I dont know much about welding, but I have a mild steel y piped and i accidently got sainless steel cutouts, can they weld together ok?

 

I hope so, ill let ya know next weekend when i put on my headers, lol

 

Yeah they will. Just don't crank the heat too high. If it was aluminum to stainless it would be a bit different.

 

yes they will, but you need some 309 stainless rod(stick), wire(mig) , (or filler rod if you are doing it by tig welding.) 308 is for stainless to stainless. 309 is for stainless to mild steel. if you use 308 it will eventually crack with the heat and vibration it's going to have. Just thought i'd put my 2 cents in. I been welding stainless steel for 20 years.

 

what happens if you weld stainless to regular steel with regular mig wire ? will it last long ?

 

Mild steel (carbon) wire is fine. The stainless cutouts that are made arent the high end 304 stainless. So migging it with carbon wire will be fine. Not that it wont rust though with that wire cause it will. But if you dont want it to rust then id go for the 309 stainless spools.

 

Nothing will happen but some surface rust from the wire...

 

I will stick this in the tools section...

 

awesome, thanks for the info!

 

aw , i understand now , if you were welding stainless to stainless you would want to use 308 so the weld is stainless also , correct ? i learn more everyday .

 

308 rod is for welding stainless to stainless, doesn't matter what procedure you use. The 309 rod or filler or wire depending on procedure, looks like stainless too, except it has different alloys in it . So it will adhere, bond or fuse stainless steel to carbon steel and won't crack or rust. I been weling for 20 years +, and my dad was a welding instructor for 35 years, so in know about this. your welding exhaust pipe, it gets hot and has lots of vibration, it will crack if ya don't use the 309. It's not going to cost anymore than 308, and it will weld with the same weld flow properties. You can't tell the difference, it is in the makeup of the alloys in the rod itself that makes it different.
Hope this helps.

 

He is right about using 309. BUT I would use the 309L wire because of the lower carbon content (hence the L) which will help against corrosion. You can use 301,304,307,308 but they won't be as "GOOD" of a weld. Yes they will work but it is like putting 4.8 heads on your built 408. Don't you want the best weld possible. While you are doing it you might as well do it right.

 

I've also been welding for 23 years. I know I'm supposed to use 309, but I didn't have any on one particular day and I got impatient and welded my steel muffler to my 304 stainless tube with steel mig wire. That was 6 years ago and still holding strong. If you have 309, use it though!