What do you do?

[Vortecpro]

Lets say your 840 date coded COPO heads have been through a few sub par machine shops and have very sunken seats or 1.900 diameter exhaust seats installed right into water.......does this sound familiar?? Heres what you do-you weld them up!

[big gear head]

Did you do that yourself? Cast iron welding is pretty tricky and I've never been very comfortable doing it. I know that several years ago Indy Cylinder Heads built a oven that they could put a head in and weld it while it was red hot. There is a guy close to Buffalo KY that is well known for welding cast iron blocks and heads.

[Vortecpro]

Originally Posted by big gear head

Did you do that yourself? Cast iron welding is pretty tricky and I've never been very comfortable doing it. I know that several years ago Indy Cylinder Heads built a oven that they could put a head in and weld it while it was red hot. There is a guy close to Buffalo KY that is well known for welding cast iron blocks and heads.

Al Mathon Headmaster LOL
I have a guy that welds it for me then I machine it, you'd be surprised what we've fixed. I will post pictures as go, heres a little preview.

[EZ Nova]

Yep Vortec, that's what you do. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

We have as specialty weld place I've use up here in Ontario Canada for 20+ yrs. They have various size ovens, 20 of them I believe, that they heat weld and cool at controlled rate. One I know you can pull a trailer into. Very well know and do a lot of work around SW Ontario.

Now I have machine heads/block, I have machined many cast welded pieces. It's a process for sure. One old guy at the shop used to tell me you need to drink a min of 2 glasses of milk per day when machining cast?????

Now the fun/work begins. Good job saving the head and please keep up posted.

Your NORTHERN neighbor....

[big gear head]

It looks like the weld is good. I don't see any voids.

[Vortecpro]

Originally Posted by big gear head

It looks like the weld is good. I don't see any voids.

I will post as I go, yes it looks really good.

[EZ Nova]

You do this work on a manual machines to right? Be nice to get a small CNC and you could set it up to just nicely do small light cuts and go while your doing something else for a bit.

You locate CL of the welded hole off the guide?

[EZ Nova]

Actually looking to see more of the finish product. Not sure of the USA, but here in Canada, our insurance companies are clamping down on cars. I will be 55 next month. I bought a 409 '61 Pontiac about 6 years ago. At that time, I was with State Farm. I had been with them my whole life. They WOULD NOT insure the Pontiac because it had headers. ONLY modification could be like a radio (some stereo's were not insurable) shifter and rims. Anything more then that, no insurance thru them.

So I went to Zehre insurance. Well know aftermarket car insurance company up here. Mostly anything goes. Well last summer, they will no longer insure my '66 Nova with tubs and rollcage.

So anyway, the reason that I mentioned that is up here, it going to get harder for the average guy with 3 or 4 cars to get insurance. BUT with these builds like this, one can easily have a 500+Hp car that looks stock but with headers or even manifolds, and still enjoy them.

I see a BIG market for these builds coming.

[Vortecpro]

The guides need honed, valve job needs to be done, then the porting and finally the CCs set.

[big gear head]

That looks great!