Tin Indian

Dug and myself are installing a new steel block motor in his Incon twin turbo car.

We dropped the pass. side exhaust manifold/turbo assembly to the garage floor (long story how it happened).

Anyway, the O2 sensor in the pass. side manifold broke out of the manifold, leaving a perfectly round hole now where the o2 sensor used to reside. The actual theads in the manifold that the O2 sensor was screwed into are now attached to the broken off O2 sensor ... Leaving this 1" hole in the manifold.

I was suprised how thin the casting is in this area.

I feel the only way to fix this is to purchase an O2 sensor bung (who sells them?) and have it welded back in the manifold, and then install a new sensor.

My question is: Can this fairly thin cast iron manfold be welded? I have heard that cast iron does not weld very good.

This whole deal has been a real pain in the *** to say the least.

Dug can tell you about the [very deep laceration] he now has above his eye from an accident working on this car that happened just minutes prior to the Incon manifold being broken.

Yesterday was basically a nightmare as far as I'm concerned!

Ron,

xssive

iTrader: (123)

Take it to a welder who knows what he is doing with cast iron. It is going to have to be properly heated before welding, and cooled afterwards...

White_Hawk

iTrader: (3)

I would try to fix it with a sleeve before welding it. Ramchargers sells those weld-in bungs. I would try to turn the weld-in bung into a sleeve. that would mean you would have to drill and tap the manifold and run a die on the new bung (the are pretty thick so yo should be allright). If the bung from ramchargers doesn't work, take it to a good machine shop and they whould be able to make you a sleeve. If it was an NA manifld, I would say do a press fit with the bung, but not on a turbo car! There is defintiely no easy solution, though.

Did you have them coated or are they just bare? When I got my kit there were sheets of rust falling out of it so I had it coated.

-Geoff

ChevyNo1

Yup, deep laceration all right . . . I declined going to the hospital. I have been cleaning it regularly and dressing it, but one thing has not gone away overnight, now I really have to go get it checked out. My nose on the side of my face where the laceration is is completely numb. It feels like I got a shot of novacaine from the dentist. That can't be normal. I hope there is no nerve damage. I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Thanks for your help guys. Yesterday was a complete disaster

- Dug

red ws6 99

As stated take it someone welds cast iron all the time. You want it heated up and when the piece is welded in you want short bursts on the welder like you are tacking it. To much heat all at once will make it crack. You don't want to weld a very thick piece into the manifold this will cause heat transfer problems once the car is running.

Gary

y2khawk

iTrader: (5)

Did your manifold have the bung welded in to start? I don't remember which side it was, but the original casting had the boss for the sensor in the wrong place and the ended up moving it by welding in a bung in a different location.

Tin Indian

The manifold (long pass. side) appears to have had just a threaded hole in it from manufacture. There never was a 'real' bung that was welded into the manifold during manufacture. Like I said, the casting in this area is very thin. The hole is quite far from where the turbo attaches to the manifold.

On the other manfold (the short one on the drivers side), the O2 sensor is located in the end of the manifold very very close to where to turbo attaches to the manifold. The metal in this area is very thick.

I am not very happy at all with the overall design of this Incon turbo system. Not happy at all! ... I guess I'm just too spoiled from working on Turbo Buicks for a long time ... For a single turbo system, that is a very well engineered and designed system ... It's simple and works great! ... Of course, that ain't helping out Dug's problem much, now is it.

Ron,

TurboSS

Damn Dug. Hope you are OK. PM me if you need some help.

Tom

ChevyNo1

Hey thanks Tom. Now that I know where you are I will ask if I need to!

Yea, I'm doing OK. Pics of the damage to ME are here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~dougboreland/laceration

- Dug

1point3liter

That sucks. I'd have to make up a story about a bar fight or something. If you can't feel your nose, I would consider having it checked out professionally. Especially if you have medical coverage.


Post a pic of the damage to the manifold. You should be able to have it fixed by an experienced welder.

Keith

Well, if it fits back into place without any extra pieces, I'd say weld it back together. The key for cast iron is good Pre-heat, and really good post heat. You have to let that cast iron cool back down slowly! otherwise it will crack.

1dirtyZ

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear about that, hope it heals ok.

keith (street flight) should have O2 bungs. as for welding cas iron try basko or B&B in mesa.

ChevyNo1

Yea, I did go to ER and have it checked. I smacked both nerve bundles above and below the eye, hence the numb nose. Yesterday it started tingling every few hours, I think it's coming back. Didn't break anything, but got a contusion.

I'll post a pic of the manifold up soon.

- Dug

ChevyNo1

Here's a pic, I found a guy who would weld it, but he said he couldn't guarantee it because cast iron is quite difficult. Is it that difficult? Can I find someone who WILL guarantee it?



- Dug

S_J_H

hey Dug, a facial laceration gives one character.

Just preheat the manifold in an oven to 500' if it will fit. Weld it up, toss it back in the oven and let it cool back down slowly.
Otherwise just do a series of small welds letting it cool back down with each weld. Just take a little care to avoid cracks by welding it in evenly at first with some small tacks to avoid uneven stress. It only needs to be strong enough to handle exhaust backpressure so no need for a lot of weld deposit IMO.
This may be of a little help- http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowl...ronpreheat.asp
Steve

cablebandit

iTrader: (37)

damn...i thought I had problems......Hope your eye gets better.....you are one tuff bastard to suffer thru an eye laceration.

SS2win

iTrader: (11)

see if your welder can get hold of some welco super missileweld welding rod. works real nice on cast. http://www.jwharris.com/images/pdf2/SMW.pdf

red ws6 99

I was going to suggest this a few days ago. Find a company that does commercial tank fabrication, etc. You want a welder that is AWS and ASME certified for cast iron welding. They would not have any problems doing it. Probably will cost a little more but should get a lot better results. There should be plenty of those type companies in phoenix with all the aerospace, etc.

Gary

ChevyNo1

Guys, is there any reason I can't reuse the bung? I got it off the sensor, it obviously is a perfect fit for the hole Can they just reweld it on? Why would I need a brand-new bung?

- Dug

SS2win

iTrader: (11)

the only problem i see is heat. that little piece of cast will probably crack or warp. super missileweld will fuse mild steel to cast. Being as thin as the casting is, I thinks you will only have one chance to fix it so get a qualified person to look at/do it.

If you really want to reuse the cast bung then you may want to consider brazing....