Splinter

Im just making a mess trying to cover up the last few pin holes... time to try the sealer :-\

Mine is a gas/no gas welder, it's got all the attachments for hooking up gas, but a cylinder just isn't in my budget for the amount of welding I do, and the setup of my 'shop' (i.e. my dirt driveway) Wind = gas blown away Dirt floor = dragging a cylinder around with no cart It's not a bad little welder, but it is what it is... I'm relying on the tank sealer to deal with any leftover pinholes once I've got it 99%, then I'll be priming, painting and undercoating the outside of the tank.

I'm using .30 flux core Burns through the new metal and any rust-weakened areas in the original metal almost instantly. Quite a challenge.

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a guide on how to weld. Your welds should not like mine. I do not know how to weld, I just bought a welder and started gluing stuff together. I've never been taught. The one thing I've been told is that if you can't weld well, weld a lot. Furthermore, if you don't properly purge your gas tank, it WILL EXPLODE AND KILL YOU. So yea. Be careful, and learn how to weld better than me. Next step is to seal off the tank and pressurize it to around 5psi with compressed air to find all the pinhole leaks.

Really? I've been looking for one for some time, haven't found one. Also tried all our suppliers at work (I work for a jobber), nada. And yea, I'm planning on getting it sandblasted, and then once it's welded back together I'll use the POR15 US Tank sealer for good measure/future rust prevention.

So we have it running pretty well with the weber now, but no gas tank. Just running out of a jerry can atm. (not driving it like that, of course.) I tried to fiberglass the tank, and it still leaked. I guess when the fiberglass sets it gets hot and metal and fiberglass expand at different rates so it sets with a gap, which fills with gas and then it slowly eats away at the resin. Yargh. Can't get a good tank anywhere around here, the holes are too big to plug with tank sealer, so it came down to cutting out the bottom of the tank and welding new metal in. Shops want way too much money to do this, so I'm doing it myself. This can be VERY, VERY, VERY dangerous. I've been as safe about it as I can be. First I pulled the tank and drained it, then submerged it in water (built a pool out of cinderblocks and a tarp). I put in some strong cleaner, and used an air regulator and compressed air to slowly bubble air through the tank while it was underwater to agitate it. Took it out after a day, dried it, then left it out in the sun with a shop vac blowing through it for several hours. Then I took it to a tank specialty shop, he stuck a torch in it, told me it was perfectly safe to weld. Still didn't believe him. So, I plugged up all the lines, filled it to the brim with water until it was leaking out the rust holes, and used a hole saw to cut holes all over the area I wanted to remove. Used these to get some tinsnips in and cut out the whole section. Now I've got it back out in the sun, wide open, to evaporate any more gas. Tomorrow I'll put a torch in it, heat up all the seams to make sure anything left is gone. I might be being totally over cautious, but I like not blowing myself up.

After seeing your pictures me and my gf are looking into spending a few weeks in Iceland next summer, looks absolutely amazing! Is it going to be tricky without knowing the language or is English pretty common?

I don't think it would work, those are fuel injected aren't they? I appreciate the offer, but shipping would be prohibitively expensive

Got it to idle fairly decently It's got the mechanical throttle linkage on it, anyone know if I can pull that off and put the cable... pulley thing off the hitachi on?

After a lot of screwing around trying to make a good adapter plate for the big carb... I said screw it. My buddy had a spare 32/36 (actually the carter version, mirror image, but no big deal) Bought an adapter, hooked it up, fire it up today. Runs... not properly, but just needs some fiddling at this point. Unfortunately... the effing gas tank still leaks. Apparently I didnt quite cover all the holes. So it's either pull it and slap some more fiberglass on it, or try to mount a fuel cell, which I'd really rather not do. Bah. For now I might see if I can just use some Seal-All to patch the two small pinholes left to get it through inspection so that's finally taken care of.

300 is a VERY good deal for a 20g, assuming it's not some offshore knockoff. I'm running a 20G on my built 2.2L and making 305 at the wheels on a conservative pump gas tune. I don't start making power til 4000rpm. A 1.8L won't spool that turbo before redline.

Looking at about $45 for the case halves

I could put together a 160 amp unit, but there would be absolutely no warranty, gaurentee or any other 'tee' It also wouldn't be cheap. But for an on-board welder, wouldnt you want a seperate alternator anyway, defeating the bonus of having it mount in the stock location?

They're just an ordinary oil filter.

They are a Mobil 1 filter with a nut welded on the bottom

I'm not sure exactly, whatever stock they have left of the cases is how many I can build It's probably more than how many people will be interested though edit: So there's no way I can build these for $100, not even close. Looking more like $175 Probably too much, considering there's no warranty or anything :/ I built mine out of junk parts we had laying around, but to build a brand new one, parts are going to be around $150. Alternatively, I could probably get people just the casing and they could swap whatever they wanted into them. Go to the junkyard and pickup a 12si off an old GM truck and buy a rebuild kit? I dunno, the option is there if anyone wants me to get them one. If not, guess I've got a unique mod

Yes it is I'll figure out if I can put one of these together for 100 bucks or not today It's somewhat doubtful, since I'd be using all brand new parts (nothing reclaimed)

Correct, and there is high-amperage components out there for it, I personally don't feel comfortable using them, and I don't think they're necessary for 99% of people (90amps @ 14v = 1260watts, what are you running that needs that??) But if you were to buy a high amp rotor/stator for a delco 12si, it'd pop straight into this case. What are people paying for new Maxima alternators?

Penetrating lubricant, an essential when working on old cars

There's nothing I can offer that would be of use to anyone who isn't an electrical rebuilder in Canada. It's not a standard production casing, it was something created by a Canadian alternator company in the 90s as a direct replacement because they thought it would be cheaper than trying to manufacture the Hitachi units. They don't sell component parts to retail customers, so not even a part number would do you any good. The casing is different, but all the internals are completely standard Delco 12SI parts. Unless you crack your casing, it should be rebuildable til the end of time

Well your opinion differs from the rest of the automotive community. A bolt on has nothing to do with where you purchased it, only that you can install it without modifying anything on your car. And if your scenario came true, she COULD buy a direct replacement: The original hitachi alternator could be purchased and installed. Nothing has been modified on the car. By your logic, any aftermarket part isn't a bolt on. Is a K&N air intake a bolt on? Not according to you. According to everyone else, very much so.

I think you and I have different definitions of bolt on. To me, 'bolt on' means something that you bolt on. Not sure what it means to you.

How is it not a bolt in? I send it to you, you remove your old alternator, and you put this one on. No custom brackets, no splicing of wires, no swapping pulleys.

You couldn't go to your local NAPA and buy one of these, but if I built a few of them, they can be directly installed onto, AFAIK, any 82-89 Subaru

Well there's a few reasons. 1. The Delco 12SI is a really robust alternator, it'll do 90 amps indefinitely. The maxima alternator will burn out after around 10 minutes of pushing 90 amps 2. For an offroader, the Delco makes a lot more sense because it can be taken apart and repaired in the field. There's no soldering or crimping to be done. A few (common) spare parts in the glovebox, and you're safe. 3. Single wire operation for people like me, who hate any wiring beyond that which is absolutely necessary 4. Apart from the actual casing, parts are available everywhere, cheap, and always will be. But if people aren't interested, then they're not interested. I'm not trying to push this on anyone, just sharing something I found. Here's a couple pics anyway