Cracked head salvageable????

[garyt120r]

So I was all happy with my E0 log head. Pretty much got the 2bbl conversion complete when I see 2 small cracks. Can anyone tell me if this is still useable or I'm screwed. My gut tells me get a new head. The first pic it's easy to see, the second you have to look for the small rust colored place on the bottom center.

 

[rbohm]

to be honest, i dont see any cracks in the head.

 

[edgewood bronco]

take it to a shop and have it magnafluxed. That looks like it's right over the siamese exhaust ports. I ran a 170 head with JB weld in that crack with no apparent problems. I ground it out with a dremel and put a bead of JB weld on it.

 

[Econoline]

If it's just in the log like it appears then you can probably get by ok with it. If you repair it with JB or some other epoxy, take a die grinder and groove the crack first. Cleanliness is very important with epoxies. After you grind the crack vacuum, blow out and clean with acetone, ie dump acetone over and into the crack flooding it. Let dry, of course, before the epoxy is laid. I'd wet the repair first with some free flowing epoxy then as it tacks use something thicker like JB. The big Disclaimer is, I've never done this type of repair on a manifold or cast iron, but I do work with epoxy near daily. It's always a mistake to use a thickened epoxy on a porous substrate without first wetting it with thin epoxy. But you have to stay within the chemical bonding reapplication time, and when it's tacky is best.