[eugenebrooks]

Go buy yourself a Hakko 456 soldering iron.
It was designed for situations like the one you show.

A good general purpose soldering iron is the Hakko Mach-1,
that heats up to soldering temp from stone cold in 10 seconds.
It is small enough to do fine pc board work, and you can
change to a larger tip that can handle heavy wire. I rarely
have to resort to the 456 these days. The mach-1 is a really
good iron for use in the pit because of its fast heating time and
the fact that you can get a heat proof sock for it. After soldering
you put the sock on it and no one gets their fingers burned
with a hot iron that has been laid down.

Leave the bbq for heating aluminum heads in preparation
for driving out valve guides...

Eugene