Aluminized Exhaust Pipes - Welding Q? - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

Air_Adam · 06-16-2004, 01:25 AM

Hey guys, just a question.

Is there a 'method' to welding aluminized steel, as opposed to regular steel? I've been welding a new exhaust system together with the MIG at school, and it seems to be more difficult to do then regular steel.

Now, I did basically the same thing for my friend about a month ago. I welded his steel driveshaft (he cut off 2" or something to make it the right length for a TH400 on a Chevelle, but thats for another day...) and it was just basic, regular steel. That was easy to do, took me about 2 minutes, and all the welds were smooth, clean, and had good penetration. Since he had it balanced, its never given him problems, so I know I did it right.

Now I'm doing exactly the same thing on my new exhaust, except the pipes are aluminized steel instead of regular steel. The problems I'm having is that its not easy to get a good looking, smooth weld, and I dunno if the penetration is very good. It seems to be more than strong enough for just an exhaust system, but it just bugs me that the welds aren't as good as they are on regular steel.

Is there a 'trick' to welding aluminized steel pipes with a MIG? The gas I was using, IIRC, was CO2.

ede · 06-16-2004, 05:35 AM

just weld it like you would if it wasn't coated. the coating will burn off in the weld area and it'll mix with the weld metal, but all in all it welds the same. might want to prep the weld area, but you should do that reguardless. rusting is the only big problem with welding on it.

Air_Adam · 06-16-2004, 08:06 PM

Cool, thanks

I'm probably just rusty (excuse the pun, lol) from not welding for a month.