headers take shape

[nzsimon]

started the headers ran out of 45 degree bends so back on the waiting list

[nzsimon]

sorry haven't figured out the multiple pic posting

[nzsimon]

the drive shaft loop is done

[nzsimon]

Gas tank is in all the original toyota equip from the donor car is in the tank and it is all baffled
As I have never had to drain a tank in my life it has no bung

[nzsimon]

Front view of the diff showing piion support bars I have stainless jam nuts now for all the bars must remember to fit them

[nzsimon]

The hard part is making the other side the same :-)

[nzsimon]

here is a front shot

[Bruce Dorsi]

Gas tank is in all the original toyota equip from the donor car is in the tank and it is all baffled
As I have never had to drain a tank in my life it has no bung

Nice work, as usual, Simon!

What is that other engine seen in the background?

Is your gas tank fabricated from steel, or did you go with composites, as you once considered?

[purplepickup]

Like Bruce says, your work continues to be impressive Simon. It's always nice to see your updates

I can't believe how clean your shop is.

[nzsimon]

The engine in the background is a gen111 chevy its not my shed its a mates mine is currently filthy as I am using it as a spray booth because I made the wife some carbon fibre b piller covers for her lotus esprit

The down side is she showed them to her pommy car mates on the net and gave them a price so now I have oreders coming at me for africa

The shed is packed with little jigs to hold them while I clear them and everything is covered in carbon fibre dust and overspray

Clear coating carbon fibre is a real black art drove me crazy till i worked it out but it isn't easy and is very labour intensive

heres a pic of the little nightmare

I will farm out the final weld and get em tigged My tigg welding if fine but it usually gets really nice on the last weld if you know what I mean

Its great to have mates with room in their shed

[nzsimon]

Is your gas tank fabricated from steel, or did you go with composites, as you once considered?[/quote]

sorry bruce didn't see the last question the tank is panel steel I couldn't get a definate answer from the powers that be on whether I could get certed with a fibreglass tank and couldn't wait forever it's taking to long as it is

[Dirk35]

Wow! Good job Simon!

[Broman]

Man, I wish I could weld better.....

[Sean]

Fine job of fitting on those header tubes, you need a job?

Next time you're playing around with tubing, butt a couple pieces of scrap together and try purging it. This is the method we have to use on Sanitary Stainless tubing in Food and Dairy plants and it will give you a 100% penetration bead, without using filler-rod. No Filler = less finish work.

The way we do it is to get several pieces fitted and tacked together, then tape each end closed securely with good quality masking tape. For the purge-gas, we either use an extra argon bottle with its own regulator, or put a splitter valve on the output side of the same regulator you are welding with.

Poke a hole in one of the taped off ends and insert your extra gas hose. Tape around it good so it isn't drawing oxygen in as the gas flows, then on the other end of your assembled parts you need to poke a hole in your tape for the gas to flow out of. On header sized tubing, a pencil would be about the right size to make your exit hole. Adjust your gas flow to where you can just barely feel it flowing out the exit hole, and you are ready to start fusing the joints together.

You will have to play with the amperage a little, but on 16 gauge SS tubing, 40-50 amps is about right. Carbon steel should be about the same. The trick is to agitate the surface of the weld as you travel across the joint so you break the surface tension on the inside of the tubing. Your travel rate should be fairly slow because of the low amperage, but you need to "weave" the Tungsten at a fairly quick rate as you travel. This is what breaks the tension on the inside of the joint and with practice you can make the inside of the bead look just like the outside.

If you have a "Pulse" setting on your TIG, you can do away with the weaving. If you set the Pulse right, that will also break the surface tension inside the tubing and all you have to do then is concentrate on your travel speed.

I know that sounds like too much work for a set of headers, but its something you can play around with since you are obviously good with tubing anyway....

[nzsimon]

Ripped them all apart last night and tigged all the joins burnt too fingers sunburnt my wrist and flash burned one eye when the auto dark mask didn't auto dark
Still not bad for 8 pipes and 5 hours of solid welding glad it's over though still have to make the side pipes I have some 4 " stainless tube and a pair of bends and a cunning plan

Used stainless filler rod as it flows nicer will buff off all welds may have to drom some silfoss or brass in a few low spots where it is undercut before getting them procoated


They are now all back together welded to the header plates and the collectors finished will post some pics tom as the camera flat