Once I cut the pipe where I needed it I thought I’d do a test weld with the offcuts before I commit which I always recommend before welding to make sure your welder is set up accordingly.
Well thank goodness for that because (and let me add that I’m new to tig welding and still learning) the piece I thought was cast aluminum (which I have welded successfully) started to blister tremendously leaving me confused about what it was made of and very happy I didn’t try it the new piece of pipe I bought. Sooooo like many other thing on my truck it turned into a trip to the machine shop to make a new piece matching the thermostat housing out of “REALl” aluminum so I could weld the pipe to. In the end it worked out but what a pain in the @xx it turned into!! Anyway I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

 

That came out nice!

 

Thanks Red60, much appreciated!!

 

Your welds look very nice, I wish I was proficient oh, I wish I was even bad at it LOL

 

thanks Hyepo57!! That means a lot because tig hasn’t been easy for me and still isn’t.

 

Nice job. I mig weld some small project every year or two. By the time I get it right the project is finished. I could never post pictures of my welds for fear someone would zoom in on my shoddy work.

 

thanks JohnNewb!! It always helps after the amount of work that went into that small part.

As for mig welding, practice makes perfect so I recommend that you start up the welder for the sake of welding. Always save your offcuts for practice or even any scrap laying around. As I mentioned above always practice on some scrap before your project and you want the same thickness as your project so you can dial in the machine because heat and wire speed are very important to get right. Most importantly, is something that I’ve seen lots of people who are inexperienced at welding do is not set up the welder’s polarities. Something I’ve done myself. From what I’ve seen most welders come set up to weld flux core wire which doesn’t need gas so when you buy a welder you can start welding right of the bat and this is one of those reasons why we should read the directions sometimes lol. Seriously! On all of the mig welders I’ve used there is a chart under the hood that tells you which way to run the polarities for solid core or flux core wire. If it’s not set up correctly your welds will never look good and never be as strong!!! Now when I pick up a welder and shoot a “practice run” I can tell if it’s set up incorrectly which has happened to me three times in the last two and a half years and I’m not a full time welder nor have I ever been. So please guys and gals, if you are unsure, check your welder and you my find that your not as bad as you think.
Oh and if you ever get a chance to put a helmet on and watch an experienced welder then do so and don’t be afraid to ask for tips!!!

 

I bought the welder used from an old guy that did a lot of stuck welding Said he couldn't get the mig to work and had to sell because of his pacemaker. He had polarity set wrong and pretty much everything else.

 

Well oldbleu called it, progress has definitely slowed drastically. My little girl is almost two now and there’s a younger sister on the way so I’m definitely unsure of an eta however I am plucking away at things whenever I have any free time. ( lol free time🙄 )I’m close to finishing a few things and will post them hopefully soon.

As for now my fuel sender has recently been checked off as completed.
When I bought my gauge cluster it came with a fuel sender although I wasn’t happy with it so I decided to make a new one and use the electronic portion of it. I didn’t like the fact that I had to cut it to fit and surly it would start rusting from the cut. Also I had to make an aluminum mounting flange to weld into my tank. I decided to make it out of aluminum and stainless. The bottom is aluminum and the top is stainless. I plan on anodizing the aluminum and after anodizing aluminum the surface becomes non conductive so I had to make the top stainless so I could attach the ground and I had to make it from two pieces anyway.

Here are the pictures.

 

This is the original sender

 

And this is my new setup

 

When you decide you're going to upgrade something you don't mess around! Nice work! I always envision things like what you fabricate but mine never come out that way!

 

Good to see more of your tidy work.

 

Thanks guys!! I really do appreciate your comments!!

 

Update time. So I have a few things on the go on the truck and one of them is my e-brake that I started a while ago although part at the reason it’s taken a while is mostly because of overall progress.
Anyway I finally finished it aside for having the adjuster stud crimped to the cable.