Lawson's 818C

  • The Big News: The car is officially titled and registered in GA! The process started in March this year and I’ve been constantly jumping through the hoops since. It’s exciting now that I can freely take it out on the road when it’s ready…which is hopefully soon. I took it for a very brief spin with a friend but the car really isn’t road ready yet. Holy cow are the engine noises louder with the rear glass in though. This will likely get quieter as I seal off the cabin and add carpeting/insulation. Still working on the body details and doing the interior.
  • Bodywork
    • I spent HOURS sanding the body seams on the side of the car. And…it still looks meh. You can tell where I had to add gel coat paste to repair the thin areas or big voids. It’s better than it was though for sure and once polished it looks fine. It’ll certainly look just fine from a few feet/in photos. I haven’t finished the passenger side yet because I got tired of sanding but will return to it and also fix the seams on the front fenders. Bodywork is indeed as bad as other builders say it is.
    • I had to re-fit the front fenders at the a-pillar since I’ve moved my top. Required a good bit of extra trimming
    • Shimmed the rear fender area to make it fit better.
    • Doors still need some fitment help in a couple areas. I think I’m going to switch to countersunk screws for the whole door area because of clearance issues. My passenger door also has a habit of locking people in when you use the inside handle. The inside handle doesn’t release all the way sometimes which causes the door to get stuck closed.
  • Interior
    • Starting to work on the interior now as something to allow me to go back and forth on the bodywork sanding. Used some time the last couple days to work on electrical items as well as plan out some of the upcoming work for the center console.
    • Installed my keyless entry controller (Amazon chinesium part for $20). Works great! The instructions were next to useless but thankfully I’m good enough with a multimeter to figure it out. For $20 this is worthwhile for any 818C/S build since they’ve already got the actuators.
    • Installed 3/4 of my vintage air vents. Waiting on the placement of the last one because it will depend on if a radio screen goes in the dash or the A/C controls do. I don’t really understand how these are supposed to be held in place securely…may need to give Vintage Air a call.
    • Installed my backup camera. Haven’t run the RCA wire for it yet because that’s going to be a pain.
    • Trying to decide whether to mount the radio in the dash or in front of the shifter. Dash has better visibility but might interfere with A/C ducting. Shifter area is harder to see and reach but a little easier to fit. If you’re a builder and have already tackled this issue let me know what you did.
  • Issues
    • My ABS system continues to have issues that confuse me. It sets a code as soon as I drive forwards at any speed. Code is for motor/relay failure. It’s also blown a fuse in the past, but it’s not blown right now. I honestly can’t remember if the ABS system worked with the current pump in the past. I know my last pump, that had some messed up threads, worked with the same wiring setup. I may try to re-read my older updates to see if I ever had ABS working with the new pump because if not my issue is likely that the pump is bad. 
      • The only other diagnosis I have is that there is a capacitor wired into my iWire ABS harness and it seems to be open-circuit so possibly bad as well? Not sure if it is the cause of the issue, or like the blown fuse, is a result of a pump issue.

  • A (temp) GA license plate!


  • Post-sanding pre-polish


  • Finished driver’s side


  • Mid-sanding passenger side


  • Mid-sanding driver’s side


  • Creating my own install instructions


  • Reverse camera


  • Installing the dash vents (spacing will look better with the 4th installed)


  • Keyless entry installed