Technical Chevy head bolt hole crack?

Just noticed this on my fresh built early 283 power pack heads. Is there anything I can do to help this? I was going to use stock bolts, now thinking ARP so I have washers.
Thanks

 

Find someone that will braze it for ya..... File it smooth and you'll be good to go...

 

I had a situation like that. I took to a local fabrication shop and they used TIG with some sort of brazing rod...I redrilled the hole and spot facing with a home tool..

 

you might try to find a small, hardened 7/16 washer to fit under the bolt head. But then you'll worry about the other ones. So maybe the ARP bolts with washers is a good plan.

 

New ARP head bolts with hardened washers and you will be fine. Both TIG welding with bronze rod and Brazing cast iron require a lot of heat and throwing a bunch of heat at that will just give you more problems at this stage of the game.

 

I would probably drill a hole at the end of the crack to keep it continuing. JB Weld a plug into the drilled hole (and the rest of the crack).

 

Thank you for all the information guys

 

X-2
6sally6

 

I’d use a stud with sealant on the block threads if they are open to the water jacket…. I don’t like to use cap screws on open water holes unless absolutely necessary.

 

My vote would be a combination of 'stop drilling' the crack and welding/brazing it.

Ray

 

Choose your fastener style, and then washer it and go.
It's taken 60 years for that little crack to be noticed.....and who knows how old the crack is actually....crack might be 40 years old.
It's nowhere near any critical place, not near water jacket or head gasket fire ring even if the crack continues to grow slowly.
I'm in the camp of any heat for weld or braze is not a good thing on a finished head and not needed at all in this case. We don't need a waterproof seal at that crack location.

if you have to weld, TIG and silicon bronze rod is the ticket to minimize induced heat and cooling stresses. Vee the crack prior to welding.

 

Whatever you do, you need to physically unite the two sides of the crack with something metallic such as weld, braze or even solder. The suggestions to drill a hole at the bottom of the crack are the accepted practice for stopping a crack from continuing. Another suggestion is some of the soldering rods that they sell on the internet and will sweat cast iron together. My preference would be Tig as it actually melts things together.........but some type of metal gap filler like braze or solder would provide some strength. You need to open the crack with a grinder so the metal can fill the gap instead of just lay on top. Then machine the surface flat and use the ARP washer studs.

Here is some neat Tig Brazing that would work.

 

think about the loading on the part. The original bolt has a small bearing area under the head, that only contacts the inner part of the boss. This tends to push the metal outwards a bit, which is what caused the crack. When you add a hardened washer, it spreads the load evenly across the entire boss, so all the loading is in line with the bolt, and it's very unlikely to crack further.

 

When you paint the engine while it's wet take your finger and wipe the crack. Let it dry a bit and give it another coat. Viola!!!! Fixed.

 

Send it to these guys, they don't seem to have any problems welding iron,

 

The only words I can find is..... round up all the Hemi blocks and some dung and let's get to work!