Seattle, WA 818 build thread!

[Dave 53]

[QUOTE=erachner;539872]A little more progress - got the front CV's separated and cleaned up. Found a hairline crack in the steering knuckle that I'm not willing to live with. And got the steering rack preparations underway. Getting very close to being able to fully assemble the front end suspension, steering, sway bar, and brakes.

Nice catch on that crack. I'll be taking a close look at mine.

A while back, a friend of mine in Seattle sent me some pictures of 818 in progress that he came across. I bet it was yours!

The picture of the BRAT brought back memories. My first car was a 1981 Subaru 4WD wagon that I bought brand new for $6,111 out the door.

[erachner]

I've decided instead of just posting the highlights, I'll be a bit more chatty and post every little thing. Where better to keep a comprehensive log of everything that went into this car than in the build thread?

So here's this week's accomplishment: got the finishing touches on all the axles. Front axles all cleaned up, rear axles were already assembled but now have fresh boot clamps on them.

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[erachner]

A little bit more progress:

I replaced the steering knuckle with the hairline crack, installed a fresh bearing and seals, and reassembled the front right corner with the new parts.

pressymcpressface.jpgnewknuckle.jpghubassembly.jpg

After that, I solved the steering rack fitment issue (described in further detail over here) and got the steering rack mounted.

rackmounted.jpg

[erachner]

More progress! I cleaned up the sway bar brackets, mounted the bar, and assembled the end links.

tidybrackets.jpg endlinks.jpg

As forewarned by the assembly manual, the end links are overlong for my '07 WRX sway bar:

toolong.jpg

So I trimmed them down, shortening the driver side by about 1.5" (0.75" off each end) and the passenger side by about 2.5" (1.25" off each end) and hooked them up. The sway bar is a very close fit with respect to the rest of the suspension and I have to admit it takes a pinch of faith to feel confident that all the moving parts will stay out of each others' way as the suspension travels, but there's room for adjustment.

driverlink.jpg passlink.jpg

Next up, installing some fresh brake hardware:

freshbrake.jpg driverbrake.jpg passbrake.jpg

And, boom: fully-built front end suspension, brakes, and steering rack. Another milestone along the journey.

completefrontend.jpg

[Dave 53]

Great progress!

There are two (one each side) aluminum panels that get riveted in from the inside. Triangle shaped piece that goes just aft of the sway bar. It will be much easier to install those two panels before you do the steering column, radiator hoses, brakes, etc. The rest of the panels can wait.

[blomb11]

Great progress!

There are two (one each side) aluminum panels that get riveted in from the inside. Triangle shaped piece that goes just aft of the sway bar. It will be much easier to install those two panels before you do the steering column, radiator hoses, brakes, etc. The rest of the panels can wait.

Yes exactly what Dave said because the access once everything is plummed makes it hard to drill the holes for the rivets. You can see the brake lines go through both panels left and right.

IMG_1156.jpg

[erachner]

Yes exactly what Dave said because the access once everything is plummed makes it hard to drill the holes for the rivets. You can see the brake lines go through both panels left and right.

IMG_1156.jpg

Aha, thank you both very much! That's an invaluable tip.

This weekend's activities are a sort of administrative pause. Now that I'm beginning to develop the kind of eyes to recognize at a glance which parts and components go where, and when I'm likely to need them, I'm taking inventory of things and sorting them into bins. I've got the "using these soon" bin, the "probably not going to need these but not throwing them away yet" bin, the "not need til much, much later" bin and finally the "no idea what these things are" bin.

I've noticed that I've definitely lost some parts over the years of schlepping the kit from storage unit to garage to storage unit again. Looks I'll be picking up a new radiator, side mirrors, and possibly rear control arms very soon, unless I get lucky and find them buried in the back of the parts van.

hownow.jpg

[BigDanSubaru]

Great progress!

There are two (one each side) aluminum panels that get riveted in from the inside. Triangle shaped piece that goes just aft of the sway bar. It will be much easier to install those two panels before you do the steering column, radiator hoses, brakes, etc. The rest of the panels can wait.

Yes! Do yourself a favor and put these in now. I waited and I am regretting it. Huge PITA to get in there to drill and install rivets.

[erachner]

I got caught up on some side quests in recent weeks, and also held up by having to order some parts I managed to lose over the years, but I've been back at it and it's time to post some updates.

I decided to do a test build of the rear suspension, just to get a clear visual picture of how it all goes together. (The assembly instructions are great, but I really just needed to see it in the metal.) As of this photograph, it's only hanging together, many of the bolts don't even have nuts threaded on them, but at least I can see what I'm doing:

reartestbuild.jpg

At that point, I figured, what the heck, and decided to put the wheels on. Sure, I'll have to take them right back off when I put the engine in and do the final assembly of the rear suspension, but in the meantime, it frees up a lot of space in my storage pile and has the added bonus of making the chassis much easier to move around

wheelson.jpg

So now I'm doing the final prep for the engine. It needed a new timing kit, so while I was at it I went ahead and installed a new water pump and thermostat.

newwaterpump.jpg

But when I went to attach the new timing pulleys, I made a terribly stupid mistake and stripped the threads out of the hole on the block where this idler pulley mounts up. (The mistake, by the way, was thinking I could torque the pulley down while it was under light tension with the belt running over the top of it. Of course, I had not yet pulled the pin on the tensioner, so the tension on the pulley was weak, but it was still enough that the bolt didn't go in dead straight and that was it. A rookie mistake if I've ever made one - I should have put the pulley on and only then put the belt over top of it.)

oopsy.jpg

Thankfully, with a bit of seasoned professional help, the threads in the hole were repaired and supplemented with a certain quantity of Loc-Tite. The new timing kit is now fully assembled, and quadruple-checked for proper alignment.

allfixed.jpg

Next up, I have just a few more finishing touches for the engine before I attach the transmission and drop it all in the car. Hopefully a big update will follow this weekend!

[Dave 53]

Maybe you've already done it and I just can't see it in the pictures, but it will be much easier to do the "cooling mod" with the engine out of the car. I just Googled (or search this forum) "818 cooling mod" and it came up.

[erachner]

Maybe you've already done it and I just can't see it in the pictures, but it will be much easier to do the "cooling mod" with the engine out of the car. I just Googled (or search this forum) "818 cooling mod" and it came up.

I haven't done the mod yet, but I definitely intend to before I make too much more progress in the engine area where I might make life harder for myself to do it later.

[erachner]

So, I've been very remiss in posting build updates. There's actually been a lot of progress since my last post; this next series of posts is meant to get the thread up to date.

Back in March, I finished with the engine refresh. I spotted a nasty gash on one of the cooling hoses and replaced it and installed the heater bypass hose. I cleaned up the transmission a bit, installed the new throwout bearing, and mated it all up to the engine for installation. Sparing no expense on pool noodles of course

6-23-1-bad-hose.jpg6-23-1-bypass-hose.jpg6-23-1-engine-goes-in.jpg6-23-1-new-hoses.jpg6-23-1-transmission-clean.jpg

[erachner]

At long last, the engine is in the car - a major milestone, if you ask me. As I keep saying to folks, all the nuts and bolts that require more than 90 ft-lbs of torque are done. It's all light work from here on out.
6-23-2-1-engine-in.jpg

Then I gently tapped the drive shafts flush to the sides of the transmission:
6-23-2-2-shaft-flush.jpg

The engine being in the car now, I skipped ahead a little bit and mounted the intercooler along with the shock tower brace:
6-23-2-3-brace-installed.jpg

I also went ahead and hung the radiator supports off the front end. They're not properly mounted, but it gets the parts off of the parts pile and creates the illusion of progress, so I figured, what the heck.
6-23-2-4-mock-front-end.jpg

[erachner]

In early June, I started the long phase of 818 construction we call "the endless riveting."

Getting the hang of things with a small passenger panel:
6-23-3-1-riveting-side.jpg

Cleaner rivet lines on the driver side:
6-23-3-2-riveting-other-side.jpg

More clean rivet lines:
6-23-3-3-fussy-lines.jpg

Completed passenger side panels:
6-23-3-4-passenger.jpg

And completed driver side panels:
6-23-3-5-driver.jpg

[erachner]

On my next work session, I tackled the pedal box and brake cylinder, but I ran into issues which I posted about in this thread. I'm pretty sure that following the community's simple advice will solve this problem for me when I get back to it.

In the meantime, I decided to finish the cockpit enclosure by adding the floor panel. Since my kit is an early kit, my assembly manual is an early assembly manual, and I missed the opportunity to do the floor panel with the frame on its side because I went ahead and built the suspension first. So here's my 818 on its first ride up the hydraulic lift:
6-23-4-1-on-lift.jpg

I've done so much riveting at this point that I've gotten really, really fussy about my rivet lines.
6-23-4-2-rivet-line.jpg

And here's my mostly complete cockpit enclosure. Obviously the rear wall is still to-do after the fuel system goes in, but progress is progress.
6-23-4-3-cockpit-enclosed.jpg

[erachner]

With the cockpit enclosure panels taken care of (the rear firewall not yet withstanding, of course), I took the advice of Dave 53 and BigDanSubaru and put those triangular panels in up front before crowding that space with control hardware. Thanks for the tip, gents!

triangle.jpg

I drilled the hole in the brake pedal a full inch higher up than the original, or in other words a half inch further up than prescribed by the assembly manual. It'll be a long time before I know the result, but I'm hopeful this makes the brakes more wieldy.

PXL_20240627_003809727.jpg

After grinding down the heads of some hex bolts and threading them from the inside of the cockpit outwards, I was able to overcome the pedal box fitment issue I complained about in a separate thread. Boom, pedal box and brake cylinder installed!

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Finally, I put the steering column in and got it connected to the rack without any fuss. The steering feels *great* and the car is going to be a lot easier to push around the shop now.

PXL_20240627_031225447.jpg

Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced my manual brake pushrod and my clutch cylinder, so I'll be sourcing replacements for those before I can move forward with clutch and brakes.

Does anybody happen to know if the manual brake pushrod provided by F5 was sourced from an OEM?

[lpmagruder]

I'd just email F5 about it, hopefully they have stock. Worst case let me know and I can pull mine and measure it, it's a really simple part.

I drilled about an inch up too and I think the brakes feel perfect. 6 autocross events in so I've done plenty of threshold braking. No problem getting them up to (and oops, sometimes past) locking up with the 06 WRX stock calipers, HPS pads, and 160 TW tires.

[driveslikejehu]

Post a pic of the part you need; I don't know which it is. I have the Wilwood setup so may have it.

[erachner]

Happy to say that F5 still has some pushrods in stock, so I have the replacement on the way. The chassis is starting to look like a car, but when I look at the number of pages still ahead of me in the assembly manual, boy oh boy have I got a ways to go yet...