89dxhunchback

Well... I'm getting sick of hunting down IC leaks.. So I wanna eliminate some of my couplers, and sorta re-do my Ic piping.

I'm going to just go buy a welder, since I'm doing turbo projects for other people all the time, and it'll prob. pay for itsself with in 2 projects ( plus the Sr20 240sx in my "monster carport" is inneed of some IC piping too ).

ANYWAYs !! Can I get away with just buying a flux core gas-less welder ? The only thing this welder will ever see duty doing is welding IC and the Downpiping every now and then.

I'm not a pro-welder but I did watch Stacy on that show "Trucks!" weld some plates on to a door skin using a mig welder. He basiclly just welded "spot welds" until the plate was completly welded, then used a grinder to smooth them out. I'm thinking that I could do that with IC piping.

Also I wanna modify the end tanks on my Starion IC, but I know that an aluminum spool is the only way to mig weld alum. but the "shop" at the warehouse I work at has one ( and a pimp plasmia cutter ).

Anyway. the basiclly question is. Can I use a gasless flux core mig welder and use the "25 spot welds" technque to do my IC piping ?

Also to save money I plan on buying a mider saw with one of those metal cutting wheels on it to cut small degreed angles, then weld them together to make bends. I saw that done on a Turbo SHO on HMT a few months back.

"prettness" isn't a issue. Fuction over fashion.

sohcrxsi

I would suggest getting one with gas. when I weld piping I lay one bead all the way around the pipe, I just keep rolling the pipe as I go. Mess with your heat settings and wire feed a little before you try the pipe. good luck. If you've got lots of money, buy a tig.

TurboTibby

Gasless flux would work just fine. Your best investment will be your time for practice. Good luck!

Reddy

DO NOT GET A GASLESS WELDER!!! Trust me, the extra investment now is definitely worth it. It welds soo much easier and cleaner. Trust me on this, its well worth the investment for clean welds. If your going to spend the money on something like a welder buy a good one and consider an investment. This way down the road you won't have to buy another one cause your unhappy with the sloppy welds

quadnie

Well, a gasless wire feed welder (wire welder) you can get to work for you. If you are just doing a few IC pipes, I wouldn't pay more then $100 for a cheapo welder that is capable of going up to 1/8" metal. Now don't forget about the other costs involved like tools, gloves, and a decent auto-darkening lense. You can get that ---- in the bargain bin, but once you've used an auto-darkening, there is no going back. Expect to pay a good $50 for the rest of the setup.

Instead of spending that same money on a gasless wire feed welder, you would have more versatility (and cheaper) with a arc (stick) welder. Get a smaller unit where you can weld most any metal with the right rod (my friends tell me they've done aluminum but I'm yet to check it out). If doing work like Jeff did on that chopped turbo with dp welded to it (wasn't that on the sunfire?) the proper way would be to get nickel rod and weld cast iron to cast iron. Then again you also have to follow many other rules like heating in stages and cooling in stages when welding cast iron and nickel rods are ------- expensive. Check out some 110v arc welders, if you're not planning on making perfect looking welds and want something to hold, might be an alternative for you. Let me know if that's the route you want to go with, I've worked a lot with arc welding.


For another alternative, I think torch welding would prove to be a clean method of getting your job done.. I torch weld things like gas tanks and other pieces of show just because it makes a nice appearance (like tig would do) and you have lots of control over it. Don't need an auto-darkening helmet but you do have to invest in a portable torch outfit, oxy-acetylene setup.. can easily cost you $150-300

check out this thread here:
https://www.homemadeturbo.com/forum/...threadid=20416

some more usefull stuff on buying a welder, I'm gonna help Jess get what he needs.

-Ryan

Anti-NA

without gas pinholes will own you and the weld will look butt ugly. I really recommand you buying one with gas.

GimpyCivic

I bought one w/gas attachment but didnt buy any gas until I had gone through about 50lbs of flux core. I finally put gas on it, and... its just night and day. No more grinding/chipping away at slag and splatter....

Might as well not have to go back and buy a welder twice... get one that at least has the ABILITY to add gas to.

street_kings

I had a lincoln weld pak 100 HD, wire feed with the ability to add gas later. Honestly, I tried out my friend's Campbell Hausfeld Wallmart Wire/MIG welder, and it's a hell of a lot better. Needless to say, I bought my weld pak for 250 + 100 for the gas add-on and the CH one was 250 at wallmart. You do the math :P I think they have a cheap *** stick welder for like 70 bucks too, and its walmart. you can return anything there.

quadnie

Depends on your budget, don't forget with gas you have to get an argon tank (or at least use straight carbon dioxide for shielding gas). Expect to pay at least $50 for a 20 cu cylinder, about a hundred for a 40 cu (what I use). You might be able to get away with getting a cheap 20 pound cylinder of CO2 and run that. If you need a regulator to attach to the tank, look at $30 extra. The price on refilling costs me like $20 for my 40cu (75% argon/25% co2 mix), like 6 bucks to fill a co2 tank.

Gimpy made a good point about the slag created, expect even worse with an ARC (stick) welder. A MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welder uses solid wire (for mild steel it would be copper in colour) versus the wire feed welder that uses flux core which creates the slag by-product. ARC welding is similar in the fact that the it uses a rod that is surrounded by the actual "weld".

No, using flux core will not make pinholes everywhere, but if you run solid wire intended for MIG welding without the shielding gas it will be porous and lack the integrity that your welds need.

So if you're on a budget, do what has to be done. If you can spare the extra money, a MIG setup will get you further.

I personally would not buy any tools from wal mart that you don't plan on returning after you've used them. Wal mart sells crap (and guns to children), I worked for those ******* so I know (no I didn't work a register, I worked for Hewlett Packard that had the wal mart contract to run their network servers, I was working IT support inside the server centre). I can't really say I like the Campbell Hausfeld brand, my experience with their air compressors has been utterly sickening.


-ryan

hondacivic00

I have to agree. Gas welding with trioxy acetelyn gas creates some great welds. I just bought a great Clarke 130 which produces some really clean welds and it was only $500 CAD which is about $350 USD for you guys because I have taxes coming out of my ***!!!

Good luck with the project. I'm looking to get a TIG myself but the F***in things are so damn expensive - even for the hobbyist ones.