N00bie Projects/practice?

[Orphan]

Hey guys,

I'm heading up to qld to my parents for chrissy and my step brother (who is a very good welder) is gonna show me the basics of mig welding and possibly brush over tig welding but I guess stick to the introductory mig for now.

Any suggestions on practices or mini projects to do to better my skill once i learn?

In the end i'd like to be able to make some alright manifolds and IC piping etc. Was thinking a 13B turbo manifold might be a good one to start with once I have some skills as it only has two runners.

Probably just stick to using pre made bends as there are no places in canberra that I know of that will do cheap mandrel bends for you. I also plan on taking out the rear resinators and the mufflers in my exhaust and putting on some cheap mufflers with a bit more grunt just for something to do, needs to be a bit louder without that gay $50 cannon from supercheap sound. I have a v8 soarer so won't sound pov

Thanks.

I'm just bringing one of my dads welders back down from qld to use.

[battery]

i would start with stuff like oil catch cans and overflow tanks.

[r33cruiser]

yea good start. airboxes would be easy.

or perhaps fabbing up some air deflector guides etc.

[VB-]

if hes only beggining, no point doing thin stuff, its too hard to work with IMO, start off welding thick bits of scrap till you can get a consistant weld going, keeping your arv length and speed right, aswell as angles etc, just get a feel for the welder in general, mess around with volts and amps to see what each does, find something your happy with, then go thinner from there, and reduce your volts/amps to suit

as a general rule, more wire = bigger weld with more penetration

more voltage will flatted the weld out

[Orphan]

Thanks guys. Will do. Have about 150kg of scrap L and square laying around my dads place when we stripped down the trailer and rebuilt most of it so that will be a good start I think.

Doing an exhaust would be pretty easy right? Its about the only think I could do on my car any time soon as its a stock v8. Either just take out the resinators and ad some good mufflers on the end or do a 2.5" cat back for it. Will just use mild steel for cheapness + ease as I'd have no idea how to weld stainless + kinda pointless for my ap. Will just spray the outside with that anti coroding stuff so it won't just rust away in 20mins, I suppose not much water if any will get on it while parked etc and when your driving they are hot so it will just sizzle off right?

For a 2.5" cat back is there an adapter I can buy to go from the standard like 1.75-2" whatever it is up to the 2.5? Would an exhaust shop be the best place to get the cat back pipes bent? Don't think they'd wanna help out that much as its not them doing it haha. I have access to a hoist for free as well so getting the measurements and installing is no issue.

Also what thickness mild steel pipe would you use for an exhaust? Would it have to be thicker then the stainless which is like 1.5mm?

Edited December 21, 2007 by Orphan

[runnin4life]

if its cat back then all you need a flange to suit your cat (there usually pretty standard just need the correct size flange etc) and then use 2.5 pipe pretty easy

but exhaust shops also sell reducers

but your probably home by now lawl