The Bolton Build - 818C

[FFRWRX]

I haven't decided on wrap color yet. I"m pretty sure I'm going with something a bit....well....not conservative. Stay tuned. The wrap guy is very busy and can't make it out to see the car for a while, so I'll get back to working on the interior.

Rick

[Frank818]

I"m pretty sure I'm going with something a bit....well....not conservative.

That sounds like me! lolll
Can't wait to see the color!

[FFRWRX]

No news on the wrap yet, but I contacted a very well known place and sent them some pictures. They said $3,500-$4,500 (Canadian) which is about what I expected and am pleased with that. I'll go and see them in the next few days with more pictures and see what their schedule is like.

I've been working on the dash a bit. I bought the Vintage Air A/C stuff a while ago so I put the various vents in the dash. I put 4 A/C vents on the front of the dash and 2 defrost vents on top. For the defrost ones you are supposed to basically cut a slot in the dash and mount the hose adapter piece underneath. There is no way I could get a decent slot in the top of the dash. I suppose with enough work it is possible, but the trouble with plastic is if you use power tools it tends to melt and with hand tools it is tough going. So this is one slot:

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I machined some aluminum pieces to go on top. Powder coated them and some screws black:

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Much better:

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The underside with all the vents in place:

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And the top side:

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I'm not sure why I put the defrost vents so far to the outsides of the dash. I should have probably put them a few inches closer to the middle, but not a big deal.

The A/C vents are the plastic ones; the aluminum ones were very expensive and I didn't think worth the extra money. These mount with the outer piece going through the dash and then the piece inside, that the hose connects to, screws onto that piece. The issue is that these must be for very thin dash's. Even with the fairly thin dash plastic, with some sort of softer cover, there are barely enough screw threads to hold on the inner part. Less than 1 turn and then they sort of strip.

This is the inner part with the threads:

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I could touch it on a belt sander to remove some of the plastic and increase the thread grip length by a full turn. But I'll just put some plastic glue on the threads and tighten them just a bit. Maybe put some glue between them and the dash as well to keep them from rotating. Not a big deal as long as I don't ever have to remove them.

I can't mount the dash until the windshield is in, and can't do that until the car is wrapped. But I want to fit the dash to see how the wiring bundles from the steering column run to the centre area. There are a lot of wires (even with my diet) and not a lot of slack in them. I'm hoping I can get them all hidden without having to lengthen any of the bundles.

That's it for now.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

Making progress, but backtracking a little too.

To take the car to get wrapped it has to be able to be driven at the shop. So I wanted to tidy up the wiring since a lot of it is hanging around the pedals. I found that there wasn't quite enough slack to get the steering column bundles tucked up enough.

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Some of them I could pull up enough, some I couldn't. As much as I hoped I was finished with the wiring, I had to lengthen some of the bundles.

While I was poking around in that area I saw that the gas pedal was a little loose. Looking at it again I noticed that it was fairly close to the firewall and several inches behind the other pedals. I thought it would be better if I spaced it forward a bit. It looked like sort of pivoting it with a tapered spacer would be the best thing since it was also at an angle I didn't like. So I 3D printed a spacer to move the bottom of it more than the top. Also made a couple angled spacers for the bolts since they wouldn't be sitting flat on the pedal housing now:

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Not a great picture, but this is the new position of the gas pedal:

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Once again, while doing that I remembered seeing instructions on shortening the steering column to move the wheel closer to the dash a bit. Seemed like a good idea since there is a space between the dash and the plastic column covers. So out came the steering column. I followed the instructions, which worked perfectly. Don't have a reference to them right now, but you can find it with a search. I shortened it 1 3/4". Then of course I needed a spacer for the new bolt locations:

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After taking this picture and going to install it I realized that I made the counter-bores a nice size for the bolt heads. But not a nice size for getting a socket on them to tighten things up. So back to the mill for a little touch-up. With the column bolted back in I took the opportunity to trim off the extra bolt length as well as these 2 brackets. One of the things that bothers me with car projects is brackets that aren't holding anything; I tend to trim them all off and hope I don't need them later.

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With everything back in place it looks good. The wiring for the instrument cluster is barely long enough, but I think it will be OK.

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Now I just need to put the drivers seat back in and the car should be drivable. Of course I have no idea where I put the seat mounting bolts, along with the tapered guide pins I made. Time for a semi-major cleanup of the garage to find them. It has needed it for a while now but I've been putting it off.

So, one step closer to taking it to get wrapped.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

it's off to wrap we go!

Finally off to the wrap shop.

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It will be a little while until it is done. They will wrap it as-is. Then I'll bring it home and install the doors and do final trimming/fitting of the outer door skins. Then take the door skins to them to wrap. Bring them home, attach them, and finally see what the completed wrap looks like. Exciting times!

The transport unloaded the car in front of the industrial complex where the wrap place is. They are sort of around the back. I drove it around the building, being the first time driving it other than up and down my driveway. Got into 2nd gear!

One of the wrap guys was so intrigued with it. I alway assume anyone connected with cars in any way knows what kit cars are; apparently not. He asked if he could drive it into the shop. I said sure. So he takes off, does a few laps around the parking lot first, grinning like a kid at X-mas. He said he was surprised how nice it drove..."just like a real car, steers and shifts perfectly". I told him he has now driven it more than I have.

This is the place I'm getting it wrapped: https://www.vaughanwraptors.com. They have places in a few cities in Canada and one in Florida. When a place is wrapping a Lambo and a BMW i8, it gives me confidence that they do a good job. Every review is very positive for the quality of their work. He said it would be $3,800 so $6,000+ cheaper than having it painted.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

The car is wrapped and has started going back together. I put together a video, but for those that don't want to watch it, here is a picture:

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The color looks amazing in the sun. The video really doesn't show it well enough. And it is really nice to finally be putting things together that, hopefully, don't have to come off again; like the doors after dozens of install/remove cycles.



Rick

[Jetfuel]

It won’t be long now
Really like that color the lines pop out for sure

Jet

[roadrashrob]

Looks great! Curious on the hood louvers. Are they from ZDB? Didn't see any mention in your thread, but may have missed it.

[FFRWRX]

Looks great! Curious on the hood louvers. Are they from ZDB? Didn't see any mention in your thread, but may have missed it.

You didn't miss anything since I didn't talk about the hood louvers yet.

I thought louvers would look really nice on the hood in place of the stock perforated sheet metal. I wanted them a little thicker than just stamped or cut sheet aluminum. I also wanted them to be the same size as the recess in the hood. The fins are 1/8" x 3/4" aluminum and the end plates are 1/4" thick. I CNC machined slots in the end pieces to take the fins. They are a tight fit in the side plate where they meet at a right angle, and a loose fit in the other side plate. Since they go in on an angle on the one side I made the slots loose and used JB Weld to hold them in place on the "loose" side.

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JB Weld (the original one, not the quick one) takes powder coating temperature just fine and it actually takes the powder as well; must be the metal in it.

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There are small threaded holes in the bottom of the end plates to attach them to the hood. Really pleased with how they turned out.

Rick

[lance corsi]

Very nice!

[roadrashrob]

You didn't miss anything since I didn't talk about the hood louvers yet.

I thought louvers would look really nice on the hood in place of the stock perforated sheet metal. I wanted them a little thicker than just stamped or cut sheet aluminum. I also wanted them to be the same size as the recess in the hood. The fins are 1/8" x 3/4" aluminum and the end plates are 1/4" thick. I CNC machined slots in the end pieces to take the fins. They are a tight fit in the side plate where they meet at a right angle, and a loose fit in the other side plate. Since they go in on an angle on the one side I made the slots loose and used JB Weld to hold them in place on the "loose" side.

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JB Weld (the original one, not the quick one) takes powder coating temperature just fine and it actually takes the powder as well; must be the metal in it.

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There are small threaded holes in the bottom of the end plates to attach them to the hood. Really pleased with how they turned out.

Rick

Wow! Very nice...

[aquillen]

Great looking wrap! I also had fine results powder coating on JB Weld "original".

[FFRWRX]

A few more bits and pieces done.

I either misplaced, lost, or never got the roof vent grill stuff. But I do have a lot of grill covers that I don't need; maybe for the 818S version? So with the perforated grill material I cut a piece for the roof vent. For the surround I machined a piece of 1/8" aluminum with a recess for the perforated piece:

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I used JB Weld to hold it in the recess, powder coated it black, and attached it with double sided tape:

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I do have the pieces for the vents in front of the rear wheels. But I agree with some that think the surround aluminum was too wide. I do like the look of the surround piece, but wanted it a bit narrower. So I again used JB Weld to attach the 2 parts together, then marked them to trim it down. You can see I cut the "point" off the bottom of it which shortens it quite a bit.

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Powder coated it and am pleased with the look with the narrower surround.

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Oh, I also redid the headlight mounting using TheHelixx's method using under counter sink mounting hardware........brilliant! (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...92s-818C/page3 page3 post #100)

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Then took full advantage of the beautiful summer weather in fall to take some pictures.

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Installing the windshield today.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

Looking much more like a finished car now. At least from the outside.

I installed all the glass; my wife helped with the windshield as it is a little more awkward than the other pieces. Not too bad a job other than the urethane adhesive is the messiest stuff I've ever used. It really gets everywhere if you aren't very careful. I may put together some notes on what I did to help others.

The wipers are all done and work very nicely.

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I bought my kit from someone else and the rear and side windows came tinted. Was this an option? I like the look of it with all the other black trim.

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Not sure what is supposed to be used to seal around the rear hatch. I bought some press-on trim for 1/4" thick material with a fairly large rubber "bulb" on it. It didn't work out well due to the design on the hatch. The way the under side drops down as you move in from the sides was catching on the bulb and causing the hatch not to close properly. If I had cut back the lip on the roof another 1/4" or so it would have probably been OK. So looking around for something else to use, I found this trim that I assume was part of the kit:

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I don't see that this is useful anywhere on the car. And you can see in the background that several feet of it had already separated, leaving a rubber tube and a trim piece. So I pulled more of it apart and used the tube part. Worked perfectly! I cut it to fit with 45 degree corners, held together with instant glue. Then I glued it in place with more instant glue. Yea I know, I still have to do some painting inside the various panels.

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It is very soft and conforms nicely when the hatch is closed, leaving the rubber visible in the gap which I think looks good.

I tried a few different options for the sealing around the door windows, but didn't like any of them. I was using push on rubber trim, like I tried with the hatch. The problem is that the thickness of the window lip on the roof varies from 1/4" to almost 3/8" thick. The trim for 1/4" thick material opens up too much and doesn't grip well after that. I should have measured and sanded it uniform before I had it wrapped. Not a huge deal and I've order some self-adhesive rubber bulb that goes on the outside so the varying thickness won't matter.

I have to make the grill for the rear bumper piece, with a cutout for my exhaust. And I keep forgetting about the windshield washers that I have to make; I have a small bag of various parts for that. After that, I think it is the interior work to complete, including the door panels. Most of the stuff is made and just needs to be installed. Oh, and the dash with the A/C hoses. I'm sure there is more that I am forgetting but I'm very pleased with how it is all looking now.

Rick

[Shawn818c]

tinted glass was never an option from FFR.

[FFRWRX]

that take so much time, but make the car more personal.

I thought the rear needed some numbers/letters like Ferrari used to use; 308, 328, etc. If I was following Ferrari's older numbering method this car would be a "254 GTB". I think 818C will do just fine.

I modelled up a graphic and cut it from 1/8" aluminum and powder coated it black:

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I was ready to try it on the car and then remembered that I had some carbon fibre sheet. Since the CNC was set up to cut the aluminum ones, I cut a set from carbon fibre:

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Came out pretty nice and saves 20 grams over the aluminum ones.........it's the little things.

Tried it on the car:

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Didn't like it as much as I did when it was on the computer. I pictured it a little higher up, but it is too wide to squeeze between the license plate holder and the tail light recess. Also, the letters look a little more blocky than what I was after. So played around some more and made another one:

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That's better. If I was to do it again I might make the letters a little bolder/thicker, but I could keep playing with it until I run out of carbon fibre so I think I'll leave it. Oh, the license plate is not real, just something I mocked up and printed out.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

A little more progress. I had made my mirror mounts some time ago and have tweaked them a few times to get them correct. I wanted them to serve several purposes:

1) Obviously hold the mirrors, but further rearward than the "stock" location so the A-pillar doesn't block the view, especially the passenger side.

2) Bolt on from inside the door so the door wouldn't have to be removed to get at the fasteners.

3) Provide a seal for the door to A-pillar which F5 doesn't address (as far as I know).

4) Work with my inner door panels. I'm not using the supplied ones since they don't fit well, don't attach to the metal structure, go from inside the car to the outside which I think is a weird design.

These mounts are machined from aluminum and powder coated. Ignore the shallow counter-bore; doesn't show with this in place and was in the piece of aluminum I started with.

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I machined a shallow groove in it to hold a seal, but couldn't figure out what to use. Then it suddenly came to me.....a piece of windshield wiper blade. I bonded a piece in place and it rubs up against the bottom of the A-pillar to form a perfect seal.

Door partially open:

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Door closed:

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And with the mirror bolted in place. I had the mirror covers wrapped the same time as the car. I wasn't sure if I was going to go for carbon fibre or just black, so decided to have them wrapped to see what it looks like. I really like it.

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Working on the rest of the interior door panel now.

Rick

[lance corsi]

Looking good Rick! Dave Kindig did a Pantera that color and it looked fantastic. Should show up well in traffic.
Btw, I received the 818 lettering and they look great. Thanks again!

[FFRWRX]

Got back to working on the car a little since we have some nice weather here to tease us.

I've probably spent as much time on the doors and door windows as the entire rest of the build. I really want to be done with them so I can move on. I'm almost there.

I 3D printed a piece to tidy up the door latch area a little:

Before:

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Now:

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I may do another one with a thin area that cover the screws and the rest of the plate. But I really should leave little things like that for later and move on.

The inner door panels are pretty much done and I'm happy with how they came out:

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Of course I tossed the factory ones and made new ones from thin plywood covered with vinyl. At the top it clips under the top trim piece that is bolted in place. There are magnets around the perimeter to hold it to the frame. Also, the door pull/armrest is bolted in through the door panel and into the metal frame, so it is solid and also helps hold the door panel in place. Added a trim piece at the top roughly the color of the exterior. I didn't want any exposed fasteners since to me that says "kit car" (or early British car). Still some minor fitting and adjustment to do, but I want to get on with the rest of the interior now.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

Been working on the car on and off, getting the interior finished.

The rear window aluminum piece of course doesn't fit well all around the roof. Large gaps in places:

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I cut some smaller aluminum pieces and riveted them to the main piece to seal the gaps. Bought some trim rubber to fit the thickness of the aluminum:

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I cut the lower edge of that large panel so it doesn't overlap with the lower aluminum. That way I can remove the lower panel to access the front of the engine without taking too much of the interior apart. I added insulation to the panel and then covered it with vinyl. I'm not crazy about how it came out, but it will do for now.

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I'm working on sealing the open areas that you can see in the above picture behind the door. Has to the the worst job ever of supplying an aluminum panel that is nowhere close to what it should be.

With that done, time to get the dash in. But first, the A/C heater/vent hoses. Looks like some part of the robot from Lost in Space:

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A bit of a chore getting the hoses all hooked up with the dash almost in place. Then attached the dash. The dash is only secured with two screws at the bottom and I found that it wouldn't stay nice a tight along the windshield at the top. The dash is pretty flexible so needed an attachment at the top as well.

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This is hard to see, but what I did was drill a hole through the dash and through the fibreglass part that the windshield bonds onto. This is at the very front corner on each side. I used a small piece of aluminum with a threaded hole in it at the top and a bolt from the bottom. The dash is now held in place very securely. I suppose I could have dropped a bolt down from the top with a nut on the bottom instead of the reverse way I did it, but thought this would allow it to be closer to the windshield and not show as much:

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Nothing to do with the interior, but one fun little thing I did. I have a vinyl cutter I bought a while ago and sort of forgot about. I used it to cut some material to go on the calipers. Came out nice. Yes, these are the stock Subaru calipers that have a flat area on them just asking for something like this:

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I borrowed a friends A/C vacuum pump and charged up the A/C. Works very nicely with very cold air coming out.

A few more bits and pieces to seal things up, then the carpet, then the seats. That should put it a lot closer to being on the road.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

Car is pretty much finished now, at least finished enough to get the Safety check. That is required in Ontario and just checks for things like lights, horn, good brakes, parking brake, good steering with no play or serious wear, the basics to make sure the car is safe for the road. I'll get that done and then finish all the little trim bits and pieces while putting some miles, or kms, on it.

Installed the windshield washer squirters. First attempt was a good rear window washer. Next one got it right. Made a front license plate holder for it.

Drove it around the area a bit for the first time. Really drives and shifts nicely. I really don't like driving a car without insurance on it. Working on that now.

I'll probably have to at least install the front splash panels before the check as I can see the front tire while sitting in the car. Probably not safe to get a rock in the eye while driving.

Pictures:

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And the reason the progress has been a bit slow lately.........bought another toy. So pretty sure the 818C will be sold not long after it is on the road.

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Rick

[FFRWRX]

Installed the various splash panels. It went easier than I thought it would.

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I didn't want to rivet the rear ones on in case they have to come off. So I made a small bracket with a rivnut on it and riveted that to the frame:


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Then bolted the splash panel to that:

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I did glue on yoga mat as many have suggested to keep kicked up rocks from making a racket on the aluminum panels.

After driving it around the block and blowing the intercooler connection off, I made a bracket to secure the side that wasn't bolted down. Lesson that I should have learned from mcamera.

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Fixed the rear hatch hinges which were going out of alignment from the bolt holding the 2 parts together not being able to keep them from rotating. I posted more details on this here:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...er-poor-design

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Replaced the gas pedal that has been given me trouble since day 1. Every now and then the car would go into a barely limp-home mode. Start it again later and it was fine. I've read that this was not an uncommon issue with some of the drive-by-wire gas pedals. The new one has solved that, but never know for how long.

Drove it around a bit today in the 90F weather with high humidity......and the A/C worked very well! The evaporator drain was really pouring out the water when I got home.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

I drove the car around the neighbourhood enough to make sure everything works. Then took it for the "Safety" check. No issues and took no time at all. I've done many short drives since then (3 days) to sort out little issues.

I had an overheating problem that was caused by air in the system. I had the air out and everything fine, then turned on the heater one evening. Not much heat coming out. The next day it started overheating. Obviously turning on the heater for the first time introduced a fair bit of air in the system. Took several heat/cool cycles to clear it but all is good now.

I did notice the engine compartment gets very hot. Too hot for my liking. My exhaust comes fairly close to the rear bumper area and the body in that area was getting pretty warm. So I wanted some cooling air to flow through the engine area.

I was looking at a bunch of fans I had left over from previous projects and found this:

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I used this type of ducted fan in a Cobra for footbox ventilation. I tried it for size on the exit of the roof scoop into the engine area. Amazingly it fit right on!

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I could have glued it in place, but wanted it removable so I 3D printed a sleeve. I used TPU which is flexible and suppose to take fairly high temperatures. I wanted a duct at the bottom to direct the flow rearwards. I designed a fitting to do that, but it was going to take a long time to print. I stopped by Home Depot and, things still working in my favour, found a 3" street elbow that fit on the bottom of the fan unit. Perfect, since this will be a street car......that was a joke.

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I sawed off the larger part of it (weight savings ) and it was looking pretty good. Sawed off the flanges, a little black paint on it and ready to go:

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Installed:

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I thought I would be clever and tap off the power for it (12V) from the Daytime Running Light resistor. But RPGs818SNA set me straight when that didn't work. I tapped the power off one of the rear tail lights, that comes on with the switch on the top of the steering column. So I can run the fan with the engine off to cool things down if I like.

I haven't taken it for a drive yet to see how much it helps. I also installed a turbo blanket since that gets stink'n hot as well. I did one more mod that I'll show later.

Oh, the car really drives nicely. I'm very pleased with my shifter; takes a deliberate effort but shifts beautifully. And it really goes like stink when you get on it! And the sound and noise level are exactly what I was after; nice sound but not too loud.

Rick

[FFRWRX]

As I mentioned, the bodywork at the rear of the car was getting very warm with the exhaust close to it on the inside. I do have the full trunk, and that may be trapping a lot of heat in the rear right side of the engine compartment. The trunk was well insulated, so wasn't getting hot....warm though.

I cut away part of the trunk to open up that area at the rear.

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The one thing I still need to do is make extensions to the trunk front and side with some rubber trim to seal against the rear hatch to isolate it from the engine area. I did want to retain some trunk space, so this worked out well. Now I can buy hamburgers, put them in the trunk, and when hungry pull over and grill them on the top of the muffler. Win-win!

Rick

[FFRWRX]

...make some more mods.

The small ducted fan I added to help cool the engine compartment didn't really do a lot. I think the main reason is that blowing cool air in doesn't help if there is no place for it to exit. There is the large grill in the bumper, but the exhaust is to the right of that. So...

I need an exit for the hot air, right about here:

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The exhaust is very close to that area on the inside:

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Powder coated the grills and attached them. Looks good:

Screenshot 2023-08-30 at 7.27.01 PM.jpg

I improved the fan situation as well. Found a better fan that pushes more air and is very quiet. I mounted it in the opposite corner so the air is directed partially to the intercooler and then to the exhaust area. Hooked it up the same as before so the switch on the steering column controls it.

Screenshot 2023-08-30 at 7.27.24 PM.jpg

The weather is a bit cooler now, and the car isn't running well enough for any long drive (if you are curious why: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...ol-error-codes), so I can't tell how effective it is. But this should work better to keep the rear bodywork cooler. I like to open the rear hatch after a drive to let things cool off. But with it closed this should push the air around and out the rear grills. I could make some sort of duct to get the air from the roof scoop inlet more directly.

Rick

[lance corsi]

I do believe that cooling is a major issue for most if not all mid engine cars. Lambos are prone to fires in the engine bay, Porsches have a cylinder scoring issue due to various factors including heat soak, and recently some fool burned a new Ferrari to the ground in a cornfield, although that one was due to pure dumbassery. It’s a difficult problem to solve. Since these are primarily sunny day cars, I’ve opted to use louvers on my hatch in place of a window to vent heat.

[Dave 53]

I'm sure the airflow inside an S engine compartment is different than a C compartment. But, I can't imagine that fan inside your engine compartment is really doing anything. Perhaps the best use of the fan would be to somehow suck hot air out.

My takeaway from the FFR wind tunnel test is that the airflow just outside the bumper cutout is a bit turbulent. Air does seem to be coming out, but the flow also breaks up a bit.
I wish the smoke wand operator moved the wand in and out of the opening to see more clearly what is happening because the airflow seems very sensitive to how far way you get from the plain of the opening.
https://youtu.be/I7XDxiXPtak?si=mUwhNtwzbC6LcOhu

Based on this, I installed my tranny cooler with a fan assuming the nature airflow isn't as good as it looks like it should be. One thing I learned is the fan doesn't blow the air straight out from the fan. It blows out sideways from the ducting. So, the fan ducting has to be completely outside the engine compartment. I haven't had the car on the track to see how effective this setup is. I have a transmission temperature gauge, so turning the fan on and off will tell. Also note the muffler wrap. Before the wrap, the right side of my transmission was over 100 degrees hotter than the left side.
bumper opening.jpg

I started with a cat instead of a muffler. It was too loud, so I switched to a muffler and immediately was getting headaches from exhaust fumes. At first, I thought it was because the cat was killing the smell. Then I added a short extension to the tail pipe and it cleared the problem right up. In the photo, you can see the original and extended tail pipe length. I think with my original tail pipe length, the exhaust was getting caught up in that turbulence and some of it was getting sucked back into the engine compartment then into the cockpit. It didn't take much of an extension to get it clearly out of the turbulence. I see your tail pipe looks to be maybe even shorter than my original lenght.... I have my diffuser removed in the photo. I also see you don't have a diffuser and I'm sure that makes some sort of difference, good or bad.
exhaust extension.jpg

[cob427sc]

I noticed the same issue with the length of the tailpipe. Initially I ended the pipe just outside and under the rear bumper but kept getting exhaust fumes in the car especially when pulling up to a stop. There was no fancy end on the pipe and I bought a nice chrome extension which brought the pipe out about 4 inches and no longer have the smell/odor problem.

[FFRWRX]

When the rear hatch is closed, the car stationary, turning on my fan does blow air out the new exhaust exit grill. Not a lot of air, but I can feel it. When the car is moving, the air flow limits the temperature of that area. But when shut down, the heat soak really heats up the body panels, so my fan will help with that if I don't want to open the rear hatch for a while. I was thinking of hooking it up to a radiator-type temperature switch so it will run until things cool off a bit. The sensor would be somewhere in the rear area, ideally on a body panel.

The airflow into the engine compartment is very limited. The side vents are pretty small and direct air right into the front of the wheel well aluminum. The roof scoop provides air, but not until the car is moving a decent speed. So in stop-and-go traffic my fan will help move the air through the engine area. I will never track the car, so my concern is only street driving where it is generally slower speeds.

I could easily pull my exhaust tip out a little, but haven't noticed any exhaust smell. Wrapping the muffler would probably help the heat situation, but not sure I need it at this point. I have another fan that I could install in the grill on the left, but I want the air to cool the exhaust mainly.

[FFRWRX]

After a number of iterations I think I have a good solution to keeping the engine compartment temperature under control.

One fan is mounted in the front left corner of the compartment, near the exit of the roof scoop (this one I had installed previously):

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.33.19 PM.jpg

I added a 2nd fan closer to the exhaust on the right side. This one aims over the muffler and to the exit vent:

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.33.46 PM.jpg

Both of these are connected to the alternator with an inline fuse. So they are independent of the ignition being on. There is an overriding on/off switch and a thermostat from a radiator system.

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.32.58 PM.jpg

The last thing I did was add a heat shield at the rear. This prevents the hot air that the fan blows over the muffler from heating up the body panels and helps to direct it out the vent. The thermostat probe is mounted to the top of the heat shield.

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.32.33 PM.jpg

Went for a long drive today and the system worked very well. Even though the outside air temperature was cooler, the system kicked on during the drive and stayed on for several minutes after the engine was shut down. The body panels in the area were warm, but nothing like how hot they got previously. And I noticed almost nothing when opening the rear hatch after. Previously there was quite a blast of hot air from the whole area.

I changed the oil and tranny fluid which was not a big deal, other than not having a T70 Torx to take out the tranny drain plug. So, necessity being the mother of invention (and desperation being a not too distant cousin) I made a tool. Found a bolt with the hex just the right size. Ground off the flats on the edge of a grinding wheel. Bent the shank and presto:

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.32.09 PM.jpg

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.31.54 PM.jpg

It was touch-and-go since it was bending before the plug came loose, but it did work.

One other small thing. I made some new wheel centres (or centers depending on where you are).

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 5.34.36 PM.jpg

One final note. While the A/C works great, the heat doesn't at all. This has been pointed out in some other posts. I have what is basically an 'H' block, similar to the arrangement of what is done with hoses/fittings. It allows the coolant to flow to the heater and also bypasses that to route it back to the engine. The idea is that with the heater valve closed the coolant flows out to the 'H', through it, and then back to the engine. When the heater valve is open, it is an easier path for the coolant to go to the heater core rather than through the bypass and right back to the engine. Obviously the coolant was not informed of how this works.

The issue must be the long hoses and the restriction of the bypass through the 'H' block makes it much easier for the coolant to just go into the block and right back to the engine. The solution may be to get a valve that closes the bypass when the heater valve is open. For those unfamiliar, you can't just close the heater valve; the coolant flow has to always be circulating back to the engine. The Subaru system is similar to some other makes (late model Corvettes I think).

This is not a big deal right now. There is quite a bit of air blowing in from the rear of the the doors at the upper part where there is a gap. I have a 3D printed piece to seal that; that should stop a lot of cold air getting in. For me, A/C is much more important than heat since the car is driven in the summer and not the winter.

And speaking of winter, I'll do a few more small jobs like finishing up interior trim and other details. I'll keep driving it until the weather says "no more". It has been great taking it to various cruise nights and shows. Always gets a lot of attention.

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 7.51.48 PM.jpg

Rick

[lance corsi]

Rick, no chance of losing that car in a parking lot! That color really pops. I was thinking about directing the airflow from the two roof ducts onto my intake manifold to help prevent heat problems. I’m really looking forward to finishing tho and it’ll have to wait. For now, they both just dump into the general engine bay. I’m not using the rear hatch window, so that’ll help a lot. Just an open set of louvers where the glass would be.