• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

tfrasca's 142 Turbo Project

I haven't had heat in my car in 5 years, haven't really missed it yet but I also hardly drive it.

Don't think plumbing will be a big deal for you but is a little electric hot rod box attractive at all? I've considered one to facilitate gutting behind the dash.

I guess I've always assumed those don't work well. I've never even seen one in person, though. It would be nice to pull out the heater core and all the related garbage. But like you said, plumbing will probably not be too hard.
 
Awesome job on the turbo hanger & support brace dude; great attention to detail.

I think you're right that longer is better for the hanger rod. This allows more freedom of expansion in any horizontal direction while keeping the rod position at small angles meaning not much upward lifting force imported by the rod itself. With a shorter rod it would swing up more quickly and artificially lift the turbo and manifold which is not what you want, I'm sure.

I also like the mounting plate bolted to the side of the turbine inlet flange - keeps the rod away from the center housing and yet you didn't have to weld a (crack-prone) boss to the side of the turbine housing or anything silly like that.

Keep it up!
 
Awesome job on the turbo hanger & support brace dude; great attention to detail.

I think you're right that longer is better for the hanger rod. This allows more freedom of expansion in any horizontal direction while keeping the rod position at small angles meaning not much upward lifting force imported by the rod itself. With a shorter rod it would swing up more quickly and artificially lift the turbo and manifold which is not what you want, I'm sure.

I also like the mounting plate bolted to the side of the turbine inlet flange - keeps the rod away from the center housing and yet you didn't have to weld a (crack-prone) boss to the side of the turbine housing or anything silly like that.

Keep it up!

Thanks Chris!
 
Custom air box?

So, I got that intake manifold all tacked up, and proceeded to ruin it with my new welder. Super great. I'm going a different route with that, so in the meantime I started working on an air box.

I mocked something up in cardboard. The plan is to house whatever kind of cone filter I can fit inside this box, which I'll make out of aluminum.

y3exk1j.jpg


Then, ideally, I'll be able pull fresh air from between the headlight and intercooler.

F8C5K32.jpg


Gf4xr9n.jpg


Does anyone have any input on air box design? Is there a reason to try to get more volume in the box? Should I try to design something around a flat drop-in filter rather than a cone?

Also, I am thinking about using 6061 t4 for this, because it might bend easier. Is that a good call? How does 6061 t4 weld?
 
Last edited:
6061 t4 will weld nice, but depending on thickness, it will be a tough to bend by hand. If you have access to a bending brake, it should go a bit easier. When you go to weld it, make sure that you have the tightest joints possible.

5052 bends easier, and if you go old skool acetylene carbon coat anneal, it will bend super easy by hand over the edge of a table.
 
6061 t4 will weld nice, but depending on thickness, it will be a tough to bend by hand. If you have access to a bending brake, it should go a bit easier. When you go to weld it, make sure that you have the tightest joints possible.

5052 bends easier, and if you go old skool acetylene carbon coat anneal, it will bend super easy by hand over the edge of a table.

5052 is the bees knees. You can also acetylene anneal 6061, but 5052 is what you want to use in this application.
 
6061 t4 will weld nice, but depending on thickness, it will be a tough to bend by hand. If you have access to a bending brake, it should go a bit easier. When you go to weld it, make sure that you have the tightest joints possible.

5052 bends easier, and if you go old skool acetylene carbon coat anneal, it will bend super easy by hand over the edge of a table.

5052 is the bees knees. You can also acetylene anneal 6061, but 5052 is what you want to use in this application.

I had a 12x48" sheet of 5052 in my cart on onlinemetals.com, but then I read that it doesn't weld the same as 6xxx series. Something about it being even more prone to hot shortness and cracking?
 
Good to know, thanks.

The only reason not to use 4043 filler (generally...) is when it has to be anodized. 4043 is a very forgiving filler material, good toughness, doesn't easily crack, and has enough strength for most things. It just looks like crap when you anodize it.
 
Updates! Our entire area has been evacuated and the perimeter of a 67,000 acre wildfire is about a mile from my house (and the car) right now. I got back to the house two days ago to get some more stuff and saw that the KL Racing DCOE manifold showed up, so I put it in the trunk and if the car still exists in a week, maybe I'll open the box and see how it looks. Otherwise, there will be a really sad photo update here...
 
:-(

Wish we could get back in there and tow strap it out of there with my truck like we did with the 144 across Aptos. If for some reason you could get back in, I'd totally be down to do that BTW.
 
I was just up there the week before the fires started. Take care and be safe.
As a side note, driving on Laurel St in Santa Cruz (in my VW) I said hello to a guy in a 142 just like mine- same light blue. Said he has dual Mikunis. Must be on here...
 
I was just up there the week before the fires started. Take care and be safe.
As a side note, driving on Laurel St in Santa Cruz (in my VW) I said hello to a guy in a 142 just like mine- same light blue. Said he has dual Mikunis. Must be on here...

That?s my really good friend, David. I think he is ?cyclist? on here. He?s had that car forever.
 
hoping your area will survive.

Fire is horrible, as water. I've survived both, financally a catastrophic result, still living.

I try my best to clean my worksop and do pics of my front axles.
I could find them in my mess, one with Mustang 2 droped spindels and 2" drop
the other is a very special, much cheaper and better. and even more difficult to get this legal in Germany. The Mustang stuff looks similar to the 140/164 ;-)
I hate the ride quality of a lowered 140/164
To do the pics is I have to find time, time and again time.
150m? full of parts, I have to throw away 1/3 at minimum.

good luck, stay safe, Kay
 
Last edited:
Tyler, I have been checking on your IG updates and was relieved to see you and the family are safe. I know you have put a metric sh**-ton of work into your house and the 142, and it would be crushing to lose them. Hoping for the best from LA for you; it sounds like you are keeping things well in perspective which is really tough at a time like this. Hang in there dude.

My wife and daughter, plus sister, brother, and cousin were all evacuated from Big Basin last Tuesday night - a few months ago we reserved a site there and it was going to be our "end of summer" camping trip before school starts (on Zoom) again. I was getting ready to drive up and meet them when I got the call that they had packed up the site in a rush and were driving out through Boulder Creek. Everyone made it out of the park safely. Really sad to see the structures were destroyed and some of the redwoods didn't make it. I'm hoping to somehow get involved in the reconstruction if possible, whenever it is time for that.

-Chris
 
Back
Top