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Thread: Tack welding stainless steel with a Mig welder

  1. #11
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Steel WILL rust inside......stainless is forever. If the cost is the same why go with mild steel? IMO there’s no benefit. Combustion generates a lot of water. Headers run hotter than tailpipes. I didn’t think twice about going with stainless.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


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  2. #12
    Registered Member NickP's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chevynut View Post
    Steel WILL rust inside......stainless is forever. If the cost is the same why go with mild steel? IMO there’s no benefit. Combustion generates a lot of water. Headers run hotter than tailpipes. I didn’t think twice about going with stainless.
    For the most part, I would agree that stainless would be the better choice especially if the price is the same. If price is not, give thought to the purpose of the car. Will it just be a weekend car? Will it be a daily driver or highway cruiser? If so, then longevity would garner thoughts of stainless versus carbon steel even aluminized or coated. Unless it's coated inside and out, rust (carbon steel) will begin its job of destruction.

  3. #13
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    I Mig welded mine with steel pipes and stainless Magnaflow mufflers. I painted all the pipes with POR high heat exhaust paint which has held up very well with 2 seasons of driving on it. My headers are Sanderson block huggers with ceramic coating and the pipes connected directly to the headers show no signs of any paint failure.
    Brian

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    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    ONE more opinion of stainless: Stainless pipes are generally thinner metal than the steel ones, and much thinner than aluminized, and that 'lack of mass' comes thru in a 'tinny SOUND', which I personally do not care for... and that is why I'd use anything OTHER than stainless..

  5. #15
    Registered Member NickP's Avatar
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    In all of the units we built, we kept the proper gauge/wall thickness but to note, we never buy kits in a can.

  6. #16
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BamaNomad View Post
    Stainless pipes are generally thinner metal than the steel ones, and much thinner than aluminized,
    That is simply not true. My exhaust pipes are 16 gauge stainless which is at least as thick as any commonly used mild steel exhaust pipes. Sure you can buy thinner material but 16 gauge is common. And it STAYS that thickness because it doesn’t rust. Most exhaust systems on newer cars are stainless.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  7. #17
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chevynut View Post
    That is simply not true. My exhaust pipes are 16 gauge stainless which is at least as thick as any commonly used mild steel exhaust pipes. Sure you can buy thinner material but 16 gauge is common. And it STAYS that thickness because it doesn’t rust. Most exhaust systems on newer cars are stainless.
    CN? Who sells stainless exhaust systems for older cars made of 16 gauge or thicker? I know you can purchase your own SS in whatever thickness you want and roll your own, but my comment was related to the 'off the shelf' SS systems sold for 'restoration purposes' for classic chevys and other cars, corvettes, etc from the fifties/sixties/seventies... and they sound like CRAP... but that's just one man's opinion, and we all have one.

  8. #18
    Registered Member NickP's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BamaNomad View Post
    CN? Who sells stainless exhaust systems for older cars made of 16 gauge or thicker? I know you can purchase your own SS in whatever thickness you want and roll your own, but my comment was related to the 'off the shelf' SS systems sold for 'restoration purposes' for classic chevys and other cars, corvettes, etc from the fifties/sixties/seventies... and they sound like CRAP... but that's just one man's opinion, and we all have one.
    What's the advertised gauge of the items you're mentioning and who is the supplier? If it's thinner than advertised and you (not you personally) purchased it, shame on the buyer for not reporting it and shame on the supplier.

  9. #19
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NCW View Post
    What's the advertised gauge of the items you're mentioning and who is the supplier? If it's thinner than advertised and you (not you personally) purchased it, shame on the buyer for not reporting it and shame on the supplier.
    My *experience* listening to restored cars with stainless exhaust goes back to the 80's and 90's when cars were being *restored* to original for show purposes... about the only times you heard them running was when they came in/out of the trailers and driven onto the show field. At that time, most of the restoration suppliers for exhaust systems had SS options, but I don't recall EVER seeing the gauge of the metal mentioned; nor do I recall ever seeing what the gauge of the original metal in the exhaust systems were.. I've had a 'negative' attitude re SS exhausts since that time; I do not like the tinny sound associated with those exhausts. I don't like the stainless aftermarket exhaust for C4/C5 Corvettes either, for the same reason... (I have a friend who said one time, as we listened to a C4 corvette with the new at the time Corsa exhaust) that it 'sounds like a fat man farting into a tin can!'...

    If/When I heard an OTS stainless *restoration* exhaust (which doesn't sound tinny, I'll re-adjust my attitude appropriately...

  10. #20
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    I thought wagoncrazy was posting to get feedback on a custom exhaust system made of stainless mandrel bends and straight stainless pipe. Nobody said anything about an OTS stainless exhaust system. They can be made out of whatever the manufacturer wants to use and you can choose NOT to buy thin ones if you don’t like them. Same with mild steel. I think mild steel exhaust pipes are often 18 gauge as are a lot of headers. To claim that stainless exhaust systems are inherently “thinner “ material is false.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

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