Intercooler flange

[pro70z28]

Lately I've been getting the fiberglass dash in the "Z" fit around the intercooler.
Looking at it, it occurred to me that if those hose clamps were to loosen up the outlet tube could become a in-car projectile.

[pro70z28]

So, I had some time this weekend & I decided I'd get the hose & clamp set-up replaced. I pulled out the old slab of aluminum and started whittlin' away.



Flipped one over & cut an o-ring groove


cleaned them up on the lathe & cut the mating surfaces for a nice air tight fit.


Finished and ready to install.

[pro70z28]

My aluminum welding skills aren't the best, but I got 'em melted together.


Intercooler side with o-ring


all bolted together and back in the caah.


dash cover back in. No more hose & clamps. I feel safer with this set-up by my shin. I've seen some ugly footage of those clamps letting go.

That's what I did this weekend.

[waho6o9]

Awesome work. U da man.

[turboglenn]

that's really nice work... What did you use to make the perfect circle from whatever you were whitlin at them with?? Because outside of CNC i can only think rotary table as far as what i have the capabilities to do ( i'm thinking mill, pantograph or drill press) Those are like V-band quality, you could have probably even just got a V-band clamp and put round them even!

Also, what is the spec on that bit you cut your parts from plate with and where can i get one! We have no machine supply companies worth speaking of so i have to make most of my tooling of keep brazing new inserts on tools i already have and just have to work with the basics which is not ideal by any means when it comes to producing parts by the hour for customers, it sometimes cheaper to order one than to pay me to make an aluminum V-band clamp set and they are 85 bucks for one at the cheapest places

Anyway being a person that offers and does some machining in my fab work I can apreciate what into making those, I imagine at least 4 hours if you were working fast, 6 on a good day.


Anyway, back at my first question.... I usually have to use a rotary table to get a perfect cirlce like that milled on my set-up, but it seems as iff you had some arm off to the left of the head in the first pic that lead me to think a pantagraph... So if you would be so kind as to maybe help a brother out and gimme some hints on cutting nice perfect circles from plate a little faster than what i can at the moment, it would be much apreciated! I've only got a 3''rotary table to make mine from unless i cut them by bolting the plate to my lathe face-plate and then working at parting them off. but that's slow as *****

[gda]

nice work looks clean

[pro70z28]

Thanks gda.

that's really nice work... What did you use to make the perfect circle from whatever you were whitlin at them with?? *****

It's a CNC. It's main use is cutting wood in my sign business, but occasionally it makes car parts on the weekends. It's not very fast, but it does allow me to make in house parts. I like fabricating so I have many home built parts on the car. Sometimes it would be easier to just buy the parts, and I do break down and buy parts sometimes. Other times the parts are purpose built to this particular project & just can't be found over the counter.
As for the bits, I just use hardware store bits. I cut most of it with a 1/4'' carbide spiral bit. I cut the hex holes for the nylocks with an 1/8" bit. I don't usually use anything smaller than 3/16'' because they break so easy. But, I needed the 1/8" bit to clean out the corners enough for the nylock to drop in the hole. Just had to cut super slow with a sharp bit.
I should be using bit designed for aluminum, but I haven't found an outlet. Maybe somebody has a source? The only aluminum bits I've found are for die grinders.

[7secondmalibu]

Looks nice but I was just curious why you didn't put a v-band flange on it. It looks like it could take a long time to undo all those bolts when a v-band is just taking a single nut off and taking the flange apart.

[pro70z28]

I just wanted this one to be different (I do that a lot) being part of the dash. This connection will rarely if ever be messed with once it's installed. This is just a short extension from the intercooler to the back side of the firewall. Engine compartment connections will need to be quick disconnect and will probably be v-band connections. Or, if I can figure out a way to build the connections and make them functional I'll probably go that route. That's part of the reason for the project, to get to fabricate stuff like this.

[turboglenn]

Thanks gda.



It's a CNC. It's main use is cutting wood in my sign business, but occasionally it makes car parts on the weekends. It's not very fast, but it does allow me to make in house parts. I like fabricating so I have many home built parts on the car. Sometimes it would be easier to just buy the parts, and I do break down and buy parts sometimes. Other times the parts are purpose built to this particular project & just can't be found over the counter.
As for the bits, I just use hardware store bits. I cut most of it with a 1/4'' carbide spiral bit. I cut the hex holes for the nylocks with an 1/8" bit. I don't usually use anything smaller than 3/16'' because they break so easy. But, I needed the 1/8" bit to clean out the corners enough for the nylock to drop in the hole. Just had to cut super slow with a sharp bit.
I should be using bit designed for aluminum, but I haven't found an outlet. Maybe somebody has a source? The only aluminum bits I've found are for die grinders.

I'm the same way and that's what lead to my business heading more towards fab and custom parts rather than just a welding service...when i started advertising and putting the word out people would come to the shop and see all the cool stuff i build and then after whatever basic weld they wanted they would usually place an order for some kind of custom car/bike part and now i RARELY do anything that's just a weld, but i like it better this way since fabbing has been a long time hobby of mine and it's really beena dream come true to have it be my main-stay of business...

Myself, I do a lot of it for the same reason as you, I like to build my parts even if i can buy them as long as it makes dollar sense.... CNC explains the perfect circles for sure I'm still trying to get some help on building/finding a CNC table for my plasma cutter.. I'm only looking for 4x4 but sadly enough (opn the money end anyway) i just ended up getting divorced after only being married for about 6 months and now am finding myself supporting the entire house and all our aniamals on my own so car parts and things for projects like the CNC table are one of the last things i get to buy but at least i'm a lot happier mentally with her gone and can concentrate more on working compared to doing every little thing she wants to keep myself out of trouble..... Next woman will have to be at least 30, been married and divorced or already have children because i just can't take the mindset of these 20-something women i've been dating, they just don't have the mental grasp on what's really important IMO and most are so spoiled they have no idea how to make their man feel good after doing everything he can to make their lives as best as they can be...okay enough OT rambling LOL