Welding chamber in aluminum head

[thomas butt]

I did some research online and it looks fairly straight forward how a welder could fix a damaged head. I was thinking of getting it fixed vs. selling them like they are. What should I expect as far as cost and how they would do it and if I need to get the head surfaced after they finish. The heads are SBF performer rpm that have been ported. Here are some pics

[thomas butt]

Some pics

[lefty o]

if selling, let the next guy worry about, and pay for it.

[rebelrouser]

can't answer all your questions, but to weld aluminum it has to be really clean, so they usually have to grind some to get to fresh weldable metal. Next as thick as the chamber is it will absorb a lot of heat, the head will need to be surfaced, and if the seats are close they may have to be replaced as the welding might loosen the press fit. And if a bronze guide gets too hot, they need to be replaced as well. I have had several heads fixed, and those are the issues I have run up against, depending on how big the hole is, thick the material is, and where it is located in the head.

[hoodeng]

Anything can be repaired, a good head repair shop should be able to easily fix what you have.

[PackardV8]

Anything can be repaired, a good head repair shop should be able to easily fix what you have.

Easily, maybe. Back in the day, when aluminum race heads were exotic, we did a lot of repair. Today, labor is higher and heads are readily availble, so cheaply, probably not so much. Those Proformers aren't irreplaceable. Get a firm cost to repair and then price the replacements.

[hoodeng]

Packard you are right. Costs these days compared to new sometimes gets pretty close, especially for off the shelf performance parts.

And yes i can remember when getting tig done was almost unheard of, flame welding alloy castings was an art, there were a few places here that were very good at it...In the kiln, weld, back in the kiln, weld, back in the kiln, weld, back in the kiln and step down over whatever hours the welder recommended, oh, and a lot of spitting.

That head repair in the photos was economic against a new set as the chambers were custom. The rear cylinder suffered the most damage and fed junk into the front cylinder before it got shut down,I think it always looks worse than it is when this happens. Just add half a pack of rods a bit of labor and voila , as new head!!. I have done more than a few of these over the years!

Cheers.

[allencr267]

What damage? It's almost cosmetic when it hasn't lost a valve.
What needs fixing, and what can be cleaned up & ignored? The fire-ring surface has to be fixed, the projection between in & ex can be cut smooth & the other 7 matched & loose about .2-.3 CR.
Sell'em if you wanna give somebody a good deal.

[Caprimaniac]

What damage? It's almost cosmetic when it hasn't lost a valve.
What needs fixing, and what can be cleaned up & ignored? The fire-ring surface has to be fixed, the projection between in & ex can be cut smooth & the other 7 matched & loose about .2-.3 CR.
Sell'em if you wanna give somebody a good deal.

Is what I see too. Just some grinding & they're good to go. If what I see in the images is all there is....

[1972ho]

Wow I’m trying see what is the big problem to you could possibly fix those little problems yourself and you were more than likely running the head as it with no problems or lose of performance.

[thomas butt]

Thanks for all the great answers. I wound up just selling them