oil pan 4

I asked the same thing over here: http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...hreadid=272267
Any one want to buy lighter stronger parts?
I'm not trying to sell any thing just want to know what people are thinking.
I have come to like grade 5 and 9 Ti it is good stuff.
Lower grade CP or grade 2 looks like it is only good when used in short sections and for compressive loads only(rear LCA's).
How about 2-2.5lb wonder bar, torque arm that weighs about 4-5lb, rear LCA's at about 2lb each, a tower to tower STB that weighs about 2.5 - 3lb and track bars.
Bare Ti or Powder coated?
Some how most retail after market steel parts cost about what the raw stock would cost me. Like a $60 wonder bar = about 60 some dollars woth of stock. Rear LCA's about $100 (on ebay)= about $100 woth of Ti depending on for the middle section if I use grade 9 tube or cheaper CP tube. Torque arms, same thing. STB's are a dime a dozen and don't count.
I was thinking about geting a powder coating system be cause I know how much the ricers love this stuff and NO one in nothern japan does it to small parts and for cheap.

Severous01

i'd be very interested if they costed the same as "performance parts stores" mild steel parts. but one question, i too have thought of this and it comes down to proper welding...so, how is it that you are going to take care of the welds? you can't just weld TI in the open. you have to submerge it in a mixture of gases and in a completely contained area.

bottom line, if done correctly i'd love a TI torque arm, STB, PHR, LCA, and possibly DS

oil pan 4

I have constructed 2 state of the art card bord boxes w/duct tape to do my submerged Argon welding in.
I even modified my welder with a switch so that I can turn on the gas on to push out the air in the boxes. I have a modified gas shroud to so I can use a tube to put Argon on the under side of the weld. I have some scraps of Titanium I'm going to practice welding on this weekend.
Titanium welds so much like Stainless Steel but you need more shealding and it dosen't spit at you at all.

Severous01

i'd definitely take some rod end/polly LCA's and a strut tower brace. i'd also like an adjustable torque arm. do you have prices on stuff yet? i dont know how expensive TI is, but i can build the LCA's from aluminum and rod ends for 120 bucks. and i can make the Torque arm for that amount out of steel.

just curious about how much these parts will be as well as adjustable/non adjustable. also, what size tubing and what size mounting plates to use. i have a stb from BMR and they use 3/8" steel, it's bent to hell on one side due to flex. i had to have it machined to get it back (bought it used).

i'm still interested though, i'd love to get some TI parts, i love the look of natural TI.

5.0THIS

LMAO!!! Yeah, because titanium doesnt cost any more than mild steel. Everybody wants something for nothing I guess......

Severous01

the only time i ever see you posting, 5.0this, is when you have something bad to say. every time i see you on here you're pissing someone off. i dont want something for nothing, i just know that recently within the past few months, TI dropped in price dramatically. the only negative to buying TI is welding process is a pain and to get the cheap price you have to buy bulk. whether it's tubed or block depends on where you get it.

oil pan 4

Ebay and privet dealers are where I get my Titanium.
I have done some fully submerged welding with most of the oxygen and nitrogen removed and I got some realy color full welds.
Those by them selves are worth showing off.
I want to presue the welds as an art (not a science) and make them more color full, it would be a selling point for sure, if they were where you can see them like a STB. The surface of the weld is smooth like as if it were polished and very color full. I have fixed most of the shealding, I think I'll still build glove boxes because the Argon/air mixture gets hot and rises out and plain cold air rushes in and kills the colors when the weld is cooling.
Now some one tell me how you bent a 3/8'' strut tower brace base?
Was is a universal cheapie STB's or was it one that goes around the strut tower and bolts to it?
Thin Titanium is cheap but plates arn't so cheap.
The ajustable torque arm will be hard to make. I'm looking at $100 just for the tubing to go the length of it.
For the torque arm I was looking at .140'' grade 5 for the base and grade 9, .70'' tube for the upper (.120'' wall thickness) and lower (.130'' wall thickness) parts of the torque arm.
I have a wonder bar to copy, and Ti in the mail.
Now the Ti wonder bar, I think I can sell them for about $120, .70'' dia grade 9 tube with .110'' wall for the link bar and .125'' grade 5 for the bolt panels. It will weigh about 2lb to 2.5lb.
Those will be the first thing I crank out.
I need STB and rear LCA's to copy but I got some of the materals for the RLCA's.
I ordered a set of FLCA's and only one showed up grrrrr. I'm not sure I want to copy FLCA from Ti, maybe steel.
I also need a nother spool of Ti welding wire $150 a pound! Unless I can ebay it.

Severous01

hahaha, it's the BMR chromoly STB, the one that has just the bar and the 2 3/8" plates. how the plates were bent, i dont know. wrech possibly, but i had the hobby shop on base wrench it out flat.

i had no clue that the TI welding material was so expensive...have you come up with prices? i'd definitely like a torque arm, i'm in the market now. i was looking at the solid aluminum ones and the chromolly random tech. i'd also love to get a nice set of uppers and lowers for the front. i was looking at some aluminum ones on ebay...they look cheap but they were cheap too. 150 for each set.

i was planning on making my own lowers out of some either tubed steel or the aluminum ones. the only difference with mine would have been a screw in bushing on one end, and the rod end on the other. that way i could have the $15 poly bushings, on car adjustment, and the lack of binding associated with poly/poly aftermarkets. plus one set of bushings would last me 2 changes due to the opposite end being a rod end.

oil pan 4

Aluminium!?
I guess it would be good for compressive only loads.
I need some thing to copy. I have a torque arm and wonder bar to copy, I'll go over to ebay and get some RLCA's to copy.
I allways have some thing in the mail.
It could be a while on the Torque arm becasue the start up cost would cost me about $300 in just materals, $100 for the tubing to make just 1 unit, $170 for a sheet of .140'' but I can make about 3-4 TA's with one, some solid rod (that I can make 4-5 TA's out of) to thred in the rod ends into and the rod ends them selves. I think I might need a french tap also.
I want to start with some RLCA's and Wonder bars.

Jon A

Huh?

Camaro_Maniac63

To answer your original question, yes there might be interest in titanium parts, but only if PROPERLY DESIGNED by an engineer that knows this stuff, and not by copying someone else's design that utilizes different materials.

oil pan 4

Just trying to provide some thing that would other wise be unobtainable becasue of commercial price for materal and willingness for a company to make them on a some what small scale for an older car.
I would have fun making stuff out of Titanium.
Plus we have more choices for Steel or a titanium replacement. You can have Nuts and bolts steel or Ti, Some turbo fan jet engines have half the blades steel and the other half Titanium on the same compressor stages (why I do not know), the "second chance" pannels in bullet proof vests can be SS or titanium many more $$ for the Ti, Titanium exhaust pipes in place of heavy steel, Titanium knives over high carbon or SS, Titanium panels on the A-10 tank killer insted of steel or aluminium, you can have SS or Ti valves in you car but at a much greater cost, also locks and retainers identical to there steel counter parts down the the .0001 of an inch, most are made of grade 5. Also titanium valve springs but those are too far out for most street apps.
With all the stuff I have read and done with titanium nothing so far has shown me that it is so vastly different than steel that a hole set of rules apply to it. Other than welding it. Even my very first open air titanium weld is far stornger than I thought it would be, the see what would happen weld, I guessed the amprege and wire feed speed (set it up as if I were welding SS).
The closest thing I can compair grade 5 Titanium to is stainless steel. It dosen't corrode just like SS, it is very strong and likes to spring back when hit or flexed like a high Chrome SS alloy, it dosen't conduct heat that great, the welding process sets up and feels a lot like that of SS other then the shealding you have to do.