Later,
Eric
357 essw ( economy sport super widebody ) built by
E-Fab Motorsports
Check out HTP America as well at http://www.htpweld.com/ Most of their stuff is European made (Italy) and of excellent quality. They have great customer service and also have a 90 day return policy that allowed me to upgrade my Invertig 160DC to a 201 AC/DC. I'm a very happy customer :-)
If you're in Chicago, they also offer a Saturday TIG class once a quarter or so taught by the chief fabricator at Newman-Haas. Jerry has amazing skills.
John Van Houten
http://www.elephantmotorsports.com
Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting. --Steve McQueen
Cyberweld has the spectrum extreme 375 for $1150, might be worth it.
I'd rather stick with Miller, although the HTP looks real nice.
I took a Motorsport "custom" tig weekend course with our fsae team, was awesome. The guy who taught us could put a weld bead on the edge of a soda can!
I understand about keeping with a brand and you can't really go wrong with Miller. I have a Miller 180 for a MIG and while it's great, the feed mechanism in the HTP is a little better. If I hadn't gotten the Miller for so cheap (thank you Craigslist!), I would have gone with an HTP.
John Van Houten
http://www.elephantmotorsports.com
Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting. --Steve McQueen
My last plasma cutter was a spectrum 300 (no longer made, but bigger than the spectrum 125) and I wished that I had bought a bigger one. When I do buy one again I am going to get the Spectrum 375 X-treme. I think that is would be worth the extra $$. It is like your mig welder with the dual voltage feature. You can find them on ebay all day long on buy-it-nows for $1120 w/ free shipping.
After you use that Miller DVI2 you will have to tell us how you like it. It is the one I am thinking about buying when I can't use the one at work any more.
Yea, Cyberweld is pretty local, and I get great service from them, plus free next day delivery since i'm so close. I think i'm definitely going with the 375 extreme, for the money and the price, it looks perfect.
I should be trying it tomorrow night, I have to get some gas and a 10# spool in the morning.
Here are some updates from tonight. I finished removing the roof...100+ weld nut drillouts later, and it popped right off, nice and clean. I also started on the undercoating using a knotted wirewheel. As long as you go slow, it takes it off very fast, and very clean. This is only about 90 minutes of work, and I spent most of that time doing the very small hard to reach areas in corners and stuff, and where it was 1/4" thick! The thin areas take 2 seconds, its the thick stuff you have to go slow. I figure by sunday I should be done. I might also try burning out the seam sealant to help the welds not get too contaminated. On the E46 there is mostly paint under there, the undercoating is really only on the seam areas and the frame rails, otherwise I don't have to do much down there other than a quick grind over the seam to get it clean for welding.
This one worked fantastic!
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/blr11096.html
It comes with two drill bits, and 3 cutting heads. I busted one drill bit b/c the allen head was screw in too tight and it did not retract. But otherwise, it worked flawlessly, and the same head not only lasted for the entire roof, but its still in great condition.
Plus it comes in a nice plastic case
69' BMW 1602 Vintage Racecar BS-L Racing w/ VARA in Cali (@1602racer on IG)
10' Toyota FJ Pre-Runner (LS3 big suspension - @trophyFJ on IG)
17' F250 6.7l Tow Rig and shop truck
'12 X5d Wifeymobile
89' M3 *Sold / 88' M3 *Sold / 98' M3 Sedan Sold / 06' M3 Comp.Pkg.SMG *Sold
My 1602 race car build thread.
I found this technique to work well: Do a quick center punch on all the spot welds. Use a high torque corded drill (i.e. Bosch, etc). Go slow until it has a good bite and then do a couple pecks. Using the peck drilling method i found it went quicker and cleaner. 2-3 Pecks and it popped right through the first layer.
Those tools look familiar...
The urethane left over from the front and rear windows I stripped off with this:
Loving that rotissery Steve, I bought one myself.
Make sure you wear a good respirator mask when sanding this shit. You won't realize it until its too late that you are surrounded by toxic fumes.
I used a chisel to remove all the weatherstripping and misc stuff left fro the window. Then a quick grind to expose the spotwelds.
Are you putting a carbon roof on, or just another skin so you can have access to do the cage?
Hey - I would say that evosport IS a usual source for CF roofs!
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=931231
Steve, here are some CF and Kevlar pieces that I am also letting go cheap!
Thanks
Brad
Your my usual source lol
Nice plug for the parts sales, some real nice looking stuff, but I'll pass for right now.
Carbon Roof is the only component I will have to do during this stage of the build/project (Thanks again).
I did not get to work on the car last night, had back to back hockey games and it just totally exhausted me. Will be removing undercoating tonight though ....AND playing with the new MIG.
I have a carbon roof that came off the CM car here - seemed to have a fair share of glass in the middle of it Didn't come from Evosport I think. As with all carbon these days, know what you are getting.
I always love to show this:
47.91 pounds plus some speed holes = 48lbs saved, wahoo!
What structural adhesives have worked well?
I've had good success with steel to carbon bonding with Loctites Structural Adhesives (dont have the number off hand). You use the swizzle sticks to mix, it turns green, and you can heat cure it to speed up the process.
Brad, I need to talk to your guys about some tricks for clamping it down. I'm thinking some tiny rivets every couple inches should do the trick.
Fusor.
I would stay away from riveting it to the under structure. More holes = more chance for rust. Although, since your spot-weld bit doubles as a drill bit, you have pre-existing holes to use already. Clamp the roof down where you want it BEFORE you glue or permanently install it using c clamps with paint sticks as to not mar up the surface and self tapping screws where you can't get clamps. Have all the stuff ready to go, then glue.
Have you installed these on E46's?
I'll wait to talk to Brad and see what their experience says.
I don't think the rust will be an issue. There are no holes created from the spotweld bit, thats why its a spot weld bit! It has a spring loaded drill bit. You are basically milling out the spotweld on the top surface, and if done properly you do not touch the mounting material.
I've put together 3 carbon hybrid monocoques using Loctite structural adhesive, and we even created a little oven to cure it. The issue is making sure you have proper surface prep. The stuff from loctite is amazing, especially in tear, shear, and direct tension. We had carbon delaminate before the adhesive showed even the slightly sign of an imperfection, pretty amazing. I'd rather use low profilefasteners, either permament or temporary than clamps, as it will be pretty hard to clamp in most areas.
Rust was a minor concern. I was just admiring the holes in the front roof bow and the tops of the quarters where there used to be spot welds, just throwing it out there. Seriously though, I'm just picking. As far as my experience, well did you see the guys at BW trying to get that carbon roof off of the winter c-mod project?
Yea, thats where I found out the spring was actually inside lol The set screw was too tight originally, and I did not realize it had a spring inside. After I found out it was equipped with a spring, there were no holes after that.
The hole are ok, I'll just put tape and some wood strips on the backside, and the adhesive will just fill in that small space, no big deal.
Actually, my bad, they are speed holes Part of the weight loss program.
Last edited by Steve J.; 02-08-2008 at 01:51 AM.
No buddy I did put it on.
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