Aluminium Cylinder Head Repairs

[stevesingo]

Can anyone advise me on procedures on repairing an aluminium cylinder head?

There is no crack, only a dent from a foreign object finding it's way in to the cylinder whilst cranking without plugs fitted.

I was thinking of cleaning the area, heating the head up, in an oven, to minimise localised head distortion, and welding to fill in the hole.

Any thoughts?

Steve

[stevieturbo]

I'm sure any competent welder or cylinder head shop should be able to sort it.

When I blew a hole in one of my heads, I returned them to the makers for repair. Did an excellent job.
Although it literally did blow a hole through the deck face out to atmos lol

[stevesingo]

Stevie,

I have access to good welders, just worried about localised hot spot.

Steve

[Steve_D]

If it's just a dent why not just leave it alone.

Steve

[stevieturbo]

if the weld is sound it should be fine. its not like its in an important area

[stevesingo]

Just so you know what we are talking about.



probably just leave it. If the risks were low, then I might consider a bead of weld to fill it in.


Steve

[stevieturbo]

No way would I be welding that beside a valve seat. Far too much risk of losing the seat due to the heat. It might stay put...or could fall out at any time.

At best, just smooth the dent down if there are any raised portions.

[stevesingo]

I was thinking the same. I'll tidy it up and leave it as is.

Thanks

Steve

[perdu]

"only a dent from a foreign object finding it's way in to the cylinder whilst cranking without plugs fitted."

true PH response

is that a story worth the telling?



and I would do no more than suggested, smooth a little and refit the head

It isn't very likely to change the engine's characteristics significantly

[stevesingo]

Err, well,

I was cranking on the starter to get an ocilloscope capture of the crank/cam sensors for the motec ecu. I had left the ignition coil, which had a 30x6mm stainless extender inside, in the plug hole. During cranking the extender dropped in to the spark plug hole.

What a dick head, I know. would you believe, as well as a damaged head, 2 valves and piston, it cracked the block too. £2100 for a new block.

Lets drop it now...can we?

Steve

perdu said:

"only a dent from a foreign object finding it's way in to the cylinder whilst cranking without plugs fitted."

true PH response

is that a story worth the telling?



and I would do no more than suggested, smooth a little and refit the head

It isn't very likely to change the engine's characteristics significantly

[CrashTD]

stevieturbo said:

No way would I be welding that beside a valve seat. Far too much risk of losing the seat due to the heat. It might stay put...or could fall out at any time.

At best, just smooth the dent down if there are any raised portions.

Not that stevieturbo needs validation but I agree.

Not worth scrapping a modified head for that unless you are anal to the nth degree.

Although that seat would scare concern me in a 'what if' kind of way, especially if you spent a few bags of sand on a new engine

[stevensm111]

I have a similar issue however the debt runs across where the cylinder wall and the gasket sit. It looks too deep to skim out , is this head junk or can it be used / saved ?

[GreenV8S]

Hard to imagine it sealing like that, but I understand that on some highly stressed engines people use o-ring fire rings which recess into the sealing faces, so there may be ways to recover it. Whether it's worth the time and expense is another matter.

[227bhp]

That's an easy fix for an experienced welder.

[stevieturbo]

debt ? you owe something ?

The obvious thing there would be simply to skim it. Unless there is some reason you cannot ?

But there is nothing there that couldnt easily be repaired.

[E-bmw]

As above, skim should work, if not a competent welder would be able to fill it first.

Your local engine/machine shop should be able to take it on & advise in more detail.

[Inline__engine]

there was a thread about straightening a cylinder head to get rid of warp. can anyone find it? mignon was posting in it

[Boosted LS1]

It was about heating it in an oven and then letting it cool down and relax.

[Inline__engine]

i remeber that bit. recall there was more to it

[voicey]

It was the Ecoboost thick head gasket thread. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...