stvB3B Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 One year into my rebuild, I was about to mount my cab on my newly painted frame with a newly painted engine when I noticed a small freeze crack leaking oil behind my oil filter just below the head gasket. I'm told this cannot be reaired and must get a new block. Now I have to tear verything down that I have done so far and replace or rebuild my engine. Does anyone have a rebuilt 218 flathead 6 engine or block that is crack free, for a 1952 dodge B3B, that I could rebuild??? Angry and depressed! Steve 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 Grind it out into a V and put JBweld into it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stvB3B Posted August 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 I talked to a motor rebuilder in Houston that told me the block being cast metal is not compatable with anything I would seal it with such as welding or sealer and would not expand and contract with the cast. It would end up comming apart on me down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 I happen to know one really nice truck that has a JB welded crack in the block. I also know it is possible to weld them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggdad1951 Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 if you are looking for a block please post an add in the "classifieds" section of the forum under truck parts wanted. Thanks As for fixing the crack, it all depends on how bad and WHERE the crack is. When I rebuilt my truck the magnaflux found 3 cracks and I had them welded up by the engine company no problem. I DID find one later in my water jacket that I grooved out and used JBWeld in for one year before it fell out. I since used the POR15 manifold repair epoxy and it's held up for 3 years. Normally a repair would be to drill and tap out the crack starting at the ends and thread in brass rod and peen it over and work towards the center if welding is not an option. Unless it grows on my I will just use the POR15 as a upkeep issue until I ever need to do an actual repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave72dt Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 There's welding, stitching, brazing and JB. JB will be the simplest, stitching is the most time consuming without worrying about heat distortion and can be done at home, welding and brazing by someone who knows cast iron, (shop in Nevada, Iowa that specializes in cast iron repair, not cost effective in this case) and then the possibility of pinning. Some automotive machine shops will use pinning on cracked heads and it might be possible on blocks, some disassembly required. Try the JB first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayfarer Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 ...noticed a small freeze crack leaking oil behind my oil filter.... Perhaps I missed something here...even in the high desert it doesn't get cold enough to freeze oil... . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanksB3B Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 O.k. then it's my understanding that it's a complete tear down and rebuild or it's the JB Weld choice...If ever there was an easy choice..for me to try this is it. Best of luck with whatever you decide, Hank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P15-D24 Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 Is it in the water jacket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavisco1 Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 (edited) Google is your friend. It might be worth discussing it with these guys. If the price is reasonable, then do a tear down and have your machine shop check the block to see if it's rebuildable before proceeding. American Casting Repair 7602 Catalina Ln Houston, TX 77075 713-921-2353 Edited August 24, 2015 by cavisco1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent B3B Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 O.k. then it's my understanding that it's a complete tear down and rebuild or it's the JB Weld choice...If ever there was an easy choice..for me to try this is it. Best of luck with whatever you decide, Hank have to say, it would be a little harder choice for me.... the cab is off, no sheet metal.... for piece of mind i'd have it magnaflux like Mark did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiftyFifty Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 Most cast can be weld nicely with the proper rods, you just have to heat the material up red hot and then weld it, as cost likes to crack when heated unevenly with plain welding. If it were me, I would grind it clean and then use the Por15 ggdad posted about, or JB weld....biggest thing, is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN before applying anything to get a proper stick. You may get another block, but no gurantee that it's not going to need more over bore then your engine did, if yours required any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stvB3B Posted August 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 Hey there been away from the computor for a while. Its been crazy busy at work today. Thank s for all the good advice. I'll definitly look into all options suggested. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgeb4ya Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 You might not want to pay the cost though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggdad1951 Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 You might not want to pay the cost though! and you'd have to rebuild the whole engine to make sure no shavings got in there! Short of the drilling part, pretty much what I did with the POR15 material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 if repairing a water jacket..they are independent of the oil and combustion chambers..therefore not a huge concern on small shavings....and if concerned...you can use a magnet to pick up shaving if of magnetic material or in metals nonferrous, drill in short burst with a heavy grease on the bit...the grease will trap the chips..allow you to remove with a wiping action and recaot with fresh grease so not to introduce metal chips...if the contents on a single application will do the patch, the price would well be worth it. I am not convinced it is any more than a product we used to use called Devcon...Devcon was a very good product that yielded amazing results when mixed and applied properly...preparation is everything when using these products.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgeb4ya Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) How about Cat repairs....http://www.belzona.com/assets/pdfs/XXII_13.pdf Edited November 23, 2015 by Dodgeb4ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrwgn Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hello stvB3B, What did you wind up doing? I have a B3C and similar to you have been rebuilding and this weekend started up to find crack in exactly the same place on mine! Talked to a friend of mine who is into model A's, and he said it is common on the model A's. He repaired his decades ago by drilling a small hole at each end of the crack (to avoid having the crack grow in the future), created a v-grove in the crack and then welded it using appropriate rod material. I have researched on You Tube and there are videos out there showing how to cold weld (you typically have to heat cast iron before welding) cast iron... I do believe that a professional welder with cast iron experience could weld that crack with the motor in place. There is a specific rod material for the job. Being that the crack is exposed to the water jacket and not pressure helps. Please let me know what you wound up doing, and how it worked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiftyFifty Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 If you weld in the truck, you have to be 100% clean, which is tough unless you can get everything out of the water jacket...and it also has to be dry or the weld will not stick properly...if it was an oil gallery it would be twice as bad...welding oil soaked metal is a real chore and takes a pile of cleaning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrwgn Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Thanks for the feedback. I am going to steer clear of trying to weld the crack. It's a roll of the dice welding cast cold and I am not going to tear the engine down to take the block to someone who can heat it to properly weld it... JB or POR15 type approach would probably work, but the engineer in me has me going toward stitching method.... Seems the best way to go... no heat stress and should handle expansion/contraction best. I am calling the guys at www.locknstitch.com in the morning to see what they have to say... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stvB3B Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Sorry I have been away from this post for a few days. I talked to many, many engine rebuilders and was told that unless I wanted to gut the block I should not weld it. I really do not wan to go that far with it even though that is probably best. I was going to have it stitched at $40.00 per inch when I thought the crack was 4 -5 inches long. For short cracks that is even better than a weld. However when cleaned and inspected I had a foot long upper crack and a second crack almost as long several inches below the first crack. Must have really froze solid and bulged the whole side out, The engine guys tell me they have repaired tractors that have run hard for years with a good JB Weld job on the water jacket. Belzona is really good stuff and the rep here in Houston would make me a great deal of only $250.00 for a pound of the stuff! Wow! I went immediately to option B. JB Weld. The guy that did it said that if done properly, a water jacket crack is should hold up great. They did drill the ends of both cracks, sweated the metal clean and v ground the crack. If this holds up I'll let everyone know. This is probably a worst case crack and would be a good testimonial.HA All done now just need to remount the engine and see what happens. Wish me luck. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrwgn Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 Hi Steve, Sounds like we have similar situations. freeze crack in mine may be as long as 13 inches... I have magnaflux red dye penetrant on the way to get a better idea of where the crack starts and stops. I will probably expand the red dye detection to a larger area and check further given what you have found with additional cracks. I came to the same conclusion as you: Welding concerns me unless you tear the engine apart and have a professional furnace weld. I am sure people make cold welds work but seems hit or miss. A solder approach or something like castalloy looks interesting for this type of fix, but opinions differ as to the durability of this fix. I am down to Belzona 1111 or the Stitch-n-Lock product from Calif. Stiching looks like the proper way to do this, but 13 inches of repair will cost me about $600, and that's doing it myself. The other concern with stitching is thickness of the metal... You need minimum 3/16" thick, and of course degree of corrosion on the inside of the jacket is unknown until you start drilling... On the other hand, the Belzona 1111 looks like good stuff used in demanding commercial applications, but I think not quite as good a fix. I did find the Belzona 1111 in 1kg size for around $100... Do a google search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 I was going to suggest sodium silicate (water glass) but you need to use that before you treat the exterior of the block, as it needs exposure to air to seal. The stuff used to be used a lot in the good old days to fix weeping leaks. http://www.allpar.com/fix/cracks.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stvB3B Posted November 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 The engine shop gave me something that looks like a rat bait block to put in the engine before I start it up. It is supposed to melt down and seal any leak in the water jacket system. He said it is an engine re- builder thing. They all use these blocks to be sure customers do not have small leaks here and there after they finish with their repairs. Hope it works in mine as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950 Special Deluxe Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 Any more info on this product? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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