Ugly Gold 4 door Hoor SAS-LS

I’m having a tough go at the hoop welds. I fucked up bad not pre welding them. I have ground them and tried to re weld but look just as shit. Super frustrating!!! Embarrassing but this is how these builds go so gonna post pics of the Shit too.



Vs nice easy passes. @Kwikvette knows about Angles fucking your whole shit up

 

Also….. Some super valuable advice for someone embarking on a stupid sas project!

Buy 4-5 $20 digital angle finders. Not 1!!

Yesterday-

Pulled motor to get better angle, made up 2 degrees. Ehh, it’ll work but I thought I raised it way more. I mean, a $20 Amazon angle finder that got 4.5 star rating seems pretty trust worthy.


Today w new angle finder. Just to be safe I opened it and threw it in. Wtf

 

It happens.

One thing I recommend doing as I do it for anything that gets butted up against something flat, I bevel the edges all around. This allows the weld to not only fuse the outer perimeter to the flat surface, but also fill in underneath the gap you created.

 

Still learning on the mig. I honestly can’t wait to redo the frame. I’m really not happy w many parts of it.

 

X2 happens to the best of us. My supports for the hoops to the frame came out less than stellar. Also have to consider quality of steel and if it still has some oil covering it.

 

I like these a lot more. Much more repeatable results

Johnson Level & Tool 700 Magnetic Angle Locator, Orange, 1 Locator

$11 Johnson Level & Tool 700 Magnetic Angle Locator, Orange, 1 Locator

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T807

 

Wish I had an excuse. It’s just rushing to make a consistent pass instead of just stopping then tie in. The small pipe is hard w mig. Way easier to tig.

I wire brush, blow w air, dawn on a rag, then alcohol before welding final shit that you can see.

I just got one from that link. I’ll try. The digital is nice cause it reads down to .01 of a degree. I’ll use that one to make sure my digital is true though!

 

I’ve been bitching about this a lot but exhaust wrap is like the suckiest shit ever. Mask, gloves, itchy and it takes forever. Finished other manifold. Took 50ft of 1”



I did this in a 70 degree basement. You can see my six pack sweating through.

 

I have a 50ft roll of 2" wrap to finish the last 2 ft of the crossover from manifold to manifold and I will need 100ft for downpipe, that will be an extra $100. This is a classic case of "unanticipated expense" for we who do stupid builds.

$330 total for DEI titanium wrap in various lengths covered this.

-2 exh.manifolds
-6ft of 2.5" crossover roughly
-4ft of 3.5" downpipe
-The 2.5” to 3” merge collector to turbo/wastegate.

 

Oof

 

I’m about to paint my front axle I’m super conflicted about painting it satin clear coat or satin black which will be the same as the whole front frame, hoops, etc.

I was hoping that I could get some opinions on this cause once it’s black, it’s black forever. Here are some pics to see the color it what it would look like in clear. The 2 paints are the same stuff just diff colors basically.

Thanks

 

The satin clear would look pretty cool, but knowing me I'd go black because only then would I be able to gauge how well everything is covered.

Then again, I don't paint

 

Not worried about the coverage cause you use a paint brush. It’s dumb dumb proof.

 

Satin clear is cool for race car stuff but sucks on a wheeler. You can’t tell where to touch up paint between trips very easily

 

If you did clear, I would do a gloss clear. My old front axle was gloss clear and it looked really good. Satin anything gets super dirty and stains really easy. I’ve been going to steel it or a gloss finish for anything I paint now

 

Your axle looked nice in clear. Im gonna do it. We'll see how this special clear holds up. Did the prep today. Gave her a solid palmolive bath. Alcohol tomorrow and im gonna paint it.

 

What's palmolive?
Would be good to know your process and prep for painting the housing as I'm going to have to do the same to mine when I go to install it. I wanna get it right the first time so I'm not having to touch it up all the time.
Is regular rattle can paint not the move?

 

Standard issue dish soap. Spray paint prob works in cali but, no, def not here. The salt is the most impressive car wrecker ever.

 

Regardless of what you paint it with, you’ll be touching it up all the time. Unless I just drive by Braille more than most

 

Its not reg clear coat. I wouldn't waste my time with a spray clear. Its some epoxy like urethane. But, all axle paint is gonna get beat up.