Never posted on here before, so figured i oughta ***** myself out a little. As of now im on my 3rd tank of argon, so that gives you a little idea of how many hours i have under my belt.

This is the first thing i welded for my old KA setup. Started on aluminum, using a friends thermal arc 185. I welded about 3 pipes before i did this plennum. Which ended up not clearing the hood when i got back to my house so i cut it all up lol, and im going to weld this up onto a friends car soon. After i shave and weld the inside.


Then i picked up a diversion 165 (couldnt pass up the deal for 800). Started making things for my new project.




First piece in steel.

Trans mount.

Most of the welds on the trans mount were pretty shotty. This one turned out decent though.

Motor mount installed.

Shifter extension for a friend with a 1jz. I was using 2% thiorated at the time on everything. And it does not like 5052 for some reason. Welds were cold. And had to make a flange because mine got so contaminated.

Then just finished an intake manifold for a dude with a supra, mocked up on my car.







Had to floor it this entire pass, wouldnt get any hotter; so the weld is cold. i wont do 3/8in plate and port them out like that with this welder again. I already want a new machine. Welding the runners sucked, flooring it and waiting and waiting some more. ba.

Inside view through the vaccum port. Seems like i cant get the bead centered, since im always off to the side with more mass. Idk.

And all the materials for MY manifolds finally. lol. I plan on trying to polish most of the weld areas for aluminum this time.


BIG thanks to weirtech for cutting me an intake flange. Great service, insanely awesome price for a single run flange.
After my intake is finished its time to start stainless.

 

Nice start! where did you get your materials for the intake manifold?

 

Nice man great work. Keep whoreing your pics i love pics.

 

Intake flange from weirtech, RMR oval runners, RMR oval velocity stacks, RMR 14mm injector bungs, RMR -10 rail stock. Bought the U bends from race parts solutions, and top her off with an ebay 90mm TB. Thanks for the good word!

 

A few updates. Its been moving very slowly, day job, and fabbin other people's **** on top of it. But im determined to get some real progress goin. Im tired of lookin at it with no manifolds lol.





Here's the shifter extension for my car, the first one was for a buddy of mine; the flange was so bad after i welded the first one i had to make it from sheet, as you can see from the pics of his in my first post. I figured out that (since i do not have an acetylene torch and cannot adjust my cleaning cycle with the 165) if you go over the cast first with the torch, sand blast, go over with the torch, sandblast, surface prep, it welds completely normal afterwards. Reacts just like 6061. I also switched from 2% thiorated (which i had been told and seen on other inverters work well for al and steel) to pure tungsten, this helped a lot with welding 5052, which for some reason with 2% welded like crap, as you can also see in the 1st post.




Still, I do not understand how people achieve the proper torch angle for a weld like that. You cannot point the torch at the bung, as soon as you do it'll melt, so the only way to weld it is with the torch pointing at the runner meaning the torch has to be (mostly) perpendicular to the runner, eliminating your ability to weld the gap and forcing you to build material to bridge the gap. Any tips? Can you grind your tungsten in such a way that it reacts better to the high torch angle?

Im worried that with the weld on the lip like that the injector wont be able to seat all the way down. I'll have to see, a little grinding could fix that i suppose idk. I was pretty disappointed with the way they turned out. If i did it again i would just pay for the machining into the flange.


Runners thrown on with the stacks.

PPPPS, is 1.5 inches enough for the distance of the flange plate before and after the stacks?


Welded my first stainless steel, sch10.


Def need to get a backpurge setup, also was using .035 rod, which i think is too small for schedule 10, i was moving as fast as possible and dipping as fast as i could and still was too hot. Picked up some .045, and i'll get in some real practice after the intake is done and i get a backpurge setup goin on.


Welded a vband flange onto a downpipe that was bent from being too hella flush. Did it with no filler, i couldnt move fast enough with filler and keep the weld cold enough. Any advice for flanges besides back purging?

Ps. Sorry for such a close picture of that **** that was taken all over the downpipe.

 

looks good so far.

 

Thanks man, I really appreciate you getting the flanges for me. Fitmemt is spot on and the price was very reasonable.

 

the injectors will seal just fine with how your bungs are welded.

 

Not sure if you're aware of this but once you welded those bolts onto the plate you no longer have the same strength that once existed on the bolts.

Comin out good though

 

Thanks for the advice on the bolts. I will keep that in mind when the car runs. The bolt was sitting into the flange/welded from the backside as well. I assume that'd make it worse if it's the heat sacrificing the bolts integrity. But it would atleast reduce the impact of lateral loads on it.

Thanks for the reassurance about the bungs, I was really fretting over that, and wanted to make sure before I start welding her up. Just kinda feel like taking the hit on ID2000's a little further down the road lol.

 

Looking good

 

You make some really nice welds!
Especially the aluminum welding!
Do you know if there's some kind of website that gives tips on filler thicknesses etc.

 

There's only 2 thickness' that are practical on aluminum, 1/16 and 3/32. I use 3/32 on everything but smaller diameter piping. It all depends on ur style. Just try em both!
Thanks for all the good word guys.