(nt)
_________________
Mike
77 930
74 2002


Last edited by boxy02 on 11-28-07 12:29; edited 1 time in total

(nt)
_________________
Mike
77 930
74 2002


Last edited by boxy02 on 11-28-07 12:28; edited 2 times in total

(nt)
_________________
Mike
77 930
74 2002


Last edited by boxy02 on 11-28-07 12:25; edited 1 time in total

Great start mate! I look forward to hearing more about this bad boy as the build up comes along. Make sure you keep us up to date.

Todd
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Mike, It's looking great! I can't wait to see your progress.

Yeah, thank Harry ;) he did all the work in getting them to me here in CA. I'm glad you are making good use of them.

Nice stuff!

I'm sure we'll end up a some events together!

After color sanding this weekend I'm just about to get it rolling again.

Soon I will be refreshing my suspension. Welding in the I.E adjustment plates on the rear subframe and also boxing my rear trailing arms and front control arms.

I used my miller 130xp MIG on a ton of stuff on my project, but once I got a hold of my 180SD tig I havn't used the mig in awhile...they make great stuff.

did you clamp/jig the rear trailing arms before you welded them?

I hope so or else you wouldn't be the first person to try to reinstall them and find out they don't fit anymore! Seriously!

I'll be boxing mine in using my tig and I will be making some sort of fixture to make sure I don't get any warpage. Also I'll be weldling in a cross bar ala Mcoupe trailing arms.

as seen here,
http://e30m3performance.com/now_showing/m-coupe-arms/index.htm

I've been welding alot lately, projects for my mom,stepdad, my car....made some nice furniture out of stainless steel.....

It always really important when welding to REALLY make sure you understand what the heat does to the metal. How you may weaken stuff inadvertently and most of ALL as metals cool down they do weird stuff! THings bend and pull and you need to be consious of this or else you MAY end up with a cool reinforced, nicely welded bent part! You should check out one of my nice tables......it's also nicely warped!

Just as a precaution I would take some measurements or a stock peice and make sure nothing got tweaked.

Just like painting, 90% of welding is the preparation. Cleaning/clamping/jig'in/cleaning

just some advice I should of paid more attention to myself!
_________________
68' 1602
98' ///M3 Sedan

88' ///M3 Sold *
06' ///M3 Competition Pkg Sold *

http://www.bmw1602.com/

(nt)
_________________
Mike
77 930
74 2002


Last edited by boxy02 on 11-28-07 12:22; edited 3 times in total

If the subframe is out of the car, could you hook the trailing arms up to the car and do the boxing while they are in place - like jig - that way you know they will fit. Just a suggestion - I have not actually tried anythign like this myself, but thought the idea sounded good in my head :-P
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I hope you had something also bolted up to the front control arms when you welded it around the ball joint. I did not on my original arms and ended up warping the area around the ball joint, but it look like yours is all bolted up. Just double check to make sure you didn't warp it around that spot.

When you are going to weld the rear toe and camber kit in have a good pair of clamps or vise grips to hold the tabs in. I originally welded mine in without them and they moved so I had to remove them and start over with them clamped in with vise grips. To get it centered on there use the bolts IE provided and center them then vise grip the bolt the tab and mount together and tack it. That is the best way I got mine to work. Also if you have it use a carbide metal cutting bit to open up the holes on the sub frame. I did the 1st hole with a dremel and it took forever and went ahead and bought a carbide bit and it took about as long to do all the others as it did to do the 1st one with the dremel. I hope that helps you out a bit.
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~Henry Hsu
'74 2002 Tii Golf Vin# 2780100