107 Acorns in cooling system
102 Battery cable end crimper - DIY
29_ Beading tool for larger pipes
55_ Beading tool for smaller pipes
56_ Bending aluminum tubing
108 Body - Clamshell hood
168 Body - Clamshell hinge
195 Body - Clamshell lock
196 Body - Clamshell anti-drop slowdown device
197 Body - Clamshell motion control components
256 Body - closing the sides behind seats
254 Body - coupe roof intake air channels - fixing leaks
216 Body - doors - windows seal
253 Body - Headliner and Console
241 Body - Louvers - hood
249 Body - Overhead console from Saturn Aura
266 Body - Painted
274 Body - How much paint
276 Spoiler - wing
245 Body - visors and overhead console
67_ Carbon fiber intake
95_ Carbon fiber airbox details w/variable induction valve
136 Consol/Dashboard customization / vinyl covering
281 Dash area wiring layout
215 Cruise control lever on steering wheel
59_ Customizing Subaru combo meter
159 & 281 Ducts for airflow under dash
41_ Exhaust header clearance for EZ30D
46_ Exhaust curled up
258 Exhaust shields
314 Exhaust version 4 - finally no drone
195 Fiberglass - epoxy bonding tests
178 First drive
90_ First start
43_ Floor pan oil canning fix
34_ Fuel tank build
163 Glove box
239 Headlight buckets
287 Headlight cover lenses - no screws, no paint mounting
337 Headlight bucket and projectors - gaskets
238 Intake air filters - carbon fiber
283 Interior finished
40_ Motor mounts for EZ30D
151 Mounting/bonding parts into ABS plastic
2__ Polishing combo meter face
4__ Reset Odometer
205 Seats
116 Shifter - another design
188 Shifter - jack shaft details
320 Shifter - power assisted shift linkage
257 Steering wheel recovered w pigskin
143 Subaru dashboard switches - mountings
11_ Suspension - 2008 Legacy suspension into 818
200 Tail lights - custom
42_ Tilting motor/trans down in back
320 Trunk box
198 Upholstery - re-doing seats
244 Wheels refinished
218 Windshield wiper
106 Wiring engine harness
101 Wiring & fooling ECM/TCM auto > manual trans
5__ Wiring plans for 818C - 2002 JDM EZ30
818C after starting with an S
Took me 66 years to finally order an 818S. But then again had to wait for FFR to design it...
Booked last week. FFR said lead time is now 1 month. I asked for August 1 (still in parts prep stage, big honey-do list from moving last fall).
Although my inclination was to do this car since I first read about it 3 years back, I COULD blame it all on Mechie3 - last November he was kind enough let me sit in his project and chew his ear off about my life's history. Thanks for being patient with me! FFR should pay him salesman commissions on these (regular I think) visits he hosts.
Not sure I'll have a lot of posts - there is so much wealth here already - it's hard to imagine adding much more. But I'm doing my own wiring/schematics for the LL Bean US doner ECM for this JDM EZ30, and oddball suspension (below). So where I think I've something to contribute, I feel I should pay some respect to others before me by following their lead.
I'm an electronics tech (engineer wanna-be). Spent my life servicing medical imaging - CT scanners, MR, X-Ray NucMed and all the rest. Designed/built a lot of oddball stuff including thinkgs like miniature CNC machines for the R/C hobby-motor and other industries. Raised two girls to become nurses. Wife is an ultrasonographer. Medical life and on-call 24/7 has kept us all busy and a kit car just hasn't been in part of life's plans. Today I work full time as a medical data systems hacker - pulling patient data from recalcitrant systems that vendors want too much money to do it, and moving it to my employer's radiology systems (3,000+ employee nationwide radiology company).
Jan finally said last summer "let's move to a home with a garage where you can build that 818". Whohoo! Done. Found 8 acres in NW Indiana in the woods, but no garage. Even better = 24' x 40' done my way. By Christmas the garage was up.
A month ago I grabbed a JDM '02 EZ30 and all the rolling parts from a JDM '07 Impreza at Midwest JDM, Cincinnati. This started out to be just "get the 3.0" but the '07 stuff was just laying there in the JDM shop begging to become 818 fodder. Yup, that's right 07 Japan. Read that as '08 all aluminum arms and stuff in USA technology. Hey building a kit car doesn't mean it's all planned out for you right? I had the feeling in Scargo's early posts he was maybe looking into something like this, but his later posts show superb design work using other non-Subaru suspension exotica.
Last edited by aquillen; 11-22-2021 at 04:42 PM.
Reason: fix pix
While there are some posts out there (didn't catch a detailed one in the 818 topics) on restoring the instrument panel ("combination meter") face plate, I didn't see one that would instill confidence and show how easy this can be, so here is my way -
Picked up this 2002 Outback 3.0 instrument panel from the ebay. Since the motor is a 3.0 this takes care of the RPM's display easy enough. I'll fashion something to cover the auto-transmission info in the display as this will be a manual. But this post is about refinishing the clear faceplate. I didn't take a "before" shot but it looked like a rodent was trying to get in there through the front. Lots and lots of scratches all over the lower half. The scratches didn't show in the listing but sure was there when it arrived. For $40.00 it's about what I'd expect though. A tar blob like material gooed across part of the upper area. the tar came off easy enough with Plexus, but WD40 and any number of other "plastic safe" cleaners would handle that. And on that topic, I've had instances over the years of plain old alcohol causing damage to plastics, so I don't use that as a cleaning agent on things like this anymore.
The following process took 30 minutes and as you can see, the plate is pretty much like new except for a tiny crack at the left push button hole (was there when I got it). When I started on this, a person would have thought this one couldn't be revived. We'll see!
Carefully pry out the cover plate with tiny blade screwdrivers or similar tools - use 2 or 3 tools to keep the tabs loose as you move to the next one. After the first couple tabs are released the rest of the prying gets easier. Be gentle so you don't break them.
Use a clean towel on your bench - under the plate - so you don't put new scratches on the back side in the following sequence. In my case the scratches were not deep, although they certainly were plentiful. So I started with #400 wet-or-dry sandpaper. You could go courser if you had to, but work back through the finer grits without skipping grit sizes - each one takes out the grit scratching of the previous size. Keep applying fresh water to your paper so it doesn't build up with the plastic you are removing. Pressure is rather light - 2 to 3# - just enough to get the paper to "cut" into the plastic:
Paper towel works fine during the sandpaper stage to frequently clean off the surface for progress inspection. Later on, you'll only want to use a quality cleaning cloth (microfiber or maybe well washed old cotton t-shirt) with suitable cleaning products on nice polished plastic. Sanding away, as soon as you see the mars and scratches removed you can start moving up in grit numbers. Here is the #400 - about 5 minutes of work to get the surface smooth and scratch free. I've found that circular vs long strokes makes little difference, at least to me. Circular does keep accidental new scratching more local - if it does happen. Keep rinsing your paper and new scratching is rare. Wipe and inspect:
Moving to the next grit - #600 here. With each grit you should be producing a milky white debris in the water as you sand the plastic. As soon as it starts hiding your work due to the plastic debris, rinse your paper in a cup of water and continue. Keep inspecting often to determine when you have removed the heavier grit's patterns so that you can move up to the next grit. My next grit on hand was #1000. After about 3 minutes with #1000 I found an area with swirls from the #400 that the #600 had not yet removed. You can see that somewhat in this image:
I fell back to the #600 for another minute in this area, using a straight motion so I could tell when the round shaped swirls were removed. Then on to #1000 again until it had removed the #600 grit patterns. If you change direction of your sanding on each grit that is the easiest way to detect when the previous grit patterns are removed. My next on hand paper was #1500 and I used that for about 3-4 minutes as well until the #1000 stuff was gone. I did not have anything finer and didn't need it at this point.
Over the years I've collected various compounds, and out of the whole bin I tried these. Some time back, the Mequiar's plastic products gave me high expectations when I got them to try and restore my '90 Vette's convertable top rear vinyl window, but it was more than they could handle, even with a polishing machine (never did really get a good cleanup on that figured out). The polish is the 2nd step with Mequiar,s but neither one works fast enough for this project either. The Show Car glaze was an experiment here but didn't "cut it" either. What does work great for this is the 3M Swirl Mark removers, and either the light or dark is good for this job. For some odd reason, I've had the dark blend seem to work just a little better for everything except a white car finish in the past.
Since I usually used the black for projects, I had more white on hand, so it was picked this time, but in the end a tablespoon or less is all I needed.
This takes a good 5# of pressure, and long, vigorous rubbing. Overall about 10 minutes of work. Circular vs long strokes didn't make any difference in progress or end results, and I found long strokes to be the faster method. The towel I used first is actually a well used microfiber piece but of course a new one is probably the best plan. But it worked for me. At this point it is simply a matter of inspecting the results every minute or so until you are happy with the "view".
The backside will get a bit mucked up no doubt but when you are ready to tidy things up, just clean both sides with your favorite plastic polish and a new/clean towel. (Now the Mequiar's polish can shine... or my favorite - Plexus):
Last edited by aquillen; 07-19-2017 at 03:42 PM.
Reason: fix pix
2002 LL Bean H6 3.0L display. This was done on the 2001-2002 version, part number 85013AE64A.
Among the tasks and tidbits for my project is moving the odometer. The one I "inherited" sports 305698. Guess the Subaru is a pretty reliable beast in general. But, between the kit having zero miles and the motor being a JDM 3.0 with who knows what (40 - 60K... ya right) I figure a nice even number like 000002 is fair enough. I'm not doing a donor so the combination meter came from who knows where.
I ebaid some 93C56 chips for about 69 cents each. Only really need one - just didn't want to mess with the original. After some knocking around on the 'net and playing with my very old programmer, I'm enjoying 000002. It may well be more than a year before the odo sees live action, so I can't vouch for anything other than that odometer display. But, a study of info available suggests that I'm in a safe place program wise.
There is a fair amount of info available to figure this out, but even then you have to poke around. K3LAG was doing these for example. I'm not going to get into doing them for anyone, but if you can get a computer savvy/programmer type, and a bit of electronics assembly to setup a programmer you can get there. I think the only real hurdle is sorting the correct HEX number code to put into the chip for your desired number.
As others have done, I remind you, this is for legal purposes only - so know what you are allowed to do in your state and how to do it legally.
Some of the info I picked up on generating the right HEX numbers for the desired mileage didn't work. Eventually though, I hit on a working solution. I don't feel it's fair to just rip and post the program code here, but I'll say where you can find what you need, and how to simplify it so you can get your numbers without really understanding the code.
On the RS25 forum, I searched posts by orthomong where he (she?) lists 'Working C++ code' to calc the HEX code you want. I don't have a compiler for C++ so I chased out some WEB sites that will run it on line for you. Codechef was about the third one I tried and it did the job. But not without errors at first.
The input feature that orthomong wrote would not work on the Codechef site. I replaced the input section with the actual odo reading I wanted, then ran the program. It output the code that worked (after one more tweak)...
If you get orthomong's code the beginning of that code will start with this snippet:
Compare the above with the original above it and note that I removed a few lines and just put in the following instead:
--------------------------
int target_mileage = 2;
--------------------------
I used some other values besides 2 and they each worked fine, including a value for my original # 305698.
Depending on the programmer tools you use, this is where it gets confusing (maybe):
The HEX byte pairs offered by the program may simply need to be swapped. The program outputs the two lines of code you need in one format and you may need to swap every two pairs for a total of 16 swaps. For example, the first 00 FD given below, is a pair and so swapping would yield FD 00, before you write it to your chip.
Here is an example, for odo = 1395. The program's resulting calculation first and then what I wrote to the chip, by editing the pattern of numbers in my programmer's HEX editor, for a target odo = 1395
I posted my complete wiring plans for my project in the Wiring section. These are derived/based on the factory drawings but boiled down to the bits I'll use. This way factory documents can be referenced directly for changes/corrections, etc., but following the circuits is more straightforward.
Last Thur my grandson and I borrowed my stepdad's Silverado, rented a 6x12 U-Haul open utility trailer and by Saturday morning we're at FFR headquarters. After a great tour and load session we were on the way home. If you go, make sure to stop at the Nautilus Sub Museum - allow a couple hours. I'm a nuc sub guy from way back so was looking forward to my grandson taking that in. Back to the pickup - yes you can squeeze (as others have also said) the 818 into that biggest open U-Haul trailer. About 2-1/2 inches on each side of the rear fender flares clearance. Use ratchet straps on each side of the frame in the rear wheel wells, to the trailer sides, similar on the front frame to the sides, and pull the frame all the way to the front, with another strap. In the front, a collection of 4 peices of about 8" long 2x6 wood blocks keeps the steel frame front from hitting the trailer front wall. I've got pix of the straps locations if anyone asks - I'll post them. In the 1000 miles home, the frame never moved in the trailer. And believe me, especially in Indiana, the roads tried their best to move that baby around - some rough stuff went under us. FFR offered some used pallets to set the frame on but I brought some more of those 2x6 blocks and set it on 4 of those. (taped to the frame bottom).
If you can take anyone with you to pick up your kit, make it a kid (or more). The experience for all of you is multiplied and those memories are priceless. Jack, at 14, is already car crazy and anyway and all this just fuels the fire. I know he is thinking... hmm when papa gets old and feeble, this is mine - ahhaaa haa haa. It's all worth it, time and money. I don't think it could come and go on a better endeavor.
Hindsight - hey thanks - and to all others here too, especially for the mountain of info. I've seen your help scattered all through the posts, know that you've given me lots of ideas and inspiration along with so many others. Hoping to give something back now and then. With luck you may see some pretty oddball things come out of my project... I see this as a starting point and excuse to design/modify. (But always with safety when rolling of course).
Great intro Art, I am already looking forward to your posts! I have been at my 818 for 1 year now, pretty steady though not every weekend. I am having a lot of fun even though I get stymied from time to time. I have learned more than I hoped and have more to come! For a car guy this project cant be beat.
I suppose the controversy over doing this will go on for years. Why? (1) because. (2) it was there. (3) another challenge. (4) I'm nuts. (5) there was all this shiny aluminum!
Take your pick.
I read about every thread I could find on the Legacy suspension (08-09) in particular. Some crabby stuff, other not so bad. But I have it and it's going (gone) in. We'll see how it drives someday. I can say it has been fun.
The front is done too. Simpler by far, aluminum - same arm except the rear mount is flipped. Pix later.
I went to Cincinnati last March 2016 to get an H6 motor from MidWest JDM. There was this aluminum rear end still assembled on a pallet. I knew it was a long shot but the price was too good, and it seemed like "get it now" or keep search for a full donor. I went for it, and they had the front up on a shelf - grabbed that too. Lock, stock and barrel for $600. No rust. Being from NW Indiana I liked that no rust piece a lot.
So how I worked this suspension onto an 818 frame - goal was to keep the Legacy configuration as close as possible given Subaru should know more about this than me, and FFR would dis-avow any knowledge of same... as in Mission Impossible, Mr. Phelps.
I bought this $120 suspension textbook too, but in the end copying the Suby setup seemed the only way to do it, book be not used much (although read completely).
One change is motion ratio, even corrected for angle - I'm more like 0.82 vs the 0.89, etc. I read somewhere in here a while back. Will deal with that when I see how it sits and rolls later.
Challenges: three bigger ones - (1) no assembled 818 here with all the designated parts on it, and no parts here of the proper suspension to relate to. (2) So had to use every picture in this forum almost to do some estimating on shock mount location more than anything else (that motion ratio thing). (3) angle of the 2008 Legacy swing arm - for-aft (i.e.) height of the front pivot point when axle and frame at target ride height (4.75" for me).
Process (sort-a):
I couldn't have done this had I not had the assembled entire rear carriage. This gave me the correct structure per Subaru to template from. Mounted on a leveled workbench. Visited a 2008 Legacy at local dealer, crawled under and measured some things for angles and dangles (yes I was a submariner way back). The bolted the frame to my workbench. From there I spent about 2 months on and off measuring, dropping plumb-bobs, etc., drawing reference lines on the work bench and so on. In the end I have a complete set of datum on each pivot location, axle heights and such.
One interesting thing popped up. The fact this was an aluminum rear arm (from Japan JDM stuff) is what really started the ball going. When looking at the US 2008 I discovered it was made of magnetic material - probably cast iron. Man that has to be some weight - it's pretty big.
I clamped up the swing arm front pivot and then worked the axle through "normal" motion, to evaluate the camber, motion ratio, etc. Toe-in not determined but I'll go with FFR suggestions for their prescribed design and road feel later. Repeated on both sides. This is an S, not an R, probably never see a track on my watch.
Eventually I have a book of measurements, X-Y-Z directions of each "pivot", axle locations and all which are mapped to this diagram. This gets transfered over to a sheet of steel marked with each target location (X-Y, not the Z vertical though) which I placed under the chassis. Allows magnet mounts to hold things later and so forth. Every mount point on the chassis is at some angle,not square to X or Y or Z, so I captured that info to. Did this using a mini-plumb bob I made up, fastened to modified pivot bolts, so it would come "from center" of each mount. Also determined each angle for the non-square pivot mounts.
There are three radial arms to locate. On the Legacy, only the the longest (rear-most) arm is adjustable. Mine are all adjustable just in case.
Tried some "sanity checks" along the way (I'm still insane though). I set things up where I *think* the body should be and then placed the wheels where they look "right" to me from afar. Also looked at pix, instructions and dug up other forum members measurements where I could find anything. Finally decided where the axles should be from fore to aft (Y) direction in my plans. This becomes the axle reference for the transfer of the Legacy layout to the 818. Wanted to also get some idea how much angle would the CVJ deal with and so forth. Looks good so keep going.
The steel sheet is under the chassis, layout begins. Process got easier because instead of measuring every little thing now, I used a mechanical copy and paste method to locate each mount bracket - described after this pic:
I don't a cutting torch and my portable bandsaws don't reach much of this. Sawzal away we go - teeth all fell out along the way I think...
First, physically capture the exact location, including height of a pressed out pivot bushing. Setup a jig aligned to the workbench plumb-bob center point, bring the jig up to touch the bolted in bushing, tack weld the bushing to the jig. God almighty that burnt bushing rubber stinks to high heaven, even with just a couple seconds of the wire feed.
Now position the "jig" with the bushing on the steel plate, aligned to marks on the plate. This puts the bushing in place, angle intact, etc.
Another jig positioned. With the bushing located, I work up cardboard templates followed by thin scrap aluminum sheet templates that firmly hold shape, and finally fab steel mount parts. Eventually tack welding them in place.
The Legacy swing arm removes need for the upper forward strut due to its solid swing design. But it is about 15% or so shorter from the front bushing/pivot. Motion ratio goes out the window sort-a. I went through three iterations of mount components to attach the shock to the swing arm trying to salvage the FFR motion ratio. I'm about 10% short and no doubt will have to contend with that eventually.
I've concluded that with probably 10,000 to 50,000 different suspension designs on the road over the years, it is not the end of the world if I don't exactly use someone else's design. Granted we don't want to be going sideways down the road as a result of my changes - just have to approach each step with due care.
In this picture, I was mocking up what I thought should be close to the FFR design setup, so I could see for myself what the M.R. probably amounted to, given the M.R.s mentioned in a couple threads came to us through emails, not FFR engineering drawings sent intact. Of course my estimates came from examining a few dozen images posted on the forum, also creating some fuzzy data. Close enough, moving on.
"The crew" came in for a weekend, so I had the kids learn to do some brazing, lathe cutting, etc., and put together my own renditions of link arms / struts. Jack and Izzy took turns at everything but brazing threaded tubes inside the link arms. Jack - not afraid of the torch. Shore 80A urethane seems to be in the ballpark. We'll see later.
The bushings on the Legacy for this lower rear link were larger than mine by about 3mm. Lathed up and pressed in some glass reinforced composite liners to work with the diameter of urethane I had.
The crew, including "Grammy", without whom I'd be nobody, no-where and probably starved to death (one thing I don't do is cook). In November I finally put together one of those stove kits on a $10 drum. Worth every penny - hate cold temps 100%
All but the shock was figured out - here. I wanted to see all the motions happening and work out how close to set the shock to the CVJ boot, etc., to hang on to as much FFR motion ratio as I could.
Done. Next up I'll photo the front end setup and post a couple pix for that. And Santa got me a Rigid brand brake flaring kit. Should be fun...
Fun, this is what is great about watching others builds and doing something different because you can, nice work and looks great.
Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Nice methodical work and the quality looks great too! Good job!
I am really looking forward to the years after my build when I hope to meet many of you some time or another at the various possible FFR sponsored gatherings.
I've enjoyed studying your creative work and look forward to more. But, I'm not an engineer so it makes my brain hurt to figure out what you are doing, but I enjoy it.
818S/C : Chassis #25 with 06 WRX 2.5 turbo, ABS, cruise, PS, A/C, Apple CarPlay, rear camera, power windows & locks, leather & other complexities. Sold 10/19 with 5,800 miles.
Mk3 Roadster #6228 4.6L, T45, IRS, PS, PB, ABS, Cruise, Koni's, 17" Halibrands, red w/ silver - 9K miles then sold @ Barrett-Jackson Jan 2011 (got back cash spent).
Any reason you didn't leave a rod end on the upper out board point for easier camber adjustment?
And what exactly is left of the legacy other than the swingarm?
With that said, you probably already have more time in suspension design then FFR put into it.
Also, your x and y are flipped from industry standard, not that it matters.
Ha - ya my xyz are homemade params, had not bought that book on suspensions yet when did that part. There is a thread-end on each of the 3 struts, two on the rear bottom. The other two harder to see. The drawback is I only put thread on one end, so would have less adjustment (no super fine tune), and to adjust, I have to slide out the end-bolt so I can turn the end 180 degree steps.
I try to use what I have on hand where ever possible. So the links were made by cutting up the supplied FFR links, using part of the longest two intact on one end, then brazing the chopped off thread ends only into new 3/4 DOM tube to get required lengths. To get threads on both ends I'd have to buy more rods - then I'd have just bought finished stuff - but that's no fun. Since I do electronics repair and design work now and then for some local shops, and one is a steel fab joint - some raw materials are barter... almost free. Had to bore/shave about 1.5mm (.75 from inside the DOM tube and .75 from outside of chopped off rod ends to get a fit). Brazing - if you don't know, done right = excellent strength. I did (and will do) destructive testing here and there on any work that is new to me and when quite satisfied these would still be in one piece after everything else was torn apart, I go for it.
I figure if I have to get extremely small on adjustments, I can shim the front joint on the swing-arm and reset the lower rear a tad to accommodate partial settings on the other two. Hoping not to have to get that picky though. Toe in for example - either shim the front pivot in or out, and/or move all 3 rear links in or out - not a lot of room there but like 'nuff. Another "we'll see".
So what I got with the Legacy:
Complete (except shock/springs) rear suspension sub-frame with axles, cvj's, spindles, brakes, drum/disc, chopped off e-brake cable (still on my to get list). The front, I got the cross frame plate (not sure right name), front spindles on the lower arms, steering rack, brakes, disc, no upper parts here, no strut assy.
Using: All 4 spindles, lower front - a-arm (fab different mount for the rear bush which is 90 rotated from 02-07 ((done))), rack (I hope - not eval'd yet), CVJ - outer half, linked to some inner ebay CVJ parts from a 2002 and one of the FFR axle sets does fit to all of it...!, rear swing arm.
The various frame pieces that held all this together - maybe get a buck or two for them on CL, etc. hope.
I oughta retire at 67 but still like my work - hacking medical systems to pull patient data where companies want too much and my company has the rights to the data. But that is just recent, my background is electronics, mechanicals, and a lot of stuff.
Keep in mind this is H6 motor and I'm dead set on meeting emissions with it - using OEM ECU.
So work still comes first and that's why I got that pile of parts in March, the 818 in July and am only now done with the suspension. In the meantime, I've torn down a freebie 2000 trans to find damaged ring/pinion. In the next week or so they should be in my inside workshop to go back together. All cleaned up and waiting. Repacked the wheel bearings (they say it can't be done - just challenge me with claims like that). Did up the CVJ/axles.
In the electronics shop: rigged up the 2002 ECM and also a 2003 ECM to see what is different, worked out complete wiring plans (which the posted ones are obsolete - should fix that soon). Connected a 2002 TCM into the ECM on my workbench, connected to them with FreeSSM (VagCOM), ECUflash (Tactrix); regular Diag (OBDII). Validated some of the conditions with those tools (is +12 or 0V really telling the ECM the trans is in neutral for example), figured out and reprogrammed odo to = 00002, tested the ebay instrument panel wiring and functions. And some other odds and ends.
If I do retire, I would have time to try and decode the ECU enough to work up a RomRaider definition. May not care though as I'm expecting to have it run just fine with the TCM tacked on, and fudging a couple signals.
HERE is my crazy list:
Fab two CF intakes with separate 50mm throttle bodies (just got a new $50 Nissan 2003 Sentra tb that should do the trick, to play with, along with a used Nissan 03 by wire gas pedal). CF intakes along the lines of what you see sitting atop Corvette engine on the Falcon sportcars. CF already "in stock", studying up on resins, epoxys, latest vac-infusion techniques, etc.
Above also requires designing a micro-controller based unit (will use my fav - PIC) to handle the throttle management. This will be one of the simpler controller projects I've done over the years.
Shifter - I've got this crazy idea I can cook up a hydraulic cylinder based shifter/link system. I've got some cylinders of about the right size (hacked gas struts actually). Going to see if (a) I can get the basic hydraulic behavior to work, deal with thermal fluid expansion, reservoir concerns, etc., and if so (b) cram the stuff inside the differential housing completely. Plan B is do electric motor (essentially a servo setup) shifting - that would be fun to design/build and would allow for paddle shifting even (well maybe - how that works with manual clutch seems goofy to me), but gear motors might have to be a little bigger than I'd like what with the weight, etc.
Fab my own aluminum tank. The local steel shop will do it for me n/c as they owe me some time, but I asked them to just tune up me TIG skills as I'd like my name on the thing.
Tank baffle, I'm wanting to mock up and play with a center partition that has essentially small gravity/flapper valves on each side of the "walls" so slosh can go into the center but not back out, on both left and right turns. Wondering where that is already in all the millions of brains that have thought about tank fuel collection/management problems.
Windshield - want to work on the pillars - maybe hard aluminum rods and then epoxy fill or something to make that frame "grab" capable when someone tries to pull themselves up from the seat using the frame.
Seats - on the fence but keep thinking why not fab my own CF buckets and sew up my own. Not leather, don't have the right machine, but may take a shot at it.
Wheels. Got these Rays Engineering / Campionato SS-6 Versus wheels down at the JDM place. Dinged up but apparantly very populate overseas and in Japan on the (of all things !!! Ricers). Will do what I've done with other mangy wheels over the years - sandblast, putty the dings and repaint.
Few other crazy plans still bubbling. - for later...
Working on several things for this project that are ongoing - carbon fiber intake, hydraulic shift linkage in particular. Slow going with so many non-818 projects and day work. But did finish the front suspension assembly using the JDM 2007 Legacy parts. So here is how I worked out the front mounting. You can see I also moved the footwell forward about 1-1/2 inch. I'm moving the tank back some and between the two I'm getting nice extra footroom for my long legged 6-1 body.
Setting up chassis mounting for the newer style A-arm is just a matter of fabricating a U-shaped bracket that bolts into the existing rear A-arm mounts on the chassis. Unlike the rear which was a complete re-design of mounts, the front just bolts on to existing. Dimension, position not to hard to figure out because the A-arm turns out to have the same dimension/pivot points as the older aluminum A-arm the 818 was designed to use. The camber, etc., still awaits setup however.
What it looks like assembled:
The left side bracket (right is a mirror of this):
Hoping to minimize stuff going over the gas tank. Not sure why except it just bugs me with that clutter... One of the changes is routing the e-brake cables, in front of (not under like the picture) the tank to each side.
Nice work. Did you just like the Legacy components better than the Impreza bits?
I was getting a 3.0 H6 at MidWest JDM in Cincinnati, saw a couple pallets with the suspension of a JDM Legacy, marked '07 although I'm pretty sure it was mostly or all '08 parts. Saw the aluminum rear swing arm which looked interesting (and the aluminum front too). I knew it was different but didn't have my kit yet and didn't realize how different. Dealed for a price that convinced me to take a chance with it. I have as much or more fun cooking things up and modifying everything anyway, so it was another excuse to tinker with FFR's plans. I've since read both good and bad (Internet IMHO's are a hoot) about the newer Legacy suspension, so we'll see how it works out. Added at least 6 months to my build if not more, but has been all fun and that makes it worth.
Finally dragged the steering rack out of the pile to clean it up and shortly after got reminded they drive on the left in Japan. Off to eBay for an Impreza rack for 75$. Not likely to sell this JDM rack in the US... boat anchor?
Off this topic a bit - depowering rack - I used the steel pin/shim/wedge method to freeze up the torque rod valve "slop", and I think that is a perfect fix, no welding (I wondered if that wouldn't induce a bit of bend in the assembly anyway. Drive the link pin out at the top of the steering rod (right at the splines), then the whole thing comes apart so you can really get in the valve and fit a shim tight. Then pin it back together. I think this pin removal may only work on the 02-04 racks (not sure).
Whoa that suspension is kick ***. However our rear upper trailing link isn't adjustable? How do you adjust camber? With the bottom links?
Frank
818 chassis #181 powered by a '93 VW VR6 Turbo GT3582R Go-karted Aug 5, 2016 - Then May 19+21, 2017
Tracked May 27/July 26, 2017 Build time before being driveable on Sep 27, 2019: over 6000h Build Completed Winter 2021
On the Legacy only the inside of the longest rear arm has a cam bolt, everything else is fixed lengths. I can shim the front bush left or right a few mm, and then adjust any of the other arms, although my upper and lower "middle" arms are 1/2 turn at a time. Between the bunch I start with Legacy setup and will tweak from there.
I'm about half way through putting an aluminum tank together - a bit more narrow, all across so passenger gets more legroom, taller to get capacity back. The fittings, ports, pump and sender mounts all worked up from scratch. Need to either sell the FFR tank or use it for target practice. (Will post pix of the new thing in about a week).
In the meantime - a tool to bead 2" pipe at home:
I cut up the supplied 2" stainless pipe into some 3+ pieces and tig'd it back together to reshape it to where I want the fill, on the top of my tank behind driver. Needed to get a new bead on one end, because the other beaded end is now part of the tank inlet's top fitting. Figured my HF press could do it with the right helper tool. This doesn't take a lot of press force, probably even a good vice could handle it. Darn hard to tell which end of the finished pipe I beaded vs the ends that came from FFR.
Be glad to loan the tool out if someone wants to do this. You could make one from these pix.
Made from a couple 3/4" steel bars, a 45 degree groove cut 1/8" deep with 2" stone on drill. You want that groove to have the 2" curve, so work the stone and flip it end for end to get the curve shape. The bars are coupled with 1/4" steel scraps, welded to one bar and 3/8" bolt "hinge" on the other bar. A piece of 2" washer ( good thick one) welded on the opposing bar.
My local Ace hardware sells these little grinder stones for a couple bucks.
C-clamp and scrap metal sets the ~1/4" deep guide for the bead crimp location. Square up the pipe end so your crimp runs even from the edge all around. Crimp in the bead about every 1/8" around the pipe. Test on scrap to learn the depth to press it nicely. On my tool, that depth is right when the two steel bars are parallel to each other.
I was happy with the fit-up and weld penetration and wanted this pipe to "show nice", so sanded some of the bead down and polished out the weld between pipe sections. Will pressure test along with the rest of the tank later. On pipes with more stress - exhaust, etc., I'd leave the bead in place for extra strength and assurance. If this one ever does pin-hole and leak, my nose and the ECM's fuel system diagnostics are designed to find it, too.
Wow, that's really slick.... I like it better than the modified wire crimper method I tried once before finally borrowing my friend's bead roller. Might have to try this next time.
Both.
Unbelievable, not only you build a car but you get to have the time to build yourself tools.
Frank
818 chassis #181 powered by a '93 VW VR6 Turbo GT3582R Go-karted Aug 5, 2016 - Then May 19+21, 2017
Tracked May 27/July 26, 2017 Build time before being driveable on Sep 27, 2019: over 6000h Build Completed Winter 2021
I just like making things. Most of the time it almost doesn't matter what I'm making as long as that is what is going on here. But the car is a goal, for sure. I also detest buying if I can make, not always but typical 4 me.
I wanted passengers to have foot room too. I might be a passenger sometimes. Tight for 6'1" in my op. Had my local metal shop cut and bend some tank walls for me. This is my first TIG on aluminum so have pity. But after fixing just a few pin-hole leaks here and there (4# test pressure) it seems solid. Corners are typical leak spots it seems (for me at least).
Tank is 1/8" AL, 12"H x 7D base, x 5D top, x 46.5" long. Accounting for 1/8 walls and 3 inner partition walls it yeilds est. 13.7 gal capacity. At the bottom it is 1" wider on than the driver side of the new style (2016 vintage) FFR tank. But I pushed my firewall out a bit too, so not losing anything.
I have a flap valve near the fuel pump in that partition, expectation is it retains fuel gained from "slosh-right" going into the partition, when "slosh-left" is going on. Tests in a mock up tray seemed to work fairly well.
The FFR tank without fittings weighed 26.5#, this one 25.0#. So a straight trade on weight.
Some of the steps:
Making "bolt down" rings, 10-32 threaded brass rod, drill and tap into the AL plate, thread in the rods (with 271 Loctite just in case). The pattern was on paper, printed from a simple CAD drawing and drill points and such transfered to the AL plate.
Using my press to "gently" crimp/swage each threaded rod's backside rather permanently into the ring. Done before cutting the circles out to prevent the swagging process from spreading the resulting aluminum ring. Then fly-cut the center out, didn't have a suitable sized hole saw, and they don't cut as nice as the fly-cut anyway.
Sawing the ring's outside, and back view of the swage on the 10-32 rods
One of the bolt down rings welded to the tank top. I tested these o-rings (McMaster Carr stuff I had around), and they passed a 1 month dunk in local gasoline, but eventually I opted for cork-rubber gaskets made as shown later, because replacements would be easier to procure down the road someday, should need arise. And I ended up opening the pump side hole to the inner bolt-ring diameter to make it easier to work that into th
This 01 Forester (I think) was the plan but the top - no way - too big for my tank. I tore up a 2002 Legacy all-plastic unit for the pump, from LKQ scrap yard. Fabricated my pump and sender frame out of stainless steel. Some metal was in my scrap pile, the local steel shop always has circles laying in a pile they cut out of stuff. Had some SS circles that were just right. But I learned the hard way - thin plate like 3/32 or maybe 16 guage, warps beyond believe when welding or silver soldering it (but does ok at the low temp Stay-Silv from Harris). By then I had done TIG as well as the 1100F silver soldering and spent about 2 hours pounding and bending things back into shape. It's flat now though.
The connector is held in with a mount ring I made. The connector was band-sawed out of the plastic pump housing I trashed for parts. Cork-rubber gasket seals it nicely.
The fuel lever senders are both in there - the left and right tank senders from my scrap yard doner. Each arm-wire was cut and reshaped so that the two work together. One arm "reads" the bottom half of the tank and the upper arm gets the 1/2 to Full range. Solves the 100 ohm requirement, gets full coverage of the tank in the bargain. Took a long time to figure out the mounting, swing for each float, etc. Bending and working the wires to the floats - not exactly easy to do and a mistake could mean another trip to "the yard".
The last sillyness of this pump/sender unit - it won't drop in the hole intact. Each sender has to be free from the metal frame, and inserted after the frame is in the hole, then screw the sender bracket to the metal frame working from above the opening. Can do but drop a screw = start over. I just happened to have some 10-32 PEM nuts in my junk boxes left, so they got pressed into the frame, at least I didn't have to fiddle with nuts along with the screws...
A view of the tank with a couple of the dividers, pump, slosh trap valve.
The FFR supplied fuel fill pipe got cut up and reshaped to fit the top of the tank instead of the lower back side. I decided to put a (rather small - gulp - it's what I had on hand) vent pipe along with it to help with slow fill problems many have discussed here. A second vent on the plumbing will go to the charcoal cannister/vent "circuit". Between the two I hope fill venting will be sufficient.
By the way, when pressure testing the whole assembly I learned the lovely fill cap from FFR will only hold about 1 to 1.5 PSI. Then again I think the ECM only runs the tank up to about 0.5 PSI when it is doing fuel system leak testing cycles. Also the little keeper pin on the back side of that fill cap has a small set-screw to keep it from falling out by accident, should you release the spring tension. The screw was loose on mine as received. Someone fiddling with the fuel cap while it is not installed could/would maybe loose that pin for you.
This didn't come in a box...
Making gaskets, from Fel-Pro 4 part sample pack (see later pix). Hobby brass tubing is always handy to have around. Use different sizes to do all sorts of interesting things sooner or later. 20T press is just a slight bit of overkill but makes punching the fiber-rubber sheet a whiz. The small fiber ring washers go under each of the bolt down ring's 10/32 nuts, just in case one of the swage/crimps should ever leak.
Dropped in for a check fit, a bit earlier. I finally had an excuse to set the 3.0 in there - to make sure my fill routing would work before I cut and shaped the FFR "donor".
That is one hell of a fuel tank!!! You should sell some or maybe have someone build them for you so that you can spend time building the car while making money selling tanks.
Frank
818 chassis #181 powered by a '93 VW VR6 Turbo GT3582R Go-karted Aug 5, 2016 - Then May 19+21, 2017
Tracked May 27/July 26, 2017 Build time before being driveable on Sep 27, 2019: over 6000h Build Completed Winter 2021
Still at it, just slow. Here is my take on tilting the engine/trans back a bit. Clearance just sitting the engine in the chassis off hand - about 3/16" from the cam chain cover - right bulge to frame. Seems a likely bump point. Also engine tilts forward a fair amount - puts oil constantly forward a bit, and the oil pan hangs maybe 1/2" below the frame and I can't stand having that hazard.
This 2002 EZ30D engine's mounts have a 30 degree vs the 20 degree angle on the 818's frame mounts. I was contemplating making angled shims, so there is a 1/4" flat wedged in there, just playing around so far:
Last edited by aquillen; 02-06-2018 at 11:06 AM.
Reason: force image display
Thanks: 
Likes: 
Reply With Quote
I've had a fair number of people show up at my house just to see the kit. Glad you finally got one.
Originally Posted by phil1734
