Date:         Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:31:14 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      External block damage and my plan to deal with it
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I am in the middle--or maybe just past the middle--of a rebuild of my 2.1. I
decided not to use my block as I suspect as hard as it was driven without
coolant (not me) I could not trust the studs. I picked up a used engine
without heads with a block that looked pretty good at first. It was only
AFTER I got the pistons and sleeves installed and was thinking about
transferring bits from my old block that I first noticed the damage: one of
the holes for the stud holding the alternator bracket has about half its
webbing cracked away. There is no way it would hold a stud. And it gets
better--
It seems that this is an earlier 2.1 block than my 90 and had a different
style of alternator mount. My mount has two holes for studs in the front
surface of the block, and that's it. The "new" block was obviously for a
different bracket with holes drilled down through the 1/4 inch thick web of
metal that extends out from the oil tower area. Of the two places for tapped
holes in my original block, the new block has only the inner (nearer the
crankshaft) hole drilled and tapped, meaning that the outer one can still be
drilled and worked just fine. The inner hole has half of the surrounding
metal torn away, but not all the way back to the water jacket.


Anyway, I'm wanting to use my bracket and don't like the idea of depending
on those two vertical holes through the thin part of the block casting. I
plan to take the whole #$%^$%& engine to a welding shop (why couldn't I have
seen this before I built it up?) and have the missing metal replaced with
aluminum. The only thing that bothers me is that the welding is right there
on the right water jacket. When I get it back, I will make a jig for my
floor drill press to allow me to drill into the metal fill and tap the
holes.

I'm almost certain this shop can do this, I haven't asked them (closed for
the weekend, obviously) but they are very good. Anything I should be aware
of before I haul the engine down there?

Thanks,

Jim