Technical Ever See an Intake Crack?

I have been running a vintage Edelbrock 2 x 1 bbl on my 261 for about 6 years.

Engine was stock for 3 years.

My father and I rebuilt the engine about 2 years ago .060 over bore Isky cam.

Any one seen this before, any thoughts?

I have another vintage Edelbrock to put on, I plan on repairing this one.

 

Have seen exhaust manifolds crack from heat expansion if bolted on too tight but not an intake. Wonder if being aluminum has something to do with it, the extra expansion?

 

That's strange. You wouldn't think it would be a stress crack. Vibration ? Manifold heat ? I dunno'. It's not touching each other is it ? That sucks, that's what I know. Leave it at that. Damn !

 

Never seen one do that. HRP

 

Never seen that before either, but even aluminum fatigues over time. Could have been a weak spot in the casting initially that finally cracked after many heat cycles. Does seem like a strange place for it to happen though. Guess that exhaust manifold would have heated it up pretty good especially if you ever ran the engine lean. JB Weld to the rescue.

 

My moneys on a manufacturing defect.

 

My bet also, maybe coupled with a 'sneeze' (backfire)......

 

I can't understand why after 6 years on the engine and almost sixty years after being cast?

 

Welder by trade T.I.G. to the rescue.

 

Wyow!
Weld it up and let the next guy wonder why it was welded there.

 

this , the expansion over time and probably a thin spot in the casting . have it deep tig welded ( drilled and relieved ) and then grind it down and sandblast or needle scaler it to hide the repair

 

I made a really cool billet aluminum rack to hang my ladder from. One piece, just a round 1 inch bar with a hole in it and a screw through the hole. Cracked in half. Had some old S gauge American Flyer engines that the wheels fell apart on. I guess it just happens.

 

Rich- can't tell you how many 30's Ives, Flyer, and Dorfan trains that have crumbled in my hands because of the impurities in the Zamac!

And speaking of those- one train collector friend had a beautiful example of a rare cast Dorfan loco with really solid casting and no visible cracks... long story short, he was encouraged by a buddy to put it on the track and run it for a couple laps. As he picked it up from it's roughly 5 minute run, it broke apart and fell into a pile on the track. The heat from the electric motor made the casting brittle in that short amount of time!

 

I think this is an example of age hardening. The age of the casting, suspect quality of the material and many heat cycles did her in. Whether welding it up will solve the problem is anyone's guess. Does anyone know how to reverse the age hardening process. (other than melting and re-pouring)

 

When I had the Morton & Brett OHV conversion head on my Dodge Bros. The valve cover had a crack in it i took that thing to 4 welders and spent lots of money. Welding one crack just started two more. What a heart breaker.

 

Well no wonder. They are only guaranteed for 50 years.

 

That is the part that bothers me the most, that intake was (is?) a piece of history.

 

Looks very thin in that spot

 

This engine is my avatar.

 

My money is on the clearance between the intake and the headers. Bet when you take it apart there is a good mark on the intake at that spot. The header and the intake can come a bit too close at certain points and need a bit of work with a grinder. Expansion and contraction over the six years can fatigue the aluminum at the interference point. Found this out myself, some won't even seal up right at the gasket due to the fitment issue.-MIKE

 

I have that same Edelbrock intake on my 235 with Fentons and I had to grind off 1/2" of material from the firewall side of the intake (the area closest to the Fenton header). It's really thick there, are you sure there's a clearance? Looks like you don't have a heat source to your intake, I wonder if it didn't crack from heat /cold stress.

 

My father took it off for me to today, (50 plus hour work weeks make it tough to work on my own stuff)

It is not cracked though just a bad casting.

I am going to hog out the bad area T.I.G. it and blend it back in.

 

Lay a straight edge across the mating surfaces, they gotta be flat and paralell. If the seal rings are used they must seat in both the manfold and the head counterbores. Don't ask me why I know!
Good to see these old torquers put to work.

 

So, it's been almost 10 years I think it's time for an update.
I had another intake and put it on and kind of forgot about this project until this weekend.

I was going to hog it out and weld it but discovered it had cracked because it was still full of casting sand! Yes, it still had casting sand in it from 75 years ago!

I ended up opening up the chamber enough to get a carbide bit on a die grinder to break up the sand making patches from 3/16 aluminum T.I.G. welding them in and building them up with weld to blend everything back in.

Jesse James calls himself the Pope of welding, I prefer to think of myself as the common man of welding.

 

I had a dual plane Edelbrock that cracked on top of runner to #4 cyl.

 

Found one of those intakes.
You like it?

 

Still is, just part of that history is now your repair

 

Just wish I could weld that well!

 

I just pulled one of those off
Had to clearance the front corner for Williams headers

 

Yes, but I have since found a Sharp and a Corvette exhaust manifold.

I am thinking about changing to that set up just to up the coolness factor!