Updating the Super Street Mopar

[ckessel]

Today after taking care of some appliance maintenance, I got further on the filter base. I made up a hold down unit for the throttle body to the base, got it welded on. From there I made a pattern, cut out some material for the next piece to the base, got it formed up and with just a little tweaking I'll get it tacked on tomorrow. From there the next piece.

 

[ckessel]

Today I got the 2nd piece fitted/tweaked pretty good then tacked it into place. From there made a pattern for the next one, cut it out, filed it down, started getting it into shape. Almost there. Where I marked on the base, I'll need to make a blister so that the base will clear the cable bracket.

 

[ckessel]

Today I was able to get the latest piece fitted up pretty good so I tacked it in place. After that I trimmed down the top edge of the first piece that was tacked, pulled it into place a little better and got it tacked in. Once it all looked groovy, I started welding fully. Will continue tomorrow.

 

[Kern Dog]

I had to have a guy TIG weld the air cleaner base for my MP air cleaner....

He took two bases to make one, the original MP base and an aftermarket 14" base with a deeper drop.
If I knew how to TIG weld, I'd make a few just to have spares.

 

[ckessel]

Well, since you're retired...see if the local JC offers welding classes. My wife wanted to learn how to weld about 8 years ago. The base class was stick, wire and tig. I signed up too as I wanted wire, have learned that on my own over time and for sure wanted tig as it was not as easy as I hoped. Stick I did back in high school, can do it, have no machine or use for it. Wire unit and tig I have both. Getting the formal wire was very helpful but the tig is what I really wanted. The next semester I did tig only. It's not hard once you get the hang of both hands being busy plus one foot on the pedal. Some days my tig work looks awesome, others like I'm just beginning. For me I need to do it consistently to have it look good. Some of my fellow students had never used a tig before, like me, but in that second class their welds looked robotic. I asked them if they slept with that thing. Damn kids! Add in the various metals you can weld, all different techniques/settings etc. Tig is easier on thin stuff too since you can control the amps through the pedal. Like your gas pedal. Wire is harder to do on thin, for me at least. My unit gives me grief on 20ga and thinner. It says I can do 24ga but no. When I can swing it, I'm upgrading both units. If your eyes need more light to see what you are working on, same goes with helmet choice. Some units filter out too much of the light as I found out. Couldn't see the weld pool good enough causing overheating of the weld. A better helmet took care of that.

 

[ckessel]

After the Morro Bay show today I laid down some more welds on the base. Almost done with the center area.

 

[ckessel]

Before I ran out of Argon, I was able to finish welding the base. After that I whipped out the Vixen file to start dressing some of the welds down.

 

[ckessel]

Did some more filing and trimming on the base. I put a hole in to give me a starting point for the blister over the cable bracket and it looks like all I need to do is just weld a small cover over the hole. I popped a hole in near it for the fresh air intake portion of the crankcase vent system. I was going to put it on the other side but it looked like it would interfere with the IAC connection.

 

[ckessel]

The last 3 weeks or so I've been gimped up. Hurt the tendons in my right knee but they are getting better. Started some PT yesterday so it's mending with limited use. Anyway...spent some time working on the base today. Tuned up the radius portion as there was much of it curled in a little bit. Got that squared away. It looks like the vertical piece will be fine now. Next thing I need is to get a tank of Argon when I can swing it so I can continue welding.

 

[Rich H.]

Looking good.

 

[ckessel]

Thank you!

 

[ckessel]

On Monday I picked up a tank of Argon for the TIG. Since my dilemma with the wagon postponed the welding for a couple of days, Oil consumption discovery,
I took some time today to get the vertical portion of the unit tacked on. It fits to the lid nicely, I'm very happy. Blessed be the Man upstairs who hooked me up with some skills.

 

[icetech]

CK what is that accessory drive from? or who... i don't think i have ever seen a BB with a serpentine system.. looks great

 

[ckessel]

SD Concepts out of your state. Same guy who makes billet aluminum main caps and girdles. First name is Jerry. He makes the brackets, spacers, pullies. You round up alternator[ 94-02 Dodge truck/van 3.9/5.2/5.9], Chevy S10 tensioner, straight vane water pump[ Milodon for me] as its reverse rotation now, 99- Jeep Grand Cherokee p/s pump[ WJ series jeep], Sanden compressor. He specifies what length belt to use. Easy to find items for when replacement is needed unlike many others. It may not be as blingy as some of the others but for me, I want easily found serviceable components, not one off proprietary ones that can only be sourced through the manufacture.

 

[icetech]

SD Concepts out of your state. Same guy who makes billet aluminum main caps and girdles. First name is Jerry. He makes the brackets, spacers, pullies. You round up alternator[ 94-02 Dodge truck/van 3.9/5.2/5.9], Chevy S10 tensioner, straight vane water pump[ Milodon for me] as its reverse rotation now, 99- Jeep Grand Cherokee p/s pump[ WJ series jeep], Sanden compressor. He specifies what length belt to use. Easy to find items for when replacement is needed unlike many others. It may not be as blingy as some of the others but for me, I want easily found serviceable components, not one off proprietary ones that can only be sourced through the manufacture.

naw, i like that it's not all polished alum with spikes and ****.. it looks how Chrysler would have done it if they made the 440 long enough

 

[ckessel]

Yeah. I don't care for the "Transformers" look either.

 

[ckessel]

Today I was able to get the base fully welded. Took the body file to it some and knocked some of the welds down. Tomorrow or Sunday I'll weld the lid.

 

[ckessel]

Today I welded the lid up. Had a chunk of aluminum to put under it for clamping to the table plus useful as a chill bar. A neighbor had an old brake rotor, used that in the radius area. From there, get out the body file and make my arms tired.

 

[ckessel]

Over the last week I've spent some time on the filter unit. Made up a stud, threaded it into the TB after figuring out how long it needed to be with it just barely poking up past the element. Once that was in place I smacked the lid a couple of times so that the stud would mark the back of the lid so I could put a hole there for the nut. After that I trimmed the base and lid to get them evened up and then sat and looked at it and the firewall to figure out the connecting duct from the firewall. From there I trimmed 3/4" from the unit to make the firewall unit less steep. Today after the 3/4" trim, I put it back in place and got out one of my contour units to get the firewall profile. Transferred that to some cereal box material. Did some more marking and trimming to get the side pieces of templates for the firewall unit made. After that I came up with a bend template for the top horizontal portion. Marked, cut it out and bent in the brake going by the template. I'll need to trim the filter unit another 1/4" or so to give me a gap between the two units. I'll make a wrap to connect the two units to somewhat seal them together. Probably use a piece cut from an inner tube so it's flexible, tie the ends together with some sort of latch/buckle etc. I still need to open up the firewall some but thats easy.

 

[ckessel]

I've been working on the firewall duct the last few days. Today I made up the lower horizontal piece and fitted the side units up. Got the top and side pieces tacked together.