I woke up this morning (June 5) and went outside to a bare horse stable. The bay is in decent shape minus a few areas. I decided to try my hand at spot welding to try and keep the bay as sturdy as possible. Did some research on temps and durations of welds to get penetration without burning through the thin metal using my gasless mig setup. It took me 3 hours to complete the strut towers.
After visually inspecting the bay, it’s no wonder they began to crack and separate over the years. As we all know for daily comfort/safety the chassis is build tough but loose for accident purposes. You can see that there are many gaps that can be filled to increase rigidity.
Before I could weld anything I had to clear all of the Japanese goo off the towers, you can see the difference with the sealer removed. If you don’t remove this stuff, it will certainly burst into flames. I recommend keeping water/air available to blow out flames. Also you will not get a clean bond, painting will re-seal the bear metal.
I put a lot of attention into the sections directly below the coilover. It seems that this location takes the brunt of everything. My S13 back home actually separated from the frame-rail. I recommend doing this if you have the time. I will do other sections of the car as time passes.
Engine is in and car ready to run…. I however have a minor electrical issue as the injectors are not clicking. The HR33 and ECR33 are virtually identical however the difference comes in the junction boxes above the ECU (no picture yet). I’m pretty sure that the one blank space is for the ABS system. The smaller plug looks similar to the body harness of the S-chassis that sends your signals for oil pressure, water temp etc to the gauge cluster. Nothing was disconnected from the engine during removal and installation.
At about 3am I ran a quick diagnostics and called it quits for the night. I’ll get it up and running before the day is over for sure. I am curious to see how the chassis responds to the spot welds Ill be welding in fender braces shortly after.
CONTINUE HERE..
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