The fabrication thread.

[BrianG701]

Yeah bro no prob

[sillyvia13]

Homemade Valve Spring compressor...
My Buddy Eric Made this... all credit to him!

saved $350 and works MINTY!
Now I can replace valve seals in car. no need to pull engine!

[bloodangels13]

x pipe i MIGed up for my buddys LS1 FC... made it awhile ago but jus took pics when it was off while installing a new clutch

[aa87]

Looking at a Millermatic 180, with or without autoset? Anyone have any opinions? Pretty much at the top of my budget of 800. I will be spot welding, bracing, and maybe eventually try doing my own cage and other things. Autoset? Good bad?

[Om1kron]

Originally Posted by aa87

Looking at a Millermatic 180, with or without autoset? Anyone have any opinions? Pretty much at the top of my budget of 800. I will be spot welding, bracing, and maybe eventually try doing my own cage and other things. Autoset? Good bad?

There is a welder thread started by Unisa Jecs in the chat forum I would check out imo. Also honda-tech has a welding fabrication forum with some very valuable information in there as well.

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread/1022836

Regardless of what some of the elitist pricks here say about the place.

[GabeS14]

Originally Posted by luisgonz

Just made this, Its for my s14 monster,LOL j/k

I saw this in person, looks sick!

[alexander500]

I just finished this rear half cage for an auto-cross guy in his Civic hatchback:

[blu808]

That x pipe is badass. Nice work.

That valve spring compressor is really innovative. Good way to save money!

Alexander: That cage is really cool. Those door bars are really practical.

I love this thread, The work you guys do on here really inspires me.

edit: How much did you charge for that setup?

[dangermouse73]

Looking at the level of work in here im inspired! Im going to pick me up a welder and get to practicing. I was a bit nervous but theres so many levels of awesome work here I just have to try. Thank for the inspiration fellas!

[blu808]

dangermouse73: Thats great to hear. What welder did you end up with?


Here is the M3 evo roll cage nearing completion.



















And back to the LS1 FC/S chassis turbo kit.

Turbonetics discontinued the wastegate we were using. So here is the new one. RG45. This thing is huge.







More crazy stuff on the way.

Thanks.

[blu808]

today i did one of my front firing SSQV BOV installs.

[IMG][/IMG]

[240sxaddict]

I've always been worried about doing that, screams steal me!




Quick cut and weld for a bumper support for a friend.

[95KA-Turbo]

This is a little different then everyone else's fabrication stuff on here.

I'm making a fiberglass cooling panel for my car:



I will post up better/completed pictures when I get back in town next week.

I'm going to be working on a splitter as well, I am not sure if I'm going to break out the fiberglass for that or not, I'll probably just use quarter inch plywood.

[DJButton]

Current project in the shop, all credit to Mr. Fujii for the metal work, stuff is almost done! Thought some of you guys might like to take a look at it. A little different then the average S14 with SR and FMIC. The fenders were also tubbed here as well. Wiring harness is almost done, relocated to interior and only necessary plugs are extended, looks very clean in the engine bay now. All per owners request.








Obligatory work in progress picture.

[Andrew Bohan]

hows that work??

[Z_Spool]

Holy Sanchez... I've seen V-mounts but an H-mount? I'd like to see how effective this actually end up being.

[cc4usmc]

Originally Posted by Andrew Bohan

hows that work??

I was going to ask the same thing...

[Om1kron]

that seriously is fail... but hey it's still in progress apparently I shall be wowed when it's finished, awaiting the wow.

[blu808]

Come on guys. Lets offer constructive comments please.

[cc4usmc]

Originally Posted by blu808

Come on guys. Lets offer constructive comments please.

Well like DjButton said "All per owners request" So i'm not questioning the work being done, I'm just questioning why the owner was thinking.

[CursedGTR]

Originally Posted by blu808

Come on guys. Lets offer constructive comments please.

Here is one for you but you can sanity check it because I think V Mount Sucks ass no matter what, therefore I do not screw with it. BUT

If your Radiator and Intercooler are mounted horizontal to the ground, why not put a sheet metal V in the middle facing to the front like so > that way air will be divided and flow through both components? Very similar concept to the piece of sheet metal some people put int he middle of a V- Mount. I would also look at something like mounting some thin fans (pullers) on the bottom and using a really good shroud.

If this was me I would modify my carriage slightly and elevate the radiator to a 45 Degree angle throw a sheet metal divider in there and use puller fans.

YEah that is abotu it for my discombobulated rantings

[blu808]

It looks as if they put alot of hard work into this setup. Unfortunately it is not what I would consider a proper V mount setup. I also consider v mount setups to be fubar unless it is on a full on road racing car though.


As for the ducting. I would suggest anyone on here reads this article. It is what I base all my ducting/ shrouding off of. I set this as the ground rules for all ducting setups.

Hope this helps out.

Courtesy of Sport Compact Car.



P51 Mustang Net Thrust - Net Downforce - Sport Compact Car Magazine

writer: Jay Chen

P51 Mustang Net Thrust P51 Mustang

Long ago, aerodynamicists stumbled upon the concept of net thrust when they were busy designing warbirds like the P51 Mustang. While the definition of net thrust can apply to a lot of things, what I'm talking about is getting thrust for free.

Before turbo jets, turbo fans, ram jets, scram jets and pulse jets, planes were powered by piston engines-similar to car engines, just a lot bigger. Since aerodynamics came first, most planes were either limited to air-cooled radial engines (like on most navy fighters) for serviceability on board a carrier. Or they had water-cooled in-line or narrow V-bank engines that fit inside the long, slender nose of something like the Mustang. Water-cooled engines obviously needed radiators, but because of the lines of the fuselage and turbulence from the prop wash, placing a sufficiently large radiator in front, automobile-fashion, doesn't work.

So designers took advantage of the fast airflow over the plane and placed heat exchangers under the body or in the wings. Even though fast-moving air through a heat exchanger is efficient, big flat surfaces like the face of a radiator is bad for drag, whether in a plane or in a car. In order to maximize cooling without adding massive drag, designers were forced to use a radiator with a smaller frontal area and a thick core. The problem there is that it takes pressure, not speed, to drive the airflow. Without adequate pressure, the front face of the radiator would become a stagnation zone.

To change flow velocity into pressure in a confined space, you have to slow down the flow. Bernoulli's equation states a proportional relationship between pressure, flow area and speed. Since flow rate doesn't change much, the inverse relationship between velocity and pressure means that if flow becomes slower within an enclosed area, the pressure would rise. The easiest way to reduce velocity is with a diverging nozzle. If the airstream enters through a small opening (small cross-sectional area) and exits a larger opening, the air velocity going out would be slower than what's going in, and the pressure would be higher at the outlet than the inlet.

A diverging nozzle or duct at the inlet of the radiator cuts the speed and increases pressure in front of the radiator. The pressure ensures that air has enough potential to push all the way through the resistance in the radiators' fins and tubing. Without that pressure, the flow would stop and all subsequent air would go around the radiator duct, making it useless.

On the outlet side, the opposite effect is desired. If there is little pressure on the back of the radiator, the flow in front will be sucked through. Dropping the pressure means using a converging nozzle and trading pressure for speed, so the outgoing flow is now accelerated. But that outgoing flow will never be as fast as the incoming flow, because of drag, and frictional losses induced by the radiator and turbulence generated off the converging and diverging nozzles. The net result is still drag.

Here's where net thrust comes in. Since the four-stroke internal combustion engine has a real-world thermal efficiency of under 50 percent, over half the fuel's energy is wasted as heat through the exhaust or sucked up by the cooling system. In a few instances, we scavenge some of this to pre-compress the intake charge, such as a turbocharger. But the majority is still dumped into the atmosphere.

However, energy is energy whether it's heat or velocity and it can be converted (with some loss) from one form to another. Transferring heat from the radiator to the air flowing through it energizes the airflow by heating it up and changing its density. The air in front of the radiator has less energy than the air behind it. With more overall energy, that heat can be converted into exit velocity, making the outgoing flow faster than the incoming flow and voila, you have thrust. Do it right and the total thrust gained from the exit nozzle is more than the total drag incurred from the entire radiator, ducting and cowling assembly.

That's exactly what North American engineers stumbled on in the belly radiator ducting of the Mustang. Pilots reported that, at the right altitude and airspeed, the Mustang was flying faster than the engine should be able to pull it. That's because the radiator ducting had now turned into a thrust nozzle.

So how does this have anything to do with a car? While thrust is good for straight-line speed, downforce is better for the track. Just like free thrust, if the exit flow is turned up slightly, the thrust pushing forward is now also pushing down. With the right design, this becomes net downforce, where the downforce gained is worth more in terms of lap times than the drag incurred by the radiator.

P51 Mustang Net Thrust Go Kart

Designing one that works is a whole other story and is typically better with sleek formula cars with side-pod-mounted radiators that vent up and back. But some road cars can take advantage of this, especially mid-engine cars where the hood doesn't have to clear an engine, and air is forced through diverging ducting in front of the radiator into a converging duct out and back. This is why GT cars all have that large, gaping hole in the hood, even if the engine isn't in front.

While I doubt any of us have the resources to develop net thrust, it's a great concept to play with while testing at the track. The angle of convergence and divergence is critical to prevent flow separation, which results in massive drag and reduced cooling.
But some basic calculations and ambitious CFD tests by the industrious closet engineer will get you into the ballpark before testing begins. Did anyone say Project NSX?

[DJButton]

hows that work??
Easy, once the ducting is compete and the splitter between intercooler and rad. the air will be forced to either go down thru the radiator or up thru the intercooler.

It's getting ducting in between, it's not that uncommon a set-up, the radiator does slant up in the back. If it's not common on Zilvia it must suck right guys? Oh wait! Did I miss the opinions section?

Blu, that article is good stuff! It is more of an h-mount then v-mount set-up, correct. Could have dropped the intercooler lower and tilted the radiator up, but the fab, guy thought that this method when done would be most effective.

Just you fine folks know, this isn't my handiwork I'm just tossing up the pictures. The man doing the work has built and raced circuit k-cars in Japan as well as built more then a few astouning automobiles.

[MavericStephenc]

I own the S14.

as far as the radiator goes I thought that it should have a bit more angle to it, however fujii san has reason to believe that the setup will work once the duct work is complete so we will see.

worse comes to worse it overheats and we re-configure the angle of the rad.

it's still a baller setup though, and I trust the experience of someone who has built cars that perform.


major thanks to all the guys who have helped too. I know I dont have the fab skills to do half of that yet.

[240sxaddict]

Just did my first cage using full forward bars and headache bar... I'll never go back to the halo design. My only regret would have to be that I didn't give the welding sequence enough attention, so the forward bar pulled away from the apillars a bit, when in mock-up they had very minimal gap.

Door bars were designed with daily-driving ease of use in mind.

KA24DE powered AE86...

[240sxaddict]

[240sxaddict]

[sillyvia13]

Originally Posted by Andrew Bohan

hows that work??

Originally Posted by Z_Spool

Holy Sanchez... I've seen V-mounts but an H-mount? I'd like to see how effective this actually end up being.

Originally Posted by cc4usmc

I was going to ask the same thing...

Originally Posted by Om1kron

that seriously is fail...

Originally Posted by cc4usmc

Well like DjButton said "All per owners request" So i'm not questioning the work being done, I'm just questioning why the owner was thinking.

Originally Posted by DJButton

hows that work??
Easy, once the ducting is compete and the splitter between intercooler and rad. the air will be forced to either go down thru the radiator or up thru the intercooler.

It's getting ducting in between, it's not that uncommon a set-up, the radiator does slant up in the back. If it's not common on Zilvia it must suck right guys? Oh wait! Did I miss the opinions section?

Blu, that article is good stuff! It is more of an h-mount then v-mount set-up, correct. Could have dropped the intercooler lower and tilted the radiator up, but the fab, guy thought that this method when done would be most effective.

Just you fine folks know, this isn't my handiwork I'm just tossing up the pictures. The man doing the work has built and raced circuit k-cars in Japan as well as built more then a few astouning automobiles.

Originally Posted by MavericStephenc

I own the S14.

as far as the radiator goes I thought that it should have a bit more angle to it, however fujii san has reason to believe that the setup will work once the duct work is complete so we will see.

worse comes to worse it overheats and we re-configure the angle of the rad.

it's still a baller setup though, and I trust the experience of someone who has built cars that perform.


major thanks to all the guys who have helped too. I know I dont have the fab skills to do half of that yet.

Originally Posted by DJButton

Current project in the shop, all credit to Mr. Fujii for the metal work, stuff is almost done! Thought some of you guys might like to take a look at it. A little different then the average S14 with SR and FMIC. The fenders were also tubbed here as well. Wiring harness is almost done, relocated to interior and only necessary plugs are extended, looks very clean in the engine bay now. All per owners request.








Obligatory work in progress picture.

can you show me 1 more car with rad facing ground and that close to ground?
what about a rock kickin up? a speed bump, a tree branch, a crack rock, a smurf? you hit anything you fucked!
DANG Fujisan... lets see his work!
he's built mad cars!
post em up!

A for effort.
F for FAIL!
better luck next time.

[nieko]

asshole much? x)

[DJButton]

Wow... Thanks Russ... no words are necessary on my end. Thanks for the laugh though, no really.

Here was another quick little project, cheap used front mount set-up until I could afford to get one. The piece that holds the intercooler etc is bolted in. As was the whole structure on the S14 naturally, just 4 bolts. But anyway, here are a couple pictures, all built with leftover parts which was nice.








I think it came out pretty well, looks ok from the front end and it was super cheap. Did this back in early spring btw, and sorry for the very crappy pictures they are cell pictures. Not that anyone will read this anyway.


EDIT:
S14 Details
Just added some links to leave clutter off of the page, but here are some similar radiator positions, for the kids.
http://mastrowrx.com/vmount30.JPG
http://www.nengun.com/image/catalogu...r_radiator.jpg
Harder to tell on this on, but yup definitely close to it.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../vq30in026.jpg
Again small picture hard to see, but look at the intercooler! Oh damn it's so low!
http://www.neweraparts.com/DesktopModules/CATALooKStore/MakeThumbImage.aspx?ID=%2FPortals%2F0%2Fpic1.JPG&P ORTALID=0&W=180&H=180
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member.../516613_69.jpg

Here's the car we copied, like I said, the pictures are deceiving it slants upward more in person, Kazama S15 and Signal Auto were the cars that he looked at when fabbing it up, both ran similar ways.
http://images.importtuner.com/featur...240sx_lead.jpg
http://images.importtuner.com/featur...ngine_view.jpg
It is slanted up in the back more then the one we're doing, but the splitter will extend in a v from intercooler to radiator so airflow should be optimal, thanks for the kind words.