The Project Pad

WOMBAT wrote:and you think you're only $10k away.... BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

(revisit this next year)

yeah I am, no paint no cage

Well ok then

well lets just make it 20k then

UPDATE!!!!
I got the DP relief area cut out and prepped for welding





I put a pair of simples in the sheet to help strengthen it.



Here it is all prepped and ready for welding.

more


All welded up, getting a lot better with sheet metal.

UPDATE!!
Since I’m running HT Motorsport steering arms on my uprights, the steering rods themselves have several different setup positions. In order to be able to utilize the full range of adjustment, I needed to open up my steering arm holes in the chassis, and move the rearward a bit.
Cutting them out.



Here they are, now in larger format ahah



And here are the pieces that will get cleaned up, and welded back on a bit further rearward.

UPDATE!!
I had Ryan seam weld the inner and outer where the DP meets its v-band. I hit the inside with a carbide bit and then flappered it to clean it up a bit, all in the name of FLOW!!





I also removed all the casting marks and cleaned up the inside of the Holset hotside. It’s now all nice and shiny, needs a bit more polishing but its 95% there

UPDATE!!!
I got my front x-member back from Ryan after having the majority of the tacks seam welded. I also got the vertical pieces on that will support the lower IC. Radiator mounts are fully welded as well.






I still need to do some verticals for the far sides of the lower tie bar and some lower IC mount tabs. And lastly carbide out the through holes for upper IC mounting so they can be sleeved and welded.

I also got the Vanjen ferrules welded to the inlet and outlet of the IC. The inlet and outlet also have small extensions/bends as well to keep things located where they are easy to get to, and more so to allow the joints to have some movement in the proper directions.

MORE!!
Turbo oil drain to oil pan return got the 16AN bung welded on. I’m not going to finalize the drain location in the pan until the exhaust manifold is done.


The radiator will be a 20AN hot-side/inlet and a 24AN cold-side/outlet. Here is the inlet welded to its 20AN bung. It just needs to be turned down a bit to get the outer threads off, and it can be welded to the radiator.





I also got a change to get down to Haydn’s to get my subframe transverse connector pieces bent up. Yes, I know, the bends aren’t the same on both sides. This is to allow the 4” downpipe and 3.5” exhaust to have good clearances. I wanted to be able to drop exhaust without having to touch the sub-frames.

UPDATE!!!
I had a few small rust patches in the rear wheel well area so I set to cutting it out and replacing the sheet metal.
Here it is all cutout and cleco’d in place.


Seam welded in place and primed. It will get seam sealed as the rest of the chassis works gets finished.



I also cut off the old brake line hangers. The part where the soft and hard lines meet, was a bit crunchy, not horrible but not cleeeean. So I cut them out and will be replacing them shortly.

MORE!!!
I also started collecting a bunch of small rod ends, spacers, seals etc. to convert the 01e b5s4 shifter x-rod to a small spherical joint. It will use rod end seals and some alu. spacers to give it correct height and articulation. More on that later



I had originally relieved the t44 rear diff mount bracket for exhaust clearance (see pic)
But that just wasn’t up to my standards for the rest of the car, so what to do? BILLET!


Yup, so I grabbed a piece of ½” 6061 plate and dove right in!! I diligently marked all the holes on the mount first. Then I took a hole saw to the diff. input cup hole and also to the exhaust relief. And that’s it, haha not really. I sent it off to my buddy who works at a machine shop. Its going to be milled down along the edges, have a radius cut along the edges, the diff mount bushings are being recessed to make up for the oem vs billet mount plate thickness, and lastly a light fly cutting for sexiness. It should be here in plenty of time to go to the first round of anodizing. Pics!!!

UPDATE!!!
The diff mount plate has been finished by my machinist I had the outer edges radius’d 1/8” and the mount bushings have been recessed into the plate as well.

UPDATE!!!
I also got over to Ryan’s to pick up a bunch of stuff from seam welding. I had to pop off one of the rear diff mount ears so that it could be fully seamed.





I also added a jack point on the bottom of the rear subframe, this makes it sooo much easier to jack car up and move it around garage etc.




Lower portion of the DP has been seamed as well, now I can make a hanger for the trans tunnel area.

I also added some anti-crush sleeves to the trans support bar, tacked them in just to double check it all before seaming.





Ryan has a nice new torch that is much smaller and can get down inside a lot more stuff than before. I had Ryan seam weld the INSIDE of the IM plenum/feed. I just need to carbide and flapper them smooth!!

With the motor pushed back, there is very little clearance for the steering arms bracket to the bellhousing. So I got some m12x 1.75mm allens and counter sunk them into the upper bellhousing. This gains me a lot more room.




I also added another bolt hole for the motor mount through the adapter plate.

Word is Audi Sport shaved those bosses off so it was easier to pull the transaxle.

i know i did, on two different times, going more cut off each time. still had to mess with the steering knuckle thing.

And then...

Mcstiff wrote:Word is Audi Sport shaved those bosses off so it was easier to pull the transaxle.

They sure did.

Looking great. Lot's of fabrication going on...........brilliant.

Craig.

highlander69 wrote:

Mcstiff wrote:Word is Audi Sport shaved those bosses off so it was easier to pull the transaxle.

They sure did.

Looking great. Lot's of fabrication going on...........brilliant.

Craig.

I don't get it, how does this make it easier to pull the gearbox off the engine? Any pics?

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highlander69 wrote:

Mcstiff wrote:Word is Audi Sport shaved those bosses off so it was easier to pull the transaxle.

They sure did.

Looking great. Lot's of fabrication going on...........brilliant.

Craig.

I don't get it, how does this make it easier to pull the gearbox off the engine? Any pics?

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk

kieron_32v wrote:

highlander69 wrote:

Mcstiff wrote:Word is Audi Sport shaved those bosses off so it was easier to pull the transaxle.

They sure did.

Looking great. Lot's of fabrication going on...........brilliant.

Craig.

I don't get it, how does this make it easier to pull the gearbox off the engine? Any pics?

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk

Shaveing the top of the bellhousing removes 2 (or 3) bolts and makes clearing the rack easier.

Fair enough, so just having the remaining bolts is enough? Did they run any more dowels like that?

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Maybe I missed it on an earlier page here in regards to the intake mani fabrication. But why didn't you put extended velocity stacks in the plenum on the 3 runners that match the 3 ports on the "front" of the head. So they are all equal length.


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