Lawson's 818C

  •  I’ve put another 1000 miles or so on the car driving it around. Even encountered some sub-freezing temps on a trip to the North Carolina mountains and overall everything is still working pretty great! There are a few little issues below though that have been added to the to-fix list.
    • Driver door window needs to be pressed into the window seal better – trying to think of ways to do this because the adjustment is maxed out.
    • New squeak in the left rear suspension.
    • 1 of my 5 epoxy cable tie mounts release – I think this one needed better surface prep.
    • Tons of rear brake dust – don’t really know why it’s different than the front as the front brakes work much harder.
    • ABS pump is definitely bad after further diagnosis- ordered a replacement.
    • Engine area gets road grime on it easily- may be worth creating an undertray.
  • Existing Issues
    • Passenger door mirror is absolutely useless without a new mount
    • Water/air entry in the footwell through the front of the doors
  • Improvements
    • Designing a trunk
    • Working on roof scoop mesh/trim
    • Carpeting happening…eventually. Want to make sure everything is good before I put it in.
  • Teardown of Engine #1
    • This is the engine I originally aimed to use in the car, but unfortunately met an untimely end a little over a year ago at the dyno tuner. It was a EJ205/EJ255 “hybrid” build. It’s been sitting in the corner since and I’ve finally started taking it apart to recoup money and get rid of the thing. Also curious at what exactly failed.
      • Upon closer inspection, I actually did a pretty good job on 90% of the engine build! Very few leaks. The heads looked good. The pistons and piston walls looked good. But judging by the pile of metal shavings in the oil pan I clearly messed up some portion of the main or rod bearing install/tolerancing. Haven’t gotten the short block apart yet. Difficult learning experience, but definitely did get a lot from it.
      • If you’re in need of any Subaru engine parts, I’ve got quite a few.

  • Metal shavings…lots


  • And there’s more


  • Familiar sight from a while back


  • My for-sale pile of parts


  • Enjoying some time in the mountains