Buy name brands on craigslist and have it calibrated for measuring stuff. Like mitatoyo or starrett.

For cutting tools, drills, taps, etc I like Enco tools.

Ever bought anything off Shars.com? There prices seem extremely cheap, almost to good to be true. Just wondering about quality (how "true" they really are), and reliability.
I'm making things that are pretty costly pieces, i can't be off half a thousandth just because my square is off. I'm not trying to offend you or anything, i am just questioning their prices.


I've searched around in CL a little bit, it seems pretty dry for my area. I'm not a machinist, but i want to get quality stuff. (mitutoyo Starrett)

Shars is the same chinese crap as Harbor Freight and others, just without the mark-up. I've bought from him several times. Also, check out Discount Machine (eBay), which is another one man operation that sells cheap. I've used both, with no regrets.

If you want to get Starrett, you're gonna pay. No way around that, not even used.

No third damper, do care.

Someone has been watching a bit too much Koenigsegg porn

msc is gonna be your best bet to get something and know what your getting. i have bought tools off ebay, but they are name brand tools. Fowler is pretty cheap and good quality.

Thanks for all the great replies. Looks like i can spend most my money at amazon, and ebay. Then probably get a couple non essential things off shars or harbor freight.

I need quality squares that's for sure, and it looks like i'm going to pay. Dang fabrication.

I'm wondering why no one has tried to do a bell crank/ cantilever rear suspension on a Miata. Its a fantastic solution to the issue of not having enough travel at low ride heights. Not to mention the serious amount of adjustment.

I'm sure people have done it in prepared and mod class cars in auto-x. But once you start to get to serious levels like that, serious people dont post. I'm not sure what classes in road racing that would be allowed in.

Time attack ?

Modifying the suspension pick up points for most sanctioning bodies will put you in unlimited if it is even allowed. For road courses, guys with that kind of budget will buy a GT3 and give the miata to his wife.

I'm just looking at it from a fabrication standpoint, if you have the skills and equipment . The dampers would probably be cheaper than what's available for a Miata, they wouldn't be vehicle specific. Some QA1's would work

Some people are set on maxing out a specific car. Look at "Under Suzuki"

If you're going though that kind of work, you're going to use a better damper than a QA1.

I hope they make better dampers than their springs.

FYI for the people interested in low cost measuring high quality stuff I just got this email from Enco.

Save Up To 25% on Mitutoyo + Free Shipping!

I think that link should work. You see that they have waterproof digital calipers. Why would you need that? I've killed a couple harbor freight digital calipers by getting 1 drop of coolant (from the mill or lathe) on the slide and then moving the caliper over the drop. Either get the water proof ones, or only use analog calipers where there is even the slights chance of wetness.

Disclaimer: I'm not a suspension guru.

Question: The function of the third damper being what? To go between the two sides of the suspension? Would said damper also have a spring? Wouldn't this act as the opposite of an anti-sway bar?

The only frame of reference I have for anything resembling this is the so-called "zero roll" suspensions that seem to be popular amongst the Formula Super-Vee crowd, wherein a single, centrally-mounted coilover is used to suspend and dampen both the left and right sides, using a swing-axle design.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360253632

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360253632


It sort of makes sense in that application because... well... because swing-axle. (Which is like saying that swan-diving into a pool of boron makes sense, presupposing that you have already deliberately set yourself on fire.)

What I can't even begin to rationalize is this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360253632

Joe, a 3rd damper/spring is for pitch control. How it works is, the 3rd damper does nothing in roll, nothing at all. The unit moves side to side without compressing. Now if both wheels move up at once the normal springs dont compress but the 3rd damper does. This lets you run good single wheel rates to keep the best tire contact you can and good roll rates (with help of a swaybar) while having very high pitch rates to minimize dive in braking and squatting during acceleration. Have you read the optimum G articles on springs and dampers? I think you'll enjoy it.

So it's similar to the FSV setup, then. In that design, the spring and damper serve to translate upward force from the outside wheel to downward force on the inside wheel during a turn.

In roll, this configuration provides no resistance whatsoever. 100% front roll couple.

I can't quite grasp how you'd configure a suspension such that both outer dampers absorbed 100% of equal compression load, leaving the center damper static except when one wheel is subjected to more compression load than the other. I can see the outers and inners sharing the load in such a situation...

Wasn't even aware of the Optimum G articles. Reading now.

Joe you have it backwards. The center damper only does something when both wheels are compressed.

where are the first and second?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360253632

Is that sway even connected to the control arms?! Physics laws had to of been broken in that dude's head.

It's connected to that bracket that ties everything together. Control arm - coilover - sway bar - frame. It's a 4 point bracket.

That design is actually pretty neat and seems like it would work very well. Though, that bracket seems like it would be under a ton of unneeded stress.

Its connected the the bell crank in that pushrod setup.

Bell crank. I knew what the word was, just wasn't ringing a bell.


/shittypun

That design hurts my head. I'd love to see an expert driver get more out of it vs. an optimized and lighter "standard" setup.

You guys ready for this?

Problem: 3" intercooler inlet/outlet. 2.5" throttle body inlet. Essentially no income whatsoever.

Solution: Use hacksaw (too poor for sawzall) to hack open old muffler, which contained 3" to 2.5" reducer. Use wire brush to make it sortof acceptable for welding. Make this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1360284347

After cutting the upper intake manifold and rotating it (it used to point directly over the valve cover to receive hot air directly from the turbo), I replaced the radiator with a Saab 900 radiator (shorter) and ran the intercooler plumbing over the top. As you can see on the right, I didn't measure the piping very well, but hey, silicone tubes stretch!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1360284347

Finally, the intercooler needed air. Cut the fascia open and ran black door trim around the cuts.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1360284347

SMH :fael::vash:

HA! left you all speechless with my custom radiator mounts and non-cluttered engine bay.

Few things I have made.

Through fender intercooler piping for Miata
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360452735

Log manifold for B6 miata.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360452735

Bottom mount t3/t4 manifold for BP miata.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360452735

Mid pipe for 1JZ Lexus SC400
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360452735
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360452735

Cold air intake for Honda Civic B16
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1360452735



More to come soon. Im building a top mounted small diameter runner for a paying friend of mine right now.
I will be posting pictures as I take them on my Facebook page.
www.facebook.com/HellaFab

I took a spin at making brackets to mount the seats I have for sale. The bracket turned out alright. I have some work to complete it. The spacing on the seat mounts made me add a second level or else the bolts don't fit.

Ok welds for flux core?

I used 1/8" x 3" steel flat bar and 1/8" thk 3/4" angle.

Very nice welds for flux core, I recognize the splatter instantly. A \_/ shaped wire wheel in my drill gets 85% of mine, a chisel and grinder get the rest.

Take a steel file, grind the end of it down into a wedge shape.

1 or more less tools to have laying around. :)

I have been making my own top hats for about 5 years now, with them you can have all the travel you need, makes for a much more stable rear end when going over bumps, many Autocrosses in the Midwest are using them
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362284864

Made some welds.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362322087

Those look good sir.

mmmm V-band

I made some welds too...
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362676524
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362676524
And I did my turbo drain again.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362676524

It makes me cry that my welds will probably never look that good.

Take a class at a community college and they will teach you the basics.

Made a fixture plate for my manifold to try to keep the flanges flat when I weld them. I ended up making it out of the 1/2" 304 that I was going to make the flanges out of because its what I had. BUT BMC race might be 2-3 weeks late on getting the flanges done so I next week I'm likely going to end up turning these into flanges and buying to thicker hot rolled steel to re-make the fixture plates out of.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362760874

I'm thinking about doing this while I wait for parts (hurry up Reverant and Savington).

But if I do, am I crazy to think I could take a 1 semester welding class, and then weld myself a manifold (something simple like has been posted many times to the DIY mani thread)? Or should I just leave that to the experts and start with something more simple (like probably the rest of the exhaust)?

If you pick up the basics fairly quickly, invest in a decent used welder and just keep practicing there is no reason why you can't build your own manifold.

I just took a TIG class at my local community college. It was 4 weeks long and we only welded with mild steel. The actual classes that teach more then that were regular semester long classes, but those have a 2 year wait on them. I honestly would not recommend the class unless it goes over more then just mild steel. I did get better at welding during it, but that is more because I spend tons of time practicing.

If you are interested in only building 1 manifold and thats it then I would suggest going to Abe and getting it done. If you want to actually be able to fabricate and build things in the future then I would say learn to weld. After you factor in costs of welder, and saws, and other tools your costs will far exceed the cost of just having a custom made.

What else do you want to cover? Stainless (304L at least) welds pretty much like very clean mild. 4130 acts a bit funny but you'll figure it out, just be sure to use the correct filler rod. And aluminum is a whole other beast entirely. Welding anything else I don't know much about, but Ti, Mag, and nickel alloys are kind of specialty items anyways.

I also took a welding class at a community college. I agree its kind of a waste. You do get a lot of practice for the money and in my case I met my instructor, who is a machinist and lets me use his shop and tools, etc. I also built a log manifold after my class and its been fine since then. It's really not tough to do a simple manifold.

Basically we were just given mild steel pieces 3" long by 1.5" and about a quarter inch thick I think and practiced different joints on them. I would have loved to had tubing to practice one. Also learning how to properly back purged stainless and how to weld aluminum would have been nice.

I was shocked to learn that the situation is the same at Palomar College, the local trade school in my area. I would think that more welding classes would be made available with such high demand for them.

There are only so many people willing/able/should be allowed to instruct.

If you're buying a welder JUST to do a manifold, it's a complete utter waste. My hobby arrangement that will be 'complete' by spring is: $400 for new MIG welder with gas connections on super clearance from Sears, $150 for 40ft3 argon/co2, $40 welding hood, ~$100 angle grinder, $50 misc. accessories (chipper, brushes, gloves, glasses/shield, etc.)...probably ~$150 for DIY manifold materials (flange, elbows)...and you're already at the cost of a brand new Begi S4 manifold ($829+shipping).

You will definitely see savings for continued use. Mine's already paid for itself.
Rocker repair - quoted ~$1400 , DIY ~$400 , Savings ~$1000
Seat mounts - retail ~$200 , DIY ~$60 , Savings ~$140

I don't see what's difficult about TIG. Anyone can do it.

Throttle pedal controls the heat. A sharp point on the electrode makes it easy to direct the heat. Make both pieces turn into liquid. bring in your filler wire. Done.

Weld elbows are thick enough that you don't have to worry about burning thru.

The practice comes in how big to make the liquid area of the base material before bringing in the filler, and how large of a filler to use. Thin materials are more unforgiving obviously.

This applies to steels and aluminum. With aluminum, it just takes a lot more throttle before it melts (at the beginning anyway) and the base material cools quite quickly when you bring in the filler wire (less forgiving with "size of filler"/"how much heat filler takes out of the pool" ratio). And less forgiving on crap in the material. So the rhythm is different.

MIG is harder IMHO, no way to control the heat as you are welding.

:dunno:

Tim I feel the same way as you. BUT mig is supposed to be easier. set the machine right and you just pull the trigger. It requires less skill and less dexterity. I've never mig welded with with a non crappy collet in the gun, so I cant really comment. I know that I always flash the wire up into the collet, say F this shit and grab the Tig.

yeah, Mig is easy, especially once you have the current and feed rate set. I hear you on the ball of metal stuck to the inside of the collet thing and it short circuiting and that shit. no thanks. HF MIG fail. One of these days I may try a legit Mig maybe at a trade show and fall in love with it.

But tig is still easier. I have shakey hands typically but once you get 'in the zone' it's not hard to hold yourself in odd positions and be smooth. Bigass leather HF glove on my torch hand so I can lean on what I"m welding and usually no glove on my filler wire hand makes it easier too.

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I wouldn't be learning welding JUST for the manifold, that would just be one of the first things I would want to work on. And probably not even for myself. At least 2 of my friends are getting ready to go turbo soon, so that's at least 3 manifolds/dp/exhausts, which will help support the cost.

There's a 20 hour class near me for $350, so I'll probably jump on that. In the mean time, I found an older thread that talked about welding books, so time to bury myself in information.

I started with TIG and I can say even without an instructor it was relatively easy to pick up and weld metal together. Once I realized that I need to make sure the knob on the torch was turned on for argon, laying down beads was relatively easy. The one thing about TIG is having a modern machine does make things much easier. My Lincoln 175 has auto start for lighting the tig torch and for gas flow. The welders we used in class had to be scratch started and you had to manually turn the gas on and off with the knob. Those welders were a good bit harder to get going good on.

When I get home I will post up some the the TIG books that I have picked up that have been helpful with welding.

Local welding supply places often have classes. No fancy certificate at the end, but they usually know what they're doing, as they have to deal with real professionals every day. Look in the phone book (does anyone still use one?) for a place that sells gasses.

That's what I found, a welding supply company was the first hit on google (and recommended by several of the other hits).

Searching found me this thread, and after I am done reading through all that stuff I will try Youtube, and then eventually get a library card.

Speaking of nice, the new Miller 350p we got at work has the pulsed MIG setting.

Ohhhh that can do some fancy things.

I decided to go ahead and make my own TII adapter plate. To anyone that wants to do this, remember to measure 10 times, then measure again. Then cut.

After an hour or so of cutting it looked like this:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1363627652

All done, 2 jig saws later:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1363627652

Now, after welding tranny mounts to the tunnel, everything fits as though it was meant to be that way:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1363627652

Factory RX-7 transmission mount:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1363627652

and with a mix-match of miata and rx-7 bits the shifter ends up in the stock location:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1363627652

:)

Wait you made that in your garage? What are you doing for clutch, flyweehl, and pressure plate?

One can only hope the clutch is not the one from the 3rd picture.