Frank818 -1993 VW VR6 Turbo donor- Build Thread

[Frank818]

Tnx Jay, that's what I thought with the drain valve, I don't think it would be on the top.

I tried the wheele in the back! They don't fit by 1mm or so and rub on the caliper (scratches paint and wheel doesn't turn), even if I put spacers. I wanted to use them on all 4 so they can get dirty no prob (it's dirty at my mech's shop), but I am now short 2 wheels, so just for the sake of moving the car a bit to gain space for the rad support I put my real rear wheels on.

[jayguy]

That's too bad they don't fit, but you don't want to scratch up the caliper paint. Hopefully the back wheels won't get too dirty during the build.

Been watching your build from the start, waiting to see how well the VR6 goes in and performs. Keep up the great work.


Jay

[Frank818]

Actually to prevent the rear wheels from getting filthy, I removed them and put the frame back on 4 jack stands. loll I have enough parts to clean up like that, I want to keep the wheels away from it.

Tnx for watching, that does encourage me. I hope I won't disappoint you. So far end of Aug or beg of Sep I believe the engine would be almost in, or trying to work out the mounts, placement and stuff like that.

Something tells me the GT35's torque surge around 3300-3500 will be too violent for the 818. I have a few solutions for that, time will tell which one sounds best. I can't wait to hear the sound of that engine with a short 3" exhaust and minimalist sound deadening. So far whatever I have done to this exhaust the sound was awesome. Will I reach a climax in the 818? I hope so, it's one of my secret goals.

[RM1SepEx]

Frank, you powder coating defect is low enough that it is under the engine cover... welcome to the poor prep powder coating club

[Frank818]

Dan, tnx for confirming, it removes some stress on me. I didn't realize the body would cover that part as I am not that far in the build yet. No one knows the body more than you do, so I know you are 100% right.

[Frank818]

My installation of the rad. Since I use a 92-01 type with the inlet on the top right corner and I bought the knock off on ebay, I see it is not a bolt-on. I thought, after understanding what others said, that it would be, but mine isn't.

The bottom posts do fit perfectly in the lower mount bushings. But the lower left outlet barely rubs on the frame, so for now I put some electric tape on the frame, planning to slide in a thin foam or something later on:

2014-08-05 08.52.26.jpg

Then, the top right inlet rubs on the bolted right side rad support bracket:

2014-08-05 08.51.54.jpg

This one is a little more tricky. I thought to swap around the brackets so the L shape would go outwards, but I fear it could cause other problems later in the build when I install fenders, alu panels, etc. So I decided to trim it. There isn't much stress on these brackets, so I assumed the trim would be ok. Final result:

2014-08-05 11.13.24.jpg

It took a while to trim.


These are the final pictures of the installation, nothing is clamped yet, but it gives an idea of the clearances and stuff:

2014-08-05 11.13.50.jpg2014-08-05 11.14.06.jpg2014-08-05 11.14.16.jpg2014-08-05 11.14.28.jpg2014-08-05 11.14.36.jpg2014-08-05 11.14.46.jpg2014-08-05 11.15.07.jpg

As you can see on one pic, I have put the OEM upper mount bushings in the holes on top of the rad. There are NO posts there and the holes are a little too big, but it fits and it's easy to make the bushings fit snug if I want to. I will then have to figure out a custom bracket, probably something bolted on the upper rad transverse bar (like FFR) and a post on the other side that would slide down into the upper bushings. Shouldn't be too hard to fab.

Other note: plenty of clearance for the steering bellows.

[Goldwing]

I used a thick bushing/bearing washer where the lower radiator rubber mounts pop through the frame. The original lower mounts have a thicker sleeve than the 818 frame holes, so it more resembles the original fit. I put it on top of the frame, then popped the lower mount through both the washer and the frame. It doesn't add much height, but if you only need a little to stop any rubbing (if I understood you right) it could be just enough. I found some at the local hardware store.

[RM1SepEx]

Frank, looks like the radiator fits OK with some minor tweaks. A bolt would make a great top post and while I did use the chopped up Subaru mounts for the top on my early frame we had to shim the radiator up so I had to raise it with bushings, those mounts could easily be made out of aluminum angle...

I think several of the forum members are a bit more experienced with the body than I am!

My frame has been cut, welded, scraped, had PC flake off, peel off, never actually get baked correctly (don't know how that happened) I keep finding new flaws as I work on the car. Don't worry about it, POR 15, black paint, sandpaper... it will look just fine.

Ok and there will be someone, on this forum, that does it better, cleaner, neater etc... BFD

Life is good, enjoy the build!

[Frank818]

Rich, Dan, yeah I didn't think of adding height to the rad to clear out some of the rubbing. I am afraid having the rad too high will hit on the hood or something, but I think there is play. Though with the trimming I did, it now fits fine. Maybe I could have avoided that with more height, should have posted the question before doing my mod. lolll My bad.

Good idea on the bolt as a post!!

So far the quality of my kit is better than I expected, so crossing fingers nothing major will come up.

[RM1SepEx]

there is a ton of room over the radiator, mine has been raised about 1/2 to avoid the hose/rack issue. I thought it was fixed a long time ago! Mine is #17

[Frank818]

Wilwood brake lines and fittings issues.

It's been discussed that Wilwood kits, except the 13", do not come with flexlines and caliper+FFR lines fittings. So we need to outsource.

508Stroker gave a list of parts from Capital Motorsports to order and make it a bolt-on without using the FFR metric adapters. Unfortunately CM does not ship overseas, so I had to find elsewhere.

At CM, this is what is required:
2 ea XRP402603 -3 AN to 3/8"-24 NPT male-female fittings (packs of 2)
4 ea XRP981603 -3 AN to 1/8" NPT Pipe Straight Fitting
2 ea SBL318 18in -3 AN female straight Brake Line
2 ea SBL316 16in -3 AN female straight Brake Line

Stroker said that "the cost was about $90 for everything, though you could save about $17 if you want to use the fittings from the kit and delete the first item in the list above."

Also you can buy the kit from Wilwood with metric/std adapters:
FRONT
http://www.wilwood.com/LineKits/Line...temno=220-7009
REAR
http://www.wilwood.com/LineKits/Line...temno=220-7010

I chose to discard the FFR adapters and went with Stroker's idea, but found an ebay seller I ordered from on Monday.
I ordered this:

WilwoodFittingsLines.jpeg

The cost is USD$95, however, the guy refunded me $USD16.55 for shipping over-charge, even though I have never asked for it (how could I know). This guy is awesome, I can't recall being refunded for something I didn't know. Overall WITH SHIPPING TO CANADA, it cost me just shy under $USD80!

Now I hope I got the right stuff. lolll

[Frank818]

Steering wheel Turn signal canceling and Horn functions installation.

That was long. A day of work. AZPete's installation procedure http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...heel-installed was only 10% helpful for me, as everything else was somewhat different, I guess my 2003 NA s/w is different. So here's what I did:

There are 2 T30 screws on the sides of the airbag, you remove and airbag pulls out. You get this:

2014-08-05 11.30.37.jpg

Get the 17mm nut out from the center of the s/w and pull out the wheel towards you without hitting your face.
You then get a black plastic assembly, somewhat round, with a yellow sticker, just like on AZPete's pic.
His procedure to remove the plastic tube from that hole does not work at all for me, so I removed the 4 small screws holding the plastic assembly on the column (the column covers (top and bottom) must be removed). The way this freakin thing is mounted, and it took me a lot of time to figure out, is that there are 4 short tabs (half a T form) in the middle of the hole that grabs a little lip/notch inside the hole.

2014-08-07 10.56.31.jpg

The tube is installed from behind the assembly, not from the front. There are many plastic tabs and notches all around that assembly, to separate the 2 faces of the assembly, but they won't get your tube out! Cuz the tube, from behind, has a larger flat lip that is larger than the hole of the assembly, so it can't be pushed through from behind, you have to pull it out from behind by prying out the 4 small tabs from the middle of the hole. Then it pops out/down.

2014-08-07 11.17.15.jpg2014-08-07 11.17.21.jpg2014-08-07 11.26.05.jpg

To fit the NRG short hub SRK-100H I need that tube and I need to keep the back side of the plastic assembly. Once the tube is out, you can pry the little tab over their notches all around the plastic assembly to get the faces of it off. Once you separate the 2 faces, back and front, you get a mess like this:

2014-08-07 10.56.10.jpg2014-08-07 10.56.16.jpg

You basically can discard everything except the black plastic back face (the one that screws on the white portion).

Next post for more, as I am only allowed 10 pix per post.

[RM1SepEx]

Frank, the later parts are different! that is why his directions don't work exactly for you! See my post, (my donor was an 05, Pete's was 07 I think) I added some add'l photos... with ours we attach that tube to the NRG hub with the brass horn connection ring on it. Itstall/attach the tub so that the extended portion is on the left side, that way it trips the blinkers off with the least rotation. In theory your soln should be similar to what our's was

[Frank818]

That center lip on the back face I mentioned and showed above, you have to grind it off so that the tube can slide through the back face from the front. Once you grind it off and reinstall the back face, here's how it looks:

2014-08-07 11.33.43.jpg

Then for the horn, the ground is attached over the cruise controller, behind the metal plate. You just remove the plate, flip it around, detach the electric connector and cut the green wire.
BTW, all yellow wrapped wires can be ditched, as they are for the airbag.

2014-08-07 12.38.44.jpg

There are various ways to build your own horn connector. I chose to re-use that OEM connector cuz my mech happened to have a Porsche skate for the horn.

2014-08-07 14.09.14.jpg

This skate has a copper blade on the other side, which slides and makes the connection on the back copper disc of the NRG hub.

Back on the tube, I first needed to fit that tube on the hub. I used alu tape like Pete to enlarge the diameter of the middle portion of the hub so that the tube would slide in snug and centered. Then I use 2 of the many tabs from around the tube to drill through the tube and hub and screw the tube in place. Warning here, the screws must not be too long, otherwise they will block the middle hole of the hub and you won't be able to slide the hub on the column's splines. Guess what, I re-used 2 OEM screws that were inside the OEM s/w! Around the metal crap that you have seen in a previous pic, there are small bronzish tapered screws, just perfect to screw through metal!

2014-08-07 13.05.10.jpg

Make sure you center as much as possible the hub with the tube, I mean the tube centered with wheels centered and hub centered. The way the signal cancel works is when you turn on the signal, a small post pops out from the left side of the column and hits the long tab on the tube (located to the left, then). Then you turn, the springy post extends further towards the center of the tube past the long tab and when you turn the other way the long tab then hits the post and the signal arm comes back to normal turning off the signal.

And finally the horn, after using 2 bolts, the Porsche horn skate, coupe of nuts to get the right clearance, red loctite to prevent the nuts from loosening, drilling a hole to pass through the horn connector and test fitting the installation to make sure the bolts won't touch the copper disc on the hub (!!!!), I ended up with this:

2014-08-07 14.49.15.jpg2014-08-07 14.49.26.jpg2014-08-07 14.49.47.jpg




And finally, with the NRG Quick Release SRK-280NB installed, I have a "HORN"y s/w installation!

2014-08-07 15.00.31.jpg2014-08-07 15.00.38.jpg

[Frank818]

Frank, the later parts are different! that is why his directions don't work exactly for you! See my post, (my donor was an 05, Pete's was 07 I think)

Yes, 06 or 07.

[Frank818]

The guys at NRG are wrong.

They said the short hub + QR would equal OEM distance between s/w and blinker/wiper arms. Wrong. It's off by about 1". Too many!

2014-08-08 09.42.38.jpg2014-08-08 09.43.07.jpg

(don't look at the s/w too closely, I know one of the sticker fell off, I planned to fill up that space or wrap it anyway so I don't mind the Chinese glue not sticking)

My finger's tip barely touches on the blinker and I am not Darel Strawberry or Magic Johnson. Obviously I cannot shrink that part, I'll have to get used to it, I think it's gonna be ok and one thing's for sure, I will never hit any arm by mistake (which I do sometimes). Also I always use sports car leather gloves when I drive my Corrado and will do with the 818 as well, since it lengthen just a bit the finger, it may help as well.

That being said, I am also off by 1" for my entire seating position! I needed to push forward the s/w already, now I need to collapse it a lot more. According to my calculations, I'll have to collapse the column by 2 to 2.5". Pushing back the seat is not much an option as I will have probably 0 to 1" of play already. So rori's column spacer will probably be used entirely, tnx to that bracket.

But too bad NRG cannot replicate the OEM distance. Back in the days of the good old no airbag steering wheels, all this was super easy: remove wheel, install hub, install new wheel, connect horn wires, all done. Blinkers, horn and OEM distance were all kept perfect. Regulations and engineers thought they were smart by introducing airbags, hey? Not for a kit car. lolll

[JeromeS13]

It looks like your steering wheel has a fair amount of dish to it? Maybe their calculations were based on a completely flat wheel?

[Frank818]

It looks like your steering wheel has a fair amount of dish to it? Maybe their calculations were based on a completely flat wheel?

Good point man! Sorry NRG, I'll put my statement on the back burner for 1 week. For some reason I thought my s/w was the only one in the universe. loll
It's not flat, but it's not amongst the most "dished", certainly not by 1".
I'll take a top or side pic next time, which is Sat the 16th, the second most important day after my pick-up date, cuz it's my Corrado stripping Day 1! Wiring is gonna be hell, I have so much stuff I changed or added since OEM...

[metalmaker12]

I see your putting this thing together nicely, but my main question is " when you going to make your drivetrain fit." I will assume much cutting and grinding will be occurring followed by much welding. I think the biggest issue will be the engine height difference, and than the 818 engine cover actually fitting in the same place. I am interested in how your going to do it, cause I am thinking of building another frame with a Honda s2000 engine matted to a wrx tranny.

[Frank818]

We start on Aug 16th, if the weather allows me to drive the Corrado to the shop for it's funerals. Until then I was doing just some little things that should not be impacted by the engine installation.
I believe by mid-Sept to late Sept the engine should be in or we would be very far, depending how bad the issues are. Oh yeah there will be.
The height is my main concern, yes. But if a TDI fits, maybe an S2000 would?

[Frank818]

Reached a milestone today.

Sentimental milestone, personal one. I hit EXACTLY 105,000km when I entered the garage at my parents house on a visit. It was the last visit to my parents with the Corrado and spot on at 105,000.

2014-08-10 16.40.41.jpg

In my trip to my parents' house, I tested my phone's recording feature. I think the 1080p video quality is pretty great, but the sound is filtered, as you can read in the videos' descriptions if you open them on youtube's site.

[Frank818]

[Frank818]

No, I am not flooring it. Barely, maybe 40-50% in 3rd gear.

[metalmaker12]

Nice gloves Stig!!!

[Frank818]

Yeah like I mentioned with my s/w, I'm gonna need 'em for the blinkers.

[wleehendrick]

cause I am thinking of building another frame with a Honda s2000 engine matted to a wrx tranny.

Great idea; perfect motor for a NA 818, but will it fit? I'd expect an I-4 mounted longitudinally be so long that it would stick into the tank area like Erik's electric motor does. Frank, you're planning on mounting the VR6 transverse with VW transaxle, right?

[Frank818]

Frank, you're planning on mounting the VR6 transverse with VW transaxle, right?

Yes, basically the exact same config it has in the Corrado (and any other VW VR6 configs of those years, much newer versions derived from this engine may have it longitudinally, but I'm talking 90's and early 00's), except the engine will be behind my behind instead of up front. The intake manifold will face towards the front of the car and the exhaust manifold (along with turbo) will face towards the back, just like now.

The turbo's outlet will project straight 90-deg towards the driver's side.

Tranny config the same, transverse.

[AZPete]

Frank, nice work on the steering wheel mount, especially using your head when you saw yours was different from my 06 and Dan's 05. I agree that the modern steering wheels are tougher to change and Subaru even added the cruise control switch to make it even tougher. Are you using cruise?

[Frank818]

Hey Pete,

Tnx for that, but I admit even though your installation was only 10% helpful for me (should have known 06 would most probably be different), that 10% gave me ideas and at least showed me, before hand, how the wheel is installed and things work now with airbags. From there yeah I had to improvise.

I am not sure for cruise yet. I have options on that. I can relocate the arm to the column like you did, but I must not forget in 03 the cruise was using an on/off switch located on the bottom left of the dash, not embedded in the arm like 05+. My other option is my ISIS electrical system (they now have an add on this forum). I can wire the cruise there and use some buttons on my tablet to control the cruise. No worries much. As of last week I changed mind and I don't plan on using it, as I never use it on the Corrado for the use I make of it.

[AZPete]

I'm glad to see someone using ISIS on an 818. I installed ISIS (actually the early form called I-Squared) in my FFR roadster and it was easy to install, worked very well and was a big feature to the guy who bought my car. I didn't buy the ISIS system for my 818 because I wanted to see if I can make the OE ABS, PS and AC work. I'm sure you'll post the ISIS install and I look forward to it.

[Frank818]

We start on Aug 16th

Delayed to the 23rd. My mech is taking another week off. This is just stressing, as there will be only 2 months left until it starts to snow and freeze, I need to tow the car back home before that time with all the list of things to install completed, so that I can do the finishing and stuff that doesn't need hard machining, air tools and a lift. I know my mech can make it before it's too late, my concern is that if I need to order some parts and it takes 6 weeks (custom shafts, Wayne's K-Tuned shifter cables, etc.), we're doomed. Also my mech doesn't know anything about what I learned on the forum and ways I want to build the car, he might do things I won't want. Or he might be blocked on something and wait for me to get an answer from the forum. Or we might need some R&D thinking time at some points, like to fit the K-Tuned on the new alu console. I can only work on Saturdays. Such bad organization but I understand he's got a shop to run and I don't pay a lot of money too. I'm not P1.

We'll see what ends up, but I can't wait to have that darn engine off the Corrado and start to finding the solution to fit it in the 818.

[Frank818]

I have now become a steering wheel collapsor.

2014-08-16 11.24.14.jpg2014-08-16 11.25.18.jpg2014-08-16 11.26.30.jpg2014-08-16 11.31.53.jpg

I think I crushed about 2.25". It was 32.5 long before and now sits around 30.25. It seems just perfect, according to the rough seat position. I have a good 0.5" to 1" play back and forth for the seat, so I should be good. Too bad the column it's telescopic adjustable.

As you can see, the column sleeve sits just over the grommet. It's freakin' easy to collapse. You hit the spline rod, which will collapse within the the sleeve and then you hit the sleeve, which will collapse around the spline rod and you repeat until you get your length. The height and distance feels very good like this. My mech was surprised it would work, but everything turns as if it was uncrushed.

Now I need Rori's spacer, not those tie-raps. It's probably getting fabricated as we speak, hopefully.

[Frank818]

Wleehendrick, you mentioned this about corner weight:

You're on the right track, Frank. Unless you get lucky, I expect your VW drivetrain to have a significant effect on weight distribution, Since it's going in mounted transverse, it'll likely shift the weight balance forward compared to a standard 818 with a longitudinal EJ and tranny sticking out back; moving the battery to the rear could help you there. The lateral asymmetry of the transverse motor/transaxle will probably require you to shift things around a bit, and could be tricky if it's way off, but as you say, better to address it in construction instead of trying to adjust out a big imbalance with ride height alone.

My thinking is opposite based on the info that I believe the engine will sit further back than the H4. Therefore, shifting weight rewards. The problem is this is only theory as of now, of course. I have no idea where the VW pivot point sits and where the H4's point sits. So it's very hard to determine if it's going to be more on the left, right, front or rear. I know it's gonna be higher, obviously, but apart that, I would think more in the rear.

On what assumption you think it would be up front? Based on the assumption the engine would sit at the same place as the H4? Then I would agree. But I'm not sure, I think the diff is further rewards on the H4, but I have yet confirmed that.

[wleehendrick]

My thinking is opposite based on the info that I believe the engine will sit further back than the H4. Therefore, shifting weight rewards. The problem is this is only theory as of now, of course. I have no idea where the VW pivot point sits and where the H4's point sits. So it's very hard to determine if it's going to be more on the left, right, front or rear. I know it's gonna be higher, obviously, but apart that, I would think more in the rear.

On what assumption you think it would be up front? Based on the assumption the engine would sit at the same place as the H4? Then I would agree. But I'm not sure, I think the diff is further rewards on the H4, but I have yet confirmed that.

I based my comment on how far back the CG of the Subaru transmission is, but you're right in that the EJ's block is in front of the diff, whereas the VR6 will be completely inline with it, so that will mitigate the fore/aft shift somewhat. Your motor/tranny CG will be pretty close to right over the rear wheels. I'm not exactly how that compares to an EJ, but from lifting mine (albeit without the accessories installed), the CG seems to be a bit rearward. But this is totally unscientific, anecdotal evidence and I could be wrong.

[Frank818]

I understand, tnx for the input. It made me think and check a little more, as you can see the axles are further back from the flywheel and to that add 1-2" further back again for the wheels. The only thing is I can't remember where the block sits compared to the flywheel axis, if it's right over, a bit back or front, tilted, etc.

02a6sptranny.jpg
02atranny.jpg

The subaru tranny may have a CG further in the back but how about the engine and tranny commingled, if you lift them from the axle points, is the unit tilting the front down or up. Probably down, as the weight would be in front of the rear wheels, which is what we want. Hopefully the same for the VR6.

But yeah, unless we have some real evidences we won't know until I fit it in and get the car on automotive scales. That reminds me, I need scales.

[Frank818]

6 weeks behind schedule. Yes I have a schedule cuz of winter. When this crap thing starts, I need to get the car back home but how can my mech catch up 6 weeks within the next 9, that's a mystery. If he will. He will not. I am pissed, but not as much as Steve cuz thankfully my alu panels and FB panels are in good shape.

In the meantime we started tearing down the Corrado. It hurt. It did. Driving the car for the last time, listening to its sound for the last time, seeing it as a whole for the last time, all those countless hours I have spent on the car, for example the custom wiring and cutting down all those wires... it hurt. But I know it's for the best of both worlds, best for the Corrado and best for me. And best for the guy who'll buy my Corrado chassis.

Now that the sentimental part is past, this is the oil cooler (about 5"x5.5") I plan on reusing and will probably fit a fan behind to better control oil temp in town. On highway it's perfect, maybe even too cold, but in town when it's hot I would prefer the oil to be slightly colder. Anyway I can fit the fan easily any time in the future if I don't now.

2014-08-30 08.56.00.jpg


This is my heat exchanger for the AWIC. I will double its surface in the 818 and since the rad in the 818 is not compressed in the engine bay, so much less heat, I expect better efficiency from the rad due to the location and that should also help a little on the AWIC's exchanger. One 14" fan should be enough and will draw much less current than those monstrous double VW fans.

2014-08-30 08.56.07.jpg


While a Porsche was on a lift I saw the nice air scoops up front. Since the 818 has nothing to redirect air from the side scoops, I mentioned that many times, I might be using something similar to this:

2014-08-30 08.01.13.jpg

My mech has a bunch of Porsche air scoops so we'll see. Unless Mechie comes up with nice side scoop louvers.


This week the engine should be off the Corrado and in the 818. If it's not, then we will be 7 weeks behind schedule. I believe I have good chances to come back on Saturday night with the core of this thread: how on earth am I going to fit the VR6 within the 818 chassis. If not this week, then Saturday the 13th.

[wleehendrick]

6 weeks behind schedule. Yes I have a schedule cuz of winter. When this crap thing starts, I need to get the car back home but how can my mech catch up 6 weeks within the next 9, that's a mystery. If he will. He will not.

As I told a project manager at work, whose life is schedule and budget, my build is (way) behind schedule and (slightly) over budget. It's not how you run a program, but how you build a dream car! The terms are scope-creep (keep adding things you didn't anticipate) and resource availability (my time)! Luckily, we have 'endless summer' so whenever it's done, I can enjoy it.

In the meantime we started tearing down the Corrado. It hurt. It did. Driving the car for the last time, listening to its sound for the last time, seeing it as a whole for the last time, all those countless hours I have spent on the car, for example the custom wiring and cutting down all those wires... it hurt. But I know it's for the best of both worlds, best for the Corrado and best for me. And best for the guy who'll buy my Corrado chassis.

Well at least it's heart will live on, and you'll remember it every time you drive the 818!

[svanlare]

I'm happy to be ahead of my original schedule but I don't think it will last unless I take some time off this winter. It cracks the folks at work up that I have a burn down and schedule spreadsheet for the car project. As for budget, I blew that a while ago... and today ordered the ISIS wiring. While I'm at it, I suppose I should call wayne and get a K-tuned shifter.

Good luck with the getting the car home before winter starts, hoping it happens for you.

[Frank818]

and today ordered the ISIS wiring.

Now that's great. I have a lot of hopes in that system. Especially that I know I will need a few custom features.

While I'm at it, I suppose I should call wayne and get a K-tuned shifter.

You haven't yet?

Good luck with the getting the car home before winter starts, hoping it happens for you.

Tnx yeah I hope as well, otherwise the 6 weeks delay will become a 52 weeks delay, due to 2015 winter and 2016 winter (I would register late fall 2015 so no time to drive, then winter 2016 doing nothing and driving finally spring 2016).

[Frank818]

About the rear FW, I wrote a few posts in the rear FW thread and after looking at the Quebec rules (Canada has nothing to do with safety as it's part of the Provinces' jurisdiction), it seems for home built cars there is no impact rule. The only rule is HEAT. Applies to all fuel components, they must not be located at less than 15cm (6") from any kind of heat source. I have no idea where the engine will fit, but if it fits less than 15cm from the fuel tank, I will need a heat FW consisting of galvanized iron sheet(s). To hell the safety rear FW for impact, I'll take my chances and prevent adding more weight. I already add a lot more than many people here, I have to stop at some point and live with compromises.

Here's my plan: We will fit the engine with brackets, measure the half-shafts lengths I need, then remove the engine, call DriveShaftShop to order my custom set of $1000 shafts, fix a 6-8yo hard-to-pinpoint oil leak and while the engine is out, install the custom rear FW, as I think Pete said, it's really bad to install once the engine is in.