Ok..I've attempted this once before with no prep work and it ended up being a disaster. I had tons of pinhole leaks and I ended up switching to an aluminum rail (perrin...which cost me 170 dollars)

Anyhew... Im doing another one of my cars and I'd like to try this and succeed...anyone have suggestions? I'll be tigging it on.

(side note..cartech's site says...DO NOT weld an fittings to stock rails )

 

just do the normal prep stuff. take off any plating or whatever on both rail and fitting. inside and out. maybe put the fitting in a lathe and turn it so you can have a nice socket joint to weld.

 

braze it instead of welding it

 

ya, silicon bronze rod works well.

 

bah...I dont know how to braze. Is it the process that causes the problem? Or is the filler rod?

 

you can tig silicon bronze, although I have used er70 on several steel fuel fittings with no problems. it's all about prep.

 

LOL sorry man I did a -10 setup on a skyline and i tig welded the fuel rail and it was perfect. Then when i tested it it leaked all over. So a friend of mine who has been welding for over 25 years tried it same problem. We had to mig it and we had lots of problems with that. Any pics of what you are tying to weld?

 

when im welding fuel rails or fittings i use concrete etch prior to welding and let it take off most or all of the zinc coating.. I've tried to use 308/309l and the weld will crack down the center everytime.. so i'd use a good mild steel rod like er70 and you should be fine..

I don't use the etch just for the weld but i'd rather not breath all that nasty **** in when i'm welding it too..

 

are you doing this on to a neon rail? i had problems with heating the rail up and it melted the brazing on the end caps.

also your probably having problems due to zinc or galvanizing on the parts, they cause the pinholes even on the cleanest looking welds, they also cause a good looking weld to crack even after its cooled off. be careful welding this stuff cause the fumes it puts off is bad news. Also i don't know why but i did a few using SS rod and it seamed to fuse better and cleaner.

try soaking the parts in muratic (sp?) acid, the stuff thats used to clean concrete.

 

Ive done this to a couple rails.

I use mild steel MIG wire .035" (just because I dont TIG mild steel and Im too lazy to go buy mild rod), clean it with a wire wheel and then let it soak in sulfuric acid for like 2 mins. Itll etch the **** out of it, clean it really good with water and then acetone.

Ive never had a problem with mine.

 

i cut the shrader valve off the center of my stock neon rail and welded the hole shut and ive never had a problem since (over a year ago)......... ur a skilled welder i dont know why this should be a problem for u. i cleaned the paint off with a die grinder and buffing pads and the brake cleaned it all off and the blew it dry with shop air before welding it......... oh and i used 309 rod to weld it .


mike

 

so basically what Im hearing is...

Etch it, clean it, clean it, use silicon bronze filler rod or ER70, and then I should be good.

Yes its on a neon. Its this or I go draw one up in Catia and cnc a whole new rail. (which would be a great experience...im just not sure Im down for it!)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by all_motor_mike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i cut the shrader valve off the center of my stock neon rail and welded the hole shut and ive never had a problem since (over a year ago)......... ur a skilled welder i dont know why this should be a problem for u. i cleaned the paint off with a die grinder and buffing pads and the brake cleaned it all off and the blew it dry with shop air before welding it......... oh and i used 309 rod to weld it .


mike</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didnt do any prep last time...and I had a bad result...so naturally im kind of freaked about why it leaked like a ****. I have like 6 of these rails but I'd kind of like to just do it right once and not 5 times lol.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RTErnie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I didnt do any prep last time...and I had a bad result...so naturally im kind of freaked about why it leaked like a ****. I have like 6 of these rails but I'd kind of like to just do it right once and not 5 times lol.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ah gotcha.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by all_motor_mike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> ur a skilled welder i dont know why this should be a problem for u.

mike</TD></TR></TABLE>

eric welding reminds me of a 5 year old ******* with downs syndrome (sp?)

back on track eric, if you have the means to machine a high grade fuel rail thats nto half assed you should do so if not just for the pratice.

 

Miata guys do this often - make their entire fuel rail from copper plumbing fittings. You can use silver solder to attach brass tabs, and a correctly sweated part will hold over 100psi. You can then use a threaded npt adapter to attach a npt-an adapter.

Otherwise you could just take a bar of aluminum, drill a hole through it, tap the proper holes, then cross-drill it for the injectors. I'm assuming yours looks like the following:

 

most oem rails that are steel or stainless are silver soldered it's easy and works well

 

Here is a fuel rain I did for FSAE last year. I think it is a -6 w/ silicon brazing. I love the braze look it is like aluminum for steel. Realy easy to use.

 

I did the same thing with the fsae rail on the F4i... worked out fine. I even used 304L rod. btw...be sure to tighten that AN fitting

btw..the rail posted above is almost identical to what I have.