Anyone know what material I can weld to an A356 cast bellhousing? I need to adapt a Daimler Majestic Major bellhousing to fit my 4HP22 ZF box. Cheers Dave<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
I would talk with a good welding supply house. we used to weld cast iron with nyrod. Not sure of spelling. It has a very high nickel content. also pre heat bellhousing befor welding.
I had a busted starter flange on an 65 Chevy straight six. A buddy of mine was a welder in the oil field. He had cleaned it up and welded it with a crackerjack box. Not sure of the type of stick he used. I have heard that the Muggyweld rods work. Excatly what are you trying to do? There may be a better solution. Welding cast iron is not exactly permanent, especially if you are going to bolt a trans to it.
A356 casting is aluminum. if you just have to do a little bit You can weld some 6061 to it. If you want to weld a whole new Trans mounting face on it that's going to give you post welding heat treating issues.possibly matching issues due to distortio
I'm with ya now. For something like this, I would definitely take it to a machine shop. They will be able to put it in a jig, weld it and then machine it.
This is the bell housing and the trans and the motor it's going behind! The photo shows that 6 of the mounting bolts can be regrouped ( at least partially) but the remaining bolts are in mid air. I will need to weld a disc in the hole and redrill, spotface, skim flat and re centre the housing. I can do all this but I am unsure of what material I can weld in? Thanks for the replies. I am relatively new to alloy welding however I managed to make the inlet manifold.
If I understand that first pic correctly, you have the daimler bellhousing in front of the ZF transmission. It seems to me that with the addition of a sandwich plate between the two items you could make an adapter plate to mate them together without the need for welding and the risk of distortion that will result. Any competent machine shop should be able to do that or if you have the skills and tools you could make it yourself. With the adaptation of the ZF trans to the Daimler engine you are going to have to carefully check the fitment of the torque converter (T/C)to the flex plate and also determine how well the T/C engages with the transmission. Two essential issues here. First, is the need to ensure the T/C is properly engaged to the trans so that the pump is properly engaged. Second,is to ensure that the T/C has clearance with the belhousing. Getting this all working properly may mean adding spacers between the T/C and the flex plate. Good luck with all of that and the mighty Daimler Majestic.
I agree that a bolt in plate would seem to be the best option. Steel if you need a thin plate. Aluminum would need to be thicker so the weight might not be much different.
We weld a356 aluminum all the time using 4043 rod. The same rod we use to weld 6061. No reason at all that you can't use 4043 rod to join 6061 to your a356 casting. My personal preference, especially for larger pieces to avoid having to pre-heat, is to use ceriated tungsten, orange band on it, and a mix of about 85/15 argon/helium on AC. The AC especially when joining the a356 to the 6061. It gives a good scrubbing action to help remove impurities inherent in the a356 cast aluminum. You can run straight helium if you want, but I have found that much of the gain from helium is attained at the previously stated ratio. Running straight helium gets expensive fast. The consumption rate on helium is about ten times that of argon, but you will be amazed at how much more heat is generated with comparable currents. Even at the lower percentage I mentioned. Our syncro 250 trips out pretty regular on argon. Add 15% helium and we can weld for hours with it, no problem. To help reduce sinking and deformation, weld a bit in one area, then move on to another, keep working it around until its all done. We just did something similar to what you are doing in the repair of an injection pump that had the mounting flange broken off. Welded on a new 6061 face, a bit of machining and another satisfied customer was born
Maybe this is a solution? Certainly looks tough enough with welded ears breaking the casting before the weld when tested. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N-cv3R4fWZc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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