What are you using for a welder? I've been wanting a tig for a while but I don't know much about them. If you don't mind me asking, about how much did it cost. My first Arc welder was a POS and I had to replace it because I didn't know what I needed when I bought it. I'm trying to avoid buying 2 tigs by getting the right one the first time.

Thanks
Ray

 

Hi Ray,

I bought a used Miller Syncrowave 300 or 350 (can't remember which). I researched it quite a bit before I bought and felt that a used machine (since they rarely break) was the best choice for me. I paid $1,600 which included a brand new foot pedal and regulator, and liquid torch cooler. The unit I bought also has a pulser which comes in handy on thinner metals (such as aluminum sheeting)... certianly not essential though. You can buy a new Miller 180D for about the same money, but it doesn't have a liquid cooled torch and doesn't have near the power of a larger machine. You may need this extra power for example on many inside corner welds I had my range seletor set at 175 amps for most of mine. If you used a 180D you would have been at the top of its limits and would have had very small duty cycles (you would have had to stop and wait for the machine to cool down very often). the 180D would also not be very good at welding thicker materials. A similar machine like mine brand new would cost you $5,000 or so. Many people (even a Miller rep.) told me during my research that welding technology really hasn't changed all that much in the pasts 20 years, with the exception of square wave technology. Many of thenewer machines do however feature selector preset memories, etc. As a novice welder you definately want to stay away from older non-square wave machines such as the Miller Dial Arc.

I almost forgot the most important part of buying a Tig machine... If you are looking to weld aluminum and other non-ferrous metals make sure you get a Tig that has a AC/DC powersupply. For example, the Miller Maxstars are DC only and thus would not be a good choice if you want to weld aluminum.


I learned how to Tig weld by practicing for about three or four weeks every night after work before I ever set the torch to my $800 intercooler core. By no means am I an expert, but I'm getting better... as Jeb said.. Practice., Practice, Practice... Miller also puts out a pretty good book on Tig Welding, but it's expensive...

Take care,

Tony




[Modified by TONYDEE64, 1:36 PM 2/5/2004]

 

Thanks for the reply. That info will be very helpful when I start researching which machine will best suit my needs/budget.

Ray

 

Tony its a great car youve got there and the work your doing looks tops.
Ide love to see your car run at events,i bet its a killer


watching your progress,good luck

 

Thanks Cliff, I appreciate it! It's been a long long road. I had to build a car that has more power than my old ZR1, what a great car... I think I've done that...we'll see....

I'll check back in later this week when I get back from seeing Mickey!

Take care,

Tony

 

Does anyone know where I can find cogged pulleys that are no more than 2 inches wide? I'd have to be able to get a belt that is 49.5" long... My only alternative is the chain drive that I made.. The wizards at ATI weren't sure if a motorcycle chain (which is also what they use on their chain drives) would last on the street as their drag racers that use them usually replace the chain after every 10 runs. Initially everyone at ATI said not to run a cog on the street, but an aweful lot of you seem to be doing it without any problems. I'm trying to do a little research ahead of time because I think my 12 rib setup is going to slip if I really step up the boost...

Any help youi can provide is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony

 

Your best bet bro is either to go to the bonyard and open the top cover on alotta Overhead cam motors and find one that can be made to work, or go to an industrial power transmission supply house and see what they have to offer.
You mean to tell me that you think that blower is going to require more torque then say a gsx-r1300? those chains run at some pretty damn serious FPM and deal with a few hundred foot pounds of torque. Get a set of 520 sprokets that will fit, buy the best quality O-ring (I used to use the "x" ring chains) you can, and build one serious chain guard. My bike had "hill climber"sprokets on it so I could wheelie ever where went, my front sprocket was only about 2.5 inches in dia. and would routinely run it right out to the stutterbox in 6th on various highway (ah the beauty of being 18 and invincible ) Surely @15,500rpm (even though I know 6th wasnt 1:1) the front sprocket was turning faster than your blower pulley will.

 

Or you could set up a washer nozzle aiming at the belt and fill the tank with VHT.....

 

I know, that's what I was thinking... ATi said that the racers were blowing the grease out of the O-ring seals (because of too much heat?) and that was causing the chains to fail... Those guys are so frustrating to deal with .. They said they would have their engineer (I'm convinced the only guy in the company that most likely really knows anything) call me and he never did even after two or three of my calls.... next`project I'm doing it your way with turbo power...those turbos are darn hard to beat for big big horsepower..plus I'm just itching to weld some stainless!!!

I think the chain and sprockets I already have are 530...does that sound right?.. If a GSXr can go thousands of miles and not break the chain why would a blower destroy one that at most only takes 100 hp. to turn?? Part of the reason I built the upper blower brackets like I did was to keep the chain from coming through the hood (although that would be pretty cool to see I must say!)...so I should be good to go there... I do like the sound of a good cog setup though...

As always, thanks!

Tony

 

Well... My engine is partially apart again as I write this..... One more time and I should be good to go...It always amazes me how many little tasks develop/accumulate during the process that always equal another week of build time... This is getting so old... I just gotta drive this thing someday before the C7s hit the showroom floors...Maybe I can have it done in time for my son to drive it to his prom (he's 6 now)....

Anyway, I'll hopefully be able to post some more pictures when I'm done.. Bustin' my tail in order to make to Bowling Green this year... Hopefully I'll be able to meet some of you there...

One more time[hopefully]!!!! Uhg!!!

Tony

 

If your car is going to be there this year, then so am I !!!

 

I'm trying.....unless I run into an unforeseen problem that requires me to pull the motor.... again... I WILL be there....won't be ready to race yet as I want to have my rear Cryo'd before I get too crazy (I'm guessing my car won't be worth a darn on the strip anyway... not set up for it). I also need to first fab up a roll bar... I doubt that tech. would let me race without a roll bar...


Tony

 

Hey Tony! I think you should try to make thise cruise-in:
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/events/cruisefest/

It's the weekend of May 22nd. I'm going to be there and so will Blackbart.

 

If I'm still around I might just head down there... although I think I may still have a couple of outstanding warrants for the last time I was down there for.... you guessed it... street racing while highly intoxicated!!!! Just kidding...I wasn't that drunk...

 

Stop being such a Nancy and meet us!....afterall, there'll be so many Vette's there you'll blend right in

Seriously though, even if the Vette ain't ready meet us! I hear ld85 is going too.

 

My car will be ready by then... I'll definately come if I can...sometimes I get called out of town at the last moment on business, etc.

I was doing some calucations last night and concluded that with my current pulley setup my supercharger will be spinning at 66,000-67,000 rpm while the engine is at 7,000 RPM... As best I can tell with my F2 pumpin a max of 2700 cfm at 65,000 that would put me at 20+ lbs. of boost.. I don't want that much boost because it would make stupid power for the street and I would absolutely have to run race gas..... not real practical for the street... Am I missing something here?

532 c.i.
crank pulley 7.65"
blower pulley 4.0"
blower step up 5:1

I have no idea how to accurately calculate boost...can anyone help here?

And yes, I would like to twist my motor to 7,000 as it only has a 4" stroke...

 

If you are max out your F2 blower with your 532ci monster. It gonna be nasty sucker and easily pushing over 1000rwhp I really it capable of making such hp.


Bruce

 

No, your calculations are correct, I got 67000ish rpm to. I think the Boost measure would be close to but not exactly like this, You take the CID of the supercharger output / by the engine CID and get like a 1.5 or 2.0 and times that by 14.7.

Im pretty sure this is close, b/c doing my calculations this way, those big 6/71 blowers running 11% underdriven do not create that much boost on the engine like a centrifugal would. I guess its mostly for show.

 

Now I wonder if I should pull the heads back off and install the bolts that go from the lifter valley bosses in the block into the heads. I didn't install them when I put the heads on because I wasn't planning on punishing the motor that much (and I couldn't get them to thead after the other bolts were torqued. I've since leanred that you are supposed to start them first.. I do have an o-ringed block and copper head gaskets... What do you think? Am I good to go at 19 PSI without the extra bolts?

..Car Craft magazine got 925 dyno hp. from a smaller Vortech at 6.9lbs... Where does that mean I'll be at 19lbs. of boost with a motor that is 78 c.i. larger? It looks like I better have ASP make me a smaller pulley for the crank so I can keep the boost at 10 or so...

 

I read somewhere that 2cfm = 1HP, so that blower should support ~1300hp.

But the boost say 15psi on a 502 that originally makes 500HP with the right compression and parts when its NA, I'm sure it should yeild almost 2 times as much power. Considering 14.7psi is atmospheric pressure and 15 would be twice that much. But the blower efficieny and the intercooler add drag so it may only make 850 or 900hp. 19psi on that big of an engine, I see a full roll cage and back halfing in the cars future.


[Modified by Light84vette, 6:43 AM 3/7/2004]