I am looking for someone with the equipment and skill to fill some slots in my carb adapter with aluminum so I can trim the bottom flange of the carb adapter to fit my manifold perfectly, and re-drill my own mounting holes.

What about an epoxy for aluminum, allowing me to fill the slots, let it cure, trim the base to fit, and drill. I just need whatever is used to be as strong as the aluminum around it, and be able to polish it like the aluminum around it.

The slots are what make this all difficult. If I trimmed it as is, half of each slot would be cut off and I would basically have four 'hooks' left to take the pressure of the mounting bolts.

If someone thinks they can fill the holes with aluminum allowing me to do what I want to do, I would gladly pay shipping and labor.

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Having had a bit of weld-up work done, I'm not sure it'll come out like you want. That's a nicely polished piece and it'll turn color where the heat gets used. The slots wont just fill in nicely, but rather a skilled welder will need to spend some time to get it filled in right so it can then be worked back down for polish. That being done, it'll need to be milled across the bottom to remove any warpage that occurs during welding. Drilling the new hole pattern comes next. Last but not least, it can then be polished back to perfection.
Unfortunately, that's what happens to castings when you weld on the machined mating surfaces.

Sorry, double post

What about an aluminum epoxy that is used to just fill the slots? That would alleviate all the heat and warping issues.

A "good" welder can do this if they have a TIG machine. A TIG machine is much better than trying this with a MIG machine using aluminum wire. Reason being the heat is controlled in a more precise manner with a TIG.
Warpage can be kept to a minimum or even none by stitch welding and just going slow to avoid heat build-up.
As far as re-polishing, the area around the weld will not look exactly the same as the rest. Simply because the "filler" material is slightly different. I don't think most people will be able to see any big difference after final polish IMO.
Epoxy will not polish, so I wouldn't advise that.
Good luck

Joel

Okay...so is anyone here a 'good' tig welder?

I have looked locally in the past for a good tig welder and came up short. Lots of guys that have a tig welder, and some that can weld with them, but I never found anyone with any real level of skill.

You can tig weld the casting however, you will not get the desired finish, Aluminum based epoxy may not hold up to heat and cooling cycles plus finish will be dull. You can preheat the casting and use molten aluminum heated by oxy/acy and pour the cavity or slot until full and domed. Cool, grind and finish. The whole casting must be heated and heat soaked for 15 minutes to prevent warping and cracking. Becareful, any moisture near pour will react violently when pouring. If the parent casting is not a billet piece but a casting could create a problem also, porocity in the casting caused by poor quality and contaminates. Hope this helps.

Epoxy won't hold.
Yea, what Bob & Ron said, especially about the weld not matching the color perfectly.
Finding a guy that's really, really good with a TIG isn't easy, many can do good welds but they aren't used to doing custom car work. Foose's guys could though.

Question: If you're going to put like a chrome nut on the top, why not just make a custom washer to cover the slots? Stainless steel or one you could have chromed?

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The slots don't bother me as much as the overhangs of the adapter over the carb flange of the intake manifold. Filling the slots is just necessary if I trim the adapter to match the manifold.

I used some tape as template from the manifold to the bottom of the carb adapter. I marked it with a Sharpie and checked all the lines where it would trim. That's when I realized that trimming would cut material around the slots leaving them kind of hooks that certainly won't hold that adapter down, and it would look very odd.

Plus, the slots are huge, and the washers to cover them would have to be just as huge, and since the slots are near the edge of the adapter the washers would overhang even more than the adapter hangs from the manifold.

I'm going to ask Inglese if maybe they will trade my polished adapter for a freshly cast piece that has not had the slots machined out yet. That might be easier, and I would then only have to pay to have it polished again which might be cheaper than paying someone to do this custom work.

I like Bill's idea use washers, better yet grind the washers to conform to slot dim. Tig will work but hot spots will domb the project if you don,t preheat the casting kinda the process you use for cast iron. We have tried tig in my advanced welding class I teach with mixed results. The molten process works the best. Again depends on the quality of the casting.

I could deal with the slots if the adapter didn't overhang as much. That's my main concern, the overhang of the adapter on the manifold.

The only reason the slots are a issue at all is because I want to trim the adapter to match the manifold and that would leave me with half slots, or hooks, which would look worse, and not be strong enough to hold the adapter down securely.

If it were a problem with just the slots I would make plugs to drop down in the slots leaving just simple bolt holes.

Matt your last thread appeared while I was typing my last comment. The molten pour will work and have the integrity when cutting the flanges. Any fabrication shop should be able to do this for you. Or get a big ass air cleaner housing then out of sight out of mind.

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Heh heh, the problem is that I won't have a large air cleaner...

Dual side draft carbs, and a unique cold air system that snakes tubes up to the nose of the car where the filters will be hidden behind the nose grills.

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Matt that is soooooooo cool I see now the problem. Damn thats a work of art!!! Matt VanGogh!!! Pablo Mattcso!! The Mystic of Small Blocks!!Sciencetologist of Chrome!!

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Ah, makes sense now.
I'd like to see te adapter flipped over.

Looks like a bare casting is the only way to go if you can't find someone to do the molton metal thing.

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Thanks so much for the compliments. It's been a long planned project with a few different iterations.

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That really is awesome. Is that going into the Corvette?

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Thanks so much. Yeah it's going into the Vette along with a TH2004R. It's such a beautiful engine that I have spent too much time on to compromise and have a carb adapter that doesn't properly fit the manifold.

Matt where did you get the old school valve covers??

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Here's a link. I think you can get them on Ebay too but I don't know about the quality.

http://www.rjays.com/Engine%20Parts/valve-covers-01.htm

I bought the short covers, and while they will work, I have a few issues with clearance. I had to have my poly locks milled down a bit to fit under the covers. Assuming they fit without problems I'm glad I went with the short.