MRG MotorSports 818S Build

[Bob_n_Cincy]

After finishing up the Accusump, turbo rebuild, and oil pan shuffle last week. we are on to more important stuff this week.
Because of Michael and my size, the door release handles are to far rearward. So were moving them forward 8".
Does anyone have a suggestion on how to lengthen the rods to the latch mechanism?
Bob

[RM1SepEx]

Mr MIG ;-) Plenty of unused rod from the donor

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I like to remove covers without unplugging things. This is so I can troubleshoot problems.

Has any body mounted the gauge cluster to the frame?
It would be useful to me to remove dash cover and have everything stay plugged in.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Today we went to Wilmington OH for a test and tune. Only 16 people attended as it was a last minute add to the schedule. So we got in about 60 runs between Michael and I. At one point we did 4 runs in 8 minutes then stopped to take temp readings.

A couple of week ago we went to an event only to come home after our first run with our new tire set up. Everything rubbed in a 25mph easy corner.

Over the last couple of weeks we changed ride height, roll center, suspension mounting points. springs rates, shock length, ball joint length, shock bump stops, camber gain and all the alignment parameters.

WOO HOO
The car drove like it was on rails.
No rubbing at all.
All tire temp within a couple of degrees across individual tires. 130* fronts 160* rears.
Brake pads were 150* front 180* rear.
Engine cooling and AWIC working great.
Our oversteer problem is gone with a slight push.

Changes needed
Add cooling fan override switch to turn the fans on high before runs.
Add brake proportional valve to rear brakes.

We are doing the happy dance As Sgt. Gator would say.

Another autocross tomorrow in Columbus IN.

Bob

[Frank818]

Cool!! Nice to hear the ride was great!

[Tamra]

Awesome news!

Why the rear proportioning valve?

Do you have gauges to know how effective the awic was? What is great?

Ours is still heat soaking at idle. We are adding fans on a switch next.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Awesome news!

Why the rear proportioning valve?

Do you have gauges to know how effective the awic was? What is great?

Ours is still heat soaking at idle. We are adding fans on a switch next.

Hi Tamra,
I am running same calipers and pads front and rear. As such my rears lock just a little before my fronts. For that instant the car gets squirrelly.

I was using an infrared reader on my big blue hoses. Right after 4 consecutive runs, 140 input 105 output.
I plan on getting real sensors after registration.

That is surprising that your heat soaking at idle. Are your radiator fans under ECU control. If the fans are off the radiator might be heat soaking your heat exchanger. I would jumper low speed fan relay to on with ignition.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

First thing I must say.
The team over at Columbus (IN) Sports Car Club are a great group of people.
After some pavement issues with the site they used, they ran their first Autocross of the year today on new pavement.
Thank You CSCC-SCCA

Our 818 was in good company with Jeff Kleiner Cobra.

jeff car.jpg

Everything was running great for another 12 runs today. Nobody ran into the corn.

11919550_10204090585656698_7907049828879949893_n.jpg

There were a couple other cobras there also:

11953148_10204090582056608_2802411325626396261_n.jpg

Jeff's cobra has comparable times to Michaels 818 times.

11885314_10206380234817982_5173984493694053408_n.jpg

We don't want to talk about my times.
Bob

[Frank818]

We don't want to talk about my times.

Pos 1 and 2, sounds ok to me! loll

Nice ride, Bob!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Our 818 took on some battle scares this weekend.

left.jpg left2.jpg

[Tamra]

Nice job! Glad to see the car is holding up.

Ouch on the cone marks. Did that one on the driver side crack the side panel? Have you found a good solution for getting the marks off?

[Tamra]

Hi Tamra,

That is surprising that your heat soaking at idle. Are your radiator fans under ECU control. If the fans are off the radiator might be heat soaking your heat exchanger. I would jumper low speed fan relay to on with ignition.
Bob

We are going to add a switch to run the fans. So are your fans on all the time? Are you worried about them actually reducing efficiency while you are moving?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Nice job! Glad to see the car is holding up.

Ouch on the cone marks. Did that one on the driver side crack the side panel? Have you found a good solution for getting the marks off?

We are going to add a switch to run the fans. So are your fans on all the time? Are you worried about them actually reducing efficiency while you are moving?

Hi Tamra,
I think it was Chad that suggested Mothers R3
https://www.google.com/#q=mothers+r3...87647151874340

It works pretty good.
If we waxed our car it would probably work better.
We have not decided on waxing, wrapping, or painting yet.

No damage to any of the fiberglass.

The fan will actually speed up at high speed and charge your battery.

I forgot to mention, with all our suspension changes, our 235/40-17 F and 255/40-17 R "no" rubbing at 4.5" ride height.

We will install a 3 position fan override switch with ecu / low on (ecu high) / high positions.

Good luck getting ready for nationals.
Bob

[Frank818]

with all our suspension changes, our 235/40-17 F and 255/40-17 R "no" rubbing at 4.5" ride height.

Wow! That's great news! No body mods, only suspension mods?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Wow! That's great news! No body mods, only suspension mods?

No body mods, just EVERYTHING else.
Bob

EDIT: do you count making the car a 1/2" longer, a body mod?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Here is one of the videos from Sunday.
Kind of boring. If you look at the horizon, you can see how little the car is rolling.
Need to mount the camera back behind driver,
Bob

[Tamra]

Holy slalom! That looks like fun. Good driving too

[wleehendrick]

I guess when you set up an autocross in a corn-field, you get an endless slalom!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Today we got our windshield installed. It was raining so the first thing we had to do was test the wipers.
Hear is the motor form the inside coming through the firewall.



Hear is the shaft stick out through the wind shield surround.



Here is the wiper in action.



Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I went to a more traditional tail light functionality.

I will switch to LED brake/turn bulbs in the future.

Sorry that my camera doesn't adjust to light levels very well.
Bob

Edit: Just a note, I also wired in a 4 pin trailer connector.

[STiPWRD]

Bob, I like your wiper setup. Is it as simple as it looks? OEM wiper motor? How did you attach it? Thanks

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob, I like your wiper setup. Is it as simple as it looks? OEM wiper motor? How did you attach it? Thanks

It is a marine wiper system.
The motor has adjustable sweep from 40 to 110 degrees. Mine is set at 110 and left park.
The arm is adjustable length.
It will fit totally under the hood. I just left it stick out some to get better sweep.
This one is strong enough for a 28” blade. mine is a 20"
I made a nice bracket to mount it. But forgot to get a picture before I closed it up.
Bob


http://www.marinescreens.com/ongaro_...12v-60331.html


http://productimageserver.com/litera...de/41535QG.pdf

[STiPWRD]

Thanks, that's some great info.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Getting the windshield installed.

windshield instalation.jpg

Also installed the radiator fan override switch tonight.
The switch is off-low-high.
So the fan will always run the highest rate of the switch or the ECU command.

Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Just ran into a problem tonight.
Our 2004 Forester XT gauge cluster does not fit into the FFR dash.
I have an extra 06 impreza cluster but the wiring doesn't match at all. (maybe 50 splices)
Need to come up with a quick solution as inspection is Monday.
Bob

[STiPWRD]

Bob, I'm running an 06 sti cluster with my 02 wrx wiring/ecu. I'm not sure if that helps as a point of reference but all I had to do was cut the wire that runs to the buzzer (on the cluster) and everything else was plug and play.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob, I'm running an 06 sti cluster with my 02 wrx wiring/ecu. I'm not sure if that helps as a point of reference but all I had to do was cut the wire that runs to the buzzer (on the cluster) and everything else was plug and play.

I just did a quick comparison between 06 impreza and 06 STI clusters. They a very similar wiring.
The 04 forester cluster wiring is very different.
bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Worked on my rear firewall for the humps. I use some heat shied from Dynamat. It's a layer of thick aluminum foil, 1/4" of fiberglass wool, and the an adhesive layer. Worked out great.
Here are some pictures.
Bob

P1050605s.jpg

P1050606s.jpg

[Frank818]

Hey that's a good idea. I'll try to remember than in 1 year when I get there!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Spent many hours this past weekend getting ready for today Ohio State Trooper Hand built car inspection.
We finished a lot of detail stuff and made sure we had no sharp edges, every firewall joint was sealed. Installed tunnel cover, mirrors, carpeting, wipers, dash, plate brackets, side reflectors, heat shielding, and third brake light.
Thought we were good to go.

The trooper said we needed to meet 2015 bumper requirements.
Front and Rear, 4.5" tall by the track width long. In our case that is about 60"
No rules about how high or how strong. Use your best judgment is basically what he said.

I hope to get something designed and fab up in the next couple of weeks.

On a better note. It was a gorgeous day for a 40 mile round trip to the Inspection office.
The 818 ran like a champ, with no heat issues of any kind.

Bob

[Rasmus]

Aloha818's registration solution is looking better and better for me. The amount of hoops and headaches I could skip. No installing parts just to pass.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

The trooper said we needed to meet 2015 bumper requirements.
Front and Rear, 4.5" tall by the track width long. In our case that is about 60"
Bob

As a result of todays failed registration.
I've seen pictured of sixstar's and Tamra's rear bumper bar.
Has anyone done a front or rear bumper.
Please post a picture or link.
Thanks
Bob

[Tamra]

Sorry to hear about the issue with the bumper. Hopefully you'll come up with a good solution. You could always bolt on one of those rally bars to the front!

They let you drive the 818 to be inspected? That's awesome. Ours required that we trailer it, all 4 wheels off the ground.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Sorry to hear about the issue with the bumper. Hopefully you'll come up with a good solution. You could always bolt on one of those rally bars to the front!

They let you drive the 818 to be inspected? That's awesome. Ours required that we trailer it, all 4 wheels off the ground.

Thanks Tamra,
Welcome back and congratulations again.
I'm thinking of bolt on for sure. In my mind, I always knew it need some more protection. This is just going to push me to do it. I will model it up using some PVC tubing and then go for DOM tubing. Bad thing, each bumper will be about 40 lbs.

You pay for your inspection when you schedule it. Just need to carry that receipt. It is only good for that round trip and any after visits required.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

DASH AND TUNNEL
This week we clean up the brake lines, fuel lines and wiring in the tunnel. Also a good shot of our MR2 shifter.


We installed the Dash and the tunnel cover.'
Plan is to add a cup holders and storage box in the tunnel in front of the shifter.



The goal for our cockpit was simplicity.
The switches on the dash are ign, start, horn, lights (high and low beam), turn (right and left), Wipers (fast and slow), and fan override (fast and slow)

Michael wants a shorter shifter.

Bob

[DMC7492]

Bob your progress is great. I like the air bleed in the AWIC core. Is there only one on top of the outlet side?
What is the theory with the port on the bottom?

image.jpg

[RM1SepEx]

Bob, did you read the Ohio inspection requirements? In Maine you can't remove your hand from the wheel to operate the blinkers...

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob your progress is great. I like the air bleed in the AWIC core. Is there only one on top of the outlet side?
What is the theory with the port on the bottom?

Hi Don
The tank is higher than the system.



Gravity makes fluid run out of the tank into the system on the yellow hose.
Air in the system makes its way back into the top of the tank in the red hose.

No bleeding the system anywhere.

The pump force water into the bottom of the heat exchanger forcing any air back to the AWIC.
I usually have to add a pint of fluid after the first heat cycle.
It's been working great for the last 8 months.

Another note. The end you see in this picture is the outlet end of the awic. That flow forces an air to the end with the bleed hose.
Another note. My system is non pressurized.
Bob

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob, did you read the Ohio inspection requirements? In Maine you can't remove your hand from the wheel to operate the blinkers...

I had my inspection this past Monday.
I only failed for not having bumpers front and read. Track width by 4.5" tall.
Bob

[Mechie3]

I think if your shifter was any shorter your only choice would be an auto trans. Lol