OlderThanMe

oh yeah...welcome to the TIG club...but whenever you do any kind of structrual welding NEVER do it in the vertical down position...always vertical up. For oxyfuel I don't think it really matters because you aren't welding on anything that is structural...just sheet metal...with vertical up you get better penetration so the base metal is more tied in with the weld...just a few pointers...

yeah...sometimes you will be going 60 mph and it will suddenly stop for like 2 miles for no reason at all...then it will open up again...

that is why I try to wear earmuffs when I weld...to cover my ears...but what hurts the worst is lip burns...

haha...everytime I drive my Z on 5 I am going at my 75 at 3500rpm blowing everyone's ears out...and when I finally stop and get out I can hardly hear...lol. I tried going 85-90 like everyone else but it was no good so I went back down to 75...but it seriously does get upto 90 sometimes...and people are passing you...lol

AHHHH!!! I have seen some rediculous S130s but that is unnacceptable...look at that tiny air filter!!! lol..that is something you would use on 1 su type carb!!!

I have been in my welding program for close to two years now and me and some of the other students take on some crazy hard "competitions"...try TIG welding two coke cans together at the bottom...that is fun...you have to practice a lot and mess with pulse settings to get it to flow well but not blow holes in the cans...try that and you will know you are a real welder... if you are welding in the overhead position with MIG or stick DO NOT USE A HF or Northern helmet!!! I am on my second HF helmet and am pleased but I have modified mine with leather protection otherwise you will not do good at all...I'll post some pics of my helmet setup if y'all are interested. I have used a 9002x speedglas and it is AWESOME!!! you can see different colors in the arc and weld pool which definitely helps with low amperage TIG...Just NEVER touch your tungsten to the base metal...lol. If you do then regrind your tungsten...longitudinally (sp?)

but that $2500 does not include everything...you still have to buy the $500 contractor package with the TIG torch and Stick electrode holder (why not?) while you are at it you should build something to secure it...I mean it is 45 pounds and would be easy to steal...so you would want to secure it to something very heavy with a lock or two...

yep! I am building an aluminium dash right now and it is going to weigh like 10 pounds with all of the guages and wiring. probably about a pound without all of that stuff. plus it will look a lot cooler than the stock dash.

I bought my helmet at HF...it is fairly decent for a weekend welder but if you get a job welding look at a $300 helmet such as a speedglas or a jackson or one of those swiss helmets...they are much better. the only thing is that the HF helmets area little on the heavy side compared to the $150 miller/lincoln/jackson/speedglas helmets...if you are doing production get a speedglass and then add leather or denim to it to get really good spark protection. if you get the HF helmet GET THE WARRANTY!!! you have to ask for it and it is like $10 for two years of warranty. These helmets do tend to stop working after about a year!! and be sure to sit the helmet under a light for 48 hours to give it a good initial charge!!! or the first time you arc there will be a high probability you will get flashed! not good at all...and don't spend more than $60 on a HF helmet. and ask for a student discount!!! they have given me a 10% discount before...lately I have heard of people having problems with HF wanting to give a discount. but it can't hurt to ask. good luck in your welding class!

that is really cool...what guage steel did you use? 18? I would like to do one out of aluminium one day...to save weight of course...that would be lighter than cf if you used the proper bracing...and you could repair it if/when you hit something. the steel is just a bit easire to work with. looks great and good luck!

that's funny! but I don't think it would be strong enough for my driving...maybe yours but definitely not mine!!! J/K...lol

I actually prefer the foot pedal so that I can change the amperage while welding. this is really important on stainless and aluminium. and a water cooled torch is really nice...unlike the dynasty(it's ONLY downside) that is aircooled.

yeah but it is soo much cheaper to DIY!!! I mean I would rather spend the $400 on camber plates rather than seats...I may even build my own camber plates! I have looked at kirkey seats but I have a small flow of cash right now...and I already have enough aluminium to do a lot of stuff for my car...

Well I met this really cool guy last night whose brother raced in the IMSA series for two seasons with first gen Zs...he was telling me that when they were building they used corvair pistons and they gained 20-30 hp plus the pistons were like $35 each opposed to the $200 each at the time for specially built Z pistons. Can you use Corvair pistons in a Z? I think the only difference there could be is pin size. I think the corvair pins are a little smaller.

I don't think I am going to cover the entire seat in fabric. I was thinking the bottom and bolsters I could cover with leather and leave the other parts bare aluminium. These seats are going to be made for function rather than looks...

alternators generally pull about 13 volts. 12.5 or so volts generally gets to your fusebox. it seems a bit low. and nice Z what kind of rims are those?

yep...MIG is much easier. Just wait until TIG...then you will be having some fun...

as my name implies My Z is older than me...by a lot...but I think we have one of those cutters for cutting styrofoam around here somewhere. infact the day I bought my Z it was twice my age. I bought it the day before I turned 16...with my own money...that was about 2 years and 11k miles ago.

That is a good idea brad...I would still need to put padding on top of the aluminium and I haven't found a foam that I thought was dense enough. how would that spray foam hold up? I would think that it would compress after a while. I think that could work very well.

well the synchrowave is the bigger than a dishwasher and the econotig weight 13 pounds...you should save $3 grandand buy a Dynasty 200DX. with the 200dx you can weld on steel, stainless steel, and aluminium. you can also do almost any other metal as long as you have the filler rods for it. I have used a Dynasty 200 DX for a good while. plus it weighs 45 pounds so you can carry it.

I was not planing on using any of the stock upholstry...just using the frame...and I plan on riveting all of the aluminium to the steel tubing with little tabs welded onto the steel. it doesn't have to be pretty but the aluminium will look good.

I mean why pay $$$ for seats when you already have the most of the materials and can make it to fit your body? I would rather spend $$$ on some camber plates that I will need soon rather than buy some cheap ebay seats...

I would definitely want it to be comfortable and I would probally build an aluminium body for it (I have a 4x8 sheet of .063 (1/16"), 3003 series aluminium for my dash project). I would just build some side bplsters and then cover it in aluminium and then get some really dense foam to cover it...Basically make a kirkey seat off of the stock frame. I will probably pull the seat apart this weekend to asess the situation. I had the frame welded at a muffler shop for $15 when I bought the car because it was busted in one spot. I'll probably grind out their welds and section in a new piece of tubing and TIG weld it.

I had this idea since my seats are shot... why not just remove all the junk from the stock seat and build a seat off the stock frame that had big side bolsters? I think it would be comfortable and easy to do. Has anyone done this rather than buying new seats? I was looking at kirkey seats but I think it would be a little hard to get into unless you had a quick disconnect steering wheel. plus it would be almost free to modify the stock seats since I am in welding school and I can get some small steel tubing for cheap and use a TIG welder.

so everyone buy one of those 1/25 scale Z models and start doing testing...maybe underwater testing like the Mythbusters did with the "tailgate down" myth that used oats...