101 Scout... going to take a while

[T. Cotten]

I wish I could smell the welds, Harry!

Can you scrape and listen to them and tell us what you might guess is the 'filler rod'?

Just getting something to stick is a trick.

And 'slag happens'.

....Cotten

[pisten-bully]

While we're on the topic of "non-standard" repairs, when I first got this motor I noticed what looked like a copper rivet head on the side of the drive side case:



I didn't know what it was for until I pulled the cylinders. The rear baffles had been broken out at some point so someone replaced them with copper plates!



They appear to be fully functional and none of the exterior rivet heads showed any evidence of leakage. As long as there's room in there for the flywheels, it works!



I think it adds character to this motor as well as the "fingerprints" of someone clever enough to replace the baffles with materials at hand.

[aumick10]

That's a very innovative repair.

[T. Cotten]

That's a very innovative repair.

At today's average of $90 an hour, Folks,...

Its at least a $2500 repair, if you can find anyone who can still use a hammer like that.

And they still won't make a living.

...Cotten

[pisten-bully]

Here's one more for today. The more you scrub the more you find. I had seen a weld inside on the flywheel side of the case:



But I hadn't noticed the crack until I started to scrub on the cam side of the case:



So there was a big crack in the case at one time between the bushing hole for the front cylinder cam to the pinion shaft hole. Looks like the crack was welded up, but what I can't be sure of is whether or not the small cracks in the thin flange of the pinon shaft bearing hole came later or happened at the same time. I don't think that flange carries any force, except maybe there's some thrust force from the pinion shaft bearing? It's a thin aluminum flange, part of the casting....how important is it and should it be fixed?

[aumick10]

At today's average of $90 an hour, Folks,...

Its at least a $2500 repair, if you can find anyone who can still use a hammer like that.

And they still won't make a living.

...Cotten

Nobody said it was practical though. It is different these days with high tech welding processes.
Cotton, I am looking for some advise on carby selection more a motor I am building. Can I PM you?
Cheers

[T. Cotten]

Nobody said it was practical though. It is different these days with high tech welding processes.
Cotton, I am looking for some advise on carby selection more a motor I am building. Can I PM you?
Cheers

Just start a new thread on the forum, Mick!

Hopefully others know better than I, and certainly others will be curious, sooner or later...

Looking forward to it,

....Cotten
PS: If it saw duty, it sure as hell was practical!

PPS: Who, 'back in the day', was so skilled as to weld aluminum, as well as cast iron?

Awesome.

[pisten-bully]

closer inspection shows that the repair weld on the flywheel side of the case is trouble, a crack has formed again:



I dropped the case off with a fellow whose business is welding aluminum almost exclusively, we inspected it together and he didn't say it was a lost cause ...so I've got my fingers crossed he can make a long lasting repair.

[tfburke3]

I cant say how important that flange in the pinion housing is but I have a few later chief cases with similar cracking,one down to the scraper hole.For me these case are beyond reasonable repair so they were replaced.
I would be looking for new cases or case if I were you but your 101 is more rare than later chiefs .
I would pull that front cam bushing suspecting the crack continues into its bore.
Good luck
Tom

[d_lasher]

The mechanical engineer in me says all of your cracks are related. The pinion race takes half of the load from the drive train. The crack probably caused a lot of vibrations that caused your flywheel crack. I’d looked at your drive side race and case as well. My guess is that it’s at least out of round or cracked too.

The welds might have been a last ditch effort to save the engine.

If you decide to weld it back up you’ll need to come up with a way to keep the drive race and pinion race aligned. Welding runs the risk of warping the case. You can’t line bore it because the pinion side is closed.

Sorry man,
Dana

[tfburke3]

I think the line bore could be solved with boring the race fully and modify with a thrust washer and snap ring like later chiefs.
Lots of challenging welding before the machine work even begins.
Tom

[pisten-bully]

I think the line bore could be solved with boring the race fully and modify with a thrust washer and snap ring like later chiefs.
Lots of challenging welding before the machine work even begins.

I’m trying to remain optimistic, at least it would be difficult to find a welder with as much aluminum welding experience as this guy...so there’s that!

Thanks for the input, and Dana...good call to inspect the drive side of the case too.

[tfburke3]

I dont know if your pinion bore andshaft dia. are same as 48 chief and up with the snap ring but if it is I think I would machine out the cracked bottom of the bore before welding.You will have less welding and the welder wont have bottom corners to hog out and weld,and less machine work.
Hope it works for you
Tom

[cHarley32]

It would be interesting how the Welder proceeds with the repair. If he does not hold process close. It would be great to see pics as it progresses. Have repaired motor mounts and tranny ears in the past. Curious how he minimizes distortions and such.

[pisten-bully]

Well...I'm on the hunt for another RH case! The attempt to repair was a failure, pre-heat and Tig simply caused more cracks... as predicted by others who have tried. It's difficult to tell a guy who's worked with aluminum for 30 years how to do his job, and I don't know if there's anything different he could have done, but there's not much I can do now:





I'm a little bummed out but figure it's part of the process, but I hate to see old parts not usable anymore!

So far I've checked a few possible sources, and Dana fed me a link to a full engine for sale (the seller changed his mind...) but so far the easy sources have nuthin'