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View Full Version : 500R subframe is complete!



Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 07:43 PM
Material came in yesterday...got it partly layed out and welded together. I'm gonna put in another brace further in up front tomorrow, and make my seat mounts. And then I'll make the bottom braces and maybe get to weld them in. A few pictures of the progress. My welds aren't perfect but neither are yours :eek: :p

Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 07:45 PM
Last picture.

Tri-ZNate
07-06-2005, 07:58 PM
So a couple of braces and seat mounts and we'll be able to see the almost finished project?

Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 08:02 PM
Yup...Hopefully be done by this weekend unless I run into a major problem.

250r'en +TCB
07-06-2005, 08:05 PM
awsome as usual Billy!!! just keep on making me jelous man...........someday when I get my 500r I'll have to drag race you!!! Till then keep up the good work!!!

BIGCRIP28
07-06-2005, 08:22 PM
looking good.
you MIG'n or TIG'n?

Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 08:24 PM
GTAW (tig :p) I'd love to have a MIG but I can't afford one :cry:

kilabeez0
07-06-2005, 09:16 PM
GTAW (tig :p) I'd love to have a MIG but I can't afford one :cry:

dumb question but what is the difference?

Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 09:58 PM
MIG is wirefeed. What most everyone on TV is using. Tig is where you have the little torch and you have to manually feed the rod in yourself. This is not to be confused with Oxygen and Accetylene welding, which uses the gas mixture from a cutting torch outfit. That is mostly for steel though, not aluminum. Although you can weld aluminum with an oxygen accetylene setup, it requires some very special welding rods.

Jason Hall
07-06-2005, 10:17 PM
Hey Billy Those Inside 90s Are Fun With A Tig, Don't You Think? Looks Sweet So Far. How Many Times Have You Contaminated The Tungston? Those Aluminum Migs Are Sweet, But They Spatter Alot & I Always Have Trouble With The Wire Balling Up Inside, On The Rollers. It Takes A Long Time To Get The Tention Rite On The Feed Rollers. If Its To Tight & The Wire Doesn't Burn Instantly The Wire Balls Up. Keep Up The Good Work & Don't Make It Too Light,Cause Your Gunna Make Me Work Too Hard Trying To Keep Up. I'm Gunna Have Trans Gears Worked So I Don't Have To Search For Third & Fourth. No Clutch Just Holder Wide Open & Shift.

Derrick Adams
07-06-2005, 10:41 PM
HEY! What are those foot pegs from? Did they fit right on there?

Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 10:43 PM
Yeah those are a pain in the ass. The one I'm using also has the larger diameter hood which makes it really hard to get into the nooks and crannies. I probably should change that tungsten too...I've welded steel and stuff with the same ones :p Thanks for reminding me haha. If things go well by Trikefest 06 I'll have it ported, drag piped, and be running on alcohol. So you better find a blue bottle to tuck under that seat! haha.

Billy Golightly
07-06-2005, 10:45 PM
Derrick the pegs are either 200x or 350X ones removed from the mounting plate and the spring return assembly. Then I just took them and ground a big wide gap on them where they fit over that angled part that the original dirtbike pegs go on. They kind of flop a little bit...I need to shim them up. I can get a picture tomorrow probably if you need me to, so you can see what I mean.

MTS
07-06-2005, 10:47 PM
dont kid yourself weldin alum with a MIG is a chore in iteself....spatters alot....takes some goofin around around too to get the voltage set right so your not burning through **** ...ect ect....lol

Jason Hall
07-07-2005, 09:46 AM
Yea Man & If Its Not Clean As A Wistle, Won't Weld Worth A Darn. Little Blue Bottle Sounds Sweet. But I Think The Old SRX Snowmobile Motor Is The Cure, Just Trying To Set Clutch Up In The Trike. As Soon As I Can I'll Post Some Pictures.

sblt500r
07-07-2005, 12:57 PM
yeah why would you want to mig aluminum? its more work trying to get everything setup right. tig is the way to go. plus the weld is stronger than a mig.

LonesomeTriZ
07-07-2005, 01:21 PM
Why am I not surprised that something coming from that shopp looks that good. I can not wait to see it in person. Tell your dad you had a good teacher.

Blown 331
07-07-2005, 01:35 PM
yeah why would you want to mig aluminum? its more work trying to get everything setup right. tig is the way to go. plus the weld is stronger than a mig.

That's what I was going to say.

BIGCRIP28
07-07-2005, 02:02 PM
That's what I was going to say.

i was thinking the same thing also. :wondering

Billy Golightly
07-07-2005, 02:05 PM
yeah why would you want to mig aluminum? its more work trying to get everything setup right. tig is the way to go. plus the weld is stronger than a mig.


Faster, easier to get into corners, cleaner looking weld bead. Its so hard to get the nice "roll of quarters layed over" look with the TIG welder. Especially when going up in a corner. I got my front brace welded in but I can tell that it warped alot while doing it (I had to unbolt it to weld it in). I screwed up on a few of the welds for that piece...should be ok though I suppose. Going to go back over there after it cools off and try to get the seat mounting figured out.

Hey Louis, when you gonna come get your crap and help me clean out the trailer man? haha :p

Blown 331
07-07-2005, 02:22 PM
Maybe we need to start a TIG vs MIG in the this vs that section but if you know what you are doing you can get a much nicer looking and better quality weld out of a TIG welder.

86250RZ
07-07-2005, 03:31 PM
[
QUOTE=Blown 331]Maybe we need to start a TIG vs MIG in the this vs that section but if you know what you are doing you can get a much nicer looking and better quality weld out of a TIG welder.[/QUOTE]

Yes, if you want the best looking "bead" possible nothing beats the TIG but if you have never used a
TIG it's a whole different ballgame especially when useing alm. Most important thing to know when useing a Tig is that the surface has to be spotless (not even a tiny paint chip, dirt, greese ect. ect.) to achieve (1st and most important) the best possible burn in and 2nd, best looking weld.

staceyl200
07-07-2005, 04:07 PM
Tig is the way to go I,ve seen a guy weld 2 pieces of aluminum foil together absolutely mint !! I,m trying to get my company to buy me one to repair aluminium moulds (and trick trike parts lol)

Pistonhead
07-07-2005, 05:28 PM
Hey Billy those welds aint bad at all! I've got myself a Mig and an arc welder. I've got the Mig down to an absolute science now I can actually weld 2 pop cans together somewhat sucessfully (call bullshit if you feel like it but I can do it it just took a long time to perfect). I agree that Tig is a nicer looking and cleaner weld though even if it is less convenient than a Mig.

Billy Golightly
07-07-2005, 07:41 PM
Well heres what I got done today. Was having a hard time getting the front brace welded in and then I remembered to swap the tungsten out with a new one. Did that and cleaned up the material real well before I went to weld the corner gussets (And rear seat mounting brackets) on. Got started and man it went like butter. I welded them the full length on the top and tacked each one in 2 places on the bottom. I dont for see anyway possible of them coming off or breaking heh. Pictures are kind of shitty, I couldn't get the thing to focus good. I guess its the light conditions over there in the shop.

I think I will probably add some (smaller) similar gussets to the front brace, and make it where the seat bolts down through them as well. The seat cover will need to come off and I have to reposistion the mounting bolts. I'll probably just drill some new holes in the pan, get some carriage or I guess even normal hex type bolts and glue them down to the pan with a fat washer under them. The seat mount will hopefully be completely done tomorrow. I've also got my bottom frame mounts made up. They need a little bit more tweaking to make them fit but not much. I've also got the bottom support bars cut for the bottom at 19 inches a piece. Probably end up a little less though when I'm done. Just cut them long so if I needed a little extra to make the seat fill out the gas tank area I'd have it :D

Does anyone know where I can buy the gripper type seat cover for an 85-86 250R? I dont really care on the color...would prefer black I guess.

More work and pictures tomorrow...I sure hope this thing holds together. I'm gonna be pissed if I get on it after its done and I end up breaking it. Not cool! :eek:

sblt500r
07-07-2005, 09:21 PM
i'don't know what your complaining about. thats some pretty decent welds there. i agree though that in some places it would be easier with a mig (spool gun).

practice makes perfect.

Jason Hall
07-07-2005, 09:35 PM
Man Billy Your Coming Along Good, Those Corner Gussots Look Awesome. Have You Ever Heard Of Balling The Tungston? If Not Give It A Wirl, Reverse Polarity To DC & Strike An Arc On Your Ground Clamp & Watch Real Close & The End Will Ball Right Up, Let Off Your Gas Pedal As Soon As Its Round, Your Arc Won't Dance Around When First Start, The Arc Shoots Straight Out The Center Of Tungston. & Makes A Pretty Sweet Puddle Especially On Aluminum. As Far As The Comparison Between A Mig Or Tig, Billy Would Have Been Done Yesterday If He Had A Mig, (Much Faster). But Man Who Can Beat The Strength & Look Of The Tig. I Have Welded 2 Raxor Blade Blades Together With A Tig With No Filler Metal. Tigs Are Cool. Where I Work Has A Aluminum Mig. I Wish I Could Afford A Tig. Yea That Would Be A Pretty Rough Landing If She Broke Off. Oh Yea Don't Forget To Turn Back To AC After Balling Tungston.

Billy Golightly
07-07-2005, 09:53 PM
Hey Jason, I've heard about that. Making a ball on the end of it but I had never heard how exactly to do it. I'll definetly give that a try tomorrow and see how it works out. Those welds there on the gussets are definetly some of my better ones. Knowing my luck I'll try to do some more work to it tomorrow and It'll look like a chicken crapped on top of it haha. The welder I'm using is an old, old Miller Dial arc 200(Might be a 250, can't remember) from atleast the late 70's. I mean its OLD haha. We've also got a Miller Syncrowave 250 (mid 90's one with the analog panel) but something is screwed up on it, the high frequency wont work. It had all kinds of rats nests and crap in it so something probably got chewed apart. Just haven't been able to take it to a miller repair center to get it fixed.

Jason Hall
07-07-2005, 10:17 PM
Those Old Welders Are Honestly Better Than The New Ones In Some Ways, They Have Copper Windings (New Ones Are Aluminum). Those Welds Don't Have To Look Perfect As Long As There Strong. Yea Them Darn Varmits They Can Wreck Some Stuff Real Quick, But It Could Just Need To Be Blown Out With A Blow Gun, Dust Is Rough On Them. I Down Loaded That Photo Re-sizer But Im To Stupid To Do It. I Wish You Could See This Insane Ride I Built, I'm Scared To Death Of It At The Moment, I Need More Seat Time On It. +10 Swing Arm Huge Rear Sprocket To Gear It Down. With Stock 250r Rear Sprocket (39) Tooth I Think I Could Out Run A Concord Jet Top Speed, & Total Bog Out Of Hole. Now I Have 10 Tooth Front & 55 Tooth Rear, Now I Just Have To Fine Tune Clutch.

Billy Golightly
07-08-2005, 06:37 PM
Alright...Its ALMOST done. All I've got left to do is weld on 2 tabs for the brake stuff (resivoir and master cylinder) and chop off the excess I have sticking out the back, and weld plugs in the end.

Today we designed, made, and welded the front seat bracket on. Do to the way the seatpan on the 250R is made, the bracket had to be raised 3/4 of an inch above the frame for it to sit right. Got that done and then started working on the correct subframe height and what not with the bottom braces. Finally got it figured out what length they needed to be so they were marked, went and cut the correct angle with the hacksave, brought them back and pushed the 2 bottom mounts we made this morning on mill in and welded the top of the braces. Then the extra gussets for that area were welded on, then I took everything off and welded the **** out of it. Bottom, side, upside down, inside out, haha everywheres. It was a scorcher in the shop, nearly a 100 degrees in the shade. Infact the thermometer in our carport which is under a roof and out of the sun said 95 at about 6:00 this evening. More pictures in the next post...

Billy Golightly
07-08-2005, 06:44 PM
Last pictures. I'm gonna finish it up tomorrow and take it for a ride and see how it feels. Seat is more angled up in the back, so maybe I wont have the "Oh **** I'm gonna slide off" feeling when I nail the throttle from now on :D

Billy Golightly
07-12-2005, 10:28 PM
Ok, so here it is, done for the most part. I have weld on a new tab for the rear master resivoir (The one that was on there, I kind of got it to hot when I was welding it and it kinda of melted :p. You can see the remnants in one of the pictures). The trail pros were for a weekend escapade where I didn't want to chance ruining the pro wedges. Just reminded me that much more how much they suck as a tire heh. Enjoy the pictures.

toyota200x
07-12-2005, 11:25 PM
WOW you are a lot better at welding than me. That sub frame looks works. I can't believe that you still don't have a silencer on it. Keep up the good work.

hotroddal
07-12-2005, 11:26 PM
hey billy not to be rude or anything but you shouldnt be putting down other people just because they cant weld perfect, how do you know that they cant weld perfect anyhow, im not saying i can weld perfect either but some people can and they might get bothered by what you said.

Billy Golightly
07-12-2005, 11:31 PM
Thanks man, the silencer is my next plan of attack I think. I want a center mount style one that will go right down the middle of the subframe in the back. My hangup is getting the pipe bent right to do this, and finding a nice round silencer. I've got an Answer Tri-Z silencer that would work great if I hacked it up, but they are kind of rare and I'm trying to keep from doing that.

edit:



hey billy not to be rude or anything but you shouldnt be putting down other people just because they cant weld perfect, how do you know that they cant weld perfect anyhow, im not saying i can weld perfect either but some people can and they might get bothered by what you said.


That wasn't really my intention at all, Its just that I know mine ISN"T perfect, and that 99% of the people who read this probably isn't either. Heck the guys who do it for a living screw up everyonce in a while. All I was getting at is, that I know it has some imperfections