FormaCars' 818 Rub Rail Kit

[Doug @ Forma]

With a car as low as the 818, bottoming on things like speed bumps is bound to be a problem. Our 818S wasn't even finished and had only been out of the shop a couple of times to go cart and we'd already scraped it getting on and off the dyno.

We bolted our seats through the frame tubes, as many builders probably do, so the low point in the center part of our chassis was the heads of the bolts holding our seats in. Since scraping the head of our seat bolts on every speed bump seemed bad, we thought creating a rub rail kit was a probably good idea and probably something others would want.

Our 9 piece kit is CNC machined black UHMW which is tough and slick. It starts at the front of the main chassis and wraps around both sides, extending to the rear wheels. Each piece attaches with 3-4 self threading screws (the kit includes enough for 4 per piece) and the properly sized drill bit for those screws is included.

It's easy to install no matter if your car is still in pieces or already complete. And in true FormaCars fashion, everything you need is in the box, and ground shipping to the lower 48 is free.

At $189 shipped to your door it's good protection for your bottom side. Order here.

IMG_20170312_140439.jpgIMG_20170312_140501.jpgIMG_0691.JPGIMG_0692.JPGIMG_0693.JPGIMG_0695.JPGIMG_0703.JPGIMG_0706.JPGIMG_0713.JPG

[AZPete]

Doug, a good idea. Can you tell me the dimensions of the two thicker pieces and the 7 thinner pieces?

[Doug @ Forma]

Doug, a good idea. Can you tell me the dimensions of the two thicker pieces and the 7 thinner pieces?

All the parts are 1.5" wide. There are actually 3 heights because they mount to different surfaces. The goal is to produce an even surface about 3/4" below the lowest mount point, the body at the side.

1. The 3 front parts that mount direct to the chassis are 0.88" tall
2. The long parts along the rockers that mount to the body are 0.75" tall.
3. The two parts at the rear that mount to the engine frame rails are 2.44" tall at the front, tapering down to about 0.50" at the rear.

Let me know if you have more questions.

[Aero STI]

Interesting idea. With all the miles I've never gotten hung up on the underside of the car. Then again, the front and rear of the car are so long I wouldn't even dream of going over something that might do it.

Are they Delrin or UHMW?

[Doug @ Forma]

interesting idea. With all the miles i've never gotten hung up on the underside of the car. Then again, the front and rear of the car are so long i wouldn't even dream of going over something that might do it.

Are they delrin or uhmw?

UHMW Tough and slick.

[tmoretta]

I am interested in protecting the very low oil pan with some kind of skid plate. Any ideas/solutions?

[NBinSD]

Nice kit, great idea!

[Doug @ Forma]

I am interested in protecting the very low oil pan with some kind of skid plate. Any ideas/solutions?

It's a problem we've looked into, but haven't developed a solution for yet. These are low enough, but really too far out to offer good oil pan protection.

[FFRSpec72]

It's a problem we've looked into, but haven't developed a solution for yet. These are low enough, but really too far out to offer good oil pan protection.

Dry Sump

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I am interested in protecting the very low oil pan with some kind of skid plate. Any ideas/solutions?

Tmoretta,
I have not had any issues with the oil pan. The bottom of the pan is above the bottom of the cockpit.
The biggest problem is the front splitter. Not only is it low, but it is pretty far in front of the wheels. You have to be very careful when approaching and kind of incline. Driveways are the worst.

Any kind of oil pan skid shield would have to look like the FFR belly pan but be a lot stronger and heavier.
Bob

belly_pan.jpg

[Mitch Wright]

Rear under tray.jpg
Under tray with a Killerbee sump.

[Kyle @ Forma]

I am interested in protecting the very low oil pan with some kind of skid plate. Any ideas/solutions?

We are using an STI oil pan, which is supposed to be shallower than the WRX one. The rub rails hang lower than the oil pan, which should provide protection from wide obstacles, like speedbumps or a tall person laying across the road.

There are also aftermarket oil pans that are shallower than even the STI one, like those made for swapping the EJ into Volkswagens (Outfront and Smallcar come to mind), or the Killer B that Mitch mentioned.

Nice kit, great idea!

Thanks!

Dry Sump

Always a good solution.

Tmoretta,
I have not had any issues with the oil pan. The bottom of the pan is above the bottom of the cockpit.
The biggest problem is the front splitter. Not only is it low, but it is pretty far in front of the wheels. You have to be very careful when approaching and kind of incline. Driveways are the worst.

Any kind of oil pan skid shield would have to look like the FFR belly pan but be a lot stronger and heavier.
Bob

belly_pan.jpg

Bob, you make a good point. When loading the car into our trailer or going up into the shop, the rear section never seems to be the scary part. The front splitter is always close to scraping, as well as the middle of the floorpan.

Where did that belly pan come from? None of us have ever heard of the FFR belly pan, and we ended up making our own.

Rear under tray.jpg
Under tray with a Killerbee sump.

Dang, that fits well! I didn't realize the Killer B was shallow enough to fit too.

[Mitch Wright]

The KB pan is a deeper sump than my STi pan and on the same plane (maybe a touch below) as the main frame rails. My car is for track only use so I don't have the same concerns as a road car.
I do have a STi pan for sale if any one is in need.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Where did that belly pan come from? None of us have ever heard of the FFR belly pan, and we ended up making our own.

The FFR belly pan came from FFR.
We did cut the hole for oil pan clearance ourselves.

There is a discussion about oil pans on my thread starting here:
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...l=1#post208277

Bob

[07FIREBLADE]

Man I'm jealous of all these "real diffusers" in this thread. Should of swapped mine while I had a chance. Mayne I'll get this skid kit because I can't install your belly pan due to the moroso oil pan being so low

[ben1272]

Do they need to be as thick as you have them? Seems like they are compounding the clearance problem with their own thickness. I would think they could be 1/4" thick and still do the job, no? UHMW is pretty tough stuff.

The kit looks real nicely put together, nice job.

[Chris @ Forma]

Our initial thinking on making it 3/4" (nom. 20mm tall) was that we might be able to improve the underside aero We have not done any testing on the aero effects, so we haven't discussed this as we are pretty careful not to make claims that we can't definitively substantiate. Our intention is to instrument the bottom side of our car and test with and without the rub rails to determine if there is a positive effect (or negative for that matter). Either way, we will report our findings.

[Kyle @ Forma]

Let's make this interesting...

The first person to go to purchase a Rub Rail kit from our website with the coupon code rubrail818 will receive 25% off. All we ask is for some honest feedback on the product.
https://www.formacars.com/store/80010

[07FIREBLADE]

Do you got a discount code for your wipers... Need those more

[tmoretta]

I just installed a sandwich plate below the subie "oil cooler" to allow me to add an external oil cooler. One unintended consequence is that the (very small) oil filter now sits below, the already low, Moroso oil pan. I will definitely have to mount some kind of skid plate to protect the oil pan and filter.

[Kyle @ Forma]

I just installed a sandwich plate below the subie "oil cooler" to allow me to add an external oil cooler. One unintended consequence is that the (very small) oil filter now sits below, the already low, Moroso oil pan. I will definitely have to mount some kind of skid plate to protect the oil pan and filter.

Since you have an external cooler I would ditch the factory oil cooler/warmer, that should help raise the oil filter back up . Subaru part number 15018AA050 is all you need to do this.

[tmoretta]

Is that part # for a replacement center bolt? The bolt provided with my sandwich plate only mates to the factory oil cooler bolt.

[Kyle @ Forma]

Is that part # for a replacement center bolt? The bolt provided with my sandwich plate only mates to the factory oil cooler bolt.

Yepp, it replaces the long factory bolt with a shorter one like so: 15018AA050.jpg

[tmoretta]

Thanks so much.

[07FIREBLADE]

You could also relocate the oil filter since you are installing a external oil cooler. Lines have to be run anyway plus you can get the filter away from the headers.

[07FIREBLADE]

Ok, so as promised I would do a review of the rub rail kit. I got the kit a few weeks ago and finally got around to installing it over this past week. Since I wasn't going to make it the HB show and my car was still torn apart I figured now is as good of a time as ever to get this installed. To start out the communication from Forma was amazing and the part showed up quicker than expected. Everything showed up in a nice box with instructions and individually packaged parts, fasteners, hardware and even instruction manual. The instructions were clear and precise which is a great thing to have even though its not really important for a part like this. Installation took maybe a hour or so but I already had my car up in the air so your time might vary. I would have preferred having a lift to really do any sort of under car drilling but thats just not in my cards at the moment.

One thing that I noticed as you install the kit you install them to the bottom of the side body panels. They fit with the side rockers installed so you dont need to worry about that. There are like a million holes in the kit which I only used 50% of them because some of them overlapped with other holes I had drilled for previous body mounting. The kit is very solid and professional looking. One thing that I would change with the kit is maybe add another piece to go along the back of the passenger compartment where the crossbar goes right in front of the engine. This way the whole belly is braced. They have two larger pieces that are tapered that would compensate for this addition. Its just a personal preference. Also If they had maybe some predetermined notches in the rub kit where common jack stand faces fit into. Something along the rubber/plastic jack points on OEM cars. But instead of a protrusion its a cutout. I know this would add to CNC time but its just an idea.

Overall I would give this kit a 4.5 out of 5. The only knock I have is the price for what you get. I got a better deal because I was going to do a review. Im just looking at the cost of what you get for the price you pay. Its a little rich for my blood and the reason why I grabbed them while I could was because of the discount. I haven't had any problems rubbing and hope I wont in the future. But if I do I know at least Im somewhat protected. One other thing that you might want to take into consideration is if you have to tow your car a lot if these will rub on your trailer or not. I dont have a trailer but the few times I towed with the local Uhaul trailer I would of destroyed these getting on and off the trailer.

[Doug @ Forma]

Thanks for the review. I'm glad you were pleased with the buying experience and kit quality. One of our core missions is well documented, complete, everything-in-the-box kits, to the point that we include self tapping screws and the proper drill bit for using them in this kit.

We deliberately included more holes than were necessary for the very reason you mentioned - we have no idea where the rivets are in each car. By including extra holes, customers should be able to find enough to install the kit and miss their rivets.

You suggestions on adding a rear cross piece and jack recesses are good ones, but I'm not sure we can justify the added cost for those features. I do appreciate your feedback on the price, we looked hard at how to keep that down during development. Keep in mind as well that, as for all of our products, shipping to the continental US is free and because of the weight that adds about 10% to the price.

We haven't had issues with our 818 and the rub rails getting on and off our trailer, but it likely has a shallower ramp than a Uhaul trailer. I doubt that loading on a Uhaul would have destroyed the rails (UHMW is really tough stuff), rather the rails would have done their job of protecting the underside of your 818.

[07FIREBLADE]

The destroying comment came from when I had to trailer my car as a go kart. At the 4.5" ride height I scrapped my way in into the trailer. The UHMW would survive if it was being used as it's intended purpose but if you had to go thru them to get on the trailer that's a different thing. It wasn't intended as a knock on your product at all just a warning for people that have to tow and that's there option to get the job. A flat trailer or where there are no rails to guard from your wheels slipping off shouldn't be a problem like you said with your trailers. Another thing that I just realized was now for my style of jack the front cross will be jacked upon a lot and physically get my jack under this now might be a problem. Easy to fix just an observation from the non lift people.

The other points were just preferences I know their cost prohibitive to add and I do appreciate the free shipping which cuts into your bottom line. I break my eatings into 5 categories: communication, quality of product, installation of product as intended, instructions, and price. If I was to pay full retail I would honestly stick with my 4.5 original rating. You guys nailed this every where for me except price because it's just a little tight right now and it was more of an impulse buy. I don't see myself needing them but you never know.