Octobersknight's 818 Build

[octobersknight]

After my (admittedly very short) first drive, I could tell two things: 1) my toe is WAY off, and 2) my wheels are too close to the frame and will rub well before steering rack lock. On the advice of Kiwi Dave and others, I bought some black aluminum 1" spacers on eBay and installed them on the car. I think they definitely help the look and will help with steering angles. I have to adjust my toe this week - it's 4" right now (!) and needs to be 1/16" total at most. I think this is mostly a consequence of me using a wagon steering rack but using sedan aluminum LCA's. Or not. Either way I have to make some adjustments.

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After that, I want to get this bad boy over to AndrewTech for a real alignment and an engine tune. I probably need to figure out my exhaust first, or at least get close. Also, I need to locate a trailer to haul this down to them.

[octobersknight]

I put together the FFR-supplied exhaust temporarily, along with a horribly-welded bracket to support it just for the AndrewTech alignment and tune that Dave (KiwiDave) and I are getting next week. Thanks again to Mike (mikeb75) for letting us borrow his trailer - this forum is a great way to meet awesome people.

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I also hooked up/married the AccessPort to the engine and put on a basic 93-octane tune. AT will update that next week to remove checks for things I no longer have, such as TGVs and the secondary air pump.

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In my "test drive" I noticed, aside from horrible toe-in, that I have steering range issues. I have since installed some rack limiters as suggested by others. I'm not sure if they're actually doing anything, but the boots were hell to get back over them. It probably would have been easier if the garage wasn't in the mid-forties, but oh well. I'd love to not need them, but alignment at AT and some aluminum panel install will tell me if i have to keep them or not to limit the range of motion.

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I searched through my pick order list from FFR and my parts boxes and never found the FFR-supplied cutoff switch I ordered. Much too late to ask for it now ... I bought a similar one on Amazon that was much too big and not the aesthetics I was going for, so I got this on/off/out switch instead. I like this one because it's more discrete and mounts on a through hole without the need for bolts. I installed it on my fuse box cover in the passenger footwell, so it's well-hidden. The FFR battery cable was not long enough for me to cut and run to the switch, so I cut off the battery terminal and added a ring terminal to connect to the switch. From there, bought an aftermarket 24" 4 AWG wire pair and did the terminal surgery to add a ring terminal to connect to the switch and re-used the FFR battery terminal. I was able to start with no problems, so it's good to go.

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I also bought this heavy-duty wire terminal crimper that you smack with a hammer for crimping.

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While I had the seat out (for the hundredth time :/) and all the stuff off to remove the center tunnel, I made measurements to add a wire tray to support the wires as they crossed from back-to-front across gap. I never liked that they just hung loose and would sit on the underseat tray. Some aluminum angle, rivets, and leftover sheet aluminum from where I cut out for the fuse box, and voila, wire tray. It is still easy to remove should I need to access something like the fuel pump relay near the firewall.

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[octobersknight]

As mentioned by many, the dead pedals 7 coolant covers are not covered in the install manual. I thought this was a perfect time to tackle them as I await my trip to AndrewTech and was waiting for Larry (K3LAG) to zero out my cluster. The passenger one was a bear, I had to take off the large side tab to get it tight against all the other sides, so I added a brace/tab to help support it. I also had to cut a large semicircle at the bottom to get it to clear the coolant tube. I'm not sure if anyone else has had to do this or if I just mounted my tubes too high. More on that later. The driver's side was similar except I didn't have to cut off the outside tab. i did have to trim the coolant cover lower tab and add my own extension, though, because the tube mounting kept the cover from touching the floor otherwise.

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Zeroed cluster, thanks Larry (and KiwiDave for arranging/and transport to/from!).

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[octobersknight]

Following up on my earlier thread: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...ubber-couplers

I am ready to try to get these in before taking the kart to Andrewtech. The driver's side panel I think I can get to fit if I push on the tubing/hose a little.

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The passenger side tubing is a lot worse, see the pictures. Does anyone have experience and/or ideas for how to get this to fit better? Do I have to give the tubing a good shove backwards to make it more flush with the frame?

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[STiPWRD]

I ended up cutting an oval into the splash guard to clear that driver side tube and covering the hole with aluminum tape to protect the tube. Some others have hammered a groove into the splash guard to clear the tube. Although, I had the coolant hard tubes so you may be able to push it back to clear the sheet metal since you have the corrugated tubes, they should be more flexible.

[RPGs818SNA]

I had the same problem, but had already installed the cockpit aluminum. Once attached, the corrugated tube extended beyond the frame and interfered with the tire, not to mention the to be installed splash aluminum. I couldn’t even get the connector hose on the tube on the driver’s side as the tube was tight against the frame.

My solution was to take the tube to a muffler shop and have the front ends bent up and in 7 degrees, 6” back from the tube end. To help them get the bends right, I drew a circle around the tubes 6” from the front end, and with them lying flat on the floor, put a mark at the top of the circle. Then I put a mark 45 degrees down from the top toward the inside of the car, or half way between vertical and horizontal. That mark was the center of the bend. It wasn’t as pretty as the factory bend, but it worked. If I was to do it again, I’d go 10 degrees.

[sgarrett]

I ran into exactly the same issue on both sides and actually backtracked to fix it. I completely repositioned the coolant tubes making sure the bend was inside of the edge of the frame so that I could fit the splash guards into place and not rub my tire. It definitely set me back a lot of time, but in the end it was where I wanted it.

[octobersknight]

Do you have any tips or pictures that show *how* you repositioned them? Did you have to adjust any of your mounting points, or was it just simply a slide backwards in the bracket loops?

[sgarrett]

I mainly needed to slide the whole tube assembly back towards the rear of the car on each side. This meant removing the side fiberglass and changing the angel of the tubes. Just sliding it back made the back end interfere with something (I don't remember what now). So I needed to raise the rear end as I slid it back. Of course, this meant changing the mounting points, which then made the tube interfere with the brake and clutch lines. And then interfered with my seat belt mount. Eventually, I was able to position the tube where I could push the front corrugated section inboards of the frame. This way I could eliminate the tire and splash shields hitting it. Before moving it I think it hung over the edge by at least 3/4".

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[octobersknight]

I've been working, I swear! I'll have some updates posts rolling out over the next few days as I pull together my photos. the summary is that I've been fiddling with the ride height (spring tension), some more electrical, some body panels, and seat re-mounting. Check back soon.

[octobersknight]

Okay, updates as promised! I met up with Kiwi Dave and we borrowed a trailer from MikeB818 and took our go-karts to AndrewTech for some tuning and alignment, way back in March 2021.

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[octobersknight]

I went to a pick-a-part place and picked up the S10 window guides as suggested by so many to help keep the windows of the coupe more manageable. While there I also saw an awesome Porsche head/valve cover so I grabbed that as well. I'll clean up the valve cover and use it as a show piece, and maybe get lucky and sell the loaded head.

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I also grabbed a couple door speakers with tweeters and a cowl panel for my mustang. Those places are real treasure troves if you can find what you want!

[octobersknight]

I followed the excellent build instruction from AZPete along with updates from Kiwi Dave to do my install. I bought all my hardware from a local Vintage Aire seller, who was a great guy and is building some cool stuff in his garage too. I was able to re-use the OEM compressor, along with the VA condenser, drier, electronic switch, fan/evaporator, control panel, and hoses/fittings. The local VA rep also was able to get his contact to weld up the fittings to the hoses so that I had metric on the compressor side and VA (US) size hose fitting on the other. I used some simple aluminum angle iron as the top bracket and made some custom bent straps for the bottom of the condenser to mount it in front of the radiator.

After using the octopus and vacuum pump to fill the system I tried it out and it was ... kinda cold? I'm hoping after a few more runs and cycling the hot/cold that everything will be more efficient and better. I put in the recommended amount of oil/refrigerant, and was getting what seemed like the right pressures. Bleeding the heater core was harder than I thought it would be, maybe because of how high up i mounted my electronic valve and the location of the "h" crossover. I will continue to monitor and top off the overflow bottle as I see it get used. Driving around and running the system helps to jostle out the bubbles.

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[octobersknight]

Ho hum ... more wiring. I decided to add another 12V cigarette port to the existing one, knowing I wanted my fancy backup camera/mirror always powered but still wanted an available port for phone charging or whatever.

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I also purchased a u-build exhaust piping setup. It wasn't much more to get the whole set than to get the few parts I actually needed. So I will definitely have extra for practice and future uses (?). Definitely not stainless steel like I wanted, but it is a coated steel that looks nice. I need to thoroughly remove the "chrome" near where I want to weld, as practice has already showed me. I also purchased a cherry bomb single inlet/dual outlet oval muffler, because I like the look of the dual exhaust and was close to what Slava has already done. Also, I bought a bellmouth turbo exit with a v-band clamp fitting, which will go along nicely with my plan to make all the pieces modular and separable. There is no particular reason why this flexibility is needed, I just like the thought of being able to take apart the pieces as needed for replacement or modification, without having to cut and/or re-weld to the muffler, etc. I had a buddy weld the stainless v-band fittings onto the muffler. The only downside is that my piping welds are going to look absolute trash next to those works of art!

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[STiPWRD]

This is a great excuse to develop those welding skills and worst case, you can always put a DEI wrap around the piping. Practice really is the key with welding - that's been my experience. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[octobersknight]

I installed the driver's side door frame temporarily, just to see how it fit and how the side sails would (eventually) look with it on there. I needed to see how the whole mechanism was going to work, and I needed to check the length of wire to add for my power locks.

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I received four gratis nut plates from Kiwi Dave, and the two I tried here sure worked like a charm! There is nowhere near the same level of fiddling as with individual nuts, and door frame mounting can easily be done by one person this way. Haven't' done any adjusting or anything, just a rough install, but I'm confident that adjusting it will be way easier too.

[DSR-3]

Credit to you and others who do these builds in the small spaces available!
I was at the vintage races yesterday, and literally 9 of 10 Formula Ford racers have more space in their trailer than I have in my garage! We won't talk about their "investment" in the hobby... Thankfully- it's a luxury not a requirement.

[jbs72697]

I can count myself in that group
Once I get it neatened up a bit I’ll post some pics of my small space and workbench

[octobersknight]

While I was getting ready to update and extend wiring over the winter, I decided to redo how the seats were mounted since they had to come out to access the center tunnel. I was not exactly happy that the only thing between your butt and the ground (or any other nasty road debris) was thin sheet of aluminum and the butt cushion. I wanted to replace the simple bar stock with full steel plate ... which meant spending lots of time grinding out the welds I had worked so hard to get strong an not completely hideous. The good news is they actually were quite strong, flexible (not brittle), and I hadn't burned through the tubing. I was pretty proud to find out those welds were as good as they were!

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It's amazing how many hours of work can be summarized in a few photos! I then bought, cut, cleaned, welded, cleaned again, and painted some 3/16 plate.

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Then came templating for the seats and drilling the holes for my front and back "anti-slide" brackets that I welded in as extra insurance (see front/back tabs in second pic and earlier seat mounting post). I made a paper template and then made the holes in the right places ... except the seats weren't as exact as my holes. Some holes got widened. I also realized afterwards that my installation technique that worked for the bars couldn't work with the plate. I *used to* be able to reach a wrench up under the seat to hold the bolt head from under the car. The plate blocked access. Luckily, the lock washers held the assembly in place while I tightened everything. Otherwise I was going to slot the screw end so I could hold it with a flat-head screwdriver.

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Yay, protected butts! (Several long weeks of work smushed into a few paragraphs and six photos.)

[octobersknight]

I installed those pesky inner front aluminum triangles that somehow never made it into the manual. i was only able to fit a few rivets in there, but I made extra holes so the silicone could weep through and create and "rivet" out of caulk. They should hold since there's not going to be much load on them.

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Before installing the passenger seat, I decided to extend the wires for the door open/closed sensors. No idea if I'll ever use them, but at least the connectors will be nearby if I do want to do so. Then I installed the seats (for hopefully one of the last times!)

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My final thought was to modify the center tunnel. I was tired of having to remove the seats to get to the wiring. I decided to liberate the sides from the top to make a 3-piece system, so that I could just pop off the shifter and parking brake to remove the top and access the majority of the wires. Seats can stay in place. Since I'm planning to carpet the tunnel, the carpet should hide the seam pretty well - or I'll figure something out when i get that far!

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[octobersknight]

Before I started figuring out my piping layout and welding the exhaust pipes, I wanted to check the clearance form the muffler to the bumper. So I fit the side sails and the bumper on just for a rough fit check. Man does it start to look like a real car pretty quick when those get on the frame!!!

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I did not like how close the muffler was to the bumper. I decided to modify my hangars by adding a bend to them. Out came the sawzall and the welder. I cut notches and inserted angled filler pieces to bend the hangars without shortening them. I chose the bend location and amount just by eye and fit-up the muffler to make sure the front and back bent the same distance (the bend locations were at different heights on the support, which made things only slightly trickier).

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Clearance is quite a bit better now. As with all things on this car: time will tell if I moved it enough, given limited airflow in the back, or if I'll have to modify somewhere in the distant future to protect the bumper. I do plan to heat-protect the fiberglass somehow, just haven't 100% decided how yet.

[octobersknight]

After adjusting the muffler hangar bracket and centering the muffler, I measured, cut, and welded all the tubing in place. I had to add the v-band clamp rings to each end, and make sure the right ends matched up (remember I made sure the inlet and outlet were opposite to avoid reassembly mixups). getting the left and right sides to be even, looking about the same, and ending up the same distance and height was pretty challenging.

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I also found that routing the turbo outlet was not too hard, but brought the pipe near one of the urethane hangars. I'll need to wrap the pipe and probably also install some king of simple heat shield from all the Al sheet stock I have laying around.

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It looks pretty even to me now. You can see the tips are well behind where the bumper will be. I'll blame it on my lack of foresight - I had cut the outlets pipes before checking the bumper clearance as noted in the last post. Thus, the forward shift of the muffler made my exhaust end up shy of the line. It's okay, though since I plan to install some black tips on there anyway for appearance and maybe sound enhancement. I'll start with some bolt-on ones so I can play with looks, then maybe upgrade to some weld-on ones if the bolt-ons misbehave.

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Added the O2 bung on the underside of the turbo downpipe for good looks (i.e. hiding it from rea hatch window view) and keeping it as far from the hot turbo as possible.

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[octobersknight]

I built my own exhaust for several reasons, including different sound, I wanted (another ) challenge, and I wanted dual-exit. I made a video comparing the two exhaust sounds, which you can see and hear below. The stock FFR one actually sounds quite good. For true apples-to-apples, I'll have to flip the car around to film the new setup in the same location as with the stock exhaust, and do a cold-start and some acceleration sounds. But I really LOVE how it turned out in the end!

Sorry about the shaky stock video clips - I think the exhaust was resonating the Rubbermaid lid where I had the phone propped (or the phone itself)!

[octobersknight]

I was just looking back and I never posted any of my drive videos! A cardinal sin, if ever there was one!!

For your viewing pleasure, my first real drive with the stock FFR exhaust. Filmed on a mostly-sealed GoPro, so sorry the sound is muffled.

[octobersknight]

Different camera this time (or at least additional) - my cell phone. Sound is better but film centering is ... less good.

[octobersknight]

I spent some time late winter just wrapping things and cleaning up the appearance to prep for bodywork. I bundled/wrapped wires up front and in the engine compartment. I also installed a fiberglass wrap on the turbo downpipe to enhance looks, keep the engine area somewhat cooler, and protect that urethane hangar.

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I painted some stripes on the muffler sides (using exhaust spray paint) to protect the weld material from rust as much as possible and to add some visual flair to complement all the other red I had going on the engine bay area. I'm really pleased with how the exhaust turned out overall in terms of looks and sound. The finishing touch will be those exhaust tips, eventually.

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Now this thread has nearly caught back up to real time. I'm committed to being better about posting in a more regular and timely fashion.

[octobersknight]

I took the advice of many folks on the forum and decided to coat the inside of the fiberglass body panels with truck bed liner. I started with the side sails, which meant I had to prep the left panel for the gas inlet. I wanted the holes to also be coated in bed liner to hide all the fiberglass and resin as much as possible. I started with raptor bed liner spray, but ended up using about a can for each panel. After that, I decided to switch to the 3M stuff since it is ~33% cheaper.

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I also did the rear bumper, which meant prepping holes for lights. I plan to get an LED brake/rear light to complement all the other LED bulbs.

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As you can tell from the pics, I was overeager to spray and ended up spraying everything before cutting the holes ... which meant I had to re-spray near the holes after cutting to hide the newly-exposed resin and glass. I should have also cut the holes for the mesh at this point but I was hesitant to take that leap at this point. I can always respray the edges with bedliner or paint. I am trying to avoid using the trim pieces if I can, so the exposed edge of the body panel will be seen in front of the mesh.

[octobersknight]

The first step for this bit was to twist the nose support bars as stated in the manual. I knew that paint wouldn't withstand that abuse. Then I painted the nose brackets, lower nose support pieces, support bars, and then installed everything loosely.

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[octobersknight]

Pics for the holes after re-spraying the holes in the side sail and rear bumper.

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I also had some blemishes near the rear light holes that I had to patch with body filler.

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[octobersknight]

The weather outside got too hot for a while, so I worked in the garage on wiring up the rear lights and reverse/turn signals. I started on the passenger side and used the FFR-supplied bits for this (reverse/TS) as well as some Amazon-bought weatherproof three-pin connectors for the taillights.

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Man am I glad I had a wiring diagram. It took me a while to realize that the term "combination light" really means rear light ... though I have had some strange issues with my lights on testing them. My taillight does not light when I turn on my lights (dash cluster lights fine), but the brake light does work. Any advice??

My turn signal works, though flashing fast because I haven't installed the LED controller yet. The reverse bulb ... well that also lit the turn signal! Huh? I knew that switching the bulb 180 would swap the turn/reverse function, but both being the same? A swap only ended up showing that reverse would light for turn and also reverse! After some digging, it turns out that my one contact is loose in the connector and that I have to adjust the contacts inside the housing (I have to temporarily remove the bulb) once I plug into the wiring harness. My other plug didn't have this problem and that's how I chased down the issue.

[STiPWRD]

I'm loving the exhaust and first drive videos! Looking great!

[octobersknight]

STiPWRD, thanks!

Like many others, I was not a fan of having to remove the headlight lens to access the guts of the lights for maintenance, plus I'm not sure if I want to swap out two DRLs for turn signal bulbs. I want to try it out first to see how it looks. I followed TheHelixx's method for how to do this (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...92s-818C/page3 post #100) . I bought the same sink undermount clips and the same weatherstripping.

I used the bucket to roughly decide where I wanted to put the clip bases & studs, and I mounted them perpendicular to the light, figuring that the back edge of the clip should hit metal rather than fiberglass only. I mounted them with 2-ton epoxy. I don't understand why the bolt is not welded/attached to the clip. It won't spin now! After that was covering the bases with fiberglass for added strength. While I've done fiberglass and composite work before, it's been vacuum-bag type and never "open" like this. I thought it went pretty well and didn't have any concerns while doing so. I thought the resin working time was alright at ~8-10 minutes, and the glass wet out well. I couldn't get rid of a couple bubbles but I'm not worried about them.

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While I had the glass out and ready, I also performed a repair on the rear bumper driver's side turn signal/ reverse bulb pocket. That pocket cracked at the "corner" when I installed the bulb housing and I wanted to reinforce it to prevent it from happening again.

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After glassing in both sets of clips, I did the typical 120-grit sand over everything, clean, wipe, tape, and apply bedliner spray.

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After that cured for a day or so, I applied the weatherstripping and test-fit the buckets. Like Helixx, I had to bend my clip hardware in order for it to reach the threaded areas. One of my clips had to be modified because it needed to reach farther to get the bucket in the right place (can you spot it?).

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I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and will likely make tweaks to the positions once I get ready to install the lights for real. I didn't have to reshape the buckets with a heat gun because the weatherstrip eats up all the gaps.

[octobersknight]

While waiting for stuff to cure, dry, or otherwise be ready to further work, I decided to tackle little bits and pieces that were outstanding. As noted before, I've had taillight issues (yet to be resolved due to my busy-ness, but thanks for the advice on the separate thread everybody!).

I also have that pesky brake light on the cluster that won't got away, so I started chasing that down. I've looked up many posts (McCamera and others) to try to find the source of this little light. Again with this, no luck. I thought I had to ground the parking brake line and the brake reservoir connector, so I opened my wiring tunnel to access the connector. After looking at wiring diagrams and reading other posts, it looks like the opposite is true - ground is light-off, hot is light-on. I checked my parking brake connector and it's functioning properly. The brake fluid sensor connector is open (I've checked connectivity), so that's not the issue. The only remaining thing I see that can trigger it is the ABS, so I'll have to trace that later after the taillight diagnosis/tracing. All of this has been done with the ignition on but no engine running, in case that makes a difference.

Other things I've tackled while waiting include the bronze shoes for the window motor tracks. I followed Art's method (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...18-build/page6 post #224) and got some to fit quite well, and I've checked motor function/motion with success. The only weird part is that the design of the two carriages differs because ... different manufacturers change different things as long as they don't affect the function of the item in question. Normally it wouldn't matter, but one of the motor sled assemblies (driver's?) has bits of plastic in locations I would rather have put a show. So instead of a more ideal two-on-one-side, third on opposite side between the other two arrangement, I had to do the opposite side third one further down in an unbalanced fashion. We'll see how it goes, I may have to find a place for a fourth shoe or something for better balance.

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[octobersknight]

I finally got to the bodywork! Yay!! (or not, we'll see how it goes )

I had already fitted up the side sails and rear bumper before, so I wanted to get started cutting the vents into the side sails. Like McCamera, I didn't want to use the surrounds, so I could get a cleaner look and a bigger vent area. I used the trim as a guide and then extended the cut area uniformly to as large as I thought I could get while still leaving bonding area at the back.

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I cut the holes with an air body saw, which kinda sucked (jamming) and my air compressor is WAY too small to handle the load. I did get the holes cut, and then I finished the shape with a sanding block, sandpaper, some files, and a Dremel with two sizes of sanding drums. While not absolutely perfect, they're good enough for what I want and will look great except on super close inspection. It's hard to see, but I did repair the backside of the sawcut oopsie on the passenger side with some 2-ton epoxy. I'll take care of the front with body filler later.

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When I went to bond on the mesh portions, I found out my black silicone caulk was plugged and preferred to squirt into the body of the caulk gun rather than out the tube nozzle. Oh joy. Then, I found out all the hardware stores near me were out of black silicone caulk! Stupid COVID supply chain issues. Instead I used clear, which I may later come to regret. But I was impatient and wanted it done.

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[octobersknight]

Once the silicone cured some, I put the side sails in place on the car so i could temporarily install the rear bumper and do side-to-side fitting and front-to-back adjustments. With everything in place, I marked on the underside where I need to drill screw holes (to align with aluminum underseat tray holes and rivnuts) and where the side sail rose above the steel passenger and driver's side frame bars. I trimmed them so the aluminum sill covers would lie flat on the steel square tubing. I could probably alternatively let the fiberglass sag a little. I chose the trim because it gives me more fitting freedom.

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In the meantime, I also started cutting the hole for the rear bumper mesh (again, without the trim piece). After the bumper and trimming problems, though, I gave up on the air saw and just trimmed the side sail fiberglass with a hand hacksaw (the mini-type). It worked really well.

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BUT WAIT! I totally forgot I plan to have my dual exhaust exit from the rear bumper fiberglass, not the mesh! CRUD!!!!!!!!! The only lucky bit is that I hadn't fully cut out the rear vent area. I was able to go back, sand, clean, prep, and fiberglass over the portions I knew I did NOT want cut. I roughly marked the exhaust exits so i could find where to do glass repairs. I used fiberglass cloth (woven) this time for strength. I'll have to use body filler magic on the outside to hide the ugly scars from my hurried mistake.

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[octobersknight]

I finally got my matte black, angled exhaust tips. They are "bolt-on" type but the pinch-type, not the strange "ceiling-fan-glass" three bolt connection that's I've seen so often at the auto-parts stores. They were just simple ones from ebay that didn't require welding, so allowed me to adjust them to get the look I want. I slid them on to get a look and to start figuring out where to cut the rear bumper holes. I want those holes tight around the exhaust for good looks.

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After sliding them all the way inwards, mounting the bumper, marking where the tips were, and doing some measuring, it became clear that my fear was coming true. The right exhaust was tipped inwards toward the center just a bit. Enough to annoy me. You may even see it in the pic above. I removed that exhaust horn and cut it apart, did some test-fitting, marked it, and re-welded it.

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(I hope nobody lost their lunch over that weld pic. I ground it nice afterwards ).

With the adjustments in place, I re-measured and re-marked the bumper cut spaces. I drilled out the holes with my 3 1/2" hole saw, re-sprayed that area with the bedliner (to hide the newly-exposed raw fiberglass edge), and mounted the bumper on the car. I installed the tips, made some minor adjustments of the v-band clamp for the right horn, and thought it looked great! I used blue tape just to prevent scratches during installation. I am very pleased with how the whole setup looks, with the tips protruding slightly from the bumper. Everything looks symmetrical to me. Rock on!

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[octobersknight]

Since I was happy with the exhaust tips and exit from the rear bumper, I moved on to installing the mesh. I cut the hole and spent a great deal of time filing and sanding it to make sure it looked symmetric, "square", and had no wavy edges. This also got a spray of bedliner to hide the edges (I actually did the exhaust holes and this at the same time) I then trimmed the mesh and installed it with the usual silicone caulk method.

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Then I put it back on the car, hopefully for good this time! I am so happy with how the whole thing looks now. Just how I was picturing it! I have since also installed the new reverse/turn signal housing after I got a new part from FFR. It's still odd to me how much the screw holes in the housing's ears have to be drilled out in order to accommodate the screws that are supplied.

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I also test-fit the rear door sill aluminum. It seems overly wide to me. When I clamp it to simulate rivets on both side, I get a rainbow-like bulge along the center. Does this happen to anyone else?

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I also installed the door latch brackets behind the fiberglass (the ones they never tell you to install).

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Looking forward towards door installation (as in it's in the future, not that I think I'm going to enjoy it), I left these brackets rather loose. Has anyone installed the OEM latch parts on the brackets and had to move them afterwards? I'm hesitant to just place the parts and drill through the fiberglass willy-nilly, but then I also don't see how I can adjust the doors and get them set without that anchor point for them. Or, once set, how do I adjust the doors afterwards? Advice?

[FFRWRX]

I also test-fit the rear door sill aluminum. It seems overly wide to me. When I clamp it to simulate rivets on both side, I get a rainbow-like bulge along the center. Does this happen to anyone else?

Mine fit fairly tight. Are they designed to go over the thickness of carpet?

[octobersknight]

That's a good question, actually. I did order the carpet kit, but I somewhat doubt that they have special sills for kits with/without carpet option. I'll check my part numbers this evening and post what I find.

[FFRWRX]

I just checked mine again and it is a pretty nice fit with the body panel on the outside and the aluminum on the inside (no carpet). With carpet it will be a pretty tight fit I think. I measured the door sill piece and it is 1.82" (inside) across the sides. This is with me pulling the sides in a bit to make them 90 degrees to the top; they are sprung out a bit.