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Cracked Okrasa Heads common?
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Braukuche
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Joined: September 03, 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:20 pm    Post subject: Cracked Okrasa Heads common? Reply with quote

Several years back I bought four original Okrasa heads. They were pretty scuzzy so upon first observation I did not notice the cracks. Three of them turned out to have cracks like nothing I'd seen before. They ran from one spark plug hole to another across the middle of the head. There were even cracks around the exhaust ports.
I know I could just junk them and buy a set of WW clones,but they don't have the Okrasa stamp and since I got into the hobby 26 odd years ago, I always wanted an Okrasa engine, even buying an early car to stick it in., so I paid a substantial amount of money to have my machinist fix one of the cracked ones which required gouging out the cracks, welding them up, and then machining them back.
My question is this, are these heads prone to crack or did The PO run them hard?
My other question is what can I do to reduce the chance of future cracks?
The engines going to go in a Lowlight Ghia I am restoring.
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56samba
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Joined: June 25, 2015
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Location: Germany
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:46 am    Post subject: Re: Cracked Okrasa Heads common? Reply with quote

Good question! I don't have these cracks on both of my 36hp sets. The first set, that I found three years ago on a swap market, had no cracks.

I then found another kit and both heads are cracked at the upper holes for the head studs. I don't know what caused these cracks, maybe the previous owner over-torqued them.
I also guessed, that it's kind of wrong construction- it's not clever to put all the torque on the cooling fins. Compared the heads to newer Okrasa heads were improved regarding this issue.
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chrism0107
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Joined: June 15, 2014
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Location: San Diego
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:59 pm    Post subject: Re: Cracked Okrasa Heads common? Reply with quote

They are aluminum if prepped and welded properly a reoccurance should not be a problem or concern. And if it does happen again the same repair can be applied. I would not worry too much. If you think the repos are a better choice I am sure you can get your $$ back selling your originals.
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