Pm me, I did a bunch of cheap DIY work for my reroute, if you'd like ideas.

sweeeet - i'm assuming yours is a 120V? ...there might be hope for me afterall! How hard was it to weld on the v-band? I have this road block in my mind that I can't mig anything over 1/8...more like 1/16. I assume a vband is MUCH thicker. I know I can flux 1/8...but yeah.

definately not thicker than 1/8"

shit would weigh 500 lbs for an exhaust.

you can weld one on 120. i have done it. 220 just gives you better control over the wire and how much it jumps.

Wow, those close ups look great. Good job!

wherestheboost, while the v-band flange may be 1/8" thick, you only need to weld as deep as the thinner piece. A 120v welder is plenty for exhaust work.

Thanks guys. It really feels great to have positive comments from you three especially.

I would like to say that welding the vbands was the easiest part minus the fact that they did warp a little bit. Not nearly as bad as I thought though. I welded in >1 inch stitches like you'd tighten down a head or valve cover in hopes that they wouldn't warp and I think it helped a lot. With a wire feed welder (from my very limited experience) thicker metal welds better than thin.

The closeups were of one of the v-bands and the flex joint. Both thick metal and both welded very very easily. The rest was fairly difficult because if I didn't move fast enough it would blow through very easily. Especially if there was a gap to fill. Also I should note that I didn't grind off the aluminized coating on the pipes so the welds do look dirty.

My v-bands warped a little bit too when stan put them on. I just put on a small smear of exhaust gasket sealer paste stuff (that is supposedly good to 2000 degrees) and clamped them down really tight. No leaks yet, so I'm sure you don't have anything to worry about :).

man...this is encouraging to hear. Your stuff looks good. and if a 120V welder is capable with that... I should start buyin some metal! ...and a chop saw... and a grinder. dangit!!! soo many tools to buy :D

Tools make you money. Although, you can just keep buying porn and complaining.

Agreed. I've already made 90 dollars doing welding odd jobs with my welder. Thats almost 1/4 of the price I paid for it already.

one last thing... what gauge are people using for exhaust work (midpipes, downpipes) and manifolds (turbo manifolds). I hope I can also make money from my welder. This is a good tutorial thread :D

I should stop buying car parts...and make them instead.

I used sched 10 stainless for the mani and 16ga alumanized for the downpipe and exhaust. Next manifold will be sched 40 mild steel though.

schedule 10 stainless... that's just a hair above 16 gauge....right?

No its pretty damned thick compared to 16ga. I cant explain it much better without having some calipers or something to measure it. Its prolly twice as thick as 16ga if I had to venture a guess.

Man. So wait, did you get full penetration MIGing with your 120V welder? I was under the impression that "twice as thick of 16g" was past the limit for those welders.

Sbk tigged the mani. Still though I had no trouble getting full pen fucking around on scraps.

Stop talking about full penetration and put up more pictures of your shit!

what is your welder exactly? i'm looking for one right now :P

the 120 welders can get full penetration in metal up to like 1/4" thick, if you bevel and do a few passes. I have a Hobart handler 175 mig, and for hobby and welding jobs its great, nothing it couldn't handle yet. Hobart is the cheaper segment of miller.
Hobart Welders 500500A Reconditioned Handler 140 MIG, Flux Cored 140 Amp Welder
this would be a great 120 welder, i bought mine reconditioned from toolking and it came basically brand new.

sweet, actually I'm looking for a welder to start working on my car, Exhaust Manifold, hole exhaust line, doing little stuff, that might be a nice buy!, thanks