Let's just call my progress erratic in quality...

Basically I think I put too much heat into one of the nuts and that meant that it just sheared off when I tried to undo it. Had to recut the thread but no matter it works!





Tried again on The other side with greater success but not as brilliant welds. Access is hard because I never thought this far ahead when making these things. If I were to remake everything I'd hope to be neater etc due to doing this process before adding the sides to the bracket.
I'm calling these done 

@jvanzyl
I'm guessing your nuts are BZP, bright zinc plated!
That being the case you may or may not be aware that welding such can produce toxic fumes injurious to your health and will cause unwanted spatter and so be difficult to weld.
To avoid that it is suggested to locally remove the plating before welding.
I am aware of this as my Mother in Law told me she was quite ill when she first worked on munitions during the start of WW2, to confirm this have a look here:

https://weldingmania.com/newbie/weld-zinc-coated-steel/?utm_content=cmp-true

Quote from: Joesson on January 30, 2024, 19:07@jvanzyl
I'm guessing your nuts are BZP, bright zinc plated!
That being the case you may or may not be aware that welding such can produce toxic fumes injurious to your health and will cause unwanted spatter and so be difficult to weld.
To avoid that it is suggested to locally remove the plating before welding.
I am aware of this as my Mother in Law told me she was quite ill when she first worked on munitions during the start of WW2, to confirm this have a look here:

https://weldingmania.com/newbie/weld-zinc-coated-steel/?utm_content=cmp-true

Interesting! And thank you for the advice. Weirdly I removed the coating on the first set but not the second.. my reason for doing so was not for the fumes but to increase the chance of adhesion.. Good to know that I should continue to remove the outer layer.. thank you!

I'm impressed John.
Keep it up. Very nice work

Quote from: shnazzle on January 30, 2024, 21:39I'm impressed John.
Keep it up. Very nice work

Thanks man! How's NL? Seen any MR2's out there?

Quote from: jvanzyl on January 30, 2024, 22:18Thanks man! How's NL? Seen any MR2's out there?

I'll tell you in about 2 months

Top tip....never sell a house  haha 

Quote from: shnazzle on January 30, 2024, 22:28I'll tell you in about 2 months

Top tip....never sell a house  haha

Oh... thought you'd been there for like a year already!
Yeah I hate house selling and buying.. best of luck with that!

Quote from: jvanzyl on January 30, 2024, 22:57Oh... thought you'd been there for like a year already!
Yeah I hate house selling and buying.. best of luck with that!

We thought we'd be there by now as well! Mind the house only went up for sale in August last year so it:s good to know that has felt like a year to you hehehe

..it's felt like 3 for us.

I'll be sure to mr2 spot once there.

On todays episode of how not to fabricate, I got to do some assembly which it appears is a lot safer.

I fitted the brackets to the charge cooler radiator:



There are some clearance issues though:


As it needs to look more like this:



I considered remaking the support plate like below:



But then noticed there is a nice little hole right in front of me which could have a small bracket attached to it to pull the whole thing forward:



Yay! More cutting and possibly welding!

There is also a clearance issue on the passenger side which I intend to solve by inserting a rubber spacer that should solve any interference/wear.



Whilst mounted it there I had a look at the connection to the pipes and went through several stages of adjustment to the silicon joiner to reduce the length and reduce the angle of bend to make it round turn chassis.
Bottom/ cold out:










Top/hot in:






It does have to turn down to go around the crash bar, it's going to be interesting to see how I can achieve a full 180 degree turn back to the link etc. Might end up buying additional joiners...

Finally, I'll need to reduce the length of the bolts being used for the brackets:




Until tomorrow then!

On todays episode of glacial speed turbo builds.

I chopped down the bolts.


I made a bracket to pull the charge radiator forward











I got some nuts ready for welding so I don't gas myself (thank you @Joesson )






And I drilled the holes in old brackets and new brackets ready to have the captive nuts welded in.

Well.. they're not coming off anytime soon!
Will recut the threads as well.

Wow this is painfully slow sometimes..
Two of the bolts snapped when I was attempting to undo them out of the newly welded captive nuts. Despite wd40ing them. It appears the zinc coating or whatever it is on the bolt threads binds to the nut when welded as this has happened before.

Anyway, long story short I recut 2x threads, drilled out 1 nut successfully and recut it, but had to grind off one and reweld a nut etc. THIS time I presprayed it with WD40 and made sure not to breathe anything in, BUT the bolt was relatively easy to undo afterwards. It was a bolt that I had used previously in a weld so maybe it had lost all its coating so maybe it was that.. no idea!





So maybe later I'll get a chance to actually try and fit these to the car.

In other news my new power steering lines arrived:



So those will get fitted one day.. will (I'm assuming) have to buy new ps fluid etc..


Also SuperKlasse have finally sent shipping details for the short stroke shifter I'd ordered I think in August.. whether this actually manifests in a delivery I have no idea.

Quote from: jvanzyl on February  2, 2024, 13:28Wow this is painfully slow sometimes..

Mán it reads like one of those religious processions; two steps forwards, one back. I admire your dogged determination.

Quote from: Petrus on February  2, 2024, 14:29Mán it reads like one of those religious processions; two steps forwards, one back. I admire your dogged determination.

Thank you. You should see me try to find the snacks and treats my wife attempts to hide and keep for the kids. I can be very determined.

So.. minor strategy update. I had in my head envisioned being able to test the charge cooling setup as part of it's installation, i.e. having it wired up correctly so that it would come on etc when the car was turned on.

My brain has now caught up with the fact that I cannot test to see which circuits are live when the car is on as the car WON'T be turned on until everything else is ready! e.g. injectors, EMU, oil drain etc..

So this means that unless I find out via research where to wire the charge cooler in, I will have to test it using an external DC supply and only be able to wire it in when everything else is ready and I actually turn the car on.

Bit annoying, but obvious now that I've thought about it. Oh well.. 

Rivnuts...

Quote from: Call the midlife! on February  2, 2024, 18:30Rivnuts...

Lóve ´em

Quote from: Petrus on February  2, 2024, 18:43Lóve ´em

Hmmmm... I do like the idea of these! What's the longevity like with the vibrations from cars? Specifically, the pain/time of welding in a captive nut vs rivnutting- would it start to come loose in a couple of years?

Quote from: jvanzyl on February  2, 2024, 19:52Hmmmm... I do like the idea of these! What's the longevity like with the vibrations from cars? Specifically, the pain/time of welding in a captive nut vs rivnutting- would it start to come loose in a couple of years?

How durable dunno but I have no doubt that it very much depends on how well it fits and is fitted.
One thing to keep in mind is that the rivnut is actually kept pulled in place by the bolt.

The single reason why they are hardly used is that welding a captive nut is usually automated. Fitting a revnut is quite a bit more complicated.
This applies to DIY too. Welding nuts to a bracket cán be way faster and simpler.

I first only used one in ´blind´ spaces but found it a great DIY addition.
One caveat is that they are not flush with the part you use them in. Whatever you bolt on will sit on the flange of the nut. Anything needing surface contact to stay put is thus compromised. I hope I have explained this well 

Quote from: Petrus on February  2, 2024, 20:56How durable dunno but I have no doubt that it very much depends on how well it fits and is fitted.
One thing to keep in mind is that the rivnut is actually kept pulled in place by the bolt.

The single reason why they are hardly used is that welding a captive nut is usually automated. Fitting a revnut is quite a bit more complicated.
This applies to DIY too. Welding nuts to a bracket cán be way faster and simpler.

I first only used one in ´blind´ spaces but found it a great DIY addition.
One caveat is that they are not flush with the part you use them in. Whatever you bolt on will sit on the flange of the nut. Anything needing surface contact to stay put is thus compromised. I hope I have explained this well 

Thank you  @Petrus you've explained perfectly well! I'll bear these in mind- I've got the kit for welding at the moment so I'll continue with that, not got that much more to do I think!

Decided to have a go this evening.
Attached my wonky reinforcement bracket and now this thing is rock solid in place.
I do still need to cut down one of nuts on the new bracket so it doesn't interfere with the radiator and I do still need to enlarge one of the holes on the passenger side to make the fit perfect (ish). I will be shoving lots of old bicycle tubing wherever I can to stop vibration and rubbing and wear.





Started get serious with the Stanley knife and threw caution to the wind by cutting some of the hose to size, I might JUST have enough..

Have you thought about a couple of 90 degree elbow joints in the pipe out from the rad? I don't think they'll interfere with the flow massively and will get you round the frame without pushing out into the arch liner.

Quote from: Call the midlife! on February  3, 2024, 09:04Have you thought about a couple of 90 degree elbow joints in the pipe out from the rad? I don't think they'll interfere with the flow massively and will get you round the frame without pushing out into the arch liner.

I did consider this- from initial inspection I think it'll be ok, will certainly put those in if I can't button it all up well enough. Cheers though! 

Finished the piping! And I had JUST enough!

Then I focused on adding the rubber insulation everywhere I could..


It is well and truly stuck fast 

Good old bicycle inner tube.


So now apart from a bit of zip ties to keep things in line, and lots of jubilee clips I've just got you wire in the pump.

Now I can focus on the barrel bracket.

Wow      You have éarned feeling proud!!!

And thanks for sharing the tribulations.