Published: Dec 18, 2022 by Liz Metzger

(Welding, Machining, Fabrication)

I spent a summer interning at SV Automotive in La Verne working mostly on custom air-cooled Porsches. The main project that I worked on that summer was modifying a classic 911 Porsche by changing the turbo, re-routing the exhaust, remounting the inter cooler, and installing a motec ECU. I also got to learn how to weld (mostly MIG and some TIG), we started the restoration process on a Porsche that spent years in the desert, did repairs on some other cars and stripped a couple of totalled cars for parts.

In rebuilding the Porsche the largest task was putting in a new turbo that was larger than the one that was in the car before. To do this we had to build a new mount for the turbo, reroute the exhaust and rearrange the mounting of the intercooler to make space. The image below shows the tubing that we had to reroute to connect the intercooler with the intake manifold now that the intercooler was lifted higher to make room for the turbo. I also designed and manufactured the mount that is meant to elevate the inter cooler and hold it at an angle so that the trunk is still closed. By the time we reworked all of the machinery in the trunk almost all of the available space was used and the trunk closed so that the intercooler was exactly parallel to it and spaced just far enough away not to damage anything.

This next image shows the new tubing we cut tacked to the intercooler and the supporting mount that I made screwed onto it. To make the brackets I would first make them out of a thick piece of cardstock to get the shape, bends, and holes in the right spots. Then I traced my template onto a piece of steel or aluminum and would cut it out with the plasma cutter or bandsaw depending on the part. After the part was cut out I would spend time with the belt sander getting a good edge finish and making sure that the edges were clean and that the piece looked nice. Once the piece was cleaned up then we could put the appropriate bends in it and get it mounted in the car. I also made a new bracket for the turbo that attached it to the car.

We also took a stab at making our own custom wire harness to replace the one in the car and make it compatible with the motec ECU we planned to install. I was in charge of cutting and routing all of the wires to the appropriate locations. We got as far as putting shrink tubing on everything before realizing that to get the best results we needed to twist the wires inside the harness around each other and do it at the right radius according to how many wires we had and how thick they were. We ended up using a custom harness specially ordered for this car, but it was a good exercise in wiring and paying attention to detail that I learned a lot from! Installing the motec was actually really easy and the software was very accessible. We mounted the computer under the driver’s seat of the car and had someone who specializes in tuning cars come out to tune the settings on the motec. This ensured that all of the cylinders would be firing in sync with each other at the optimal intervals based on how fast the car is going, how much the turbo is engaged, and accounts for extenuating conditions based on live feedback.

During this internship I also learned how to weld and got to build a cart for a motor that we pulled out of a super old and run down Porsche that was found in the desert. Below are some of my TIG welds from the cart.