Beginner welding...bad idea?
Champion
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,430
Likes: 2
From: NW Arkansas
yep, vo-tech over in ozark..... i could help ya out sometime, BUT i dont weld often enough to get as good as i need to be, so i usually burn thru and have some holes to fill
Grand Champion
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7,055
Likes: 7
From: Lee County, North Carolina
ghost said exactly what I was going to say.
Welding overhead sucks so at least buy one of those 20-30 dollar welding jackets, those won't stop the slag from giving you a little burn if it lands and doesn't roll off the jacket but the jacket won't catch on fire and it will be a lot better than if you weren't wearing it.
After you cut off the old one then you put the new one in place and tack it on both sides and drop the y pipe and finish welding it on the ground, it's really tight above the cat and pretty tough to get a welding gun in there.
For practice you should just cut a couple pieces of scrap up and draw about a 1/2" bead on them then break them apart to see if the weld penetrated the metal enough. If the weld breaks off the metal then either it wasn't hot enough to penetrate or you were moving too fast.
If it blows holes in the metal then either you're going too slow or the welder it too hot.
The lincoln pro mig 140 at lowes would be more than enough for what you want to do. I just got the lincoln pro mig 180 and love it.
If it were me though and I were iffy about my ability to weld after some practice on top of all the stuff you'll have to buy then I would just give the exhaust shop the 50$ to put it on for me.
Did you already get the cat? I believe your 01 has the single in/single out style and if it does then your new cat will only cost you 70$ at summit. You'll need to get a 3" to 2.5" converter from the parts store also because the cat is 3" upstream and 2.5" downstream.
Almost forgot, Tractor Supply has pretty nice auto-darkening helmets that are cheaper than a lot of places. I just got one on sale for 80$ the other day.
Welding overhead sucks so at least buy one of those 20-30 dollar welding jackets, those won't stop the slag from giving you a little burn if it lands and doesn't roll off the jacket but the jacket won't catch on fire and it will be a lot better than if you weren't wearing it.
After you cut off the old one then you put the new one in place and tack it on both sides and drop the y pipe and finish welding it on the ground, it's really tight above the cat and pretty tough to get a welding gun in there.
For practice you should just cut a couple pieces of scrap up and draw about a 1/2" bead on them then break them apart to see if the weld penetrated the metal enough. If the weld breaks off the metal then either it wasn't hot enough to penetrate or you were moving too fast.
If it blows holes in the metal then either you're going too slow or the welder it too hot.
The lincoln pro mig 140 at lowes would be more than enough for what you want to do. I just got the lincoln pro mig 180 and love it.
If it were me though and I were iffy about my ability to weld after some practice on top of all the stuff you'll have to buy then I would just give the exhaust shop the 50$ to put it on for me.
Did you already get the cat? I believe your 01 has the single in/single out style and if it does then your new cat will only cost you 70$ at summit. You'll need to get a 3" to 2.5" converter from the parts store also because the cat is 3" upstream and 2.5" downstream.
Almost forgot, Tractor Supply has pretty nice auto-darkening helmets that are cheaper than a lot of places. I just got one on sale for 80$ the other day.
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Champion
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 2,811
Likes: 2
From: Ft Campbell, KY/TN
^^ no haven't gotten the cat. It is single in single out. I am looking at cats, because I need to get one with an extra 02 sensor hole for a wideband o2 sensor.
ALso, is heavy metal the way to go? They run about 120.
ALso, is heavy metal the way to go? They run about 120.
Grand Champion
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7,055
Likes: 7
From: Lee County, North Carolina
Haven't heard of heavy metal. Mine was the 70$ one.
as far as another o2 sensor location, you can just get an o2 bung (or a spark plug non-fouler) and drill a hole in the pipe then weld it on.
as far as another o2 sensor location, you can just get an o2 bung (or a spark plug non-fouler) and drill a hole in the pipe then weld it on.