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

[Pearldrummer7]

Looks awesome guys! I'd love to do the same(without moving suspension inboard). They look awesome and you are fitting some serious tire under there!

[Frank818]

Can we see pix of the suspension changes?

[Mitch Wright]

Thumbing through the latest SportsCar Tamra is smiling back at me on page 18, along with a nice story.

[ben1272]

Excuse me, but do these make my butt look big?.....yes!

Nice work. I have been wondering where you went! I hope you make it to the open house at FFR this year. Would love to meet you and see Bug in person.

[Tamra]

Thumbing through the latest SportsCar Tamra is smiling back at me on page 18, along with a nice story.

Thanks

Excuse me, but do these make my butt look big?.....yes!

Nice work. I have been wondering where you went! I hope you make it to the open house at FFR this year. Would love to meet you and see Bug in person.

What's the date of the open house this year? The past two years it conflicted with national events. Hopefully we can make it to this one!

Also, sorry for the lack of updates. We've had some exciting stuff happen. First.... Andrew put a ring on it!



The next exciting news is that we bought our first home together! It's a cosmetic fixer so we've been putting 100% effort into getting the renovations mostly complete in <30 days... because we have to be out of our rental at the end of the month! The garage is 1000sq ft and heated. We are putting a fresh coat of paint on the interior and should start moving the cars/garage items this weekend

[Shawn818c]

congrats on the engagement and the house!!

[1932]

Happy for Both -- very good! I am working on a 33 but always check in to your build and racing.

[Hindsight]

Wow that's awesome congratulations!!!!!

[Frank818]

Congrats on the garage!!!



Oh and the ring too. lolll

[AZPete]

Congrats on the ring, the house and the BIG garage! You have an obligation to keep posting because a lot of us are addicted to your adventures.

[flynntuna]

Congrats Tamra...About time Andrew. Maybe you can convince my son to pop the question. He and his girlfriend have been together for more than 9 years.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Congrats Tamra...About time Andrew. Maybe you can convince my son to pop the question. He and his girlfriend have been together for more than 9 years.

Don't screw up a good relationship by getting married.

[RM1SepEx]

Don't screw up a good relationship by getting married.

Ouch... But I do understand

Congrats on moving forward, nice looking place.

[Mitch Wright]

Congrats you two, exciting times for sure. Like you guys we just bought a shop with a house attached.

[xxguitarist]

Thanks for all the congrats, guys!
The house is coming along, and Bug is in his new, freshly painted home!

[Canadian818]

So jealous of that space! Wow!

[flynntuna]

That is a very nice space, room for cars , a shop, lots of options. You may want to check out this forum...http://www.garagejournal.com/

[305mouse]

The work it'll be to epoxy coat that floor, but it would be so worth it.

[ben1272]

Yay!

Congrats! Wonderful news! Yours strikes me as the kind of relationship that gets stronger with time, so marriage will suit you well me thinks!

Nice garage too.....<drool><wipe>

[wleehendrick]

Congrats on the engagement and new home! The garage looks as big as house... I like that.

Paint looks great, and I agree that an epoxy floor would really really finish the space off; we put one in last summer (in our small 2-car, about half that size). Thought about doing myself, but we noticed a house down having one put in that came out nice, so we got a quote and it was very reasonable ($1300, done in a weekend). There was a ratty industrial carpet in the garage when we bought the place, so they ground down the old adhesive to fresh concrete before patching and epoxying. It came out great, and for that price, I'm so glad I paid someone else to do it.

Lots of lighting in there, but I always worry about hitting exposed tubes like that... Something you might consider: Last weekend I replaced all our overhead garage florescent lights with 4' LED fixtures (Lithonia Lighting, $45 each from Amazon). Instant on, great light, no flicker, and never have to change tubes or ballasts. They're nothing fancy (wouldn't put them inside the home) but I'd definitely recommend them to anyone for an affordable garage lighting update.

Have fun with the renovations, but watch out... My build has slowed to a crawl as work and home projects take priority; my mantra has become "If you want to finish a car project, don't buy a house".

[FFRSpec72]

Very very nice on both fronts !

[Mitch Wright]

This is what I am doing with my new shop/home (should be moving in the next 45 days) http://racedeck.com/racedeck-products/ works great in my shop in Colorado and Utah homes. My experience has been bad trying to repaint(epoxy) well used once painted floor. Another nice option.

[Tamra]

Thanks for all of the comments, guys!

We are interested in doing the floors at some point, but for now, they are already dirty concrete so they will require a significant amount of prep when we go to do something (leaning toward the tiles mentioned). With the other renovations, and significant electrical updates that we are making to the house (paying licensed electricians for it so $$$), the floors (which will run us over $2k) will have to wait. We built our 818 in a 10'x19' garage, so no matter how you look at it, this garage is a huge upgrade

The lighting is in a similar boat. For now we have tons of 8' ballast lights, but we would like to eventually convert to LED.

At least we have a huge, well lit, heated garage - we are excited about that!!!

[Mitch Wright]

Feel your pain on the upgrades, the home we are buying was built in 1949. One of the first things before we move in is updating electric panel and wiring plus add 50 amp service to the shop.
BTW congrats again on the house, garage and engagement.

[Wayne Presley]

Thanks for all of the comments, guys!



The lighting is in a similar boat. For now we have tons of 8' ballast lights, but we would like to eventually convert to LED.

I just did that to my shop, kept the fixtures and replaced the bulbs with 8" LED tubes with the ballasts removed. More light, less energy used and work even when cold.

[Tamra]

Feel your pain on the upgrades, the home we are buying was built in 1949. One of the first things before we move in is updating electric panel and wiring plus add 50 amp service to the shop.
BTW congrats again on the house, garage and engagement.

Thanks!

This house already had a 50amp panel in the garage, but the power wire running to the garage was only rated for 35amp... not good. We are in process of getting the fix quoted, including possibly upgrading to 100amp in the garage. The house panel was 100amp and maxed out, including some quadruple tapped spots, and in general the house had a lot of other sketchy diy wiring. The house is getting upgraded to 200amp, tons of can lights put in, and all of the safety issues brought up to code.

We knew the house had electrical issues going into the purchase at least (although didn't know the extent), but at least the rest of the house was still in pretty original 1960's condition (including pink tub, toilet, and vanity!!) and hadn't been futzed with. We are now doing a whole house remodel ... nothing crazy, but we did get a wall removed to open up the living/dining/kitchen, carpet ripped out and hw floors refinished, new vanity, toilet, sink, and getting the tub refinished in white, painted the kitchen cabinets, new countertops/backsplash and appliances, lots of paint everywhere, and various other things. We are DIYing almost everything that doesn't require a permit. We will post some before and after pictures when we are done!

Good luck with your new home too!

[FFRSpec72]

Thumbing through the latest SportsCar Tamra is smiling back at me on page 18, along with a nice story.

Yes, I just finished going through the article, congrats, well done.

[1932]

In the middle of all the work , do not forget to have FUN doing it!
All the best- Tom

[aquillen]

Nice ring - nice couple - nice thread. Love that you both are 'drivers' and do this together. Enjoyed every bit of your story so far. Keep it up.

Ah - home ownership. Between the 44 cars we've gone through so far since 1974, we've owned (mortgaged) 11 homes. 2 were built in the late 1800's. One had fire damage, another massive smoker damage, current one water damage. All were fixer-uppers except one - new construction condo. Liked the condo the least looking back. But we love fixing, modifying, changing things. That's what made the 818 kit a must. Enjoy everything you do or find something else to do. You only live once.

[xxguitarist]

Our Enkei PF01 wheels & tires are up for sale, so that we can fill the rear flares with a new street setup.
Details here:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...395#post277395

[Hindsight]

Hey Stranger

[xxguitarist]

Hey Stranger

House is coming along, RX8 did awesome at the last event, and doesn't need a ton more work... so now I'm itching to get the 818 back out on the road!

Here's me being a little over-enthusiastic in the RX8 this past weekend. Fun course! Tamra beat me as usual

[Hindsight]

Glad to hear you are back at it and doing well. I hear you about the house work.... I have to try to put the 818 aside a bit to focus on a kitchen remodel. I've been saying that for about 9 months now though......

Great video, by the way! Please do keep us posted on your progress. Miss seeing updates from you and Tamra.

[ben1272]

yeah, I second the 'miss seeing updates from you and Tamra' comment!

[xxguitarist]

We got Bug's new wheel setup on (315/18 rear, 245/15 front, both Rival S), got some more work done on the body, and installed the passenger seat. The matching one is in the RX8 as the driver's seat. Oh well!
We took him out for a short evening drive around town. The lack of windscreen is noticeable! Going to need to make something for that.
We are intending to be at Wicked Big Meet with EFI Logics in a week. We mostly need to do wrap work between now and then.

[Scargo]

Looks great with the big shoes. Will it get Auto-X'd at all? I was wondering about aero. It looks naked. Beautiful but naked.
PS: thanks to youze guys I was pulling 1.35-1.45 G's at Palmer. Not bad for a big-butted hatch?

[ben1272]

Hey! An update! Glad to see it and glad Bug is still breathing.....now looking forward to your race results. Hope all is well with you both!

-Ben

[brian b 36]

Looks really nice I will see you two next week I will be at wbm with my car in the ecs booth

[xxguitarist]

Ben,
Race results this week are the SCCA devens champ tour.. Tamra was in a CM car, I took home 2nd in the RX8 in SSM (moved up classes to get tires), and we picked up a surprise SM codriver/friend for day 2 (who won), and our intended codriver was in SM and won against some serious $ and prep STI/EVOs. Full set of tires for us between all drivers from the weekend!

Video to come.


Brian, See you next weekend!

[RM1SepEx]

Nice job at Devins you two!