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Hi Toby! Sorry to read about your crankhouse crack. Not very simple to fix, I think, but possible. About what material to use,maybe this is something to check up: (I know, it«s a "guess..." and not a "Do..." - kind of advice, but I risk it anyway. Could«nt hurt.) Last summer I was on a fair, where all kinds of workshop machinery was demonstrated. In one cubicle a guy stood hard soldering/welding all different kinds of metal together. A Coke thin can onto a 5 mm thick aluminium bar, welded aluminium onto iron (!) and (here it comes) welded cracked parts of casted metal parts: gearbox houses, lawnmover crankhouse, etc. Amazing! I think the product was named AluTite. It was a type of soldering rod with some special formula flux, which made it possible to solder metals together at relatively low temperature, about 350 degrees C. Try search AltaVista with "AluTite" as key word. Or try this link: http://www.townshend.net/start.htm As I understood it, the problem welding magnesium alloys like MC parts and VW crankcases, is usually the high temperature needed by the TIG/MIG welding technique. When the welding is done and things are cooling off, often the temperature shiftings makes up new cracks around the welded area. I discussed the matter with this AluTite guy, and (as the salesman he was, of course) he claimed that this would be no problem with his product, as it is enough with a simple propane torch or a regular acetylene/oxygene torch to make the repair = acceptable heat development in the material and therefore less risk for cracks. The soldered seam itself seemed also quite elastic. I tried myself to bend loose some of the parts that he had welded together, but it was amazingly strong. The seam wouldnt budge when I jiggeled the parts - the material around the seam did break first. Should be good enough to make a sealing seam outside your crankhouse to cover the leak. Perhaps even whitout disassembling the crankhouse! Good Luck! P.S. In the magazines I often read about welding jobs done inside the crankhouse, to reinforce the mid main bearing seat for example. How is that done? They also do welding jobs on heads before porting. Should be quite the same circumstances? But I guess the method used requires disasssembling of the engine, thorougly cleaning of parts etc... lots of job and trouble! Karl-Olov Sandin -73 Squareback (-and she«s MINE!) -94 Ford Mondeo 2.0 (-keeping my wife happy...) > -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > FrŒn: Erkson, Toby [SMTP:toby.erkson@intel.com] > Skickat: den 24 november 1998 00.38 > Till: type3@vwtype3.org > €mne: RE: [T3] Volkswagen Metallurgy 101 > > I've talked with a couple of professional welders and they say it can be > welded. I just need to bring the engine to them. But I have some mobile > services that are supposed to call me back. > > One told me that JB Weld will work as he's seen it used on air-cooled > motorcycles (I've got a motorcycle fanatic I'm in contact with to help > verify this possibility). He told me what to do. He also said that it > may > be possible to peen the crack closed since the metal is more malleable > than > steel. So I've got some options. > > Like I told Toby B., the adventure continues... > Toby Erkson > air_cooled_nut@pobox.com <-- Please use this address for email > '72 VW Squareback 1.6L bored and stroked to 2.0L, Berg five-speed > '75 Porsche 914 1.8L, ORPCA member > Portland, Oregon, http://www.pobox.com/~toby_erkson/ > > >-----Original Message----- > >I have a very, very, VERY fine crack in my case. It's so fine > >that it looks > >like a very thin scratch in the case more than a crack. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > Too much? Digest! mailto:type3-d-request@vwtype3.org Subj=subscribe