Many thanks to all who replied! I appreciate it. History of the manifold: I
bought it on ebay. It had been painted black. I used an aircraft paint
remover to clean that off. Then I had it media blasted. It looked virutally
new. Inside looks new. I made a jig and drilled the holes for the bungs.
Made a fixture to hold them in place while welding. Used alcohol to clean
rods and around where is was welding. Used a new grinder, bought just for
this purpose (30 bucks) for shaping tungsten tips. Ground a ball on the
electrode (maybe this is first mistake). Cranked the argon up to 18 cfm. My
instruction book says that is the right range. Turned the amps up a LOT (old
weldor told me 1 amp per mil of thickness). Bought an old manifold at the
junque yard to pratice on. It was scaly but not grungy with oil. I managed
to weld on it so so. So I tackled the real manifold. Bushwa...looks like
chicken droppings everywhere. The tig tip looks like crap. My steel welding
looks great in the arc, but not this. I can see the puddle forming then it
gets scummy and nothing flows. Like brazing with a brass rod and no flux.
So, I will try again. I will melt a new ball on the electrode. I will heat
the snot out of the manifold with a torch to force any oils out and to burn
them off. While it is still hot, I will try again. I have them stuck on well
enough now that I could epoxy the remainder and/of use that aluminum brazing
junk to fill in. I use a Lincoln Sq Wave 175, TIG setting, AC setting and
about 150 amps.
Any other thoughts? I'll keep all posted on new results...maybe MOnday.
mayf, the aluminum challenged weldor in PAHrump...
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