First of all it is the biggest PITA job i have ever done. I decided to do the welding solution. I did it as a preventive maintenance, i did not have a fitting pop out but because i track the car and had the time this winter, i figured i might has well do it and be reassured.

From what i can see, not all cars were created equal, while many had fittings poping out or some falling in their hand while removing them, mine were very well glued and i must admit i did this for nothing, they were so well glued that i doubt they would have popped out. You can see the pics of the amount of glue there was. I had to heat them up a lot to remove them. On the water pump housing, my little propane torch wasn't enough, i had to use the real torch to get them out.

Anyway, just wanted to say that if you intend of doing it the welded way, PLEASE test it before putting the engine back in the car. I had many pin holes and everytime i fixed one, an other one appeared. There were all very small pin hole but still, i had to go back to the welder 5 times with parts because i had a pin hole. My welder was very good but the quality of the casting is not so everytime a small impurity in the casting would burn, it would do a hole. I even had holes in the fittings i bought to do the job...

so i pressure tested the system to 10 PSI (didn't do more as i was afraid the tool would blow out of place in my face) and it is finally holding pressure (letting it sit as i am typing this to kill some time). You just pressurize the system and cover everything with soapy water. I even found a leak with one of the o-rings that moved while i was installing parts, never would have known with the engine in the car.

I can tell you the welder was fed up of seeing me and he really didn't know what else to do

 

As far as how to test it, the best way is to have a friend like JPflip near by, yeah i know, not everyone has that chance. I was able to borrow his tool which is a bluepoint SVT275

you can see it in the first pic, basically i installed one hose and you put the tool in it and pressurize the bladder which will seal inside the hose. Then you can pressurize the system with the tool. In the other pic you can see the places you need to cap in order to pressurize the system. It is missing the two heater hoses next to the transmission that you have to plug also, i just put a piece a pipe and connected them together.

By the way, been 30 minutes now and didn't lose any pressure I think i am good finally...

sorry for the crappy pics, just had my phone on me.

 

Sometimes we do a lot for peace of mind! Good job.

 

JB Weld does the trick for me lol....

 

Good job Alex!!! You will feel better and the people behind you at the track also!!!!

 

Great job

i had same ur problem one of the coolant pipes were leaking even after the welding job soi drop the engine again to re weld that pipe

 

I hit all the areas with a rotary burr even around the casting. No sign or hint of glue can be left behind. Clean everything with acetone. No sand paper as it can leave a residue. Best is rotary burr and scotch brite.

 

That's a lot of work to solve a problem that didn't even exist.

 

that's right but i would rather do it before while i had the time than to get the car down during our small summer time or worst, crash the car or crash someone else's car behind me at the track. If i wasn't tracking the car, i wouldn't have done it.

 

I agree, it seems excessive for anything other than making the car trackable, though I can understand a preventative measure of at least jb weld?

But my real question, is .given how difficult to unseat the fittings were, as you said there was a lot of adhesive left..Did you have *any* sense that they might have catastrophically given out on their own? I suppose waiting is a crapshoot... or is it..?

 

I lost one on my 6TT and had them welded after the fact. A car behind me slipped on the fluid and went off track. Luckily in an area of run-off and that was an instructor driven car.

I now have a 7GT3 and an heavily considering pinning. It's just such a big ($) job for preventative.

 

Tell that to the guys who have never tracked and had catastrophic loss of coolant on the highway. My shop has done several of those...... The glue will slowly but surely fail at some point. And there are many failure points for something to pop out.

I can't say for sure I would have done it when I did if in didn't track. But would have at some point.

 

fully agree it's an "engine already out" preventative "mod", but it is interesting to hear about a guy that took forever to get the fittings loose because the adhesive was glued and wouldn't come unglued easily.

i just wonder if it's "telling" or if in fact, it IS only a matter of time before they fail. if that were true, wouldn't EVERY tt have to fail at the coolant fitting? just like not everyone's spoiler fails(?). just "most" but by that same logic.. will all spoilers fail, over time? or just "many"... i'm just wonderin. spoilers don't matter the way coolant lines do, but you get my drift.

 

Mine would have never popped out considering the amount of glue i had but i had to remove them to know it. Some weren't so lucky and had a lot less glue than mine, i was afraid of being in that group. Unfortunatly, there is no way to know in which camp you are unless you do the job...

I am still happy i did it, let's just hope i don't have someone in front of me loose their coolant though...

But i must admit i would be pissed if i had to pay someone over 3k for the job, i did it myself and probably cost around 600 in parts changing every single o-rings, gaskets and coolant hose there is on the engine. But i certainly can understand someone charging 3k or more to do the job, it is so much work. I know i would charge at least that if someone asked me to do it for them.

 

^ i hear you completely, and commend that you've done it. i'd be pissed at 3k$ labor too.. but would have some piece of mind for knowing i had. not having them done by now with all the sh*t we read, it must be in the back of ALL our minds when we punch it. in fact even the topic pisses me off! failures like that and for those reasons are unacceptable, no doubt. so unlike the "porsche" of my youth.

good on ya for for having done it though.