It is annoying when the engine block of a classic car has a crack. In the past, that was the end of a car engine. In the 1970s, people slowly learned how to weld engine blocks made of gray cast iron or cast aluminum. But that was a matter of luck and of course the engine had to be removed and dismantled. A complete engine overhaul was then usually inevitable. The effort was enormous.
Today, cracked engine blocks can often be welded using a laser process. If the laser welding machine has access to the damaged area, such cracks can possibly even be welded on the installed engine. This means that removing the engine, dismantling it and thus an engine overhaul can often be avoided. Never touch a running system is often said, and removing the engine would be exactly the opposite. This also minimizes the risk of being surprised by unpleasant things.
However, in order to master this work, you need specialists who have the expensive equipment and the time and experience to do this kind of work. We work with a supplier for the automotive industry and the owner of the company is personally committed to preserving historic vehicles.
Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, this work is also time-consuming and here too you have to gain access to the cracked area. It is therefore likely that the intake and exhaust systems or something similar will have to be dismantled before welding. The laser welding process also takes time, because a crack like this is welded laser width by laser width. In our example, the engine block of a Citroën DS was welded and the laser welding process itself took more than a day. An engine overhaul would have been many times more complex, however.