In my world, this head is garbage. I was just wondering if some new techniques had been developed for welding cast iron to salvage this.

These WERE a rather nice pair of Merlin 269cc oval port heads. The other head is fine, this one.....well,....what do you think?

Anyone have a single Merlin head?

Marine epoxy will fix anything!

Dennis, you crack my up. No pun intended.

I really don't expect to fix this, but being a good set of Merlins, I just wanted to check before buying another head.

Thanks for the laugh.

PS..Love your book BBC marine perf.

you think duct tape would hold?

I'd say time to write a check for a new one. Not worth the chance of repair going bad.

OK, that's what I thought.

I have a call in to a Merlin dealer. I think these are older castings.

Thanks,

I'd write the check for a new one. They can fix them though. They first drill the end of the crack and then open it up. Next the head (or block) is heateduntil it is cherry red. They then spray molten metal at the crack building it back up. The "weld" looks different from standard welding but is supposed to be stronger than the base metal.

Anyone have a good number for World Castings? I have 2 numbers off a pdf brochure that aren't any good. I need to talk with them about the differences in the older castings.

Their website revealed nothing but a email submission form which has not netted any results since last Friday.

I know some companies don't check their email everyday like some of us with computers almost sewn into our clothing.

Broken ring? Hard to believe the spark plug is still in one piece. Sorry no number.

No broken ring, it was part of the intake valve from cylinder #8 that made it's way into cylinder #7 across the hallway.

Spark plug was new. Old ones looked a little beat up. I was in the process of tuning this up for a customer when I discovered a small problem.

I cannot believe he didn't notice something was really wrong when he boated last. Maybe too much giggle juice.

How in the world did a piece of intake valve go from one cylinder to another?
I'd like to see the piston and cylinder on that one.