Finished this Ferrari gtb-4 Daytona Spyder exhaust. Full factory replica out of stainless, everything from the mufflers, to the resonance chambers, to the heat shields, all made from scratch.

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Also finished these equal length stepped camaro headers

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God how do you tig so well with mig gloves on?

And those double pipes for the resonators on the gtb are interesting.

Once you get a grip you don't let go.. Haha. Really I prefer to weld without gloves, but I have this seemingly permenant little burn mark on my index finger where the arc keeps traveling through my filler from doing it too much. It's funny I didn't realize that's where it came from until I was in a circle of conversating welders who were talking about their similar mysterious burns. Haha

What's the purpose of the loop before the resonators?

They are actually resonance chambers, not resonators. I suppose it's for that Ferrari sound, I just copied the stock setup as I was asked. They actually terminate inside that can, there's no connection back into the system. Weird right?

I was wondering the same thing, so its like some vintage ferrari exhaust note tuning?

That was my assumption.

I'm sure is has more to do with noise cancelling and altering flow pulses and phase shifts and whathaveyou...

Those are big words Brainey, watch yourself!

Do you still have that Ferrari? Can you unbolt those 2bolt flanges for the resonance pipes, slide a thin metal sheet in between the flanges & tell us if it changes the tone?

I would initially guess a short pipe like that would cancel higher ferrari-like frequencies. I did the math to cancel some of the cruising rpm drone on my Subaru and the pipe should have been woah long.

Sorry, I'm afraid I don't have the Ferrari anymore. When I did It was like that scene in ferris buelers day off though ;)

Here's some Lamborghini gallardo test pipes I just finished
If you're tig welding stainless, I recommend you get a giant gas lense. I just did, and am extremely pleased.

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ive tried tig welding before.. very different animal than mig or stick welding. any tips? always kept sticking

Uhh, somewhere in this thread or in the welding and fabrication thread I did a pretty thorough step by step. If you find it, post it up as a quote.

What part is sticking? the tungsten, or the filler rod, AWDracer?

if its the tungsten, you just need to practice welding flat peices to get steady and get used to the feeling of it. jumping right into pipe is the worst.

if it is the filler rod thats sticking it could be a few things. if your amperage is proper for the peice your welding, it could be that your filler rod is too big or you are dipping too much. if your amperage is too low and your filler rod is the right size, you will stick because the puddle is cooling off too much when you dip.


My suggestion to practicing is to grab a nice peice of ...moderately thick (1/8") aluminum and just start running lengths of beads down it just above the last bead you just made. see if you cant fill the 1/8" peice to be half inch thick just by building up the weld bead. you will have so much practice in on that and aluminum lets you build up the weld like that with no real issues as far as learning goes. the only down side is that the workpiece really gets hot.

1.) When you say 'giant', how giant are we talking?

2.) Did you make a press fixture to make those vband flanges? How well do they seal?

@shlammed
my practice was a very brief session of "hey wanna try this out" kind of thing. i picked up where my friend was practicing going uphill on an upright piece with no filler. once i got into it, i kept sticking and keeping the arc very little. thanks for the advice though, cant wait to go more with tig welding

Sounds like you just need practice that's all.

Haha the cup was over an inch wide, single piece, with the screen built in. I was fucking around with my gas and my regular gas lense setup, and got awesome results at 38 amps, and 13cfh. Better really, Check it. It's just another set of gallardo cat deletes, but I liked this shot.

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To answer your question about the flares. That's a factory lambo thing, there is a little stainless donut with a 45* chamfer that is squeezed between two flares clamps. I've gotta believe it seals, the clamps are pretty serious. As far as how I made them.... Haha. In a huge rush under a deadline, I couldn't find a piece of steel the right size for me to turn a chamfer onto the end. After about an hour of scratching my head, I happened to look at my empty argon bottle, and it's lid. The lid was just the right size for my 2.5" tube to get a 45* lip. Flaring 4 pieces in the press only took a few minutes at that point. I just sprayed the top with wd to keep it smooth.

Ok I found a bunch of it.

In regaurds to aluminum:


I never use pure tungsten after someone showed me I didn't have to. It's just easier when the arc wants to wander less. You should try turning your balance up all the way, it's more effective totally clean like that, but you'll agree it'll make it easier. You look like you're afraid to really move fast though. You shouldn't, aluminum lets you just mash the pedal and dip dip dip dip. At least once a second. Try pushing yourself. Also, don't force the filler into the puddle, just brush it against the tip of the puddle, and you'll see it'll suck in the amount it needs.

Cont.

Personally I'd say unless you're getting a bead per second you're not going fast enough. Look for the keyhole right before it blows into a hole, that's where you want to dip before it blows into a hole. If you're not getting a keyhole without waiting forever, turn your heat up. I personally don't like the way my welds look unless I blast it and move real fast. If I don't dip on time ill blow a hole in my part to give you an idea. It makes it come out very nice and fast though.



Some other thread


Quote:

Originally Posted by shuiend
I have officially welded 2 pieces of metal together. I learned that turning up how much argon your torch outputs help


The first thing you want to do to sharpen your skills is to try welding without filler. Try just laying some beads using the "walking the cup method" on some flat steel. First things first, for all welds you Do from this point out, keep your tungsten a mm or 2 at max above the puddle. Its ok (reccomended) To get the tubgsten out just enough you can lay the cup against the metal, for more control. Make sure you have a 45-55 degree angle on the torch as Well. You'd be surprised how easy it is to lay a dime roll like that. Try not to give it too much heat, and don't move too slow. You'll know when you've got it right when they look beautiful, golden blue and silver. A really great way to manage the amount of heat as well as how long you stay In one spot at a time is to observe the orange hue around the outside of the weld. You don't want it much larger than 3-4 times the width of the weld it self on thin stuff, and maybe double on thick stuff. Then once you've got that down, practice doing butt welds with no filler, as well as outside corner joints and inside corner joints. This will make you very keen to how you actually manipulate the weld puddle. Once you are good at that add filler. You simply touch it to the leading edge of the puddle half way between dimes. It goes like this. Move torch, dip rod, move torch, dip rod. Don't force the filler in, it should "suck" the needed amount in if your in the sweet spot. This is a great basis to become an awesome welder. As others have said, keep your metal super clean. I brush it with (non contaminated) scotch brite and wipe it down with alcohol. Make sure you grind your tungsten to a fine point on a wheel that only sees tungsten. <--- very important. No wind either, it'll blow away your gas, and the post flow! You need the metal covered in gas till its not glowing anymore, or it'll contaminate (and turn grey) one tip I can give based on these photos right off hand aside from cleaning the metal is to either lower the amperage, speed up, or both.

If you read that a few times and google the terms you don't know you'll have kick ass welds, they're not too bad for a beginner as it is.

And. Make sure you post your new welds after practice.

Hope this helped, wish someone said it to me.





Just one thing I'd like to add, which took me from mediocre to pretty good just about instantly. I had a dude say to me "why are you trying so hard? This shit is easy! Here watch! Zap zap zap zap zap..." He was totally right. It's as simple as moving the tip of a pencil (your torch) an eighth of an inch at a time, it's easiest if its towards you, with the tip a mm above your surface, about once a second. If you can simultaneously touch another pencil (your filler) right after you move your torch pencil, right in front of it, lets say a 1/16th of an inch, then you're welding. It's usually best to do it in a rhythm of 3 steps if you were to think about it like that. 1 Hold torch in place, 2 dip filler right at the front of your puddle, 3 move the torch to the next bead. If you want to pulse the pedal, the apply amprage at step 1, and let off on step 3. In some circumstances you'll be pulsing your foot pedal, it can help you with control, I often do. I pusled the above picture. My point is this; It's honestly easy, if you can write, you can lay a dime row. You just need the right information. I encourage anybody to approach welding like its whatever, instead of some daunting task. It's all in your mindset, and if you think it's easy it will be.

So, is everyone using 316L filler rod for 304/304L?

Just kind of a stupid question, but i'm going to just take some from work and that's all i've ever used, but i've never welded on 304.

I use 308L rod for everything. 304 to 304, 304 to 316, 304 to 409, 304 to 321, 321 to 409, etc. I know in some of those situations I should be using 309L rod instead to prevent carbide precipitation but I'm not welding nuclear reactors here just exhausts.

Everything? Even MS to 308? :bigtu:

OH yeah, I forgot mild to 304. :dealwithit:

Mine isn't nearly as pretty as boost_addicts (goddamn those are some pretty welds..), but I finished up a 3" downpipe for my xr4ti this weekend.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...43108683_n.jpg

Fits like a glove. Now to get the f*cker running on MS...:facepalm:

I forgot to take pictures, but last two nights I made a new billet endcap and welded it to a new perf core section for the aluminum exhaust setup. The previous one failed the rivets after like 6 races and then finishing the race broke the perf core into multiple pieces and fucked up both end caps. This one wont fail, its bolted and billet.

And while welding it I must have shorted out the miller mask at school. I somehow managed to get zapped in my elbow and then the mask would always go full dark when I started the arc even though it was set to 9 glass. I had to reset the mask to get it back to normal. It was weird.

Switch to Arm & Hammer and your welds will look better.

These guys with the photogenic welds have some incredible shop tools at their disposal. Yours like quite alright for a driveway weld job.

You dont need unreal tools and unlimited resources to make a good weld.

Jeff, yours looks fine and will have no problems holding.


Though Im no pro, I made good welds in my shop at home, and I dont have a ton of tools and the ones I do have arent anything more than any other consumer. Make due with what you have. Spend the money getting educated and you will get way better than others who dont.

I have said it before -maybe not here- but there is nothing like an old boy welder yelling in your ear while your welding away trying to help you out. Take a class.

I know that a back purge setup is whats holding back my stainless work. I really should just buy a cheap tank and grab another regulator when I get a chance.

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:D

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Dann

Where is the WGA for that EFR?

In the boot. Its got a stock bottom end, for now, and its getting driven interstate, like 1000 miles.

Dann

Lol. How much boost does it make wide open? I know my IWGA runs out of throw before the WG is all the way open which is why my car creeps to 10 psi. Based on what I've seen if you can get a 6psi waste gate that opens more than mine and run 8psi it should be fine on the stock bottom end with the the 6758, and probably the 6258.

0 PSI.

All day, on the dot.

No matter how you drive it :)

Go Borg Warner designers :P

Dann

Some practice
.125, 50 amps
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.0625, 28 amps
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Custom muffler setup for an rx4 using a rx8 pre-silencer, stainless.

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Changing pants, brb.

Jeff: props for owning a Merkur. That takes courage. Miss mine some days.

To the rest if you: if you look at boost_addict's latest photos there and don't hit the props button, you are failing our community and you should go join m.net.

Zander, what base metals are the top 2 flatbar?

Very perfect width weld on the first. Auto pulse?

Intentional starvation of argon to achieve the colour?

Dann

They're stainless. .125 and .0625. I'm just pulsing the pedal on those, no filler. As far as gas coverage goes, I need to get another #12 cup, that thing made a world of difference with coverage.

Sweet thanks for the info. Looks like the gas flow is at that level juuuuuussst below where its enough for silvery gold welds, and making those sexy colours, its hard to do on purpose.

Dann

:makeout:

Almost finished up. MS2 is in and running nicely and most everything else is buttoned up. Just need to swap out shady ass heater hose and replace a questionable hose from the fill bottle to the pipe that runs from the t-stat housing to the manifold. Then the carnage begins!

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Edit: Seriously, the stock cooling system on these cars looks like it was designed by Hyper. No fucking joke.

Hotdogs into a fujitsubo on an Evo 8 with 400 awhp.

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Dann

MERKURS:
Truth. I built 3 MS1's for those. They are crazy little german/american bastard children

Winerack

Garage has less junk parts now.

In response to the wine rack:

Just a particularly nice set of cat delete pipes for a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

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I saw this on fab life page.

I asked what cup and gasflow you used to get the excellent colour.

What I didnt ask though is what filler you are using. It looks like 308, but only a tiny bit of filler?

thanks,
Dann

I know this is a small request, but can I see someone's valve cover that has been welded with a fitting for a catch can? just curious to see the configurations and am being lazy at sifting through build threads

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How I did mine

that looks sweet, I was thinking something just like that but wasnt sure. Were those weld on bungs or just a threaded fitting cleaned and welded on once threaded in? Also, is that a mount for dedicated coils? So clean!

One more question, how did you get all the steel pressed in there on the hotside, did you just drill it out or somehow pull it out?

A little heat and a pair of pliers with some pulling and twisting motion and the steel nipple will come out. Those were weld in bungs and yes that is my coil mount. Finished result is this:
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damn that is sexy, thanks for showing me and telling me how. Time to attack my cam cover.

I'm running what looks to be the same catch can. I have both lines T'd into each other then into the can on one side and the other side runs to the intake tube between the air filter and the turbo. I don't see a vacuum line on yours? Nice looking work.

Thank you, and no problem. Good luck on yours.

I never even thought about vacuum, it seems to be working great as it is now. I drain it once a week, a lot of water from the E85. Not trying to be a smartass, but how would vacuum to the can help any when the can is vented to atmosphere?

I was thinking the same thing, but everyone I've seen done at the track is that way. Mainly on high psi force inducted cars, maybe it helps. Maybe it isn't needed, but can't hurt I don't think. Anyway probably not necessary now that I think about it, one less hose.

I've always wondered why you would have a vacuum hose AND breather too, surely the breather seriously diminishes any vacuum effect?

I suspect it just makes it easy to plug the breather when you need to be legal again.

Some mid process bullshit.

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Letting it cool while it's clamped so it doesn't warp. Then i'll finish the last bits with it unclamped.

Been chipping away at the front end. Cut forward of the strut towers to transition to round tube, and laid the radiator forward more to give me the clearance to duct out the hood.

Had to reclock the inlet on the radiator to work with the water pump and weld some mounting tabs to it, but no real drama. The new front end is fiberglass, so that bar and two mounts hanging under the frame rails are part of the front end mounting kit from S&W. The whole front end can just slide into the receiver mounts, and then dzus around the fenders for easy removal.

I picked up a few clamshell mounts from A&A that I will eventually weld the splitter brackets to. I'm going to attempt to support the splitter far enough forward this time that I won't need the cable supports. Basically, there will be four brackets that clamp around the lower frame rail, and each bracket will have some round tube struts to support the splitter.

Old fenders are just dangling there so I can ballpark some dimensions while the nose is being made. I'm estimating about 100 lbs of weight off the stock front end with the new setup, maybe more. The core support area was surprisingly heavy, as was the plastic nose itself, headlights/motor assembly, etc. Will lose about 15 pounds or so from the hood as well.

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Just a regular gas lense, 15 on the regulator, about 30 amps. It's just fused with a perfect fit, no filler.

Ah ok. Makes sense then. I thought it had filler.

Dann

I just noticed. In my pictures above, the welds show a perfect example of welding a 304 flange to 316 pipe. That's why the welds were getting gray, while down around the flange they had nicer color to them.