New guy? Back to race in Lemons. Now a build thread! (Page 2 of 5)

I guess I didn't go into any background, if anyone cares. This entire build is being done in my garage. The only thing that I didn't do was bend the cage (I'll touch base on that later on).

I'm a mechanic by trade. Got my start as a Honda apprentice/mechanic when I was 17. I did that for a few a while. Mitsubishi Mechanic, landed at a performance shop building cars and doing restorations. Lots of restomods, OEM+, restorations, fab and general mechanics. Ended up as a mechanic in the natural gas industry as of late. Currently a dual master certified ASE mechanic, collecting projects.

And now, back to your regular scheduled build!

Car had a set of Tokico D-Specs on it, groupN top hats and delrin spacers. I sold em for $100!

This STI brace that came with the car is apparently super rare. I sold it for $200, crazy.

After the car was gutted, I started listing stuff for sale. Marketplace is the devil.

Everything Must Go!

I sold the stock downpipe and catalyst for $750. unreal, wish it counted toward that car cost.

I sold so much stuff, I couldn't keep track. It's odd what people value things at. I sold the factory steering column cover for $150. It had a factory boost gauge that is apparently pretty rare? Or the trunk lining covers and spare tire board. A/C lines and odd ball stuff, as well as the main parts that sold as I expected.

So I mentioned earlier that I've done everything except bend the cage. There is a company that sells 3D scanned CNC bent cage kits called CAGEKITS. I did my research and this was the solution for me.

Like I said, my Wife, Daughters, Brother, Dad, etc are going to be driving this car. My main priority is their safety. Although this cage was expensive, by the time I bought a bender, way to much steel, 10 weeks of attempting to bend a cage, it ended up saving me money and mega time.

I can not praise the fit and finish of this cage enough. It's also FIA spec'd.

So I ordered the cage and started prepping the car. It took about 8-10 weeks for delivery, so plenty of time to prep.

Before I can reinstall the engine I needed to address one of the Subaru's main blowing up issues. Oiling. Subaru EJ engines have oil feed issues with the pickups cracking. Oil pump bolts backing out. Oil sloshing out of the pan/pickup under hard cornering. Oil not returning to the pan due to being stuck in the head during cornering. Etc. I only addressed two of the issues, ignored the rest. Scouring the deep webs I found a used oil pan, pickup and baffle made by IAG.

This is where I start consuming some of my allotted budget.
I ended up getting him down to $225.

Here it is installed on the engine along with some leftover heat shield, header wrap and the crank pulley from the trunk.

Now with the engine and trans back in it's time to figure out the suspension. I was going to go with cheap Ebay/Amazon coilovers but scouring marketplace lead me to multpile options of higher quality for less money. There are all types on them from all brands all over marketplace, BC, Fortune, Megan, Tein, etc. I found a set of Feal coilovers and got em for a steal.

I ended up giving the guy $225. So, as you can see I'm two purchases in and almost out of budget. We need an ebbing and flowing budget based on administration and inflation. Everything is up 25-65% in the last 3 years, I can't even buy groceries for $500 /rant

Ignore the swaybar that puts me over budget.

Now would be the time to contact Pagel (pagel@24hoursoflemons.com ) with some details about the fuel lines.If he says no,you still have time to return to OEM configuration.Pagel acts like a tough evil dictator type,but he just wants us all to go home safely at the end of the weekend.Contact him,do what he says........If he gives his approval,save any emails to prove it to any other inspector who may not agree..

Agreed: "Contact John Pagel" is the answer.

My thoughts (not that my opinion matters in any way):
The cited section discusses fuel lines which are no longer in the driver's compartment; that section is therefore moot; however, there's a 'General Fuel System Regulations' section which applies.

I think the only difficulty is the line in 3.8.1 [excepted below]:

[snip] OE tanks must retain all OE systems (filler, mounts, vents, etc.); all OE tanks and systems must be wholly unmodified.

The above section discusses vents, fillers, and mounts, but doesn't mention fuel lines; it may be that lines going to the engine are considered separate, because they are _after_ the fuel tank 'system'.

There is also the following, which contemplates aftermarket components, and specifies certain appropriate characteristics:

3.8.4   Fuel Cell Installation. [snip] All aftermarket fuel components must use threaded fittings and appropriate hose types, and must include all appropriate racecar-quality vents, valves, and other safety features. Fuel cell installations will be judged on their overall execution and apparent safety.

3.8.4.4     Fuel Lines in Cockpit: In addition to complying with Rule 3.6.6., any non-OE fuel lines that are exposed to or pass through the driving compartment must be either fuel hard line or stainless braided fuel hose and must also be encased by heavy-duty conduit, durable steel or aluminum pipe, or strong metal plate. OE metal lines in good condition in their original location are exempt from this rule, but encasement is still recommended.

All the above reads to _me_ that:
if you choose appropriate parts from the above specified characteristics, and mount, protect, and secure them appropriately, you should be good to go.

I'm guessing vinyl tubing and ill-fitting hose clamps are an immediate fail; that'll probably work for a lawn tractor (though you may not want it there, either), but not for a racecar.

But, again:

"Contact John Pagel" is the answer.

Also, it seems you'll have plenty of great pictures to reference

Now that the suspension is in. Time to figure out brakes. Since the WRX brakes are garbage I wanted to upgrade to 02-07 STI brembo brakes.

But after trying to source them the money gets out of hand. Finding used calipers alone is 1200-2200 bucks. Plus rebuild kits, special rear brackets, lines, pads, rotors it's quickly $3500+. And after a bunch of research they aren't that great and guys are burning them up on track days, let alone endurance racing.

I ended up finding a company that had a wilwood kit, with pads, STI rotors and lines. Plus a black Friday sale to boot! And cheaper than just the used STI calipers.

I used some scrap aluminum to weld up some backing plates for brake ducts.

Next up is trying to figure out wheel fitment. I bought one 245/40-17 Hankook RS4( based on reviews here). broke out my wheel tool and started measuring.

Needed to figure out caliper protrusion off the hub face or convexity of spoke design. What a PITA. I narrowed down the wheel design to Konig Dekagram and fortunately my local Discount Tire brought in 2 different size wheels 17x8 ET40 and 17x9 ET40. I was able to take em home and verify fitment. 17x8 didn't fit but the 17x9 did.

Bought the other 3 wheels and tires. Mounted them up and got the car back under her own weight.

After removing all the sound deadening and cleaning. I got a wild hair to stitch weld the inside. I wish I would have thought of this sooner. This was for sure an after thought because I didn't do the engine compartment while I had the engine out and all that pretty gold heat shielding now has burn marks everywhere from stitch welding the interior.

And I only set the car on fire 7 times due to undercoating, so that's good.

And a little etching primer.

"... (Ferrari engine) ... from an exotic car salvage yard in Michigan. (!??!) "

Hmmm ...