Project 92 Hatch

[White Comet]

holy sh1t, that some quality stuff right there. keep up the good work

[mrgreeneyes]

wow. i hope you make some more. id totally buy some to support a local dude making badass suspension

[White Comet]

how long did it take u to make those?

[le_ryan]

kee[ up the great work man, you can really feel proud of a project like that.

[yellow2000SR]

how long did it take u to make those?

Took me around I think around 25 hours between cutting the material, tapping all the ends for the threads (PITA) and then TIG welding everything up (jigs were MIG welded).

As for those interested... I graduate WyoTech December 21st... after that... I'm going to try to keep enough of an income to be "happy" without getting an actual "job" by just doing side work / group buys. The parts seen, and the future ones will be available here within probably a month or 2 max with a few different options.

The ones shown are a bit heavier than the OEM setup. Not sure on exact weight yet tho. For the future ones, I will probably use weld in pretapped bungs which and the arms themselves will probably be chromoly to reduce weight dramatically since chromoly is stronger so a thinner wall can be used.

[White Comet]

sounds like a plan, im looking forward to see you crank more of these out. i also feel pretty good about the work i've done on my car until i look at this thread

[mirochuki13]

Really nice job on the suspension parts and the whole car so far. I would be interested if you could build lower control arms with roll center adjustment since those cost some serious $$$ from SPL parts and other places that make them. Another thing that you could probably do is strut bars, but you've probably already thought of that.

[yellow2000SR]

Really nice job on the suspension parts and the whole car so far. I would be interested if you could build lower control arms with roll center adjustment since those cost some serious $$$ from SPL parts and other places that make them. Another thing that you could probably do is strut bars, but you've probably already thought of that.

Besides working on my 240 off and on, I already have a lot of projects...

I have group buys setup on 97-04 Dakota flares that will be fiberglass, 98-03 ZX2 front strut bars. Then I also have around 6 upholstery jobs and 3 paint jobs. Then whatever other work comes up. I plan on making the suspension parts seen above with 1 end adjustable for "daily driver use" and then the dual adjustment ends like above for fine tuning / race use.

As for the lower control arms... I planned on using HEIM joints on the inside like you are asking... I was also thinking about using a HEIM joint on the outside where the ball joint goes and getting a machinist to turn down some taperd posts with threads on both ends and then including the castle nuts / cotter pins.

Front suspension parts will also soon follow.

All heim joints will also have neoprene seals to keep dirt and moisture out. Prices will be determined at a later time and a group buy setup. There will be a package deal, and individual prices.

I dropped the parts I made off today at the local shop to be powdercoated candy red. I'll be back home next weekend and he said they will be ready by then so pics are to follow.

I also have to setup a business name and all that stuff and become registered so I can actually put a manufacture name on these products.
Modified by yellow2000SR at 12:46 PM 12/9/2007

[White Comet]

wow, wounds like a plan, once ur set up i would do business w/ u

[I :heart: Touge]

wow this is an awesome project! stay with it and dont give up and you will be greatly satisfied

its so hard finding nice 240's now a days

[s14tan]

wow your car had a bad case of cancer...

[yellow2000SR]

wow your car had a bad case of cancer...

Wha? It wasnt bad at all... there are spots here and there on the underside... probably more than I know because of all the grime built up (like 1/8").

I just got back from a local race shop... yea... I WAY overbuilt the control arms. I was looking at what they were using on sprint / dirt cars... WOW that stuff is light weight. I think I'm going to use their tubing instead of the DOM I was using b/c its like 1/10th the weight... and if it the same material works for a 4 link setup on 700+ hp dirt cars... I dont see a reason it wouldnt work on our 240s. This will also cut the cost on stuff...

[DJButton]

It's amazing the info you can find with a little research sometimes, not being sarcastic, that's good news, lighter, thinner, cheaper, and still strong enough is good combo!

Check out the NICO Fabricator's Market forum! It would be another great place to get your foot in the door; while not costing what a normal NICO advertiser bundle does, it is a great way to promote your business and retail your products! Here's a link:zeroforum?id=233

[yellow2000SR]

It's amazing the info you can find with a little research sometimes, not being sarcastic, that's good news, lighter, thinner, cheaper, and still strong enough is good combo!

Check out the NICO Fabricator's Market forum! It would be another great place to get your foot in the door; while not costing what a normal NICO advertiser bundle does, it is a great way to promote your business and retail your products! Here's a link:zeroforum?id=233

Yea, I saw that area of this forum a while ago and is also where I planned on doing any group buys.

[DJButton]

Awesometown!

Love the suspension pieces by the way! If you have the car together by Cars at Carlisle on May 9-11 you should swing over, it's a NICO National meet and we'll be hosting an auto-x and drifting expo, so good times, and not too far from you!

[s14tan]

[White Comet]

Awesometown!

Love the suspension pieces by the way! If you have the car together by Cars at Carlisle on May 9-11 you should swing over, it's a NICO National meet and we'll be hosting an auto-x and drifting expo, so good times, and not too far from you!

is that when it is? i couldnt find any info on it and really wanna go. now that i know when it is consider me there

[DJButton]

^Werd, we should have a forum up for it in the national meets section soon.

[White Comet]

ok, i searched but i just found last years stuff

[initial_jc]

thats really sick making your own suspension partskudos

[yellow2000SR]

thats really sick making your own suspension partskudos

Its not too bad... And fabrication is what I want to majorly do (besides just building cars in general). As time goes, I hope to progress in fabrication, engine/driveterrain work and eventually open a shop.

Little update... The parts are sitting at PowderWorks in Mechanicsburg, Pa freshly done with chrome base coat and candy red top coat...


Modified by yellow2000SR at 6:58 PM 12/12/2007

[thefro526]

Dang that's some nice stuff. I don't think I've ever seen any control arms built so well. I'd definitly rock some on my car. How much did they cost you in materials or how much would they have cost? I'm guessing that some of it was free from you school. Tech Schools FTW! Keep up the awsome work.

[yellow2000SR]

Dang that's some nice stuff. I don't think I've ever seen any control arms built so well. I'd definitly rock some on my car. How much did they cost you in materials or how much would they have cost? I'm guessing that some of it was free from you school. Tech Schools FTW! Keep up the awsome work.

Its at around $400 after powder coating... that includes the jigs I built and the lower control arms that I am still building, all the tubing, heim joints, etc... School also has a 1.5% multiplier to the material price to cover tool usage like wear on the grinders and gas / welding supplies. Its a bit harsh because the 1.5% applies to whatever the total outcome is... regardless to the fact if you are using HREW or DOM tubing... for chromoly they only charge for what it would be for DOM tubing.

I didn't get anything free... It would have cost me around $1,600 to buy all this premade from SPL Parts... but I made it for a fraction of the cost.

EDIT: We do get the tubing at a wholesale price because the school does order it in bulk... so the prices are cheaper.

I'm going to make more but out of chromoly so the material price will be slightly higher, but the overall finished price will be less. I need more "practice" and to also get my name out... and build a portfolio in the event of possibly having to get a "real" job elsewhere.

[White Comet]

just emailed you and yeah those look awesome. i cant wait to see what else u fab up

[wangankid]

dam dude those fabs look fcking awsome

[Nacho_240]

Let us know how they perform and I may be interested in a set.

[yellow2000SR]

Let us know how they perform and I may be interested in a set.

Sounds good!

ANYHOW...

Few issues with the lowers...

A: I didnt get them "done", I got as far as I could and found a flaw in how I was going to fit one of the bars...

B: It seems I cant purchase ball joints seperate from new control arms... GAY

C: I came up with a better idea which will allow faster fabrication time but the pieces that will be used have to be machined.

[White Comet]

B: It seems I cant purchase ball joints seperate from new control arms... GAY

sure u can, ive done it. iirc ii went through car quest, but im not sure it might have been advanced auto

[yellow2000SR]

sure u can, ive done it. iirc ii went through car quest, but im not sure it might have been advanced auto

Its not at Advanced Auto... Advanced is where I checked because I get a discount at the one near school... it wasnt in their computers or the books... even the guy that everybody goes to there couldnt find it and said it was only available with the purchase of the arm itself...

I'm not too concerned... I'm going to get a sealed ball joint unit that has less resistance which will in turn result to a faster acting suspension by freeing up some resistence from the movement.

[mirochuki13]

The powder coating turned out really nice. Good color choice too.

If you want to get your name out there, I have this idea of starting a website that will basically be a collection of videos showing the build process of various project cars and useful fabrication work. I was planning on doing this with some friends, basically video taping installs and fab work whenever anyone gets something done to their car and posting it on the website. The videos would be free, and we could make some profit through advertisements. Even if it doesn't make any money, it would still be fun to do and a great guide for people wanting to do similar things to their cars.

So let me know if you'd be interested in getting together with some people and filming your work and we can try to plan this out.