Custom T.S. T4 Manifold and front end

[viperlp01]

Thanks for the advise Tim. I seriously had no idea what else to do to clean it. I still need to fill the breather and pcv so I will try that.

 

[SlowChild3]

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Roll of dimes
Was you welding with AC? On some machines you can change from max penetration to max clean to help bring the oil out. And if your gonna do more tube fab use a hole punch to put holes in a hose clamp. Help to hold your rotation for tacking.

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[viperlp01]

Rough day. Felt like shit. But I got the front on for mock up of the rest of the tubing. I got the plates welded into the top part and think I have a pretty slick idea for mounting the head lights, FMIC. and rad. Manifold will hopefully be done and welded monday night and then the rest of the front metal work will be done tues/wed and the bumpers will go in for paint(1st time painting but I have someone experienced helping me). Here some pics

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[turboglenn]

Lookin good, i can't wait ot see more on the fron section you're biulding, I really wanna do the same to mine, but must keep it DD service dfriendly for me. As for the aluminum welds. I'll point out that those are on cast aluminum which is nasty, hard to weld (for most it seems) and is full of contaminants, so i'd say you did alright, especially if TIG isn't your thing (i've been at it for years on borrowed and my own machines, and it took a long time to get good at VC fitings and such where you're welding a decent aluminum fitting to a crap cast aluminum car part, so don't take it to heart, i say if they don't leak and hold what you need them to then they are just fine untill you progress enough to dog them yourself

anyway, don't get discouraged and keep the pics coming..BTW..what filler rod were you using on that cast? that can make a difference

Glenn

 

[viperlp01]

The guy I am borrowing the welder from just gave me some sticks of Al filler. I wanna say it is 5053. Sounds like the all purpose filler rod for the aluminum. Also I have every intention to drive this car on the street. Knowing that the front will have zero crash resistance but most of us remove the front crash car anyways. The only is the exhaust is illegal in Michigan. I am passing 1 of the 2 requirements. Must have a resonator(my turbo counts as one) and exhaust must protrude from the tail of the car(unless its factory). I might have to find a way to get it to the back but my fuel cell def gets in the way.

 

[turboglenn]

hmm.. might be thinking 4043, better for cast stuff, but a preheat and good cleaning go a long way too... 5356 wets up better and anodizes nicely, but at temps above 150 the 4043 is stronger and the opposite below 150*

 

[SlowChild3]

What kind of gas was you using?

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[dsmusmc]

Welds don't look perfect but they sure as hell don't look awful. Looks better then anything I could attempt with a welder. +1 on patients and some DIY. Project has good potential and would like to see some more.

 

[99gst_racer]

Damn dude, you work quick!

This was the worst week for me for free time, but I'm available next week is there's anything you still need a hand with. Just text me.


PS - Shoulda waited for me. I have jig materials and tried and true specific welder and filler specs. Alcohol is a great cleaner for weld joints.

PPS - You sure that VC is going to clear the hood with hose ends attached to it?

 

[viperlp01]

Pure argon was used for gas. I am not sure on the filler. Ya Paul I just couldn't wait to get working on it. I starred at it for too long and I got the itch one day to start cutting shit and it just progressed. Seriously if you have time and want to help it would be great to have an extra hand. You have no idea how hard it is(well maybe you do ) to hold something with one hand in a funny ass position and try to tack weld it in an accurate position. I will hit you up today or tomorrow.

 

[Bud92gsx]

Man your car is really starting to come together..It's loking really nice..Keep the updates coming..

 

[brian9397gsx]

I wont break your balls on the welding looks good enough for me. Damn fine work that car should be one hell of a beast.

 

[SlowChild3]

Helium helps for thick aluminum. Let's it flow better and better penetration. Regardless you won't get a good clean weld with a material constantly soaked with oil. I've always seen the welded bungs but has no one tried tapping?

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[turboglenn]

Just to note i was nt knocking your welds at all either, just saying they are fine most likel regaurles of looks. Asking about the filler, and then stating what the 2 most common ones for AL do is just givin ya something to remember. There was a time when i couldn't make diddly crap, so you won't hear me putting down some one elses work.. I'd rather encourage one to keep trying then talk to them to where they don't wanna post pics anymore.. I cnashow ya welds of mine way worse than that

also, the helium tip does help, but really untill youtr get THICK, you don't usually worry about it much.. were you on a synchrowave 250? (310 Amp total max output on AC)?

 

[super95awd]

Welding cast is an acquired skill and can only be done well with 2-3 cold passes to draw out the contaminants each followed by cleaning with whatever you see fit. What you really need to do is replace as much of the contaminated junk with good materlal as you can. After that, you can get nice clean welds. Just as an example, here is a recent customer's water neck with a -16 fitting. Your welds look fine for just starting out. Some very experienced weldors can't weld cast to save their lives.

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[viperlp01]

Ya Glenn I didn't mean to come off that way. Paul agreed to come out after work on Monday so with the added help and his experience it will be awesome. Thanks for the compliments. This whole project has tired me out mentally. I went to an autocross this morning with the BMW guys and had a good time and today I will get a full day of rest. More progress to come tomorrow.

Andrew, maybe I should grind out my first welds and and put a cover pass on there. I do like cosmetics but honestly I was frustrating try to weld that stuff. Almost as frustrating as welding that cheap ass ebay aluminum I.C. piping. I have done two welds on that stuff and talk about a PITA.

 

[bastarddsm]

Ya tig welding on a perfectly clean sheet of aluminum with a nice machine is easy to stack dimes.... Add 20 years of oil and contamination combining with cast aluminum mixed in with a tight radius weld... Practice makes perfect on that weld.. I have welded cast aluminum before but it was newer stuff and was alot easier to weld than the mitsu stuff I have done.

Yep, I'll bet not a one of the people commenting on the VC welds have ever welded on one before. They ####ing suck to weld. Some of my first ever aluminum welds were done putting 2 -10's on my vc. It was nasty, but a little bit of grinding blended it in ok.

I didn't think yours looked to bad at all.

It does look like you tacked your header with a mig, will that effect tig welding it later?

 

[viperlp01]

Mig welding the header together is not a big deal as I am just going to grind them off. The weld joints must be tight and ground at an angle to allow for a groove weld.

 

[1GenDSM]

It does look like you tacked your header with a mig, will that effect tig welding it later?

Nope, not at all - other than maybe seeing some of those tacks in the bead. No biggie.

 

[viperlp01]

Paul came out tonight and helped me get a better handle on what needs to be done and gave me some great information on actually tig welding it. We got one more runner done and figured out the location of the wastegates. I am working on the last runner tomorrow and should have a picture of the manifold ready for tig.

 

[turboglenn]

Welding cast is an acquired skill and can only be done well with 2-3 cold passes to draw out the contaminants each followed by cleaning with whatever you see fit. What you really need to do is replace as much of the contaminated junk with good materlal as you can. After that, you can get nice clean welds. Just as an example, here is a recent customer's water neck with a -16 fitting. Your welds look fine for just starting out. Some very experienced weldors can't weld cast to save their lives.

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true...first thing in my mind was "that's not the first pass on that weld"

i do a lot of aluminum rim repairs and i usually have to make so many passes that are ground off and re-tig'ed that i can only explain it to the customer by pointing out and saying "well put it this way...that area is now just one solid chunk of nice aluminum and not cast crap like the rest of the wheel that's why it wasn't a quick job like you had thought it would be" and that's also why the price is what it is..

I like to do a few passes with no filler, medium heat just to "clean" the crack and open it up some in these cases.. then i'll heat it up really good and hot with O/A )but prefer propane in this cases to be honest) then i clean with alky and lay the first bead.. another tip for those out there on cracks in AL and cast iron.. drill a hole at the very tip on each end where the crack apears to stop. then weld it up. otherwise the crack still has a seperated poitn where it will just spread from again when the part is cooled.. in CI, i prefer to slug some material in the holes and weld them in as well (old trick i learned from an old timer nd it pays off to do)

Ya Glenn I didn't mean to come off that way. Paul agreed to come out after work on Monday so with the added help and his experience it will be awesome. Thanks for the compliments. This whole project has tired me out mentally. I went to an autocross this morning with the BMW guys and had a good time and today I will get a full day of rest. More progress to come tomorrow.

Andrew, maybe I should grind out my first welds and and put a cover pass on there. I do like cosmetics but honestly I was frustrating try to weld that stuff. Almost as frustrating as welding that cheap ass ebay aluminum I.C. piping. I have done two welds on that stuff and talk about a PITA.

that's how it goes my friend and no worries on how ya came off, it's the net, and things are mis-interperated more often than not by myself and almost everyone else as well (i think that's why smilies were invented )

I did 2 -6 fittings in a VC today (told him 8 was needed but oh well, he wanted it, and payed for it and that's the customers i like, the ones who know the decision was their's , and gladly pay their bill. But overall they went really well, the practice gets the beads nice and tight after you've done enough of em, but the impurities floatin up are the cost of "doin business" with cast AL

Just don't let anyone discourage you, those who knock you are the ones who have never done it or say they have but can only provide pics of a finished product and not prove in anyway they did the weld ..internet hot shots i call em. The guys who've been there will remember when theirs were like that and offer tips and encourage you to keep tryin.. so keep on keepin on bud!

 

[tkelly27]

I think the multiple passes Andrew was talking about are without any filler and just going over the area where you are going to weld the cast material. As you may have noticed, when you are welding the cast stuff, the gunk comes to the top and gets in your weld. I've been told if you just make the cast part in the weld area liquid the same thing will happen and you can wire wheel/grind it off. When stuff stops coming out it is OK to weld.

I've also been told that 160 degrees is not enough. An oven at 400-500 is more what you want to cook impurities out.

 

[turboglenn]

yea, i do multiple without, then do multiple with and grind outthe impurities..the passes without are to bring that stuff to the surface for a good precleaning too..both are usefull

 

[viperlp01]

Paul V(99gst_racer) came out tonight and helped me finish the manifold(tacking wise) and I should be able to tig weld it up this weekend(or atleast START IT). Once the manifold is built and the turbo is bolted up I have exhaust to fab up and finish the front.

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[cjridert1]

^^^ Nice stuff!