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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - exhaust repair

just disconnected the downpipe from the manifold on my 1969 midget which is fitted with a 1974 exhaust system and manifold. the lip on the downpipe has burnt away so that the triangle flange has nothing to hold the downpipe to the manifold , anybody know of a good bodge for this prob or is it a case of a new exhaust, bit of a shame as its a stainless jobby. Dan
d a hadaway

There are places about that specialize in stainless exhausts who could possible cut the offending section and let in a new piece. There is Zero Exhausts at Ashford and someone else at Bromley. A play with Google may find someone near to you wherever you are in Kent.
Alan
www.masckent.org
Alan Anstead

Put up a pic of the lip. How bad is it?

Have you got a mig? A bit of stainless wire should sort it out. And even ordinary steel wire will weld it. Should be possible to fix it with a suitable bit of metal to replace/repair the lip I would have thought.

I welded the downpipe on my 73 Midget. It's pretty thick, so easy to weld. Mine's not stainless I'll admit, but I'd still have a go if it was.
Lawrence Slater

can you MIG stainless ? I thought that was a TIG only job. . .
P Bentley

Stainless can be welded with a stick welder, so I suspect it can be welded with wire. In the interest of full disclosure, I have only stick welded using stainless rod on non-stainless base metal.

Charley
C R Huff

I'm thinking it can be MIG welded with the proper wire and 100% argon shield gas.
Trevor Jessie

Yes, ss can be mig welded, but I think you have to use a low temp setting to get a good weld plus a really good earth ground

Ive done it once , it worked fine....but I in no way consider myself a competent welder...just a stick it and go, with some bubble gum for good measure
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Yup you can mig stainless.

I mig'ed my stainless Q/lights. I used argon mix, not pure argon, and the result is still acceptable.

Here's a pic, half done. The inside weld went as well as the outside weld.

For a downpipe, who cares how it looks, as long as it seals?



Lawrence Slater

No problem welding stainless with MIG and I use Argoshield light and although not the best it works fine for what I do but BOC do make gas blends specifically for MIG welding stainless, see http://www.boconline.co.uk/en/products-and-supply/industrial-gases/shielding-gases/stainshield/stainshield.html . I have TIG as well and that uses pure argon for everything. BTW some years back the BOC depot gave me a bottle of argon instead of argoshield and with the MIG on steel the weld wasn't nearly as nice, they took it back and gave me the correct stuff and all was good again.
David Billington

This thread was discussed between 16/04/2014 and 17/04/2014

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