Welding a cracked Mazdaspeed Protege manifold

[MuffinMan06]

I picked it up for cheap and it has one crack about 2.5 inches long. Plan is to preheat to 600 degrees and use a 99% nickel rod to fill in the groove I cut. After welding it will be post heated and buried in lime to slow cool. The crack is drilled at both ends. The seller told me to cut some reliefs into the flange to avoid future cracking. I am also going to build a support bracket for the turbo, downpipe, and manifold to stop added stress from the engine mounts doing their thing.

 

[jbxlz]

I’ve welded mines 10K miles ago. Still works fine, no leaks.