View attachment 138043 View attachment 138044 View attachment 138045 View attachment 138046 View attachment 138049 View attachment 138050 View attachment 138051 View attachment 138052 View attachment 138053 View attachment 138054 So I spoke to Craddocks. 554541 is no longer available. ERC9446 will not fit. There is another part number STC321 which is apparently the military version which might fit.
Anyway I am fed up with part numbers and so I thought I would just have a go at welding the bugger.
As we all know youtube makes anything possible so I had a look to see how them good ol' redneck boys on there do it.
The two techniques seem to be hot and fast or cool and slow. I had to go for cool and slow as I don't have the kit to heat it enough.
So I ground the crack out to clear out the crap, rust and muck and drilled holes to stop it spreading.
Then I thought I would get it a bit hotter to stop some of the temperature shock when I started welding.
Luckily she who must be obeyed went off to Tesco so I took the opportunity to bung the whole lot in the oven for a bit. I even put some kiln dried sand in there so that I could cover the casting with it to hold the temperature better. I thought I'd got away with that but the second she walked back in the house she knew.
So it's all good and hot and I've insulated it as much as I can so it's welding time. I stuck that thermometer in the damaged hole for a guide.
The welding went ok to start with and I think it penetrated well. I went over it again and managed to make it extremely ugly but hopefully a bit stronger.
I covered it with sand and stuck the thermometer back in to monitor the temperature. I left it to cool as slowly as possible.
I'm fighting the urge to grind it right back to it's original shape. My obsessive nature makes me want to return it to how it looked originally but I'm sure I would take whatever strength there is out of it if I did that.
I did grind some of the ugly off it. The top had to be made smooth so I did that. I'm sure there's a hint of a crack so I doubt I've heard the last of this. I did put a nut and bolt through it and gave it a really good tighten and even a few good taps with a hammer. If it is going to fail I would rather it did it now.
I suppose the big test will be when the engine is warming and cooling and the alternator is sending vibration through it. We'll have to see what happens then.
Ok, photos now. I seem unable to control where photos and text end up these days so bear with me if this ends up a disjointed mess. Also I'm a bit ****ed. Well it is new years eve. Haven't even started on the Christmas present scotch yet! Happy new year to you all.