Ok, so this thread hasn't been closed. It's been a while since CMA posted. SOOO, he's either had a setback with the knees and in the ICU or he's working on something that is totall going to blow us all away and will post his Picasso soon.
Ooooor, he's on the 3rd or 4th time to redo it and his forehead is bloody from beating it against the wall. And redoing the redo of the redo has caused him to have to redo something else and he had a break down and his wife had to put him in a mental hospital.
Ultimate Oxymoron.....Calling Michelangelo's work, a "Picasso"
I'm working on it.
The headers are done. I'm taking them to the powder coater tomorrow.
I was also gonna take the airbox to him as well, but the thing is too wonky to be shiny
There used to be a stub sticking out of that box. It was all good until I tried to shut the hood.
No said the finger.
So for the pic, I cut the stub off. I'll have to turn it down 45* to get it to clear the hood. I decided to put a piece of glass on top. Today, I had to build the tray for that glass to sit in. Now,...with the right tools that might have not been such a bad deal...but I don't have a brake. So I go looking for a piece of 1/4" angle iron to use as a base.
They don't make a piece of 1/4 x 1/8" thick angle iron. As an alternative, I buy a piece of C channel. It's 1/8" thick, and has two 1/4" legs....but it's an inch wide.
I have to cut the thing down its length to get a true 1/4 x 1/4 piece to work with.
Problem was, as soon as I cut it, the thing bowed as a result of the 90* bend that was part of the original C channel.
In other words,..as soon as I cut it, the thing became less than straight.
So,...here's why it takes me for-fckin ever to build this thing: After I get the two sides cut, I have to straighten the bow that they have taken on after the cut. That involved clamping one of the bowed pieces to a piece of rectangular tubing to keep it straight. Then I have to weld the short sides onto that using a combo square to keep the thing at 90*. When I unclamp the long side leg, it's still bowed. So I gotta tweak it. But, since I'm putting a piece of tempered glass in this thing, it has to be straight. So I have to tweak it some more....... And some more,.........And some more.
Finally, the thing is straight. I weld the other long side to the two short sides that are welded to the tweaked long side.
That requires that I build a jig to hold that thing perfectly square at 20.750" long. I weld it.
It's twisted.
I put the thing in a vise, and twist it the opposite way to cure the twist. It takes several of these "adjustments".
I finally get the thing square, straight and un-twisted.
I place the rectangle in the rectangular hole I've cut into the airbox...It's gonna take some "modifications" to get it to look decent. The modifications involved welding.....alot of it.
Alot of welding requires even more grinding. Because I've decided to allow God and Country to look down into the throttle bodies, All of that welding I did along the low side of the donuts had to be ground down....It took forever. And I'm still not done.
If I have that area powder coated in some shiny silver, that will smooth that area significantly, but because I'm not, I'm just gonna have to polish the metal the hard way.
With a die grinder.
I'm undecided as to how I want to mount the glass. Half of me just wants to bed the glass in some sort of silicone and let it cure. No clamps required to hold it in, no bolts, or screws,..just sticky, self vulcanizing RTV. It'll mount, and seal the thing at the same time.
But......Just as surely as I do that,...the glass will get filthy from gas and oil back-spray, and after a matter of time....will no longer be "see through"
If I make a clamp to hold the glass in place, or have the glass drilled so I can run screws through it into the metal below and make the thing removable, I have to come up with some form of gasket then.
I don't want to make a stinkin' gasket. And I don't want stupid little hold down clamps on top of the airbox.
And if I run screws through glass... And I break it?.....How bad will the conniption fit be that I'll throw when it does?
I got another full day In the air box before I can call it done enough to consider painting it. Because it's wonky, I need to give it the wrinkle black treatment that the old intake has...I'm not worried about the inside rusting because of the nature of the beast....a slight film of gas and oil will end up inside that box.
One day a week is taking a long time to get anything done is all I'm saying....especially when it takes all day to get anything done.
In other news, I found a new beer that I think suits me..
