SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

ive reached a point on the car where i got to do something, i pretty much cant do a dam thing to the car till i get a full cage, parachutte and few other things, not to mention i have to upgrade fuel system, either add tire or less gear, rather add tire but then i need a minitub im very capable of doing all this myself, i have the time, and if it were all steel, minitub is steel but certain aspects i still need a tig when it comes to rear end stuff. id prefer to just hand the keys to a professional, have a beautiful job and not have the headache but i just dont have 5-7+ grand to drop on all that + a parachutte. i could do my cage and mini tub for like 2k if i did it myslef, no clue on a parachutte. anyway, like the title says how hard is it, i can arc and mig really well but tig is so far a foreign language to me and theres a good bit id like do, id like to replace alot of my steel parts with chromoly as well if i could make them.
im just kinda bummed out on the car, i was gunna do heads and try and grab the h/c title or spray it and grab the shortblock title or do both and try and run down Taner, i said try Taner performance wise i could get the car ready farily cheap, but the rest of this is a different story which is why its back on the street again till i figure out what ima do, last year sponsors were happy to help, sent them crapload of buisness, now i dunno seems like everyone lost the spirit of fun in racing these cars around here

1BADAIR

iTrader: (1)

you need a cage at 135. Are you expecting to go 150 ?

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

very possibly at some point but a 10pt will get me started for now, it depends on how fast a low 9 traps with a manual tranny

chances are low 9's will be low 150's since i believe taner is at 148 already doin 9.40's but i dont wanna pig the car down with weight of extra cage till i need it

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

I just took a mig/tig course at the local community college. Really learned the basics to do the work. Unfortunately, the welder is whats the killer. decent tig setups are over 2K

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

hey, thanks brian, i may have to look into that, we have a local community college here in town, maby they offer something, btw, you can get a nice used one for half that
shoot, i spend 1600 on my miller mig setup after tax, bottle and all that mess

DERTY

Miller makes a sweet digital tig welder (Dynasty 200). Significantly smaller, great for tubing and chromoly work. I think Louis has even used it on Aluminum with good success. It's definitely something that is on my list of things to get. It's very portable, so we could throw it in the trailer and take it to a race. In total I think it comes to $2500 plus your cylinder for the Argon.

Welding moly isn't so bad with some practice. The biggest thing is getting the cuts to be flush as can be. If the tubing isn't flush it's a BIOTCH because you can't fill with the TIG like you can with a MIG.

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

sounds good, whether or not i do my cage i still want a tig for other things, ill write that down. also, the wolfe cages are usually notched pretty good for fit, i just like the fitament of a custom cage, not sure what ima do, if it gets to be more headache than enjoyment ill sell the dam thing and buy a street car

1fastWS6

iTrader: (3)

If you've ever done any oxy/acetylene welding, then TIG is almost second nature. I was making nice welds on tubing in 10-15 minutes after picking it up for the first time. Like someone already said, the joints/prep is very important. Filling holes can be a bitch with a TIG. Not hard to learn, taking a night VOTECH class might be good. One thing bad about TIG, much like any other welding, is you can make a nice pretty weld with no penetration which would be bad for a cage. Be careful of that. Good luck.

CanuckSS

iTrader: (13)

I have been following your car for a while Rodney.
Have you given up on trying to hit single digits cam only?
FWIW I think what you have already accomplished with your car is very impressive.
I guess I just thought you could use a little bit of positive feedback.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

i think the 9's can still be done, only way i could do it would be to finish all my highdollar weight reductions and finish squezing the rest of the power out of this motor i know it has, at the moment i need to get some kinda cage in it to street drive it, it has no door bars and no bumper supports so if someone hit me id be in big trouble with no cage on the sides

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

here are the local classes i can take, which class/classes should i take

WLV 1116 Shielded Metal Arc Welding I 6
WLV 1226 Shielded Metal Arc Welding II 6
WLV 1314 Cutting Processes 4
WLV 1162 Gas Metal Arc Aluminum Welding 2
Total Hours: 18
Second Semester Hours
WLV 1136 Gas Tungsten Arc Welding 6
WLV 1143 Flux Cored Arc Welding 3
WLV 1171 Welding Inspection and Testing Principles 1
WLV 1314 Drawing and Welding Symbol Interpretation 2
WLV 1124 Gas Metal Arc Welding 4
WLV 1252 Advanced Pipe Welding 2


edit, hehe, nevermind, read course descriptions WLV1136 is a T.I.G only class

FastBlackTA

iTrader: (7)

It's funny, I went through the EXACT same thing you are going through now. I was running 9's and had no choice but to put a 10 pt cage in the car....it wasn't fun going racing only to be given a few passes before we were kicked out.

I was a little intimidated at first, but the first thing I did was buy a small Lincoln MIG welder which suited my minitub project perfectly. I minitubbed the car myself, and then decided to buy a used Miller Econotig TIG welder for the cage project, and other odds and ends. I bought the Wolfe cage, and took my time learning the TIG welding process, and started welding in the cage. I had a lot of help from a good friend who welds for a living, and we got the entire cage done in 2-3 weeks working nights and weekends.

I really think you can learn how to TIG without the classes. I just picked up a book, talked to a few friends, and sat at my workbench practicing several times a week. Like DERTY said, you have to make sure that your joints are 100% flush before you even begin to weld - it usually takes me longer to get a good joint since I didn't have a Jig notcher.

Not only will you be a great TIG welder after your project, but there's a certain amount of personal satisfaction from doing projects like this on your own. Good luck!

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

WLV 1136 Gas Tungsten Arc Welding 6 = TIG welding
WLV 1124 Gas Metal Arc Welding 4 = MIG welding

best part about the class is you pretty much are forced to do alot of hands-on stuff while being critiqued. Sure you can pick it up on your own, but getting the right technique from the start makes the learning process better I think (was for me at least)

JRcamaroZ28

iTrader: (41)

I agree, i took the classes at my local votech and i think it was money well spent.

JR

kp

iTrader: (34)

Thats pretty much what I did, I have been TIG welding on and off for 20+ years (mostly thin aluminum) and had the advantage of some good weldors showing me what to do. I havent done it in years and ran across a good deal on new TA 185 inverter and started practicing last year. I probbaly did 100 pipe joints a month before I started welding on the roll cage. While I could do some very nice welds on the bench doing it in the car was a different story. Sometimes you just dont have the room and a few of the welds didnt turn out as pretty as I wanted but I was mostly making sure I was getting good penetration and not undercutting or burning through.

While I'm no welding expert and dont claim to be the best thing you can do is just go get a welder and start practicing. The classes would save a lot of time not learning the wrong way to do it to begin with. One thing with TIG is you have to really make sure everything is clean where a MIG you can pretty much weld over anything and that adds some time to whole process. Even though I got a great deal on the welder with a foot controller, gas regulator and CK17 torch (1300) by the time I bought smaller flex head #9 torch, fingertip control, bottle, torch parts, tungstens, filler etc I was at around 2K. I like this little box compared to massive transformer machines I used to use, with a good pulser and AC wave balance I have been doing some real nice aluminum stuff lately. Its a neat toy but not cheap, but at least you can easily get 50 cents on the dollar if you get tired of it and I'm sure most have spent more for less Its not for everyone and it sure isnt easy, I would have gladly paid someone to do it if I could have found someone within 500 miles..

I am still fighting the added weight issues of making the car legal though, I added 40lbs for the cage over the roll bar. Just added 55lbs for the battery in the trunk/switch. Pulled out my headlight motors, small battery in front and pass seat and I still gained 30lbs overall At least its over the rear of the car I guess bit I've about ran out things to do without going theft recovery lol.

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

yea the course is 80% lab time, i dont think i need the mig class tho, im pretty good with a mig and a stick welder, already did a good bit of fabrication on the car with it. i really wouldnt need the tig class if someone took 5 min to show me how to do it but i dont know anyone around here that does it that would show me, i learn real fast

SPEEDYws6

iTrader: (9)

If you can arc weld you can tig... I also taught myself to tig, while I'm not the best I think with a little more practice I could put my own cage in. The hardest part for me was always figuring out what filler rod I needed to be useing. Personally I would still like to take a class on tig as I feel there are still several things i still need to learn that would drasticly improve my skills.

FWIW, I've always been impressed with your car, and I'm kinda in the same boat as you now. I jumped off head first in the "cam only" deal and now I realize how many other things I need to put the car where I want it. I'm tempted to put it back to stock internal and just spray the **** out of it until I get some extra cash flow back. Regardless of what you decide the car is badass, and just keep it fun.

promod1955

iTrader: (44)

Chrome moly is a little harder to tig then mild steel. Ive gone to lincoln electrics motorsorts and advanced motorsports schools to learn mild steel, chrome moly,stainless, aluminum, inconel, magnesium and titanium and i believe chrome moly and aluminum are the hardest.

Learing to tig is half the battle, knowing when to preheat,post heat, choice of filler material, tungsten size, cup size, etc. is another deal in its self.

Once you can weld good on a flat table, learning how to weld cage is about a million times harder due to it being all out of position welding.....lol.

Its all practice. I do it for a living and im halfway decent now...lol