My turbo 5.3 and 4l80e wagon build

[79longroof]

I mig all of my own pipes. Everything pre-turbo is 16 gauge mild steel usually from Jegs (cheapest) and the stainless clamps are from Summit., Yes I mig stainless clamps onto steel pipe with copper wire lol (I have some sloppy in me as well - lol.) The local slops tell me to post my stuff on their FB page, but I never do. I will say that I tried aluminized pipe ALOT (too much) before I gave up on it pre-turbo. Using aluminized forced me to keep up on my welding skills.

My basis for the 'accessibility' ideas is that if the motor has to come out for whatever reason, then I want it on the stand in well under 3hrs without instituting an act of Congress. Hopefully our current motor doesn't have to come out for blowing up regularly, but previously I've had motors that needed regular removal. And fighting with anything to remove them generally pissed me off enough to engineer something so as to eliminate the aggravation.

Aside from that regarding the fans/cooling system, I'm a true proponent of using whatever works on the cheap. Our fans are directly out of the boneyard, the radiator isn't but it's a sub $200 unit. Some will cringe at a $200 rad, but many will tell you that without $400+ Griffin you're cooling system is no good. It makes me chuckle. Basically, if the Intrepid fans work, then use them. They are cheap to buy, maintain, etc.

Aside from that - I do not want to muddy up your build thread. I like it and FWIW I've been looking for a wagon for about 6 months to build as a sleeper much like yours. Where are you located?

I've had alot of people tell me that aluminized is hard to weld but I haven't had that experience at all! It just sounds different. And I've been debating on just mig welding my stainless bands on my own but am afraid I'll mess it up and warp the flange or something lol

I actually ended up going to a Boneyard and finding one of the thinnest fans I could. I actually stumbled upon it on accident. I was looking at GM fwd V6 cars and ended up finding a FWD LS4 Impala and the fans are extremely thin for OEM. I ripped it out and got home and realized they were a little too wide. No matter, some trimming with the sawzall got them to fit. Pretty happy with it, we'll see how they do!

I'm located in Southwest Missouri. I got lucky with my Wagon because my Grandparents have owned the car since new and gave it to me when I turned 16. I still always keep an eye out for other wagons though. There was an 82 4 eye for sale for $500 with no engine or trans that I tried to buy to rob parts off of but they had sold it already.

 

[fleming442]

I MIG welded some stainless v-band clamps on a header project before- no big deal.

 

[64nailhead]

I've had alot of people tell me that aluminized is hard to weld but I haven't had that experience at all! It just sounds different. And I've been debating on just mig welding my stainless bands on my own but am afraid I'll mess it up and warp the flange or something lol

You won't warp the stainless flange even if you have them glowing orange. It's the stainless advantage. Mild steel on the other hand will warp like a piece of pine. The issue with welding aluminized isn't the actual welding of it, but how it will rust near the welds. There must be some type of reaction that takes place and it is accentuated if you wrap them. It's not the end of the world. the longevity is just no where near mild steel.

That fan setup looks like it will work great.

 

[79longroof]

I MIG welded some stainless v-band clamps on a header project before- no big deal.

Was it flux core? Because that's all I have access to. And did you preheat the v band first?

 

[fleming442]

No, solid copper, and I did not heat it. The pic is held hostage by Photobucket. This was my first welding project (180* headers- go big or go home!), so I didn't really know what I was doing. It still turned out okay. I'm no pro by any means, but it seems like the flux core requires less amperage or heat..... or something like that (turn the machine down).

 

[Ribbedroof]

I still always keep an eye out for other wagons though. There was an 82 4 eye for sale for $500 with no engine or trans that I tried to buy to rob parts off of but they had sold it already.

Tan one with Z/28 wheels?

By the time I talked myself into buying it, it was gone

 

[79longroof]

Tan one with Z/28 wheels?

By the time I talked myself into buying it, it was gone

Yessir that was it. It was on there forever and I never could get a reply from the guy on it.

 

[79longroof]

You won't warp the stainless flange even if you have them glowing orange. It's the stainless advantage. Mild steel on the other hand will warp like a piece of pine. The issue with welding aluminized isn't the actual welding of it, but how it will rust near the welds. There must be some type of reaction that takes place and it is accentuated if you wrap them. It's not the end of the world. the longevity is just no where near mild steel.

That fan setup looks like it will work great.

Thanks 64nailhead. I guess I'm going to give it a shot myself and hope for the best

 

[79longroof]

No, solid copper, and I did not heat it. The pic is held hostage by Photobucket. This was my first welding project (180* headers- go big or go home!), so I didn't really know what I was doing. It still turned out okay. I'm no pro by any means, but it seems like the flux core requires less amperage or heat..... or something like that (turn the machine down).

I guess I'm going to give a shot. Hopefully I don't mess it up! You guys will find out soon enough lol

 

[79longroof]

A few big hurdles out of the way!
Finally took the plunge and got my Wastegate provision taken care of. I initially wanted to just use a hole saw and drill through the merge. That didn't work at all lol. I'm guessing because it wasn't a flat surface, once the saw bit, it snapped the drill bit off. Oh well. I ended up using a stepped bit, punched it out as big as it would go and then used a Dremel to get the diameter right.
And wow does stainless weld easy with fluxcore. I was surprised.