• Engine
  • I mocked up the exhaust using my existing Boig Motorsports exhaust and a portion of the downpipe from the EJ207. It won’t be as nice as the original Boig exhaust but it’ll do and it didn’t cost me anything extra.
  • A short drive with the exhaust confirmed that all my low-speed engine issues were just caused by atmospheric air interfering with the primary O2 sensor.
  • After the exhaust is finished I should be able to drive the car with full boost and no codes!
• Chassis
  • Fixed my front left upper control arm which was installed with the bushings upside down. I’ve known this for a while but haven’t resolved until now.
  • Tied down the front portions of the coolant pipes.
  • Changed front alignment for less toe in and fixed the positive camber to make it ~2 degrees negative now. Made the car a lot more stable than it was last test drive.

The post October 2019 Update: Exhaust and Continuing The Go Kart Check-List appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Moving to Michigan for another co-op term
• I won’t be working on the car much, if at all, from now through the middle of December because I have moved to Michigan for a co-op work semester with General Motors. Would’ve like to keep working on the car, but it’s sadly not practical to move everything every few months.
• Engine/Trans
• I repainted and installed the intercooler. Besides the accessories, the engine is fully assembled!
• I torqued the FFR 2wd adapter, but I hit a snag with the rear cover plate. Turns out I didn’t receive a rear cover plate! FFR sent me two 2wd adapters because they sent an additional adapter in the backorder box rather than the cover plate that I needed. They were very nice over the phone and sent one to me next day, but it won’t come in until next week which means it won’t go on the car for a few months. Oh well, I guess I should’ve done a more thorough inventory check.
• Suspension/chassis
• I torqued the front and rear suspension components. I’m not sure how much it matters that my ride height will change an inch or so after torquing the bushings. I will deal with that later I suppose…
• Brake booster and master cylinder tightened to the pedal box.
• Future plans
• I hope to have the car in go-kart mode by the year’s end. Most of that work will come in the last two weeks of December though. Wiring, fuel, cooling, brake lines, clutch lines, and shifter are needed for a driving car.
• My iWire harness should be built in the next month or so.
• As I earn the funds, I should have wheels, tires, and seats purchased by December to make a go-karting 818 possible.

The post August 2018 Update #3: Pausing Point for the Build appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Transmission:
• So the transmission news unfortunately did not get any better in the last week. I went to pickup a used 2004 WRX transmission for $300 from a guy about an hour away. I brought the transmission back and immediately started to disassemble it so I could install the diff and check out the condition of it. As luck would have it, it had a sheared 3rd gear on the main shaft. Long story short, I attempted to make the best out of a bad situation by getting $175 back from the seller and swapping my donor’s 2006 WRX gearset onto the 2004 WRX pinon, then using the 2004 WRX case.
• So I now have an OBX differential, 2004 WRX clutch, case, and final drive with a 2006 WRX gearset. We’ll see how well I did rebuilding and checking the parts. Hopefully this thing will last a while.
• I also found out the real issue with the donor transmission! It was not that the pinion had been improperly shimmed but that the guy left out a washer where the pinion and gear set bolt together (Where the FFR adapter now goes). All this work for one washer…
• If anyone needs some miscellaneous trans parts I have some spares for sale! Only half of them are broken
• Other poor news is that the 2006 WRX flywheel I had won’t work with my 2004 WRX pressure plate. There’s almost no difference in the 2004 and 2006 flywheel except for the alignment dowels for the pressure plate. So I have bought a new flywheel to install.
• I had planned to have a timelapse rebuild to get something cool out of this but even my GoPro died during filming! It no longer turns on despite my best debugging efforts. 6 years of action didn’t kill it but filming a transmission rebuild did .
• I did repair the flywheel bolt threads so once I have a new one I can put it on immediately.
• Ordered a clutch fork and slave cylinder for my 2004 trans.
• I installed the front pedal box aluminum and bolted in the pedal box.
• Fitment for the pedal box was extremely poor. Took me about 2 hours to get it installed and in the end I still had to redrill two holes as well as some trimming of the pedal box. I hadn’t had any major issues with FFR parts until this. I tried removing the front firewall aluminum so I could unbolt the pedal box mount but that did not help align it any better. I hadn’t heard of many others having this much of an issue with the fitment.
• Despite spending almost 50 hours working on the car this week, haven’t gotten a whole ton done. Hopefully the next two weeks will be better as I will be in Michigan following then through December and away from the car.
• Goal is to get the rear end finished, car rolling, and get started on fuel/brakes/clutch before I leave.

The post August 2018 Update: Trans Rebuild, More Hickups appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Engine:
• Installed engine mounts
• Connected a couple more vacuum/coolant lines. Still 2 or 3 more to finish like the boost control solenoid.
• Alternator partially installed, but I seem to have left the power steering bracket that’s used to tension it in Michigan…hopefully will resolve that soon.
• Installed the engine into the chassis!
• I probably could’ve waited to do this until I had the accessories installed, but there’s enough room to work on it in the car and this weekend worked for me to borrow my college club’s engine hoist.
• Rear Suspension:
• I ordered female front OEM Subaru axles so that I have the right CVs for my OBX limited slip diff. I bought two used ones for $85 each. There are cheaper options out there but I didn’t want to have the issue of the CV splines not being the same as OEM and therefore not working with FFR’s axle.
• Rear suspension is otherwise just waiting on the axle and transmission to be installed.
• Differential
• Rebuilt my OBX limited slip diff. I bought the rebuild kit a while ago for $35 that included new case bolts and internal spring washers specifically for OBX diffs. Getting this differential over a name brand Quaife/Cusco unit is a bit of a gamble on my part, but considering I spent less than $500 for the diff, rebuild kit, transmission seals, and new axles it’s a gamble that may pay off if it works well. The name brands are over $1000 for the diff alone.
• I did find the original OBX spring washers to be fairly poor quality, but the bolts were installed fine. It would definitely recommend rebuilding OBX units considering the low cost of it.
• Front sway bar
• Got the last front end suspension component installed.
• As many on the forum have noted, the fitment of the swaybar is extremely tight on the passenger side. I’m hoping I don’t have any clearance issues. I found it strange that the FFR manual did not include any advice on how to setup the sway bar beside “install it”. Maybe I have it set right, maybe I don’t?

The post July 2018 Update #4: Engine Install appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Rear Suspension:
• Prepped and painted the rear brake mounting plates. I removed the rusty dust shields from them which seems to be a common thing to do when they rust out.
• I installed the rear wheel bearings, e-brake assembly, and hubs. This went pretty smoothly as the process was similar to the front wheel bearings. The e-brake assembly is a little finicky to put together but it’s not very complex.
• Cleaned up the rear rotors for re-use.
• Installed the trailing arms, lateral links. Bolting them on was much easier than removing the donor parts!
• Assembled the Koni shocks and FFR forward links.
• Waiting now on a few things to finish the rear suspension.
• Engine install. Because the rear shock tower has to be off in order to put the engine in.
• Trans LSD swap and installation into the car. Has to be put in so the axles can be mounted with the spindles all in one go. It doesn’t look like there’s a way to install the rear axle without disconnecting the upper links of the spindles.
• I haven’t made the rear axle yet. I still have to disassemble the donor rear axle and make the frankenaxle from FFR, donor rear, and donor front parts.
• Front Suspension:
• Installed new inner and outer steering tie rods.
• Fixed the ball joint boot by replacing the whole ball joint with a Moog unit.
• Engine:
• I got some good forum help on the remaining missing components.
• Ordered a new knock sensor because my donor either didn’t one or I tossed it at some point because it was broken.
• Ordered a new boost control solenoid because my donor’s was broken. I remember it dangling down by the axle when I disassembled the front of the car and now I know what that component was. I’m sure that was one of the 1000 things that contributed to my donor running poorly.
• Finished connecting all the remaining coolant lines. PCV lines will be finished once the intercooler goes on.
• Engine should be ready to go in next weekend (I hope)

The post July 2018 Update #3: Rear Suspension appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Front brakes:
• Cleaned up existing brake discs for semi-temporary usage. I’ll replace them down the road but they’re fine until the kit is fully finished. The pads are even in good condition with lots of material.
• Mounted the 4 piston front calipers.
• Front suspension Issues:
• The replacement ball joint I bought was poor quality and its boot didn’t transfer to the joint provided by FFR. So I am returning that one and buying a Moog one that I will either use or steal the boot off of to replace the one I tore.
• Front steering rack needs inner and outer tie rods 100%. I was hoping to wait but the threads on both the inner and outer tie rod are too rusty for me to use. Replacements ordered. It was about $90 for the set.
• The rack is mounted on the frame though! I wasn’t super impressed with the fitment of FFR’s lateral mount (seemed slightly too tall) or the clarity of the instructions regarding the spacers. It all worked in the end but could have been better.
• Rear spindles:
• Finally got the 12″ lateral link bolts out! Quite the task on old rusty spindles and something I hope I never have to do again. It seems the hard part is really them rusting/corroding onto the lateral links themselves. Mine were bent so I ended up cutting them off as I have already bought used replacements. After that, a vice and an impact were successful.
• Corrosealed and truck bed coated the spindles just like the fronts. 
• I still have to remove the rusty heat shields from the rear backing plates, install the rear wheel bearings, and reassemble the e-brake. Rear suspension can go on after that  
• Engine:
• Dremeled off the tabs on the injectors so I could plug the 05 STi side feed injectors into my WRX harness. Only took about 5 minutes and worked like a charm. The tabs seem to be there to prevent plug misalignment but don’t serve any locating/clipping purpose.
• Connected the waterpump to hardpipe with new hoses. All these misc. engine components are adding up .
• Trying to figure out what else actually needs to happen on the engine to wrap it up. I think I have figured out the PCV system fairly well, but I haven’t really figured out where all the vacuum lines need to go or any other miscellaneous components. I’ve got a couple mystery harness plugs with nothing to plug into and in different locations a couple sensor plugs with no harness nearby. For instance, where is the cable that plugs into the PCV hose off the crankcase? It’s not on my engine harness.
• I’m posting these items on the forum to see if I can get some advice. Subaru parts diagrams for these things are pretty horrible and there’s no way to get a sense of the big picture.
• Misc:
• Cut access holes for the lower control arm rear bushings. I personally think this should be in the FFR manual because there’s no way to properly torque either of them with their recommended procedure. I will plug the 1.75″ holes I made with plastic caps.

The post July 2018 Update #2: Front Brakes, Steering, and Engine Odds/Ends appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Disassembled front axles and inserted outer axle stubs into the spindles.
• Used the pipe trick which made this super easy compared to FFR’s vice and hammer method. One whack and it was off for both axles.
• Tore up the boot to one upper ball joint when I used a pickle fork to remove it and rotate the cotter pin hole. So have to replace that now…:(

• Disassembled rear spindles for wheel bearing installation, but there have been some complications to this.
• Having a lot of trouble with the roughly 12″ lateral link bolts being rusted to both the spindle and the lateral links. I broke one spindle trying to press the bolt out so that method clearly doesn’t work. Thankfully I have 4 (*now 3) rear spindles due to my 4-2 pot brake upgrade purchase. I have gotten the lateral link out of one so I just need to have a 50% success rate on the other two!
• I can use any spindle I have because they’re identical but I have to use the backing plate from the 4-2 pot spindles since the caliper bolt spacing is a little different in the rear than my donor WRX brakes. Good thing I have wheel bearings to put in whichever one I get the lateral link bolt out of. 

The post July 2018 Update #1: More Suspension appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Repainted lower control arms and attached lower shock mounts.
• Replaced the wheel bearings and ball joint in both front spindles.
• Hydraulic press definitely required for this but wasn’t too bad overall.
• Assembled the upper control arms.
• Mounted the upper control arms, lower control arms, and shocks onto the car.
• The spindles will go on soon but I had to let the FFR spindle uprights dry before I could mount them because I forgot to paint them ahead of time.
• Still have to attach the spindles, install the steering rack, and prep the front outer CVs to finish up the front suspension.

• The 05 STi side-feed fuel injectors that I bought have a slightly different Denso plug than what’s on the 05 WRX harness I bought. They look identical besides two plastic alignment tabs so hopefully I’ll be able to find a simple solution. Either buying/making an adapter or trimming the plastic tabs. 
• Between the fuel lines, coolant lines, intake plumbing, vacuum lines, and the wiring harness, the middle area of the engine is getting quite cramped to work on and finish up.

The post June 2018 Update #3: Front Suspension appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Engine Rebuild
• Mounted exhaust manifold and turbo.
• Installed hard coolant lines but waiting on replacement rubber hose connections for them. 
• Timing system fully installed and covers added.
• Suspension Parts Prep:
• I disassembled the rear donor suspension. However, I have to tackle one more long lateral link bolt that has rusted in place as well as both of the axle nuts (which really should have been removed when the parts were on the donor). 
• Bought new wheel bearings to install into the front and rear spindles. 
• Painted the front spindles with truck bed coating to finish them up.
• I plan to prep the rear spindles the same way.
• Finished riveting the front firewall panels so that once I have the suspension parts ready they should be able to go onto the car

The post June 2018 Update #2: Front Firewall and Donor Parts Prep appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Coated with 3M Rubberized Undercoating. It’s hard to get the finish consistent with this paint but it turned out alright and not terribly important for an underbody panel.

• Derusted the spindles using a chemical rust-reverse product. It turns them a nice black color. The stuff’s fairly expensive though, I bought the Corroseal product.
• Hoping to refurbish the other suspension components soon.

• Installed valve covers permanently
• Installed fuel injectors, spark plugs, and coils.
• The engine rebuild is still causing me trouble- had to order more hardware and hoses so I can finish it up. Next steps are to get the timing belt installed, exhaust and turbo mounted, and connect all the misc hoses (of which there seems to be a hundred…)
• I never anticipated just how many little things I’d have to replace on this engine.

• Bought a ACT clutch and pressure plate
• Considering splurging for the iWire harness to save me considerable build time. On the fence about this one because of the high costs. Debating whether time or money is more important at this stage.

The post June 2018 Update: Underbody Panels and Suspension Prep appeared first on Lawson's 818C.