• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

The post July 2020 Update: It’s Road Legal! appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Registration
• I made a trip home this last weekend thanks to Spirit’s $75 round trip tickets. I was able to get the VIN plate on the car and have it inspected by a police officer. What I think should be the final piece of paper for getting the title is now in the mail. I expect that I should be recieving the title via mail sometime in the next few weeks :).  Then I just register it and get a plate like a normal car! Excited to be able to drive it around soon.
• Finally got insurance figured out. American Modern is issuing the policy and surprisingly the rates came out pretty decent considering my age. My insurance agent almost wanted to quit though because of how much work he has had to put into this policy vs the commission he’ll get from issuing it! It’s certainly not a straightforward process with these cars. I had to provide receipts for everything, a list of all parts on the car, proof of my primary vehicle insurance policy, proof of my 818’s value, proof of my 818’s certificate of origin from FFR, and more.
• Bodywork
• In the time I had at home, I continued the work on the body. Sanded the front fenders a little more, and am still contemplating on how much more I care about them. I began sanding the driver’s side mold seam that runs down the car. Fixed a few other odds and ends that I had left as well.
• Build Website
• Continuing to put a lot of work into improving my website. If you’re curious, I’ve built a new section at www.818coupe.com/the-build that is meant to be a summary of the build and is broken down by category. Thus far, I have added just about all the images and formatted the pages. Even added a comments feature to those pages. I still have a lot to do to add all the text and explanations for everything but I like how it’s turning out so far. I haven’t seen any 818 documentation like this previously.
• Let me know if you’ve got any ideas for website improvements/features/info that you think will make it better!
• Summer plans
• The next time I’ll be working on the car is the week leading up to July 4th. I had been hoping that the car would be basically finished after that but based on how much time all this bodywork is taking me, I’m not so sure. I could leave the body in a so-so condition, but that would require me doing a lot of disassembly in the future to fix it. It may be easier to not rush things and try to do it well the first time. The car also needs all the interior work done. I’m looking forward to working on that part. Have some cool ideas in mind with the Android head unit, radio, cameras, and even a pop-out cupholder stolen from a BMW. This car should have a surprising amount of features when it’s all said and done. So we’ll see how that week goes, I’ve yet to decide if I want to attempt to bring it to Michigan or not for a month.

The post June 2020 Update: Final stage of registration, build website, bodywork appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Titling
• Current Status: Nothing new to share from the car side of things since I’m in Michigan and the car is in Georgia, but I have made some progress towards getting the car registered. The Georgia department of revenue approved my title paperwork! It would appear my technique of sending them every possible paper of documentation I had worked. This has been quite the process and I’m super thankful for a previous 818 builder that wrote out the whole process. Because nobody I talked to at any point of this, from the inspector to the DOR, had any idea how to title a kit car and in most cases gave misinformation if anything at all. They mailed me the letter stating that I need to pay my ad valorem tax by June 10th as well as a T22 form for me to get signed by a police officer to prove I attached the VIN plate they also sent. I’ve now mailed in my ad valorem tax payment and I am currently working out a plan to get the vin plate on and the T22 signed. I may travel back to Georgia for a weekend soon to handle all this and spend a bit of time continuing work on the car with hopes that I can somehow get it to Michigan at a later point in the Summer.
• Insurance: Insurance has been quite a challenge, but I think I’ve finally found a place that will comprehensively insure a kit car for a 22 year old. American Modern, which is a fairly big name in classic car insurance, appears to be willing to write me a plan. Hopefully the pricing comes out reasonable but I’ll know for sure later this week.
• Some fun details: The documentation I received from the DOR was the least official “official” paperwork I’ve ever received. It was clearly handwritten with typos, had several mistakes hand scratched out and corrected with pen, and the tax breakdown appeared to be a screenshot of a website page with no explanation of the amounts. The DOR for some reason had a $2100 (!!!!) dealer penalty applied to my ad valorem tax in the letter they sent me. I was quite alarmed by this but on further research I found it in no way applies to me because I’m not a dealer and, even if I was, unassembled kit cars do not have to be titled within 30 days (obviously due to build time). So I called the DOR, who agreed it was a mistake but said they couldn’t change it and I would need to call my county office. So I called my county office, who said they didn’t create this fee so I should talk to the state DOR to correct this. Called the state DOR one more time and they had no idea how to change it, how it was created, or who created the charge. But it gets better…then I get a callback from my county office who checked on the penalty charge for me and they said that their system does not even show that they are supposed to collect a penalty at all. They only see the 7% ad valorem tax in their system as it should be. So in summary, I have this mysterious tax penalty that someone created, that mysteriously disappeared, and nobody knows anything about. So the current plan is to continue as if the penalty never existed. Government efficiency!

The post May 2020 Update #3: Registration Progress appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Inspection 
• I brought the car in for its Georgia state safety inspection. It passed! Really the only thing checked was the lights. Thank god my last-minute reverse light/blinker fix was successful. My horn didn’t work because my donor steering wheel apparently had some issues with the clockspring wiring. Not sure why exactly it had been messed with but something I’ll have to fix. For the inspection I manually shorted the horn wire to activate it and that was good enough. Didn’t even have to start the car or test the brakes haha.  But it made it and I got the paperwork I needed so that’s really all I was looking for
• Bodywork Update
• I installed the inner door skins and inner door latches.  They need some more tweaking and I need to make aluminum trim for the door handles because I mis-cut one slightly.
• My headlight fix was successful! They are held in there pretty well with the new epoxy.
• Rear firewall installed. The glass was hard to get in but that was expected. I’m not sure if FFR has something to seal the sides better but hopefully there is because it’s not really a complete seal to the bodywork.
• I will continue working on the body now that the inspection is over. Lots of hours left of trimming, sanding, repairing, and finishing.
• Windshield Wipers
• I give this its own section because I was VERY impressed with the replacement wiper kit sent from FFR which is actually the Forma Car’s kit they have sold for a couple years. This is a mono wiper kit that does not require hood trimming. The instructions were easy to follow, the mechanisms were solidly designed, and the install went smoothly. Very unlike some of the FFR finish components…like the door latches. Certainly a worthwhile wiper solution.

The post March 2020 Update #4: State Inspection Passed!!! appeared first on Lawson's 818C.