The fabrication thread.

[tauntdevil]

^ Lol no, Rock crawling would require way difference suspension.
Looks more like a drift truck with the seats and way it is setup.
Subframe is a great upgrade, far better than the straight axle setup.

[zeebrah]

I guess my obvious troll wasn't obvious enough.

[tauntdevil]

Originally Posted by zeebrah

I guess my obvious troll wasn't obvious enough.

Cant hear nor see expressions through the internet. You didnt give anything to assume a joke nor troll.

[zeebrah]

it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to realize its the furthest thing possible from a rock crawler though...

[jc50942]

Originally Posted by EmpyreS13

I gotta ask. What purpose is the truck for and why the 240sx rear subframe ?

built for the sole purpose of drifting,(i guess) and i put the s13 sub frame in because after two years of beating on the stock rear end with three times the horsepower than it was meant for, i finally snapped the pinion gear and decided to put something else in that was easier to fix and replace down the road.

[blu808]

Hey guys. I haven't been on here in awhile. Nice work everyone!

Here is one of the fun projects I have been working on.


Ducati Monster Fighter Turbo 800ss

I originally intended to make a simple custom Monster out of it using the parts listed below. You will see that it quickly turns into a crazy project about half way through.

2002 Monster 620 project.
Monster 620 frame
Monster 620 Dark fuel tank
Monster 620 seat
Monster 620 swing arm
800ss Engine package
800ss wiring and ecu
800ss Gauge cluster
800ss forks
800ss wheels
800ss brakes


Should make for a pretty fun cruiser bike. I may go cafe style, or desmo chopper style.

Guy had it listed on CL for $1,500. Ended up picking it up for $1,000 including the original 800ss frame with a clean title, and of course the 620 with a clean title. A box of parts, brembo calipers, ect.



Bike would not run, but after doing some digging, it turns out that the 620 gas tank has a built in regulator, and the 800ss has a fuel pressure regulator on the throttle body assembly. After removing the regulator from the gas tank, switching around some of the wiring, and fuel line routing, it fired right up!



Already ordered the following parts:

Billet mono rearsets to get rid of the passenger pegs
Smoked led brakelight with integrated blinkers
Carbon fiber rear side panels
New seat cover
billet gas cap

Still deciding if I want to turbo the bike, or build a nice stainless exhaust for it. I may put the oem mufflers from my streetfighter on it. We will see.

Also still deciding on a headlight. I may put a streetfighter headlight on it, but will prob go with a cafe racer style one.
Ok.


So after thinking about how the headlight bracket should look for a week or two I decided to change it to regular tubing. .75" 4130 Chromoly tubing.

I started off by making the new standoff mounts.






After I had the standoff mounts fabbed. I notched the first tube in the Mill. My tubing notcher doesn't hold 3/4" hole saws. But the milling machine works fine.



Here's the first side all welded together.



This project was actually harder than I had anticipated. I am used to doing crazy fab stuff everyday at my shop, but the hard part was getting this odd shaped headlight perfectly centered. I actually had to make 3 different mounts to hold the light in the correct position before I could make the final mounts. Took about 3 hours to get to this point.

Here are both mounts welded and bead blasted.









I like the look, and it keeps with the lines of the frame.
I will send it out to get powder coated when I tear the bike down for paint.
So the more I looked at the bike the more it started to look like a hacked up monster. I decided to scrap most of the current work and create something truly awesome.

I ditched the Monster tank and seat.
Decided to replace them with a 999 tank and a cafe style tail section.




One of my biggest peeves was the stock swingarm. I really liked the 696 monster swingarm and decided to purchase one. Found it for about $200 on ebay with the shock, chain adjusters, brake line, bolts. To my surprise it went on without any modifications, and will only req spacers for the wheel and swingarm pivot to work properly. The shock however required me to chop up the frame quite a bit.





Even the 800ss caliper bracket worked with some minor machining.





I started work on the turbo system tonight.


Garrett T25 Turbo



Since the factory Ducati exhaust uses a compression style connection for a proper seal, I decided that the tolerances were a little loose since there would now be a considerable amount of back pressure from the turbo. I decided to fabricate my own sealing tubes that had a low clearance fit. Once the engine heats up the thermal expansion of the 304 stainless will create a proper seal. I started with some T-304 sch 40 stainless steel pipe, and machined it down until the proper fit was reached. I then tig welded a bead at the desired position, and then machined that into the ledge that you see in the lower pic. The factory flange will put pressure on that ledge, and it will keep constant force on the sleeve that is in the cylinder head.











Started fabricating the Turbo manifold today.

[blu808]

Started making a proper merge collector for the turbo manifold today.

Schedule 10 T-304 stainless.

Notched, ground, and tig welded.






















Started fabbing up the Plenum.
























Here is the machining process for the front cylinder connector.

Turned out of T304 stainless with a lip on the middle. The lip will act as a compression point to act as a seal for the factory cast iron exhaust flange. The left side of the stainless sleeve is inserted into the head and features a 37.5 degree taper to then also act as a compression seal.










My GF want's to ride it!



I do also! Did I mention how tiny this thing is? It's like a toy.



Finished up the turbo manifold.






















Today I fabbed up the intercooler. I started with the only intercooler I could find with the correct core height. I then cut it down to the desired width, and created my end tanks.

CX Racing Intercooler

[blu808]

Started working on the frame finally.


I removed it from the engine and prepared to remove what was left of the tubes that had been cut off. It was also an opportune time to remove the unneeded brackets.



An interesting thing is that the tube that holds the rearset wasn't completely welded from the factory. I decided to tig weld those first.





A few hours of careful grinding and sanding later.



After cleaning all the grinding dust out of my mouth and hair I reunited the frame with the rest of the bike.



Now the fun can begin! Adding new tubing.






More coming soon!


Thanks again for all your comments.

I had a chance to get most of the fabrication on the frame completed today.

Started with 1"X 0.095" 4130 chromoly tubing.



Measured out some tubes and started notching them.





Then started on the shock mount standoff tube.
Faced it in the lathe to make sure it was straight.



Then made my own washer out of 1/8" CR steel.



Since it is going to be under constant shear force, I stepped it inside the tube.







Then welded the shock standoff tube to the new frame tube.



THen I started to make the other side of the shock mount standoff tube.
This side would have a nutsert.







Then tacked everything in place.





















Subframe and turbo piping coming soon.


Finished up the hot side intercooler piping today.
























Got the V band connectors and the hot side pipe almost finished.

[tauntdevil]

Im sorry... that... requires a change in pants of an epic small build.

[59bhp]

i think you need your own build thread, awesome work

[ka-titties]

shit that's cool!

thanks for posting it up.

[ThatGuy]

Amazing as always, Luke. Good to see some things never change. Your attention to detail, skills, and abilities always astound me.

[conrad_s13.5]

brought ThatGuy out of retirement,....thats how cool that shit was!

awesome stuff man!

Is heatwrapping that hotpipe enough to set your leg on?

[turbo2nr]

what ever you fab i love! thanks for sharing

[Y0SH]

I had a 01 monster dark, and I wish I never sold it. Now I wish I had turbo'd it.

[blu808]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Barry! Love you bro!!!!



The hot pipe shouldn't be that hot. Maybe 120 degs. It's only going to be running 7 psi. Nor wrap needed.


Turbo system is finally complete. I put the final welds on the intercooler and piping tonight.

[Srsil]

Serious weld porn

[ditchs14]

whelp this guy wins so far in this thread

[codyace]

After seeing the pics on facebook I only hoped I'd see the build posted on here...awesome stuff!


With that said I can't wait to see the first ride impressions. I know how fast the little k03 hit on the 636, I can only imagine that T25 on that machine

[McRussellPants]

next time you do SCH10 take your time and push more filler.

it looks like you were tapping with 1/16th or so. grab some .035/.045 and really run it between movements.

rapid filler


big push


arts and crafts hour for some car show trophy or something

[JohanM]

bought 2 304 Stainless Steel Schedule 10 fittings to practice on, using no gas lens (need to buy one) on a precision tig 275 no pulse at 65amps. not the best looking weld, but trying to learn how to properly set up the machine ect

what you guys see wrong, any input would be appreciated.

[slw240sx]

Originally Posted by JohanM

bought 2 304 Stainless Steel Schedule 10 fittings to practice on, using no gas lens (need to buy one) on a precision tig 275 no pulse at 65amps. not the best looking weld, but trying to learn how to properly set up the machine ect

what you guys see wrong, any input would be appreciated.

You need more gas coverage and clean up the part more. Look up a #12 gas lens and cup. That is the jam on SS weld L's also what is your gas flow on currently? and post flow settings? Always use a good amount of post flow on stainless.

Dont forget to bevel those joints. That was the only thing I saw in Luke's photos that i didn't see him do. You really have to bevel or else you will never get 100% penetration. Also you really need a purge setup when doing SS, it also effects the puddle a bit when welding so its good to practice with back purge running.

[JohanM]

Originally Posted by slw240sx

You need more gas coverage and clean up the part more. Look up a #12 gas lens and cup. That is the jam on SS weld L's also what is your gas flow on currently? and post flow settings? Always use a good amount of post flow on stainless.

Dont forget to bevel those joints. That was the only thing I saw in Luke's photos that i didn't see him do. You really have to bevel or else you will never get 100% penetration. Also you really need a purge setup when doing SS, it also effects the puddle a bit when welding so its good to practice with back purge running.

Ill look into that gas lens cup setup, see if i can order one soon.

I have the gas flow set at 25, and post flow to 20secs.
the joints were beveled already but i did not wipe them down with acetone, or
hit it with a ss brush.
As for the purge set up, i need to go to the hardware store and get some hose and fittings to run it.

I was going to wait on practicing till i got the gas lens/cup, and purge set up but got inpatient and wanted to try it out lol.
Once i get these things together ill try it out and post on the results.

thanks for your help and input man, really appreciate it!

[slw240sx]

What size cup are you running? may have to back down your gasflow to 15, 25 is normally enough for the large 12 cups. on a 6-7 cup 15 is enough.

[JohanM]

Originally Posted by slw240sx

What size cup are you running? may have to back down your gasflow to 15, 25 is normally enough for the large 12 cups. on a 6-7 cup 15 is enough.

the cup size im running is 8

[blu808]

Subframe fabrication and tank mounting bracket.

[kingston240]

Miata manifold I am working on right meow...

Miata BP tial vband manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr

Miata BP tial turbo manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr

Miata BP tial turbo manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr
Cant wait to hear how it does!

[GSXRJJordan]

Luke, I'm def riding that Duc the next time I'm up there, that's awesome!

I did these wing stands in CAD and had them water jetted for APR's new GT1000 deck (1650lbs of downforce @ 160mph, over 2000lbs at top speed, 8:1 lift:drag).

Side note: no ribs, all reinforcement is done with additional layers of carbon, that's then bagged and inflated from the inside! Awesome construction.


Stands are removable - major stand is pinched by minors that are welded to the aluminum crash structure on the back of the FD (which I reinforced), 3 height settings, and the AOA/adjustment is actually done with the flap in the back (adjusting slot gap and angle of the second deck, rather than pitching the bottom deck).









And there's some piping/etc for this crap too

[zerodameaon]

Looks good.

So in the long run what did you get more of with that car, hate or love? I saw some of the stupid comments on FB.

[GSXRJJordan]

Originally Posted by zerodameaon

Looks good.

So in the long run what did you get more of with that car, hate or love? I saw some of the stupid comments on FB.

Lol I laughed when we started getting flamed for "ruining the perfection that is the mid 90's Mazda" - the comments at the show were all incredulous to very positive. Tt's not really possible to look at the car in person and be like "that's a piece of shit" like some of these rotards do on Facebook or the Club haha.

Between Dsport, Import Tuner, Hoonigan, and RX7Club there's something like 40k likes and over a thousand comments, and unless you follow my personal youtube, no one's even seen it driving. We'll roll out the video feature and dyno vid and then I think it'll be damned near all positive.

Oh and lower it, goddamn can I not wait to lower it back down. Forgot to bring coilover wrenches to SEMA so I was 4x4 the whole time lol.