Re: spider exhaust manifolds. -Mig weld them!

["Thomas Moll" <moltek@domain.elided>]

Last year I broke both (euro) exhaust manifolds on my Alfetta after driving
the car straight up on a curb (I was showing (off) my son how to drive in
the snow and the curb was invisible across the road leading into a school.)
One of the manifolds just cracked but the lower flange broke off of the
other one. Because I couldn't find a replacement set that day and this is my
only car I needed to keep it drivable and decided to try to weld them back
together with my mig welder. I've read about the difficulty in welding cast
iron and several people I talked to that day said that the manifolds were
garbage and that the only way to weld cast iron is by heating and cooling
the piece slowly in an oven (to prevent it from cracking) and then use a
stick welder and a nickel rod to do the actual welding. Only having a mig
welder at my disposal I decided to try it. I cleaned the breaks and the area
around with a wire wheel and brake clean and then just welded the cracked
manifold together. The piece with the broken off flange was a little
trickier since a part of the flange and sealing face was missing, but I
tacked the pieces I had onto the manifold and then basically filled in the
missing area with lots of welding until it was higher than the original
flange face. I then used a bench grinder to get it close and then a file to
get a smooth finish on the sealing surface.

The welds are still holding up through daily driving and some laps around
the racetrack and I've had the exhaust off twice since with no breaking or
cracking problems.

I used a standard 115 Volt 135 amp wire feed welder with standard steel wire
and standard CO2/ Argon mix. The only thing I did different was reversing
the polarity. I have no idea if that made a difference or not...

Good luck
Thomas Moll
Seattle




----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony" <tg60@domain.elided>
To: <alfa-digest@domain.elided>
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 2:53 PM
Subject: spider exhaust manifolds.


> Ha... those pesky exhaust manifolds, and how they crack! what can a poor
alfista do but pony up the $295? are they any good street legal alternatives
out there? TonyG87 grad.
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