Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

droopie85gt said:

When's the big metal box with a hump gonna get built?

Click to expand...

Tomorrow night after work will mark the start of the actual pan sheetmetal.

I just got reminded how limited my skills with a tig are..went home for lunch, rammed a sandwich in my mouth, and went downstairs to weld two stand off tubes onto the pan rail that will support the rear most part of the pan.

I ran a bolt through that tube and nutted it to the pan rail, then attempted to weld the tube to the rail.

And got the tube so hot, it melted, and deformed. Enough to trap the bolt inside it. I had to beat one bolt out, I had to cut the other one off at the head, and beat the rest of that phcker out after that. .both tubes had to be redrilled...

I suck.

Firstly...Forget Sonos. If you are looking for a great speaker that sounds freakin awesome, can be added to as many rooms as you want them in, are wireless, and tie into your home wi-f.....you only need 50-75 bucks. ( depending on where you shop)


This is a Jam symphony speaker. I originally paid over 100ea. For these things..but was able to get the last couple of pieces for like 50.00 ea. I have 5 of these things in my house..they are so freakin cool. Open your music app on your phone , pick the room you want to hear it in..rock out.

Nextly...drinkin on a Tuesday night..(Didn't Sheryl Crow sing a song about being drunk on a Tuesday?)
I'm not gonna tell you again.. If you drink Tequila,...you're phckin yourself if you aren't drinking Casamigos...I prefer this stuff to anything now a days...so damn good.

Lastly,....Why am I still up?

It happens Everytime I work in the garage till late...I simply am not tired when I get up here and into the house.
Now,.......let's clarify things a bit...In the grand scheme of things,..I'm dog tired,..but for what ever reason, I won't be able to truly sleep till almost midnight... Too much sht firing off in my brain.

Like the oil pan....the one I'm making


I know........you're looking at this and thinking....."so what?"
Well...let me tell ya... Under those two holes are two spacers...welded to the pan rail, and the underside of that top plate. If......If I didn't get that right,...oil will find its way out one of those two bolt holes.
The other thing worth talking about is the TIG welding....I'm thinking that as long as I have two similar sized pieces of CLEAN steel that need to be fused together, and I'm sitting on a stool working over that weld,...I'm gonna be able to do what you see here.
But........add one weird scenario into the mix,.and you're never gonna see what that looks like.

So,..that brings me up to 11 pm...2 hours since I've came up from the garage......I need to go to bed...I'm beat.

Rev9 Power HP-Series Supra 2JZGTE Equal Length T4 / 50mm V-band wastegate port Turbo Manifold 11 Gauge / 3.1mm Wall Thickness Full Race Style Amazon product ASIN B00R1UEMB0View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R1UEMB0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eINGDbM1ZBS61

If you're a vendor....why would you go to stupid lengths to avoid what you're going to have to do anyway?

The first turbo manifold was poorly designed, but decently built. At first glance it looked great...especially considering that it only cost 300 bucks. After you get to looking at the thing however, you see that the two bolt holes in the bottom of the flange for the center ports will be difficult, if not impossible to even get a nut started. And even if you can, you'll have to somehow hold the whole freakin manifold off the head so that a shortened stud will just barely poke through the holes in the flange, start a nut, then tighten them and draw the thing tight.

Did I mention that you can't see these two holes from above when the engine is installed?

Then, couple that to the fact that the turbo flange is so close to the head itself, that a 68mm t4 turbo hits the manifold and cannot even be bolted on......at all.

So,..you haven't tried to bolt the thing on, the turbo itself is the deal killer, and it's only been a week since you bought the thing...you send it back. Amazon requires that it's vendors offer a 30 day return policy for their shoppers.

Yesterday, I get the refund..50 bucks light. Selling dude is trying to collect a restocking fee.

This doesn't sit well with me...had he tried a 10% fee he may have gotten away with it,...but ol dude is trying to collect just shy of twice that...for a un-used, never bolted on Chinee piece of sht that was impossible to bolt on, and wouldn't allow anything bigger than a chicken-dick sized turbo to fit.

These were my comments to Amazon, ( and ultimately the reseller) after learning about the 50 dollar fee:

"How is it that I'm sent a poorly designed product that doesn't fit properly, and will not accommodate the turbo due to that poor design that I'm charged 20% to return junk? It's not like I just changed my mind. I stated in my refund paperwork that the product was ill fitting, and was bent too tightly to accommodate my turbo.
I'm not happy about being charged to return crap that didn't fit in the first place.
I expect that this will be resolved."

And his reply:
"Michael - we dont agree it is a poorly designed turbo manifold. We also think that if you have a turbo you should get the dimensions of it prior to purchasing the manifold
YOu never once told us what chassis, what turbo, or sent any pics. All you did is immediately come out the box yellig and screaming at us saying we are poor.
How do we know what turbo you have? You put the cart before the horse."

To which, I said:

"It's not the chassis that is the fitment problem issue, it's the head itself. You show me how you get a nut on the two bottom tubes where the turn radius is so tight that you cannot install the manifold with the studs all installed. You literally have to start the nuts on the stud as it barely protrudes through those holes..very difficult with the engine out of the car, impossible with it in.

If you are gonna stand firm that that is a quality piece and getting those fasteners installed is normal, then so be it. There are no reviews on Amazon on your manifold, I'll be happy to crush it for you."

And his final line in the sand:
I am not going to be held hostage to your demands. Govern yourself accordingly and you can have all your fun doing what you want to do to CRUSH whatever you desire.

And finally,......me.
"Where I work, we dont sell products that dont fit. If by chance we do have something defective that was returned as quickly as you had yours returned, we'd issue a full refund, instead of sticking the guy with a 20% restocking fee.
Lastly, we do business where the client is right regardless. The only person being held hostage here is me, by your ridiculous
50.00 return fee on a 300.00 purchase.

Amazon will intervene one way or the other.
No matter, I'll escalate."

So you call Amazon. That's where you learn that by policy, every reseller has to extend 30 day full refund terms to their customers if they wanna play in that sandbox..Amazon tells me that they will contact dude and remind him of those terms, and that he has 24 hours to reply..and......comply. ( and they send you a copy of their email to dude)

But,..as luck would have it,..our reseller shows his true colors,..and instead of doing the right thing, and coughing up the 50 bucks, he realizes that the Chinee junk manifold he was hoping would be his ticket to fame and fortune is indeed junk, and I would be the first of many telling him that...so he closes his account...and keeps his 50 bucks.

Amazon lists the piece with a different reseller, with this comment:
"Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."


What a piece of work.