The fabrication thread.

[atutt]

^ does it have the brute conversion???

[StReeTz]

Originally Posted by atutt

^ does it have the brute conversion???

Yes, it does have the conversion. It's pretty crazy looking. I finished the cage today, I'll post some more pictures later.

[ka-titties]

so i made one of those ball turning tools for my lathe at work:



and i made a coolant overflow tank for my buddy and me:

the cap for mine






finished


his:




and the welder i'm using:

[StReeTz]

The ball turning tool looks great! That's the Steve Bedair design right? Did you use a bearing in the baseplate?

[BTplaya]

Originally Posted by atutt

^ does it have the brute conversion???

AEV is right up the road from my house. So many nice jeeps sitting outside that place.

[atutt]

^ I'm jelly....

I'd love an AEV built JK. Brute converted or not.

[kingston240]

excuse my ignorance because im not a machinist...

how do you get the grip/serated finish on the cap?

[Nezahualcoyotl]

knurling...........

[JaredP]

alright, sooooo i gave a shot at welding my tubs in today. my buddy tacked them for me but didnt have time to weld it fully so i thought i'd try my hand at it. this is my first time with a mig for a year and a half, on just a week of training. could always use some tips:

welder: millermatic 180
settings: everything from voltage at 2-4, wire speed 20-50

my best weld (on the top piece)




the bad:


finished for now:


all in all, im happy how it turned out for not having welded so long, but help would be appreciated

[GSXRJJordan]

Welding thin sheet is one of the harder things to do - voltage (heat) and wire control are key for continuous beads. The sweet thing about tubs is that since they're not structural, it doesn't matter if you use continuous beads.

Like any fab project, better fitting pieces make the welding step that much easier - lots of tacks will also keep the whole thing from warping as you go. I don't think yours looks horrible, and if you care, grind it down and use body filler on the seams before paint.

[JaredP]

ya jeff, i plan on grinding (already started as you can see) and body filling. theres really only one spot left to weld which is against the strut tower, and then i need to fill in the empty spots still. just always looking to improve.

your right though, if this was something structural i wouldnt have even tried

[ka-titties]

Originally Posted by StReeTz

The ball turning tool looks great! That's the Steve Bedair design right? Did you use a bearing in the baseplate?

Yeah that's Steve's design. I didn't use a bearing but I'm thinking about remaking the base plate with a bearing in it.

Originally Posted by kingston240

excuse my ignorance because im not a machinist...

how do you get the grip/serated finish on the cap?

like the person below you said, i used a knurling tool on the lathe at low speed to get it like that.

[atutt]

Originally Posted by GSXRJJordan

Welding thin sheet is one of the harder things to do - voltage (heat) and wire control are key for continuous beads. The sweet thing about tubs is that since they're not structural, it doesn't matter if you use continuous beads.

Like any fab project, better fitting pieces make the welding step that much easier - lots of tacks will also keep the whole thing from warping as you go. I don't think yours looks horrible, and if you care, grind it down and use body filler on the seams before paint.

I'm going to elaborate on that top bit a bit more.

What most people don't realize is thy the warping isn't caused by the heat.
It's caused by the contraction as the material cools.

Most REAL hotrod builders will weld everything in a long continuous pass.
This allows for a very even contraction rate and all the material will pull evenly.

That said. I don't want anyone thinking that will be the case 110% of the time.

[StReeTz]

Here is the cage finished. Added a brow bar, two tie in bars from the main hoop to brow bar, and 1" hand rails.

[JaredP]

turns out i didnt have the gas on when i was doing those welds. i imagine they would turn out a lot better if i did

[lowkey]

I have a roll cage installed in my car and wanted to know if somebody from ths thread can install gussets with dimpledied holes on the windsheild bars and main hoop that will connect te cage to the a and b pillars. I also have minor holes that I want filled and I want 4 plates attached to the bottom of the floor pan where the cage is mounted. Im located in eaglerock california which is close to los angeles. If somebody can do this for me ill pay u them a million unmarked monoply bills. Give me a call or text 7608811649 or pm me

[Zacho]

Here is a sch40 collector that came out of my jig posted a couple pages back. Using 93 degrees I had a slight gap in the middle I will rid of with a bit of adjustment.

Can any collector builders share their method of getting the rotation for the 2nd cut very accurate every time?

[STR8E180]

Originally Posted by Zacho

of adjustment.

Can any collector builders share their method of getting the rotation for the 2nd cut very accurate every time?

what i do is marge two pipes together
then merge the other two pipes together
then join the two merged half's together

think im gonna stop doing it like that now and build a jig and do it like u have

[--Redwork--]

Zacho.. Whats wrong with how it is now..?? tack the 2 good halves together and give them a quick rub on the linisher and that little gap would disapear..

The first and last collector I made I used a dividing head and a mill...
Now I just let other ppl do it.. I hate making manifolds..

Hey Kemp.. A friend will be getting a GTiR manifold of you shortly..

[atutt]

Buy a POB bracket and a digital or analog angle finder.

Clamp bracket to pipe. Set the angle finder on top. Set to zero. Make first cut.
Rotate xxx number of degrees. Make second cut. ???. Profit.

[Zacho]

Thanks for the recommendations. I can't believe I didn't think of something I can zero and rotate. I'll hunt one down today.

[STR8E180]

Originally Posted by --Redwork--

Hey Kemp.. A friend will be getting a GTiR manifold of you shortly..

no worries mate send him over when ever his ready

[leelika08]

Originally Posted by punxva

Luke you've nailed it on the head, there needs to be more informative posts on zilvia, and this is a step in the right direction.

Subscribed

might i add that perhaps some details on what techniques were used to fab. ie, what equipment was used to bend tubing, what was used for mockups, what type of welding, what equipment was used for welding, etc..
___________________
va land rover
virginia land rover

[atutt]

Originally Posted by leelika08

might i add that perhaps some details on what techniques were used to fab. ie, what equipment was used to bend tubing, what was used for mockups, what type of welding, what equipment was used for welding, etc..
___________________
va land rover
[url=http://www.landroverhuntvalley.com/index.htm]virginia land rover

I hate questions like these. What ends up happening is everyone start thinking they can do it once they find out how others do it. Leaving the people who do it for a living, starving for work.
Helping people is great. But there's a point where's helping others becomes helping others succeed while you help yourself fail.

[StReeTz]

Originally Posted by atutt

I hate questions like these. What ends up happening is everyone start thinking they can do it once they find out how others do it. Leaving the people who do it for a living, starving for work.
Helping people is great. But there's a point where's helping others becomes helping others succeed while you help yourself fail.

I think that has some validity to it but I don't think it affects our livelihood. I've told many people the processes involved in constructing roll cages or various other fabrication projects. Most people find the amount of work daunting and will not attempt it themselves. The small percentage of people that do try it themselves without proper equipment usually wind up coming back and asking me to fix their mistakes. In which case you should always charge extra, like the old shop rate sign which has progressively higher hourly rates for 'If you watch', 'If you help', and 'If you work on it before'. . Not to mention all the proper equipment you need to virtually tackle any project. Most people aren't willing to spend 50k+ on all the tools, programs, machines, etc. Lastly, you need a well tailored skill set to accompany all the tools, which also isn't free.

[BTplaya]

Turbo Manifold & Down Pipe.

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by StReeTz

Yes, it does have the conversion. It's pretty crazy looking. I finished the cage today, I'll post some more pictures later.

I LOVE that truck... It's a shame that its not a standard model. Bring back the Comanche!!! Awesome looking cage!

Originally Posted by GSXRJJordan

The sweet thing about tubs is that since they're not structural, it doesn't matter if you use continuous beads.

I somewhat agree with this statement, although they are not load bearing they have to play a small roll in reinforcing the shock towers. I wouldn't leave a shock tower without them and expect them not to flex/bend. Either the case a continuous bead is not necessarily stronger than a stitch either; at least with a stitch you can isolate failures. I know you are aware of these, considering your posts on here, so it surprises me that you wrote that.

Originally Posted by BTplaya

Turbo Manifold & Down Pipe.
hotness!

[Black240Ct]

im happy with how this turned out so figured id post it up.

bash bar is made out of 1 3/8 tubing.

that connects to a 1.5 ID pipe that slips over a 1.5 OD pipe thats welded to a square tube cut in half that bolts to the car.

the bash bar is held to the brackets with a 10mm bolt (hopefully a good sheer bolt)

working on my mig welding

[ka-titties]

a little something i whipped up real quick at work.



moved rearward to get it a little away from the hydro ebrake and took out the damper.

[Zacho]

^Cool. So what happens with the factory rubber flex piece that goes on the factory shifter? I've always wanted to drop my shifter height a couple inches.

Here is some more I've done. I fubar'd the first few filling in the middle. Still haven't found an easy way to do it. But I'm learning