Re conditioning aluminum heads

[CA Victoria]

I couldn’t find a thread to address the repair of corroded passage ways in aluminum heads. My concern is where the corrosion has reached the fire ring area in a couple of places. My MIG welder is not set up for aluminum so I will have the work done by a competent welder. Albeit not rare heads they are from the 50s and I want to save them. This is my first adventure with aluminum heads so I wanted to reach out to y’all for advice on repairing these areas and the correct installation. Any idea what works best to soak the water jackets in to remove the scale?
Advice thus far gleaned from other threads on installing aluminum heads is to use composite gaskets and an anode.
Your thoughts.......
Thanks in advance!

[ronn]

I like vinegar for a slow clean.

not sure welding aluminum is the best choice?

[rockfla]

TIG'ing them might be somewhat easier since they are most likely a more recent/modern aluminum BUT there still will most likely be a lot of contaminates to get out of it before the weld will stick. Where they mine I would maybe "Devcon" them with Aluminum Devcon as it looks like all water port holes!!

[Bored&Stroked]

Well, if you stand back and really look at them, you'll notice that the corrosion in the two upper corners is NOT any closer to the chamber than the studs that are just above the valve pockets. I would have the surfaces milled the least amount possible to ensure they are flat and smooth and run them just as they are.

I'd probably use the Best Gaskets composite versions and make sure you run anti-freeze in your water - for anti-corrosive reasons and be happy with them. They're in better shape than most for their age!

[tubman]

I agree with Dale. Those heads look pretty good to me and could probably be run as-is. I would have them checked and surfaced (if necessary) to ensure they are flat and maybe bring the over piston clearance to the .045-.050" range. You should check the piston and valve clearance anyway. If you want to do something, you could clean the corroded areas well and use some high-temperature epoxy to fill the those areas before surfacing the heads. I've done that on heads that looked worse than that and everything worked out fine. The last thing I would do is to even go near them with a welder.

[19Fordy]

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HEED THE ADVICE ABOVE. Welding will open up a new can of worms due to contamination embedded in the aluminum.

[Tim Ayers]

There has been a lot of good advice given out.

Not to high jack this thread, but I'm in a some what similar situation with a set of rare Smith heads. I would like to get them trued up to prevent any problematic leaks, etc. once installed.

I'm assuming a well equipped shop has the ability to fly cut the absolute minimum off the face in order just to true heads up.

Is there a piece of equipment that would be an indicator to someone like me who isn't a machinist that this shop could actually do the job?

Thanks,

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

....

Is there a piece of equipment that would be an indicator to someone like me who isn't a machinist that this shop could actually do the job?

Thanks,

I am sure just about any machine shop worth it's salt could do this. I would tend to lean towards an automotive machine shop, because they do this every day.

Here's a related story. I had a set of Edmunds heads that were in pretty good shape. When I was checking them, I found that the piston to head clearance increased incrementally. To bring the head into consistent clearance, a had to have it milled on an angle from front to back. My regular automotive machinist couldn't (or wouldn't) do it, so I called around to all of the local shops and finally found a guy who understood what I wanted to do and said he could handle it. They guy had a small shop behind his home and only worked a couple of days a week. I was kind of apprehensive, but he did the job and it turned out perfect.

[Ronnieroadster]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

There has been a lot of good advice given out.

Not to high jack this thread, but I'm in a some what similar situation with a set of rare Smith heads. I would like to get them trued up to prevent any problematic leaks, etc. once installed.

I'm assuming a well equipped shop has the ability to fly cut the absolute minimum off the face in order just to true heads up.

Is there a piece of equipment that would be an indicator to someone like me who isn't a machinist that this shop could actually do the job?

Thanks,

Tim
I know someone who has the fixtures to do the resurfacing as well as repair any corrosion damaged water holes with aluminum on rare heads without welding.
Ronnieroadster

[Ronnieroadster]

Originally Posted by CA Victoria

I couldn’t find a thread to address the repair of corroded passage ways in aluminum heads. My concern is where the corrosion has reached the fire ring area in a couple of places. My MIG welder is not set up for aluminum so I will have the work done by a competent welder. Albeit not rare heads they are from the 50s and I want to save them. This is my first adventure with aluminum heads so I wanted to reach out to y’all for advice on repairing these areas and the correct installation. Any idea what works best to soak the water jackets in to remove the scale?
Advice thus far gleaned from other threads on installing aluminum heads is to use composite gaskets and an anode.
Your thoughts.......
Thanks in advance!

The advice to not weld the heads as others have posted is a good idea to follow. What I would do on your set of heads is carefully fix the corrosion using JB Weld Epoxy. The epoxy will work perfectly for a very long time all you have to do is clean up as much of the rust colored corrosion as possible to create a surface the epoxy will adhere to.
Ronnieroadster

[tubman]

I sandblast the areas after carefully masking the head so I don't damage any of the good surface.

[CA Victoria]

Great advice. Thanks!
I will work on cleaning the water jackets first.

I read about anodes. Has anyone used one in a Flathead?

The steel plugs are locked into the heads-I’m thinking I should leave them be......

[rockfla]

If you do a search in the top red tool bar there was a long thread on sacrificial anodes and subsequent methods and materials!!! .

[Tim Ayers]

I'm starting to sound like a broken record about No-Rosion. I would suggest looking into using it.

Here is a link to the product. Can be used with purified water or antifreeze and is designed for use in aluminum engines, heads, or an engine with a mixture of both. I highly recommend it.

https://www.no-rosion.com/norosioncoolant.htm

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by Ronnieroadster

Tim
I know someone who has the fixtures to do the resurfacing as well as repair any corrosion damaged water holes with aluminum on rare heads without welding.
Ronnieroadster

Ronnie,

Ah, I forgot about that dude you know. I figured he was elbows deep in race prep, so I didn't want to bother him.

I normally run into him at Hershey, so I'll talk to him then.

[CA Victoria]

Just ordered a pack of no-rosion.
Thanks!

[cjshaker]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

I'm starting to sound like a broken record about No-Rosion. I would suggest looking into using it.

Here is a link to the product. Can be used with purified water or antifreeze and is designed for use in aluminum engines, heads, or an engine with a mixture of both. I highly recommend it.

https://www.no-rosion.com/norosioncoolant.htm

According to their website, Hyperkuhl is what should be used when aluminum is present. We used basically the same products in our HVAC and steam systems where I used to work. It wasn't an option. When you're dealing with $100k-$500k systems, you have to protect them. We also used anodes as a secondary protection. Even with the corrosion inhibitors, the anodes would still deteriorate, showing that they did provide an additional protection.

[V8-m]

Welding can be tricky....old dirty aluminium is hard to weld. Additionaly risk of warpage is high. I have been trying to repair v8-60 heads in the past and i am not happy about it. Additionaly after welding resurfacing, grinding.. a lot of work.
I would leave it like that and drive them. I don`t see anything alarming.

[OldGold360]

I wouldn’t be afraid to TIG weld them. I’ve welded a lot of old aluminum, most vintage Harley and Indian engine cases, gearbox cases, kicker covers, etc. and I have welded a few sets of Ford Flathead heads as well as some Edelbrock heads without problems. In my experience, most of these items weld pretty good to decent but I’ve had a couple times when they did not weld good at all. Some items require preheat, some don’t. Regardless, any competent welder with TIG experience can weld these types of parts without an issue. Just don’t give them to a rookie welder.

Tim, as far as the heads pictured, I’d run them. They don’t appear to be bad enough to cause any issues.