OK...

I fear I am going to appear an idiot now.....(dont....even think about saying it !!)

But....just trying to help out Mr Eastbourne2CV....so here goes.

Basically he has a hole in the manifold bit between carb and cylinder head. It let him down on Sunday and we have just had a chat about either raiding a bit of my spare engine, which should work of course or .....can this bit be welded?

Am I right in thinking it is some kind of "cast" metal and therefore wont weld....or can it be done ? Worth doing or, spanner on another rusty replacement?

Thoughts and comments appreciated.

TA !

its all weldable, its all been welded together.

Although if it has already rotted out in one place, I would expect the rest of the pipe to be very thin. I had a hole in mine a while, which I patched up with gun gum and a bit of my best cotton shirt. After two weeks the 'repair' was still good, but the rest of the balace pipe was completely perforated. Once a small air leak allowed it to start backfiring, it didn't last long! I would imagine the cast bits at the middle and the ends would be fine to be re-used, but I think I'd want to look at replacing the whole pipe if I was going to bother at all.

I realise this is a D*lly manifold you're talking about but the early flat manifolds are braised together and are a total cock to weld due to it being impossible to get all the brass out of the joints, they're also a total cock to braise again as you can't get all the crud out of the joints, I tried doing one once, the best remedy to that is to slap in a nice 602 and have done with it. Probably.

Russell,

yes it is....in fact I was wondering if you saw it on Sunday. I havnt seen it yet.

As said above, if its gone in one place then I suspect its at the end of its days.

I am not charging Ben anything of course. I am not at all a welder, I wouldnt charge for welding or mechanical stuff at all, just trying to help a mate out as best I can.

So my other daft question is if I can get to it, can it be done or safe to do with engine in situ ?.....I am thinking petrol in nearby carb here....so one presumes its only realy possible to weld once safely off the engine, in which case we are going to have to rob one of another engine.

I wouldn't do it on the engine in case you drop anything down into the head, bits of spatter or so on (not that I'm assuming you'll get any spatter, but y'know what I'm getting at) also it'll be easier to clean up so you have something decent to weld to. It's not going to take you any longer to remove that one, repair it and refit it as it will swap one off another engine.

Thank you !!

I hadnt even thought about any carp going down inside the pipe !

There will be plenty of spatter thats for sure.

Cheers, thank you for that, much appreciated...advice accepted and noted.

Cheers Squeezebox, stupid questions are my speciality
I'll try and post a pic up.

Carp,whos been fishing

This is not my engine but just to point out where the hole is.