That manifold doesn't look to bad. But here are a few things i noticed that could use work.
- Your tie in's look good but there kinda of all over the place. You need to pick a spot to stop moving the torch side to side. Like for instance if i'm making a weld on a pipe thats a butt weld. I will prep it as i do all my butt welds with a nice bevel (key is a sharp edge) then i will do a root pass with no filler this just gets my some good penitration that i can then follow up later and fill in. What this also does is gives me a reference for where i need to stop moving the torch to control bead width. If you can keep the width of the beads uniform they will look 10 times better.
- Your collector is cut a bit big for the T3 inlet. this can cause a lot of flow problems and hurt turbo spool considerably. Now this could be not finished in the pics, but that area needs to be ported heavily to get the gases to flow smoothly into the turbo.
- On your flange welds they look ok, but it looks liek your depositing to little filler at a time and moving quite slow (think overlapping with small amounts of filler more often then large amounts less often). Are you using 1/16th rod? I use 3/32 rod and do the basic dabbing techique. (Dab move dab move) I dab at the top and drag the torch down and forward at the same time. what i try to do is get into a rythm, this allows me to focus on my movements being uniform and less on worrying that i'm doing them correctly. i will set up my width (see tie in quote) and just go back and forth doing the weld. I have the machine set at 130-135 amps and am at 80% ish on the peddle. Don't be afraid to push the filler into the puddle.
thats it for now, as i couldn't see a whole lot from the pictures.
thanks for the info, i feel like im getting better every time i do stainless. but have a long ways to go, i will post up pics when i make some crazy custom manifold for my vitara setup in my 1g crx. im limited to a #8 cup with my watercooled torch that i have. and i haven't cleaned the manifold up at all yet, still need to do some port matching and de burring. also need to surface the manifold.
i will probably just sell this manifold for cheap, i didn't build it for anyone, i just felt like getting more practice. i appreciate any info/help you baller welders have for me. I will take some better pics of this manifold this weekend and erase the shitty cell phone pictures. So then you guys can let me know what i need to do differently, id really like to see alot more improvement on my next manifold. The collector i made was 4" long but the manifold ended up being to long, so no oil return would be possable, so i cut it down to 3". Kind of learning as a i go. Cant wait to get my shop setup so i can weld in a clean area and have no contamination like i run into at work doing so much different work.
Welding questions
so ive been told to run a root pass on all of the pipe-pipe welds, and use 1/16" filler after the 90 amp root pass, but i have a problem geting the pipes to bond together. do you dab a little filler to get it going first?
also should i go with 3/32 filler on the pipe to flange? ive been running about 95amps from pipe-flange, and saw you run more amps turbob16hatch.
things id like to change,
get a bigger torch so i can run #12 cup on easier spots to weld, and go smaller for harder spots
clean the metal better, and bevel the straight pieces on my laith.
take your nogs advise and go to town
and make a stainless frendly welding area, my work isnt ideal. plus i would like to make a plate to bolt the flanges to so i dont warp them so badly.
Im not trying to make these for a living or anything, but i fabricate everyday and being able to make my own shit, and maybe a few things for friends here and there is nice. plus i really enjoy it. Taking some welding classes this fall also to learn more info about welding, and better techniques. cant wait