Hey guys and gals! Here is my contribution. A friend wanted a custom cover for a non hamb friendly motor (import). And he really wanted louvers pressed in it. Its funny import guys call them vents. Anyway I figured it was worth a shot, so here is how I did it. first I took some 1/2" plate and some 1/4" plate cut to be 3" long and welded them togeather, I didnt have any 3/4" plate. I then ground them into the ruff shape I wanted for my louver. Next I had this big ugly piece that came with my mill drill that had a big slot in it, 3" long convenient enough. I widened it up a bit and made a matching "female" die to my male approximately 1/16" bigger all the way around the male die. Now I didn't think this non-tool steel setup would punch through the 20 gauge mild steel I was working with so I carefully cut 3" slits in the steel to aid the process. I lined up the relief I cut with the female die placed the male on top and whacked it with a hammer. Needless to say it took about 4 average hits to form it right but I was very surprised with my dies. I tweaked the male die a little bit and hammered till it started to rip the corners out. I then welded on some angle on each side to work as a stop and the tool was done. The pics below will explain it all a lot better than the above ruble....I hope. Here is the male die. If you look close you can see the 2 piece's welded together. here is the bottom female die and the male without the angle iron stops along with the first demo louver! This is the coil cover with the layout marks. And here it is with the slots cut in it After punching one louver I realized that I would have to punch the next one way further away and that wasn't any good so I made a new "female" die which would allow me to make them 1" apart. This piece I will likely remake as did not have any thick material so its just 3/8" and will likely bend fairly easily, however I did punch 10 louvers with it and it seems no worse for wear. this is how it lines up after one louver is punched. You can see I rolled some beads into too. Buddy wants to put a sticker in there. Here is the cover with the louvers all done. And here it is bolted up to the RB25 As you can see its a little bit cooler than the stock piece.
Very good tech ! That really did turn out nice too ans he will surely have the only one around ! Maybe his friends will want to be putting in some orders for you to make them some . Good work ! Retro Jim
Cool deal...nice job. I am seriously thinking about making a set of dies myself. Thanks for the ideas. Neal
never thought I would see one of those engines here, however you really changed the whole look of that engine, allmost looks early european, anyway those louver dies are a neat idea, What is that engine going in anyway?
RB25, came in Nissan Skylines, never came out here in the states, but you can get them from an importer, getting to be a popular swap for the import crowd... Looks MUCH better, nice job!
You got it minewithnoshie! That is actually my swap motor. The cover is for a friends rb, when the old straight 6 got tired. I figured this would be an easy swap. And after driving my buddies car...I was sold. they make 240-260hp stock so Its gonna be alot more fun than the old 6! Thanks for all the great replies guys!
That is a great little tool. Just curious, how are you cutting the slit? I notice some are saying the die might not last that long due to it not being hardened, but I'm thinking it just might last quite a while because it doesn't actually cut the slit, it is simply forming the thin metal. Cool tool.
I use a zip cut to cut the slit, then use a small file to clean up the edges. I've now punched about 20 louvers with it and it seems to be holding up fine so far.
Awesome! I was just thinking this morning about how I wanted to louver the hood on my 61 Suburban! Now everyone, forget you ever saw this. My contribution will be "Louvering a 61 Chevy Truck Hood"...
You got my vote!!! Nice and simple, makes a great looking louver and any tool that is operated with a BFH is my kind of tool!!! Rex
I have built a louver press as well. Here are a couple of pics. My latest home made tool is a louver press. 1 of many tools I have made myself. I am running out of room to store them all!!! Mtw fdu. Attached Files: a" data-thumb-height="100"> DSCF0341.JPG File size: 203.8 KB Views: 1,208 DSCF0343.JPG File size: 209.4 KB Views: 728 They are about 60mm long. I have changed the hand lever to a hydraulic ram using a porta power. I have got an air over hydraulic ram for it but haven't had the time to put it on. Still in the process of finishing my cnc plasma table. Mtw fdu.
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