Mechie3's 818S

[Scargo]

It's a thing of beauty! Doesn't look too beefy to me. Nice work. Please turn a custom knob!
One day, I will again have a mill... Perhaps I need a part-time job in a shop? At least, now I have a TIG welder.

[Mechie3]

Finished the top lever. Of course it's titanium. Did you expect anything else? :lol:

[Wayne Presley]

Did you go to PRI?

[Mechie3]

Unfortunately no. Saturday was the only day I could have made it. That morning was booked and that afternoon I sat down on the couch for what was supposed to be a few minutes and woke up a few hours later. Found out the 818 was there and was mad at myself for falling asleep.

[Scargo]

Finished the top lever. Of course it's titanium. Did you expect anything else? :lol:

Yes, slackard. I expected the whole thing to be of Ti! Will knob be made of Unobtanium? What will it look like?

[Mechie3]

I might still go back and make the bottom segment Ti. My scrap pieces are 2 inch OD. Takes quite a bit of time to cut it down to 1/2". Not sure what the knob will look like though it'll likely be titanium. Lol.

[Mechie3]

It warmed up to the high 40's and I got some decent work done this weekend.

Saturday I found another branch of wires that ended up going from the front of the car to the back and to the front in the OEM config. I unbundled this, depinned the connector to separate the wires, move them to the front, and repinned the connector. It's funny that the FFR manual says to add 60" of wire to the windshield wiper connector because it's not long enough. Mine is now about 36" too long before adding any extension. It takes a lot longer to do the wiring the way I did it, but you end up with the least amount of wire while retaining a lot of OEM functionality.

Mounted my shifter as well. Made a cardboard template and drilled the holes. The tunnel tubing is rather thin. When I tightened the bolts it started to crush the tubing (didn't have a washer on it). You can see how much space I have underneath the shifter because I only have 2 bundles of wire running front to back that are both about 5/8" diameter. The OEM harness, if left along, would have a huge bundle of wires. I also decided to relocate the front fuse box from underneath the tunnel rail to on top. The fiberglass center console leaves enough room to mount it vertically and off the side so if it rains in the car it's not sitting in a puddle of water. Also makes it easier to access with a small door on the console.

Template:


Mounted:


Test Fitting Shift Knob:


Space underneath:


Sunday was a day of tying up loose ends. Torqued everything down, put brake pads on, installed the pins for the brake and clutch, and doubled checked everything. Still need to remount the seat and add brake/clutch fluid before I can go-kart. There's snow on the ground anyways so I'm not in a hurry and will continue to modify things as I go. I did find that my clevis for the brakes was bent. Wonder if that happened during the accident since my foot was on the brake pedal during the collision.

It's officially a roller now:


Tonight will likely be a clean up night. The garage has gotten cramped and needs to be reorganized.

[RM1SepEx]

Craig, I hate you! LOL

You've done it again. I didn't do the extra wire work so I have that huge rats nest vs 2 5/8 inch bundles of wire! between the wires and the shifter it's obvious I should spend some more time cleaning up the harness

[Mechie3]

Craig, I hate you! LOL

You've done it again. I didn't do the extra wire work so I have that huge rats nest vs 2 5/8 inch bundles of wire! between the wires and the shifter it's obvious I should spend some more time cleaning up the harness

Don't hate the player, hate the game! hahahahaha!

I was starting to hate myself. Seeing all these other people who got kits after me go karting and metalmaker doing body work and here I am still cutting wires. Finally getting closer to the end. It felt good to actually do some mechanical work on Sunday.

[longislandwrx]

Very nice, don't mount your e-brake yet until you see what I came up with.


on another note, has anyone seen this?

http://www.estopp.com/

Cool for the S guys.

[metalmaker12]

It was worth it, your wiring is much cleaner than mine. Nice work, I just didn't want to dive too deep and cut to much, if I had I would have had to really look over the diagrams like you did. At least I have the experence of fitting the panels to help ya out

[Mechie3]

Very nice, don't mount your e-brake yet until you see what I came up with.

Too late! It's ok, I remounted my shifter Longisland Style, I can remount my E brake too! There's lots of room in between the FFR ebrake location and my shifter now. Enough for cup holders, buttons, eject handle. lol

It was worth it, your wiring is much cleaner than mine. Nice work, I just didn't want to dive too deep and cut to much, if I had I would have had to really look over the diagrams like you did. At least I have the experence of fitting the panels to help ya out

I was worried about cutting too much. It is nice not being a trail blazer since I end up going backwards 1/2 the time when someone else has a different approach that I like better. Definitely using your, Mike's, and Wallace's body fitting info.

[AZPete]

I feel so inferior when Craig posts cool, innovative, beautiful stuff like this! I just try to copy as much as possible with my meager skills and tools, but finally I have created something better than Craig's!


My shift knob has the shift pattern. Take that, Mechie3!

[nkw8181]

Where did you get your bearings, seals etc and what brand?

A few hundred bucks worth of bearings, seals, and ball joints.


Pressing in a hub:


Fronts complete:


And because I'm such a stylish fellow, I did all the work while wearing a dress shirt, sweater vest, and a tie. :lol:


(ok, so it wasn't all done in a tie, and I was wearing a shop apron too....but that isn't a funny story )

[Nuul]

Enough for cup holders, buttons, eject handle.

Oil slick, smoke screen and licence plate change if you're going for James Bond.

[RM1SepEx]

I've been procrastinating on my e-brake as I don't like the FFR setup... So what is the better setup?

[Mechie3]

I feel so inferior when Craig posts cool, innovative, beautiful stuff like this! I just try to copy as much as possible with my meager skills and tools, but finally I have created something better than Craig's!


My shift knob has the shift pattern. Take that, Mechie3!

haha! Is that a custom broom handle too? About a 16 months ago my boss said "We're shutting the machine shop in California, do we have a use here for the machines?" I pretty much said "uh.....yeah". Prior to that I was always disappointed I could design things but had no way to make them and couldn't afford to pay a shop to prototype them for me as that gets expensive quickly.

Where did you get your bearings, seals etc and what brand?

OEM Subaru. Local dealer does 20% off and 25% off on your Birthday. I waited until my birthday and bought all the seals, bearings, ball joints, etc then.

Oil slick, smoke screen and licence plate change if you're going for James Bond.

I was thinking more NOS (2 big bottles), stand alone fuel management (nice way to spend 10 grand), and neon lights so I'm ready for race wars.


Made this during lunch: Titanium shift knob. I can't cut internal threads on Ti so I'm going to have to make an threaded insert and press it in.

[nkw8181]

The I just saw the post with the list of part numbers. Just getting around to reading/rereading a few of you guys builds now that I'm deconstructing. Prob have more questions but will finish reading first.

[JeromeS13]

Very nice, don't mount your e-brake yet until you see what I came up with.


on another note, has anyone seen this?

http://www.estopp.com/

Cool for the S guys.

What did you come up with? I'm having a hard time adjusting mine...

[David Hodgkins]

Not to derail the thread but have you guys seen this?

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...-Award-Mechie3!

[flynntuna]

We'll deserved!

[Mechie3]

Thanks!

Started to pick up the garage a little last night and weighed the remnants of the wiring harness. Some of the tape/wrapping had already been tossed, parts of the door harness were inside the house and not in the box, but I added solder, tape, and shrink tube to the harness in the car so it probably evens out.

All total? 30lbs!

Box on left is tape, wrapping, and plastic sleeving. Box on right is connectors and wire. The box is 19" wide and 10" tall.

[RM1SepEx]

Wow, you pulled almost twice as much as I did, I removed about 18 lbs

[BC Huselton]

Buying Parts = Adam at Somerset Subaru in MA...Call him at 508 676 2378. They are giving discounts to 818 builders. Some over 30%. They are also a posted vendor to FFR. Search them on the forum and you will see their offer. BC

[Mechie3]

Wow, you pulled almost twice as much as I did, I removed about 18 lbs

I certainly felt better about "wasting" so much time on the harness once I saw how much it weighed. The whole time I kep thinking "no one will even see this, so much time, it's probably only 20lbs anyways."

[kkotecki]

I have a CNC router table 5' x 10' with 6" of z-axis. I cut aluminum all day long...in case you want to some stuff cut....oh and I am quietly building chassis 75 Thanks for all your great info.

[Mechie3]

I have a CNC router table 5' x 10' with 6" of z-axis. I cut aluminum all day long...in case you want to some stuff cut....oh and I am quietly building chassis 75 Thanks for all your great info.

You should start a thread! Average build, quick build, slow build, crazy build, I enjoy reading them all since everyone does a few things slightly differently.

Because I can't tap titanium and don't have internal thread cutters I made a threaded aluminum insert. Machined it .003" over then straight knurled it. Took 12 tons to press in. Definitely not coming out. Put in on a mill and cut off the excess and sanded it flush. I then put a wheel stud in the back so I could put it on the lathe and torched it. Took quite a bit of time to get the color but it was worth it.

Insert, meet knob:


You will be friends and play together whether you like it or not!


See, playing nice wasn't so hard, now was it?


And...into the fire we go!

[Aloha818]

Very cool!!

[C.Plavan]

Oh Ya! You think your stuff is soooo cool..... My Xmas present arrived...... I can do ABS all day long (Poormans CNC) haha.




Good stuff on that shifter.

[Mechie3]

Someone on the local Subaru forum got one of those for Xmas!

[Xusia]

I've got a buddy who is super into that. I've been considering it myself. Let us know how it goes Chad. I'm seriously curious!

[Scargo]

I'm seriously curious!

What do you want to build with it? These usually have some serious build size limitations, so you might have to piece together parts. Could be used for ductwork, but a high-heat material might be needed in some instances. My ABS Roo Ducts shrank where they were near the exhaust. I can't think of too much it would be good for except as a pattern maker for casting metal parts. Nylon bushings/small parts of the like would be doable.

[Xusia]

My interest lies beyond the 818, but there are still many things you could build for the 818 with it. A new shifter housing for one (remember, the existing one is plastic!)! LOTS of interior parts, fan shrouds, the list is fairly long...

[JAubin]

Shift knob looks awesome, nice job w/ the press fit too, awesome to see good photos of the parts and process!

FDM 3D Printers (Like a makerbot, Dimension, etc.) are really cool for prototyping size/shape and some basic functional parts. You'd have to really overbuild a part if you wanted it structural enough to use in something like a shifter...and then it would still be marginal. The tech has come a really long way, but most types have a lot of limitations....would be great to use for making molds for composite parts, or as a core that can be reinforced, etc. A lot of times I've used 3D printer parts as my factor of safety...if the design survives some quick tests 3d printed, the molded part will work fine. Just my experience w/ them...

[metalmaker12]

Thanks!

Started to pick up the garage a little last night and weighed the remnants of the wiring harness. Some of the tape/wrapping had already been tossed, parts of the door harness were inside the house and not in the box, but I added solder, tape, and shrink tube to the harness in the car so it probably evens out.

All total? 30lbs!

Box on left is tape, wrapping, and plastic sleeving. Box on right is connectors and wire. The box is 19" wide and 10" tall.

I lost 24lbs total

[Mechie3]

I could stand to lose 24 lbs myself...

Since there's 6" of snow on the ground, it's zero degrees out (literally...zero degrees F, painfully cold), and I can't go kart anytime soon I decided to take a break from wiring. It's 95% done, needs some pieces to be mounted, loose ends tied up, but I'm tired of doing it for now. I needed something that, with much less time, looks like progress. Cue body work!

Got the sides cut down (I think FFR now cuts out the sides as those are the pics I've seen), rear lights mounted, and sides and rear temporarily mounted. Everything lines up pretty well so far. The more time I spend with the body the more I notice little things here and there. Still debating leaving it vs painting.





Mounted the shift knob:

[flynntuna]

Don't let the cold stop you, get one of these......

http://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2372

[metalmaker12]

It's all of 3 degrees right now and we got 13 plus last night. I went out to try to solve my headlight issue, but it's just too cold to be out there more than an hour at most. I need to winter proof more for time to come.

[RM1SepEx]

supposed to be between -10 and -20 here tonight... I only attempt to heat my garage from 30 or so... fingers freeze too fast and with my numb fingers I can't do mechanical work with gloves.

I wish I was in Florida or Arizona for the winter

[Mechie3]

I can work down to about 20. After that it's no good. Monday's forcast is -40F windchill! DO NOT WANT!!!

Two time lapse videos for you all. First is an old one I forgot I even took of my doing the flex lines for the coolant. Not very exciting. Second is the start of the body work. SD card filled up sometime in the middle so it jumps a little at one point.

https://vimeo.com/83329278

https://vimeo.com/83347289