Octobersknight's 818 Build

[idf]

I installed mine with carpet. Definitely a tight fit and bows them out a bit, but works.

[octobersknight]

Mine must be close to the 1.82" because it's just under 1 7/8". All told it's 1/8" fiberglass, 1.5" tube, and 1/16" aluminum, meaning I have about 3/16" of slop. Right now my fiberglass isn't even snugged up tight against the frame. When I squeeze it tight to the frame I have a significant gap, which must be the 3/16" (give or take). The carpet will definitely help eat this up. Do you rivet both inside and outside of the sills to the frame?

[FFRWRX]

Mine aren't installed yet, but I'm not going to rivet either side. Not sure if I'm going to paint them, cover with carbon fibre, hydro-dip, or what. But I'll install them with double-sided tape or something like that so no rivets showing.

Rick

[octobersknight]

The double-sided tape is a good idea. I may do the same to keep them looking clean. It largely depends on how the carpet install goes and how they look together.

[J R Jones]

You might consider Velcro pads. It has worked well for me, with adhesive back. It can be very secure so spot application is appropriate.
No mess to clean-up after panel removal.
jim

[idf]

Mine aren't installed yet, but I'm not going to rivet either side. Not sure if I'm going to paint them, cover with carbon fibre, hydro-dip, or what. But I'll install them with double-sided tape or something like that so no rivets showing.

Rick

Although I had intended to fasten mine in some manner, I never did. They stay in place by the tension from stretching over the carpet. I wrapped mine with carbon fiber look vinyl.

[octobersknight]

The velcro is a great idea! I also like the idea of the wrap on there. I bought a big roll of carbon0fiber look stuff that I haven't used yet and I'm looking for places to use it.

[octobersknight]

Has anyone waited to install the OEM door latch things? I'm afraid to install them now and put them in the wrong place. How do I know where to put them/ there is some adjustability built into the backside brackets, so there is no precise place to put them. Do I have some adjustability later?

[lpmagruder]

Has anyone waited to install the OEM door latch things? I'm afraid to install them now and put them in the wrong place. How do I know where to put them/ there is some adjustability built into the backside brackets, so there is no precise place to put them. Do I have some adjustability later?

At least with my body alignment there was really only one position they fit well vertically with the bracket that goes behind the side sail. I attached both of mine in the middle of the slot and never had to adjust them past there. Both doors fit fine and open/close without rubbing. I loosely followed this guide: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...r-Instructions

If you for whatever reason are off and have to slot out some holes, the brackets are big enough that they'll probably cover any old holes and you'll never notice.

[octobersknight]

Thanks, that's good advice and information. I appreciate it!

[octobersknight]

Back to to forum after a couple weeks of work trips and some time on crutches and hobbling around - almost better now. Basically just tendonitis in/around my ankle (this has happened before but it's been ~5 years).

Prior to installing the front fenders, I installed some of the front wheel well bits that I know were going to be hard to get to later on with the fenders in place. These are some of the parts that are not in the instructions.

PXL_20221024_204227810.jpg PXL_20221024_013157351.MP.jpg

After the test fir to make sure the radiator hoses would fit, I took them off and sprayed them with 3M professional rubberized undercoat spray. I forgot how much that stuff smells like asphalt.

PXL_20221024_013214427.jpg PXL_20221024_211759847.jpg PXL_20221024_231432371.jpg PXL_20221024_231456364.jpg

[octobersknight]

I mounted the front fenders per the instructions, then moved on to the nose insert. I can't seem to currently find the photos for some of this work, but it went pretty much as in the manuals. I did have some challenges getting the bolts & nuts through the right parts in the right places to hold the nose insert to the fender bits, while still leaving room for the hood. I did get it all to work to my satisfaction.

I got the hood lined up where I wanted it, and then started prepping for the zero dB racing front hinge that I bought.

PXL_20230109_233419479.jpg

One thing I don't quite get yet is that there don't seem to be instruction for attaching the upper back or the front under part of the fenders. They just seem to float on the nose supports and the two bolts into the side sails. I have seen photos of the upper fender being bolted to the frame by the upper ears near where the hardtop goes and I will probably do this. but what about the front underside? Do we ever attach it to the nose extensions? Should I wait until I add my front CF lip?

[octobersknight]

I followed the instructions for the hood hinge mounting to the frame. It went as expected, except that it showed me my nose frame is a little asymmetric - shocking, I know . The hinge is close to the front passenger hood pin ear than the driver's side one. It clears with no problem, so I may just cut off the ear to remove the visual reference.

I chose to use the foam-core and glass approach. I bought a huge 4'x8'x2' sheet of polyisocyanurate foam from Home Depot. That will resist the resin without melting, though removing the foil covering was a bit of a pain. I cut kerfs into the brick to allow for some curvature to match the underside of the hood, then epoxied it into place.

PXL_20230110_000845721.jpg PXL_20230110_000845721.jpg PXL_20230110_005731059.jpg

I sanded the ends to make for a flat area for the cross bar and mounting pads to rest.

PXL_20230112_001658291.jpg PXL_20230112_001724397.MP.jpg

Then I went on to clean it and do the first layer of glass.

PXL_20230112_011311294.jpg

Those of you who know the process will realize I skipped huge step here by mistake!! OOPS! I completely forgot to use body filler to fill the kerfs and smooth the transition from the foam to the hood. So to fix my mistakes and not leave huge voids behind the first layer of glass, I went into remediation mode. I put the hood vertical and drilled a pair of small holes into each voided area. I got a large syringe, made up small batches of resin, and injected it into the voids. Unfortunately, the glass over the voids wasn't fully wetted, so the resin weeped out of the surface, making the entire process a HUGE mess. If took a few rounds to fill all the gaps in there to my satisfaction. I had to let some resin cure before I could continue filling some of the bigger areas. I also had to reorient the hood once or twice to get at some areas, like the block's corners and the corners where the foam meets the hood.

Anyway, in the midst of that fiasco, I measured and marked where the bondable studs needed to go to line up the hood correctly. I epoxied them in place. (You can see my first round of resin fill-up work in this shot as well. I did eventually fill all the voids and get all that blue tape off before the next glass layer.)

PXL_20230118_225823026.jpg

[octobersknight]

The second glass layer went a little easier than the first, mainly because I didn't have any gaps to fill and I knew how much resin I needed. However, because I hadn't used body filler to taper any of the edges or corners, I still had to work hard to avoid bubbles at the sharp edges (both convex and concave) and had to do a "fabric drape" fold at the corners. The corners trapped bubbles because the glass didn't want to stick tightly to itself - too springy. I trimmed and filled the corners later.

PXL_20230119_014505931.jpg

The third layer of glass - over the stud/hinge landing area only, as per instructions - was the easiest yet. Although it was still tough to get the glass to lay flat and tight around the base of the studs, I got it to work to my satisfaction. Further, I slit the cloth at the corners so that I could overlay the corners on top of each other rather than try to fold the whole thing like a tablecloth or bedsheet (hospital corners!).

PXL_20230123_021857265.jpg PXL_20230124_023051869.MP.jpg

While I was at that, I took the sage advice of KiwiDave and reinforced my hood tips/corners with about three layers of glass each, all in one go since it is such a small space. Photos are before, during, and after trimming the excess glass.

PXL_20230123_021901551.jpg PXL_20230123_021906364.jpg PXL_20230123_205426937.jpg PXL_20230123_205431154.jpg PXL_20230124_003714464.jpg PXL_20230124_003720299.jpg

[octobersknight]

The next step in prepping the hood for install was to cut the hood vents and install the mesh bits. M first problem was that the mesh bits didn't fit at all. The contours were all too tight, as if they used the same exact mold to shape the fiberglass and the mesh, and didn't allow for the fiberglass thickness all the way around. I didn't realize this until after I had painted them, of course. I used my welding visegrips with the ~1" pads to flatten the parts and set them aside. All the paint in or near the bends was chipped off - new paint job in my future.

Here is how the mesh parts sat on the hood underside before my modifications:
PXL_20230124_220959609.jpg

I at least use them to decide how/where to mark and cut the hood vent holes. I decided to use the vertical sides as my guide , trying to get rid of almost all the curved area leading to the horizontal. I marked it with a sharpie to help guide my eyes, then drilled the corners so I could get a manual hacksaw blade in there to start the rough cutting. It was very slow going and required lots of hood reorientations to keep it at a convenient working height and comfortable cutting angles.

PXL_20230124_224123608.jpg PXL_20230124_224759111.jpg

Since that first hole took so long and left a little too much edge for sanding, I decided to try my oscillating multi-tool - and now it's my new favorite tool for trimming fiberglass!! It worked really quickly, was maneuverable, and pretty easily controllable.

PXL_20230125_015613595.jpg

After the holes were cut out less roughly, I went to my quarter-sheet random orbit sander to clean up the edges and get them where I wanted. The shape of the hood and the size of my sander made some of the tighter corner areas somewhat tricky, but hand sanding and a fine files helped me get the right shapes I wanted.

PXL_20230125_022005174.jpgPXL_20230125_224131735.jpg

After some checking, tuning, and re-checking, I got my corners to match with tighter radii. (before and after below).

PXL_20230125_230204500.jpg PXL_20230125_230208631.jpg PXL_20230125_230822112.jpg PXL_20230125_230827474.jpg

[cob427sc]

Looking good! Won't be long now before you're on the road.

[octobersknight]

After the mesh cutouts were to my satisfaction, it was time to test-fit the hood and to make sure the hinge studs fit into the hinge correctly, that the hinge operated smoothly and was centered, etc. It looks pretty good on the car! There is a gap at the leading edge, but the hood lip and front fender character lines match up, so it must be a clearance thing and at least it's a uniform gap. If it bugs me later on before painting, I'll fiberglass it.

PXL_20230125_234354110.jpg PXL_20230125_234400005.jpg PXL_20230125_234447374.jpg

I did find one thing that bugged me enough I had to fix it. The lip around the edge of the hood was nowhere near uniform, and it prevented the hood from sitting evenly and fitting with the "flow" of the fender panels. I marked the hood offset at 1/2" (based on the shortest part I found) and then used the oscillating multitool again to trim it. After trimming, it fit even better.

PXL_20230125_235803207.jpg

Once the fit-check was done, I moved on to truck bed liner undercoating the hood. As with all painting, the prep is the long part. Similar to my other efforts on the side sail and the fenders, I wanted to make sure the raw, exposed edges of the fiberglass near the mesh cutouts would be coated by the bed liner spray to look just that bit better and more finished.

PXL_20230126_020044589.jpg PXL_20230126_021035980.MP.jpg PXL_20230131_204107059.jpg

[octobersknight]

After the bedliner dried for a day, I took my flattened hood meshes and worked my best to make sure I had enough overlap all the way around to allow the silicone caulk some purchase to hold the mesh in place. Here are pics from before and after bending to shape.

PXL_20230201_013919022.MP.jpg PXL_20230201_014338213.jpg PXL_20230201_014536529.jpg

Once the meshes were bent to my taste, i repainted them and installed them with the usual silicone caulk/glue method. Then I put the hood on the car to take a look at it.

PXL_20230207_003902202.jpg

After fiddling with the adjustments a bit, I found that there is a bit on the passenger side that is up a little higher than I'd like. But it's forward of the hinge and i don't really have a way to force it down easily. probably only I notice it anyway. I cranked the mounting nuts down tight and removed all the painters tape - the hood is finished. Behold!

PXL_20230207_011227204.jpg

[octobersknight]

I noticed on my hood (last pic above, for example), and on a couple other pics after I went hunting on the forum, that the rear corner on the driver's side is angled too far outward. It must be a mold problem for it to be so repeated. Anyway, that corner prevents the hood from sitting flat when the fenders are in their "relaxed" position. But if I spread them a bit to drop the hood in place, the panel gap on that side becomes wide near the middle and overall is uneven. Grrr. I'm going to have to bolt the top rear of the fenders onto the tab that's there near the hood pin mount and not worry about the gaps for now. Gotta get this on the road - I'm happy with a 80-90% fitment if it means I can drive it sooner!

I'll probably wait until I get the top onto the car to make sure the position looks right and things align. For now, they're mobile enough that I can wiggle the hood to get it to drop into place.

[octobersknight]

Okay last post before spring break. I started installing the LEDs turn signals and white accent lights (not exactly DRLs) into the headlight buckets. Install is quite simple.

PXL_20230215_235122121.jpg PXL_20230216_001707655.jpg

For the wiring connection on the backside, I connected all the accent lights together on one plug per headlight to reduce the clutter and weight. I had not thought ahead about this and already had one connecter per LED "bulb" on the car side, so i went back and reduced this as well.

For those who need the info, I tested the lights on my 12V power supply. The wiring is:
turn signal - part 80948 - black negative, yellow positive
accent light - part 80949 - black negative, yellow or white positive

I used the yellow wire for both and dipped the ends of the white into liquid tape. That should keep it weatherproofed.

PXL_20230216_004919964.jpg PXL_20230216_004924667.jpg PXL_20230216_011409371.MP.jpg

I also started work on the headlight rotation adjustment rings that Art did - he sent me some pics and drawings and I started CADing them. You can see my cardboard and dimensions here:

PXL_20230216_021256638.jpg PXL_20230216_022240382.jpg

I haven't yet confirmed the size of the holes for the light buckets, so make sure you test it first before committing. I'll post updates to this once I try it in a couple weeks.

I cut the rings out of some spare aluminum (maybe 1/16"-1/8" thick) using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, going very slow, and then cleaned them up and deburred them for test-fitting.

PXL_20230313_221132623.jpg PXL_20230314_214158917.jpg PXL_20230314_223316802.jpg

[octobersknight]

Just one more quick note on lighting: if you have any troubles with your lights not responding, do the octobersknight dummy-check. Make sure your plugs *inside the steering column* are actually plugged into the switches. Full details here: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...s-not-lighting

An interesting tidbit for those looking for their own turn/reverse lights and sockets, etc.

The socket we want that actually fits the Hella enclosures is actually a Volkswagen Beetle (1998-2010) three-pin turn signal socket and the part number is 7D0953123A. This will fit 1157-style bulbs with the offset pins (BAY15D) and not the ones FFR sent us (BA15D). I picked up a couple sets of cheap ebay LED "switchback" style 1157 bulbs which will give you alternate white or amber. Since these bulbs are non-reversible, I had to verify the correct pinout before wiring to make sure I got the correct color. I wish the supplied Hella sockets had all three pins instead of two with the third one just snapped off ... we could have had much better quality sockets and FFR would have saved some money at the same time. I also found that the VW light socket connects to wire connector part 1J0 973 723.

PXL_20230303_013953481.MP.jpg PXL_20230303_013949963.jpg

Also I wrapped and organized the lighting wires in the rear.

PXL_20230308_234257838.jpg

[octobersknight]

Just posting an update to say I have been working more on the kit, despite appearances here to the contrary. I'm hoping to post a boatload of updates over the next few days with pics to go along.

[octobersknight]

Before messing with the adapter rings I cut, I decided to see how bad the tilt of the headlights was on my kit. I installed the headlights and checked low and high beams against some pieces of cardboard I stood up at the front of the garage for a flat plane with contrast. I noted that indeed the headlights were tipped a little bit, but in the grand scheme of things I just wanted to push to get the headlights installed so I decided to just skip the rings, live with the tilt and used JB weld to hold the ball cups in place. I had tried some two-ton epoxy earlier, but that simply had not bonded at all to whatever plastic the headlight mount plates are (polypropylene?). I also used some black silicone caulk to seal up the gaps between the mount plates and main headlight bucket as best I could. The right side headlight was much harder to fit into the bucket than the left, and I had to do some very minor trimming to get it in there snug.

PXL_20230328_192624883.jpg PXL_20230328_194120822.jpg PXL_20230328_200055151.jpg PXL_20230328_200101595.jpg PXL_20230328_200359698.jpg PXL_20230328_200403607.jpg

Also, I added the door hinge mod to limit opening angle.

PXL_20230309_004753955.MP.jpg

[octobersknight]

Once the headlight buckets & lights were all sorted, I moved on to the headlight lenses. My kit had a slight lump in the perimeter of the lens seating area, so I scraped it off and sat the lenses into their pockets for a fit-check. I have to sand the top corners of both lenses to get them to fit into the molded pockets.

PXL_20230406_000603187.jpg PXL_20230406_000757904.jpg PXL_20230406_000900496.jpg

I also used a heat gun to slightly curve the lenses to try to get a better fit. I am not sure how well it worked - I was too afraid to overheat and melt the lenses, so I was gentle with the heat and flex. The plastic is quite stiff and resistant to bending. They still didn't fit perfectly, but I figured that the adhesive/caulk would take up any of the remaining gap.

PXL_20230420_004014584.jpg PXL_20230420_004018069.jpg

[octobersknight]

I noticed that my rear bumper still had some side-to-side freedom of motion, so I bought a 1/8" fender washer, drilled and riveted the bumper on the underside in the center. No one will see it, and I can remove it once I get the rear diffuser on there instead.

PXL_20230426_224652919.jpg

I installed the door frames and the latches on the 818 frame. Pretty easy to do, especially since I was using the "nut plates" that others have mentioned for attaching the doors to the frame. no fiddling with two wrench while holding the frame!

PXL_20230426_235453820.jpg PXL_20230427_001403409.jpg

I mostly removed the tape from the previous step on the headlight lenses. I used short pieces of blue tape to outline where the fiberglass ledge was on the outside of the lenses. I then transferred this to the inside of the lens with more continuous tape lines, since this is the side getting paint.

PXL_20230629_000200097.MP.jpg PXL_20230629_000206127.jpg PXL_20230628_235957644.MP.jpg

[octobersknight]

I covered the entire interior and exterior of the lenses, except for the border I was painting on the inside of the lenses. I put a few coats of the same satin rollbar paint I've been using everywhere o this kit.

PXL_20230717_215121634.MP.jpg

I did a test-fit of the lenses to visualize how it'd look with the new painted borders. Blech. Too much red showing - i should have made my border a little more generous.

PXL_20230717_220409100.jpg

My solution to this was to paint the red parts black to make it blend into the other black parts in the lens area. I taped, papered, and drop-clothed everything so I could do the paint on the borders - just enough inside so that the red disappeared. No need to paint the entire lip because it'll be hidden by the lens itself.

PXL_20230717_221220741.jpg PXL_20230717_223442353.MP.jpg

Accidental Spider-Man!

PXL_20230718_011400344.jpg

The painted edge gave it the look I was trying to get.

PXL_20230718_221811867.jpg PXL_20230718_221806953.jpg

Then I tested the fit again and then used black silicone caulk to install the lenses. I worked to balance having enough caulk to seal the edges, especially where the gap is larger, with having too much squeeze out and make later painting a real pain.

PXL_20230718_230712992.jpg PXL_20230718_230716691.jpg PXL_20230719_230924650.jpg

[octobersknight]

I didn't want just a plain (scratched) aluminum inner firewall in the passenger cabin. I remembered I had bought some of the Vvivid carbon fiber wrap a long time ago - perfect time to use it! I've never wrapped anything, though, so this would be ... interesting. I deburred the firewall, which had significant burring from the laser cutter. I also bent the end tabs flat again, as they had been bent a little during transport. Then I cleaned the wall front and back with brake cleaner to get rid of all the dirt and oil from the factory. I test-fit the roll which fought me and kept trying to curl, grrrr) only to find that the part is juuuust a little bit wider than the roll. I thought about rolling it the other way and decided I wanted to minimize waste. So I chose to center the roll and planned to do book-matched fiber at the edge tabs since they'll likely be hidden most of the time anyway. Did I mention this is the first time I've ever wrapped anything? I have no idea if big or small is easier, but time to find out!

I was working on the floor because it was the only place I had space to do this work. I started by cutting out the hole for the window so I could work the film around and remove bubbles, plus I wanted the window section still with the paper on it so I could cover the tabs later. I started at the center of the bottom and worked my way to both sides then up and over.

PXL_20230913_234012524.MP.jpg PXL_20230913_234826370.MP.jpg PXL_20230913_235714306.jpg

Then I cut the scraps from the outside edges to put on the tabs.

PXL_20230914_000102486.jpg

I was able to get out all the bubbles, and had no wrinkles! Success (so far)! the only place bubbles later appeared was at the bend upwards. I'm not sure if it's the bend with film tension that caused it, or if the surface texture is different because of the press brake bend there, or if I didn't clean it well. I decided to tackle later to see if poking small holes would work or if I could squeeze them out after it sat over the weekend.

[BigDanSubaru]

I saw that you primed the oil system by removing the spark plugs and cranking the motor for 2 mins in 30 sec intervals. Can the same be done by just unplugging the coil packs and doing the same? Or is removing the spark plugs actually necessary?

Thanks,
Dan

[Hobby Racer]

Removing the plugs allows the engine to spin faster because you have removed the force created during the compression stroke. That also lessens the force on the bearings during the long cranking.

While you can do it without removing the plugs, it is MUCH better to remove them.

[J R Jones]

Removing the plugs allows the engine to spin faster because you have removed the force created during the compression stroke. That also lessens the force on the bearings during the long cranking.

While you can do it without removing the plugs, it is MUCH better to remove them.

Less stress on the starter motor too.
jim

[BigDanSubaru]

Thanks guys! I will remove the plugs when I prime the motor. I am going to also use octobersknight's exhaust design as inspiration as I planned on doing a similar single inlet, dual outlet muffler design. I am going with the "MAGNAFLOW 5 X 8IN. OVAL STRAIGHT-THROUGH PERFORMANCE EXHAUST MUFFLER 12265". Curious why you chose to flip the muffler over so the inlet is further from the turbo. Was that because the bend would have been too tight if you had the inlet closer to the turbo?

[octobersknight]

Thanks all for chiming in on the oil pressure build cranks with no spark plugs. Those were my same thoughts. BigDan, that is exactly why I flipped it. I wanted enough space for the inlet and more importantly the outlets to bend how I wanted using the parts I got in my custom kit (i.e. I didn't want to add any tighter bends or anything). I was following Slava's (STiPWRD) design and that's what he did too - so I went with it. (see https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...18-Build/page4 post #127)

[Dave 53]

Flatirons did a thing on priming a new build. Check it out if you want to know more, but my takeaway was... keep the oil filter off until oil starts to flow into a bucket. Then install a dry filter and continue. The no no is adding oil to the filter then screwing it on.

[BigDanSubaru]

Dave, I am worried that with the oil filter off, oil would splash onto the headers. My headers are heat wrapped, so I don't want oil soaking into that or it could cause a fire when things get hot. I suppose I could rig up a funnel or something, but I think I am just going to take the plugs out and give it a shot. I will check out Flatirons and Slava's (STiPWRD) page though. Thanks for the info Dave and octobersknight. I am putting the wiring harness in the car now. I got a little invested in the wire diet and it took longer than anticipated. I am excited for a first start hopefully by the end of the year. That was my new years resolution.

[octobersknight]

I remember the harness dieting days (weeks)! It is a big undertaking. For my part prior to cranking, I kept the oil filter on as well. I never fully drained my engine as I was only doing the head rebuild. The cylinders were never "dried" so I figured all i was doing was refilling the heads and oil galleys there and the cylinders would still have lube from before.

[Dave 53]

Dave, I am worried that with the oil filter off, oil would splash onto the headers. My headers are heat wrapped, so I don't want oil soaking into that or it could cause a fire when things get hot. I suppose I could rig up a funnel or something, but I think I am just going to take the plugs out and give it a shot. I will check out Flatirons and Slava's (STiPWRD) page though. Thanks for the info Dave and octobersknight. I am putting the wiring harness in the car now. I got a little invested in the wire diet and it took longer than anticipated. I am excited for a first start hopefully by the end of the year. That was my new years resolution.

By Flatirons, I mean Flatirons Syndicate...https://www.flatironstuning.com/blog...rsport-podcast

Here's the clip I was thinking about.https://www.flatironstuning.com/blog...sible-solution

[BigDanSubaru]

Hey guys, I really appreciate all the help in preparing for my first start. I am really close now, and am looking to attempt my first start this Friday (12/15/23). I have two more questions about priming the oil pressure.
1. I have the spark plugs removed. What do I do with the coil packs? Right now, I just have them re-installed finger tight. Can I leave them on, or do I need to remove them entirely and sit them on the bench?
2. What is a good range for the oil pressure to be at before I reinstall the plugs and attempt a first start? I am going to temporarily wire up my oil pressure gauge to check that. My dummy light wont work, since I swapped the OEM sensor for the aftermarket one to run my gauge.

[blomb11]

I would think as long as you dont have the spark plugs installed that would be sufficient. I am pretty sure I had mine plugs and coil packs installed but disconnected the fuel pump and the gas tank was still bone dry while I primed the motor. I used my oil pressure gauge to wait until I started to build oil pressure into the 20-30 PSI range. I have an EJ207 so my pressures are different but I think the point is just to make sure you can build pressure and get oil into the system first before the first real start. It did take multiple cycles (~10+) for about 30 sec with the key on until it would start to build pressure. I got concerned as it took quite a few attempts that something was wrong. Once I got oil pressure I filled up the tank and made sure my fuel pressure gauge showed pressure in the fuel lines and then turned the key. I am not expert on engine building so you can wait to see what others say too.

[lpmagruder]

I'd personally take the coil packs off, it's really easy to do with 1 bolt each and the plugs are color coded so it's easy to plug back in. You're going to get air blowing out the open spark plug holes and it doesn't sound like a great idea jetting that into the spark plug boots.

[BigDanSubaru]

I'd personally take the coil packs off, it's really easy to do with 1 bolt each and the plugs are color coded so it's easy to plug back in. You're going to get air blowing out the open spark plug holes and it doesn't sound like a great idea jetting that into the spark plug boots.

Okay, I think that makes sense and is easy to do. I will remove them and place them on the bench while I am priming the motor. Any idea what oil pressure I should be looking for? It's a 2.5L Turbo from an 07 WRX. I am not sure if priming brings it to normal operating pressure, or if the goal is just to build up some amount of pressure before starting to help with lubrication.