GUNS' 818SR Build Thread

[Xusia]

Did you buy the 10' section or the 50' roll?

[07FIREBLADE]

How much of the ez cool did you use sq ft?

[GUNS]

Xusia,

I bought the 10ft roll and that should be plenty for what I plan on using it for. 50ft would be a ton of this stuff!

Fireblade,

I think each half used about a 23in x 23.5 in square and then I trimmed as required. Roughly 8 sq ft. total.

[FFRSpec72]

I bought the 10ft roll and that should be plenty for what I plan on using it for. 50ft would be a ton of this stuff!

I used it in my challenge car and will say I won't use it again, does not hold up, so will go w/o this for my R build

[GUNS]

How are you guys passing the throttle cable through the firewall? Manual says to drill a 1/4 in hole through the firewall and pass the cable through. Only problem is all of the hardware on the cable ends are >1/4 in. Maybe I'm dumb, but I can't figure it out other than drilling a much larger hole or disassembling the cable. Also, once the cable is through, how are you guys routing the cable? Thanks.

[waruaki]

I don't recall the size of the top hole it just needs to be big enough to squeeze the crimped ball at the end of the cable through. The bottom ended up being a U letter drill .368 I believe the picture shows our cable placement. the cable lays in the tunnel then over the top of the tank and across the motor to the throttle body.




P1000915a.jpg

[GUNS]

Thanks waruaki, that helped immensely!

Here's what I did. I drilled a 1/2" hole (manual says 1/4") in the firewall and had to punch the ball and plastic crimp through the hole:



I then used a 3/8" E-Clip from lowes to act as a washer for the cable to attach to the firewall:



I then drilled another 1/2" hole to allow the cable to pass through the trans tunnel.

[GUNS]

Well today is officially 1 year later from when I started tearing down my perfectly good WRX to prep for this project. Even though it's taking a while, I'm still having a blast and learning a lot as I go. So far I have 206 hours into this project, including the WRX teardown.

So here's what I got done today. I finally riveted the interior aluminum. I postponed this until I was comfortable that I wouldn't need to make any changes. I'm glad I did, because it wasn't until recently that I learned there is a coolant tube cover that someone else discovered. The manual does a good job of getting you started and then just moves on to something else. It is definitely incomplete.

Here's the passenger side. The driver side looks the same. I decided not to powder coat it since I plan to cover it in carpet. I did however give it a coat of Sharkhide to hopefully protect it from corrosion.



I also put the fuel tank together using a DW200 fuel pump. It was kind of a PITA to install, but I finally got it to fit just right. I test fit a layer of EZ cool on the bottom of the tank to aid in sound deadening and heat (another stolen idea).



The manual says to rivet the lower firewall to the floor pan. I don't like this idea as it will essentially permanently install the fuel tank. I think I'm going to go with an nut & bolt setup instead in order to have the option to remove the fuel tank if I ever need to.



Depending on my work schedule, I'm hoping to install the engine/trans this coming week.

[GUNS]

ok guys, need a little help with mating the trans and engine back together. I've got everything lined up and all bolts threaded, but I'm getting a lot of resistance from the bolts as I get the trans & engine close. I fear that I've already done some damage to the threads and don't want to do anymore.

Any ideas?

[Erik W. Treves]

I had/have the same issue....I just went slow and it finally went in. I also put a socket on the crank and rotated that while I tried to line it up...it never did slide in like I am use to.

[kkotecki]

ok guys, need a little help with mating the trans and engine back together. I've got everything lined up and all bolts threaded, but I'm getting a lot of resistance from the bolts as I get the trans & engine close. I fear that I've already done some damage to the threads and don't want to do anymore.

Any ideas?

my guess is would be the trans output shaft that is splinded is not aligning with the splines on the clutch plate. it took some wiggling on mine to put it together. sometimes when you reassemble the clutch and pressure plate there is an alignment tool. I just eye balled center

[GUNS]

Thanks for the response Eric, that makes me feel a little better. I just hate wrenching on bolts that are fighting back. I definitely cross threaded one of nuts that goes on one of the lower studs. The stud actually unthreaded from the bell housing.

[Erik W. Treves]

Well you might need to back the tranny off and wiggle and try and poke it back in

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hey Guns,
There are two 10mm alignment pins that are use for the last 1/2" of travel. Are they damaged or corroded?
Bob

[GUNS]

Nope, they are fine and are all lined up.

[Erik W. Treves]

yeah know...I just noticed...you have the starter in ....I typically wait until the tranny is seated before I install the starter. This allows me to move the flywheel ever so slightly to get the clutch disk onto the input shaft of the tranny....

[RM1SepEx]

Mine was a PITA too, it took a ton of wiggling. I'd remove the starter too and work really slowly clamping it together with the bolts.

[Mechie3]

Two of the bolts are longer than the others. I use these to pull the top together without the starter. After it's done and together I remove those bolts, put the starter back in and then bolt it together.

[metalmaker12]

Two of the bolts are longer than the others. I use these to pull the top together without the starter. After it's done and together I remove those bolts, put the starter back in and then bolt it together.

Exactly how I do it, it works well.

[GUNS]

Thanks for the advice guys. I got it very close to sealing by slowing tightening each bolt and just when i thought I had it, one of the bolts stripped. So I took removed all the bolts, released the fork and bearing and tried to back the trans off the engine...and now it's stuck. I have a good couple of inches of separation from the bell housing to the engine, but it won't budge. I can wiggle around a bit, but it seems like the output shaft is hung up. I tried using a pry bar, but it only goes so far before I get a lot of resistance. I'm really hoping I didn't cross thread the splines or anything. Any ideas?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Guns
If you have a couple of inches between the engine and transmission, you can loosen the clutch cover bolts. The will allow the clutch disk to float and should let you pull off the transmission.
See if someone else replies here also to see if my suggestion makes sense.
Bob

[GUNS]

Thanks Bob. I actually just did that. Got the trans off and looks like I did indeed cross-thread the splines, so now the clutch/pressure plate are stuck on the output shaft. I need to figure out how to get those off and assess how badly I damaged the output shaft. Suck.

[Mechie3]

What style of clutch? If it's a pull clutch, the bearing might have already locked onto the pressure plate. you'll have to remove teh plug on the side of teh trans near the fork and release the fork from the bearing.

[GUNS]

What style of clutch? If it's a pull clutch, the bearing might have already locked onto the pressure plate. you'll have to remove teh plug on the side of teh trans near the fork and release the fork from the bearing.

Yea, i had already released the bearing. Not sure if maybe it got stuck on the pressure plate, but from what I can see i don't think it did.

[GUNS]

Welp, I learned some lessons the hard way, but I was lucky that there was minimal damage. Turns out the I did cross-thread the output shaft and clutch splines which essentially fused the clutch disk to the output shaft. The clutch had to get torched to be removed, but the splines on the output shaft were not damaged. So in the end I got away with just needing a new clutch disk...could have been much worse. So as advice to anyone else doing this, make sure you use a clutch alignment tool. I did not the first time around which lead to my "issue." Because of the miss-alignment, I also stripped the threads in the engine block. I had to install Heli-Coils in all holes.

With that being said, I finally got everything back together and got the engine & trans installed:





The install was pretty straight forward due to the advice of others.

I was also able to get the radiator installed and plumbed.



Even with using the sifter bushings as spacers for the bottom of the radiator, I still had clearance issues with the lower Rad hose and the steering rack boot. So I installed a simple hose clamp that hold the corrugated hose up just enough to clear (hard to tell in the pic, but there's about 1/4 in of clearance):



I struggled with the hose adapters for a bit until I figured it out. The hose adapters come with sleeves. Remove the larger diameter one and discard. This is where the corrugated hose will go. Use plenty of dish soap to help get them on.

[GUNS]

(continued)

I also recommend connected the inner sleeve to the steel tube while it's off the car. Install the inner sleeve first and then install the outer portion. I made the end of the tube flush with the inner sleeve to leave enough room for the corrugated tube.





Here it is all done:

[FFRSpec72]

FFR's radiator hose setup is nasty on the Cobra and it is nasty here also, which they would learn

[metalmaker12]

Not to tell you to move the drivers front flex line, but it should go on the inside of frame and the aluminum wheel wells. They are rather thin and can get damaged easy.

[GUNS]

Not to tell you to move the drivers front flex line, but it should go on the inside of frame and the aluminum wheel wells. They are rather thin and can get damaged easy.

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at moving it. I wish the manual would have stated where to route them :/

[metalmaker12]

look at my thread and others, pm me anytime man

[GUNS]

Thanks Metal, I appreciate the help. I typically look through threads before starting a new section, but I sometimes miss things. It looks like it should be a relatively easy fix.

[metalmaker12]

Yea it's no biggy, it is looking clean so keep up the good work!!

[nkw8181]

Looks like I found another good build thread that I missed and now must follow. keep up the good work!!

[GUNS]

Re-routed my coolant hoses based on Metalmaker's suggestion. Zip ties are temporary, I'll work some kind of bracket similar to the one above.

[Mechie3]

I bought more of the orange silicone coated P clamps from mcmaster to hold my hoses.

[FFRSpec72]

Re-routed my coolant hoses based on Metalmaker's suggestion. Zip ties are temporary, I'll work some kind of bracket similar to the one above.

I wish there was a better way to do the hoses, as the flex hose does not hold up, as after a year on the track with my challenge car I had to replace all the stock flex hose, lucky with the challenge car I could find real hoses that worked, but here with the run so long it will be impossible, someone just has to make something

Is that the stock WRX fan on the radiator ?

[Erik W. Treves]

the hose on driver's side at the back it too far back, it will run into the wheel well aluminum if you install it. I cut about 6 inches off the end of the aluminum tube so the coupling is where you have the clamp.

[Mechie3]

I wish there was a better way to do the hoses, as the flex hose does not hold up, as after a year on the track with my challenge car I had to replace all the stock flex hose, lucky with the challenge car I could find real hoses that worked, but here with the run so long it will be impossible, someone just has to make something

Is that the stock WRX fan on the radiator ?

Mike everson made some bent hard lines that replace all flex hose. He has a thread in the general 818 section with details.

[GUNS]

Erik, thanks for the point out. I noticed that too and was planning on trimming it down if needed.

[FFRSpec72]

Mike everson made some bent hard lines that replace all flex hose. He has a thread in the general 818 section with details.

Look real nice, but expen$ive (more that I can afford) ! Time to go to my roll cage builder and have him bend some aluminum tubing, even better may be a long run of the Gates Green Stripe® Wire Inserted Coolant hose would be better than the FFR setup and you don't have to worry about all the connections and hose clamps and @ about $10 foot still cheaper.