Probably the business, but not the forum.  I will be 68 next week, and I don't think I want to continue making FE products for everybody after I turn 70.  On the forum, it is costing me about $500 per year to keep it up and running, and free from scammers.  Right now I expense that cost to FE Power.  Probably when I close down FE Power I will solicit donations from the forum members to keep it operating, so hopefully it will be up and running for years to come.

Sorry to hear this, Jay. On the bright side, maybe we'll see you back in a Drag-n-Drive event again?   

Alan, just curious, what's your project?

We have balanced 3-4 Scat cranks for different engines, they never have enough counterweight. Always have to add metal to those.

If you're buying something fancy like a Winberg I would think that they would be very close.

If I buy a rotating assembly it will most likely be a Scat 4.25" 482. I have a 452 rotating assembly now that was damaged. I have bought a new crank for it but still need a connecting rod so I may use it but a 482 would be nice. 

Thanks guys, that's kind of what I was thinking. I've never bought a complete assembly before, I've always gotten my rotating assemblies in pieces. I know my machinist always likes to check all the components anyway.

On rotating assemblies do you prefer to get them already balanced or have your machine shop balance them? Looking to (finally) get back in the FE game.

Alan,

Curious where in Wisconsin you got a quote to do cast iron welding… I’ve been looking for a place to fix some iron stuff… also curious where your getting rods for tig welding. I’ve got an old kitchen oven wired in my shop now so I could try welding on some heads that I want to change the shape of and fix a couple holes if possible. So far I’ve only had limited success.

I first contacted Midwest Cylinder Head in Iowa only to find out they no longer did any cast iron welding. Here is a link to the place I talked to in Wisconsin.  Good luck! https://www.castmetalwelding.com/

I already had some Muggy Weld rods so I thought I would experiment an see how it would work. I had an other FE block to practice since I didn't want to start out on the 427 block. I cut grooves in the deck to mimic how I would repair the crack. Instead of stick welding, I removed the flux from the rods and TiG welded it. It didn't come out too bad. I used up what rods I had so I think I'll get some more and do a little more practicing before I commit. I called a well known cast iron welding place up in Wisconsin and he gave me a ball park figure of around $1000 to furnace weld the block then I would need to have a machine shop measure pretty much everything to check for distortion. Here are a few pics.   

      Well, that one isn't going to be so easy.   

      One of the greatest concerns here might be in the positioning relationship of the loading for the gasket fire-ring versus the cylinder head bolt hole with the crack separating the two.  This is a high stress area, where when assembled, the bolt hole is being pulled up with several tons of pressure, while the gasket fire-ring trapped between head and block deck is loading the top of the cylinder column effectively trying to push it down, and is probably the cause of this crack in between.   

      What this means is that the repair is going to have to result in a sum of structural soundness that surpasses what was there before; and this isn't going to be achieved with solely a "cold-repair", and although I don't see any other option beyond welding as being prudent, but it in itself comes with limitations and drawbacks, even when executed by a capable individual.   

      And yes, a sleeve (or two) will probably also be required, if the repair effort gets that far.   

      B.T.W.  What is the blocks' current bore size, as it probably will require to be something greater after the initial crack repair process so if it's already out near its' limit then . . . . . ?   

      Scott.

Thank you for your insight. Those are some things I hadn't considered. It's a standard bore (marine) block and it's also a s/o that has been machined for hydraulic lifters. The more I look at it the more I also think the tapered plugs probably won't work. I have contacted (email) a place that specializes in welding up cracked blocks and am waiting for a response back.