OT Porsche should have used Aluminum Options

[Unobtanium-inc]

It's timeless. On the left of the weld is original 550 Spyder aluminum from 54-55, on the right is brand new aluminum, hard to tell a difference!

[Superhawk996]

Man, hard crowd to please. As I offer my "opinion" I'll also post a couple pictures of my "proof of work" to show that I have at least a little experience that formed the basis of my opinion. I built a concept tank for a Norton Cafe out of aluminum. This tank was pressure tested. There were something like 12 or 13 panels that were used to fabricate this tank.

First off, I'm with @mb911 , great to see an old car being saved. That is the top priority. I'm only jealous that I don't get to play with 550's. I'm also jealous that I still can't lay that stack of dimes look on aluminum consistently like the previous picture.

On the subject of OxyAcetylene welding, lest we forget, much of the welding on the aluminum components and fuel & oil tanks for airplanes of WW2 was Oxyacetylene. Not as pretty as TIG but 100% functional.

OxyHydrogen would be nice but let's be honest, most of us don't have hydrogen sitting around the garage. I had no issues with soot contamination. Flux, and proper flame setting take care of that.

The weld appearance doesn't really matter as long as there is 100% fusion through the panel and the finished weld sits proud of the surface. As previously noted, it will be leveled off flush with the surrounding metal prior to paint.

In my experience, OxyAcetylene left less porosity and was easier to polish since it didn't leave the cleaned margins that TIG left. I found that OxyAcetylene left an invisible weld seam. TIG did not. I'll chalk that up to my poor TIG skills and/or ability to fine tune the AC cleaning of my Lincoln Precision TIG equipment. Invisibility of the weld seam on a 550 is moot, since it will be painted. Invisibility of the seam is very important on a bare polished tank.

Here is top view of the tank as well as the bottom welds that look . . . well, not as pretty.

So this is for all you guys with OxyAcetylene sitting around. Don't think you need TIG to do welding on Aluminum. Get the proper size tips (0, 00, 000), get the proper flux, proper goggles, then get out there and go weld some aluminum. Any technique you learn with heat and filler rod control will only help later on if/when you move on to TIG.

[Shivers]

So this is for all you guys with OxyAcetylene sitting around. Don't think you need TIG to do welding on Aluminum. Get the proper size tips (0, 00, 000), get the proper flux, proper goggles, then get out there and go weld some aluminum. Any technique you learn with heat and filler rod control will only help later on if/when you move on to TIG.

Thank You. Do you pre-heat the aluminum like cast iron?




@Unobtanium-inc

Very cool project.

[Superhawk996]

Thank You. Do you pre-heat the aluminum like cast iron?

No. Not for sheet aluminum.

[Shivers]

Thank You. Do you pre-heat the aluminum like cast iron?

No. Not for sheet aluminum.

Thanks, What about something heavier? 1/4"

[Superhawk996]

Thank You. Do you pre-heat the aluminum like cast iron?

No. Not for sheet aluminum.

Thanks, What about something heavier? 1/4"

I'll defer to @mb911 on aluminum stuff that thick. Out of my league. I've not tried to OxyAcetylene weld aluminum that thick. About the thickest I've done is about 3/16" aluminum and even then it was a small sized part that quickly heat saturates.

My gut says you'll have to V-notch that, preheat that, and probably need multiple passes. Aluminum transfers heat really well. As a result, it will take an awful lot of heat to get 100% penetration on 1/4" aluminum. I suspect TIG would have advantage here due to the precise concentration of heat vs. more distributed flame of OxyAcetylene.