The attachement button doesnt work, but i still wanted to show this, so oldschool [img]

Custom bracket for de D585 for my custom intake.

https://scontent-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...60&oe=5D1D58D4

https://scontent-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e5&oe=5D24A567

That's actually rather pleasant to the eye.

Are these required for a V8 swap?

It seems many do this but no one sells them off the shelf. I guess an off the shelf option would require more plating for where the cuts are done to cope with all climates.

Not required, but when you do the z06 intake you need to cut out the center section, so most end up doing it.

Ok so i must ask. How do cars without the center section replaced by this style bar fair in regulatory checks?
Like MOT in UK and such.
Its widely stated that bit is not bracing but I've not seen reason persuade an MOT tester once.
Maybe this sort of thing isn't checked on a MOT (I honestly do not know).

We live in freedom land, that's how :)

That is true but surely someone must be outside the states and need a regulatory tick with that section missing

If you want we can ship you a bar and you can be our tester :cool:

As much as I would like to take the angle grinder to that bit I fear my MOT tester would not however, my MOT is tomorrow.
I can ask then.

I'm impressed by the apparent thoroughness of your inspections in the UK. Of all the places I've lived in the US, only New York required anything resembling an inspection of the car's safety-related systems, and it wasn't particularly thorough. (Do the lights work? Do the tires have tread on them? Do the front wheels more or less point the same way, and turn when the steering wheel is rotated? Great, you pass.)

Australia is the same way, although not as restrictive as some places like Germany. I got asked in my interview what processes I had to prove that my vehicle was road worthy. I looked at them and said, "uhhhhhh, pay $70 for tabs?"

\

Now its pay 180 for tabs with how much they have gone up. Seattle sucks

Registering in Douglas County FTW :D

Roadworthy? What's that?


I live in the land of "Fuck it, who cares?"

I had a feeling you were either in Florida or Oklahoma. But homes to the sketchiest cars on the road from what i've heard.

New fabrication bench... work in progress.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4817/...388350a6_c.jpg

Still trying to decide exactly how to set up the worktop. Option one is just plain old 1/4" steel.

Option 2 is half steel plate, the other half set up with rectangular tube to make clamping easier... somthing like this:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...737038342a.jpg

Option 3 is... ???

I've looked at some of the commercially available "fabrication table" stuff, and some of it doesn't work dimensionally, and most of it is stupid $$$. This is just for personal/hobby stuff...

Anyone have input?

yeah, Straya's tests depend on what state you live in (prob like the US i guess)

Some like NSW need an annual test, but it's apparently stupid easy to pass. Just show up with all the lights working, and tyres that arent bald.

in Vic, where I live, our test is pretty strict, costs about $250 and needs the car on a hoist for a full checkover.
Even dumb shit like a torn seat is a fail......
and yeah, modification rules are pretty strict.

in saying that, we only have to do that when a car is unregistered, or is changing owners, so it's not that bad.


Costs are about $250 for the RWC, which only needs to be done once per owner, and then about $800 per year for registration.

Looks pretty tall for a fab bench.

It's a few inches taller than I would have preferred, but it's multi-purpose, and as short as I could make it and fit both the cabinets and the casters which were both necessary.

Had a good chat with my MOT man describing what it is. He said "if it ain't structural its all good".

I do not know exactly what would be exposed from a bumper cut like that because we only have photos from the front a few feet back. If there was some better in depth photos i could make some better estimates for the any extra panels needed for more shitty climates like the UK :)

I really want the fireball tool cast iron fixture plates for a table, but it adds up really quick when you start making a decent sized bench.

Decided to finish my catchcan setup.

Already made the aluminium bracket about 2 years ago, and now with the shaved bay i decided to take an other route. But could still use it, And now with my 3D printer i could print anything i want. Its printed with ABS


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...697420eb0e.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6b9e90b6b3.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8e95075729.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e425cbb60d.jpg

That's a tidy mount job.

I've got and almost identical catch can (mine doesnt have the top cap bit) and mounted it where the charcoal canister used to be.

For a cheap ebay thing they work a lot better than many of the brand name ones, since they actually have a half decent baffle setup on the outlet.
stuff all capacity though.

Finished my work/fab bench a while back. I ended up with a plain steel top.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7828/4...5dc24dfc_c.jpg

One of the features I included was 'receivers' at the top and bottom corners, so I could make modular tool mounts.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7849/4...51dfa2e5_c.jpg

Yesterday, I needed to use my bandsaw (HF saw with SWAG table), so I fabbed up the mount for it.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fa9b00d5_c.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7bc582a0_c.jpg

Next up is a mount for the tubing notcher.

very cool.

Nice. I really like that idea.

Added a mini-sump to my existing oil pan for the second scavenge stage as I convert from an external wet sump to a dry sump setup.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8b1242046b.jpg

I made and designed 3d printed pie cutting jig- thing since i dont own a bandsaw/drycutter. It does the job and my angle grinder makes easy work of the tubing. It's angled 18 degrees in total( 9 degrees per side).
I just follow the scored line :giggle:


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6546e83218.png

Haven't done much welding lately. But the past few weeks have afforded me the opportunity to do some old-school electronics fabrication.


Work-related:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...58bc1ef3d9.png

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5e1657c55c.png

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...44fe03f3cf.png


The above is a dual-band quad-pole microwave antenna switch (big box) and a diagnostic tool for same (small box.) All hand-fabbed, aside from the big box itself (a standard Middle Atlantic 1RU enclosure), and the rear panel on it, which I drew in CAD and then had laser-cut from eMachineShop. Those guys do really beautiful work.

How come the wires from the DB-9? are not wrapped together neatly like all the others?

Because they're straight runs (no bends).

Also, 8-3 SJ cable is a pain in the ass to work with.

I like the LED label the best.

?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b2183bc634.png

Yes. I like have you made a table within a single label. Very clean. Nice job on the entire assembly, it calms me greatly.

It pleases me to have calmed you.

The Brother PT-P700 label printer is the second-best $90 of someone else's money I have ever spent with regard to little custom jobs like the above. Not only is the hardware good (fast, high quality, durable labels), but more importantly, the included software is awesome. It can bulk-import from Excel, makes it easy to create frames / tables, allows you to specify sizes with a great deal of precision, etc. I have used many label printers, and the P-Touch software included with this one makes it the best of them all by a long measure.



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pr...-rw-pc0xffffff



Also, it just occurred to me that North and South both end in "th," while East and West both end in "st."

I wonder if this was intentional?

I finished the workspace in my trailer, though 'finished' is a strong word... I'm sure I'll find something to change or add.

When I ordered the trailer, I had the overhead cabinets built in, but left out the bench because I wanted to do my own thing. That turned out to be a shortened HF tool cart that 'docks' between two aluminum framed benches with melanine sheet worktops. I was originally planning to add facing and cabinet doors, but I like the easy access to the space for now. Still need to add solar and an inverter to the battery system. That can be next year's project... :p

https://live.staticflickr.com/802/39...2223d180_c.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/803/41...bd516c1d_c.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e45c26ed_c.jpg

Well I finished up my first large-scale TIG project. I've had an AlphaTIG for 2 years and used it more for other people, until now.

Mission was to fab up a 2.5" 304SS midpipe to get my NB1 ready for moving up to TT6 this fall, which means roughly 130 whp average.

Keep in mind this was done in a 1 car townhouse garage, so there wasn't space for anything fancy.
I bought a Milwaukee Hackzall and an expensive Diablo carbide metal cutting blade, which worked well. I marked the cuts with a sharpe and then wrapped the tube with a piece of painters tape until it looked square. Once I made the cut with the saw I took a flap disk on an angle grinder and ground the tube so it was flush with the tape line.

I can get the joint's pretty darn tight, but I'm still working on getting the welds nice and shiny. Most of them ended up rather dull. I used Solarflux on the back side of every joint and it worked well to prevent any sugaring on the inside of the pipe. On the plus side I have a lifetime supply of it for like $40, it's super easy to use, and didn't have to burn through more gas or buy a dual regulator. I played around with gas flow, which had no affect. I used the largest cup I had (#8 gas lens) at around 20 CFH. I found it was worse when I was going slow at the beginning and putting more heat into it. Towards the end I was working with better fitting joints and also moving quite a bit quicker running the beads. I don't think it was contamination because I used a scotch brite pad to clean about 2" from every tube end (inside, outside, and the lip) and then I wiped everything with acetone. I also wiped all the #308 filler rod with acetone as well.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fad10e637e.jpg

The finished product looks fairly respectable. I worked from back to front so all the best welds are never to be seen in the trans tunnel. There is a flex joint and a 12" vibrant resonator (which does F all for sound). I may end up cutting it out and welding in the largest one I can fit in there. I have a Roadstersport 4 muffler and combined with a header is damn loud. Idle sounds pretty close to stock, but it's race car loud above 2000rpm. I still drive it on the street to shake it down before events, and drive it into work to align it, so I'd like it a bit more subdued. It's not spec miata raspy, but it's no Coyote v8...
I had the trans out over the winter to rebuild it and covered the tunnel with DEI Floor and Tunnel Shield. I also covered as much of the midpipe as possible with DEI Form-A-Shield, which is safety wired to the exhaust. The header is wrapped in DEI Titanium. The combination works extremely well. It was about 85F at Mid Ohio a couple weeks ago and after a full session the tunnel is pretty warm to the touch, but I can't burn myself by touching it. I have the spec miata trans tunnel patch panel. I'll chalk it up as a win.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...452dc218ef.jpg

I like the concept, very clever.

What's the gadget mounted on the wall behind the battery?



Shiny or not, those beads look a fair bit better than anything I ever produced with my fluxcore HF special. Nice work.

Thanks!

The trailer is wired for an RV plug and 110v... that's the breaker box. The wires running down the front wall are for video cameras mounted on the sides of the trailer (like rearview mirrors). Wires exit through the RV plug hole behind the breaker and run up the tongue to attach to the truck. A third camera is mounted on the rear of the trailer, and I have a split screen monitor in the truck. It's the only way I can see anything behind me with our camper mounted.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4335/3...3c68cc31_z.jpg

Doing that thing I always tell newbs not to do and building a mani/do around a turbo. Can’t thank my coworker John enough, he’s got a lot of experience in the area. I could NOT do this again without him.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...57721a1d3.jpeg

Here are some photos of the turbo exhaust manifold i made for my new engine.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c12c6344ec.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dcbb602a68.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5bfe27e8ce.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4b8721805d.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4be0196f9f.jpg

^ That's just pornography. :giggle:

Very nice.

Yeah baby, top notch flanges there. Want a job?

I'd like to see what that fancy garrett TS turbine housing gets you too.

Anybody here have dyno graphs of twinscroll vs non-twin scroll assuming everything else is the same.

Nice to see man welds, instead of the usual microscopic slightly anemic beads that have gained popularity.

Forgive my ignorance, and enlighten me.

Those two black things hanging off either side are wastegates, correct? If so, why two of them? Why not just one in the middle?

It's a twin scroll manifold so exhaust gas is split right until it hits the turbo. You need one WG for each passage.

Thanks. :)
It's important to get full penetration and also back purge when welding stainless exhaust manifolds, so you have to crank up the amperage.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eb4d5b7518.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ec7df1bb36.jpg

You get earlier spool, and more hp an torque in the mid range.
here is a link you can read: https://dsportmag.com/the-tech/twin-...-great-divide/

Shifti, that exhaust flange is beautiful...you're beautiful. :giggle:

Sometimes, the simplest little shit makes all the difference.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9556f91fe7.png


Shims. That's literally all I fabricated today. Just a few thin little strips of 24ga aluminum, and as a result, the news department is no longer freaking out about Camera 14 (which was recently rebuilt) being slightly off-level.

Total money spent replacing a 15 year old camera (and supporting equipment) which was on its last legs and has failed multiple times: $35,000

Total money spent compensating for the fact that the new robot is a heck of a lot heavier than the old one, which was causing the televator to flex: $0.00. (Sheet metal was already lying around.)


The end result:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a34b9283ba.png

I should add to the above: yet another win for eMachineshop. I draw a thing, they make a thing.

The bigger item here is the 1/2" thick aluminum plate under the robot, which adapts its industry-standard mounting pattern (four 3/8" bolts on a 4.375" circle) to the very nonstandard 90s vintage Telemetrics arm which was already in place, and too convenient not to re-use.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c8e2f9897a.png

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ddb38aa00f.png

A bit random since so much time has passed, but did you already run the car with this bracket? I have had some trouble at work with warping of 3D printed ABS plastic when re-heated. Mainly when I tried to be clever and heat up a printed part to around 60Celsius-degrees to couple it with a aluminum shaft. Just saying that maybe you want to test that out before you go for some serious driving.

Though printer might make a difference, I was using a basic Ultimaker 2 extended for that trial, never tried again with anything else.

Havent drove it yet. So really cant say.. But thanks for the tip, if i drive it some more ill check on it.