Cracked LS3 block

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My friend bought an ls3 sight-unseen off the internet with a 'small crack' on an oil galley plug. They tried sucking the transmission on using the bolts, and tweaked the side of the block. Once we started grinding we saw how bad it really was.. yikes. So much for a 1" crack..Had a hell of a time on the lower end of the crack.. it's paper thin due to how the casting is, and kept sucking air from the backside. Finally managed to get a decent bead after ~6 rods over 4". The other part that gave me a hell of a time was the boss. Since it was an oil passage, we kept sucking oil and threadlocker out. I really need to get a backpurge setup for my tank. Here's where I was by the time I ran out of argon..Miller: 200dx, Bobcat 225, Passport, Powermax 45, Milwaukee: Dry Saw, MagDrill, grinders
Reply:Sand cast aluminum isn't it a blast to weld... Did you bake the block before you started? If not you may have issues down the the road because of the contaminants in the weld.
Reply:I preheated using oxy/ace trying to bake most of the contaminants out and preheat it.. I think we kept it right at 200. What you see there is the result of welding / grinding out everything so many times I lost count. Finally replaced enough base metal around the weld with filler to get a good weld.200A most of the time3/32 ceriated120HZ / 65% balance 3/32 4043Miller: 200dx, Bobcat 225, Passport, Powermax 45, Milwaukee: Dry Saw, MagDrill, grinders
Reply:how do you like the 200 dx? I have been toying with the idea of one in the spring. I just bought a passport, and love it so far.Dynasty 200DXPassport plus w/ spoolmate 100victor 315c oxy/(act and prop)Miller digital elitemilwaukee power tools
Reply:Looks good anyhow! Do you know the old trick of pre heating aluminiu? Make it black with ace and heat it up till all the black is gone. Generally speaking after the black goes away it will be around 400 deg. That's where I like to keep my aluminum for welding repairs.
Reply:Turlk,I absolutely LOVE it. I probably have equal hours on it stick welding and tig, and it excels at both. I now feel tig is 'one of those things' that you never knew how you did without before you had it. The dynasty is an amazing machine, and mine has had an exceptionally hard life yet hasn't skipped a beat once. I don't know if it's my machine or they're all like this, but when it's idle it makes a high-frequency buzzing sound that scared me the first time I powered it up, but hasn't caused a single issue and I probably have over 300 hours on each process on it. Bfast, unfortunately, I didn't have enough oxy to preheat it to that temp several times (had to take a few breaks, we were working outside at the customer's garage in the low 40's) and even had to run back into town for some more burrs.Miller: 200dx, Bobcat 225, Passport, Powermax 45, Milwaukee: Dry Saw, MagDrill, grinders