The "Mistress" 818S Build

[coloskydiver]

I have been more of a lurker that a participant, so figured I would post up some pics of my build so far. I received my kit June of this year but had my donor bought in Sept 2014. Here is a list of the parts on my build.

2.5L Hybrid build
new 2014 STI 2.5 block
2.0L heads machined for 2.5 combustion chamber, decked and rebuilt by Equilibrium Tuning
Hybrid master gasket set
New timing set, Gates racing belt
Perrin Inlet tub
Cobb short ram intake
Cobb 1000CC injectors
Cobb electronic boost controller
Kinugawa 20G turbo with billet 9 blade compressor
Kinugawa ceramic coated equal length header
ACT 14lb flywheel
Exedy Stage 1 clutch
Rebuilt trans with Legacy GT gearset
Cusco LSD
VCP water to air intercooler
Mishimoto radiator and fan shroud kit
Cusco oil catch can
iWire Harness (still waiting for it)
VCP K-Tuned shifter kit
VCP trailing arms
Wilwood brake kit
Enkei TSP6 18"wheels 18X8 in the front with 5mm spacer & 18X9.5 in the rear with 10mm spacer
Toyo R1R 225/40 in the front and 255/35 in the rear.
NRG steering wheel with 3.0 quick release
Boyds Tank
Corbeau Seats

That is what i can think of off the top of my head.

[coloskydiver]

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[coloskydiver]

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[coloskydiver]

[coloskydiver]

[wleehendrick]

Very nice! Most builds start from day one... I love it when a lurker shows up and throws it down all at once... Boom!
Thanks for posting.

[coloskydiver]

Bob IM'd me with some questions regarding the Kinugawa Ceramic coated EL header and here are the pics (not very good but hope it helps Bob, even if I am a month late). I am very pleases with quality and fitment of this part. As with most EL headers you need a STI oil pan, pickup and dipstick (all available through Flatirontuning.com)





Here is a pick from front to back to show how low the header sits below the frame. Bad cellphone pic but you can get the idea.

[svanlare]

Very nice progress, thanks for sharing the status.

[svanlare]

BTW, are those Evolution or Evolution X seats and what do you think of the fit?

[Hindsight]

Looking great!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Great Job Skydiver
That is what I wanted to see on the EL Headers.
Bob

[Frank818]

Wow, very quick build!!!!!!

It's interesting to see the placement difference of the shifter between a wookie and a small guy (me).

[coloskydiver]

BTW, are those Evolution or Evolution X seats and what do you think of the fit?

Very happy with the fitment. Was able to install them with a nice angle that is comfortable for daily use. Great seats and a good value . Little worried about them being black vinyl with them getting hot in the sun but what ever

[coloskydiver]

Wow, very quick build!!!!!!

It's interesting to see the placement difference of the shifter between a wookie and a small guy (me).

I am 6'3" 190 lbs and fit comfortably but do have Boyd's tank and seat all the way back. The shifter is where it is for when I am fully harnessed in and can shift without moving my shoulder forward. At first I simply had a NRG short hub with a 330mm wheel ( the flat bottom does help for us taller guys) but was too close to the whipper controls on the column. I then added the quick release and it moved the steering wheel more in between my legs and not at my nee's plus it no longer interfered with the whipper controls. Very happy with how I fit in the car for a tall guy and it being a "race car".

[coloskydiver]

I am pretty much ready to fire the car but waiting on my iWire harness ( going on 8 weeks) and was told it won't be done until mid January. Business must be good. It does give me some time to focus on the interior and stereo in the car. Like quite a few, I will be using an iPad mini for stereo and found a lightning to RCA cable that will go into a 5 channel amp. The amp will be a mounted under the seat or under the dash and all my speakers are marine grade speakers including the sub. I found a shallow mount sub that is 6.75" that I hope to make an aluminum box and mount it on the shelf on the firewall between the seats. More to come.

[wleehendrick]

I am pretty much ready to fire the car but waiting on my iWire harness ( going on 8 weeks) and was told it won't be done until mid January. Business must be good.

Yeah, Brian's got a bit of a backlog, like half a dozen harnesses at least. I just sent him a deposit to secure my spot in line (early Feb).

[coloskydiver]

Got the exhaust put together today. I can't take the credit at all but am happy how it turned out.




It is Kinugawa bell mouth, all 3", Magnaflow high flow cat and 5" body Magnaflow race muffler

[coloskydiver]

Making some good progress but sometimes it seems like it is two steps forward and then one step back. When doing a project like this, it is easy to say I don't need to do that now or the stock ones will be fine. You always end up paying the price with additional parts and a bunch more time when you could have just done it right the first time.

I ended up replacing the wheel studs with longer ARP Wheel studs for both strength and length since I am having to run wheel spacers to avoid any rubbing. This is something that I should have done when I had the entire hub disassembled and replaced the wheel bearings. I was hoping that I would have to remove everything but I was wrong. Had to disassemble all four corners, press out the hub, press in the new studs and then press it all back together with out damaging the new bearings. Then of course put it all back together. The rear worked out because I needed to replace rear lateral links as well because the stock ones were bent (donor car was in a rollover) and thought that was how they were supposed to be since the bends on both sides were identical. Installed the new ones when I put the rest of the suspension in but took some work getting everything to fit properly. The alignment on this car is way off and has way to many adjustments needed to get it where is needs to be. I am thinking that this is something I will have someone else do.

I also ended up replacing the engine and trans mounts with a set of Cusco mounts that are almost solid. The stock mounts allow the engine to move a bit to much and I have no idea how many miles where on them. This was truly a case where I thought the stock ones would be fine and should have replaced them while the engine was still on its stand. It was good that I replaced them because as I was removing the nut off of the trans mount, the stud broke. The mounts are way better and was very impressed with the design. The last project I started this last week was the stereo. My plan is to run an iPad Mini as my stereo (Pandora, Nav and track apps) and was able to get the amp mounted, front speakers mounted, sub box made and mounted and ran most of the wires. I ended up mounting the amp under the dash to keep it dry, hard to see and will still let get to it for adjusting gain etc. For the fronts I am running a 5-14" Kickers (marine grade), 3" Crunch waterproof motorcycle speakers (small and easy to mount), a 6-3/4" Kicker shallow mount sub (Marine grade) and all powered by a Cyrwin (??) Vega 850 watt 5 channel stealth amp.

***Written for another forum****

[STiPWRD]

I know what you mean about the whole 2 steps forward one step back deal, I've experienced it several times myself. But are you sure the bearings have to be pressed apart to change out the studs? I thought there was enough room on the front if you remove the dust cover and in the rear if you unbolt the backing plate and angle it - the old studs could be knocked out and the new ones could be pulled through with a nut and some washers?

I did the same thing you did, replaced all my wheel bearings and kept the old studs. I was waiting to fit the body to see if I needed spacers and longer studs. Btw, your build looks great. The motor I'm building looks very similar color scheme wise and is also an sti block.

[coloskydiver]

It has been a while since I have updated my thread but works does continue. Progress slowed a bit while waiting for my harness from iWire but a special thanks to Brian for putting out such a high quality product and the support that came with it. I was very impressed with the harness and it was pretty much plug and play. I had to button up a few items but then it was ready to fire. I got the car fired up for the first time on Tuesday and everything worked perfect except for a bowed flange on the oil drain tube on the bottom of the turbo. After warming up it started to leak fairly bad and needed to pull the turbo to do so. The oil drain tube needed to be replace and got everything back together. Got the coolant system bled but did make a mess doing so, hence the steam in the video. Thing runs like champ and I have been able to put about 10 miles on her so far shaking the car down. I would like to get another 10-20 miles on it before starting on the body. Here is a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i8h...c34TMMAL9sXNtg

[wallace18]

Nice Job! Engine has great sound to it!

[chedda]

That's awesome! I want to go for a spin in it. I'm off of 225 and mississippi. I'm getting close to go-kart-able

[Hindsight]

Wow, that was REALLY fast. Nice job. You made it look easy.

Saw you trying to hold back a giant sh*t eating grin when you got into the boost on that test drive

[metros]

Is that the turbosmart BPV along with Wayne's VCP AWIC set up? How did you route the bpv back into the intake tract? What type of hose and where did you find it?

Looks fun

[coloskydiver]

Metros- i am pretty sure it is the stock house and is a Wayne's AWIC setup/ BPV. It is pretty fun tearing around in go-kart but scary at the same time. Chedda, I am off Hamden and tower, so close. Your project has come a long way in a short period of time. Looks awesome and can wait to hear it run.

[Louisromersh]

Great Job coloskydiver! It looks a lot of fun, I'm glad to see the Colorado Projects come along so fast. And Yes Chedda that does apply to you!

[K3LAG]

Looking great! I remember the day we go-karted for the first time. Great feeling of accomplishment.

Larry

[iWire]

It has been a while since I have updated my thread but works does continue. Progress slowed a bit while waiting for my harness from iWire but a special thanks to Brian for putting out such a high quality product and the support that came with it. I was very impressed with the harness and it was pretty much plug and play. I had to button up a few items but then it was ready to fire. I got the car fired up for the first time on Tuesday and everything worked perfect except for a bowed flange on the oil drain tube on the bottom of the turbo. After warming up it started to leak fairly bad and needed to pull the turbo to do so. The oil drain tube needed to be replace and got everything back together. Got the coolant system bled but did make a mess doing so, hence the steam in the video. Thing runs like champ and I have been able to put about 10 miles on her so far shaking the car down. I would like to get another 10-20 miles on it before starting on the body. Here is a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i8h...c34TMMAL9sXNtg

Glad to hear it started and more importantly you're happy! Congrats!

[chedda]

Thanks guys! Maybe we can meet up. I do have some questions on certain things.

Brian, nice work on the harness. I can't wait to send you mind

[iWire]

Thanks guys! Maybe we can meet up. I do have some questions on certain things.

Brian, nice work on the harness. I can't wait to send you mind

Looking forward to it! This must be Mike.

With all of these 818s in CO, might have to make a mini vacation out to visit you guys.

[coloskydiver]

Big day today and milestone in my build today. My self and some friends got the majority of the body on. The three of us started at 8 and got it to this point by 6 pm, with an hour lunch. The body did fight back but got it done. The panels will defiantly need some messaging and will need to let it sit out in sun for while. Still a lot to do but it's good to finally see a car after this entire build process.

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[G_Hodgkins]

SO SICK! congrats

[chedda]

Looks fantastic! Good job!

[Frank818]

Looks great man!

[coloskydiver]

I got the car aligned to day and ran into an issue with getting enough toe out of the steering rack. I moved the lower control arm a bit forward to prevent wheel rub at full lock and changed some of the geometry. The shop said everything fell into spec but the toe and end up using a 2005-2015 WRX (they are longer) inner tie rod but needed to machine the thread down to fit. All in all it worked out but just one more hiccup in the build process. I am running 225's on 18's for the front and with what I have done it all works without any rub. The shop corner weighted the car, set ride height and did what they call an aggressive street set up. The car weighed in at 2010 lbs and 2185 with me in it. I did not have inner door skins on or the inner splash guards on and the car had a full tank of fuel. I am running a water to air inter cooler and have installed decent amount of sound deadening in the cockpit and in the door skins. I am also running a heavier wheel setup but the goal for the car is 70% street and 30% track/ autocross.

I will be picking up the car on monday and will let you know my thoughts.

[coloskydiver]

I have made some progress over the last week or so. Go the car back from alignment and everything is dialed in as it should be and drive much nicer. I was able to get the headlights installed, fenders on and fit with the headlights (One side i got set in 15 minutes and the other side took 3-4 hours, what a hassle) but with the alignment done it was apparent that the front bumper needs to go to the passenger side by about 3/16th of and inch to center the wheels. Hopefully this will solve some of my rubbing with the 18" wheels on the tops of the fenders when I hit a bump. I am also going to try 8mm spacers over the 10mm I am currently running. Right now i have no rubbing lock to lock need to address the tire hitting the fender. Doors are on, battery tray on, radiator aluminum is on and the front wheel wells are installed. I ended up having a cam seal leak (totally install error on my behalf) and am getting it fixed right now and will install the rear wheel wells this weekend. Other than that the plan is get the front aligned, hood, engine cover and trunk to sit right, a little body filler in a few places and then it is off to get wrapped. After it is wrapped it will be off to get the carpets installed and cockpit finished off. Either today or tomorrow I am going to take my first trip to the DMV to try to get temp tags (wish me luck). Here are a few pics as my "Mistress" sits right now.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hi Ron
Great job,
What size tires and rims did you squeeze on?
It looks like your tires only have about 3/4" vertical clearance with the fender edge. Where does it rub if you take out the spacers.
Good luck at the DMV.
Bob

[TouchStone]

Very nice! I'm interested in your rear spoiler. Where did you get it, or how did you make it?

[Hindsight]

Spoiler looks like the same one Aloha 818 used. Can't remember off-hand what it's from... a Tiburon I think.

Nice looking 818.... I like the wheels.

[matteo92065]

Very nice and quick build. I'm just about to buy wheels & tires, and am watching your front rubbing solution. If you reduce the front spacer thickness it will start to rub on frame and aluminum panel. Or have you found the perfect clearance window? Front 18" wheels is a challenge.
Did you leave off any sheet metal? It looks like there is some missing in the inner fender area.