hey guys im making extended top hats, here is the diy:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=469485

I got the strongest metal tubing i could get, now im gonna weld it, but im just wondering, the top hat goes thru a lot of abuse, i dont want the welds to crack on me doing 120 through a corner on the track......after i weld it i will take some pics and post here, but just wondering what your guys opinions are, as far as the integrity and strength goes, thanks for any input!

 

normally i would say that it would only be as strong as your welds are.

while this is still true. there is relatively very little force being exerted on the part you are raising up. the spring holds the load of the vehicle and cornering loads as well, and that is distributed around the inner lip of the entire tophat, which you are not compromising by the change youre making.

the coilover will still be bolted as usual under the body so nothing will be abnormal, force-wise.

itll be fine.
but make nice welds anyways, and if you cant, i would still pay someone to do it for you on this project.

-derek

 

i work at a bodyshop a guy with 20 years welding experience is gonna do it for me, now does anyone know if grinding the welds will make them loose integrity and strenth? I just wanted to make them look better but i guess thats not a good idea

 

if he is a good welder then they should look good, lol. yes thatll lose stregth. get them tig welded and theyl look good an be strong.

 

if your not confident about your welds you could always go with a set of these from ground control

http://www.ground-control-store.com

 

Did anyone mention that you should never cool a weld like that. Running it under the tap for cool down ftl!!!

 

you should never cool ANY weld with water.


brittle welds are not good.

with a welded tophat like that the only thing i'd worry about is something as mentioned above if it cooled too fast or if you overheated the base metal and it cracked out on the outside of the HAZ.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondalover91crx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go with a set of these from ground control
http://www.ground-control-store.com</TD></TR></TABLE>

These friggin things appear to be $119 a piece?!!

::shakes head::

 

Says on the site that they are sold in pairs....not bad a price for a nice looking peice.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mstolars &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Says on the site that they are sold in pairs....not bad a price for a nice looking peice. </TD></TR></TABLE>\

YES and YES, if your serious about performance, and you want a warranteed part, then go with these, they are strong as hell, no to mention if they malfunction will normal street/track use, ground control warrantees them, not to mention if it was the reason for ******* up for car at the track, im sure they would give a little settlement, my friend stretched what i think was a greddy timing belt(not sure dont quote me) and he called them after it ruined his built b16a, and they replaced his motor, and all the fees to have it rebuilt. to greddy, not sure about groundcontrol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cua0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you should never cool ANY weld with water. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I was once told, pouring water onto stainless actually makes the weld stronger ( I believe he said ). I don't do it, but the person that told me was a pretty reputable welder.

 

well technically steel that is immediately quenched is harder, which doesnt really mean the same thing as stronger. theyre not as ductile which leads to fracturing or rupturing instead of bending or deforming.

 

Worked great for me back when I did it 3 years back.

 

Yup I did my own; nothing special just a mig and I think I even used exhaust tubing.

I've been racing with these for 3yrs also; they're only taking the force of the strut rod so that's not much.

 

yes exactly like i said. you can compress the shock with your hand, so its not much force at all.

this mod is to get more droop of the suspension right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfoxengr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes exactly like i said. you can compress the shock with your hand, so its not much force at all.

this mod is to get more droop of the suspension right?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I think its to get more compression before the shock bottoms

 

but the shock normally just bottoms on the bumpstop so theres no lack of travel that way

 

Ground control doesnt make extended top hats for an Accord Sucks, i made my own today, look good, the welds are huge i dunno if i should grind them down, i did a bit

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfoxengr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well technically steel that is immediately quenched is harder, which doesnt really mean the same thing as stronger. theyre not as ductile which leads to fracturing or rupturing instead of bending or deforming.</TD></TR></TABLE>

harder yea.

If you look at a stress/strain curve, hardness isn't even on there. Hardness is only really important in situations where stuff rubs against one another, where surfaces are coming intact. Strength would be your peak value, but toughness is one of the more important values. Toughness is the area under the whole curve, which will tell you alot more about the material than any peak values. Something can have a really high yield strength in one direction, but have no toughness and fail very quickly.

In short, don't quench the welds....

 

do not grind your welds.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by model x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yup I did my own; nothing special just a mig and I think I even used exhaust tubing.

I've been racing with these for 3yrs also; they're only taking the force of the strut rod so that's not much.</TD></TR></TABLE>

samething i did..i even used exhaust tubing as well...held up for 4years of daily abuse..( hard turns, bumpy roads, lots of auto-X events)..still holds up till this day!!!

 

us a tig adn pour water on it al way use a level and level it and when evr u run your bead it is always goin to draw up make sure when u pour water on it make sure it dont draw in a certain direction because ti will make it crocked but if it does draw just heat it up with your tig on the opposite side it drawed and then squirt it with water repeat process until even dont grind it if your decrent with a tig u want have to if it is stainless dont us a mig unless it is stainless fluxcore plain old carbon flux core wont hold up on stainless to weak the water is alright we even used water at my fab shop and we fab pipe for power plants and fuel plants and it is all 110 percent exray

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by importguy21 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">us a tig adn pour water on it al way use a level and level it and when evr u run your bead it is always goin to draw up make sure when u pour water on it make sure it dont draw in a certain direction because ti will make it crocked but if it does draw just heat it up with your tig on the opposite side it drawed and then squirt it with water repeat process until even dont grind it if your decrent with a tig u want have to if it is stainless dont us a mig unless it is stainless fluxcore plain old carbon flux core wont hold up on stainless to weak the water is alright we even used water at my fab shop and we fab pipe for power plants and fuel plants and it is all 110 percent exray </TD></TR></TABLE>

WTF is this jibberish?

pour water on tig? i dont care where you work, but do you know what your talking about?

if your scared about heat drawing just clamp the bitch down with a big c-clamp or vise.

and if you want to just fuse it together just tack it at 4 different spots and just run the torch along the circle with no filler.

your an idiot...

 

hey lamchops it is better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt and if you goin to weld somthing on your car do it right dont halfass itand i do know what im talkin about this shure as hell aint my first time i aint tryin to single you out and make fun of u im just tryin to say dont try to make fun of someone tryin to help someone u can do it eather way but the fact of the matter is that sfuff draws up after bein welded i was just tryin to tell him how to make it come out perfect no one wants some donkey dick crooked **** on there car not even you

 

hey lam chops props out on the ae86 it pretty phat most of the stuff we weld at our shop is mostly shed. 80 up to 160 by the time you get a bead on it with all your caps if it draws it draws like bitch normally econell or 321 or 316 but with some thing really light wall like your talkin about it probaly want even draw your probaly right overlook that stuff i said a minute ago oh yeah if you do the ae86 post it if it was me i would do a toureno not a levin it would be a bad *** track car overlook the spelling