Liquid metal, where can I get it?

AdzCM · August 21, 2011, 02:06:05 AM

Im looking to dewedge my TB and was reading alot of you guys have used liquid metal rather than rivets. can anyone send me a link to the stuff they bought and any tips on how they used it to fill the holes of the butterfly valve?

cheers, adrian.

vwmk3jon · August 21, 2011, 09:21:39 AM

halfords. easy as.

AdzCM · August 21, 2011, 11:40:23 AM

Cheers buddy!

DKnight · August 21, 2011, 01:52:45 PM

i would never use anything like that in my throttlebody, ticking bombbbbb

Nick_S · August 21, 2011, 02:05:25 PM

Well Beavis thought it was OK for him to use in my full blend LOL

AdzCM · August 21, 2011, 10:46:55 PM

Quote from: DKnight on August 21, 2011, 01:52:45 PM
i would never use anything like that in my throttlebody, ticking bombbbbb

what do you mean mate? What would you use?

DKnight · August 21, 2011, 11:25:37 PM

well if it comes out it has a direct route into your engine

pop rivets do the job!

Justin14100 · August 21, 2011, 11:32:43 PM

Quote from: DKnight on August 21, 2011, 11:25:37 PM
well if it comes out it has a direct route into your engine

pop rivets do the job!

I have seen the middle bit of pop rivets go through as well, - upsets loads of things. best thing is to get a new butterfly made

hayesey · August 22, 2011, 09:23:00 AM

pop rivets can come out too. At least if the liquid metal breaks and comes out then it's much smaller than a rivet.

The ideal solution is to get a new throttle plate with no holes in it made but this isn't as simple as it seems because they're not just flat round plates, they have an opposing chamfer on each half of the plate in order to seal.

PeteG40 · August 22, 2011, 10:00:14 AM

i beleive bartek do the metal plates.

Justin14100 · August 22, 2011, 10:33:41 AM

I think i might have a 45mm butterfly laying around, when i did the test on my 45mm throttle body to get the angles right on it - i'll have a look.

AdzCM · August 22, 2011, 01:30:26 PM

And there was me thinking this was an easy mod lol. rivets always seemd o be pretty strong to me but you guys know best.

hayesey, i think i remember reading that you used liquid metal in your TB [i could be wrong] did you have any problems?

cheers pete, ill have a look. cool justin, let me know!

hayesey · August 22, 2011, 01:34:15 PM

I originally used rivets but then changed to liquid metal. Never had problems with either really, rivets will still cause a bit of a restriction though whereas with liquid metal you get a flat smooth surface.

Using liquid metal, make sure you put a good chamfer on both side of each hole (so the cross section of them would be egg timer shaped!) or else the stuff will just slide out when it's set.

Rivets fail all the time when they are subjected to vibration and movement. I remember one person posting once (years ago, might have been the old PSD forums) saying that a rivet had fallen out and caused damage to the pistons.

AdzCM · August 22, 2011, 01:48:54 PM

So dont have the holes flush with the plate but sunk in a bit on both sides? I'll give it a go. It'll only be for a while until I can my hands on a 51mm tb.

Will you need to sort of smooth it round the edge of the circle [holes] onto the plate on both sides or will it have enough inside the holes to bond to? [if that makes sense]

hayesey · August 22, 2011, 02:20:54 PM

no, have the liquid metal flush with the holes so it fills in the chamfer too. The chamfers stop the liquid metal from sliding out. It doesnt have to bond to anything, the egg-timer shape of the chamfered hole means once the liquid metal has set it cannot come out.