I am in the Air Force and have been stationed in Okinawa for the last 7 years. I have been building and racing Subarus here in Japan for about the last 5 years. And recently purchased my 818S kit, due for delivery in August.
I am moving to Omaha, Nebraska this week and I am bringing a ton of JDM Subaru parts back with me. Both for my 818 donor and to rebuild my 05 STI spec C daily driver.
I am an experienced engine builder and EFI tuner for most Japanese and several European cars. And I'm actually rather excited to get back to the states and get my hands on the Gen IV LS engines. They are pretty much unobtanium in Asia.
My current plans for my 818 are a relatively stock build for the first round, minus the engine. I have a 2.2l EJ207 stroker that I built to put in my spec C before I got orders to Omaha. Planning on pairing that up with a Borg Warner 7163 to see if its possible to get ~500hp to the ground.
Going to try it with 9" rears first and see if the tires will stay hooked up in gear changes. If not it will be time for 10" and some custom rear fenders and trailing arms. If it's still too much I'll swap the turbo out for a Garett gt3071R and drop the HP a bit.
Also gonna try it with the a 02 5spd with a helical front diff and stock gears. Basically to see if the stock tranny can hold up to decent HP numbers. If not it will be time for some PPG gears.
Pretty much everything else I'm going to build stock and see where that gets me. I'll then make any changes during the rebuild over next winter.
Either way, I just want to benefit the community however I can with my Subaru knowledge and learn as much as possible from the experienced 818 and other kit builders.
And some pics of what you don't want your engine to look like. Otherwise know as, "Why you don't put aftermarket cold air intakes, downpipes and manual boost controllers on a Subaru without retuning your AFR, load and wastegate duty cycle tables tables." This was an engine run on a 3" bell mouth down pipe, HKS intake, and halman MBC (+5 psi from stock). Friend of the owner told him it was good to go that way.
Engine knocked so bad it squeezed the bearing out like play dough.
And some pics of what you don't want your engine to look like. Otherwise know as, "Why you don't put aftermarket cold air intakes, downpipes and manual boost controllers on a Subaru without retuning your AFR, load and wastegate duty cycle tables tables." This was an engine run on a 3" bell mouth down pipe, HKS intake, and halman MBC (+5 psi from stock). Friend of the owner told him it was good to go that way.
HAHA how long did he have sparkly unicorn fairy oil before he knew something was wrong?
I got a little sick to my stomach that you stripped such a mint car. I guess it wasn't too far from the 10yr mark.
Do you have shells ready to go in the states?
A well stocked beverage fridge is the key to any successful project.
And I still haven't decide on a RHD or LHD rebuild.
If you are racing only, go with a center seat. Pretty easy to do in the 818 without a engine in the way of the steering column.
Thanks for the "WHAT NOT TO DO"
Welcome home soon.
Bob
I look forward to the build progress pics. I cant believe one is being build so close to me. I'm stationed at Offutt as well but Im not planning on building one until I move back to the east coast next year.
I look forward to the build progress pics. I cant believe one is being build so close to me. I'm stationed at Offutt as well but Im not planning on building one until I move back to the east coast next year.
If you want to come turn some wrenches drop me a line.
Right on, congrats on your kits arrival. What a great feeling to get a package of that magnitude.
Super lucky you get to kick of your build with a 4 day weekend!
They changed it to red and never bothered to tell me.
Just got done talking with my buddy who does body work. $8500 just to fix it and make it look the way it should. And those are friend prices.
I would have been way happier with something that was just ready to paint. Is going to take $7k in labor just to get them paintable. Then $1500 to paint them. Every single panel has to be redone.
I am fuming right now. Especially after their "One year in production" triumph post.
One year in production and they still can't make fiberglas body panels or powder coat a frame.
You'd think after over $2.5million in sales they could figure those things out.
They changed it to red and never bothered to tell me.
Just got done talking with my buddy who does body work. $8500 just to fix it and make it look the way it should. And those are friend prices.
I would have been way happier with something that was just ready to paint. Is going to take $7k in labor just to get them paintable. Then $1500 to paint them. Every single panel has to be redone.
I am fuming right now. Especially after their "One year in production" triumph post.
One year in production and they still can't make fiberglas body panels or powder coat a frame.
You'd think after over $2.5million in sales they could figure those things out.
I spent a serious amount of time on the body, but 7-8 grand is about right cause if you figure labor and materials it's a deal. I spent 2,500-2,700 to get all the materials and rent the booth, my panels were much worse in spots. Overall they look pretty good, and I did not go to crazy with spray fillers etc.
I'm sorry to hear about your issues. I've definitely gone through phases of frustration and disappointment when building my kit stemming from poor quality control on the pat of FFR. I've decided to consider my white panels as temporary. I'll put a little effort in to cleaning up edges here and there, but I'm not going to invest too much time considering the continued mention of the plastic body panels.
I would recommend assembling what you can and get the car to go-kart status ASAP. You'll be much less frustrated after you drive the car. Deal with the body panels when the time comes.
It's really hard to tell by your pictures, but are those exposed pieces?
Sorry to hear about your experience. I was kit 102 and I can't complain, my finished product makes me smile
With all the promotion of "no paint" panels you'd think the workmanship would be better. It seems most every build is having the same issues to some degree.
Unless one resigns oneself to a car that looks good from 50ft at 50mph then I guess paint or wrap or dip should be part of the budget.
One day when it's all done hopefully you can look back and laugh.
Or you can look at it this way...
It's really hard to tell by your pictures, but are those exposed pieces?
Sorry to hear about your experience. I was kit 102 and I can't complain, my finished product makes me smile
Kit 251 and none of the problems are from damage to exposed pieces during shipping.
It is plain and simple shoddy construction. The molds were not prepared properly with releaser. The fiber glass was not laid properly in the molds. The gelcoat was not applied properly. It was removed from the mold before it was fully cured. And too much resin was applied to the backside.
Basically, the people who made the fiberglass parts, don't know how to make fiberglass parts. A 5 min youtube tutorial could have resulted in higher quality manufacturing.
And I am shocked that 250 people before me, paid $10k and found this acceptable. A $10 fiberglass part from china has 10X the fit and finish of the garbage shipped to me. Plus the fact that a human being looked at these parts and decided they were good to ship is appalling.
And the aluminum parts are just plain laziness. Someone couldn't take the time to ensure the calibration of the plasma cutter. And or the CAD program isn't correct for the speed of the table.
The problems are all crappy construction and nonexistent quality control.
The 818 will cost pretty close to as much to finish as a cobra because of its extra needed items and labor. It is in no way a 15k build unless you want to drive a junk box. The panels are surely hurting and need to be much better.
And I am shocked that 250 people before me, paid $10k and found this acceptable. Plus the fact that a human being looked at these parts and decided they were good to ship is appalling.
And the aluminum parts are just plain laziness. Someone couldn't take the time to ensure the calibration of the plasma cutter. And or the CAD program isn't correct for the speed of the table.
The problems are all crappy construction and nonexistent quality control.
I wouldn't say we all found it acceptable. I have seen people say "hey, it's not bad" but I think I've seen more frustration that it isn't really a no paint unless you want it to only look good from a distance. What i have seen a lot of is the "it's a kit car, built it how you want" statement whenever the issue of part fitment or part finish is brought up. I don't agree with that because that's not how it was marketed. If they had said "body work and paint required" I would find it ok as buyers would be prepared for that and know what they were getting. I have simply resigned myself to accept I'll need to learn to do body work.
My thin aluminum parts came out ok. The thicker pieces all had slag. I'd concur that the speeds/feeds aren't set right.
OUCH! That's pretty pathetic. At least the 818 is symetrical. The GTM is NOT. (Even after GenII and a $5000 dollar increase in price to $25,000 for the kit) I hope FFR is paying attention to this feedback. I've talked to quite a few people who decided on another kit or a production car build after hearing about the bodywork issues on the GTM. It would be nice to be able to tell people the bodies are high quality, but I have to be honest about the issues.
Last edited by carbon fiber; 09-02-2014 at 08:38 AM.
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Originally Posted by gwarden
