ESAB Equipment and Filler Metals Customize Featured Car at SEMA

Attendees at this year’s SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show, to be held from October 30 through November 2 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, will see some of the premier automotive specialty products in the world and some very hot custom automobiles. This year ESAB, in addition to displaying an array of ESAB’s latest advanced equipment for welding and cutting in Booth #20997, will sponsor a custom modified show car, created with ESAB welding and cutting products.

The car was customized by Travis Coeyman and Troy Spackman of Legacy Innovations, York, Pennsylvania. The car started its life as a 2001 Honda Civic. The Civic’s owner drove the car for a year before he decided he wanted to customize a few things. One thing led to another, and after $100,000 worth of custom improvements, the car is now a full-blown, one-of-a-kind custom show car. “Everything on this car has been modified,” says Spackman.

The customizations include:

• Chop top
• Full 90º suicide doors
• 4130 Chrome Moly tube chassis
• Forward flip hood hinges
• Chrome Moly hood skeleton
• Chrome Moly radiator and intercooler mount                         
• Custom-built one-off Chrome Moly nitrous bottle mounts
• Custom-built Chrome Moly and stainless pedals
• Molded Carbon Fiber roof scoop
• Custom trunk-mounted spare tire
• Swing-out tail light fuel door
• Trick flip trunk with Chrome Moly hinges
• Custom-molded license plate frame
• Fully molded custom body kit and flares
• Cobra leather wrapped carbon fiber seats
• Custom billet aluminum steering wheel
• Carbon Fiber side mirrors
• Billet aluminum rear view mirror
• Fully integrated front strut bars and braces
• Chrome Moly rear strut brace
• Brembo Gran Turismo brakes
• Tein electronically adjustable struts on all four corners
• 5-Lug conversion
• K20 engine swap with GT35R turbo and 6-speed transmission
• Two-stage Nitrous system

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ESAB sponsored the showing of this car at SEMA because all the welding, cutting and other metal work was done using ESAB equipment and filler metals. The TIG welding was done primarily with the Heliarc 161 and CaddyTig. The Heliarc®161 is an AC/DC power source with square wave AC output that provides superior welding with improved cleaning and lack of rectification and AC wave balance control that allows adjustment from maximum cleaning to maximum penetration. CaddyTig is a portable TIG welder with rugged design and the powerful performance of a much larger machine. CaddyTig meets IP23 standards for outdoor use, withstands tough environments and produces superior welding qualities day after day.

MIG welding was done with the MultiMaster® 260, a flexible yet powerful welding package featuring advanced welding technology and simplified set up that make multi-process (MIG/TIG/Stick) welding a breeze. Cutting was done primarily with the PowerCut®650, a ready-to-cut package that delivers big machine cutting power in a rugged, lightweight design for easy portability. PowerCut 650 manually cuts up to 5/8 in. (15.9 mm) and severs 3/4 in. (19.0 mm).

For filler metals, Legacy Innovations uses Spoolarc 65 (ER70S-2) for mild steel and Spoolarc 83, an ER80S-D2 wire for Chrome-Moly. Spoolarc 83 contains 0.5% Mo to provide higher deposit strength in both the as-welded and stress-relieved conditions and is recommended by ESAB for Chrome-Moly. “ESAB also supplies us with an array of aluminum and stainless steel filler metals,” Spackman says. “No matter what the job, they have what we need.”

“We use ESAB as our choice supplier because of their vast selection of quality products, outstanding customer service and knowledge of our industry,” Spackman says. “Every time I use a new piece of ESAB equipment, it makes me realize why I use ESAB. The equipment is extremely reliable and if I have any questions, there’s always someone there to answer them.”

Also at SEMA, West Coast Customs will feature ESAB products at its booth, where they will actually be actually customizing a vehicle. With ESAB’s help, they will have people "weld" right at the show. ESAB will also be featured on their new TV show and sponsored one of the TV builds that took a mini-van and turned it into a maintenance and repair vehicle for Habitat for Humanity. ESAB provided the equipment West Coast Customs used to customize the van and also supplied equipment for Habitat for Humanity to be included as part of the tool set for their maintenance and repair work.