Thread: crappy welds Rant/ got ripped off!

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Hey i dont post much here but thought id ask becuase someone has to be able to shed some light on this. I had a downpipe made for a turbo car im building, didnt realize it until i brought the pipe home and really looked at it but there are a lot of pinhole leaks are around the welds. I paid a local welder a descent amount of money to do this and it leaks and looks like a 10 year old welded it. And what really has me wondering is the fact that the welds are a beaded yellow/brass tint. it doesnt appear that any of the metal is welded together but it seems like he just melted a coathanger on it to hold it together... He told me if anything is wrong or anything to let him know but still, i dont understand how someone could let this leave the shop because i didnt notice until i got back to the garage and noticed that the yellowish/brass welds were covered with regular low temp silver spraypaint along with serios pin leaks.... does anyone know what is going on here? when i was leaving he said if there are any leaks to use JB weld... WTF??? i guess ill have to cut my losses here and take the pipe to a reputable welding shop and see if it can be sealed up because if not i just wasted a ton of time/money/effort doing this considering i even brought the guy a spare motor/trans to mock the turbo kit up with and now i realize the welds are crap. sorry to rant but i dont post here often and im kinda ticked about this whole thing. In this pic you cant really see the bad welds because they are on the bottom and side, you can start to see some of the mess on the left by the flange... i will get pics of the realllly crappy welds tomorrow.

pretty, i think i could do a nicer job with my arc welder

Actualy think it should have been done with mig or tig but ???? Why did you put it on if its so bad??

Hmmm... What are the materials used? The flange part looks like it could be cast iron and the tubing looks like it could be steel (?). If that is the case, they are dissimilar metals and welding them can be tricky, bordering on impossible for all but the most experienced welders. Therefore, they may have been brazed instead of welded. (Brazing would explain the yellowish look to the joined area as it's done with brass.)

Not very pretty welds,like J.says, it can be difficult to weld dissimilar metals, if indeed they are.Steel flanges are readily available for minimal cost if you dont want to make your own.Sorry to hear they leak,as of course it will only get worse as you put more heat and back pressure on the turbine side,JB weld? I hope he wasn't serious!Is this for the Vette?Im building an 87 firebird Turbo car now,And used weld Ells for the manifold being a log type manifold.Ill be looking for your pictures.I really like these kind of builds

looks like some brazing was done .ni looks yellow but not that much.iron to steel is not to bad to do i done it many time

I agree, thats junk.

Originally Posted by cffisher

Actualy think it should have been done with mig or tig but ???? Why did you put it on if its so bad??

i was test fitting the pipe and it fits good, i took it all back off and had it mig'd/tig'd not exactly sure but the welds are all good now, brought it to a skilled welder and he re-welded the whole thing. it came out really good now and is leak free , i just had to cut my losses and bring it to someone who knew what they were doing... and no its for an Asc/mclaren turbo grand prix... ill post pics tomorrow when its all together! thanks guys, i got screwed and just felt like i had to share... it happens to the best of us!