Introducing Colin - a Mini-ature WRX

Vampire cat (Columbus girlfriend) came in to say hi.

Now the fun begins!!

Starting today... that cut line was where I had been wanting to put the bend.  There is still spring seat there.

Notch, weld, grind flush, fill in extraneous holes while I'm at it...

Remove struts from car, bolt to towers-in-process, mark inside of bend after finding where the heck the centerpunch went to

Drill small hole, mark topside, cut partway through, piecut sides...

Bend, tack weld to prevent breakoff, install world's most useless strut tower brace, take measurements.

Now the fun.  The whole idea was that the insides would be vertical, thus square to each other.  Then I could weld them to the 1x2 that makes up the subframe mount.  This jig thing turned out to be a bit short somehow, the insides were 36 1/2 when I had wanted them to be 37 1/8. (Probably related to the measurement snafu, 9/16 sounds about right...)  I extended the jig to make the tops of the towers 37 1/8 on the inside.  This, incidentally, puts the outer strut mount bolts at just about 47.44" just like an Impreza.

However, the outside of the springs may be rubbing on Mini.

Grr.

Hmm.

I know there are two Ways Forward.

One, use 2.5" springs. Which will require a lot more screwing around because they would have to be like 20" long to not bottom out.  Had really been hoping to use the stock springs and cut for ride height as necessary.

Two, reform the inner fenders.  I tried a sledge, it ain't moving.  So it would be cutting and welding.

Three, move the struts in, which would require pie cutting and bending the strut towers, which kinda sucks to do.

Option 3 is probably the Correct Way Forward...

I was gonna say just cut whatever is in the way of moving the strut towers inward, but I went back a few pages and realized that's where your new subframe mount is! So the pie cuts are to angle the towers inward? I think that would work.

In reply to maschinenbau :

I had an even better idea, will have to wait for next week.

Because today my body decided that it had had enough and it took a crazy amount of effort to do anything at all.  I'm just done.  Got home at midnight last night and this morning was the second morning in a row that I felt more exhausted than when I went to bed.

That is not to say nothing got done.  A big scrap run is happening this week so it is time to say goodbye to the WRX fuel tank.

The last WRX I did a fuel pump in had a module.  This is just a pump on a stick.  Should be very easy to put in a Walbro.

It took like three hours to do this much.  Just done.

There are also some Mini hardparts that are needed for future shenanigans, so those got broken down so we just have the actual part we need for shenanigizing. (Autocorrect hangs up on "its" but it accepted that word???)

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

A personal query- Are you doing okay, health-wise? Sudden onset exhaustion can come from some bad things... may need to be checked out.

In reply to Recon1342 :

Lots of OT last week, failure to do things like eat and drink properly.  And this is not really sudden onset, unfortunately.  Part of the reason I set a crazy but semi plausible goal is to keep me moving despite it.

I noted that today I had a 24oz coffee, three cans of Coke, six glasses of water, and hadn't peed once.  Was gradually feeling better as I worked more liquids into my system.  Normally I have a bladder the size of a grape.

Also the temperature swung wildly recently, I was wearing a coat and had the heat cranked even though it was 70 on the drive down.  Was also fighting off sleep.  Then I started on the fuel tank, sans coat of course, and even though it was only 75 or so the heat was unbearable.  Ever since I had heatstroke in my early 20s, my body kind of forgot how to regulate its temperature.

On the way up it was dipping into the lower 60s and I was fine in a T shirt...

Subaru anti blam device has arrived.

You assemble it yourself so your engine does not disassemble itself.

Something is not lining up right and I am not sure what.

It turns out the springs put a huge torque on the upper mount.  D'oh.  This was causing the strut mounts to be ALL akilter.

Also, remember the part where the floor is not flat? I had measured ride height before disassembly on this floor.  Measuring the marks I made, one side was 5/8" lower than the other...

Much better now!

Now to do some trimming, mark precisely where I think these want to go, do a lot of cleaning for where the side plates go in, and figure out how I am going to Tetris it all together..

Towers are at 1.2 degrees.  My secret plan is "steel can moosh the 1/8" difference at the chassis"

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to Recon1342 :

Lots of OT last week, failure to do things like eat and drink properly.  And this is not really sudden onset, unfortunately.  Part of the reason I set a crazy but semi plausible goal is to keep me moving despite it.

I noted that today I had a 24oz coffee, three cans of Coke, six glasses of water, and hadn't peed once.  Was gradually feeling better as I worked more liquids into my system.  Normally I have a bladder the size of a grape.

Also the temperature swung wildly recently, I was wearing a coat and had the heat cranked even though it was 70 on the drive down.  Was also fighting off sleep.  Then I started on the fuel tank, sans coat of course, and even though it was only 75 or so the heat was unbearable.  Ever since I had heatstroke in my early 20s, my body kind of forgot how to regulate its temperature.

On the way up it was dipping into the lower 60s and I was fine in a T shirt...

Sleep deprivation and stress will also negatively impact your body's temperature regulation ability.

Stay hydrated and safe!

In reply to RandolphCarter :

I do tend to forget to eat.

One of the things that screwed me up was when I was younger I went through a bad spot for a while. Lost 40lb in six months, all muscle mass since I was a twig to begin with, do not recommend.  Burned out the normal "hungry" reaction. I just keep going until blood sugar is low and that is the signal I finally get that I should eat something.  Of course by then it is a bit too late...

My welding ability decide to show up!

I have carefully salted the Clapped Out Garage with Sharpies.  I bought a huge pack.

I cannot find a single one.

I just found one, used it to mark a side panel for trimming, and between rhat and trimming the panel... it is gone.

Update time.

... it turns out I did not actually get any good pics.

Most of what I had been doing, besides looking for Sharpies, was cleaning off undercoating and final-fitting my inner fender/side panel pieces, while mentally planning how I am going to puzzle it all together and get welds everywhere I want welds to be.

I do not envy cage builders one bit.

Both subframe brackets are welded in on the bottom as well as top, all traces of what was left of the lower frame rail where the strut tower chunks go in have been trimmed out (this included sharpening the spotweld cutter), seam sealer and paint wire wheeled away, inner fenders trimmed back a little more, final fitting done, an hour (maybe just a half) spent cleaning and organizing looking for the right side rear inner panel, realized that I had forgotten to make it, so I hastily made it, realized that I borked it up a bit and might have to make it all over again if I want to plug weld the inner fender to it...

In between all that, I finish welded the tops and sides of the strut towers.  Big fat V notches to lay in some good metal there.  I only got pics of fixing the right side one, that I had pie cut in the wrong place...

Of course, I had pigheadedly spent time looking for the offcut from when I'd moved the cut over, ended up spending less than half the time just making another one...

Everything is currently zipscrewed or clamped in place.  Ran out of weld thru primer, need to buy two or three more cans.  The stuff sucks but rust sucks even more, and this car will stay parked outside so preventing rust is high on my priority list.

Not pictured: cutting the right tower back out because it shifted after an hours long fight against broken zip screws that were supposed to hold everything in alignment

It rained a lot on Saturday.  You can see the inner strut tower pieces sitting in the Mini rear seat area where I had set them for the primer to dry....

Lots of welding, lots of head scratching, left side tower and rear outer side piece are in, lots of frustration at broken zip screws, ran out of wire on Saturday after getting an inch of weld in the right side tower.

Then I discovered that I could not find .023 wire on a Sunday for love or money. Tractor Supply had 10lb spools of .024 for $60 (!) and if I was gonna do that, I would just use the .025 wire that we had.  So I did.

Then I discovered that I had the tower in crooked because of aforementioned alignment screw issues.

Torch blades rule.  Cut the tower out, egg out the offending alignment hole, get things aligned manually, lots more welding.  Lots of frustration with the welder, after a bit of welding the welds would go... bad.  Lots of spatter, lots of wire burning back up to the tip.  Fixed a lot of loose connections in the welder, which helped, but not 100%.

Then a problem.  Past Me had the idea of using these 90 degree pieces that had been turned into curves, then building the side plates from it.

Past Me did not leave notes.  After a lot of head scratching, I decided to make a corner piece to turn it back into a 90 degree edge, then add an L piece.  As I was explaining the problem to Evan, seeing if maybe he had a better idea, it hit me.

Be fluid, don't be married to an idea.  First, cut part of it out.

Then a much simpler piece can go in, with a little tail on the bottom I can hammer up.

Boom, done.

And then, like the best episode of Firefly, we were out of gas.  But I did realize that the real problem with the welder is that the tip is overheating, which adds a ton of heat to the wire before it even gets near the weld.

The general idea is that the towers do not directly weld to the edge of the inner fenders.  Those guys are like 26 gauge.  The idea is that the towers weld to the subframe brackets on the bottom, the 16 gauge reinforcement plates on the top, and the sides have flanges that lap the outside of the wheelwells. 

If we had a 100 ton press and a die maker, I could have just stamped some towers, but we gotta make do with wot we got 

So you've decided to sell that rear wing to me and send it to MS? 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Then I discovered that I could not find .023 wire on a Sunday for love or money. Tractor Supply had 10lb spools of .024 for $60 (!) and if I was gonna do that, I would just use the .025 wire that we had.  So I did.

1) ".023," ".024" and ".025" are all the same size wire, sold as different things.  In the industry, we call it .023".

2) I told you that I have a 11lb spool of .023" that was yours for the taking.  

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

And then, like the best episode of Firefly, we were out of gas.  But I did realize that the real problem with the welder is that the tip is overheating, which adds a ton of heat to the wire before it even gets near the weld.

 

I don't think it's right, but I've quenched the mig tip in a cup of anti-spatter spray more than once. 

You can run an oversize contact tip.  Your starts won't be as precise, but it will run better in high production.

bigeyedfish said:

You can run an oversize contact tip.  Your starts won't be as precise, but it will run better in high production.

That's true, but it is likely that Pete's wire speed in insufficient.  He's pushing .023" wire pretty hard to make those structural welds; the Eastwood MIG's wire speed might be maxed out and still not enough.  

GasTungstenArc said:

bigeyedfish said:

You can run an oversize contact tip.  Your starts won't be as precise, but it will run better in high production.

That's true, but it is likely that Pete's wire speed in insufficient.  He's pushing .023" wire pretty hard to make those structural welds; the Eastwood MIG's wire speed might be maxed out and still not enough.  

Not even close to running max wire speed.  Or heat.  I don't think the welder likes it that much.

Right side tower is finished, left side half completed.  Kept getting shocked by the car while welding.

Uh.

Last night while finishing the left rear cover plate, the welder was acting even more finicky than usual, and started actually losing the arc and just pushing wire out instead of welding.

Looks like a new welder is in the COG's near future.

So today, engine finally came back out after many pics taken to see where the interference points are.