Hindsight's build thread

[Hindsight]

Lots of trimming and modifying for sure. Some of it is expected but some of it really needs to be upgraded by FFR IMHO.

Got my windshield installed today. It fit "ok" in the frame, but not perfectly even and the top of the frame is tight in the middle, while there is a bit of a gap at the top on the sides. It isn't very noticeable so no huge deal. I had to do the 2x4 wedge trick that others had to in order to restore some bow into the frame. Also, my donor 2007 WRX auto-dimming mirror didn't fit the bracket FFR provides with the windshield so I had to get a non-dimming kind new from the dealer for $50......

Starting to look more and more like a car every day. I am out of town next weekend so this weekend I'm hoping to add the front hood pins and install the engine cover and trunk, thus completing the body panel fitments. I can't wait. After that, I really only need to add wipers, horns, hook up the lights, and build an emissions exhaust and I can go get license plates for it.

[Scargo]

Congrats on all the hard work and progress. I'll bet you feel like a horse with the bit in it's teeth. The barn is in sight and you can't wait to get there.

[Hindsight]

Yes exactly, that's part of why I've been posting 10x a day around here lately haha.

[Hindsight]

I got ahold of FFR about the passenger side door panel (the padded variety) and they told me they are having them re-worked to make them longer (front to back) and shorter (top to bottom). They said it will be about three weeks. FYI for anyone else with the same issue.

I'm out of town next weekend but am here all this weekend and plan to spend it in the garage trying to complete the basic body fitting tasks I have remaining which are: Adjusting gaps in the hood (having a really tough time trying to achieve perfection), adding quik-latches to the back of the hood, adding the engine cover and creating a hinge for it and custom front pin-less attachment system, and adding the trunk with latches.

My hood gaps are pretty close now, but possibly a little too tight in some areas. It's making the hood a little harder to open and close than I'd like. The gap is also wider than I want next to the right headlight so I will try to modify the hood pin bracket there (that I'm only using to pull the fender down with since I am using hinges instead of pins).

[Hindsight]

I've adjusted the hood, fender, and bumpers as well as they are going to be adjusted. To get the fender gaps I wanted, I had to push the hood back a bit so it isn't even with the front of the bumper anymore, but from the pics I have seen, most people are doing that too. Before I paint or wrap it, I will use some body filler to build the front of the hood up even with the bumper for a more OEM look. Blue tape has been removed from the headlights..... it can see! I installed the quik-latch hood pins on the rear of the hood which required a small fabricated mount for them to ride on.

Pulled the car outside to sweep up the garage, and to admire how far it has come and how close it is to being street legal.

Glad I got this stuff tonight so I can start into the weekending working on the rear covers. Hopefully I will finish them and then have time to wire up all the lights.

[metros]

Do you have Craig's hood hinge? If so, how did you go about locating the hinge to hood bonding point to allow it to operate without interference?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Looking Great Hindsight.
Get that thing registered so you can start working the bugs out of it. (The Fun Stuff)
Bob

[Hindsight]

Thanks Bob!

Metros, I do. To locate it, I assembled the hinge with all its bolts in the middle of the slots. I then centered it to the radiator frame. Then with the front end jacked up and hood closed and properly positioned, I reached in and swung the hinge up until it touched the hood. While holding it there, i traced the holes with a sharpie. Then I removed the hood and glued bonding studs in over the marks. When re installing, I removed the part of mechies hinges that bolt to the bonding studs, bolted those to the hood, set the hood in place, then bolted the brackets to the hinge arms and adjusted as needed.

[Aero STI]

The car looks awesome, Jeff. You'll be racking up miles in no time.

[Tamra]

Looking awesome!!

[Hindsight]

Thanks guys, and gal. I can't wait to take it on it's first real drive.

Today I fit the engine cover and borrowed Wayne's new method of attaching the front of the engine cover using an aluminum piece off the frame. I will use a nylon thumb screw with a shoulder to attach the engine cover to this bracket, but it fits great and works well. I did have to twist the bracket and bend it a bit to get it to follow the contour of the hood. Also had to shim it out various amounts on each side.

I then borrowed AZPete's awesome engine cover hinge idea, and I left off on that step because I need to let the epoxy for the bonding studs cure overnight. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have the engine cover completely finished and then move on to fitting the trunk. I think I should be able to do all that, plus possibly starting on some of the vent openings throughout the body.

Front engine cover bracket showing bends:


Engine cover bracket installed:




Bonding studs for engine cover hinge:


Hinge base plate:

[jcpresto]

Looks awesome!! I'm excited to get my C in the same place. I've only taken it down the road at 25 as my tuner sent my speed density tune with 3500 rpm redline and no boost to ensure its all ok. It goes next Monday for dyno tune. Love your setup you've done! I have to say...Wayne is awesome and had been a huge huge help for me and all my parts, bugs, and setup questions!

[Frank818]

That's really nice work!!

What hinges are you using for the humps lid?

[Hindsight]

Thanks Frank and jcpresto.

Frank, I made custom hinges for the hump lid. I copied AZPete's setup which he was kind enough to detail in a photo on page 20 of my build thread. Take a look... very simple. Just need some 2" and 3/4" steel angle and some bolts and washers. Some bonding studs too or you can just bond the brackets directly to the engine cover.

Today was another good day. I finished up the engine cover hinge fabrication, adjusted it out, and it works great. It comes a little close to hitting the trunk lid as it opens but I think it will be ok. I also cut down the returns on the trunk lid and bolted it to the trunk hinges. I still have the big gap between the bumper and back edge of the trunk lid but that's ok - I will extend it with fiberglass later. I orderd 1/4" quick-release push pins from McMaster for the hinge pivot points. Should make it easy to remove the engine cover when needed. I also need to fabricate some sort of strut to keep the engine cover open, especially while at car-shows. Also need to add quik-latches to the back of the trunk cover but am waiting for quik-latch buckets to come in in order to do that.

Unfortunately, it will be two weeks before I can work on it again but I feel I've reached a good stopping point, with all the body panels mounted. I think one or two more weekends of work will get me to where I can go down to the county tag office and get my license plate (wire up lights, build second exhaust with cat, floor pans, dash).

[Aero STI]

That's an awesome shot with the front and rear opened up. I like your vent cutting. Can you get a closeup of that?

[metros]

Copied your engine cover bracket today. Simple but perfect to have one less visible latch on the car.

[mikeb75]

super aggressive front vent cut. (Right click...save as... what I need to do to my hood).

[Hindsight]

Copied your engine cover bracket today. Simple but perfect to have one less visible latch on the car.

Awesome, glad it worked out for you!

That's an awesome shot with the front and rear opened up. I like your vent cutting. Can you get a closeup of that?

super aggressive front vent cut. (Right click...save as... what I need to do to my hood).

Thanks guys. It's the size required for Mechie's medium size hood louvers. I got the louvers back from the powder coater yesterday, in gloss black, and I need to glue them in place now.

Here are the close-up pics you asked for:

[Hindsight]

So FFR sent me a wrong terminal pin for the reverse lights. There are supposed to be 6 pin terminals that you install into the connector and they got 5 right but one wrong. I can call them and have them send me one but am curious if someone knows some sort of common part number where I might get one locally like at Autozone or something. FFR shorted me both of the connectors for the high-beams as well but I have discovered Autozone carries those..... was wondering if maybe I could get a connector for the reverse lights there too. I would just need to know the part number or what vehicle that connector is normally used for (the reverse light bulb socket). Maybe I could then get a complete connector and rob a terminal from it.

[Hindsight]

Nevermind. The tail light bulb socket connector is German.... guess the lights are Hella so that makes some sense. I dug through my bin of spare VW wires and connectors and found a three pin connector that plugged right into it so I robbed the terminal with wire out of one of the sockets. Works perfectly. Between that and the 9005 bulb connectors from Autozone, I should have all the wiring components I need to wrap up the lighting. Then on to the wiper. I think my center-mounted remote master cylinder reservoir is going to cause me some issues with the single wiper. I am NOT moving the reservoir since the wipers are only there for inspection, so I will have to get creative.

[Hindsight]

Whew - all lights done and everything is working well. I will need to rough-aim the headlights at night on a level surface but that can be done later. Not really sure there is much of any adjustability in the headlight aim due to the way they are mounted but I guess I can try tilting the headlight housing forward and backward a bit. It does shift a little that way if I want but not that much so I'm hoping the alignment is very close as-is.

One thing I noticed is that the turn signals flash very fast, as if a bulb were missing. I didn't find anything about that here on this forum, but googling other forums resulted in similar posts from people who installed LED bulbs for their turn signals. People talked about a resistor but most people agreed that a different relay should be used. This has to be a common problem since the FFR rear turn signals are relays..... what are you using to combat the rapid flash issue?

[07FIREBLADE]

Did you not install the turn signal flasher that came with the kit? Fixes the problem every time

[Hindsight]

Oh, did not know one came with the kit. If it did, I either lost it or didn't receive it. I just ordered one from Amazon so hopefully that will work.

Lights done, horns in, now on to the wipers.

[RM1SepEx]

My FFR one died, the Amazon one works fine

[Hindsight]

Thanks for the input Dan - hopefully the Amazon one works and lasts a while.

Ok, wipers are basically done. I just have to weld one more mounting bracket on the passenger side. When trying to raise the rear of the hood up enough to clear the wipers, the quik-latches are no longer in the right position. Going to have to muck around with that too I guess.

I am so close to being street legal now. Just need to weld up another exhaust with a cat (should only take 4 hours or so), then bolt the seats and harnesses back in and install the floor panel. Then I can get my inspection.

[metros]

Looks like your knocking things off the to do list left and right. That progress has got to feel good!

[Frank818]

Nice wiper! Your angle is the same as mine when I tested it. Next time I fit it will be in a year. lolll
Countdown to street legality?

[RM1SepEx]

Hood clearance will be an issue. Relocate the reservoir and move the pivot point as close to the windshield as possible. It needs to be mounted so the shaft is perpendicular to the windshield so the height of the arm doesn't change relative to the hood and windshield. I also had to buy the longer FFR wiper arm and use a cool rain x wiper blade to keep as low as possible.

[Hindsight]

Thanks guys. Dan, great idea on the RainX low profile blade. I may try that. Not willing to relocate resevoir or move wiper since it is only on here so I can pass inspection. No top, will not be driving in rain ever.

[Hindsight]

WHEW - what a weekend. I think I drank a quart of water per hour and sweat 95% of it out. Was in the high 90's all weekend.

I believe I have everything done that I need to for inspection. This is a major milestone for me and I was so excited I decided to go ahead and drive it to Home Depot to pick up some fasteners I was running low on. I jumped the gun a little since I don't have a plate yet but honestly, with the way the system is setup in GA, I'm going to have to drive it without a plate to get the emissions tested anyway. The drive was great, though a bit hot and as others have noted, smells a bit of exhaust. I think both of those things are just going to be something I have to get used to. Does anyone who does NOT have a cat, not have an issue with exhaust smell in the cabin? I still haven't even installed the engine cover hump block-off panel so everything is wide open, but I'm wondering if, even after everything is sealed up, if I will still smell exhaust?

If I understand the process correctly, I just need to have an inspector come out to the house and give it the inspection. Then I go to the dept of revenue with the inspection form and all the other forms and they issue me a new vin plate and give me a document that I take to the county tag office. I then install the vin plate, go get emissions tested, then go to the tag office and supposedly after collecting 7% sales tax on the kit, will give me a license plate and tag. Title will come in the mail a few weeks later. I already have insurance so that's taken care of.

Here are some pics showing what I did for the wipers. I ended up bolting some angle aluminum on top of the rear hood pin mounts I had previously fabricated and welded on. That allowed me to move the location of the posts for the quik-latches to where they needed to be (up and forward) to clear the wipers. I will remove that stuff once inspection is over. I also, at the suggestion of Dan, got a RainX wiper which is lower profile, and also at the suggestion of others, added a hood center support. The wiper does run over the windshield frame on the driver's side just a little bit but it should be good enough for inspection.

This thing is SO fun to drive. I can't wait to be able to take it out more often.

[Hindsight]

Safety inspection should be happening this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday. Would be so cool if I could have a license plate in hand by the long weekend.

[Tamra]

Best of luck! Car looks great.

Ours smells of exhaust on the inside - with and without a cat- but I assumed it was due to the high center exit.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Best of luck! Car looks great.

Ours smells of exhaust on the inside - with and without a cat- but I assumed it was due to the high center exit.

Tamra,
My engine compartment is higher pressure the cockpit. So the cockpit should be sealed tight. Even where the coolant hoses come in under the dead pedals. Also around any wires, shift cables and others.
The guys building coupes need to be really careful.

Bob

[Hindsight]

Thanks Tamra and Bob. Good info.

Bob, after sealing all that stuff off, are you no longer getting exhaust odor in the car?

I actually don't mind the odor at all, but I am finding that if I inhale even a small amount of it (like a few whiffs over the course of a few minutes), I get a bad headache later in the day that lasts until the end of the following day. Not sure if I'm just really sensitive to it or what but I really, really need to do something about this or it will make the car very difficult to enjoy.

[Frank818]

Man, how do people did live with catless cars prior to 1971? lolll I too need to know.

I sure hope while driving the smell doesn't backflip into the cockpit, otherwise it would mean the aero isn't that good cuz air would flow back from the far rear end and into the cockpit while driving?

[Hindsight]

Frank, yes I am pretty sure that is exactly whats happening. I feel like there has to be a solution - since plenty of other small convertibles don't have this same issue.... Miata, Elise, etc.

[Frank818]

Do the Mia's, Eli's and whatnot run without a cat too?
I can't believe when driving (forward) exhaust air flows back into the cockpit, god. Imagine, at 60mph that means the fumes need to travel faster... backwards! Pls the fact they are pushed with pressure by the exhaust and they would be so powerful to back they would overcome that push and speed. Hopefully my high center exit won't be a problem! Where's yours again? At the very bottom right?

[Hindsight]

Well Tamra just mentioned that she and Andrew get exhaust smell with and without a cat. I'm very glad she mentioned it because it saved me a lot of time trying to add in a cat to rule that variable out.

My exhaust exit is just to the right of the diffuser indentation, and it points downward and slightly rearward. There is no cutout in the bumper for it. I'm wondering if a side exit wouldn't be best at remedying this issue... if it flows out the side, perhaps it will have less chance to mix with the turbulent air swirling behind the car?

Hoping others will chime in who have no exhaust smell in the cabin so we can see how theirs is setup.

[Aero STI]

Mine smells of exhaust pretty much all the time. Running e85 makes it a little less noxious. The passenger area is a low pressure area and fills with road debris and all kinds of other stuff. I basically can't drive without sunglasses or some other eye protection. Sealing everything up helps, the rear diffuser helps, but there seems to be an inherent aerodynamic design flaw leading to exhaust smell and dirtiness.

[Hindsight]

Thanks for the input Andrew. Good to know. Maybe I will get used to the fumes and not get headaches? I sure hope so. But you did give me yet another excuse to go E85 once I upgrade the turbo

Spent the last two evenings welding up a "test pipe" for emissions testing, which I will need to do after the safety inspection is complete in order to get my tag. The test pipe has a cat on it. I'm curious to see how it will sound compared to my other setup. I still need to weld on a support bracket for it and install the rear o2 sensor before I can fire it up to test.

Still waiting on the inspector to set a date to come out and do the inspection, and still hoping that will happen this week. May take Friday off to give myself a four day weekend of mostly garage time.