car, but slightly forward "relative" to the seat. I find that a very comfortable geometry, and I'm only 5'11", so not like I have gorilla arms! :-)

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[mcamera]

Mcam, I can be uninhibited with suggestions, so off the wall:
Presidents are square and level, but you could consider a small to moderate tilt to the left, or a small tilt aft. Both?
That might put the knob/shaft where it is comfortable.
If it 1-2 degrees it might be perceived as a fault. More than that shows intent.
jim

A small tilt to the left may help for fine tuning. I need to do something more drastic since the shift knob adds to the interference. I'd have no room for my fingers next to the passenger seat in 5th/reverse gears. I'd like to keep everything true for rigidity, but I guess OEM shifters use rubber mounts right? A tiny bit of play shouldn't feel strange if I tilt a couple degrees.


Michael,

Is moving the whole unit forward just a bit not an option? Reason I ask is I have the ZDB shifter as well, but I had switched to a front mounted fuel tank and my seats go back a few more inches. My shifter looks like it is in approximately the same physical space on the car, but slightly forward "relative" to the seat. I find that a very comfortable geometry, and I'm only 5'11", so not like I have gorilla arms! :-)

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Unfortunately any further forward becomes a reach for 5th gear. I'm 5'9" but maybe I have short arms? I'd also have to move it forward several inches to clear my handbrake (see pic). I see that you don't have your seats in yet. I took Lance's advice awhile back and waited to mount my original shifter until after I installed the driver's seat. I was surprised how much further back I had to mount the shifter to be comfortable once I sat higher up in the seat. Especially with a low shifter like the ZDM where you have to reach down, reducing how far you can reach out.
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[roadrashrob]

I get it. I did mount it with the seats in, which was how I determined where I wanted it. Just don't keep them in. Lot's of fiddling until it felt just right. Was funny in that without the cables there was a lot more throw that with the cables, so I found 5th gear to be closer than my mock up.

[FFRWRX]

Move the handbrake up a bit with an added bracket? Can it go back any further?

[mcamera]

Move the handbrake up a bit with an added bracket? Can it go back any further?

I'm trying to avoid moving it at all, but moving it up is a good idea if I'm forced to. Can't go any further back if you see my pics.

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[Ajzride]

Get rid of the handbrake. Go electric with either an E-Stopp or an electric caliper

[mcamera]

Get rid of the handbrake. Go electric with either an E-Stopp or an electric caliper

I looked up the E stop and it's $550! I already bought the Lokar brake so I'll make it work one way or another. I may not even need to move it depending on the new shifter handle I ordered.

[roadrashrob]

As I was in the city this week, and not at the 818, your post had me second guessing my shifter vs. seat position. The picture I had posted without the seat was simply one I had on my laptop of the shifter.

Tonight when I got to the car I am now even more intrigued by the way your shifter hits your seat. Even with my seat slid as far forward as possible which would be the same as if I had the gas tank behind the seat, the shifter is well ABOVE the seat. Looking back at your pictures, the big difference is your seats are mounted much higher than mine. Was that so you could clear the cross support? If so, I guess lowering the seats isn't an option? Here's with the seat all the way back, and all the way forward.

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[mcamera]

roadrashrob
As I was in the city this week, and not at the 818, your post had me second guessing my shifter vs. seat position. The picture I had posted without the seat was simply one I had on my laptop of the shifter.

Tonight when I got to the car I am now even more intrigued by the way your shifter hits your seat. Even with my seat slid as far forward as possible which would be the same as if I had the gas tank behind the seat, the shifter is well ABOVE the seat. Looking back at your pictures, the big difference is your seats are mounted much higher than mine. Was that so you could clear the cross support? If so, I guess lowering the seats isn't an option? Here's with the seat all the way back, and all the way forward.

Yeah I raised the front of my seats to get over the cross bar. That helped me get more sliding range on the driver seat. Even my preferred position has the front of my seat over the crossbar though. I mounted the passenger seat as far back as I could with the FFR rear firewall and it also has the front of the seat over the cross bar. The tilt feels really comfortable in my seats. I can't imagine mounting them flat. Do you have support under your thighs or does only your butt touch the seat?

Here's all the way forward, my setting, and all the way back.
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Here's what my reach looked like when I was playing with the lowered/flipped FFR shifter. Neutral and my furthest reach to 5th gear. I was still playing with seat settings so this looks more forward / not much recline.
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[mcamera]

The shifter saga continues. I swapped out the lever on my ZDM shifter with an AW11 MR2 lever per Craig's (untested) suggestion. It's straighter and about 1" longer. This by itself did not fix my issue but it's an improvement.

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I found that raising the whole shifter 1" upwards improved the clearance to my passenger seat. Enough to fit my finger between the lever and seat. With the cables hooked up I don't think the shifter will move this far so this should be a worst case scenario. Still need to confirm that tonight when I hook up the side-side cable for a check.

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I am being forced to move my handbrake though. Using FFRWRX's suggestion to move the handbrake up, I see a chance to keep it behind the shifter. The shifter cables favor the driver's side of the tunnel so I'm working on a bracket to mount the handbrake on the passenger side. The pics below show the handbrake slightly outside of the tunnel. I want to offset it a little more to keep all of the mechanicals within the tunnel. The cardboard shows the sheet aluminum that will have to cover all of the shifter/hand brake gear. I'm going to try slotting a hole in the rear firewall to capture the stationary piece of the handbrake cable. So the cable end will be sticking out of the firewall and hook up to the handbrake clevis. That's just where everything is falling in place right now. Suggestions and beer are welcome!

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[FFRWRX]

Is it going to interfere with the passenger now? I was looking at the bar in front of the seat in mine; you’ve raised the seat a lot. Instead of raising the whole handbrake, can you raise the front of it to clear the shifter? Not something I would be comfortable doing, but I know someone did cut that bar out; maybe weld one in a little lower? Unless you like the seat in the position you have chosen.

One other suggestion; not sure if it is practical or not. Can you take the cable holder piece from the back of the shifter and mount it on the bottom of the shifter plate? I know the cables attach to the top of the shifter mechanism, and this would put them at an angle (coming up from the rear), but maybe it would still function OK? This would clear the parking brake by a couple more inches.

Rick

[mcamera]

Is it going to interfere with the passenger now? I was looking at the bar in front of the seat in mine; you’ve raised the seat a lot. Instead of raising the whole handbrake, can you raise the front of it to clear the shifter? Not something I would be comfortable doing, but I know someone did cut that bar out; maybe weld one in a little lower? Unless you like the seat in the position you have chosen.

One other suggestion; not sure if it is practical or not. Can you take the cable holder piece from the back of the shifter and mount it on the bottom of the shifter plate? I know the cables attach to the top of the shifter mechanism, and this would put them at an angle (coming up from the rear), but maybe it would still function OK? This would clear the parking brake by a couple more inches.

It doesn't interfere with the passenger. I don't know if my seats are long, but I raised the passenger just enough to get over the crossbar while mounting it as far back as possible. Limited room because the FFR rear firewall sticks out further on the passenger side. I could raise the front of the handbrake but I'm trying really hard to mount it flat so it looks more factory. I agree, I don't see cutting out the crossbar as a good idea. I'm leaving it alone for safety reasons and I do like the tilt my seats have. They support my legs well and are more comfortable this way.

I considered mounting the shifter cable mount underneath the shifter but ruled it out because I'd have to move the mount towards the center more to stay inside the rails and it puts the cable at a worse angle going to the shifter and up to the opening in the firewall. I never tried it so it may not be bad as you're saying but it looks like I won't need to do this. It's definitely an option though. Thanks for brain storming with me, it helps to hear other ideas. I do have some good progress to show below.

I adjusted my handbrake mount to give more clearance to the shifter cable. I now have plenty of room and can move the handle away from the passenger seat a little more.
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I hooked up my side-side cable and as mentioned by another member before, the stick doesn't move as far. The trans finds its gear before the stick hits the passenger seat. So I have lots of clearance now.
148943

Enough clearance that I don't need to raise my entire shifter up 1" higher. So I removed the 1" spacers and mounted it directly to the rails. Still plenty of clearance. I also found the adjustment on my ZDM bell crank at the trans, that allows me to adjust where the stick is positioned in neutral. So I'm able to tilt the stick further from the passenger seat and fine tune how far the stick moves towards the passenger side. Clearance is no longer an issue and I can lower the handbrake again.
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[mcamera]

This is what I came up with for my handbrake. It took a lot of small adjustments to fit it within the center tunnel, not interfere with the shifter/cables, and have enough room for the stationary piece of the parking brake cable.

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Do I need this impact sensor box? I'm guessing it's for the airbags so no?

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I have (1) 8' shifter cable since I butchered the other one trying to make the backwards plastic FFR shifter work. I hooked it up to test the side-side action on the shifter and then I hooked it up for the forward-backward motion of the shifter and both feel great. It's a huge improvement over the plastic FFR shifter with 14' cables that I temporarily hooked up for go karting. That setup wasn't acceptable for me. The shifting now takes a normal amount of effort, has no slop, and has positive engagement so you can actually tell when you're in gear. The cable is a little too long to nicely route so I ordered 2 new 7.5' cables.

[lance corsi]

Hey, Mac, I used a late model Buick foot style emergency brake. Push on, push off. In combination with a hill holder valve.

[RPGs818SNA]

Looks like your Impact Sensor is part of the Security System and is shown on page SEC-02 (my page 170 of 218) of the wiring diagram. So still a no unless you are keeping your security system.

RPG

[mcamera]

Hey, Mac, I used a late model Buick foot style emergency brake. Push on, push off. In combination with a hill holder valve.

That's a good way to clear up some console space. I wanted to be cheap and use my existing brake cable and I already had the Lokar handbrake from my previous setup which didn't work out.


Looks like your Impact Sensor is part of the Security System and is shown on page SEC-02 (my page 170 of 218) of the wiring diagram. So still a no unless you are keeping your security system.

RPG

I see it on page 172 of my service manual. My car starts, doesn't throw any security codes, and the security light isn't stuck on so I don't think it's required. Looks like it ties into the keyless entry and data link connector though. I'll keep it if it gives me keyless entry.

After several rounds of heating/shaping the headlight lenses I'm finally done. They warp slightly when they cool so it took a few times to dial them in. Taping them down while they're warm helps the edges from curling up when cooling. I've started to fit the rear bumper which is fun to finally see on the car. I also think I received the wrong door sill aluminum. They're labeled with the correct numbers but they don't look like the aluminum in the manual and they don't fit on the door sill.

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[Kiwi Dave]

Hi Mike

Good tip on the headlight lenses!

That aluminum piece looks to be mis-numbered. It seems to be one of the front wheel well splash guard pieces that gets mounted from the inside - 80175 or 80176. It looks like you've notched it for the brake line to pass through already.

Cheers

Dave

[Bob_n_Cincy]

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you can see that piece mounted on the very left of this picture.

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[mcamera]

Thank you Dave and Bob. That piece looks like it's correctly numbered (80130/80131) but it's the Door Sill Front as Bob is showing. I found the Door Sill Rear (80132) which covers the bottom of the door.

[mcamera]

I've been traveling a lot but I'm still working on the car! I ordered and installed 2 new 90" shifter cables. It took some fine tuning but everything moves easily and every gear has positive engagement now. I ran the cables around the engine on the driver side, so it makes (2) 90deg bends. I think those bends are why the shifter is still a little notchy but I'm happy with it. While routing the cables I organized and mounted several items to make the engine bay look better and easier to work on in the future. I extended a few transmission wires, covered all of my wires with some nice split sleeve wire sheathing, mounted the parking brake cable so it wouldn't interfere with moving parts, riveted my lower coolant overflow bottle mount to the frame, and mounted my shifter cables up and away from the axles. It looks much cleaner!

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I've spent many hours aligning the fenders and front nose piece. My front frame that holds the radiator has 1/4" of warp at the front ends so I had to soak up that difference while mounting the body. I had to compromise on a couple areas that are off by 1/8" but mounting the body straight and symmetrical took priority. Everything is lined up well now.

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I bought some plastic honeycomb mesh on Amazon for the front/rear bumpers. I'm happy with the quality but there are 6 areas where the mesh is 2x as thick and it's noticeable from all angles. You can see the 3 areas at the top in this pic. I'll have to grind those down to be the same thickness as the rest of the mesh. I've been playing with some rear bumper designs. Here a few of my favorites.

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[blomb11]

Nice work! I am taking notes of your thread and saving it for later when I get there. I definitely like the black behind the tail lights. I would say the 1st or 3rd pictures are my faves. Very creative and easy to do with the black mesh.

[FFRWRX]

I sort of like the 1st option, but maybe scaling back a bit on how much is cut out. Same with the last one....too much cut out taking it right to the bottom. I like the black behind the lights. May have to borrow some of your ideas there.

[mcamera]

Nice work! I am taking notes of your thread and saving it for later when I get there. I definitely like the black behind the tail lights. I would say the 1st or 3rd pictures are my faves. Very creative and easy to do with the black mesh.

I like the black behind the tail lights too. I would do that with paint or vinyl. The bumper looks good but is a little plain to start out.


I sort of like the 1st option, but maybe scaling back a bit on how much is cut out. Same with the last one....too much cut out taking it right to the bottom. I like the black behind the lights. May have to borrow some of your ideas there.

The 1st is my favorite too. I'm worried it would be hard to make the outside cuts look good since the bumper starts to wrap around the sides there. The last pic I would just paint or add vinyl to the bottom lip of the bumper to make it black. I agree it would be tricky to cut out the bottom that much.

[mcamera]

While I was in Columbus this weekend, I stopped by to check out Scott and Liam's build. It was cool to see all the different ways they've approached their build and it looks like it's coming along great. They're further along than me so I took all the advice I could get.

I've been messing with the driver's door for a week in between travel and have decided that it's good enough for now. It's going to need more adjustments once I add the heavy windows and interior panel, so there's no sense in getting it perfect right now. It closes well but interferes slightly near the door striker and hits the lower front fender when half open for now. I also finally setup my fuel filler. I basically cut the FFR supplied pipe into a 90deg and 45deg elbow to reach my aftermarket Body fuel tank. The fuel filler cap is on my list of things I want to get powder coated black eventually, but I'm becoming more motivated to complete the car in general and worry about some details later.

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[Scott Meyer]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for stopping by Monday and saying hello. Nice to meet you as well! Liam got motivated and is outside now grinding away on our drivers door interior panel to get it to fit!

Say hello to Bruce and Otto for us!

[DSR-3]

Don't forget the ground strap on the neck.

[mcamera]

Don't forget the ground strap on the neck.

Forgot to do that, thanks!

[mcamera]

The doors are fitted and the next step is to drop the hardtop onto the car! But since the hardtop is difficult to remove, I'm doing some finishing work to the other body panels first. One of the two bolts that connected the front fenders to the side pods was hidden under the door skin, so I cut the fender mount and moved the bolt so it's always accessible. That way I don't have to remove the doors if I ever need to take off the fenders. I also cut the side vents bigger which looks much better to me. Still debating if I'll use some kind of mesh behind there.

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I decided to coat the back of the panels with Upol Raptor bed liner. I sanded the panels with an 80 grit foam sanding block, vacuumed the dust, and then wiped it down with Rustoleum Wax & Tar remover (what I use to clean all of my parts before painting). After painting the side pods I think I made a really good choice. It's a 2 part formula (base + hardener) that comes in a 1 gallon kit. But the base comes in 4 bottles so you don't have to make the entire batch at 1 time which is really convenient. So I poured 8oz of hardener into a 24oz bottle of base, shook it up, and then had 60 minutes to use 32oz of mixed Raptor. Which turns out I couldn't paint fast enough to do that. I did a single coat on both side pods and my front nose insert in 60 minutes. I was hurrying after the 1st sidepod took me 35 minutes. The foam roller that came with the kit and a $1 foam brush from Lowes worked well but both fell apart. I plan to use a standard bristle brush for my next batch of panels. You can spray Raptor which should be quicker, but brushing it on is more convenient for me. I didn't have time to paint the white edges of the panels (and you don't want to get this stuff on the pretty side) so I'll paint those black at another time. After 1 hour the finish is even and dry to the touch. It feels very tough but I let them dry for a full day. I would use Raptor again and I'm impressed with the results so far.

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[octobersknight]

Which bolt for the front fender did you move? I have a little more A/C and heater plumbing to do before I start tackling body work, but I want to get all the tips before starting that arduous process. Can you post pics (or description) of the location where you moved that bolt?

[mcamera]

Which bolt for the front fender did you move? I have a little more A/C and heater plumbing to do before I start tackling body work, but I want to get all the tips before starting that arduous process. Can you post pics (or description) of the location where you moved that bolt?

Here's what I did so no body panels were overlapping

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[mcamera]

I got the rear bumper and 2 front fenders done last night. Again, it was a mad dash and I still couldn't use the full quart of Raptor within an hour. It's worth mentioning that this bed liner ate through my solo cup. 5 minutes into painting my cup just collapsed and made a mess. I temporarily moved it to a styrofoam bowl that I had sitting there. I expected it to eat through that (which it did) so I pulled my used paint tray out of the garbage and used that again. The dried liner peeled out of the tray easily so it can be used again. My 2" brush worked great but a larger brush would help speed up painting since you're on a 1hr timer with this stuff.

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[roadrashrob]

Looking good! I don't use Solo cups any longer for exactly that reason. You never know what will eat through them.

As opposed to the "beat the clock" game with a brush, I plan on using the Raptor in spray form: Raptor Spray (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CKE7B1E/?coliid=I3MMPJSJ7309E6&colid=1Q3HXWHAUNM9T&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it) Add Catalyst, spray, dispose, clean gun.... Easy Peasy, and well under the time limit.

[mcamera]

Spraying will be much quicker. I just don't have the garage space or a large air compressor so brushing was a better option for me. I was surprised that brushing still gave a spray like finish.

[roadrashrob]

Makes sense! Forgot about the required "equipment" to spray! :-) I "rolled" a bed liner on the bottom of the car as was very happy with the results as well!

[mcamera]

Before I dropped the top on the car, I tied up some loose ends while everything was out in the open. I never mounted my air intake as I was waiting for the side pods/rear fender wells to be installed but now was a good time even without the fender wells. I used a 45deg silicone elbow and made a simple bracket from 1/8" aluminum bar to attach the end of the AEM intake that came on my engine. The filter sits just behind my passenger side scoop and hopefully high enough to avoid the fender liner when it goes in.

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After 9 months of hanging over my head, I finally dropped the top onto the car. This thing is hard to get into haha. I've never gotten into an 818 coupe with a steering wheel before and it is tight. I put my seat in and I have about 3 fingers of space between my head and the roof. I'm 5'9" and 155lbs. I'm not sure how you 6 footers are making the coupe work. However, my seats may be on the bigger side and since I angled the front lip to get over the cross bar, the further you scoot the seat back the lower the seat gets. So that may help. I'm also still using the Subaru steering wheel which sticks out far and has a large diameter. When I switch to a smaller wheel that should give me some more room to get in and out.

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I have a question. When the manual says to cut out the front surround for the master cylinder and use the rear hood support as a "maximum guide", how did you do that? My aluminum hood support sits in front of the master cylinder. I want to cut the front surround directly in front of the master cylinder so I can reach the cap but the aluminum is there? Does the aluminum really need to be as long as it is?

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[wallace18]

I really like your larger side pod openings. I am 6'3" tall and fit fine but with Kirkey racing seats. Keep up the great work!

[RPGs818SNA]

mcamera: "I have a question. When the manual says to cut out the front surround for the master cylinder and use the rear hood support as a "maximum guide", how did you do that? My aluminum hood support sits in front of the master cylinder. I want to cut the front surround directly in front of the master cylinder so I can reach the cap but the aluminum is there? Does the aluminum really need to be as long as it is?"

Maybe the right hand side of the aluminum is just a pattern for the cutout?

150931
Photo by tommytt.

To maintain the strength of the windshield surround, wouldn’t it be better to cut out a circle in the vertical section just large enough to get your hand into and back out of while holding the reservoir cap?

I also really like your expanded side pod opening.

RPG

[mcamera]

I don't think the aluminum is just a pattern. The manual shows the entire piece being riveted to the surround as the rear hood support. Scott texted me yesterday and warned me that I can't use this aluminum support if I use the mono wiper as your picture shows. Now it makes sense why. I had to cut the bottom of the surround since it interfered with the corner of my master cylinder reservoir. I could have cut out less and just made a square hole like you're saying but the brake line would be close. I cut it normal to the curvature of the surround to try and eliminate pointy corners and make it look nice which I think turned out well. I'll try to keep that theme when I cut the hole larger for better access to the clutch reservoir but I started small.

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I also have a large 1/2" gap where the top and back of the door meet. If I scoot the top forward then I have a huge gap where the top and rear bumper meet. The top just seems too short and it doesn't even follow the curve of the side pod well yet which will make it seem shorter.

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[lance corsi]

My 818 hardtop has its own set of issues too. If I was giving advice I’d say to just add some glass to bring it up to flush. It’s not a visible area to anyone but you and if done correctly nobody but you will ever know unless you tell them.

[mcamera]

Thanks for the advice Lance, that sounds like the best way to fix that area. I've spent all weekend digesting the issues with the body and I've underestimated how badly everything fits together. I thought there would be some small adjustments but not much seems to fit well. Nothing sits flat, panels interfere at every corner, my door and front fender hits the a-pillar, even the rear fenders have maxed out their adjustment range for how far they can be pushed in to meet trunk hatch. I need to cut the frame where the rear fenders bolt on, so I can slide them in a little further. I have a lot of trimming to do while trying to not make the car look like crap haha.

Did everybody else have to grind down several flanges to get the weather stripping on? The rear hatch was 3x too thick at the top corners and the top of the doorways look like they need to be thinned out also.

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[carnutdave]

I have a very similar gap issue except mine is due to the top not being able to be any further forward because the A pillar bolts are all the way forward. See photos. I just decided to roll with it for now and maybe turn it into a future project. :)

Other things I've done to get "acceptable" body fitment is cutting off a small part of the front radiator frame to allow the nose to sit straight, I ended up having to raise one of the rear fenders 1/4" and I've also pulled the rear fenders in as much as I could to get decent gaps with the hardtop. Had to really push them in a lot and the gaps still aren't perfect. One side is pretty nice, the other so-so.

As for grinding down the rear hatch flange, I didn't have to grind anything but the corners where the intercooler vents are were the tightest (like your photo shows). I did have to grind the door flanges down entirely for the flocked weatherstrip to fit.

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151025

[mcamera]

I have a very similar gap issue except mine is due to the top not being able to be any further forward because the A pillar bolts are all the way forward. See photos. I just decided to roll with it for now and maybe turn it into a future project. :)

Other things I've done to get "acceptable" body fitment is cutting off a small part of the front radiator frame to allow the nose to sit straight, I ended up having to raise one of the rear fenders 1/4" and I've also pulled the rear fenders in as much as I could to get decent gaps with the hardtop. Had to really push them in a lot and the gaps still aren't perfect. One side is pretty nice, the other so-so.

As for grinding down the rear hatch flange, I didn't have to grind anything but the corners where the intercooler vents are were the tightest (like your photo shows). I did have to grind the door flanges down entirely for the flocked weatherstrip to fit.

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151025

It's good to know I'm not the only one who has these larger fitment issues. Your car looks good! You've done a nice job pulling everything together. Like you, I have 1 rear fender that's acceptable but the other has a large 1/4" gap to the hardtop and I can see the mounting screw. They're pushed in as far as they'll go. The fender is pressed against the side of the mounting tab. I'm trying to make the smallest changes possible so I can drive the car without paint for awhile and not have big patches/cuts of fiberglass.

[FFRWRX]

...my door and front fender hits the a-pillar, even the rear fenders have maxed out their adjustment range for how far they can be pushed in to meet trunk hatch. I need to cut the frame where the rear fenders bolt on, so I can slide them in a little further. I have a lot of trimming to do while trying to not make the car look like crap haha.

Did everybody else have to grind down several flanges to get the weather stripping on?

I ground off a fair bit of metal from the A-pillar on the roof to not interfere with the doors. Also elongated some of the bolt holes to allow the roof to be positioned a bit better. My fenders did not quite go in far enough to match up with the roof, and I was going to cut off some of the supporting plate, but then took the easy approach and hit the plate with a hammer to bend the outer portion of it down to clear the fender.

The flange around the door opening is way too thick for the weather stripping they supply. Apparently you are suppose to grind down the fibreglass. Seriously? They couldn't supply weather stripping for a 1/4" thick piece? Like several others did, I bought some with the proper size channel opening.

Some things I get really annoyed at, some just a little ticked-off.

Rick

[mcamera]

One small step at a time. I read through the body install sticky on this forum, and that helped. I detached my rear bumper from my driver side pod and that allowed me to push the rear fender in another 1/8" to close my gap to the hardtop. I see why I couldn't push the fender in further now too. As you push the fender in, it also moves forward and my bolt was binding on the fender mount. I had to elongate the hole in the fender to allow it to move forward. I also moved the hole more towards the center of the car to hide the bolt under the hardtop. I could previously see it in the seam. The driver's side seam is much better now all the way up to the b-pillar. Still a little tight near the rear bumper so I may grind away some of the hardtop flange. The rear bumper is still cleco'd on so it'll be pulled even tighter when I eventually use bolts.

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Passenger side looks good so I'm not going to touch it. Even though it's technically 1/8" off center compared to the driver side.

151060

I like the push button latch supplied for the rear hatch but I wish it had a key. It seems strange to me that anybody walking by in a parking lot could open the rear hatch and mess with stuff. Thinking about this version from the same supplier (Southco) and just not using the left black piece that you hook your finger under. Feedback/alternatives are welcome.

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[lance corsi]

I like it!
And don’t start measuring the body! It will drive you batty! Just make it look right, no matter squareness, etc. mine is off side to side by the tape but all my panels join acceptably well, though I’ve modded almost every one. My main concerns were that the wheels were centered within the wheel wells, and with tires mounted, that the distance between tire and fender was equal as possible on both sides.

[mcamera]

I've been very busy but I'm still picking away at the body. I had to slot the mounting holes for the hardtop at the a-pillar more. I cut about 1/2" out of the frame holes so I could slide the hardtop forward more. This combined with cutting some metal away on the hardtop mount allowed me to close up the a-pillar to door gap and the b-pillar to door gap. Before and afters below.

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I found an identical black version of the rear hatch latch but the first one I got was defective. I had to wait another week for a replacement. For anybody interested it's Southco part# M1-2A-13-5. I also ordered my ZDM hood hinge kit and will be using 1.5" Quick Latch mini's (part# QL-25-SB1.5) for securing my hood/hardtop. Due to the need for several keys, I've ditched the idea of having everything lockable. The door, hood, hardtop mounts (x2 sets), and rear hatch latch would all have separate keys which sounded like a pain. I'm sure somebody on here has come back to their parked car with a couple latches popped open or messed with but that's just a gamble I'll have to take.

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[lance corsi]

Your gaps are awesome.

[mcamera]

Thanks Lance! The passenger side A-pillar didn't close up quite as well. The vertical slotted holes are maxed out but there's no use in slotting them more. The front apron is already sitting on the frame so I can't push the top lower. I also had to cut away a lot of the B-pillar so it would clear the top of the door.

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With the hardtop in its final position I went ahead and cut out the apron to clear for a couple suspension bolts and the brake/clutch reservoirs. I wanted a simple cutout shape to try and make this look normal. If you cut along the frame rails you'll end up with sharp angles and an opening with a strange shape. I'm happy with how this looks and I kept a lot of the structure.

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[J R Jones]

MCam, Blending form and function, skill and art. An access cover would disguise the cut-out and present additional fastening options.
You might not believe the lack of symmetry I struggle with on my body, but I can attribute that to it's pre CAD-CAM origin.
jim

[nnolte]

You seem to have had a lot of body fitment issues. A lot of others have also. I am considering an 818 and have been following your thread. When you are finished do you think you'll have them all resolved? I see others with the same body problems. Are you unhappy with the 818 body? I am trying to make a decision and that is my biggest concern.

[mcamera]

Thanks JR, a cover would be a nice finishing touch.

Hi nnolte, I have no bodywork experience so this is new and challenging for me. There are plenty of guys on here that will put in the extra work to have a nicer fit and finish. All of my issues won't be fixed when I'm done. The hardtop is where most of my trouble is coming from. I'm not sure if the convertible is better or worse. I'll still have large gaps above my doors at the a-pillar and a large gap between my hardtop and rear bumper. Those areas will need extra fiberglass to fill them in properly and have even gaps.

The body fitment is worse than I expected and it'll show when I'm done building. Nobody will mistake this for a production car in a parking lot but it'll look decent from 10' away. When I get the car painted, I'll have the body shop fill in the bad areas and work everything to fit better. That's beyond my skill, patience, and willingness right now. Maybe after I get the car done that will become a winter project. Good luck planning your build. The people on these forums are beyond helpful so keep us in the loop!

[FFRWRX]

I'll still have large gaps above my doors at the a-pillar...


You aren't making the same mistake I made in assuming this gap should be very small? Then I realized that the mirror mount and inner door panel need this gap to fit properly.

[Scott Meyer]

I'm not sure if the convertible is better or worse. I'll still have large gaps above my doors at the a-pillar and a large gap between my hardtop and rear bumper. Those areas will need extra fiberglass to fill them in properly and have even gaps!

Michael - the S model is just as bad with the rear engine cover, and it’s alignment to the tops of the doors, and having to clear around the roll bar. I’ve spent almost all of my time doing the body work here and still not happy with it. We’ve also had to fill in that gap along the sides and the rear bumper.

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[roadrashrob]

You aren't making the same mistake I made in assuming this gap should be very small? Then I realized that the mirror mount and inner door panel need this gap to fit properly.

One of the things that was totally apparent at the build school is that using the donor mirrors on the "C" is terrible. They are almost totally blocked by the A pillar. They work on the S, but we have no intention of using them on our C.

[FFRWRX]

I'll have to double check the position of the mirrors, but when I did a quick check I found the drivers side one was in a good position. The passenger side one looked like maybe the A pillar would partially block it, so I'm going to make a new mount for that one that moves it rearward a little so it is not behind the A pillar.

[mcamera]

FFRWRX, I know there should be a gap for the mirror bracket but I'm still dealing with a 1/2" gap. I haven't closed it down to 1/8" or anything that tight. I don't plan to use the donor mirrors though. They were missing from my VCP donor pallet. I've requested them 3 times and was told they'd get shipped, but I still never got them (along with my rearview mirror). I'll buy aftermarket mirrors.

Scott, that's what I expected but I didn't want to talk about something I haven't worked on. Plus you have more bodywork experience so that helps show that it's not just me creating issues lol.

Roadrashrob, good to know! I'm not bummed that I get to shop around for some fancier mirrors.

[mcamera]

Replaced my old donor air filter while it was still easy to get to. My black hatch latch also worked out great. I put sound deadening and insulation on my door before I started playing with the window.

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My first attempt at aligning the window had the window way too short. With the motor all the way up, I still needed a couple inches to seal at the top.

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I raised the motor assembly and adjusted the angle. Still short.

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I raised the motor as much as I could, maxing out the bottom bracket adjustment, and moved the glass up in the rubber pads that hold it to the motor. This is where I stopped for the night but it looks promising if I adjust the angle of the glass. Once again the adjustment range seems tight/too small for something on the car. The flange around the window is too thick for the supplied flocked weatherstrip. I'm looking for a flocked weatherstrip with a 1/4" opening but having trouble finding one. Anybody have a link/suggestion? Nothing on McMaster Carr.

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[Shawn818c]

How soon until you start going through the assembled vehicle process?

Lookin' good, you're well ahead of my pace!

[mcamera]

Thanks! It's not on my radar yet. Still need seatbelts, head/tail lights, windows, windshield, and a bunch of aluminum panels. Lots of work before I want it on the road so I might be near the end of the year.

[mcamera]

The driver window is working well after many hours of tuning. I couldn't find a ~1/4" flocked seal to fit the thicker flange around the window, so I ground the flange down to fit the ~1/8" FFR flocked seal. I figured that was better than using a rubber seal that squeals/chatters across the window when raising/lowering it. I cut the hole in the top of the door with a slight curve to match the window, but I'm not sure I like the look of it with the seal installed now. I'll see how it looks with the trim and inner door panel installed but I might be cutting that hole straight again for aesthetics. I'm proud of myself for figuring out the window wiring lol. I know it's fairly basic, but I had to group 3 wires together in a couple connections which was a curveball. Small victories.

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https://youtu.be/4rfSeFUTPZo

[mcamera]

Has anybody had any big issues fitting their door windows on the 818 coupe? I got my driver window to fit and seal well but my passenger side window is really far off. I'm starting to think the glass is warped. It doesn't seem to match the curvature of the hardtop. Here's what I emailed to Factory Five to see if they have any suggestions.

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[FFRWRX]

Has anybody NOT had problems with the windows?!

I emailed Factory Five to, politely, point out how the windows were not designed properly to go up and down, and with very small changes to the shape and curvature could be much improved. I got a response that explained their reasoning for the current shape/size. Made some sense, but not totally. Basically, the curvature is wrong on the windows. The rear part is curved and the front is flat, so it can't correctly go up and down following a curve at the rear with it flat at the front.

I didn't measure mine to see if each side is the same.

Rick

[J R Jones]

mcam, I drove Art Quillen's car a couple of weeks ago, and it is Lexus like fit/finish. His windows worked perfectly. Art has the patience and skill, ask him.
jim

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[lance corsi]

Mac, the right side of the coupe top is not symmetrical to the left side, making the windows a real challenge. I suggest you throw away the shower door rollers and go to your local junkyard and get some window channels from a 2002 Chevy S-10 pickup truck. You’ll have to do a little welding but having the window held within channels is the best approach.

[J R Jones]

Mac, the right side of the coupe top is not symmetrical to the left side, making the windows a real challenge. I suggest you throw away the shower door rollers and go to your local junkyard and get some window channels from a 2002 Chevy S-10 pickup truck. You’ll have to do a little welding but having the window held within channels is the best approach.

Caveat emptor ehh Lance? Like crossing the street, look left, look right, and proceed with caution.
It pizzes me off when my cardboard templates work once only.
Do you suppose anyone got spanked for this fax pas?

Based on mcam's observation, there will not be symmetry front to rear either.

I have been shopping auto components on Amazon. Analyzing packaging and design/function I most often end up with Honda or Toyota; hood, trunk latches recently. Diversity of options and multiple photo views are helpful.
ebay is similarly helpful but replica OEM is a crap shoot in both venues.
Salvage yards here want to sell over the internet or the counter. "Shopping the yard" is rarely an option.
jim

[TheHelixx]

Has anybody had any big issues fitting their door windows on the 818 coupe? I got my driver window to fit and seal well but my passenger side window is really far off. I'm starting to think the glass is warped. It doesn't seem to match the curvature of the hardtop. Here's what I emailed to Factory Five to see if they have any suggestions.

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Mine was the same in the passenger side. I ended up cutting the frame and welding a new piece to reinforce it, tho I only have a pic of the cut door for some reason. I got it to track pretty well in the end, but used thicker bulb seal like Art did.

Pitching the the top of the track further back then the bottom also helps to avoid the top corner of the glass from digging in to the seal. It basically engages the seal in the top 50% of the travel where the curve of the opening starts to open up. 153896

[aquillen]

The best I can tell you is I spent many hours fiddling, adjusting, observing and finally got them to behave. No silver bullet - just keep at it, walk away and come back over and over. I suspect Lans' use of the S10 rails is probably the better starting point than the FFR setup.

[lance corsi]

The primary reason I decided to use the S-10 channels is because during the window travel, because of the wicked bad engineering, the window moves away from the rollers, leaving no support for the windows except for the regulator itself. With the channels, the windows remain captive throughout their travel. Although the windows will be more stable this way, they will still not perfectly follow the desired path. I adjusted mine to seal at the full up position. After spending nearly 6 weeks on adjusting, I called it good enough.

[J R Jones]

This issue upsets me as an example of FFRs development process. My career was recreational product development. The development gates were prototype build stages of improvements leading to a pre-production build on production tooling. These assemblies were for "production level" quality evaluation, performance tests and durability testing. Any of those evaluations should disclose an assembly error. In my case if this design failure went to the assembly line, it would stop production and heads would roll. If the production process or purchased parts went out of specification, the dealers sent back parts; the service department and warranty departments would stop production until the problem was resolved.

[mcamera]

All great feedback. The rollers don't always contact the window on my driver's side but I prioritized good contact when the window was all the way down. When it's up, it has the motor at the bottom and the seal around the window at the top to hold it in place. When it's all the way down (which it will be 90% of the time, I don't have AC) there's nothing holding the top of the window in place so I wanted the rollers to do a good job there. The driver side took a lot of time but it was NEVER this far off.

I've tried hours of adjusting and nothing gets me less than a 1" gap at the back of the window. I emailed FFR some pics and a description. They're sending me another tubular door frame and said if the frame has any warp in it, that it won't line up like I'm seeing. I'm skeptical, but I'll try the new frame when it gets here.

Thanks for the ideas and support. We'll see if I need to take more extreme measures soon.

[mcamera]

I mounted my first 1.5" mini Quik Latch (part# QL-25-SB1.5). I like the look of these more than the chrome hood pins. There's a lot of room for adjustment and it latches well even at some wide angles. I made a simple aluminum bracket for mounting. My mount flexes enough and is at an angle that the latch doesn't disengage freely but I won't need to open this so that doesn't bother me. The area above the rear wheel still bows up so I'll need another quick latch there to keep my seam flush. Sorry the last 2 photos are upside down, but you can see how that seam is raised.

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[Ajzride]

I would add a safety chain anywhere the wind could pull on those latches. I added them to my Mustang hood after a builder I know had a set turn the hood loose on the first test drive after paint and assembly. Sent the hood across the roof and required almost a total repaint.

[roadrashrob]

I mounted my first 1.5" mini Quik Latch (part# QL-25-SB1.5). I like the look of these more than the chrome hood pins. There's a lot of room for adjustment and it latches well even at some wide angles. I made a simple aluminum bracket for mounting. My mount flexes enough and is at an angle that the latch doesn't disengage freely but I won't need to open this so that doesn't bother me. The area above the rear wheel still bows up so I'll need another quick latch there to keep my seam flush. Sorry the last 2 photos are upside down, but you can see how that seam is raised.

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Instead of adding "another" latch, you can reinforce it with some carbon fiber underneath while holding the proper contour. Once it cures it will stiffen it right up!

[idf]

I would add a safety chain anywhere the wind could pull on those latches. I added them to my Mustang hood after a builder I know had a set turn the hood loose on the first test drive after paint and assembly. Sent the hood across the roof and required almost a total repaint.

The manufacturer specifically says that the mini Quik Latches are not sufficient for hood closure. They do make a couple of more robust versions for that purpose.

"* Please note that the use of a quantity of 2 x QL-25 Mini Quik-Latch series fasteners are not intended for use in hood pin applications where there is no OEM hood latch latch present. The QL-25 series universal latches are not designed for use as a primary hood latch mechanism, although they can function as a secondary safety mechanism.

If you are looking for the hood pin models, please consider either the QL-38 or QL-50 series Quik-Latch Hood Pin Kits" https://www.quik-latch.com/

[Ajzride]

The big ones are the ones that let go on my friend/builder. I really like quick latches look, but I don’t trust them. A safety catch isn’t that hard to make, and could save tons of labor and paint.

[mcamera]

I researched before I bought them. Other guys on here have used them and the only problem I saw was Chad Plavan on the front of his hood over 110mph (see comments in pic). I'm not using any latches at the front of a panel where the wind could fling it up. These are at the very back of the hardtop where if the wind did break them free, the whole hardtop isn't going to flip over like a hood. I do plan to use these minis on the back of the hood though with the ZDM hinge at the front. Again, if the latches broke free at the back of the hood, it's not going to flip up.

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I finished the driver side corner. The hardtop is still bowed up above the rear bumper and above both rear wheels (~3/8" on the passenger side was the worst area). I pushed my thumb down against the fiberglass above the wheels and marked a range of where I could push down and keep that seam flush. I did this for both sides and the range was different. I could push anywhere from 16-20" on the driver side, measured from the back edge. On the passenger side that was 15-19", measured from the back edge. So I'll mount my latches at ~17.5" since that satisfies both sides and keeps everything symmetrical.

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[Rob T]

I have Chad's 818 and have run over 20 track days. Only time they have "popped" was when I don't push them all the way down and hear the click. Like Chad said, the very front of the hood is pinned.

[mcamera]

I have Chad's 818 and have run over 20 track days. Only time they have "popped" was when I don't push them all the way down and hear the click. Like Chad said, the very front of the hood is pinned.

Thanks for the update Rob! A little reassurance for me.

[mcamera]

It's already been a month since my last update? I got all 4 quik latches installed to hold down the back of the hardtop. I made a couple brackets to hold the male pieces in the right spots.

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I removed the steering wheel to give myself more room to add insulation to the rear firewall. It's very difficult to get the driver seat in the car with the big, stock wheel and I'm getting closer to putting it back in to measure for seatbelts. So now seemed like a good time to get it out of the way and start figuring out what needs to be done to make a racing wheel fit while keeping stock functions. My added rear-rear firewall is a thin gauge (0.025") so I added some Noico mat to it for sound damping and then some Noico 315mil insulation for extra heat/sound protection.

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The driver door interior panel had some bad gaps to start out. Nothing a heat gun and some bending couldn't fix. However, once I got the interior lock/door handle installed, the lock was getting stuck when pulling the handle. I figured out that there was slightly too much tension on the the door handle cable and the lock was binding. Adjusting the cable pulled the interior door panel too far towards the back of the car to still fit nicely in the fiberglass door skin. I made a small extension from some thin hardware from Ace and was able to reduce tension on the cable while keeping the interior panel in the correct location.

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[Ajzride]

If you want to keep your cruise control stalk on your racing wheel, I have a 3D printable adapter:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?35177-Factory-Cruise-Control-Lever-with-FFR-Steering-Wheel&p=401430#post401430

[roadrashrob]

I removed the steering wheel to give myself more room to add insulation to the rear firewall. It's very difficult to get the driver seat in the car with the big, stock wheel and I'm getting closer to putting it back in to measure for seatbelts. So now seemed like a good time to get it out of the way and start figuring out what needs to be done to make a racing wheel fit while keeping stock functions. My added rear-rear firewall is a thin gauge (0.025") so I added some Noico mat to it for sound damping and then some Noico 315mil insulation for extra heat/sound protection.



I agree on the steering wheel and followed Fletch's lead of making it removable. After attending the build school, and trying to get into the coupe with the top there, it was clear the wheel makes it very difficult to easily get in and out of the car. I cut my FFR adapter down like Fletch did, but it didn't allow the horn wires to run in the OEM config. NRG makes a really nice slim adapter, and all the factory functions work nicely. I don't have cruise control, so that wasn't a factor.

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[Ajzride]

I collapsed my column about 3 inches for extra room.

[mcamera]

Thanks for the link AJ!

The NRG and Works Bell adapter look like the best for me. I compressed my column (2" IIRC) but I'm still using the FFR spacers on the column mount to keep the wheel low. Removing those spacers to raise the wheel and getting a smaller racing wheel should be enough help for me.

[mcamera]

Update
I got engaged back in September and will be moving to Lexington, KY in a month. I've accepted a job at Toyota and need to throw out, sell, and pack up a lot of things at my condo!

I have a few things I will give away for FREE if the buyer pays shipping. If you're interested email me at mikejcamera@gmail.com

- Gen 2 FFR gas tank. Never used.
- 1 Midwest Controls 8' shifter cable. Too long for my setup, installed briefly but never used.
- 1 passenger headlight bucket. Old glossy style.
- 07 WRX brake booster. I only needed the clevis but somebody might want this for a power braking setup?

[Shawn818c]

Update
I got engaged back in September and will be moving to Lexington, KY in a month. I've accepted a job at Toyota and need to throw out, sell, and pack up a lot of things at my condo!

I have a few things I will give away for FREE if the buyer pays shipping. If you're interested email me at mikejcamera@gmail.com

- Gen 2 FFR gas tank. Never used.
- 1 Midwest Controls 8' shifter cable. Too long for my setup, installed briefly but never used.
- 1 passenger headlight bucket. Old glossy style.
- 07 WRX brake booster. I only needed the clevis but somebody might want this for a power braking setup?

emailed regarding the fuel tank and cable!

[blomb11]

Congrats!!

[mcamera]

I can't get the 3 parking lights to light up. What did you guys do? I have 11v of power from the power wire and I've confirmed the ground wire is grounded. Double checked that there is 11v between the power/ground wire and still not even a flicker. I've tried 2 parking lights to make sure 1 wasn't dead. There are 3 wires coming out of the LED. Black, white, and yellow. I've tried every combination on a 9V battery and still no luck. The headlight low beam, headlight high beam, and blinker are all working fine. The attached schematic shows the wires I'm using which are part of the Subaru headlight plug. Thank you for any help!

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[TheHelixx]

I can't get the 3 parking lights to light up. What did you guys do? I have 11v of power from the power wire and I've confirmed the ground wire is grounded. Double checked that there is 11v between the power/ground wire and still not even a flicker. I've tried 2 parking lights to make sure 1 wasn't dead. There are 3 wires coming out of the LED. Black, white, and yellow. I've tried every combination on a 9V battery and still no luck. The headlight low beam, headlight high beam, and blinker are all working fine. The attached schematic shows the wires I'm using which are part of the Subaru headlight plug. Thank you for any help!

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Up the voltage. My running LEDs wouldn’t come on until they hit 12, at 14 they got nice and bright. I used black and either yellow or white for positive. I don’t think it matter which one I used, they lit the same for me.

[mcamera]

Up the voltage. My running LEDs wouldn’t come on until they hit 12, at 14 they got nice and bright. I used black and either yellow or white for positive. I don’t think it matter which one I used, they lit the same for me.

You were spot on. I started my car to increase the voltage and sure enough it lit up. I used black as ground and yellow for power. Thank you!

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[mcamera]

Hello! It's been a crazy 2 months but I'm back to building. I didn't get a lot done until recently because:

- Packing my things in Michigan
- Transitioned out of old job
- Got covid
- Toyota delayed my start date 3 times
- Had my belongings (and tools) held hostage for 2 weeks by my moving company
- Started a lawsuit against said moving company for damages / fraud
- Moved to Kentucky
- 818 delivered during rare Lexington snowstorm
- Had my credit cards stolen and charged $5k at Best Buy
- Realized my movers broke my TV so then I went to Best Buy and bought a less expensive TV than my thieves :(
- Filed police report, opened dispute with Citi Cards, and another dispute with Wells Fargo for stolen cards
- Fiance's Smart car needed new door lock, convertible switch, and oil change
- My C450 AMG needed a new splash tray under the car (OEM was $400 but I found an aftermarket one for $70 that's not bad) and oil change
- Dryer died so I replaced the timer mechanism
- Started new job at Toyota
- Planning a wedding for August

Here's the 818 being delivered the day Lexington got 9" of snow. Shoveled the driveway/street twice when the transporter arrived and still barely made it up the driveway.

162743

Found a coolant leak at this front elbow, so I drained a couple quarts, adjusted it, and retightened it.

162744

Cleaned up this A-pillar junction

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Cut the hood vents which don't match the manual's instructions. The new style doesn't have a cover piece to hide your cuts. Just a stamped mesh part I'm going to mount underneath the hood. Still need to paint the mesh black. Last pic is rough cut vs my final sanding since these edges will be seen.

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Temporarily wired up the passenger headlight, blinker, and parking lights to make sure everything worked as expected. Only 1 parking light shown in pic.

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The next post shows my quick release steering wheel. I needed more room for pics.

[roadrashrob]

Cleaned up this A-pillar junction

The next post shows my quick release steering wheel. I needed more room for pics.

OMG! Sounds like without bad luck, you would have had no luck at all during that period. I feel for you.

I must say my biggest disappointment with the 818C is that A-Pillar junction. I haven't tackled mine yet as I feel I'll need to be in a very "Zen" mindset when I do. I have the A-pillar back all satisfactory, and forward of it the same. Where they meet is a total $hit-show... At least your pictures gives me hope I'll be able to get them all to FIT together, even if it still looks like garbage...

Hang it there!

[mcamera]

I wanted to include several photos so this is clear for anybody else that has trouble figuring out their steering setup. I found some great posts on the forums that helped me but I wanted to add more detail as this didn't make sense to me until I started installing it :)

I wanted a smaller steering wheel with a quick release to make getting in and out of the car easier. It was tight with the big Subaru wheel and also made it difficult to remove the driver's seat. This is exactly what I bought thinking everything would work the same as the stock wheel. I bought it from MAPerformance and stuck with 1 brand (NRG) to make sure everything was compatible. I wasn't sure what I needed and this took me longer than I care to admit to figure out what to buy. The "short hub" is an adapter that attaches to the Subaru steering column and is car specific. See how my order says "Subaru Fitments". This allows the "quick release" to bolt on. Then the steering wheel connects to the quick release. I was unsure if I needed the "short hub" (was there a standard hub?) and every website had different versions of the quick release (1.0 / 2.0 / 2.2 / 2.5 / 2.8 / 3.0 / 4.0 / etc).

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As far as I know "short hub" just means compact and is the standard hub to buy. I chose the 3.0 version of the quick release because it had larger release paddles than the 2.8 version. I didn't want it to be difficult to release if I use it every time I drive. The 3.0 paddles were also symmetrical and the leverage arm was in the center of the paddle which I thought would be more sturdy than the 4.0 which has the arm at the top. Maybe pulling from the bottom of the paddles would flex or make releasing the wheel difficult? In hindsight, I only pull the paddles from the top so I don't think the high arm on the 4.0 would be a problem. The 4.0 does look cool and dramatic with it's long, thin paddles.

162759

While installing the NRG setup I realized the horn wasn't going to work, my blinker wouldn't automatically turn off after a turn, and I would lose my cruise control stalk (which I want deleted anyways). My wheel does have a horn button in the middle which I didn't realize until I got it. I searched and found several recommendations to rig up a hair clip to make the horn work. This was in forums, installation instructions from car part websites, and articles by professional shops. In short, you need the horn wire to give power to the backside of the NRG hub. The backside is a gold conductive surface which will transfer power through the wires in the steering wheel to the horn button.

162760

I found the horn wire and extended it to just behind the NRG hub. I crimped a ring terminal onto the end of the wire and screwed it into an unused hole on the white plastic base of the steering column. Now there is power just behind the NRG hub. I just need to connect that ring terminal to the gold side of the hub. I found a metal clip, drilled a hole at the base and screwed it into the same hole as the ring terminal so they're touching /conducting power. This metal clip will now glide along the gold surface while turning the steering wheel and transmit power for the horn.

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For the blinker, there is a small plastic piece that sticks out when the blinker is turned on. We need something to hit that when we're done taking a turn to turn off the blinker.

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On the backside of the Subaru steering reel, is that piece. Unclip that piece.

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It will go over the black cylinder on the back of the NRG hub. The black cylinder is a little smaller in diameter so I wrapped some electrical tape around it to make it slightly bigger. Once that plastic piece fits nicely, I drilled and tapped a couple M4x0.7 holes into the NRG hub and put screws in to hold the plastic piece on.

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Now that plastic piece attached to your NRG hub will hit the blinker piece when turning the wheel. Your blinker will automatically shut off after a turn like every other normal car.

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Final look. The quick release is smooth and easy. The paddles are short enough and far away from the outside of the steering wheel where I won't accidentally hit it with my fingers or knuckles. You do have to pull both paddles at the same time with a decent squeeze to release the wheel, so I'm not concerned at all with accidentally releasing the wheel while driving. I'm very happy with the end result and would do this setup again. The only question left in my mind is how much effort a smaller 320mm steering wheel will take to turn during normal driving and low speed turns.

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[Shawn818c]

glad to see you're settled in and back at the 818!

[Jetfuel]

I don’t believe you will have an issue with the effort needed to turn the 320 wheel.
We don’t weight that much and as soon as you have forward movement is a great feeling between the effort and the turning response.
I run an NRG 320 and I like it a lot.
I believe the power wire you’re referring to is a green wire at the bottom of the column and it is the ground path for the horn relay…..I could be wrong…a meter will verify that.
Jet

[mcamera]

Rob, I know! I couldn't believe how much bad luck I had in 1 month. Just got a letter yesterday from my credit card company saying there isn't enough evidence to overturn the $3000 fraudulent purchase. The end of the letter said they'll have to report me to the Consumer Reporting Agency for being late on the $3000 charge. It's never ending lol. My door still hits the fender and a-pillar if opened wide enough. A minor issue / battle for another day.

Thanks Shawn. It's hard to get back to building after a 2 month hiatus, but now that I started again I'm making some great progress.

That's good to hear Jet. I figured it would be fine I just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I believe it was the red/green wire in this schematic but I'm out of town and can't confirm.

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I wired up my headlights. I wasn't sure of the best way to connect several wires into 1 connection so this is what I did. For the 3 parking lights I twisted the 3 yellow (hot) wires together and solder sealed them. Shrink wrapped, glued, and soldered. They look well sealed even though I'm trying to seal a corkscrew shape. To make the parking lights and blinker connections removable (like the headlight connections) in case I ever need to remove the fender, I bought trailer connectors at my auto parts store. I needed 4 sets, and they cost $5 each.

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Since I used the same trailer connectors for the blinker connections, I wanted to make sure I could tell them apart from the parking light connectors. The parking lights have a red male connector coming off of the bucket, and I made sure the blinker had a white male connector coming off of the bucket. As long as I can properly match up male and female connectors with the correct colors, I will have the right connections. To make it easier to match, I added a couple bands of heat shrink to the blinker connectors on both connectors (pic 1). It's not fool proof as I can still mismatch red and white (pic 2), but it's enough to keep me from guessing.

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I'll upload the rest soon.

[mcamera]

Ran some silicone around the headlight buckets. There are still plenty of gaps around the headlight so it's not air tight. I'm kind of expecting the headlights to have condensation issues in the future.
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All of the wiring organized and covered in black sheathing. The front bay finally looks put together.

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Final test
Daytime running lights
Parking lights
Low beams
Blinkers
High beams


https://youtu.be/oYEvGDIfQyM

[mcamera]

The inside of my body panels are coated with Raptor bed liner. Does anybody know if black silicone RTV sealant will hold a plastic mesh to the body or will it not stick to the bed liner? Backup plan is the grind off a few areas of bed liner and bond some studs in with epoxy to hold the plastic mesh.

163228

[TheHelixx]

The inside of my body panels are coated with Raptor bed liner. Does anybody know if black silicone RTV sealant will hold a plastic mesh to the body or will it not stick to the bed liner? Backup plan is the grind off a few areas of bed liner and bond some studs in with epoxy to hold the plastic mesh.

163228

I used rtv on mine, but I only have satin enamel spray paint for a coating. It would destroy the mesh if it tried to remove it. Put a dab with a screw or something on a part of the panel that doesn’t show. Give it a full 24 hours and try and remove.

I had used clear because I had a lot of it. Using black would have been better, since I had to go back and touch it all up with spray paint.

[mcamera]

TheHelixx, good idea with the test spot. The RTV stuck well to the bed liner, but didn't stick to my plastic mesh. That's useful info though. I'm going to RTV some bondable studs to my bumper without grinding off the bed liner and then bolt the mesh down.

Before fitting the hood

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After fitting the hood and aligning the fenders it looks way cleaner! It's one of those things that if somebody else saw it before and after, they may not see what changed, but they know it looks better. A bunch of small improvements add up.

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Trimmed and fit the dash close off panel. I think this is a little more important than just a simple cover. I'm thinking this will act like a dam for some of the air going through the radiator. So you have hot air pushing up from the bottom at highway speeds. I don't want that warm air being pushed into the cabin so I trimmed this piece carefully. At first the bulb seal didn't touch the body at the front and left a big gap for air to leak in. Now the bulb seal presses evenly against the body around the entire perimeter to seal out that air. I also didn't do 1 straight line of rivets since that would act like a hinge for the air pushing up on this piece. I staggered the rivets to resist bending/hinging better.

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[J R Jones]

"A chain is only as strong as the weakest link" therefore adhesive manufacturers recommend application the the base strata. An adhesive may bond to bed liner, but does bed liner bond as good as adhesive?
In the case of sticking to mesh, if the rtv flowed around and over the mesh, curing will capture the mesh in RTV.

[mcamera]

This is how I installed the Zero Decibel Motorsports hood hinge. It comes with no instructions so it's up to you to figure out the best way to install it.

I assembled the arms based on pictures from the ZDB website and installed on the car. I placed the hood on the car and marked where the mounts hit the hood. I then traced the bondable studs.

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I cut out the tape where I needed to grind the bed liner off of my hood so I could properly glue the studs in. Then ground the bed liner off with a dremel.

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I glued the studs on using JB Weld ClearWeld. It's a 2 part epoxy with a mixing tip on the end of a syringe.

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Lay the hood on your car and bolt it to the hinge mounts from underneath. Get all of the adjustment bolts nearly tight but able to slide a little. Tighten the mounts to the hood first, then the bolts on the arms, and finally the cross brace between the 2 arms. If you tighten things in a bad order, your hood might sit too tall or the hinge will open unevenly. You'll know it when you see it. Here are pics of the hood opened, but I installed everything with the hood laying flat on the car.

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TWO ISSUES! First issue is one of the studs ripped off of the hood when tightening the bolts. There's a gap between the flat aluminum mount and the rounded hood surface. As you tighten these bolts, it'll suck the hood flat to the aluminum mount. You don't want this. I added a flanged nut between the hood and aluminum mount to fill this space. Then when you're tightening the bolt, the nut will act as a backstop and keep the hood from being sucked in. Your gap may be smaller/larger but in general you don't want to see the aluminum touching the hood when tightening. This means there is no gap to take up as you tighten and you're sucking the hood in / adding a lot of stress to the hood.

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Second issue, the first stud I glued in had an area that didn't cure completely hard. It stayed a little gummy. So I dug out that gummy area and added glue when I repaired my ripped off stud. This was a mixing problem from the 2 part glue I used. Always purge a little bit of glue to allow everything to mix properly in the mixing tip. My repair has now cured hard since I purged first.

[mcamera]

"A chain is only as strong as the weakest link" therefore adhesive manufacturers recommend application the the base strata. An adhesive may bond to bed liner, but does bed liner bond as good as adhesive?
In the case of sticking to mesh, if the rtv flowed around and over the mesh, curing will capture the mesh in RTV.

In this case, the bed liner is strong enough. I couldn't pick the RTV adhesive off of the bed liner on my sample spot, nor did the bed liner separate from the fiberglass body. It's a thick mesh on a skinny flange so not much room for applying a lot of RTV. Outside of that flange, my body is a full 1" away from the plastic mesh so I'm going to bond in some studs to cope with that large gap better. I will capture the smaller metal mesh for my hood vents with just RTV though!

[J R Jones]

I have fabricated/reconfigured hinges and remote release latches with gas lift struts on both ends of my body. I bonded aluminum blocks and square tube for mounts in all but the front hinges where the weight and stress is low.
There I use aluminum riv-nuts in the FRP. I use steel riv-nuts in the aluminum tube and thread the aluminum blocks. The latches mount to bent aluminum sheet with riv-nuts. I use pliogrip adhesive and occasionally add FRP cloth tape with epoxy resin. Being cheap, most of these projects require a small amount of Pliogrip so I mix blobs on a palette with a putty knife. Recently I built a gas fill door / neck / breather with a flush hinged door and magnetic release. Bonded studs in that application.
jim

[Scott Meyer]

Sorry for your struggle Mike…Craig has actually made directions for these in PDF…somehow I found them and followed the method he suggested with some slight modifications. If it would help I can email to you? Several of us also showed the steps on our build pages.

[TheHelixx]

If it’s not too much of a hassle to get it back off. Put some small pieces of fiberglass around the edge of the studs. It will sandwich them on and really reinforces their hold. I ended up taking about a 2” square of chopped strand mat and pushing it over the studs centered. The stud goes right through the mat and when you ad resin, just make sure you avoid the threads.

[mcamera]

Thanks for the offer Scott but I got it figured out. I almost texted you because I remember you talking about a PDF when I visited, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

TheHelixx, thanks for the suggestion. I'll probably do that down the road since I'll have to grind away more bed liner, buy fiberglass materials, and figure out how to lay fiberglass. I could use some more reinforcement but that's a project for another day. Trying to get the car on the road this summer!

[J R Jones]

Several months ago Jon (Roadster) and I were discussing his carbon application and he mentioned his supplier here in WI. Composite Envisions has a comprehensive inventory of materials, carbon and epoxy. I now use them exclusively. I bought a roll of their glass cloth tape for bonding edges, joints, and spot reinforcement. Cloth has stronger physical properties than mat. I now use the tape 90% of the time. One more advantage is that it has woven edges, you just cut to length. The edges do not fragment in handling or coating with the brush/resin.

https://compositeenvisions.com/product/fiberglass-plain-weave-cloth-tape-e-glass-8-7oz-295gsm-50-yard-roll/

The two inch width meets all my needs so far, although I have sheets as well for larger applications. I use mat only where I need bulk/thickness, and use cloth as the final layer.
jim

[mcamera]

My kit came with LED's for the blinker/turn signals, but no female connector to connect to housing. I did get 6 metal pins so I'm guessing this is on purpose and FFR didn't forget the female connectors. So I soldered the metal pins to my wires, connected them (which they stay on by themselves but not well) and then taped everything up to keep everything from pulling apart.

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I find it weird that FFR also supplies halogen bulbs for the brake lights since everything else is LED except the projector headlights. So I ordered new LED bulbs for the tail lights. I got red LED"s even though you can't tell in the photos. Some reviews said white LED's might appear washed out even through a red tail light lens. The red LED's look great and are super bright!

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Started test fitting the dash. The odometer button is jammed against the bottom, so I need to work with some spacers to raise the cluster a little bit. I'll add an update when I sort that out.

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[mcamera]

I was able to learn how to powder coat at work so I did a few parts.

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Hood vent mesh got glued to the underside of the hood. I didn't use a surround on top to hide the cut edges of the fiberglass so I painted the edges black. I like how clean and simple it looks.

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Door sill covers. I'm glad I could powder coat these for some added durability because I'm sure they'll get kicked, scratched, and beat up.

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I powder coated the FFR mesh for the rear bumper but ended up using a larger plastic honeycomb mesh I found. I used the FFR surround piece to hide my cut edges but still painted the edges of the fiberglass black since you can see them from certain angles. I glued in bondable studs for the mesh with RTV silicone. RTV didn't stick well to the plastic honeycomb so bolting it on is more secure. RTV does bond well to my Raptor bedliner. I didn't grind any of the bedliner off, I just cleaned it before applying RTV.

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I routed and covered my wires with black sheathing to make everything look neat. I also bonded in an extra stud to hold my passenger tail light wires out of the way of the exhaust and from being a large black bundle of wires running straight across the engine bay which wouldn't look as tidy. From behind the car you can't see the wires through the mesh, and looking into the engine bay you can't see the wires hung up on the bumper. It just looks clean which I was trying really hard for.

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[mcamera]

My rear hatch has always rubbed the corner of my roof when opening so it was time to make this fit right. I cut the hatch flush with the top of the glass and it finally doesn't rub.

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The gas struts were entertaining. It took a few hours to get it right. At first I had the struts installed so the hatch would open all the way. This gave the struts too much lifting force and it was creating a 1" gap at the top of the hatch/roof area. Then I slid the collars further back on the roll bar (towards the front of the car) shown in the pics below, and the struts didn't have enough force to hold the trunk open.

163706

After tightening the main pivot of the hatch hinges, readjusting the arms where they attach to the hatch, and setting the gas strut collars to the correct distance, everything looks good. The hatch remains flush when closed. Doesn't scrape when opening and holds itself open although it's not as far open as I originally wanted. For me the collars had to be 3" back from the diagonal rollbar shown in my pic.

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I cut off part of the heatshield on my cat so I could bolt up the FFR exhaust. This exhaust will require me to cut a hole in my bumper which I don't think I want to do. I'm going to see if I can just dump the exhaust to the ground out of the cat. So the tip will be hidden under the car and out of sight.

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[Bob_n_Cincy]

Mcamera, Here is a picture of my exhaust. It's pretty much the same as your current setup. It is quiet enough for most tracks. I went with the through-the-bumper design. It has worked well for us. The second shows the exhaust tip and a nice controlled sideways slide.

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[FFRWRX]

Hood vent mesh got glued to the underside of the hood. I didn't use a surround on top to hide the cut edges of the fiberglass so I painted the edges black. I like how clean and simple it looks.



I really like how that looks. Another idea I may have to borrow. Very nicely done!

Rick

[J R Jones]

My kit came with LED's for the blinker/turn signals, but no female connector to connect to housing. I did get 6 metal pins so I'm guessing this is on purpose and FFR didn't forget the female connectors. So I soldered the metal pins to my wires, connected them (which they stay on by themselves but not well) and then taped everything up to keep everything from pulling apart.

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I find it weird that FFR also supplies halogen bulbs for the brake lights since everything else is LED except the projector headlights. So I ordered new LED bulbs for the tail lights. I got red LED"s even though you can't tell in the photos. Some reviews said white LED's might appear washed out even through a red tail light lens. The red LED's look great and are super bright!

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Started test fitting the dash. The odometer button is jammed against the bottom, so I need to work with some spacers to raise the cluster a little bit. I'll add an update when I sort that out.

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Careful with lighting. Halogen bulbs are hot and can melt plastic housings and lenses. Your photo is LED and incandescent, I do not see halogen.
On brightness, tail lights that are too bright are annoying to follow, like bad headlights in on coming cars. Too bright tail lights may be mistaken for stop lights.

The crimp pin in your photo requires a specific crimp tool with "rolling" jaws for wire crimp and larger jaw for the stress relief on the insulation. Your crimp is not per design intent. Soldering is not required with a good crimp.

https://www.amazon.com/Qibaok-Ratcheting-0-5-1-5mm%C2%B2-Connectors-Terminals/dp/B07RZSSTSJ/ref=asc_df_B07RZSSTSJ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=366281307321&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13976050362195792696&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019101&hvtargid=pla-833633159924&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=75985294253&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=366281307321&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13976050362195792696&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019101&hvtargid=pla-833633159924

jim

[mcamera]

Thanks for the reference photo Bob. I think I want the exhaust tip hidden under the bumper but I'm still playing with a couple ideas.

Thanks Rick. I didn't get the surround pieces for the hood mesh so I decided to embrace it and go borderless. Using those vents to their fullest! There's just enough mesh on the edges to glue to the hood underneath.

Correct Jim. I meant incandescent not halogen. The names sometimes get interchanged even though they're different, and here I am perpetuating that. If my bright tail lights are mistaken for stop lights then nobody should ever hit me right? :p I'm being a smartass. The tail lights didn't seem too bright when just turned on, but I'll check how bright the brake lights are tonight when braking. I've only seen the brake lights on video (since I was pushing the brake) so I'll check them in person. Video of my light test below. I think the FFR supplied white reverse lights are brighter. I tried crimping the pins with needle nose pliers and it wasn't pretty as you're suggesting, so I decided to solder them, cover them in heat shrink, and then tape all of the connections to the LED housing for added insurance.


https://youtu.be/c_J3wyk0Oc8

[RPGs818SNA]

163764

It’s unfortunate that FFR hasn’t updated the manual with a photo like the one above showing the new tail light connector components. They do note that the grey socket isn’t used, and show the female connector assembled and connected to the socket, but one more picture would give us a clue on how they go together.

I agree with Jim that crimping with the right tool gives you the best electrical and mechanical connection, but finding the right one can be a challenge, unless some kind soul gives us a link to it, like Jim did, and the manual should have.

I think your solution will work fine as long as the tape holds. If you come across the connector housing or can get one from FFR, your wires should plug into it. BTW, I’ve soldered all my crimps so far, and probably will on these as well, as it takes a lot of new tool for 6 crimps.

Thanks for sharing so much of your work. There are so many great ideas in your thread.

[mcamera]

PMRPGs818SNA that 3 barrel connector with the metal clasp looks familiar but I can't find them in any of my boxes. Did that come with your kit? Maybe I lost mine in my move?

I compared my tail/brake lights to a production car. My test is not very scientific and pictures can only tell half the story... but here's my summary

Tail lights on, not braking
Brightness is similar and neither hurts my eyes
163793

Both cars braking
Similar brightness, both strain your eyes if you stare directly into them (I really hope my neighbors aren't watching me hop back and forth between 2 cars blinding myself)
163794

SUV braking, 818 not braking
The SUV is noticeably brighter
163782

In my half baked conclusion, the LED's I'm using for the 818 brake lights are similar to OEM brake lights. The SUV's brake lights (when braking) are noticeably brighter than the 818 tail lights when not braking which is good. The LED's in the 818 shouldn't be obnoxiously bright for cars behind it. That's not to say that the simple, round housings of the 818's lights don't project more light though. I was standing close to the SUV and 818's brake lights for my little test. From 100 feet back, maybe the 818 lights don't spread the light out as much as the SUV?

This is what I bought
Kitchasy LED's on Amazon (type of bulb is 1157, I bought the red LED's)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H8M8LB4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

On another note, I installed the LED flasher relay so my blinkers blink at a normal speed now and not 2x as fast. I found a post that helped me figure this out (thank you FFR forums) but I'm going to put this in my own words for others that aren't sure how this installs. It's really easy.

- Turn your hazards on
- Find the relay that you hear clicking and unplug it (the new LED flasher relay will replace this)
- There are 3 wires on the OEM connector, cut the black ground wire
- Splice the black wire from the new LED flasher relay into the OEM black ground wire
- Plug the LED flasher relay into the connector so it connects the other 2 wires on the plug

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I also started to knock down the parting lines on the body and after doing a small test area I realized that a wide/flat pink line was more noticeable than a skinny/raised red line. So I'm leaving the parting lines as they are and just going to clean up any leftover mold wax.

163787

[J R Jones]

Thank you RPG. I will rain a bit more by pointing out that soldering creates embrittlement in the wire at the connection. Dynamic conditions like near hinges put the wire at risk of fatigue failure.
As I mentioned a proper crimp provides a crimp around the bare wire and a crimp around the insulation to provide stress and fatigue relief.

Another caveat, not all wire is the same. Aluminum wire or copper over aluminum wire has poor fatigue and environmental durability. It can deteriorate through corrosion of dissimilar metals.
Pure copper is not appropriate for automotive use. Tinned copper wire is best, and silicone based insulation is more supple.
jim

[RPGs818SNA]

Yes, Mike, they came with my kit in Feb 2019. The parts list describes it as follows:

80011 3 pin signal connector consisting of the following:
80464 black connector housing, 2 ea
80465 2.57mm female terminal, 6 ea
80466 blue connector seal, 6 ea

The connector housing has this number stamped on it: 357 972 753
See https://www.ebay.com/itm/183077448505

Thanks for the rain, Jim. That’s what makes flowers grow, and provides a valuable learning experience. I wholeheartedly agree that a proper crimp is the very best way to connect automotive wiring, as apparently do all the auto manufacturers. Being new to auto wiring, I don’t feel I have the tools or experience to make a proper crimp, so I do the best I can crimping for mechanical support and then soldering for electrical conductivity. I then lace the wires to reduce the risk of fatigue failure from embrittlement. I also use the old style lead tin solder which isn’t quite so brittle.

Thanks for the caution on aluminum wires. All my donor wires seem to be plain stranded copper, which I’ve reused throughout my 818. If I run out of dieted wire, I’ll look for tinned copper and silicone insulation.

RPG

[mcamera]

My gauges are looking better. I got a low profile head, black bolt for on top of the gauges so it would blend in better than a big silver bolt. It's also longer so I could add a spacer on the back to raise the gauges in the opening. My odometer button was jammed against the dash, but now it has clearance. Raising the gauges hid some of the silver trim on top of the tachometer but it's the lesser of 2 evils for me.

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I bought 3 point seatbelts and the install hardware kit from seatbeltsplus.com and they're nice quality. I had to mount them differently than the FFR instructions for the Subaru belts. I didn't install seatbelts when the FFR manual said to (before the side pods were attached) because I was going to do harnesses. But FFR was no longer selling their harness bar, I didn't trust myself to design a new bar quickly, and it's something I can upgrade later if I want. It was just another hurdle as I try to get the car on the road this summer. I didn't have access to the reel from outside of the car so I had to cut off the plastic cover so I could install the reel from inside the car and have room to attach a bolt.

164685

I drilled a new hole in the middle of the chassis mounting plate to attach the reel in the best position I could find. The seatbelt wasn't retracting well because of the sharp bend to get out of the cover plate so I cut the opening in the cover plate almost twice as wide and now the belt flows more freely and retracts well. You'll notice I also cut a clearance hole in the cover plate for the mounting bolt. Just another compromise / side effect of using a universal seatbelt. It'll get covered with carpet eventually and it's behind my seat where nobody will see a small bulge in the carpet.

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There was plenty of space for the bottom mounting brackets, but not a lot of room for where the receiver/lap belt come up around my thick seats. Some trial and error got me to a good setup that depended on what order I assembled the "kebab" of brackets, washers, and hardware. I also like the big 4" washers I got for the bottom anchors (not shown in pics). They go under the car to help distribute the force and help reduce the chance of the bolts tearing through the floor during a crash. In the end I like how everything installed. It took some careful measuring and thinking, but now I have a comfortable seatbelt that's well anchored.

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[mcamera]

The upper rear firewall didn't fit great at first. There were large gaps around the seal at the top corners and I had to cut off the ends of the firewall at the bottom so I could raise it to the correct location. The ends were interfering with my sidepods. After trimming the top of the firewall, it raised into a much better position and sealed all around. There are still gaps on the ends and underneath the firewall where I'll try to add more sealing. Ready to pop the glass in!

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[Shawn818c]

Great progress, I'm envious! How much is left? Seems like you're getting down to the finishing touches

[Jetfuel]

Really digging the smartcar in the pic..

Jet

[J R Jones]

Mcam, Have you tried heat gunning the tube seal pinch section to get it to bend VS cut? I do not know if that works.
jim

[mcamera]

Shawn, it feels like finishing touches but I keep finding things to do. I still have a bunch of aluminum covers to fit/paint, the exhaust tip I'm cutting/rotating to point down, I need to design a center console since my shifter/handbrake setup isn't typical, carpet will wait until I drive the car for a bit so I have access to the wiring in the tunnel, install glass, and finish up the passenger door. I'm more or less on page 535/570 in the build section of the manual!

Jet, that's my fiance's commuter. She loves it and I hate to admit how fun it is to drive. It has an automated manual so it shifts for you like an automatic but has the big pause and jerk of a manual. Makes it feel like a 70hp go kart. Plus it's a convertible!

JR, I haven't tried a heat gun but I have tried not cutting it and forcing it to bend around curves. It's constantly trying to pull itself off or binds so bad it pushes itself off. Relief cuts have been the best way for me to take tension out of the seal on sharp bends. It doesn't look great up close but I don't notice it when it's installed. I would guess heat won't allow it to stretch or shrink enough to make it around sharp bends but it's worth a shot. I'll try it on my aluminum cover panels when I get to them. If it works I'll go back and redo the rear firewall. Good idea.

I installed the glass for the rear firewall. Getting the glass in wasn't too bad but getting the locking lip of the seal to fold under itself was tricky. Lots of WD-40 so the rubber seal would zip up like a zipper. Takes a decent amount of force and I slipped and scratched my firewall a couple times, but no broken glass! So you can see how the seal zips up, here's a pic of the seal partially zipped.

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Installed

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[sgarrett]

Lots of WD-40



Yep! I second that statement. Once I basically created a flooding situation it was actually pretty easy to do.

I am having troubles getting my hatch to stay open. Would you mind sharing where you attached the struts to the frame and to the hatch itself?

1. Distance along the frame from the clamp to the end of the tube it is on
2. Distance from the strut bracket to the edge of the area where the hatch hinge is mounted

I find that the hatch is only staying about 1/2 way open for me and when it is fully closed the struts aren't in the right position to fully pull it against the seal along the top edge of the hatch (the edge along the roof).

Any insight woudl be appreciated.

[mcamera]

Lots of WD-40



Yep! I second that statement. Once I basically created a flooding situation it was actually pretty easy to do.

I am having troubles getting my hatch to stay open. Would you mind sharing where you attached the struts to the frame and to the hatch itself?

1. Distance along the frame from the clamp to the end of the tube it is on
2. Distance from the strut bracket to the edge of the area where the hatch hinge is mounted

I find that the hatch is only staying about 1/2 way open for me and when it is fully closed the struts aren't in the right position to fully pull it against the seal along the top edge of the hatch (the edge along the roof).

Any insight woudl be appreciated.

Hey sgarret,
When I was installing the struts my first attempt lifted the hatch all the way open by itself, but lifted the top of the hatch off of the seal when closed like you're saying. I moved just the strut mount on the frame further away (towards the front of the car) and then my struts were too weak to open the hatch with the weight of the glass. So I went in between and now my hatch sits down against the seal when closed, but only opens half way by itself. I have to assist it to get it to raise all the way but it stays open by itself at the top. I had to tighten the bolts on the hinge also to stop the top of the hatch from lifting off of the seal.

Here are my driver side measurements. Measured from the same spot on the frame. My passenger side is slightly different since it reached fully open half a second before the driver side. So I moved the frame mount slightly further away (towards the front of the car) so it would open at the same speed as my driver side. The hatch now opens evenly and at the same speed on both sides.

Wish mine would open all the way by itself AND stay sealed at the top when closed, but I had to compromise. Hope this helps!

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[J R Jones]

mcam, There is almost nothing FFR that fits on my 818 project. I have to build and find everything.
When it came to my frunk and engine cover I chose Gasspringshop.com for struts.
Their on-line spread sheet takes the geometry including hatch dimensions, weight and anticipated opening angle. Out comes the struts, mounting locations and cost.
I found during the layout, the frunk strut mounts were 0.5 in too close to close completely. A minor adjustment and they are perfect.
Delivery of the heavy (rear) set with black rods was delayed but customer service was great.
Made in USA.
FFR does not provide mounting locations???? Maybe they don't know.
jim

[mcamera]

Mocked up a sheet of metal to see how high my center console needs to be to hide the shifter/handbrake mechanicals. 2.75" seems to be a sweet spot. Not a lot of room under the handbrake handle but it's useable. If I find time I might try to scallop the metal in that area for more hand room and it'll add a little depth to my otherwise flat, boring cover.

165319

Used the brake at work to bend a new cover

165321

The new cover fit the console great, but the wider FFR supplied aluminum cover at the back made it flare out so I cut off the interfering corners so everything would sit flush

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I still need to mount my dash and decide how I want to connect the console to it. I've been playing with the idea of a curved piece so the dash isn't just 1 boring, sharp angle but that'll make it hard to mount anything to it since it's a curved surface. On the bright side it looks easy for me to add a couple cup holders already! I also need to extend my gas pedal wires and I'm hoping the steering column wires are long enough to tuck up out of the way.

165323

[wallace18]

Looking Good!:cool:

[mcamera]

I'm trying to have some fun here. The Subaru wiper system is huge so I have an idea on how to convert it to a single arm system.

165386

I see other people have done it but I think I've found the simplest (laziest) way to make it work. The tricky part is making sure my modified linkage system doesn't bind up since the motor linkage rotates 360 degrees, but the wiper linkage only rotates about 90 degrees back and forth. So I did a study to find the correct length of the new arm and how far the wiper will sweep before I start cutting.

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I'm waiting on a new wiper arm since my donor pallet was missing them. Then I can confirm if my idea works. It should only need a nut/bolt to convert and then we'll see how well it mounts and works!

[lance corsi]

After seeing the ffr method of installing wipers, I went another route. I took the wiper setup off an ‘07 Chrysler minivan, the type that cross up in the middle. I’ve always liked those for some reason, but in this case, with the roof scoop, I felt as if water was going to be a problem if driving in rain. Looked to me like the water would be directed into the roof scoop as the wipers operated. I’ve modified the roof scoop also, so….hopefully I’m correct.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

This method was so much simpler for a single wiper system.


https://youtu.be/U-HMdbagCuE

[RPGs818SNA]

Nice work on the graphical analysis of the wiper linkage. Thanks for sharing that.

It's probably not as much fun, but you can always get the FFR single wiper kit at https://www.factoryfiveparts.com/81168-818-mono-wiper-kit/

Rev 1Z of the manual even deleted any mention of reusing the donor wiper mechanism.

[mcamera]

Lance that sounds like a cool setup. If I'm picturing it correctly you'll be able to wipe almost the entire windshield with just a triangle at the top center remaining. That'll be nice for driver visibility. I'm worried I'll have to chose between a low parking spot for the wiper where it's out of the way and looks good on the car when it's not in use or having the wiper go all the way parallel with the a-pillar so the driver's side gets completely cleared. I'm only adding a wiper for legal reasons and won't purposely drive the car in the rain so I'll favor the good looks of a low parked wiper vs perfect wiping area for the driver if I have to.

Bob I agree and that's my backup plan if things don't work out. I thought it would be nice to use the existing plug and keep my intermittent, low, and high settings on the stalk while using free donor parts. I'm hoping I can develop a simple solution for other guys that don't want to spend extra money or lose full functionality. Plus it seemed fun to redesign the existing setup. Two questions for ya. Are you using the Subaru wiper arm and is it wired to your Subaru stalk or a new switch in the car?

Thanks RPG. There's a +/-5mm range for the new arm length (hole center to hole center) that looks like it should work. Any longer or shorter and the system binds in my analysis. I'm excited to see if it works. The $400 FFR kit is more expensive than I want. I have a marine wiper picked out for $100 as my backup plan. I don't see any mention of wipers in my manual either.

[mcamera]

I'm still working on the wiper. I've had some success but it looks tricky to install.

Stock wipers
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Cut the arms and hammered the end of the motor tube flat. Drilled a hole at 130mm (center of motor pivot to center of new hole) to create a new arm from the motor pivot to the wiper pivot. It works without any binding but has 1 small side effect that wouldn't bother me. When the wiper first starts to wipe, it goes down an inch before it starts moving across the windshield to the driver side. This is due to where the modified motor arm is at in its rotation when the wiper is parked.
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1st attempt, Subaru arm is too high, can't close hood
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2nd attempt, mounted motor flatter and bent the Subaru arm flatter, better but still too high
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3rd attempt, mounted motor further forward, this looked really nice and low profile so I got excited, but it's too far back and the wiper falls off the windshield on both ends of the wipe
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4th attempt, mounted the motor flat further back. Subaru wiper arm will hit the fiberglass during its sweep.
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5th attempt, this is about as good as you can get, but the Subaru wiper arm still doesn't fit between the 1" gap between the hood and windshield
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At this point I need a really thin wiper arm or to admit defeat and buy a marine wiper. I'll give it another hour of playing around.

[mcamera]

I debated a couple spots for my APR carbon fiber mirrors. At the top of the door vs the small triangle on the a-pillar.
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I thought the a-pillar looked too high. Getting too close to the hippo ears on the Superlite SLC and Ultima GTR so I went with the more traditional door mounting.
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I finished mounting my front fender wells. I'll have to cut some access holes for my headlight harnesses since I mounted them in the way.
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I have a big question that was brought up again while I was working on the wheel wells. My turning radius is not good. I currently have steering rack limiters on the car to keep the tires from hitting the frame. I couldn't make a lot of turns when I was go karting the car around my neighborhood last year. Has anybody found a way to improve the turning radius? I'm considering wheel spacers but I don't think that will help much. Does it get better after you do a steering alignment? Do I just need to replace my brand new rims/tires with a narrower set? Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

[J R Jones]

mcam, I do not recognize your wheels. What size and offest (backspace) are they for reference?
jim

[mcamera]

mcam, I do not recognize your wheels. What size and offest (backspace) are they for reference?
jim

Enkei TS-10 wheels
17x8
45mm offset

215/40R-17 tires

[mcamera]

I was quoted $400 to install the front windshield, rear windshield, and 2 sail windows. Is that on par with everybody else? All the early build threads said $100 but I'm guessing those were convertibles that only had the front windshield.

[J R Jones]

Enkei TS-10 wheels
17x8
45mm offset

215/40R-17 tires

Mcam, That is about what I have with FFR wheels. have you roughed-in the alignment? Do you have little or negative caster?

[mcamera]

Mcam, That is about what I have with FFR wheels. have you roughed-in the alignment? Do you have little or negative caster?

I've only adjusted the suspension parts to the FFR recommended lengths while building the car. I haven't done an alignment since I've assembled everything. My tire hits the frame near the coolant pipe at ~1.5 turns. Would adding caster move the tire further back and make it worst?

[J R Jones]

No, positive caster positions the bottom of the tire forward, which typically increases the "return to center" feel after a turn, and does increase steering effort.
The FFR spec is +3-4 degrees. If you have been watching the roadster and coupe guys, they run +6 to get straight line stability and then add power steering because of the effort.
It is not easy to measure, there are techniques on the web.
jim

[TheHelixx]

I was quoted $400 to install the front windshield, rear windshield, and 2 sail windows. Is that on par with everybody else? All the early build threads said $100 but I'm guessing those were convertibles that only had the front windshield.

I cracked my windshield bringing the kit home. I paid just over 300 for a replacement windshield with installation and I gave the guy 60 bux when he came to glue in the the other 3 for me. He said he would just do it but I already planned on tipping him anyway.

As a side note it took 3 appointments to get someone that would install it. Safelite scheduled me a week out and 10 minutes before the end of my arrival window called me and said they couldn’t locate my windshield at any aftermarket source… when I told them I could have just gotten the glass from FFR, the told me they would not install anyone else’s glass period. 2nd was Glass America.. Their tech was a younger guy that was nervous installing it because it touched the Pilar at the bottom on both sides. 3rd was a senior guy from Auto Glass fitters local to to my area. He wasn’t concerned about the touching, but said it was too tight for a molding.

I found out after talking to some auto body guys that they can grind the edge of the glass to fit them. Most guys are paid by the job not the hour so they can’t be bothered however.

Hope it helps you cause this was an aggravating part of my install taking about 2 weeks to sort out.

[Dave 53]

I've only adjusted the suspension parts to the FFR recommended lengths while building the car. I haven't done an alignment since I've assembled everything. My tire hits the frame near the coolant pipe at ~1.5 turns. Would adding caster move the tire further back and make it worst?

Get as much caster as you can. My alignment guy got mine from 3.3 degrees to 4.8 degrees and it was noticeable. Going from 3.3 to 4.8 doesn't seem like much of a change, but the car became more stable and removed all the "dancing around" experienced under hard acceleration. More caster beats tire rub in a U turn or any increase in steering effort.

[lance corsi]

I’m running 5 degrees on mine.

[J R Jones]

I’m running 5 degrees on mine.

Says the guy with a Corvette front suspension!?
jim

[mcamera]

I have an appointment for Safelite to come install my glass next Friday. Initial quote was $500, after giving them more details it dropped to $400 because of the smaller side windows, and today they said they're pricing moves around and it was down to $300. I'm happy with $300. Another company quoted me $530 and another company never got back to me. Going to paint the fiberglass edges black and I'll be ready!

[mcamera]

Friday I drove to Frankfort, KY to apply for a title since the Lexington office said I had to go through the capital's office. The first thing they told me was I had to do it back in Lexington because that's the county I live in. They also said I shouldn't be doing a rebuilt title which Lexington told me I had to do since I'm using major parts from another vehicle. Either way they said I have to apply for a new VIN number first. So I dropped off an application for that at the state building. Once I get that, I think I can get my title/inspection at the Lexington office. Nobody seems to be certain but they gave me an email of an official that can help guide me.

I painted the border of my headlight lenses black. I left the headlight covers off this long because the headlight buckets aren't sealed and I thought fiberglass dust would get inside if I sealed them up before I finished the body work. I still need to permanently attach the covers. I used a white "universal bonding" primer from Rustoleum which after I removed the tape left a hairline border of white next to my black paint. It's not terrible so I'll see if I can clean it up a little but I wouldn't recommend a white primer for black paint.
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I've given up on the Subaru wiper. I ordered a marine wiper but I don't think I ordered the best one for this car. I'm having trouble mounting it nicely. The rod that sticks out of the motor is too short so the wiper arm/wiper comes out at a bad angle and the wiper can't lay flat on the windshield. I made a couple 45deg spacers to mount the motor at an angle to help but I still don't like it. I can cut out a large part of the fiberglass, move the motor up, and make a new mount but I don't think that will look nice and my wiper arm is still really short. I'm going to look for a different motor and longer wiper arm. Suggestions for a marine motor/wiper arm are welcome.
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I also picked up this little tool for $14 on Amazon to roughly adjust my front alignment. I need to reduce my tire/frame interference so I can improve my terrible turning radius.
165871

[roadrashrob]

I've given up on the Subaru wiper. I ordered a marine wiper but I don't think I ordered the best one for this car. I'm having trouble mounting it nicely. The rod that sticks out of the motor is too short so the wiper arm/wiper comes out at a bad angle and the wiper can't lay flat on the windshield. I made a couple 45deg spacers to mount the motor at an angle to help but I still don't like it. I can cut out a large part of the fiberglass, move the motor up, and make a new mount but I don't think that will look nice and my wiper arm is still really short. I'm going to look for a different motor and longer wiper arm. Suggestions for a marine motor/wiper arm are welcome.


Any reason you didn't just go with the Wiper FFR sells? I'm not up to that part of my build yet, but I am "assuming" it at least functions on the "C" windshield, hence why I purchased it with my kit.

[mcamera]

Any reason you didn't just go with the Wiper FFR sells? I'm not up to that part of my build yet, but I am "assuming" it at least functions on the "C" windshield, hence why I purchased it with my kit.

It's $430 shipped. I didn't think it would be this difficult to make a wiper work. I see even the FFR kit requires you to bend the wiper arm to make the wiper fully contact the glass. Just an awkward combination of angles even with their purpose built 3D printed base and adjustable wiper arm.

[roadrashrob]

It's $430 shipped. I didn't think it would be this difficult to make a wiper work. I see even the FFR kit requires you to bend the wiper arm to make the wiper fully contact the glass. Just an awkward combination of angles even with their purpose built 3D printed base and adjustable wiper arm.

Got it. Thanks for the heads up!

[mcamera]

My glass got installed on Friday. $300 through Safelite for all 4 pieces. I disconnected the struts on the rear hatch before the glass got installed. They put enough force on the fiberglass hatch to warp it so I didn't want the glass to get glued in while the corners were curled up and freeze them in place permanently. My corners do sit more flush now after the glass glue cured.
166104

I bought another more compact wiper motor with a longer 3.5" shaft. Even with the longer shaft, I couldn't mount the motor flat and get the wiper arm to clear the bottom of the windshield.
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I made a bracket to tilt the motor forward so the wiper arm would clear the windshield. Then I made a hood stand off to hold the hood a little higher and trimmed the back of the hood to give the arm enough clearance. I reduced the wiper sweep from 110deg to 100deg because the bottom of the wiper was almost going off the windshield at the end of the driver side sweep (meaning I couldn't put a longer wiper on) and it was slightly interfering with the hood at the end of the sweep.
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I'm using this small washer kit from Amazon. Seems perfect because it's small (~2 liters) and only $20. The quality is better than I expected. I made sure to make the washer hoses from the tee to both spray nozzles the same length so they would get the same pressure. I didn't want 1 super nozzle and 1 lazy nozzle.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XZZ8YJL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
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Wiper / washer test with a short 12" wiper blade. Now that everything works it looks like I can fit a longer 20" wiper blade. Everything is already painted black and waiting to go back on. All wiring/hoses will get covered in black sheathing to hide it.

https://youtu.be/pk-KGkTFthE

[FFRWRX]

It looks like with the single wiper in the park position it stays fairly high up on the windshield. I suppose there is no way around this with having near 180 degree sweep. Can you get a motor like that with more sweep angle? But then the motor would have to be mounted higher up, closer to the bottom of the windshield, so maybe that wouldn't work.

I have the stock stuff that came with my kit (the 2 wiper arrangement), that I think involves cutting some of the hood away. Not sure what system to use right now, but I appreciate the detailed description of what you found and how you did it.

Rick

[mcamera]

It looks like with the single wiper in the park position it stays fairly high up on the windshield. I suppose there is no way around this with having near 180 degree sweep. Can you get a motor like that with more sweep angle? But then the motor would have to be mounted higher up, closer to the bottom of the windshield, so maybe that wouldn't work.

I have the stock stuff that came with my kit (the 2 wiper arrangement), that I think involves cutting some of the hood away. Not sure what system to use right now, but I appreciate the detailed description of what you found and how you did it.

Rick

I just added a few more notes to my post. I actually reduced the sweep from 110deg to 100deg so I can fit a longer wiper on it. The wiper is parked higher than I had hoped for, but that was the best all around setup I found. I have an arm with an adjustable tip so I can rotate the wiper more horizontal, but then the far end of the wiper doesn't contact the windshield. I could then bend the arm down more so the wiper makes better contact, but then it interferes with the hood. I left it for now so I can pass inspection. It was hard enough and time consuming to get to this point. It's satisfactory, but I'm sure I could get the arm slightly lower with some fine adjustments. I think my hardtop is set further forward than preferred making the gap for the wiper smaller.

I've only seen the Subaru 2 wiper system work after cutting out a big (10"?) chunk at the back of the hood. I showed how to convert it to a 1 wiper system but that was still really challenging to fit in the car and get the angles right. It wasn't going to happen with the bulky Subaru wiper arm for me.

[idf]

I just added a few more notes to my post. I actually reduced the sweep from 110deg to 100deg so I can fit a longer wiper on it. The wiper is parked higher than I had hoped for, but that was the best all around setup I found. I have an arm with an adjustable tip so I can rotate the wiper more horizontal, but then the far end of the wiper doesn't contact the windshield. I could then bend the arm down more so the wiper makes better contact, but then it interferes with the hood. I left it for now so I can pass inspection. It was hard enough and time consuming to get to this point. It's satisfactory, but I'm sure I could get the arm slightly lower with some fine adjustments. I think my hardtop is set further forward than preferred making the gap for the wiper smaller.

I've only seen the Subaru 2 wiper system work after cutting out a big (10"?) chunk at the back of the hood. I showed how to convert it to a 1 wiper system but that was still really challenging to fit in the car and get the angles right. It wasn't going to happen with the bulky Subaru wiper arm for me.

I have the original FFR two wiper system. It does involve cutting the back of the hood, but the end product looks and functions well.166162

[mcamera]

Painted and re-installed the wiper system, washer bottle, and battery bracket. Longer 20" wiper fits great. Hid my clear washer lines in black sheathing because it looked a little messy.

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Waiting on a 4 wire trailer harness to finish wiring the pump. I didn't want to hard wire it in just in case it has to be removed to service something in that area. Still riveting in the front fender wells / under car aluminum.

[mcamera]

It took a month but I got an approval letter for my VIN application! Now I have up to 60 days to get an inspection from the sheriff so I can apply for title/registration. Not 100% sure what I need to pass inspection but I don't think it's much more.

What needs to be finished for inspection:
Exhaust exit
Rear fender wells
Connect center console to dash
Mount hazard / window switches to console
Reinstall doors / seats

Other items:
Add visors
Wheel alignment
Improve turning radius
Front grille mesh
Paint aluminum cover under radiator
Align headlights

167023 167024 167025

[mcamera]

After talking to a local tuner it sounds like the Cobb Accessport can't be used to disable emissions related check engine lights any more. I have 4 codes active right (shown in the pics below). I'm not sure if I can pass my inspection with a check engine light on. Has anybody else had similar trouble? I'm debating cutting power to the check engine light itself vs an expensive stand alone ecu as my tuner has recommended to eliminate the codes.

Also is everybody running a rear O2 sensor? I had planned on not running one but I'm reading mixed reviews about the 06-07 ECU using the rear O2 sensor for minor fueling adjustments during closed loop. Not just verifying the cat is working as I thought all rear O2's were meant for. I'll have to buy a rear O2 sensor and track down the connector which is hiding somewhere in my car.

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[Ajzride]

I am not running the rear O2 on a 2006. No issues so far, but I'm only go-karting. You can disable the CELs with a Tactrix Cable and RomRaider, if the Cobb hasn't locked your ECU.

[aquillen]

Wondering - if you cut the Check Engine Light - it won't show during pre-igntion - an inspector would see that. And does KY connect to the Diagnostic Plug as part of their testing - that would also show codes if you say with a simple lights out.

[mcamera]

I'm not sure how in depth the inspection will be. I feel like it will be a basic check of working lights. Hopefully they don't need to run a diagnostic or dive that deep into details. I just ordered a Tactrix cable so I can disable the codes with RomRaider. I need to research what's involved with RomRaider now.

[mcamera]

Just called the sheriff to ask some questions about the inspection and he insisted he come out this Friday to take a look. He only mentioned lights, seatbelts, and handbrake as examples of things he's looking for. Nothing about running diagnostics or checking the quality of work. We'll see what he says!

[mcamera]

Sheriff came out and looked at the 818. Saw that it had headlights, asked if it had high beams, blinkers, and hazards which it does. Checked that I had seatbelts and a parking brake and approved me! 60 second inspection and I didn't even have to turn on the car. Next steps are getting a VIN plate and applying for a title. Now I can keep working on the car while the paperwork gets processed in parallel.

167597

[TheHelixx]

Congratulations on a big milestone!

[mcamera]

Here's how my exhaust ended up. I took the FFR exhaust tip and cut off the flange. I waterjet cut a new flange at work out of stainless and a friend helped me weld the pipe to the new flange at a better angle. I rotated the pipe to point out of the bottom of the car. There isn't a lot of room to work with between the rear passenger fender well and the "up turn" in the center of the rear bumper. I then cut the exhaust flush with the bumper so it's hidden. I need to clean up the bumper hole a little more but I like how it turned out.

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The rear passenger fender well interfered with my air intake so I cut off ~2" of my 45deg silicone elbow to shift the intake toward the engine more. I had to adjust the aluminum bracket I made to support the end of the intake also. Now I have about 1" of clearance to the fender well and the passenger side scoop that feeds it fresh air.

167736 167737

[mcamera]

Last night I used RomRaider to eliminate the codes causing my check engine light. It's not difficult but it was intimidating at first because there's a fair amount of setup before you understand what you're doing. Here are some things I learned that may help others who want to use RomRaider to eliminate CEL's. My tuner said the Cobb AP no longer does this and I'd need an expensive stand alone ECU. However, I was able to figure this out for $180 and I can still use my Cobb AP.

The codes I had were for:

- Deleting the rear 02 sensor (still need to see if rumors are true about this affecting closed loop fueling on 06/07 ECU's)
- The evap system (likely from using a homemade charcoal canister instead of the OEM canister w/ electronic valve)
- The fuel level sensor (aftermarket sensor used in my Boyd fuel tank)
- Fuel tank pressure (using aftermarket Boyd fuel tank)

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Here are the basic steps for using RomRaider on my 07 WRX engine/ECU. More details are on the website and I recommend you use them over my quick overview. I'm just trying to give people an idea of what's involved. https://www.romraider.com/index.php/Documentation/GettingStarted

- The only thing you have to buy is a $180 Tactrix cable. This connects your laptop to the OBD port in your car so you can modify the ECU.

167815

- Download the EcuFlash software. This is used to transfer settings from the car to your laptop, and flash the modified settings from your laptop back to the car. EcuFlash doesn't include any of the Subaru specific files you need to work with your car so you have to download those separately.

- Download the RomRaider software. This is used to change settings. RomRaider doesn't include any of the Subaru specific files you need to work with your car so you have to download those separately.

- I connected the green test connectors (OEM connectors) under my dash to put the car in test mode as required.

- I had to unmarry the Cobb AP from my car before I could retrieve the settings from my ECU. The Cobb locks the ECU when it's married.

- I used EcuFlash to retrieve my stock ECU settings

167816

- EcuFlash only had the option to save my stock settings file as (.srf) or (.bin) but the RomRaider instructions wanted (.hex). I saved my stock settings as a .bin file, opened the .bin file in RomRaider and there I was able to save it as a .hex file. I saved a copy of my stock settings just in case I need to revert in the future.

- I opened my stock .hex file in RomRaider and went to the "Diagnostic Trouble Code" section

167817

- In that section I turned off the 4 codes I previously found with my Cobb AP and saved the new .hex file.

167818

- I then used EcuFlash to flash the new .hex file back to the car.

- Disconnect the green test connectors or your car will be in limp mode

- Started my car and there were no CEL's!

Because I unmarried my Cobb AP, my car is back on its stock tune but with the changes I made with RomRaider. I'll have to marry the Cobb AP again to apply a performance tune. No big deal, just mentioning I couldn't keep the Cobb tune on the car while making changes with RomRaider.

[carnutdave]

mcamera, question about the DTC disable. You mention you need to unmarry the Cobb AP to read the ECU and access the ROM. Do you know if the DTCs stay disabled after remarrying the Cobb AP and reloading a protune? Or does the protune overwrite the DTC disable? I'm battling a persistent evap code.... Thanks!

[mcamera]

mcamera, question about the DTC disable. You mention you need to unmarry the Cobb AP to read the ECU and access the ROM. Do you know if the DTCs stay disabled after remarrying the Cobb AP and reloading a protune? Or does the protune overwrite the DTC disable? I'm battling a persistent evap code.... Thanks!

I haven't tried to remarry the Cobb AP yet. I'll give it a shot tonight and let you know if the disabled DTC settings remain or get reset.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I have an app (program) that can compare 2 flash files. This is my base flash code compared to my current flash.
I've only used opensource. I do not have a cobb access port.
167879

[TheHelixx]

I went the open source route also. Cobb tunes put the DTCs back from what I read. Assuming you unlocked accesstuner to shut off the DTCs, you could copy the tables you want. That was what I did to get started. You can use the data to learn the direction to go. Don’t forget to do MAF scaling if your going to use one. My modded air box needed 10% more fuel to get correction within 1-2%

[mcamera]

I flashed a tune from my Cobb AP back to my car last night and 3 of my codes came back immediately. I was going to take the Cobb Access Tuner learning course for $150 as needed to unlock the tuning software on the Cobb AP but Cobb no longer offers it. They've stopped supporting it. I'm going to switch back to Rom Raider and drive on the stock tune for now with the DTC's eliminated. If my local tuner doesn't want to work with Rom Raider I guess I'll try to find an online tuner?

https://www.thedrive.com/news/cobb-locked-out-key-tuning-features-due-to-emissions-heres-why-tuners-are-furious

[Ajzride]

The RomRaider website has a list of tuners who support the software, I'm sure more than one will be willing to work remotely.

[mcamera]

I'll check that out, thanks AJ.

Also for anybody that's wondering what it takes to title a kit car in Kentucky, the sheriff did have a checklist. Nobody else I talked to during this process was able to give one to me so here it is for your reference.

167935

[mcamera]

Wheel wells are painted on the engine bay side. Waiting to put flex seal on the wheel side.
168227

2 months later I finally have a Kentucky VIN plate! Need to rivet it on and call the sheriff back out to confirm the car is ready for title/registration. 1 step closer to the road.
168228

[mcamera]

168513

[blomb11]

That's awesome congrats!

[Ajzride]

Man, I didn't realize you were in Lexington, I fly back to Houston in the morning. Maybe next time I'm up I can come see your car.

[mcamera]

Man, I didn't realize you were in Lexington, I fly back to Houston in the morning. Maybe next time I'm up I can come see your car.

Yeah just let me know. I'm only 10 min from the airport.

[mcamera]

I played around with the steering radius last night as I'm still looking for a way to improve it. As expected, adding a 15mm spacer doesn't reduce the interference between the tire and frame. With the car up on jacks (wheels hanging at their lowest) my wheels hit the frame at 1 steering wheel turn (2 turns lock to lock). With the car sitting down on the ground (wheels pushed up higher into the wheel well) I gain ~1" of clearance between my frame and tire. I'm going to re-adjust my steering limiters to the ground setting to improve my turning radius at low speeds where I need it the most. But at 3/4 - full lock my tire will still be at risk of hitting the frame if I go over a pothole or bump and my wheel travels too low or bottoms out which I don't like. As I've said maybe an alignment will help me gain a little more clearance also, but the turning is currently bad enough that I don't trust the car on the road. I think it's time for a test drive around my development to see if I'm over reacting.

I also mounted my license plate with the FFR bracket and it sticks out too far and doesn't look good to me. Because of the curvature of the bumper, the center sticks out the furthest from the car and then you add a bracket that holds the license plate out another half inch and it's just hanging off the back of the car. I opted to just rivet the plate straight to the bumper so it doesn't stick out at all. I'll probably switch to rivnuts eventually, not sure why that didn't cross my mind earlier.

169021 169022

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I played around with the steering radius last night as I'm still looking for a way to improve it. As expected, adding a 15mm spacer doesn't reduce the interference between the tire and frame. With the car up on jacks (wheels hanging at their lowest) my wheels hit the frame at 1 steering wheel turn (2 turns lock to lock).

Hi Mcamer,
1. Adding a spacer to the front wheel has a negative effect. The pivot point for the wheel is the ball joints. A spacer increases the swing radius putting the tire closer to the firewall when turning.

2. Rims with high offset are important for the same reason as above. I run 17" x 9" 45mm positive offset with 235/40-17 tires.

3. Many have installed the hurricane brackets up-side-down causing a lot of problems.

4. A couple of tricks to move the wheel forward include.
a> flipping the pivot shaft on the aluminum LCA.
b> spreading out your hurricane brackets to effectively move your lower ball joint forward.
c> using Sadan LCA in the wagon mounting holes.

[mcamera]

Hi Mcamer,
1. Adding a spacer to the front wheel has a negative effect. The pivot point for the wheel is the ball joints. A spacer increases the swing radius putting the tire closer to the firewall when turning.

2. Rims with high offset are important for the same reason as above. I run 17" x 9" 45mm positive offset with 235/40-17 tires.

3. Many have installed the hurricane brackets up-side-down causing a lot of problems.

4. A couple of tricks to move the wheel forward include.
a> flipping the pivot shaft on the aluminum LCA.
b> spreading out your hurricane brackets to effectively move your lower ball joint forward.
c> using Sadan LCA in the wagon mounting holes.

Thank you for all the notes Bob, they're very helpful. Some members realized I installed the hurricane brackets upside down a year ago, so I flipped them to the correct orientation a long time ago. I'm running 17" x 8" with a 45mm offset and 205/40-17 tires. So I'm surprised how little clearance I have with skinnier rims and tires. I put the car down on the ground and realized my ride height is very low, so I raised it to 4.5" as suggested in the FFR manual and to give my front bumper a chance of surviving.

I put the car back down and was able to remove the collars I installed on the steering rack to limit steering. With the car on the ground, the closest tire interference moved up from the frame to the center of the aluminum panel behind the wheel. There is very little clearance but I now have full turning! It'll likely still rub a little a bit but I can hammer the aluminum in some if needed. I only need full lock steering at low speeds so I'm not concerned. No issues with clearance from the tire to the aluminum panel in front of the door.

169150 169151 169149

[mcamera]

I'm picking away at details. I haven't installed my headlight lens covers yet, because the headlight buckets aren't sealed and with all the fiberglass grinding I'm doing I figured dust would get inside of the bucket. I'm at the point where I want to put the covers on but I noticed I can still see the raw fiberglass edge through the covers even with my painted border. So I painted the edges black and I'm ready to permanently install the covers with double side tape.

169295 169296 169297

I broke the studs for my hood mounts again. The first time was when I fell on the car and broke the passenger side, and this time the hood fell shut and broke the driver side. Each time the bonded studs ripped away from the fiberglass. I ground all the adhesive off, cleaned the surfaces, and bonded the studs again. But I'm finally reinforcing them with fiberglass as recommended. This is my first time doing fiberglass and it's pretty simple but I learned some things quickly.

My first batch of resin cured in about 2 minutes so I didn't get very far before I had to mix another batch. My garage was about 90deg @ 70% humidity so I guess it just reacted quickly. I mixed another 1oz of resin with less hardener (8 drops instead of 10) to get a longer working time (7 min instead of 2 min). I pre wet the surface, laid down 1 layer of glass, wet it out, laid down a 2nd layer of glass, and wet it out. So each side has 2 layers of fiberglass reinforcement now. Some of you on here said this will really stiffen up the hood so I look forward to seeing the results. I'll sand the rough edges of the fiberglass patches and paint it black to finish up.

169298 169299

2 things I'm also working on. Getting my parking brake light to turn off on my dash. I found the single wire connector that used to connect to the OEM handbrake but grounding it didn't turn off the light. I've read something about running a 12v wire to it, but I'm still not sure. And if I rev my car, the rpm's drop really low and the car barely catches itself to stay running. I'm checking for vacuum leaks on the engine and did find the O-ring on my MAF sensor is rotted out. Dealer said the O-ring isn't sold separate and a new MAF sensor is $360. I found just the O-ring on FastWRX.com (where I bought most of my Subaru parts) for $10 shipped. Hoping that is my only issue.

[RPGs818SNA]

Concerning the parking brake light, for the 04, 05, and 06 models, the combination meter pin B19 RY (center green connector) goes to the parking brake, which when activated, grounds that pin, and to the brake fluid sensor which, when low, also grounds that pin. The schematics for the 04 and 05 show that grounding B19 lights the parking brake light. However, the 06 (and 07) schematic shows a reverse circuit for the light indicating ground turns the light off and open turns it on. I believe that is an error in the schematic, and that an open on B19 will keep the light off. Wiring 12 volts to that pin would create a problem if either the parking brake or fluid level sensors are wired to it, as they would ground it when active.

In addition, pin B1 BW is connected to that same light and to the alternator such that if B1 is grounded, the light comes on.

So, verify that neither B19 nor B1 are grounded and the light should go off. Hope that helps.

RPG

[J R Jones]

I'm picking away at details. I haven't installed my headlight lens covers yet, because the headlight buckets aren't sealed and with all the fiberglass grinding I'm doing I figured dust would get inside of the bucket. I'm at the point where I want to put the covers on but I noticed I can still see the raw fiberglass edge through the covers even with my painted border. So I painted the edges black and I'm ready to permanently install the covers with double side tape.

169295 169296 169297

I broke the studs for my hood mounts again. The first time was when I fell on the car and broke the passenger side, and this time the hood fell shut and broke the driver side. Each time the bonded studs ripped away from the fiberglass. I ground all the adhesive off, cleaned the surfaces, and bonded the studs again. But I'm finally reinforcing them with fiberglass as recommended. This is my first time doing fiberglass and it's pretty simple but I learned some things quickly.

My first batch of resin cured in about 2 minutes so I didn't get very far before I had to mix another batch. My garage was about 90deg @ 70% humidity so I guess it just reacted quickly. I mixed another 1oz of resin with less hardener (8 drops instead of 10) to get a longer working time (7 min instead of 2 min). I pre wet the surface, laid down 1 layer of glass, wet it out, laid down a 2nd layer of glass, and wet it out. So each side has 2 layers of fiberglass reinforcement now. Some of you on here said this will really stiffen up the hood so I look forward to seeing the results. I'll sand the rough edges of the fiberglass patches and paint it black to finish up.

169298 169299

2 things I'm also working on. Getting my parking brake light to turn off on my dash. I found the single wire connector that used to connect to the OEM handbrake but grounding it didn't turn off the light. I've read something about running a 12v wire to it, but I'm still not sure. And if I rev my car, the rpm's drop really low and the car barely catches itself to stay running. I'm checking for vacuum leaks on the engine and did find the O-ring on my MAF sensor is rotted out. Dealer said the O-ring isn't sold separate and a new MAF sensor is $360. I found just the O-ring on FastWRX.com (where I bought most of my Subaru parts) for $10 shipped. Hoping that is my only issue.

https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/product/pliogrip-panel-60/car-body-panel-repair-tools?gclid=CjwKCAjwt7SWBhAnEiwAx8ZLahcLT4p8QkJPWO zJQ9E5A2lkmHrr4KKsqcomIii7kbxFOnvFYRgzwBoCZLYQAvD_ BwE

jim

[mcamera]

RPG, here is my 07 schematic. I don't believe B1 has any effect on the parking light. Is that correct?

169373

[RPGs818SNA]

You're right, Mike. Sorry, my mistake. I checked your first post for your donor year and saw 06, rather than checking your signature line for 07. The 06 schematic connected B1 to B19 with a diode such that the alternator warning also lit the parking brake light. No idea why. See the schematic below. The 07 schematic doesn't show any such connection.

169391

Thanks for posting your headlight lens design. I'm getting close to that stage.

Enjoy your build,
RPG

[mcamera]

Covered my fiberglass reinforcement with flex seal. It was runny coming out of the can but stayed exactly where I brushed it. I expected it to run and drip but it was surprisingly easy to work with.

169428

Finally got to put a few miles on the car. After driving 5 miles my check engine light came on. Ran up to Advance Auto and did a scan. Just another code for my deleted rear O2 sensor and deleted evap equipment. Turned the 2 codes off in RomRaider and reflashed my ecu.

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I noticed some bump steer during my drive and I have an alignment appointment today, so last night I finally put on my Baer bump steer kit. I've read old posts where people had trouble with the length of some parts or the taper of the ball joint stud, but I had no issues. It was a direct replacement for my OEM arms. My drive to the tire shop had a couple rough bridge transitions and the steering wheel didn't fight me with the bump steer kit installed. I'm excited to drive an aligned car in a few hours!

OEM vs Baer arms

169433 169432

[Ajzride]

You should only have an issue with the taper if you install longer longer studs to get more spacers. I wanted about 40mm of spacers, which required a longer stud.

[FFRWRX]

How does that help with bump steer? I guess I don't understand. I thought bump steer was when the pivot points of the suspension, say looking at it from the front, don't line up and the tie rod pivot at the steering rack end is not in line with the A-arm pivots so the tie rod moves out of sync with the A-arm pivots. How does dropping that end of it that small amount help? Something to do with the instant center of the tie rod that I don't understand much about?

[Ajzride]

Good discussion on the 818 bumpsteer in Hindsight's thread. This link should jump into it at the right spot.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?15217-Hindsight-s-build-thread&p=256790&viewfull=1#post256790

[idf]

Covered my fiberglass reinforcement with flex seal. It was runny coming out of the can but stayed exactly where I brushed it. I expected it to run and drip but it was surprisingly easy to work with.

169428

Finally got to put a few miles on the car. After driving 5 miles my check engine light came on. Ran up to Advance Auto and did a scan. Just another code for my deleted rear O2 sensor and deleted evap equipment. Turned the 2 codes off in RomRaider and reflashed my ecu.

169431 169429 169430

I noticed some bump steer during my drive and I have an alignment appointment today, so last night I finally put on my Baer bump steer kit. I've read old posts where people had trouble with the length of some parts or the taper of the ball joint stud, but I had no issues. It was a direct replacement for my OEM arms. My drive to the tire shop had a couple rough bridge transitions and the steering wheel didn't fight me with the bump steer kit installed. I'm excited to drive an aligned car in a few hours!

OEM vs Baer arms

169433 169432

The studs in the Baer kit have the correct taper for the Subaru steering arms. What many have found, as AJ says below, is that the studs are not long enough to to allow for enough spacers to eliminate the bump steer. The alternatives are to use Pinto studs, which need to be machined to the correct taper, or to drill out the steering arms to accept a straight bolt.

[FFRWRX]

Good discussion on the 818 bumpsteer in Hindsight's thread. This link should jump into it at the right spot.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?15217-Hindsight-s-build-thread&p=256790&viewfull=1#post256790

I gave that a quick read and am no smarter. What I'm concluding from that is what I originally said. The bump steer is from the pivot at the inner end of the tie rod (inside the rack basically) not being in the correct place. Tie rod/rack extenders are the only way to correct this, and I don't think any are really available. So I'm back to asking why the Baer modification (which as far as I can see lowers the connection point for the outer tie rod end on the spindle) should really make any difference. And why do some people need almost a 2" drop and others about 1/2"?

[Ajzride]

I'm not a suspension expert, but I can tell you the difference between the stock setup and the Baer setup with the 41mm of spacers was night and day, no way was it a figment of my imagination (like the cold air intake butt dyno).

I think what is happening there is that dropping the outer end of the tire rod makes it almost in line and parallel to the lower control arm, so it is following the same arc as the LCA. By following the LCA arc closely you are reducing (but not eliminating) the bump steer.

[FFRWRX]

Yes, after looking at the pictures above a bit more I concluded the same thing; that it puts the tie rod more parallel with the lower control arm. So why 41mm of spacers when it looks like mcamera has maybe 5mm?

[Dave 53]

It seems to me a freshly built 818 needs the suspension "tuned". Not just a simple alignment (toe, camber). For best performance, have corner weights adjusted and maximize caster.

With all spacers in, my tuner said the Baer kit was 1/8" too short, but we called it good enough. This was determined by exercising the suspension while on his fancy *** alignment rack.

I went with 1.5 degrees negative camber all around. For a street car, I think it's pretty good. But for a track car, I'd like to up it to 2.5 to 3.5 degrees all around.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

For best performance, have corner weights adjusted and maximize caster. I'd like to up it to 2.5 to 3.5 degrees all around.


One of my early suspension setups had about -2.5 degrees of camber. It was good for cornering but in a straight line the branking was terrible as only the inside edges of the tires were on the ground. That setup also had a lot of body roll so the tire was flat on the ground during hard turning. To fix the problem I went with 500 rear springs to reduce body roll. I am now only running a -0.5 degree camber on all four corners. As you see in this 1.2g corner I have very little body roll and my outside tires are squarely planted.

169516

[Dave 53]

One of my early suspension setups had about -2.5 degrees of camber. It was good for cornering but in a straight line the branking was terrible as only the inside edges of the tires were on the ground. That setup also had a lot of body roll so the tire was flat on the ground during hard turning. To fix the problem I went with 500 rear springs to reduce body roll. I am now only running a -0.5 degree camber on all four corners. As you see in this 1.2g corner I have very little body roll and my outside tires are squarely planted.

169516

Hmmm... good point. What springs are you using up front? 169527

I used to have a BMW M Roadster that I would track with -3.5 degrees of camber. I don't recall any braking issues and it was on rails, but the insides edges of the tires sure didn't last very long.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hmmm... good point. What springs are you using up front?

I'm running 350 front and 500 rears. No sway bars. Here are a couple 2013-2015 pictures with factory springs. 350R/275F

169532 169533

[mcamera]

I still have some bump steer. The Baer instructions said to start with the medium sized spacer and your alignment expert would adjust spacers as needed. My tire shop didn't adjust my spacers at all. I still feel a jerk in the steering wheel over bumps but it pulls less side to side. After looking at my alignment specs (and it's visible on my car), my alignment guy gave me +0.7deg camber on my front wheels so I'll need to go back in to get that to the correct -0.7deg I requested. Here are my current alignment specs.

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As quoted on Hindsight's build thread:
"For bump steer, with the Baer kit, I ended up needing 46mm of shim on the LF and 47.5mm of shim on the RF, but that is with me drilling out the spindles and using a 5/8" bolt like the R guys do. In hindsight (hah), I didn't actually need to do that - the Baer kit would allow around 50-55mm of shims while still using the nice taper bolt it comes with. I wish I had not drilled out my spindles but I needed to in order to test longer shim lengths than the taper bolt allows. But for the rest of you 818S guys who haven't done this yet, don't drill your spindles. What I can't remember is how much shim you can get when you stack ALL the Baer kit's shims together. If you don't get enough shims with the kit, buy this from McMaster: https://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/122/3284/=150tsv0 That will get you an inch of shim and you can add the Baer shims to it to get it just right."

And thank you AJ for mentioning your 41mm of spacers and Dave for sharing your experience with the Baer kit being ~1/8" short with all shims in place but still a large improvement. Those are good references.

Like Dave, I'm going to max out the Baer shims before my next alignment and call that good. That should be a major improvement without going down a rabbit hole to find perfection. I'll let everybody know how it goes.

[mcamera]

I've put about 40 miles on the car so far and here are my troubleshooting notes so far.

- I've turned off 6 emission related check engine lights using RomRaider. Another light came on this weekend that I need to pull up and turn off.

- Searching for vacuum leaks I found my MAF sensor o-ring needed replaced. My car sometimes stumbles below idle and has a vacuum leak and/or just needs tuned.

- At ride height my rear brake lines were too close to my fender wells. I put tape over the lines and confirmed they were bouncing and scraping the edge of the aluminum. So I cutout more clearance. Before and after.

169536 169537

- I mounted my driver side mirror first, so when I installed the passenger side, I just copied the location to be symmetrical. I can't see my passenger mirror without moving my head to the middle of the car. Luckily visibility out of the passenger side windows is good so I probably won't fix this until I paint the car (if I do) and can patch the existing holes after I move the mirror.

169540

- My interior driver side handle doesn't open my door any more. Not sure why yet but should be a quick fix. I was smart enough to mount the door liner so I can access all of the screws just by having the door open. So I don't need to remove the entire door from the car which makes working inside the door a lot easier.

- The shifter cables have settled too close to the boot on my axle for my comfort. I drilled out the rivets and moved my cable mounts up more to gain extra clearance. This is the after pic.

169541

- As mentioned above, my car got aligned and feels much better but my front camber was incorrectly set to +0.7deg and I want -0.7deg. So I have to go back to the tire shop. I'm also going to adjust the shims on my Baer bump steer kit to try and reduce bump steer more. This pic is my current setup with 1 gold shim between the steering tie rod and spindle. I'm going to move all of the gold shims from underneath the tie rod (currently not doing anything, just sitting there in case you need them) to above the tie rod. I'll be using all of the shims (per other members' shared experiences) to improve the relationship between my steering and suspension and reduce bump steer more.

169542

- I need to adjust my headlights after a scary night time drive. They only project about 10' out onto the road right now and if a car is coming at you with it's lights on, you have no visibility. Turning the brights on helped temporarily.

- Using a magic eraser to remove paint marks on the body and overspray from painting things in my garage. I also want to paint any white fiberglass edges on the body black to look more finished.

- Still not sure how to turn off the parking brake light on my dash

[FFRWRX]

Thank you for posting all of this. And sorry for all the questions on your thread, but it did really help with the bump steer stuff. I'll order that kit and use most/all of the shims as a starting point.

And the passenger mirror thing, yes, I found that too. I designed new mounts for the mirrors which moved them several inches rearward after mocking up the mirror and seat and not being able to see the passenger mirror. You can maybe make an adapter plate that attaches where the mirror does now and brings the mirror rearward.

Do you paint the car and then install the glass? Or install the glass to get the car on the road, then paint the car with the glass in place or have it removed, painted, then reinstalled? I'm considering a paint shop a fair distance from where I live and would need the car on the road to get there. Or flat-bed it but with the price of everything gone up, especially gas, that really adds to the cost. That assumes of course that I ever get it to the paint stage!

Rick

[J R Jones]

mcam, Your camber may already be at -0.7 I think you have a typo. The print-out lists the camber range at -0.3 to -1.3 you are just missing the negative sign.
I would optimize bump steer rather than lower my standards.

jim

[mcamera]

Rick, a mirror adapter is a good idea. I can have my buddies at work 3D print one for me. I installed all of my glass already. I don't plan to paint the car any time soon as I keep shaking down the car and just want to enjoy driving it for the rest of the year. I'm pretty sure they can paint the car with glass installed. Being able to drive the car to appointments does help. But I sat at the tire shop for 2 hours... I don't think you're going to sit in the lobby while they paint your car lol.

Jim, that's what I thought too so I called the tire shop on Friday to confirm but they haven't gotten back to me yet. However, I can tell by standing at the back of the car that my front wheels are leaning the wrong way and have positive camber. I'm guessing their computer isn't smart enough to see +/- when it prints the number on the visual slide scale. It just sees an absolute 0.7 and assumes you're on the correct side of 0? The rear camber setting on the printout also has a negative symbol which makes me believe the front camber is not negative. The shop has a 6 month warranty on my alignment and the guy said to bring it back if I'm ever unhappy with the settings he dialed in. He also cranked up the rear camber to -1.8deg when I asked for -0.5deg. He insisted it was better for my setup and I took his word on that one. I'll ask if he can check bump steer with his equipment. If he can, we'll play the shimming game until it's as good as can be. If he can't, I'll use all the Baer shims available and see if it improves enough for me.

[mcamera]

Some notes about my door lock issues. Everything is working fine now after some fine tuning.

169601 169602 169603

[mcamera]

I was getting a lot of engine noise through this open corner behind my seats, but the FFR supplied aluminum piece doesn't come close to fitting. I had to heavily chop and modify this cover but this is what I ended up with. I had some leftover 1" push-on seal that didn't work well for my door windows that I used to seal the firewall to sail window. However, even 1" wasn't enough to fill the gap so I added some of the FFR supplied half-moon seal to my sail window in the black area so you can't see it from the outside of the vehicle. Sealing this corner definitely reduced the engine noise in the cabin a fair amount. Still loud since your head is still 1ft away from the motor but muffled instead of direct engine noise.

170039 170040 170041 170042

I have another alignment appointment at my tire shop so I adjusted my Baer bump steer kit to use all of the shims before I go. Even though adding the shims has thrown my front alignment out of whack, it's already significantly better for bump steer. Night and day. Large bumps in the road no longer pull on the steering wheel and make the car nervous. I'm happy with the current effectiveness of the bump steer kit and don't see a need to spend more time on it. For reference I'm running a 4.5" ride height. Pics are before (1 medium spacer) vs now (all spacers).

170044 170043

I ordered a Mishimoto turbo blanket and 2" x 25' of DEI exhaust wrap (note this was not enough, buy 50'). It took me a lot of research to even find the Mishimoto blanket which seems to only be listed on their website. I'm convinced it's the best bargain from a big name brand though.

Cobb - $155 (lava rock)
PTP - $140 (lava rock)
PTP - $100 (fiberglass)
Mishimoto - $80 (lava rock / titanium)

https://www.mishimoto.com/subaru-wrx-sti-titanium-turbo-blanket-2001-2017.html

We'll see how the blanket does when it arrives but it's going to be hard to impress, because I already wrapped my exhaust with the DEI wrap and it has SIGNIFICANTLY reduced my engine bay temps by itself. After a 30 minute drive, opening my hatch used to feel like standing over a grill. Yesterday I opened the hatch when I got home and heat didn't hit me in the face. It was just warm in the bay. I'm really impressed and it makes sense that the thin walled exhaust pipe would transfer heat to the surrounding air easier. I'm thinking the turbo jacket may not do much unless you're at the track and really heating up the turbo.

170045 170046

[Dave 53]

Just looking at the picture of your exhaust bolted to the turbo (actually I don't see any nuts, so maybe it's not actually "bolted" on yet).

Just yesterday I was inspecting my car and I noticed one of turbo / exhaust flange nuts missing and another one completely loose. Probably about 5,000 miles since I tightened them up. I'm switching from plain steel nuts to copper lock nuts.

[mcamera]

Dave it's bolted on in the pic. Maybe it's just hard to see in the shadow. When I took the exhaust off to wrap it, the nuts had loosened up on mine too. They must relax with heat cycling. I was unaware of copper lock nuts so if it's a constant problem I'll switch to those too. Good tip, thanks.

[mcamera]

I've been excited to finish my center console and finally hide my under dash wires / mount my window switches that I use a lot now that I'm driving the car around. Even though my existing console isn't built to the FFR spec, I'm trying to use the FFR panels at the front. Here's my progression.


FFR panels trimmed a little to fit to my existing shifter console. I'm able to run straight down the tunnel and not take away any leg room.
170157 170158

Thought about putting the flanges on top to hide the cut edges of my main face, but it looks messy. Putting the main face on top is cleaner.
170159 170160

I drilled 3 holes along each side of the main face. These will be small, black, button head screws that go into rivnuts on the flanges behind. There will be exposed screw heads but it's minimal. I also trimmed the horizontal flanges off at the bottom. I didn't like them folding over the top just behind the crease. You can see from the side that I have empty space behind the console. I'm thinking I'll mount the window switches and hazard button high on the panel, and make a cubbie at the bottom. Not sure yet.
170162 170161

Got my turbo jacket installed. Trickier than expected. Had to fish some wire around the turbo so I could get the springs pulled through and attached. Looks nice, matches my DEI wrap really well, and the wool on the inside leaves lots of fiberglass-like pokies in your hands.
170163 170164 170166 170165

Alignment on Friday, and working out a time with my tuner for tomorrow or next Wednesday hopefully.

[mcamera]

Got my alignment redone. Even though the shop incorrectly gave me +0.7deg camber on my front wheels (I asked for -0.7deg), and -3.0deg camber on my back wheels (I asked for -0.5deg) at my first alignment, because I changed the shims on my bump steer kit they charged me $120 since I changed something. But now I'm set and here are my new specs. Lost a little caster but the car feels sharp. A little sensitive but better planted during turns.

170246 170247

Got my window switches and hazard button installed. I carefully cut the mounting holes bigger so everything would fit tightly but somehow they are loose. I'm going to add silicone to the back to secure them more firmly since both can be pulled out without trying that hard. You win some you lose some.

170248

I was hoping to get tuned this afternoon but my tuner hasn't responded in 2 days. Guess I'll aim for next week. The car is already a lot of fun to drive so I'm excited to see it with even better response/power.

I also fine tuned my shifter cables at the bell crank. Before, my 2nd and 3rd gear throws liked to go a little sideways when sliding into gear. Like 2nd gear wanted to be pulled down and slightly towards the passenger side to lock into gear. Now all of my throws move straight forward and backwards and it's a lot more pleasant to drive than searching for gears.

[mcamera]

Dyno tuned and enjoying driving the car around. My tuner was DK Goodrich out of Frankfort, KY using RomRaider and he did a great job. He also adjusted my wastegate arm to build boost faster and I have so much more power on tap!

Here's a short video of dyno numbers and exhaust sounds


https://youtu.be/NKwjYSuEbNw

More detailed video of my last 2 months in my YouTube build series

https://youtu.be/ile68VJnZCk

[FFRWRX]

Very nice video! Even just in the red gel coat that is a really nice looking car. And it does sound nice!

[mcamera]

I tried my hand at vinyl wrapping an interior panel. I found a Vvivid leather textured wrap on Amazon and should be able to do my console + rear firewall for $50. No liquids, just a heat gun and some patience. It's tricky to remove all of the bubbles but it's also very forgiving since you can peel the wrap up to reposition it as many times as you need. I recommend a cheap install kit with a felt squeegee. Sticks very well and looks good finished. It's thin (0.1mm) but the material adds a little bit of a soft touch to the panels that paint or powder coat wouldn't. While not being bulky, complicated, and more expensive like carpet.

171814 171815 171816 171819 171820

Leather vinyl wrap
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JMG9CL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Cheap install kit
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GFGFY2L?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[mcamera]

I had my first on road failure. While I was flooring it the car made a loud sound and stopped accelerating. I changed gears and the car wouldn't do much, so I immediately thought the trans had failed. I pulled over and realized my coupler had pushed off my throttle body while under boost. It didn't help that my intercooler is mounted on the passenger side, but the driver side mount isn't attached to anything. So the intercooler was able to rock backwards and let the coupler push off. I tightened the coupler with a pocket ruler I had in my work backpack and limped home.

171823 171824 171825

I took off the intercooler, removed the OEM foam/tape mess underneath, and cleaned up the Y-pipe. Luckily I had a silicone Perrin coupler laying around and swapped that in. I think the coupler that failed was actually a PVC coupler from Home Depot that the last owner had installed. It was really deformed and clearly not made for hot applications.

171826 171827 171829 171828

I made a bracket for the driver side mount just so there was some kind of support on that side. Instead of combining several pieces to get the correct bend and height, I found that twisting a flat bar of aluminum 180deg allowed me to get the angles I needed from 1 flat piece of aluminum. Simple but effective. I purposely bent the piece too far upwards so there was a pre-load on it. That way when I attach the intercooler the bracket is actively pushing up and holding more of the intercooler's weight. I chose to mount the bracket to the intake manifold so the intercooler and engine can move together. I almost mounted the intercooler to the frame just behind the driver side mount, but didn't want to fix a moving object (intercooler) to a fixed object (frame).

171831

I also overlooked the fact that there's a 1/4" gap between the lower firewall and upper firewall due to the FFR spacer used. But the firewalls overlap inside the car so I never saw the gap. I had an epiphany and put a light in the car and could see it coming into the engine bay. I've been driving around with a 0.25" x 48" (12 sq in) hole in the firewall behind me! A lot of engine noise should be able to get through there even though it's not bad at the moment. I took my upper firewall out and added a leftover strip of half-moon seal to the bottom on the engine side. When I put it back in, that should seal the 1/4" gap to the lower firewall. I'm hoping that cuts down the engine noise even more in the interior. With that I should have no more significant gaps and be fully sealed off from the engine bay.

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[FFRWRX]

Thank you very much for pointing out the intercooler mounting....or lack of. The bracket on the passenger side of mine does not quite line up so I haven't bolted it down on that side. Since I haven't bolted it down on the other side either, it is just sort of floating on the hoses that connect it. I was wondering if that was OK. Now I know better.

One amusing thing. I removed the intercooler to redo the clutch line, and just put the intercooler in the trunk and of course forgot about it. I went to start the car to move it and it kept dying. Tried a number of times before looking behind me and saw the intercooler sitting in the trunk. Oops. I'm surprised the car actually started and ran (a little bit).

Rick