Mechie3's 818S

[Triathletedave]

Any thought of a hinge system for the trunk panel over the engine (behind seats)? It would be nice to check the oil without removing pins.

Ditto. Has anyone done this yet?

[wleehendrick]

Erik (Treaves, the Flash build, not the electric) bonded both the trunk and engine cover and hinged it.

[flynntuna]

Check out nuisance build thread.

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...667#post173667

[Mechie3]

You'll still need pins. The front ears of the engine cover that sit above the door need something to pull them in and downwards. Not necessarily the FFR supplied pins but you'll need something.

[AZPete]

Yes, something is needed to hold the front. I got some bear claw latches that would work but now I notice that the soft top needs the pins as an attachment point. I must have the soft top so I guess I'm stuck with the pins even if I devise a hinge for the rear of the hump panel.

[Mechie3]

It's gotten cold...

No worries. I'm generally busy at home anyways so much of my progress is made during lunch time. Sometimes I sneak away to the shop on the weekend if my wife doesn't get called in to the hospital. I made a new revision of my bracket to allow clocking of the TD04 compressor housing. Adds a little more clearance where needed, removes some dead weight, and adds a support to prevent flexing. The bracket in this pic is aluminum since it's much faster to prototype in aluminum. I have two stainless steel versions I made after testing the aluminum one.

On the left is the new bracket. On the right is the first one that has been hacked up and drawn on with a marker.




This little teardrop might look familiar. I needed a quick piece for prototyping and the ABS plug fit perfectly. Long term I'd be worried about the aluminum fatiguing, but for a one time fit it did the job. The wastegate spring was flexing the bracket and I was worried about response. The wastegate would be fighting the bracket as well as opening the gate. Not ideal. There's no holes on the top to secure it so this clamp was the next best thing.

[Mechie3]

Took of the clocked turbo setup and test fit my non clocked turbo setup. It needs a new front bracket as it's too close to the metal tube running under the throttle body. Had to cut off one of the coolant nipples on the throttle body as well. It's been disconnected for years so cutting it wasn't hurting anything.




hack saw pointing to the barb I cut off.

[Hindsight]

Looking very nice!

[Wayne Presley]

Looking exactly like mine...

[Mechie3]

Looking exactly like mine...

I'll agree it looks similar, but not exactly like yours, as we're using the same off the shelf components more than likely and building on the same chassis and motor. There's only so many ways to skin a cat. To be fair, I skinned it quite differently the first time (and my preferred way) as to not step on anyone's toes. After a few people asked me if I could do a setup without clocking the turbo I decided to come up with a second setup (the one shown above). I debated doing this at all and decided I would only do it if I could make it different enough than existing kits. Still debating whether to offer it vs just selling brackets and offering my clocked turbo kit.

My routing doesn't copy yours minus the general U shape, which is dictated by the turbo placement and core placement. I don't think we actually use any of the same couplers or tubing (both diameter and bends) except for the last one going into the AWIC core. My mounts all look different, are different materials, and even bolt up to different locations. I mounted my HE in a different method (cap is above the frame rail). I tried hard to stand apart and not copy. Several others have built their own AWIC systems with the same base parts and ended up with very similar layouts. Just to be clear, I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes and I apologize if it looks that way.

Clocked setup:


HE:

[Frank818]

Craig, out of this topic but 0DB in-topic though, where again are you going to route the pressure cap from the AWIC rad?

[Mechie3]

I could route it into the radiator overflow. More than likely I'll cap it. The water in the AWIC should never get to the point where it vents. If it does, you have bigger problems.

[Wayne Presley]

I could route it into the radiator overflow. More than likely I'll cap it. The water in the AWIC should never get to the point where it vents. If it does, you have bigger problems.

Agreed, you should have no more than 25°F of temp change of the system.

[FFR-ADV]

Wow!!

This looks great Craig!

What is your plan for the BPV shown in your clocked setup and not shown in the stock turbo setup?

[Mechie3]

Stock turbo setup it bolts to an adapter tube just before the core. You can see it in photos. Clocked setup it bolts to the modified front face of the core.

[Frank818]

Craig,

Are you the one mentioning the use of M16x1.5 65mm flange bolts for the top OEM shock bolt on the spindle?

Your thread is the only one that came up in the results page after a search for "M16x1.5". But I can't find it in your thread.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Craig,

Are you the one mentioning the use of M16x1.5 65mm flange bolts for the top OEM shock bolt on the spindle?

Your thread is the only one that came up in the results page after a search for "M16x1.5". But I can't find it in your thread.

Frank
these are the suspension bolts I bought.

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...l=1#post150200

Take a look at that whole thread.
Bob

[Frank818]

Cool! If Craig's thread is the only one that showed up in the list, maybe cuz he paid the forum to get his stuff on top and sell more brackets? lolll

Moving on to your thread Bob.

[metalmaker12]

Mechie, we all appreciate you making all these parts, but I think it's about time you get your 818 done bro. I wanna see you enjoying it and driving it this spring.

[STiPWRD]

shots fired

[C.Plavan]

[Mechie3]

Hahaha! Tell the baby to let me go outside!

Lol

[Frank818]

shots fired

Hahaha! Tell the baby to let me go outside!

Lol

Bullets dogged.

[metalmaker12]

I hear ya but no excuses, I have two, daughter 4yrs and son 7 months, you just have to be more creative with your time. Shots fired lol, he will get it done this decade don't worry.

[RM1SepEx]

Everyone's got their own issues causing delays. Kids, health, $, weather, wife, the list is endless. Ribbing should be expected and welcomed...

I want/need more of Craig's parts, delay away to Design, CNC, Mold, etc...

[Mechie3]

Well....I was also busy winning PAX, keeping my F500 in one piece, making parts for the local Mod car guys when they break stuff, and when my wife gets called into the hospital on a weekend...well, that blows that weekend. Lol.

The plan is this spring. Once I realized I was going to miss the 2014 driving season I decided to slow down and take my time (this is the real reason). No reason to rush to finish a car that will sit all winter.

Edit: Dan (rm1sepex) is my new excuse. He keeps bugging me for stuff so that I can't do my own stuff. Yes...yes, that sounds legit. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Hahaha!

(just so it's clear, the ribbing is welcome and all in good fun)

[metalmaker12]

Well....I was also busy winning PAX, keeping my F500 in one piece, making parts for the local Mod car guys when they break stuff, and when my wife gets called into the hospital on a weekend...well, that blows that weekend. Lol.

The plan is this spring. Once I realized I was going to miss the 2014 driving season I decided to slow down and take my time (this is the real reason). No reason to rush to finish a car that will sit all winter.

Edit: Dan (rm1sepex) is my new excuse. He keeps bugging me for stuff so that I can't do my own stuff. Yes...yes, that sounds legit. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Hahaha!

(just so it's clear, the ribbing is welcome and all in good fun)

Lol, I figured I would grind your gears a bit, you have done so much for the community, I just think it's time you do you.

[RM1SepEx]

Edit: Dan (rm1sepex) is my new excuse. He keeps bugging me for stuff so that I can't do my own stuff. Yes...yes, that sounds legit. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Hahaha!

(just so it's clear, the ribbing is welcome and all in good fun)

I resemble that remark!

[Mechie3]

I'm still not sure how it happened, but I managed to spend several hours in the garage working on my car. Of course, some of those hours occurred after midnight, but that's ok.

Focused on the sheet metal for the front wheel wells. One thing I've found is that a lot of the sheet pieces have the bends not quite perfect. They're off by 1-2 degrees which results in a sizable offset over a length of 2 feet.

The guard in front of the door was put in with rivnuts and 10-32 screws. I figured if I ever want to access the door hardware it's easiest with this panel removed. The rest will all be riveted in. I trimmed the body to fit around the door splash guard where it makes a jog towards the rear of the car. There's still enough fiberglass lip left to seal against the firewall but not interfere with the splash panel.




The triangle piece wasn't in my directions. I cut a notch at the top for the brake line. On the top flange I had to remove part of the thin end of the flange. When the long edges of the piece lined up with their frame members the top flange touched on one end and had a 1/2" gap on the other end. Removing the thin flange (where it wasn't bent perfectly) let it sit nicely. The thin flange edge is to the front of the car (the right in this pic). The rear corner had to be trimmed for weld bead clearance.




The splash guard in front of the wheel wasn't in my manual either. The curves of the panel don't match the body at all. Any ideas for fitment for those that have gotten here? It isn't off by a little, but enough such that even bulb seal won't cover the gaps.


Finally trimmed the bumper for the AWIC heat exchanger. It's offset enough that only the driver side needing trimming. The blue is where I trimmed before for the radiator subframe clearance. The purple was for the HE. I ended up removing slightly more than shown and getting rid of the little triangle that was left between the blue and purple.

[Mechie3]

I was in Seattle at my in-laws for two weeks so I didn't get any physical work done. I did however find some rear lights. The FFR lights aren't bad, but I don't like the exposed screws and they don't look very modern. I really liked the hella rear lights, but they were $500+ for a set, special order only from Germany, and (from what I was told) can take several months to arrive. After hours and hours of searching I finally found some lights that fit the bill. I didn't want visible screw heads and did want LED, Red external ring (red when LED's are off too, I found some that lit up red but were clear when off), and reverse lights or turn signal in the center. As a bonus, the ones I found even pass SAE specs and are marked for legal use in Europe (didn't say if they were DOT, even though they pass the SAE requirements for DOT). I bought two types, one is 3.75" (good for the dual light look) and one is 4.8" (good for the F12 look). They aren't available in single units so I had to buy small lots. Shipping is from China so it may take up to a month to get here. No problem as I have plenty else to do, just wanted to get the ball rolling on these.

I played around in photoshop a bit altering the rear look. One thing I found difficult is that a lot of exotic cars with round tail lights have very squared off rear ends (Pagani, Ferrari, mclaren F1) while a lot of cars with more rounded rear ends use custom tail lights (porsche, Mclaren MP4). The 818 tends to have a very rounded end, but uses round lights. The rounded off corners result in a smaller flat rear section that doesn't span the full width of the car giving it a (IMO) less agressive look. Anyways, here are some things I played around with. I'm not Vman7, so my photoshops are a little hacked.

Ferrari F458 Challenge Inspired rear:
This concept has a few issues, mainly that the cut around the single light is on a different plane than the rest of the rear so the mess will have to conform. Not impossible, but more difficult. The other thing is that the lights are stop and turn or stop and reverse only, not both. A separate reverse light would be needed. No big deal. You could also use the stop/reverse lights and wire in a module to make the stop light a dual function stop/turn (like a lot of trailers). These use the larger 4.8" lights.

(note how the rear end looks much wider as it's squared off)




Removed the white bar (but didn't add the diffuser in, no god pics were found). This is in the style of the lotus exige naked rear (don't google lotus naked rear without adding exige...ooops!)


Tried out a Pagani style exhaust. Not sure I like it with this setup. Everything looks too horizontal and just lined up.



Ferrari F360 Challenge Inspired:
This uses smaller 3.75" lights. The outer ones are stop/turn and the inners are stop/reverse.

Not again how wide spread the lights are:


Not 100% sure I like this. My scaling of the lights may be off, but the lights look a little small compared to the car. Could also be the visual center crowding due to the curved rear ends. It looks a little too horizontal to me (ie: uninspired).


Similar, just messing with light placement to see if it helps. These don't really flow with the lines of the car, but figured I'd put it up here just because.

[Mechie3]

Here's an older Vman7 photoshop. I really like how he widened the top of the lower vent opening. Instead of a triangle, it's more rectangular that then feeds upwards into the triangular piece. I really like this, but it requires cutting off most of the 3D sections of the bumper (Vman stretched these in his image). I think if I did that it would look too kit car-ish with flat panels vs contoured features around the vent.


This is the Artega GT (uses a variant of the Hella lights I like). The rear is similar in style to the 818 in terms of how it curves around. They use round lights but place them into a custom lense to flow with the body. The rear opening is also more squared off than triangular, much like Vman's photoshop. I've looked around for similar exhaust tips and didn't find much off the shelf that would work. Most I found (like the Touareg or X5) are edge mounted on the bumper so they slant to the outside and wouldn't fit on a center flat surface.


Here's the lotus naked rear end (this one is an elise). They remove the mesh between the body and the diffuser. It ends up with the body being open on the bottom (ie, the white bar the 818 has is gone) and the diffuser forms the bottom of the body work. It has a bit of race car-ish look to it. Not sure it works with the triangular setup of the 818 rear opening. If it was wider (top and bottom) it would look good. Because of how small it is I think it might look odd if it's removed. I kind of wish FFR had designed the rear vents with less of geometric shape with radiused corners and more of an artistic shape that followed the curves of the rest of the body and had fewer straight edges.

[bbjones121]

I like where you are going. Have you found any rear side bumper vents that would work with the shape? Could make rear end better looking as well as show off the mid engine nature. Most cars with rear bumper vents are mid engines i think.

[Ellimist]

Similar, just messing with light placement to see if it helps. These don't really flow with the lines of the car, but figured I'd put it up here just because.

I actually kinda like the left setup (diagonal lights, lower light on the outside) - goes with the line of the lower rear vent and seems to fit with the outer curve a bit. Definitely agree with the awesomeness of Vman's design. Unfortunately, none of them are really in my scope/ability for my first kit, but maybe future builts! BTW, how's your AWIC kit/setup going? I'm still quite a ways out from an order (my kit'll be hear in a couple weeks and I'm still prepping for breaking down my donor), but I'm definitely interested in your or Wayne's AWIC setups!
-Ben

[Ellimist]

Removed the white bar (but didn't add the diffuser in, no god pics were found). This is in the style of the lotus exige naked rear (don't google lotus naked rear without adding exige...ooops!)

Okay, had to look at them again....I think my true favorite is the larger lights with removed lower white bar. And that may actually be something I could accomplish - Thanks for the idea!

[Harley818]

Hey Mechie,
Nice job as usual. I like the various options to give time to think a little about what we want to end up with.

[flynntuna]

I'm liking your ideas, what do you think about going with a slightly larger light?

[Mechie3]

That's the largest light that I could find.

[flynntuna]

Well you could think out of the box. LOL

http://www.doranmfg.com/PDF/9200_9201.pdf

[RM1SepEx]

Well you could think out of the box. LOL

http://www.doranmfg.com/PDF/9200_9201.pdf

He doesn 't want exposed screws....

[flynntuna]

Trim rings can be fabricated