aussie993gt-faux

oh damn i was cleaning the engine (94 3.6L) ready for cylinder leak down test.....

The donor car was in an accident on the rear RHS and when i removed the cam cover on the RHS to inspect the sprocket and chain they are in 100% good condition (from sight and feel) bad news is a saw a hairline fracture about 1 cm long on the edge of the case near one of the studs. (it is on the bottom of the case about 3 inches to the left of the sproket)

i will post some pics up but wanted some preliminary ideas:

could this be welded....my instinct says its not worth welding - I beleive it is cast also which is hard to weld

can it be left as is....I think over time heat will expand/contract and this could get worse and possibly leave me with a dry engine

so is the only option to get a second hand cam case + cover??

any general input would be appreciated.

I dont think it would leak as is but over time this could get worse??

Geoffrey

Need pictures. Cases can be welded.

springer3

Cracks do tend to grow, but not in every case. If you want to take a "try and see" approach, you can seal the crack with RTV, or even try to reinforce it with JB Weld.

Welds tend to crack, so if you take that approach, be sure to go to someone who knows how. If you want to be 100% safe and reliable (at least for that item), replacing the part is the best approach.

J richard

welding not a problem if you can properly dress the final product and keep the heat away from any seals. Its important to have someone who knows what they are doing, you don't want to impart too much heat into the case, you can easily warp it and then you're back to replacing it or removing it to machine it flat....

...and I won't admit to it myself...but JB weld or industrial epoxy does work pretty well for fractures that don't involve holding things together...

aussie993gt-faux

Thanks guys...yes this is pretty much what i was thinking.

Links to pics below..............

I have also found a crack in the bell housing and one at the bottom of the crank case (thats the one that worries me)

pics attached............ paste the links in ur browser:

Crank Case: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=hvp0xy&s=5

Bell Housing: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=rwtgtj&s=5

Cam Case:http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2hd4rxg&s=5

what is the exact material/alloy the crank and bell housing are made from. it may help knowing for when i do some research.

do you think the came case and bell housing crack are weldable or just chemi-bond??

Cheers

mojorizing

This was a result of an accident?


<<<<<don't mind my avatar, just some shenanigans for the OT forum

aussie993gt-faux

Yep i presume so..it must have been hit pretty bad on the rhs..

the tin ware around the plugs took the brunt of the force...it also bent a gearbox stud and cam cover stud but its these fracture im most concerned about

Geoffrey

I would want to take the engine apart and measure it up to see if the case was even worth saving.

mojorizing

As far as that crank case crack, just a guess here, but isn't that the part of the casting were the oil pressure regulating valve is? With it coming in from the otherside? Whatever, because you're going to have to take things apart to properly de-grease them before any welding is considered.

aussie993gt-faux

yep going to get split and welded from the inside...execuive descision made...........

new cam case will replace fractured one and bell housing tb welded.

thanks for suggestions..

aussie993gt-faux

a stud on intake pipes snapped off as a result from the accident to the rear. i just removed air intake fuel rail and injectors to find the case bit the stud screw into and half was snapped off.

could i do 2 quick spot welds to weld that stud back without warping anything (its the stud that holds on the plastic air intake pipe.

also i seem to be missing a ca from an injector and a few have cracks in them (the caps that sit on the end protecting the needle...can these be purchased seperately or what other injectors have similar caps?

Geoffrey

Dude, it sounds like the engine took a good hit. You'll want to have the case measured to ensure that it is even worth using. There is no sense in repairing the case just to find out that it isn't holding the crankshaft true any longer.

J richard

+1 on more investigation, this thing seems to of taken a pretty good whack. The bell housing is a pretty typical crack from a hit, welding it up is no big deal, the cam case, you could give it a whirl but with the crack going behind the boss you need to take it off anyway, your call on whats easier repair or replace, the case is a bit of a worry. The belhousing can get cracked without a direct hit just due to the mass of the engine/drivetrain, but unless that is a casting flaw or pourous case gone bad it would have to of taken a direct hit to crack it like that, I would expect to see a point of impact or some sort of mark where it was hit... Are you sure that is a crack and not a imperfection in the casting? hard to tell from the pic, a quick dye test might help or if in doubt go get it xrayed... On the intake I'd remove the stud and put in a new one, drill and easy out, far less potential for damage.

aussie993gt-faux

Hi JRichard........

good points.

I have decided to:

1) replace cam case and cover

2) do 2 welds on the intake stud to fix it back to the case

3) weld bell housing crack

4) get case xrayed

ill post pics of the results up.

cheers

Geoffrey

5) measure the case, or have someone measure the case for you. Do this as step #1.