Machine shop drilled and tapped for extra head studs and one broke through the outside of the block. They said to epoxy it up and not worry about it. Anyone else run into this?
No, never.. but I suppose it's possible..got a picture? See if the heads fit, I question hole location. JW
I will be shocked if you can put all the studs in and get the head on. We do sell or rent out a drill fixture to do that job yourself. Sorry to hear about your block. Machine shop might owe you one. I have never had one break through. Although I have seen one and the holes were on an angle.
I doubt epoxy would be anywhere near as strong at cast iron, they have to take some responsibility and give you a strong stud anchor point which is the hole reason for the extra studs in the first place. If you weren't worried about strength I don't think you would have bothered with it.
They did use some sort of jig or template. I asked them to take a pic and send it to me but I haven't received it yet. uzzled:
Did you request this, or did they just go ahead with this on their own? If you requested the extra drilling, tell them that THEY can epoxy it, AND pressure test it to verify that it doesn't leak. If you didn't request the extra holes, tell them to supply a different block.
Off the cuff, a few comments... One, why the hell did they drill so deep just for the sake of studs? 2x diameter should have been more than enough. Two, there's no water there except for whatever you drive through. Epoxy will close the hole and coolant isn't an issue. Three, I'd run it. Devon
Bruce, You should take your head and studs to the shop, put the studs in and make sure the head drops over them, to make sure the shop didn't drill and tap crooked. Don't ask how I know this............ If the head goes on ok, tell the shop to epoxy it for you. After all, they put the hole in it....... Dave
Good grief, I can't believe they went that far. You CANNOT epoxy the stud into the block and expect it to survive any work. The job done by the stud's threads requires intimate contact within the threads between the block and the fastener. If you assemble the studs with epoxy and torque the head before the epoxy cures, you might be OK, but I wouldn't put money on it, and we're talking minutes here. Instead I think you'll have to investigate some thread sealant and use the epoxy to seal the outside hole. Everything just got worse. Devon
Yeah, Devon....the epoxy will likely crack when the stud is pulled on when torquing. The stud apparently has enough threads to hold but would likely still pull enought to crack the epoxy, the epoxy or silicone/thread sealant is just to stop the leak. So silicone or adhesive thread sealant on the inside and epoxy on the outside is what I'm leaning toward. Should I ask for a discount?:spank:
Shortblock is completely done. Line honed etc. They said castings vary....there just wasn't enough meat there.....
A discount would be nice, but don't flush everything down the toilet just yet. This can still be salvaged, in my opinion. More later, I'm on the road for a few hours. Devon
I have never seen one break through that was done properly. The simple fact that they opened up the hole in the head to get it on tells you it was in the wrong place. Did they have to open up any other holes in the head or just that one? Man, I'm sorry, but again that's why we rent out the drill fixtures or sell them. OK, enough. What can be done. Epoxy and silicon are the most obvious. But here is another idea. Find a good tig welder that has a powerful machine. Ask him if he would be willing to weld on a patch over the hole and see if he would braze it on. We have used brazing rod when tig welding many times. The brass will melt at a lower temp. This way he will not have to melt the iron only braze to it. It seems like we used normal brazing rod that you dip into flux. The more powerful welder may eliminate the need to preheat. By going this route the block will not get very hot and you will not have any flame passing through the hole to the back side of the cylinder. He could try brazing the hole shut but the metal is thin so I feel it may just be easier to make a small patch.
