Case Mod - In Progress Far Beyond Driven (Lian Li V2120X mod)

There is nothing that I could say except: mod on!

Just one warning though. Since powder coating is usually cured at around 200° C you'd want to check the temperature rating for your filler material since I've seen some projects suffer because inadequate filler material was used. It melted partially during the powder coating curing process creating "tears" around the fill-in plate. (Or you can try baking a sample in your oven, which can have consequences... for the oven that is . )

Cheers!

 

this is amazing!!!

 

I do have renders that are like 80% complete. Not gonna show em though. Cheers bud!

Thanks man!

Spot on mate. This update is just that.

Hey thanks.

Okay, so small setback regarding the last update. I decided to be a little cocky and test the strength of i/o shield that i covered with the putty. With only slight force of my finger, here's what happened...



Kinda lucky it happened anyway, as my local powder coater told me this stuff would not have worked anyway. :eh: He said it would have melted or shrunk during the intense heat baking process and ruin the end result. At which point i began to do a little research and found some JB Weld.



This stuff held up pretty strong but in the end i still wasn't convinced it would withstand the heat. There's also Hi-Temp Lab-metal (recommended from an awesome dude) which can withstand heat temperatures of up 1000°F. I actually found some locally but my powder coat guy still thinks its a bit of a risk and is convinced there would be some shrinkage. :seriouslywrong:

So what to do now??? Instead of trying to hide the opening, maybe i should make an acrylic viewing window that also serves as a fill port . Yes! Back to the mill...



Made some quick measurements and got straight into cutting. But because the area that needed cutting was right at the tip of the 90 degree bend i had to adjust the mill accordingly.



It took some time messing with the mill for accuracy but the final result is just what i was after.





So while this is off getting powder coated, i will go buy myself some clear acrylic and start working on the window. I'm also thinking of maybe getting it engraved with lettering.

Thanks everyone.

 

I guess that's one way to fix it.

 

Man i completely slacked off!

Anyways, got most of the parts back from the powder-coaters. Finally everything is starting to come together.



















Very happy with the results.

Still have several other parts ready to go for powder coating, but as of now i have the main components to start putting everything together.
I've already started wiring but didn't realize how much wiring actually needs to be done.

Mounting that huge 540 rad was not an easy task. Because it sits flush with the back panel, getting all the hidden fan/power-reset/control cables to sit in line with no obstructions was a very tedious process. The worst part was the fan hole spacing on the radiator was not 15mm apart as is the norm nowadays. It was more like 16-17mm apart which threw everything off for me. I had to re-drill into the already powder-coated front panel . Luckily it all worked out.



32mm thick fans from Silverstone. They're absolute beasts. Each fan has its own slow/med/high switch. I kept them and utilized it to the back panel. No need for fancy controllers.







Pay no attention to the cables in the last pic, still sorting everything out. Hopefully most of the hardware is in by the end of the week and i can start plumbing.
I don't think I'm gonna stop and take any more pics until its finished, so hopefully when i update next all is done.

 

Really awesome metalwork, love it!

 

Squeaky-shiny goodness.

 

that was worth waiting...awesome yes

 

Good to see you back. Seems you are over the hill now when it comes to work too

 

Hey I'm still alive and so is this build, in fact its kinda complete. Can't believe how much time has passed since my last update.
Since I last updated I've been through a lot, like finding a new job and other stuff life throws at you.

All my tube bending is done. In fact they are now nickel plated and they look really cool. I'll show them when i post final pictures, but for now some test fitting photos to show you guys how things went together.









I stopped taking photos at this point. I'm close to finishing so I'll show everything in final pictures. The craziest tube bends are the ones I haven't shown yet. I had some real pull out your hair moments with two particular tubes, it was almost as if they were cursed.
Below, I test fitted the back plate ready for riveting. It came together really well.



I'm much further ahead than these pictures show. All the wiring and sleeving is complete, probably my worst nightmare when it comes to modding.
Also, I reached a point where I thought I was 100% complete. I installed all the tubing and filled it up with distilled water and was amazed there was no leaks. But unfortunately there were problems with filling the loop. It became really difficult getting the reservoirs to completely fill due to their orientation. There were so much bubbles that it created a frothy liquid and had to drain everything and pull apart the tubing again. I think I found a solution though that would require me to drill and thread a hole in both reservoir caps and install a shut off valve, that way I can pour fluid directly into the the res.

Next update, final pics.

 

Still watching brah

 

YAY! He's back!
Yeah, having a big res really comes in handy. I placed the air reserve badly in one of my older custom reservoirs, and now I have to deal with it pulling the random air bubble into the pump.
-But the way you set this up looks too good to change, even if it is a filling nightmare.

 

Hey guys, just thought I'd pop in and finish off this worklog.

Firstly, my apologies for this super crazy late reply. This build was finished probably a few days after my last post and the case has been going strong ever since. Life just simply got in the way and never got around to taking those final pictures. The hardware is getting pretty old now and recently purchased a new 2080 graphics card, which means I'm gonna strip it apart and update a few things. But before I strip it apart i thought I'd take some pictures. Hope you guys like it and again my apologies for the late response.

 

You probably noticed the coolant has gone kinda murky over time in some of those pics. Its gonna be one hell of a clean out.
Once i tear it apart i'll be getting rid of the copper tubing. I'm gonna use clear acrylic tubing instead and change the loop a little.

The biggest issue i had was filling the loop. That res/pump combo gave me so many filling issues. One would impact the other and it became a real headache.
I'm going to split the loop in two. So the front rad/res/pump is dedicated to the cpu and the top rad/pump/res is dedicated to the gpu.
I'll also be getting rid of those tiny 50mm reservoirs and replacing them with 100mm. They're just way to small for a loop this size.

Some other minor changes: About eight months ago i swapped out one of the 3.5 inch hard drives. The hdd block you see facing towards us is in fact cooling an ssd.
Its complete overkill, but hey why not. I used the heat sink of an old raptor and screwed the ssd to it, then mounted it to the water block. Worked out quite well.

Thanks for all the support throughout that time. Sorry I'm late, please forgive me.

And hope to chat with you guys soon.

 

Came out fantastic, even with the problems. Thanks for finally sharing. -FINALLY.
I'd say rotating the pumps would help. Any possibility of moving the 50mm's to the top fillport?

 

Finally that's great that we had to wait that long to see the final shot, I had the pleasure to watch this awesome built from the start once again, a high quality work and a magnificant mod

 

Gorgeous. Mad props for the meticulously anal approach to the finish too. There's no such thing as too tiny a detail.

Bar is set high!

 

Hey thanks, Cheaps. Hope you've been well mate. Yep I'm finally back. Sorry for the delay but from my last post to this i had so many life changing moments that the little pleasures in life simply got sidelined. You're spot on about rotating the pumps, it would definitely help and I'll probably be doing this when i re-route the loop. As for the top fillport, there's just not enough room there to mount a res and i kinda like the horizontal look of the reservoirs. Thanks again man, I'll be back with a new mod soon.

Cheers Kim. Yeah that was my plan all along to make you wait... haha... nah... but I'm glad you got to enjoy it.

Thanks for the constant support man, I really appreciate it.

Hey thanks. My "trendkill" mod is in the works. Stay metal.