Resto-mod project
11-03-2010, 08:55 AM
#162
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 446
Consider brazing a short term patch. In time, the brass and steel will react and rust. Sealing might help but I'd opt for welding over brazing.
11-03-2010, 11:08 AM
#163
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: FLA
Posts: 78
You might be able to weld those pinholes shut if they are indeed "pinholes", if you start burning through all around, the steel is too far gone and you're going to have to put some floor patches in. Remember the key to easy spotweld cutting is to center punch where you want to drill!
11-04-2010, 10:00 AM
#164
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Madison, Georgia
Posts: 1,643
Hmmmmm, how about aluminum?
You might be able to weld those pinholes shut if they are indeed "pinholes", if you start burning through all around, the steel is too far gone and you're going to have to put some floor patches in. Remember the key to easy spotweld cutting is to center punch where you want to drill!
Thoughts on brazing? I was recommended to it by a fellow doing the same thing on a 1968 porsche 911. He recommended it over welding floor pans...
What if I just use aluminum to braze the holes shut?
11-04-2010, 10:14 AM
#165
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 446
Aluminum won't attach to the steel. The problem isn't the brass per se, it's using dissimilar metals. Brazing a big honking piece of cast iron or steel will show no real problems for a while due to the size. Brazing sheet metal will have a quicker reaction as it's thin. Electrolysis is the problem. If welding blows through too bad, you're in need of new metal as that's a sign of it being too thin to be repaired. A mig with .023 wire on a low setting will do good here unless the metal's too thin. .030 or larger wire will be a challenge even with good metal.
11-04-2010, 10:20 AM
#166
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Madison, Georgia
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Aluminum won't attach to the steel. The problem isn't the brass per se, it's using dissimilar metals. Brazing a big honking piece of cast iron or steel will show no real problems for a while due to the size. Brazing sheet metal will have a quicker reaction as it's thin. Electrolysis is the problem. If welding blows through too bad, you're in need of new metal as that's a sign of it being too thin to be repaired. A mig with .023 wire on a low setting will do good here unless the metal's too thin. .030 or larger wire will be a challenge even with good metal.
I'll weld it then. I've got some .025 mig, think that'll work?
11-04-2010, 07:43 PM
#170
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It's a Chevy 5.3L LM4 engine. I know I know, I'm going straight to hell for putting a chevy engine in my mustang, but for me it was a better idea. I decided to go the EFI route and I didn't want a 4.6 mod motor, and the 5.0 was outta my price range. And I didn't want to just plop an EFI unit on the 302 I have. I've been researching for the past few days and the GM engines put out slightly better stock, or close to stock, numbers in the EFI engine. So that's when I decided on a GM motor.
I wanted an LS1 but of course it was way outta my price range. The cheapest LS1 I could find had 160k miles and was $1,200. No thanks.... (not like I could even afford that) And I didn't want an iron block, so when I found the aluminum block LM4, I jumped on it. $350 for the whole setup, not bad I think. Heck, the 4.6 Ford motors around here are more expensive than that.
I wanted an LS1 but of course it was way outta my price range. The cheapest LS1 I could find had 160k miles and was $1,200. No thanks.... (not like I could even afford that) And I didn't want an iron block, so when I found the aluminum block LM4, I jumped on it. $350 for the whole setup, not bad I think. Heck, the 4.6 Ford motors around here are more expensive than that.
