Welding Aluminized Exhaust

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domdart

FABO Gold Member
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I bought a dual exhaust kit from LMC Truck for my 72 D100 318. It is aluminized steel. I hate it and want to modify it. It goes outside the frame, I want it inside the frame. I have an Eastwood MIG. Can the aluminized steel be welded to mild steel bent tubing?

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Yes, it welds fine. Best practice is to hit whatever area you're welding with a wire wheel to strip the surface coating, it will weld cleaner and you won't get as many fumes. But you can also just straight up weld it, it doesn't create any more grief than flux core wire does.
 
Muffler shops do it all day long and they don’t clean anything.
 
Muffler shops do it all day long and they don’t clean anything.

Totally. It's not necessary, it's not structural welding and it's under the car. But it does weld a little cleaner if you wheel the area to be welded. I've done it, it works. But for the record I usually don't bother.
 
Of course it can. Aluminized pipe IS mild steel with an aluminum coating. That coating melts off instantly as you weld it. Just like welding an all aluminized system, you'll need to paint all the welds with a GOOD high heat anti rust paint.
 
When you weld it, tack 3 or 4 corners first, then run a bead and alternate sides, this will prevent the tube from warping and walking around. We buff off the coating, the cleaner the steel the better for MIG. Don't weld out side in the wind, the shield gas gets blown away. Use a small wire, .023 or .030 works well on exhaust tube. Use some scrap tube of the same wall to set the heat and wire speed. Don't step on the welding lead or you could ruin the liner and keep it in as straight of line as possible between the machine and the work area. If you use an extension cord make sure it is heavy gauge and just long enough as line drop will affect the welder. Disconnect the battery when you weld on a car. Finally connect to a good ground on your work piece.
 
That is good to hear. I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks FABO.
What mild steel tubing are You welding to? Why not aluminized as well? I used Rustoleum Specialty High Heat Silver with exellent results, on any welds/cuts/nicks-scratches, and the whole exhaust. Good luck with the project!
 
I made an aluminum wrap-sleeve with windows & 2 hose clamps to hold the butt joints together & positioned, then tack at the windows, remove & finish welding. Makes test- fits go a bit quicker as well.
 
I made an aluminum wrap-sleeve with windows & 2 hose clamps to hold the butt joints together & positioned, then tack at the windows, remove & finish welding. Makes test- fits go a bit quicker as well.
Well ain't you just fancy? lol sounds cool. Got some pictures?
 
Well ain't you just fancy? lol sounds cool. Got some pictures?
Lol, nothin' fancy, just heavy alum flashing & some cuttin'/snippin'. It's around here, haven't used it for a few, but the specter looms....lol!
 
Lol, nothin' fancy, just heavy alum flashing & some cuttin'/snippin'. It's around here, haven't used it for a few, but the specter looms....lol!
Sounds like you used your noggin. Why am I not surprised?
 
I bought a two and a half inch do it yourself kit from Amazon for $96 and two two and a half inch turbo aluminized mufflers for $48 and only had to make a few cuts and tacked it all together and pulled it out and welded it and I didn't even notice anything about the aluminized different from just welding the regular metal... I should add that I did it with my $100 Harbor Freight flux wire welder that I bought probably 6 years ago or longer and have done hundreds of these kinds of jobs and more with it....
 
I bought a two and a half inch do it yourself kit from Amazon for $96 and two two and a half inch turbo aluminized mufflers for $48 and only had to make a few cuts and tacked it all together and pulled it out and welded it and I didn't even notice anything about the aluminized different from just welding the regular metal... I should add that I did it with my $100 Harbor Freight flux wire welder that I bought probably 6 years ago or longer and have done hundreds of these kinds of jobs and more with it....
Aww shucks, now Yeww just showan awff....
 
One of My buds has a HF wire welder, pushin' 15yrs, still workin'....
 
I bought a two and a half inch do it yourself kit from Amazon for $96 and two two and a half inch turbo aluminized mufflers for $48 and only had to make a few cuts and tacked it all together and pulled it out and welded it and I didn't even notice anything about the aluminized different from just welding the regular metal... I should add that I did it with my $100 Harbor Freight flux wire welder that I bought probably 6 years ago or longer and have done hundreds of these kinds of jobs and more with it....

Flux core is more forgiving than MIG, at least in my experiance. When we did my subframe connectors it was easier o use flux core on the underside of the car because we couldn't clean some areas of the body to bare steel. MIG kept splattering and being fussy, Flux went right on.
 
My 2 cents to welding - weld as much as possible in place. Unless you can tie the tubing down when out of location, especially if you're making multiple welds, the tubing will move. How much it moves depends on the number of welds and the amount of heat applied to each one, as mentioned above.
 
My 2 cents to welding - weld as much as possible in place. Unless you can tie the tubing down when out of location, especially if you're making multiple welds, the tubing will move. How much it moves depends on the number of welds and the amount of heat applied to each one, as mentioned above.
On mine I just tried to at least get three points of tack and then when I got it all out from underneath the truck I did more attacking and then skip welded from one side to the other..
Again less than $100 for the pipes and less than 50 for the mufflers and about $10 in paint... And $100 for the Harbor Freight welder... I've had friends paid well over $1,000 to have an exhaust system put in their cars...
There's the difference between cheaping out and getting the correct things done had a good cost....
 
One of My buds has a HF wire welder, pushin' 15yrs, still workin'....
I'll keep my Miller thanks. Bought new in 97 and never any trouble. I burnt up 2 lesser machines in short time prior to that.
 
I'll keep my Miller thanks. Bought new in 97 and never any trouble. I burnt up 2 lesser machines in short time prior to that.
Lol, easy Dude, I'm not advocating one way or another. If some get by with 'em, great. If one does a lot of work at a pro/production level, I recommend pro equipment, & a hobbyist can probably find a used Lincoln Cricket etc. that would serve them well for reasonable $$$.
 
If I hadnt bought the machine when I did I would have bought something like a Hobart Handler 135, Lincoln, Miller around that amperage but they werent out yet at the time. and at the time after burning up 2 lesser machines for which Id spent more between those 2 than my Miller cost me I was wishing Id have bought the Miller sooner.... one was an "astro" which was the original "home handyman DIY" type machine.
Then I bought a Century (which I believe is/was part of Lincoln welders) that a grand dad had bought for his 2 grandsons that showed interest in welding via high school shop but once they had "their own", Gramps said he didnt think theyd even fired it up twice. It looked brand new. but I burnt that one out too. so I was tired of "cheap" welders at that point. I dont use it as much as I used to, but definitely enough for it to earn its keep.....
 
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