The Project Pad

I can't find the link right now, but a buddy of mine sent me a distributor that you could tune with your phone. Would that help at all if you can find one that would work on the Audi? I'd imagine it's typically for domestic V8s.

Not much to report on the bandit unfortunately. I haven't done much with it. I need to order a new crank sensor, and a male 3 pin JPT connector.

On a different note though, I finally got a Tig welder!


AHP AlphaTig 201XD. They brought the price down to $640, so I decided now was the time to buy. It comes with a #17 and #9 rotaflex torch, but I'm not so sure I like it. I may change it out for a standard #9 flex head torch.

There were some reports of these showing up DOA, so I wanted to get it tested as soon as it showed up. I'm going to have to "relearn" how to use this welder on AC. I'm used to the old style transformer welders I use at work. All in all, not bad for a cold piece, and learning how to set it up I think.


Hopefully this means I'll be able to make some more interesting things here at home for the bandit!

Awesome... that seems like a good price for that tig machine . I remember watching a video on YouTube and they seem like great machines


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I've been watching this machine for a couple years. Pretty much every review I've seen on it was good, and it has made it onto a lot of "best of" lists. So I figured it was a good time to buy with the price drop.

Aside from the initial acquisition cost, what other expenses could one expect to get up and running with this welder? Disclaimer: I'm a mediocre MIG welder and have never tried TIG welding.

Well, you would need tungsten, filler, argon, and the standard torch consumables. When you first start off, you will have a lot of grinding to do. Everytime you dip the tip of the tungsten, in the filler, you will have to grind it back to a point.

I think in total I'm into this right now for around $850, and I still need to get a cart for it. I might make one that will hold both my mig and Tig welders.

That's awesome! You'll be stacking dimes in no time.

And I'd be disappointed if you bought a cart when you could glue one together at home/work from scrap

Not so sure about stacking dimes... Im still an industrial welder haha.

As for the cart, I would love to build one to hold both welders and tanks. Just not exactly sure what I want yet.

PRY4SNO wrote:That's awesome! You'll be stacking dimes in no time.

And I'd be disappointed if you bought a cart when you could glue one together at home/work from scrap

So scrap fabrication is what you want huh? Well, this started out as a kind of challenge. I was looking at the cost of pre fabricated weld tables, and was kind of shocked. More than one person said I couldn't build one for less with the price of the materials, and have it be as sturdy as a prefabbed one. Well challenge excepted!

Enter the large electric motor shipping pallet!


These are constructed using using 6"x3" and 4"x2" C channel both having approximately a 1/4" wall. I chose to use the smaller, to keep the weight down a little, and I can't imagine I would need the extra strength of the larger

Here you can see the 4 pieces I Air Arced off the bottom of the pallet.


I wanted a 3'x6' table, to I setup the band saw at a 45° angle, and cut my pieces. Apparently, the protractor on the vice is wrong, so I ended up with some large gaps to fill later. Here it is all tacked together to bring home.


The pieces in the middle aren't attached yet. They will be the pieces the top of the table will sit on. 2 of them are from the pallet, the other 3 are from an old pallet rack that was cut up years ago. I ran out of time at work, so I'll have to continue this at home



Of course I made it longer than the bed of my truck... Oh well, it made it home just fine.

So my plan is to find some 4" angle iron to make legs out of. Then use the rest of the pallet material as gussets. I'm thinking somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2' for the top. This will be my largest expense, but will be nowhere near the $2k + for the prefabbed tables.

I have one that I made with 1/4” steel sheet and box tubing , HD casters .
After having it for a few years I’m now working on making some more mounts to store more things at /under the table . Basically all the things that I use most frequently that I am tired of walking to go get .
My table has been fine but I was watching a video on YouTube the other day and the guy was recommending using thicker than 1/4 , like 1/2” if you’re using it for layout . I’m not sure how heavy that would be though.


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I'm not overly concerned about the over all weight of the table. Once I have it built, it will live in it's hope pretty much forever I think.

A 1/2" plate will stay "more flat" than a 1/4" plate would, and will take more of a beating. I have been leaning towards 3/8" plate for the top, as I think it will be thick enough to stay flat and take a pretty good beating with the way I will be supporting it underneath.

As for under table storage, I have thought about that too. I plan to make a shelf under the table to hold what ever I decide to put down there haha

i have a 4'x8' sheet of 1/4" steel plate for my work table. It takes a beating really well. Haven't really wished it was thicker, but I would probably do 3/8" if I was to do it again. 1/2" would be overkill IMO.

dana wrote:i have a 4'x8' sheet of 1/4" steel plate for my work table. It takes a beating really well. Haven't really wished it was thicker, but I would probably do 3/8" if I was to do it again. 1/2" would be overkill IMO.

Thanks Dana. I'll probably look around for some 1/4" plate. I would prefer 3/8", but that gets expensive. I have pretty much been able to make the entire table for free, as my neighbor just brought me some 2" angle iron for the legs. It looks thicker than 1/4", so that will work well for now.

Sorry to disappoint, but I picked up one of the vulcan welder cabinets.

After doing the math on pretty much any build, I decided I couldn't build one as nice for the price. I originally had the welders switched, but why lack of hooks by the tanks made me switch it so I could have the Tig cords in easier reach.

I am going to modify it some. It needs more...

Still though, that's a nice starting point. What all do you plan to modify?

For $340, it's actually pretty nice. The packaged weight was 159lbs. So it's not exactly light.

First off the bright while vulcan stickers gotta go. They are obnoxious. The Tig filler storage is too small, so I'll make up a new one. I want one that will hold all 5 storage tubes I ordered.

I'm also thinking I might change the drawer organizer. None of the areas are large enough to hold a pack of tungsten's. They are great for the other constables for both the mig and Tig though.

So here is my first attempt at making a rod rack for my cart. It's made from 2.75" by 1.5" .062" thick C channel. I'm going to use short pieces of it to box it it on the ends.



As you can see, I changed the hole locations a little on all the holes.


Here it is all drilled and opened up.


It's made to fit 5 blue demon rod tubes, and 4 of the 1lbs shipping tubes. I'll have to make a shelf that attached lower on them box to keep the small tubes in place. Hopefully weld the ends on this weekend, and get it all drilled for the mounting holes.

With looking at upgrading the turbo on this to the 58mm ITS unit I picked up, I need bigger injectors. I have no plans to go e85 anytime soon, so how big should I go? I'm currently running 440cc injectors, and have them nearly maxed out with my k24. I would like to stay with an extended tip if possible

So yesterday I finally got around to messing with this some yesterday. Needed to take the ebrake off, as it has been technically on for more than a year. Popped the DS rear wheel off to find this.


Need to get some new ones, as the PS looks really rough as well.

I also got around to testing my theory about the sync loss issue. I unmounted MS from the blower box, straighted out the wiring, and reseated the connectors. It seems to have worked. Has the car running for more than an hour, with about 30 min of driving. I didn't notice any sync loss at all! Very excited!

I think I want to build a bracket, and mount it like this. Keep it off the floor, and the wiring as straight as possible.


Will try to get this done this week. Carlisle is quickly approaching. Oh, I also have a crack in my coolant reservoir, go figure. I have something special in the works for that though.

It's always something with these old cars, at least it seems that way. Nice to hear you found the reason for the sync loss issue.

I drove the car around after releasing the ebrake and finding the broken sway bar link. I didn't even notice anything was wrong. So it may have been broken for a long time.

Drove the car to work tonight. About 30 min of non stop driving, and not a single sync loss. Feeling much more comfortable driving her again.

I have a small crack in my coolant reservoir next to the little nipple coming in from the radiator. It big enough that it dripps coolant out, so I decided to try to clean one of my old tanks up, as they are oem, not this aftermarket crap. I used a dishwasher pack, rice, and rock salt as outlined in a couple you tube vids. Worked pretty well, but not well enough for me. Not exactly sure what I'm going to try next. Not looking to make it white again, I just want all the crap out of it. Any tips?

I wonder if letting vinegar and water sit in it for a while would help clean it up?

Well, I got my new sway bar links from rockauto installed yesterday. The ones I removed were factory original from 91! I know this because they both still had the green paint on the threads and nuts. These pure chinesium ones I don't expect to last nearly that long.



On a different note, after taking off the ebrake, I still felt like I had to stand on the brake peddle to get the car to stop. These pads and rotors have been on the car for around 7 years, with a lot of sitting around. The suggestion was made from a friend that the slide pins might be seized up. So, I went about ripping off all the calipers to check the pins. All were moving freely, so I moved on.



After checking the pins, I decided to pull the pads and rotors and clean them all up. Fronts went like normal, pads fell out when I pulled the caliper off. The rears in the other hand, the inners were held very snugly in place on the carriers. So poped all the pads and rotors, cleaned up the carriers and pad contact surfaces. Not they slide freely. I also deglazed the rotors and ran the pad faces on some sand paper to break the glaze and rust off. I plan to replace the entire baking system this year, so I wasn't worried about it too much just yet. If for nothing else, I feel like I have power brakes again...

If you have access to steam (and a flexible tube you can use as a lance) you could clean the inside of the coolant reservoir like a hot damn. We use steam in refineries to clean anything and everything. Usually make a lance with a ball valve, Swagelock fittings, and insulated tubing.

Other than that all I can find online is dish or castile soap and vinegar.