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Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - Printable Version

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Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - raysorenson - 11-22-2014

It's bullshit. I do NOT want to mess with stainless. You have to back purge tubing to shield the backside of the weld. That means another argon tank and regulator. You have to figure out have to plug the pipe at both ends with an argon port at one end and an orifice at the other.

If you want anything outside of the norm, it's only available in stainless. Oval tubing? Stainless only. Small diameter flex pipe for external wastegate plumbing? Stainless only. Want external wastegate? It comes with SS flanges. Header tubing that isn't heavy as fuck? Stainless only.

It's like there's an army of fabbers out there who hate mild steel. MS rocks, for a thousand reasons.


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - Simpler=Better - 11-23-2014

(11-22-2014, 03:42 PM)raysorenson It's bullshit. I do NOT want to mess with stainless. You have to back purge tubing to shield the backside of the weld. That means another argon tank and regulator. You have to figure out have to plug the pipe at both ends with an argon port at one end and an orifice at the other.

If you want anything outside of the norm, it's only available in stainless. Oval tubing? Stainless only. Small diameter flex pipe for external wastegate plumbing? Stainless only. Want external wastegate? It comes with SS flanges. Header tubing that isn't heavy as fuck? Stainless only.

It's like there's an army of fabbers out there who hate mild steel. MS rocks, for a thousand reasons.

This is why my only stainless stuff is:
A-Waterpump shaft
B-Fasteners
C-Sheetmetal


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - MFSuper90 - 11-24-2014

Look at spd exhaust. They got
Lots of mild steel stuff


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - sassparilla_kid - 11-26-2014

I'd just buy a couple small pieces in the same thickness and try them with the mig welder, I've had mixed results doing this and you might get lucky and have it work out


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - Duncansport - 11-30-2014

I bought all my mild steel parts from Independent Pipe Supply. There just up the road form me. SCH40 mild 1.5 pipe parts a very cheap. I think i droped like $60 on 10 elbows and 5 concentric reducers.

SS is a better option for the purpose so that why everything is built in SS. Including turbine housings these days.

MIG might work ok if you stitch weld it with a thick wire on a lot of heat. But it really needs to be tig welded with a root pass then filler


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - raysorenson - 12-01-2014

(11-30-2014, 06:54 PM)Duncansport SS is a better option for the purpose so that why everything is built in SS. Including turbine housings these days.

I mostly disagree when it comes to turbo headers. If you live in a part of the world where rust is a serious problem, you'll need to coat your mild steel manifold where you could leave stainless uncoated. Mild steel has the ductility advantage over stainless, which would lead to a more durable turbo manifold.

Ductility is much harder to market than shiny. That's my explanation for the ubiquitous SS exhaust parts.

I've been doing plenty of research since I posted this thread. I may start building my exhausts out of stainless for no other reason than to increase the marketability of my work. For turbo headers, mild steel will always be the first choice.


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - hooblah - 12-01-2014

Isn't mild steel also lighter than stainless?


RE: Mild steel exhaust fab parts rant - raysorenson - 12-01-2014

Stainless does have slightly higher density than mild/low carbon steel, but the difference is negligible. 1020 mild has 7.86 g/cm3, 304 stainless is 7.9.

Stainless has about a third higher rate of thermal expansion which is not what you want in a complicated load-bearing structure like a turbo manifold.