Header Welding Tips Needed

[milner351]

This is indeed great stuff - I have to get up to see Mr P body's shop - I can learn a lot from him I'm sure.

I will ask the guys in our shop at work what rod they use - they don't do a lot of pipe welding - but the do put in a lot of flanges, O2 bungs, and compression fittings to hook up feed gas probes (pre cat) to the analyzers.

I have stainless Tri - y headers for the falcon - I need to pie cut and re-weld the passenger side collector -it's aimed right at the transmission pan..

is there any way to tell what kind of stainless you're dealing with - and therefore what rod to buy?

[BKBridges]

Figuring out which SS youve got can be a real pain. I try to mark the stuff as it gets cut into remnants to make sure I can use it again. Some stainless isnt very magnetic like the 300 series, but will get more so with work hardening. The 400 series are fero magnetic for the most part after a bit of working and will actually be magnetizeable (not like 300 series which will just be attracted to various degrees) The hardness of it will also tell, but most people dont have a hardness tester handy. The most common stuff for tubing is 304 and 304L im pretty sure, but it depends where you shop (NASA surplus?)...
BKB

[SuperBuickGuy]

as said above - 400 series will hold a magnet

300 series, it's not easy to tell between 304, 312 and 316 - but it doesn't matter as long as your using 300 for 300 and 400 for 400 material.... it's when you use 300 with 400 metal where the problems arise (in heat applications).

[MR P-BODY]

This is indeed great stuff - I have to get up to see Mr P body's shop - I can learn a lot from him I'm sure.

I will ask the guys in our shop at work what rod they use - they don't do a lot of pipe welding - but the do put in a lot of flanges, O2 bungs, and compression fittings to hook up feed gas probes (pre cat) to the analyzers.

I have stainless Tri - y headers for the falcon - I need to pie cut and re-weld the passenger side collector -it's aimed right at the transmission pan..

is there any way to tell what kind of stainless you're dealing with - and therefore what rod to buy?

All I ever do is see if a magnet sticks to it... if it does I used mild steel rod... if not, then I use
the stainless series rod

[DanStokes]

Hey Mr. P! Next time I'm up in MI why don't you and me and John get together? Sidetrack in Ypsi is always good but other spots are OK, too. When it warms up we always come to hang with the Grandboys in South Lyon.

Dan

[MR P-BODY]

Hey Mr. P! Next time I'm up in MI why don't you and me and John get together? Sidetrack in Ypsi is always good but other spots are OK, too. When it warms up we always come to hang with the Grandboys in South Lyon.

Dan

No problem... always good to meet up with fellow car guys

[BKBridges]

Well Im into it deep now. I decided that Id do what I sort of know, so I fired up the MIG and went for it. It took a bit of "slowing down" to get it right, but I finished the right hand header and it doesnt appear to be leaky. I leak tested each tube as I finished each weld, and just finished testing the collector (Pressure ize it and spray soapy water on the weld and look for bubbles.) So far so good. The drivers side is looking a lot harder, but Ive got the "experience" now...Sort of

[JeffMcKC]

Good Luck

[BKBridges]

Headers done and in the car.

Got er done. While I learned more than 2 things on this job, the two best are: mild steel is a lot easier to work with than thin wall stainless steel and never MIG weld headers. I did cheat by starting with a set of Heddman shorties that fit the car well up to about 4 " from the head. wish they were 1 7/8 instead of 1 3/4 but its my daily driver and they are a shorty style compromise to start with! The nasty looking 3.5" tubular collector headers are the old cracked stainless units.

[Scott Liggett]

Looking good.

[SuperBuickGuy]

All I ever do is see if a magnet sticks to it... if it does I used mild steel rod... if not, then I use
the stainless series rod

why? I use stainless rod on just about everything - production shops use steel because it's 1/3 the price; but to the home guy who might go through a roll every 2 years... it's really not a big deal.

[MR P-BODY]

why? I use stainless rod on just about everything - production shops use steel because it's 1/3 the price; but to the home guy who might go through a roll every 2 years... it's really not a big deal.

Because its a better weld when its the same as the parent metal.... I dont
worry about cost... I have plenty of SS tig rod and mild rod... I use to weld
most everything with SS but found that the matching metal was better

[SuperBuickGuy]

Because its a better weld when its the same as the parent metal.... I dont
worry about cost... I have plenty of SS tig rod and mild rod... I use to weld
most everything with SS but found that the matching metal was better

I've been welding most of my life - I've done both - and my issue with steel wire is it allows a lot of rust on either side of the weld which creates a failure point - especially on exhaust (on mild steel - obviously, on stainless you use use stainless rod). I don't think they're a filler-to-rule-them-all - but I also have yet to have a failure because I used stainless rod. I've used stainless on everything from exhausts to suspension links; but, as with anything, I haven't seen it all - so I'm wondering what I haven't seen that makes you reluctant.

I'm also talking MIG wire, in general, I use whatever matches my material when I TIG

[MR P-BODY]

I've been welding most of my life - I've done both - and my issue with steel wire is it allows a lot of rust on either side of the weld which creates a failure point - especially on exhaust (on mild steel - obviously, on stainless you use use stainless rod). I don't think they're a filler-to-rule-them-all - but I also have yet to have a failure because I used stainless rod. I've used stainless on everything from exhausts to suspension links; but, as with anything, I haven't seen it all - so I'm wondering what I haven't seen that makes you reluctant.

I'm also talking MIG wire, in general, I use whatever matches my material when I TIG

I was referring to tig... this post was on headers... I tig all headers that I build... but
you can use what ever type of weld or rod you care to use

[SuperBuickGuy]

I was referring to tig... this post was on headers... I tig all headers that I build... but
you can use what ever type of weld or rod you care to use

ahhh. my confusion is gone... thx.