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Aluminum shroud repair

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bundyrum, yes "sheet steel" , i did mention he should find a piece of busted up shroud to use for welding pieces, id argue the old shroud material is not as "clean" as the aluminum we have today, i also took the aircraft welding courses while attending the college of aeronautics required for my a&p license.
 
BUNDYRUM - thanks. If I'm reading you correctly your suggesting old shroud material for both patch and filler rod. Lacking old shroud, 3003 would be the next best for both patch and filler.

For spooled wire 4043 is recommended for filler when welding 3003 as it has a 5% silicon content.

zblu - the old British Standard designation for shrouds was 1470 NS3. The new international designation is 3103. When I ask about 3103 most here in the U.S. have not heard of it. The alternative is 3003 alloy which lacks magnesium.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_alloy
https://aircraftmaterialsuk.com/data/aluminium/3103.html

Since we don't care about base and filler color match I would think 3003/4043 would acceptable for repairing shrouds.
 
markp, if you have one and its damaged or your just not going to use it you could cut up the front apron, its made from the same aluminum on early cars, :yesnod: im using one of my original aprons to fix 2 front shrouds and 2 rear shrouds for my 100m, its amazing what you can find inna pool!!!
 
anthony - I don't have a donor car with associated shroud. If I did I'd probaby want to fix that one up also :laugh:
 
anthony7777,yes the original aluminum in the shroud is about as dirty as you could get but having said that i have seen certain people weld it and it looks just beautiful. Todays' material has a lot better quality control going on it cannot help but be good clean material.

Pretty much any of the weldable aluminums' could be used i.e 1100, 3003, 5052, 6061 as there isn't much between any of them. With the exception of 6061 the rest are non-structural but even 6061 has it's limits as to how structural it is. You are not going to be concerned here with structural or non.
The 1100 series is what you would find at your local hardware store and is just a very basic aluminum. Most times it doesn't have any markings on it.

One material to stay away from is the 2000 series, i.e 2024. It can be welded but has a tendency to crack.

MarkP, the Wiki gives a good description.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

bundyrum.
 
BUNDYRUM said:
anthony7777,
I think you mean sheet steel rather than sheet metal. Sheet metal comes in many different types of metals. When I make repair pieces for aircraft I use aluminum sheet metal.

TodE & MarkP,
For welding aluminum a thin strip of the parent metal is always a good filler rod. This means if you have a piece of cut up front shroud you can cut a thin strip about 1/8"-3/16" wide it would work. Using a piece of an old shroud for a repair piece is also a good idea.

3003 would be a good aluminum alloy to use as it has a lot of silicon (not silicone, that's for other things) and this means the molten metal will flow more easily.

Patrick67BJ8,
Sorry, but what people are trying to tell you is that coat hangars (even old ones) are made of some sort of STEEL. Healey shrouds are made from ALUMINUM. There is no way you are going to weld an Aluminum shroud with a Steel filler rod. The TIG and MIG machines are good but not to that good.


bundyrum.
Click to expand...
I'm checking my facts about the coat hanger welding and will get back to everyone. Until then, I'm not writing this info off as a "senior moment".
Later. Patrick
 
Patrick67BJ8 said:
I'm checking my facts about the coat hanger welding and will get back to everyone. Until then, I'm not writing this info off as a "senior moment".
Later. Patrick
Click to expand...
I don't think it was a senior moment. I think it was a interesting way to phrase respect. Instead of just saying "That fella can weld anything". Adding a little color is all.
 
GregW said:
Patrick67BJ8 said:
I'm checking my facts about the coat hanger welding and will get back to everyone. Until then, I'm not writing this info off as a "senior moment".
Later. Patrick
Click to expand...
I don't think it was a senior moment. I think it was a interesting way to phrase respect. Instead of just saying "That fella can weld anything". Adding a little color is all.
Click to expand...

I got more info on Eddie Miller's welding techniques.
He used scrap pieces of shrouds as the material(s) to repair them with. He did this with "Oxy/Acetylene" which I understand is a real talent in itself. And, yes, he could repair other parts with a coat hangar and did so, but he used simple 5lb & 10lb iron wire that you could buy from the hardware store.

Eddie had a tremendous knowledge about cars and I recall him explaining in detail "steering wheel drag" at one of our tech sessions.
Patrick
 
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