Camera's 818C

[Ajzride]

The big ones are the ones that let go on my friend/builder. I really like quick latches look, but I don’t trust them. A safety catch isn’t that hard to make, and could save tons of labor and paint.

[mcamera]

I researched before I bought them. Other guys on here have used them and the only problem I saw was Chad Plavan on the front of his hood over 110mph (see comments in pic). I'm not using any latches at the front of a panel where the wind could fling it up. These are at the very back of the hardtop where if the wind did break them free, the whole hardtop isn't going to flip over like a hood. I do plan to use these minis on the back of the hood though with the ZDM hinge at the front. Again, if the latches broke free at the back of the hood, it's not going to flip up.

CPlavan.jpg

I finished the driver side corner. The hardtop is still bowed up above the rear bumper and above both rear wheels (~3/8" on the passenger side was the worst area). I pushed my thumb down against the fiberglass above the wheels and marked a range of where I could push down and keep that seam flush. I did this for both sides and the range was different. I could push anywhere from 16-20" on the driver side, measured from the back edge. On the passenger side that was 15-19", measured from the back edge. So I'll mount my latches at ~17.5" since that satisfies both sides and keeps everything symmetrical.

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[Rob T]

I have Chad's 818 and have run over 20 track days. Only time they have "popped" was when I don't push them all the way down and hear the click. Like Chad said, the very front of the hood is pinned.

[mcamera]

I have Chad's 818 and have run over 20 track days. Only time they have "popped" was when I don't push them all the way down and hear the click. Like Chad said, the very front of the hood is pinned.

Thanks for the update Rob! A little reassurance for me.

[mcamera]

It's already been a month since my last update? I got all 4 quik latches installed to hold down the back of the hardtop. I made a couple brackets to hold the male pieces in the right spots.

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I removed the steering wheel to give myself more room to add insulation to the rear firewall. It's very difficult to get the driver seat in the car with the big, stock wheel and I'm getting closer to putting it back in to measure for seatbelts. So now seemed like a good time to get it out of the way and start figuring out what needs to be done to make a racing wheel fit while keeping stock functions. My added rear-rear firewall is a thin gauge (0.025") so I added some Noico mat to it for sound damping and then some Noico 315mil insulation for extra heat/sound protection.

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The driver door interior panel had some bad gaps to start out. Nothing a heat gun and some bending couldn't fix. However, once I got the interior lock/door handle installed, the lock was getting stuck when pulling the handle. I figured out that there was slightly too much tension on the the door handle cable and the lock was binding. Adjusting the cable pulled the interior door panel too far towards the back of the car to still fit nicely in the fiberglass door skin. I made a small extension from some thin hardware from Ace and was able to reduce tension on the cable while keeping the interior panel in the correct location.

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[Ajzride]

If you want to keep your cruise control stalk on your racing wheel, I have a 3D printable adapter:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...430#post401430

[roadrashrob]

I removed the steering wheel to give myself more room to add insulation to the rear firewall. It's very difficult to get the driver seat in the car with the big, stock wheel and I'm getting closer to putting it back in to measure for seatbelts. So now seemed like a good time to get it out of the way and start figuring out what needs to be done to make a racing wheel fit while keeping stock functions. My added rear-rear firewall is a thin gauge (0.025") so I added some Noico mat to it for sound damping and then some Noico 315mil insulation for extra heat/sound protection.

I agree on the steering wheel and followed Fletch's lead of making it removable. After attending the build school, and trying to get into the coupe with the top there, it was clear the wheel makes it very difficult to easily get in and out of the car. I cut my FFR adapter down like Fletch did, but it didn't allow the horn wires to run in the OEM config. NRG makes a really nice slim adapter, and all the factory functions work nicely. I don't have cruise control, so that wasn't a factor.

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[Ajzride]

I collapsed my column about 3 inches for extra room.

[mcamera]

Thanks for the link AJ!

The NRG and Works Bell adapter look like the best for me. I compressed my column (2" IIRC) but I'm still using the FFR spacers on the column mount to keep the wheel low. Removing those spacers to raise the wheel and getting a smaller racing wheel should be enough help for me.

[mcamera]

Update
I got engaged back in September and will be moving to Lexington, KY in a month. I've accepted a job at Toyota and need to throw out, sell, and pack up a lot of things at my condo!

I have a few things I will give away for FREE if the buyer pays shipping. If you're interested email me at [email protected]

- Gen 2 FFR gas tank. Never used.
- 1 Midwest Controls 8' shifter cable. Too long for my setup, installed briefly but never used.
- 1 passenger headlight bucket. Old glossy style.
- 07 WRX brake booster. I only needed the clevis but somebody might want this for a power braking setup?

[Shawn818c]

Update
I got engaged back in September and will be moving to Lexington, KY in a month. I've accepted a job at Toyota and need to throw out, sell, and pack up a lot of things at my condo!

I have a few things I will give away for FREE if the buyer pays shipping. If you're interested email me at [email protected]

- Gen 2 FFR gas tank. Never used.
- 1 Midwest Controls 8' shifter cable. Too long for my setup, installed briefly but never used.
- 1 passenger headlight bucket. Old glossy style.
- 07 WRX brake booster. I only needed the clevis but somebody might want this for a power braking setup?

emailed regarding the fuel tank and cable!

[blomb11]

Congrats!!

[mcamera]

I can't get the 3 parking lights to light up. What did you guys do? I have 11v of power from the power wire and I've confirmed the ground wire is grounded. Double checked that there is 11v between the power/ground wire and still not even a flicker. I've tried 2 parking lights to make sure 1 wasn't dead. There are 3 wires coming out of the LED. Black, white, and yellow. I've tried every combination on a 9V battery and still no luck. The headlight low beam, headlight high beam, and blinker are all working fine. The attached schematic shows the wires I'm using which are part of the Subaru headlight plug. Thank you for any help!

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[TheHelixx]

I can't get the 3 parking lights to light up. What did you guys do? I have 11v of power from the power wire and I've confirmed the ground wire is grounded. Double checked that there is 11v between the power/ground wire and still not even a flicker. I've tried 2 parking lights to make sure 1 wasn't dead. There are 3 wires coming out of the LED. Black, white, and yellow. I've tried every combination on a 9V battery and still no luck. The headlight low beam, headlight high beam, and blinker are all working fine. The attached schematic shows the wires I'm using which are part of the Subaru headlight plug. Thank you for any help!

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Up the voltage. My running LEDs wouldn’t come on until they hit 12, at 14 they got nice and bright. I used black and either yellow or white for positive. I don’t think it matter which one I used, they lit the same for me.

[mcamera]

Up the voltage. My running LEDs wouldn’t come on until they hit 12, at 14 they got nice and bright. I used black and either yellow or white for positive. I don’t think it matter which one I used, they lit the same for me.

You were spot on. I started my car to increase the voltage and sure enough it lit up. I used black as ground and yellow for power. Thank you!

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[mcamera]

Hello! It's been a crazy 2 months but I'm back to building. I didn't get a lot done until recently because:

- Packing my things in Michigan
- Transitioned out of old job
- Got covid
- Toyota delayed my start date 3 times
- Had my belongings (and tools) held hostage for 2 weeks by my moving company
- Started a lawsuit against said moving company for damages / fraud
- Moved to Kentucky
- 818 delivered during rare Lexington snowstorm
- Had my credit cards stolen and charged $5k at Best Buy
- Realized my movers broke my TV so then I went to Best Buy and bought a less expensive TV than my thieves
- Filed police report, opened dispute with Citi Cards, and another dispute with Wells Fargo for stolen cards
- Fiance's Smart car needed new door lock, convertible switch, and oil change
- My C450 AMG needed a new splash tray under the car (OEM was $400 but I found an aftermarket one for $70 that's not bad) and oil change
- Dryer died so I replaced the timer mechanism
- Started new job at Toyota
- Planning a wedding for August

Here's the 818 being delivered the day Lexington got 9" of snow. Shoveled the driveway/street twice when the transporter arrived and still barely made it up the driveway.

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Found a coolant leak at this front elbow, so I drained a couple quarts, adjusted it, and retightened it.

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Cleaned up this A-pillar junction

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Cut the hood vents which don't match the manual's instructions. The new style doesn't have a cover piece to hide your cuts. Just a stamped mesh part I'm going to mount underneath the hood. Still need to paint the mesh black. Last pic is rough cut vs my final sanding since these edges will be seen.

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Temporarily wired up the passenger headlight, blinker, and parking lights to make sure everything worked as expected. Only 1 parking light shown in pic.

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The next post shows my quick release steering wheel. I needed more room for pics.

[roadrashrob]

Cleaned up this A-pillar junction

The next post shows my quick release steering wheel. I needed more room for pics.

OMG! Sounds like without bad luck, you would have had no luck at all during that period. I feel for you.

I must say my biggest disappointment with the 818C is that A-Pillar junction. I haven't tackled mine yet as I feel I'll need to be in a very "Zen" mindset when I do. I have the A-pillar back all satisfactory, and forward of it the same. Where they meet is a total $hit-show... At least your pictures gives me hope I'll be able to get them all to FIT together, even if it still looks like garbage...

Hang it there!

[mcamera]

I wanted to include several photos so this is clear for anybody else that has trouble figuring out their steering setup. I found some great posts on the forums that helped me but I wanted to add more detail as this didn't make sense to me until I started installing it

I wanted a smaller steering wheel with a quick release to make getting in and out of the car easier. It was tight with the big Subaru wheel and also made it difficult to remove the driver's seat. This is exactly what I bought thinking everything would work the same as the stock wheel. I bought it from MAPerformance and stuck with 1 brand (NRG) to make sure everything was compatible. I wasn't sure what I needed and this took me longer than I care to admit to figure out what to buy. The "short hub" is an adapter that attaches to the Subaru steering column and is car specific. See how my order says "Subaru Fitments". This allows the "quick release" to bolt on. Then the steering wheel connects to the quick release. I was unsure if I needed the "short hub" (was there a standard hub?) and every website had different versions of the quick release (1.0 / 2.0 / 2.2 / 2.5 / 2.8 / 3.0 / 4.0 / etc).

NRG Steering Wheel Purchases.jpg

As far as I know "short hub" just means compact and is the standard hub to buy. I chose the 3.0 version of the quick release because it had larger release paddles than the 2.8 version. I didn't want it to be difficult to release if I use it every time I drive. The 3.0 paddles were also symmetrical and the leverage arm was in the center of the paddle which I thought would be more sturdy than the 4.0 which has the arm at the top. Maybe pulling from the bottom of the paddles would flex or make releasing the wheel difficult? In hindsight, I only pull the paddles from the top so I don't think the high arm on the 4.0 would be a problem. The 4.0 does look cool and dramatic with it's long, thin paddles.

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While installing the NRG setup I realized the horn wasn't going to work, my blinker wouldn't automatically turn off after a turn, and I would lose my cruise control stalk (which I want deleted anyways). My wheel does have a horn button in the middle which I didn't realize until I got it. I searched and found several recommendations to rig up a hair clip to make the horn work. This was in forums, installation instructions from car part websites, and articles by professional shops. In short, you need the horn wire to give power to the backside of the NRG hub. The backside is a gold conductive surface which will transfer power through the wires in the steering wheel to the horn button.

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I found the horn wire and extended it to just behind the NRG hub. I crimped a ring terminal onto the end of the wire and screwed it into an unused hole on the white plastic base of the steering column. Now there is power just behind the NRG hub. I just need to connect that ring terminal to the gold side of the hub. I found a metal clip, drilled a hole at the base and screwed it into the same hole as the ring terminal so they're touching /conducting power. This metal clip will now glide along the gold surface while turning the steering wheel and transmit power for the horn.

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For the blinker, there is a small plastic piece that sticks out when the blinker is turned on. We need something to hit that when we're done taking a turn to turn off the blinker.

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On the backside of the Subaru steering reel, is that piece. Unclip that piece.

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It will go over the black cylinder on the back of the NRG hub. The black cylinder is a little smaller in diameter so I wrapped some electrical tape around it to make it slightly bigger. Once that plastic piece fits nicely, I drilled and tapped a couple M4x0.7 holes into the NRG hub and put screws in to hold the plastic piece on.

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Now that plastic piece attached to your NRG hub will hit the blinker piece when turning the wheel. Your blinker will automatically shut off after a turn like every other normal car.

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Final look. The quick release is smooth and easy. The paddles are short enough and far away from the outside of the steering wheel where I won't accidentally hit it with my fingers or knuckles. You do have to pull both paddles at the same time with a decent squeeze to release the wheel, so I'm not concerned at all with accidentally releasing the wheel while driving. I'm very happy with the end result and would do this setup again. The only question left in my mind is how much effort a smaller 320mm steering wheel will take to turn during normal driving and low speed turns.

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[Shawn818c]

glad to see you're settled in and back at the 818!

[Jetfuel]

I don’t believe you will have an issue with the effort needed to turn the 320 wheel.
We don’t weight that much and as soon as you have forward movement is a great feeling between the effort and the turning response.
I run an NRG 320 and I like it a lot.
I believe the power wire you’re referring to is a green wire at the bottom of the column and it is the ground path for the horn relay…..I could be wrong…a meter will verify that.
Jet

[mcamera]

Rob, I know! I couldn't believe how much bad luck I had in 1 month. Just got a letter yesterday from my credit card company saying there isn't enough evidence to overturn the $3000 fraudulent purchase. The end of the letter said they'll have to report me to the Consumer Reporting Agency for being late on the $3000 charge. It's never ending lol. My door still hits the fender and a-pillar if opened wide enough. A minor issue / battle for another day.

Thanks Shawn. It's hard to get back to building after a 2 month hiatus, but now that I started again I'm making some great progress.

That's good to hear Jet. I figured it would be fine I just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I believe it was the red/green wire in this schematic but I'm out of town and can't confirm.

Horn Wire.jpg

I wired up my headlights. I wasn't sure of the best way to connect several wires into 1 connection so this is what I did. For the 3 parking lights I twisted the 3 yellow (hot) wires together and solder sealed them. Shrink wrapped, glued, and soldered. They look well sealed even though I'm trying to seal a corkscrew shape. To make the parking lights and blinker connections removable (like the headlight connections) in case I ever need to remove the fender, I bought trailer connectors at my auto parts store. I needed 4 sets, and they cost $5 each.

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Since I used the same trailer connectors for the blinker connections, I wanted to make sure I could tell them apart from the parking light connectors. The parking lights have a red male connector coming off of the bucket, and I made sure the blinker had a white male connector coming off of the bucket. As long as I can properly match up male and female connectors with the correct colors, I will have the right connections. To make it easier to match, I added a couple bands of heat shrink to the blinker connectors on both connectors (pic 1). It's not fool proof as I can still mismatch red and white (pic 2), but it's enough to keep me from guessing.

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I'll upload the rest soon.

[mcamera]

Ran some silicone around the headlight buckets. There are still plenty of gaps around the headlight so it's not air tight. I'm kind of expecting the headlights to have condensation issues in the future.
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All of the wiring organized and covered in black sheathing. The front bay finally looks put together.

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Final test
Daytime running lights
Parking lights
Low beams
Blinkers
High beams

[mcamera]

The inside of my body panels are coated with Raptor bed liner. Does anybody know if black silicone RTV sealant will hold a plastic mesh to the body or will it not stick to the bed liner? Backup plan is the grind off a few areas of bed liner and bond some studs in with epoxy to hold the plastic mesh.

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[TheHelixx]

The inside of my body panels are coated with Raptor bed liner. Does anybody know if black silicone RTV sealant will hold a plastic mesh to the body or will it not stick to the bed liner? Backup plan is the grind off a few areas of bed liner and bond some studs in with epoxy to hold the plastic mesh.

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I used rtv on mine, but I only have satin enamel spray paint for a coating. It would destroy the mesh if it tried to remove it. Put a dab with a screw or something on a part of the panel that doesn’t show. Give it a full 24 hours and try and remove.

I had used clear because I had a lot of it. Using black would have been better, since I had to go back and touch it all up with spray paint.

[mcamera]

TheHelixx, good idea with the test spot. The RTV stuck well to the bed liner, but didn't stick to my plastic mesh. That's useful info though. I'm going to RTV some bondable studs to my bumper without grinding off the bed liner and then bolt the mesh down.

Before fitting the hood

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After fitting the hood and aligning the fenders it looks way cleaner! It's one of those things that if somebody else saw it before and after, they may not see what changed, but they know it looks better. A bunch of small improvements add up.

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Trimmed and fit the dash close off panel. I think this is a little more important than just a simple cover. I'm thinking this will act like a dam for some of the air going through the radiator. So you have hot air pushing up from the bottom at highway speeds. I don't want that warm air being pushed into the cabin so I trimmed this piece carefully. At first the bulb seal didn't touch the body at the front and left a big gap for air to leak in. Now the bulb seal presses evenly against the body around the entire perimeter to seal out that air. I also didn't do 1 straight line of rivets since that would act like a hinge for the air pushing up on this piece. I staggered the rivets to resist bending/hinging better.

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[J R Jones]

"A chain is only as strong as the weakest link" therefore adhesive manufacturers recommend application the the base strata. An adhesive may bond to bed liner, but does bed liner bond as good as adhesive?
In the case of sticking to mesh, if the rtv flowed around and over the mesh, curing will capture the mesh in RTV.

[mcamera]

This is how I installed the Zero Decibel Motorsports hood hinge. It comes with no instructions so it's up to you to figure out the best way to install it.

I assembled the arms based on pictures from the ZDB website and installed on the car. I placed the hood on the car and marked where the mounts hit the hood. I then traced the bondable studs.

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I cut out the tape where I needed to grind the bed liner off of my hood so I could properly glue the studs in. Then ground the bed liner off with a dremel.

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I glued the studs on using JB Weld ClearWeld. It's a 2 part epoxy with a mixing tip on the end of a syringe.

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Lay the hood on your car and bolt it to the hinge mounts from underneath. Get all of the adjustment bolts nearly tight but able to slide a little. Tighten the mounts to the hood first, then the bolts on the arms, and finally the cross brace between the 2 arms. If you tighten things in a bad order, your hood might sit too tall or the hinge will open unevenly. You'll know it when you see it. Here are pics of the hood opened, but I installed everything with the hood laying flat on the car.

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TWO ISSUES! First issue is one of the studs ripped off of the hood when tightening the bolts. There's a gap between the flat aluminum mount and the rounded hood surface. As you tighten these bolts, it'll suck the hood flat to the aluminum mount. You don't want this. I added a flanged nut between the hood and aluminum mount to fill this space. Then when you're tightening the bolt, the nut will act as a backstop and keep the hood from being sucked in. Your gap may be smaller/larger but in general you don't want to see the aluminum touching the hood when tightening. This means there is no gap to take up as you tighten and you're sucking the hood in / adding a lot of stress to the hood.

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Second issue, the first stud I glued in had an area that didn't cure completely hard. It stayed a little gummy. So I dug out that gummy area and added glue when I repaired my ripped off stud. This was a mixing problem from the 2 part glue I used. Always purge a little bit of glue to allow everything to mix properly in the mixing tip. My repair has now cured hard since I purged first.

[mcamera]

"A chain is only as strong as the weakest link" therefore adhesive manufacturers recommend application the the base strata. An adhesive may bond to bed liner, but does bed liner bond as good as adhesive?
In the case of sticking to mesh, if the rtv flowed around and over the mesh, curing will capture the mesh in RTV.

In this case, the bed liner is strong enough. I couldn't pick the RTV adhesive off of the bed liner on my sample spot, nor did the bed liner separate from the fiberglass body. It's a thick mesh on a skinny flange so not much room for applying a lot of RTV. Outside of that flange, my body is a full 1" away from the plastic mesh so I'm going to bond in some studs to cope with that large gap better. I will capture the smaller metal mesh for my hood vents with just RTV though!

[J R Jones]

I have fabricated/reconfigured hinges and remote release latches with gas lift struts on both ends of my body. I bonded aluminum blocks and square tube for mounts in all but the front hinges where the weight and stress is low.
There I use aluminum riv-nuts in the FRP. I use steel riv-nuts in the aluminum tube and thread the aluminum blocks. The latches mount to bent aluminum sheet with riv-nuts. I use pliogrip adhesive and occasionally add FRP cloth tape with epoxy resin. Being cheap, most of these projects require a small amount of Pliogrip so I mix blobs on a palette with a putty knife. Recently I built a gas fill door / neck / breather with a flush hinged door and magnetic release. Bonded studs in that application.
jim

[Scott Meyer]

Sorry for your struggle Mike…Craig has actually made directions for these in PDF…somehow I found them and followed the method he suggested with some slight modifications. If it would help I can email to you? Several of us also showed the steps on our build pages.

[TheHelixx]

If it’s not too much of a hassle to get it back off. Put some small pieces of fiberglass around the edge of the studs. It will sandwich them on and really reinforces their hold. I ended up taking about a 2” square of chopped strand mat and pushing it over the studs centered. The stud goes right through the mat and when you ad resin, just make sure you avoid the threads.

[mcamera]

Thanks for the offer Scott but I got it figured out. I almost texted you because I remember you talking about a PDF when I visited, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

TheHelixx, thanks for the suggestion. I'll probably do that down the road since I'll have to grind away more bed liner, buy fiberglass materials, and figure out how to lay fiberglass. I could use some more reinforcement but that's a project for another day. Trying to get the car on the road this summer!

[J R Jones]

Several months ago Jon (Roadster) and I were discussing his carbon application and he mentioned his supplier here in WI. Composite Envisions has a comprehensive inventory of materials, carbon and epoxy. I now use them exclusively. I bought a roll of their glass cloth tape for bonding edges, joints, and spot reinforcement. Cloth has stronger physical properties than mat. I now use the tape 90% of the time. One more advantage is that it has woven edges, you just cut to length. The edges do not fragment in handling or coating with the brush/resin.

https://compositeenvisions.com/produ...-50-yard-roll/

The two inch width meets all my needs so far, although I have sheets as well for larger applications. I use mat only where I need bulk/thickness, and use cloth as the final layer.
jim

[mcamera]

My kit came with LED's for the blinker/turn signals, but no female connector to connect to housing. I did get 6 metal pins so I'm guessing this is on purpose and FFR didn't forget the female connectors. So I soldered the metal pins to my wires, connected them (which they stay on by themselves but not well) and then taped everything up to keep everything from pulling apart.

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I find it weird that FFR also supplies halogen bulbs for the brake lights since everything else is LED except the projector headlights. So I ordered new LED bulbs for the tail lights. I got red LED"s even though you can't tell in the photos. Some reviews said white LED's might appear washed out even through a red tail light lens. The red LED's look great and are super bright!

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Started test fitting the dash. The odometer button is jammed against the bottom, so I need to work with some spacers to raise the cluster a little bit. I'll add an update when I sort that out.

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[mcamera]

I was able to learn how to powder coat at work so I did a few parts.

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Hood vent mesh got glued to the underside of the hood. I didn't use a surround on top to hide the cut edges of the fiberglass so I painted the edges black. I like how clean and simple it looks.

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Door sill covers. I'm glad I could powder coat these for some added durability because I'm sure they'll get kicked, scratched, and beat up.

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I powder coated the FFR mesh for the rear bumper but ended up using a larger plastic honeycomb mesh I found. I used the FFR surround piece to hide my cut edges but still painted the edges of the fiberglass black since you can see them from certain angles. I glued in bondable studs for the mesh with RTV silicone. RTV didn't stick well to the plastic honeycomb so bolting it on is more secure. RTV does bond well to my Raptor bedliner. I didn't grind any of the bedliner off, I just cleaned it before applying RTV.

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I routed and covered my wires with black sheathing to make everything look neat. I also bonded in an extra stud to hold my passenger tail light wires out of the way of the exhaust and from being a large black bundle of wires running straight across the engine bay which wouldn't look as tidy. From behind the car you can't see the wires through the mesh, and looking into the engine bay you can't see the wires hung up on the bumper. It just looks clean which I was trying really hard for.

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[mcamera]

My rear hatch has always rubbed the corner of my roof when opening so it was time to make this fit right. I cut the hatch flush with the top of the glass and it finally doesn't rub.

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The gas struts were entertaining. It took a few hours to get it right. At first I had the struts installed so the hatch would open all the way. This gave the struts too much lifting force and it was creating a 1" gap at the top of the hatch/roof area. Then I slid the collars further back on the roll bar (towards the front of the car) shown in the pics below, and the struts didn't have enough force to hold the trunk open.

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After tightening the main pivot of the hatch hinges, readjusting the arms where they attach to the hatch, and setting the gas strut collars to the correct distance, everything looks good. The hatch remains flush when closed. Doesn't scrape when opening and holds itself open although it's not as far open as I originally wanted. For me the collars had to be 3" back from the diagonal rollbar shown in my pic.

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I cut off part of the heatshield on my cat so I could bolt up the FFR exhaust. This exhaust will require me to cut a hole in my bumper which I don't think I want to do. I'm going to see if I can just dump the exhaust to the ground out of the cat. So the tip will be hidden under the car and out of sight.

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[Bob_n_Cincy]

Mcamera, Here is a picture of my exhaust. It's pretty much the same as your current setup. It is quiet enough for most tracks. I went with the through-the-bumper design. It has worked well for us. The second shows the exhaust tip and a nice controlled sideways slide.

ext.jpg ex2.jpg

[FFRWRX]

Hood vent mesh got glued to the underside of the hood. I didn't use a surround on top to hide the cut edges of the fiberglass so I painted the edges black. I like how clean and simple it looks.

I really like how that looks. Another idea I may have to borrow. Very nicely done!

Rick

[J R Jones]

My kit came with LED's for the blinker/turn signals, but no female connector to connect to housing. I did get 6 metal pins so I'm guessing this is on purpose and FFR didn't forget the female connectors. So I soldered the metal pins to my wires, connected them (which they stay on by themselves but not well) and then taped everything up to keep everything from pulling apart.

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I find it weird that FFR also supplies halogen bulbs for the brake lights since everything else is LED except the projector headlights. So I ordered new LED bulbs for the tail lights. I got red LED"s even though you can't tell in the photos. Some reviews said white LED's might appear washed out even through a red tail light lens. The red LED's look great and are super bright!

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Started test fitting the dash. The odometer button is jammed against the bottom, so I need to work with some spacers to raise the cluster a little bit. I'll add an update when I sort that out.

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Careful with lighting. Halogen bulbs are hot and can melt plastic housings and lenses. Your photo is LED and incandescent, I do not see halogen.
On brightness, tail lights that are too bright are annoying to follow, like bad headlights in on coming cars. Too bright tail lights may be mistaken for stop lights.

The crimp pin in your photo requires a specific crimp tool with "rolling" jaws for wire crimp and larger jaw for the stress relief on the insulation. Your crimp is not per design intent. Soldering is not required with a good crimp.

https://www.amazon.com/Qibaok-Ratche...a-833633159924

jim

[mcamera]

Thanks for the reference photo Bob. I think I want the exhaust tip hidden under the bumper but I'm still playing with a couple ideas.

Thanks Rick. I didn't get the surround pieces for the hood mesh so I decided to embrace it and go borderless. Using those vents to their fullest! There's just enough mesh on the edges to glue to the hood underneath.

Correct Jim. I meant incandescent not halogen. The names sometimes get interchanged even though they're different, and here I am perpetuating that. If my bright tail lights are mistaken for stop lights then nobody should ever hit me right? I'm being a smartass. The tail lights didn't seem too bright when just turned on, but I'll check how bright the brake lights are tonight when braking. I've only seen the brake lights on video (since I was pushing the brake) so I'll check them in person. Video of my light test below. I think the FFR supplied white reverse lights are brighter. I tried crimping the pins with needle nose pliers and it wasn't pretty as you're suggesting, so I decided to solder them, cover them in heat shrink, and then tape all of the connections to the LED housing for added insurance.