cameras ready prepare to flash

[s14brent]

I got the right delphi pins finally so I was eager to finish up the wiring job......as soon as I was plugged it in the locking clip snapped...I hate how this goes sometimes.....



While waiting for the parts I cut up a 3.5" 45° intake tube and replaced the mishimoto intake tube since the other was getting a little "soft".



I also got finished up the other end of the can-extension with the deutsch DTM 4 way. I really like all these crimpers & strippers that I picked up lately.



Here we have the CAN-LAMBDA up top and CAN-Gauge on the bottom. I actually purchased another can-gauge and daisy chain cable to cut down on all the info on a single display. I'll need Water temp, oil temp/psi, fuel psi, and air fuel ratio split up between the two. I can also eventually throw boost psi onto one so its a future-proof purchase. I'm not going digital dash when i have under 240hp, that's just uncalled for LOL!



So when I was removing all the VDO 52mm gauges & wiring for them the thought came up to add a relay block under the dash. However, with how much the wires protrude past the blocks mount, I'm thinking of making an angled sheetmetal box and mounting it in the battery tray in the trunk. It will be 1000x more easily accessible. I need to go crawl back under the dash and figure out if i want to proceed with this. It's another sidequest I'm not sure I want to take on just yet.



and I finally got a "finger pedal" for my tig torch. I've been wanting one from 6061 (technically the "tig button", but this got announced right before i placed an order so I've been waiting for it to become available. I've only used it on some aluminum coupons so far, but it doesn't take long to get used too! And I gotta chill out on the tool purchases after this though!

[s14brent]

well i keep having to wait for parts....i ordered the wrong delphi connectors so I only got the bosch 5 pin wired up for now while I wait.



I got the c101 pins from falk mfg. I'd probably recommend 3 packs of 14-20ga pins and 1 pack of 12-14. The IGN coil (green pair) is a tight fit, but I didn't order a 10-12ga pack. Kind of hard to justify the 12-14 for just the starter pin and 10-12 for the ign coil pin (that makes it $10 per pin!)



I tried to tidy up the e36 engine harness bulk, its a lot cleaner without the bulk on the driver side now. Nothing was wrong with my soldered connections, but its nice to not have that! People complain a lot on the solder vs crimp arguement but i've been fine on a car with heavy NVH so whatever. I was struggling to get perfect crimps on the different types of pins....its a real challenge, some came out decent, some came out like a blind person did them......they all passed the tug test and locked in place - that's all that matters!



Since I got stuck I started to run the wideband/can-lambda. Its a tight fit (limited places to mount the control unit due to provided wire length). It is out of the way of the drive shaft and the steering column, so that's fine. I used 3m double sided tape behind it with some basic self tappers. I don't think it'll be a problem. I've seen a lot of cars just ziptie it to a random loom and be good lol.




In my head, the link can-ext cable (to connect the can lambda to the standalone) would work, but the connectors they use are HUGE and won't be able to go through the firewall without a giant hole+grommet. So instead, I ordered some 4 way deutsch connectors and another friggin crimper for 20ga closed barrel terminals. I'll just make my own, it will be much easier to run.

I am almost getting closer, no word from SLR on my order yet unfortunately! Progress is progress or whatever!

[s14brent]

Good morning, Love the fab work you have done to the E30. I did not read to far back so forgive me if I missed something. I am a GC in California. Let's talk mini split. With your fab skills you can easily do your own install. Some units come pre charged. What I have done in the past is use a Panasonic unit with everything needed to get heat and air so (head units, lines and condenser / heat pump). those supplied lines are not very long get an extra length if needed. If you're in need of a 20A 240V breaker and have space in the main panel that is also easy just use a conduit to protect the wire. Garages are not insulated well and if you're ceiling isn't insulated any unit you install is going to run continuously. Insulation can be a bigger job because you have to remove the garage contents. You as a homeowner can pull your own permit and they are going to just ask for a drawing mapping your work. If your unit needs to be charged you best to call an AC guy to do that and test the lines. Unfortunately, that not cheap job. The AC trade along with plumbing, electrical and roofing on home repair are expensive because most homeowners can't even change their own oil and the contractors know it. If you get a labor only quote, ask for the per hour rate and estimated time to do the job. $ 60.00 an hour is fair for these trades and 5k for an 8-hour shift is taking advantage. Vegas heat sucks.

thanks man, i've really been enjoying the whole learning process and i'm seeing better results here slowly. A lot of the things I've done on the e30 could be revisited and improved upon. I don't work in the trade so it's a lot slower learning process. Its also very costly "hobby" if you add things up at the end of the day. I'm actually almost relieved i'm pretty much out of garage floor space tbh.....I have been looking for tools i really have no space for.... ideally a tire machine would save time & money for sure, I'd love a quality stand up drill press that doesnt have chuck wobble and possibly a jd2 tube bender to build myself some bash bars for the first project.. I'm pretty sure I follow you on IG, you've been doing a ton of corvette cages right? killer work btw! (sorry if i have you mistaken). The pioneer unit is one of those precharged units but cheaper than say a mrcool unit. The cheapest kit comes with like 10ft install kit, and I was probably looking at getting the 16ft kit. My garage walls are definitely not insulated, and I'd really only plan to have it on when I'm working in the garage. I can't use swamp coolers, they attract the mosquitoes.. The main panel is right behind the work bench with the grinders so technically the lines won't have to be ran very far. I'm at the point where I'd want to attempt to DIY the minisplit, but yesterday was already 104°!! I have a feeling it might be an extra long summer here....I'd have to crawl through the attic space more than likely so its off the table for now, maybe 2027 if this next quote is high as well.
Also, I had the chance to test out the lincoln 3350 helmet. It is absolutely night and day - i'm super impressed by the viewability and not having that OG gambeboy green tinge anymore!

[OSAH racing]

Good morning, Love the fab work you have done to the E30. I did not read to far back so forgive me if I missed something. I am a GC in California. Let's talk mini split. With your fab skills you can easily do your own install. Some units come pre charged. What I have done in the past is use a Panasonic unit with everything needed to get heat and air so (head units, lines and condenser / heat pump). those supplied lines are not very long get an extra length if needed. If you're in need of a 20A 240V breaker and have space in the main panel that is also easy just use a conduit to protect the wire. Garages are not insulated well and if you're ceiling isn't insulated any unit you install is going to run continuously. Insulation can be a bigger job because you have to remove the garage contents. You as a homeowner can pull your own permit and they are going to just ask for a drawing mapping your work. If your unit needs to be charged you best to call an AC guy to do that and test the lines. Unfortunately, that not cheap job. The AC trade along with plumbing, electrical and roofing on home repair are expensive because most homeowners can't even change their own oil and the contractors know it. If you get a labor only quote, ask for the per hour rate and estimated time to do the job. $ 60.00 an hour is fair for these trades and 5k for an 8-hour shift is taking advantage. Vegas heat sucks.

[s14brent]

I guess I'm back to waiting for parts unfortunately..I started trying to do things in my free time as usual..I decided to "mock" the link ecu in place.....and start to run the wires through the firewall to determine length/routing.

My order from ballenger showed up, just 3 different sized parallel connectors to split the +5v & ground wires.



tesa taped from the LINK to the Y split to the oil psi/temp and fuel psi sensors.



Ran them to the driver side of the firewall and started to get ready to wire up the sensor connectors. Oil temp/psi is bosch/trapez 5pin and fuel psi is an aptiv/delphi metri-pack 150. This is important because I had to order new pins for them because they apparently got smashed in the box they were stored in for almost 2 years now SMH! I placed another order from ballenger for the pins. Hopefully they show up sometime before next weekend.



You can see the exposed c101 in the photo above.......The wires to the c101 was wayyy too long and bulky and its kind of bothered me for YEARS.....I decided I'd order the depin tool and 20 new pins from Falk MFG. The plan is to service loop them JIC since I'll be only leaving enough length where the wires are relaxed. I decided to take the boot off the engine side connector and remove the unused wires that were stuffed inside. I removed 9 unused wires, and have only 13 wires in my c101 and thats wired for AC. This also means I'll have plenty of connectors left over, or spares.



The only other thing left I could do for the stand alone was unplug the vacuum line from the FPR and order a 3/16-3/16-1/8 tee (dorman 493-016) and 5' of gates 27041 which is 7/64 and actually fits the 1/8 side of the tee tighter. I ran the vacuum line through the firewall and split it off. I guess there's no turning back now!!



I did order a new wire stripper and open-barrel crimper. I'm hoping they make my life a little easier. I also got a new welding helmet! I was having issues fitting my respirator under my old miller digital elite, and I knew my miller respirator would fit under a lincoln 3350, so I ordered that since there's a $100 rebate going on. I also bought a gen2 miller digital elite shell (tbh i didn't know they sold replacement shells, I would have done that a long time ago if I knew, I think my miller is 10 years old at this point - of course the gen 1's are discontinued, but for right under $50 for the gen 2 shell, I figured I'd give it a try!) Thankfully the display unit didn't change sizes, I know the gen2 unit has less of the green tint and is a bit more refined all around, but now it that helmet looks good enough to either resell or keep as a killer spare. I just know I wanted to be able to use a respirator under the mask more often.





I also have a 6061 tig finger-pedal on order...I will probably spend a lot of time practicing with that whenever it arrives. That should help with anything not on the table, hopefully i'll get confident enough for a roll cage in the future.

**Mini-Split update: might not do it.....I found a unit I liked pioneer 18kbtu, However the 2 guys I had come out for estimates were $1900 and $21xx. I'd probably be in it for a little over 4200 all said and done. I am not doing that...I think its mainly because I'd need another 220-240 plug and I think that unit requires a 20-25a breaker.

Hopefully parts start rolling in soon. I think my SLR order said UP to 3 weeks wait time, I really was hoping they just had one on the shelf I guess, but now i'll be needing a base map before I can schedule my alignment. I couldn't stand the thought of the standalone sitting in a box for another year.

[s14brent]

The oilpan has been holding the 9.5 qts for some time now with no leaking, so I decided to slap the subframe back in, along with the steering components and finally remove the engine support bar. I also threw on the front bumper again so it looks like a full car again which is nice.



I had to re-open the dme housing for the LINK ecu and added a second CAN JST connection cable. There are two can bus inputs on the e36 G4x and I had originally set it up with just CAN1 and a CAN TEE. Since the wideband/can lambda is quite the path between the two resistor ends considering the cable extensions, I figured it'd be a safer setup if I just had it on its own channel so it won't have an excuse to be a bit wonky.



I was going to remove the glove box and figure out wire routing so I could make the sensor/expansion harness. I ended up scrolling on marketplace during a water break and found a listing for recaro seat sliders for cheap. ::enters sidequest::



I didn't take pictures over the install, but 4 new 8mm holes had to be made on each slider to directly bolt this onto the garagistic floor mounts and side mount bracket. I'll probably be revisiting it again so I'll take pictures next time I'm in there. I had very limited space where I could mount the sliders because of the late models longer front seat studs and the height of the inner rear mounting bolts - since i'm still running factory seat belts.



I'd say this is about 90% complete at the moment, I might need to do some more fine tuning for my OCD (currently too invested in this project right now to go back to solid mounts at this point. Its also REALLY helpful to get in/out of the car now.)




I made an oil dipstick bracket out of aluminum originally, but with the 3 oil pan attempts it already started to deform so I made it out of steel. I also made another bracket to secure the intake piping. Brackets were painted along with the fuel vent line cover and rear firewall access covers.

Speaking of side quests though, I was looking on slrspeeds site wanting to get torque specs for the knuckle block and remembered they came out with a "high-trail" version which changes the pick up point a bit for I believe more caster (improved self-center/self steer during drift). I am out of adjustment currently and I'd love to be able to have wiggle room or even slightly more.

Meanwhile I will be figuring out wire lengths from the firewall to sensors and considering a bulkhead on the firewall for a quick-disconnect solution, I actually doubt I'll need that for a couple of sensors though, and may just do deutsch for each sensor (engine bay side).

[s14brent]

For minisplit, I kinda ballparked the size - my garage is 560sqft but has 10' ceilings and kind of shit insulation so I wasn't super sure a 12k BTU unit would cut it to heat, but was quoted for 500-750sqft so I figured I had headroom, and from what I read, they are most efficient when they are just big enough, and I think this one is basically that.


Only thing I'd do different, is to NOT wall mount the outdoor unit directly where my desk is just on the inside of that wall. It goes into a defrost cycle during the winter and gets quite loud inside. I'd mount it to the ground or just on the wall literally anywhere else...

Thanks, I'm currently looking at a pioneer 18k BTU 23 seer2 unit. You might be the 3rd person to tell me to not to wall-mount the outdoor unit.

------------------
I've had crazy long work weeks so I'm finally back being able to get some wrench time in. I ended up helping out a local buddy swap his torsen unit into my 3.46 LSD housing. He's collecting parts for his soon to be s50 swapped late model. This also means my 40% LSD unit is just sitting in a box - not sure what I'll be doing with that, but I do know I either wanted a 3.64 or 3.25 instead, so I'll be keeping an eye out for those. (maybe open diff versions to save money).



I only had one other free day since the diff rebuild, and I basically bolted on the ps pump, subframe/steering rack, and LCA's up front. I have to torque them all to spec still, but I moved onto the rear. I was tired of looking at my fortune auto shocks laying on the ground, so I finally put those back in with new oem paper gaskets on the mount.



I found out my fuel tank breather cover had some rust forming. Its not bad enough to replace, so I just wire-wheeled it down to clean metal. ABS version would be nice, but it's not necessary. I'll probably remake the dipstick tube bracket out of steel, and paint the bracket, breather cover and the firewall patch panels together when its' not windy. Yay for actual progress though. I might be able to actually drive the car soon!

[Northern]

For minisplit, I kinda ballparked the size - my garage is 560sqft but has 10' ceilings and kind of shit insulation so I wasn't super sure a 12k BTU unit would cut it to heat, but was quoted for 500-750sqft so I figured I had headroom, and from what I read, they are most efficient when they are just big enough, and I think this one is basically that.

I went with a Senville Aura unit for a few reasons:
They're relatively cheap (Not as cheap as their "Leto" range or the cheapest MrCool tier, but still reasonable)
"arctic rated" (down to -30degC - we get ~10days/yr below -10 and have had days in the -20s).
I think tied to that was a SEER2 Rating (cooling) of 25.4 which made me feel good. Can't remember the HSPF rating (heating) off the top of my head.
Good reviews on amazon and random forums.
Amazon had random sales/coupons.

This unit was regularly $1500 on amazon, but there was a $250 coupon at one point so I bought it. I also bought:
Outdoor Unit wall mount
Outdoor Unit vibration damping feet
Lineset covers
Nylog Blue (for fittings)
Sprayform/silicone for wall penetration
Outdoor disconnect box.
Outdoor electrical whip
"SK-105" Wifi dongle (Unit came with an Alexa-only dongle. This one works with google home but I just use it for the "NetHome Plus" app - There are settings the physical remote cannot easily access)
I think all-in, it was <$2k - This was back in 2024 before the R410A ban hit, so units here are $400 more expensive now here with whatever new refrigerant. Not sure if the US has the same ban.

My Mini split installer friend gave me:
2" HVAC foam tape for the uninsulated portions of the lines.
Help to vacuum evacuate the lines, leak test, and release refrigerant from outdoor unit into the system.

I didn't get any quotes, but there are various rebate programs up here only for professionally installed, so I think that drives the price up to use all the rebate. Like a half day labour somehow is $5k and that doesn't add up to me.

Only thing I'd do different, is to NOT wall mount the outdoor unit directly where my desk is just on the inside of that wall. It goes into a defrost cycle during the winter and gets quite loud inside. I'd mount it to the ground or just on the wall literally anywhere else...

[s14brent]

Apologies for the rabbit hole on the welding table lol.
so I'm leaning toward the $230 PA one and plan to modify it/add casters/shelf.

Rust is always a concern, but I have a minisplit that heats in the winter and runs on dehumidify in the summer. We'll see how well that works.

lol, it's my own fault. I actually enjoy upgrading the garage a bit too much apparently. I ordered 4" 1400lb locking/swivel casters for the main work bench and plan to use the old ones on my toolbox that lives at the gf's house (since for some reason that box doesnt have a pair of casters that can lock down.. I also mounted my old vise on the toolbox at her place. I guess everyone who needs a vise just buys one from HF so there's no point keeping it listed on marketplace. I successfully made a corner-shelf bracket using leftover spal fan brackets so it gets to live there LOL!

Oh and that sounds like a solid plan tbh! i think i could have been happy with just the hf table or maybe a pair (911motorsports makes brackets to connect 2 tables) for the larger surface area. I think once you do some mods to it - it's a perfectly good table - much better than the folding type I started out with.

I really do want a mini split. I say this every year, but I don't want a cheap one, got any suggestions? I was looking at Fujica/Mitsubishi but it looks like they don't come with lines or a charge - which adds up on the installation costs? MRCOOL looking like my best bet it seems. I'm also worried about increased summer power bills.

Did some work on the e30 while I could....these patch panels came out alright. I probably will want to paint them before i throw the back seats in.



So the oil pan has been a massive PITA. I just installed it for the 3rd time today. I used Hondabond HT + elring gasket this time around - but it's been the fastest/smoothest install yet, I think maybe it was taking me too long (fishing bolts out of the pan with magnets etc.) previous times and maybe toyota FIPG formed sooner than I could get the 3 bolts in through the access holes on the harperfab pan. (this is where its been leaking the past 2x). I don't know what's going on, all surfaces are flat, always cleaned thoroughly...tightened from inside out/criss cross apple sauce...I'm just trying to get past this before the summer temps creep up. I won't be able to mess around in the garage until the 24th due to work schedule......so there will be adequate time to let it sit and cure...i really don't want to do this again. I can't wait to slap everything back together and get my 4 wheel alignment taken care of and throw on the volk TE37s, enjoy it for a bit and then move onto the Link ECU install & tuning part.

--------------
Edit: 04/18

I got out of work early so I of course had to get some things done in the garage. The 4" poly/locking casters I ordered from casterhq got delivered the other day and its been on my mind since. These total have a 1400lb capacity and hopefully its not like the amazon specials that say 2k lbs but can barely hold up 500lbs. The old locking casters will be mocked up on the tool box at the gf's place eventually.



using the floor jack made this a super quick swap.




after I moved everything back in place the unsecured argon bottles really started to bug me. I ended up looking at a ton of different options online, and well.....all the cheap dual cylinder dollys had a larger footprint than i'd like, and all the stationary stands were kind of expensive ($300+). Well.....I had the two cheapest HF welding carts taking up space most likely waiting for bulk trash day......so I figured I'd try to make something useful out of it.





I actually like how I can throw the welding rods inbetween the tanks. I was initially going to box off the top, but then it clicked. It was nice to get these little things banged out though, I thought I had to wait until end of this upcoming week to get any garage time in. I also contacted my handyman to come out in the first week in May to get a quote on some home upgrades i've been wanting to do and that includes the mini split installed as well since spring-black-friday sales are a thing* apparently.

[Northern]

I have never had a grinder fail violently, or even blew up a cutoff disk, but I did kill the motor in one. I love me a $25 angle grinder, but I have a reasonably cheap cordless ryobi that has been good to me recently. Also big into using the recip saw with a good diablo metal blade when possible.

Apologies for the rabbit hole on the welding table lol.
I really need to pull the trigger on literally anything just to be able to go finish off that corner of the garage because it's become a dumping ground and I can't use my TIG until I have power there and have something to weld on.
Could wait for a deal on marketplace but its like they're always still expensive, 3+ hours away, or both lol. I think I should just get something semi-fit for purpose now and if I need to, upgrade later on.

One up here at PrincessAuto (generally the same shit as HF) is $230, looks identical to yours, 36x24 with some bolt-thru clamps and various
I found a similar one on Vevor (also via their Amazon store) for $180, 36x24, no casters, 4 flimsy looking c-clamps and various blocks. Biggest differences are that the legs look even less substantial and the accessories look like trash lol.
Another one on Vevor is also $180 but 40x24 and has casters, a shelf, and more leg bracing, but no accessories.

I think both vevor units only have a .120" top, so I'm leaning toward the $230 PA one and plan to modify it/add casters/shelf.

Rust is always a concern, but I have a minisplit that heats in the winter and runs on dehumidify in the summer. We'll see how well that works.

[s14brent]

Gotta ask - Comparison between the old HF welding table and the new beefcake one?

so this threw me down a rabbit hole I wasn't expecting to go on......I ended up doing some upgrades on it today because I got bored and watched some of the YT videos I mentioned above. I actually had some m10x1.5 casters on an old motorcycle side stand - i just needed to get some m10x1.5x40mm socket heads for it. I also had some left over angle iron laying around so i cut it down to about 4x 1" pieces and boxed in the feet. The legs are a terrible design for heavy use, and mainly because the lower section. Some dudes on YT did 2x2 square tubing for the legs and welded it all around....they made the table an absolute unit, but I'm not looking at using it that heavily, also I had most of this just laying around fo' free! The casters were all swivel casters but only 2 were locking so I put on each side - it actually seems to do the job just fine. I also welded in the lower tray that kept falling out every time I moved the table (that bugged me the most about it). I cut some plywood for the tray so it could actually be functional. I've been looking for a spot to store the chop saw so i approve of the time spent to do all this today. I think eventually I'll add smaller casters onto the beefcake table which will make the two tables a bit closer in height with each other, but when i have a larger welding project I can just roll this over - which is a super nice additon.



----
since i spent my day off doing mostly table mods, all i got done on the e30 involved cleaning up the exposed metal in the trunk and spray bombing it with whatever I had laying around....I also spent some time cutting out some 22ga patch panels for the rear firewall. After playing with the idea of welding back in the pieces i cut out, I mocked it up and thought the gap was a bit too much and I didn't want to fully weld it in since I'd have to access it again when I eventually do my roll cage. After moving the garage around the past few weeks I found some leftover sheet metal so I had the idea of just using some oversized panels + some m5 rivnuts to secure it in. Cardboard aided design to the rescue again! I actually think this will look pretty cool. I shouldn't have any issues with tech inspections either.



Scary moment, I actually had my bearings either fall apart on one of my 4" makita grinders...or it simply just locked up...it made a terrifying noise and well.....that stopped my progress right in the tracks. I have a fear of those things and try to use them as least as possible, so the old one went straight into the trash. The R side panel is good to go, the L side panel is a bit less refined at the moment - but I did manage to get a replacement makita grinder which i'm not sure was the best choice now. I picked up a 5" makita (rat tail - corded) 10.5a grinder with electric brake+bind up control, and well it's not as easy to control as the marketing around it says. I'm much better with a barrel type 4", maybe I just need to get used to it but the 5" grinding disc seems so much different for some reason. I also chose 10.5a vs 13a because i thought it'd be easier to handle/less kick - i was wrong, however hopefully it stays cooler, i've had a lot of friends burn out $300+ grinders because they just overheat so fast..Oh and I also placed an order with HF, had to get me a jigsaw after today's crooked cuts with a reciprocating saw, was almost pissed I didn't just buy a hf/hercules 4.5" grinder for a third of the price but I wanted the safety features I mentioned.

[s14brent]

Gotta ask - Comparison between the old HF welding table and the new beefcake one?
I would love something like the new one, but they're pricey... Like the HF style one up here is $250, but the "real" ones start at almost 10x that.
So what's your take - worth it? Is it just much thicker/sturdier?

well my HF table measured in at 8 gauge (0.1644) steel (i'm seeing harbor freight lists it as 6 gauge which it definitely isn't), and beefcake is 1/4" thick and has some crazy send-cut-send architecture underneath... so they can't really be compared lol! I think you'd be pissed if you knew what I paid for the table+vise combo. I do like that the hf table came with a bunch of clamps and pipe blocks which work really well for the cost.. but ultimately I wanted as smaller work bench so i could consolidate the space so I can access my backyard door again. That was the real priority tbh! I just happened to stumble across the best-case situation somehow.
I didn't think i'd want a welding table with casters but I guess I forgot how heavy a real table is, however the casters could probably be upgraded eventually but now that its in place I really see no reason to spend more money on it since it won't be moved around a lot. I've seen some YT videos where people mod out the HF table, but at the end of it, you might be 5-600 dollars into it when you could have bought something nicer. Also, if you live somewhere with humidity, you're gonna have to clean/wipe it down with wd-40 often so it lasts.
I would just keep checking fb marketplace for deals if the hf equivalent there is $250 tbh! I do like that the HF table can be setup as a table or counter top config. I know the step up from the hf table is like the primeweld fixture table, and companies like TMRcustoms (in canada) make nice bench tops (need to build your own legs). I do think if you plan on making large items like full exhaust systems.....ideally you have maybe two hf tables. and keep them side by side until its time to build it out.

[Northern]

Gotta ask - Comparison between the old HF welding table and the new beefcake one?
I would love something like the new one, but they're pricey... Like the HF style one up here is $250, but the "real" ones start at almost 10x that.
So what's your take - worth it? Is it just much thicker/sturdier?

[s14brent]

That came up awesome, well done. I'm jealous of your space for sure

Thanks! I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!

Definitely nice having a clean and sorted garage space… mines a mess between my endless distractions and kids’ toys everywhere

The old setup always got cluttered with junk. Having the smaller table will hopefully stop me from doing that *fingers crossed*

------
The thought of having both welding machines on one cart was bugging me to no end. I was looking at the primeweld tower cart for $300 and decided I could probably repurpose the hf/vulcan cart that was chilling in my backyard. I stopped using that because it was too big of a footprint for just one machine. It works out well if you bend the square tubes to 90° and add 4" of height. Funny thing is, i chopped the square tubing off the foldable welding table that's warped, so it cost me nothing but time.





unfortunately the cart faded really badly and well, i have a quart of satin black just laying around so i just brushed it on. (still wet in the photo) - The next morning, I cut out some tool box drawer liner to cover most of it up. The cart can only carry one bottle unfortunately, but I did add a quick release setup to my tig argon line just in case I need to roll the cart around.



and this is the end result:





I actually saved 11.5" of floor space with this setup vs having 2 of the cheapest hf welding carts, so I believe it was worth it! It also saved me from spending more money in the garage so thats a huge win!

Out of boredom and curiosity, I also stripped down my Wilton/Snap-on 1755 vise. Apparently these don't sell for much now days and the last few years wilton started to outsource the "tradesman" vises to china. The original snap-on red was pretty messed up, and the rustoleum red was just off, this vise needed a refresh as well. Mainly imperfections in the casting - there were jagged edges that needed smoothing all around the unit. I figured I'd use the same hammered black paint since I have so much of it left over, and I didn't want to chance it with another wrong red.





Of course it came out better than the vise I told myself I'd keep. I did rob the swivel base lock down handles from this to put on my C1. the handles are slightly bent on these. I also stole the rubber washers off the handle, but I may replace them, Turns out the C1 is 3/4" and the tradesman is 5/8" but the washers still fit somehow..

I also ordered a new snap-on label/logo. Unfortunately there is no other way to differentiate an authentic snap-on vise from a regular wilton tradesman, meaning its nothing more than a red paint job and an aluminized sticker..(which is why i know i'll never get what I paid for it back)



I'm gonna have a hard time letting this one go, I've already been thinking of what I could use this for, or maybe I just bring it to the gf's house when I setup a toolbox there. I think if I don't get my listing price I'll just hold onto it. It seems like such a waste since essentially its in better shape than the one i'm keeping. The c1 has bigger pipe jaws and opens wider despite having 4.5" jaws vs 5.5".....opening wider means it'd be a lot safer to throw lsd/open diff cores into the c1.



Here's the work horse for comparison. I was hoping to easily add a thrust washer to prevent any more wear on the unit, and help with alignment and run-out, but it turns out the spindle would probably need to be machined down for additional clearance. (it really ain't that serious...) For some reason this unit didn't have a thrust washer like other c1's out there but it might have been something they added closer to 1960s. Also there is no mfg date stamped on the lower part of the slide, but it being a 4 pin pipe jaw, and having Schiller Park, ILL. VS Chicago stamping means that its 1957-1959 build date. I'm pretty bummed the thrust washers I ordered wouldn't work, i noticed there is some wear between the spindle and the unit itself, so a generous amount of red grease was applied in that spot before reassembly.

---- e30 update: the pan is on with an oem bmw oil pan gasket.

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been working on clearing off the workspace even more.....turns out a J hook works great as a tig torch holder



and I finally spot-cleaned the Recaro SPG pro racer and threw it in the car.



I definitely will miss the halo with the blindspot window.....and also the cheetah print LOL! It's hard to explain, but the ribcage area is even smaller on this seat. I'll try to get better photos eventually. I think* it's as comfortable (seating position) as it can get. I almost wish I had sliders vs floor mounts to make it a little easier to get in and out of!

[2mAn]

Definitely nice having a clean and sorted garage space… mines a mess between my endless distractions and kids’ toys everywhere