How to TIG Weld Cast Iron with good success 440 engine block broken ear for 71 barracuda episode 10

In this episode I go over how I have had success welding a 440 Cast Iron engine block for the 1971 Plymouth Barracuda we have in the shop. Correction to video I am DCEN not DCEP as stated on my settings normal DC TIG hookup with leads. I was multitasking and said the wrong thing. I give you a step by step walk through with lots of tips and tricks that might be able to help you with you cast welding project. If you have a Dodge tall deck big block you might have the same issue.
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carthage-class...
#weldinglesson #440 #mopar

[@jimdrechsel3611]

Rick I had my 440 block recently repaired by a professional welder. He repaired the ear on the driver side that bolts to the bell housing where the starter goes. The through hole casting cracked off and he filled the entire area starting at the halfway mark where it broke until the arm hard enough solid weld to drill another hole. He used “Super Cast” mig wire made by United Alloys to make multiple passes over each other. First he preheated the area to weld to 300 degrees checking with a laser temp gun. It was thoroughly cleaned and wire brushed of course. After each pass he peened the weld with a dull body hammer for a couple minutes. After each weld he wire brushed and peened for pushing the welds down and relieve stress. It took close to 4 hours to complete the building up of welds but it was a professional job and worth it. This was done to a long block that was just assembled with gaskets and sealant. Luckily the area was about 4 inches away and was on an engine stand to help with gravity. The wire does have nickel content. The gas was a 75 percent argon but 90 percent is preferred for less spatter. You can always call United Alloy for questions. One benefit using this rod is that the material after welding is machinable. If you want more details feel free to contact me. There was none of the preheat procedure with the block you used at all. Preheat the area and mig. Hope this can benefit you or your customers some day. United Alloys for more information is 800 356-WELD. Thanks for great instruction and for your responses. Keep making your videos.

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thanks a lot for all that info, really good stuff and I will probably give it a try.

[@cavedave1922]

Your talents are incredible! Always looking forward to your next video👍

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you, I really appreciate the support!

[@garylietz6305]

I just learned a huge amount of information.... thank you.

[@carthageclassiccars]

Great to hear you are welcome!

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

When you install the engine chain or cable it to the frame so you're not yanking on the motor mount..😁 you did a good job on the welding!

[@carthageclassiccars]

Good advice I might try that and thank you

[@justin.gipson]

I've been looking for advice on this exact repair for my mopar 400. Thank you for uploading this. Subbed.

[@carthageclassiccars]

That's awesome to hear glad I could help and thank you!

[@skipsims2384]

Great work. I have a 1970 “F” 383 HP block with the same ear broke off. I’m gonna give this a try and save that block. I’m wanting to build a 496 stroker with it for my 71 Challenger. Thanks for the video!

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thanks and good luck with your repair let me know if it works for you also in the future!

[@skipsims2384]

Will do bud, also making good progress with the 71 challenger we exchanged on last time we messaged. Got the new frame rails under the car so it’s a roller now and getting all the bad sheet metal off the car and it’s at the frame shop now to get it strait before putting any new sheet metal back on the car. Things are finally rolling! I’ll keep you posted on my progress as you’ve been a great instructor for my build and have hit all the areas I’m doing for this restoration. I can’t think of anything better than your tutorials for E body restorations you’re doing. Following you and look forward to seeing all your work here on the channel!

[@markcollins457]

Beautiful job, only practice gets results like this😊

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you very much!

[@teamidris]

That was a good vid. I watched a patch job vid the other week that was welded around the edge and then an ordinary steel plate welded in the gap as filler. Saturday I saw a singe cylinder repair that was a half pipe with a bolt every 3/4”. It must have taken days to drill and tap, never mind forming the sheet to fit the casting. Looked like it had worked and held water for decades :o)

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you, sometimes you have to think out of the box when trying to figure out the best way to repair something.

[@ExpressionsConcepts]

Man I love your channel, Great Stuff

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you

[@ludditeneaderthal]

Those flying sparks are the carbides burning in that iron (real good sign, shows your puddle is casting temp, so really getting alloying fusion rather than stacking metal on top). Damn fine work! If you ever have to do it again, bust off a pencil and put it in the tube before you start laying metal, it burning will eat the oxygen, preventing that oxide slag/scale/crud from building up (any old chunk of wood will do, twig, dowel, pencil, even packing it with dried lawn clippings, lol)

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you and same for the advice with the wood I will try that out!

[@ludditeneaderthal]

@@carthageclassiccars a pleasure! It's an old gunsmith trick for hard soldering front sights, or welding up colt1911 locking lugs, to keep from dogging the rifling with scale/slag/oxide nasties... btw, first vid of yours I've seen, subscribed!

[@carthageclassiccars]

@@ludditeneaderthal gotcha awesome info to know

[@YourFriendlyHoodVampire]

Thank you, this is a great tip

[@gregoryl.4872]

Thanks for sharing.

[@carthageclassiccars]

You're welcome!

[@rahsidhajiloo4873]

Hi, thanks for this video

[@carthageclassiccars]

You are welcome, thank you for watching!

[@dumpsterfire6351]

Gangster af Thanks 🙏

[@carthageclassiccars]

Appreciate you watching

[@quartfeira]

Thank you man you are clearly very competent and talented. Thank you for sharing!

[@quartfeira]

Just subscribed too. You deserve it!

[@carthageclassiccars]

thank you very much!

[@edb3551]

Nice JOB ‼️

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you!

[@Six4691]

Great job, thanks!

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thank you!

[@oacumulador]

Great help

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thanks for watching!

[@hansleymatiwat4140]

Very helpful.

[@carthageclassiccars]

Great to hear glad you enjoyed it!

[@edsmachine93]

Very nice repair. Well done. Thanks for sharing. Take care, Ed.

[@carthageclassiccars]

Thanks!

[@tmackinator]

Nice job !

[@carthageclassiccars]

thank you!

[@single_cam9199]

What would you use or do…… ford 302 gt40p head passenger side. Exhaust manifold bolt broke heat did not work, broke sticking out part. Drilled and tried easy out with glowing hot heat. Did not work. Worked my way up to 5/16 barley getting factory threads used 3/8 tap to get out resisting bolt was not coming out. Went for another pass was just not really taping was hard to thread so used one of those in between bits and went a touch too far hit water jacket. Tried the tap again it broke free the existing material from bolt tried backing out tap broke. Could only move from 1 o’clock to 2 o’clock tap was moving but not the tap it self just the existing material. Had no choice but to punch and break tap to get out. The tapered tip still stuck and went sideways. I know I know I should have just put my manifold on my mill and took enough out of the 5.0 explorer manifold to get a nut on the broken bolt and shouldn’t have fucked with it……… Waiting on 3/8 diamond tip hole say that comes today via Amazon. To cut left over tap. Now what do I do about the water jacket hole. I know on this motor the head bolts need thread sealant because they pass into the water jacket.so should I just thread seal the time sert and then the manifold stud. Or weld it. “ try to weld it” and repeat. My thing is with the sealant. The temp rating is only 400* I’ve used my ir temp gun to read the temp of the runners of my turbo car and it well exceeds 400* at idle on tubes. Am I just not seeing the right sealant for the job

[@carthageclassiccars]

So that is a tough one for sure. The problem with welding water jackets is the different rate of expansion of heat especially in the heads where the exhaust it. I would say structurally it would hold if you followed something similar to the video. Weather it would barely seep water might be another story. Maybe the best route would be if you can get in the water jacket side weld that area first, then go up with a helicoil and thread sealent or some version of sealant Loctite. kind of use a combination of the two methods. If nothing else try the plug idea first and run it see how it does or at least pressure test it and hope for the best. Let me know how it turns out I am curious.

[@single_cam9199]

@@carthageclassiccars just got everything out hole is tapped for time sert I think I’m gonna go a complete different route. The sert bit is 9/16 I think I’m going to machine a 9/16 plug for behind the sert. The sert is only so deep. So I’m thinking physics where I’d I plug the hole with something pressed with a punch with the sealant on it then thread seal the sert then thread seal the manifold stud. Everything takes the path of least resistance…………………………………………………

[@carthageclassiccars]

That might work good luck with it

[@budlanctot3060]

I'd be curious to know how much the heating/welding affected the crank journal alignment, cam journal alignment, deck square & flatness.

[@carthageclassiccars]

It's going to the machine shop this week to check and align everything, but I think where I concentrated most of the heat it shouldn't effect to much. The rest of the block didn't Spike as much.

[@carthageclassiccars]

The block came back from being sonic checked with no issues, everything was checked for aligned, cleaned up.030, with the deck actually not even having to be squared up again. Not sure about different blocks but I hear great things about the early model 440 engine castings and this seemed to be one that fit that mold.

[@schmittyboy206]

Mr. Beasts?! Man you’ve really met yourself go 😂😂😂

[@PeterHedenberg-wi7mm]

That Rod same as silikon bronze?

[@carthageclassiccars]

No Silicon bronze is much different then these high Nickle rods

[@PeterHedenberg-wi7mm]

@@carthageclassiccars Thanks you realy good body reper ect ,, same as quality Sweden work

[@stevepearson6316]

Is that engine for the 71 barracuda your working on ?

[@carthageclassiccars]

Yes this 440 will be in the 71 Barracuda

[@stevepearson6316]

By the way I love what you are doing I wish I had the skills to do what you do

[@carthageclassiccars]

@@stevepearson6316 I don't believe it is the same one. This one came from Pennsylvania and from what I understood it sat with the same guy for 15 plus years as a parts car for other cudas he was rebuilding. Most of these cars that I have seen so far mostly seem to rust around the same areas so maybe thats why.

[@carthageclassiccars]

@@stevepearson6316 Thanks a lot been messing stuff up for years experimenting with these types of cars and learning the hard way what not too do. Once you jump into it and take it a little at a time its not too bad thats why I have been trying to put some of these videos out maybe some will learn from my mistakes.

[@stevepearson6316]

@carthageclassiccars yep I got the states wrong but boy did it look similar

[@tallyman15]

You mean CK20 water cooled torch. The 9 torch is air cooled.

[@carthageclassiccars]

Yes your correct without a script just talking off the top of my head sometimes small part numbers ect get mixed up

[@NDB390]

Is there anything you can’t do?

[@carthageclassiccars]

Haha thanks, just trying to push myself in this industry. Sometimes it works out like this job and others .....well we learn from our mistakes.

[@nagibhanna1]

with all due respect brother, the kid is too close to not having him wear a face mask for his eyes

[@nicolebee2382]

First.