To all of you undertaking in a 302 swap

[Kirby N.]

Here's another myth about Trucks! and Extreme 4X4, you don't need to go buy the most powerful, expensive welder to do the job. I proudly own a Handler 140 with Stargon gas hook-up.

When doing sheetmetal, exhaust, or anything under 1/8" thick material, this is the cat's meow. Anything OVER that, use the flux-cored wire, trust me, this can handle anything up to 5/16" material with proper joint preparation. I built a hitch receiver for my truck and this can pull a D-11 bulldozer if it wanted to.

The properties of flux core allow it to easily penetrate steel and give a very strong bead, just make sure you switch the polarity around when you change wires, and that you know the proper technique for welding flux core. It does take a certain finess to make it look good.

You can also stack the weld beads on top of each other when doing thicker steel projects. The more the better.

I have a 110 wire feed. It is good for small jobs with sheet metal and such. I would not trust it on alot of my jobs though. Welding axle tubes, spring mounts, trackbar mounts, etc. Sometimes you can can't grind a notch in the material and fill it up to ensure proper penetration. I mainly keep it around for convience. It is easier to pull it out and plug it in then plug in the old buzz box. If it wasn't for the sheet metal I would use my 220 buzz box for everything. You can't substitute good old fashioned heat to ensure penetration. Heck, when I welded my knuckles on my buzz box was nearly all the way up.

 

[Bryan22]

i've always found a hammer and a torch get stuck bolts unstuck pretty easily. It's suprising what a few good raps with a hammer to the top of a stuck bolt will do.

 

[sloue]

3/4 drive with a reducer ratchet can tighten 1/2 inch bolts till they snap no problem

 

[pud]

I dont know if anyone suggested this already...but I have always gone a week or two ahead of time and sprayed all the fasteners a couple times a day on a daily basis with some penetrating oil before i got to rip it apart...and as someone else mentioned on page one, pull it tight with a wrench a crack then loosen it off untill it starts to get stuck, then run it back up to the start and begin loosening again.

 

[Iron Ranger]

I have a 110 wire feed. It is good for small jobs with sheet metal and such. I would not trust it on alot of my jobs though. Welding axle tubes, spring mounts, trackbar mounts, etc. Sometimes you can can't grind a notch in the material and fill it up to ensure proper penetration. I mainly keep it around for convience. It is easier to pull it out and plug it in then plug in the old buzz box. If it wasn't for the sheet metal I would use my 220 buzz box for everything. You can't substitute good old fashioned heat to ensure penetration. Heck, when I welded my knuckles on my buzz box was nearly all the way up.

Thats why you use 1. Flux Core Wire and 2. Do a 3 pass weld. Unless you are welding on some seriously thick steel or very high stress areas, the 3 pass will work every time. The first pass preheats and sets the groove for pass #2, which will preheat the metal even more and penetrate more, and pass #3 will bring it home.

Remember: The welding wire welds and penetrates better on itself. So when stacking the beads, pass 2 and 3 are welding partly over themselves which gives it a good solid bond(see photo above).

And don't forget to clean the slag off after each pass and before you paint it. Looks butt ugly.

 

[Kirby N.]

Thats why you use 1. Flux Core Wire and 2. Do a 3 pass weld. Unless you are welding on some seriously thick steel or very high stress areas, the 3 pass will work every time. The first pass preheats and sets the groove for pass #2, which will preheat the metal even more and penetrate more, and pass #3 will bring it home.

Remember: The welding wire welds and penetrates better on itself. So when stacking the beads, pass 2 and 3 are welding partly over themselves which gives it a good solid bond(see photo above).

And don't forget to clean the slag off after each pass and before you paint it. Looks butt ugly.

Makes sense, but then again I can flip the switch for the buzz box crank up the heat and do one pass with 6011 or 7018 and it looks beautiful... and I can trust it...

That is nice to hear. My brother doesn't have a buzz box (only the little wire feed) so I will pass it on to him and I am sure he will be encouraged. I did weld up 2 bridges in El Salvador on a mission trip a few years ago. 110 migs were all we brought down on the plane and I welded them together entirely only using those little lincoln machines We used Galvanized pipe and a bunch of sheets of diamond plate. I was sick after a week of that.

 

[Iron Ranger]

Makes sense, but then again I can flip the switch for the buzz box crank up the heat and do one pass with 6011 or 7018 and it looks beautiful... and I can trust it...

That is nice to hear. My brother doesn't have a buzz box (only the little wire feed) so I will pass it on to him and I am sure he will be encouraged. I did weld up 2 bridges in El Salvador on a mission trip a few years ago. 110 migs were all we brought down on the plane and I welded them together entirely only using those little lincoln machines We used Galvanized pipe and a bunch of sheets of diamond plate. I was sick after a week of that.

Yeah, thats called Zinc Poisoning. The galvanized part is actually pure zinc, and when it's burned, it turns into a pretty toxic fume. Welders who work with alot of it must drink milk and take many breaks, or else another wiff of the stuff will make you throw up, the body can't stand it anymore.

Buzz box is by far the best way to make a good strong weld. I love stick welding because I can actually see the rod penetrating into the metal, the best stuff ever. I don't have 220v here, only 120, but it gets the job done.

You can even stack the beads as far as 6 passes, but only when you need to. After that, the weld properties can be brittle and crack. E71T-GS and
E71T-15 are my favorite alloys of wire, but the only common one is the GS.

Anymore questions, let me know!!!

 

[Moneypit]

years ago some one told me about a product called "Release All". it's in an aerosol can like WD-40 except it works. I have always had a can in my garage since. Did my whole motor swap and suspension lift with it. Just liberally spray it on all the bolts and let it soak for a good 5 minutes, put on a breaker bar and give it a good jolt and they will come loose no snapping! Haven't had a bolt break yet when i've used the stuff. Available at most autoparts stores!

only product i've found that works!!!

 

[rktmn]

Best method I have found to remove rusted bolts is to heat the bolt and the are around it with a propane torch. This will expand the bolt and the metal around it. Then take a piece of ice and quickly press it to the head of the bolt. The cold will contract the metal in the bolt faster that the area around it, and the bolt will break away from the threads.

You might have to do it several times if it is in very bad shape, but it will come out intact with little effort.

You will never break a bolt again.

 

[v-8power]

If you heat cherry red then throw water on it. I have used this method before.

 

[bobbywalter]

This is for everyone out there undertaking a 302 swap. If you watch Trucks, Extreme 4x4, Horsepower TV, etc., don't buy into the whole "the bolts came loose with penetrating oil and an impact" crap. How they tear down stuff is way to easy and makes it look a little too easy.

Every bolt that I have tried to loosen off my rig has either snaped or stripped out, and thats how it is on everything you work on.

The newer Rangers in swaps shouldn't have a big problem with this ordeal, but rangers from 85'-95'ish have bolts that have rusted over for sometime now.

I am in the middle of redoing the sheet metal around the front body mounts. They are the worst part of the truck. No one told me about it, but thats what makes this all fun and enjoyable to do. Put a little of me into something that I am going own for a very long time.

Long story short, whatever money, time and space you have saved up for a big project like this, double it.

Trust me, something always goes wrong that you never expected..............

bud....life in the rustbelt is a m-f-er.

those lucky bastards out there dont have the first fawking clue to what hell is.



but. you wrong about the costs....time...yes, some mre time.


but the rest is simply experience and who you...or the pool of people your learning from.








sheet metel.....i fawkin hate sheet metel...die sheet metel die...

no problems on my end of rust hell

 

[bobbywalter]

years ago some one told me about a product called "Release All". it's in an aerosol can like WD-40 except it works. I have always had a can in my garage since. Did my whole motor swap and suspension lift with it. Just liberally spray it on all the bolts and let it soak for a good 5 minutes, put on a breaker bar and give it a good jolt and they will come loose no snapping! Haven't had a bolt break yet when i've used the stuff. Available at most autoparts stores!

only product i've found that works!!!

5 minutes? i dont think that bolt was gona bust anyway then...but the airkroil is good stuff.


some shit.....you just bust or cut off because its the way you are supposed to do it....some stuff will never unbolt

 

[bobbywalter]

That's because you live in the rusty side of the country. I've pulled 8.8's out of junkyard explorers with only a 1/2" ratchet and breaker bar. No lube, no heat, no snapped bolts.

yeah...i am jealouse

















and one more for good measure

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That's because you live in the rusty side of the country. I've pulled 8.8's out of junkyard explorers with only a 1/2" ratchet and breaker bar. No lube, no heat, no snapped bolts.

I did the same thing with my 8.8 in a 1996 Explorer a year ago, no air, no heat and a flashlight in the back of a guy's rickety garage in 20 degree weather. I had PB Blaster and 1/2 drive ratchets and a breaker bar but that was it. My brother and I had that baby out and in the back of my truck in a hour and a half. T-Case and driveshaft were got before I got there, took the tires off, slipped out the spring pivot bolts and swaybar and took the whole works with the springs still attached so it would be easier to carry. Got it home and rattled the springs off without flinching... but I went to pull the springs off of my Ranger with the impact and soaking the u-bolts where not enough, gonna need heat to get it apart. Just kinda put that project on hold and stick the springs in with my 8.8.

 

[dude772]

i like the heat and quench with penetrating fluid method. Get the nut or bolt nice and red with the torch, then spray the threads or metal contact points with penetrating and it comes out like buter every time. by hand if it weren't 10 000 degrees. heating it and quenching it like this turns the liquid to a gas and it can boil down right into the threads. however it works, its fantastic!

And for the nuts with no hex left. Exhaust is usually bad for this! 15mm nut that looks like a 12mm now kind of rotten. An impact socket, on an adapter to attach it to my air hammer, heat up the nut and pound the socket on with the air hammer and that will forge a new hex on it an then spray with penetrating and it comes out like it was put on yesterday!

No need to grind it off or replace the stud, works great! saves lots of time!