#WhyWeWeld: Toby Vega Dadurian

Toby Vega Dadurian, better known as TobyVegaD, is a Florida-based YouTuber and fabricator. He spends most of his time in his garage building and modifying cars, often working on custom turbo setups, engine swaps, and full fabrication projects. Today, we speak with him about the projects in his garage, from custom turbo systems to engine builds.

12 Hours of Daily Welding on a Custom Mercedes Turbo

Toby learned welding so he could work on cars and build cool projects. He enjoys making turbo kits and modifying exhaust systems.

As he took on more projects, Toby began building custom turbo systems and fabricating more of the parts himself.

Right now, he has several ongoing builds. His main focus is on a custom compound turbo for his diesel Mercedes. Working on everything alone, he has been spending many hours welding under the hood of his Mercedes. Over the past week, he has worked 12 hours a day.

Toby is proud that he made everything by himself. He did not use any pre-made kits. He cuts, measures, and welds each part. He also solves problems as they come up.

Instead of using a ready-made compound turbo kit, Toby is building the entire setup himself, one piece at a time.

The turbo he plans to use is an HX50, a large industrial turbo usually used on heavy machines, paired with an HX35 from a 12-valve Cummins engine.

Toby knows there may be problems, like the engine head lifting. But he is willing to face whatever challenges the build throws at him.

“If I blow it up, I’ll build it up. Just roll with it.”

According to Toby, unexpected problems come with the territory when you’re building something that has never been tested before.

He explains that when modifying a car this extreme, hiccups and unexpected failures are part of the process. No one truly knows the limits until the build is tested.

Corvette Build: A Twin-Turbo Project

The Mercedes is not the only ambitious project in Toby’s garage. He is also working on his Corvette. He built out the motor and plans to install a twin-turbo setup.

Under the hood sits a Gen 4 6.0L topped with LS3 heads, a cam, and forged rods.

The Corvette, so far, is the build he is most proud of. Toby says that by the time the Corvette is finished, nearly everything under the hood will have been fabricated by him.

He creates these builds mainly for his YouTube channel to produce engaging content.

The projects featured on the channel are often the same vehicles he is actively working on in the garage. He also works on cars for other people and family members, which often become part of his videos.

How Toby Started Welding and Building Cars

Toby’s journey started with his lime-green Mustang. The lime-green Mustang appears in the first video on Toby’s channel and was one of the earliest builds he shared online.

The car is mostly a supercharged stock build, but he built the transmission himself. It now produces around 950 horsepower at the wheels.

He plans to make small upgrades and take it to a local drag strip.

His best drag racing time is 9.7 seconds. That run was in a 1978 Mustang with an LS swap, a 4.8 engine, a cam, and a ring-gap setup. Toby believes the combination could run even quicker, but he prefers to keep the car reliable and bring it home in one piece.

Rebuilding and Flipping a Salvage Audi S4

Another project featured on his channel is a blue Audi S4.

The car came from Copart as a salvage auction vehicle and was heavily damaged. The car was originally purchased by a friend, who repaired much of the damage and replaced some body panels before Toby bought it.

Toby then continued the build by replacing additional bodywork and adding a dual-pulley system along with a methanol injection setup.

After restoring the Audi and featuring it on the channel, Toby eventually decided to sell it because he felt there wasn’t much left to do with the car.

Before selling it, however, he drove it through the famous Tail of the Dragon — a world-renowned 11-mile road with 318 curves — keeping it under 30 mph the entire time.

How Toby Learned Welding in Four Months

“The learning process is brutal. I don’t take my vehicles to shops. I will literally just sit there and figure things out.”

Toby didn’t know how to weld when he first started. He spent about four months learning the basics, enough to begin taking on real fabrication projects.

Most of what Toby learned came from spending time in the garage, watching videos, practicing, and figuring things out as new problems appeared.

“Originally, I had no clue. I would sit there for hours and hours trying to learn.”

His biggest challenge has always been the time investment required to solve unpredictable problems.

He uses YouTube for quick references, consults experienced friends when needed, and also reaches out to other builders online when facing challenges.

“You just have to do it every day until it pays off. There’s no other way. Watch people who are successful at repairing, modifying, and welding — they’re successful for a reason.”

Why Toby Believes AI Can’t Replace Fabricators

For Toby, fabrication is a safe bet. He believes that as long as he can modify and customize vehicles, his work will remain relevant even as technology advances.

He points to the type of work he does every day—modifying custom vehicles, fitting parts together, and solving problems that don’t have a step-by-step guide.

In his view, someone who can adapt an industrial excavator turbo to a Mercedes cannot easily be replaced by a robot.

The creator cannot be replaced by its creation. Robots can weld, but as Toby says:

“You’re never going to be able to replace a person that can go inside of a car that’s caged, and weld it upside-down.”

In Toby’s view, building a one-off project car requires a different set of skills than simply running a machine on a production line.

Toby shares his fabrication projects, racing updates, and garage builds across several platforms. You can follow his work below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/tobyvegad
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tobyvegad
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toby.vega.d/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/tobyvegad-100079876736123/

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