Brando's Newbie 818R Build Thread

[jbackslash]

Congrats on the new girl. I couldn't believe how full my life really got when my two girls came into the world. If you and the wife ever need a date night down in the San Diego area, feel free to drop her off. We love having little ones in the house. (our girls are teenagers now)

[Goldwing]

That is awesome!! Everyone looks healthy and happy. Soak it up, some of life's best moments right there!

[Kurk818]

My son turns 7 weeks tomorrow. Congrats!

[THE ITALIAN]

Way To Go!!! That is a blessing.

Start saving NOW !
Take tons of pics every month, it goes so dam fast and they seem to grow-up even faster. I miss my baby daughter, she's 13 now and she is sort of like a werewolf, only if a full moon was a warning.

[metalmaker12]

Awwwwesome!!!congrats

[Wayne Presley]

Congrats again Brandon, I forgot to tell you on the phone today my daughter Heather's birthday is now shared with Rocky.

[Doowop]

Congrats Brandon!! and Super congrats to the mum, she did all the work!!
Beautiful baby and family!!

[Brando]

Finally home in our own bed. It's so nice to lay down, hospital seats don't sleep so well. Brandi is lying next to me and I'm relaying all the posts you guys left as she smiles with appreciation. This community has already offered our family some great new friends and want everyone to know how special that is to me. Thank you for all your kind thoughtful words they are shared among my family with smiles and warm vibes.

Little Rocki and momma Brandi both require a considerable amount of attention which I am giving my 110% to fulfill. I love every second of it but sleep deprivation is starting to show its colors and I'm somewhere between awake and asleep. Despite the zombie feeling nothing takes away from the joy I'm experiencing and minute by minute its setting in what it means to be a dad. I am so happy.

Thank you again for all your support, it put a smile on all our faces and your good energy is well absorbed and appreciated!

I can't help but share just a few more pictures. Maybe I am bias but I think she is so cute! I am a proud daddy now….

Congrats again Brandon, I forgot to tell you on the phone today my daughter Heather's birthday is now shared with Rocky.

That is so cool! Happy Birthday Heather & Rocki!

[Brando]

It's hard not to keep posting pictures of this little gem, but I'm going to take this thread back on track. I hope you don't mind the occasional baby picture here and there, I doubt I will be able to resist.


Test fitting the dash and seeing how well I fit with the steering wheel in. Results were pleasing, I was very comfortable with the pedal and steering placement. The shifter was a bit high but the seat is not on brackets yet so I am going to wait until that height is finalized before deciding where to mount it.






I have started on the coolant plumbing and later today if time permits want to get the clutch line installed and bled. I have an itch to push a working clutch in while shifting the gears.





Questions:
My first question is regarding the shift linkage. Both pushrods are off center and bent as far as they are willing. It seems like the bracket needs to be bent a bit to get optimal placement to the lever. Is it OK to have such an extreme bend like this? I tried to bend this bracket but didn't see much progress.







I had a fitting issue with the bolts that hold the master cylinder to the firewall. They were too short and the tolerance between the nuts and the pedal assembly was too close. Should I grind a hole on each side of the peddle assembly to make room for the bolts or use something like an allen bolt reversed as shown here? I suppose both will work just trying to figure out the best practice.

[AZPete]

Cute pictures - keep 'em coming.
I can't help on the shift cables but the best solution on the brake master bolts seems to be grinding one side off the head of the bolt and then inserting it from the inside with the nut on the outside (front). The half-head bolt is then held in place as you tighten the nut. And, don't worry if your master cylinder is slightly askew, they all are and it'll work fine.

[Mechie3]

I think all of the shifter cables are like that. It seems to work, though probably not quite ideal. Does it matter? Don't know. I've got a long(er) term project to redesign that area as I think it could be done better (at a price).

Pete is correct about the bolt. I did the hole cutting method and when others mentioned the bolt method that seemed much easier.

[JeromeS13]

You're not using the OEM blinker or wiper stalks?

[phillig]

Congratulations. Those pictures of all your happiness make looking at the car trivial. Thank you for sharing. My youngest is 31 so it's been awhile for us.

[FFRSpec72]

You're not using the OEM blinker or wiper stalks?

Don't need no stink'n blinkers on a "R" and why would we need wipers w/o a windshield ?

[flynntuna]

You could go with these...

[JeromeS13]

Don't need no stink'n blinkers on a "R" and why would we need wipers w/o a windshield ?

Forgot he had an R. Haha.

[Brando]

Even though it's an R I wanted to keep the option to make it street legal. I went with VCP's street harness to have the flexibility to register the 818 but short term this car won't be seeing any public roads. If I do end up registering the car with CA's SB100 I will build the column back up but in the meantime prefer to keep it as simple as possible.

[wleehendrick]

Even though it's an R I wanted to keep the option to make it street legal. I went with VCP's street harness to have the flexibility to register the 818 but short term this car won't be seeing any public roads. If I do end up registering the car with CA's SB100 I will build the column back up but in the meantime prefer to keep it as simple as possible.

Hey Brandon, I forwarded you an attachment I got from BigAl from this thread. SB100 lets you get past current emissions requirements, but apparently CHP is getting picky with the safety inspections, enforcing DOT windshield glass and wipers, which will impact your plans to register an R.

Keep the pictures coming, she's beautiful!

[Doowop]

Brandon,she is so cute. you should just put her in the pictures when you take pics of the car!

[Brando]

Lee thanks for all the SB100 details. I planned on purchasing a FFR windshield for street driving. In your supplied link I read that Al felt the windshield wont pass the ref's inspection however i find that hard to believe since to my understanding is that the supplied windshield comes from a MR2 (correct me if i'm wrong). I do plan on purchasing a FFR windshield and if i have to replace the glass so be it. I will find a way to get the wipers working one way or another and will then build back the steering column for blinkers/wipers/lights when its needed. I'm not super concerned about rushing to get this car registered. I'm happy driving my truck around town as its safe and fits my lifestyle. My thought is to race the car for the remainder of 2014 and by next year perhaps register it for 2015. Absolute worst case is I will register the car in Nevada but I highly doubt there will be a need. Thanks for the info keep it coming.

As far as my build is going....progress has been slowed way down. In-laws are staying with us, sleep is sporadic, and this baby is addicting.
I am still waiting for my gas tank and i am running out of things to do without the missing back ordered items from FFR. I did get an opportunity to build last night so I pulled the motor and made a rear firewall out of 1/8" aluminum and EZ cool insulation. I noticed in other threads people were using rivnuts to mount the firewall but I figured since I was using silicon and had no plans to remove this firewall I would 3/16" rivets. The bottom rail didn't have enough overlap to comfortably install the rivets so i used silicon exclusively. Overall I am pleased with the results and feel much better about protection and heat into the cabin and fuel cell. My headers are ceramic coated on the inside and out so this should compliment my efforts.







Next on the list is to build back the motor and get it ready for Waynes harness which I believe is arriving this week. I'm probably going to purchase a boyd fuel tank since FFR does't have a definitive release date on their "tall guy" tanks that are being produced.

[wleehendrick]

Lee thanks for all the SB100 details. I planned on purchasing a FFR windshield for street driving. In your supplied link I read that Al felt the windshield wont pass the ref's inspection however i find that hard to believe since to my understanding is that the supplied windshield comes from a MR2 (correct me if i'm wrong). I do plan on purchasing a FFR windshield and if i have to replace the glass so be it. I will find a way to get the wipers working one way or another and will then build back the steering column for blinkers/wipers/lights when its needed. I'm not super concerned about rushing to get this car registered.

I think Al was referring to the R's shorty windshield being an issue; he's building an exo car and little lexan or polycarbonate shield isn't acceptable anymore. The S's full DOT laminated glass windshield should be no problem at inspection. Your plan sounds reasonable, if a bit more work in the long run!

[longislandwrx]

Tell us more about this Nevada registration... I did notice the original SEMA car had Nevada plates.

[DruOdil]

Looking great, and congrats on your beautiful baby. I still want to drop buy but I have been out of town. I need to catch up and I will text you next week. What a great year for you.
Keep living the dream, Dru

[Brando]

Tell us more about this Nevada registration... I did notice the original SEMA car had Nevada plates.

I haven't done enough research to confidently speak about the Nevada DMV requirements when registering a kit car. I haven't been diligent on surrounding states requirements because i KNOW i can get this car to pass on CA's requirements. It is my understanding Nevada and Arizona are more lenient but I can't backup that claim Perhaps I spoke to soon before throwing that out there.

I don't know about you, but i want my plates to represent the state i'm driving my car in. Out of state plates are an absolute last resort


Dru- Hit me up man...its a good point in the build to stop by

[Doowop]

good call on the insulation.
So are you gonna paint the green axle parts to match the red of the aftermarket parts? it bugs me....

[Brando]

That's a good idea i didn't even notice it but now that you mentioned it I won't be able to get past it. I wanted something to do that was simple tonight, and that will fit the bill nicely.

[07FIREBLADE]

Where did you get the trailing arms. Looking good wish my schedule would permit me to stop by. I'm like down the street right now.

[Brando]

If your down the street then come on by while your local. PM me. The trailing arms i purchased on ebay. Here is the link of what I purchased

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=261372331006

Something to note, the wrx sti spacers included with this package didn't fit properly and I had to have a machine shop trim down the spacers by approx 1/8" or so on the L/R both sides of all arms.

[07FIREBLADE]

Ok, I was looking at a set of arms like that awhile ago. Currently in class or I would stop by.

[metalmaker12]

I kinda like the axles green as they were intended

[Racebrewer]

Hi Brando,

How did the build quality of the arms seem?

Thanks,
John

If your down the street then come on by while your local. PM me. The trailing arms i purchased on ebay. Here is the link of what I purchased

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=261372331006

Something to note, the wrx sti spacers included with this package didn't fit properly and I had to have a machine shop trim down the spacers by approx 1/8" or so on the L/R both sides of all arms.

[Goldwing]

My green had some rust near the end, so I cleaned and painted mine black. Nothing else will be green on mine, so, buhbye. That is if the 39* didn't prevent it all from curing, lol.

[Brando]

Racebrewer. I did quite a bit of searching for comparable products from Cusco and the likes. I have been unable to see any difference to take away from the quality of these trailing arms.

After a weeks of debating I decided last night to rebuild all my wheel bearings. This baby has made the value of life increase dramatically and now I'm rethinking parts of my build. The engine firewall and wheel bearings were the first 2 on my list.

Long story longer.... I will have the arms off in the next 24 hours when i pull the hubs and will shoot some pics of them up close as well as the pieces i had fabricated, you can be the judge.

[ehansen007]

As far as wipers goes, I'm going to say like the rest of the DMV process it depends on who you go to. I registered the Hot Rod, with no fenders, no wipers, and they didn't even check the windshield to see if it was DOT. No bumpers either. I guess we'll see. Congrats again on the baby. Not sure how you're doing both and working but you must not sleep very much!

[metalmaker12]

Wow in RI we need wipers and the windshield, I wanna move lol

[Brando]

I get in 1 hour build time before work and 1 hour after. I am trying to extract every second i can and realize i was wasting alot of time just staring at this thing . At any rate your right...i'm not sleeping much for the time being. No complaints here. Eric do you have your 818 back from S.D. yet?

Congrats again on the baby. Not sure how you're doing both and working but you must not sleep very much!

[Rasmus]

I haven't done enough research to confidently speak about the Nevada DMV requirements when registering a kit car.

I have. Registration in Nevada.

[ehansen007]

no its still down there. Lots o work to do.

[Goldwing]

I had one questionable bearing, the rest were good. I'm with you on the firewall. Anything to prevent a puncture of the gas tank in an accident is a good thing. Plus heat and sound control. I bet when a soft or hard comes along, that extra firewall will make a difference. I guess I better start looking for a source of aluminum for that.

[Brando]

I have been speaking to several well respected Subaru racers in the area and the input from them on the 5 x 100 wheel bearings seems the same. According to what they say, if the track has lines that run the car over the candy cane frequently then they are replacing their wheel bearings after 4-5 weekends of racing. Half the tracks in CA would fall within that category. In addition I plan on running hoosiers or slicks with spacers to offset so that will increase the strain on the bearings. Bottom line is I want to go with 5 x 114 wheel bearings.

STI knuckles with pre-built 5 x 114 cost around $600 for all 4 corners which isn't much more than installing new 5 x 100's in my current hubs. Earlier in my build I had to replace my rear knuckles due to the fact the space between the holes for mounting to wilwood bracket was 3.75" where the correct WRX knuckles were 4.5" apart. I contacted wilwood and they claimed they didn't make a bracket for the STI hubs. So i source new rear hubs.

What I am trying accomplish is have a rhobust 5 x 114 wheel bearings working with my 12" Wilwood brakes. There has to be a solution out there, does anyone have any idea how I can accomplish this?