Intake hole please help

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vgv8

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Hi all. Have a disaster here. Had a small port Holley Street Dominator converted for injection for my 318 project. I needed a small amount milled off the heat crossover on the right side to clear my TPS. I drew a line in pen where it was to go but I had a miss understanding with the machine shop and he milled the whole lot away instead. Does anyone know how I can repair this. If I weld it I expect it will distort the manifold beyond repair. I am not on speaking terms with the machinist as I freaked when I saw it. My fault. If I was calmer I am sure we would have found a solution.

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vgv8 said:
... Does anyone know how I can repair this. ...
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Uhhhh, by buying another manifold??? And charging it to the machinist's credit card?

Wow ... can't say that I blame you for your reaction. I would have freaked too. Not only is it not what you wanted, those jagged edges leave much to be desired from anyone calling themselves a pro machinist ... looks like the Gondoliers ran through the side of it.
 
I think your machinist should have asked a few questions before he went that far. Its gonna cost over $100 to patch that up unless you have some good connections.
 
i think you have to start over, those manifolds are allways on e-bay for around $80
 
A really good aluminum welder should be able to help you as he will probably weld it a little bit at a time to avoid heat build up and distortion. However it probably wont be cheap and unless you grind it back down it probably won't be purty either.
 
Yeah I thought I would have to get another manifold, but then I have to get new bungs, get it machine for the injectors and find a machinist that can take off the wee bit I need to clear my TPS. Could I get a patch welded over it a little bit at a time to stop it warping? These manifolds are rare as over here in New Zealand. I had to import the injector bungs and fuel rail from Ross Machine Racing. I hasn't been a cheap job and I dont want to throw it all away and start from scratch again.
 
Why don't you just plug the heat riser ports near the heads? It looks like that broke into the exhaust crossover and you don't need manifold heat with fuel injection anyway.
 
That machinist must have smoked him a big fat bowl of mary jane out of his water bong just moments before he started on your intake!

I would recommend just buying a intake with the bungs already made into the casting and let ANOTHER machinist drill them out for you. I don't know if you pop the hood much at car shows but that intake will never look "normal". Good luck.
 
dodge freak said:
Some guys are jerks--plain and simple.

So what if your line was drawn there, didn't he know better it break on through?
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Must not!!

I cut my choke housing off my Performer intake with a Dremel tool and it looks much better than that... lol!
 
fzmax said:
Why don't you just plug the heat riser ports near the heads? It looks like that broke into the exhaust crossover and you don't need manifold heat with fuel injection anyway.
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I agree with fzmax, although that will sure look ugly.

Why don't you use the guy that welded up your injector bungs to weld up the hole?
 
All is not lost.
Find a shop which has both a TIG welder, and an oven to preheat it 1st. If the manifold is preheated before the repair is started, there will be much less distortion from the welding. I have a mate who works at a radiator shop that could fix that no problems. If you can't get it done for cash, it'll cost a bit more, but you don't want to lose the work which has alreadsy been done.

Maybe try ringing a few radiator shops who do aluminium radiators, and see if any of them have a preheating oven.

It might cost less if you clean up the hole with a dremel and make a patch of aluminium the right size and shape before you take it in. That way you're only paying for the welding, not for them to make the patch as well.


Where in NZ are you dude?
 
The more I think about the above picture, the more I'm thinking it's repairable. Knowing 1st hand how hard it is to get decent mopar stuff here makes me think even more so. If you think about it, you've already had the injector bosses welded to the runners, so any distortion there has already been deemed an acceptable risk. And the welding of a patch over that hole is really only going to distort the carb mounting flange, which can be easily milled/surface ground flat. (or even filled flat at a pinch)
 
If that only goes into the exhaust heat crossover you can easily block the heat to the manifold with small stainless steel pieces and just epoxy some aluminum sheet over the hole so it's not so ugly.
 
finish cleaning up this side then do the same to the other side and make it into a custom air-gap!
 
Look at the Crosswinds brand of intake. They are relatively cheap, have dual bolt pattern for both LA and magnum heads and have the bosses there for the injectors. Then al you need is for the bosses to be drilled for the injectors. No need to weld in bungs. I know that Crosswind is a chinese knockoff and not very high on anyones list of decent intakes but with EFI you aren't worried about atomization of fuel in the runners so they are acceptable.
 
lhearold said:
Look at the Crosswinds brand of intake. They are relatively cheap, have dual bolt pattern for both LA and magnum heads and have the bosses there for the injectors. Then al you need is for the bosses to be drilled for the injectors. No need to weld in bungs. I know that Crosswind is a chinese knockoff and not very high on anyones list of decent intakes but with EFI you aren't worried about atomization of fuel in the runners so they are acceptable.
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Good idea. It'll beat trying to get a TorkerII or other intake custom fit again.
 
dodge freak said:
Some guys are jerks--plain and simple.

So what if your line was drawn there, didn't he know better it break on through?
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No line wasn't drawn there. Where I drew the line it never would have gone into a hole. Basically it needed a semi circular drill about 25mm (1 inch) across going down between 10 and 11mm (less than 1/2 inch) in the front 1/3 rd of the heat riser. I should have ground it myself but I didn't back myself to do a neat job. Thanks for the replies and suggestions I will find someone to do it. I think I will patch it. The car was never going to be a show car but it still should have been a neat daily driver.
 
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