Welding Tips and Tricks

Ok so i have to weld a engine block for a teacher at school it doesnt have to the the best looking weld he said but it has to hold up any tips?

WTF?

Aluminum block, or cast iron?

That's a screwy assignment. Must be HIS engine block...

Welding on that stuff is *not* student work. Even the top professionals don't always succeed.

Steve S

Is this for your welding teacher or another teacher at your school? After over 35 years of working in public schools and community colleges, you would not believe some of the stuff people want welded. From cabinet hardware to earrings and also engine blocks. Check with your welding teacher to see if he wants to tackle it. If it is a cast iron block and it is cracked or broken around the oil pan or bearing saddles then it may be beyond the scope of what you are ready to tackle. If a hole has formed around a water jacket because of corrosion then you may be able to braze weld it enough to hold water pressure.

Get back with some more information and we may be able to give better advice. But there is a chance you will just have to tell your teacher no.

Posting a some pictures of the damaged area would be very helpful also.

Jim

Dewd,
your instructor must have a lot of confidence in you.
here's a pop quiz for you:
is the block still in the car?
will it be subject to the same stress that broke it?
engine blocks are thick. Do you have the amps?
have you walked through the project in your mind thoroughly?
are there areas on the block that you could practice on?
were you raised on a farm?
I ask because you seem very ambitious.
Don

dewdrop9 wrote:Ok so i have to weld a engine block for a teacher at school it doesnt have to the the best looking weld he said but it has to hold up any tips?

welding engine blocks is like the holy grail of welding. is the block cast iron or aluminum? you may want to check. it may be on the test.

Ok guys first of all i don't know if its aluminum or cast iron it was off of a small car and we took it out to take it apart and put it back together
i have no idea how I'm gong to do it i only have a miller diversion 165 welder and a miller multimatic 252 i know i would have to heat it up with a oxy torch but otherwise i have no idea

and mbenzocaine i do live on a farm but i work on a decent size dairy farm near my house

and lazerbeam I'm not the one who brought it to the class and Ive somehow been the one who's been picked to do all of this kind of stuff Ive even welded on a 2007 ski doo mxz and Ive only been tig welding since September but i did do a very good job on that snowmobile

I hear ya. I taught agriculture mechanics for 32 years so I know how things show up in a school shop. I also know how it is to have a go to student for some of the tougher jobs. Keep us updated as you get more info and someone here will be able to help for sure. And congrats on being that go to student, it says more about you than you may know.

What kind of car did it come out of? i.e. Year, Make, and Model. Like, a 2001 TransAm WS6. That would have an aluminum LS1. Even if none of these old timers ( )can help you identify the engine block, I can at least try and point you in the right direction!
And I think the question that everyone wants to know, even if none of the others are answered, is what kind of damage is present. Crack in a cylinder wall -- Good luck, cylinder pressures on a gasoline engine during combustion cycle can exceed a thousand psi, and its even higher on a diesel as they ignite via compression. External crack/break -- a little easier to do, but still a pain in the balls. If its a mounting surface, or where the motor mount plate goes, I don't recommend it due to the vibration, the last thing you would want to do is put the engine back in and have it break on start-up or shortly there after. If its a main web, or it hogged out a journal when a bearing went, go for it, just make sure to remachine it, or at the very least, check and make sure that it is square with the other journals.