3-Gen NY 818C Build

[roadrashrob]

I don’t “need” to, just assumed it would be difficult to get the forks through. I just needed to get a Heliocoil into one of the mounting holes. That’s done. So I guess I can slip the trans back on with the bearing in place?

[Hobby Racer]

So I guess I can slip the trans back on with the bearing in place?

Yes, that would be the easiest. That is why the shift fork has the removable pivot pin, to allow removal / installation.

[J R Jones]

I found out about the two clutch release configurations when I inquired about a Kennedy adapter for an alternative engine. Push vs pull. The distinction is not obvious to the novice from the outside, the slave cylinder pushes on either fork. Research photos revealed the inside of the bellhousing and the answer. My buddies' Subarus happen to be push type and they all have had durability issues with pivot failure and fork failure. I have not been able to identify the configuration differentiation. I assume the pull type is more durable. Is it model applications or a chronological update?

[STiPWRD]

This video explains how to release the throw-out bearing from the pressure plate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tSPXpWsBc

I typically separate the trans by pulling the fork pivot shaft, remove the trans from the block, pop the release bearing from the pressure plate and reinstall the bearing back on the trans.

This is for a pull type clutch, which came on the earlier 5 speeds. In 06-07 they may have gone to a push type. For instance, my 2010 forester has a push type clutch, which doesn't have this release bearing issue.

[J R Jones]

That is a great video, thanks. I assume that the Subaru housing does not have a T/O bearing release port, but maybe one could add a Mitsubishi-like hole?
The snap-in feature make assembly easier.
jim

[STiPWRD]

That is a great video, thanks. I assume that the Subaru housing does not have a T/O bearing release port, but maybe one could add a Mitsubishi-like hole?
The snap-in feature make assembly easier.
jim

Actually, there is an access port on top of the Subaru bell housing but I've never used it to separate the T/O bearing. It would probably work though.

[roadrashrob]

This video explains how to release the throw-out bearing from the pressure plate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tSPXpWsBc

EXTREMELY helpful video. I was the person he described as having fiddled with it for 2 hours first! But it will be much easier in the future.

Thank you.

[STiPWRD]

EXTREMELY helpful video. I was the person he described as having fiddled with it for 2 hours first! But it will be much easier in the future.

Thank you.

Whenever I get stuck, my first stop is usually youtube , glad to help!

[roadrashrob]

Ha! Absolutely. Problem was, every video I saw must have had a "push" clutch because it just disconnected as expected. Took the bearing off tonight and mounted it back on the transmission. Was comically easy once you know how..

[roadrashrob]

I "attempted" to drill a simple 1/8 hole in my handbrake bracket to mount a small switch to ground the warning light when the brake is not fully disengaged. 2 Cobalt drill bits later on the drill press and not even a scratch (literally) in the bracket! WTF? Even if it's hardened steel, I still should slowly get through it. Hoping someone can enlighten me regarding the strange forces at work here...

IMG_3445.jpg

P.S. The one hole was already there. I was simply trying to drill through the other dimple.

[Hobby Racer]

That's really weird. Drag a file across it. If it skates over it without making a mark its likely hardened. If the file bites and leaves a scratch its just regular steel.

Are your drill bits sharp?

[roadrashrob]

Opened up 2 brand new ones.... Used cutting lubricant, and nothing... Not even the beginning of a scratch.

[Scott Meyer]

Hey Rob,
Maybe Subaru used unobtanium?

[RPGs818SNA]

Rob, you may find this Project Farm Drill Bits video helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgQeSrsAXgE Toward the end he drills through tool steel with the right pressure, speed, and bit brand. In another video, he tests various cutting oils. In a third, he tests step bits in armor plate. I found them most helpful. It's dramatically reduced my drill time and bit consumption.

Good luck,
RPG

[roadrashrob]

Very helpful. I have followed some of hi other video, but hadn't seen this one. Thanks!

[roadrashrob]

Anyone have a single pin wiring side connector for the stock WRX Air Conditioning Compressor they don't need? I'm using mine with my Vintage Air unit, and never got that connector back from Wayne after he did the harness.

I tried iWire, but they don't have it. I can always change the connector, but the stock one is much neater.

AC Connector.jpg

[blomb11]

I think I have F24 A/C Compressor plug I just removed from my 07 WRX harness. Do you know if they are the same? The FSM I have says it is a single pole gray connector so possible. I could try and dig through the rats nest to see if I can find it for you.

[roadrashrob]

I believe all the "single pin" ones are the same. That would be great!

[roadrashrob]

Major milestone yesterday! The car drove under its own power!!

After many weeks of two steps forward one step back to get the engine running properly, with lots of help from Wayne Presley and Matt Cramer from AMP/EFI, we were able to get the car running "good enough" to drive it onto the trailer to bring to a tuner.

Now, we would have done that weeks ago had I been able to find a tuner that I felt comfortable enough with their knowledge of Subarus AND MegaSquirt. While I'm fairly confident in my "build" abilities, I felt totally overwhelmed with the learning curve involved in "tuning" a car basically from scratch. That said, we did manage to work through mechanical issues, wiring issues, upgrades to wideband O2 sensors and full oil pressure senders to get to the point you see in this video, so I definitely learned a lot so far, and with the help of the person I met yesterday, I'm more than confident the car will be tuned perfectly and I will learn a lot more in the process.

So, in a last ditch effort to find a tuner open to helping, I did a very broad Google search, called them all, with lots of folks that know Subarus but not MegaSquirt. The a gentleman by the name of Seven answered the phone at DDA tuning in Newburgh NY, and couldn't have been more excited to hear what I had. He specializes in both, but more importantly, had met Dave Smith when he was 14 and always wanted to get an 818. I put it on the trailer yesterday, brought it over to him, and as soon as I arrived knew I found the right place! He must have had about 30 WRXs there, with 12 inside the shop on lifts. Work stopped as soon as they saw the 818, and then it was like the Paparazzi taking pictures of a star. A few customers came by while we were going over the project, and couldn't praise him enough. Sometimes the stars do align! He was actually so excited to work on it that he reached out to Dave last night with the news, and Dave not only remembered him, but of course knew of our 818 since he gave us a personal tour of FFR during Covid.

DDA will put a very safe "base tune" on it for us with limits for now to keep us from hurting the engine during break in. As soon as we get it back, we can finally move on to setting ride height, alignment, properly torqueing everything down, and then proper engine break in and brake bedding...

[Scott Meyer]

Hey Rob, I’m glad it worked out for you! The first of many stalls is now behind you (and literally as you tried to pull it up the ramps onto the trailer)!

[blomb11]

Sorry I haven’t forgotten about the AC connector just been out of town. I will try and look tomorrow or Monday through the pile of wires.

[blomb11]

Here is what I have for F24 A/C compressor with a single blue wire. It looks like it would plug into the connector you show in your picture. I can cut it and mail it to you because I won’t be running A/C.
DB17348C-0495-43CB-8F7F-926EFD315115.jpgFB0D5230-401B-411C-AD84-D0F4283E3906.jpg

[Scott Meyer]

Rob,

Here’s another resource for you if that doesn’t work out. Liam had to do this on one of our connectors that got damaged during the donor tearing phase:

https://www.iwireservices.com/replac...-click-through

[roadrashrob]

Thanks Scott. I had reached out to them first, but they are out of that connector with not ETA on when they will get more in.

[roadrashrob]

OK, so now that we have the engine finally running well with a solid base tune it was time to set the ride height, align the suspension, and proceed with working out the kinks while go-karting it.

One thing that struck me as odd was that we needed to compress the springs on both the front and rear coil overs significantly more on the right side of the car. 1-1.5cm more on the right than on the left? All things considered, I would have suspected them to be relatively similar front to rear.

Any thoughts? Things I should check?

[roadrashrob]

Wow! It's been almost 3 months since my last post. We've just been buttoning up the chassis and flushing out issues go-karting, so nothing that most of you haven't been through already. Wasn't much to really share that you haven all seen numerous times before.

Given I mounted the ECU on the inside of the rear firewall, I did have fun fabricating a cover for it. Given my knowledge of ECUs, let alone MegaSquirt coming into this project, it might as well have been an actual Flux Capacitor! IMG_3915.jpg

I ran all the plumbing for the AWIC and Vintage Air as well. Mounted the condenser and radiator for the AWIC using a combination of the brackets from ZDB with my own added mods. Took a couple attempts to get everything mounted where it played nice together, but happy with how it turned out.
IMG_4127L.jpgIMG_4130L.jpgIMG_4226.jpg

So Brakes are bed in and bias set, no leaks, clutch, bell crank and shifter all adjusted perfectly with some help from Craig at ZDB, steering is nice an tight and responsive, so (almost) all systems good and ready to start on the body. IMG_5562.jpg

I say almost as we have one engine problem I have been trying to diagnose. We appear to be getting fuel INTO the oil, and I'm struggling to diagnose the source. I have seen it once earlier when a rubber plug got stuck up inside the intake and I tried starting it without noticing it. "Assumed" the strong vacuum, and lack of ignition just flooded the cylinders. But now it seems to be occurring again. All research points to somehow excess fuel being dumped into the cylinders. In troubleshooting I have done the following so far.

1) Checked the fuel pressure to the rails. Seemed good but I also
2) Replaced the fuel pressure regulator just to eliminate any possible issues with it. With engine running, it's steady at 43psi, and with vacuum it increases appropriately. With just the ignition turned on, but engine not running, it's at 33psi, and holds that long (30 minutes+) after the ignition is turned off. Doesn't indicate a "leaky" injector.
3) One by one disabled the coils on each cylinder, and saw the RPM drop slightly and an increase in the Air/Fuel ratio, so I know I'm getting good spark and burning off all injected fuel.
4) Since the last oil change, I have not run the engine, but repeatedly engage the fuel pump. I've seen no increase in oil level doing that.

I should add that I upgraded to a brand new AEM340 fuel pump, and Injector Dynamics 1050X injectors before first start of the engine. The car was given a good base tune around that and runs very nicely.

Any thoughts on how to proceed with troubleshooting?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

We appear to be getting fuel INTO the oil,

Rob, Last month I had fuel in oil problem on a GM 3.0L V6 Direct inject engine. The Seal on the mechanical High-pressure fuel pump was leaking fuel into the crankcase.
I was getting a "RICH" fault as the PVC system was pulling fuel vapors out of the oil into the intake.

On our Subaru engines, I only see 3 ways the fuel could make it into the oil.
1. leaky injector when the engine isn't running. Fuel running past rings.
2. Cylinder not firing when the engine is running. Fuel running past rings.
3. Bad diagram in fuel pressure regulator putting a lot of extra fuel in one cylinder causing it to misfire and fill with fuel.

Does anyone else have Ideas?
Bob

[roadrashrob]

Thanks Bob. Hoping I eliminated the chances of #3 with the new regulator.

Wayne Presley also suggested the possibility that it may be running too rich. I did have a base tune put on it, and I see a good A/F ratio at idle, but haven't tracked it during go-karting under load at slightly higher RPMs. Will go-kart this week again with computer connected and data logging and then look through the logs.

Keep the suggestions coming. I'd like to move on to body fitment with any open mechanical issues lingering!

[roadrashrob]

So, as with many as I start on mounting the body panels, I'm starting to see the challenge of getting everything to line up to my level of satisfaction. Have just resigned myself to the fact that I will need to take my time and do the best I can with what we have to work with. No need for me to post body fitment shots as you have all been there already.

As a distraction, I was able to get my LED lights in the headlight buckets to switchback and sequence. While others have done a more impressive job, this was achieved with a couple off the shelf products. My hope is very little maintenance / chance of failure over the long haul.



The switchback modules I used were: https://www.diodedynamics.com/s1-swi...dule-pair.html

And the Sequence was this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GBD59JY...roduct_details
The only had 3 output channels, but I traded off the 4th light for simplicity.

[roadrashrob]

Working through mounting the body panels and I could use some help / advice on the front fenders, particularly the front lower mounts. The manual says to "Attach the lower nose support to the radiator/nose mount using 5/16” x ¾” carriage bolts and washers and locknuts. Set the height so that the bottom of the inside nose mount is flush with the bottom of the chassis." If I drop mine all the way to the lowest position, I'm still about 1/4" above the bottom of the chassis. Seems odd I would need to go to the limit of the slots? Anyone else have that problem?

Also, assuming I need to "pull" the fenders back to align the rear of the fender and the front of the door as seen by the two yellow "alignment lines" in this photo?
IMG_E0176L.jpg

[roadrashrob]

As we prepared to begin on the body panels prior to the holidays, the prospect of bending over and being on my knees in the garage was not very appealing. To that end we decided to go out and get a medium height scissor lift for the garage, and it has been a life changer! I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the AMGO lift we got for the price.
IMG_0114.jpg

For the body fitment, I read the sticky note on the body thread, and read a LOT of user posts trying to come up with an approach. There are so many different opinions, approaches and info out there that I think it somewhat confused us more than it helped. In the end, (and with a lot of mental therapy support from Scott Meyer to help me not over-think things) we decided we just had to work in small steps. First thing we did is just hung the side sails with 3/16" Clecos back through the factory screw holes. Tons of advice NOT to do that, but the sails seemed to fit perfectly there with the alignment to the front firewall, so we stuck with it assuming we would re-position as needed. From there we fastened the lower rear of the front fenders, as that line needs to be clean and had a solid fixed point. With both fenders pinned in the rear with Clecos, I mated the front grill per the manual. I found I needed to build up the tabs on the rear of the grill with glass tape to get a more solid mounting point. With the grill attached and some 3D thinking, we were able to get the hood aligned and everything square and centered. Sounds simple, but that was about 3 days of trial and error with the everything being adjusted and re-adjusted countless times. In the end, we are very happy with the fit and now major modifications needed.
IMG_0132.jpgIMG_0161.jpgIMG_0203.jpg

Feeling good, we decided to move onto seeing how the hard top fit. My initial reaction was no way will it ever meet nicely with the A-pillar! Struggled with how to approach that for a day or two, but then decided to remove the front fender assemble, and see how the rest of it fit. To our surprise based on everyone else's experience, it practically dropped right into place, aligning all the way around, and perfectly square.
IMG_0185L.jpgIMG_0223.jpgIMG_0224.jpgDoor Fitment.jpg

So our approach, likely different from others, is that since we are happy with the nose and happy with the firewall back, we will simply work on getting the front fenders nicely mated into the A-pillar.

Any of you more experienced people see a problem with that approach? Anything in the photos jump out as causing a future problem??

I will say that having the lift has really helped with the Coupe version as removing the top is a one man job! :-)

[sgarrett]

Congrats on getting an initial alignment! I started at the same place you did and was initially ecstatic. But then I had to add the doors. That caused me to have to shift everything around. In the end, it was best for me to do them in this order:

1. Side panels
2. Rear panel
3. Roof
4. Doors
4.5 Adjust the heck out of 1-4
5. Front Fenders
6. Front panel
7. Hood
7.5 adjust the heck out of 5-7

Nothing was actually locked down at any point during my fitting because every time I went to add a new piece I needed to adjust the ones that went before it. Eventually I started over leaving everything loose and found a position where everything could co-exist, then I locked them down.

It is very easy to get a couple of pieces to line up. But until everything is on there, it is an exercise in patience to get multiple pieces lined up at the same time. Especially the doors. I just kept telling myself that eventually things would fit and resisted the urge to do any major cutting of anything. You will find with the doors that the side pieces might look like they are lined up, but if there is a twist in them then the door literally will not fit in any position. You need to play with pushing the bottom of the side piece in and out along the bottom.

and, if you haven't discovered it yet, you will find that the two front fenders are different lengths, so no matter how hard you try they won't both fit the same way....unless you do some major modifications.

[Ajzride]

Doors to sail panels have to be done pretty early on in the process, one of the hardest parts to modify to fit right.

[roadrashrob]

Thank you both! Very helpful and exactly the guidance I was looking for. Just didn't want to go far down the wrong path. This really helps.

If anyone else has any tips / tricks, keep them coming!

[fletch]

Congrats on the initial fit. Ours was much more painful. That may have been caused by my impatience or the fact that we've got chassis #21 and sideslips + rear bumper from that era, plus a slightly newer hardtop and brand-spanking-new front fenders and hood. Nothing went together easily for us and we've got lots of fiberglass work left to make it look presentable. OK, enough of my complaining... back to the point.

I'm glad things went together well for you. Best wishes for continued good fortune with the rest of the exterior fit-up.

[roadrashrob]

Congrats on the initial fit. Ours was much more painful. That may have been caused by my impatience or the fact that we've got chassis #21 and sideslips + rear bumper from that era, plus a slightly newer hardtop and brand-spanking-new front fenders and hood. Nothing went together easily for us and we've got lots of fiberglass work left to make it look presentable. OK, enough of my complaining... back to the point.

I'm glad things went together well for you. Best wishes for continued good fortune with the rest of the exterior fit-up.

Thanks Fletch! When reading the various threads around boy install, there was definitely a difference between those early kits and the later ones. Not that FFR did a great job, but at least some major issues seem better.

Will work on the doors next, so let's see how that adventure goes.

[roadrashrob]

Well, long time without a post. Family vacation, Spring yardwork, and life in general slowed things down for a bit. Mainly wanted to finish up forward of the firewall, and the AWIC and rest of the engine compartment before mounting the body and moving on to the doors. The AWIC was fairly straight forward, but required a bit of imagination to get all the "plumbing" routed effectively and visually appealing! In the end I'm happy with the reults and it seems to be funtioning nicely.

IMG_0732.jpgIMG_0730.jpgIMG_0727.jpgIMG_0729.jpg

Only thing remaining on the engine is to update the fuel tables on the ECU. It is still running WAY rich from the base tune, and I didn't want to adjust it until the AWIC was fully setup.

For door fitment, I ended up routing the door catches into the side sails. While they flush mount on the WRX, routing them on the 818 makes for a much nicer mating with the door shell. (IMHO)
IMG_0374.jpgIMG_0370L.jpgIMG_0366L.jpg