1) I have an elongated water crossover hole on the passenger side cylinder head that i cannot tap because it will not seat correctly before i take it to a machine shop i was given a suggestion to swap the head with the other. When I removed it I could see that they look to be the same except the driver side head has a freeze plug blocking where the water outlet would be and the temp sender has a screw in its place. Is this a simple switch? Just get a freeze plug, swap the sender, get new head gaskets and put the head on the other side? 2) If this "IS" possible the elongated hole was drilled completely through. (open on the other end) The others have no opening. What could I use to fill the hole that wouldn't cause any issues down the road? jb weld or another equivalent?
Jamiel,,,, Pard,,,, here is the deal.... First,,,, a question.... Do you have a school,,, tech school or some such that teaches welding close to you???? If so,,, a lot of times you can get a repair done by them to teach the students... and usually for free.... try that... Otherwise, you are probably looking at the cost of a head to get a shop to do it....I am really uncomfortable with using epoxy to fill something that has to hold pressure when it has to repeatedly heat up and cool down.... The best ''repair'' on that head would be to brass/flame weld it up completely.... then redrill and tap the hole for threads....but the head will have to be stripped down and then slowly heated up to 450 deg. or so and then welded.... and then allowed to slowly cool down....If you are anywhere close to Lawrenceburg Tn... i have some spare heads.... I would sell one for $40...plus shipping,,, but ,, be advised , they are quite heavy...o No:
Thanks for the reply Doc. I don't believe I have a welding school near me. I do know of a welder or two local to me. I'm curious why does the head need to be heated up to 450 then welded? To eliminate warping? If I can get this repair done locally I will ask if this is how it will repaired. If I cannot I would be interested in purchasing a head from you.
Yup, cast iron is tricky. If you heat just a spot, it gets brittle, and can crack. Tough to tell from the pics, but could you drill and tap it out to accept a 1/2" or so bolt, cut and grind that flush, and then drill the correct size bolt hole thru it?
drill it as big as you need to to cover the hole, loc-tight and helicoil than put a plug insert. drill and tap plug insert and baddabang!! done.. Paul 66larkgs
Agree-get centered up where you need to be and the oversize drilling/tapping for a Helicoil/Keensert should take care of it-good luck
I thought of using a pipe plug,,,to fill the hole... but look at that shoulder,, it is really , really thin.... and most likely would break off....no,,, I will stick with either a swap out, or flame/brazing for this fix.....
You could swap them side to side. The hardest part may be getting the temp sender out and especially the threaded plug that is now in the rear. Usually takes some gentle heat/cool cycles with a propane torch and application of candle wax or penetrant to break those threads loose.
Thank you for the help gentlemen. I was actually gonna swing by a shop this morning to see about a weld repair but decided to log on here first. If you swap a head is there anything I need to do to the replacement head? just slap it on with new gasket? I have a few pictures of the engine with gasket still on. How does this look? If at all? This picture the gasket is still on this is the head underside I must confess I have never been this far into an engine before, and feel i'm out of my league. My experience stops at timing chain replacements, alternator replacements, starters etc and never had to tap or anything break (bolts) until this riv. This is a whole new world and i'm hoping i don't get in too far over my head...
jamiel,,, pal,,, you can do any thing you set your head to.... by taking this thing this far,,, you have shown me/us that you got what it takes.... not being intimidated by the thing is 99% of the battle... the rest is just doing what you are already doing... researching the shop manuals.. asking guys that have been there done that questions... and being open minded... Looking at the pictures, you need to get the water out of the cyl. there and put some oil on the cyl walls to keep them from rusting.... Just keep everything in order, go slow and carefull,, keep us posted with pics and ASK FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT....:rant: :laugh: :laugh: We will work with you to walk you thru this and when you get it done,, you will have a lot more confidence in your self and more knowledge and understanding about your car and its engine... and engines in general....hang in there....we dont care what other people say about you, we like you anyway....:Brow: :laugh: :laugh:
I just went through removing the pipe plug from one of my heads, like Walt said it was a project. The wax worked well and I found I needed hotter gas than propane for heat - I used MAP. Tom Telasco is kind enough not to point out my first attempts when I hogged out the plug I had water in the head which was cooling the plug as fast as I could heat it. We dont talk about that.
thanks for the encouraging word Doc. I appreciate it. Small victory temp sender came out with a few squirts of Wd-40... Small setback... The welder I had look at the head said that brass would be too soft if gonna redrill and tap it. Threads may strip. Nickel too hard even 50% then he ran down others and into stuff i didn't understand... He did say after looking in a tap/drill book that since I used a 25/64 drill bit (required by the tap insert kit bought) I should use a 7/16 20 and I can use the initial bolt Today I'm going to try and find a 7/16 20 tap and try and tap this thing again. If that doesn't work I'm going to try a machine shop and see if i can get it tapped. If this fails I'll be looking for a new head... thanks for everyones help
thanks for the encouraging word Doc. I appreciate it. Small victory temp sender came out with a few squirts of Wd-40... Small setback... The welder I had look at the head said that brass would be too soft if gonna redrill and tap it. Threads may strip. Nickel too hard even 50% then he ran down others and into stuff i didn't understand... He did say after looking in a tap/drill book that since I used a 25/64 drill bit (required by the tap insert kit bought) I should use a 7/16 20 and I can use the initial bolt Today I'm going to try and find a 7/16 20 tap and try and tap this thing again. If that doesn't work I'm going to try a machine shop and see if i can get it tapped. If this fails I'll be looking for a new head... thanks for everyones help
Well ,,, it is like everything else ,,, you gotta use your head.... Your welder is right to a certain degree.. brass is softer,, so,,,,, if you could fill, drill and retap then afterward,, you would have to back off on the tork... but the top bolt is able to hold like normal.... i would fill it with brass,,, hmmmm,,, just had a idea,,, what if you had a steel ''sleeve that would go around the new bolt and down into the wallowed out hole , that was tapped to the new bolt..... and then brass welded into the hole???? that way the threads on the bolt would not be pulling directly on the brass..... they would be pulling on the steel threads of the steel insert.....
I think you could switch side to side pretty safely, what does your welder think of fixing hole with brass- when its on the other side and in the back, it does not need to be tapped- you would obviously have to have the machinist clean and put freeze plugs in. Doc, what do you think?
Yep,,,, Ted,,, that will work too,,, and is probably the best of all.... just fill the bad place, install a plug and reverse the heads,,, but that will require pulling and replacing the other head.... head gaskets ect.... what is that expense vs just getting another head.... it might be best, money wise, to get another head,,, then fix the damaged head, and keep it as a spare.....i would not scrap it.....
