BRZ Rally Car

2 and 3 are eerily suggestive

Also replaced what I'm certain were the original spark plugs, since it's easy with the engine out:

Brilliant! It's like your 3D printed dealie is doing the same thing the input shaft did to mr clutch, only your plate is the catcher.

In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) :

Either way, they stay aligned and everybody is happy!

I am slightly concerned that the printed hat things might melt during welding, but we're going to find that out the fun way.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I was thinking about that, it is plastic which is kinda designed to have a reasonably low melting point.  But, there's enough space between the fixture and the metal that I don't think you'll run into trouble if you sorta tack things in place first.  By the time there's enough heat in the metal to cause a problem, you should have enough tacks to hold thing in place anyway.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  I'm sure it'll be fine.  

Depends what it is printed in, PLA vs ABS vs Nylon.  But tack it in first and I bet it's fine.  Really neat system btw, I like it.

Finally read through this whole thread. I love it! Carry on!

I've been busy!  Lots of tacking:

Lots of running a couple inches of weld and switching sides:

Lots and lots of welding in general:

These little things held up surprisingly well, only a little melty:

Check out the internal honeycomb where this corner melted:

Then I had to cut out the top of the old tower, which was incredibly tough, and flare it out (lots of hammering) to weld to the inside of the new tower.  It's ugly but hopefully strong, nobody sees this anyway:

And finished off with some seam welding on the structure that ties in to this stuff:

Much like on the rear, the steel that makes up the stock strut mounts is incredibly strong- so much, in fact, that if I were doing this again I would consider just doing a little mini tower extension off the very top.

That said, if these are in the right place and hold up, I'm happy.

Beefy!  Is the hood going to clear the new towers?

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

Not sure yet, no big deal if it doesn't.

Nice!! 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

Not sure yet, no big deal if it doesn't.

Holes or bulges in the hood if it doesn't?

In reply to thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) :

I'll probably turn it into a vent if it needs clearance, although how exactly I handle that will depend on what it looks like once I've made enough clearance.

One more add-on before paint- I welded the stock strut brace mounts onto the new towers.  There's just enough adjustment for them to reach:

thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

Not sure yet, no big deal if it doesn't.

Holes or bulges in the hood if it doesn't?

I sure hope so!!!!

Love it! 

So, in theory if someone else here wanted to do the same, you have a file that can be sent to a CNC plasma and have all these same braces to be able install relatively easily? Not something that I could really do right now, but I love the idea of it. 

In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :

In theory, yes.  The hard part is cutting stuff appropriately to fit them, the flat pieces themselves fit up perfectly- the control arm reinforcements, for example, were super easy, just clean and weld.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

That's awesome. How long did it take you to make the designs after the scan? Seems like you did really well on them. 

In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :

Probably 20 hours total to process the scans and design parts?  Once the scans are processed designing stuff usually goes pretty quickly, provided I have some idea of what I'm planning on doing beforehand.

Nice. Wel done sir, I look forward to seeing more updates. Maybe I'll even see the car in action some day. 

Looking awesome! Are you doing anything like a seam sealer on the inside of the welds to protect from moisture getting trapped in there? I only ask because of your intended purpose for the car.

This has gotten serious so fast. 

In reply to DjGreggieP :

For the most part, I just hit it with a couple of thick coats of Rustoleum high performance epoxy, but for the void spaces that I can't reach I use Woolwax rust protection with a hose attachment that I can snake between panels- it sprays a big cone out of the end and makes a huge mess but hopefully gets a good inner coating on everything.

I don't use seam sealer because I want to be able to see cracks forming if things start failing- I'll be pretty proud of my driving if rust becomes a problem before either repeated stress or a crash breaks anything.

Speaking of paint:

The black parts are behind the vents, at least as far as I can remember.  Then I reinstalled the front end wiring before I have a chance to forget how it was routed:

Next is running new brake lines to eliminate the ABS.  I'm going to leave the valve body mounted for now and experiment with removing the computer from it once the car is running again so I can tell whether it causes any issues before making it permanent.

I hate flaring brake lines, it seems like I'm always good at it by the end of a project but then it's a year before I do it again and I forget everything.

Front lines are done, although I need to tie down this tee so it doesn't vibrate everywhere:

I'm cutting and reflaring the stock lines where possible since they're in good shape.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Yes its expensive. Yes it makes flaring much easier. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCYKQSN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_UXDlFbSHBKN6T