why bother buying the hughes plenum plate if you are going to weld it on? you would be better off to make your own plate if you want to weld it.
that is cool. might have to try that some day.

 

I was asking incase there was something i was missing that it shouldnt be welded, not for sarcasm. Basically, are there any reasons it SHOULD NOT be welded on. There are others that have welded it on and i would like to know if it caused any type of problems down the road. Im looking for a permanent repair. Ive seen hughes kits fail, not many but still a couple. Mostly probably because of human error on install, but i dont want to chance it. So, if you have nothing else to add that is on the subject of the plenum, dont bother replying back. I understand there is a chance it could warp. I think it would be minimal at best if done correctly. Peace.

 

I already bought the hughes plate a couple weeks ago. Might as well use it.

 

I too thought about welding it but any warping on that intake is not gonna be good. A little means alot in something like that.

 

Don't forget to fill the bolt holes when you put the welder to it so the manifold won't suck oil through them.
You might want to bring a piece of cast aluminum (got any junk cars in the yard?) and a piece of high quality aluminum like the Hughes plate to practice putting them together before you go at your intake.

 

I will talk with the guy at work and see what he thinks. If its just a thou. or two he would de able to machine the mating surface flat. IF, there would be enough clearance to not cause any problems. Anyone know if machining .001"-.005" would hurt anything?

 

Good point. What if i use the bolts? Or, better to weld it if i weld the plate?

 

I don't see why you couldn't do both. Just don't put a gasket in there. Use loktite on the bolts, and maybe a thin washer, to make up for the gasket that isn't there.

 

If you use the bolts then you should run them all down finger tight without the plate then measure each one from the bottom of the heads to the gasket surface to make sure they will all be tight when you put the plate on since you won't have a gasket in there.

Hughes told me that the main reason that the stock gaskets fail is due to the stock bolts being too long so they bottom out in the bolt holes and can't be torqued correctly.

If it were me I would use the bolts and torque them down so the plate would have a nice tight fit then weld the plate to the manifold. I would take the bolts out after that and fill all of the holes with weld just to ensure a nice tight seal.

 

Hughes told me that the main reason that the stock gaskets fail is due to the stock bolts being too long so they bottom out in the bolt holes and can't be torqued correctly.

Bingo...