If we learn from our mistakes, that makes me the smartest man alive!
Charlie Brown
On 3/4/02, Jan Eyerman <jan.eyerman@usa.net> wrote:
"Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want" (sign on the
wall of a cubicle)
Jan Eyerman
(with lots of experience)
Thomas Wiencek <wiencek@anl.gov> wrote:
You wrote -
I would buy those 5 hours of my life back for $17.00 or even $30.00 I would in
a
heartbeat!
Lou -
Keep your $30. Sure you would rather have your time back but then you would
have to make the same mistake again before you learned not to do it!!! As my
dad would say - You had to get it out of your system!!! Not wasted time - You
learned something very valuable. Only 5 hours in "school" is a cheap price to
pay for this lesson. Some people take 100 hours in school and some never
learn it in a lifetime!!!
On 3/1/02, Louis & Laila <bwana@c2i2.com> wrote:
Ron,
I would have added that, but I was thinking in terms of the
capabilities of the home hobbyist that has an A/C welder or and
Oxy-acetylene rig. Although I only had welding in high school, my dad welded
his whole life, and is probably one of the best welders ever! In fact, on my
Dad's birth certificate, my Grandfather's occupation is listed as "Electric
welder", something that was considered very sophisticated back in the
pre-war days.
One of the problems that I see with many hobbiest books and articles is that
they demonstrate that these processes can be done. (And they should for
unobtainable gear) I have seen an article on a race car that had a hand made
one time run of engines. During the race, a connecting rod went through the
block. Twenty years later, the owner of the car finds the engine on a pallet
in some guy's back yard. So, he decides to get the block welded back
together. Remember, this is one of those guys who has a hell of a lot of
money, and the ability to pay someone till it is done right. He admitted
that the engine would never, ever, be stressed to the original specs, and it
would only be run a few miles each year, so imperfect metal was tolerable. I
remember thinking that this article is going to send a mess of guys with
cracked chevy 350 heads down to the weld shop demanding to spend $400 to
weld up a cracked head, that could be bought out of a junkyard for $50! I am
in the Marines, and I have brazed up a few cracked manifolds for Marines who
know before hand that they are not going to keep the car/truck after they
are transfered to another base. But I make them aware that this is a one
time temp fix.
So, I always point out to people, that yes, it can be done, but no, it is
not worth it. When you figure the time to unbolt the old one, bolt in a new
one, as opposed to baking the damn thing, pulling it out after it reaches
the correct temp, setting up a rig, grinding out a bevel, welding up the
crack, putting it back in the oven, back and forth between welds, then
finally grinding the welds down, the cost of materials, time etc, it is not
worth it.
Please excuse the long windedness of this, but I have made these same
mistakes myself. I don't want others to do so. I was told to never screw
with the thermostat housing. I was told to buy one from Sunbeam Specialties
for $17.00 I thought that was WAY TOO MUCH MONEY! So I went to the metal
shop and bought some aluminum tubing. That took an hour or two. Then I
machined it so it would fit in the housing, that took time. then I machined
the housing so that it would slip fit. Then I setup the welder. Then I
wasted a mess of helium. Then I spent 2 hours trying to weld up that
corroded hunk of metal. After I was finally done, I put it on the car. It
sprung a leak through the front face. I bought a new one from SUnbeam
Specialties for $17.00 and was happy the damn thing was so cheap. I figure I
spent 5 hours f-ing around with something that wasn't worth it not to
mention the cost of the aluminum, helium, rod, cutting tools etc. If I could
buy those 5 hours of my life back for $17.00 or even $30.00 I would in a
heartbeat!
, ----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Tebo" <tebomr@cadvision.com>
To: "Vladimir Broz" <svalpine@hotmail.com>
Cc: "alpines" <alpines@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 6:28 AM
Subject: Re: Ex. Manifold Repair
> Vlad:
> As a journeyman weldor, I agree entirely with Louis. I would add that,
> to do the job well, with cast fusion welding rather than the nickel
> alloy, would require preheating the entire manifold and using controlled
> cooling or postheating to reduce stress, as well as final machining. No
> weldor capable of doing this is going to do it for less than the price
> of a good second hand manifold! (Keep it for a doorstop or an emergency
spare)
>
> Ron Tebo
>
> Vladimir Broz wrote:
> >
> > Do any of you knowledgeable folks know how to replace a 1/4" chunk that
was
> > broken off and missing from the upper left mounting hole of my exhaust
> > manifold?? Is there some type of high temp "Metal Set" that could work?
Is
> > welding an option? Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Scrambling to get on the road when the warm weather comes,
> > Vlad
> > 1966 SV 395005683
> > Ramsey, New Jersey
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
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