porting went wrong
 

i have 2 holes where someone went into the water jacket on 1 96 d-port head. its small i think...can i use devcon to fix this? if so which devcon product? i have researched this and my head is spinning.no pun intended. my plan is to patch this so i can run for the summer meanwhile send some virgin 96 d-ports to butler for a port job. what do the experts here think? this was found out after the heads had been cleaned by my local machinist. I just put a new cam and rockers in and was hoping to be at the track and this was found out last friday,

And i cant load pics....:smash::smash::smash::smash:

Grab another 96 head, can’t be that expensive

yea i just found a set but they are going to butler and i dont want to be without my car that long. these had some type of epoxy but it didnt last under the cleaning process. plus i was running these heads for 10yrs with no issues.

If you're looking to use epoxy to fix the holes, Splash Zone marine epoxy holds up very well. I also have a set of D-ports that have Moroso AB epoxy, and has been ran for 10+ years with no problems

both of those came up in my searches as well. Thank you.

Why can't you load pictures, do you need guidance?

I would like to see pictures of where you went through.

1) if you ground thru near the head bolt boss repairs do not hold up for long due to the loading of the cast iron there.

2) depending on where you ground through you may have deminished the stock flow levels if you did such without the guidance of a flow bench.
To grind through even on a head with core shift you have had to grind through some .050" of wall thickness which then means that to have the correct port shape the whole port would have to be majorly reworked!

PM contact me if you need guidance to post pictures.

Pics so I could figure it out lol huge thanks to steve25 for the text message guidance you gave me earlier today! I really appreciated the tips! Thanks again. Butler is 6 months out to port the new heads I got and with your tips on fixing these I should have it on the road in two weeks!

I forgot to mention that if the other 6 intake ports are scalloped out like those 2 then fill them in as well.

When done it should look like your other set of 96 heads.

epoxy isn't going to hold long into a water jacket.
it needs to be professionally welded.
that has to be at least brazed, gas welded with a torch.
or professionally cast iron welded which is more cost than the heads are worth.

I did the same thing when porting the heads on my 403 Olds. I had a friend who is also a very talented welder braze the hole up with bronze rod iirc. I ran that engine hard at the track for many years and never had a problem.

yeh the NHRA SuperStock class engine builders have been filling exhausts ports with braze for decades. it works.

I've used JB-Weld on cast iron heads before to with good success.

GT

It's the antifreeze that eats epoxy

He only needs to get thru the summer on the repair work, not for years

That style of intake bowl porting goes against my tinking.

thanks for all the replys.

i found a set of e-heads local of all places (never works like that for me)

picking them up from the machine shop today,couple delays but it is a friend of mine.

naturally I found the e-heads after I bought a set of 96's locally. ��

epoxy should never be used against a water jacket or in an exhaust port, period.
it won't hold up.
only for pushrod guide holes, head bolt holes, or breakthroughs into crankcase pressure area. it'll seal vacuum, atmospheric pressure. that's about it.
a simple head bolt hole break, you could seal it with even permatex if you wanted to.

I can tell by these reply's that most have never used Balzona 111.

I have used Splash Zone Epoxy for years in my intake ports to prevent water/coolant leaking, there is plenty of pressure trying to pop through in my "Sprinkler Heads".