I have a 1966 Buick Skylark that ive been in the process of restoring,
while installing a new Y-Pipe the exhuast mainfold cracked. It cracked
by the bolt hole so now it is a slot not a hole. Evertime i try to put
a bolt in it slips right out the slot. I was talking to my local
automotive machine shop and he says just mig weld the bolt it up with
steel wire! Dosent sound too promising to me. Now the manifolds have
never been removed so i dont want ot remove it and crack the bolts.
Can is be welded on the car safely and with a mig Thank You

Skylark Joe wrote:
I have a 1966 Buick Skylark that ive been in the process of restoring,
while installing a new Y-Pipe the exhuast mainfold cracked. It cracked
by the bolt hole so now it is a slot not a hole. Evertime i try to put
a bolt in it slips right out the slot. I was talking to my local
automotive machine shop and he says just mig weld the bolt it up with
steel wire! Dosent sound too promising to me. Now the manifolds have
never been removed so i dont want ot remove it and crack the bolts.
Can is be welded on the car safely and with a mig Thank You


I mig'ed a crack in the exhaust of my Geo Storm three years ago and it's
still holding. Run the car for about five minutes before trying to do
the weld. This pre-heats the cast iron. I used plain old flux cored
wire to seal mine. Tain't pretty but the smog guy hasn't said anything
about an exhaust leak. :-)

Jim Chandler

"Skylark Joe" wrote in message
...
I have a 1966 Buick Skylark that ive been in the process of restoring,
while installing a new Y-Pipe the exhuast mainfold cracked. It cracked
by the bolt hole so now it is a slot not a hole. Evertime i try to put
a bolt in it slips right out the slot. I was talking to my local
automotive machine shop and he says just mig weld the bolt it up with
steel wire! Dosent sound too promising to me. Now the manifolds have
never been removed so i dont want ot remove it and crack the bolts.
Can is be welded on the car safely and with a mig Thank You

fwiw, exhaust manifold on my 51 dodge cracked - this is a very common
failure on that car and there is a standard place where it cracks ...
removed it, had local welder weld it (I can weld, but I don't have a spare
manifold if I mess up), and it's held since - but I don't drive the car
daily - nickle rich welding rod is appropriate for cast iron - and I think
the manifold on teh skylark is cast



--
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On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:44:44 -0800 (PST), Skylark Joe
wrote:

I have a 1966 Buick Skylark that ive been in the process of restoring,
while installing a new Y-Pipe the exhuast mainfold cracked. It cracked
by the bolt hole so now it is a slot not a hole. Evertime i try to put
a bolt in it slips right out the slot. I was talking to my local
automotive machine shop and he says just mig weld the bolt it up with
steel wire! Dosent sound too promising to me. Now the manifolds have
never been removed so i dont want ot remove it and crack the bolts.
Can is be welded on the car safely and with a mig Thank You

Given your constraints, I recommend taking it to someone with TIG. MIG
might work if everything is set just right, but you don't have a
"practice piece". TIG allows use of nickel rod, which is more
compatible with cast iron than steel wire, and it allows the welder
to work with the puddle and adapt in real time while MIG pretty much
just goes according to how the machine is set up.

Another option might be to get a trashed skylark manifold to practice
on before going for the money on yours.

Cast iron varies a lot. I've had some jobs go easy as can be but I
had one old Toyota exhaust manifold that whupped me. Even with
preheating, I'd hear "tics" as a weld cooled and the damned thing
cracked somewhere else near the weld. Weld that crack
successfully...tic. And so on. Another reason to get one to
practice on.

another person i talked to told me to braze a washer on the top to act
like a new hole. How does that sound to you and what rod should i use?

i will post a picture on my car domain with a link later on tonight

Don Foreman wrote:

Cast iron varies a lot. Â*I've had some jobs go easy as can be but I
had one old Toyota exhaust manifold that whupped me.

And if it is a heat resistant steel, it drives you crazy!
BTDT


Nick
--
The lowcost-DRO:
http://www.yadro.de

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:44:44 -0800 (PST), Skylark Joe
wrote:

I have a 1966 Buick Skylark that ive been in the process of restoring,
while installing a new Y-Pipe the exhuast mainfold cracked. It cracked
by the bolt hole so now it is a slot not a hole. Evertime i try to put
a bolt in it slips right out the slot. I was talking to my local
automotive machine shop and he says just mig weld the bolt it up with
steel wire! Dosent sound too promising to me. Now the manifolds have
never been removed so i dont want ot remove it and crack the bolts.
Can is be welded on the car safely and with a mig Thank You

I made a flange last summer for my neighbor's John Deere A
to fix a similar problem. Both of the bolt holes were broken
off. Without seeing what you got I can only guess you have a
similar problem. If so...

Think about using a large washer/flange that has a hole the
same diameter as the exhaust manifold outside dimensions.
Cut a slot in one side that is the same size as the outside
diameter of the manifold. You will probably have to put two
holes through it 180 degrees apart even though you really
need one.

Some crappy ASCII art showing the "clip". Holes the size of
your bolts drilled through where there is an "X". Use a
fixed font to view this too or it will look even worse than
it already is


* * *
* * * * *
* * * *
* * manifold * *
* X * inside * X *
* * here * *
***** *****

Slip this flange over your manifold and let it rest against
what is left of your manifold flange.

The one I made was out of 1/4 inch steel plate. It worked
out really well and even look halfway decent. Sure beats
trying to change out the exhaust manifold. No welding
required. Just some drilling and sawing.


--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:34:28 -0800 (PST), Skylark Joe
wrote:

another person i talked to told me to braze a washer on the top to act
like a new hole. How does that sound to you and what rod should i use?

Brazing doesn't work on exhausts for air cooled engines because the
exhaust parts run too hot. I don't know how hot the exhaust manifold
gets on a Skylark.

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:34:28 -0800 (PST), Skylark Joe
wrote:

another person i talked to told me to braze a washer on the top to act
like a new hole. How does that sound to you and what rod should i use?

You can do that with the standard "white" brazing rod, but the bleu
flux rods will likely work better.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Skylark Joe" wrote in message
...
I have a 1966 Buick Skylark that ive been in the process of restoring,
while installing a new Y-Pipe the exhuast mainfold cracked. It cracked
by the bolt hole so now it is a slot not a hole. Evertime i try to put
a bolt in it slips right out the slot. I was talking to my local
automotive machine shop and he says just mig weld the bolt it up with
steel wire! Dosent sound too promising to me. Now the manifolds have
never been removed so i dont want ot remove it and crack the bolts.
Can is be welded on the car safely and with a mig Thank You

Think headers and a hot cam and a new carb and....

oops - a slippery slope.

Mark

Check out the picture i drew in microsoft paint.

Leon is this what you mean?

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2268204

Skylark Joe wrote:

Check out the picture i drew in microsoft paint.

Leon is this what you mean?


Picture? I don't see no steenkin picture!


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:24:26 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

Skylark Joe wrote:

Check out the picture i drew in microsoft paint.

Leon is this what you mean?


Picture? I don't see no steenkin picture!

I didn't see/find any picture either. Then again my own post
never came through for me but I can find if via google
groups (shrug).

From what I could understand I think Joe just lost part of
an ear on the flange where the exhaust pipe bolts up. My
idea/fix is to make a "C" shaped part with two holes in it
that would slip over the manifold above the flange and rest
against it. I made up a pattern out of cardboard first and
got all my measurements right. Then I used it to trace out
the real part on a suitable piece of 1/4 inch steel plate.

I would have taken some pictures but I didn't think it was
anything special. It seemed to be an obvious solution/fix...


--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:21:00 -0800 (PST), Skylark Joe
wrote:

Check out the picture i drew in microsoft paint.

Leon is this what you mean?

Ah-ha! I found the image you made:

http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...04_31_full.jpg


Tit-for-tat, this is what I had in mind:

http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/flange.png

You need to use both holes, other wise there won't be
anything to keep in place.


--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

leon it sounds good to me great suggestion thankx

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:08:46 -0800 (PST), Joe
wrote:

leon it sounds good to me great suggestion thankx

I modified your drawing in a bit of a rush. The one I
actually made used a nice half-circle that nestled up
against the manifold pipe. The outside corners were trimmed
off at ~45 degree angles too.

I just wanted to express my idea/plan quickly, which you
seem to have understood from the crude drawing

Best of luck with your repair!


--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:08:46 -0800 (PST), Joe
wrote:

leon it sounds good to me great suggestion thankx

I took few minutes and tweaked my example to look a bit more
like the part I had in mind. See:

http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/flange.png

It gave me a chance to fool around with the new IrfanPaint
add-on for IrfanView v4.10. It doesn't work too bad for
simple stuff, like adding some lines and pointers. See:

http://www.irfanview.com/

and the price is definitely right (free for non-commercial
use).

There is a newer beta version for the Paint add-on too
available he

http://www.mitalia.net/irfanpaint/


--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email