Carb pot metal repair

[darrylri]

I've got a new project to spend lots of time on, a 1960 R69.  This bike needs a lot of work - actually, it's not a bike, but a collection of parts.  

Usually I'm pretty inept in the garage, but I want to report on a success I had yesterday.  The project came with a single carb body (but the seller tells me he has a good and correct pair of carbs somehwere).  As you can see from the two pictures here, the bottom of the float bowl has a set of holes that resemble the Hawaiian islands.

I have often heard that there's nothing you can do with the pot metal that these carb bodies are made from.  

What to do?

[darrylri]

I was able (eventually) to repair the holes using a product from Caswell called "Muggy Weld Super Alloy 1".  

It has a melting temperature of 350F, which is a lot lower than the pot metal, and you can tell when you're getting to the right temp because the flux turns brown.  The solder doesn't turn completely liquid all at once, but first gets ... "sludgy", which allows you to fill in holes.

I actually made the repair about 5 times, because after filling in the holes, I used a Dremel tool to grind the resultant globby mess into shape.  Invariably, as I was getting to the point where I thought it would be good, one or more of the holes would reappear.  

So finally, I left the bottom of the carb slightly egg shaped, to leave a thicker layer over the area with the holes.

[Vegasrandall]

This muggy stuff is mo better than JB weld?

[darrylri]

Much mo bettah.  In fact, some previous owner had tried to repair it with JB Weld.  You can see some of the remnants of the JB Weld if you look closely at the first photo  (about 3 o'clock and 10:30, around the float bowl bottom).  I have some of the pieces of it, it seems to have just flaked off the bottom of the carb bowl.  

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

It looks like you underestimate your talent, Darryl.

[darrylri]

It looks like you underestimate your talent, Darryl.

Thanks Rob, but the truth is, you're only seeing me talk about something that worked.  

I took a welding class at the local JC, and then decided to continue having someone else do my welding.