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Some dimple dies and a harbor freight press have been acquired. This is the initial fit up of the 1/8" plates that connect the shock tower to the frame rail and subframe mounting area. The idea is that the bars coming out from the cage to the top of the shock tower will strengthen that structure substantially, and this reinforcement to the frame rail and subframe mount location will tie everything in nicely. This is only adding a couple more pounds but I can afford the weight. Ill be running a decent amount of ballast in almost all the classes I compete in anyways in case anyone is wondering since I've already gotten that question a couple times.
Maybe put some drain holes in there? Or maybe any water that gets in will just instantly evaporate in AZ...
More progress and been getting a bit better with the mig.
Lower support welded in and hit with the grinder. Top plate is ready to get the big pipe welded on then blast that onto the shock tower. Also messed around with a bit of the 3m lightweight body filler. This engine bay is gonna be killer when it's done.
Got some more stitch welding done. More progress in engine bay will post pics soon. Test fitting an A pillar bar.
Also used the tig to weld in this 1/8" plate to thin sheet metal and I think it turned out better than I anticipated. I used filler on some parts and other parts there was enough extra sheet metal overhanging that I could get away without it. We sealer was giving me a real tough time. When it gets bad it turns the entire arc like a bright red it's pretty wild.
Shock tower progress for today. Driver side bar fitted up. Rear brakes also showed up, found a killer deal for an unused Stoptech STR21 kit on Facebook that I couldn't pass up. Came with Raybestos ST43 as well which I've been wanting to try. Need to order the front kit still. Also I think the PDM and dash display are shipping soon.
Passenger side shock tower reinforcement is pretty much done. My dad and I have started on the driver's side and got some other miscellaneous stuff done too. My tig welding is getting a lot better so I'm happy about that, I just need to get in the habit of dabbing more often so my overlap isn't so far apart. Getting moving and having to travel around the pipe in more than one axis with the torch and filler definitely adds some more difficulty in there. And also got my first taste of welding way out of position while laying in the floorboard with my head in the passenger footwell. I tried out 4T control with the torch finger switch and it actually works pretty awesome. Glad I got the Primeweld instead of the AHP Alphatig because I don't think it even has that feature with ramp up and down time delay control and the whole 9 yards as well.
I really should buy a welder this winter and just practice melting together scrap metal
Just pull the trigger and try not to get discouraged when starting out. I started to get pretty frustrated and then MIG just kind of clicked one day and I now have a technique that I like using. I was still getting frustrated with TIG and also kept failing horribly at trying to weld aluminum. Steel is starting to get better for me now, aluminum I've yet to give another try.
I'd say for both machines and all the welding equipment and accessories and PPE I've purchased so far I'm probably into it for just under 2k. With all the stuff I've done so far with them I'm pretty confident that they will have paid for themselves on this part of the project instead of having to pay to have all of this fab work done by a shop.
Drivers side shock tower plates are in. Firewall plate for the tube pass through is welded in as well. Top shock tower plate and landing point is ready to get welded on, then get the second tube in through the firewall after making one last pass through plate, and then the firewall can get sealed up and move on to other stuff. All remaining tubes that I'm adding are notched and ready to be tacked in then welded. I'm adding more than I thought, only had about 1.5 feet left over from a 20 foot stick that I bought, which means about 26lbs of weight added but I can afford it.
So the engine bay is nearing completion now. Got all the bars coming out to the shock towers pretty much knocked out.
Bigger news, I took a trip the other day with my dad to Arroyo Seco Raceway in New Mexico for the ASR Super Lap event. The main reason I went out there was to buy a rear differential from @Chilicharger665 . It's a 4.3 with an OS Giken LSD which is exactly what I was looking for. Also as you can see in the picture, I noticed when I got home that it also has an N/A RX-7 FC diff cover which does not have the dreaded relief cuts that can snap an ear off like the Miata versions. That was an awesome surprise to a killer day trip.
On top of that I got to see some friends that I haven't seen in awhile, @Stock , @Girth Brooks , @99mx5 , @Acavius etc. And I even got to drive on track. Not only was Chilicharger (Brandon) kind enough to give me a great deal on that diff, he also let me take his 2019 ND for a spin on track after he locked in a 2nd place finish in the Super Lap A Class. First time I've driven an ND, and even though I was a little cramped (6'5") it drove great. Definitely has that Miata spirit. And to top it all off, Girth Brooks (Tim) let me take his Porsche 997 GT3 for a rip as well. That thing was insane, probably the coolest car I've driven on track and I was almost in shock that he would just toss me the keys to a machine like that.
Photos of the car progress, me in the 997, and some other pictures from the event:
Couple more bars knocked out. These looked like they would be easy at first but are deceiving. Tough to get a good angle. I tried with the tig and it was not going well at all so switched to mig. Not pretty but they're done. Three more bars to go then finish stitch welding the rear half and underside of the car then I can start to get this primed.
Only one more bar left to weld in! Going to try and tackle it on Wednesday. I would have never guessed how much of a time-suck going down the fabrication rabbit hole would be. It's probably the biggest "while I have the car stripped down" rationalization project I've ever gotten pulled into.
So in the front my dad and I decided to land these two additional supports onto some custom cut plinth boxes in this reinforced section that kind of ties the trans tunnel to the firewall. The boxes and the bars that land on those boxes are all mig, and everything up on the dash back is tig. Was just easier that way and some of the dash bar was really out of position already. See pics below. I'm happy with how it turned out. Reason for these additional bars to those plinth boxes is that even with the shock tower bars welded to the dash bar, when my dad stood on it the bar would still flex. Not anymore though. I think we're technically up to a 14 point cage at this point. 12 point if you count the mega L shape landing plate for main hoop and lower door bar. Maybe a little on the heavy side but for all the classes it'll be used in we would be adding ballast anyways, might as well put it to use for chassis strength and safety.
The last bar left is the passenger side FIA-ish A-pillar reinforcement then that is the last of the major cage additions.
Every time I start a fabrication project thinking "I can knock this out in a couple hours..." it ends up being an all-day job. At least. And the older I get, the slower it goes...
My dad has been knocking some stuff out on the car. A tiny bit of lightweight body filler and some primer and this is the result. Turned out better than I could have imagined. Can't wait to see the final colors go on and the reflect-a-gold firewall.
Also two 6 speeds from the UK showed up. Both NB2 with 69k and 74k miles respectively, hopefully will never have to use the spare but having a spare trans has saved me once before.
Yeah it's hard to imagine what it'll be like getting back out on track to race after it's been almost 3 years lmao.
And that cluster even has the top crossbar coming into it too that you can't really see. I'm mega tall so if I roll hopefully that overhead area collapses as little as possible... I'm thinking of making some dimple die'd plates to attach the a-pillar bars to the windshield frame as well.
Wow!...seriously WOW! Came over to check out your build! I read the last 40 some posts, will definitely be reading all of it when I have a minute. I thought I had fallen down the rabbit hole of “while I’m in there”. This makes my project look like a Boy Scout pinewood derby car. The amount of metal work! It looks great & love all the fab you have done. I can’t believe you welded up & ground down all those little holes in the engine bay! It looks awesome already in primer, can’t wait to see it when you are done painting. Incredible.
08-12-2020, 06:52 PM
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