my cylinder head repair....

[almondgreen]

Here I will show you some pics of a cylinder head repair, I have done in the last weeks.
(Ok, most of the work was done by specialist and not by me)

The first step was done by me. I managed to break two valves on one cylinder.
The damage to the head can be seen here:

[almondgreen]

IMG_6992.jpeg

I gave the head to an professional welder, who did not promise me success, but tried.

Some days later got the head back from him and he was very happy with the result. He found the right material to weld it and
did excellent work.
I showed the welded head to some experts and they found very good words only for this.

[almondgreen]

P1210810.jpeg

After recreating the cumbustion chamber, another expert fitted valve seats

[almondgreen]

P1210811.jpeg

Now the head is ready to be fitted again and I hope I will not have this work again for one or two seasons....

[5portsrock]

That looks to be a good job.
Ive done this before with limited success. I heated the head to around 500'C in a kiln. Whilst at this temperature we welded the head with oxy acetalene and a cast iron filler rod. Then kept the head in the kiln to slowly cool. Would be interested to know how yours was done?? Thanks

[mk1]

That looks like a superb job Andreas!

M

[spoon.450]

That looks very good. Well done to the people involved.

[LarryLebel]

Amazing. Most of us would have binned that head.

[JC T ONE]

Well done

[Spider]

Nice work, very nice.

You were very lucky that the guy you found to weld it took an interest in it, looks to me that he did brilliant work, that's probably 95% of the battle won right there.

I know some guys would just scrap the head but after you've invested heavily in to some, like your appears to be, then I recon they are worth repairing.

Thanks for sharing.

[almondgreen]

Thank You for the positive comments.
Sorry, I can not help with details about the welding.
What I know is that there are two different ways to to it.
One with very hot temperatures (500°C)
But mine was welded at around 200°C

[woodypup59]

Its nice to know there are some skilled people around.

Sportsrock - I've seen this sort of repair attempted with arc welding , but never gas !

[Spider]

I'll also say that it is actually easy to weld cast iron, much easier than most people realise in fact.

But,,,,,,

The real skill and trick in it is doing it without the casting cracking or being left with residual stresses that will later crack,,,,

Thank You for the positive comments.
Sorry, I can not help with details about the welding.
What I know is that there are two different ways to to it.
One with very hot temperatures (500°C)
But mine was welded at around 200°C

Almond, can you shed a bit more light on the cooler welding process?

[YMJ]

If Simon (251ENG) sees this......do you think I could repair that 163 head I tried to sell you a year or so back??
Mine certainly isn't as bad as this one but then it's probably not a 163...is it?

[goff]

I'll also say that it is actually easy to weld cast iron, much easier than most people realise in fact.

Spider cast iron can be a bastard to weld or it can be easy, Depending on the what it is ,Type , shape, crack , break , even contaminated or whatever, If we take Almonds cylinder head this as been damaged by the valve ,It not stress or heat cracked, so it needs building back up to original shape and would come under the easier to weld than most, You asked about welding with out pre-heat , OK this head would have been heated to around 100c and stitch welded or back welded most probably with MMA ( stick welding ) using machinable rods ( NICKEL ) and runs no longer than 20mm and peened immediately , either back weld or move to the other side and same again ,BUT DON'T LET CASTING GET HOT ,if you can touch with the hand then that's about right, It's a slow process, Over in OZ you will have Esab welding supplies , ask them for the welding data for cast iron , Like i said some is easy and some is a bastard to weld, Hope this helps
Goff

But,,,,,,

The real skill and trick in it is doing it without the casting cracking or being left with residual stresses that will later crack,,,,

Thank You for the positive comments.
Sorry, I can not help with details about the welding.
What I know is that there are two different ways to to it.
One with very hot temperatures (500°C)
But mine was welded at around 200°C

Almond, can you shed a bit more light on the cooler welding process?

[Spider]

Goff,

Thanks for that, I'll follow up. I have done a bit of cast iron welding and did receive some very basic training many many years ago! Though I don't remember much of it and it really only covered one method. I'd done some cylinder head repairs, most with success, some without, I've also recently repaired two blocks that had damaged decks and an engine steady hole that had well and truly busted out.

This was a head I rebuilt the combustion chamber and around the valve seats a few years back (I think I've posetd this up here once before)



None the less, I wouldn't call myself 'good' at doing it and always looking to learn.

[goff]

Morning Spider,
Looking at your head repairs and also Almond's repairs, We have the pin holes ( inclusions ) After machining ,This is the dilution with the parent metal, something you have to live with on cast iron but not detriment to this finished product, the first runs welded are the buttering layers were the dilution takes place and the next layers would be much cleaner( less or no inclusions ) . Nice work on both heads , beats throwing them in the scrap bin .
I am old school nothing was thrown away that could be repaired.
Goff

[Spider]

Many thanks Goff