Just back from wrap.

[coloskydiver]

These are just phone pics and will post up some better pics once the headlight lenses and front spliter goes on.

[wallace18]

Wow! looks great!

[07FIREBLADE]

Very nice. How much did this cost just so others have a ball park when they are shopping around.

[Mark Dougherty]

well done

[Hugues]

Very nice.

Question: i haven't been around the forum for long. Can a FFR body be wrapped without much preparation work. I mean the new ones with gel coat. Or the same polishing work need to be done as if it were going to be painted ?

[GT Trooper]

That looks really good.

[flynntuna]

Ditto looks super.

[coloskydiver]

Thanks everyone, I am really happy with the way it turned out and looks better in person. Once I get some loose ends ties up i will take some more pictures with a nicer camera. Over all the cost with out tax was around $2500 and that included taking the doors, trunk and engine cover off to wrap, plus the additional design pieces i wanted. It will save you a lot of money if you fit the body and then take it apart to get wrapped but be careful of direction vinyl colors. It also will need some body work as most imperfections will show through the vinyl. I had the old nose and upgraded to the new but was amazed at the mold line in the front fenders that needed to be sanded and then body filled to smooth everything out. For me I may still pain the car and since the body work is done, it should be fairly easy once i am done with the wrap. The other thing is it is not as durable as paint. I already has some peal due to a rub when opening the engine cover (hinged) back and it rubbed against the trunk. All it all, well worth it and easy to repair.

[DSR-3]

Very nice! Thanks for posting. Enjoy it!

[Frank818]

Wow awesome design! And your panels gaps are perfect!! I couldn't make it that perfect on the rear wheel upper side sail.

What bolts did you use for the headlights' lenses?

[associator]

What wing is that on the back end? It's not the "street spoiler" from FFR is it? I thought that was just a lip

[Hindsight]

Looks awesome! I bet the wing is from a Tiburon?

[iblackwe]

I think that wing is from a toyota celica, just my guess!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hey Ron,
The car looks great. Did the new front end go on easier than the original?

I like to continue to hear info about the wrap, as I see that in our future.

I would go with the Tiburon guess.
13092134_1003478393075412_7436011593213630896_n.jpg

[wirenut]

Wow that looks amazing! I think I'm going to have to get the Tiburon spoiler now. It looks great!

[RetroRacing]

Great job, love the scheme!

[dallas_]

Fantastic looking car. Great job!

[ehansen007]

That looks amazing! First I've seen silver and with the new nose! Great job man. It's hard to wrap these cars. Did they do at good job around the rear air intakes?

[coloskydiver]

I took today and tomorrow off to play with my car. Today was a search for some good photo shoot locations and tomorrow is a track day at High Plains Raceway here in CO. First, to answer some questions. For my lenses, I just used silicone. I first painted a black line on the inside on the lens to hide the body underneath and just lain a nice bead of silicone and filled in the gaps. The silicone is easy enough to cut through if i ever need to remove the lens and personally didn't like the look of a fasteners in the lens. It still needs a bit of touch up but will work just fine. On the wrap itself, there are some seams that were needed to be done due to the contour of the body. One of the reasons i went with a lighter color and a matte finish. This is an Avery wrap material in a matte silver metallic. Lighter colors hide the seams better and as well as some of the imperfections. I will however state that if you want to wrap your car, it needs to be as smooth as possible. It shows everything underneath and even to point of where you can see where i applies some primer. You can see the line.

The wing is off of the Tiberon. I think it is a 2001-2003 but someone correct me if i am wrong. I think i found one on ebay for like $150 and I now have a third brake light.
Here are some nicer pics from today right outside of Castle Rock, CO.

[wirenut]

So dope. Just so dope.

Can't wait to get mine to this point.

[Mitch Wright]

Man the car looks great. I use to live in Parker, CO out in the Pinery hope to be able to move back after retirement.

[WIS89]

Car looks great! The wrap, and the colors you picked look fantastic.

I especially like the small accent pieces you made.

Nicely done!

Regards,

Steve

[Frank818]

For my lenses, I just used silicone.

These look like fasteners on the lenses, 3 per lens. Don't they?


Other question, what did you do to make the rear deck lid flush with the engine cover and side sails? Mine is higher cuz it sits on the lower lip of the engine cover, did you grind off the car's width on the rear deck lid to make it lower?

[coloskydiver]

Frank, in this picture the lenses were not installed yet and are just the fasteners that came with the new front end to hold the headlight buckets. I painted both the headlight buckets and the front grill black. On the rear I just sanded down the edges of the deck lids until they sat flush.

[icky]

How did it do at HPR?

[coloskydiver]

It went very well. Car performed very well and was amazed at the amount of grip. Heat was a bit of an issue and was wondering on these engines what is too hot and when to shut it down. I ran four 6 lap sessions with a cool down lap and when pushing it toward the end of the 6th temps we reaching 220. Is this too hot or in range? My best time at HPR was a 2 Min 15.8 sec based off of a phone app and here is the video of what I think is my fastest lap.

[Wayne Presley]

220 is too hot. What radiator are you running?

[coloskydiver]

I am running the Mishimoto radiator with their fans/shroud and your water to air system. I have the cooling mod and engine bay is well ventilated. The entire exhaust system is wrapped with titanium header wrap. Only one fan comes and was told that the second fan only come on when the AC is on and most of us have no AC. The fan comes on at 200 degrees. Can I wire the two fans together and would there be any issue with the wiring harness ( too much draw)? I also have all three vents on the under noise aluminum opened up. Any help ideas to run cooler would be greatly appreciated. Also, what temp should you start to shut it down ?

[Hindsight]

Each rad fan has its own relay. The ECU turns the fans on by grounding each relay. I don't know if the second fan only turns on with AC or not, but I know the ECU controls them both. I added a switch on my console that grounds both relays so I can turn both fans on high. However, even though I did this and had them running full time while I was at the track, I still overheated.

I've heard the issue can be the water pump you are using. Apparently the cast impeller pump version works much better than the stamped steel kind. If you google Subaru water pump cast impeller, you'll see a bunch of threads on various forums about it.

My plan is to ensure I have ducting sealing the radiator off to ensure air is forced through it, and to upgrade the water pump to the cast impeller version.

[associator]

I didn't read through your build thread but my old 240sx had a bit of an over heating problem as well. I solved it with a DIF fan controller replacing the normal fan relay so I could control the temp both fans kicked in at, the first at the normal temp and the second kicked in about 5* before it got too hot. Use coolant that is a bit more water than anti freeze or straight water if you are in a climate that's ok with it, water is far more efficient than coolant is regardless of the type. Couple that with a good external oil cooler and it may help bring your temps down. And like hindsight said the pump and ducting will be a big help.

I would imagine the problem is that the factory water pump is being a bit over stressed by how far it has to send the coolant, on that note I think under driving the water pump now sounds like a bad idea I'll have to remember that, it wasn't made for hoses to run the length of the vehicle and it could just be a bit much for it. I'd be interested to see if the STi or any of the JDM models have a different pump that flows better, or if like hindsight says the bests option is to use the cast version

[DMC7492]

I am running the Mishimoto radiator with their fans/shroud and your water to air system. I have the cooling mod and engine bay is well ventilated. The entire exhaust system is wrapped with titanium header wrap. Only one fan comes and was told that the second fan only come on when the AC is on and most of us have no AC. The fan comes on at 200 degrees. Can I wire the two fans together and would there be any issue with the wiring harness ( too much draw)? I also have all three vents on the under noise aluminum opened up. Any help ideas to run cooler would be greatly appreciated. Also, what temp should you start to shut it down ?

Here is a link to some fan control on NASIOC. If your running the stock ECU, Romraider can be used to set points can be modified to run both fans. Study the charts and you'll see what need to be changed to run both fans when AC is off.
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1828462

[wirenut]

I was told by Brian with iWire that I can adjust the fan setting with the Cobb Access port also.

If I have the Acessport does anyone see a benefit to grounding the relays and installing a switch?

[David Hodgkins]

PLEASE submit some of those photos for POM! $250 gift certificate from FFR to our monthly winner and we need 818's!

[SingleMaltWSKY]

A++ on the wheel selection too. What a great looking car. Nice job.

Jonas

[Frank818]

PLEASE submit some of those photos for POM! $250 gift certificate from FFR to our monthly winner and we need 818's!

I agree the pix are awesome, he's gonna win for sure. But what is POM?

[flynntuna]

POM picture of the month .

Ditto, the car looks great!

[coloskydiver]

Pictures submitted

[brat86]

I live in La Veta and am planning on getting a 818c and would like to talk to someone in Colorado who has built an 818. yours looks beautiful, by the way. If you would be willing to talk to me , it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Lee. i don't know exactly how to go about actually talking to you. Can I post my phone #?

[Wayne Presley]

Brat, click his name and send a private message