Frank's 818R build

[Pearldrummer7]

Hey guys, figured I'd make a build thread to document my Factory Five 818R build. My goal is to have it be street legal, so I can scare friends in it, and of course, to be on track with it as often as I possibly can. Shoutout to my friend Frank at FFR who helped peer pressure me to do this and is helping with every step of the process. Of course, I'm always open to suggestions for this car, so if you have an idea- speak up! I'm not new to Subarus (3rd one) but I'm by no means an expert. Brand new to the Factory Five Forums and I'm excited to see how this build goes!

A quick little 'about me':
At the time of writing- I'm 22, single, Clarkson grad, working as an electrical engineer for a company in upstate NY making automotive aluminum (narrows it down quite a bit). Done a bit of car work, nothing quite this intense. Done a little tracking/autox, nothing too serious either. Currently drive a 2012 WRX that's a bit modded. Want something a little....faster

Timeline:	Build:	Cost to get running:
-Ordered on 10/30/13, (re)scheduled pick up on 7/5/14	Full aero 818R for track use; hopefully NASA ST2. Street legal as well.	818R order: $11,807
-Got donor car on 2/8/14, towed away on 5/12/14	EJ257/205 hybrid with forged internals with a VF39	Donor car: $4,800
-First drive (driveway) on 3/22/15	2007 WRX 5 speed	Street legality parts: $2,125
-First autox (CVMP) 5/30/15	17x8 +35 front wheels with 215/40 Direzza Z2's	Sold parts total: -$1,560
-First track day (NYST) 8/28/15	17x9 +35 rear wheels with 255/40 Direzza Z2's	Aftermarket parts purchased: ~$10,800
Fully street legal as of 3/14/16		Total cost to get legal/on track: ~ $27,970

---

Highlights (Click to see post- to help those stuck on a step!)
Donor:
Picked up my donor locally on 2/8/14 after buying it on 1/25/14
Started teardown
Removed wiring harness
Donor car towed away

Parts:
Electrolysis
New Garage!
Transmission work
Steering work

818:
Delivery day! Brought the 818 home. (7/5/14)
Mounted fuel tank
Front suspension
Installed engine
Brake lines
Seat mounting
Clutch and trans installed
Coolant lines
Wheels
First start
First drive
Tune and Alignment
First autox(bad angle)
Started Body Work
Better autox angle
Race wind screen and dash
Fender liners
Race height
Relocated intake
Broke Transmission
Side Scoops
Shortened front upper A-arms for more aggressive alignment
Shift linkage


Track:
First track day(NYST)
Second track day (SLMP)
More NYST track time


The quest for street legality:
Windshield
Rear bumper
License plate lights
Defroster
Wipers
Side marker lights
VIN
Plates and timeline recap of street legality process

Other:
Engine swapped lawn mower
First tow
Blew up daily driver (WRX)
Visited Canada Frank

[Pearldrummer7]

After a ton of looking, I found a 2002 silver WRX sedan about 2.5 miles from my apartment complex, and maybe 15 from the garage I'm doing the build in (a friend's house).

Motor:
EJ257 block
'10 STi nitride treated crankshaft
Wiseco pistons
Eagle rods
Acl main and rod bearing
ARP head studs
Ej205 heads
Ferrea valves
Combustion chambers custom cnc'd for larger bore
VF39 turbo
Walbro fuel pump
Deatschwerks 650cc injectors
TGV deletes
FMS 3" turbo inlet
Turboxs fmic and recirculating bov
12mm oil pump
New OEM water pump
Full 3in catless turbo back exhaust and catless up pipe.

Transmission:
Exedy stage 1 clutch
Gruppe-S flywheel
Bent 1-2 selector fork :'(
Supposidly JDM micro polished gearset. We shall see when the transmission gets rebuilt

Body is a 2002 silver WRX sedan in pretty good shape. Has full interior (which is mostly ricer-blue...... ) and gauges. It's also really close which is ideal for moving it. Guy has tons of pictures and receipts for all the work. Motor ran nicely and everything looks good so far. I'm hoping it's actually the deal I think it is at $4,800.



My small collection of WRXs

[FFRSpec72]

Welcome to the R build family !

I hope to be making mine street legal also as I have my FFR Challenge car street legal. I'm going the JDM EJ207 v7 route with 5sp.

[Pearldrummer7]

And the work begins:






Any of you "S" guys need door hinges, etc?

[Pearldrummer7]

Welcome to the R build family !

Thanks! It's seeming to be a great place to be! Can't wait!

[Rasmus]

A new R build to follow! Nice.

[Pearldrummer7]

A new R build to follow! Nice.

Yes! Your thread is looking great so far; read through it yesterday. That's gonna be a lightweight 818!

[STiPWRD]

Cool, looks like I'm going to be running a very similar motor combo as you. Welcome!

[Pearldrummer7]

Cool, looks like I'm going to be running a very similar motor combo as you. Welcome!

Cool! What are you running for a motor? I intended to run a stock 2.5 but for the cost and convenience of the one I found it was tough to beat a built up hybrid.

[STiPWRD]

I have to get my build thread going soon but essentially an EJ257/EJ205 hybrid. I'm running the JE hybrid specific pistons (PN: 291059) to reduce my compression ratio to 8.5 (although it will be slightly higher since my heads have been decked). I rebuilt used wrx heads with crower 264 cams, springs and retainers, added ferrea valves, and sti shimless buckets and polished up the ports. Going with ARP head studs, Blousch 2.5R turbo and turboxs utec engine management, which I'm very familiar with. Nice donor by the way.

[Pearldrummer7]

I have to get my build thread going soon but essentially an EJ257/EJ205 hybrid. I'm running the JE hybrid specific pistons (PN: 291059) to reduce my compression ratio to 8.5 (although it will be slightly higher since my heads have been decked). I rebuilt used wrx heads with crower 264 cams, springs and retainers, added ferrea valves, and sti shimless buckets and polished up the ports. Going with ARP head studs, Blousch 2.5R turbo and turboxs utec engine management, which I'm very familiar with. Nice donor by the way.

Wow! Nice pistons. Larger dish size than the stock ones, eh? I don't know what my heads are machined to and what my resulting C/R is.... a few mysteries on this motor at this point. Our builds are pretty similar it seems! 2.5R seems like a solid choice. I don't know if the VF39 is too big for such a small, light car. I might want to go twin scroll or smaller to be in boost more often. I'll find out once I drive the thing.


Why aftermarket management? I never really considered it, I suppose. My '12 WRX is just running a few different tunes from EFI Logics, and that was my intention on the 818.

[STiPWRD]

Engine management becomes key when you begin changing too much from the stock configuration such as changing the turbo or fuel injectors and even intake and exhaust. Additionally, in a hybrid motor, the combustion chamber volume increases and has to be accounted for. If you're ECU has already been reflashed by EFI logics for your particular setup then you should be fine. Although they would only be able to program in a single tune on the stock ECU, there's no way (at least to my knowledge) to select different maps or different tunes on the stock ECU. Do you have an aftermarket fuel controller?

I would highly suggest getting a wideband O2 sensor and gauge, if you don't have one already. This allows you to keep an eye on your air fuel ratio (AFR) and make sure it remains in the proper range at high boost and RPMs. The stock narrow band O2 sensor will not read the proper AFR under boost. Running too rich or lean can cause engine damage and reduced performance. The Utec I will be running is fairly cheap these days, you can find them for $100-200 and allows you to control boost, fuel, and timing along with may other parameters. It also allows you to scale injector size (I'm running 824cc modded wrx injectors).

[Pearldrummer7]

On my '12, I use an Accessport to switch between multiple tunes (different octanes, summer/winter, and a track one instead of street). The donor WRX's ECU was reflashed (amateurly, I might add) to match this build, which of course will change with the new exhaust and a different intercooler, etc. I suppose I should look into aftermarket management. No aftermarket fuel controller, to my knowledge.

I have a wideband for it already, and will be running an AFR gauge, along with EGT and oil temp or pressure (can't decide but that's another conversation entirely.

[Rasmus]

I use Romraider to switch and update ECU maps. It's not as fast at map switching as some of the aftermarket offerings but it's not as pricy either. But I can do it at the track if I needed too. My tune is usually sorted (enough) by the time I'm at the track. Messing with the ECU the morning of an event just felt like a recipe for disaster.

[STiPWRD]

Cool, didn't know about Romraider.

Your Accessport performs most of the same functions as my Utec - both are considered aftermarket engine management. I haven't worked with the Cobb Accessport but I believe it is used to reflash the ECU and doesn't necessarily need to be plugged in the car once the maps have been loaded. The turboXS utec is attached to the ECU and plugs in between the factory harness and ECU connectors. It has a remote map selector switch that can toggle between multiple preloaded maps on the fly. The functionality between these two systems is very similar, I'm just more familiar with the Utec.

[Pearldrummer7]

Romraider is a great alternative. Especially price wise. I travel a bunch with the WRX, so the ease of Cobb AP switching is value added to me. The 818 won't move around so much, and it really can survive on one or two tune.


Yes, that's correct. Cobb AP can be unplugged with no loss. Also does logging, and switches maps as you mentioned. But, even with my parts guy's discount(feel free to PM me for that), the AP is more than a UTEC.

[Pearldrummer7]

Little update (pictures to come when I get some free time after work):
Dropped the trans out, and the front suspension. Pro tip- break axle nuts free BEFORE you take off motor and driveshaft, not after We realized that mistake as soon as we looked at axles. Got crafty with a crowbar placed between studs (broke one in the process, but I needed new ones as the old ones were destroyed) and got them off.

Hoping to do some motor work soon- timing belt, clean alternator (Rasmus inspired that), maybe spark plugs and coils, and likely some valve cover gaskets. Anyone have any advice for things I should be doing to the motor while it's easily accessed?

[Somerset Subaru]

Little update (pictures to come when I get some free time after work):
Dropped the trans out, and the front suspension. Pro tip- break axle nuts free BEFORE you take off motor and driveshaft, not after We realized that mistake as soon as we looked at axles. Got crafty with a crowbar placed between studs (broke one in the process, but I needed new ones as the old ones were destroyed) and got them off.

Hoping to do some motor work soon- timing belt, clean alternator (Rasmus inspired that), maybe spark plugs and coils, and likely some valve cover gaskets. Anyone have any advice for things I should be doing to the motor while it's easily accessed?

Tip for the axle nuts. Take a flat head screw driver and in the rotor vent stick it there in the middle of the brake caliper and it will lock it all up for you.

Check things like the timing belt, idler pulleys, tensioner (They leak sometimes), drive belts, etc


-Adam

[Rasmus]

Tip for the axle nuts. Take a flat head screw driver and in the rotor vent stick it there in the middle of the brake caliper and it will lock it all up for you.

-Adam

Oooo... That's brilliant.

[STiPWRD]

Check things like the timing belt, idler pulleys, tensioner (They leak sometimes), drive belts, etc

+1 on replacing the timing idler pulleys. My old motor died cuz one of those seized up and caused the timing belt to wrap itself around the crank pulley. Depending on the mileage, you may want to inspect your water pump, oil pump, cam shaft seals, and oil pan seal.

[Goldwing]

What they said. Thermostat would be easy access while doing the timing belt. Take a look at the cooler above the oil filter. If it's caked in dirt, replace the oring between the oil cooler and the block.

[Pearldrummer7]

+1 on replacing the timing idler pulleys. My old motor died cuz one of those seized up and caused the timing belt to wrap itself around the crank pulley. Depending on the mileage, you may want to inspect your water pump, oil pump, cam shaft seals, and oil pan seal.

What they said. Thermostat would be easy access while doing the timing belt. Take a look at the cooler above the oil filter. If it's caked in dirt, replace the oring between the oil cooler and the block.

Good call. I plan to get a new oil pan (killer B) and pick up tube, which I recommend for anyone running the 2.5 block's oil pick up tube...seen one of them crack at 40K miles, so now I'm nervous about them. My oil filter had a sandwich block for its oil pressure sensor, and it's filthy above it somehow.

Good advice, thanks all!

[Pearldrummer7]

Just a fun little Friday update. Hopefully selling a bunch of parts off this weekend to some local people. Unfortunately, the guy whose house I'm using as a garage is leaving the area for a new job, so I am faced with the choice of completing the build in my apartment garage bay with minimal lighting and space, or try to rent a garage from someone. We'll see what the coming months bring before my car arrives.

Pulled the rest of the wiring out last night; MAN that's a lot of weight. Harness needs some SlimFast!

[Pearldrummer7]

And wiring has begun!

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...ector&p=143158

I made a thread for it. It seems at least a couple 02-03 guys would like to have a more documented process, and I definitely have a few connectors I am not sure about. I'll be attempting to replace the fuse boxes with a panel of breakers. Let's see what we can do with that. I understand the response time and thermal memory changes involved in this, and will be doing a ton of research into this before I do anything too crazy.

[Pearldrummer7]

Man, the rear subframe was rusty! Broke two extensions, two socket wrenches, and a bunch of bolts. Bought a 24" breaker bar and a new set of impact sockets; they made short work of the remaining subframe stuff. All that's left is dropping the fuel tank.





Then, I did brakes on my roommate's car. Seems familiar...(same car as my donor, except Limited trim and bone stock).

[Pearldrummer7]

I tried some electrolysis (thanks for the idea/how-to/confidence, Rasmus) last night. The results are absolutely amazing. Here are my pictures from the adventure. I pulled it out after 2 hours (12V, 2A), and it looked great.

Before:


My little set up:



After:

Did a bit more electrolysis today and some wiring.

[Pearldrummer7]

The finished product, coated with VHT engine enamel. I think it came out alright! Did the rear calipers, too. Thanks for the advice on plugging them, Frank818! Worked like a charm.




I have a fuel question....well, a donor question, I suppose. I'll post it in the appropriate spot if I don't get any answers here.

What the heck do I need from my donor fuel tank? I took the pump and surrounding assembly, and the wiring. Do I need whatever is under the driver-side cover (2002 sedan)? How about whatever the rear of the fuel pump wiring harness plugs into?


Not to try to escape doing the work to find this out, but if anyone already knows, it'd save me some time

[longislandwrx]

You need the pump/sock and the wiring. You also need the controller so just remove the whole wiring harness. The fuel level sending unit gets replaced so no need for that, but again you need the wiring.

[Pearldrummer7]

You need the pump/sock and the wiring. You also need the controller so just remove the whole wiring harness. The fuel level sending unit gets replaced so no need for that, but again you need the wiring.

New fuel level sending unit. That's good news. I think I have all of the wiring out. Thanks, lawnguylandwrx!


Pressed the totally shot bearings out of the front hubs after work tonight. First one went fine. Second one......well..... I guess I'm in the market for another knuckle.

[longislandwrx]

How did that happen?

[Pearldrummer7]

How did that happen?

By pressing the bearing out with not-the-best surface. It was a little rushed on my part. I'd like to think it might have been damaged there already, but it was probably just my shoddy pressing skills.

[Pearldrummer7]

Got "evicted" from my friend's garage today, but also filed our paperwork to rent a house nearby! Has a huge (30'x30') garage. So, all of the donor parts had to be moved to our apartment, and next weekend to our new house. Whew. Lots of work and no "progress".

The easiest way to lift a motor with only 2 guys:





Also, did some parts prep- removed ball bearings and cleaned joints in axles and drilled the hole in the brake pedal:






There is just so much to do!

[Pearldrummer7]

Said goodbye to the donor car this weekend, and loaded up my '12 WRX with some parts. Man I love having a hatch!

Moving into a house (renting) this week/weekend. Garage photos to come once I get somewhat situated!

[STiPWRD]

Good luck with the move! Glad u found a place that had a garage

[Pearldrummer7]

Good luck with the move! Glad u found a place that had a garage

Thanks! So am I. It's a hectic week for me. My roommate is gone Friday for 3 weeks, so I'm moving some of his crap, and helping a friend move from his house. But....


The garage is a nice size. 30'x30'. Definitely big enough to park and work on the kit!

[Rasmus]

Good times on the big garage. When I went to a bigger garage I found the "goldfish hypothesis" true. You grow to the size of your fishbowl.

Look into investing in some lighting. Consider it a tool.


Here's my ceiling. I rock four double bulb 8 footers on the ceiling. And one double-bulb 4 footer over the work bench. I've actually moved with them. I consider them a tool. So much easier to work when you can see. You can see where I removed the two weak 4 footers that used to be up there.


I run the ~6500K-"daylight deluxe" white 75w bulbs. Changing over to Phillips brand a.t.m. Used to run Sylvania but my big box store stopped carrying it. I'm happy with both. Don't invest all that time and money and get cheap, eyestrain inducing, bulbs. Yes, I actually keep that label attached to the ceiling.

[Pearldrummer7]

Good times on the big garage. When I went to a bigger garage I found the "goldfish hypothesis" true. You grow to the size of your fishbowl.

Look into investing in some lighting. Consider it a tool.


Here's my ceiling. I rock four double bulb 8 footers on the ceiling. And one double-bulb 4 footer over the work bench. I've actually moved with them. I consider them a tool. So much easier to work when you can see. You can see where I removed the two weak 4 footers that used to be up there.


I run the ~6500K-"daylight deluxe" white 75w bulbs. Changing over to Phillips brand a.t.m. Used to run Sylvania but my big box store stopped carrying it. I'm happy with both. Don't invest all that time and money and get cheap, eyestrain inducing, bulbs. Yes, I actually keep that label attached to the ceiling.

After working for a few days in the garage, lighting has become one of my top priorities. I'm going after work to get 2 double 4 footers; one for over the work bench, and one a little ways down over the car. Treating them like I would a tool. Fantastic advice.

Love that you keep the label there!

[Pearldrummer7]

So, as you may know- I have a 5MT with JDM RA gears, and it wouldn't consistently shift into gear (mainly 1 and 2, but sometimes R as well) when in the donor car. This transmission was rebuilt before to put in the RA gears, and I was told by the seller that it was just a fork, and could be replaced easily. I opened up the transmission and found something a little different than that.

This little plastic guy was broken off and stuck in the input shaft. The shaft clearly grinded away part of the this plastic oil-return piece, and grinded into the metal as well.





The bolt on the end of this shaft wasn't even hand tight. 5 and R were so loose you could move them around with just a finger. Also, that bolt is HUGE. My 32mm is too tiny, so I haven't tried torquing it down and seeing how things mesh.


I think I am buying a used LGT transmission and putting the gears into this case, as I know this transmission has just a bent fork, and I believe LGT gears are a lot stronger than the 2002 WRX ones.


This is my "my input shaft is broken" face:

[Pearldrummer7]

Crap picture, but MAN lighting changes everything. Nothing fancy, just the brightest T8 fixture/lights Lowes sells. It makes everything way nicer and easier. Awesome suggestion, Rasmus.


Transmission-wise:
Was missing one of these little guys. Got a replacement clip and a new plastic oil return piece, because mine is destroyed:




The metal around the return is a little beat up. The plastic's edge actually looks like it will cover it (barely), but I'll probably end up replacing the whole casing instead. Don't want a poorly lubricated main/input shaft.



I've heard from some that since the drive shaft wasn't taken apart, I don't need to set pinion depth. Some people say that I absolutely have to set the pinion depth. Anyone have any advice on that matter?

[Rasmus]

Crap picture, but MAN lighting changes everything. Nothing fancy, just the brightest T8 fixture/lights Lowes sells. It makes everything way nicer and easier. Awesome suggestion, Rasmus.

You're welcome. It's amazing what you can do when you can see what you're doing.