Experiance with welding Cast Blocks?

Johnathan · **Postat:** 2006-10-14, 14:33

I was wondering if anyone on Zatzy had decent experiance with welding Cast Iron, as in Engine Blocks. I have to make a turbo oil return, and i think i want to weld the pipe in, Cast Iron to Steel?

Any tips?

ECM_Z28 · **Postat:** 2006-10-14, 14:45

one way... the farmer mechanical way, i think its translated to (kinda looses the fun in translation from "bondmeck"..) that is to heat it up with the gaswelder, untill its all glowing red, then use the MIG welder and use as much power as possible, thats the way i learnt from truck mechanic school, some say it works, never tried it on anything that is crusal though.

Johnathan · **Postat:** 2006-10-14, 14:56

Thanx

I have an Arc welder and i have found certain rods/electrodes which are designed for welding cast, and will probably weld to the steel fairly well. My problem seems to be that the block is quite thick, and the pipe i want to weld to it, is quite thin. And yeah i dont want to ruin the block ;)

Are there any better ways to get an oil return into this engine?

ECM_Z28 · **Postat:** 2006-10-15, 11:59

its just a thought.. but what about drilling and cutting threads? i mean if its a oilreturn it shouldnt have that much presure, and loctite would make sure the pipe wont shake lose, that ofcourse requres the pipe to use the same idea as a brake line, with a cone that makes it thight between the pipe and the nut.

damn my technical english really sucks.. hope you understood how i was thinking..

ps. if you think about welding, you need a gaswelder too, because you need to get the castiron really hot to make it hold, you know glowing red, then you go on with the arc welder if i where you i would buy a junk block and test on first might save you a lot more then that junk block costs..

Johnathan · **Postat:** 2006-10-15, 13:30

Thanks - i have actually welded a block before on a ZVH engine i built and it seemed to work okay, but it was messy and i wanted to do it better this time. Saying that now though, i think i am going to put the hole in the sump. Whether its welded or a compression fitting i dont know, but it will be far easier to replace a sump than a block if it goes wrong after the engine is fitted.

I posted here yesterday and got some good ideas. I was worried about the oil surge from fitting it into the sump, but they showed me some pictures of the turbo being low down, and still being okay. I think i am more than happy with that.

Oil Return problem on M50 engine

I like the idea of threading it and using loctite as you say, but i had trouble finding a tap and die which was big enough to do it. I think i will sort the hole, and get someone with a tig welder to weld the alloy sump for me.

Thanks for your input, its appreciated ;)

MVH /Johnathan