Proby
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 03:58 PM |
|
|
Stainless v Mild Steel Exhaust Manifold
Guys/Girls,
I'm about to sort out getting a turbo exhaust manifold for my Cbr900 blade engine. The plan is to get someone local to TIG me a stainless
exhaust manifold, but then thought about the possibility of a mild steel manifold? I can MIG and have access to a decent welder, and using mild
steel would mean I could fabricate it myself. I had previously never thought of this, I know stainless looks better initially, but you can get mild
steel manifolds coated to stop it corroding?
Is mild steel a definitely no no? Am I bonkers to even think about the possibility?
Visit GraphicMonster
|
|
|
|
|
loggyboy
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 04:45 PM |
|
|
Yeah, migwelding stainless is faily easy, just check out mig-welding.co.uk for loads of guides.
Mistral Motorsport
|
|
|
mark chandler
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 04:49 PM |
|
|
Just get a couple of bottles of disposable argon (preferred although CO2 mix will work) and some stainless MIG wire and weld yourself 
If you weld with mild it will also work, the welds will however go rusty over time.
Just watch the assembly order, make sure you do not end up with any welds you cannot close, when I made my original manifold I made the headers from
1.5" stainless (you need to check this, it was a few years ago now) and cut the bits that attach to the head off an old manifold, you can then
open out slightly with a lathe and weld the stainless ends in, make sure you include the flanges.
I assembled with masking tape, then tacked before final welding.
|
|
|
madteg
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 06:50 PM |
|
|
Purge the inside of tubes (fill the inside of pipes with argon) it will stop the stainless from oxidising and give you a 50% better weld. Would tig
weld it myself.
|
|
|
matt_gsxr
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 07:06 PM |
|
|
I learned to MIG weld when I built my stainless turbo manifold.
It isn't a thing of beauty, but it seems to function.
One problem I had was that I welded up the merge last which distorted the crap out of the whole thing meaning I had to do a lot of reworking, so my
top tip would be to sort the merge fairly early.
|
|
|
clairetoo
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 09:01 PM |
|
|
quote:
Just get a couple of bottles of disposable argon (preferred although CO2 mix will work) and some stainless MIG wire and weld yourself
DO NOT use argon for stainless mig welding - its for Tig ! The only time you would want pure argon with a mig is if you are welding alluminium !
I would get it Tig'ed - any loose stuff that falls off the inside of the welds will go straight through the turbo........
Its cuz I is blond , innit
Claire xx
Will weld for food......
|
|
|
chillis
|
| posted on 23/12/12 at 10:48 PM |
|
|
mild steel turbo manifolds seem more prone to cracking I've found unless you use high carbon steel.
Stainless and tig'd every time for me but then I have access to stainless and a tig set so the decision is easy for me.
You can mig stainless and I tack my system that way then take it to work to fully purge tig weld.
If you're migging it than you need a CO2/Argon mix like cougar5.
Never under estimate the ingenuity of an idiot!
|
|
|
Slimy38
|
| posted on 24/12/12 at 09:03 AM |
|
|
Would BOC's Argoshield be suitable for stainless MIG welding (93% argon, 5% co2 and 2% oxygen)?
Edit: Never mind, just found out it's the same mix as Cougar5!
[Edited on 24/12/12 by Slimy38]
|
|
|
black fingernail
|
| posted on 24/12/12 at 09:32 AM |
|
|
I made my exhaust manifold out of mild steel tube, it started life as a trampoline frame, I built it as a pattern originally, to be copied later in
stainless, its covered in exhaust wrap and doesen't look too shabby. its over two years old now and still ok so i haven't bothered making
a copy yet, and its given me time to obtain stainless parts for when the time comes.
|
|
|
