What happens when you weld on a sodium filled exhaust valve

[dino1]

Have some scrap metal I'd like to turn into "stuff". Have quite a few valves and was wondering what would happen if I went to welding or heating up an exhaust valve that had sodium inside??? Thanks for the help and sorry for the oddball ?

[FusionKing]

I doubt it would be a very smart thing to do. Better you than me

[2much2do]

Being an ex-mechanic, I'm gonna say throw it away. I can't remember exactly what the deal is as I haven't messed with them, but in training we were told anything like that wa bad news. Don't exactly remember what the problem was as it was a long time ago.

[walker]

If you are going to weld on one, just suspend it above a bowl of buttered popcorn, that way any rupture will be contained, and edible!
Truth be told, I can't see any reason not to, using proper ppe's etc. Sodium is not like mercury vapor or anything, and if all you are doing is joining the valve to somthing else I can't see it butning through to thecore of the valve anyway. Also, exhaust valves get pretty hot anyway, I can't see the sodium in the expaning dangerously when you weld it.

[tacmig]

Just a moment here, there are many types of sodium i.e. sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, sodium cyanide and even metal sodium and pressurized sodium vapor. All are bad news! Ehhh, I wouldn't put heat to that thing!

TacMig

[Steve]

Hmmm. This is a maybe thing, but just throw out a thought, don't heat it up any hotter than the exhaust gases would. After all, the sodium, is in there to take the heat away. There are liquid sodium cooled nuclear reactors at around 2k degrees. Warning: Random thoughts not to be paid any attention.

[Anti-GMAW]

Hmmm. This is a maybe thing, but just throw out a thought, don't heat it up any hotter than the exhaust gases would. After all, the sodium, is in there to take the heat away. There are liquid sodium cooled nuclear reactors at around 2k degrees. Warning: Random thoughts not to be paid any attention.

Yep, and there also extremly lethal if they burst. The molten hot radioactive sodium is more lethal than the radiation itself. The only safe sodium compound is sodium chloride (ie. salt), other than that i'd say an awful lot of ppe gear. Personaly when it comes to chemicals that are as volital as sodium I'd rather try to avoid it, but if you must then figure out what kind of sodium it is then use the proper safty gear for the given hazards.

[gatkeper1]

427 Ford sodium filled exhaust valves?
The sodium is only in the stems.
Considering how hot the exhaust gases are on a 427 at 7500+ rpm I would not really worry about it too much. Those valves probably glowed while in use and I never heard of any sodium events. The only place that those valves can do any real damage is being installed in an engine. They were known for popping their heads off at inopportune times.
I would venture to say you can weld on them. Play it safe and don't weld in the middle of the stem, thats where the sodium is.
BTW They might bring a few buck on ebay from collectors

[2much2do]

If it were me, I wouldn't screw with it. I'd just find another used valve somewhere. But if you insist, Just don't weld the stem! But for the record, I wouldn't do it at all.

[Steve]

Hey , If you must use them , how about getting the valve guide, slide it on the valve, and tack the end? You could then weld the guide to anything maybe?