Strut housing shortening...where to go??

[niccuhles]

Just got my short inserts but need a shop or someone to cut and rewelded the front strut housings. Who did you guys go thru? I would do it myself but dont have the tools to do so :(.

[DER E30]

I'm planning on doing mine myself soon, so if it goes well I can help you I'll use mine as the guinea pig

edit: Ground Control does it, and I think member cubbychowder on here does as well, might PM him,but he's in CA like GC is.
edit 2: I probably won't even look at mine for 2-3 weeks at least

[george graves]

Every town will have an industrial area. Find a body shop near there, walk in with out calling, and tell them you'll looking for that one crazy old white guy that has had a hole-in-the-wall shop for 20 years - just say....

"Hey, I was wondering if your manager would point me to a local welder with great work and good prices - I have a small strut housing project I need done, can I talk to your manager real quick?"

[niccuhles]

Every town will have an industrial area. Find a body shop near there, walk in with out calling, and tell them you'll looking for that one crazy old white guy that has had a hole-in-the-wall shop for 20 years - just say....

"Hey, I was wondering if your manager would point me to a local welder with great work and good prices - I have a small strut housing project I need done, can I talk to your manager real quick?"

i may have to take you up on that advice. I hit up a guy I use to work with who branched off to do 4x4 stuff and he quoted me $250-300...a little bit too much than what I want to spend on my $600 vert haha.

[DER E30]

Also check out welding shops like Central welding Supply, maybe call them and ask if they know somebody
Edit: I got the number of a guy in Mary'sville from Central welding for some aluminum tig welding, (I don't have a TIG) the guy was really good and looked at what I wanted to do and was like 20 bucks and like 5 mins later he was done and I was on my way. I think I lost his number though in my old phone:(

edit 2: also maybe an exhaust shop like what George Graves was saying. Especially if you used a pipe cutter to do the cuts yourself and just needed it welded.

[TobyB]

Every town will have an industrial area

George, have you walked around Ballard, Georgetown, "South Lake Union", Interbay,
or even along the south side of the Ship canal recently ?

Nobody does that stuff here anymore.

At $3 a foot for shop space, it's all coffee, internet and nails nails nails and hair.

There is no industrial area in Seattle. It's all hipster beardy tight- pants poser.

That vented, Fisherman's terminal still services the fleet, and they need welding still.
But finding someone to take a one- off job like that is tricky.

Godspeed Fab, in Kent, is run by Robb Newby, and he is a very good welder. And he loves cars.

t

[korn]

Walts auto care in Ballard had hooked me up with some reasonably priced quick work... I would check them out.

[djjerme]

I did it myself in my one car garage..

Used a metal cutting blade in my Ryobi cordless chop saw.. Not joking.. Then used my cheap wire feed welder to weld it all back together.

The key is taking your time, measure twice - cut once, keeping the metal clean where the joint is, and making sure the weld has good penetration. Also, making sure when you reweld the two halves back together that they are absolutely, dead nuts square.

I'll see if I still have some pictures of the process.

[e30josh]

I have a tig and mig welder at my shop.. Lmk if you'd want to travel up to anacortes and we can get you set up


Edit: I recently bought a Branick macpherson strut compressor as well. If anyone needs struts or springs swapped, hit me up!

[TobyB]

To Jeremy's sage DUI- err, I mean, DIY- I would add that grinding a radius (chamfer)
onto both halves will make a MUCH stronger and prettier weld.
It's not a particularly stressed part of the strut, but a deeply- grooved weld is
probably 400% stronger than one that sits on the surface. And it's a lot more tolerant
of the amateur welding process...

hth

t

[niccuhles]

Thanks for all the input guys! Josh, Im gonna look for something local and if I cant find anyone, I might just putt on up to anacortes!

[djjerme]

Yes, forget to add that Toby, I did chamfer the edges prior to welding. ;)