Apollo Racer Build Thread, Numeric 981 Shifter Upgrade Options

[rnellums]

So I think I have discussed this before, but I had an incident a few months ago where I started the car in neutral and it resulted in Apollo jumping forward into my toolbox, smashing up my other 914 (Calypso) and caving in the front bumper of Apollo.

I have now officially repaired the damage, but I didn't want to drive the car much longer without a neutral safety switch.

The subaru transmissions come with one, but it is a normally open switch (i.e. in neutral the switch is open, and it is closed in gear. This could be integrated through the use of a normally closed relay (when in gear you energize the relay and it opens) to isolate the starter relay, but that would mean if the wiring or relay ever failed it would default to closed and I would again be unprotected (but wouldn't know it). Not good!

After doing some more research I discovered that for whatever reason the 2005-2007 WRX had a neutral switch that is normally closed (closed in neutral and open in gear) and that it has identical threads to the switch in my transmission (2003 2.5 RS). I just finished wiring it in tonight on the power side of the starter relay. Easy as pie and the part only costs ~30$. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

Subaru Part No. is below:
32008AA151

[76-914]

I like it. As you engineers say, KISS.

[rnellums]

Looks great! I always wanted to see what your radiator opening looked like. Do you have a shot of it straight on?

I haven't settled on the final cut yet, but this works fine for in town and highway. Steep passes and track days I have to be careful on my temps, but I'm hoping to solve that by moving from a junkyard volvo radiator to a thicker dual pass aluminum unit.

[rnellums]

I was getting tired of how loud my exhaust was so I added in another muffler/crossover tonight. Much better!

Marty at MSDS was kind enough to supply the mandrel bends (super easy to work with, and inexpensive too!) And the center muffler is just a cherry bomb muffler from the FLAPS. I HAVEN'T SEALED it all up yet, but so far it looks promising!

[Alphaogre]

I was getting tired of how loud my exhaust was so I added in another muffler/crossover tonight. Much better!

Marty at MSDS was kind enough to supply the mandrel bends (super easy to work with, and inexpensive too!) And the center muffler is just a cherry bomb muffler from the FLAPS. I HAVEN'T SEALED it all up yet, but so far it looks promising!

Please post a video of how that sounds, I have been playing with the idea of building an exhaust like that for a few moths!

[3d914]

Muffler brackets look cool but they also look like they will bend at the mounting tab.

Ash tray is way cool.

Good point on the brackets. I'll add in a gusset on the bottom to strengthen them against bending.

I agree - cool ash tray & muffler brackets! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif) Looks like you expect to hang some heavy sh$t on that ash tray though - material looks thicker than the muffler brackets. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[rnellums]

No real progress to report, I've been too busy playing witty my new toy - a vinyl cutter!

[mgp4591]

You may want to consider adding flanges to your add-on silencer set up. It's going to be fairly restrictive just by design alone and if you make it a convertible design you can change it out for your A/X activities. I wish I had access to flow meters for a truly accurate reading of the flow but if you increase the pipe diameter up it should minimize your backpressure, also adding a deeper tone. We need SOUND on this! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[A&P Mech]

Wow the stickers look great! Are you planning to sale them? If so, I will take a set in red.

[Chris H.]

Great job on the center muffler. It will help a lot. Looks similar to Bob's setup which made the exhaust note really nice.

Here is his (from his blog):



Nice welds BTW :beer2. Not easy to weld in a circle.

[76-914]

Beat me to it, Chris. It's been on my "to do list" since Bob turned me on to this method. I want to do this but keep the existing exhaust as a spare set.

[rnellums]

Odometer: 49,902 mi

Woof! May Since my last update!

Not much has changed, just little upgrades here and there.



I painted the exhaust a less gaudy color, picked up a few spare EZ30's (trying to decide if I should resell or do a turbo build... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)), and put on some carefree miles.



I had a bit of a scare earlier in the summer, coming down through the twisties in one of the mountain passes near Denver I had one of the plugs on my coil packs come loose and that cylinder started missing. I pulled over and fixed it, but on startup it let out a huge plume of smoke. I thought for sure I had done something serious, but there seems to be no lasting effect!



Just recently I decided to try my hand at making a center console and came up with the following. Built fron MDF, covered in 1/2" foam scrim and upholstered with vinyl. I'm hoping that a few heat cycles will allow the vinyl to stretch out and even out some of the sharper wrinkles. We'll see, but it is nice to have something to keep the dirt out of the shifter mechanicals!

[mbseto]

That's the shortest shifter I've ever seen. Is that an AX thing, or just a preference for a really short throw? Nice console, btw.

[rnellums]

That's the shortest shifter I've ever seen. Is that an AX thing, or just a preference for a really short throw? Nice console, btw.

Its the stock MR2 shifter length, and is incredibly short, but the tightness of the Subaru transmission \ cable shift makes it viable. I usually use a 3" lever extender to make the throw longer, but it is fun shifting with a 1" throw once in a while.

[Chris H.]

I'm getting EZ30 envy. How many of those do you HAVE man??? Any others or just the EZ?

[rnellums]

I'm getting EZ30 envy. How many of those do you HAVE man??? Any others or just the EZ?

All EZ30s, but I'm down to one spare now and that may end up in Brett's challenge build car.

I have EG33 envy myself, so many more options for tuning without going all custom!

I'm planning on doing a custom intake manifold this winter to flip my intake and clear the alternator, so it will be nice to have a spare around.

[Chris H.]

That's funny. We always want the one we don't have! Bob megasquirted his EZ30 BTW. Ran great. His comments are on the message boards over there. You could easily handle assembling one of those. I'm finding myself trolling for a newer 2.5L NA engine. Still have my cradle and stuff. Maybe take a few years and collect parts and have two complete drive trains! Just change 'em every few months (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) .

[grantjd]

I figured I'd eventually figure out whose car I saw at last years dragon boat festival. Your shift knob is the most memorable part!

[rnellums]

Odometer:50907

Ive been driving the car quite a bit since my last update. My plan with the car has always been to maximize driving time and minimize time on jackstands. With that in mind i did a lot of things "good enough" during the initial build. Now that its been two years without serious mishap im going to start refining things a bit.

Below is a list of pet peeves on my project im going to work out!
Cooling system barely adequate
Cable clutch gives poor pedal feel
No heat
Intake extends into the rear trunk
No flip up headlights
No trunk supports
Sloppy ecu wiring (temporary wiring)

I started earlier this week rerouting and reorganizing the wiring harness to get it out of the trunk. It's till not quite done, but I dont want to finish it until i figure out where to hard mount the obdII port!

[rnellums]

All finished up!