Scarlett Watson
Specific tasks in the automotive industry are classified as black attacks that appear to need a supernatural ability to complete. The making of headers is among these tasks. This month, we leaped into the unknown and tried to design a pair of titles on our own. In the December issue of last year, we shared our journey in the Lincoln Electric welding program, in which we received an excellent foundation for the fundamentals of welding with T.I.G. The skills we learned were put to the test on this project, too. It’s unlikely anyone will call our work a masterpiece.
However, we have learned many things from the experience. The following header that we created could be used on a vehicle. The Hypothesis This might seem a bit “green” to us. However, we chose to make a few recycling efforts during this month. While you’ll never see yourself wearing Birkenstocks or hemp tunics, we have many opportunities to modify or reuse parts from the past. It’s not so much about saving our planet but rather about protecting our pockets. In this regard, we constructed a custom exhaust header from two old titles we had lying about. The idea was to use them as a front-mounted turbo system. The first step was to get two 1 51/48-inch shorty headers. We attached them to the block and chose the most suitable location for the turbocharger.
Mock-Up
Routing every plumbing component for the turbocharger could be complicated. We put the turbo directly in front of the engine and the radiator to simplify things. This gives space for an air intake pipe and the plumbing connecting the turbo to the intercooler. We turned the headers upside down to ensure that all tubes were facing in the direction forward. After that, we gazed at them for a long time and tried to figure out the next step. Cut the collector away with our 14-inch cut saw to visualize how everything will be routed. After that, we made the bracket using steel scrap to support the turbocharger. The bar was secured with clamps, and the turbo was suspended using a zip tie (use the strongest ones) and then bolted onto the collector onto the bracket.
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Filling holes
Welding is about controlling the heat. The goal is to have the base metal sufficiently hot to liquefy and then join the filler material that is molten but not too in a way that you burn through the material. It can be a delicate and precise balance as various areas within the same piece of work require different methods. The edges are particularly susceptible to burn through due to little of a heat source on edge than the centre of a wall or tube. The heat is concentrated near the boundaries because there’s less space to put it. Therefore, a range of heat that creates a stunning weld in the centre of a panel could blow out as you get to the edge. Another method to plug the hole is to fill around the area using additional filler material, one step at a time, until you’ve built enough of a “bridge” to fill the gap. To avoid creating holes from the beginning, Remove the heat once you’ve come close to the edges of a panel using a TIG-type welder. When using a M.I.G. tool, you could prefer to stop the beam when you get to the end and wait until the weld has cooled a little, then add several tack welds for a final finish.
