BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[Streetbu]

....
I gotta tell you guys, if you ever have any heavy fabrication to do, pick yourselves up a Walter brand flap disc. I use this one on my 4 1/2” DeWalt angle grinder, and it makes very short work of anything you want it to do:

View attachment 168412

View attachment 168413

It knocks down excess material and welds with ease, and if you have a light enough touch, it’ll leave a perfect finished surface. No skipping around like grinding stones, no backing nuts and wrenches to mess around with (they simply spin on), and they last a very, VERY long time. This one was already used before tonight and it still looks like I’ve barely used it....
D.

I use them daily at work. I love them we buy them 40 at a time and use them mainly for deburring the stainless steel sheet as we cut and make whatever we're doing that day. You get very good at having a light touch as you called it, to soften the edges and smooth them out after using a shear to cut the sheets up... They aren't cheap, but well worth it and last longer than the cheap ones too.

Oh and great job Donovan!

 

[64nailhead]

Donovan, not surprised to to see that you made form and function get into a civil war over that crossmember modification. That is beautiful work and equally strong.

Those 4 1/2” flap wheels are great. Someone introduced them to me years ago when watching me making log style headers. They are extremely easy to shape cuts with smoothly.

As always - nicely done and beautiful work.

p.s. don’t tell Mike, but v-bands leak too if there isn’t a flex pipe isn’t installed 😉

 

[motorheadmike]

p.s. don’t tell Mike, but v-bands leak too if there isn’t a flex pipe isn’t installed 😉

Guess that dork has been really lucky then. 😉

 

[Rktpwrd]

That came out great, really nice work! 👍

I can’t even imagine that kind of cold! 🥶

Thanks Mike! And yeah brother, it’s a whole n’other level of cold here right now.

Donovan, once again the level of skill is impressive. I would've never thought to use C channel, but it's super strong and won't be going anywhere. The finish job looks killer, now it's painted it just disappears which is obviously the intention.
Well done man, another custom touch from the Ole Skunkworks garage.

As always, appreciate it Scott! Thank you.

Do you use a flap wheel on sheet metal too? I’ve never tried it on that.

I wouldn’t recommend it personally. Too easy to put a bunch of heat into the panel. These things are aggressive and will remove a lot of material in very short order. I still prefer to use 40 grit discs on my air angle die grinders to dress sheetmetal welds. Much easier to monitor and manage the heat that way.

WOW! just wow. Never thought to use C- channel. If I got dual exhaust, I will definitely try this. your skill and talent is amazing.

Thank you kindly!

I did one of my old ElCamino x-members like this when it got a fresh bullet & upgraded trans. Simple & cheap vs buying the available aftermarket units @ the time.
Survived it's duties until the driveshaft failure & survived that failure as well. Nicely done.

I appreciate it, thank you!

Hey that crossmember turned out great! I did something similar with mine although not nearly as clean 😉

Thanks! I’m very happy with how it turned out, it’s how I envisioned it looking in my head.

Those welds look great! Should have left them as you laid them out. To each his own.

I would’ve Tony, but I had so much excess material to remove anyways, it was just easier to dress the welds at the same time to make the whole thing look clean and like it was designed that way.

I hate you.

Welcome to my ignore list.

The weather isn't the only thing that is extremely cold in Alberta.

Ahhh, what’s a little shade thrown between friends? 😅
Just glad you’ve got a good sense of humour. And thanks for that reply, it made me literally laugh out loud.

Great work on the Crossmember. Too soon to say "I told ya so"?

What grit do you use to knock down the welds? 40? 60?

Thanks for the recommend. I will have to pick up a couple of the Walter brand flap discs. Gonna need them soon.

Hutch

Thanks Hutch. I have a couple of those Walter flap wheels in varying grits. The crossmember was ground down and dressed out in nothing more than 40 grit. Hard to believe when looking at what a fine finish it leaves on it.

Exhaust finale update coming up next, stay tuned!!

D.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Alright, quicky update, the header and exhaust installation and modifications are done.

After I installed the modified crossmember, I mocked up the driver’s side pipe to the collector and checked clearance to my notch. In full disclosure, if I had to do it again I would weld the “C” channel in a little higher than the top edge of the crossmember. I started out by cutting a 3 degree angle in the pipe to collector joint to give me the clearance I needed at the notch, but was later able to minimize it to about 2 degrees through some pipe manipulation.
A little taller notch would’ve given me the clearance I needed without angling the pipe downwards, but I wasn’t about to reinvent the wheel just to accomplish that. 2 degrees is FA in the big scheme of things.

Mike came over yesterday to give me a hand, and after some careful measuring and a couple of mock-ups, we were able to cut and weld all the existing pieces into a pretty clean and functional piece.

This side was a little trickier to do due to the bends not being the same as the passenger’s side (they weren’t 45 degrees, I would guess more like 60), but we got ‘er done all the same.

A little high heat VHT paint to match the aluminized coating like the other side...

...and got it all bolted back in place all final-like:

Here’s what I ended up with for clearance at my notch, it’s more than adequate without any fears of it rattling and banging around on it.

Once we had everything fully installed and tightened down, we dropped the car back on the ground, and fired it up for a systems/leak check.

D Gilliham on Instagram: "The #stock #transmission #crossmember had to be notched and a piece of 6” C channel #welded in to make room for the driver’s side #pipe. @mikes57chevy and I managed to reuse all the existing pipes to reconnect the 3” to 2 1/

64 likes, 16 comments - rktpwrd5 on February 15, 2021: "The #stock #transmission #crossmember had to be notched and a piece of 6” C channel #welded in to make room for the driver’s side #pipe. @mikes57chevy and I managed to reuse all the existing pipes to reconnect the 3” to 2 1/2”...

www.instagram.com

EXTREMELY pleased to report that everything was fine. Car sounds good, isn’t any louder, and nothing leaked. Including the header and collector gaskets. After I shut it off, we snugged down the header bolts a little more, I know I’m gonna have to repeat this process for the next dozen or so heat cycles. All part of the game.

We did have one little unexpected hiccup, while we were running it I found that I have a bearing going in the alternator. It was growling intermittently pretty good. But better to find it in the shop than leaving me stranded out on the road somewhere. I’ll yank it and drop it off at an auto electric shop I’ve been using for years tomorrow, have them re-bearing and go through it to make sure everything’s good.

In 2 weeks we’ll be yarding the 8.5” rearend out and starting the posi conversion and braided brake line upgrade. Plus probably a decent cleanup of it and some much needed paint. I’ve got axle bearing and seal kits plus new C clips to install while we’re in there, so it should be like a new unit by the time I’m/we’re done.

Meanwhile in the next 2 weeks, I might as well start on the last paint correction on the driver’s quarter. The to-do list is gettin real small now!!

D.

 

[motorheadmike]

Ahhh, what’s a little shade thrown between friends? 😅
Just glad you’ve got a good sense of humour. And thanks for that reply, it made me literally laugh out loud.

La... la... la...

I can't hear you!

 

[scoti]

Alright, quicky update, the header and exhaust installation and modifications are done.

After I installed the modified crossmember, I mocked up the driver’s side pipe to the collector and checked clearance to my notch. In full disclosure, if I had to do it again I would weld the “C” channel in a little higher than the top edge of the crossmember. I started out by cutting a 3 degree angle in the pipe to collector joint to give me the clearance I needed at the notch, but was later able to minimize it to about 2 degrees through some pipe manipulation.
A little taller notch would’ve given me the clearance I needed without angling the pipe downwards, but I wasn’t about to reinvent the wheel just to accomplish that. 2 degrees is FA in the big scheme of things.



D.

I questioned (in my head) the location of where you placed the 'notch' height wise then thought it probably didn't matter.

When I did mine, I tacked some fasteners to the fab table so the x-member could be bolted down square to the fab table (like it would to the chassis). Once bolted solid, I positioned where I needed/wanted the notch, marked the area for removal, tacked a couple tabs in place, & cut the section out entirely. Each side was then welded to the notch/channel piece which left the top slightly higher vs the original x-member but still w/the thickness off my fingers away from the floor pan. Your mod is far cleaner appearing vs what mine was once completed as far as a proper 'nothing to see here folks' appearance.

 

[64nailhead]

'yarding' the 8.5 ? Help this Yankee understand that term 😉

You could've put a dimple in the left side pipe to help with the ground clearance. But I believe it's one of those things that you're the only that will ever notice - no one is going to 'cut you up' over the left side pipe road clearance lol.

Better than nice work as always D.

 

[Northernregal]

'yarding' the 8.5 ? Help this Yankee understand that term 😉

You could've put a dimple in the left side pipe to help with the ground clearance. But I believe it's one of those things that you're the only that will ever notice - no one is going to 'cut you up' over the left side pipe road clearance lol.

Better than nice work as always D.

Canada is pretty much all the descendents of loggers, fishermen or farmers.

Yarder - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[melloelky]

'yarding' the 8.5 ? Help this Yankee understand that term 😉

You could've put a dimple in the left side pipe to help with the ground clearance. But I believe it's one of those things that you're the only that will ever notice - no one is going to 'cut you up' over the left side pipe road clearance lol.

Better than nice work as always D.

a kid I work with from NH says that all the time😆