I have a 2.9L in my 86 Ranger. I'm in the process of replacing the intake gasket due to an oil leak from the back seal. After pulling the intake it appears i have been losing a small amount of coolant at the intake gasket, especially at the coolant passage near the #3 intake opening. I have been adding about a cup or two of coolant every 3-4 months for several years. Some of this has been leaking from the radiator during cooler weather.

After cleaning the surfaces on the head & intake I noticed corosion on the aluminum intake manifold where the coolant passages contact the head, esp the passage near the #3 intake.

The intake manifold (E6TZ-9424-B) is no longer available from Ford and I haven't been able to locate a new one elsewhere. Can a machine shop repair this damage? Should I fill the pitted surface with J & B weld & then smooth it with a file?

 

Well Clint, it sure looks like you already know that the proper way to fix it is to have it welded.

. . but I personally would go for the J-B Weld without a seconds hesitation.

In 1995 I patched a 'trough' worn between two cylinders in the head-deck surface of a 230 Cheby i-6 that had blown a head gasket. *To this day* the repair is still intact.

And that is one in a ~bunch~ of my personal sucess stories with J-B Weld - I just love that stuff!

HTH.

 

update... I got the intake repaired ok & everything back together & working just fine. The best solution appears to be having an automotive machine shop use filler or epoxy to fill the pitted areas. I chose though to have the pitted areas heli-arced welded and then had the manifold resurfaced. But this is a riskier repair since resurfacing the manifold without altering its angle with the engine heads is not easy. Most auto machine shops can not mount the manifold on their standard head resurfacing machine... so mine was done while hand held against a moving sander. So far everything is sealing up ok. I would rather of just put in a new manifold if it was still available.