'48 Rear Jug Repair

[c.o.]

A buddy of mine scooped a '48 Chief awhile back and was told when he went to look at it that the powerplant was rebuilt. Well as many of us know......what is told before the sale and what one finds after can be a completely different thing. He gave 'er the ol' college try and after a lot of grunting, got it fired up. Well the front head leaked........ just a gasket if I remember right. He then decided he should rip the rear head off and have a look. The top of the rear jug has a crack in it ........... I'm doing this by memory here..... I can't remember how long it is for sure, but it nearly touches the exhaust guide. If I get some responses, I can probably try and get him to get me a picture. It seems to me that I've heard of this happening before. Has anybody had any luck performing a fix on something like this? He's a recycler and would like to try and fix it before he has to get a new jug. If a guy was careful could he groove out the crack, silver solder it and re-deck the jug? Or am I out to lunch? Funny how those flatheads run though.......the carb upon inspection was missing parts!!

[c.o.]

O.K. I talked to the fella today on the phone and I got things screwed up.....the crack is on the intake side along the gasket surface to the valve seat....

[stan]

I had a valve job done on my 47 chief a few years back. The guy told me, I'll bet you have a crack on the intake seat. Sure enough I did. I was disappointed to see that. The mechanic said he see's that on some cylinders. I did nothing about it. What does it hurt? If it were a water cooled engine it would be a problem. I'll bet there a lot of indians with that same problem, and the owners don't even know it. It would be nice if the crack wasen't there. Get another opinion. Maybe run that by Bob Stark. Stan

[c.o.]

Thanks for the response Stan! Your conclusion had passed through our noggin's but it's nice to hear what other folks think! I think he'll likely get the head sealed back on and run it and see what happens.