MRG MotorSports 818S Build

[mikeb75]

Wow, that's a serious failure. Good you made it home!

It just seems strange for the ring bolt(s) to let go, especially on an un-molested transmission (Watch-IT; had to watch my phrasing there). Will wait for your tear-down to see if you find anything else happened in there.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

As I replace my shattered transmission. (multiple hole in the left side of the case) I ran into a problem. When pulling the transmission straight out the rear of the car, the bell housing hits on of the ears on the exhaust elbow. You only need to take of about 1/8"off, But it would have been a lot easier during assembly. See picture.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

We are mounting heater cores in our side sails.
Behind our seat there is a 6" fan that blows air through the heater core.
There a 3 vents in the side sail to the cockpit at hip, knee, and feet positions.
Then we are adding a block of plate in the side sails at the fire wall.

Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I think this might be my 50th 818 modification.
Michael and I installed these tonight.

Had to buy these rotors from "Disc Brakes Australia" they are special design to allow STI brakes on a WRX. Part# dba2657
Diameter [mm] 316
Thickness [mm] 20
slotted and vented

These fit my 170mm e-brake and 100mm lugs.
I had to machine down the rotor center section (black) to make room for my caliper bracket.
This give me a low cost rear brakes with 3" effective calipers. (same as my fronts)
This gives me about double the rear braking power compared to the wildwood Dynopro 120-9750 calipers with the same pedal force.



Mods shown in this picture. big rear brakes, shock extensions, shock tender springs, side shift transmission, and accusump
Bob

This was the mod to the backing plate. Made on hole larger for bigger bolt. Moved the other hole a bit.

[Flamshackle]

We are mounting heater cores in our side sails.
Behind our seat there is a 6" fan that blows air through the heater core.
There a 3 vents in the side sail to the cockpit at hip, knee, and feet positions.
Then we are adding a block of plate in the side sails at the fire wall.

Bob

so keen to hear how this works out for you guys! such cool stuff in this thread

[tmoretta]

What are shock tender springs? Purpose?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

What are shock tender springs? Purpose?

I am running pretty hard springs in the rear for autocross. 600 lbs per inch.
There is about 600 lbs static load on each of my rear wheels. So I ouly compress the spring about 1".

My shocks have 4" of travel so +/- 2" from the static position.

When I have full droop, my springs would come out of the top hat. Then, it didn't always seat properly when I came back down.
The tender springs keep the springs in place during this condition.

The tender springs are only 25 lbs/inch, they are fully compressed during normal conditions and have no effect on handling.
I hope this explains it.
Bob

shock.jpg

[RM1SepEx]

I like your heater soln Bob!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I like your heater soln Bob!

Hey Dan,
We will test the heater tomarrow. It will be 32F at 11am going to church.
Only drivers side installed right now.
I plan to make insulated plenums inside the side sails so I don't have to heat the hole surface of the side of the car.
Bob

Next project is a 7" TFT daylight readable gauge panel with data logging (not a touch screen). It will be talking SSM protocol to the engine ECU.
I am thinking about adding navigation and rear view camera to this display with a selector switch?
Bob

[RM1SepEx]

rear view camera to view downed cones? after all it is a race car!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

rear view camera to view downed cones? after all it is a race car!

It's a street legal race car. Need to check out who is following me.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Some parent let their son drive his 818 to high school today. 31F

[RM1SepEx]

Must be ALL SMILE!

[Tamra]

Did you let him leave it in the HS parking lot?!?

[Mechie3]

Man...what kind of irresponsible person would do that.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Must be ALL SMILE!

Did you let him leave it in the HS parking lot?!?

Man...what kind of irresponsible person would do that.

Mom said no until Michael promised to not get sick the rest of the school year. LOL
Yes, it's sitting the school parking lot. It should only be 44F when he gets off school today.
Bob

[Tamra]

Our car gets so much attention I don't feel safe leaving it in my secured work parking lot... I'd be terrified of a school parking lot! You hear about kids messing things up just because they are jealous. I hope they respect it.

Your car looks great by the way.

FYI your spoiler isn't "emod" legal, but it's also probably not giving many performance benefits so I doubt anyone will care. Just figured I would give you a heads up since you do autocross it a lot.

Have you weighed your car since it was mostly completed?

[Frank818]

Some parent let their son drive his 818 to high school today. 31F

Nah, who cares, if he'd broke/lost it, you'd build another one anyway! lolll

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Our car gets so much attention I don't feel safe leaving it in my secured work parking lot... I'd be terrified of a school parking lot! You hear about kids messing things up just because they are jealous. I hope they respect it.

Your car looks great by the way.

FYI your spoiler isn't "emod" legal, but it's also probably not giving many performance benefits so I doubt anyone will care. Just figured I would give you a heads up since you do autocross it a lot.

Have you weighed your car since it was mostly completed?

The school Michael goes to is in an affluent neighborhood on the other side of town. It's an all boys Catholic school where some kids there have some really nice cars. I don't think there is anything to worry about.
At school he heard multiple groups of people talking about the car and wondering who it belonged to.
Michael didn't say a word.

Nah, who cares, if he'd broke/lost it, you'd build another one anyway! lolll

About that, I just pick up another donor last week for the next car
31873375_02X.jpg 31873375_10X.jpg

Its drivable, but shaves rubber off the rear tires.

[Hindsight]

Wow, that's a nice donor! Did you get a good deal on it? Tough to find with only the back smashed in.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Wow, that's a nice donor! Did you get a good deal on it? Tough to find with only the back smashed in.

It was about 3k plus fees. I picked it up from SC myself.
Best part it has the same 2.5L 04-05 sti engine as my first car. A $300 vf39 will bump it from 210 to 300HP. That's less than $3 a horsepower.
LTD
Bob

[Hindsight]

Yeah that is a killer deal. Nice find!!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Yeah that is a killer deal. Nice find!!

Here is another one about 40 miles from me.
clean title and runs and drives. I might have a hard time deciding to tear it apart

http://www.copart.com/us/Lot/3569901...chId=947844337

[Frank818]

About that, I just pick up another donor last week for the next car
31873375_02X.jpg 31873375_10X.jpg

Its drivable, but shaves rubber off the rear tires.

What year Forester?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

What year Forester?

That was an 05 with 2.5L AVCS TD04 and DBW and forged internals.
Exactly the same as the motor as my first 818 which was an 04.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Michael and I are getting braver.
We dove the car to visit our powder coater to show him the finished car. Also to let him know that I had another car coming in 30 days.

Then we went by Lance's shop to see his 818C build coming along.
He is doing more modification than any one I've seen.

Last week we installed a 2013 5MT transmission in the car. It did not have the machining for a VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor)
With out the signal the engine is limited to 4000 RPM.

So I put in a temporary $25 prox sensor out of a box of industrial parts I had.
prox.jpg

It works but read about 15% to fast. I will have to work on that.
Bob

[lennyspecv]

It was about 3k plus fees. I picked it up from SC myself.
Best part it has the same 2.5L 04-05 sti engine as my first car. A $300 vf39 will bump it from 210 to 300HP. That's less than $3 a horsepower.
LTD
Bob

Wait, so the forester xt has the same motor as the 04-05 sti minus the turbo? What similarities do they share? This could impact what donors I look for.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Wait, so the forester xt has the same motor as the 04-05 sti minus the turbo? What similarities do they share? This could impact what donors I look for.

Yes, same motor as sti except turbo and TMIC.
Maybe up-pipe also.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Michael's license plate taste are different than mine.
Here are our top 5. Let use know your opinions.
Since this first car is his, he has final say.
Thanks
Bob
boost22.jpg diffuser.jpg grip.jpg

sti power.jpg untitled.jpg

[lennyspecv]

Yes, same motor as sti except turbo and TMIC.
Maybe up-pipe also.
Bob

Wow. How difficult would it be to use a forester as a donor, with all the other parts I would need too? I'm shocked that they share the same internals as the sti. Is there a thread you know of where I could learn some more about specifics/year-to-year changes?

Michael's license plate taste are different than mine.
Here are our top 5. Let use know your opinions.
Since this first car is his, he has final say.
Thanks
Bob
boost22.jpg diffuser.jpg grip.jpg

sti power.jpg untitled.jpg

My vote goes for "diffusr".

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Wow. How difficult would it be to use a forester as a donor, with all the other parts I would need too? I'm shocked that they share the same internals as the sti. Is there a thread you know of where I could learn some more about specifics/year-to-year changes?



My vote goes for "diffusr".

Hi Lenny
Read this link http://www.superstreetonline.com/how...-forester-sti/

and

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...ti-cheap-8337/

Bob

[lennyspecv]

This is great. After reading both of those, it sounds to me like I may have to source just a few parts here and there, but the '04-'08 XT will work fine as a donor. I wonder why FF makes no mention of this?

Do you know if the valvetrain is the same? The redline on the forester is lower, but perhaps that's only because of the ECU.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

This is great. After reading both of those, it sounds to me like I may have to source just a few parts here and there, but the '04-'08 XT will work fine as a donor. I wonder why FF makes no mention of this?

Do you know if the valvetrain is the same? The redline on the forester is lower, but perhaps that's only because of the ECU.

According to http://turninconcepts.com/ my Tuner. The engines are the same.

A couple things make it a little off as a donor.
The rear LCA bushings are taller than impreza.
The Forester dash cluster is slightly different and doesn't fit as nice into the FFR dash.

Forester XT donors are hard to find with 5MT.
I have bought 2 FXT 2.5L turbo automatics (04-05) under 3k from coparts.
Both had about 100k miles
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Michael's license plate taste are different than mine.
Here are our top 5. Let use know your opinions.
Since this first car is his, he has final say.
Thanks
Bob
boost22.jpg diffuser.jpg grip.jpg

sti power.jpg untitled.jpg

Any body else?

[STiPWRD]

Any body else?

STI POWR has a nice ring to it

[BN]

My vote for sti powr

[milkman dan]

Another vote for STI POWR.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

We only spent a few hours working on the car today installing the belly pan and diffuser.
In the belly pan we cut out a relief for the oil pan The belly pan was about 3/4" to long. So we left it hang over the bar with the motor mounts.


If we extend the diffuser 2" out the rear bumper there is a 3.5" gap between the belly pan and the diffuser. What did others do with this gap?

Miachael want to extent the diffuser out the back 4".
This it what it will looks like.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Michael's license plate taste are different than mine.
Here are our top 5. Let use know your opinions.
Since this first car is his, he has final say.
Thanks
Bob
boost22.jpg diffuser.jpg grip.jpg

sti power.jpg untitled.jpg

Michael went with the "GRIP" license plate. It arrived today.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

This has been a Great Year.
Oldest daughter got a good job in her Teaching field after graduating 2 years ago.
Second daughter graduated college with a degree in psychology and immediately got a good Job.
A month ago our 818 graduated form the building stage to registered, driving, and debugging stage.

Today Michael got accepted to college at Kettering University (Former General Motors Institute)
What sold Michael on the school was all the Automotive Labs. Like the wind tunnel and engine test cells.

https://www.kettering.edu/academics/...abs-facilities

Bob