Reattaching the filler neck...

[rob2]

Mojo has a Sole mini-14 engine which is fresh water cooled. I went to check the water level and the whole filler neck pulled off the heat exchanger body! It seems to have been attached with some sort of resin which was now gellified and scraped off easily. Now, being pragmatic about this, it stayed put since 1987 so a repeat performance will see me out and probably the engine too. I would guess that the cooling system would have lost pressure for some time before it actually came off in mu hand - I'm only little, so it wasn't brute force.

My first reaction was to find someone to braze or silver solder it back on as it's brass onto an aluminium casting, but I guess resins have come a long way over the years so am also considering an Araldite repair. That would have the advantage of not having to strip the exhaust off the engine! I found it interesting that the parts manual for the engine lists the heat exchanger and filler neck as separate parts.

Two questions for consideration:

1) Could the unpressurised cooling system have affected the engine's performance - it's been a little underwhelming of late?

2) What would be the best epoxy glue to stick it back together?

Rob.

 

[PlankWalker]

1) Cant see presurising would make much differance, loss of coolant would!!

2) Dont know, but would like to.

Plank

 

[peteK]

Mojo has a Sole mini-14 engine which is fresh water cooled. I went to check the water level and the whole filler neck pulled off the heat exchanger body! It seems to have been attached with some sort of resin which was now gellified and scraped off easily. Now, being pragmatic about this, it stayed put since 1987 so a repeat performance will see me out and probably the engine too. I would guess that the cooling system would have lost pressure for some time before it actually came off in mu hand - I'm only little, so it wasn't brute force.

My first reaction was to find someone to braze or silver solder it back on as it's brass onto an aluminium casting, but I guess resins have come a long way over the years so am also considering an Araldite repair. That would have the advantage of not having to strip the exhaust off the engine! I found it interesting that the parts manual for the engine lists the heat exchanger and filler neck as separate parts.

Two questions for consideration:

1) Could the unpressurised cooling system have affected the engine's performance - it's been a little underwhelming of late?

2) What would be the best epoxy glue to stick it back together?

Rob.

JB weld would work if done correctly.

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

Plastic Padding Super Steel Epoxy-weld http://www.loctite.co.uk/loctite-4087.htm?nodeid=8802656387073

I bridged a 4mm wide by 60mm long crack in the water jacket of a Ford 2722e with this. First try, only try works beautifully.

 

[rob2]

Thanks guys, I was beginning to think I'd never get a reply! Google searches bring up industrial suppliers rather than over the counter so I really needed advice from someone with personal experience.

Strangely, although the cooling circuit may have been losing pressure, there was no undue loss of coolant - literally top it up once a season. I'm guessing that the steam and pressure combined will cause any adhesive to fail over the decades, but that's not likely to be of concern.

Rob.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Don't know what make of heat exchanger you have but found this thread about fitting a filler to a bowman heat exchanger.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?364414-Bowman-heat-exchanger-filler-neck-replacement

 

[rob2]

Hmm, interesting! I'd have been delighted to have a screw on filler neck, but the heat exchanger is a flat topped aluminium casting from Solé, the Spanish manufacturer who marinised this otherwise Mitsubishi K2C-61SS enigine. The neck is a flanged brass one and seems to have been glued on originally, with a fillet built up around it, which I doubt contributed much.

Rob.