As promised I am showing pics of my latest brazing efforts. These are actually the ones which came out quite well, with nice and uniform beads. There are others, which are perfectly strong, but wouldn't win a beauty contest
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Instrument panel posts:
Combined frame gusset/belt attachment:
As if I had nothing more important to work on, I tackled my favourite topic, the carburetor velocity stacks. My stackomania started with the buildup of the McLaren engine. With the engine on the dyno we realized how much influence intake stack length and shape have on torque and power. We achieved the optimum with pretty tall stacks, which were milled from solid stock. To keep the large bits out, I formed metal mesh covers attached to milled aluminum baseplates which mounted flush with the stack tops. I think these plenum style covers are the best as they don't disturb the airflow. Similar to the modern ITG foam filters - but I didn't like the looks of these.
I have also experimented with various styles using individual mesh covers - accepting the disadvantage of disturbed airflow (but looking period):
When I came across new billet stacks made by Geers Engineering and offered at VeeDub Parts (
http://www.vwparts.net/CB6377.html) for a really good price, I thought again about the ultimate way to integrate wire mesh covers.
The idea was to mill a very narrow slot into the stack top, into which tea sieve wire mesh cups could elegantly be inserted and attached. My friend Martin though made clear that this was not possible and that we had mill out a portion and make rings which would leave the desired 0.55mm gap open to insert the wire mesh. The following pictures show master machinist Martin cutting the metal on his trusty Schaublin 102. Martin worked for the now defunct Studer Revox company, which was well known for their ultra-precision mechanical pieces in their tape machines:
The end result: The wire mesh cups emerging from the stacks inlet radius without any obstrusive attachment ring or similar
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