Morning all Under my bus the other day and noticed I have a small hole in my heat exchanger, just where the front tube enters. 1700 type 4 crossover. I was going to take it off and have a go at welding it. Is it a relatively easy job, and will I need to get any new gaskets/seals? Any hints or tips? Sorry for the easy question, just never done this job before. Thx.
as above, rusty fixings are likely. grinder needed to get mine off originally to take the heads off, hit with a big hammer, then drill out and re-fit with new gaskets and bolts. if the hole is small could you bodge it with something like jbweld? quicker and easier potentially?
Yes, good point.. they not have been off for over 50 years as its a very original Californian bus. I have just bought some Sealey Liquid Metal, so may have a go at plating it using that. It's only a small hole and the rest of the heat exchangers look sound. Don't fancy welding with them in situ! Cheers.
Post a pic! I dont think that I would bother taking it off unless you want to refurb it completely and are not to phased by having potentially to remove other parts of the exhaust system to achieve that and then having to fix those too! If its all original then the nuts bolts and studs might be holding it together but unlikely they would be in a state to be happy being messed with!
If you do decide to take it off though... im not sure what the system might consist of on a Cali bus as I've only really dealt with Euro style exchangers so again pic might help but if ts the same as Euro then clean the ends of the studs on the headers with wire brush, soak for as long as you can with penetrating fluid and heat them up a few times with a blow lamp before even trying to turn anything. Its very likely a stud will snap and probably nailed on that they might wind out! Early studs are 8mm both ends whereas later ones (who knows when it changed) are 9 mm into the head so these wont normally drop through the hole in the heat exchanger. A broken stud but can be done in situ if careful!
