Is this normal?

[moparmat2000]

drill it, tap it and use a helicoil threadsert

 

[Tooljunkie]

Watched a video where a guy tig welded a nub on and grabbed it with a vise grip and spun it out.
The gasket paper comes in graphite and ceramic material.
Fel-pro makes them both.

 

[Shannon Buff]

I took that intake in to the machine shop and its cracked around the thermostat area so its junk. Looks like I am on the hunt for another one. Sucks

 

[Shannon Buff]

This is what I am looking for

 

[moparmat2000]

Was it leaking? Theres places that can V notch and braze and even weld cast iron now. Might cost you more in shipping for a cast iron manifold than it would be to just have yours fixed.

 

[Shannon Buff]

Frankly I am kinda pissed. The machinists tells me that it is cracked in the thermostat cavity. So when I get ther to pick it up, he shows me where it was "leaking". So when I got it outside in the daylight, I looked at the area and didnt see a crack, but a ridge from the casting process. So I go back in and ask him to come outside and take a look at it because I see nothing. He said after he cleaned it, there was solution running out of the bottom of the thermostat cavity. So I just figured the crack was so small that I couldn't see it and left the shop. He also said that I should check my block because the only time he has seen a crack in the cavity is when one freezes up. He was thinking that my block could be cracked as well. So I am freaking out on my way home worried that I have huge issues. Then I came back to reality. If the manifold was cracked in a coolant jacket, i should have found evidence of coolant in the valley. Well i just raised the hood to see if i overlooked that crucial detail and to my relief there is not a drop in the valley. So I will drop the oil just to be sure and I think the intake needs to go somewhere else for a second opinion. I put it on the bench and plugged all of the holes. I squirted Seek a Leak on the bottom side of the intake and blew air into the front intake passage. I didnt see one bubble. I think the guy is smokin his socks. The only thing broken is the casting around one of the rivets that holds the steel plate to the manifold. And HE did that. The first pic is the area he said was cracked. The second is what he broke. Damn, I should have just drilled and tapped the friggin hole myself.