HellaFab's 14'x24' Auto Fab shop

[HellaFab]

Did some work in the garage this weekend despite the HOT weather. I really need to get my garage sealed an insulated so I can laugh at the heat.

Have a new B series manifold all tacked up...just as I dropped my torch with my only large diameter cup on it. Will finish the manifold up this week once I get a new ceramic.


HellaFab B series Turbo Manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr


HellaFab B series Turbo Manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr


It will look good and hopefully make a ton of power on this car!

 

[HellaFab]

Just finished up building some intercooler piping for a turbocharged Grand Prix GXP. Very cool car with power to back up the looks.


HellaFab Turbo GXP intercooler kit by HellaFab, on Flickr


HellaFab Turbo GXP intercooler kit by HellaFab, on Flickr


HellaFab Turbo GXP intercooler kit by HellaFab, on Flickr


HellaFab Turbo GXP intercooler kit by HellaFab, on Flickr


HellaFab Turbo GXP intercooler kit by HellaFab, on Flickr


HellaFab Turbo GXP intercooler kit by HellaFab, on Flickr

 

[HellaFab]

Put up a tiny peice of press board. It came as packaging for a wash basin that we bought from Costco. Not permanent but it helps clean my table up for now.

Put a few more holes in it with pegboard hangers on it to hang my go to tools for when I'm welding.

 

[HellaFab]

Picked up a new 7x12 bandsaw!


New bandsaw by HellaFab, on Flickr

Super pumped to get a new blade on it and try it out.

 

[HellaFab]

Pics of my new CK9 with superflex hose vs the china SR26 torch (top)

Ck9 superflex vs Everlast SR26 torch by HellaFab, on Flickr

The hose itself would be a rediculous upgrade. Its signifigantly lighter than the braided rubber hose, flexes all over which is great for contour, pipe and awkward area welding and I picked up the normal gas lens for the new torch. I had broken my lens on my 26 and have been using a standard #8 cup.

Picked up stub, medium (pictured on #9 torch) and long (pictured on #26 torch) back caps for the #9 torch so I can get into tight places if I need to. Only problem with the really short caps is that you have to cut down your tungsten and you end up wasting more, but sometimes you need it for that really tight area. I keep a box of tungsten and consumables on hand and once the tungsten get to a certain point i put it into the next section so i dont have to cut new ones up for the medium/short caps.





On a side note, my KIJIJI find belt sander has stopped working... so I will be looking for a new one of more serious nature to work with my light auto fab.

Looking into the General 6x89 sander. 1.5hp motor would be very nice.

 

[0150carmac]

nice work buddy keep up the updates look forward to reading them

 

[HellaFab]

Thank 0150!

here is a 4 into 1 collector I built out of heavy wall stainless for a turbo manifold. This is going onto a manifold I am building for a serious mazda Miata.




4-1 TiAL Vband Collector by HellaFab, on Flickr

 

[rixtrix1]

Nice work. Where do you get your materials, and how do you cut the stainless pipe(i.e., what tooth blade, bi-metal or ?)? Shop may be old and small, but it looks like some good work comes out of it.

Ric

 

[HellaFab]

I have a local metal supply shop that gives me a good price.

I'm using a 10-14 tooth be metal blade on my band saw.

Thanks!

 

[jdeck]

Again, great work on everything.Wish you were close by to help me with my B-series Turbo Integra

 

[HellaFab]

I would love to be able to help. Though I am trying to broaden my reach to more than those with Honda's. The Honda market is saturated and doesnt have many openings for new development.

I have bought a few Miata engines to build manifolds off of now (and for a personal project). Both 1.6 and 1.8 engines so I can offer manifolds for both once I get some fixturing setup.


In other news... this is where I am at with the Miata manifold I am working on...



Miata BP tial vband manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr


Miata BP tial turbo manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr


Miata BP tial turbo manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr





In garage news....Being in Kingston, Ontario its getting mighty cold (-10C). I am building up the structure of the garage to allow me to hang a ceiling so I can blow in insulation to keep the heat in. Right now the lower chords of the supports are only on a 5' span- so I am adding more to bring that down to a 2.5' span and then I will vapor barrier that and strap it.

I am blowing in an R40 of cellulose insulation and I hope I can do that as soon as possible. Im going to be using roxul insulation for the walls (R12 for the 2x4 walls, 16"o.c.). The cellulose and roxul products have good flame retardancy and the loose nature of the cellulose will help with the odd spacing of the ceiling support.

 

[HellaFab]

Been a while since I had a garage update.

I insulated my ceiling with cellulose insulation over top of a vapor barrier. This was a bit of work considering that I had a weird spacing on the bottom chord of what will become my ceiling support. I added 2x6x14's across the inside to add more support for the strapping that I need to add to because I blindly didn't buy enough before I started.

End of the day...

ceiling insulated by Shlammed, on Flickr

Insulated ceiling.


I still have to add a bank of 20A outlets along my back wall for my custom cabinetry lighting, TV and few outlets I plan to have there as well as another bank of 20A outlets along the west wall before I insulate the walls.

I hope I can have that work done this weekend so I can get some real heat in there.

 

[kwon]

Beautiful piping! Wish I lived closer, I have a home made intake on my Inline 5 cylinder Chevy Colorado that's made out of PVC pipe id love a nice metal intake tube.

 

[HellaFab]

If you glue the pvc intake, mail it to me and I will copy it for you.

 

[kwon]

Here is a picture of it. I like the type of couplers you have been using alot better.

 

[Val_C]

Very nice welding!
As for expanding the market, what about older BMWs? Cheapest header I can get from US will be $425 not including shipping and taxes.

 

[HellaFab]

Very nice welding!
As for expanding the market, what about older BMWs? Cheapest header I can get from US will be $425 not including shipping and taxes.

Thats a good price, buy that one.


Building a custom header would cost more than that.

 

[Val_C]

Thats a good price, buy that one.


Building a custom header would cost more than that.

Thanks for letting me know. I am set for a while, as for prices, while it was never advertised, I think that headers I mentioned produced in China and shipped over-there.

 

[HellaFab]

Insulated what I wanted to on the garage and started drywalling

Pretty happy with a days work.

 

[xSoFx]

Looking good, I'm jealous of your hobby. I'm slowly building my arsenal of tools for custom fabrication. My hobbies are so expensive

 

[HellaFab]

Building my arsenal too.

Need to add a wire in for this now.

 

[HellaFab]

Wired in the belt sander, it's unreal!

Made this up for metal storage.
Loaded up, it has 26' of 3" stainless, 17' of 1.5" thick wall stainless and 15' of 1.25 thick wall stainless. S about 300lbs of metal on it.

The actual frame is aluminum and weighs about 5lbs.

 

[Twiggss]

I think ypu are doing more work out of that size garage than some that are twice the size.

 

[HellaFab]

Size of garage has nothing to do with how hard you work in it.


Right now I'm trying to maximize the space I have to work on things with organization while I put up interior finishes. That being said... I am really hoping to get some or build some wall cabs or a wide storage locker system going soon to get all of the parts I have on the floor, well organized now that the walls are insulated.

 

[HellaFab]

Welding. Welding. Welding.


Miata collectors by HellaFab, on Flickr

Two collectors for some Miata based manifolds im working on.

Big port collector is for a FE3 Miata and the vband small port collector is for a 1.6L Miata.

Did some port work on the vband collector, more than I have done in the past. Port work on manifolds is a new "standard" for me in an effort to become one of the best. I will post pictures when its done.

 

[HellaFab]

Havent updated here much. Been really busy with the fab work.

1.6 Miata Vband Manifold tacked up.

Miata 1.6 Bottom Mount Vband Ramhorn by HellaFab, on Flickr

I have the FE3 Miata manifold and downpipe done (besides WG) I just don't have a completed picture. This is all I have for now...


FE3 Miata top mount manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr

 

[HellaFab]

Welding brah.

 

[HellaFab]

New tool for my shop...
Drill Press by HellaFab, on Flickr

Nice big old drill press that used to be my Grandfathers. I cant read the Make of it, the tag is so faded but it is from the '70s. Apparently it is a non-stock motor on it that my dad retrofit onto it ~10 years ago. Im going to clean it up and refinish it in a similar color to the General belt sander for continuity in my tool finishes.

Garage News

Just picked up an overhead storage unit for my Garage from Lowes. their Gladiator line. The diamond finish on the door will match the diamond pattern on the metal storage rack that I made earlier on.

Finishing up a few projects before I get around to tearing out the floor and replacing it with something nice and crack-free.


Fabrication News/Pics
I finished the manifolds posted earlier amongst other things (for those of you that don't follow me on facebook or instagram)



This car I did the whole works on. Intake and Exhaust manifolds, intercooler piping, exhaust.
FE3 Miata by HellaFab, on Flickr

HellaFab Exhaust by HellaFab, on Flickr

FE3 Miata by HellaFab, on Flickr



And the other manifold posted that was finished.
HellaFab 1.6 Ramhorn Manifold by HellaFab, on Flickr

I did the manifold, wastegate pipe and full exhaust for him.


HellaFab Exhaust by HellaFab, on Flickr

 

[HellaFab]

Replaced my drill press already.

 

[ADSR]

^^ very nice!

 

[trance|ghost]

nice, I'm also in Ontario,

when the time comes to throw a turbo on my Miata, I guess I will have to come to you for the manifold, it looks exceptionally good.

how are you staying warm in there with this brutal cold weather we just had for a month?

I dig the windows in your garage actually!

 

[HellaFab]

I just get cold. Lol.


Welding really warms up the garage. 10 minutes of welding and it usually bumps up 3 degrees or so.


I use a 1500w space heater at my feet right now. It's more than enough.

 

[trance|ghost]

I'm not a fan of the cold, I have a natural gas heater... and the concrete floor is so cold it still makes it unbearable to lay or do any work on the ground, you got a lot of dedication and more balls then me to deal with the cold, haha.

the work you do is phenomenal none the less. I'm surprised none of the Miata folks down where I am has mentioned about your work... (quite a bit of us around the tri city and Hamilton area)

 

[HellaFab]

Thanks. Feel free to chat me up to the Miata crew. Lol.

And for up to date pictures, you can check out my instagram. Www.instagram.com/hellafabrication

 

[HellaFab]

I dig the windows in your garage actually!

I dont mind the look (from the inside) they outside of the windows needs to be changed... the yellow is aweful.

not actually having the new windows- im thinking I might just put a flashing around the frame on the outside and paint the yellow to a white or a less crazy color. Im not going to save much heat loss through these windows because its a leaky old garage. Money would be better spent on a new floor and tooling for the new milling machine than new vinyl windows. BUT i absolutely need to stop the water leakage through the old wooden window frames...


Matt