Andrew & Tamra's 818SR EM Autox Hybrid Destroked Long-Rod Build

[metalmaker12]

Congrats

[Hindsight]

Huge congrats!!!!!! Enjoy the first legal drive.

[Frank818]

They failed us for not having a carpeted interior (????????), our hood pins not being grade 8, and they want heat wrap on the exhaust exit. Driving to Brian's now to see about a hinge (they are fine with the hood pins if we have a hinge).

Wow, that's awesome!!! Just that to fix??? That's nothing!! I predict a 3h-fix or so and you should be ok.

We passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What did I tell ya??? lolll

So you went to DMV twice on the same day?? Wow! Well you passed, so to hell DMV, now!!!!!

[Tamra]

Hey everyone, we put together a list of our experience with every line item for the Connecticut DMV (their official test list, the composite vehicle requirements list, and the "other" discretionary list). They put strong emphasis on the "other" category and didn't even check some of the significant safety areas (brake lines not going under tension during full lock, for example, or the bumper requirement).

I hope this might help some people. All I know is, we are SOOOOOOOO glad to be done!!!!!!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

For the record, the hinge fix took 2 hours with Andrew and our friend PJ working on it. It required custom brackets and drilling the hood. I bet if we had done it at home it would have been a 5 hour job easily, and finding the right hinges would have been a nightmare (a junkyard at our disposal made this much easier - thank you Brian!). The entire time they were working, I worked on the interior carpet (picked up carpet from Walmart and had to custom cut it for everything). Without PJ's help and Brian offering his junkyard of parts at our disposal, today would not have been possible. We got back to the DMV at 2:40, just 20 minutes before the inspection lane closed. They said we were the first people to ever manage to repair the failure items and return to pass in the same day.

We might have had a worse than average time since the first inspector wasn't sure how to handle our "raised" hood (for our permanent windshield wipers -wink wink-). Since she was questioning it, she brought out the "Sergeant" with knee-high spit-shined boots who was very picky, took his job as safety inspector very seriously, and not the friendliest. Avoid him at all costs. If you can avoid anything really out of the ordinary (try to go for as much of an OEM look you can get), I think things would be smoother sailing.

I still can't believe they failed us for our non-grade-8 hood pins (didn't even notice our super flimsy, riveted together, aluminum L-brackets that were lifting the hood pins up to hold the hood over the "permanent" windshield wipers... pretty sure those would have failed long before the hood pin bolts), yet were totally fine with our hinges being installed with 1/4-20 bolts.... -shakes head-. Don't worry, we'll be fixing this to our level of safety.

But despite all of challenges, we now have a street legal race car!!! Yippie!!! Never to be inspected or emissions tested again. First 818 registered in CT.

[Mechie3]

Congrats!

[Tamra]

Thank you everyone. We are still in shock that we now have a street legal race car

We still have not driven it on the street yet, as we are heading out to the beach today and then to autocross tomorrow. Since the fuel pump is questionable under heavy load (and our tune was not completed due to this), we are going to have to take things pretty easy and watch the gauges closely. It should be fine for gentle street driving.

The next things up on the list:
- Remove the windshield wipers and the hideous spacers to get our hood sitting flush again
- Make lowering bracket for rearmost hoodpins (too long from FFR)
- Cut out body for air flow (side scoops, hood scoops, etc.)
- Create ducting to intake
- Do some airflow testing on the highway & determine any further airflow needs
- Install Walbro fuel pump from Metros - Thank you!!!!
- Get re-tuned
- Add aero (front splitter and rear ducktail)
- Go autocross again!

Winter projects
- Add front fuel cell
- Lightweight battery and re-location behind passenger seat
- Kill switch
- Body work (lots of gel coat cleanup and some areas that need to be built up with more layers of fiberglass - specifically between door and engine cover)
- Partial wrap of body
- Possible suspension mods for more wheel/tire fitment capabilities?

[CU9DZ]

Looks great. I need more info on your front hood hinge solution. What car did it come from? Are there bolt heads showing on the top side of hood or can it be fiber glassed in or epoxy?
Davis.

[Pearldrummer7]

Wait wait, what license plate did we land on???

[Tamra]

CU9DZ - I'll let Andrew respond on that one. I installed the carpeted interior while Andrew and PJ worked on the hinges.

As for the license plate, they made us do a regular one initially and then we have to mail in the vanity plate forms. However, HANDBLT was the winner, with 22 facebook votes, vs 15 votes for XLER818.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I told Andrew I want to take it out for its first legal drive


Just for fun, here's how tall the 818 is to the top of the windshield. Looks a little different this way!


Here's what our interior now looks like. We'll probably keep the carpet on the center console but get rid of it on the sides.

[xxguitarist]

Looks great. I need more info on your front hood hinge solution. What car did it come from? Are there bolt heads showing on the top side of hood or can it be fiber glassed in or epoxy?
Davis.

The hinges are a ~04 Maxima trunk hinge, flipped around a few times. There are bolt heads showing, with washers, on the outside. You could easily enough use some bonded on nuts pieces to hide the fasteners, but not in the time we had! We will go back and clean things up a bit, make brackets more purposeful, less washer stacks, better hood fit.. but for the time we had, it works brilliantly.

[metalmaker12]

Thank you everyone. We are still in shock that we now have a street legal race car

We still have not driven it on the street yet, as we are heading out to the beach today and then to autocross tomorrow. Since the fuel pump is questionable under heavy load (and our tune was not completed due to this), we are going to have to take things pretty easy and watch the gauges closely. It should be fine for gentle street driving.

The next things up on the list:
- Remove the windshield wipers and the hideous spacers to get our hood sitting flush again
- Make lowering bracket for rearmost hoodpins (too long from FFR)
- Cut out body for air flow (side scoops, hood scoops, etc.)
- Create ducting to intake
- Do some airflow testing on the highway & determine any further airflow needs
- Install Walbro fuel pump from Metros - Thank you!!!!
- Get re-tuned
- Add aero (front splitter and rear ducktail)
- Go autocross again!

Winter projects
- Add front fuel cell
- Lightweight battery and re-location behind passenger seat
- Kill switch
- Body work (lots of gel coat cleanup and some areas that need to be built up with more layers of fiberglass - specifically between door and engine cover)
- Partial wrap of body
- Possible suspension mods for more wheel/tire fitment capabilities?

You guys gotta check fuel pressure readings. I thought it was my pump when it was in fact the factory fpr not keeping up with the setup of the pump being so close. When a pump goes it usaually just stops, it is possable it just beat to hell, but knowing your pressure is key to getting your tune perfect anyhow. What's your afr at idle and under load, if thats wacky than pressure is off, and a adjustable fpr is needed.

[Tamra]

Metalmaker, the afr at idle is fairly steady at 15, drops to ~11 as rpm's at load. For our first tune, it stayed at 11 all the way to red line, as per this graph:
[/QUOTE]


Then in the middle of our last dyno session (it was fine initially) it started to climb toward 12 as the revs increased and the tuner, Mikey, would back off. Mikey kept adding fuel and it wasn't having it. He even tried going back to the same 15psi as in our first tune and it still wasn't having it. They said they suspect that the pump is on its way out. It's been fine for putting around but we'll watch it closely when we take out on the street tomorrow.

We have a Walbro to put in it soon (thanks Metros!)

[Mitch Wright]

Great work guys, congrats.

[Frank818]

Tamra, when you put your hand on the top of the windscreen's frame (which you can since it's so low! lolll) and push downwards, does the entire windscreen wobbles up and down or is it super solid like the one of the Miata?

Mine wobbles, so anyone entering the car with his hand on the windscreen frame and putting all its weight will bend everything for a second and I don't know if it will break or not.

[Tamra]

Frank- It's fiberglass and not structural, so it does flex. We make sure not to let anyone grab it or lean on it. I'd rather not find out if it will break!


Thanks Mitch and everyone else!!

[metros]

I'm late to the party but congrats on registering it. That's got to be a huge stress relief.

[xxguitarist]

Frank- It's fiberglass and not structural, so it does flex. We make sure not to let anyone grab it or lean on it. I'd rather not find out if it will break!


Thanks Mitch and everyone else!!

More specifically, we tell them to only put their feet on the floor pan, and touch the seat, and use it as a support while climbing in. Big shoulder bolsters help with acting as handles. Easier than pointing at the dozen "no touch" and "not a step" points.

[brian b 36]

tamra first glad you you past on friday , happy birthday and have fun the car is a blast to drive on the street i get lots of looks driving mine lots of thumbs up,
did you have to get a apointment or did you just go to dmv. brian

[Tamra]

tamra first glad you you past on friday , happy birthday and have fun the car is a blast to drive on the street i get lots of looks driving mine lots of thumbs up,
did you have to get a apointment or did you just go to dmv. brian

Brian,

No appointment required - just show up. We got there at 7:30, got in the line, and paid our inspection fee ($80) in the main DMV building. We then trailed over to the little brick building to the right of the main DMV office if you are looking at the front. We unloaded the car in front in the designated area (don't worry someone will be out quickly to see what it is and then direct you where to go). After the inspection, you will get a VIN assignment form from the inspection people (this is regardless of passing or failing). We then went back into the DMV, waited in line, and paid our VIN assignment fee of $50. If you passed on the first try, then you would also probably pay your registration fees at this point too. Since we did not pass, then we went to your place as you know, fixed everything up, and returned for another inspection. The reinspection is free as long as it is within 30 days. After we passed on the 2nd try, they put the VIN on the car, and then we went back into the DMV to pay our registration fee ($130). They did not charge us tax but they were supposed to. Overall it was a long day, since we arrived at 7:30 and didn't get out of there until 5 or so.

On your car, it might be worth trying just the hood pins alone rather than going through the effort of installing hinges (unless you're planning to anyway). They might not be as bothered by your hood pins since your car has the windshield wiper cutout. They were more concerned by our hood pins since the hood was raised, and they were worried that a side draft could try to blow it off or something.

Thank you for the birthday wish

[brian b 36]

tamra if you look on the general discussions new pics of my car on the second page, you can see what i did for the rear hood pin

[Tamra]

Thanks Brian! I think our current idea is we are going to make a rear ducktail support (extend up our metal bumper bar) and we will weld tabs onto it for the rear hood pins while we are at it. That way the bracket isn't connected to the fiberglass at all, which should make it less flimsy feeling (not sure about yours, but ours is VERY flexy since it's on the bumper tab).

Also just a heads up that in two weeks the DMV is closing for a week, so you might want to try to get your car in before that. I think our OCD inspection person is out this week on vacation, so you might get the younger, nice guy if you get in this week. I was wishing we had him as our inspector, since he came by and made nice comments on the car and wasn't worried about things like carpeting.

[Mechie3]

FFR sent me steel pieces for the rear bumper as some bumpers had that part accidentally cut off. I just riveted it to the body (3 rivets) so it's not just a fiberglass piece cantilevered out but a steel piece.

[Tamra]

FFR sent me steel pieces for the rear bumper as some bumpers had that part accidentally cut off. I just riveted it to the body (3 rivets) so it's not just a fiberglass piece cantilevered out but a steel piece.

That's what we have - the steel pieces riveted onto the bumper. It's still super flexy, and the tabs also put the hood pin too high. It needs about a 1" drop or shorter hood pins.

[Mechie3]

didn't realize you had those in place. Agree it's still flexible (I put the three rivets in a triangle pattern, though a flattened one) but better than fiberglass on its own. Haven't figured out a long term solution yet.

[RM1SepEx]

I mounted mine down about 3/4 inch with spacers off the fenders vs. the rear clip. I'm going to box it off and stiffen the whole corner when I make my custom trunk.

[Tamra]

We took Bug out for his first street drive last night, to our favorite fish market about 15 minutes away from our house.

First impressions of street driving:
- the car is LOUD. Deafeningly loud. We didn't even get into boost and the noise was still punishing. We do not have anything filling in the hoop area, and with the rear now being closed in, all noise is directed straight into the passenger compartment. We had no idea how loud our turbo spooled until last night
- the car is HOT. All air from the engine bay was coming out of the hoops and straight into the passenger compartment. Considering we did not hit boost, our pre-intercooler temps were probably a good estimate for the temperature spilling over us - 140-150 degrees. Post IC was 100. Ambient was 90. We have not cut any vents in the body yet, other than the exhaust outlet.
- the ride isn't as bad as I expected. It is harsher than my S2000 but I didn't find it too uncomfortable. We have the R springs.
- the race seats would get old on a long trip.
- the braking effort is more noticeable on the street, however, we have no problems getting the car stopped (and we know from autox that we can lock it up) - it just requires more effort than a car with a booster.
- 1st gear is VERY touchy. There's so much torque and power available that it makes moving slowly very difficult. I started dropping it into 2nd since it smoothed it out, and the car still had plenty of torque to move at slow speeds.
- considering we did the entire drive without hitting boost, I would think an NA motor would be a hoot in this car. On the street, I didn't find it lacking for power!

Our Forge BPV is definitely leaking under light throttle (cruising at 2-3k) and making a "chu chu chu chu" noise that we can hear from the passenger compartment. The Gopro amplifies it and makes it sound terrible. It is possibly robbing some efficiency from our turbo, so we will be looking into it. It is not noticeable at idle or under load.

[mikeb75]

Congrats on so many levels getting the car registered, streeted & driven to the market! Hugely impressed with the efforts both of you put into the car -the result is inspiring.

Can't wait to see what else you do to 'finish' your build (First rule of build club; you're never finished)

[Tamra]

Congrats on so many levels getting the car registered, streeted & driven to the market! Hugely impressed with the efforts both of you put into the car -the result is inspiring.

Can't wait to see what else you do to 'finish' your build (First rule of build club; you're never finished)

Thank you!

Don't worry, our build is just beginning. Now we can make it the way we want! We have lots of exciting things coming over the next year

[STiPWRD]

Very nice guys! Great pic btw

[Erik W. Treves]

The other I noted, since I had my car done when it was cooler out...the rake of the windshield does not allow for air to come into the cockpit like it does in the cobra, so sealing off the engine compartment is a must....in cooler weather and in rain the air passes nicely OVER the driver...making seat heaters VERY effective... I drove very comfortably down into the 40's this way... and yes the car IS loud if you have a loud bypass and a "performance muffler".... I ended up doing a XS BOV that recirculated and it was WAY better....just an observation...

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Great job Tamra and Andrew.
I cant wait to see what you have in mind for the next year.
We also have a long wish list after we get registered. Michael wants too get the second car to the same level as the first before we start the list.
Bob

[Tamra]

Very nice guys! Great pic btw

Thank you!

The other I noted, since I had my car done when it was cooler out...the rake of the windshield does not allow for air to come into the cockpit like it does in the cobra, so sealing off the engine compartment is a must....in cooler weather and in rain the air passes nicely OVER the driver...making seat heaters VERY effective... I drove very comfortably down into the 40's this way... and yes the car IS loud if you have a loud bypass and a "performance muffler".... I ended up doing a XS BOV that recirculated and it was WAY better....just an observation...

Who needs a seat heater when the passenger compartment stays a pleasant 110 degrees? ;p

We are hoping that when we open up the vents in the body that it will allow some of the noise to escape. We are planning on sealing off the engine compartment, but the aluminum panel provided by FFR doesn't seem to fit properly, so we will have to make something. Our Forge BPV is currently hooked up as a BOV and it is fairly loud (and also leaking). Since the car is tuned for speed density it doesn't really matter other than for turbo efficiency, but we are going to look into getting new springs for it to fix the leak and possibly recirculating it as well if we can't get the noise down. You have some good ideas that we will keep in mind - thank you!

Great job Tamra and Andrew.
I cant wait to see what you have in mind for the next year.
We also have a long wish list after we get registered. Michael wants too get the second car to the same level as the first before we start the list.
Bob

How far along is the other car, Bob? I vote you guys work on this one until autocross is over for the season (have some fun!) and then start on the next one. Learn as much as you can and then apply it to the other one!

We will be in Wilmington, OH this weekend for the SCCA Pro. Will you guys be there? We're not bringing the 818 yet. Maybe next year

[Bob_n_Cincy]

How far along is the other car, Bob? I vote you guys work on this one until autocross is over for the season (have some fun!) and then start on the next one. Learn as much as you can and then apply it to the other one!

We will be in Wilmington, OH this weekend for the SCCA Pro. Will you guys be there? We're not bringing the 818 yet. Maybe next year

Hi Tamra,
The second 818 is a bare frame with suspension, wheels, brakes and steering. We tested it over a year ago rolling down a 2 mile hill.

We have about 8 to 10 autocrosses on blue. Learned a lot. Trying to sort out suspension/handling with the new big tires.
Tomorrow we are going to TIC to get an alignment. Hopefully get it registered next week. Goal is for Michael to drive to high school in a couple of weeks.

We are an hour south on I71. We will definitely show up to cheer you on this weekend. Maybe get some time to sit down and talk some 818 strategies.

I will PM you with our phone#.
Bob

[Mechie3]

We are planning on sealing off the engine compartment, but the aluminum panel provided by FFR doesn't seem to fit properly, so we will have to make something.

I assume you mean the fact that it sits about 1.5" back from the front of the humps instead of flush like you'd expect it to?

[xxguitarist]

I assume you mean the fact that it sits about 1.5" back from the front of the humps instead of flush like you'd expect it to?

Yep. That.

Also not really sure what to attach it to? It's slotted to be installed from the bottom.. but doesn't have any tabs?

I think we'll probably make it install attached to the engine cover, with some slots for the tubes as necessary.

[Mechie3]

Its a two part assembly. I bad some pics in my build thread. I'm planning to eventually cut the lower portion so it can all slide forward.

[K3LAG]

Tamra,

This picture shows both pieces cleco'd together in place. There is an L shaped piece that goes across the bottom. It's made in two pieces because it won't fit if you try to put it in already assembled. There is also a length of bulb seal across the top of the aluminum that helps seal it off where the bulkhead meets the engine cover.

IMG_0710.jpg

Larry

[Tamra]

Thank you - the photo is very helpful. We'll take a look into that next week when we are back from Wilmington. I saw that lower piece in our basement and was wondering what it was for. We have a few others though... maybe I should post some photos and have you guys help me identify them.

It should be a fun weekend - heading up to OH in the morning for the SCCA Wilmington Pro Solo. Since I switched cars part way through the season, points are on the line for me to ensure that I qualify for the finale (nationals). I won my 1st and only event in the car, so hopefully I can do it again, or at least do well enough to get the necessary points. I think it's pretty neat that I got two mentions in the recent Solomatters article: http://www.solomatters.com/tune-in_2...summer_prosolo. This is my first season doing national level events, so perhaps I'm overly excited about everything

Tim and Andrew should be all set after this event, since it is their 3rd in the same car and they will have met the requirements for first wave of registration for the pro finale. Nationals is only one month away!

[Frank818]

Congrats on first st drive! Impressions are exactly as I expected, except for the ride comfort, I was expecting harsher, which is a good news.

[Harley818]

good luck at Wilmington. Car looks great too.