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Thread: DodgyTim's Australian RHD 818R

  1. #1
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    DodgyTim's Australian RHD 818R

    I picked up my kit, crate and all, and delivered it to the shipping agent on 6th March, so I thought it was time to start a build thread.

    It was great to visit Factory Five, Joe gave me the tour, FFR do amazing work and the showroom was my first “in the flesh” view of the 818. Both the S and the R were there, so it was good to get to see the differences firsthand.

    The crated kit is being land freighted to Long Beach, then sea freighted direct to Port of Brisbane, Australia, where I live. It should be there about mid April, but the build work won’t start until I get back to Australia at the end of May.

    My build will be a pretty basic “to the manual” and “single donor” build, - I suppose most start that way and then evolve into better (more expensive) beasts…
    Different bits from normal
    a It is an R (but will be street registered)
    b The steering wheel is on the correct side (the right!)
    c It will be registered in Australia, with all the hassles that living in the nanny state brings with it
    d shipping ½ way around the world

    Why an R and not an S?
    I'm building an 818R for the track, but with street registration. Australia is a bit of a “nanny state” where everything fun is forbidden, or taxed, or both. We have multitudes of speed cameras, red light cameras and other enforcement to make sure we are “safe” (or to raise money for the gov’t, depending on your viewpoint).

    Because of this it doesn’t make any sense to have a high performance road car. The only place to use a fast car, or motorcycle, to anything like its capability, is on a track day or in a race. Track days are pretty common for bikes here, are damn good fun, and much safer than fast road riding. Track days for cars aren’t anywhere near as common or popular. So my 818 is going to be for the local hillclimb at Mt Cotton, and track days when available. For this reason it needs to be properly race legal and I believe the R roll hoop is more likely to pass the tech inspection.

    There are a number of other reasons for me to choose R over S:
    In Australia we have some funny (not really) design rules
    1 Torsional rigidity > 4000 newton metres per degree (has to be proven by a torsion test)
    2 Burst proof door locks
    3 Side intrusion bars for doors
    4 Fully functioning wipers that sweep a certain % of the windshield, + 2 speeds + demister + washer bottle ++++

    The R is likely to be stiffer, and doesn’t have doors, so #2 and #3 don’t apply, and no windshield means #4 doesn’t apply either.
    It will be easier to get an R registered than an S, weird rules…..

    My plan is minimalist interior, good seats and harnesses, helmets for myself and regular passengers, safety glasses for other passengers for very short "how does it go" demo's.
    The family all has helmets for other reasons, you can never start them too early…....this bloke is now 9

    DSCN1664.jpg

  2. #2
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    Donor and Parts
    My donor was a 2006 CS9 WRX that was water damaged,
    $T2eC16JHJGkE9no8gIzvBRY2wQzUHw~~60_3.jpg$T2eC16NHJFwFFZq-LTM1BRY2w6Srr!~~60_3.jpg$T2eC16VHJG!E9nm3p4EmBRY2wh3hyw~~60_3.jpg

    It looks too good to part out, but it was a statutory write off (never to be re-registered). I guess they don’t know if the ABS and airbags would be reliable after getting wet???
    It can’t have got very wet because the interior was perfect and everything electrical worked well. One advantage of an unbent donor is that it should part out really well.

    Parts
    EJ255 + 5MT, ACT Pro-light flywheel
    Enkei Tenjins 17x8 and 17x9 with +45mm offset
    BFG G-force Rivals in 215R17 and 255R17
    OBX LSD plus rebuild kit
    VF34 ball bearing turbo (Jap spec STI) about 280 whp
    Full aero kit from factory five
    Race Logic traction control kit
    Bigger FMIC, but mounted in the back with ducting/fan, Aeromotive 340lph pump

  3. #3
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    IMG_0395.jpgIMG_0396.jpg
    Build Dolly
    I built this a while ago. I used to make a trolley for each project, cutting up the previous one for parts. I finally got enough time to do it properly and make an adjustable one.
    Cost was about $120 as the steel was recycled from a boat shipping cradle. Stands are cut from Supercheap autos stands ($40 for the 4) rated to 3000kg.
    Wheels were from the local machinery supply wholesaler.

    It is adjustable enough to hold these as well
    IMG00031.jpgOn-track front view.jpg

  4. #4
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    reserved

  5. #5
    Senior Member AZPete's Avatar
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    Welcome to the madness, Tim. I enjoyed your intro and look forward to following your build and all the upgrades.
    818S/C : Chassis #25 with 06 WRX 2.5 turbo, ABS, cruise, PS, A/C, Apple CarPlay, rear camera, power windows & locks, leather & other complexities. Sold 10/19 with 5,800 miles.
    Mk3 Roadster #6228 4.6L, T45, IRS, PS, PB, ABS, Cruise, Koni's, 17" Halibrands, red w/ silver - 9K miles then sold @ Barrett-Jackson Jan 2011 (got back cash spent).

  6. #6
    fasterer and furiouser longislandwrx's Avatar
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    Is that an Isetta? badassery!
    GL!
    A well stocked beverage fridge is the key to any successful project.

  7. #7
    818 builder metalmaker12's Avatar
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    Sweet donor, probably the best I have seen. I would have a huge problem taking that apart

  8. #8
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    Is that an Isetta? badassery!
    Yes, my lovely wife has two, one that works and one that is a future project car

    Sweet donor, probably the best I have seen. I would have a huge problem taking that apart
    Yes, I did check the local authorities to see if it could go back on the road, but no luck. I'm not even allowed to drive it on the road on a permit, due to the "written off " status

  9. #9
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    Hey Mx5convert, I'm not ignoring your PM, I just can't seem to send a reply
    Send me an email address if you'd like
    Cheers
    Tim

  10. #10
    Senior Member DodgyTim's Avatar
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    It's finally here.....or at least I hope it is, I haven't looked inside the crate yet
    photo11.JPG

  11. #11
    Senior Member Xusia's Avatar
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    Hmmm. I don't know. Might be something else...
    Have you seen the 818 Registry on Google Maps?? https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=...a=0&dg=feature

    Want your 818 added to the Registry? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zmF...rNCY4/viewform

  12. #12
    fasterer and furiouser longislandwrx's Avatar
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    I bet you everyone at the shipping terminal had crate envy.
    A well stocked beverage fridge is the key to any successful project.

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