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cast iron cylinder head repair?

4K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  BB68 
#1 ·
My buddy has a set of closed chamber square port heads. I`m not sure what casting they are. Anyway, one of the heads has a crack at one of the rocker stud bosses and it`s cracked down into the intake runner. Is this fixable? Can anyone recomend a shop in Northern California? Thanks.
 
#2 ·
sschevellefan said:
My buddy has a set of closed chamber square port heads. I`m not sure what casting they are. Anyway, one of the heads has a crack at one of the rocker stud bosses and it`s cracked down into the intake runner. Is this fixable? Can anyone recomend a shop in Northern California? Thanks.
Anything is fixable,its not worth it. The wrong place to be cracked. Keep looking for another head or a better set of heads. Thats my opinion. Cut that one up for a porting project and learn whats inside.
 
#5 ·
My buddy already has a set of these heads on his car now but like I said, he wants to have them fixed to use as a back up set of heads. If he went to 049 heads he would loose compression and have to have bigger valves installed and have them ported. Right now his camaro runs 11.0-10.9`s with the closed square ports with a gasket match and bowl work. It might be easier to just find a replacement heads, probably cheaper than fixing the cracked one too.
 
#7 ·
When I purchased my double hump heads that had just came off a grenaded 350, one of the intake valves got friendly with a piston. This cracked the valve guide and the valve guide boss for about 5/8". Since there was no oil behind the crack or air leak, I had em install a new guide and I was good to go. 12,000 miles later its workin great! I'd be more afraid of actually repairing it with a material thats going to expand and contract differently than the cast iron head and potentially fall off.
 
#8 ·
19Nova72 said:
When I purchased my double hump heads that had just came off a grenaded 350, one of the intake valves got friendly with a piston. This cracked the valve guide and the valve guide boss for about 5/8". Since there was no oil behind the crack or air leak, I had em install a new guide and I was good to go. 12,000 miles later its workin great! I'd be more afraid of actually repairing it with a material thats going to expand and contract differently than the cast iron head and potentially fall off.
This crack is from the rocker stud into the intake port. If it were as easy as replacing the guide that would be great but unfortunately the only way to fixit would be to have it welded.

Camaro_fever, thanks for the link but I don`t think my buddy wants to mess with it himself. He wants to have it done by someone who knows what they are doing. I`m going to meet up with him tomorrow and I`m going to try to take a look at it and see where the crack is exactly. He might just be better off finding a replacement head. Thanks.
 
#10 ·
cam-copier said:
http://www.locknstitch.com

They also do welding on cast iron.
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And excellent work too :beers:

There is also a shop in Chico I believe or somewhere close to it that is really good at doing cast iron welding & another in Washington that I can't remember the name of that has a real good reputation.

But. unless the head is something very rare it ain't worth it.
The casting will be so distorted that every machined surface will need redoing.
 
#11 ·
Wolfplace said:
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And excellent work too :beers:

There is also a shop in Chico I believe or somewhere close to it that is really good at doing cast iron welding & another in Washington that I can't remember the name of that has a real good reputation.

But. unless the head is something very rare it ain't worth it.
The casting will be so distorted that every machined surface will need redoing.
We aggree on something after all. There,s another shop in Iowa also excellent work also. Item must be oven controlled welded and return back to oven so far havent seen anything other then .003 of distortion. min. one crack 145.00 plus shipping, and under stud boss not worth it. Farmers are good cast iron welders. If you people really want the address i can post it.
Does a great job welding cracks between seats into bowls on 990 heads or others.

Douglas
 
#14 ·
We are in the processing of restoring a unit for a 1966 BB Vette. One head had a 2.000" long crack in the chamber. Both are being setup for "unleaded" while they're being repaired. The process involves machining for a seat insert but instead of pressing one in place, a "bead" of nickel weld is laid in the machined area. We will remachine the seat (weld) itself for the valve job. In short, the valve "seats" on the welded in "nickel" with NO insert. This is for the exhaust only. This is how many vintage heads are repaired. It's safer than trying to put an insert in with very old, thin, and extremely valuable cores that can't be replaced anymore.

This entire operation is being performed at "Champion Racing Head Service"
down in Palm Coast, Florida. It was started by a friend of ours, Al Mathon, who did ALL the cast iron welding for the original owners of the "AFX" cars when they surfaced on the scene years ago. Al has since had health problems, but appears to be well enough to oversee the guys at "Champion" to continue with welding repairs on "valuable" iron. The 2 heads we're having done are BB "square port" #858's. Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. You are welcome to contact them in Florida, the address is 13 Hargrove Grade, Palm Coast, Fl. 32137. The phone number is 386-446-4488. As I stated above, Al himself welded all the iron heads used in the original "Funny-Cars" when the manufacturers had only iron to offer. He did many 351 Cleveland's over the years.
 
#15 ·
GOSFAST, thanks for the contact info for Champion head service. It`s funny, this post started out for a buddy`s heads but today my neighbor gave me a set of bare 840 castings with a hole in the combustion chamber in one head. So now I have a set of heads that need to be repaired. I`m not sure if I`m going to use them but they were free so if I don`t, I`m nt out any money. thanks again.
 
#16 ·
sschevellefan said:
GOSFAST, thanks for the contact info for Champion head service. It`s funny, this post started out for a buddy`s heads but today my neighbor gave me a set of bare 840 castings with a hole in the combustion chamber in one head. So now I have a set of heads that need to be repaired. I`m not sure if I`m going to use them but they were free so if I don`t, I`m nt out any money. thanks again.
Hi Anthony, don't bother welding any 840 heads, you can buy them for about a "dime-a-dozen". They are the least desirable BB castings. We have at least 6/7 sets in inventory. The 858's I mentioned above could fetch as much as $4000.00 for a pair with the correct dates. Some castings have a tremendous
value placed on them. The repair (crack) and the exhaust seat work on the 858's will run the customer about $800.00 just for the welding.

The '67 2 B.M. BB "351" blocks ship out at $4000.00 minimum per piece and the 4 B.M.'s could bring an add'l $2000.00. If you get any of these numbers, you could get yourself enough to offset some of the cost of a really good unit. As I say, blocks numbered 351, 942, heads numbered 858, 391, and many intake manifolds are highly desirable at the moment. Some other numbers are also valuable, but depend on the total amount of units built back then. Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. Always check part numbers when you're dealing with original castings, especially dated before 1972. We just delivered the cores Saturday for a '69 Camaro "DZ". The block, a "618", 2 heads "186's", a set of 8 "O" rods, and the "1178" crank for a total of $3600.00. This was a "cash-and-carry" deal, no machine work except for a pressure test on the cores!
 
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