Well I was minding my own business, porting the intake port on my 13b-rew iron and oops, I went a bit too much and made a very un-cool hole in into my coolant passage.

Now What can I do, I know it is cast iron. I know cast Iron is tricky / impossible to weld. Somebody told me I might be able to braze it. I have never brazed anything before, so I am not familiar with how to do it. I also remember seeing a paste / epoxy putty that may be able to be used. I am a bit concerned with the idea of patching this area.

I might just be in the market for a new iron anyways, as you can see from the pic, i have a spot where the carbide bit went outside of the port onto the face or the iron.

Any suggestions for how I can fix this hole? Reliably? THANKS.


See pic for details.

 

Not a real answer, but I would think your best bet would be getting another iron.....
I have no expertise in that kind of repair, but if I did it on my car, I'd be constantly worrying about the patch failing.

 

I think you need a new iron. You could weld it, but if that weld doesn't hold you're going to really F up the engine and turbos.

Dave

 

LOL I had a bad dream about that last night, It had to do with 29psi and a hydro-locked engine and turbo. I wont go into details.

 

Wow, I would think you need a new plate... I wouldn't chance it.

 

Welding cast iron isn't magic. The trick is just to have the right tools. First you need an arc welder+welding sticks that are made for welding cast iron. Then you heat up the material you need to weld. It doesn't need to be glowing-red-hot, just few hunderd degrees(oven is very good for this), then just start welding the hole.

Might be a bit tricky if you are new to welding but practise makes perfect, right?! After you have welded the hole, try to hammer it a bit to release the inner tensions of the new welding, then wrap the housing(iron) to something that keeps the heat and allows the iron to cool down slowly and you are done!

 

I think that's part of the deal with porting - you have to hit a water jacket once to know how far you can go . Been there, done that. That's just part of the deal with porting something yourself - only experience can show how far you can go.

Used irons are typically not too pricey, I'd get a new one.

Dale

 

You might want to invest in a template next time.

 

A template won't keep you from going too deep

 

I used the judge Ito templates. The shape is fine; the depth comes with experience apparently.

 

I also got a bit to excited porting the intermediate Iron. I dont know if it is still good to use. I ported like 1/32" into the oil control ring track. Not sure If it will cause a small oil leak or if it still good to use.

ANYBODY HAVE INPUT ON THIS???

SEE PICS.

 

The cost of having someone else do your port job, seems like a killer deal now, huh?

 

yes, but I would rather pay the price to learn how to do it my self. Then I dont have to depend on others later on down the road. Plus once i get it down, I can charge others for the service.

But thanks for contributing absolutly nothing to this thread. (J/K)

THANK YOU COME AGAIN.{arab broken english}

 

But that's when you acquire UNUSABLE plates to practice on before you work on the ones you plan to install... saves you money in the process and also your reputation.

 

on that note, does anybody want to buy some slightly overported Irons? :Laughs good to practice a brige port on.

 

I guess I just need to know if it looks like a bad idea to use the intermediate housing that i ported a bit into the oil control ring area. not much, but i am affraid any may be too much.

 

Irons go for like 300$ right?? Why chance it? Now you know how deep you can go and when you do it again you'll know better. I would defiantly buy a new one.

 

Rotors, irons, and housings go for at least $600 new. But used ones are about half that.

 

A couple of porting tips:

Don't try to go too far inward toward the oil tract. There is a "lip" there from the factory. I tend to just do what is necessary to take that lip off, and STOP there. Going farther inward won't help anything as far as flow, there is no power to be made there. IF you examine the rotor's path of travel here, you'll see why, it never fully uncovers it anyway.

When you get to the meaty part, the part where you extend the closing (top) edge of the port, you need to stick your finger back behind there through the coolant passage, then grip the inside of the port with your thumb. This will give you an idea of the thickness you have to work with. Port for a couple minutes, stop, check again. When it feels like your finger and thumb could almost touch, or when it starts to get pretty damned hot in a certain area, STOP porting there. IT is at this point where the "bowl" is pretty much formed.

IF your template shows more material needs to be removed, then you have to turn at an angle, somewhat nearer to parallel with the iron's face. Now continue to port at about a 45 degree angle versus what you had been doing. Again use your fingers to judge the thickness of material here. Once you've gone out to the boundary set by your template, then you just want to go back and smooth the transition in the angle, taking as much material off as possible without going through.

This is why some of the larger ports you see have a curve to them near the top...because you run out of casting in that area, and it's either stop where you are, or make a radius and keep going.

 

I am getting i new one to replace the one with a hole in the port that goes into the cooling passage. I do believe I am using the intemediate with the small overport into the oil control ring. I still have not decide though.

 

Actually they are way cheaper than that. You can get side plates off ebay for less than 100 bucks. Just make sure the seller has good feed back and sells lots of Rx7 parts. This gives you a better indication that they at least know how to inspect them for warpage.

 

Not really, it isnt rocket science to take something apart and sell the pieces. IF you buy from someone who puts that stuff BACK TOGETHER, then you KNOW you're going to get a good part, because they know the difference between good and bad. A parts monkey may not.

 

Kevin, how often do you find warped irons?

 

You make a point.

 

Honestly about 1 in 100. Pretty damn rare unless someone got the thing HOT. You won't warp anything from normal use. OF course, when I take the tension bolts out, I can SMELL if that thing has been really hot, and then I know to be really picky about reusing stuff from that one.