Frank's 818R build

[Tamra]

Your driver side fender looks like it is being held up from the headlight. We used heat to push the plastic bucket down to get the headlight to sit lower, and also had to grind the lip of the fender where it hit the headlight. These two things combined got rid of the gap between the fender tip and the bumper that I can see in your last photo, and lowered the fender. We also had to cut the tab where the tip of the fender is close the exit of the headlight on the inside, as it was sitting on top of the headlight corner and pressing the fender up. If you look in the manual, you'll see that they had to cut the last inch or so of the fender tab off as well. I would also take some measurements to make sure you are at the same place on both sides - in and out and forward and back.

[Pearldrummer7]

Your driver side fender looks like it is being held up from the headlight. We used heat to push the plastic bucket down to get the headlight to sit lower, and also had to grind the lip of the fender where it hit the headlight. These two things combined got rid of the gap between the fender tip and the bumper that I can see in your last photo, and lowered the fender. We also had to cut the tab where the tip of the fender is close the exit of the headlight on the inside, as it was sitting on top of the headlight corner and pressing the fender up. If you look in the manual, you'll see that they had to cut the last inch or so of the fender tab off as well. I would also take some measurements to make sure you are at the same place on both sides - in and out and forward and back.

Thanks for the reply, Tamra. I did now cut out that tab and trim down the fender and it's in a much better place

Got my low beams, high beams, and parking lights working. I assume blinkers work but I haven't toyed with them much yet.


Also put the door panel on, and my race mirror made by Race Mirrors at RaceMirrors.com (so much race mirror!). Shoutout to Chad for the suggestion on model; they seem really nice and have great visibility. Very lightweight as well.

[Tamra]

I love the race mirror! We'll be doing something like that soon.

Is your passenger side fender sitting up too high? Looks like there is a gap to reach the bumper.

[Pearldrummer7]

I ordered the convex, plastic(not CF because $$) mirrors. They're great. Little touchy to adjust but totally race car in both looks and weight. I wonder if I can pass inspection with these...... hm...

In that picture, it isn't fully bolted down yet. i'll take another picture today. There's a small gap on that side. But the hood fits better now

[STiPWRD]

Look good!

[Pearldrummer7]

Look good!

Thanks! It's a lot of working with seemingly "no progress", then all at once it's a big step. The body work isn't quite as bad as I imagined.

[C.Plavan]

I ordered the convex, plastic(not CF because $$) mirrors. They're great. Little touchy to adjust but totally race car in both looks and weight. I wonder if I can pass inspection with these...... hm...

In that picture, it isn't fully bolted down yet. i'll take another picture today. There's a small gap on that side. But the hood fits better now

You got a little different model mirror than mine.They look a little bigger, which is nice. I have the rectangle ones. They are very touchy, use green/blue locktite on the stems (once you get everything set). If you do not locktite them, you will eventually bump them and mess up the alignment of the stem. The mirrors themselves are easy to adjust, just the stems are a pain at first. I fold my mirrors in when the car is in the garage/trailer so I don't keep bumping them.

[Pearldrummer7]

You got a little different model mirror than mine.They look a little bigger, which is nice. I have the rectangle ones. They are very touchy, use green/blue locktite on the stems (once you get everything set). If you do not locktite them, you will eventually bump them and mess up the alignment of the stem. The mirrors themselves are easy to adjust, just the stems are a pain at first. I fold my mirrors in when the car is in the garage/trailer so I don't keep bumping them.

Yup, I like the size of them. I used blue loctite on them. Little bit of a pain to adjust but pretty nice once you get them dialed in.


Worked on my windscreen. had to hack up the mount. I also laid it on the street windshield mount and traced what I did so the next time I install one it's a little easier.


Installed that and the dashboard (which also needed to be hacked up a little bit)




Also, have been wanting to make a panel for under the dash. I want to make it out of aluminum, and install my switches and eventually circuit breakers into it, a la McLaren F1 GTR(except not as carbon fiber):



Anyone have suggestions for either what I make as a plate (if CF is cheap enough, that'd be awesome to do instead) and mounting of it?

[Pearldrummer7]

Oh, I forgot to mention this one when I did it. I had a plastic tab on my gauge cluster break, so I made little mounts for it that I riveted to the underside of the cluster itself.



Works pretty well, and seems robust enough.

[C.Plavan]

I should of posted this on my thread a long time ago. For any cuts around bars, this tool is invaluable.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-...=profile+gauge

[Pearldrummer7]

I should of posted this on my thread a long time ago. For any cuts around bars, this tool is invaluable.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-...=profile+gauge

THAT is a cool tool. I never knew that existed.

I bet it makes nicer semi circles than my dremmel....

[FFRSpec72]

Oh, I forgot to mention this one when I did it. I had a plastic tab on my gauge cluster break, so I made little mounts for it that I riveted to the underside of the cluster itself.

So did you mount the cluster to the frame or did you mount the cluster to the plastic dash ?

[Pearldrummer7]

So did you mount the cluster to the frame or did you mount the cluster to the plastic dash ?

Something like this! (not tightened down in the photo so it looks crooked)

[Pearldrummer7]

Did a little more body work last night. The rear deck lid fits pretty nicely. Just need to tighten it down a bit more, but I had one of those "oh crap, I have to be at work in 6 hours" moments and called it quits for the night.

[Flamshackle]

Did a little more body work last night. The rear deck lid fits pretty nicely. Just need to tighten it down a bit more, but I had one of those "oh crap, I have to be at work in 6 hours" moments and called it quits for the night.

well done mate, hard yards are paying off.

[Pearldrummer7]

Just a cool shot of my car outside the house. Beautiful weather this weekend. Lots and lots of little work on the car.

[Tamra]

Beautiful shot and the car looks fantastic!

[Mitch Wright]

Nice Work

[Hindsight]

Just noticed your AOS placement. Similar to mine but much lower. Does the bottom drain hose connect to the fitting between the turbo compressor and intake manifold or did you move the drain to somewhere else? Does it have a steady downward slope to it?

[Pearldrummer7]

well done mate, hard yards are paying off.

Beautiful shot and the car looks fantastic!

Nice Work

Thanks guys! It's really coming together.

Just noticed your AOS placement. Similar to mine but much lower. Does the bottom drain hose connect to the fitting between the turbo compressor and intake manifold or did you move the drain to somewhere else? Does it have a steady downward slope to it?

It has no upward slope to it. It's all down hill with a small flat section. Same location you described

[wleehendrick]

Just a cool shot of my car outside the house. Beautiful weather this weekend. Lots and lots of little work on the car.

Great shot... lighting and composition spot on.

Reminds of a song that starts: "My uncle has a country place that no one knows about"

[Pearldrummer7]

Great shot... lighting and composition spot on.

Reminds of a song that starts: "My uncle has a country place that no one knows about"

Thanks! Speaking of that song... fun fact- I have a Rush tattoo. I'm an enormous Rush fan.

The song does come to mind. Not bad for just an iPhone shot without filter!

[Pearldrummer7]

Haven't posted an update in a few weeks, so here's some little progress before my first track day on 8/28:

Saw a Ford GT at our SCCA picnic. First of all, what a beautiful car. But, more relevantly... the brake ducts on it inspired me a bit. Here's a picture of the similar ducts on a Boss 302.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Product-..._214027-XL.jpg

Has anyone considered something like this for the 818?


Also, made/installed my second seat mount and have the second seat ready to go. Just want to wait until I have a second set of eyes on it to make sure harness angles are right. I also used Craig's method to remove the tape from the body (GooGone and some elbow grease) and it looks a million times better.

[Tamra]

Your car looks great! Are you worried at all about heat problems using the STI top mount? Have you thought about leaving the 2nd seat out for better airflow through the engine cover scoops? Or alternatively, do you have gauges so you can know ahead of time if you start to experience a problem? I know FFR had success using air to air on the R, so hopefully you will be fine.

[Pearldrummer7]

Your car looks great! Are you worried at all about heat problems using the STI top mount? Have you thought about leaving the 2nd seat out for better airflow through the engine cover scoops? Or alternatively, do you have gauges so you can know ahead of time if you start to experience a problem? I know FFR had success using air to air on the R, so hopefully you will be fine.

Thanks! Well, actually, I just got an AWIC the other day I wanted to just get through 1-2 track days with the AAIC, because I don't really have time to go get re tuned before them(tuner is 4+ hours each way with the truck/trailer). I was thinking AWIC was a winter project (among some other engine mods), to facilitate only 1 retune.

I will be leaving the second seat out most of the time. The first track day I plan to pay for an instructor so he gets to ride along.


I plan to grab the same thermocouples you guys bought so I can slap them on for the track day and do some monitoring. I would really have liked to make the AAIC work, so I guess I have 1-2 track days to try it and see if it's acceptable or not. I'll have IAT monitored via the ECU.... I would like some thermocouples to do a check on ambient/engine bay temps.

[C.Plavan]

I know FFR had success using air to air on the R, so hopefully you will be fine.

They really only had success in the dead of winter......

[Pearldrummer7]

They really only had success in the dead of winter......

Which is why I preemtively bought an AWIC.

[Mitch Wright]

Nice work the car looks great, have a blast at your track day.
I am using an air to air intercooler as well, it will be spring before I will know how effective my plan works.

[Frank818]

Is it me or there is a small gpa on the right side of the deck lid where it meets the top right side of the bumper?

[Pearldrummer7]

Nice work the car looks great, have a blast at your track day.
I am using an air to air intercooler as well, it will be spring before I will know how effective my plan works.

Thanks, Mitch. We'll see how it goes!

Is it me or there is a small gpa on the right side of the deck lid where it meets the top right side of the bumper?

There is. I'm trying not to adjust the gap until I have the last body piece in place. I don't wanna hack anything up and then change my mine.

[FFRSpec72]

Something like this! (not tightened down in the photo so it looks crooked)

So I assume that you disconnect the dash wires at the harness point and not at the dash pod to remove dash? How easy are the wires to get to to disconnect and remove dash ? Doesn't the windshield mount cover up the wires, so you have to remove that first then disconnect dash pod wires and then the dash ?
So I

[billjr212]

So I assume that you disconnect the dash wires at the harness point and not at the dash pod to remove dash? How easy are the wires to get to to disconnect and remove dash ? Doesn't the windshield mount cover up the wires, so you have to remove that first then disconnect dash pod wires and then the dash ?
So I

The dash covers the wires once the gauge pod is in, not the windshield mount (unless the windshield mount on the R is dramatically further back than the S, which does not appear to be the case).

I was able to plug in the gauge pod AFTER mounting everything in place, but it was a tough reach. Removing those plugs will be harder. I assume you would have to unbolt the gauge pod from the dash, remove the dash, and then unplug the wires if you ever needed to get just the gauge pod out.

[Pearldrummer7]

So I assume that you disconnect the dash wires at the harness point and not at the dash pod to remove dash? How easy are the wires to get to to disconnect and remove dash ? Doesn't the windshield mount cover up the wires, so you have to remove that first then disconnect dash pod wires and then the dash ?
So I

The dash covers the wires once the gauge pod is in, not the windshield mount (unless the windshield mount on the R is dramatically further back than the S, which does not appear to be the case).

I was able to plug in the gauge pod AFTER mounting everything in place, but it was a tough reach. Removing those plugs will be harder. I assume you would have to unbolt the gauge pod from the dash, remove the dash, and then unplug the wires if you ever needed to get just the gauge pod out.

The dash is the issue on clearance, not the windscreen. I did what Bill did, which is plugged them in after everything was mounted. Took a few minutes and was a little bit of a pain. I think over winter I'll make a disconnect a foot or so upstream so I can easily remove the dash/cluster without reaching up there.

[Pearldrummer7]

Installed the fender liners the other night. I made an additional notch in them so I have more substantial brake line clearance.




Rather than bend them a lot and have bad contact with the rear bumper, I made a little spacer out of some scrap material I had laying around for the rear fender liner to bumper connection. I ended up with 3 rivets, not 2, in each.

[Pearldrummer7]

Then I did some track day prep. Leaving tomorrow afternoon for the hotel and driving NYST Friday morning. Not too late if anyone else wants to get in on the track day! I believe it's $250 they day of. Should be perfect weather.

Rear bumper cutout:

HANS device installed on the helmet:


And a second seat for an instructor. Before I go crazy and make the car faster (fuel cell, intake near passenger seat headrest, etc.), I want to mod the driver a good bit more. I could use the instruction

[FFRSpec72]

Frank, have fun, be safe and hope all goes well !

[Pearldrummer7]

Frank, have fun, be safe and hope all goes well !

Thanks, Tony! I'll have some GoPro footage and some details on how it went, as well as data logs. Very excited!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Frank,
Test for wheel rub on your fenders and wheel wells.
I don't want that to spoil your track day.
Good luck.
Bob

[Pearldrummer7]

Frank,
Test for wheel rub on your fenders and wheel wells.
I don't want that to spoil your track day.
Good luck.
Bob

Thanks for the advice, Bob. I took it down the driveway and did hard braking. Didn't notice any rub. If they do rub I'll be drilling the rivets out and hopping back on track

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Thanks for the advice, Bob. I took it down the driveway and did hard braking. Didn't notice any rub. If they do rub I'll be drilling the rivets out and hopping back on track

Our rubbing with street springs was happening on turn in.
Take your spring adjustment tools with you in case you need to adjust ride height.
Bob