Would the welding be an easy thing to do for someone that's experienced? Because I'm about to lose my mind lol. I finally got everything out the way and this is what I got.


Yes I cried a little. 😒

 

Wow! Unreal.

 

Oh man. Welding isn't too hard for a beginner if it was steel, but thats aluminium, much more difficult to weld and easier to screw up than steel. You want to preferably use TIG welding, if not, then MIG will work, but a bit harder to control. You can also use a torch, but would not recommend for beginners. If you are tackling this yourself and are able to TIG weld, make sure you get the proper alloy filler rod. Make sure you do your research.

On another note, 20's are finally primed, sanded, and ready for final paint.

 

Hang in there, you're almost there, just clean it up and it'll be ready for some welding...as Hex said its tougher/requires more skill because its aluminum but its not a complex thing for someone who has some experience welding (i.e. its not joining two thin pieces of metal that may get burned through easily) ,...they just have to fill in enough so you can grind it flat and tap new threads where it get filled in (you shouldn't have to go deeper than before)..

One thing to consider is that when you are putting it back together again, when you get to laying the new gasket you may want to still use a few drops of RTV in the spots where the welding and filling was done as the mating surfaces may not end up being perfectly flat afterwards. GL and hang in there you're almost home

 

Thanks for the support! I'm looking for a skilled welder today and hopefully I can find one in the area. Was thinking of jb weld and a stud but honestly I don't know if it will hold and I'll be very upset to have to tear it all down again just to fix something I had the chance to fix correctly the first time

 

Find someone who does intercooler and turbo kits - they commonly have to TIG aluminum piping. I would suggest that it would be far easier to do with the front cover off the engine. Getting in there to weld up the bosses and then grind them flat to the flange without damaging something else will be challenging. You might also be able to drill in and sleeve the holes and put the helicoil in the sleeve.

The welding, not too bad once you get access to it.

Also - is the water pump outlet integral to the engine block or is there a front engine cover? I'm coming from rotaries, those all break down into easily manageable pieces. If it's on the block itself, in terms of labor costs to get in to it and get it done right, might be cheaper to put a used engine in there.

From the picture, it looks like all the intake and exit to the housing is via those pipes... if that's the case an external thermostat housing might be easier to engineer.

 

Sorry man, that's rough. Who does **** like that? Seriously. Even if you are poor as ****, drilling the aluminum? Wow.

 

Yeah it's pretty bad, didn't expect it to be that bad. I'm really thinking of just swapping the block but I'd rather try an cheaper less strenuous option. Couple of friends mentioned that I could jb weld studs in the holes and use nut to secure the thermostat to the block. Would that be feasible? I also found a block local for 650 with 87k on it.

 

when I first saw your post I thought maybe JB weld would work cause it doesn't seem like any one bolt section is subject to particularly high stresses, but TBH I'm really not sure if thats the case... you could always try it and if it fails go for the block...thats whould I would probably do before getting a new short block and installing it (thats a lot of work!)

If you are having trouble finding someone you might try the local craigslist for people looking for welding work... I had to get a small item in my garage welded recently and I wnt on the local version of craigslist (kijiji) and found a few guy with ads up for odd job welding work, some retired, some just idle...unfortunately (but to your benefit in this case) there doesn't seem to be a shortage of skilled people who are idle these days....you could also try an exhaust/muffler shop, I have had success in getting odd welding done in these places cause most of what they do is weld all day anyways...if someone is on board you just need to arrange for a tow

 

Thanks man, I'm really appreciate it. Any other options are greatly welcomed. I'm definitely not ready to tackle a cylinder head swap at all.

 

Looking at the bosses you might could drill down some more and thread down a bit - the bosses look like they are 1" or more deep. You only really need about 3/8" of threads to secure the thermostat.

 

This was bought up as an option but my issues were how far can I drill before I do irreparable damage?

 

Even at that the left hole will be difficult. See if a welder can come to you and maybe tackle while it's in the car.

I would start with the good hole use a T stat to align it to drill for the bottom hole and helicoil or thread tap.

Afterwards put a stud on the bottom hole then use the T star again to then drill for the left one, try to drill deep to you can gain some material then use a stud and Epoxy the rest of the stud to fill in.

 

Found a guy who's gonna come past in the morning and take a look. Let's see what transpires. I'll be calling more shops in the morning as well.

 

So guy never came out, but I decided to go to the store and grab a nut a bolt and amazingly the bolt actually tightened and caught the threads so that's a good sign for one bolt hole lol. Bolt is to long but I can easily take it back and get a shorter one. Now to figure out the top left hole 🤔