818Rasmus E Modified

[Frank818]

Arm updates, Rasmus?

[Rasmus]

Had to take a break from the forums. It was mentally agonizing just sitting and healing, seeing everyone else make progress. Finally got cleared from my physical therapist to work on my car. He said, "Working with it will actually help gain your range of motion and strength. Just don't load it up more than 15 lb, or put it in any stressed positions" So I'm back! Happiness! I still have 4 more weeks of P.T. but I least I don't have to sit on my *** anymore.


Pulled all the panels off, and got to sit in it for the first time.



Stored the panel in various locations.



One of which the S.O. noticed.



Riveted the 7 panels that make up the front firewall in place.



Satisfying work.

[Frank818]

Great, you're back! And better every day.
Still de-rusting parts or you're done on that?

[David Hodgkins]

Glad to see you back at it! Are you using silicone when riveting?

[Rasmus]

Still de-rusting parts or you're done on that?

Yep. Had a rear knuckle in there just yesterday.

Glad to see you back at it! Are you using silicone when riveting?

Yep, Clear, 100% Silicone. It's a GE product advertised for rain gutters and roof flashing. "Sun/Freeze-Proof" it reads.

[68GT500MAN]

Glad to hear that the PT support your build. A little progress each day will eventually become a "real" car!
Doug

[longislandwrx]

Make like suey and



chop...



chop.

welcome back

[Rasmus]

Shoulder's feeling much better. My Physical Therapist tells me I'm progressing well. Good times.

Been working on a way to make my donor bolts rust resistant without going crazy with the chemicals.


The bolt on the left is how some of my donor bolts looked and how my process started. Bolt in the middle is how it one looks after I media blasted it with Aluminium Oxide at 60 psi. Bolt on the right is how the blasted bolt looks after I give it a dip in Klean-Strip Phosphoric Prep and Etch for 10 minutes. Which made the metal develop a chalky black coating that easily rubbed off (magnetite?). To seal the black on I dipped it in motor oil and baked it for 30 minutes @ 375*F. 375 was right at the "smoke point" of the oil I used. 5w-20.


I did the oil dip and oven part 3 times.

Time will tell if it works. Only thing I'd change would be using to use dirty motor oil instead of the fresh stuff. I feel like the extra carbon in the used oil would help keep the oil "baked on".

[Rasmus]

In order to keep the front hub and bearing from coming off the car, the 818 manual requires me to reinstall the axle stub.


But it looked a little bulky so I cut it down to just the sections needed to keep the bearing together. Saving ~745 grams of unsprung weight per corner. ~1.490 kg for both. Nice. Yes. I tared out the copper block.


Final prep of the front hubs before installing on the car.


Thats how the cut down axle stubs look when installed.

[Rasmus]

Seemed so wrong drilling though the bosses on the much coveted aluminum front lower control arms. But that's where the coilovers go. So drill it, I did.


Upper A-Arm installed.


The front suspension's shaping up nicely.


'Nother angle. Used a M16 bolt in the upper bolt hole of the IFS bracket that converts the OEM strut knuckle to double-A suspension. Manual called for a rear strut blot (M14). But I didn't want to worry about the slop messing with my alignment.


From the back.

[rikgray]

Hey nice build.

Question

The front Subaru suspenions is strut. Factory Five added an extension on the strut mount to an upper A arm and ball joint.

It looks like the lower A arm is twice as long as the upper.
This will give lots of camber gain in bump and roll. Probably much more than the original strut design. And probably more than the tire wants.

Also, the upper ball joint is next to the tire now. This limits rim width if you want to maintain low scrub radius.

Why didn't the Factory use a more conventional location for the upper A arm, like in the rear?

[Jaime]

The rear upper lateral arm is about half the length of the lower too. There's a lot less suspension travel on an 818 compared to a WRX, so even if the camber gain rate is higher, the total gain might not be that much.

[STiPWRD]

Looking good Rasmus, we're going at about the same pace. No dust shields on the front spindles?

[Frank818]

Rasmus, I can't see the tools you used to cut the axle stubs, what are they?

[MrDude_1]

In order to keep the front hub and bearing from coming off the car, the 818 manual requires me to reinstall the axle stub.
But it looked a little bulky so I cut it down to just the sections needed to keep the bearing together. Saving ~745 grams of unsprung weight per corner. ~1.490 kg for both. Nice. Yes. I tared out the copper block.

Thank you!
This is exactly what I planned to do as well. It makes no sense keeping the axle stub as-is with all that extra rotating weight. Its nice to see pictures the confirm my idea before I have the parts in my hand...

[MrDude_1]

Rasmus, I can't see the tools you used to cut the axle stubs, what are they?

I would bet money he used that angle grinder and a cutoff wheel for the majority of the work...

[Rasmus]

Rasmus, I can't see the tools you used to cut the axle stubs, what are they?

See you can. I recommend using a 5 inch cut off wheel. The 4 1/2 comes up a hint short when you've used it for a bit.

I would bet money he used that angle grinder and a cutoff wheel for the majority of the work...

Disco.

[Rasmus]

Better view of the spacers I fab'd up for the "R" suspension ride height. I had some 1.25" aluminum tube lying 'round so I used that.


For the lower I ordered 1.75" HDPE (High-density polyethylene) round stock and cut it to height then drilled holes in it. The raw stock is in the lower portion of the photo.


HPDE is the same material used to make strut spacers and lift blocks.

Based the measurements on the info Jim Schenck emailed to Plavan:

"Chad,

Sorry for the delay here.
The low ride height is something we designed into the chassis to allow for building a dedicated track car only that you are willing to compromise any street use as well as things like trailer and lift access. The standard donor package still assumes the higher ride height so there is some sourcing of parts needed to do the low ride height.

What you need if you want to run the lower ride height (not recommended for street use) This ride height is also only set up for Sedan control arms.

Move the upper control arm to the top of the chassis and put 4 .815 spacers in the old arm mounting locations to strengthen the new mounting location. Longer bolts will be needed to mount the arms on the top.
Mount the front lower control arms in the upper set of holes on the front mounts.
For the rear bushing mount on the control arm the inner mount bolt should be spaced up by .875 and the outer bolt should be mounted on top of the plate with a .400 spacer as a starting point. The height of the rear mount can be raised if you would like to dial anti-dive into the chassis as a tuning tool.
Running the low ride height requires the use of a bumpsteer kit because the steering rack stays in the same chassis location. We used the Baer kit but drilled out the spindles and replaced the tapered shaft with a longer bolt for more adjustment.

In the rear the low ride height mounts will only work with adjustable control arms. The easiest and intended set-up is to use 13 inch long swaged tubes with 3/4 shank rod ends that have 5/8 holes. We then drilled the rear spindles out just a hair to allow us to use the standard size rod ends and a 5/8 cross bolt.

Hopefully that gets you started in the right direction, there is lots of adjustment that can be done and when you are ready I can also give you our baseline setting to start out from if that helps.

Jim"

If I were to do it again I'd just make all the spacers out of HDPE. It just easier to work with for this application.

[Frank818]

See you can. I recommend using a 5 inch cut off wheel. The 4 1/2 comes up a hint short when you've used it for a bit.

Oh you just did it with a cut off wheel! That's easy.
Too bad those laser cutters don't really exist yet. (like light sabers in Star Wars, but less dangerous, say... )

[Xusia]

Rasmus, any concerns regarding balance on the cut CVs?

[Scargo]

Oh you just did it with a cut off wheel! That's easy.
Too bad those laser cutters don't really exist yet. (like light sabers in Star Wars, but less dangerous, say... )

The ideal way to cut those would be with water-jet while rotating them. No heat involved/no balance issue. Not Star Wars at all. It's not that hard to find local people with the technology to do 2-D and 3-D cutting.

[Rasmus]

Rasmus, any concerns regarding balance on the cut CVs?

Yes. Concerns ignored. A ~5 gram-off balance that close to the center of rotation would probably feel the same as a 0.2 gram rock sticking in the tire tread. Unless you're Ayrton Senna, you ain't feeling it. I'm not launching the space shuttle here.

But if you're concerned about it you can always do Scargo's option or visit a machine shop and have 'em chuck it up in the lathe and cut it off.

[RM1SepEx]

I cut mine off in a lathe, a friend has one that runs on 3 phase power, WWII era, 6 foot between centers, 18 inch swing...

[Rasmus]

Temps hit the 105* Fahrenheit mark here a few days ago. A harbringer of temps to come. My garage got up to 95* and it disheartened me to work while sweating and dehydrating. Actually got a dehydration headache. Bad times for this desert dweller. Eventually temps will get to the 115*+ mark here making it almost impossible to work in the garage. I can't wrench when sweat pools up on the inside of my safety glasses and my whole body is overheating.

But, we enjoy low humidity. 10-20%. So: evaporative cooler install!


Wall hole.


I relocated an electrical outlet, relocated a stud, added a header because the opening on my evaporative cooler is 20" x 20". It won't fit in the 14.5" space between the 16"-on-center studs. It's like hotrodding a car. So many issues just to get one thing done.


Finished up. Mudded the joints in the new wallboard. Re-texturized and painted the wall.


Unit from the outside. It's a Bonaire Durango 5900 CFM unit. Made in Australia. All plastic, so it won't rust out like the metal boxes that are popular here. The pads are 2.5" thick. Sweet, cool, wet air. Humidity in my garage might even get up to 45% .

[Rasmus]

Axle time! Man this job is messy. I've ruined one pair of shorts already.


From Left to right: New axle shafts provided by FFR. Rear axles from my '06 WRX donor. Front axles from my '06 donor. All this to make one pair of axles.


It was all going well until I got to this CV joint (Inner Front from donor). It clunked when I twisted it back and forth in my hands. A sure sign it's shot. No obvious scoring, bluish discoloration, or pitting. It just clunks. Gonna need to source another used one.

[Santiago]

Always a pleasure to see the mad scientist go to town on a project. =)

Enjoy the temp-controlled garage! And the car is coming along nicely.

Best,
-j

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Ramus
I'm at the same place with the axle. What kind of grease are you going to use?
Some on here are using redline thick wheel bearing grease.
When I took mine apart, a thin (ketchup thickness) black oil/grease ran out.
Bob

[Rasmus]

Some on here are using redline thick wheel bearing grease.

Red Line Synthetic CV-2 Grease. Same grease I used the pack my bearings and the same I use to grease my suspension bushings. Makes it easier when I just use one grease.

What I want to know is if there's an easy way to get the all of the old grease out of the outer CV joint without taking it apart.

[Bill Waters]

Hi, Rasmus

It looks as though the section of the stub you cut through is the part of the axle that interfaces with the rear oil seal, right? If so, how much room behind (i.e., toward the piece you cut off) where the seal contact area is do you have to work with?


Thanks

[Frank818]

What I want to know is if there's an easy way to get the all of the old grease out of the outer CV joint without taking it apart.

I tried a lot and a lot of brake cleaner and spray pressurized water in. It's messy, it worked somehow, but not totally.

[STiPWRD]

I can't wrench when sweat pools up on the inside of my safety glasses and my whole body is overheating.

Pshhhhh, who needs safety. The AC unit is definitely a nice upgrade though!

[Rasmus]

Bill. I don't know. I used a 1/16" cut off wheel and have enough for the one inside lip to seal. It's running like the outside shaft seal now with only one seal instead of two.


Did a bit of investigative cleaning on the inner CV that's clunking last night. Looks like the spider has 6 nice shiney spots where the bearings wore away the metal. Made the spider legs a touch thinner and now it clunks. The boot on this one probably blew out and the joint was driven on for a while. The boots are really nice though. So I suspect the former owner just told his mechanic to just replace the boots.


I couldn't get the issues with the bearings to show up in camera. My photo-fu is lacking. Never the less, the inside of one of the bearings had a nice full circumference ring scored into the metal. The other two had nicks on the outside that I could catch my fingernail on. Definitely replace.


Assembled the good inside CV on the new axle shaft. Filled the cup with ~110 grams of CV-2 grease. I didn't know how much to fill it with so I looked up how much comes in those tubes you get at the Auto Parts Store: 4 oz. Which is about 114 grams. Filled it in, by weight, with my grease gun.

[Jaime]

What I want to know is if there's an easy way to get the all of the old grease out of the outer CV joint without taking it apart.

I took mine apart to clean the old grease out. It's not all that hard. I also bought new boots from RockAuto, which came with new clips and a pre-measured grease container.

[longislandwrx]

How is your cup? pretty sure I have an extra set of bearings and a spider. PM me if you are interested.

[Rasmus]

How is your cup? pretty sure I have an extra set of bearings and a spider. PM me if you are interested.

I'll have to check the cup's condition. Working on sourcing a used axle locally. I'll PM you if my local part falls though. Which it's looking like. Dude offered to sell me a used axle. I PM'd him and he ignored me.

But while I'm waiting to get the axles done:

Had these car dollies in my shed from working on my my Cadillac. I put a 2x6 across them and now I can roll the chassis around the garage.


Also had some extra Zerk fitting laying around from my Cadillac build. Installed them in the rear knuckle trailing arm bushing housing. Probably not necessary. Gonna run SuperPro's poly bushings there.


Left in picture ---> Reassembled the bulk of the rear knuckles (Left in picture). That is: repacked bearings pressed in. All (6) shaft seals installed. Brake backer plates bolted up. Hubs pressed into bearing. Trailing arm bushings installed.
Right in picture ---> Also decided to just blow apart the outer CV bearings and races to clean and repack them. I just couldn't get all the old grease out without disassembling them.

[Bill Waters]

[QUOTE=Rasmus;154550]Bill. I don't know. I used a 1/16" cut off wheel and have enough for the one inside lip to seal. It's running like the outside shaft seal now with only one seal instead of two.

Thanks

[Rasmus]

While I'm waiting for some parts and sourcing others. Got out the steering joint with the two universals and the NVH Rag joint.


Cut out the NVH section. Replaced it with 1.0" dia., 0.188" wall, D.O.M., structural tube I used for the Cadillac's custom 4-link rear end. Cut the tube 60 mm long.


Even welded it back together with the weird ~20 degree offset the two opposing universal joints had originally. I don't know why Subaru welded it together that way but I didn't care to research why and just duplicated it.


Finished up and painted. Paints still wet in this photo. It's a little too shiny. Kicking myself for not weighing the original before I started. 788 grams final.

[Frank818]

Nice stuff again.

[Rasmus]

Hung the clutch and brake pedal box...


and installed the brake master cylinder. This took way longer than I anticipated. Two reasons: one the 9/16"-18, 1 inch long, button head, bolts FFR provided to attach the master cylinder to the firewall only allowed 1 thread of engagement so I had to make a trip to McFadden-Dales for two 1.5" bolts at 80 cents each. By removing the brake booster, as recommended, and installing the master cylinder directly to the firewall you have to clearance the clutch/brake pedal assembly for the nuts to fit. All that install/check/uninstall/clearance/repeat takes a while.

[Jaime]

Michael Everson's master cylinder relocator kit makes this much easier. I have no affiliation with him, but I bought this part and it made the installation really easy. He sells it here: http://www.replicaparts.com/818%20parts%20page.htm