I did some looking up, and it seems that in bronze welding, you actually produce a fillet of weld bead, whereas in brazing, it kind of liquid glues it together much like solder?
I did some looking up, and it seems that in bronze welding, you actually produce a fillet of weld bead, whereas in brazing, it kind of liquid glues it together much like solder?
In reply to SkinnyG :
Yes that sounds reasonable. Please excuse a weak memory but if I recall decades ago, the British were using a version of what they called bicycle tubing, (square bicycle tubing in the case of the Jaguar) which as I read the specs was similar to our 4130 chrome moly in property’s.
I don’t know if TIG welding was available yet, too expensive, slow for production use, or just not trusted. So called bronze welding was used to avoid the issue of weld embrittlement due to it’s lower temperatures.
When I stripped the paint off the frames it didn’t look like a “solder joint” nor did it have “welding beads” but rather a combination of both.
Most round tube joints are butt welded together. That produces a tiny weld area. ( only the thin edge of the tube is actually connected). The XKE used 1 inch square tube because in triangulation one tube could lay on top of another and provide a much, much, larger surface to weld together. Thus the joint became massively stronger. Then when you look at the gussets laid on top and the strength that added. I can understand how such a brutally fast car with a massively heavy engine could still use such thin gauge metal and yet be so incredibly strong to enable it to pass a crash test. One other advantage with “bronze welding” the lower temps used avoided the issue of heat distortion so common with MIG, TIG, Or even GAS welding. I wound up scrapping my first race car chassis because heat caused it to develop into a twisted banana shape.
Take a look at the front sub frame of an XKE and you’ll see what I’m talking about. That whole front sub frame weighs very little. I think something like 11 pounds.
I wonder how light a Lotus 7 version could get.
Completed weight under 1000lbs with a car engine is pretty tough challenge. Bike engine easy. I've heard of some people going lighter in CroMo, like 20 or 22ga, but I'd have to dig it up - I think it was 960lbs still running an iron 4.
Over the years, I've cared less and less about making the ultimate race car, and I'm more interested in something for the street. When I started the V8 Firefly, I had visions of running track days, hill climbs, drag races, autocross..... And now, my heart isn't in -any- of that. Funny how it changes. At least for me, that is.
This is a picture of a picture of my Dad, in the drivers seat. He is in a restored 65 Lotus 7, it had the original engine warmed to a tune of 90 or 110 hp I don't remember now. Sometime in the late 90's.
This is by far the most fun car I have ever driven. I believe this was taken on highway 2 in DA UP eh. Passing in a RHD car is fun on a two lane highway, you crowd the shoulder, give a look, trust your passenger then go for it.
The guy climbing in owns the red TR6, it as a full custom frame and multihorsepower small block chevy.
He started this company building aluminum B suspensions, then sold it to Senneker Performance.
Hi, Ted, if you read this.
In reply to akylekoz :
While not made of alloy, Ted's suspension is legendary in the MGB restomod world. Ted did a whole lot of neat stuff in his shop
In reply to NOHOME :
I forgot they changed to steel for manufacturing purposed, they were originally ally. Have you seen the 911 powered 7?
How about the TEK 7 named after Ted, Ed, and my dad Kelvin, a 7 with an Aluminum Buick V8, 30 years in the making so far.
Sorry, can’t control what drives the time machine. Thanks for bringing me back there.
Was chatting with a buddy about cheap, fun tires, and I mentioned these Federal SS-595s that I bought to replace the ten-year-old Sumitomo HTRs.
I found them to be a very playful tire, that enjoys being tossed around and getting sideways. Very fun tire. Tossable and predictable, but not overly grippy.
I did a quick search for more info on them, and Amazon says they are made specifically for the drift crowd. Makes sense, considering how these tires like to be driven.
Car has sat dormant since early summer.
Swapped the narrow band O2 out for the old faithful LC1 wide band, recharged the battery, and drove all over the place tuning it proper. I had played around a lot with the TPS bins to get better resolution a low-throttle tip-in, and a better "zone" for cruise TPS, and the results were phenomenal. MUCH more driveable with the ITB's.
Insurance expires on Nov 2, and it looks like rain all this week. Might get out a bit more before it's put away for winter....
Well,
Something is broken.
Moved the 7 into the house garage to work on SkinnyKid1's Civic engine swap, and it was running like crap, but smoothed up once it got warm.
Moving the car back, it runs like total crap. Sounds like it's on 1 cylinder, smoking PIG rich, and crap crap crap. #2 plug is sooty, #1, #3, #4 are soaking wet.
And to make it even more fun, the latest version of TunerStudio needs JRE 8. JRE 8 won't install on my WinXP laptop, and the latest TunerStudio WILL NOT talk to anything without it.
I pulled my MS2 ECU off the shelf, but could not get it to receive a tach signal from the JimStim at all. Probably fried the ECU in failing to TBI the '77 Silverado (never did get it to run ignition). This ECU used to run the 7 for years. Not sure I care enough to fix it; I don't really need it.
Oh, I did check for spark, tried another ignition module (no improvement), tried another coil (though I did test the odl one for spark and it was good), and did a compression test (175 across the board).
I pulled the MS1 out of the 7 and was able to get it to talk to my desktop computer, but it sure isn't happy back in the car.
Today, once the shop heats up, the plan is to chase all the wiring and see if I can find anything.
Grrr.
All the wiring appears to check out.
Pulled the injectors themselves. Maybe they ate something? Too much sitting?
Tried some cleaner through the injectors, and reinstalled them to find a voracious fuel leak.
Swapped back to 4AGE injectors which did, in fact, (and always did) fit better (was using Honda injectors).
Had it chugging for a while, trying to nurse it to operating temperature. Sounded like it was running on only one cylinder. Only #2 exhaust runner was getting hot. Smoking all over the place. O2 sensor was nuts.
I went through the injector wiring to make sure it was all sound, and replaces some of the clip ends since most were cracked and imperfect. Also did continuity tests on all the ignition and fuel wiring to and from the ECU, sensors, injectors, etc.
It began running better and better the longer it ran. I could get a trigger for my timing light only on #1 and #3, but not #2 or #4, despite only #2 exhaust being warm. Figuring maybe half the EDIS coil was dead, I swapped out another coil, and broke the coil end of plug wire #4. I replaced that wire with another, and it ran better still, and was finally able to idle normal at 40kPa, and I could snap the throttle and it sounded all spiffy-doodle with no heinous gunshot backfire from hell (my ear is still ringing).
We'll see tomorrow if it starts cold properly, or is back to its usual antics.
I changed all the plug wires (NGK for a 4AGE) to ones I scoffed at Pick-N-Pull (1990 Ford Escort 1.9 EDIS), and it -seems- to be running just fine. Started and idled dandy, after sitting all night in the unheated shop (5°C inside this morning).
Played a bit with the tune at low speed/throttle as I'm back to the Toyota injectors. The engine has never liked running very lean at low speed and idle. It's much happier around 12.5:1 at idle. Always has been. Need insurance so I can go drive around and datalog/tune.
This afternoon I will change the timing belt and water pump, and chase some oil leaks.
It would be great if this were as simple as plug wires. Great car.
Car sat for a number of days, but fired up like a champ with the used EDIS-specific plug wires attached. I tossed the 4AGE NGK wires in the trash. Clearly, the NGK wires were junk.
Changed a vew bins for greater resolution at low throttle, and took it out for a tank of fresh gas while TurnerStudio did its autotune. Before too long, it had adjusted VEs and was wonderfully fun to drive again. Almost TOO fun.
I fabricated a new spark plug cover panel since the plug wires were run differently than the 4AGE came with and there would have been gaping holes. You can hardly see the nick where it hit something as it was ripped out of my hands and thrown across the room by my buffing wheel.
Today's tuning, it's come a long way.
For ITB's, I defy you to drive it and be able to tell that it's running Alpha-N.
Though the snap throttle response might give it away....
And SWEEET crackle and pop on decel...
Got driven into in a parkinglot today.
Damaged the left rear fender.
Local quote: $525+ to repair. I think I'll do it myself.
Wheeee.
Pics in a moment.
Fender is off, defects ground out (turns out the fender delaminated most of the front half as well), and three layers are curing on the inside. I'll deal with the top tomorrow.
Three layers on the back side, three on the front side. These are actually very poorly made fenders.
Have to take a trip into town - I don't have any kitty hair, or enough filler, and I can't find the red paint that I used 14 years ago.
Somebody just had to miss all the soulless cars in the parking lot and hit this.
Bunch of savages out there. Glad it wasn't worse.
For an aerosol bedliner, it's awful hard to sand off. Probably why I use it for brackets and such.
Going over the surface in detail, this is a really crappily made fender. I'm NOT going for show quality; it'll be "race car" quality.
Want to get some filler on, but somebody's SkinnyKid is having a birthday....
Driver's side ready for paint. And I pulled the passenger fender off too, since I can't have one shiny and new, and one peppered with rock chips....
And four coats of Urethane Enamel in 1986 Corolla GTS Red:
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