Can you weld "aluminized" exhaust with a wire feed?

[2QUIK6]

Can you weld aluminized exhaust tubing with a regular wire feed welder with agron gas?
Anything special needed to do it or bad vapors I should worry about?

About to take on an exhaust project since exhaust shops around here can't bend or weld worth a crap.

 

[John Larkin]

Not really. You need C25 - 75% Argon, 25% CO2. Grind or sand off the coating near the weld, butt the tubes tight w/ no gaps to avoid burn through. TIG uses 100% Argon.

Or if you want to invest in a CO2 regulator, you can use straight CO2 which is cheaper. It will freeze normal regulators hence the specific one needed.

 

[UNGN]

You never want to breath ANY welding vapors, but aluminized steel is totally weldable, as the aluminizing is only a thin coating of Aluminum.

Of course it will rust in the weld areas when the coating is removed, but in Texas you won't have to worry about it for decades.

I know what you mean about local muffler shops. They are getting harder to find now that exhaust systems don't rust off in two years anymore.

I did this the other day to make my own easy out cat/test pipe set up and replace some restrictive bends in a cobbled set up in a car I bought.

 

[TexasT]

Seeing as you are in Southlake, you might try one of my old customers in Grapevine. They are up on what I think is Northwest hwy in the middle of town on the north side of the road between Ball and Main. Tell them the Camelot Guy sent you.

 

[UNGN]

Seeing as you are in Southlake, you might try one of my old customers in Grapevine. They are up on what I think is Northwest hwy in the middle of town on the north side of the road between Ball and Main. Tell them the Camelot Guy sent you.

He is about all that is left on this side DFW. I stopped in and talked to him, but then got a good deal on a welder off E-bay the next day (also local) and decided to do it myself.

 

[2QUIK6]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to do it this time on my own. There's a guy in Keller that has been real good, but would do a true dual setup on my '95 since it didn't come that way...after some searching, a shop in Lewisville came highly recommended from the local f-body folks claiming this shop had done a bunch of over the axle true duals on f-bodys...anyway, the guy was a nice guy and had a clean shop...but the bends are very restrictive, clearence sux, and there was one section I wanted to be able to remove in case the gas tank needed to be dropped again and he used 3-bolt clamps that keep coming loose, I finally welded them together, not to mention the rear axle hits...so I think I can do a better job at clearence and use some quality V-band clamps and make the X-pipe better...we'll see, if not I have no one to blame but myself

Oh, I didn't mean that I was going to breath the vapors intentionally but you know it is when welding, your going to breath in some, just wanted to make sure they weren't as poisonous like galvenized steel.

 

[UNGN]

My next door neighbor is a national sales manager for one of the big drug companies and when I told him I was welding my exhaust he looked at me like I was idiot and said "don't you know the dangers?"

This is from a guy who rides a Harley without a helmet.

 

[2QUIK6]

hehe, tell him your welding an exhaust bracket to the gas tank because its rattling oh, and I'll be doing that right beside your house this evening

 

[TexasT]

the guy was a nice guy and had a clean shop...but the bends are very restrictive, clearence sux, and there was one section I wanted to be able to remove in case the gas tank needed to be dropped again and he used 3-bolt clamps that keep coming loose,

The only place I know of that has a mandrel bender for custom exhaust is in the Champions area near Houston. Your probably better off to buy a kit that is pre bent and customizing it to your specs.

 

[2QUIK6]

Well I did it..that was my holiday project! Here's the finished product...