[Neanderthal Racing]

just so i am clear, is this the final design you are working on?



if it is, it is the only brace i'd give up my gt spec set for.

[kmurphy]

sort of i guess. this is what im leaning towards. i have everything tucked up nicely to gain clearence. middle bar is angled and bent so that it goes right behind the oil pan instead of right below it if i was just going to do a straight angled piece. also it is going to attach to the 2 mounting points behind the oil pan, just havent drilled and notched this piece yet to weld in tubing to attach it. let me know if you have any suggestions.

[Neanderthal Racing]

i guess what i was asking is, the the pic i posted your design?

[kmurphy]

oh...no its not. no idea whose that is.

[wdb]

Bruce, that's a design from a guy who Clint from TiC was working with. Clint tried to get him interested in producing them but no dice.

[Pitcherman]

Not really digging the front piece with those curves in it.

[kmurphy]

because of looks? or are you questioning the strength? the front i dont think is as important as the middle and rear, where a lot of the stress is taking place. i made it wide like the stock subframe so that there wouldnt be any fitment issues with all the variety of headers out there. plus you should have better clearence since its not as wide as the stock subframe. i know some headers you have to clearence the subframe a little which isnt a big deal to me, but for some they'd rather not.

[Pitcherman]

I just question the piece's rigidity and it's tendancy to resist lateral forces.

[kmurphy]

so finally done for the most part, just need to figure out how to mount the sheet of aluminum for the splashguard and its all done. thought i would of been done a lot sooner but finding time between work, g/f, puppy, and the motorcycle is hard. so here it is.

[tyler_sti]

Wow, that frame looks awsome! Great welding as well. Have you even thought about pricing once you have a jig setup and all?

[kmurphy]

not really. not sure if i could turn this into something other than just a hobby. i do make other things, mostly performance stuff for friends and for myself. but i have looked farther into it. i'd like to go part time at my other job and do this mostly. theres a guy down the street who is bringing his forester over tomorrow, and is trying to get a one time group buy together over at the forester forum so if that goes well, i think i'll get a vendor accounts and start to sell the other stuff i make.

[kmurphy]

so i've been working on several peoples cars lately. started another subframe v2 for my sti and heres where i got today on it. thought i was going to finish and be able to get to u.p.s but, between the puppy and eating and hanging out i didnt finish. just need to do the center part. i may ditch the plate with dimpe die idea, and just do 2 pieces of tube section connecting the 2 with some gussets possibly. i think i may be way overdoing/engineering it. so heres some pics one trying to show the whole subframe and the other to show clearance. the downpipe is still the lowest point. and the piece by the oil pan drops just below it, so it doesnt hang down like i believe the do-luck and others do.

[funSTi]

WOW, I really admire you for making stuff and not just buying it, and your welds are absolutely fantastic!!!

[kmurphy]

thank you. practice practice and more practice. Heres a jig im making on my table, to make things easier for me, not having to work under the car. this should speed things up and make my life a little easier.


im hoping to make the rest of the stuff on my car. im currently debating on selling my dom3 just so i can fabricate my own twinscroll header and rotated turbo setup using all v-bands. i love doing this kind of stuff so im always thinking of something to change.

im also thinking of slowly turning the sti into a track/display of my work car.

put in a cage, maybe tear out the heavy dash, and put in a light weight custom sheet metal dash and still have everything operational. tubular chromoly a-arms, etc... lots of ideas, just missing the funds and time.

[kmurphy]

alright so basically im done with the design i tried a few things. ditched the dimple die section. figured for the time and price to make it, its really not that beneficial. so here it is. the white triangles on the side represent the tabs that will be welded on which will be welded to a mount that goes to the rear mounting point on the a-arm. just havent got the tabs back from the laser cutter.