Re: Welding cracks in a 359 aluminum head?

Posted by Don Shields On 2016/5/2 23:19:06

The cylinder head on my '54 Convertible rotted out around #1 cylinder back in the Spring of '06, allowing coolant to overrun the head gasket and into the cylinder. I took the head to an automotive machine shop that the dealership I worked for used. They told me that they did not weld aluminum but would send it out to be inspected and welded. They found more rot around one of the stud holes also. They welded it up, then the machine shop ground the weld back to original shape and checked the head for flatness. They charged me $225.00 for the work and it's been fine ever since. The machine shop and the unknown welder were not Packard shops per se, but the machine shop did and still does build racing engines along with their general automotive machining work.

You might want to have such a shop in your area look the head over and see what they think. If there are multiple cracks throughout the head I'm sure they'd tell you to get another head. I hope yours is also fixable; for some reason I just don't like the idea of a 327 head on a 359 block.