No, I'm not on crack! I'm fixing that derned cracked 11mm block....

[745 turbogreasel]

Nice work

I do notice the temp drops rather quickley when going down hill, this stat may be questionable as well, or it could just be that it's getting a bit chilly out..

Downhill my EGT is <150, with nothing preventing airflow through the radiator, and the heater on, I think it should drop pretty fast.

[theman53]

Awesome. I *hope* your fix lasts forever.  Great job on having the testicular fortitude to attempt.

[maxfax]

Todd,
I've been torn between jb weld and just plain ole aluminum weld..   Maybe I'll just try both, I have plenty of housings... My luck in the past with drilling and tapping JB weld has been poor at best, I usually end of breaking it..  I guess a tad more patience is in order...

Folks, let's still treat this as a potential epic fail..  I don;t wanna jinx it..  

The guys at the machine shop don't even want remotely associated with this abortion, although they did give me the rods... However, 90 miles on the same coolant..  No coolant loss, no over heating, no signs of oil...  

I guess I have been running the detergents for quite some time..  I guess the head showed no signs since it's been coated in the oil floating up top, and it's a better grade of aluminum than the water pump housing... Geez, I wonder what the rad and heater core look like? I have the WVO heat exchangers removed to go take a bath in the hot tank to remove the goo...

The temp will drop down to about 140 at times..  Then again I guess it has always done that..   Just gotten worse in teh last year..  Gotta give her hell to keep it warm, what a shame...  Once thing noticiably different is that I FINALLY have some heat..  The stat I have in there now is a mystery stat out of my pile of junk... It's a 180F, gonna grab a 190 for it tomorrow when I flush the coolant and try some antifreeze in it..

I really wish I would have done this in the summer months..  I'd like to push it hard on a hot day and see what happens.. That and I wouldn't have to worry about wasting antifreeze if it left go..     The best part is I'm not out a whole lot if it doesn;t hold.. The head gasket and welding rods were freebies..  I already had the reusable v/c gasket and head studs.. I bought oil and filter, heat shields, hylomar, gallon of antifreeze, t-stat, had the jb weld on hand..  I guess I also had a water pump in there too, although that wasn;t all that necessary with the corrosion I figured it couldn;t hurt.. The engine was junk when I drove it in the garage...  Worst case scenario, it would still be junk when I pushed it out.. It may still be junk, time will tell, and AAA is there if time tells me it is.. 

I had promised some pics of the finished block deck earlier.. You can sort of see the pits I filled in with JB weld..   Some of those were actually there before the grinding and welding....








Funny thing, I see in the 2nd to last pic I have a torn boot on the steering rack, that's the first I noticed..  

[burn_your_money]

I was going to mention that torn boot

Looking good. I hope you keep us posted on mileage and progress. I really wonder how long a fix like this can last. The fact that it even started, let alone drove is amazing.

[maxfax]

It's in need of struts again too so I guess I'll have a steering and suspension day coming up in the future....

So far I have 173 Miles on it..  I've had it over two mountains twice now... Maintaining a min sped of 45 mph was pretty taxing on the little bugger..   Temp hit 210 at the upper radiator hose but never over, and came right back down...

I did a flush and put a new t-stat and green stuff in it today..  We'll see how that Advance Auto special stat holds up..  I noticed a bit of hazy scum in the expansion tank before I drained the water.. I suspect it's just old oil still working it's way out of everything.. I should have sprung for new hoses, or at least swapped them out with ones from one of the parts cars.. I did try to clean the upper and low rad hoses but once that oil gets to them it's a bear to get out...  I'm not sure when to make the call between new oil getting in the cooling system, and old oil still working out..  I guess when there is a slick in the tank I'll know it's new oil...

I intended to remove the expansion tank to clean it out good and managed to brake the hose nipple of the bottom..  Might be time to spring for a new one of these..  I've about used up all the ones I had from parts cars...  I guess this will give me some time to play with the timing a little bit..  I though I had it set at .98 before but it doesn;t seem as clattery or peppy as it was before..   I may have just set it by ear the last time too..  Can't remember for sure..

Since all I really did was weld the ends of the cracks, and smear the length of them with JB weld there's always going to be that risk that one or all of them are going to crack further..  It did made it quite a while with nothing done to them so I guess we'll see what happens.. I'll keep you all posted... In the mean time I'm going to go motor about on the ice on diesel power once again.. 

[Vanagoner]

I'm impressed-  didn't know you could do half of that and get away with it.
 I can see the ad now,
...maxfax, preferred mechanic for the apocalypse...

[maxfax]

I guess I've gotten away with doing worse things, and I've had better things blow up in my face..  I'm feelin kinda lucky right now though..  Maybe I'll tackle one of the other problem children around here.. 

AS far as the status on the bubble gum mobile, I puttered it around locally for the last couple days..  Got my mits on a good expansion tank now so I can remove the one with the brake line glued in the hole where the small return nipple was.. 

No signs of oil as of yet, temp still holding good, no odd pressure or coolant loss.. I'm feeling confident (or stupid) enough to put her back to work on the 100 mile a day journey... I may look into getting a Triple A membership....

[ToddA1]

I may look into getting a Triple A membership....

AAA is definitely worth it.  I've been towed 3x (3 different vehicles) and one tow was just under 100 miles.  Definitely worth the $75 I paid.  I'm allowed 1 more service call for the year.

Start on that T-stat elbow, yet?

-Todd

[maxfax]

Knock wood I've never broken down to the point that I couldn;t get going again, or I was close enough to someone I know that could hook to me and drag me somewhere.. But as of late I've been venturing around to new and exciting places, well at least new anyhow...  I never realized all the other perks and discounts with a membership though.. The free title transfers would make it worth my while  ..

AS far as the t-stat drain..  Well I've found a few housings..  Around here that's 3/4 of the battle.. I have them cleaned up but I have some paying type work in the shop now so I should probably get to that first.. 

[ToddA1]

I'm not sure if the title transfers would work in NJ;  Motor Vehicle Commission is state owned.  No Photo-Mat title places here. 

I need to explore what my membership offers. I hear there are some decent discounts, although 1 tow would have been the annual $75 fee, so I can't complain.

-Todd

[maxfax]

Sometimes crazy works, the rest of the time it's just plain fun..   Can;t say this worked yet though..  Needs to make it a few more miles and through a retorque......


Todd, you got me motivated!    I made a t-stat housing with a drain..   I used the aluminum arc welding rods and built it up as I had mentioned.. Worked good..  WOuld look better if I could weld, or if I would have taken more than a half hour to make it..  I didn;t have a plug here the proper size, do I have a brass nipple screwed in there for the pics..  Definitely using brass though..  I'd hate to have to end up removing the housing to drain the thing cause the stupid plug got too tight...



More pics here http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm124/maxfax3/t-stat%20drain/

[truckinwagen]

thats a great idea!

I have often cursed the vw engineers for not putting a drain in the cooling system, makes for very messy repairs.

my apartment manager would probably appreciate me being able to drain the coolant without getting half of it on the ground

I might do this to the diesel G60.

do you think adding material is really necessary?
what if a small valve was installed so the fitting would not have to be removed to drain, would just drilling and tapping be sufficient then?

and on the topic of the welded block, that is so super cool!
makes some of what I do reasonable!

-Owen

[ToddA1]

Good show!  Just goes to show you that owning a welder doesn't make you a welder.  I am a master with a grinder and 24 grit Rolocs, though.

LMK how nice it is, draining the coolant with that.  I need to get one done, so I can swap it the next time I drain my system.

-Todd

[maxfax]

I was taught to weld by my dad, a farmer..  The mentality is that it doesn;t have to be pretty, it has to hold and get the job done.. Of course he can weld a rusty piece of junk together and make it look like it's supposed to be that way... In my defense, aluminum is a ______ to weld with an arc welder, especially old aluminum..  The rods don;t keep well either..  I only buy a few at a time and keep them sealed in a plastic container, but still they corode and the flux falls off.. I swear the only keep for a few months...

I like the idea of a valve..  ANd if one were to use a valve the extra material may not be necessary..  That housing is rather thin, but if one isn;t screwing a plug in and out of it all the time It might just work okay..  I felt better haveing a little thicker area to work with, plus it have me a nice flat surface to drill.. 

I still like Fatmobile's idea..   I may do that to my new engine with the drain in the stat housing..

[veedubcanuck]

And once again I repeat... 

Hey, I salute your work... It's your time to do with as you wish. If it's wasted oh well, atleast you tried. I would likely do the same since sometimes half the fun is doing the work even if it fails. ANYBODY can replace parts..... FEW can save them...