fletch's question thread

[fletch]

I thought it might be a good idea to sequester my questions here rather than clutter the build thread. I'll give it a go and we'll see how it works.

Question 1: When should I buy wheels and tires?
I'm thinking it would be valuable to have them now as I'm sorting out suspension, steering rack, ride height, clearance. On the other hand, I'd rather not have to store them and I'd prefer to buy the tires nearer to the time they'll be used. What do you guys say?

[Ajzride]

If you don’t want to buy them now, you can cut plywood circles to diameter of your desired tire size to set ride height. Just don’t roll it around much. That also won’t help you with checking clearances.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I thought it might be a good idea to sequester my questions here rather than clutter the build thread. I'll give it a go and we'll see how it works.

Question 1: When should I buy wheels and tires?
I'm thinking it would be valuable to have them now as I'm sorting out suspension, steering rack, ride height, clearance. On the other hand, I'd rather not have to store them and I'd prefer to buy the tires nearer to the time they'll be used. What do you guys say?

I would wait until you really need them.
1. good summer tires rubber get harder with age.
2. you may change your mine on wheels and tire between now and when you really need them.
3. As you find out how tight tire clearances are. You my change you mind on tire wheel size.
4. wheel offset is real important. easy to start with a 48mm stock subie wheel and play with spacers.

I mount a set of stock Subaru wheels, while my good summer tires are in warm storage.

summer.jpg stock.jpg

[DSR-3]

Another vote for wait until you need them. 'Not sure where you are in your build, but I didn't even put suspension on my car for 2 years- it just gets in the way in my tight space and when doing other assembly.

[sgarrett]

I also say wait. They get in the way. I ordered FFR wheels with my kit but they are in the basement. I'm using the donor wheels while doing the dirty work. If you aren't going to vary greatly from the recommendations in the back of the manual then just wait.

[aquillen]

I too bought tires sooner than I should have, they were on sale so.... and who knows how many times I moved the wheels and tires around to get them out of the way, and I have a lot of space. Until the car is almost drivable they are just in the way on it.

[lance corsi]

I had to buy tires & wheels first since I cut off my suspension mounting points in order to provide a clean slate for my c-4 Vette suspension. Preferably work from the outside inward when designing suspension pickups. I needed wheels & tires to check for clearances. I hope my tires don’t get too old before I finish. Today marks 4 years since I received my kit.

[fletch]

Thank you all for the input on wheels & tires. I'm still early in the build and will definitely keep the stock donor wheels for playing with until nearer the end.

Question 2: Many of you have used type N engine mounts to keep the powerplant from moving around too much. What mounts did you buy and where did you get them?

[Hobby Racer]

Thank you all for the input on wheels & tires. I'm still early in the build and will definitely keep the stock donor wheels for playing with until nearer the end.

Question 2: Many of you have used type N engine mounts to keep the powerplant from moving around too much. What mounts did you buy and where did you get them?

Group N mounts work very well. I got mine at Flatiron Tuning but they are available from most any Subaru performance shop. Find the best price and go for it.

[fletch]

Last week I got a look at Frank818's blue beauty. One thing I really liked about his car were the seats that hinge forward. These were from his 1992 VW Corrado, a two door car. For him, this feature has proved very useful since he's had to troubleshoot fuel sender issues several times. In each instance, he didn't remove the seats; he just tilted them forward.

Our car will have an empty space behind the seats since we're using a front mount gas tank. I'd like to be able to use that space for stoarge - a laptop bag or other small items should fit just fine.

Can anyone recommend a seat that might be suitable?
Our constraints:

• I'm 6'1". My son's 5'10" and still growing. We need a seat that sits low.
• We're on a budget. Think "something that can be found in a junkyard."

We've already spent considerable time trying to lower the OEM WRX seats as AZPete did. But I'd gladly chuck those seats and that work out the window for seats that hinge. Thoughts?

[Ajzride]

BMW e21 if you can find them.

[fletch]

AJ, thanks for the suggestion. I've put a ton of hours into making the Subaru seats work and I think I may have done it, even retaining the sliders. More to report in a week once I confirm.

[fletch]

Got both OEM seats mounted with factory sliders...
Still too tall.
More work to do. Might still be possible, or I might have to ditch the sliders.
Either way, I did find a way to get the OEM seats to tip forward much farther for access behind.

[sgarrett]

After many many many many many hours of trying to perfect the use of the factory sliders in the 818 I gave up. Now that I have the OEM seats in (I wanted the comfort of a real seat rather than the performance of a racing seat) I realize that they are the optimal location for someone of roughly average height. Maybe around 5'8" or so. And that is with them pushed as far back as they can go. The sliders would only move the seat forward. That is not the adjustment I need so I just ditched the sliders since they won't provide any value to me. Also helped the seat sit a lot lower.

I have a daughter who is only 5'1" and she can easily drive the car by just putting a pillow behind her when driving...but she doesn't have a license yet and at the rate I am going she will be married with kids of her own living somewhere else by the time I am done with the car!

[Frank818]

Ha! What a bummer. All those conclusions are exactly what I mentioned when you came by and we exchanged on seats stuff. Even for me the sliders I used for registration pass could only work fwd! And I'm 5.6.

I know you loved my Corrado Recaro seats, but since that style is probably impossible to find these days, what's next for you? Are you just ditching the sliders and that's it? Are the sliders required for inspection?

[fletch]

Ha! What a bummer. All those conclusions are exactly what I mentioned when you came by and we exchanged on seats stuff. Even for me the sliders I used for registration pass could only work fwd! And I'm 5.6.

I know you loved my Corrado Recaro seats, but since that style is probably impossible to find these days, what's next for you? Are you just ditching the sliders and that's it? Are the sliders required for inspection?

Hey Frank! Yes, I know you mentioned all that when we talked. It probably wasn't clear to you how stubborn I am! :-)

After lots of hours, some off-forum whining to AZPete, numerous beers and a few adult words, I decided to ditch the sliders entirely. Afterward, my wife even offered her condolences. Still using the OEM seats, just with much less metal underneath. I suppose the silver lining is I probably saved ~30 lbs - no joke.

Where I live there is no requirement for sliders. In fact, there's a requirement for seatbelts, but none for seats. I'm not making this up.

[sgarrett]

Welcome to the club. Don't ditch the slider bits and pieces quite yet though. I've discovered that there are some very handy metal pieces in there. Especially the steel tubes.

[Frank818]

Brian, I can't say for in da house, but in da garage it's great to be stubborn, it's a highly praised quality when building such a car! Keep it going!

[fletch]

Anyone have an MR2 shifter they’d like to part with?

[Ajzride]

Anyone have an MR2 shifter they’d like to part with?

Yes. I’ve even sandblasted and powder coated it.

[fletch]

Yes. I’ve even sandblasted and powder coated it.

PM sent

[fletch]

Two questions:
1) Does anybody have a pair of sedan seat belts from their donor they’re willing to part with? The wagon belt mounting position interferes with my seat backs.
2) Where is the hip belt anchor point? Not the one with the buckle/latch, but the fixed location on the outboard side of the seat.
Thanks.

[autostang]

The seat belts were a big frustration for me. I had wagon seat belts to start and also wasnt happy with the mounting location. I then got a set of sedan belts. They fit the build much better, but because of the way they mount had issues with the belts locking up frequently. The only way to get them to retract far enough to release was to undo the shoulder mounting point. After dealing with that for a summer I ended up switching to a harness and have been much happier. I think there are some threads about modifying the seat belts, but I didn't want to go down that path. Bottom line is I would recommend looking at harness options before spending a ton of effort on the stock belts.

[Ajzride]

I used these in my mustang, intend to use them again:

https://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/310PPB.html

[fletch]

autostang, thanks for the feedback. Just to clarify, when you say the belts locked up frequently, do you mean that they would get into “retract-only” mode and would have to be fully retracted before extending again? If so, are you also saying you had to unbolt the shoulder mount point to complete the retraction? If so, that’s a big problem.

AJ, thanks for the suggestion. I was hoping not to spend more money on seatbelts, but if I’m understanding autostang correctly, that seems like a good option.

[flynntuna]

autostang, thanks for the feedback. Just to clarify, when you say the belts locked up frequently, do you mean that they would get into “retract-only” mode and would have to be fully retracted before extending again? If so, are you also saying you had to unbolt the shoulder mount point to complete the retraction? If so, that’s a big problem.

AJ, thanks for the suggestion. I was hoping not to spend more money on seatbelts, but if I’m understanding autostang correctly, that seems like a good option.

This thread might help. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...818S-Seatbelts

I seem to remember that there were other threads too, but they might be buried in a build therad.

[autostang]

Yeah. I would have trouble with them going into the retract only mode. I dont know if everyone has had that problem, but I remember a few others having similar issues when I was at that stage. The aftermarket 3 point belts could be good option.

[Scoobs]

The only way to get them to retract far enough to release was to undo the shoulder mounting point.

I also encountered this problem. My fix was to get a seatbelt extension, basically a foot long piece of belt with metal plates on either end (~$10). This allowed the belt to retract further and unlock the mechanism.

Next step is to get a 4 point harness and bar.

[redbudrr]

There was a post 11/16/2014 by BuzzSkyline "Sedan Seat Belt hack: Tilt sensor delete. I don't know how to copy it and paste so you can search it. I used this method and it solves the problem.

[redbudrr]

Sedan seat belt hack: tilt sensor delete Search this and it should solve your problems.

[sgarrett]

Posts 48 and 49 in my build show what I did for my belts.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...8C-build/page2

[Scoobs]

Sedan seat belt hack: tilt sensor delete Search this and it should solve your problems.

I needed mine to still function for registration, so that is the work-around i did. Digging into the seatbelt mechanisim probably isn't the safest way either, stuff is there for a reason.

Per regulations 8-15 excerpt
Confirm the operation of each seat belt latch and retractor at driver O.E.M. and CMVSS required seat positions.

c) retractors
Buckle each seatbelt assembly and extend the belt to
test the belt retractor.

[fletch]

Everyone,
Thanks for the links and suggestions. Very, very helpful stuff. I'm curious to know if anyone has a spare set of sedan belts lying around.

Scoobs,
I'm interested to know more about the extender you used. Was it something like this? https://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/12-EXT.html

[Scoobs]

Everyone,
Thanks for the links and suggestions. Very, very helpful stuff. I'm curious to know if anyone has a spare set of sedan belts lying around.

Scoobs,
I'm interested to know more about the extender you used. Was it something like this? https://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/12-EXT.html

Yes, exactly that. I just bolted the one end to the other to Lengthen it.

[fletch]

Yes, exactly that. I just bolted the one end to the other to Lengthen it.

Did the bolted section lay on your hip when the seat belt was in place?

[Scoobs]

Did the bolted section lay on your hip when the seat belt was in place?

Not overly, it sits a few inches above the seat. Nothing that was getting in the way. I was not able to notice it.

20200104_200834.jpg

[fletch]

I'm planning to relocate the brake & clutch reservoirs. Is there any reason I can't use a single remote reservoir to feed both the brake & clutch systems? They use the same fluid so I'm wondering why they might need to be separate. Is there a safety aspect I'm missing? Thoughts?

[Hobby Racer]

It's a safety thing. Say your clutch slave cylinder poops out and leaks all the fluid out. Now you also have no brakes! Having said that, since these are not high mileage daily drivers, you would be fine, just check the fluids and watch for leaks.

[AZPete]

I used a single reservoir, as did others. I've got a Porsche with a single reservoir for clutch and brakes.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I'm planning to relocate the brake & clutch reservoirs. Is there any reason I can't use a single remote reservoir to feed both the brake & clutch systems? They use the same fluid so I'm wondering why they might need to be separate. Is there a safety aspect I'm missing? Thoughts?

The reason today cars have dual master cylinders is redundancy in the brake system. By using one tank for both brake circuits, takes away that redundancy. I would not do it.

Mitch had the best setup using a triple Tilton tank. Tilton%202.jpg

Also, make sure the hose from the tanks to the MC does not go uphill anywhere. You will be inviting an air bubble to get into your brake system.