Sealing sump

[jeremiahnz]

When you say "welding up your sump" what do you mean? have you placed another tapping point in it or where you doing something a little more tricky i.e. baffles and wings?
If you have welded it and can not see where you have gone wrong easily you may find your problem is a big one and will continue to have leaks as it heats up and cools.
Where you welding using Mig - gas, gas-less, Stick or Tig? or good old Oxy Acctileen? (sorry for my poor spelling)

Sometimes when using Mig it is easier and cleaner to do small short runs than long runs, the easiest way I have found to set them up is get your amps as high as you dare, then play with your wire feed until it sounds good if it sounds like its humming it most probably is.
Keep your tip, welding helmet lenses and everything as clean as, the amount of times I have listened to someone welding to stop them and give a little advice to actually find they can't see anything through a dirty lens is amazing, get comfortable spend some time setting it up and playing with it and your welding will improve 10 fold.

Hey man, thanks for your response. Yes - it is all winged, quite a lot of custom. I had to move it from a front sump to a rear sump. I am using a gas mig, the setup is pretty clean and am welding as high as I can (4 or 5 on a 6 step). It is using .6mm wire. I think a lot of it is probably my welding skills. I don't weld that often.

I ground back a whole lot and rewelded on the weekend which sealed a few leaks. I may have to just rinse and repeat or get someone to do it, but I have tried to DIY to learn new skills through the project, so am keen to make a go at it.

[Naki-Fisher]

OK cool don't give up DIY is a good way to learn and at the end of it you feel even better.

Sump material is fairly thin so you shouldn't need it to hard out 4 should be ok.
If you could post a photo it may help see whats going on.

Make sure your gaps are as tight as a nun's one. tighter the better, a good trick here is once tacked place something solid behind the weld like a dolly or sledge hammer (small hammers work to) and give the front on the the weld a bang while still hot (glowing red) this helps close any gaps. you can also re-hit a tack to re-heat if needed.

Being a sump and trying to make a mint job of it I'd imagine you have butted the panels together i.e end to end, Mig welding likes an overlap on saying that it can be done but patients is required if butting panels together, make sure your gap is near nothing, keep you tacks as small as possible and 10-15mm apart closer where you have a bigger gap.

Back at the wire feed poke the wire through a ear plug before it enters the thingy me hosit this keeps you wire clean amazing what a difference this can make. if you are using an old reel that has been sitting around for the last 3 years you might have to biff it or un-coil until it looks nice and clean again

Clean, clean and clean again. like when you put you motor together keep everything clean as. pull your gun to bits give it all a good clean, blow out the liner in the cable where the wire runs (B4 you put the earplug in position) the tube thingy over the tip keep clean at all costs, once doing this a number of times your welding will improve as you get sick of doing it real fast.

Play with your wire feed until it comes out smoothly if not rolling smoothly find the problem this will fuk any weld

From memory the gas bubble should be around the 10 mark when the trigger is pulled if not adjust it. This is something you can play with. When welding outside wind can be a real pain in the ass (trying to weld in the driveway) after trying to block it off as best as you can increase the gas flow to help you here.

Hope that helps man, interested to know what it going in?

Logan