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

[xxguitarist]

Just for reference, with auto-x, we do have multiple starts in one day, with a pretty short drive between.

Our hope, based on other autox'ers is that this battery will easily make it through the day, and that we can just disconnect it for the weeks between. If not, we have a pretty serious jump box & will swap out for a battery that can. Race cars not starting is no fun, when you need to be pulling up to the line.

"bug" fired up very quickly on the lead acid, so hopefully the same will be true with this battery, so it shortens the cranking time & WH consumed, so there are more starts per charge. We will just limit the AWIC pump time without the car running.

[Tamra]

Sneak preview....




and....
No looking back now! Go big or go home!

[ben1272]

wow!

[Hindsight]

Those are huge! Nice work.

[Kurk818]

I take it the flares that you purchased didnt work out too well?

More pics of the flares please

[Tamra]

I take it the flares that you purchased didnt work out too well?

More pics of the flares please

No, not at all unfortunately. Since the 818 already has flares built in to the body, when you cut the body away for tire clearance, you are essentially removing the built in flare and replacing it with the Ebay flare which isn't any wider. On a Miata, sure, but not the 818.

We will post photos of the entire process when we are done, don't worry! Still lots of work left to get it to a finished product.

[Kurk818]

Thanks for the reply. There is definitely a lot more to deal with on the 818, as far as angles and shapes, than you would find on a typical production car. As you may know, ill be doing a full wide body as well and still have not finalized what it would look like exactly. So many ways of approaching it. The goal being that the final product looks intentional and cohesive.

Nice work tho. Keep up the progress.

[Oppenheimer]

...I had to hit with a more powerful battery charger, the little battery tender charger wouldn't kick off the charging.

A Battery Tender won't engage charging unless it sees a minimum amount of voltage present (this is part of how it doesn't spark if you touch the leads together when its plugged in). If you have a very dead battery, you can trick the Tender to start Tending if you just put some juice across it. A 9V battery will do. Use a bare 9V battery harness. Just hookup Tender to dead batt, then put the leads of the harness across the Tender terminals for a sec, until Tender light shows charging has started (observe polarity!) Then you can remove the 9V battery. You could also use another charger that doesn't have any sensing tech built in to get a Tender going.

I connect alligator leads to the 9V harness, and I also use it to keep radio presets and ECU programming intact if I need to remove battery from DD. Connect the 9V leads to cars batt terminals, remove terminals from car batt, remove car batt. The 9V is enough to keep electronics going, as they typically run off 5v. Obviously this only works a short time, and don't open doors (interior lights!) or do anything that will require real 12V juice, as the 9V won't have enough oomph.

[WRXForward]

Flares look very cool.

[Shawn818c]

I've been following this build for a long time, one of my favorites!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Way to GO Tamra!!!!

http://sololive.scca.com/L1.html

[Tamra]

Thanks Bob!

[Scargo]

Looking at the scores... Aren't you faster than the majority of cars and comparable men's classes? #12 overall? Awesome.
Pax Index Overall

1 SS 78 Patrick Salerno 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 58.696
2 CSP 199 Billy Davis 1999 Mazda Miata 58.985
3 SSR 57 Grant Reeve 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 59.089
4 KM 33 Larry MacLeod Honda Tonykart 59.218
5 SSR 89 Matthew Braun 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 59.280
6 AS 27 Mark Daddio 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 59.303
7 STS 69 Benjamin Wagstaff 1991 Mazda Miata 59.454
8 SS 178 Brian Conners 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 59.503
9 CSP 98 Neal Tovsen 1990 Mazda Miata 59.529
10 B2 157 Scott Giles 1985 Honda CRX Si 59.538
11 STX 192 David Marcus 2013 Scion* FR-S 59.622
12 L1 99 Tamra Hunt 1999 Mazda Miata 59.639

[Tamra]

Looking at the scores... Aren't you faster than the majority of cars and comparable men's classes? #12 overall? Awesome.
Pax Index Overall

1 SS 78 Patrick Salerno 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 58.696
2 CSP 199 Billy Davis 1999 Mazda Miata 58.985
3 SSR 57 Grant Reeve 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 59.089
4 KM 33 Larry MacLeod Honda Tonykart 59.218
5 SSR 89 Matthew Braun 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 59.280
6 AS 27 Mark Daddio 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 59.303
7 STS 69 Benjamin Wagstaff 1991 Mazda Miata 59.454
8 SS 178 Brian Conners 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 59.503
9 CSP 98 Neal Tovsen 1990 Mazda Miata 59.529
10 B2 157 Scott Giles 1985 Honda CRX Si 59.538
11 STX 192 David Marcus 2013 Scion* FR-S 59.622
12 L1 99 Tamra Hunt 1999 Mazda Miata 59.639

Yep Thanks Glyn

[Hindsight]

Tamra or Andrew - I believe you mentioned an S2000 car cover fit your 818 well. Which brand and type are you using and is it fully waterproof? I'm looking for one that I can take with the car when I go to shows to keep the cabin covered if it starts to rain.

Thanks in advance!

[Tamra]

Tamra or Andrew - I believe you mentioned an S2000 car cover fit your 818 well. Which brand and type are you using and is it fully waterproof? I'm looking for one that I can take with the car when I go to shows to keep the cabin covered if it starts to rain.

Thanks in advance!

It's an OEM S2000 one, and I don't *think* it's waterproof. It does bead up a little so I would call it water resistant.

Also, I'm selling my S2000 in case anyone is looking http://newhaven.craigslist.org/cto/5660475950.html

[Hindsight]

Thanks for the info.

Selling the S2000 huh.... what's next?

[Tamra]

Thanks for the info.

Selling the S2000 huh.... what's next?

I don't know yet! Keeping the RX8 and making it DSP trim for autocross though, so I need a new winter car ;p

[Hindsight]

Cool cool - Get a Ford Focus RS

[xxguitarist]

Fender progress has been... slow and intermittent, but it is coming along. We blew out the bearing on the random orbital from shaping all the foam, replacement going in tomorrow, but need to do some tire mounting.

Also, last week I got a toy (yes, me! not Tamra yet)


It's on trials as a 4 wheeled motorcycle replacement, which is somewhat safer.
I have commuted in it twice now, and It's pretty fun!
It's a locost 7 (book chassis) with a 2003 R1 engine & the incorporated sequential transmission. Whee!

[Hindsight]

You guys have no lack of toys! I admire the passion.

[Frank818]

That is nice!

And I won't post my comment about the "toy" and "Tamra".

[AZPete]

Hey, Andrew and Tamra, with no posts for 6 weeks I hope you are okay. Have you shelved your 818 in favor of the new toy?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hey, Andrew and Tamra, with no posts for 6 weeks I hope you are okay. Have you shelved your 818 in favor of the new toy?

Hey Pete,
I believe they are at autocross nationals in Lincoln Nebraska for the next week.
I hope she reports her results.
Bob

[ben1272]

How go the flares!? Have you had the chance to make any progress? How's the Locost? I have the original Ron Champion plans book and always thought I would build one.....until the 818 showed up!

-Ben

[xxguitarist]

Hi Guys,
Sorry for the disappearance!

We built Tamra's RX8 for DSP, and it is lots of fun!




We did go out to Solo Nats for a week and a half, also fun! Tamra won CSPL in a different CSP car than her normal, following a switch due to the normal car breaking.

My locost7 has been a little fussy (starter issues), so I've been trying to get it back on the road.

Bug the 818 is partially flared, but other things have been taking priority from it.

[Hindsight]

Too many toys, not enough time Good to hear things are going well for the both of you. We miss your updates

[ben1272]

Tamra looks so calm at the wheel....no death grip, just a casual embrace of the wheel! Telling I think. Nice job!

-Ben

[xxguitarist]

OK, so tonight was actually quite productive.

My 7 has had issues starting (cranking, really) consistently, so I rebuilt the starter, installed it, and it was worse than ever. It turns out that there is an alignment required for the permanent magnets in the case. I pulled it, clocked it properly, tested (good!) installed, and it now cranks enthusiastically.
Just a little FYI for anyone rebuilding a motorsports starter.


Back to FFR things, I also went ahead and did the smelly messsy fiberglass thing again!
The passenger flare had been nearly shaped for a while, with some bondo sitting on it for a final block sanding pass. I dove in and got that worked through, quite happy with the final contour consistency.
The really rewarding part came next: Gel coat!
It's fantastic to see the fender in white after so much time of yellow & pink. I'll have to give this a light sand and another coat later, but it will cure overnight.
Definitely felt like a milestone though, to have color on the flare.
We still need to trim the inside of the wheel arch, so don't mind the wavy line there.

[Canadian818]

Looks great! Building flares from scrap intimates me too much, I think I'd pull my hair out trying to get it even.

[xxguitarist]

Looks great! Building flares from scrap intimates me too much, I think I'd pull my hair out trying to get it even.

Sounds about right
We're past the "get it even" point, and more to the "get it smooth" and make it real points.

[Frank818]

Wow, I want that!

[xxguitarist]

Last night I fiberglassed the driver side fender with another 2 layers and then painted on another layer of gelcoat on the passenger side.

Tonight I did two rounds of bondo on the driver side, and a bit of block sanding on the passenger side.

Things are definitely starting to come together with the solid hours I've been able to put in. Once the fenders reach a close-enough point, I want to get the car back on wheels and roll it outside to get a look at it from more than 2' away!

[ben1272]

Looks good. I agree on seeing it from more than 2'!

[Tamra]

I know it's been a long time coming with race season keeping us busy.... but here you go. First 818 to my knowledge with flares. Currently pictured with 315's on 18x11's out back (25 offset). Required moving the suspension inboard and the body outward (wanted to keep the car as narrow as possible).

[ben1272]

Well, are you pleased with the flares? I think they look pretty good!

[Canadian818]

Looking good! Definitely need to post a rear strait on shot.

[turbomacncheese]

very nice

[Tamra]

Thanks guys, we are very pleased. Still some cosmetic work to do. Trim the inner edge, clean up some gel coat spots. obviously finish the wrap job. But, they're functional!

Here are a few more photos:

[Hindsight]

Nice work! Good to see you two are still at it.