Fixing a hole in the crankcase.

It seems something has hit and pierced the bottom of the crankcase on my monster,it had puzzled me for a bit as initially I thought something had punched through from the inside due to the shape of the hole.
Its a small hole that weeps oil,just big enough to get a bit of your fingernail into,but, annoyingly, to fix it properly the entire engine may need to be stripped to its component parts.
The only bright side to this is that I'm in no rush to do it, cant imagine it'll be a cheap job for a garage to sort out, I just don't have the tools to do it myself in any case so am able to think about my options properly.

A mate of mine cheerfully suggested that his colleague would be able to fix it by touchwelding the cracked alloy case without disturbing anything, to say that I was unenthusiastic about this is a bit of an understatement- I mean...what could be the flaw in welding a crankcase full of oil? !!!

Tell me I'm right to be sceptical, or is their some other way to do it avoiding a fiery outcome? or even better, a way to seal it without dismantling the whole engine.

Attached is a pic of the offending scar, and I think the mark on the sump is related, must have been some pointy road debris.

Originally Posted by Monstyr

It seems something has hit and pierced the bottom of the crankcase on my monster,it had puzzled me for a bit as initially I thought something had punched through from the inside due to the shape of the hole.
Its a small hole that weeps oil,just big enough to get a bit of your fingernail into,but, annoyingly, to fix it properly the entire engine may need to be stripped to its component parts.
The only bright side to this is that I'm in no rush to do it, cant imagine it'll be a cheap job for a garage to sort out, I just don't have the tools to do it myself in any case so am able to think about my options properly.

A mate of mine cheerfully suggested that his colleague would be able to fix it by touchwelding the cracked alloy case without disturbing anything, to say that I was unenthusiastic about this is a bit of an understatement- I mean...what could be the flaw in welding a crankcase full of oil? !!!

Tell me I'm right to be sceptical, or is their some other way to do it avoiding a fiery outcome? or even better, a way to seal it without dismantling the whole engine.

Attached is a pic of the offending scar, and I think the mark on the sump is related, must have been some pointy road debris.

I had the same problem which was caused by ham fisted use of a screw driver while removing an oil filter.
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I got a fantastic product from Frost Restorations which is like a big crayon, you clean the area, swab out any oil starting to seep out and quickly ram the stick into it and rub it in. I also bought some two part metal repair which I was going to put on top as belts and braces but never have.

Metal putty or liquid metal will fix that. Just make sure it is clean and dry. Can you drain the oil and lean the bike over to ensure it stays dry while the product you prefer to use goes off?.
Evo-stik Hard & Fast Metal Epoxy Putty from Halfords Price £4.99
Evo-Stik Liquid Metal from Halfords Price £6.99

I can drain the oil but as its on the sidestand side I doubt I'll be able to get it completely dry with any great ease, its better on its abba stand to be honest.I'd need to find some way of leaning it to its right side without scratching anything or bending something,at the moment I cant think of anything I have that could take the weight easily but I'll have a think on it.

My only query about Velocette's recommendation is the caution about the maximum pressure that stuff could take and whether that might be problematic and how it does say its a temporary fix.

Is the liquid metal any more permanent?

Well I used the metal putty to repair the head around my exhaust port and it never blew off. It was still there two years later when I sold the bike. I used liquid metal to repair a crack in my gearbox with no issues. As for pressure the pressure at the point you have indicated cant be that much as it is only weeping. I would get it as dry and clean as possible and try the putty as it moulds on. You will need to be in a warm garage mind to give it a chance of going off. At the end of the day it is one of these type options or a full weld which is cases off as alloy takes a lot of heat to weld.

similar to maccecht

Metal Epoxy Resin : Epoxies : Maplin

£4.39. it will work I'm 100% sure, as long as you manage to lean the bike on its side or something to clean the oil out of the cracked area.

The jb weld stuff worked when the crank on marydolls bike got holed.Like a 2 pack epoxy.took the case off.cleaned its out and put the stuff on it pretty thick.then left it overnight when it hardened like a rubbery type substance.Then did the outside.
Its been completely oil tight since.
The stuff even filled a very small hole in her petrol tank and both have been fine and are now 5 months old

If there is a crack in the casting the only real answer is replacement or welding. Any of these other methods you'd need to take the sump off and get the local area as clean as possible on all sides otherwise there will be no bonding. Probably a good wash down with methylated spirits or similar in the local area and leave to dry for a couple of days.

You could probably get the crack nice and clean with brake cleaner (the one with a pipe on the end). Wear goggles though, brake cleaner in the eye is a life affirming experience.

Originally Posted by Monstyr

I can drain the oil but as its on the sidestand side I doubt I'll be able to get it completely dry with any great ease, its better on its abba stand to be honest.I'd need to find some way of leaning it to its right side without scratching anything or bending something,at the moment I cant think of anything I have that could take the weight easily but I'll have a think on it.

My only query about Velocette's recommendation is the caution about the maximum pressure that stuff could take and whether that might be problematic and how it does say its a temporary fix.

Is the liquid metal any more permanent?

I had the same concerns but I don''t think you get high pressures like that in the sump . Mine has been oiltight for a year and has withstood all types of riding. I will repair or replace the sump one day but not until I have to replace the exhaust pipes, which will have to come off along with the lower frame rails.

I cleaned mine with a highly volatile degreasing spray and bits of kitchen roll, repeating it two or three times until I was happy. I also cut half an inch off the Oylite stick to make sure the bit I was using was really fresh. Not having a little pool of oil under the bike was such a relief!

The beauty of it is that it will actually hold back the oil instantly which chemical metal won't . If you are set on the chemical metal you could use just about anything to temporarily stop the oil seeping out long enough to set. There is lots of advice on this sort of thing on car forums, as I trawled it all before I fixed mine.

Originally Posted by Monstyr

I'd need to find some way of leaning it to its right side without scratching anything or bending something,at the moment I cant think of anything I have that could take the weight easily but I'll have a think on it.

Get an old mattress and a couple of strong mates. No naughty thoughts please. Empty any fluids that are likely to leak out and then with your mates' help, gently lay the bike on its side.

As BB says, lean it over onto a mattress or cushions, both usually available from your local tip. clean it with meths/brake cleaner/easystart etc and use either a stick or one of the two part epoxies. Cleaning it thoroughly is the main thing. Its possible to TIG it in situ, but your need someone like a plant welder who has done similar jobs before, because its not as easy as welding clean ally. The fire risk is miniscule (especially as it should really be back purged), and no worse than welding other bits of the bike IMO.

I swapped the generator cover on my blade with the bike full of oil.

Get something relatively strong and a foot or so tall (I used one of those supermarket dalek kick-step things). I needed to get to left side of the engine, so steer fully left and lower end of the right handlebar onto the dalek. Bike is almost on its' side, nothing is touching down, and everything is stable and groovy.

Then I had to rush around looking for clamps to stop the fuel pissing out of the breathers, so you may want to do that first.

I'd go for maccecht's first suggestion.

It's a cylinder of 2 part resin, with the activator on the outside, you just break a bit off an knead it. The halfords one is the same as a plumber's one which you can get in most DIY stores and is used for emergency pipe repairs. You can even use on on broken pipes while they're still leaking.


If you want an even better version of this, Quicksteel is an excellent one...
quicksteel

I've seen this used to repair a 50 gall oil drum which was hit by a forklift, which left a gash with something like a 10mm breach at its end.

They just stuck it on while the oil was pissing out, oil stopped immediately and they then held it for 3 mins until it set completely. Magic stuff. Even though it was stuck on over an oily surface with oil pissing everywhere, an hour later you couldn't get it off with a crowbar.

liquid metal. where you get the adhesive and a hardener. used it a few times and a mate has used that stuff to hold together motox cracnkcases when he was racing so i swear by it. once its on - its on though. tried removing it once and bar getting an angle grinder out i thought i'd leave it. lol