Frank818 -1993 VW VR6 Turbo donor- Build Thread

[Frank818]

The donor shifter boot is gone since last winter. I am stupid.

The one FFR supplied has a very weird angled base, like a distorted hexagone or something with none of the side the same length. Maybe I could cut the base, get rid of the metal pins making the base solid, use what's left and enlarge the hole (meant for a shifter rod, not an ebrake). That's an option, yes! I have a few options now, so I won't be concerned any more about that.

[Frank818]

Got a reply from FFR. Jay is catching up on Joe's emails. A lot have happened since Oct 31st that caused them to lag on replies, some personnel changes and SEMA and etc.

Of course, don't send to Joe's email, but chances are if you already did, you may get a reply sooner or later.

Jay took a sheet of paper, wrote down the 2 part numbers of the ebrake setup and took a picture.

IMG_20141210_121706.jpg

The ebrake cable mount is actually the mirror finish rear tunnel cover that goes over all the wires/cables and block of that big hole in the rear firewall panels. I have that one. I thought there was a bracket to attach the cables together used in conjunction with the OEM cable brackets. So I should be good!!!
The small ebrake mount, it was the one I thought it was and I lost it. But it's the easiest part in the world to replicate, so no issues.

[Frank818]

Mounted my stiffer solution for the accel pedal. It's not the stiffest, nor the softest, it's in between. It doesn't bend except slightly if I press hard when the pedal is hitting the clutch tube. But I will fit a stopper at the bottom of the pedal and it won't be against the FW, so I'll be ok.

Recognize that black plate? It's the FFR accel pedal mount that no one uses! I painted it and bent each side so that it fits SNUG between the 2 frame tubes. The width is perfect between the 2 holes on the OEM pedal. Then I put some silicone and rivet it twice on each side. The reason why I get a slight bend when the pedal is pushed to the max is cuz this plate is too thin and bends a very little. But like I said, stopper will prevent that. Don't mind the plate masking part of the hole in the FW, I won't be using that hole anyway and will plug it.

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[Frank818]

The steering rack bracket tends to bend at 3 places when you bolt it on, so I removed it, unbent it, painted it again and put it back, using 2 washers between the bracket and the bracket welded on the chassis. Turned out it worked perfectly.

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[Frank818]

Seat belts sort of installed. I don't have my M12 bolts for the anchor points each sides of the seats, but everything is ready!

I have drilled a 7/16 hole for the M12 bolts of the reels, then drilled and cut the little rectangular hole at the top so the small tip/support on the reel can fit somewhere and keep the reel aligned.

I however had to grind a little bit the passenger reel's bracket as it was hitting at the bottom of the FFR alu panel.

When the under seat alu panel will be fitted, I will bolt the buckle's bolts in and through the under seat panel. I will buy rust protected bolts/nuts.

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[Frank818]

Ordered a bunch of fasteners yesterday.

1	98093A885	1 Pack	Class 10.9 Steel Flange Head Cap Screw M16 Thread, 2mm Pitch, 60mm Long
2	91005A039	2 Each	Metric Black-oxide Steel Flange Hex Nut M16 Screw Size, 2mm Pitch, 24mm W, 21mm H O'all
3	92125A244	1 Pack	Type 18-8 Ss Flat-head Socket Cap Screw M6 Size, 30mm Length, 1.00mm Pitch
4	94205A250	1 Pack	Metric Type 316 Ss Nylon-insert Hex Locknut M6 Size, 1mm Pitch, 10mm Width, 6mm Height
5	90585A542	4 Packs	Type 316 Ss Flat-head Socket Cap Screw 1/4"-20 Thread, 1" Long
6	91831A029	1 Pack	18-8 Stainless Steel Nylon-insert Hex Locknut 1/4"-20 Thread Size, 7/16" Width, 5/16" Height
7	94036A861	1 Pack	Class 8.8 Steel Flange Head Cap Screw M12x1.75 Thread, 60mm Long
8	92461A600	1 Pack	Class 8 Steel Nylon-insert Hex Flange Locknut Znc-pltd, M12 Size, 1.75mm Pitch, 18mm W, 16.1mm H
9	94036A845	1 Pack	Class 8.8 Steel Flange Head Cap Screw M12x1.75 Thread, 45mm Long
10	94020A335	4 Packs	Aluminum Heavy-duty Rivet Nut 10-32 Internal Thread, .020"-.130" Material Thk
11	97763A341	2 Packs	Black-oxide 18-8 Ss Button-head Cap Screw 10-32 Thread, 3/4" Long
12	95229A380	1 Pack	Mil Spec. Cadmium-plated Steel Flat Washer Number 10 Screw Size, Nas-1149-f0363p, 0.203" Id

[Frank818]

My order has been rejected.

Outside USA, if you are not a business, McMaster will not ship.
I spent almost 2 weeks looking for fasteners and I read all their shipping stuff and now they say no. Chances are I will not find all these fasteners elsewhere, so I have to start all over, somewhere else and look for replacements for those I can't find.

Don't mind, but I do start of mind of the delays, though. I need many of these fasteners in order to install my parts and move on the other parts that require these to be fitted. Oh well, there was I could.

[Pearldrummer7]

Ugh, that's the worst way to have a delay! Any chance they'll do it with a little extra shipping cost if you call?

Order them to my place and swing by! I'm just across the pond (Oswego, NY...prolly 4 hours from you)

[Tamra]

The steering rack bracket tends to bend at 3 places when you bolt it on, so I removed it, unbent it, painted it again and put it back, using 2 washers between the bracket and the bracket welded on the chassis. Turned out it worked perfectly.

2014-12-14 08.37.41.jpg2014-12-14 08.38.04.jpg

We did this exact same thing yesterday to fix our steering rack issue. The washers worked flawlessly, our steering rack is now straight, and it snugs up without any bending of the bracket (or risk of damaging the steering column).

[metalmaker12]

How about I oreder them and send them to you. We can use paypal for our transaction. Just an idea bro

[Frank818]

Ugh, that's the worst way to have a delay! Any chance they'll do it with a little extra shipping cost if you call?

Order them to my place and swing by! I'm just across the pond (Oswego, NY...prolly 4 hours from you)

How about I oreder them and send them to you. We can use paypal for our transaction. Just an idea bro

Hey tnx a lot guys! I actually spent 2h late afternoon yesterday searching on other websites and turned out that Fastenal.com has stores everywhere and when I entered my location, they matched a store... in Canada... in QC... 10mins away from home. I thought there was a mistake, as we have nothing in Canada related to cars (fasteners are not related just for cars, though) and all the good stuff is in USA, but no it's real, there is a store here that I can pick-up the fasteners from and order online (from US).

They are reviewing my order and I should be contacted soon and all the fasteners should be ready within 7 days (the washers weren't available in less than 3).

But if that doesn't work, I'll keep your options in mind, I appreciate a lot the offer.


For those interested in buying fasteners online, McMaster has a better website than Fastenal, easier to search, results are shown better for faster reading, I think they have more products and they have 3D solidworks charts, which helps a lot. Prices are higher on Fastenal, even though I can order 1 item instead of only packs of 10, 25, 50, etc. But Fastenal will save me a lot in shipping since it's nearby and I won't be stuck with 98 bolts of same type when I only need 2.

In the meantime I'll try to fit super temporarily the parts, with tie-wraps, vise grips, incorrect bolts, etc. So that I can move on what's after.

We did this exact same thing yesterday to fix our steering rack issue. The washers worked flawlessly, our steering rack is now straight, and it snugs up without any bending of the bracket (or risk of damaging the steering column).

Yes absolutely, just need to find the right washer thickness and it fits perfect. It was all bent before, bolt holes and the U curve of the bracket was bent towards passenger's side. Now it's all perfect and so easy to do it right.

[Frank818]

Rad fan installed, 14". I tested it, when it kicks in, it makes a cyborg-techno sound. lolll It's cool. Not too loud either and pulls pretty good, certainly sufficient for a bigger than OEM rad (my VR6 used a smaller one) with a lot more air flow up front, a lot more coolant and a lot more piping to allow the coolant to cool.
Pretty easy to install. Fully waterproof. Today's fans are much better fabed than 20+yo ones.

2014-12-19 16.14.18.jpg


My left side floor has a bubble which cuts a good half-3/4 of an inch in height. I had to cut the tunnel cover in that area so it can sit lower. I do not have the final product pic yet. That tunnel cover has been modified 100+ times, every frickin corner and tab out of it has been trimmed.

2014-12-19 06.03.34.jpg

[Frank818]

Questions for you knowledgeable people.


What is that standard type connector plug called? 2-pin, 90-deg apart (they make an L inside). It's on the rad fan.

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What have you worked out to install the dash on its brackets? On the left side I am fine, the dash rubs on the bracket so it's tight enough for the bolt, but on the right side I have a HUGE gap, inches apart. The dash looks levelled, though I have not used any measures other than my eyes.

2014-12-19 17.10.47.jpg

[Frank818]

Well finally! After 16h of work in 3 days, the ebrake is installed. I still need to do the finish and adjust the tension, but mechanically it works and this is where it's gonna fit. I will remove or change the handle cover, though. Fitted it as low and as rearwards as I could so it wouldn't interfere with anything else and would not take the show over the shifter.

I bent myself two 1/8" steel brackets, one of which sits lower (rear) than the other, cuz the ebrake rear mount is lower.
I went through everything in this ordeal, it's been the most challenging installation yet. I had a lot, I mean a lot, of trimming to do on the tunnel cover (you wouldn't recognize it) and rear tunnel cover (the cable cover), I did a few mistakes which required guess what? Right on, more trimming to hide the mistakes. Bent the 2 brackets using a ****ty clamp-on vice, believe it or not! This is why I had to do a weird curve on the front bracket, cuz the vice was too small and there was only 1 way I could hammer on the steel flat without throwing the damn vice on the floor. Now I installed myself a real vice, bolted. But too late for those 2 brackets. Then I welded the brackets in place. 25% wire and 75% voltage did the trick no problem! I am currently grinding the protruding parts of the brackets and the welds (to smooth them out) with a 12A 5" angle grinder and nothing moves, so it's rock solid. Notice the rear bracket is angled, that is normal, the rear mount had a slight angle which I tried to reproduce.

I am using 5/16 bolts and lock-nuts to secure the handle in place, fits like a condom.

The dash, center console, tunnel cover, shifter, tunnel rear cover and ebrake, are the parts I have installed, removed and re-installed the most in my life. Maybe 20+ times each in average.


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So nobody knows about that gap between the bottom of the dash and its mounts (see previous post)?

[nkw8181]

Question? How are your shifter cables ran? That was part of my frustration. Do you have a path for them? Mine wanted to go about where you have components. You may have already accounted for this but if not better to know now.

[Frank818]

Question? How are your shifter cables ran?

That is the right question indeed, Nolan. The answer is extremely simple: it's part of my mistakes! lolll

When I started the design (if you call that a design) I thought about the stiff race burgundy cables, then I forgot and moved on. When I re-thought about them, it was too late.

This morning I mocked them up. They cannot go under the handle for sure (BTW the handle is 1" lower than the upper frame tubes), the quick bend down and sharp up turn right after to go over the tank is too much asking for these cables.
The other possibility is to sneak them on the sides, over the handle brackets, just over the handle bosses and along the tunnel upper frame tubes. I was 5mins short this morning to test this, believe it or not I had to go to some place called "work"?!!????! lolll

My guess is it's gonna fit very tight, but what doesn't on that car anyway. I should make it tonight, I'll take pix of this as I know it's an important routing.

Now (or then after I route the cables), I have to figure out how to bolt the cable ends onto the shifter. I'll check on the k-tuned thread, I just hope I am not missing parts.

[Frank818]

Nolan, as promised, here's how my cables will (they better) route:

2014-12-23 16.01.26.jpg

Not as tight as I thought, but still is. I will attach them to the upper frame tubes and they should not move.



Frank (PearlJam) and Chris (metalBruins), I got my fasteners on Monday, maybe it would have cost me less going through either of you, but it's too hard to say.

On the other hand, those 10-32 low-profile alu rivnuts are AWESOME!!!! They are so easy to work with and crush! I think I will use that solution in many places. 100 of them, tnx to Dan on the number and tnx to a few others on the 10-32 size! Drill 19/64 holes, but 5/16 also works.

2014-12-23 17.05.46.jpg

Now I got all the fasteners I need to finish that thing. Until I find out I need some other fasteners, who knows...

[Gary Livingston]

My order has been rejected.

Outside USA, if you are not a business, McMaster will not ship.
I spent almost 2 weeks looking for fasteners and I read all their shipping stuff and now they say no. Chances are I will not find all these fasteners elsewhere, so I have to start all over, somewhere else and look for replacements for those I can't find.

Don't mind, but I do start of mind of the delays, though. I need many of these fasteners in order to install my parts and move on the other parts that require these to be fitted. Oh well, there was I could.

Hey Frank. Try Spaenaur. I've never had anything shipped from them, because there is a store near me, but I imagine they do. They probably have more fasteners than Mcmaster does. . . . not to mention all kinds of automotive stuff. . . you can't find elsewhere.

Cheers,
Gary

[Frank818]

Hey Gary, yes I heard about them, but their website is crap (like most canadian websites), you can't buy online and you can't even search for parts. I agree if I knew exactly what I needed I could just call them. But I had a lot of different options possible, so telling everything over the phone, taking time to think, etc., it wouldn't be practical. I really need to look around and decide what I needed. That's why I went with Fastenal. But they don't have everything, granted. Maybe I just don't know how it works with Spaenaur. How do you work it out?

[Frank818]

X-Mas eve... who cares, I burnt 10h15mins of human fuel today. Installed some guides for the shifter cables (no pic), took maybe 30-45mins, which leaves a good 9h30mins just to fit the cockpit rear lower/upper fw! Drill, test fit, drill, test fit, mistake, grind, test fit (repeat 10 times loll), drill, screw, test fit, mistake, etc..... And I had to grind the sides as it was too wide and was hitting on the seat belt alu panels cover + the rivets. But, it now fits! No pic. The middle fasteners bolting the lower fw with upper fw I used those nice 10-32 rivnuts with 10-32 button head screws. The top on the frame tube I used FFR's 1/4-20 rivnuts with 1/4-20 buttons head screws.

Very early this morning when I started my day, I found out that one of the boss on the ebrake cracked in 3-4 places!!!

2014-12-24 05.42.30.jpg

It's a hard steel, but I guess it didn't survive my hammer treatment when I straighten the tab (it's at an angle from OEM, you can see that in the FFR manual too).
I was really stunned. But I immediately thought of a solution! Guess what I did to it?

2014-12-24 06.07.32.jpg


That's right! Welding is my friend, I am so happy I started welding, now, this Lincoln machine is really handy. Get the right voltage and wire speed and it fills up the cracks so nicely. Good as new!

And at the same time, I found out that the bolts and nuts that came with my 1st version of the K-Tuned shifter fit PERFECLTY through the handbrake's holes! So instead of using my other bolts, I prefer to use these:

2014-12-24 06.07.48.jpg

I call that "recycling".
BTW, this is one hell of a great close-up pic for a cell phone, reminds of Jeff's awesome close-up pix with his million-dollar camera. I think it's my best close-up so far.


And these are my M16x60 for the top bolt spindle. Pretty big, torque them to 120lbs.

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[Frank818]

Happy Holidays and Boxing Day!

Happy 818 day for me, as this is the only thing that matters in my life since I got the car home (end of Nov). Gotta catch up 4 months of lost time at my mechanic's, which is why I start working around 5 in the morning every day (even when I work at my normal job).

Xmas day was sadly short (818-wise, that is lolll), a bit over 5h of work. Today a bit less than 8h, but I finalized my seat belts locations:

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I haven't seen many people post pix of their seat belts installation. Either I missed them all, or people find that so easy that they don't take pix. It wasn't that easy for me, well, average, was pretty long for just that, but the thinking for the solution was average and making it happen wasn't that hard.
Note that on the first pix this is the passenger belt, which I used 2 washers on the inside of the car to clear up the alu panel, but I changed mind and I will do it like on the driver's side, without any washers and enlarge the rectangular hole. Fits snug, perfect.

The bolt hole on the metal OEM bracket is too high for the 1.5" tubing, so on one side I welded 2 layers of 1/8 steel that I cut quickly and welded quickly (passenger side is always where I test my solutions, even though I would not want my passenger to die or get injured due to my "testing").
On the driver's side the hole was drilled a tidy lower, so a 1/8+3/16 thick steel plates cut and welded together did the job perfectly. I love my 12A 5" angle grinder/cut-off wheel.

The welds are not that great, but they hold up, the hammer couldn't break them at all. I am sooo happy I have the tools to weld, I can't imagine how I could finish up that car without welding. And it's cool to weld. So cool that the rag I used to cover the nylon belt from hot spatters caught slightly on fire. A nice tap on it stopped everything. Gotta stay alert! lolll

I changed the bolts, for longer ones (M12x50 for the buckle and M12x60 for the reel and door-side anchor brackets. Curiously, M12s are JUST bigger than OEM (WTH are they using then?), so I had to drill out all my holes using I think 15/32 bit if I recall) and higher grade too. Didn't need higher grade, but it wasn't pricey.



The below is my under seat panel marked down before drilling. I will fit it with nice 10-32 rivnuts, cuz I need to remove it ALL if I ever need to remove my seats, to gain proper access. There's a lot of holes to drill, it's hard on the arms when the car sits on jack stands (Rasmus, who disappeared again, said the same thing). I have now started drilling some holes in 1/8 but I need to step drill them up to 5/16 for rivnuts (bolts are 3/16 holes in the panel). Then same fun with the under tray battery panel. lolll

2014-12-26 15.48.23.jpg




My next steps after these, I have to install the dash so I can finish up the entire length from the rear cockpit FW to dash, going through ebrake cable mount, tunnel cover and center console. Still trying to figure out why I have a huge gap for the dash mount on the passenger's side and how to fix it.
Then I have to install my cluster, which is squared and smaller than Subaru's. After that it's the under carpeting/carpeting and sound deadening, then steering rack spacers, then AWIC installation with coolant tubes and then wiring and body. Not far from something complete (minus the engine of course and finishing details).

[Lumpyguy]

Looking good, I really like the garage floor! I would distroy that floor! LOL

I have been fighting the urge to be in the garage fo 8-10hrs a day during the holidays but I need to spend some time with the family as it is the holidays and I travel alot for work.

I have ordered my seats and belts and need to weld and fab for seat mounts and belt mounts.

Cheers

[Pearldrummer7]

Nice way to do seat belt mounts! The under seat aluminum was exhausting if you ask me. Definitely glad that's out of the way. I'm gonna try super hard to never have to remove it.

[nkw8181]

Man things are looking good.! I step away for a bit and look what you get done. So fyi I do have my seat belt mounts detailed out if you want to compare. One question it looks like part of your brackets hang below the frame. What will you do to protect them from scraping?

[Frank818]

I have been fighting the urge to be in the garage fo 8-10hrs a day during the holidays but I need to spend some time with the family as it is the holidays and I travel alot for work.

I have that luck this year. Well, I created my own luck, organized stuff so that I could do it and it makes a difference, I see stuff moving every day at a good pace, it keeps my mind in peace. loll

The under seat aluminum was exhausting if you ask me. Definitely glad that's out of the way. I'm gonna try super hard to never have to remove it.

Finished it late yesterday, I think I spent 9-10h just on that. I need it to be removable, so I am using 46x 10-32 bolts/rivnuts. Yup, 46 of them, I am glad I followed Dan's advice and bought bolts in packs of 100, I think I will need to order even more.

For those who didn't yet fit the under seat, it takes a while to get every thing aligned if you don't use help (I didn't) or some kind of wise setup (raise with a jack, use vice grips, hammer on the edge to push the panel and make it flush/aligned, etc.). Then for me it was a pain cuz I needed to step drill 3 times, 1/8, then 3/16 for the bolts and then 15/32 on the frame only for the rivnuts. Since I am lied down (laid down? lay down? lie down? I always screw this one up ) under the car, I spent 2 days on the floor on my back, tnx to my tiles which are more comfortable than concrete. This position does not give me full play and distance, I have to drill at an angle without looking exactly in line with the hole. Therefore over half of the bolt holes on the alu were a bit off, or the ones on the frame were off, which means I had to reinstall the panel and drill bigger holes in the alu. Install bolt, remove, drill, reinstall to test, etc. I didn't want to remove the panel to drill, so I removed some bolts to bend the panel and drill using my fingers as a support. Sometimes I found myself installing or removing the panel holding it in place with my knees and feet while I was lied down on my back and installing or removing bolts. lolll Couple of shoulder and triceps pain, but it's better today. This thing better hold up, cuz I am NOT drilling another one again.

Man things are looking good.! I step away for a bit and look what you get done.

Tnx, though actually it's weird, cuz if I look at the car right now, nothing but the suspension is installed. But it's true I do have a lot of parts that are "ready" for installation, but I can't install them cuz I need to test fit and fab the other parts which require me to install and uninstall many of the "ready to install" parts. It's weird. Maybe I am not doing it the right way, but I do know that almost every part I fit, I fit it differently than FFR, so I never know what's coming up! I need a lot of flexibility, so nothing is installed permanently yet. It will very fast once my parts are all ready, though.

So fyi I do have my seat belt mounts detailed out if you want to compare. One question it looks like part of your brackets hang below the frame. What will you do to protect them from scraping?

I'll check that out on your thread.
For the question, good point, I thought about that cuz they protrude more than the thickness of the bracket it's now going to be more of a problem than I thought. I may try to bend a little the FB side panel so it would sit under the bracket. I'll have to test a few things, but for now it's exposed totally. Worst case of all, I cut the bottom of the OEM bracket, rotate it slightly towards the front so that it would follow the line of the belt. I believe that would be the best solution, which means I welded these things for nothing. lolll For practice, I did.

How important actually is that little lip at the bottom?

[nkw8181]

I'm using NRG 6 point harnesses so we might have some differences there.

[Pearldrummer7]

Sometimes I found myself installing or removing the panel holding it in place with my knees and feet while I was lied down on my back and installing or removing bolts. lolll Couple of shoulder and triceps pain, but it's better today.

YUP. I know that feeling haha

[Gary Livingston]

Hey Gary, yes I heard about them, but their website is crap (like most canadian websites), you can't buy online and you can't even search for parts. I agree if I knew exactly what I needed I could just call them. But I had a lot of different options possible, so telling everything over the phone, taking time to think, etc., it wouldn't be practical. I really need to look around and decide what I needed. That's why I went with Fastenal. But they don't have everything, granted. Maybe I just don't know how it works with Spaenaur. How do you work it out?

Hey Frank,
looks like they have a new website coming. . . but, you can access their catalog and search http://www.spaenaur.com/catalog/ or download the whole thing if you want. They do have a toll free number for ordering also. http://www.spaenaur.com/contact.asp

If you need help finding something, I can probably help since they are in Kitchener about 15 minutes from my house. They have much more than fastenal for specialty fasteners, but of course not as accessible for most ppl.

[Hindsight]

Belt mounts look good... they are oriented the right way. I'm jealous that you bought a welder and are learning to weld. That's way high up on my want list, but my tool expenditure has been out of control. Keep up the good work!

[nkw8181]

My tool want list seems to never stop growing. I'd love to learn to tig , want a plasma cutter..... Ohhh ohhhh and a 5 axis cnc �� proof that we never really grow up lol

[Frank818]

Gary, tnx for the info, it does improve yes.

----

Tell ya what, the welder is I think the best tool I purchased for that project. And I bought quite some. But then again, remember I have a lot of little fabs to do here and there, but obviously that's personal to everyone. In my case, since most FFR brackets are not 100% fitting my requirements due to the engine, cluster, shifter, ebrake, seats, full exhaust and full intake, etc., I have a lot of welding to do, much more than I thought! And I love that Lincoln!

A plasma cutter would have been and would be very helpful, but I can live with my wheel cutter.

[Frank818]

More updates.

I woke up at 4h30 to start working on the car (usual hour or so), I felt pretty good so I was expecting a good day. Then when I started to brush my teeth, instead of using the toothpaste tube, I used the Polysporin tube. I was fortunate enough to see it just before. Then I said "ok, what kind of day is that going to be?"

Well let's find out.

Mostly it was a thinking day.

First, I set up something quickly to fill up 20 litres (5.3gals) into the gas tank and test it for leaks. I will turn it over on the sides so I don't need the full 13gals. I don't want leaks and to remove the gas tank once it's in!!!

2014-12-30 06.06.13.jpg

I know the tube is fitted the wrong way, but the right way is too high inside the car, so I'll live with that. The level will be about 40% full.


Then I spent some time mocking up the cluster installation. I am reusing my Corrado cluster, which is quite different, from a detailed perspective, than Subaru's. But it's not that bad.

I found out that I will actually be able to clear out the gauges even though I am using a smaller 320mm SW. I thought at first, and it happens to others, that the top of the wheel would hide part of the top of the gauges. It's not. That was a good relief!

2014-12-30 06.46.56.jpg

Then, I found out another thing. Remember a while ago I mentioned that the NRG short hub+quick release was quite thicker than the OEM SW, so that I was barely touching the flasher arms. Actually, dumb me, that was because the high beams where on! So the arm was PUSHED forward! See the difference here between normal and high beams. DOH!!!!!!! It's a little thicker than OEM, but not enough to be a daily problem. That was another good relief.

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Mock up of the cluster. There is a gap on the sides and bottom, but almost none at the top. I will have to find a way to fill up that gap, I have an idea but not sure yet how it's gonna look like.

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Nope, those are not MPH, I am from Canada. Car (or Corrado) will not run at 260mph!

Picture of the cluster from farther away.

2014-12-30 06.50.27.jpg


Then a lot of thinking... How am I going to fix that cluster in place? Should I fix it on the dash so that I can remove the cluster with the dash? Or should it be fixed on the frame for whatever reason? Took a while. But the answer is I cannot fix it on the dash, as the sides screw supports are too wide and don't give me access to unscrew the little screws. Plus, the side of the dash, the surround section that goes over the Subaru cluster, is round, so bolting a bracket there that would hold the top screws on my cluster is more complex. Since my bottom support will be on the frame, I opted for frame support on the top side screws too.

Now how am I going to do that? I decided to mimic OEM installation, especially for the bottom supports. See how I did that cut perfectly right?

2014-12-30 12.06.03.jpg

Of course I will cut the bracket so it's much thinner, but it supports perfectly the cluster. Another relief.


Those were the bottom brackets. I still need 2 more brackets, at the top.

2014-12-30 12.18.17.jpg

I started working on it, I will have pictures of the results tomorrow. So far I am happy with what I am fabing. I think it's gonna work pretty good, though not perfect.

[Frank818]

One 100% Subaru question on ebrakes:

How are the cables secured in place on the backing plates? I can push them in further but they come out easily. Is it when then the tension is adjusted they stay in place? Or I need some kind of OEM clips that go in the little holes on the protruding tubing section within which the cables goes in?

IMAG2737.jpg

[STiPWRD]

There's a clip that secures the e-brake cable in the backing plate (P/N 26042AA030). The attachment in the previous post didn't work for me.

[Hindsight]

Yeah it's a super tiny little U-shaped clip. Looks like a big staple kind of. Very easy part to lose.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

One 100% Subaru question on ebrakes:

How are the cables secured in place on the backing plates? I can push them in further but they come out easily. Is it when then the tension is adjusted they stay in place? Or I need some kind of OEM clips that go in the little holes on the protruding tubing section within which the cables goes in?

Attachment 37022

Here is a picture of part #10 you need.

[Frank818]

That looks like these, are they the winners?

2014-12-31 13.11.23.jpg


They certainly are the losers when it comes to push them in place, seemed a little too wide. Or I am the loser cuz I don't know the technique?
Clearance in that area with the spindle and trailing link on is tight.

[Frank818]

New Year's Eve update.

I was supposed to finish my cluster installation. But I went to the gas station at -13C (8.5F) to fill up the tank with 15 SUPER COLD litres (4 freezing gals) and give it a leak test.
Turns out it leaked or leaks, in 2 places. It smelt so bad I was becoming dizzy with vision troubles, slight headache and bad stomach. I had to stop working, could not concentrate anyway.

I hoovered my nose around the smelly tank like a dog would hoover around other dog's you know what and I found 2 leaks.

First one, the level sender. Something between the metal ring to secure it in place or the rubber gasket underneath the ring is leaking just a bit. I then hit some more the (precious) ring to tight it, I went one hit over tight, where the the small bubbles on the metal ring over shoot just a bit the place where they should sit in. Hard to explain. It helped, cuz at first I could suck up the fuel with a rag, very very little was coming out, but I could wash it over with a weed heater (shooting air like compressed air) and I could see the fuel moving around the ring and evaporating within a flash as the air was flowing on. After I tightened the ring more, no more fuel, but still vapors! That can be fixed using some fuel-resistant sealant, so I am not that concerned about it.

2nd one, well it's the fuel cap, damn it. And that one, I do not know what to do. I thought it could be the clamp that isn't tight enough, so I cranked it a little more, but more than that and I fear it would strip, so I stopped there. I'll see tomorrow if it leaks vapors again, but if it does, what the hell can I do about it other than buying a different type of fuel cap, guaranteed leak-proof...

The tank and all fuel conducts need to be vapor-proof.

I did not read anyone else having leaks on the fuel cap, but if you did, what did you do to fix it?

[Frank818]

I wish ya all a HAPPY NEW 818 2015 YEAR!!!

Lots of engines rumbling, running, smoking other cars, gears shifted, burning rubber smell (no fuel smell! loll), heads turned, questions asked about your car, etc.

Keep up your good work, it's all worth it in the end!

[Frank818]

Meziere AWIC pump installed with anti-vibration system.

2015-01-01 15.53.08.jpg