Humble Pie

Woke up late after last night’s fun, needed to address the pipe problem. Decided to try for Plan B.  I have a another water pipe amid spares, but did not use it because for some reason it’s shape and bends are slightly different and doesn’t clear the relocated starter. I decide at this point to try and mod it to fit. First I set about creating the clearance for the terminal. I grind off most of the bracket.  Now to make the clearance this time I decide to use a bit more finesse and use the rickety Blue Sky hydraulic press and pieces of DRMO stuff. It’s more controlable and less traumatic than the hammer so hopefully wont create leaks. So far so good, but trying to bend the pipe is another story. By the time I give up the pipe is pretty well mangled. Ugh, not going well.

So now it’s back to the original pipe. I grind off more of the bracket that I should have the first time and use the press on it to better form the dent. The problem is now obvious with easily visible cracks now. I break out the welder and make a small patch. I’ve welded a bunch now, enough that I’m almost done with my first tank of gas, I can do this. Take a big bite of this humble pie, Root! Ignoring that I tacked the patch to the clamp, I was able to weld in the patch and it looked pretty good. One spot looked a little iffy. Did the soapy water test and it did leak, but not just at the spot I thought looked incomplete. Damn! Grind down the welds and hit the spots again. Spray the water and run air through it, WTF, more bubbles! I lost count how many times I did this, it was getting into late afternoon and still I was haunted by those tiny bubbles. Eventually I ended up with the welder set quite a bit hotter than when I started, looks like wasn’t getting enough penetration and melding of the metal. Let out a big sigh of relief on the final bubbleless test. Sheesh, spent all day on this stupid pipe!

Top is the final pipe, you can see how the shape is different. After break for dinner and to let the paint dry, I fit the pipe. It goes in, clears the starter, but does some give some clearance problems with the bellhousing and trying to get the hoses on. All the squishing cause the pipe do deform enough that the clearance is quite tight there. I manage to get the hoses back on with some McGuyver convincing, hopefully it doesn’t become a problem. Everything is back on, I’ll see tomorrow morning if it holds!