Cracked block: Steelseal? Any experience?

[Jobi]

Hello,

I finally completed the rebuold of my R33 after having spent 10 years on other projects. I'm running circa 550/600bhp, with many mods on the engine (forged, cams, twin 2530s, etc.) and on the car (Cusco diffs, brakes, Ohlins, etc.).

After only 1000miles, I now have a slight cooland leak. I tracked it down and...bingo, I have a crack in the block. I thought for that amount of power it would be ok but facts prove that...errr...no. I'm kinda gutted and I'm now saving for a brand new block, 86mm CP pistons (to keep cylinder walls as thick as possible) and a PRP brace.

Anyway, in the mean time, I'd like to keep using the car and have read one or two good stories about SteelSeal for that kind of problem.

 

Has anyone ever given it a try?

[WantGTR]

Jb weld or similar and send it.

[trel]

Just now, WantGTR said:

Jb weld or similar and send it.

Yep. Fix, thrash, rebuild 😁

[Jobi]

Tried JB weld. Worked great...for a while. Last sunday I switched the car from mid fun to max fun mode (1.7bar boost) and thrashed the car a lil' bit on nice roads. "Hello, the leak is back!" lol Or not so lol actually...

[WantGTR]

Where is the crack?

Works better if you take the paint off the block in that area. Clean well and apply jb weld dry. Drain coolant if it leaks while car is off.

Run chemiweld in coolant if you see fit.

 

Dont forget to send.

[seanyreeves]

devcon is a bit better than jb weld, i have actually seen someone use it as a patch up in a cylinder and honed it down. and well lets just say it worked lol

[Jobi]

20 minutes ago, WantGTR said:

Where is the crack?

Works better if you take the paint off the block in that area. Clean well and apply jb weld dry. Drain coolant if it leaks while car is off.

Run chemiweld in coolant if you see fit.

 

Dont forget to send.

 

Crack is on the intake side, between cyl 4 and 5. I removed the intake plenum, drained coolant, removed paint, sanded the block, apply weld (https://sader.fr/produits/epoxy-repare-metal) and let it settle 48h before refilling the coolant.

It worked. But I guess 550+ bhp and cusco front diff is too much for my block...

 

That's why I'm now thinking of Steelseal.

Have you tried chemiweld on cracked blocks?

[seanyreeves]

also you may want to drill a hole at each end of the crack to stop it cracking even more. but that will depend on how much room you have and how visible the crack is etc. when i used to repair the gas network the old metal pipes would crack often and before fitting a rubber clamp to seal it we always drilled each end of the cracks to stop them getting longer.

[Jobi]

9 minutes ago, seanyreeves said:

also you may want to drill a hole at each end of the crack to stop it cracking even more. but that will depend on how much room you have and how visible the crack is etc. when i used to repair the gas network the old metal pipes would crack often and before fitting a rubber clamp to seal it we always drilled each end of the cracks to stop them getting longer.

Problem is that even after having grinded the block with my Dremel tool I could barely see the crack. 😞

There is no drip until you build pressure in the system. I've put a 0.9bar rad cap so far. Wonder if a lower pressure cap exists...