Welding (properly) on your cast iron exhaust manifolds

[OlderThanMe]

I just saw this ad on here about welding on cast iron.

http://www.muggyweld.com/castiron.html

It provides a much more ductile weld so that it won't crack under extreme heat/size changes.

I have seen several members on here that have welded on their cast iron manifolds with a MIG welder and had no cracking but that is a little risky.

I'd prefer to do three, 120 degree, SMAW welds that are way more ductile to prevent cracking.

This electrode looks like the best option out there for welding on cast iron.

(only for SMAW and Stick which are both the same process but different names.)

You can often find an old guy with a welder in the garage that can stick weld for you if you don't know how. It is a bit harder than MIG is because you have to control the angles of the electrode more precisely or you will dig out metal on one side of the weld and leave build-up where you don't want it on the other side.

 

I have never welded on cast iron but we were tought that if we ever had to weld it that we should put mild steel studs into the cast iron before welding to help the weld hold on when the cast iron expands. That adds a LOT of labor to the process.

 

Video HERE

 

Hopefully this helps those of you that don't have much edumacation in welding. (I have a degree in welding and joining technology FWIW)

 

O.T.M.