camel wrote:I’m thinking about converting a 150 to 200 …...is it really necessary to weld up the old stud holes? Can’t you plug them with an ally thread locktited in place and re-drill using a packer or base gasket as a template?
I have also been thing about this. Some 150 casings are significantly better for conversion than others. Some Spanish and some Indian 150 casings are ideal, but not all of them take the weld particularly easily (if at all). These casings are 200cc blocks with 150 stud spacings and a 150-width spigot hole.
You could plug the holes with some threaded ali rod, but the new hole would be drilled only slightly off-centre from the 150 hole. The risk here is that the plug will move as you drill, tap or screw-in the new stud. I wouldn’t trust locktite for such a purpose.
I do wonder if it would be possible to use threaded ali rod, but leave it a few millimeters below the gasket face, and then ali weld it into place at the gasket face. Once dressed and re-drilled, the insert would not move as it is ali welded in place. Does anyone have any thoughts on this solution?
camel wrote:…… and re-drill using a packer or base gasket as a template?
Personally, I would never trust a gasket, or even a space plate. These holes need to be very accurate in location and perpendicular-ness to the gasket face. I have a 200cc barrel from which the top has been hacksawed off. Once the mouth of the 150 casing has been opened out, the scrap, cut-down barrel can be slotted into place and used as a guide for drilling the new stud holes. Long drills are available, but are they long enough?????
camel wrote:Does a 150 block need to be jig bored to a 200 spec spigot size? Surely this must be commercially viable to do and offer now?
I think this is the only safe way. There are a number of dealers who have jigs (Rayspeed, JB, Jahspeed, Harry Barlow etc) and I would think that if there was a better way to do it, someone would be making their fortune and shouting about it.
Commercially viable? Well, there are only so many suitable casings around, and converting a “true†small block casing to 200cc sounds like a lot of extra welding with a risk of distortion.