Busted Sub, Part 5: Stitch weldling and taking apart a shift linkage

I accomplished two things after work today. I managed to stitch weld my new subframe and take apart a spare shift linkage. As always, on to pics. I seriously don't think most of you read most of what I actually take the time to write. heh

Okay, since the pics uploaded in sort of reverse order, you get to see how to take apart the yoke on a shift linkage first.

So this is a flap wheel:

 If you don't use these for cleaning and fab work, you are just plain nuts. They are better than the beave's knees. The only time I ever use normal grinding wheels is when I am doing really heavy grinding or cutting stuff (which I don't do much anymore since I have my portable band saw).

This is more of a side view showing how thick this particular disc is:

These things have a really mixed reputation. I can guarantee that the only people who speak badly of these things have used the cheap ones. I generally buy 3M, Norton and a couple of other decent name units.
Why would I spend up to $12 per disc? Two main reasons:
1. Durability. Generally, the thicker the disc, the longer lasting it will be. The problem with going thicker is that the attachment process must be more precise and just better to hold the higher mass together well. A good flap disc will last significantly longer than the cheap, Chinese ones you can get at HF and other low buck stores. You will get more than $12 worth of use out of one of these better discs. If you can catch them on sale on Amazon or eBay, you can score! Another brand to avoid is actually DeWalt, commonly sold at Homey Despot. While entirely better constructed than the HF discs, they last only a little bit longer and are EXTREMELY expensive for the amount of time you can use them. I'd rather you get the HF ones than those, as there is much better value to them.
2. Smoothness. You won't vibrate your hands into nerve damage. These things run smoother than just about anything else, absorb shock better, are balanced better and depending on the grit you use, will remove material almost as fast as a normal grinding wheel, which means less time grinding (also good for you hands and GSD (Getting Stuff DONE)!).

The only limitations to these are they they are not for edge use, unless you get a specific disc for edge use (they make them, I haven't used one yet). But, for anything flat, they rock. They give you unparalleled control so you can just smooth things over or you can honk down on them and really get the material moved. I love them. You should use them, too, IMO.

ANYWAY, here's the end of the shift linkage that causes most shifting headaches:

This is the other end, attached to the stock shift lever:

 As you can see, all the plasticky bits are falling apart:

 That's the bushing that fits into the end of the stock shift lever. The rubber o-rings, meant to dampen vibrations, are shot, and the thing just fell out when I unbolted the lever from the linkage.

Here are a couple of shots showing how rough the plastic sleeve is inside the end of the shift lever:

Just slap that in and call it good, right? No, thank you. 

I missed a few photos, so bear with me while I explain some things. Take your flap disc equipped grinder and take down the pressed ends of the pins holding together the parts of the parts of the yoke like so:

Then pry the tabs apart and pop everything apart! It's really just that simple. Yes, you'll have to bend the tabs flat, but as long as you don't go overboard, that's totally fine. It's good steel, not aluminum.

This is another source of slop:

 Those plastic bushings just plain wear out. The metal pins rust. Icky, icky, icky, and not good for your transmission at all, either!

The other end of the linkage, where it bolts to the bottom of the shift lever was pretty groady, so I took a knotted wire brush (mounted on the grinder) to it, so it went from this:

To this:

 It will be getting painted after it is cleaned thoroughly.

Now, on to the subframe.

I took the aforementioned knotted wire brush and took off the gunk and as much of the paint as I could from strategic locations:

Then I fired up the trusty Lincoln MIG box:

 

And got my stitch weld on:

 

No, I didn't get any closeups. Some of the welds were nasty. What do you want for MIG welding through paint and crap? It's not that big a deal.

Now a word about doing this kind of stitch welding. The goal here isn't to go crazy. It's to tighten up the structure a bit. Avoid stitch welding corners. They are stiff enough and if you do that, you'll make something like this TOO stiff. For a street car that might get curbed again, if you went a little nuts and welded the whole thing, blasting even the corners togethe, your frame will get tweaked, too. This is bad. If you had a race car and wanted maximum stiffness without going to a tube frame unit, then go nuts. This is more than enough for a street car. 

That's it for this evening. I ran out of light. I am satisfied with the progress and having a good subframe to work with. It will get cleaned up and painted. I'm going to ask if I can use the pressure washer at work. That will take care of all the gunk super-quick-fast. 

I actually got a bunch of welding done yesterday! (Justin, this pertains to YOU!)

I was going to upload these pics and write up a post last night, but I had a wicked headache and went to sleep very early and slept it off. Meh. I am mostly fine today, so, here's a quick and dirty lunchtime (PB&J with clementines!) update!

I welded up the new downpipe and the divergent and convergent cones for Justin's Bisi header that I have been working on:

I don't have many pics of the process, as it required both hands to hold things in place while tacking the pieces together, and after that, I just welded stuff. LOL! 

I am finally starting to see something resembling beads that I really like:

That's as far as I got with that, but welding all the pie cuts took a good long while. I didn't grab any inside shots, not because I am afraid to show what they look like, but because I forgot. I got interrupted by helping my friend move some cabinets he sold to a dude, which frees up more space for me to work in and actually set up a little shop area. I'll eventually be able to have one section of the garage to call my own and not have to disconnect every freaking thing and then reconnecting it every time I want to set up. Hurray for eventual efficient working! It takes me over half an hour just to get things set up and ready for working. After setting up a little work shop area, I will be able to get more work done during the little time I have there. That is very precious to me! 

The next thing I worked on was taking this:

Which is an Acura Integra dual ben shift lever; then doing this to it:

(That's not the same shift lever as in the first picture, but I forgot to get pics of that one after I chopped it to bits.) And then, welding the extended bits onto the stock parts, like so:

In order to make the final product look like this:

Why? Putting the shift knob closer to the steering wheel greatly reduces the time it takes to complete a shift, and increases the time the driver's hands are on the wheel. Both of these things are excellent for drivers who value the details of making the car faster and safe. It looks ridiculously long, because, well, it is. The customer asked that it be positioned to a certain height, with the bend placed a bit farther back and towards the seat. Mission accomplished.

And here is something you won't see on a lot of other people's blogs: Mistakes. I am not perfect. If other people can learn from my mistakes, then I won't feel so bad. 

Look at where the feet are. Look at where the cross supports are. Yeah . . . The outside dimensions of the base for the welder are dead on to what I wanted for it. I wanted a good amount of overhang on the front and back to protect the hose and line connectors. The sides have a bit of overhang so I could make it easy to lift the welder up and out (if I need to move it) when I add some odds and ends to the sides of the cart. So, I measured the outside of the box, came up with my plan, then executed it pretty darn perfectly. But I forgot about the dang feet. In fact, I never even looked at the bottom of the welder. Dur.  So, I have a couple of options. I can cut the supports out and start over, or weld in some new supports. Given limited material, I am not going to waste material and make the cart heavier by welding in new angle. I have some 1/8" strapping I could use, but, I'd rather not "waste it" on correcting a mistake. One thing that makes me pause from doing that is that if I cut the supports out, it will twist the frame. It's pretty effing square right now. (I had to learn to make things square within 1/16" while I was in the Army, or my "boss" would kill me. It pays off, for sure, since a lot of guys can't even keep things within 1/4" on small stuff.) I might just weld on some strapping and call it a day.

Another possibility is putting a plate on the top, but . . . I don't have the sheet metal, and the feet would still need support unless I go with way too heavy plate. I also don't like plates, as horizontal surfaces collect dust and dust isn't good for the insides of the welder. I prefer to keep things open, or with grating/thick mesh, as that cuts down on the cleaning you need to do. Since I've worked in super dusty environments (I will post up a pic of some sand in the air eventually), I know a few things about keeping equipment functional. 

The reason why my material selection is limited is that I am using an old bed frame I got for free off of Craig's list. I love (almost) free stuff. I have to find a few more to complete the whole thing, but I have enough from one frame to get the basics of the cart made up. I also scored some free hard rubber wheels so this sucker will be rolling pretty eventually. =) 

And that is my quick lunchtime update. =)