The Chronicles of 95riosnake's OCD Machine

[95riosnake]

Probably the most elaborate exhaust ever created by man lol! It's very well done Dan, you should have most the pieces (where possible) jet-hot/ceramic coated, that would just drive it home!

Thanks! I'm going to polish the whole thing, Jet Hot would be pretty expensive and this exhaust is already tipping the wallet scale pretty far in materials costs, etc. lol

I must say that's one insane looking exhaust setup.

That's exactly what I'm going for lol

How much to rent you and your welder when the time comes?

I'll let my wife answer that question, but I'm going to guess she will quote you around $1000/hr for my time... at least that's how it seems judging by the guilt-o-meter reading each time I say I'm going to head down to the garage lol

[Tony]

lol, i just looked through nearly this whole thread again. yea....i'm fn excited about getting a mustang again man. i will be building it over years as you've done but my god man this thread gives me chills thinking about all the shit i wanna do lol. i'm serious man some sick shit in here!

dan do you buy allot of stuff off of forums? if so do you ever have any problems with doing that? like geting crap parts or not even getting anything?

[95riosnake]

lol, i just looked through nearly this whole thread again. yea....i'm fn excited about getting a mustang again man. i will be building it over years as you've done but my god man this thread gives me chills thinking about all the shit i wanna do lol. i'm serious man some sick shit in here!

dan do you buy allot of stuff off of forums? if so do you ever have any problems with doing that? like geting crap parts or not even getting anything?

Thanks man and I hope you got some ideas!

Yea I've bought and sold TONS of parts over the years on forums. I've always had good luck, but some guys don't. Just check for a good reputation of the seller first, then ask yourself if it's too good to be true, if the ad passes both tests you're usually good to go!

[Steve-Oh]

Polish?! Holy shit lol that's going to take ubber amounts of time, can't say I'm surprised though and it's def going to look ( . Y . )'s !! and lmao at "guilt-o-meter"

[Psychorugby]

Stupid guilt-o-meter.

[95riosnake]

Polish?! Holy shit lol that's going to take ubber amounts of time, can't say I'm surprised though and it's def going to look ( . Y . )'s !! and lmao at "guilt-o-meter"

I talked to Troy (yeahloh95) about doing it and he's willing, but I'm thinking I might just man up and finally buy a bench polisher and go at it

[Steve-Oh]

Well that'll def help!! Troy + bench polisher should make things a hell of a lof easier.

[95riosnake]

Here's a couple pics showing the plan for the hangers. It looks like I need to do a little modding and shorten them a bit, by the time I notch the hangers to the right size to fit the oval tubing, the mounting point of the hanger will move forward a bit. Nothing a little cutting on the bracket won't fix though :thumb:

[1997cobra]

Sometimes I regret looking at this build. Hangers look awesome! I might be stealing a bunch of ideas from you.

How do you like that JD2 tube notcher? I have a tube bender from them that works flawlessly, I would hate to buy something the ends up sucking.

Edited December 3, 2013 by 1997cobra

[95riosnake]

Sometimes I regret looking at this build. Hangers look awesome! I might be stealing a bunch of ideas from you.

How do you like that JD2 tube notcher? I have a tube bender from them that works flawlessly, I would hate to buy something the ends up sucking.

It works great, the only complaint I have is since I'm cutting stainless, which is a bit tougher on cutting tools, I have stripped the threads off two 1-3/4" hole saws since the thickness of the threaded area of the hole saw is probably .094" or less. The "driveshaft" of the notcher doesn't have any provisions for those pins that normally go through the two holes in the back of the hole saws so all the force is applied to the threads. I need to find some heavy duty hole saws that have a thicker threaded portion, or maybe I'll fab my own by welding nuts onto the back if necessary. I think that if I was cutting mild steel rather than stainless I probably wouldn't have this issue though. Other than that, I have no complaints! :thumb:

[95riosnake]

After a manly lunch break, the brackets are finished :thumb:

Also shortened them up based on the dimensions I took mocking them up last night.

[Ferocious]

Man I am jealous of that exhaust on so many levels. Mine is getting torn apart from being so low. The bolts are getting untightened, the welds are taking damage, etc etc.

I need you to come over and fab up some sort of low profile, welded system so all my worries will go away lol

[95riosnake]

Man I am jealous of that exhaust on so many levels. Mine is getting torn apart from being so low. The bolts are getting untightened, the welds are taking damage, etc etc.

I need you to come over and fab up some sort of low profile, welded system so all my worries will go away lol

Thanks Steven! Yea riding low is a rough life but I've never been able to gather the willpower to raise the car lol. You look to be a bit lower than I was previously so I feel your pain! It's only a 39 hour drive to San Diego, sounds like a weekend trip should give me enough time to fix you up lol

[Ferocious]

Was most of the welding done by you?

Like the bends right here:

I wish I had the capabilities to build such an exhaust. I really like how it's flat as opposed to round. That's exactly what I need for my car.

I can't even begin to imagine how much an exhaust shop would charge to make something like that though.

[Det_Riot]

Stop it! Stop it now! I can't wait till you get the sweet rainbow colors out o your polished exhaust!!!

[1997cobra]

Hmmm.. I'm sure I could fashion a driveshaft with one of those fancy lathe things if I do have a problem. Looks like more tool investments for me!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[95riosnake]

Was most of the welding done by you?

Like the bends right here:

I wish I had the capabilities to build such an exhaust. I really like how it's flat as opposed to round. That's exactly what I need for my car.

I can't even begin to imagine how much an exhaust shop would charge to make something like that though.

I do all my own welding, those seams are just tacked together right now. Once I get it all 100% how I want it I'm going to take it all off the car and tig weld it. I just have to take it to work to tig it because I don't have a tig welder at home (yet ) those tack welds are just ground flat so when I'm running a bead it'll keep it looking nice and continuous.

It would definitely be a costly endeavor having a shop build this exhaust. I could only imagine the look on a shop owner's face if I tried to explain what I wanted lol. The materials cost is pretty high with this stainless oval also, I haven't added up how much I have in the cutouts, round to oval transitions, flanges and oval tubing but I'd probably have to pick my jaw up off my chest at the figure lol

Stop it! Stop it now! I can't wait till you get the sweet rainbow colors out o your polished exhaust!!!

Oh yes! I can't wait to see it turn colors, I'll have exhaust photoshoots lol

[MMR]

Looks like it took alot of skills, time and measuring for that exhaust! ..turned out great though! ..almost an art piece!

anyway keep up the good work Dan!

Edited December 4, 2013 by MMR

[WildWillyWalker]

...I don't have a tig welder at home (yet )...

Can't wait to see what you get when you do buy one, because I'm sure you will. I take your reviews over all others, lol.

Heck, I want that band saw you have now. You're like the older brother with the new cool thing, and the rest of us want what you have, haha.

[95riosnake]

Can't wait to see what you get when you do buy one, because I'm sure you will. I take your reviews over all others, lol.

Heck, I want that band saw you have now. You're like the older brother with the new cool thing, and the rest of us want what you have, haha.

It'll be a little while before I get my own tig, I'm going to wait till we sell off this townhouse in another year or two and get a house with a real garage. I want to run some 220v service throughout the garage in the next house, then I can run some big boy machines. I'll probably buy a big mig welder and a nice tig welder, and keep my 110v mig around for light duty stuff. Then I'm sure not long after that I'll have a bridgeport, lathe, etc. Shit will be getting out of control, lol. I might as well start looking around now for a marriage counselor for when I make those purchases (just kidding, my wife is a good sport about it... I do all of this stuff as budget-friendly as possible)

[Psychorugby]

I plan to run a couple of 220V outlets around the deep part of my garage. Not exactly sure why yet, but I will find a reason!

[95riosnake]

Another lunch break brought more changes to the exhaust hanger brackets, lol. The more I thought about it, I decided I'd rather bolt them onto the car rather than weld them in place, so I made some mounting plates to weld onto the brackets. I'll use three 3/8-16 allen bolts to attach them to the car, and the bolts will thread into rivnuts. If you don't know what a rivnut is, it's basically a rivet with threads so you can run a bolt into it. Here's what one looks like and how they look installed:

I picked up a rivnut installation tool on eBay a while back for like $17 (the tools are quite expensive) so I ordered some 3/8-16 rivnuts yesterday. I should have them in a few days, so I can get these brackets mounted, then weld the hangers onto the exhaust and FINALLY tig all the joints

[Steve-Oh]

Those nut-certs (rivnuts) are awesome! I used to use those things for everything down at the airport. We had the electric install tool which was pretty sweet. What's also nice (you will not have this problem) is if some moron strips one out they are easily replaceable.

[95riosnake]

Those nut-certs (rivnuts) are awesome! I used to use those things for everything down at the airport. We had the electric install tool which was pretty sweet. What's also nice (you will not have this problem) is if some moron strips one out they are easily replaceable.

Yea I've been meaning to work in using them ever since I got a good deal on the tool, lol. They look like a pretty slick solution. I'll probably also use them when I'm mounting the ride height sensors for the air ride rather than using sheet metal screws :thumb:

[ttocs]

I have looked for those at the hardware store before where do you get them at?

[95riosnake]

I have looked for those at the hardware store before where do you get them at?

I haven't been able to find them locally, and it seemed every place online wanted you to buy in bulk. I found this assortment on eBay which is nice because then I don't end up with a million of the same size.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291030918594?redirect=mobile

[Steve-Oh]

I have looked for those at the hardware store before where do you get them at?

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products?term=&r=~|categoryl1:%22600000%20Fasteners%22|~%20~|categoryl2:%22600191%20Riveting%209and%20Self-Clinching%20Products%22|~%20~|categoryl3:%22602457%20Rivet%20Nuts%22|~&termca=&termpx=&sortby=webrank&sortdir=descending&searchmode=productSearch&zipcode=&filterByStore=&filterByVendingMachine=&resultsPerPage=48

[Sleeperstang1994]

Fastenal is where its at. They didn't want to sell me bolts till I told them I ran an automotive performance shop. They were really happy to set me up an account then!

edit: I didn't look at the thread and just realized that im wwwwaaaayyyy behind! dang~!

Edited December 6, 2013 by Sleeperstang1994

[95riosnake]

Since I'm waiting on the rivnuts to show up before I can finish the exhaust, I decided to spend the day doing some garage improvements. I got a great deal on two Gladiator 30" wall cabinets on Black Friday at Sears. I ordered two 96"x12" GearWall panels which showed up this week.

First thing was to mount the GearWall panels

Then I unboxed these beautiful cabinets. They are silver vein powder coat, which matches my existing shelving perfectly and the diamond plate doors look fantastic.

And finally, the cabinets mounted:

I also added this 36" sound bar to upgrade my tunes in the garage. This thing sounds great! It has an FM tuner, AUX in and can connect to my phone using bluetooth, it also has a wireless remote :thumb: The bass response is pretty impressive as well, which is a big upgrade over the mid 90's tape deck radio it's replacing, lol.

Here's a little side project I've been working on. I picked up this vintage Wilton vise to restore. It has 6" jaws and is 100% made in USA, it's a beast, weighing in at 80 lbs. To buy a comparable new vise from Wilton would run about $600, I'll have about $125 in mine total, including replacing a few parts that have seen better days. When I got it, it had a ton of rust, and about 3 different paint jobs. So far I've disassembled it and stripped it. I'm going to smooth it a bit more, mill the anvil area on the Bridgeport at work to give it a fresh surface, reassemble it and paint it.

Edited December 9, 2013 by 95riosnake

[9838stang]

i have been looking for that tamaya mustang body for a long time now.

garage looks great

[1997cobra]

very nice vice! I've had the same one in my garage for as long as i can remember. It's been through hell, and it still takes a beating

[Sleeperstang1994]

awesome on restoring that vise! its a shame society has gone to they "throw away" pieces. Just a little TLC and it will be better than original... if i know you!

[Steve-Oh]

Good choice with cabinetry! We have a giant stand-up one in our garage and it's great. New sound is way over due in our garage, sound bar is a solid idea.

[Orange 94]

Holy **************************

First time ive flipped through some of this build thread...

Why Rio why! Everything... Its all so perfect.

I wish someday my car looks just 1% as good.

[95riosnake]

i have been looking for that tamaya mustang body for a long time now.

garage looks great

Thanks, and yea I looked forever for a Tamiya Cobra R R/C car also. I picked it up on eBay for $80 shipped. It's a little rough in some areas but I'm going to turn it into a replica of my car eventually. I even found some scale Rotiform TMB wheels for it (which look strikingly similar to my HRE's)

very nice vice! I've had the same one in my garage for as long as i can remember. It's been through hell, and it still takes a beating

Yea this thing is a serious chunk of iron! In the pic you can see the wimpy Craftsman 4" made in China vise I previously had...it does the job but the jaws wobble all over the place, it gets stuck, etc... I was ready for a real man's vise, lol. Once I started looking into the new prices for a vise not made from compressed rice patties by 5 year old Chinese children, I quickly realized that since I have more than enough ability, giving some new life to a seasoned old vise was the way to go. The anvil on this vise won't ever see a hammer again, lol. I bought a separate anvil so I don't have a reason to beat on the vise. Not to say it won't get some scars but I'll do my best to minimize!

awesome on restoring that vise! its a shame society has gone to they "throw away" pieces. Just a little TLC and it will be better than original... if i know you!

Yea and the worst thing about it is the older stuff is 100x higher quality and built heavy duty as hell. I don't think I'll be buying any more new machinery or heavy tools from this point on, I'll stick to older American made, overbuilt stuff :thumb:

Good choice with cabinetry! We have a giant stand-up one in our garage and it's great. New sound is way over due in our garage, sound bar is a solid idea.

Yea I'm really impressed with the fit ant finish of the Gladiator stuff. And the way it mounts on the wall panel is pretty slick. The nice thing is I can slide the cabinets on the track. If I wanted to change the position and put the tool box in the middle (my OCD nature had me staring at these pics when I posted them last night, noticing the lack of symmetry...lol) all I have to do is roll the tool box away from the wall, slide the cabinet over and boom, done. The sound bar was pretty cheap btw, $85 shipped from Amazon :thumb:

Holy **************************

First time ive flipped through some of this build thread...

Why Rio why! Everything... Its all so perfect.

I wish someday my car looks just 1% as good.

Thanks man! You're already off to a hell of a start, especially for being only 19! I just turned 30, and bought my car when I was 19... lol

[WildWillyWalker]

Is the Tamiya R/C car what I'm seeing on top of your new cabinets? I was eyeing that up while scrolling through. On a side note, I absolutely love Rotiform TMBs!

Definitely a fan of the assorted projects you have. You going to polish that vice too, haha? :encouragement:

[Psychorugby]

Love the Gladiator stuff. I was going to furnish my garage with them since I get a sizeable corporate discount on any Whirlpool product (like Black Friday every day), but they were still really expensive. Of course I was looking to buy 15 of them haha. The 2x4s and OSB I have now will suffice since I am going to be tossing old nasty car parts on them. They look right at home in your garage though! I seriously envy the organization and layout of your garage. I could use the OCD touch in mine!

[95riosnake]

Is the Tamiya R/C car what I'm seeing on top of your new cabinets? I was eyeing that up while scrolling through. On a side note, I absolutely love Rotiform TMBs!

Definitely a fan of the assorted projects you have. You going to polish that vice too, haha? :encouragement:

Yea that's it, I haven't gotten around to messing with it yet. It needs new bearings and a few other things, then I'll strip the paint and paint it red, figure out how to flare the fenders a bit to clear the new wheels, etc. It's pretty cool though, I got some drift tires for it and it's AWD

And no, I hate to disappoint but I'm not going to polish the vise lol, it'll be getting some gloss hammered finish paint :thumb:

Love the Gladiator stuff. I was going to furnish my garage with them since I get a sizeable corporate discount on any Whirlpool product (like Black Friday every day), but they were still really expensive. Of course I was looking to buy 15 of them haha. The 2x4s and OSB I have now will suffice since I am going to be tossing old nasty car parts on them. They look right at home in your garage though! I seriously envy the organization and layout of your garage. I could use the OCD touch in mine!

Even just buying two of these and the wall panel was still slightly pricey, but after I saw them in person I couldn't resist! 15 of them would be the price of a used car, lol. And thanks, I appreciate it! It still needs more organization in the shelving, but these cabinets were the first phase of that by getting a lot of smaller items off the shelves.

[Psychorugby]

Even just buying two of these and the wall panel was still slightly pricey, but after I saw them in person I couldn't resist! 15 of them would be the price of a used car, lol. And thanks, I appreciate it! It still needs more organization in the shelving, but these cabinets were the first phase of that by getting a lot of smaller items off the shelves.

Not sure how you could get more organized! I've still got all my power tools in their bags/boxes on the floor; they need a home badly. I think once I build the shelves over my workbench, I might be a bit happier. I've always loved the look and feel of every square inch of wall space being utilized like yours.

[ttocs]

I recently bought some wireless speakers for my garage for tunes. I hook up my pc to spotify and use my phone as a remote to control it then. I like the ability to move the speaker next too where I am working so I don't need it blasting really loudly on the other side of what I am working on. Gotta have tunes while working on the car.....