I am reaching out to enquire if anyone can share any feedback and do's and don'ts about crack repair of cast iron cylinder heads.
I have a 1953 B33 and the cylinder head has a small'ish internal crack on the carburettor inlet housing.
I have not yet done any testing to determine the extent and size/depth of the crack.
Can anyone share any positive or negative experiences and/or recommendations with respect to testing and repairing cracks in cast iron cylinder heads ?
It would be interesting to learn if anyone has any good or bad previous experiences ?
Cheers for your help.
Bruce
Hi , I have welded quite a bit of cast iron over the years , there is normally a couple of types of rods one for dirty grey iron and the other for better cast iron, if you've never welded cast iron its quite strange , sort of sounds fluff fluff fluff and the Flux appears to fall off , grind out crack , give the head some preheat , weld your crack , you need to get a tack hammer and round the point and peen the weld each time for each run ,as the weld will contract faster and try to crack again that's where the preheat helps , don't worry about the peened weld look you can tidy it up later , when your finished , wrap it in a fire blanket or sacks or I think you can get a big bucket of lime and bury it .to help it cool slow .cheers
Another option , could be crack repair A- plugs , you drill the end of the crack and tap it with the correct A-plug tap and then add sealant and screw it in tight and trim , the next plug drilled into the side of the first and then so on and so forth , like stitching. Cheers.
For info on welding jobs the forum below is great and not just for DIY. There are often threads on head, crankcase repairs etc. If you post on there you'll get plenty of good advice to go along with what you've received already 👍.
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
Hi again, if you get your head magnaflux tested , get them to lightly centre punch along the length of the crack , you can use a dye penetrant (water soluble) best for you , if you want to do it yourself. That gives you dye and developer in a spray bomb .cheers