914-SHO Project Thread

[3d914]

Spent today doing metal trimming for the two firewall sections. Its been very time consuming to get things to fit right on all four sides + curvatures. So I decided to fit three sides and do the lower part as a flat face instead of the curved I was attempting. Just don't have the tools to do the job properly.

Even fitting three sides takes a lot of fit & trim, fit & trim again, fit & trim again, . . . But finally got both side ready for tack welding. The lower edge trimming will be done once they are tacked on, since the cut is related to the main firewall.

Right side

Left side

Back

 

[NoSlo]

Laminar air flow to MAF

If you want to reduce turbulence before the MAF, you can put a section of tubing there and pack it full of plastic drinking straws (with screens on both end to hold them captive. This does remarkable things to smooth out air flow.

Or you can buy an actual MAF flow straightener:http://kyspeed.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1279

 

[3d914]

New welder came in Friday afternoon - so spent some time assembling and setting it up. Got to do some testing today. The Longevity 140 I went with has 25-140amp range so I can get the arc volts down to work with this thin sheet metal. The thinnest stuff is 20 gauge, but some areas are thicker 18 & 16 gauge.

I tried flux core wire first. It worked better than my other welder - fewer blow-thrus, but I still couldn't get the amp volts below 55 - that wire just doesn't work well below that point.

Then decided to try the .023 steel wire and use gas. This helped a lot. I was able to get the arc volts down near 35 - and with the C25 gas was able to do more than just spot welds. It even worked well to fill previous blow-thrus. There's a little more material build up than with the flux core, but I'll keep tweeking the settings.

Still reasonable happy with the results.

 

[Off Road SHO]

Gerard, I know you're not doing structural welding with those spot welds, but if you are doing them for strength, you should overlap the spots and start the next spot before the prior one cools out of the red stage.

Gas MIG welding is so much easier than flux core.

Tom

 

[3d914]

Gerard, I know you're not doing structural welding with those spot welds, but if you are doing them for strength, you should overlap the spots and start the next spot before the prior one cools out of the red stage.

Gas MIG welding is so much easier than flux core.

Tom

Tom, thanks for the tips. I've been overlapping the spots, but generally I'm having to jump back and forth between different sides of the piece. If I concentrate too much in one area - by connecting spots while they're in the red - I get too much heat and end up with some minor warping. Because of the location, I haven't been able to use a backing block either - which could help with the heat issue.

Had to spend some time doing additional fitting on the left side, but did manage to get it tacked in. I'll also have to add some fill-in pieces and cleanup up some of the curves, but its well on its way. Going to try and avoid any warpage if possible.

 

[tery]

JEEZZZZZZZ. You guy are really fun to watch, So freakin deep into it!!, thanks for sharing it all....so cool...

 

[3d914]

Busy weekend so not a lot of time on the project. Did get the left side of firewall welded up, but still have the fill-in pieces to do. Felt like crap so only worked a couple of hours.

 

[Off Road SHO]

Now that's some nice stitching. Great job!

Tom

 

[3d914]

Spent a solid six hours today working on closing up the main firewall. Had a lot of little areas to fill on the left, and one in the middle. Also had to correct a few areas that had warped slightly by reheating, reshaping and cooling - much better now.

Also took couple of hours just to get the upper edge of the two openings right so that I can put a flat piece in. Thought I had some 20g but I must have used it elsewhere. I'm going to scavange some from the engine lid I'm mocking up - but that means spending some time calculating my cuts.

Also decided to close off the two-layer support channel that runs along the top of the firewall. Cut and tacked both pieces in, but not real sure how I'm going to weld these seams. Maybe do some more tests with lower arc-volts to see if that will work.

It's getting there. Hope to have firewall closed off this weekend.

 

[Falconvan]

Nice job! I went back and re-read your thread, you've really got some fine engineering in this.

 

[3d914]

Well didn't get as far as I planned. Not having the 20g sheet on hand slowed me down. Had to work on my engine lid mockup to get the pieces to use for the firewall. Here's what I've decided on the engine lid. David M did a nice write up on one of the 914 forums about how he built his own GT style engine lid - and it gave me some ideas.

Instead of doing the whole lid in mesh material - like the GT, I decided to just install mesh where the intake will feed directly to the radiators. So I cut a 7x11 inch area out on each side and will make a 1/2 inch 90 deg bend at the dotted lines. This is where I will attach the mesh material. The main support ribs will get a bunch of 1 inch holes to aid air flow as well.

The large area left in the middle will be mostly sheet metal as will the transition piece to each side where the mesh will be fastened.

These cutout pieces are what I needed for the firewall. First had to strip all the layers of paint off both sides. Managed to get one marked and rough cut, but still have the other side to do.

 

[3d914]

A lot of other things going on this weekend so I still didn't get everything done I wanted. That leaves me one three-day weekend left this month - I gotta finish this firewall!!!

Did manage to get the other side cut, fitted and tack welded. I also had two smaller pieces near the center to cut, bend, and fit. They got welded in completely. Now all that's left is welding the lower edges on the back side and the upper edges on the front side. Can't wait till its finished.

 

[3d914]

Well a few hours of welding and grinding finishes up the front firewall - Hoo Ra! Now I can move on to something else - like maybe the rear firewall.

Here's a shot from the back

And from the front

 

[3d914]

Got some more time in on the project. Even though I was working all weekend, I managed to get afternoons/evenings free to take care of the left inner quarter panel. Someone did a real hack job - layers of welding that wasn't finished off, holes poorly cut, etc. Here's a pic from way back. You can see the carnage. The outer panel had to be removed also because, I'm guessing the same someone, had it filled with 1/2" thick of bondo.

So out came the crap. It was interesting trying to cut this out with all the odd shapes. There's also some double-layering of the panel in spots.

The real work was trying to get the replacement piece cut and fit correctly. It's still not ready for welding, but I decided to call it a night.

 

[3d914]

Have a bunch of hours to put in this weekend for work - but thanks to mobile computing and waking up at 3 am I was able to get stuff for today done early. That left me with time to work on the teener.

Had a lot of fitting to do, but finally got the outer part of that replacement inner panel welded. Still have a small section I'll weld from inside the engine bay. Here's both views.

 

[3d914]

Got a good six hours in today. Finished grinding welds on the main patch panel and got two other holes welded up - along with filling some holes where I had to drill out spot-welds. Should be able to finish this side up tomorrow & be ready for rear firewall.

 

[3d914]

Got started on the rear firewall. Had to tear down the used section I bought and make sure its going to work for what I need before cutting out what remains of mine. Has a lot of spot welds and a couple of layers - so a time consuming job.

I'll add a nice pic once I get it prepped and ready for primer.

 

[3d914]

Been swamped at work lately - even on the weekends - so not getting much time in on the teener. Hope to get in a few hours each day this weekend though.

Stay tuned . . .

 

[3d914]

Spent numerous hours this weekend getting one of the two layered panels of the rear firewall (to the trunk) removed. Required drilling out lots of spot welds - so very tedious job.

Then used Andy's idea of welding angle iron in the corner to reinforce the connection between the shock tower and the upper part of the longs. New welder made the job a breeze. Still had to do it in 1-inch or so sections, but I'm happy with the results.

 

[3d914]

Been side-tracked the last couple of weekends working on other projects. Redoing bedroom and finishing my entertainment wall. Decided to do this design of an abstract tree - built from 1/2" ply panels sitting on 2x2 furring strips.

Here's a shot of the design and the stage I'm at. Already started cutting & routing the first few panels. They'll get primered, then mounted and painted. Been a nice distraction from the car.

Most the paint is getting covered. Wife was having fun with the different colors.