You could always have it powdered but I guess it would be impossible to weld up afterwards lol

I disagree though I can show you what my aluminized exhaust looks after just a year and a half, it isn't awful but I would not say that it is amazing either. I live in TX

 

Yeah true I don't mean like it will rust anything comparable to steel. I just am after the "sleeper" and "stock" look and I don't mind if it rusts a little. I think the factory exhaust is aluminized steel but I don't know that for sure, but factory stuff rusts pretty good I guess. I would way rather try to save some money with regular steel instead of stainless, but then again the piping I just bought was almost as much for the stainless as it is for the aluminized steel. The other main reason being stainless is harder to weld and I don't have the proper equipment to weld it.

 

Factory exhaust is a combination of 304, 309 and 321 stainless; it depends on which part of it you wanna talk about

stainless is not harder to weld

stainless tube that you get from China (304) can be mig welded with the ER70S6 wire that's most likely in your welding machine now. You will run C25, just like you would for mild steel (A36)

the only thing you lose is corrosion resistance of the weld. Everything else is functionally identical. If you suck at welding mild, you'll suck at welding stainless with mild wire

Source: I love busting myths and welding is my career/education/life

 

Haha thanks, and yeah you are right the supposedly 304 seems to weld to itself and the factory exhaust the same I think. I was thinking it was harder to weld from yesterday or the day before when I was practice welding on some old supposedly 304 stainless I had laying around, but now I remember I left my C25 gas on and now I'm out of it so that would explain why it was welding so crappy the other day.

Now if I was going to worry about rust, and I'm lucky enough not to live in a place where I do have to worry about it (the southeast), then I think I would worry about it most on the welded areas since it seems like it could end up eventually leaking the easiest from that area.

Another thing about stainless that is more difficult is it is just so hard and kills saw blades.

And that is really interesting about the factory exhaust being stainless, it sure doesn't look shinny and chromey looking when new though.

Also, do you think when I go to exchange my C25 tank tommarow, should I go ahead and get pure argon and try to start practicing TIG? Or you think its not really worth it and I should just stick to MIG? I know TIG is made out to be really intimidating but maybe its worth it to try to learn since I mainly am looking to weld automotive type stuff especially exhaust tubing?

 

I thought getting gas was free????

Also yeah I understand, that is why I suggest maybe just powdering your exhaust black or another color after you weld it up.

 

Stick with mig

the factory exhaust isn't polished that's why it doesn't look like chrome. It is stainless however. The "performance" LS engines got cast 321 manifolds, where the trucks are likely just cast steel

take note all different grades of stainless have different properties. Stick with 304 and 309 for what you want. Avoid 316

 

So I exchanged and got another big bottle of C25 but then I decided to get a small bottle of pure argon, just so I could at least use my TIG welder and see how I could do with it. I know you said I can MIG weld the stainless fine with C25 except for the rust part. But would TIGing it be better (if I was good at TIG)? Or at least MIGing it with tri mix?

Since I am welding exhaust stuff mainly I guess my main concerns are porosity and penetration so I don't have leaks. It's likely to be on there no more than a year before I change something anyway, and I don't have to worry about salted roads.

 

308Lsi and trimix would do what you want, but mig welding stainless is a bit different. The puddle fluidity is very low so it takes skill to make it look good. But you can stick it together with the right wire and gas

tig is something that I don't suggest learning on a project, teach yourself with beads on plate or take a class at your local makerspace. You won't be happy with the results if you try to teach yourself on your exhaust

 

I would trust what the guy that welds for a living says about welding stuff. But then again.... thats just me

 

no no no, you see that's the thing all the dudes on the boards just try to lead you astray. What you really need to do is JBWeld that SoB and get it right the first time!