he exhaust elbow on my boat was a mess, apparently it had rusted through and the P.O. had brazed it whole again. He had brazed it A LOT! Brass everywhere, inside too restricting the exhaust...
So, I ordered a 1 3/8" mandrel bend, hacked the old piece out, and welded in a new one...
Gotta make sure the cut is straight so the new tube butts up with no gaps, this is especially important because I am not a rich dude who can afford a full MIG setup, I have a flux core welder which is not tolerant of gaps or thin metal. It's very difficult to weld something as thin as this with a flux core welder, not something I recommend for a novice. I have welded a Lotus 7 replica frame, and numerous race car exhausts with this welder. As well as a bunch of thicker stuff but that's easy. As you can see it does not make a pretty weld on thin metal, because if you apply too much, you just blow right through it. So, I tack tack tack all around, then put a second full bead around to close it all up and make sure it's strong and solid...
Clean, grind, make sure both fit together...
Tack tack, check alignment, notice NO gaps, tacktacktacktack
I like to have some weld through to the other side, but not this much, the rest was ok...
All welded together, some splatter, but solid...
And painted with high-temp ceramic paint inside and out, I like to do this when the part is still too hot to touch...
Also, I went to West Marine and used their rigging crimper to crimp my battery cables...
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