I had some bad luck this weekend, broke a rod and windowed my world products wedge aluminum block. Have not got it out yet, but about a 6 inch square hole in one side. I live in mid Missouri about 80 miles east of St. Louis, do you guys know any good shops that could repair that kind of damage in the area? I know some decent welders in my area but don't know if I want them welding on my block when they have never repaired an engine block. I worry about excessive heat warping it and making it more difficult for the final machining. Funny but it looks like the big end stayed on the crank, because it never lost oil pressure just started vibrating, I expected to see a u-joint bad, until I saw oil dripping out of the blanket. Engine still spins with the starter, and I took off a valve cover and it looks like no valves are even bent. I could not find all the pieces at the track, so they will have to fabricate a piece to fix the hole. But it was on a good run, 6.11 @ 111mph in the 1/8 and clicked it off right before the finish and it still ran 9.71 @ 127mph. So any advice or experiences in having an aluminum block fixed with damage like this, and how the repair held up would really be welcome.

I figure that you are about 4 hours from BES (Bischoff Engine Services). You won't find anyone better.

Did you find the broken piece?

shouldnt be a big problem if it didnt get into anything vital

just have to weld it with the correct rod

I watched the folks at Dart fixing a block years ago. Fascinating to watch.

I would not have guessed (and that's all it would have been) that you could fix it with pieces missing. Again, would be fascinating to watch.

Gather up all the parts you can and clean it all up when you find a
guy to do it give him all the parts.. he will take the bigger stuff and he
will patch in the other areas.. its not hard but its like doing a puzzle
EDIT
One other thing.. is this a dry or wet block.. a wet block is a lot harder
to do and takes a lot more time and cleaning

Isn't Brodix the ones who made those block?
Aren't they close to you

Brodix is in Mena AR - probably more than 500 miles from St Louis.

While FAR from an expert, I do know, that lower ac balance (electrode negative or EN), helps drive the impurities out of the cast material before starting the weld puddle. I practice on warranty return cores, that are contaminated with oil,atf and glycol. Find a pro, and it's not a problem. Sorry for the broken block.

He said it's a World Products block. I don't believe Brodix casts blocks for other people and if I remember correctly they only repair their own.

I would contact Lone star aluminum block repair / Terry Haddock and see if he/ they could help you.

https://www.facebook.com/Lone-Star-Aluminum-Block-Repair-148596315157306/?hc_location=ufi

I've personally seen Terry's work and it's worth the shipping costs. He is like the John Marcella of block repair. And that's pretty high praise because Marcella is an artist in his own right.

I found a couple pieces, but not all of it. It hit really hard the diaper had a lot of small pieces imbedded in it.

What did it do to the sleeve - did the remainder shift in the casting? Are there instructions to replace a sleeve? Does it have to be bored out? (sorry, all I know is motorcycle crankcase repair)

it probably tore up more than one sleeve in my experiance

cut the old sleeves out with the boring bar, order new sleeves from world, clamp remaining sleeves down where they dont try to raise, heat block in oven to 300*. drop new sleeves in and clamp down letting the block cool, deck the top off the new sleeves and bore/hone to fit

dont ask how i know

the pan rail is the hardest to build, its easier if its in one piece to put back in, the 1/4 thick wall can be cut out of sheet alum.

Man I hate to even mention it but isn't Indy Cylinder Head one of the big reap shops for aluminum blocks.