Exhaust question

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
Roger that... you still working with radar? FWIW, I work here. In the fourteen years I've been there, they have not ever seemed to stop hiring radar techs.

Nope I'm out of the tech business.  If someone had scooped me up two summers ago I might still be "one with the trons".  I work on this this for these people now.  Completly different world but very rewarding/fun work.  Trying to cross train into sattilite communications but not having much luck with it

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by MrCoffee
Cant weld stainless steel to regular steal or whatever cheap soft steal/iron they use to make mufflers. Can you? Dont think so.

ummm....what's the purpose of welding if you cant weld similar metals together....

I'd preferr a flange there because they tend to "flex" a little more wich prevents cracks....a weld  right there would at least SEAL a leak....

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
Nope I'm out of the tech business.  If someone had scooped me up two summers ago I might still be "one with the trons".  I work on this this for these people now.  Completly different world but very rewarding/fun work.  Trying to cross train into sattilite communications but not having much luck with it

Hmmm... satcom has got to be difficult. Best of luck.

[MrCoffee]

I could be wrong but if I recall its not possible to weld different metals to each other. Stainless steel is diffferent in structure to the standard steels. Lotsa different types of steel, some of them can weld together but not stainless steel and some others. Example, you can only weld 4130 to 4130 which is chromoly steel but not 4130 to standard mild steal.



Does look kinda messy though.

[capt. apathy]

Cant weld stainless steel to regular steal or whatever cheap soft steal/iron they use to make mufflers. Can you? Dont think so.

you can weld stainless to mild-steel.  but the wire(or rod ) is expensive (about 12x the price of mild steel), and requires a better than average guy to weld it.  most shops would weld it with the cheaper, told you they did it right and let you live with the crack that will develop.

another problem with welding that up is when you go plugging holes in a crappy fit like that you have thick spots on the welds surounded by thin pipe,  the different thicknesses heat up(and cool down) at different rates and it will eventually crack.

it would be fine to weld up for someone who was low on cash and just wanted to 'get by' for a while.  but this is waranty work and should be done right.

when a quality shop welds them they slip the 2 together and use a uniform weld so as not to focus the stress on any one spot.

patching that thing would be a mess and not last long.  if you decide to have it welded, make sure they cut off all the crap and put a splice piece over it.  so the welds are just a uniform 'ring' that seals the ends of the splice.

stianless welding is somewhat harder than regular welding and cracks easily.  most of the welders who you find working in an auto shop don't have the skill to do a good job (the exception is the custom hi hi-performance shops, might have a good welder inthem).

[mora]

Originally posted by Gunslinger (Image removed from quote.)

Looks like they cut the pipe coming from the CAT, and removed the attaching plate? This means trouble when the muffler is replaced as you can't fit it like it's supposed to. Quite unbelievable that this a work of an official dealer.

[capt. apathy]

Looks like they cut the pipecoming from the CAT, and removed the attaching plate? This means trouble when the muffler is replaced as you can't fit it like it's supposed to.

yep, it should have the flared fitting like the one next to it (allows for expansion rates).

now that you mention it I've never seen a factory or dealer set up that didn't have that type of conection.  slip-joints are usually make-shift repairs when attaching to the CAT.

[mora]

Yep, they should fit another new CAT and a new muffler aswell to do it properly. It's no way unreasonable to demand this, but be prepared to accept partial responsibility for the muffler as the joint was propably too rusted to be opened properly.

[gofaster]

Your wife should've shown more leg.

[Roscoroo]

<-Exhaust pro / Custom header/chassis manufacturer opinion...

1st of all Ive welded stainless to mild steel and to aluminized steel thousands of times. (it just takes different heat /welding method)

theres no difference in the rod/wire  unless your doing the nice stainless show jobs that get polished afterwards.

now for the truck ... thats stainless to stainless and it should have been welded afterwards .(once you heat and spread that type of pipe it never seals back up very well)   or it should of been cut off with the sawzall first then fited back together.

Take it back and tell them to fix it right ...

Note most dealer ships arnt equiped to do exhaust/welding work and the farm the work out . Tell them you would like it fixed properly (welded) and they will most likly send you up to the welding shop they use.


(Ah darn ya mean i have to Take out all that mild steel that i have welded to Chromemoly cages in all those cars that are running faster then 9 sec 1/4ers ??? ) hell thats alot of cars ,and alot of 4 link plates that have to be remade in moly (they only come in steel unless you make them yourself)

[capt. apathy]

(Ah darn ya mean i have to Take out all that mild steel that i have welded to Chromemoly cages in all those cars that are running faster then 9 sec 1/4ers ??? ) hell thats alot of cars ,and alot of 4 link plates that have to be remade in moly (they only come in steel unless you make them yourself)

nah, if you welded moly with mild-steel wire it'll come out on it's own.

the thing is, in an aplication like that there isn't a lot of stress on your welds in a day to day situation, if so they would have failed in short order.

now they will just fail when exposed to exreame use (like maybe in a crash).

consider this.  you go with the crome-molly for strength, but the welds are just 60-series steel.  the welds are weaker than the material, and because the welds are at the ends of the pieces the stress is already focused there.

I hold more weld certs, than I could count.  from dozens of companies,plus ASME, and AWS.  I have x-ray certs on all grades of mild and stainless, crome-moly, including the duplex types of stainless.  I've also got non x-ray qualifying certs for cast-iron  and aluminum.   these certs are in mig, tig, & stick (and the mild-steel in ox/ac)

if you are welding crome molly safety cages with mild-steel wire, I hope you are very well insured.  or the right accident is gonna leave somebodys widow owning your shop.

[Roscoroo]

And this started w a silly leaking exhaust pipe ...
oh well my sfi chassis cert just aint enough for this , well back to the tin snips and tig welding  top fuel cars .(at least i wont get sued by some widow LOL)   ah hell nevermind ...

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

That looks like a Ricer repair to me, did you go to a shop that had dewdz talking about attaching fart cans to crappy '90 Civic Hatchbacks?
-SW

[Gunslinger]

UPDATE:

Took the vehicle back to AV Ford to have them re-do the work they've allready done. On the way back the Check engine light came back on. I got a rental car from them and they reshaped the pipe and did a pretty good job of welding it. They also replaced the CAT sensors AGAIN. (they were overtourqed and the ceramic coating broke) Today I'm coming home from PT and the check engine light comes back on.

I'm more than mad now.....Warrenty work on this car has cost my family 2 vacations so far and I'm going out of town on business next week. Not to mention this dealership is 45 min. away. My plan of attack now is to have an independant diagnostic done on the vehicle to ensure that it is in fact the same problem. Then I'm gonna contact the reginal service manager. If anyone knows a good point of contact I'd surely appreciate it.

[capt. apathy]

is there another authorised service center around taht could get your bussiness.  to get away from service like that it would be worth driving an hour or 2