Club 80-90 Forums

So someone I work with cracked his oil pan right at the drain plug. I took it to a good pal of mine who is a welder by trade. He would like to know what it's made of- is it pure aluminum or some special alloy? He wants to do a proper job and would like to know what kind of filler material to use

I had patched mine with a small aluminum plate I found at the scrap metal pile in my fathers backyard. It was tig welded onto it, and the welder didn't complained about the difference in the materials.
However I think it is some magnesium-aluminum alloy, because it is rigid, it cracks easily.

gearbox case maybe MgAl6, sump may be similar

Aidan wrote:gearbox case maybe MgAl6, sump may be similar

really? It always seemed to me that the gearbox material seemed alot "softer" to me( more magnesium?). However I will pass on that info to my friend. I also posted this on The Samba and was told to try either 5356 or 4043 fill. I will post the results as I'm sure those pans will be getting harder to find in the future.There is a shop near here who does diesel conversions, and they make up the brackets, mounts and oil pan from scratch. The pan is made from very thick steel plate and he showed me once with a sledgehammer how strong they were; didn't even dent it.

think i used 4043 on mine, the original box is long gone so cant check

Somebody on The Samba mentioned 4043 also. Will also pass on that info, thanks