Lone Star Mopar, If you don' have the original piece that broke off I would have it welded up by a professional and grind and file it down. My suggestion works well where the pieces fit back together at the brake. The JB Weld effectively holds the pieces together and the bolts add strength to the original material and holds the pieces tightly together providing sheer strength. As I understand it the JB Weld and other like products are made of epoxy that is mixed with fine metal particles. The metal particles lend strength much like fiberglass. The compression strength is undoubtedly greater than the tinsel or sheer strength. JB Weld has a Web sight that pretty well tells about the best uses of their product. Dick .
Clean it up-put a small lump of JB or other good epoxy on it--put a piece of Saran (plastic) wrap on it and clamp-bolt it to something flat. After it sets up just peel the wrap off. Should be nice and flat.
If I could weld, I could probably save myself some money. Since I cannot weld, I take jobs like this to a professional welder, and pay whatever it costs. Issue over, no problems. Since carburetors are my profession, I have tested JB Weld, as well as a number of other expoxy products. All that I have tested so far will get soft and fail if exposed to gasoline. JB Weld took approximately 3 months. So far, I have repaired several manifolds by first glass beading, and then having them professionally welded. No issues with any of them. And yes, I bought a TIG welder, thinking it might help my welding ability. It didn't. My own experience; others will differ. Jon.
Sorry to hijack, but thanks for the help fellas. Just for the record I wouldny use JB weld or epoxy for what I need I was more refferring to the alumi weld type probuct. For now Im searching for a good local tig welder and we'll see what he thinks. Thanks again Rick
Glad to hear! Still keeping fingers crossed for ya. You can't imagine how difficult it is to type like this
I did the JB Weld for corrosion at the same water jacket. Cleaned it with CLR to remove the scale, dug it out with a screwdriver, etc., wire brushed, rinsed, dried, then roughed up the area with 40 grit, filed it flat.
One comment on TIG welding - best to clean clean parts really well after bead blasting - the silica in the sand / glass beads always leave a powdery residue that can dork up your weld quality and leave inclusions.
I bought one from my swap meet for my Suburban, that someone did this with, and ended up taking my Dakota to Bonneville because water was pissing out. When you torque down the intake, it flexes a bit, but the epoxy doesn't. I agree with what others have said--that's not that bad. Run it. If it's a rare intake, send it to Lamar Walden in Doraville, Georgia and when he's done the intake will look NOS--any cracks or rot will be tig'd and ground, all flat surfaces will be re-machined, and the intake will be run through a "reskinnin" process that closes all the pores of the cast aluminum. -Brad
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