The Grassroots Motorsports 818 Build

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

Hello All,

My name is Darren and I work at Grassroots Motorsports magazine. We recently received our 818 kit:



We sent a build team to Wayne Presley's shop, Very Cool Parts in Alabama. Wayne has been kind enough to allow us to build the car at his shop, and of course help us out along the way. Both the donor car and 818 have arrived, and the team is supposed to commence work today. I will keep this thread updated with pictures and hopefully video throughout the process as I receive them. Any questions, please let me know. We are really looking forward to building an 818, especially after seeing the two of them at UTCC last week!

In the meantime, here is the 818 project car page until updates begin:
http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com/818

[ehansen007]

Yes, really looking forward to this. What are the build plans/details?

[blueoval_bowtie_guy]

Really hope the build does a lot for both the 818 community and your magazine!

[JAubin]

Really excited to get to see you guys get going on this build. Should be an interesting perspective based on your involvement so early on.

What are the build plans/details?

+1!

[Evan78]

What's the build schedule like? I imagine it'll come together pretty quick if you've got multiple people working on it 8+ hrs/day.

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

Welcome to the forum! I know a lot of folks here are eager to follow this build.

Thanks David, we're glad to be here and are really excited about the project!

Yes, really looking forward to this. What are the build plans/details?

Really excited to get to see you guys get going on this build. Should be an interesting perspective based on your involvement so early on.

+1!

What's the build schedule like? I imagine it'll come together pretty quick if you've got multiple people working on it 8+ hrs/day.

Thanks for your enthusiasm guys. Build schedule is planned out as a total of 6 full days as we stand now. We will see how that plays out. We will have a trip this week then another in the very near future. Basically the game plan is essentials. Our time in Alabama will be spent making a full out drivable 818 that will need a fair amount of sorting, which is totally expected and will be things we will take care of back at our home base. Our goal for this car isn't to make the baddest, fastest or best 818. We want a fun drivable street car and be able to tell our readers about the experience and hopefully be able to brag about how much car you have for the money invested, which i'm sure we will. The cool thing about these and other kit cars is how far and differently you can go about the finish work. Keep an eye on the thread, updates will begin tomorrow morning!

Really hope the build does a lot for both the 818 community and your magazine!

Thank you, so do we!

[Mechie3]

6 days? So you're saying I could do it in.....well.....a lot more?

My GRM subscription just ran out. Not sure how I even got it in the first place. Time to re-up!

[Tony Zullo]

It's in good hands with Wayne!! Can't wait to follow the build.....Tony@ffr

[Evan78]

My GRM subscription just ran out. Not sure how I even got it in the first place. Time to re-up!

Well, you should just get the 10 year subscription for $100.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/subscribe/

[flytosail]

What's the build schedule like? I imagine it'll come together pretty quick if you've got multiple people working on it 8+ hrs/day.

What! No three shift around the clock?

[Flamshackle]

Can't wait to see how this develops here :~) all the best GRM!

[D2W]

Are you going for a straight donor build?

[Twinspool]

Nice!

Looking forward to the GRM updates in future issues. Don't be stingy with details!

[Wayne Presley]

Well day one went great! Started stripping the donor at 10AM and hauled the carcass out at 3 PM including a 1+ hour lunch.
Here's Tim Suddard next to the carcass on the forks



And sitting in the middle of all the donor parts




It's a fairly straight forward build with upgrades planned in the future. 2004 WRX donor, Electromotive ECU, AIM dash, SpecClutch, VCP wiring harness. Going to be white for now, body wrapped in the near future. Thanks to Electromotive, AIM Sports, SpecClutch for sponsoring the above parts.

[Erik W. Treves]

man-o-man....you guys look tired....lots of work done today! keep it up!!! great start!!!

there has to be a caption contest with that first photo....!!

[Kempo]

This is going to be an interesting build.

[swine]

Nice cant wait for the grm write up.

[longislandwrx]

2 Guys stripped the Donor in 4 hours, 6 days to build?, i'm impressed.

[Wayne Presley]

3.5 guys stripped the donor in 4 hours = 14 man hours with power tools, all the tools needed laid out within arms reach and one of the guys has taken apart 4 prior cars

[Mechie3]

It probably helps too knowing what parts you need. Those of us who took apart donors a year ago had to save every last bolt. Now, we could probably throw 1/2 of those bolts in the trash and be no further behind.

Any cleanup planned for the parts or just a mild wipe/wash down.

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

6 days? So you're saying I could do it in.....well.....a lot more?

My GRM subscription just ran out. Not sure how I even got it in the first place. Time to re-up!

In that case, i'm not even sure how this link appeared: http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com/818promo

Are you going for a straight donor build?

Correct, with upgrades planned in the future as we see fit. This is new to us and everyone so basically we'll build it "remotely" stock then move forward from there.

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

Getting a first glimpse at our new kit:



Our 04 WRX Donor car, ready for surgery:



The tool of champions, a sharpie. We don't want to misplace or not know what certain parts are during the build, which is why every part will be bagged and tagged:



Body panels taped together, for now.




The project didn't look terribly daunting until the guys noted the additional boxes in the kit:

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

It probably helps too knowing what parts you need. Those of us who took apart donors a year ago had to save every last bolt. Now, we could probably throw 1/2 of those bolts in the trash and be no further behind.

Any cleanup planned for the parts or just a mild wipe/wash down.

I'm not positive what kind of cleanup the guys are planning, but knowing Tim, there will most definitely be a wipe-down at bare minimum!

[OCCPete]

Building a car in a week isn't easy, but it can be done with a lot of prep work. Ohio Cobra Club built a MkIV Roadster in 7 days a couple years ago and we had a blast doing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psy-e1veYR0

Good luck on the build guys, and have fun!

Pete

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

Thanks for the kind words, Pete! Neat video, too. It's early to tell but I think this is doable!

Meet the GRM build team:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/S0O15uI7LEE

[metros]

Can't wait to see the finished project and write up from GRM.

I actually just re-upped my subscription a week or so ago. Shouldn't have let it lapse.

[Wayne Presley]

I'm tired....car is coming along nicely...

[Erik W. Treves]

neat!!

[Mechie3]

I hope you didn't junk those tail lights. The 04/05 lights are the most wanted and fetch up to $200/set.

[Xusia]

In that case, i'm not even sure how this link appeared: http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com/818promo

All that link seems to do is take away the 10-year subscription option. Prices are the same...

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

Correct, it is simply an 818 only link we created.

Well, sounds like the guys are making great progress, I will have more pictures soon. As for now, here is episode 2 of the series:

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

We removed all body panels:


Now we can actually get some work done:


But first, a quick compression test on our Subaru Power plant.


And some Electromotive goodies for our 818:


The fun begins:

[riptide motorsport]

Welcome! I'll have to keep an eye on this thread.

[Scott J]

Is it done yet???

[blueoval_bowtie_guy]

Is it done yet???

I keep looking too. I even paid for a subscription and haven't been able to get my account activated to their website yet. I really want to be able to see their progress!

[Evan78]

There's a thread on their forum about it. No subscription required.

[blueoval_bowtie_guy]

There's a thread on their forum about it. No subscription required.

Thanks for the link. I looked a couple days ago and when I didn't see any updates I thought it was hidden unless you were a subscriber. Hopefully they are so busy building it AND taking pictures that they haven't had time to update either website.

[Evan78]

You can subscribe to the thread to get notifications of updates by clicking the heart button bookmark_add.png that is at the very bottom of the page, below the message composition window.

[GrassrootsMotorsports]

Hey all, thanks for being patient and sorry I haven't been updating you the past couple days. For now, i'll leave you with episode 3 in the build series and will have a nice photo update for you later today!

[Ironhydroxide]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih8x8...embedded&t=109


I can't help but notice the BENT Lateral link on the rear of the car..... plans to fix it?