What Have You Done To Your Stagea Lately?

[Daleo]

It will always drop oil on the diff and rails....always.

I'm assuming this is why a filter relocation kit/ cooler is pretty high on people's list of priorities?

Changing the oil on my old R31 was miserable; always ended up with oil running along the X-member. With the amount of space you guys have it must be a million times worse.

[shane344]

^^^ i thought the same thing regarding relocation kits.

It wasnt too bad really, I had a rag on the diff ready to go for a drbble or two but not for 200mls over a big area....

What oil were you using Shane? Should have been fine if you used a good quality oil.

Dunno, the mechanics were putting Mobil stickers on my Windscreen but apart from that I couldn't tell you.

I asked for the top shelf, they probably went to the petrol car 44, instead of the diesel car 44.

I put some super syn 5w-50 Mobil to try and match brands in it yesterday.

Edited August 14, 2012 by shane344

[bigkevracer]

Got my Fcon harness back last night, freshly modified to take the HKS sensors and the knock detection kit. Mixture controller is also here!

Wideband is half in, just need to finish wiring it and it'll be ready to go.

Not far off now! FINALLY!

[iamhe77]

It has definitely been a while coming, Ryan.

Interested to see what you can get out of it.

[wolverine]

^^^ i thought the same thing regarding relocation kits.

It wasnt too bad really, I had a rag on the diff ready to go for a drbble or two but not for 200mls over a big area....

Dunno, the mechanics were putting Mobil stickers on my Windscreen but apart from that I couldn't tell you.

I asked for the top shelf, they probably went to the petrol car 44, instead of the diesel car 44.

I put some super syn 5w-50 Mobil to try and match brands in it yesterday.

Still the stock ecu? If so, then they run pretty fat and that will discolour the oil quickly.

[wolverine]

I'm assuming this is why a filter relocation kit/ cooler is pretty high on people's list of priorities?

Changing the oil on my old R31 was miserable; always ended up with oil running along the X-member. With the amount of space you guys have it must be a million times worse.

Sounds familiar. For sure you can do it with minimal amounts of oil dropping down but somehow there is always something that drips.

[RSFOURDayz]

I always keep a can of degreeser handy when doing oil changes. I always seem to get it everywhere.

[Daleo]

The finished article, now with ceramic coating.

You need to be super careful when fitting coated parts; it's quite fragile until it has heat cured on the car.

Lots of blue painters tape when sliding them into place; and you're all good.

[PN-Mad]

Oven an option?

[Daleo]

Oven an option?

They are baked in an oven to set the product, but it's still fragile. I think ongoing heat cycling is what fully cures it.

Even then, it's not indestructible, you have to treat it nice; like you would with paint.

[Sydsyd]

They are baked in an oven to set the product, but it's still fragile. I think ongoing heat cycling is what fully cures it.

Even then, it's not indestructible, you have to treat it nice; like you would with paint.

taste like pie?

looks good dale, the difference compared to pros would be minimum

just curious, will there be any structural difference if u sand/grind the joining welds to make them flush with the rest of the pipe? sorry, noob in these things so would like to know

[Daleo]

taste like pie?

looks good dale, the difference compared to pros would be minimum

just curious, will there be any structural difference if u sand/grind the joining welds to make them flush with the rest of the pipe? sorry, noob in these things so would like to know

More like raisins...

Thanks mate, the coating definitely finishes it off I reckon. Compared to pros would be minimum? Not sure what you mean.

Not really any great difference; but I don't hide my welds.

Due to the fact that the pipe was purged, the weld bead penetrates the pipe fully; which is where the strength is.

I'm still not happy with the weld finish; a small amount of oxidation, and slightly inconsistent temp. I'll only be using my TIG in future.

[Sydsyd]

don't worry about my comments re pro, didn't know what i was thinking, that's what happen when it's just 5 mins after waking up, brain still in DOS mode (just basic skills) lol

what's the difference between TIG & MIG welding? the guy at the exhaust/workshop place that i go to only use MIG...

[Daleo]

don't worry about my comments re pro, didn't know what i was thinking, that's what happen when it's just 5 mins after waking up, brain still in DOS mode (just basic skills) lol

what's the difference between TIG & MIG welding? the guy at the exhaust/workshop place that i go to only use MIG...

TIG welding uses a tungsten electrode to pass current to the metal from the parent metal. The resulting arc is sheilded by an inert gas (usually pure argon, or argon/helium mix depending on what is being welded).This localised current transfer melts the parent material withing the oxygen depleted shielded area (prevents oxidation) and you use the arc to melt a filler wire of the same composition as the parent material. You then dip the filler into the molten "puddle". As you move the torch; the deposited material solidifies and a new weld pool opens under the arc; which you deposit more filler material into, and so on. This is the familiar "fish scale" appearance that a TIG weld produces. When welding pipework; you can fill the pipe with Argon; which displaces the air inside "purging" the oxygen from the area, ensuring no oxidisation.

The trick is in keeping the weld area and the molten tip of the filler wire shielded, depositing the right amount of filler at the right time, and moving the arc at the right speed.

Mig welding basically sees a similar gas shielded arc; but the filler wire is fed down the hand piece at a constant speed. The filler wire is also the vehicle for the current transfer. So as the current melts the filler wire; the heat generated also creates a molten puddle in the parent metal, which the molten filler wire is deposited in. You can vary the speed of the wire feed depending on the amount of current; the thickness of the material, and the desired penetration. Once the feed & current are set you just move the torch smoothly down the joint depositing an even amount of filler.

Mig welding is ideal for fast fabrication and is generally easier for inexperienced users. It has a place and is very effective when applied correctly. But it's generally not very pretty.

TIG welding is much more specialised; much more accurate on thin materials, is much more difficult to master, and it's even more difficult to produce the beautiful "fish scale" welds that people like to see.

As the material heat soaks; all of the above variables change, and you must accommodate them all.

If a workshop says "We don't do TIG"; it's not because they don't want to, it's because they can't.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Daleo

[Rudi_ARX-TURBO]

Wow dale , you sound like James may from top gear . Lol

[nickcorr]

Or Jessie James, formaly Mr Sandra Bullock, and gun welder of Monster Garage... Likes playing with his TIG so much, I basically think that he made the exhaust system on every vehicle they built...

Good TIG is artwork...

[pbk1776]

Bbs Wiser on the car now

[SABBAi]

TIG welding is nice if you have perfect fit up and perfectly clean material with no imperfections. here is some of my welding when building an exhaust. I'm not even going to bother showing my body panel welding, it's terrible. Any minute bit of rust ends up exploding and blows holes in your welds.

Ignore my poor fitup and concave weld on the right. It came up nice after hitting it with a wire wheel.

Flex joins can be a pain in the backside to weld as they are double skinned, but the beauty is you can use the outer skin as your rod. Still not a perfect weld, but it holds together ok.

[scotty nm35]

Flex joins are a pain to weld because the ends are usually mild steel. Welding it to stainless is always a little difficult I have found.

No need to wire brush a bead imo, as long as the gas flow is correct and you don't take your time running the bead you should get that rainbow bluing effect meaning you didn't overheat the join. I would say practice makes perfect but after years welding I still have a lot to learn.

[Daleo]

TIG welding is nice if you have perfect fit up and perfectly clean material with no imperfections. here is some of my welding when building an exhaust. I'm not even going to bother showing my body panel welding, it's terrible. Any minute bit of rust ends up exploding and blows holes in your welds.

Ignore my poor fitup and concave weld on the right. It came up nice after hitting it with a wire wheel.

Flex joins can be a pain in the backside to weld as they are double skinned, but the beauty is you can use the outer skin as your rod. Still not a perfect weld, but it holds together ok.

Not a damn thing wrong with your welding mate!

Rather than a wire wheel; have you tried using Scotchbrite pads or a Scotchbrite wheel for cleanup? Green Scotchbrite is a little too abrasive; but the red/brown ones are great; cleans the weld area; but doesn't mess with surface of the pipe.

Also, using steel wire wheels embeds ferrous metal particles in the stainless; which eventually oxidise, and make the area you've welded look a bit shitty. Brass wire wheels don't do this.

TIg welding on panels isn't the greatest anyway; as the localised heat (while being great for minimising distortion) causes the welds to be much harder than the surrounding material this is compounded by quenching to cool the panel. One of the places a MIG is great.

Flex joins are a pain to weld because the ends are usually mild steel. Welding it to stainless is always a little difficult I have found.

No need to wire brush a bead imo, as long as the gas flow is correct and you don't take your time running the bead you should get that rainbow bluing effect meaning you didn't overheat the join. I would say practice makes perfect but after years welding I still have a lot to learn.

With mild steel flex joints; are you stripping the gal completely off the weld area first? The gal coating has a melting temp about 300 deg higher than mild steel, and basically ends up overheating the weld area before the gal burns off.