Radiator repair?

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The aluminum rad on my son's motocross bike wore a hole in it from touching the frame. I have started to clean the area of paint, etc & all the other proper prep to tig it. Any recommendations on set-ups & method please? Thanks. Pic taken before clean up.Last edited by JayB; 10-13-2007 at 11:39 AM.
Reply:rinse it out with clean water coolant in welds makes a messChuckASME Pressure Vessel welder
Reply:It is smaller than it looks. The bike is made in the U.S. by Cobra Motorcycles. It's 50cc, a full on race machine for kids 8 & under.. 4130 frame, CNC'd engine case, rims, ect.
Reply:When you're done we'll call it a JayB-weld!sorry, couldn't resist.
Reply:I would pinch it shut and clean it very thoroughly. Then you might be able to TIG it. the only issue will be the coolant inside........Miller Millermatic 252Miller Syncrowave 200Liincoln AC-DC 225Victor O-A Set
Reply:Tig....tig   Tig.  Antifreeze is flammable.   Done that.  Clean....clean....Clean.YOU CAN DO IT!DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Well, that was fun. It fumed pretty good even though I rinsed it out really well & cleaned it with area acetone. I'm sure the fuming race coolant had some bad effects on getting things started. The welds were way too ugly to show here. I tried? I had to smooth out the turds before I could post the final pic.
Reply:Looks great!DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Thanks. I figured I would be buying a new rad but I somehow saved it? I am very new to tig & aluminum seems to have little margin for error.We like to say around our house "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!" (It's far from easy!!!)A little jump from last year.
Reply:[QUOTE=JayB]Thanks. I figured I would be buying a new rad but I somehow saved it? I am very new to tig & aluminum seems to have little margin for error.We like to say around our house "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!" (It's far from easy!!!)..........................................  ..................................................  ...................................................  ..................................................  ..."All's weld , if it ends weld !"   (the devil made me say it . )[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Good work.  I recently made a pile of junk out of an aluminum radiator.  I was trying to repair/resize it for my application, and it just got out of hand.  I had gotten it for free, so I used it for some experimentation which didn't work out too well.  Because of how the endtanks were folded over the core before it was welded, there were these internal seams that I just couldn't get clean, and they became expose when welding.  It was bad.  But I did learn a thing or two.  So again, good work!