Aluminum casting repair

[sunshineman6869]

I managed to put a hole in one of my cylinder head covers, while trying to put insert in a striped out hole. I am thinking I need some JB Weld for aluminum, and I can put pieces back in place. What I am looking for is some suggestions for repairing this. I have an idea of how I will do it, but there are many more who have done this type of repair already and they may have some ideas for one to consider.
Thank you
Mike

[tamathumper]

Depends on the size and location of the hole. Pics?

[Viking]

A good welding shop can repair aluminum. It may not be as pretty as before, but it will not leak. JB would be much less expensive, but will it be leak tight? Maybe.

[sunshineman6869]

Depends on the size and location of the hole. Pics?

Depends on the size and location of the hole. Pics?

[ct1500]

I am thinking more like, just get a new valve cover. More likely pot metal not aluminum.

[tamathumper]

Holy Christ in tights on a cracker... That's a hole you could throw a fixed cat through!

A new cover is what, $50? I'd go that route, unless you can get FlexSeal in aluminum color, and then I'd go that route, because you can make a high speed bass boat out of a screen door with that stuff. I've seen the infomercials...

[sunshineman6869]

A replacement cover costs 282 dollars and some change

[offcenter]

Lemmee tell ya a story...
50 years ago when I was a kid, my brother put a hole like that through the side cover
of a Kawasaki 350 he had. We fished the pieces out of the crankcase, cleaned them
up, and epoxied them back into place with PC-7 epoxy paste. He rode that bike for
two more years like that, then sold it to a friend who rode it another two or three
years!!.....with the patch still in place. This patch was in the crankcase of a two
stroke engine! And you know that with two strokes, the crankcase is pressurized!

DO YOU HAVE THE PIECES THAT BROKE OUT?
if so, find some PC-7 and patch it back together.
It will hold for a LONG time.

P.S. If you don't have the pieces, cut a piece of aluminum
flashing a little larger than the hole. Remove the valve cover
and clean around the hole inside and out to remove all traces of
oil, then epoxy the aluminum flashing on the inside. Then apply
a nice layer of that epoxy paste to the outside too.
Let it cure for at least a couple of days and put the cover back
on. You will be good to go!

[sunshineman6869]

Thank you for the feedback. I am doing something similar to what you are saying, hoping I will see good results tomorrow

[MikeB]

Thank you for the feedback. I am doing something similar to what you are saying, hoping I will see good results tomorrow

Please let us know how it goes and include some pictures.

[tamathumper]

A replacement cover costs 282 dollars and some change

A brand new one from Honda perhaps, but from the look of that photo a new one wouldn't match the rest of the bike. Lots of used ones with "patina" are available on eBay. Here's one for $85 or "Make an Offer".

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-HONDA-GOLDW ... 8037!US!-1

[sunshineman6869]

Thank you for the feedback. I am doing something similar to what you are saying, hoping I will see good results tomorrow

Please let us know how it goes and include some pictures.

I just saw your email as I got back from a test ride of my fix, and there are no leaks, and I didn't take any pictures, didn't think I would need them, but I guess you never know. Basically I bought a 3' piece of 1" and 1/8" aluminum stock, cause I didn't have any, and cut off 3" and put that piece on the inside of the cover, it fit and covered the hole nicely and I used JB Marine Weld I think it was called, and let it sit for about 24 hours with a couple of C-clamps holding down the 3" aluminum piece to the cover and let it dry. I was surprised to see that the hole I was trying to get an insert into, was a dead hole, for lack of a better name. The bolt that went into this hole was stripped out, and my buddy doing the helicoil repair said he would have to go 2 size to get a helicoil to fit, and he wasn't sure if there was enough "wall" to be strong enough. The bolts in these 2 lower holes look like they keep the chrome trim piece that say "HONDA" attached, but double side tape is what was keeping my chrome strip attached. Those 2 holes did nothing except house a place for the chrome bolts, nothing functional that I could see.
That will have to do for pictures, sorry
MIke

[sunshineman6869]

A replacement cover costs 282 dollars and some change

A brand new one from Honda perhaps, but from the look of that photo a new one wouldn't match the rest of the bike. Lots of used ones with "patina" are available on eBay. Here's one for $85 or "Make an Offer".

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-HONDA-GOLDW ... 8037!US!-1

Thank you for that info
Mike

[sunshineman6869]

Well as fate would have it, my patch looked like it held after my 20 minute test ride, but I noticed about 2+ hours after being home I noticed a couple of drops of something on the cardboard I had under the bike. So upon taking off the lower cover I noticed a couple of small puddles of oil
So my patch job didn’t work.
I tried to take some pictures, but this IPhone I now have is not user friendly to an old guy. I will finish this story when I figure out how to upload pictures to this site
Mike

[Wingsconsin]

Sorry this happened to you

Time to pay the piper -- Buy a New one (or new to you used one from eBay) -

Ride on without looking back

[wezx]

I had a much smaller hole in the cover in my 1500 (highway peg bolt punctured the cover when it fell over in the driveway on a slight incline DOH!). I removed the cover, cleaned it well in my parts cleaner, then washed the cover and cleaned the area of the hole with rubbing alcohol. I then applied JB Weld (the 2 tube style) and it is holding well for over a year. Incidentally, I called JB Weld and they said that their standard product should work fine on aluminum.

I would think for that large of a hole you would want to find a used cover and just replace it?

[Thomas Berry]

The valve cover is made of Cast Aluminum and can be tig welded. Im a retired certified welder, since 1969. I still run my own weld shop. DO NOT use JB weld.
JB weld may hold, may not. If it does not, it contaminates the aluminum and makes it next to impossible to weld afterwards. And will cost much more time to weld it, because you have to get the glue out of the aluminum. Aluminum is like trying to solder a copper pipe. IT WILL NOT WELD if dirty. You have to know how to clean it. Ive welded many aluminum engine cases. Especially Harley`s