The start of something great, CNC'd car parts.

Soon my car with have a new engine and turbo, and since i'm a machinist, I thought it would be wonderful to make some of the parts going on my car to make it my own. I plan to make and sell these parts through my company Aluminati Sound LLC but will just use the name Aluminati for short.

Also i wanted to make a new thread so i don't side track the "What did you do to your Suburu today? thread.

I will not discuss prices or when these will be available for purchase till i create a vendor account.

Air pump delete plates. Nothing special about these other than you should use them when removing the air pump system.









Fuel rails. These have a 5/8" ID and accept -8AN ORB fittings. After the first revision i needed to add relief steps for the injector connectors.

















TGV deleted tumblers. These will be by far be the most extensive part to make out of the group. I started this project by measuring gaskets, tumbler, head and intake manifold. The intake manifold side of the tumbler i will call the intake side and the head side will be called just that. I measured the intake side directly from the tumbler, which if you look there is a slight mismatch but this allows for a nice port job on the intake manifold. If left alone, this would be no different than the mismatch on a stock factory STI. As you can see i have milled in slots for the center intake manifold mounting holes. Some manifolds need to be slotted to fit a particular tumbler but i will use threaded slots so no slotting the manifold will be required

The idea of making these templates was to make sure the holes and ports were properly lined up and the outside shape is just a basic rectangle and will change.







The head side of the tumbler was measured directly from the gasket and it has a lot of mismatch by the injector port but this is normal.

Next i will start morphing the intake side to the head side for a smooth transition and design the injector ports and mounting holes.







More to come!

 

Looks great!

On the fuel rails I believe the 5/8" ports would accept -10 AN ORB fittings (not -8 AN).

 

5/8" through on the rails, -8 AN is 1/2" through the fitting.

 

Threaded slots?

 

It's a slot with thread pitch grooves, so you have infinite locations where the bolt can fasten itself. When I show pictures of it, things will make a lot more sense.

 

sent you a conversation Matt

 

I'll reply later tonight

 

Theoretically speaking, would you make parts for other makes and models if given a CAD drawing file or a working drawing of a part?

 

Anything is possible if it's more than just a one off and makes profitability sense.

 

So at either end of the slot you have about 50% of the strength of a normal threaded hole and in the middle you have much much less then that. This is in a thin aluminum plate? I can't imagine you could even get enough torque on it to keep the bolt from loosening.

 

The templates (thin aluminum plates) were used for testing only. When the tumblers are finished (3.11" thick) they will have a 1/2" of threaded slot to fasten to, more than enough for a M6x1 SHCS. The nominal effective thread length for an M6 is .354". Also the grooves will be machines to achieve 80-90% thread height, were as with a conventional tapped hole has 70%. It'll be just fine. I've done it before

 

I knew the threaded slot would work just fine because i have seem them before and they worked great but with an M6, the tools required get so small that the time to machine the slots outweighs the advantage. Already have a fix that will allow for moveable tapped holes.

 

You cut that with a thread mill? Looks cool. Would be interested to know how much torque you can apply before it strips.

 

I did use a single point thread mill, took awhile lol.
It certainly can't hold as much as a regular threaded hole but i did tighten down a bolt pretty hard. The two center bolts only need 12ft/lbs I believe, not much but time involved to make the slots is high

 

Still a long way to go but i'm getting there. Things need to be thinned, morphed and smoothed out. The yellows areas will be for o rings and both the intake side and head side will have them for sealing. I'm pretty excited to say the least

 

This is very cool, and I would be a prospect customer for you certainly - so for the TGV's, and I mean this honestly, what are you looking to do to differentiate your product from IAG's: http://www.iagperformance.com/IAG-S...V-Delete-WRX-STI-LGT-FXT-p/iag-afd-3001sl.htm

I just bought theirs and while I am in LOVE withe the $299 price tag, they are also built extremely well. The CNC exterior could have been a bit tighter and cleaner but the inside is butter smooth and they fit perfectly. The reason I ask is that $299 is pretty cheap for QTY 2 CNC'd perfect fitting TGV deletes. Would you attempt to go cheaper?

Maybe you could offer dual injector per cylinder options or helicoil threads for all threaded areas. Their's also come with really nice stainless socket head bolts. M8 Allens IIRC...

 

To set mine apart from IAG, i will be o ring sealing them instead of using gaskets and will machine them in a way that they will fit most all manifolds and not just 07+ STI and 08-14 WRX.

I will be hard to make them under $300 a pair but i will try. All of this is just a side business for me, it's a lot of fun and if i can make a few people happy, it will be all worth it.

These will come with SS hardware

 

Tested the intake side o ring groove last night, first rev was .094" deep on the groove but this prevented the o ring from crushing flush, so i went with .115" deep and this went flush. It should work great





I will test the head side tonight but this will be much tricky as its a very odd shape to make an o ring groove.

 

The plastic TGV's use an o-ring on the bottom. It works, but it's kind of a pain to get it to stay in the groove during assembly.

 

instead of going deeper why not widen the hole on a static o-ring groove?

 

That would work well but i want the o rings to seat without falling out, so this requires a slight press fit. The o rings measure .139" in diameter and i milled the grove to .136", pressing them in is very easy with only .0015" interference per side.

 

Hot damn! Got the head side o ring to work on the first try Also it uses the same size o ring on the intake side.

I'm picking up the material tomorrow afternoon and machining will start next week. One set is going on my car and the other is going to a guy on NASIOC that called dibs.

 

For ease of assembly a press fit o-ring is a huge plus.

 

cool.. you could make the inner wall larger to stretch the oring over it into the groove to hold it in... then move the outer wall out the same... to allow the compression of the oring to spread it out... flatter like you want... but it seems you have it covered

 

I picked up the material today. Model still needs finishing touches but it getting very close. Can't wait to get these on my car!!

 

Since i can only use a 3 axis CNC, i'm limited to how much under cutting i can do but have tried my best to shave weight. We should have a 5 axis trunnion in the near future which will make this part much easier to make. The ports were difficult to draw since they morph from a circular bore to an oval but fear not i was able to make it work. Also the ports will have to machined with a lollipop ball end mill (reduced shank ball end mill) since some of the edges are undercut or beyond the point a straight ball end mill can cut.

The yellow areas are where o rings will seat and this will be much better than those half ass gaskets. To accommodate many manifolds, old model years and new, i have made the two center holes moveable. This is done by making a separate part that can slide up or down, up (+.125" up from port zero) for newer model years and down (lined up with port zero) for older model years.

 

Made a new shifter as well. Call it the "Long Stick". It's CERTAINLY not everyone's cup of tea but i love having it like this. Can't wait to try it on the tracks this summer!!

The main body is machined from black acetal (Delrin) and SS plugs were pressed in. To achieve a matte finish it was sand blasted. A jam nut is used to secure the shifter in place.

Overall height from the jam nut is 7".

 

Hoonigan...

 

I love the sliding center holes. That's a great idea. I am currently running without those screws because mine don't line up

 

The tumblers have started!! They start out @ 10lbs each and will be much lighter when finished. To prep them for op-2 thru op-4, op-1 i machined square edges to reference back to. Also made an angle fixture for op-3, so the part can be tilted at 34 degrees for fuel rail mounting holes and injector pockets. More to come

 

Machining on the tumblers continued tonight but sadly it did not go the best. I"ll have to go back to op-1 to rough out some of the port, the lollipop end mill did not take it well In the process of proving things out i junked out two parts but i ordered enough material for 4 tumblers, so still ok…..

I ordered a Tial BOV adapter but it's a male to male fit with a Turbosmart BOV, after machining it to a female fit, everything fits perfectly now!

 

what happened? details and carnage pics!!

 

Just an FYI for anyone else out there. Apparently the TurboSmart RacePort has had a flange revision in the last year or two. The overall design of the RacePort has looked the same since 2011, but originally it used a male lip on the bottom of the valve. At some point they switched it to be female on the valve so that it would mate with the existing Tial flanges. The newer version of the valve does NOT come with a weld on flange for your intercooler piping. The older one does include this flange.

Here is a shot of the one from my 2011 WRX. I got it back in 2013. It looks just like the one Matt has.



Here's the one on my 2002 WRX that I got this summer. The BOV flange is now female (hard to see in the photo though).

 

Things went a lot better tonight!

So the blocks start out at 10lbs like i stated previously and after 38 minutes of cutting on this operation, they now weigh 4lbs!

I used this 1.0" Mitsubishi AXD insert cutter to rough everything out. Ran coolant thru the tool for chip clearing, speed/feed was at 10,000RPM and 19o inches per minute and .200" depth per pass at full width, which is really humming lol I couldn't take a picture with the door open unless i wanted a shower.






Last night i ran the program with a lollipop ball end mill to machine the ports from one side instead of a little from each side (like i do now) but this chattered to beat hell. So i switched that out for a 3/4" ball end mill, speed/feed was at 8,000RPM and 150 inches per minute with a .030" stepover.



Next comes the angled holes and ports for the fuel rails and injectors, then flip it over to get thickness and finish out the ports. Ready to get them done

 

I don't know man- I JUST got this delivered directly from Turbosmart in CA-

 

I e-mailed TurboSmart and figured it out:

• The "male" version (like Will, Johnny, and I had in 2012) is the standard TurboSmart offering.
• The "female" (Tial compatible) (like I have now) is a special order item.

I got a Treadstone FMIC with Tial flange, so I got the TurboSmart valve with a matching flange. I didn't think it was special order at the time, but I guess it is (it's listed on MAP's website and doesn't look like anything special).

I didn't get a weld on flange, because TurboSmart doesn't include one with that version. Luckily a Tial weld on flange is easily found on eBay for $10/shipped if I ever decide I want custom FMIC piping.

 

All done

I used the angle fixture to prop up the part at 34 degrees for the fuel rail and injectors holes, this only took 5 minutes to run.





The last operation i cut a pocket in soft jaws (aluminum) to secure the part, otherwise it would be challenging with a regular pair of hard jaws (steel).

Over all i am pleased with the results. I brought one home and lined it up with a head i had on hand and it was a good fit! They now weigh 2lbs.

Next i have to make the center slide (makes the center holes moveable) and then maybe a battery tie down, SI Drive knob cover and some more shift handles.

 

This stuff blows my mind. I work in a 2d world with my laser. (90% flat sheet) we do a little 3d work sense we have a 5 axis laser but not much. Very cool work. If you ever need anything laser cut to save time let me know. P.S. nice tool box I could tell you were a machinist right when I saw it.

 

Wanted to make sure the fuel rails and injectors would mount up properly. Everything was tight but i overcompensated it slightly but this could be a good thing as it gives good down pressure for a wide range of injector brands. As you can see i stacked a thin washer under each rail mount point to not put anymore pressure on the injectors.







Tonight i made the center slide, which allows for newer model year manifolds.



and older model years.



Mock up complete!

 

Lookin real good.

 

Looks great. I still don't like the Allen head bolts though! LOL. They look great, but the less tools in my carry-around bag the better.

 

Machinists love allen heads

 

Started sand blasting the parts and will be sending everything out to anodizing Thursday!