Any tips for welding an exhaust?

[Nicola&Tony]

Well here's the welding, it's not pretty but it'll hopefully hold together for a while!

[weldore]

so...has that repair just paid for your welder

dont matter how it looks as long as it does the trick mate

[Plasticman]

Agreed, if its done the job and gains you some time thats good, gives you time to sort an option out at your leisure and if and when you have the spare time etc it can have a new end plates and be repaired to last lots of years, £170 that really does take some thinking about
mike

[HarryMann]

That's the style, you can rarely do a proper run anyway, other than on top of the rabbit droppings, so a bit pointless and wasteful unless its full of pinholes

Bet that should last at least another 9 months to a year, possibly much more..

What we need is some recommendations on how to wash a silencer out to remove the corrosive deposits that do this damage... then it shouldn't pop more holes elsewhere quite so quick. Think it tends to be where condensation lays, so read on...

I know one problem that casuses accelerated exh.system corrosion... lots of short runs without getting everything really hot - but we all know thats bad for many aspects of engine condition and wear. Another real baddie of course is leaving it idling - esp. in cold weather

[Oldiebut goodie]

Years ago a lot of silencers had a small hole drilled at the lowest point to allow the condensate to exit the box on the short runs when it didn't get hot enough to evaporate it.
I suppose nowadays that is not permitted due to 'elf and safety.

[Plasticman]

Good point, they did and screw h&e a hole I will be drilling
mike

[Nicola&Tony]

Years ago a lot of silencers had a small hole drilled at the lowest point to allow the condensate to exit the box ...

I didn't know that, but was thinking about drilling a small drain hole after reading some of the previous comments in this thread, but I wasn't sure if it was a silly idea though after just welding all those other holes! Until I read some of the posts in this thread, I never knew that condensation formed in the silencers, doh!

Yep, the welder has paid for itself now and bought me some thinking time and saving-up time.

Tony

[HarryMann]

Years ago a lot of silencers had a small hole drilled at the lowest point to allow the condensate to exit the box on the short runs when it didn't get hot enough to evaporate it.
I suppose nowadays that is not permitted due to 'elf and safety.

Thanks OBG, its all coming back now...

[Plasticman]

Yep its scary how we forget these things as they slowly and discretely dropped, bit like the shrinking bars of chocolate and wagon wheels
mike

[oldiguana]

i agree with rozzo owduck....give it a go anyway...you never know...but find some owd thin tin first to have a go on really thin stuff so you can get ya mig set right....try buildin up both edges gently on the thin stuff then turn it up a bit to join both seams.....if it dunna want any...bang a patch on it........or if it is a project,just go cut one off at the scrappers....n weld it in..............just my opinion guys....as im brassy but have plenty of time on me hands!!!!

[Nicola&Tony]

...but find some owd thin tin first to have a go on really thin stuff . . .

That's kinda what I did 'cos I'd left the welder set at how it was when I last messed with the bodywork on the van (and then turned it down to the level below that).

Tony

[HarryMann]

Yup, I think you can go too low when attacking rusy metal welds sometimes, you've at least got to get it arcing. I've had trouble getting good earths on silencers before, and that just makes it even more frustrating, well worth paying attention to that side of things. With on/off on/off I think one can have the setting above abs. minimum at times, because there might well be a lot of other metal close by. But as you turn the setting up, the size of the thick-edged hole you create will increase

[Rozzo]

well done tone,,, now get a bloomin interior in it so nic can camp in luxury

[putney]

Rozzo,I have your bike bits ready for you to collect next weekend at pikey meet,cant seem to get pm to work,