I have this aluminum Winfield head that once I received it, I found it to be cracked. It has a crack at the water jacket/exterior shell. Is this something that a machine shop can easily fix? Drive fast & take chances
I say take it to a Welder not a Machinist, a very experienced Welder. One that does a lot of tig welding on aluminum. I take all of my parts to a local shop that builds aluminum sulkies for horse racing, all they weld is aluminum.
Stopped by a welding/machining shop in Elizabethtown, PA and the foreman said that with the pre-heating, it would pull on the head and would need to have it milled down again. I'll have as much into repairing the head as what I paid for it... Second time I was hosed on parts from people on here. What happened to honesty? And of course the guy I bought it from won't respond... Placing this for sale if anyone has the experience to repair... I don't and also don't have the time to mess around with it.
Dan: Take your head over to Dave Hibshman (866-4586)in Myerstown, If anyone can fix it he can.Tell him Bowie sent ya.
Ok great. Thanks for the lead Bowie. I'll give him a ring. Actually hoping the original seller of this is so kind to refund for selling and not disclosing the cracked head.
Hey, Dan; Another possibility is using the Aluminum "soldering sticks". One version may be termed MuggyWeld. I'll be dipped if I can remember the original versions' name, but it was invented in the 50's just for fixing Alum heads - on water-cooled mills & they claimed it would even hold up when used in combustion chambers, 'cause the coolant would pull the heat out fast enough, which was tested & found to be true. No, I don't think it is as strong as heli-arcing, but this isn't a structural point anyways. You use a propane torch (they strongly suggest NOT using an Ox/Act torch as its' heat is too fast & hot), only heat up to ~ 600*, & slowly at that, so extremely little warpage occurs. Just gotta vee the crack & end-drill the end of the crack. They supply a SS 'toothbrush' to scrub the welding area clean prior to "welding" & it doesn't use flux. You kinda dab & wipe/drag the stick & when base metal is hot enough, it'll melt/flow like solder. Stuff is machinable, etc. Can be used on any non-ferrous metal. I haven't used it for a head, but other things, & damned if it doesn't work. . Marcus...
Your fellow in Elizabethtown is right about heating and milling. I hope the seller was not aware, but in any case if you spotted this right off after receiving, I would think he would do the standup thing and work with you - otherwise that's just wrong. Plz let us know if he steps up and if bit - perhaps report to the Admins
I'll be damned. I'm very familiar with MuggyWeld......with pot metal repair. There are a bunch of helpful videos to support their repair processes. Here is one with the alloy repair you referenced......for aluminum. Using $60 of their stuff..... Also an aluminum welding link. http://muggyweld.com/aluminum-welding
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