Hi Gang,
Upon rebuilding the head in my '70 MGB-GT I discovered that the casting was
damaged at
one of the thermostat cover studs. It appears that someone twisted just a
little too hard while
removing a stud. The iron cracked away from the hole and partially into the
thermostat seat.
An arguably poor quality picture of that damage is at:
http://www.geocities.com/btg80397/MGB-GT/ThermostatHousingDamagedAtOutboardStud.jpg
To repair the thread damage, a HeliCoil was inserted. The PO solved the
symptom by filling
the 'divot' with silicone gasket material and using bolts rather than studs. I
don't like those kinds
of repairs but I also don't like spending big bucks for a new head or for
welding and retapping
the casting. The damage is in a low stress location so the solution is to
repair with epoxy.
In the next picture you can see the J-B Weld epoxy curing around a bolt
temporarily threaded
into the head:
http://www.geocities.com/btg80397/MGB-GT/ThermoststHousingDuringRepair.jpg
The white substance around the bolt is Teflon plumbers tape. In this case it
is
functioning as a mould-release agent. Once the epoxy is fully cured the bolt
will be unscrewed
and the epoxy will be carefully filed to the correct shape. The repair will be
complete with the
installation of a correct stud. Time intensive but hey, this is a hobby.
At the time of this writing, the epoxy is still curing. Hopefully these two
pictures will tell
a story in a way that you might be able to benefit from someday. I will post a
picture of the
completed repair sometime this weekend.
Best regards,
Rick Lindsay
Diamond Geoscience Research
5727 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa, OK
Voice: +1 918-747-3456
Fax: +1 918-747-8599
|
