Andrew's 818S - LYTW8

[Aero STI]

I'm wrapping up the design on my 6 speed shifter. I haven't gone through detailing everything yet. It should be a vast improvement over my current prototype.

[Aero STI]

The shifter mechanism was finalized and sent off to be CNC'd. I'm just putting miles on the car and e-tuning at the moment. It still needs the new dash and center console installed and I'm patiently waiting for my new nose so I can do some body work.

[Loring]

Andrew,

How well does your wheel/tire setup hold with TCS off in 3rd when you take it all the way up?

[Hindsight]

Wow, that's a great demonstration! I'm excited to get mine hooked up and working this weekend!

[Aero STI]

Andrew,

How well does your wheel/tire setup hold with TCS off in 3rd when you take it all the way up?

I'm not sure what you mean by take it all the way up? Without TC In third, doing a standard pull starting at 2500 RPM, the car always breaks loose before peak torque. Same holds true for 4th. The car pretty much spins the tires on command below 80. Above that it's hit or miss.

[Aero STI]

Wow, that's a great demonstration! I'm excited to get mine hooked up and working this weekend!

You're very likely to see misfires after using it. I think I'm going to have the DTCs shut off for that. The launch control is so epic. I plan to get a video of that too.

[Hindsight]

It will be interesting to see how the axles hold up to launch control launches.

What size and type of tires are you running?

[Aero STI]

It will be interesting to see how the axles hold up to launch control launches.

What size and type of tires are you running?

With LC it's a pretty smooth takeoff. Tires are 255/40r17 Hankook Ventus V12s. They're for my Saabaru and at the end of their life. I need to pull the trigger on some new wheels and tires for the 818.

[Hindsight]

Yeah the new tires should help a lot. What are you thinking about getting?

[Aero STI]

Probably some Hankook R-S3 V2s. I'm contemplating Enkei TY-5 wheels. 18x8 Front 18x9.5 Rear. I haven't fully committed.

enkeitun_ty5_hs_pdpexpand.jpg

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Andrew,
Are you using the front STI axle or the custom ones?
Bob

[Aero STI]

Bob, I'm running my '06 WRX donor axles with the FFR axle shafts. The JDM 6 speeds don't use stub axles, but have the proper diameter axle seal to match WRX male axle ends.

[Hindsight]

18s will look awesome! I think you'd get better traction with 17s and a taller sidewall, but everything is a trade-off. I have 17's in front and 18's in back and the 18's look not just a little better, but like a completely different wheel. You could always be like the street race guys who run 18's up front and 15s in back with super tall drag radials hahaha.

So now that you've driven it a bit, what are your comments on the 5 speed vs the 6 speed? I know you mentioned the limited slip helps a lot, but what about the gear ratios? Are you ok with the amount of shifting and the time spent in each gear? Can you hit 60 in 2nd with the 6 speed?

I'm headed out to the garage to finish re-wiring the traction control, hopefully for the last time.

[Aero STI]

The downside of 18s is that they make the brakes look tiny. I do prefer the tire sizes you can get in 17s for fronts, but I don't care for the looks of many lighter weight 17s that fit 5x100. A lot look dated, as if the manufacturers have abandoned that size for updated styles.

I haven't paid close attention to where I can shift at yet. The gears go by so quickly in either transmission it doesn't really matter

I hogged out the doors to fit the dashboard. It's mounted rigidly, just wrapping up the center console mounting. I didn't have to move the ebrake, but I do have to move the shifter. I'm going to finish it up tomorrow.

[Hindsight]

Looks great. Much more OEM look.

[metros]

Agreed, nice finish work.

[Aero STI]

Thanks guys. Unsurprisingly, with the glove box, cup holders, etc. it looks really close to a factory interior. Plus it's way more functional. Even the deeper recess of the gauge cluster is a huge benefit for visibility in a roadster like this. I'm surprised FFR didn't utilize the Subaru dash. Maybe they tried it and didn't like how it would finish out. It's such a close fit and could have easily been designed in.

[Aero STI]

Back to being driveable. Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out. It still needs some finishing touches.

If anyone still has their factory shifter boot and e-brake boot, please let me know. My shifter boot is pretty nasty and I can't locate the e-brake boot.

[Kurk818]

Looks fantastic. Will be doing the same when time allows. Does the steering column align pretty well the where the Subaru column used to be? Any ideas on what youre going to do to fill the gap in front of the dash?

[Aero STI]

Thanks! The steering column is probably 1 to 1.5 inches off center. I think few will notice.

The plan is to fill the gap to the windshield with the plastic from the FFR supplied dash. It's not much, probably 4" at the furthest point. I'll try to get a picture at some point.

[Kurk818]

FFR has used a off the shelf column in their new coupe, it appears. That may be a way to correct the alignment.

I was thinking the same with regards to filling the gap. Perhaps fusing it to the smaller removable OEM portion of the dash and painting it. How hard was it to find attachment points for the dash?

[Aero STI]

The steering column, Subaru or otherwise, will likely interfere with the pedal box. A steering quickener may be the best option to shift things over. There are examples of them installed on NASIOC. I'm fearful the car would dart too quickly with the quickener.

Yeah, fusing the removable piece would be great.

I fabricated all the mounting brackets. It wasn't difficult, but I wouldn't call it easy. 4 for the dash so far, two for the center console.

[longislandwrx]

nice work man.

are you going to carpet? Once you get those door panels sorted this is going to look amazing.

[Mitch Wright]

Looks great, nice work.

[Aero STI]

I appreciate the compliments. I might try to fit BRZ door panels. I need some measurements and don't have a BRZ or FR-S readily available. There are a few at work, but I don't know the owners.

The floor boards are carpeted. I stole the STI floor panels from Rori. I don't feel that much more carpet is needed. I would like to make some custom kick panels out of fiberglass eventually. I used to do elaborate car audio installs back in the 90's, so I have some experience with custom kicks.

[billjr212]

Really great work. You should be able to take a slice out of the center glove box to make it shallow enough to install. I was able to do this, then riveted some aluminum strips on the outside to fuse it back together.

[BN]

Niiiiiccccce work and where did you get your steering

[07FIREBLADE]

Looking great. I spy the dreaded 4wire trailer wire in your door. This might actually work for the C guys the way you took a cutout of the door panels. Looks to clear the window area but I need a better picture to tell

[Aero STI]

Really great work. You should be able to take a slice out of the center glove box to make it shallow enough to install. I was able to do this, then riveted some aluminum strips on the outside to fuse it back together.

Thanks for reminding me that you did this. I knew I saw that done before, but couldn't remember by who.

Niiiiiccccce work and where did you get your steering

The steering wheel is the FFR optional wheel

Looking great. I spy the dreaded 4wire trailer wire in your door. This might actually work for the C guys the way you took a cutout of the door panels. Looks to clear the window area but I need a better picture to tell

Hah... The ONLY place I used it was to provide power to my door actuators. I dieted my harness, but I'm not happy with the aesthetics of the whole harness so will be redoing everything this winter. I think you're right that it would clear the C windows. I'll try to snag some of the requested pictures tomorrow.

[BC Huselton]

The entire dash is amazing. Do you have any pics of the structure that supports it? I am at a similar stage and have been plotting to us the center section which causes the shifter to be moved 2" forward. I like what you created much better. Any help is appreciated. OR e-mail me @ BChuselton@gmail. Thanks

[Aero STI]

I'll take some additional pictures soon. Hopefully tonight.

I called FFR today and spoke to Courtnie. My new nose is shipping out today sans lens covers. Also, I ordered the bent aluminum coolant tubes so I can get rid of hidden hose clamps.

[Frank818]

So that confirms there are still out of lenses. I wonder who they source it from...

BTW your interior is more than amazing! Who would have thought it would be possible to fit the Subaru's entire dash and console in the 818... Bravo.

[Aero STI]

Courtnie didn't elaborate much on the lens issue, just that it was ongoing.

It's a bit shocking how well the interior fit in there.

[Aero STI]

Here are the mounts holding the dash and center console in at this point. Sorry if the images aren't super intuitive. I would have to take things apart a lot more to get better pictures.

[Aero STI]

I got my nose retrofit today. It doesn't look like FFR has done anything with the molds to make them match better at this point. The left fender is still 1/2" too long.







Also, I don't have the best luck when it comes to quality control on my aesthetic pieces. I have an earlier chassis, 73 I think, pre-ordered when "no paint bodywork" and "real carbon fiber" were selling points. All the panels have the bad edges and voids galore in the gel coat that early buyers ended up with. I also upgraded to every aero part and received super shoddy carbon fiber covered fiberglass parts (street splitter, side sails, and rear diffuser are all see through) before they went to the autoclave process. Now with this nose, the QC person must have been on break when one of my fenders was made. I unwrapped it to find a wide open void. The rub is that the gel coat void is right on a hard body line. That'll be fun to get right with body filler. Oh well, body work galore awaits.

[Kurk818]

Wow, thats quite the void. Person applying fiberglass shouldve definitely seen that when rolling it out. Ouch.

Hope mine arrive with nothing like that.

[07FIREBLADE]

Sucks to hear. Their car has shorter fenders so I don't expect ffr to change their molds any time soon. Your front splitter will not fit with the new front most likely mine didn't and I'm fond of forking over more cash to ffr for carbon parts at the moment.

[Aero STI]

Sucks to hear. Their car has shorter fenders so I don't expect ffr to change their molds any time soon. Your front splitter will not fit with the new front most likely mine didn't and I'm fond of forking over more cash to ffr for carbon parts at the moment.

That's no good. Did you make FFR aware of this?

[07FIREBLADE]

Yes. I kinda got a shrug and its hand shaped molds so there are slight variations.

[metros]

Op, did you contact ffr about the condition of your fenders upon their arrival? That's pretty poor.

Fireblade - more details? What about the splitter doesn't fit? Too wide?