Man... that sucks that you got burned....
I wouldn't use that even if it were welded up... You can not see all through the water passages and how thin they may be in some spots. My son in law got a good deal on his 65 Barracuda because the PO thought it had blown head gaskets... the timing cover had eroded bad enough there was a big hole behind the water pump impeller... AND once we pulled it off, we found another one inside one of the water passages back towards the block. IT had huge pits in it all over the place....
oh, we are selling the old pitted timing cover for 3,500$ They are super rare and this one is ready to use... um, er... at least it has pretty paint on it..... you can use it for wall art or something... just not quite ready to use on an engine....