Hey Greg, What about low temp aluminum brazing? I have 2 sets of Dart Pro 1 aluminum heads on a cigarette boat with a pair of 588 ci BBC's . They were very corroded around the water ports at the head gaskets going into the blocks (both engines). I got some low temp aluminum rods that you can use propane or mapp gas (I used acetylene torch since I had) and brazed the corroded ports back up and minor milled the decks.


It worked great as it does not overheat the heads like tig/mig would, and there are claims it is a little harder and may not corrode as bad as original aluminum did (in my salt water application). I will see next time I take apart to freshen them up.

These rods (not harbor freight type aluminum low temp rods or other manufacturers) worked great .... they are widely used in aerospace, automotive manufacturers, Cummings, US Army, Harley Davidson, and tons of other well known companies..... and even NASA !

The ones I used are from https://www.aluminumrepair.com/ With their HTS-2000 rods.

If you read the process to use, it is fairly easy with a little light practice first, does not need extreme cleaning of oils and impurities like tigging does. There are a lot of good videos on the site to show real use of them.

I don't know if you want to go through the process to accomplish what you want to do, but it is definately an option.

Randy