My goals for the S13 have evolved in-line with my increasing interests in fabrication. Initially, it was going to be just another drift build with some minor fab involved. I did the trailer tub thing, removable radiator support, and even modified an OEM hood to look like one from Koguchi Power. And, it was all done with a cheap Hobo-Freight mig and a grinder with with cut-off and flap discs.

If I would have left it at that, the S13 would be done and I would have been driving it this year. But, like so many of us, I got bit by the fabrication bug. The desire to build something more than just another street-spec drift car was there. I wanted to build a “pro-level” chassis, despite having any desire to actually compete. Having watched my buddy Mike Fiecok build some cool shit over the years, I really wanted to shoot for his level of fabrication skill.

But, I didn’t have the equipment required. So, for the past year or so I’ve been mostly ignoring the S13 and working on my house while collecting and building the stuff I needed to accomplish my fab goals. Now that I have almost everything I need, and am actively working on the S13 again, I figured it was time to make this post. I’m always going to be very budget conscious, but I feel like I’ve managed to put together everything I need to do the fabrication I want to do.

My first project was a tube bender. I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out which one to get, but in the end I took a risk and bought a JD2 Model-3 knock off from eBay. I read about some success guys have had with them, and I planned on only using some of the components the came with the bender, so I figured it was worth saving $500.

I ended up building a frame that allowed me to mount the bender vertically instead of horizontally like they’re intended to be. This mean the bender could be on casters, and the footprint was way smaller, making storage easier. In addition, the vertical orientation meant when I’m bending tubes I can simply place a digital angle fender on the end of the tube, zero it out, start bending, and easily see what angle I’m hitting. It’s much better than using the big dial and needle they come with.

I also converted it from manual to hydraulic, using a harbor freight air ram. They’re intended for an engine hoist, but I’ve seen them used for tube benders. Swag Offroad makes a kit to mount these rams horizontally, but the way I mounted it vertically made it pretty easy to add the ram. I did end up using the Swag return spring though. The ram allows me to hook up to my compressor and bend tube at the press of a button.

What didn’t work out was the bender die I bought off eBay. Unfortunately, the two top holes were mis-drilled, making it useless. They were too far off to modify as well. Lesson learned, and I ended up just biting the bullet and ordering 1.5” and 1” dies from JD2. I believe (hope) I can get through the cage, and front and rear tube structures with just those two sizes.

Another purchase was a pretty inexpensive fixture “cart” made by Klutch. I picked this up at Northern Tool for a little over $200 on sale. Obviously, it’s no high-end Fireball table, but it was affordable and makes life easier.

I can square stuff up pretty quickly now, and I don’t have to use a million hand clamps to keep things from moving around before I start tacking. Hobo-Freight just released a table for $160 that is basically the same thing, but I wanted to have casters so I could move it around easy.

Another great purchase was I made was this Evolution compound sliding miter-saw. I didn’t get an Evolution metal blade for it though. On a suggestion from a friend I picked up a Diablo Steel Demon 7-1/4” blade and it has been amazing. I’ve easily made over 100 cuts and there’s no sign of wear. I figured I’d be changing blades every project, but I’m still on the first one.

A quick project was modifying a Harbor Freight 30” manual tabletop brake. Normally you have to use a bunch of clamps to hold whatever you want to bend in place, which takes a good amount of time, and makes squaring things so you get straight bends a pain in the ass. I ended up welding a long scrap steel bracket to the top brake “bar”, which allowed my to “spring load” that bar.

Now it’s permanently squared and I can slide whatever I want to bend under and then hit the nuts on either side with a ratchet to clamp it down. No more hand clamps. So far I’ve been up to 1/4” flat bar with it reliably, but that’s definitely the max it can handle.

You have to have a metal bandsaw. Making small and intricate cuts isn’t really possible on the miter saw. I ended up picking up a cheap Bauer “porta-band” from Hobo-Freight, and I originally planned to buy the Swag Offroad table top conversion kit for it. But while I was at Hobo, I saw they just released a benchtop porta-band stand for pretty cheap. It’s decent, but I think I’m eventually going to get the Swag Offroad stand.

I already had a 12” drill press, but it was on it’s last leg and it really didn’t have the power to get through anything thick. It would bog down constantly. After looking around and watching some Youtube videos, I decided on a 12” press from Wen. It had really good run-out numbers and it’s variable speed via a lever on the side so you don’t have to change belts. You can ramp the RPMs down enough to get through thick metal without killing drill bits. I added a cross-slide vice to it, which makes drilling multiple holes a breeze.

My biggest purchase was definitely this Primeweld Tig 225X. I spent a lot of time looking at the available options for a high-end “hobbyist” tig welder. I wanted AC/DC so I could do steel, stainless, aluminum and even titanium. Everlast was at the top of the list, but after watching The Fabrication Series Youtube channel where he put the 225x through a bunch of testing, I was sold. It comes with a CK Worldwide torch, great performance, 3-year full coverage warranty, and was sub $1,000. Hard to argue with that. Plus the other reviews I read were great.

After 15 minutes of screwing with settings I was able to run a decent bead. As of this post I haven’t put in anymore practice, but that’s about to change very soon.

I already had my Yeswelder 205DS Mig welder on a cheap Hobo Freight cart, which did the job, but I’ve been wanting to build a custom cart. Picking up the Tig gave me a good reason. I didn’t want two carts, and I didn’t want to pay for a larger cart that would hold both welders. So, I decided to build exactly what I wanted.

I decided to build the frame out of 1.5” square tube. Instead of solid decks I decided to use expanded steel for the first time. Not only did I think it looked cool, but it had the benefit of not trapping a bunch of metal dust as the particles could just fall right through. Price-wise it was pretty on par with sheet metal as well.

Previous to this project, I’d had a ton of trouble with the Yeswelder mig. I was using the “synergistic” auto settings where it sets voltage and wire speed for you, but it never worked well. The amperage jumped all over the place and wire feed was inconsistent. I finally gave up on it and just switched to manual mig and dialed everything in myself. After some work I managed to get the 205ds to lay down decent welds.

I started with the deck for the tig. Because it has some many functions and dials I decided I wanted it up top and easier to see. It’s also fairly heavy so I made sure to put enough support underneath.

I then moved on to the rest of the frame. When I was initially designing the cart, I wanted it to be just wide enough to hold both the argon bottle for the tig and the C25 bottle for the mig. The height of the bottom shelf was based on measurements from a Primeweld mig welder I’m interested in because the 205ds just isn’t reliable.

For now though, I’m getting by with the 205ds. This is fairly thin wall, but I’m managing to get good penetration without blowing through. When I’m doing the rollcage in the S13 though, I’m not going to trust this mig to not give me problems.

After getting the main frame done I put the deck in the for the tig welder. My measurements turned out to be right on par as I was able to line the deck up and had to use a hammer to tap it into place. No gaps at all and everything was perfectly square.

Obviously, I couldn’t put a heavy-ass tig on the deck without some more support. I had some 1” square tube laying around and decided to make some visually interesting side braces and supports.

Eventually I got everything welded out, grinded down and added casters up front and wheels in the rear. It was turning out great, but I was going to need somewhere to hang all the wires and hoses from both welders…

I had some 1.5” flat bar laying around and decided to just bend up some hangers using the brake from earlier in this post. I welded two on either side. One side for the mig and the other for the tig.

When it came to painting it I almost ordered a couple cans of Steel-It, but I came across Cast-Blast from Seymour. I’ve used their Steel-Blast before and didn’t like the lighter silver color, but this stuff looked like it might match the flat gray of Steel-It pretty well.

It turned out to be pretty spot-on in terms of color. It doesn’t lay down quite as heavy, but it did the job and ate $12 a can from Autozone it was a hell of a lot cheaper than Steel-It. JBTools carries it for $8 per can so I went ahead and ordered a few to have on-hand in the future.

After the paint dried overnight, I threw both the welders on and got all the wires and hoses ran neatly. Everything fit perfect.

To secure the tanks I actually used some race harness hooks I had laying around and welded them to the back. The tanks are held in place by two ratchet straps. Unfortunately, I managed to lose the second one before I took this picture.

It fits neatly in the corner and keeps everything well-organized and out of the way. And with that my budget fab-shop was mostly complete. The only other major addition I’m looking to make soon is a good belt sander. But, that hasn’t stopped me from starting fab on the S13. Stay tuned as I’ll be posting updates on that soon.