How Keski-Korpi wins drift-ready welds with a compact Minarc T 223 ACDC

For Finnish drift driver and team owner Mika Keski-Korpi, races are won or lost long before the car reaches the start line. In the Drift Masters series, high power and hard transitions punish every welded joint in the chassis, suspension and exhaust.

To keep the car together, Mika needs a welding setup that travels easily with the team yet offers the control and reliability of a workshop. That role is filled by the Minarc T 223 ACDC, his main TIG both at home and in the paddock.

He turns a standard road car into a competition chassis through roll cage construction, chassis reinforcements, engine and exhaust modifications. And this is possible only due to a maze of water, fuel and other lines, in his words, “a lot of welding”, week after week on aluminium, stainless and mild steel.

One portable TIG for the whole car

Minarc T 223 ACDC combines AC/DC TIG, pulsed TIG and MMA in one 220 A, single-phase power source. One compact unit handles aluminium pipework, tanks and brackets, steel and stainless structural parts and exhaust components, plus quick MMA repairs.

Instead of several power sources, Mika relies on a single TIG for core fabrication work in the workshop and at the track, simplifying logistics.

Arc performance with big-machine behaviour

A portable TIG only earns a permanent place if it welds like a serious workshop unit. Minarc T 223 ACDC provides enough output and duty cycle for long welds on thicker sections, yet also starts reliably from low current for thin material and detail work. He highlights the efficient cooling and comfortable torch, which lets him run long beads on larger chassis parts without overheating or hitting duty cycle limits.

In everyday use, Mika often runs factory parameter sets, adjusting mainly current and AC/DC selection. When he needs more precision on aluminium, he fine-tunes AC balance and frequency to direct heat exactly where he wants it and keep the bead clean.

“For aluminium, it’s easy to find the sweet spot. I can fine-tune the frequency if I need more directed heat, but most of the time the default setup just works.”

Weld and clean stainless with one system

A key differentiator of Minarc T 223 ACDC is that it doesn’t stop at welding. The machine includes MAX WeldClean, an integrated electrolytic weld cleaning process for stainless steel.

For jobs like custom exhausts, Mika welds the section, switches the same unit into cleaning mode, and cleans the heat-affected zone with the cleaning torch and electrolyte. This replaces a separate cleaning machine, reduces handling steps, and keeps stainless welds visually clean and corrosion-resistant.

Built to travel, engineered to last

Despite its feature set, the Minarc T 223 ACDC power source weighs under 17 kg and has a small footprint, so one person can move it easily in the workshop or in and out of the race van. IP23 protection and single-phase, multi-voltage capability make it suitable for workshops, temporary garages and circuits with varying power conditions.

Safety is also part of the package. The team pairs Minarc T 223 ACDC with Kemppi’s Zeta Fresh Air welding helmet and Kemppi welding gloves, giving Mika TH3-level breathing protection and comprehensive eye and face protection from fumes, sparks and radiation without sacrificing comfort or visibility.

For Keski-Korpi Motorsport, that combination of technical performance, portability and integrated weld cleaning is what earns the Minarc T 223 ACDC its permanent spot in the race van and makes it a strong choice for welders. As Mika summarised, the Minarc T 223 ACDC is an ideal machine as it’s a “multi-process, compact AC/DC TIG with integrated weld cleaning that delivers big-machine behaviour in a portable package.”