MRG MotorSports 818S Build

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Looks like a clutch release arm boot.

Hindsight
Thanks for the suggestion. I found a bunch of possible boots.
This one is out of a 57 chevy, It's got to be fast.
Bob


here is a close up of the hole

[Bob_n_Cincy]

We had a visit from our favorite part designer / supplier today.
He fits in our car pretty well.
Bob





If you didn't recognize him, This is Craig, also know as Mechie3.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Just a word of warning about the tail light LED bulb.
This is a three terminal LED bulb used for the reverse (white) and turn signal (yellow).
The bulb works great.
Be careful connecting it up. If you get the polarity backwards, it blows the circuit in the bulb.
This is a stupid bulb design. Adding a 2 cent polarity protection diode is so simple.
I could not believe it didn't have it.
Bob

[metalmaker12]

Just a word of warning about the tail light LED bulb.
This is a three terminal LED bulb used for the reverse (white) and turn signal (yellow).
The bulb works great.
Be careful connecting it up. If you get the polarity backwards, it blows the circuit in the bulb.
This is a stupid bulb design. Adding a 2 cent polarity protection diode is so simple.
I could not believe it didn't have it.
Bob

Been there blew that lol. It is a stupid design.

[metalmaker12]

We had a visit from our favorite part designer / supplier today.
He fits in our car pretty well.
Bob





If you didn't recognize him, This is Craig, also know as Mechie3.

Craig since when is your car that complete or have a blue frame. Lol

Cool you guys met up.

[Frank818]

Just a word of warning about the tail light LED bulb.
This is a three terminal LED bulb used for the reverse (white) and turn signal (yellow).
The bulb works great.
Be careful connecting it up. If you get the polarity backwards, it blows the circuit in the bulb.
This is a stupid bulb design. Adding a 2 cent polarity protection diode is so simple.
I could not believe it didn't have it.
Bob

Good to know!

How can you go wrong on the polarity? It's not obvious enough where the wires connect?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Good to know!

How can you go wrong on the polarity? It's not obvious enough where the wires connect?

Not obvious to me.

[Mechie3]

We were in town seeing a cornea specialist for the baby and decided to drop in on Bob. I like his seating arrangement. I'd probably move the wheel a little closer to me, but I tend to like a close up wheel. I liked having my legs stretched out and having my head under the rollbar.

If the polarity isn't obvious to the electrical engineer I'm afraid I'm sunk.

[svanlare]

I'm just starting on a schematic for my car and haven't made it to the taillights yet. Which pin is the ground?

Pulled it out of the box tonight and figured it out. It is a standard bulb receptacle with a center common pin and the outside pins turning on the lights. I agree, really bad design not to have a diode.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Mike and I had time to work on our side shift transmission modification.
The reason for the side shifter is 2 fold.
With the side shifter, the shaft sticking out the back and some of the housing can be removed.
#1. For racers, allows for protective steel behind the trans and without the shaft it is less susceptible to damage from bump drafters.
#2. Opens up the space for my rear radiator.

Let me know if you have questions.
Bob

[Tamra]

Wow that looks like a great solution!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Wow that looks like a great solution!

Hi Tamra,
as soon as I get my shorter cables, I'll video the backlash.
FFR cables are 175" I'm going ~1/2 the length to 84" with 180* of less turns.
Bob

[Hendow]

Not obvious to me.

Oh so glad to hear it is not particularly obvious to a few more than just me!

I like the idea of the two in one bulb, but I managed to create 'magic smoke' with both of my bulbs, and have been unable to source any replacements...

Had to resort to standard wedge style filament bulb and a separate LED reverse light in the meantime.

818 (3).jpg

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Oh so glad to hear it is not particularly obvious to a few more than just me!

I like the idea of the two in one bulb, but I managed to create 'magic smoke' with both of my bulbs, and have been unable to source any replacements...

Had to resort to standard wedge style filament bulb and a separate LED reverse light in the meantime.

818 (3).jpg

Hi Hendow,
here is a link for bulbs.

http://www.amazon.com/IG-Tuning-60-S.../dp/B00C3MVK6G

Bob

[Hendow]

Hi Hendow,
here is a link for bulbs.

http://www.amazon.com/IG-Tuning-60-S.../dp/B00C3MVK6G

Bob

Thanks!!

[C.Plavan]

Nice work. I like it.

I think the R guys would want a real bumper though. Even little bumpdraft would ruin/break/crack 3/4's of the rear bodywork. I have a fabbed bumper, and I'm still worried about getting tapped and how ex$pensive it will be.

[C.Plavan]

Oh so glad to hear it is not particularly obvious to a few more than just me!

I like the idea of the two in one bulb, but I managed to create 'magic smoke' with both of my bulbs, and have been unable to source any replacements...

Had to resort to standard wedge style filament bulb and a separate LED reverse light in the meantime.

818 (3).jpg

Is that trucklid going to support that wing? Or do you have a brace?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Mike and I had time to work on our side shift transmission modification.
The reason for the side shifter is 2 fold.
With the side shifter, the shaft sticking out the back and some of the housing can be removed.
#1. For racers, allows for protective steel behind the trans and without the shaft it is less susceptible to damage from bump drafters.
#2. Opens up the space for my rear radiator.

Let me know if you have questions.
Bob

Chad
I agree with your comment on body damage. At least you can protect the transmission.
My 818s has no plans for wheel to wheel racing. If I get bumped in the back, it's going to crunch my radiator.
My next task is to seal up where the new shaft come out of the transmission.
Bob

[Hendow]

Hi Chad,

No, the lid certainly won't support the wing once the car is underway. The wing is just sitting on the car, so I can get an idea of its suitability and placement. I plan to reinforce the underside of the lid by glassing in some alloy 'straps' or similar, then building a support frame off the lower chassis to take any downforce loads.

My goal is to be able to open the trunklid with the wing attached, yet still have suitable structural strength underneath the lid, without having to cut too much of the beautiful carbon inlaid bodywork... one of a kind, so any cutting is done nervously and carefully!

I'm really keen to get any secrets from your R spec brothers on their wing structure designs, as its an area that is not very well covered by FFR.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Installed my Lokar Parking brake today.
Only went to the back right wheel.
Thanks Wayne for the handle mounting Idea.

[wleehendrick]

Installed my Lokar Parking brake today.
Only went to the back right wheel.

Open diff? One wheel burn-out!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Open diff? One wheel burn-out!

Never thought about that, until now.
Yes, I'm open diff.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Michael was grinding a slot in a small steel bracket using a small angle grinder.
He had the part clamp to the edge of a table. The grinder grabbed the bracket and shot it across the room.
Hitting our powder coating stove.

[Mechie3]

Bye bye! Hope he was wearing safety glasses.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bye bye! Hope he was wearing safety glasses.

he was wearing safety glasses. The stove was 20 ft away.
Bob

[Evan78]

Looks like a good excuse to build a bigger oven

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Disassembled my MR2 shifter. Going to rebuild it with a new baseplate and an ebay handle.

[RM1SepEx]

Going to keep the two cables above the shifter mount like the original MR2? Very interested, however it looks even shorter than the original MR2 unit

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Going to keep the two cables above the shifter mount like the original MR2? Very interested, however it looks even shorter than the original MR2 unit

Dan
The 2 shifters in the post above are the same length. MR2 shifter come in multiple lengths. The one you have is longer.
I'm looking at moving my cables into the tunnel. not as simple as I hoped.
Bob

[Frank818]

Wow, very nice piece!! Came blue like that or you painted it blue like your frame?

[STiPWRD]

Dan
The 2 shifters in the post above are the same length. MR2 shifter come in multiple lengths. The one you have is longer.
I'm looking at moving my cables into the tunnel. not as simple as I hoped.
Bob

Bob, what issue did you run into? I also bought an MR2 shifter and was planning on installing it inside the tunnel where the base plate would be under the top tubes.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob, what issue did you run into? I also bought an MR2 shifter and was planning on installing it inside the tunnel where the base plate would be under the top tubes.

Hi StiWRD,
My goal is to get the cables down in the tunnel.
I was looking at mounting a base plate on top the tunnel, then flip the bell crank so it points down.
Then extend the shift arm down and connect cable outer jacket.
In theory all would work, to implement it would be hooky.

I think you and I are going to end up with the same thing. Last night I decided it wound be much simpler to just drop the shifter 2" into the tunnel to the tunnel, which would hide the cable and be pretty simple to implement.
I should have this done by Wednesday, I will post pictures.
Bob

[RM1SepEx]

I'm making the tunnel taller, same effect. If you drop it under the tunnel the shifter is too low IMO, and my shifter is taller than yours

[STiPWRD]

Hi StiWRD,
My goal is to get the cables down in the tunnel.
I was looking at mounting a base plate on top the tunnel, then flip the bell crank so it points down.
Then extend the shift arm down and connect cable outer jacket.
In theory all would work, to implement it would be hooky.

I think you and I are going to end up with the same thing. Last night I decided it wound be much simpler to just drop the shifter 2" into the tunnel to the tunnel, which would hide the cable and be pretty simple to implement.
I should have this done by Wednesday, I will post pictures.
Bob

Awesome, I'll stay tuned. The handle you bought looks pretty nice (I assume you plan to leave that visible?). I was just going to use a boot so things don't have to be pretty underneath.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Awesome, I'll stay tuned. The handle you bought looks pretty nice (I assume you plan to leave that visible?). I was just going to use a boot so things don't have to be pretty underneath.

That handle is to short and will be hidden if I drop the shifter into the tunnel.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Finished my new shifter design. My main goal was to get rid of the sloppy feel of the shifter caused by the backlash in the cables.
Shorter cables with less turns did the trick. I feel it is as good as the stock Subaru shifter.
I used parts from an MR2 shifter with 7' Teleflex xtreme cables. The mechanism is below the top of the tunnel, so a flat plate will cover it up. Picture and video below.
Bob

[Kurk818]

That looks solid. Awesome work. The FFR shifter setup is definitely a downfall, especially with my 6speed trans. Ill definitely keep your design in mind if i decide to finally do something about it.

[Frank818]

Simplest design I've even seen! Looks so full race! I love it, but I'm gonna love my k-tuned shifter as well.

[STiPWRD]

Bob, that looks great, I may have to borrow. Can you take 1 or 2 more pics from the driver side?

[RM1SepEx]

Looks great Bob... Shifter is pretty low since you dropped it into the tunnel 2 inches. What did you use for a clevis on the fore and aft motion? I've been looking a how to best mate up the 1/4 -28 threaded cable with the huge stock MR2 attachment hole. I have my MR2 shifter rebuilt and mounted on a single 1/4 inch thick AL plate on top of the tunnel. I'll be making my tunnel about 3 inches taller than stock. Should be ready for a video in a couple days, the rear bell crank came out sweet and those cables are sooooooo much better! No slop at all.

The cables are so good that I think that my upgraded billet FFR shifter (for sale BTW) with just longer Teleflex vs the junk cables would have solved many of the inherant shifting issues!