Mechie3's 818S

[Mechie3]

Not a lot of progress. Pulled my mess of a wiring harness and shipped it out to iwire yesterday. That's right. After all the time I put into it I still wasn't happy with it and Dan convinced me to go iwire. Put it in my side tunnel pieces last night after making some access holes for the lap belt bolts. No pics because it's not really pic worthy. I have a few more zero db shipments I need to get out so work won't progress much until those are shipped.

But....I was in the garage last night waiting for a police officer to show up. He came, inspected the VIN plate, and this morning I got all the paperwork done for the title. Now to get insurance so I can plate it.

[Hindsight]

Congrats on passing the inspection!

What didn't you like about your wiring job?

[Mechie3]

Well, the inspection took all of 3 minutes. Officer walks up "where's the VIN?" I show him the plate riveted to the frame, he double checks the number matches the paper, signs the paper, and leaves. Haha!

I didn't like what a mess it was. I got it down to 20lbs, but there was still a big rats nest up under the console, lots of splices, just a mess. The iwire setup looks really clean. With the dual fuseboxes, some wires run from the ECU to the front fuse box and back to the rear. Dumb. I'm not an EE so making my own from scratch isn't my forte. I sold enough ZerodB parts to justify the harness. It's why I started zerodB, to fund my car hobby.

[Hindsight]

Well you can't go wrong with the iWire harness. They are works of art. As I spend more and more time on my harness, I appreciate more each day how clean and nice the iWire setup is. I love the fuseboxes he uses. So clean and trim.

[Frank818]

Well you can't go wrong with the iWire harness.

You can't go wrong with Indiana's "inspection" either!!! ahhahahahah

[07FIREBLADE]

Nice, great job getting through the inspection process out there. You wont be disappointed with the iWire harness. Looking forward to getting it and working on it with Brian.

[Mechie3]

I just ordered a new harness. Brian said it would be a lot of work to work on my already dieted harness. You guys should have it in a week.

[Mitch Wright]

Craig, you will be very pleased with the quality and ease of installation with your Iwire harness, I think it was well worth the investment.

[Mechie3]

It's been slow going. Wife was in Mexico for a week volunteering at a hospital so no work got done. Next week I was in San Antonio so nothing got done. Work has been busy so very little got done in the three weeks after. I did manage to do a few things:

I drilled and tapped my AWIC core for a tool free bleeder:


Made some 3/8NPT bungs and welded them to the underside of the core for a dual temp intercooler gauge. You can also see a modified Subaru OEM BPV bolted to the front of the core.





My iWire harness showed up Saturday and I got the car registered and temp plates too. Now to make it drive so I can actually use it.


818C number 7 is 20 mins from my house and 5 mins from my work. I got to stop by yesterday to see it and also try out Bill's driving simulator. I was terrible at the simulator having played racing games only once about 8 years ago. Now I feel a need to buy a ps3 just to practice in the off season. Bill is going to work with me to develop some 818C products.

[Hindsight]

Nice idea on the bleeders!

[RM1SepEx]

His hard top is red, the last one shown (around Bob in Cincy) had a black top... Is it available in white too?

[Mechie3]

They will be making a run of front ends in white, not sure about hardtops, for those that have a white S and want to upgrade.

[07FIREBLADE]

Nice more 818c parts on the way. Can't wait

[Mechie3]

Spent last night picking up some odds and ends. I had made some nice titanium spacers for my seatbelts but I think my daughter found them, played with them, and then hid them. They've been missing for 2 weeks. The garage is slightly cleaner so I can work a little easier. I'm at that point where I've got 10 things lined up to do and each needs a minor thing done before the major part can be done. Sometimes I just go out there and think "i have no idea what I need to do right now". lol

[Mulry]

Spent last night picking up some odds and ends. I had made some nice titanium spacers for my seatbelts but I think my daughter found them, played with them, and then hid them. They've been missing for 2 weeks. The garage is slightly cleaner so I can work a little easier. I'm at that point where I've got 10 things lined up to do and each needs a minor thing done before the major part can be done. Sometimes I just go out there and think "i have no idea what I need to do right now". lol

That sounds like my whole weekend last weekend. Ugh.

[AZPete]

Yup, she's the one! She also got into my garage and took a 14mm socket and 2 drill bits!

[Canadian818]

Yup, she's the one! She also got into my garage and took a 14mm socket and 2 drill bits!

I have like 6 14mm sockets, and it's a 5-10 min rant every time to find one!

[Scargo]

You don't have a ferret, do you? My son's, who stayed with us for a while, loved to steal my wallet!

[Frank818]

Man you are such a welder...

[Mechie3]

Making slow progress. Work is still busy.

Started on the iWire harness. Made a bracket to mount the circuit breaker so I can reach it from the drivers seat. Also made a panel to block off the rear center firewall to mount the ECU. I kept changing my mind on where/how to mount the panel so it ended up being 4 pieces welded together after I cut them apart. Oh well. It can be mounted/installed with the motor already in. Thinking of quoting it and seeing what it comes back as for people that might want to do the same".





Cut the top off and the corners, ended up welding them all back on.


Real plates showed up in the mail:


Modified Subaru BPV to fit Greddy mounting pattern:

[Mechie3]

Some LCA spacers I made for Frank:


New welding table setup (used to be plywood...lol)


More welding practice:

[Frank818]

You don't need welding practice with such awesome welds!!!

Yeah the LCA spacers are great! I don't know yet about the caster gain and hopefully a little camber gain if possible, I won't install them for a couple of weeks.
They are 10mm thick. I'm sure other people would want such spacers.

[Hindsight]

Nice to see you making progress. Those welds are looking great! Better than mine. Aluminum is tough to make pretty, especially when you get to the end of a bead on an edge.

[tmoretta]

Are the LCA spacers only for use on the aluminum LCA's?

[Frank818]

They were designed from the alu LCA yes. I don't know how that section of the LCA looks on the steel one, if it's similar it may work too. Craig do you know the steel LCAs?

[Mechie3]

Steel are one piece so the LCA spacers are for aluminum only.

[Mechie3]

Working on a project and printed it out for my daughter to color.

[Wayne Presley]

So cute!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RM1SepEx]

Boy, I barely remember those days Craig!

Now she drives a Miata, has a boyfriend, lives in Boston for college.... Just wait they get older and the old hormones kick in! I just sent a check to Simmons for more than I've spent on my 818 and it is only for one semester! And her scholarship pays for half the bill!

Dani Blue Dress.jpg

[Wayne Presley]

Craig, are you going to PRI?

[Mechie3]

I'll be there Thursday most likely. Probably walking around with a blue jacket on.

[Mechie3]

Getting side tracked again. haha.

New light showed up. No more tacky chrome ring. Same lighting pattern as the ones I got almost a year ago, just a different way to mount them.



Printed out a 1:1 of a prototype grill to mount the new lights on. Going for something reminiscent of more modern supercars. The Lotus Exige Cup, Aventador, Mclaren P1 and many others have all moved from the round hole mesh to either diamond mesh or custom cut hex patterns. I think the hex pattern I randomly chose is a little too big. Going to scale it down a little. Otherwise, I like it.




Also prototyped a new bracket for the bell crank shifter. The bell crank isn't shown, it's still on my car with the old bracket. The main mount is larger than the old one but it integrates the cable mount so fewer total pieces. I'm hoping this one comes back with better quotes. I can mix and match CNC mill with laser cut parts to save cost on the thinner pieces.

[Kurk818]

Im digging the new look of the rear. I will also be creating something similar but with more fiberglass work on other portions of the bumper. Did you post how much the lights cost?

[Mechie3]

I did not. If they work out I'll be selling them. In low quantities they work out to be ~$200 for a set of four (my cost). It took me a very very long time to find them so I'm not telling my source. lol. I think, IIRC, the Hella ring lights ended up being around $1000 to make a complete set with four red rings and four inner lights so $200 is a deal.

They do not drop into the stock holes (thus the whole new rear). I'd like to change the rest of the bumper as well, but my fiberglass skills are non existent for the most part so that'll come later (if ever).

[Kurk818]

Thats a really great price for 4 lights. Ive done quite a bit of research myself on this subject. I plan on making a lens to cover mine.

Do the lights have mounting provisions on the back or are they designed to be installed in a mounting ring?

[Mechie3]

They have three studs integrated into the sealed body. The LED's internally are made by cree and/or philips. Most of the lights I found looked like cheapies meant for the back of an 18 wheeler.

[flynntuna]

That design looks great! Opening up all that area should allow a lot of flow for the heat to escape. If you made a trunk from the same mesh material, you can have air flow and a place for occasional cargo too.

[Canadian818]

Nice lights, very interested in how your mesh mounting works out. Could you off it with a custom centre hole for a centre exhaust?

[Mechie3]

It'll likely be a two piece design, a left and right (mirror images). This does several things. 1: easier to prototype on a machine with a 22" X axis travel limit 2: Easier to ship (shorter box) 3: cheaper (doesn't need material in the middle, an order of 1 = 2 pieces = reach price breaks 2x as fast) 4: leaves the middle alone. If you want a license plate there, put it there. If you want an exhaust, put an exhaust.

The "mesh material" is actually a sheet with that pattern cut into it. It allows the transition from mesh to the edge support and the light supports to be seamless and lets me choose whatever pattern and size I want.

[Canadian818]

It'll likely be a two piece design, a left and right (mirror images). This does several things. 1: easier to prototype on a machine with a 22" X axis travel limit 2: Easier to ship (shorter box) 3: cheaper (doesn't need material in the middle, an order of 1 = 2 pieces = reach price breaks 2x as fast) 4: leaves the middle alone. If you want a license plate there, put it there. If you want an exhaust, put an exhaust.

The "mesh material" is actually a sheet with that pattern cut into it. It allows the transition from mesh to the edge support and the light supports to be seamless and lets me choose whatever pattern and size I want.

I like the two piece idea, shipping cost was my first concern. I guess I could've been more descriptive. I have a tri collector for an exhaust tip and would like a rotor shaped cutout for it to go through. Is this something you'd be willing to accommodate, a custom cutout?