1600 turbo build thread

[petew]

I found making flanged tubes with the TIG much harder than with the MIG, but then I guess it all comes down to experience too.

I'd love to spend more time with the TIG, but another gas bottle is too expensive for the small amount of welding I do. MIG is more than adequate for the job, it's just not as sexy to look at afterwards.

[buguy]

Depends on who's tigging it!! My tig is definitely not sexy!

[buguy]

Aha! I went back through this thread and found the pic I posted of the tig I did. It was on the collector flange and it wasn't very thick. Must be why it worked better.

[Chip Birks]

50 is probably a bit low for that 3/8 pipe. Remember, you have throttle control with the tig, the Amp setting is just the govener. You can set it higher and then ease up when you touch the tube. Mig works fine though.

[theKbStockpiler]

The beauty of automatic wire feeding is that the filler metal drastically helps to conduct heat and at the start it does it while the base metal is relatively cool. I haven't welded thick metal to thin metal with TIG but I would intuitively build the pool/bead up from the base thick metal to the thin metal and then keep about 2/3rds of the pool on the thicker metal. With TIG, fit up has to be perfect or you have to spend a lot of time heating up a big bead and using capillary action to fill in the gap. If you have more than just a very slight gap, MIG is much more faster and cheaper to do.

[buguy]

Yeah the welder guy here said I was way way too cold running 50 amps. Mig certainly was way faster getting it done. Probably didn't take me a minute to mig it up. I blasted the weld area in the blast cabinet so it took me way longer to get that polished back up than it did to weld.

[theKbStockpiler]

I would think that welding thick plate would start at around 150 amps with normal shielding gas.

[buguy]

Yeah he recommended 120 amps. If my collector ever gets here I will get some more practice, but with tube to tube welding.
I will have to weld on 8 of the thick 2 bolt flanges as well as the collector and up pipe flanges that will be welded to the. 065 wall tube. I should have plenty of practice by the time I finish building this header.

[buguy]

Well I called great planes about my collector and the guy said "I have it right here... I will ship it out today". Its been a couple weeks since I ordered it, so if anyone orders from there be sure to give yourself plenty of time cuz they ain't quick about it.

[buguy]

Is there a chance if an oil ring failed in my turbo that it could be forcing exhaust into the crank case through the drain?
I don't know for sure either, but I filled some main jets with solder and drilled them out to a #47 size. That "should" be 3 sizes or so too small and just sitting still and revving it to 2000 rpms my afr still goes to 10. No clue if it's related or not but I'm a bit nervous to drive it at the moment. Also just so I give all the information, I can now hear what I can only describe as a squeak when it's running that wasn't there before. I thought it was the alternator, but I took the belt off and its still there. Can't tell quite where its coming from, but doesn't sound like it's from the turbo.

[Steve Arndt]

Any kind of ignition miss fire will read rich on the AFR gauge.

[buguy]

Hummm. I did fry my points a while back by connecting it to the wrong side of the coil. I replaced them but maybe something is goofy there?
That doesn't explain the blow by but maybe I have multiple issues

[Chip Birks]

I recommend getting a set of decent rings too. Using the cheap ones that come with the pistons and cylinders isn't a great idea for long term boosted abuse. I bought a set for my 87s before i got the forged ones. When ordering the JEs, the salesman asked what rings i was going to be using, I told him, and he told me that they were junk and not designed for turbo use. I've used them in my big motor for years, and get exactly the symptoms he described. Lots of blow by and such. Good rings cost a few bucks, but save on rebuilding down the road.

[buguy]

Yeah. I guess one other thing getting me is I don't know for sure that I have "blowby". Maybe it's a normal amount of air coming out for a vw but now there is smoke or vapor and I notice it. I had never really paid attention before.
So what are "good rings"?

[Chip Birks]

Deves makes a good one. I don't know what is available for 85.5 though. Total seal is another popular, but way pricey.