Well, the exhaust on the wagon is starting to sound a little more throaty than it should ... a peek underneath shows that most of the single pipe has been replaced at one time or another in fairly short sections ... so it looks like winter might be the right time for an upgrade. I've spoken to several performance exhaust suppliers (cherry bomb, heart throb) on facebook and there are some kits they supply that come close, but nobody has anything tailored for the late B bodies, particularly not the wagons. So one way or another, I'm facing some fab work. Naturally if money's to be spent, I'd rather spend a little more and never have to repeat the work... so stainless it the choice of preference. And while the toolaholic in me rubs his greedy little mitts together like Snidely Whiplash at the idea of having the perfect excuse to hunt down a deal on a nice little tig .... the cheap Scot in me says no.

Well, while looking for an alternative .. I looked at mig welding stainless and came up with several options. My welder (linc sp-170t) is more than capable of doing the job with solid stainless ... but to get a decent weld I'd need to look at getting a bottle of tri-mix for most spools. Cheapo says keep looking. Some are good with C-25 ... but I'm cheaper than that. I've been doing steel with straight CO2. Then I find something I've never run across before .. flux core stainless. Interesting. Some is fully gasless ... some of it has straight CO2 recommended. Bingo.

And the fly in the ointment ... smallest rolls of the stuff is 25lbs. That's a little much for one exhaust.

So, has anyone here tried this stuff before and can offer a recommendation or suggestion? Maybe someone already coughed up for the big spool and wouldn't mind selling a couple of pounds?

 

In my experience the flux core wire that claims to work without shield gas does not work very well. You will most likely end up with a lot of porosity in your weld which means you will still have leaks. So if you go that route your better off using gas anyways. If you do go that route see how much more a bottle of 75% argon 25% co2 mix is than pure co2 that will also help give you a better weld.

 

Well, my CO2 bottle is my own, and costs $13 for a 10lbs fill. When I last looked (over 5 years ago) there was noone in my area that would fill an owned argon bottle, only their own rentals .. and one year's rental (minimum contract) was more than the price of a bottle. C25 on top of that. That's what went me towards CO2 to begin with. I simply don't do enough welding in a year to warrant paying rent on a bottle. The CO2 bottle is only on it's second fill. It might splatter a little more, but it gets the job done.

 

Did you look at Waldrons?
Never used them, you didn't list year, but they list stainless for some wagons.

 

'81 custom cruiser, 307. Never heard of them actually.

 

Ok, the Co2 should work fine for what your doing. I was just thinking if you had to get a bottle it was worth checking the price difference.