Repairable timing cover?

[clifftt]

During reassembly of my '64 273, I noticed both water passages in the timing cover, one especially, are pretty badly corroded away. (I bought this car used, ran it for a few months but never had any water-in-oil issues, just the old smoke out the exhaust pipe when cold.) I could upgrade to the new timing cover, but that means changing water pumps, changing or re-labeling the balancer since the timing marks are on the opposite side of the new cover. A quick look thru the internet for another 273 cover came up empty.
I'm wondering if I can repair this thing patching the passages with JB Weld or some similar product. This is an aluminum cover. Anyone have any thoughts?

[cageman]

You could drill it out and press an aluminum sleev in there and heliarc the end, or just clean it up real good and fill it in with new aluminum by heliarc. It will probably be a pain until it cleans out, but I have welded on them all the time and it seems to clean out after a few times around. I just get it warmed up by running the tig torch around a few times, then wire brushing all the crap out, it welds up just fine. That is probably the route I would go, just have a welding shop do it for you, find one that does aluminum. Just have em fill it in high then sand her down level, aluminum is very easy to work with.

[namvet67a1f]

That 103 pic is SCAREY ! ....

cm has a good idea on the "fix".

[clifftt]

Yea! There's probably less than 1/16" separating the water jacket from the gear area. Cageman, thanks for the idea. I'm printing this thread and taking it a buddy of mine who occasionally welds aluminum. I'm hoping he'll take a bribe!

[namvet67a1f]

what is the proper ID of this passage ?

[clifftt]

When I drop my cheap vernier caliper into the sleeve (about a half inch deep), it measures 30mm, which is about 1 3/16".

[pishta]

Dang, that is ugly, but a very clean timing cover ~!IF you need to remark the balancer, just put a timing tape on it, and remember to remove the plastic cover after you stick it on or itll fly off. Clean with alcohol first.

[clifftt]

Got the timing cover back last night. Water passages welded up now. He also added some weld to the other side at the water pump mount. I thought I could clean up the welds myself, but I'll visit a machine shop today to see if they can resurface the timing cover instead. Don't want any leaks from a new motor. Here's some pics....

[namvet67a1f]

Nice ...lots bester than before !

[cageman]

See, easy wasnt it.

[clifftt]

Final chapter of the story...........Ground much of the weld away to eliminate interference from the water pump impeller. Took the timing cover to the local machine shop. He resurfaced both sides of the cover with his Bridgeport. And, voila! Turned out nice! I'm tickled. It was very cost effective and saved me the hassle of switching everything over to the other side of the motor. Check out the pics.

[pishta]

I could play all day on a Bridgeport. Did the tops of a pair of M/T valve covers (on a vertical mill, the hard way) and then hit em with a belt sander and a flapper wheel and they looked like they were cast that way. The quality is all in the setup, the cutting is just the pretty part.