[alfa] Thoughts on J.B. Weld

[drm <cimice2351@xxxxxxxxx>]

This stuff isn't a cure all/fix all, but it's better than chewing gum or model airplane glue, and certainly more useful than just installing a hood ornament.  
 
When it's Saturday afternoon and you're at a rural race track, 200 miles from your shop  and you are scheduled on the track for your race at noon on Sunday, and you discover a crack in the block of your Alfa, at the sump flange...  it will create desperation sometimes.  Your leak is under the left hand motor mount and you can't see it without an inspection mirror.  Even if you could find someone with a TIG welder that works on the weekends, you would have to pull the engine and take it to them. 
 
A drip is falling every two seconds and you know when you pull away from the false grid, there will be a puddle 4 inches in diameter.  You also know that "Ron", the grid marshal, black flag constantly in hand, is ALWAYS looking for fluid leaks after the cars pull away.  Not only that, the leak is on the exhaust side and you will surely be burned to death before the checkered comes out.
Who ya' gonna call???
Like most emergency track side fixes, it became a permanent fix and the JB stayed there for two years of racing until the motor was pulled for rebuild.
 
I've used this stuff to fix all sorts of things but never an exhaust system.  I think the highest temps the JB weld can handle are far below anything encountered in an exhaust.  For trackside quickies, a good hardware store will have some stuff called "Furnace Cement".  It's putty knife stuff and it's nasty, but it hardens with heat and will withstand any temperature you throw at it.
If you aren't dealing with an emergency, why not pull it and weld or braze it???
 
Dave Miller
Convention deprived
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