GUNS' 818SR Build Thread

[longislandwrx]

What's the diameter of your cooling pipe that runs along the side?

I think mine is thicker hence me having a hard time with the thicker adapter. The thin ones seem like a better fit.

[GUNS]

Hey guys, been a while since I've posted or even worked on the car. I just got back from a short deployment, so needless to say the 818 hasn't been worked on in the last 2 months.

Since I've been back I've been working on the brake/clutch lines. It could be cleaner in places, but overall I'm pretty happy with the result. Any opinions on if I mounted the rear lines too high? I miss-interpreted the manual and I wanted to keep the flex lines away from the axles/suspension pieces. It visually appears that it won't be a factor for the aluminum wheel well. Thoughts?

[Scargo]

I don't like seeing the brake line close to the exhaust. Perhaps the photo gives a false impression of the distance. I'd like to see you add some rubber tubing over the line where the line is near edges on the frame or move it away from those edges. Otherwise it looks pretty good. I still have trouble accepting the master cylinder tilt...

[GUNS]

Yea I was a little worried about the proximity of the lines to the exhaust as well. At most, it's about 2 in way.

[GUNS]

Yea I was a little worried about the proximity of the lines to the exhaust as well. It's not as bad as the pics make it out to be, but it's about 2 inches away.

[Scargo]

My whole focus is a race car. This may be extreme for a street car.
With my STi I worry about power steering lines, oil lines and wiring that are near the exhaust. I've seen a friend's STi catch on fire when the oil lines near the headers couldn't take the heat of constant track use. My STi caught on fire when the up-pipe exhaust sprung a leak and overheated nearby plastic. Everthing was so hot. When I pulled into the pits to get gas it got hotter. So much so that it started burning.
Then there's always the fuel supply and heat, vibration and pressure that's exerted on it. I've found tiny little leaks in my AN fittings that were obvious from either being moist or having collected dust; probably just in time to prevent it from being a big problem. I just read in NASIOC that mounting your aftermarket fuel pressure regulator on the engine is a bad idea. Vibration of the steel ball on the seat will eat up the aluminum seat and cause irregular fuel pressure. I believe it. There's a lot to think about when building one of these.

[Mechie3]

Looks like I'll be relocating my fpr perhaps. Though it seemed to be fine being on my motor the last 5 years.

[Xusia]

fpr?

[Mechie3]

Fuel pressure regulator.

[Scargo]

Looks like I'll be relocating my fpr perhaps. Though it seemed to be fine being on my motor the last 5 years.

Perhaps your motor's perfectly balanced? Perhaps you located it in the engine's feng shui spot of serenity?
Ever ride in a DeHaviland Beaver? I used to be an aircraft instrument tech. I built new instruments for Aerosonic but I also did overhauls on other items. Light aircraft (and more so helicopters) are very hard on instrumentation and controllers. It was required that we use silicone fluid around most pivot points to dampen the effects of vibration and reduce wear. Sometimes more serious solutions were required. My FPR on the STi is on the firewall and I use a silicone filled pressure gauge so it won't self-destruct.

[GUNS]

Scargo, thanks for the advice. I'll look into making up some sort of heat shield or something for that line. The line is also a little close to the exhaust as it runs along the bottom of the rear firewall.

Here's how I did my clutch line. Like others, I did not go below the intake manifold. I followed the driver side rear line and continued toward the trans. I used the stock mounting bracket and installed a Riv-Nut on the frame.

[GUNS]

Got some more work done today. I used the "longislandwrx" method of mounting the shifter. I had to trim the sides of the housing a bit to make the hole align with the trans tunnel, but other than that it worked like a champ!





And with the tunnel cover loosely mounted:




I was able to get the shifter cable to hook up, but I'm not happy with how they are routed coming out of the fire wall. Anybody have suggestions on how to route them? Mine rub on the bottom of the steering u-joint.



Thanks!

[GUNS]

Can't believe it's been a month since I posted an update. I've been busy with work and trips and just haven't been able to put as much time into the build as I would like.

I hooked up all of the fuel lines and vacuum lines and started on the wiring harness. I also did Wayne's de-gas mod as well:



I tried to bleed my clutch today and ran into a slight issue....I think. Without fluid, the clutch pedal snaps to the floor and you have to pull it back up manually. I bled most of the air out and now when you depress the clutch, it goes about half way and it feels like a lot of resistance. I'm afraid it may be a release bearing issue, but everything seemed to go fine on the install so I'm a little baffled. Any inputs?

[metalmaker12]

You still have air in the line I bet. Make sure it is very full, Have a friend pump it and hold to get any air out ,or Vacum bleed it and see if need be.

[STiPWRD]

If it is indeed the clutch release bearing, it may be due to aluminum that has worn away around the surface that the bearing slides on (this is a common problem on high mileage transmissions). The bearing slides on metal that is a part of the transmission housing and sticks out around the input shaft. When it wears away, it can cause the release bearing to bind or tilt - this can lead to an inconsistent feel in the clutch pedal. I actually have this problem with my trans and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why I kept breaking pressure plates and having to replace them. I'll be buying this repair kit:

http://www.42autosports.com/Transmis...ons_p_631.html

I'm not sure how many miles are on your trans but lets hope its just air in your system.

[GUNS]

Metalmaker,

There is definitely still air in the system, but what I'm trying to describe doesn't sound like an air problem. There is enough pressure for the slave cylinder to push on the clutch fork, but it gets to a certain point and stops. With that being said, how much should I be able to move the fork by hand?

Trans has 125k miles on it and worked great before I took my donor apart.

Thanks for the help guys, hoping it's an easy fix.

[Mechie3]

For my shifter cables I used some of the P clamps to route the. Anything that can vibrate will and will eventually wear holes in other things or itself.

[GUNS]

Welp, I put the clutch bleeding on hold for a bit and spent the long weekend working on the wiring harness. This has definitely been the most daunting part of the build for me. I have very limited experience with electrical work. The obvious choice would be to go with one of the harness solutions provided by vendors here, but as good as the quality looks, I just can't justify the $2k plus price tag.

So with that being said, I decided to try and tackle this myself. I was able to delete the ABS, airbags, and door card wiring. In total it was about 11 lbs:



Anything beyond this looked to me to be too complicated and time consuming to be worth the extra bulk and weight savings IMO. I decided to attempt to install the harness, mostly complete and accept that I will have extra bulk and connectors not connected to anything. So far it looks like a mess, but I'm pretty sure I have identified 99% of the connectors and have connected the ones needing connecting.

I started out by just sort of draping the harness over the frame to figure out of things would be routed:


I then started routing the harnesses as required (with the exception of the section that goes to the Rad/headlights).






I ran the positive battery cable and extended the yellow starter wire that plugs into the connector on the starter. The manual talks about extending two more red starter wires the I guess originate from the fuse box and end up connecting to where the batter cable does. Can anyone elaborate on this? These wires weren't run like this on the WRX correct? The wiring diagram only shows the battery cable and yellow starter wire (as depicted below) What's the need for it now?




Also, where's everyone running their negative cable from the battery? Just attaching to the frame up front somewhere?

Once I'm confident everything is working properly, I'm going to bundle it all up and tuck it away to make it a bit neater

Thanks for the help guys, I'm feeling a bit more confident with this, but still not comfortable.

[metalmaker12]

Looks good man, your doing fine man

[AZPete]

Guns, just do it bit by bit, terminal by terminal, and you'll be fine. I'm electrically challenged and scared of wiring but I tackled the OE harnesses. Last week I finally just hooked up my battery and there was no smoke! Everything works and it's a great feeling! You'll be fine if you take your time and use Mechie3's pics and the wiring diagram.

[tmoretta]

What model Corbeau seats are those? Are they mounted super low?

[jontexas]

Metalmaker,

There is definitely still air in the system, but what I'm trying to describe doesn't sound like an air problem. There is enough pressure for the slave cylinder to push on the clutch fork, but it gets to a certain point and stops. With that being said, how much should I be able to move the fork by hand?

Trans has 125k miles on it and worked great before I took my donor apart.

Thanks for the help guys, hoping it's an easy fix.

I totally couldn't move the clutch fork by hand to actually actuate the clutch. Hooking the engine and tranny back and trying to get the fork and all installed right isn't something I'm especially looking forward to.

[GUNS]

Thanks again for the support. I'm fairly confident I could fiure out the complete harness diet, especially with the help of this forum. Wayne's main selling point for his harness solution is "what's your time worth?" My answer to that is about 20lbs of extra weight and bulk. So I'm perfectly fine with leaving my harness mainly intact....assuming everything works. In addition to my other electrical questions a few posts above, does anyone know what to do with this ground strap? It was included with the fuel electrical components.


The clutch fork install seemed to go fine when I installed it. If I push it towards the front of the car by hand, it has a "springy" feeling to it as if it is working properly. I'll mess with it later, it may just be a pedal adjustment or something.

Seats are FX1 Pros. They are pretty low, but not on the floor. If I remove the bottom cushion, the top of my helmet is pretty much level with the roll bar. Not too happy about that, but not sure what else to do. I don't think mounting them directly to the floor will buy me much.

[07FIREBLADE]

You could gain whatever the thickness of your seat bracket mount by putting the flat stock on top of the seat bracket when mounting the seats that way you don't gain height. What did you use 1/4 steel or 3/8 aluminum? That's what I did for my seat mounts.

[longislandwrx]

Looks like you can cut off the integrated mounts and drop it down another inch or so using the side mounts


Ground strap connects fuel cap to frame.

[Rasmus]

Ground strap connects fuel cap to frame.

That's why I don't rub balloons on my head when fueling up. Zap! (Mythbusters be damned)

[GUNS]

Thanks again for all of the help so far. I've been busy with work and other projects, but hopefully this week I can track down all of the grounds and get some life into this thing.

As far as the seats, I never thought about cutting off the integrated mounts...I might have to try that. Also, to answer the question above, I used 1/4 in steel for the mounts.

[GUNS]

Power!




Next step is to cleanup up a few items to get ready for the first start! After that I'll bundle up the harness and get ready for the first drive.

In prep for the first start, I have a few questions. From what I can tell, the heater core outlets need to be looped, correct? Fortunately, I labeled these when I dissembled. Can you guys verify that what I did is correct? Follow the hose with the blue tape:





Also, anyone know what this goes to?



While looking at the above pic, those supplied fuel line quick disconnects don't seem too secure...is this normal?

Thanks guys!

[AZPete]

I believe that open tube in your last photo is the vacuum line to the brake booster - plug it.

I agree that the white plastic fuel line connectors look cheap and flimsy but they work and don't leak. I've started my engine (Woohoo!) and run it quite a bit with no leaks, gas or otherwise.

[GUNS]

I believe that open tube in your last photo is the vacuum line to the brake booster - plug it.

I agree that the white plastic fuel line connectors look cheap and flimsy but they work and don't leak. I've started my engine (Woohoo!) and run it quite a bit with no leaks, gas or otherwise.

Awesome, thanks for the response!

[Scargo]

LOL... You have the "Green Brackets of Death!" Ditch those.

RE, me saying I blocked off my heater lines: I used a 1/4" pipe tap and plugged my air pump exhaust outlets on the heads when I deleted all that mess related to emissions control.
I did not mean to say I blocked the (water) heater connections in the block. I still run those to the heater in the STi and will have to do the U or similar in my 818. Sorry for my confusion.

[wleehendrick]

I believe I used a 1/4" pipe tap and plugged my heater connections in the block. Nothing fancy/no expensive plates.

I've read blocking the heater core connections can cause overheating; it's recommended to loop them. The kit comes with a U-hose for this.

[GUNS]

I've read blocking the heater core connections can cause overheating; it's recommended to loop them. The kit comes with a U-hose for this.

No U Hose included in my kit. I have a 02 donor if that makes a difference. The pics above shows the hose I used to "loop." Mine looks different than others I've seen on here.

[Scargo]

See my post above. This post can be removed...

[07FIREBLADE]

I also have a 02, I used a coolant crossover off of a 06 so I could loop the lines with the U shaped hose provide with my kit.

[C.Plavan]

LOL... You have the "Green Brackets of Death!" Ditch those.

LOL! Those were the first things I saw and I made "Oooooooohhhhh" sound at the computer screen when I saw them.

[Rasmus]

I weighed those too and posted it on Nabisco:

Sorting through the shed I found an old sin I never weighed properly:


Green Brackets of Death and hardware weight from a 2004 WRX. Whopping 2.130 kg*.

*Yes, I tared out the old sign on which the GBoD sit.

[GUNS]

It's alive!



My Niece came down to act as my crew chief



The first start went pretty well! I do have a small leak in one of the corrugated hoses coming off the lower radiator and I had a fuel leak at one of the injectors. Just replaced with a new O ring and fired it right up!

[Frank818]

Looks like the video is private. Must be a very sexy or porn-like video. lolll

[GUNS]

Fixed, thanks.