TIG welding Cast Aluminum motorcycle case?

[CGCINC]

Had a guy call me today and said he broke part of the lower threaded bolt mount off his engine case.
He doesn't have the part that broke off so it will need built up and re-threaded I'm guessing.

I've never welded on Cast Aluminum before so how tricky of a job is this and what's the best way to go about it?

He will be pulling the motor out and dropping it off to me.

[Rodsmachineshop]

try to find some old motorcycle cases to practice on also might get lucky some of the practice cases mite have ears on it to replace the broken one . mian thing on motorcycles cases getting them clean before welding

[CGCINC]

try to find some old motorcycle cases to practice on also might get lucky some of the practice cases mite have ears on it to replace the broken one . mian thing on motorcycles cases getting them clean before welding

I talked to the one friend that I knew would have an old engine case laying around.... He threw two of them away a couple weeks ago because he cleaned his garage :/
I'm going to a the local Yamaha shop and see if they have some broken cast parts they don't need. I've been a customer of their's forever so hopefully they can help me out.

[Rivets]

Had a guy call me today and said he broke part of the lower threaded bolt mount off his engine case.
He doesn't have the part that broke off so it will need built up and re-threaded I'm guessing.

I've never welded on Cast Aluminum before so how tricky of a job is this and what's the best way to go about it?

He will be pulling the motor out and dropping it off to me.

CG,

Have a look at this thread.

rivets

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...-to-repair-it?

[Geco]

Advice from the master : http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...m-welding.html

[CGCINC]

CG,

Have a look at this thread.

rivets

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...-to-repair-it?

That's a good link, thanks!

Geco

Nice video from Jody. Thanks for that link as well!

[5440]

I welded my intake on my Toyota truck so I could build it up to accept a larger carb without the use of adapters. I also filled in some exhaust EGR valve pockets on the inside of the exhaust ports to aid in the port job that was to follow. Six years and counting without issues to either mod. I'm a hobby welder so I just treated it as any other aluminum weld, but I recommend following proper repair practices. I just wanted to share my experince with cast Al, and that it can be done without and issue, just make sure everything is super clean.

[CGCINC]

I welded my intake on my Toyota truck so I could build it up to accept a larger carb without the use of adapters. I also filled in some exhaust EGR valve pockets on the inside of the exhaust ports to aid in the port job that was to follow. Six years and counting without issues to either mod. I'm a hobby welder so I just treated it as any other aluminum weld, but I recommend following proper repair practices. I just wanted to share my experince with cast Al, and that it can be done without and issue, just make sure everything is super clean.

So you didn't do anything special? Did you use a 4043 filler rod?
Thanks for telling your experience....

[Rodsmachineshop]

I use 4043 for almost everything seams to work best when welding case,s intake manifolds and cylinder heads think its the best for dirty aluminum the pulse controls on tig help a lot when welding dirty aluminum since gets hot get imperaties to surface then give aluminum to cool and not melt away . Another little trick i do is when welding boat props back together take a piece stainless steel sheet metal and clamp to broken prop blade opposite side of welding first works as a heat sink and stops the aluminum from fall through when welding till all filled in, another good thing to have if welding aluminum a lot is a oven . I have a head and block oven at my machine shop it go to 800 degrees on thick stuff i heat to 250 or hotter before welding like heads . the oven cleans the aluminum also while cooking . before i got the machine shop oven i used my big propane bbq lol

[Rodsmachineshop]

hey just bought a Power I-MIG 205 how do you like your 200 i mig

[CGCINC]

hey just bought a Power I-MIG 205 how do you like your 200 i mig

I like it alot! Works really good but I need to get my helmet situation fixed so I can see to weld with the Mig. I'm still learning how to adjust it but I'm glad I bought it.

[Rodsmachineshop]

i just bought the i-mig 205

[Rodsmachineshop]

i almost have my face in the weld to see it lol good thing i bought lots of lens shields lol

[sportbike]

The cheater lenses are great. I don't need them (yet) but the shop manager at work recently purchases a BOSS helmet (his first auto darkening helmet ever) and he got a fancy one that I believe is different for each eye. Even though he is not really a welder anymore, I see him out in the shop under the new hood at least 2-3 times a week now. I think the lenses made all the difference for him, literally from being unable to weld to now back at it. Glasses just didn't work properly for him, he said it gave sort of a double reflection or something. I think the cheater lenses being right against the tinted lens prevent this and work better.

[GUNNER]

NEVER ! EVER ! NEVER! Sandblast motorcycle cases or cylinder heads!! This may seem like a really good way to clean them up and while it does clean the surface the ill effects are long lasting and destructive beyond your wildest dreams.. What happens is the sand / Glass ( from glass beading ) embed into the pores of the aluminum and no matter how many times you clean them before assembly when they get hot and have oil inside all vibrating at frequencies perfect for dislodging this embedded time bomb and it does so much damage to bearings, cylinder bores, cams, cam bearings.. It will happen forever until you finally ditch the offending parts... How do I know this to be true? Well on this one I didn't find out first hand like most things I learn.. However a friend of mine showed up at the track many years back with a very clean looking motor in his race bike that he was so proud of and it did look nice I'll have to say... The motor expired within 1 weekend and upon inspection it was eaten alive from the inside out by GRIT! So he cleaned it all up and out and reassembled new parts into the same cases and guess what? RIGHT!!! After the 3rd build he finally gave up on ever getting this junk out of the aluminum and started with fresh cases.. Problem solved...... Did I mention he was a long time mechanic at dealership ? Goes to prove those guys don't know anymore than the rest of us and in some instances less.

When I worked in the engine shop of a professional race team as the shop fabricator and machinist we used a cleaning cabinet that used scalding hot cleaning solvent (water based ) as the blocks rotated and were jet sprayed at high pressure from every angles for something like 2 hours.. The result was aluminum blocks, heads that were completely clean from any oil deposits perfect for welding and machine work. So clean the bores would rust within 2 to 3 minutes of the time you opened the door of the cabinet if you failed to get some light oil back on them.. As nice as all this is sometimes I hate knowing these things exist because it makes working with anything less no fun at all and something I really don't even want to do. I think the word for that is spoiled! LOL

[Rodsmachineshop]

i use steel shot in my cabinets thats what most machine shops use and after blasting with shot it go to the hot jet washing cabinets for a hour or more for cleaning , even cleaning with those small brown disk pads when doing head gasket cleaning or removing gasket material is like throwing sand in the engine , i have a friend that blast cleans aluminum but he uses walnut shells for blasting media works good since leaves no crap in the aluminum and washes rite off after blasting

[Rodsmachineshop]

hey Gunner i be rite over with these case's i glass beaded for you lol

[Jules The Great]

Related to the original question about the aluminium, cleaning it will help. I did some powdercoating on some aluminium parts a while back and on the first few it bubbled horribly due to oil coming out thru the poors. We just pre baked it in the oven first at a couple hundred degrees and that worked well, you could boil it but then you still have to dry it out.

Another thing that may help some with seeing what is going on is more light. I read it on another forum and people were using the 500 watt work lights over there shoulders to see better. Everyone was laughing at them but it makes sense if you think about it. As the arc is only radiating light so any additional lighting you have in the area can greatly increase your visibility. If you want to do a quick test just put a 100 watt light bulb over your work but not behind the helmet and see if it helps. Another thing that can be of great help is blocking all light from coming in behind your head as it reflects off the inner lens and can be quite distracting/annoying.

[Rodsmachineshop]

http://www.shars.com/products/view/1..._Magnetic_Lamp i have 2 of these lamps use them all the time there cheep light dose help a lot i use this lite when welding small stuff

[Jules The Great]

Yes the baking was to get the oil out first, then we cleaned with acetone, before both those steps was sandblasting. Sandblasting and cleaning with acetone alone can not get the oil that is soaked in deep out but I bet the instant you strike an arc on it the oil will blow itself and molten aluminium all over your electrode. That is why you want to back it first.

We were powder coating so I did both bakes at I think 300 or 400 degrees for every engine piece and there was no distortion that I could see when I reassembled everything.

Good luck