I've seen vege rebuilds that have a shim fitted to the thrust bearing to take up any slack between the bearing and the case!! Not suggesting that Laurie does that, but it is something that could be done!!
I remember us discussing this about my engine a while ago paul As cases run in short supply as time goes on id imagine it may become a common fix
Either that or more thrust material in the bearing... Mag alloy cases are already going sky high price wise... Over $1000 for one in the states now!! Unfortunately that means the all aluminum cases are gonna go up in price too!!
You can, but mag alloy is very hard to weld without the magnesium igniting... So a specialist welder is needed!!
Believe it was common for Vege to do this - no reason why it shouldn't work fine. There was a guy on JK a few years ago who cut down an old no 1 bearing to make two semicircular shoulder pieces to fill the bearing web. New cases are ridiculous prices these days
Its wear in the case so why cant you just weld in more metal and then machine it out to wots need or have I got it wrong
Is it magnesium alloy....? Ive heard that about loads of stuff... and usually turns out its either an aluminium alloy not or its such a low grade magnesiun alloy it of hardly any consequence .. and welds fine with tig ... its comming up to the season where my mate brings his customers kerbed alloys around for welding... never liked doing them for various reasons but hes happy that I stamp them "SPARE ONLY" on the front face also welded up motorbike casings and alloy heads ... Unfortunately any deal in the offering for Jokers engine has fell through cause im to tight to go the full asking price ... its a Scots thing... lol something else will come along Might just sacrafice my van engine to the cause and buy a nice new one for it when its done .... pretty much everything else has been replaced anyway.. lol.. But mean while back to this endfloat issue .. I take it once they get worn and are kept in use, the actual case starts to were and thats what causes the problem? I take it noyhing actually runs against the worn face, its just the back and forward movement that wears the case through time.... If anyone has a scrap case, I would be happy to give it a go with the tig if it welds, result... if it doesnt it was scrap anyway...
AS41 is 4 parts aluminium, 1 part silicon I believe - the rest is magnesium, which burns quite well ...
Pure magnesium is a pretty high tech process but mag alloy isnt that high tech,,,,, quick search uncovered this article.... The Magnesium/Aluminium case design of the AS41 case i renown for being one of the lightest design engine cases even by today's standards. This was the brilliant invention of the VW factories in Germany who originally built the engine to power planes. The downside of this design is that the Magnesium/Aluminium alloy was a mixture that was hard to weld. The obvious risk of this being igniting the Magnesium whilst welding so that the hole part you were welding burned with a large flash eating away its form. Traditionally welding these materials takes a great deal of experience as the welder needs to be aware of the composition and must apply only enough heat to weld and not combust. It is also paramount that you have a hammer with you available to beat the crap out of the area you are welding so as to knock the burning magnesium out of the area. The downside of this is that i can leave a larger hole than you start with. Crucial to the weld is also the composition of rod that you use and traditionally the flame is better controlled by a tig welder. Most people believe wrongly you need an Aluminium rod with a Magnesium content to weld the AS41 case. The result of this I found out quite quickly was not the answer and the shop that I asked to weld the case up produced the hole filled and taped but not surprisingly the plug they had welded in did not bond to the case and was simply able to be pulled out. The correct welding rods to weld an AS41 case are in fact Magnesium rods with a low percentage of Aluminium. The actual percentage being 8% Aluminium to 92% Magnesium.These are available from Armour supplies Ltd in Hastings, East Sussex UK . Withe the case welded so that the main gantry was plugged I was able to get the case re taped with the 3/8" NPT tap. I used a workshop for this and had to remove all the engine main studs so that it could be mounted in their mill. you can see from the photograph that I decided to have the area made bigger so that the thread had a good fetch into the casing. The finished plug looks stronger and more durable than the original. I am very suprised this can be done and it blows a large rasberry in the faces of everyone that says it cannot be done or to put it a better way the people that have kept this a secret from us for a long time are now all aware we all know,. I look forward to seeing a lot more cases re welded in the future.
Engineering wise, you can do almost anything, it's just a matter of cost and availability of the correct equipment. Once the replacement price makes it economical, people will start to properly re-manufacture cases. Maybe there's a little sideline here @redoxide
Its like the article above mentions, its the temperature thats important... even good old 3003 will bite you if you go in full tilt and its just a boring old general purpose ally ... It appears to be a fairly common practice to weld a plate onthe back of the case behind no 3 cylinder.... whats the purpose of that ( apart from being another example that you can weld these cases )
Welding No.3 is a strengthening mod for when you go larger diameter barrels, as the case is prone to cracking once you go past a certain size!! Good info on case welding BTW Something I'm planning on having a go at once I've got a decent ac/dc tig
Not quite right that as I offered £70 off the full asking price... I know where there is a *****ed one for £500 though if you're interested...
crossed wires ... I thought the full asking price was £950 as a unit and the £70 offered was a deduction from the £950 leaving £880 ... but I see what you were trying to acieve now ... engine £700 exhaust £200 tin £120 as individual parts totaling £1120 ... discounted to £950 as a complete sale ( which encompassed the £70 I thought you were actually prepared to take off the £950,,, but the £950 was the £70 deduction ... being £70 less that the cost of the combined individual parts... Its not a problem, we never reached an agreement and a deal wasnt done instead of becoming a pain in the ass I bowed out as I felt that any negotiations had reached a conclusion viz I wast willing to pay what I considered the full asking price of £950 cause im tight ... ( I thought my first offer of £750 was a goodun started to sweat when I bumped it up to £850 ... then £880 ( which I understood to be £950 minus £70.....lol ) No worries, I dont consider it a loss , I still have £cash in my hipper, something will come along, Im not really in that much of a rush... Ive actually got 2 here with zero end float one factory recon out of my panel conversion camper ( with reciept and recorded miles) and one from my Karmann Ghia, but obviously I have a use for both ...plus 2 good strong running type 3 motors .. Im trippin over £500 motors here ..lol ..... unfortunately buying any old used motor is a gamble. Ive bought a few old american motors supposedly good or rebuilt... all of them not on here please! dog ... and hauled junk out of the local crusher for £50 and it run for years its all part of lifes rich tapestry... lol
