Aluminum Repair & Fabrication [Archive]

View Full Version : Aluminum Repair & Fabrication

ME111

09-02-2009, 01:48 PM

98Dak408

09-02-2009, 03:35 PM

Don't know much about it other than it says it's a brazing rod. Therefore there will be no real penetration. You'll just be building up an overlapping bond to attempt to hold the parts together. Old school road race car frames were brazed together but not with aluminum brazing rod. I am skeptical about it being stronger than a tig weld and certainly won't look as pretty. It even talks about using a propane torch to do the brazing. That's kind of scary if you ask me. You can gas-weld aluminum but I bet it takes some skill. Those are just my thoughts but I have never used or seen it done. I would keep searching for someone to Tig weld it for you. Have the Tig guys you've talked to said why they don't want to touch it?

grapejuice1998

09-02-2009, 05:28 PM

Having a bitch of a time finding someone to TIG weld my intake setup for the blower so I'm leaning towards getting this:

http://www.aluminumrepair.com/index.asp

Anyone have any experience/feedback on this stuff?

I saw a guy at a gun show use those to seal up a hole in the bottom of an aluminum can, so I bought a few sticks. I tried to use it to repair cracks in my flat bottomed boat. I had no luck whatsoever. I ended up using a spool gun on the boat and it's been good to go ever since.
BTW, I can MIG/TIG/ARC weld and I have also sweated a lot of copper and also brazed a few things together. I have even repaired an aluminum intake that had a corner busted off of it. (TIG)

I wouldn't be anxious to take on your project either. You would need a good jig to get it all lined up properly. Between the angle of the intake side of the head and the narrow areas that would be difficult to get to, it'd be a huge PITA.

2k1AmberR/T

09-02-2009, 05:51 PM

I have a friend in Fredericksburg that can TIG...

ME111

09-02-2009, 06:41 PM

I saw a guy at a gun show use those to seal up a hole in the bottom of an aluminum can, so I bought a few sticks. I tried to use it to repair cracks in my flat bottomed boat. I had no luck whatsoever. I ended up using a spool gun on the boat and it's been good to go ever since.
BTW, I can MIG/TIG/ARC weld and I have also sweated a lot of copper and also brazed a few things together. I have even repaired an aluminum intake that had a corner busted off of it. (TIG)

I wouldn't be anxious to take on your project either. You would need a good jig to get it all lined up properly. Between the angle of the intake side of the head and the narrow areas that would be difficult to get to, it'd be a huge PITA.

Sounds like you've got some skilz. You still got those sticks for I'd like to try it at least? I guess I didn't express my intent well enough. I'll be using the kegger along with a KB blower. The inlet for my blower is one of those Blowzilla inlets and the throttle body will be installed onto the end of that which will relocate it just above the passenger header. I want to use a FMIC so the stock KB outlet that routes to the top of the kegger is no good to me. Also, since I'm using this Blowzilla inlet...I have no need for the standard KB inlet that relocates the throttle body over the driver side header.

So....what I envision is hacking up the standard aluminum inlet tract so that I can weld a short 3" aluminum tube into them. Basically I'll make an aluminum plate to mount on the kegger and another plate that will mount on top of the blower. The tubes to the plates are all that needs to be welded. Pretty sure I can cut and fab what I need to make these two plates with what is available from that standard KB inlet piece. I can hack away this week on it and take pics of the "plates" so you can visualize it better. The only thing is the openings on the plates where the tubes need to be welded are NOT gonna be circular so the tube ends being welded to them will need to be more rectangular. They still need to be circular on the other end so I can put a silicon hose connector on them for the intercooler tubing though .

ME111

09-02-2009, 06:45 PM

I have a friend in Fredericksburg that can TIG...

Mmmmm...friends with TIG skilz and local too. Would you mind touching base with him to see if he's interested in a lil side-job?

2k1AmberR/T

09-02-2009, 07:30 PM

Mmmmm...friends with TIG skilz and local too. Would you mind touching base with him to see if he's interested in a lil side-job?

He definitely is interested...hard part is getting him to answer his phone. I'll try to get in touch with him and let you know what he says. I wanted to ask him about cutting my cats out and welding in some 2.5" pipe anyway...

ME111

09-02-2009, 07:37 PM

He definitely is interested...hard part is getting him to answer his phone. I'll try to get in touch with him and let you know what he says. I wanted to ask him about cutting my cats out and welding in some 2.5" pipe anyway...

Saweet!

grapejuice1998

09-02-2009, 08:34 PM

Sounds like you've got some skilz. You still got those sticks for I'd like to try it at least? I guess I didn't express my intent well enough. I'll be using the kegger along with a KB blower. The inlet for my blower is one of those Blowzilla inlets and the throttle body will be installed onto the end of that which will relocate it just above the passenger header. I want to use a FMIC so the stock KB outlet that routes to the top of the kegger is no good to me. Also, since I'm using this Blowzilla inlet...I have no need for the standard KB inlet that relocates the throttle body over the driver side header.

So....what I envision is hacking up the standard aluminum inlet tract so that I can weld a short 3" aluminum tube into them. Basically I'll make an aluminum plate to mount on the kegger and another plate that will mount on top of the blower. The tubes to the plates are all that needs to be welded. Pretty sure I can cut and fab what I need to make these two plates with what is available from that standard KB inlet piece. I can hack away this week on it and take pics of the "plates" so you can visualize it better. The only thing is the openings on the plates where the tubes need to be welded are NOT gonna be circular so the tube ends being welded to them will need to be more rectangular. They still need to be circular on the other end so I can put a silicon hose connector on them for the intercooler tubing though .

It shouldn't be too hard to TIG a plate onto a sawed off kegger, provided that the cast aluminum will stand up to the voltage you're going to have to use to get the solid stock to pool up. A good welder should be able to work with it though.

I have always wanted to put a KB where it belongs. Right between the valve covers!! Good luck with your project!

ME111

09-03-2009, 01:01 AM

It shouldn't be too hard to TIG a plate onto a sawed off kegger, provided that the cast aluminum will stand up to the voltage you're going to have to use to get the solid stock to pool up. A good welder should be able to work with it though.

I have always wanted to put a KB where it belongs. Right between the valve covers!! Good luck with your project!

Nah! The plates will be bolted on...just need to weld some tube onto the plates. Really shouldn't be that difficult for anyone that knows how to TIG weld.

Mounting between the covers would be ideal and I could do it but then I would lose the benefits of an FMIC and the later addition of a meth/alky kit. I've already lowered my intake cooling solution by an extreme amount.

hskr

09-03-2009, 01:40 AM

I've tried using those exact rods to fix my cracked Mopar valve covers. You really have to know what you are doing. I thought I had it done, looked good, sanded it down, bolted them back on and with out even getting the bolt torqued down it cracked again. Took it back off and tried again and actually started to melt the valve covers so gave up on it. I'm sure with enough practice you can get them to work properly. Would be no different than gas welding steel(not brazing) other than aluminum melts at a lower temp.

Five9Dak

09-03-2009, 02:43 AM

I'm doing mine out of all billet when the time comes, I don't want my welder to have to deal with the cast intake.

AmberFireDaK

09-03-2009, 10:36 PM

I'm doing mine out of all billet when the time comes, I don't want my welder to have to deal with the cast intake.

cast aluminum isn't that bad.... it's cast iron that's a bitch

moore_716

09-06-2009, 04:07 AM

I have countless hours mig welding silver soldering and brazing. I bought this stuff and I couldn't get it to work. The one time I thought it worked the parts fell apart. I know another guy who saw a demonstration at a trade show with the same stuff so he bought it. he also couldn't get it to work.

grapejuice1998

09-06-2009, 03:25 PM