What have you done to your MS3 today?

[lightspeed3]

I didnt want to brace the center all that much I still wanted the main part of the chassis flex to go through each side not through the triangles down to either the floor bar or to the mid bar. Only reason I added the bars from the floor to the mid bar was so that any floor bar flex would be sent to the mid bar for extra support. Hopefully u guys can make out what im saying here lol cuz I dont understand it haha. Oh and I hqvent hit any hard turns wirh it yet. The top bar helped so I could only miagine that this one will help a little.

 

[lightspeed3]

Go get the 110 dollar welder from harbor freight. Creates alot of slag but its so reliable. Ive had mine now for 8 years and never had one problem. Best 110 bucks I ever spent. Its good for exhausts body panel replacements patch panels floor boards building go karts welding bars like mine aive welded mounts with it ive made a custom turbo manifold on a civic with no leaks. Its awsome

 

[JamesCH]

I think the top bar is going to do most, if not all, of the stiffening between strut braces. I think you could have gotten away with just using the two angled parts of your brace without the two cross-bars. Still though, I applaud your DIY effort!

While 110V MIG welders are very handy for small, very light-duty welding, I personally don't trust for anything serious. It is very easy to run cold and get lousy welds. I'll keep my AC/DC TIG welder ^.^

 

[oaklandopen]

Go get the 110 dollar welder from harbor freight. Creates alot of slag but its so reliable. Ive had mine now for 8 years and never had one problem. Best 110 bucks I ever spent. Its good for exhausts body panel replacements patch panels floor boards building go karts welding bars like mine aive welded mounts with it ive made a custom turbo manifold on a civic with no leaks. Its awsome

I have yet to find the NEED to get a machine, at this point it would be purely for fun and small projects. I'm not willing to weld for any vehicles I have. The only reason at this point for me to get one would be for work since the boss only has acetylene and it can barely braise.

One day I will have the time to get one and build things like a side car for the motorcycle and whatnot

 

[ericrapp]

Need to change my signature today.
Got flange bolts from Derrick at Corksport. Props to him for sure!
Finished installing high flow cat mid pipe, tightened turbo bracket ,rechecked drain line, put back oem chassis under bracing.

And here for me is the milestone...
after two years she is sitting on the garage floor again.

Next time i start a major project i think i will buy a lift.
at least the rest of the work is all on the topside now.
zoom f'n zoom !

 

[lightspeed3]

Yup thats all I use that welder for is small projects. I wish I had a gas mig. But hey beggers cant be choosers haha

 

[ericrapp]

Well done with the bracing . Love the garage engineering. Looks as if it does what you wish it to.
The chassis has quite a bit of flex between front and rear towers . Starts to show up and as you get into stiffer spring rates and some more aggressive corner to corner driving .
aint nothing wrong with a 110 Vac welder for some thin gauged steel .
It's all about heat .
In the proper applications like body work its more than good enough.
I have a gtpec trunk cage brace from Lara that is sweet indeed, but i bet you get almost as much function out of yours as i do mines.
respects Man !

 

[lightspeed3]

Thanks dude. Yea im more of a backyard type of guy. Building as much function as cheaply as possible yet reliable. Im debating on what to build next. I really want to get my splitter project going. I also have a pipe bender and was thinking of building a mid floor brace behind the driver and passenger side seats then build onto that. My car has 104k miles on it so shes a little tired.

 

[JamesCH]

Are you talking about putting a lateral brace inside the cabin behind the driver/passenger seats?

I would strongly suggest against putting in any bracing that could buckle and injure someone inside the cabin during an accident.

 

[lightspeed3]

Even though the car is obviously a 4 door, I dont ride any passengers in the rear. I was thinking of making more of a floor brace then it being in the middle. I think im goin to work on the front splitter. I think I may do a write up on it, I haven't seen any diy for our speed3s

 

[ajkulish]

the sti splitter fits our cars. same as the one people use on the msps.

 

[ericrapp]

Are you talking about putting a lateral brace inside the cabin behind the driver/passenger seats?

I would strongly suggest against putting in any bracing that could buckle and injure someone inside the cabin during an accident.

Where would you attach the racing harness to then ?
You need a brace behind the rear seats tieing the door pillars dont you .
Someone just did a nice front splitter for us Lightspeed
How about a rear splitter that actually channels and straightens the air underneath the car ?
I am looking into brake ducting down the road. Inlet and/or outlet but i need to read up about aero dynamics.
But James you have a darned
good point. Safety needs to be a significant factor in the equation whether track or street car

 

[lightspeed3]

I want to build a bar like this http://www.iagperformance.com/shopping_cart/proddetail.php?prod=30017S.. do u have the link for the front splitter and yea I wana get workin on a rear splitter / diffuser soon. I want to go all out on diy performance parts

 

[Jdm_Mica]

Worked on stupid dash rattle. The jbr pmm brought out the noise, took out glove box and added tape and zip ties to areas where contact was made. Didn't cure it completely but is an improvement

 

[JamesCH]

Where would you attach the racing harness to then ?
You need a brace behind the rear seats tieing the door pillars dont you .
Someone just did a nice front splitter for us Lightspeed
How about a rear splitter that actually channels and straightens the air underneath the car ?
I am looking into brake ducting down the road. Inlet and/or outlet but i need to read up about aero dynamics.
But James you have a darned
good point. Safety needs to be a significant factor in the equation whether track or street car

If you need a harness then you have a real cage in the car and you never have anyone in the rear seat ever. Then it's fine to make a good harness bar like basically every single one that I've seen.

Note how the bar is shaped like a u (granted a REALLY wide u). When this sort of bar is side-impacted there are other member in the cage to absorb the energy. Ideally 'nascar bars' of course. But if this bar does get crumpled, the u-shape will make it fold away from the driver/passenger. A bar that just goes straight across with no cage around it can buckle in ANY direction or even penetrate the car that's hitting it. Not a good situation.

 

[8.5MS3]

fixed my boost leak.damn broken Tbolt clamp at the core. had to take the whole front end off to get to it.

Adjusted all my fmic piping as it must have shifted when i tapped that stupid b**** on the highway

also re-plasti dipped the front bumper under the headlights on both sides to clean it up. came out pretty good imo

also got my meth hooked back up. The pump doesnt sound good and the spray pattern doesnt look great. My BATs arent really dropping

gonna have to get a new pump and nozzle.

also my POS PG towplate broke, need to get a replacement

 

[JamesCH]

A friend of mine who was constantly battling boost and vac leaks in his MR2 absolutely swears by this type of constant-torque hose clamp:

He bought them at a local truck stop and never had another boost leak from a loose or broken hose clamp again. Going on 3 years now.

Just a thought.

 

[8.5MS3]

too late now lol

 

[ericrapp]

A friend of mine who was constantly battling boost and vac leaks in his MR2 absolutely swears by this type of constant-torque hose clamp:

He bought them at a local truck stop and never had another boost leak from a loose or broken hose clamp again. Going on 3 years now.

Just a thought.

nice suggestion to keep in mind

 

[Domino81]

I have some clamps here just in case, Mike..