Well, I've been given permission to take up way too much space and give you toilet readers something to think about. In the past I've written about engineering for strength, performance, and longevity. This time Mike wanted me to touch on the actual fabrication side. What's the difference? Engineering is the "figuring out" process. Where to mount the 4-link bars? How big of a bolt to use? And this can all usually be done in the living room with a pad of paper. Fabrication is the actual building, welding, drilling holes, and is what, obviously, happens as the vehicle is being built.
Now, not every fabricator can engineer and not every engineer can fabricate. That doesn't make either one of them more important than the other. The best fabricator I know can't engineer, but draw him a picture of what it is you're looking for and he will build it exactly to specifications and way "cleaner" than you could imagine. And you know somewhere out there, there's an engineer that can't even show you the difference between an open-end screwdriver and a Phillips-head hammer, but he could tell you how to pre- and post-heat a piece of chromoly to retain the proper tensile strength to land on the moon. Lucky for most fabricators, you can call up and order a pre-engineered 4-link for your (insert vehicle here) and install it in your garage this weekend using your fabrication skills. The engineer has a little tougher scenario, probably better off taking it to a shop.
When I described my fabricator friend before, I said his work is very "clean." Clean work is what every fabricator should strive for. Without changing any of the engineering for a particular project, you can scab something together in a weekend, or you can spend weeks or months making it clean. Obviously, clean takes time, something that not all of us have. Regardless, some corners just shouldn't be cut. We're sure you've also seen a lot of effort put into trying to make something clean that was executed poorly. Either way, the cleanliness of any vehicle depends on the time and effort that is put into the entire buildup process. (Take for example this month's cover truck. It's not the craziest truck out there, with all kinds of innovative body mods and wild graphics, but something about it screams cover. Maybe it's the months of detailing every nut, bolt, fitting, and line, or maybe it's just the simple and clean feel that governs every part of Shawn's Mazda. Whatever it is, being the best is all about the little details and cleanliness.)
When Mike asked me what my biggest pet peeve is, my immediate response was sloppy tabs/brackets. The most common mistake is the hole placement. The hole or holes should set the shape of the bracket. I draw all of my tabs on a sheet of poster board using a ruler, a compass, and a circle template. First, draw all of the important points/holes and curves. Then use the circle template and the compass to draw around the crucial areas and bring everything together elegantly. Avoid drawing freehand. The best looking parts are CNC-cut. CNC utilizes straight lines and circles, and they are plotted around existing points. For example, if you draw a 4-link tab that has one 1/2-inch hole in it and a notch to fit a 3-inch rear-end housing, the tab should follow a radius set by the center of the 1/2-inch hole and taper out to the 3-inch notch to fit the rear end. Simple, yet I still see tabs that have a hole drilled 1-inch from one side and 1/4-inch from the other or a hole drilled in the middle of a square tab. No round holes in square tabs. Square tabs look lazy and amateurish.
Bolts are something that needs to be purchased anyway, so you might as well buy the right ones. Suppose you had some lying around that will get you by. If they are too short, don't use them. If they are too long, cut them down. The bolt should stick past the nut by 2 to 5 threads. Any less is unsafe; any longer starts to look sloppy. And don't just grab the Sawzall once the part is bolted up and hack them off and leave them. De-burr the threads and make the bolt presentable.
An easy no-brainer that I see quite often is leaving unused, stock hardware still attached to the frame. Simply spending a few hours to cut off the stock spring hangers and shock mounts from a freshly modified frame can really make a difference.
Breaking the edges from all of the work. Breaking the edges? After a part is MIG-welded you quite often end up with a deadly edge that can butcher your road-kill for you as you drive. I use the flap grinder wheels to run over all of my work to simply dull the edge. I don't like grounding down my welds, but a quick pass with the "flappy-wheel" takes the edge off and really cleans up the work. All of the edges of any tab, bracket, gusset, or any other sharp edge should be de-burred.
The thing about cleanliness is it doesn't cost much money, but it certainly takes a lot of time. If you're reading this, you want your vehicle to be as nice as you can and you should be willing to take the time to do at least the little things. Go beyond, make us proud, and go ultra clean. There are a lot of ultra-clean trucks out there and we know there are a lot more in garages and shops just waiting to be finished. (Cleanliness is in the detail and that is what it takes to make the cover of your favorite magazine!)