Crack in cast iron nose piece

[Andy Bennett]

Howard
just for clarity there is a huge difference between welding cast iron and cast steel.
As has been said, cast steel welds as easily as steel rod, no problems.
The problem is in cast iron where the high carbon migrates into the heat zone, makes the join area brittle and so it can crack even f you have a perfect weld. You can literally hear it cracking at it cools.
I have welded cast iron with some success without special rods, but would not attempt on anything safety related. There are a few recommended processes like pre-warming, limiting welding to very small areas at a time so the surrounding area doesn't heat, post-warming and putting in a sand bath to limit rapid cooling/cracking.
All a bit academic if, as appears the concensus, it is steel, not cast iron anyway. Which is logical considering the forces it must be under, everything you wouldn't do with cast iron.
Andy B

[Chris KC]

Yes to most of that. I can't for the life of me imagine it is cast iron, but if it was I'd take it to a specialist for welding - it can be done but it"s not an amateur job.

Given the consensus here that it is probably steel, whether forged or cast it should weld OK - but not with cast iron rods. I think some pre-heating is recommended for steel castings when welding? 

Given that Ian has obviously done this I'd listen to him!

[Ian Williams]

I have a friend who is an extremely good certified welded, he commented to me that the nose piece welded beautiful and must be high quality material. A comment you often hear when people are dealing with Austin materials, these were cars built to a price but material quality appears not to have suffered as a result.

[Hedd_Jones]

It isn't iron, its steel. Easy test is to put the grinding disk on it. Yellow sparks = steel. No visible sparks (in daylight) = Iron.

I had a chassis here at one point, I bought it off Keith Rawson. It had been a special with all sorts of shit welded to it, including the nosepiece. It was all well stuck

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

Yes you are all right.  It is steel (yellow sparks when grinding) and yes it welds beautifully! (Yes I did preheat)

Thanks all for your answers.  I can get on with the chassis now.

Cheers

Howard

[Stuart Giles]

The A7 Nose piece is definitely steel so a weld repair is perfectly possible. Personally I would TIG weld that crack with an A15 or maybe an A18 steel filler rod.