Stainless Header fab.

tony597fitter said:
Even with a Argon purge if you weld Stainless to hot it burns the nickle out. Why do you think EVERY Stainless header and exhaust weld is black and rusts at the weld? It was welded to hot.



Next time I do some stainless, I will post a pic of when its done it should look gold.

Ive been a welder for 15 years, have done thousands of x-ray joints which have consisted of stainless, inconel, monel, carbon, titanium, aluminum, you name it. Solar Flux WILL NOT make a joint weaker if the joint has been properly welded.

Take away your shielding gas no matter how hot or cold you weld and the stainless will turn black. Because your argon is protecting and cooling the weld before it is exposed to atmophere air

I never said that it would make the joint weaker, but it will not be as clean of a finish as argon purging. And yes for this aplication I said it wouldn't really matter.
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brushpuller said:
Looks great! Only thing i see is the one tube that is close to the insulation on the top part of the fire wall....thats the way my header came out and on the dyno is caut that insulation on fire :hehe: we put my buddy on the side of the truck with a garden hose and he would give it a shot of water when it flamed up while we kept on runnin the $hit out of it on the rollers!
I just cut the insulation out away from the header( what was left of it anyway! :hehe: )
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I reworked it today and got an inch of clearance from the insulation…..hope that’s enough
 
jlibert said:
I hope it works out for you frank. Your fab skills have come a long way in the last year or so.
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thanks a lot, I did cut that bracket in the back and was going to make it so I could bolt it back together but that line sure is sturdy without that bracket.
 
snoxracer said:
Why is it hard to back purge with argon? And if you do any process welding (food, sanitary, steam, etc.) you can not use SOLAR FLUX because you will not get as good of finish. Not that it will matter on a header but you will get a better weld with argon purging.

Also some one said that if you you weld it to hot your weld will turn black, well that is kind of true unless you keep a shielding gas on it.

Oh yeah it looks sweet!
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With as many joints on this header that i have, it will be a huge pain to purge...its going to be a pain to weld as is. And it will be expensive for me to use argon because im sure I wont be able to seal it up good enough
 
Nice work on the manifold. Any particular reason you didn't do a 6-1 merge collector?

Ideally there would be no color in a stainless weld if it was welded in an argon chamber. Color is contamination from the atmosphere beleive it or not.
4690_219121565098_639050098_7095385_5591876_n.jpg

This 16g 304ss tubing was welded at 65amps backpurged with penetration.
 
sdubfid said:
Nice work on the manifold. Any particular reason you didn't do a 6-1 merge collector?

Ideally there would be no color in a stainless weld if it was welded in an argon chamber. Color is contamination from the atmosphere beleive it or not.
4690_219121565098_639050098_7095385_5591876_n.jpg

This 16g 304ss tubing was welded at 65amps backpurged with penetration.
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6-1 will hurt performance......from what ive read anyway
 
Just to clear some things up, I’m mainly concerned about my welds not cracking ( and looking good) , I did not choose stainless based on the fact that it does not rust easy. In fact, I may be ceramic coating this header if it does well on the dyno. If it does not do well, I think im going to throw it in the lake so minnows can have a home. Stainless has better properties for turbo application.
 
I've got minnows under my hood that need a good home. I've already got your stuff on the intake side, why not the exhaust?
 
hahahahah. I guess id rather give it to you then throw it in the lake!! plus I think the epa would have a cow. Hopefully it works though!
 
If I wasn't dead set on doing twins (on the truck and in the bed) I would be begging you to build me one, keep up the good work man.
 
sdubfid said:
Nice work on the manifold. Any particular reason you didn't do a 6-1 merge collector?

Ideally there would be no color in a stainless weld if it was welded in an argon chamber. Color is contamination from the atmosphere beleive it or not.
4690_219121565098_639050098_7095385_5591876_n.jpg

This 16g 304ss tubing was welded at 65amps backpurged with penetration.
Click to expand...

That was welded to hot.

In my field those welds would be complete cut-outs.

Been doing it long enough as a profession.
 
This is sinner's twin piping.
This is what sch.10 stainless should look like when welded properly.
Notice NO burn marks.
 

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That sounds more like my speed than steel. I've tried TIG with a ghetto rigged setup and I always end up frustrated with the results.

You've PM'ed with good TIG advice before. If my paycheck was more like it was last year, I'd have a nice Miller TIG to compliment my MIG. Right now I'm buying groceries instead of welders... :doh:
 
That is bad ass. If you want to do some more I will take it,You could probably name your price because that would be the coolest to raise my hood and see some more awsome parts under there that is not suppose to be there.
 
Not to derail the thread but on the top charger setup in that pic would that elbow going into the side of that pipe not disrupt the flow since it's not a smooth bend? Just wondering
 
^yes, that is a terrible choice of fitting, but it obviously gets the job done.
 
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