Water jacket cracked

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The engine on my vintage car has sprung a water leak. The engine, 1928 vintage, has a historic repair to the block exterior in the form of plate fixed with bolts. The water is seeping down from under this plate. Recently I used a radiator flushing agent and I suspect that this has loosened crud in the water jacket causing the leak.
The block is cast iron, is it possible to have the crack(s) repaired at a moderate cost? I know this is a piece of string type question.

Incidentally the engine is a overhead valve inlet over side valve.
Advise and comments gratefully received.

[GreenV8S]

God knows what the material is like so welding would be a gamble. I guess it's pretty lightly stressed. Perhaps it would be possible to seal the block with JB Weld or similar, keeping the plate for mechanical support?

[Grumbly]

I have seen cracked vintage blocks repaired by cold stitching on television. I think Car SOS had it done on one of the cars they did recently. It was done in the midlands, but I can't remember by whom, I think it was somebody who worked on steam engines.

[Bdevo3]

Metalock block stitching

[SantaBarbara]

Find an identical engine that you can buy and transplant into your car.

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SantaBarbara said:

Find an identical engine that you can buy and transplant into your car.

Thanks for input chaps, I will have a read up on the cast iron stitching method. Trying to find another engine to transplant is akin to the proverbial hens teeth unfortunately.

[dhutch]

A contact who has a similar vintage car used Slinden Services to repair damage to the head and was very happy with the work.

Daniel

[rolando]

Bdevo3 said:

Metalock block stitching

In my experience*, this is certainly an excellent way to deal wth this sort of problem.

• 2" long crack in a side valve cylinder head still OK after >30 years.

[stevieturbo]

Lots of info and pics if you google....seen it a few times. Clearly it works...just not sure how much I'd trust it.

But when there is no other choice, something like this would make sense

http://www.onsitemetalstitching.co.uk/

[poppopbangbang]

Laser welding is your friend here - it is far more suited to this type of repair than tig. See http://www.e-m-p.biz/laser-welding/classic-cars/ but there are many companies who offer this service. Generally you will get better penetration with no heat distorsion when compared to Tig.

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Thank you to all who have posted advise and comments together with leads. Decided to go with the cold stitching method, remove the historic plate repair and see what we have. The alternative would be to have a new block manufactured, lord knows what that would cost!!

If I can get some images of the work I will post them up.

[tapkaJohnD]

In Australia, a unique engine block was remade by 3d printing a mould from the original, and casting the replacement: https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/MF/Areas/Metals/L...

THis Dutch company already makes a business of the process: https://www.3dealise.com/en/engine-castings.html

John

[Mignon]

Meh! Pretty much every time you post it's a huge OMG OMG OMG catastrophe which turns out to be nothing. For now you don't even know if it's just the plate leaking and needs resealing.

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You can see a hairline crack extending down from the plating, my guess it’s the old historic crack opening up beyond the repair.
I had the car up for sale on car and classic since September, chap came along yesterday and purchased the car. I did show him the problem but he was happy to still buy the car. Saves me the aggro of having the work done and risk that the block may be beyond repair.

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Mignon said:

Meh! Pretty much every time you post it's a huge OMG OMG OMG catastrophe which turns out to be nothing. For now you don't even know if it's just the plate leaking and needs resealing.

Yes I always tend to look on the dark side with mechanical troubles.

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tapkaJohnD said:

In Australia, a unique engine block was remade by 3d printing a mould from the original, and casting the replacement: https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/MF/Areas/Metals/L...

THis Dutch company already makes a business of the process: https://www.3dealise.com/en/engine-castings.html

John

Amazing process, not as expensive as imagined either.