Crow cast also does some machine work. He fixed a B block for me once that had a crack near the center main bearing web. Good B blocks are more scarce than v8's.The heat from the weld usually only affects an area a few inches from the weld, so in this case it had to be line bored again as the crank center line was no longer true. He also fixed an area on a 59 block that was a casting flaw near the pan rail, bottom of water jacket had a sand filled air pocket that exposed itself once the block was cleaned up. A tiny little pin hole, that once we poked around was a thin spot the size of a dime. In this case, nothing moved, no extra machining required. The spray weld has the same texture as natural cast iron, you cant see anything was done there, and its supposed to be stronger than the original cast material. I am not his salesman, but its an amazing place to visit. He does a lot of antique boat motors which often have cracks from freezing with water in them. I've seen frozen exhaust manifolds where there is actually a chunk missing, froze and broke out and gone, and he can back up the inside with some kind of screen and spray weld back in an area the size of a D cell battery. Ever seen a Kermath (?) boat motor? about 5' tall when standing on end, always some there. Once I was there and he had a duesenburg head on his mill table that was cut in half in the middle. Story goes, someone back in the day cut it in half to make an overhead cam head for some 4 banger. strangely enough, they saved both halves, and Buck was trying to figger out how much material was missing from the cut so he could weld it back together for a duesy. Never a dull moment at bucks, and it cant be 30 miles away. go see what he has to say...and have some fun
