Aluminum Intake Heat Crossover

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Daves69

Daves69

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I'm thinking about filling the heat cross over on an intake that has failed repair welds previously. No way it will be re-repaired. I cannot tell if there are cracks extending into the plenum or runners. Just trying to salvage this as a get me by with a manual choke carb.
Anyone here done such as this this before?
If so what were your results?
What did ya' use for fill?
 
You can get aftermarket intake gaskets that have a metal block off plate for the heads.
 
abdywgn said:
I read somewhere about using furnace cement
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Actually, that has crossed my mind. They local home stores have the caulk I see, but will it "set up" in the bulk it takes? I've also thought about Portland cement.
 
I’ve done it. I made a piece of aluminum that fit pretty close and then welded it in there. You can’t get it clean enough, so you’ll have to live with that. But it is what it is.

Obviously you’ll need to surface the intake when you’re done and obviously you should preheat the intake before you start.
 
YR, I'm looking to fill up the whole cross over. Not just plug the ends up with the extent of these cranks. So in effect, trying to make scrap aluminum into something useful cheap, lol!:)
 
Daves69 said:
YR, I'm looking to fill up the whole cross over. Not just plug the ends up with the extent of these cranks. So in effect, trying to make scrap aluminum into something useful cheap, lol!:)
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Got it. That’s a horse of a different feather. You can do that but, and it’s a HUGE but, the issue is again getting it clean enough and you have to have a way to keep the intake hot enough so that as soon as the liquid aluminum it doesn’t start setting up and wrecking your day.


Thinking about it you may try and do it in 3, maybe 4 sections.

If you don’t care about how it gets done, then you can grind a slot in the in the chamber and slide. Plate into that slot. You’d make 2 or 3 sections and then you could fill the end sections from the manifold flange and the inner section(s) by drilling a hole in them and filling it up and grinding it flush.

Just spit balling.
 
Somewhere I saw a video where someone filled the crossover passage in the heads with a melted down piston. I suppose the hot metal could warp/melt the intake though unlike cast iron heads .
 
Well if you are fixated on filling it, melt some lead down and pour in it.
You can buy small melting pots for making musket bullets.
 
Got a picture........
upload_2020-3-27_14-28-0.png
 
Yeah, it looks like filling the void might be the best option, just in case there is a crack somewhere into the runners. If you have a hot wrench with a brazing tip you should be able to melt some Zinc in an old cast iron pot.

Just my 2 pennies.
 
How rare is the intake, may be time to look for a replacement?
 
Daves69 said:
Got a picture........
View attachment 1715494918
Click to expand...


I’d make that into 4 smaller sections and then fill it. Trying to fill that big space is difficult because the filler will cool off too quickly and then it’s a mess.

You should able to do what you want and fix it, just make sure it’s as clean as possible, section it and keep the intake as warm as you can so the intake pulls less heat out of the filler materiel.
 
Daves69 said:
Got a picture........
View attachment 1715494918
Click to expand...


Is that a hole above the crack? If so, you may be able to clean up the base metal as clean as you can and then weld the crack and hole shut and then weld the crossover shut on both sides of the intake.

That may be easier than doing the fill fix. Once you weld the crack, if you don’t cut the exhaust heat off going to the intake it will fracture again.

I think either method will work.
 
Why don't you just cut the bottom out of it, weld up the ends and move on ?
 
brian6pac said:
Why don't you just cut the bottom out of it, weld up the ends and move on ?
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If you are going to bring forward thinking and logic into this, I have nothing to add LOL.

That is by far the best idea yet. Mill the bottom off or cut it off and weld up the flanges.

Easy and simple. Great idea B6PK.
 
yellow rose said:
If you are going to bring forward thinking and logic into this, I have nothing to add LOL.

That is by far the best idea yet. Mill the bottom off or cut it off and weld up the flanges.

Easy and simple. Great idea B6PK.
Click to expand...

I come up with one every once in a while. lol
 
Daves69 said:
I'm thinking about filling the heat cross over on an intake that has failed repair welds previously. No way it will be re-repaired. I cannot tell if there are cracks extending into the plenum or runners. Just trying to salvage this as a get me by with a manual choke carb.
Anyone here done such as this this before?
If so what were your results?
What did ya' use for fill?
Click to expand...
I used pieces of .030 brass shim stock
I just peened them in place over the crossover ports between the manifold and the gasket
 
Bad Sport said:
..If you have a hot wrench with a brazing tip you should be able to melt some Zinc...
Click to expand...
Lol, The Duro-wal wire outfit with their zinc coating tank left along time ago here. Helped dad do some "hot-dip" galvanize production over a couple weekends in my HS days. Whats the cost on a brick of zinc these days?

sireland67 said:
How rare is the intake, may be time to look for a replacement?
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Not rare , just an old CH4B I wanted to use short term as cheap as I can.

yellow rose said:
Is that a hole above the crack?
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Looks like that's there on purpose, not sure for why.

brian6pac said:
Why don't you just cut the bottom out of it, weld up the ends and move on ?
Click to expand...
That would be best, and slicing the bottom would easy enough. The I could see any crack I guess.
I'm surely not a welder of aluminum. When it comes to that, I can cut but not paste. I'd have to run it over to my "bow tie" brother to weld. He loves to rib me when he gets the chance.
 
So what I've done is sealed up the visible cracks, that hole, and one end of the cross over. I'll give it a day to set and fill the crossover with distilled water. If it doesn't leak down into the plenum or runners, I'll just block it off at the valley pan with stainless. If it leaks in I'll rip and tear!
 
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