cracked rear iron around coolant nipple
 

Was on engine stand ,Tearing down long block, went to rotate to work on front cover
I forgot about the damn coolant nipple on the side of rear iron, ended up cracking the thin wall on the side of the coolant nipple...
Do I need a new iron?
Do you think I could have it welded ?
Any other ideas....
Ill post pic of it after work
Thanks
Brad

Drill it out and tap it for a fitting, install barbed fitting problem solved.

I did the same thing. I'll post a pic when I get home of my fix.

I had a short block sitting ready on a wooden pallet once, to be fitted up to go in an FD.

Some idiot thought it would be fun to attempt to lift it up. He lifted it, fumbled and dropped it over onto its side. The side that the coolant nipple is on.

The nipple hole punched the wooden pallet, blocked itself with a plug of wood, cracked the iron, and bent the nipple.
Was not bloody well happy.

Weld it up, the irons weld nicely :icon_tup:.

Drill and tap with a threaded plug. I did this during my rebuild because I deleted coolant going through the throttle body and didn't want a hose with a bolt in it back there. Works great!

If you are going to weld the iron, it needs to be pre-heated in an oven or kiln. The cast iron is porous and the welds frequently don't take. Obviously this can only be done if the motor is disassembled.

Heres the damage

considering how much material is gone you will probably be better off replacing the iron.

it could be salvaged but why? you'll spend $150 fixing it and always questioning whether or not it is going to fail. any sort of fitting isn't going to have the reach needed, cutting it back will work but you'll be cutting a hole into the oil galley area for a nice new seat for the threaded fitting so taking off material would have to be done carefully, welding it and putting in an NPT is risky at best.

if you don't need the heater then it can be salvaged by threading it and putting in an NPT plug.

never seen that happen but i guess your bad luck gives me something else to watch out for.

I would try to grind that down straight and tap for NPT. Then decide on a plug or hose barb depending on if you want a heater or not.

Probably gonna tap it after I get her apart.... still cant believe I did that, it hit the upright bar on engine stand

Yea that's a lot worse than I imagined.

Oh crap! That IS bad.

I've never, ever....EVER seen anyone have much luck with welding cast iron. Pre-heating is pretty much a given. I had an exhaust manifold on my Triumph TR-7 welded once, professional welder, heated it up in an oven to 500 degrees then heated it with a torch VERY slowly some more, and then he stick welded the crack. And while it held up for little while, it ultimately failed.
I can't imagine trying to heat that iron up enough to weld it successfully, meaning 'no leaks'.

That sucks, man.

if it is a clean break like this then welding is an option. most cast iron cracks tend to spider out from the fracture point and welding is futile. but wherever the metal transitions will always be a weak bond, threading the material will usually tell you if it is going to work or not after that.

Replace the cast iron. That is really bad. Like R.E. stated, once you have it back together you would hate to be wondering daily if it is going to fail. The coolant system is nothing to mess around with. This is part of the rotary trifecta that does not reward sloppy work or poor decisions.