Above 1200 Sq/FT 86's 20HP shop

[kent_323is]

I like the idea of trying to figure out where the interference is with the fitting together by using wax, clay or dykem. Once you find where the problem areas are, you can grind or file to fit and get it back together. It doesn't have to be perfect since it's not your long term solution, so get the angle grinder with a cutoff wheel in it and adjust that gear until it fits! Then you'd have a running forklift while you search for parts for the full hydraulic conversion rather than another large paperweight. The previous one did work for quite a while for you, so if you take it easy on it, it should last for a while and you could get some use out of it.
If you go for the full hydraulic conversion now, we probably won't see this forklift working again until spring. If it is down for the count for that long, do you have alternatives?

Can you upload some more pictures of the gearbox?

 

[86turbodsl]

I can do that. I'd need some gear marking compound i think. For reference, when the shaft is installed, i need a vice grip installed on the splines to have enough leverage to move it. I'm also reluctant to grind or file the gear because shaping a gear is quite involved. And this part is ground on a taper.

 

[86turbodsl]

Here's the gear. I honestly think tuning it up will be worse than just getting 2 cylinders.

 

[86turbodsl]

Ok, making some progress. Back on the Audi last night. Got the daughter's car out of the shop, moved all the **** back around so i can get under the car and the engine back to the open area by the door. I tidied up the back of the engine and found a few more things to order to button it up. Hope can get that ordered today.




You can see how bad my original downpipes are. Those are holes.



Then started looking at the exhaust downpipes. I knew i needed to get the bandsaw functional for cutting pipe so i started by making a jig for cutting.

I made runners that sandwich the 20" table on both sides, and glued a chunk of 3/4 plywood (gold) on top, then cut a line in the plywood sled with the saw blade. Once i had a line established, i made some mandrels with a hole saw and sanded them down on the disc sander. I used a screw to fasten the one that matched the pipe i wanted to cut to the board on the line.

Then on the engine, i measured the angle of the pipe i wanted to cut with a digital protractor, then lined that up on the pipe elbow. Where it touches is the line i want to cut. Put the pipe on the jig, line up the marks with the blade, and shove it thru.




What i get is a perfect 90 only needing a very quick pass on the disc sander to make it ready to weld up.

The cut end matches perfectly with a fresh section of straight. I think we're in business.



This gives you an idea of the path it'll be taking. Pretty roughly equivalent to the original downpipes.

 

[jbmatth]

That's a cool trick for cutting the SS exhaust pipe, sadly the bandsaw I have didn't work well for metal and I destroyed the blade the first time I tried SS, I ended up using a marker and hose clamps then a cutoff wheel. It worked great, but was very time consuming, maybe I need to get back on that saw and get it ready for the next time. Are you going catless for this one, or just moving them downstream?

JB

 

[86turbodsl]

Yeah, on ss304 you have to really get the speed down. I'm running my old NS18 saw, on a new 3ph motor with a vfd. I think it's under 50lfpm. It just ripped through the pipe.

The other question i will DM.

 

[Pressingonward]

I wonder on your forklift steering issue what would happen if you put it together as-is and try to forget about the tight gearing...not ideal, but it is a forklift, and if the steering works, it will probably keep on working and wear in a bit over time. Assuming this doesn't put excessive strain on any bushings, bearings, or the housing, especially considering any thermal expansion. Now if it's so tight you have to hang off the steering wheel to turn it, that's a different story.

Strange your tractor overheated...when they recored the radiator did they do it right? Wondering if you have an even heat gradient top to bottom, or if the bottom is cold due to flow restrictions internally? Keep a close eye on the temp gauge and I'm sure the problem will become apparent eventually. Sudden, intermittent overheating usually suggests HG to me, but as you said it could be the t-stat.

Sad to hear you've missed out on the joy of Saab ownership...I've never partaken myself either, but they've certainly rolled through the shops I've worked at on a regular basis. It's wonderful explaining to the customer that the car they bought 4 days ago from a sleazy car lot needs to get towed to the dealer for a $1000 ignition switch to fix the no-start. And it's highly entertaining to replace the accessory drive belts located on the firewall side of the engine on the older ones...

In all fairness, they do drive nice, and I actually do appreciate their willingness to think outside of the box on certain design aspects. Anyways...

 

[kent_323is]

I wonder on your forklift steering issue what would happen if you put it together as-is and try to forget about the tight gearing...not ideal, but it is a forklift, and if the steering works, it will probably keep on working and wear in a bit over time. Assuming this doesn't put excessive strain on any bushings, bearings, or the housing, especially considering any thermal expansion. Now if it's so tight you have to hang off the steering wheel to turn it, that's a different story.

I agree with this as well... a functioning forklift would be higher on my list than diving too deep on this. Especially since you plan to go a different route in the long run.

 

[86turbodsl]

I wonder on your forklift steering issue what would happen if you put it together as-is and try to forget about the tight gearing...not ideal, but it is a forklift, and if the steering works, it will probably keep on working and wear in a bit over time. Assuming this doesn't put excessive strain on any bushings, bearings, or the housing, especially considering any thermal expansion. Now if it's so tight you have to hang off the steering wheel to turn it, that's a different story.

Strange your tractor overheated...when they recored the radiator did they do it right? Wondering if you have an even heat gradient top to bottom, or if the bottom is cold due to flow restrictions internally? Keep a close eye on the temp gauge and I'm sure the problem will become apparent eventually. Sudden, intermittent overheating usually suggests HG to me, but as you said it could be the t-stat.

Sad to hear you've missed out on the joy of Saab ownership...I've never partaken myself either, but they've certainly rolled through the shops I've worked at on a regular basis. It's wonderful explaining to the customer that the car they bought 4 days ago from a sleazy car lot needs to get towed to the dealer for a $1000 ignition switch to fix the no-start. And it's highly entertaining to replace the accessory drive belts located on the firewall side of the engine on the older ones...

In all fairness, they do drive nice, and I actually do appreciate their willingness to think outside of the box on certain design aspects. Anyways...

It's so tight, i can't imagine shoving the force of a hydraulic cylinder through it would do it any good. I can't in good conscience put it back together like it is. Remember, the only thing getting the force thru to the other wheel is those little splines and a single gear mesh. I've had 2 other Saginaw boxes apart (same as the one on the tractor) and they aren't anything like this one for motion. Perhaps it's the reason splines were pooched at least 2x? Remember, there's a perimeter weld on the arm i have, meaning it's been sawed off and welded back on at least once already. So original, then at least 1 repair with a new set of splines.

On the tractor, i'm 90pct sure the tstat stuck, as it was during the snowpocalypse, right after the cold snap, and i got it started and didn't let it fully warm up before i hit it. We had to get out and go to mom's for Christmas, so i was a bit in a hurry. The top tank is hot during operation, the bottom tank is cold-ish. Seems to be working ok. I ran it around after the new coolant was put in, and it seemed fine. I haven't noticed any bubbles in the coolant, not that its that easy to tell. Water pump is new, radiator is new. Tstat is old.

The saab belts on the back of the engine can't be as bad as having to yank the engine on an S4 every 100k or so to replace 8000 dollars worth of chains and tensioners. Main reason i never scratched that itch to buy a B6 S4. I still jones for one though...

 

[86turbodsl]

I agree with this as well... a functioning forklift would be higher on my list than diving too deep on this. Especially since you plan to go a different route in the long run.

Not sure i understand this statement. The plan is to just go to the final iteration.

 

[86turbodsl]

Sooo, in other news. My kid got let go again. Somebody (not him) scratched some curse words into a table in the area he was working in. No cameras in the area, so he got blamed. 2 day investigation and they let him go. Innocent until proven guilty is not the way i guess... ugh. He's taking it well all things considered.

 

[86turbodsl]

Got another mcmaster order in, with some more parts for the garage door. I'm really tired of the closure i have right now... more details soon.

 

[86turbodsl]

Had to put the door on hold until i find the steel i had set aside. Shop is a mess. Tried several times yesterday to be productive and failed miserably. Ended up going to a buddy's house and helping him put his TDI back together. His other car, a Jeep, rusted so bad a rear control arm mount rotted off the body. The TDI was in pieces and his only other car. We thrashed on it until after midnight and got it done. I was a bit roached today and got a late start. I'm looking for items for projects in the shop, so i am working on shelf storage in the basement, completing that project so i can clean up. I wanted to get going on the exhaust welding, but had to order some items and they won't come until mid week. So i started on shortening pallet rack beams for completing the mezzanine for motorcycle storage, and the bandsaw blade siezed in the beam, breaking it. I think there's stress in the steel that pinched the blade, so i am going to have to cut them with a grinder blade. I *hate* doing that. But it's got to get done.
I'll keep cleaning and maybe i can find the items i'm missing, and clear some floor along the way.

 

[bimmer1980]

Uffda..... When is the buddy coming over to help you?

Progress on project is good... But I bet you wish it was on your own stuff...

 

[86turbodsl]

Frankly, there's nothing he can do to help me really. I don't have much use for extra hands, i need somebody with some serious skills i can turn loose on something. And i don't manage others well. Too solitary i guess. He's quite a bit younger than me and still learning. I could use a really competent welder, but he's not that. And nothing going on in the shop is really construction type stuff, don't need many extra hands.

I just knocked out another set of shelves in the basement. Loaded all the stuff left on the floor onto it, safe and sound. I have a low file cabinet i'm going to move over onto the wall and put the 3d printer on it along with all the spools into the drawers. I have a HP T520 thin client i've loaded with debian and going to use that with octoprint or something similar. I'm stoked to start getting that put to use. I have a lot of ideas for garage organization.

Also i have cleared off the welding table mostly, waiting on more tig rod to get started on the downpipes. I've been stopped because nobody local has any 309L i need for the mild-stainless transition from the pipe to the flanges on the exhaust. I had a couple of items from amazon on the way, need to use solarflux b on the backside of the welds, i just don't want to back purge the stainless. Just lazy i guess.

 

[86turbodsl]

I still have a stack of particle board in the house garage i don't know what to do with, talked it over with the wife and i'm going to replace the open shelving on the house wall with closed door cabinets so we can clean up the look of the garage and get rid of the stack where the audi normally sits. I hate parking outside. At least it's a almost no snow year. On the positive side, if i do that, I will probably remove the drywall around the ducting running through the garage, making some extra room for storage, and cleaning up the back wall very nicely. I'm also hoping for some storage for the water hose that i can insulate and keep from freezing. The house garage used to have heated floors, but one of the lines froze and broke, so i no longer heat it, but if i had a heated cabinet for the hose, that wouldn't be such a hassle to empty out after each use, and i might be able to wash cars inside.

I have a hairbrained idea to knock out the garage doors and make a single 20' wide bifold door like my shop, which would give a lot of flexibility on washing cars by pulling into the center rather than by the walls. the floor has drains. With the outdoor forklift, i could set an I-beam header easy.

 

[86turbodsl]

I got some tig done last night, put the two halves of my daughter's audi exhaust back together. A couple weeks ago, i found a local FB marketplace ad for a stainless exhaust for a B5 S4. it's all 304 and had been cut in half for space saving. I got that back together and ready to go on the car. I will need to build a short section of y-pipe from her existing downpipes to the new exhaust. It was good practice too. I got it put back together with only a couple little holes to patch. By the time i get done making all these 304 exhausts, i'll be ready to weld up my new brewstand.

 

[rattle_snake]

By the time i get done making all these 304 exhausts, i'll be ready to weld up my new brewstand.

Yes that sounds like a good idea. Gravity setup?

 

[jbmatth]

I built the exhaust for my V8 S10 out of 304 and the headers for my cobra Godzilla swap, it was great to work with and fun to weld. But by the time I was done with the headers I didn't want to hold a tig torch for a while.

JB

 

[86turbodsl]

Yes that sounds like a good idea. Gravity setup?

I would like to do a 3 tier mainly gravity setup, with a pump at the bottom for easy transfer. It'll be electric so i don't have combustion byproduct in the house. Space is a bit limited in the mechanical room.

 

[86turbodsl]

I built the exhaust for my V8 S10 out of 304 and the headers for my cobra Godzilla swap, it was great to work with and fun to weld. But by the time I was done with the headers I didn't want to hold a tig torch for a while.

JB

I can imagine. I started making the first downpipe last night. I was going to tack the flange on, but couldn't find the 0.035 mig tips.

Edit: Found them this morning, so i'm back in business. trip to town avoided~!

 

[scooterbum46]

"I built the exhaust for my V8 S10 out of 304 and the headers for my cobra Godzilla swap, it was great to work with and fun to weld. But by the time I was done with the headers I didn't want to hold a tig torch for a while."

Air or water cooled torch?

 

[jbmatth]

Air cooled, I have a relatively cheap Everlast Tig/Stick/Plasma machine, next time I'd buy a separate plasma machine, I just don't like the hassle of switching setups.

JB

 

[86turbodsl]

Made some progress. Some of my tig rod is still in transit, but i was able to get 308 wire loaded in the mig for tacking. I'm not good enough for tig tacking in place. But it's looking pretty good i think. As soon as the two downpipes are made, the engine can go back in.
It's all downhill from there.

I had to shorten that bracket attached to the transmission quite a bit before tacking, but it looks pretty close. I will have to add a little bit back on the backside, but shouldn't be a problem. The flex goes right under the bracket, so don't worry about the angle of the pipe at the end.

JB, i can't imagine all the wire changes on that type of multi-process machine! I can barely stand switching my syncrowave over to stick!

 

[bulletpruf]

Good progress! What's up next after you finish this?

 

[Bob Heine]

I just don't like the hassle of switching setups.

JB, I'm with you. I have two MIG setups, one for stainless steel (with 98% Ar/2% CO2), a second for carbon steel (with 75% Ar/25% CO2) and a DC TIG setup (with 100% Ar). To weld aluminum I would have to switch the gas and plug the spool gun into the stainless MIG setup but the 100% Ar tank for the TIG is on the same cart. To be honest, I haven't tried aluminum welding yet. For me, the biggest hassle is switching wire in the MIGs. I am real good at making wire bird nests

 

[86turbodsl]

Good progress! What's up next after you finish this?

After this car is off the lift, i have the exhaust on my son's truck to fab, same exact stuff. Then after that, i have a 4" B5 S4 exhaust i bought local for my daughter's car. I only need to make a little 2' connector for her car though. So i think it's going to be a long long time before i want to see any more 2.5" stainless exhaust pipes after all this...

 

[bimmer1980]

Any guestimate on when your vehicle will actually have the engine back into it? And then out of the shop?

I'm being optimistic and will guess at Feb 5th. ;-) Or Tuesday, Week and year TBD.

The wife's daily driver (2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid) failed the yearly inspection for a transmission/motor mount the other week. Shop quoted $1200 for replacement... ah, nope! I ordered the part on RockAuto and it only took an hour and a half to replace it on Saturday. Supposedly the Toyota book quotes 9 hours of labor for this...... Now I get to take it back to the shop and see if it passes inspection. Lovely PA "revenue generation" safety and emission inspections.

 

[bulletpruf]

Any guestimate on when your vehicle will actually have the engine back into it? And then out of the shop?

I'm being optimistic and will guess at Feb 5th. ;-) Or Tuesday, Week and year TBD.

The wife's daily driver (2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid) failed the yearly inspection for a transmission/motor mount the other week. Shop quoted $1200 for replacement... ah, nope! I ordered the part on RockAuto and it only took an hour and a half to replace it on Saturday. Supposedly the Toyota book quotes 9 hours of labor for this...... Now I get to take it back to the shop and see if it passes inspection. Lovely PA "revenue generation" safety and emission inspections.

Reminds me of the $3,500 estimate I got from Infiniti to replace the leaking liquid-filled bushing in the FX37 rear subframe. Turns out, the bushing isn't serviced separately; if it springs a leak, you get a new $1,500 subframe (which has a new bushing installed), along with the labor to R&R. Fixed it for $20 by cleaning out the bushing and filling it with Window Weld. Repair has held up for 5 years or so.

 

[scooterbum46]

Air cooled, I have a relatively cheap Everlast Tig/Stick/Plasma machine, next time I'd buy a separate plasma machine, I just don't like the hassle of switching setups.

JB

I don't do much anymore, but I bought a new Synchrowave 200 when I retired in '07, (came with air cooled). I had the opportunity to try a water cooled at a Miller demo, couldn't believe the difference in weight and flexibility. If I was doing any amount now, that and a wireless pedal would be on my list. Most of my shop stuff now gets glued together with my trusty old pre-Lincoln Century mig.

"..... To be honest, I haven't tried aluminum welding yet. For me, the biggest hassle is switching wire in the MIGs. I am real good at making wire bird nests. "

Bob - I equate pushing AL wire through a six foot or more cable to pushing a rope. Spool guns while ergonomically crappy are the answer.

Gerry

 

[kent_323is]

Bob - I equate pushing AL wire through a six foot or more cable to pushing a rope. Spool guns while ergonomically crappy are the answer.

I have the 30A spoolgun by Miller, and I recently upgraded to the XRAluma Lite Push/pull gun for aluminum. This is the much better solution for aluminum MIG welding. The 255 machine has the feed rolls like we're all familiar with, but then the XR gun has a second set of feed rollers by the handle that pulls the wire through the long cable, and only has to push it a very short distance out the gun nozzle.
Then you can run a large spool of wire rather than those little spools for the spool gun. I'm looking forward to using this on my next batch of aluminum weldments.

 

[86turbodsl]

I'd love a spoolgun, but i don't have much real use for it at the moment. Maybe if i get more into aluminum fab.

 

[86turbodsl]

Any guestimate on when your vehicle will actually have the engine back into it? And then out of the shop?

I'm being optimistic and will guess at Feb 5th. ;-) Or Tuesday, Week and year TBD.

The wife's daily driver (2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid) failed the yearly inspection for a transmission/motor mount the other week. Shop quoted $1200 for replacement... ah, nope! I ordered the part on RockAuto and it only took an hour and a half to replace it on Saturday. Supposedly the Toyota book quotes 9 hours of labor for this...... Now I get to take it back to the shop and see if it passes inspection. Lovely PA "revenue generation" safety and emission inspections.

Well, if things continue as well as they are, and my tig wire shows up, potentially could have it back in vehicle this weekend, assuming i am able to make more progress next couple of days. The downpipes are all that's holding up the reinstall really. Now when i get it back in, i still have suspension and brakes to deal with. The front rotors are a problem, i dont have a working lathe at the moment, and i couldn't get the lathe at work to chuck up the rotors. so i might have to get out the die grinder for that. Not happy about lathe work with a die grinder...

 

[Strouty]

You can use my brake lathe.......

 

[bimmer1980]

Why not just put new rotors on it and be done? How bad are the rotors? Could you just run it as is? Just to get it out of the shop and providing some value?

I will say that for mild clean up of rotors, I have used a 4.5" grinder and just spun the rotor while on the car. Not great precision, but it worked well enough for my purposes at the time.....

 

[86turbodsl]

Stock rotors don't work. It has a DIY big brake kit on it, using volvo rotors and brembo calipers. Guy at work said - why don't you put the stock brackes back on it. Everybody says the same thing, you make things too hard... I need to open up the ID of the rotor pilot hub by 1mm. I don't remember where i machined the rotors the first time. This is the second set of rotors several years later. and yes, i use the BBK to it's full potential. I'm a madman on the road.

At lunch i went out and ran the 1st downpipe thru the bandsaw and got the flex coupler mounted up. It's looking really good and the downpipe is only using 1 90 mandrel bend. I should be in really good shape after tonight.

 

[86turbodsl]

Tig rod showed up. Full speed ahead!

 

[ClappedOutBport]

What was the limiting factor on the lathe at work?

 

[86turbodsl]

Couldn't get the jaws to where they would hold the hat. Tried flipping them too.

 

[86turbodsl]

My attempt at setting up the 3d printer failed. turns out i have a bad control board. Jungle site to the rescue...

I need to go out and weld some more.