818C Build - John and Lou - The Woodlands, TX

[TX-Lou]

And so it begins.......

We took delivery of our 818C on Friday (2/5/2016). There is nothing like seeing that big beautiful Factory Five truck rolling down your street.

I took a ton of pictures and video of the unload with my phone only to find out later that none of them saved. My son John was going nuts wanting pictures as he couldn't be there for the unload.

We spent most of the rest of the weekend opening boxes and going through the inventory of all of the parts. There were a number of parts that were back ordered and some missing that should have been in the kit. We have just a couple that we couldn't identify so we'll work on that this week. The manual that is shipped is still the 818S manual so the new front end sheet metal part numbers aren't listed in the manual and weren't in the inventory parts list either. We knew where they went as they looked close enough to the 818S versions that we could make an educated guess.

We were able to get all of the body panels off and the hood, dash, splitter and diffuser pulled out of the interior before we called it a day to go watch the superbowl.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.



- Lou

[Hindsight]

Cool congrats! First time I have seen a delivery in the official FFR truck. Usually it's Stewart Transportation or another carrier. How did you arrange shipping this way, out of curiosity?

[TX-Lou]

Thanks! The delivery was through Stewart. I wasn't expecting the Factory Five trailer but it was nice to see. And our neighbors sure noticed it.

- Lou

[Hindsight]

Very cool - much more pic-worthy than the plain white trailer that most people get. Good advertisement for FFR too.

[redfogo]

I also got a FFR delivery truck, I was extra surprised makes you feel special haha.

[AZPete]

Even better than the FFR truck were the photos of the coupe top like the one I'm hoping to get in March, in white. Congrats on the arrival of your new baby. It will be a wonderful journey!

[THE FURNACE]

Congratulations, the fun begins! I should be picking up my 818 C, during spring break in March. It's approximately a 9 hour journey (one way) from Ontario, Canada. My nephew (Jasl13) and I, are looking forward to a factory tour. I'm currently waiting for paperwork from Transport Canada, before I can bring it past the border. It should take another 2 weeks, if they come good on their 4 - 6 week processing time. Unfortunately, I've dealt with government run departments before. A 4-6 week wait for a building permit took 6 months! I hope TC is more efficient than that, and it all works out.
I'm looking forward to sharing some stories!

Dave

[TX-Lou]

Thanks Guys. Pete, here are two other photos of the Coupe Top that I had. If you want to see anything else just let me know.

The first picture is of the Coupe Top itself sitting on the garage floor. We are going to wrap it in moving blankets, flip it over and hang it from the ceiling of the garage using straps so that it doesn't flex. Right now it is sitting on the steel arms in the front, and on some towels that are propping up the middle of the back. Without the towels the back corners flex with the weight.

The second picture shows where the steel arms are bolted to the chassis.

[SnyderJD]

When I hung my top from the ceiling. I laminated 2 2x6's and lagged them in between the frame. ran 2 2x4's to the back and added a sinlge 2x4 so that it looks like a double i-beam. places a couple of i-bolts through the front and rear and hoist using the frame. you wont put any flex on the top at all. If need be let me know and I can take a photo from underneath.

[TX-Lou]

Sure, I'd love to see a picture of it. If that works out better I'll go that route.

When I hung my top from the ceiling. I laminated 2 2x6's and lagged them in between the frame. ran 2 2x4's to the back and added a sinlge 2x4 so that it looks like a double i-beam. places a couple of i-bolts through the front and rear and hoist using the frame. you wont put any flex on the top at all. If need be let me know and I can take a photo from underneath.

[BN]

Sure, I'd love to see a picture of it. If that works out better I'll go that route.

I like to see that as well

[RMB]

Congrats! Where in The Woodlands are you? I have a MkII Roadster and live in Creekside.

Rob

[SnyderJD]

Here you go...

I used pocket holes to screw the front and rear to the two center 2x4's from there I placed an eye bolt at 4 points within the windows so as not to wrap around the body at all. I have it connected using ratchet straps to anchor points in the ceiling. (a couple of short 2x4 strips lagged to the ceiling with an eyebolts

[BN]

Is there 2 2x6 up front to keep it level Ben

[SnyderJD]

Yes, in the front, I used (2) 2x6 so that I could lag through both of the frame holes.I used a dozen deck screws to laminate them together. If you want, I can get a better photos of the 2x6 part. the only thing I would do is maybe lengthen the 2x4 from front to rear if I did it again, but I was building around the eye-bolts I already had in the ceiling which were originally for my jeep hardtop.

Seemed the like the most efficient and cheap way to hang the top without any flexing stress.

[BN]

Thanks ben

[ram_g]

Very nice - congrats!

Have you given some thought to how you are going to register it in Texas? Are you planning an OBD-2 emissions compliant build?

[TX-Lou]

Sorry, I was traveling yesterday.

SnyderJD: Thanks for the pictures. That looks like a great solution. I don't know that I can do that with the area that we have available but I will adapt something similar.

Rob: We are in Grogan's Point. John and I would love to check out your Cobra at some point. I will PM you our address. If want to swing by on a Saturday you know where we will most likely be....

Ram_g: We are doing this as a street build so the plan is to build with full emissions compliance and annual inspections. Hopefully that works out.

Thanks,
- Lou

[nkw8181]

Allllllllrightythen! Let the fun begain!

[ram_g]

Ram_g: We are doing this as a street build so the plan is to build with full emissions compliance and annual inspections. Hopefully that works out.

Thanks,
- Lou

i hope it does too! I worry about complications with the VIN number of the donor engine as reported by the OBD2 testing machine vs the VIN of your assembled car...that's why I'm favoring a 33 or a Coupe for my 2nd build because those can be registered as emissions exempt replicas, although I really would prefer an 818.

Will be following your progress with interest...unfortunately we live way on the southwest side just about as far from the Woodlands as you can get in greater Houston, else I'd have invited myself over.

Ram

[TX-Lou]

Ram,

I know there have been issues with registration in the past. There are a few options that we can look at if it proves to be a problem for us. I'll post how things are going on that front when we get to that stage but those issues are a long way away right now.

If you are going to be up in our neck of the woods at some point and want to see the build just PM me.

- Lou

[Frank818]

There is nothing like seeing that big beautiful Factory Five truck rolling down your street.

How about driving your own 818C?
Time will come. A lot of time, though. lolll

Welcome and let's see all the tricks you'll come up with during your build! Always facinating to compare each other's solutions and tricks.

[TX-Lou]

Been a busy few weeks. We haven't had as much time to work on the car as we would have liked but we did get started. We completed our inventory, hung the coupe top, built a workbench that folds into the wall and got started on the mounting the first few sheet metal pieces.

The solution that we came up with for hanging the coupe top was similar to what SnyderJD did. We hung the front by the mounts. We also put a 2x4 between the two mount points for stability and to make sure there was no flex or twist. I doubt there will be but better safe then sorry. As for the rear end we are suspending it by a 2x4 that the round sections coming from the coupe top are sitting on. We thought the way we did it was a little safer in terms of supporting the weight.



Here we are just getting started.



We are doing it with rivnuts instead of rivets. There was a bit of learning curve in using rivnuts that cost us some time. We accidentally had the rivnut tool setup so that the screw wasn't all the way through the rivnut before crimping. After having to remove a redo a few we figured it out and then got on a roll.

We are taking a welding class this weekend as it has been 30 years since I've done any welding and John hasn't done any yet. Should be fun.

- Lou

[AZPete]

I am so envious! I had lots of fun building, driving, upgrading and then selling a FFR roadster. Now I'm ready to license an 818S, to be upgraded soon to 818C. All good, but your father/son build will be MUCH more rewarding than either of my builds. I wish I could have built a car with my son but it just didn't work out. Enjoy your journey!!

[TX-Lou]

Thanks Pete!

- Lou

[nkw8181]

looking good!

[TX-Lou]

Not much to report as we are missing parts that we need to move forward.

I did want to take second to thank Wayne and BC for their time and great advice. We were on vacation in Destin, FL last week so we took the opportunity to drive up to Wayne's shop in Enterprise, AL. We had worked it out with Wayne before hand as we were picking up a new radiator and his shifter setup. Wayne and BC showed us BC's 818S that they were working on. They also showed us the orange 818 that Wayne brought to SEMA. That is a beautiful car to see in person.

Thanks again for your time and advice!

- Lou

[TX-Lou]

Sorry to family and friends that have been looking for updates. We did receive the missing "critical path" parts from Factory Five that we need to really get moving forward.

Since then we have:

• Mounted the Pedal Box Mount Bracket
• Completed the front firewall installation and sealing.
• Installed our new STI Aluminum Lower Control Arms
• Setup and installed the front Upper Control Arms
• Greased all of the fittings in the ball joints and Upper Control Arms
• Hooked the Driver's side knuckle into the Upper and Lower Control Arms

This weekend we are hoping to complete the front suspension including the Willwood rotor and brake assemblies.

Here are some pictures from right after we completed the installation of the front firewall. Thank God for our pneumatic riveter!



I'll post more pictures after this weekend.

[TX-Lou]

We decided to go ahead and replace all of the bearings in the knuckles. We had a local shop press out the old ones and install the new bearings and seals.

Last weekend we were able to move ahead and get the front suspension installed. We:

• Installed both knuckles
• Built and installed the Wilwood Rotors and calipers
• Installed the upgrade Koni 3012 shocks

Here are some pictures:



This weekend we hope to get the steering rack and tie rods installed.

Next weekend John and I will be attending the FFR 818 Build School class in Michigan.

- Lou

[07FIREBLADE]

Looking great is that the $2000 upgrade option for the shocks? Attending the build school should be fun wish I was able to do this before building my car. Im currently working on the engine portion of their iWire harness. We are trying to get it done for you class next week. Its going to be a mission but we are up for it.

[TX-Lou]

Thanks Fireblade, we are looking forward to the class and I'm glad they will be using an iWire harness. We are going to go either with the iWire or VCP harness so it will be nice to see how that works out.

As for the upgrades, we went back and forth trying to decide if we should just put the base 818 together with mostly donor parts and then upgrade down the road, or upgrade for the build. In the end we decided to upgrade for the build. It is way more expensive up front but I'm glad we are doing it this way. I can already see that it would be no fun pulling this car apart to try to upgrade stuff later. We are putting a lot into upgrades for the engine, suspension, and other performance aspects of the car.

- Lou

[07FIREBLADE]

I'm bias and would say iWire. You get a true plug and play harness that's made specifically for your build. I'm getting mine redone from the original 1 piece harness to the new modular setup and 3 fuse boxes to accommodate the new front and top conversions. We've only done about 55ish builds to date and have done every combination of build too. If you decide to get it you truly won't be disappointed and tell Brian that you saw it at the build school.

[TX-Lou]

I'm bias and would say iWire. You get a true plug and play harness that's made specifically for your build. I'm getting mine redone from the original 1 piece harness to the new modular setup and 3 fuse boxes to accommodate the new front and top conversions. We've only done about 55ish builds to date and have done every combination of build too. If you decide to get it you truly won't be disappointed and tell Brian that you saw it at the build school.

How long does it take to make an iWire harness? How far in advance do I need to send the donor harness in?

[07FIREBLADE]

We can accommodate but it's 6 weeks but if that doesn't fit your schedule just let Brian know. We are doing the build school and we had to get that out in less than a week. For you guys to use it next weekend.

[TX-Lou]

This past weekend we "completed" the front suspension install. I say "completed" because the passenger side of the steering rack didn't come out the way we wanted it to. We used Mechie's mount bracket but that wasn't the problem.

The problem was the half round, half square bushing on the passenger side. The bottom of that bushing is square and the shape isn't just in the exterior rubber. The bushing is "filled" so that it is square on the bottom throughout. When we mounted the rack it compressed the bushing but not nearly enough. You can see the angle that the rack is sitting at in the picture below. To resolve it we ordered new bushings for both sides. The new ones are polyurethane and look to be the correct shape. They also come with new brackets. The donor bushings and brackets were worn and they were starting to go anyway.

We also installed our new inner and outer tie rods, the sway bar from the rear of the donor, and the FFR links for the sway bar that connect to the lower control arms. John had painted the sway bar red with the black writing of 818C in the middle. Unfortunately it got scratched up pretty good when we put it in. We will have to touch up the paint on it.

Other issues we encountered concerned the donor mounts for the sway bar. I'm guessing we didn't keep the originals because what he had with our donor parts were mounts that weren't flush where the bolts go. They were at an angle. We did have bushings that fit and we were able to bend the mount brackets in a vice to get them to work.

Here are some pictures....



- Lou

[nkw8181]

Nice! Keep at it one part at a time

[Mechie3]

Several people have switched to generic (prothane?) bushings and mounts for the swaybar. Fit much better. I think I have a link in my build thread.

I forgot to ask what year steering rack you had. There are some part numbers in the original steering rack group buy thread for the 05+ bushing and clamp.

[nkw8181]

I have yet to put the sway bar in. If you do you're one step ahead of me

[TX-Lou]

Thanks Nolan.

Craig, no problem. The donor was an 04' WRX Sedan. Your mount looks great and is solid.

Here are the bushings I ordered. They arrived yesterday but the brackets were not included.

Whiteline KSR202

- Lou

[Mechie3]

These are the Subaru parts (newer style bushing and clamp).

06 Style Bushing:
ADAPTER GEAR BOX PIPE
Make: Subaru | Part#: 34115FE020
List Price: $10.43
Your Price: $7.76

06 Style Clamp:
CLAMP GEAR BOX PIPE
Make: Subaru | Part#: 34166FE060
List Price: $6.50
Your Price: $4.84