RM1Sepex Build Thread

[Hindsight]

Hey Dan, another shifter question for you.

I'm trying to decide between solid rod ends or ball joint rod ends. I know you went with balljoint and Bob I think went with basically solid (clevis anyway). I like the balljoint idea from a precision standpoint but know that when new, they can be quite tight. I would be concerned that their tightness would increase shifter effort. Have you noticed that at all?

[FFRSpec72]

Love the use of the ACE paint stir sticks

[RM1SepEx]

Hey Dan, another shifter question for you.

I'm trying to decide between solid rod ends or ball joint rod ends. I know you went with balljoint and Bob I think went with basically solid (clevis anyway). I like the balljoint idea from a precision standpoint but know that when new, they can be quite tight. I would be concerned that their tightness would increase shifter effort. Have you noticed that at all?

I actually prefer std rod ends, the ball joint ones from FFR are very sloppy compared to my EBay 1/4 - 28 female rod ends...

[RM1SepEx]

Thanks for the update Dan.
I've been doing multiple adjustments as you say for a couple weeks now, a bit at a time, then completely starting over in frustration.
However, its getting better.
I'm a mechanical engineer and I want it to look good, balanced, clean lines, and neat details - so I'm willing to spend a bit more time.

What do you think about cutting the front center of the bumper and re-fiberglassing it 1/4 to 3/8 wider? You won't even notice it when its done, and it will have the right gaps at the front. I haven't decided yet, but its an option at this point.

Aloha818 is a ref for cutting the nose... I'm trying to do no paint, makes everything trickier! I don't think I need to do it but the space there will appear tighter. Our backgrounds dictate that we are willing to work at it longer than most.

I installed my two locking pins at the back of the hood today and I'm working on the front hinges. I have to "tweak" the aluminum angles that I'm bonding to the underside of the hood. I got about 4-5 of those Ace paint sticks and I've cut them into dozens of short pieces, they are stuck all over the car to attempt to hold the gaps while a myriad of devices hold panels in place... I'm still using clecos, duct tape, gallon jugs, screws... you name it. I've found a way to hold something in place with it.

I can't believe how many people have engine covers that actually fit over the roll bar and sit flat on the sides. My cover is so tight on the roll bar and the ears of the engine cover twist severely... That's my next area to resolve. I'm going to mount my 2 inch AL angle under the flat portion of the side panels behind the door and come in from the sides to hold the engine cover down. Aloha818 did the same from the front (door edge) ages ago. I was actually there about the same time, before I swapped body panels, cost me quite a bit of time but these panels should look OK as no paint. It was worth the delay.

[Hindsight]

I actually prefer std rod ends, the ball joint ones from FFR are very sloppy compared to my EBay 1/4 - 28 female rod ends...

Oh sorry, when I said solid rod ends I was referring to: 6066kp2l.png

And by ball joint I meant heim joints like this instead of the ball-stud things FFR uses: 2998kp1l.png

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hey Dan, another shifter question for you.

I'm trying to decide between solid rod ends or ball joint rod ends. I know you went with balljoint and Bob I think went with basically solid (clevis anyway). I like the balljoint idea from a precision standpoint but know that when new, they can be quite tight. I would be concerned that their tightness would increase shifter effort. Have you noticed that at all?

Hindsight,
I went with the solid clevis type mostly for lack of space reason. As I recessed the shifter into my tunnel, there was not enough width to use the bearing type heim joints. The heim joint are better for less backlash.

I also had trouble finding 1/4-28 heim joints with 10mm shaft.
Bob

.

[Hindsight]

Thanks Bob, I have been following your shifter install as well. I plan on cutting out the 10mm shaft and drilling my own hole of whatever size I want. I'm just concerned about the bearing heim joints adding drag to the shifting feel. I know they loosen up over time but when new those things can be pretty tight.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Thanks Bob, I have been following your shifter install as well. I plan on cutting out the 10mm shaft and drilling my own hole of whatever size I want. I'm just concerned about the bearing heim joints adding drag to the shifting feel. I know they loosen up over time but when new those things can be pretty tight.

Don't worry about any tightness. With the mechanical advantage you have, You will not notice any tightness.
Bob

[Hindsight]

Great, that's exactly what I needed to know thank you!

[RM1SepEx]

Made some great progress today on the hood. Had snow this AM so I had to fire up the propane to heat the garage to cure the fiberglass

Check out my hinges and the final gaps... I also got the new louvers from Craig! I'll bend them up and powder coat them orange next week. Next, figuring out how to hold the engine cover down.. I'm planning on utilizing my 2 x 2 x 1/8 aluminum angle yet again. Bolt it under the flat shelf at the rear of the doors from the side. A couple screws will come in from the inside of the car to hold the engine cover "ear" in place.

[Hindsight]

Looking good! I didn't know Craig was selling the large louvers yet! Or did you just get a prototype?

[RM1SepEx]

I've been "working" with Craig since the kits first arrived. This louver design was requested by me after getting his original louvers and feeling that they were an improvement but not big enough. I do think that this is the first complete set! Thanks Craig!

I'm hoping he starts selling the side mount AAIC kit based on my design... much simpler than the AWIC. If you clock the turbo and flip the intake it get's really simple. Even the original way like mine doesn't have too much tubing tho I would use 2 inch in future applications. I should have some dyno results in May.

[Hindsight]

I hope a2a works. The awic setup i cobbled together for my 818 which is basically the same as everyone else is using weighs 32lbs. Thats dry.

[RM1SepEx]

The air to air will work fine, I need a scoop to allow the air to flow through, the minute you start pulling air through with a fan it creates a low pressure area. Now I need the CF scoop Craig! (I know he is having vendor issues) I want to develop an oil cooler for the scoop on the other side.

[AZPete]

Dan, very nice work on the hood, as usual. The front is even and flush! Do your hood hinges work well? If so, could you give some specs so I can copy, or are those hinges prototypes for Craig to make? I'd rather Craig make them so I don't have to measure, saw, drill, and bend, and again for the other side . . . plus blood, band-aids & cussing. Snow, really? It's April!

[Mechie3]

Dan has the only complete set of louvers. I just have one. Lol. They're at the shop getting quoted. That's fans hinge design he emailed me. I have a stylized version in Cad in my thread .

[RM1SepEx]

The hinge isn't a production type piece but what is on an FFR car? The hood is about as stiff as a won ton wrapper before my wife folds it up around the filling!. It rotates fine, I have to wiggle the hood into place. I then go up to the hood ends to seat it with my locking hood pins. I've found it to be about the same as the trunk hinges (I'm using Craig's there too)

I'd use Craig's in the front too but I can't expect him to do all my stuff first! I love the new louvers, I bent them up last night and they will look awesome. It's so much fun working the proto stuff with a capable designer and a machine shop. Brings me back to my first job out of college as a process engineer implementing custom mfg machines and processes. Back then I only had to walk across the parking lot to the basement design group and machine shop. Now we do it over 1000 miles using cell phone and internet photos, text messages etc...

No HS graduation this year hopefully I'll get my car to the open house and everyone can see Craig's stuff in use...

Headache, kids home from college and a trip to Rochester to watch my son's last acapella event! I don't expect and progress until next week.

[Hindsight]

One thing that could be done to add stiffness to the hood without adding hardly any weight would be to epoxy some balsawood spars to it. I believe that's what they did on the Porsche 914-6. I may give it a try on mine.

[RM1SepEx]

Craig and I have discussed this as well. I can't do that until I figure out where everything else fits. We have a bunch of aluminum pieces in the front. I wish that we had a thin curved piece for the front inner fenders...

[RM1SepEx]

Hood hinge done, added studs for an expanded AL grill... oops not enough clearance to make me happy and too flimsy under airflow at speed... rev 2 tomorrow?

P1120514.JPG P1120515.JPG P1120517.JPG

When you flip the hood up the grill barely clears the nose. I'm afraid that if bent it will damage the finish. I'm thinking that I can mount it to the nose on the bottom of the grill with a spring loaded hinge. When the hood is opened the hinge brackets will force the grill forward. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

iWire harness due back Friday... more areas to work on this weekend!

I'm working the doors next to get the body alignment correct on the "ears" of the engine cover.

[wallace18]

Looking good Dan!

[RM1SepEx]

You set a pretty high std Tom!

[RM1SepEx]

A gratuitous plug for Craig, the new lovers look great! I have to apologize for the poor placement, it's hard to hold them in place temporarily for a photo when you are alone... They sit up very nicely in the opened holes and fit very well.

You can see the extra material that I had to remove. I did the first one a bit small then measured the finished hole to cut the second one first try. My foam under the hood and on top of the radiator barely holds them in place, their final position is higher in the opening. put a straight edge across the embossed opening, the short side is 8 inches, the long one is 11 3/4

Great job Craig! Anyone want a set that fits the original hole? I'll be sending mine back to Craig so they are available.

[Tamra]

Those look great!

[Mechie3]

Nice work Dan. I need to finish making my set so I can install my own. lol

[Frank818]

They look good!

But your no-gap and perfect fitting of the front of the hood wrt to the bumper really makes me drool.

[RM1SepEx]

Just takes time and patience Frank... beer and discussions with fellow engineers on strategy always helps too!

I got most of the wiring back in today. The iWire harness is so clean vs the clusterF*** that existed with the chopped up WRX mess! I'll need to shorten a few wires but it is so damn clean. Thanks Brian, I went from a tangled mess in the tunnel to to power wires down the driver's side and a 1 inch bundle down the other, that's it!

After hearing about Andrew and Tamra's fuel problems I'm going to start investigating a fuel cell.

Fingers crossed, re-start tomorrow???

[RM1SepEx]

Need some help/verification

My side panels are as far back as the latch brackets allow, my front end has come together very nicely.

I'm having problems at the roll bars as many have and I will not chop into the panels to make it fit!

I've made some easy to compare measurements using a square. My square has a side with cm on both edges so I can measure both sides the same way.

Putting my square on the edge of the square roll bar support tube on the right side I get 8 CM and on the left I get 8.5 CM to the body panel seam. This isn't something that is easily changed. The panel is clamped to the side of the frame a few inches away by the aluminum trim at the edge of the door opening.

If I put the end of the square's ruler vs the body panel seam where the support for the trunk hinges are I have 9.2 CM on both sides, my panels are square and I get good seams.

Can someone verify their measurements please...


P1120532.JPG P1120531.JPG P1120525.JPG P1120524.JPG P1120523.JPG


The only way that I can get straight seams is to twist the "ears" of the engine cover around the roll bars.

[RM1SepEx]

Close to firing her back up, I just came to a rather interesting observation. I want to add an aluminum panel over the rack up that frame box so that the airflow is up through the large hood louver. Once I do that and install my hinged hood, there is no way that I'll be able to reach the battery!

[Tamra]

Definitely going to keep tabs on your thread when we start on the body soon... doesn't look like too much fun! Thanks for documenting everything so well.

Any plans for autocross with your 818 this year?

[C.Plavan]

One thing that could be done to add stiffness to the hood without adding hardly any weight would be to epoxy some balsawood spars to it. I believe that's what they did on the Porsche 914-6. I may give it a try on mine.

That will work, or use a thin aluminum flat piece.

[RM1SepEx]

Definitely going to keep tabs on your thread when we start on the body soon... doesn't look like too much fun! Thanks for documenting everything so well.

Any plans for autocross with your 818 this year?

yes... question is when. It is amazing how many different paths we take to complete these little beasties... When people started blowing them up I turned my build direction upside down. I'm hoping it will be in some sort of shape to be trailered down to the open house in June.

I've become addicted to the raw speed and visceral nature of racing the shifter kart vs a car. Imagine buying tires for 216 a set delivered to your door and installed using some simple manual fixtures and tools. I'm planning on a couple trips to do some road racing (20 minutes races) in the kart(s) this summer. (I have 2 of the Rotax DD2 powered karts)

My 818S is primarily a street car tho our club seems to be adding EM cars rapidly as we just picked up an electric Cobra, a V6 powered stalker and one of my best friends has a 240HP Zetec powered Caterham that has to run in AM due to weight.

[Harley818]

Need some help/verification

My side panels are as far back as the latch brackets allow, my front end has come together very nicely.

I'm having problems at the roll bars as many have and I will not chop into the panels to make it fit!

I've made some easy to compare measurements using a square. My square has a side with cm on both edges so I can measure both sides the same way.

Putting my square on the edge of the square roll bar support tube on the right side I get 8 CM and on the left I get 8.5 CM to the body panel seam. This isn't something that is easily changed. The panel is clamped to the side of the frame a few inches away by the aluminum trim at the edge of the door opening.

If I put the end of the square's ruler vs the body panel seam where the support for the trunk hinges are I have 9.2 CM on both sides, my panels are square and I get good seams.

Can someone verify their measurements please...


P1120532.JPG P1120531.JPG P1120525.JPG P1120524.JPG P1120523.JPG


The only way that I can get straight seams is to twist the "ears" of the engine cover around the roll bars.

Dan, I'm not sure this is going to help but I have the opposite.
I have it roughed in position and I'm pretty happy with the fit.
Driver side is 8.3cm at the roll bar, 8.7 on the passenger side. I cant move the panels in any more as they are in as far as possible and fiberglass is right up to the frame where the aluminum trim goes.
In the rear by the trunk hinges, i have 9.7 on the right side and 9.0 on the left side. Distance at the wheelwells to the center of the top shock bolt are equal at 13.75 in
I'm planning on doing more work tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it works out.

[RM1SepEx]

Harley, can you shoot me a photo of those two areas w/o the engine cover installed? I'm sure that since those body seams are not straight the front to rear position is key. I just read that your body sides are much farther forward than mine, you must have had to make a bracket to extend quite a ways to attach the nose to the radiator support frame in the front!

[Harley818]

Hi Dan,

Just had a successful weekend getting everything aligned. I basically started over but I'm happy with the result.
After I posted, Bob pointed out that the 5/8 measurement is taken with the front tab trimmed off. I missed that in the manual (and I might leave mine in to secure to the front frame).
I re-measured, and I'm actually at 7/8 to 1 inch from the front. lol.
My front bumper is touching the steel support tube in behind.
Check out my thread. I posted about 30 pics of the whole process in post #171 - 175
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...343#post196343


Turns out I measured at the rear crossbar. 9.4 mm on the passenger side from the welded tab to the inside edge of the fiberglass ridge. 9.3 mm on the drivers side.
Clearance at the rollbar both sides is zero. Fiberglass is touching the rollbar, but doesn't need to be trimmed.

Now that I'm done, let me know what you want pictures of and I'll post them.

[Mechie3]

I did the same thing you did when measuring and am about the same distance back and just clear the roll bar.

[RM1SepEx]

Good news, my problems shifting into second gear.... gummed up synchros from sitting after they installed the Quaife and checked it out. All back together and ready to install AFTER I return from my son's college graduation! WHOOO HOOO only one child in college now! Long trip to Rochester starts in a few minutes.

[305mouse]

Which school? Craig and I are both from Rochester, NY

[Jaime]

I'm currently less than an hour from Rochester, NY. My cousin went to RIT.

[wleehendrick]

I did my undergrad at U of R... moved to San Diego for grad school and stayed on the left coast ever since!