818Rasmus E Modified

[Bob_n_Cincy]

When I come for a Vegas visit, Can I stay in your garage?

[Rasmus]

When I come for a Vegas visit, Can I stay in your garage?

You sure can. Here's the number to the Your Garage Hotel and Casino: (800) 351-7400. Let me know when you're in town and I'll come to meet you for dinner.

[longislandwrx]

I was at the Quad last year, the auto collection is pretty impressive.

Hopefully will get to come back this summer.

[Rasmus]

Got to looking at the rear brake backing plate and noticed a weird bulge between the two pieces of metal that make up the part. Saw rust in there.


I couldn't get it out with an awl or junky screwdriver so I cut it open and all that came out.


While welding the backing plate back together I noticed the stands on which the parking brake pads ride, yielded to simple finger nail pressure. So I stopped the cracks by drilling the ends with a 1/8" bit. Fabbed up new tops for the stands out of the dust shield I removed, and welded them on. This is the thinnest metal I've ever welded: 18ga. Had to stitch-weld almost everything.


What's better than having to do an unforeseen repair to a part you don't normally think about? Having to do the exact same repair to the part on the other side.

[Frank818]

Interesting.
And I see you are also a metal maker, just like... Metalmaker.
You are also a metal de-ruster! lolll

[AZPete]

I soaked my rear backing plates in a rust remover and there was nearly nothing left! I bought new plates from the $ubaru dealer . . . at about the same price as a welding class, welder, supplies and beer. You asked "what's worse" but buying new is.

[Rasmus]

I considered my local Subaru dealer but I looked at the price for two and thought I should give repairing them a try.

[Rasmus]

Got to do today what I wanted to do yesterday. Repack bearings! Red Line Synthetic CV-2 Grease. My original thought was to just install all new bearings; after inspecting the races and rollers all looked good. No scoring, pitting, or overheated discoloring (blue) on any. Plus the price of new made me think that investing in some tools and doing it myself was worth it.


The rear bearings are about 3x as hard to repack and clean than the fronts. The inner race is extra long making it so I couldn't use my repacker tool. Did it by hand. Also painted the front knuckles and the backs of all four hubs to prevent rust and make cleaning easier in the future.

[Rasmus]

While waiting for paint to cure for 24 hours (as per the directions) on the front knuckles before pressing the bearings back in...


I decided to open up the steering rack. I had to make this custom tool to get the aluminum cap off the quill area.


Once constructed it only took one wack with a 5 lb dead blow to loosen it. I tried using a drift and hammer but it just dented the aluminum without loosing it.


Since the 818 is gonna be light I decided to fully depower the rack. So I removed and welded up the holes that fed high pressure hydraulic fluid to the two-way piston. See the two red arrows. I cut off the hydraulic piston diaphragm (?) that separates the two sides of the piston. Pink Arrow. Also welding up the quill in six spots. Three of the plugs welds are pointed to with three red arrows. The other three plug welds are on the other side. I didn't know this but the quill in a hydraulic power steering rack has a bit of play it in. It's that play that allows the hydraulic valving to work. But if you depower it without welding up the quill that play will turn into slop and you'll have a dead spot every time you change direction or make a correction.

[Frank818]

I didn't know this but the quill in a hydraulic power steering rack has a bit of play it in. It's that play that allows the hydraulic valving to work. But if you depower it without welding up the quill that play will turn into slop and you'll have a dead spot every time you change direction or make a correction.

I wonder if Erik has that play on his. I'm sure he went through what you just did.

[longislandwrx]

Inner ties look great, did they go in your bucket of doom or just get blasted?

[Rasmus]

Bucket-o-DOOM!

[wleehendrick]

I wonder if Erik has that play on his. I'm sure he went through what you just did.

IIRC, Erik commented that he just looped the lines on the rack; he did not wedl the quill. He said the steering is great, as good or better than his Roadster with a custom rack. But if you're a perfectionist...

[RM1SepEx]

check the depowering the rack thread...

This rack uses a torsion bar that twists to allow the fluid to flow, much better system than my depowered Miata racks, they have a dead spot. Drive it for a few days and you get used to it.

MetalMaker welded one for me, so I have both. I'll be able to do some comparison this spring

[Rasmus]

Dealt with a boost leak on the station wagon. One of my old hot rodding modifications cracked, and air was escaping out the manifold. Had to pull the intake manifold strip the wiring and fuel line then weld it back up. Chore!


Here's a better view of how I welded up the steering rack quill.


Front bearings before seating. 3.25 mm between the inner race and the hub. There was no play.


Seating the bearings how the FSM reads. Well kind of how the FSM reads to do it.


Front bearing after seating. ~1.90 mm. (+/-0.03) measurement varied depending on how I breathed.


Front Knuckle/Hubs done and in the shed. Also a preview of further modifications to the steering rack.

[Scargo]

It's satisfying for me just to follow along and see what you're accomplishing. Thanks for sharing.

[longislandwrx]

wow. all ports welded and smoothed... very cool.

[Rasmus]

Still need to put the big bellows clamps on so the bellows don't pop off but it feels good to get the rack done. Greased her with Red Line Synthetic CV-2 Grease.It's depowered with all former hydraulic ports shaved/filled. Not showcar quality, but for racing it looks good.


If you follow my build you will have been seeing alot of satin black and aluminum. One day it'll change to satin black and aluminum-oxide. Fancy.

[Rasmus]

Clamped up the bellows and the rack's in the shed.


Pulled the rear calipers. Rough. Looks like a wheel sheared off in my donor's demise.


Out of the blast cabinet (Aluminum Oxide Media)

[longislandwrx]

What's the weight?!?! out of curiosity I see you left the nub... is it needed?

[Rasmus]

Weight of the rear calipers? What nub? I'm so confused.

[longislandwrx]

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that heavyweight. since weight reduction is your religion I figured it would be gone. lol

what's the weight of the modified rack?

[Rasmus]

Ohh. That makes more sense. Modified rack: 5.3 kg (+/- 0.1 kg). Had to use my inaccurate scale; my accurate scale only goes up to 5,000 grams. The trick with weight reduction effectiveness is doing before/after measurements. That way you'll know if all that time you spent lightening something is worth the time invested. I've learned that lightening aluminum parts is low reward for the amount of time you spend. But if you can lighten, replace, or remove steel/iron parts you get a bigger reward. In this instance I was looking at removing the steel plugs I would have used to plug all those unused hydraulic line holes. Someone without easy access to welding aluminum could probably do what I did to the steering rack's cast aluminum section with JB Weld. I'd estimate it'd only be about 30 grams heavier than what I did if you didn't shave any of the ports at all.

I left the nub because I honestly didn't know it's purpose. I didn't want to shave it off, only to screw myself over in 3 months time having to weld something back on. Looking at the size of the nub it probably clocks in at 2 grams.

[Frank818]

Looking at the size of the nub it probably clocks in at 2 grams.

Which is exactly what will make you lose on the track.

I learned something seeing you shaving off weight everywhere (except out of your own body loll). I didn't think of doing any of that myself, but now I figure, since I build every part of the car, why keep unused parts or portions of parts and that if I shave off a little on every part, I could end up saving 20, 50, 100lbs+, who knows. And the effort would be minimal, I mean I won't spend 3 days removing half a pound. It's the "while I'm there, why not doing it" thing.

[Rasmus]

It's the "while I'm there, why not doing it" thing.

It's like you're in my garage reading my thoughts.

I could button this part up now but if I spent an extra 30 minutes (a.k.a. 3 hours real world time) I could lighten this part by 150 grams. Better get to it.

[longislandwrx]

if I spent an extra 30 minutes (a.k.a. 3 hours real world time)

HA I thought I was the only one with that internal clock mismatch...

Wife: "Can you come in soon?"
Me: "Sure just need 20 minutes to finish this"
Wife:
Clock: 1:15 later
Me: "Wow that went faster than I expected"
Wife:

[Frank818]

looolllllllll

Well, it's the same as when the wife is saying she's got only 20mins left of shopping!

[Rasmus]

Been de-rusting and painting small brackets and parts over the last two days. Nothing worthy to take a picture. One example: the steel brackets that holds the parking brake cable to the trailing arm. Boring.


I did disassemble the OEM alternator to clean it and service the bearings if needed.


Put it back together. It was a bit of a struggle getting the rotor to drop back into the housing. With the brushes fully extended they prevented it from dropping back in. Eventually ended up holding back the two brushes with bits of bent welding wire. Once the rotor dropped in place I could pull the wire out with plyers and the brushes (hopefully) snapped into place.

[metalmaker12]

HA I thought I was the only one with that internal clock mismatch...

Wife: "Can you come in soon?"
Me: "Sure just need 20 minutes to finish this"
Wife:
Clock: 1:15 later
Me: "Wow that went faster than I expected"
Wife:

Lol spot on, this is daily for me

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Put it back together. It was a bit of a struggle getting the rotor to drop back into the housing. With the brushes fully extended they prevented it from dropping back in. Eventually ended up holding back the two brushes with bits of bent welding wire. Once the rotor dropped in place I could pull the wire out with plyers and the brushes (hopefully) snapped into place.

Did you know there is a little hole in the back to put a pin in. it holds the brushes back while you assemble. Similar to the timing belt tensioner.
Bob

[Rasmus]

Did you know there is a little hole in the back to put a pin in. it holds the brushes back while you assemble. Similar to the timing belt tensioner.
Bob

Do you know how much easier it would have been had I known this!? Wait... Hold on... the wrenching police are in my garage, looking to issue a summons...

[longislandwrx]

Taking a second look, I can't believe how much cleaner that rack is than factory... I forgot about the extra bolts as well that you removed.


WP_20140226_004.jpg

[STiPWRD]

Taking a second look, I can't believe how much cleaner that rack is than factory... I forgot about the extra bolts as well that you removed.
WP_20140226_004.jpg

Speaking of removing those bolts, did you have to fill in any holes with aluminum welds or did you just grind off the extra material?

[Rasmus]

...did you have to fill in any holes with aluminum welds or did you just grind off the extra material?

Both. Ground off the ports. Plug welded the four holes with aluminum.

You could grind off the ports and fill the four holes with JB Weld. The quill area doesn't have to hold pressure anymore so JB would work just fine keeping the dirt out.

[STiPWRD]

Both. Ground off the ports. Plug welded the four holes with aluminum.
You could grind off the ports and fill the four holes with JB Weld. The quill area doesn't have to hold pressure anymore so JB would work just fine keeping the dirt out.

Cool thanks!

[K3LAG]

Put it back together. It was a bit of a struggle getting the rotor to drop back into the housing. With the brushes fully extended they prevented it from dropping back in. Eventually ended up holding back the two brushes with bits of bent welding wire. Once the rotor dropped in place I could pull the wire out with plyers and the brushes (hopefully) snapped into place.

There is a little hole in the back case of the alternator. You can use a small allen wrench or other pin to hold the brushes back to put it back together. Press the brushes in while inserting the pin, you have to push them further than you might think. Once you have the rotor in, pull the pin and voila! I know this because I fought with mine for an hour to get it back in before I figured it out.

Larry

[Rasmus]

Pulled the starter out of the shed.



Cleaned and painted, then tested it. Probably should have done that the other way round.



Painted a few other items. Namely the rear brake backing plates. The texture visible on the left one is the pitting from the rust. The one on the right has the same; cameras not picking it up. I know how the water got into the backing plates so I'm gonna block up the waters access while leaving an exit. Details later.



Continued disassembly of the engine. Pulled off the timing sprockets, oil pump, and...



the water pump. Looks like this was a replacement. I didn't clean it; that's how it came off the motor. Wish I knew how to look up the date of manufacture of the water pump. Might just reuse this guy.



Cam bearing saddles and AVCS

[Greg G]

OK, the sign on the wall requires an explanation please! This outta be a hoot!

[Rasmus]

World War II Era American Propaganda Posters!. And you thought the Germans had all the good propaganda?


Found them in the Library of Congress archives. I liked the look of this one.



Dying for your country's great and all, but it's so much better if you die a virgin.



Benjamin Franklin would be so proud.



This ones my favorite. Its one of a series. But this one had the-girl-next-door instead of a 40's era streetwalker stereotype. There's text in red at the very bottom that the Library of Congress archive didn't capture well. It read's "You can't fight the Axis if you get VD". If you have sex, the Nazis win. Keep it in your pants for Uncle Sam.

[Greg G]

LMFAO! That is the best!