Boroscope, beg, borrow or steal !

Remove the heat shields and look. They can always be welded back on.

 

Check out Home Depot tools for the video camera on a flex cable by Milwaukee
M12 M-Spector AV
Model # 2311-21 $399.00

Just a thought

 

Go to a smaller airport and trade an aircraft mechanic a future drive in the 355 for a look with the borescope.
dave

 

I have one. I live in Campbell and work in Sunnyvale. PM me and you can give it a shot.

 

I dont know if you like or use ebay but there are a TON of them there.

 

I made and have a pressure test jig for the headers if all else fails.

Wnt tell you how long they will last but will tell us if they are leaking.

 

It's unlikely you will be able to see hairline cracks on the headers with a boroscope. Would recommend using a pressurized smoke test method.

 

No offense, but I disagree. The shields are folded and welded, and rewelding them would be a butt weld which is not as secure in a heat cycled application.

Plus, most of them are also tack welded extensively right around each smog port, and that would be hard to reproduce.

I too have a borescope if you need one, but I would be worried it would not be good enough. The smoke test sounds good, and worth paying for.

Jay

 

A "free", easy, and effective way to check for header leaks and small cracks is to plug off one side / end, fill the header with water, and let it sit for a few hours standing up on the plugged-off end ---- the water will weep through any cracks.

If it passes that test, re-fill the header with hot water, and take a good heat gun or a propane (plumber's) blow torch and mildly heat the outside --- this, along with the hot water inside, will open up any micro-cracks and make them leak water.

One of the simplest ways to check --- and it's very effective. It's easy to miss things (especially very small cracks) with a borescope --- don't waste your time.

We used to do this "water test" with race car headers all the time --- helluva lot cheaper than sending them out to be x-rayed / magna-fluxed every week

 

Battery powered scopes on Amazon are about $99-140. Same as the ones in Home Depot, but no rechargeable batteries. Picture is so so, but good enough to find screws you dropped where you shouldn't have .

Seach:Borescope

 

Of course, you will need to remove the heat shields to perform the "water test", though .

 

I have an nwe expensive one, and I don't consider it good enough for the job either.

 

If you have the proper equipment at your disposal, that (air pressure) works very well, too

 

I have a Broncoscope for inspecting the inside of sinus cavities. Took a long time to convince the FDA it would not go anywhere other than in an engine before they would sign off on the purchase.

That is too detailed a picture to look for cracks. One can see distortion in the pipes and then be able to predict a future failure but it is very time consuming. I am currently trying to find a leak in a set of Tubi 2.7 headers which they refuse to warranty.... makes one long for the days when Franc and Lou set the std. for customer service with that company, those days are gone.

Pressure test to verify, borescope to locate.

 

Amen to that.

 

I have been in the endoscope optics field for 20+ years and bore scopes come in a wide range of quality. As far as inspection applications go rigid scopes have excellent optical resolution how ever they are often shorter than needed and don't go around corners. Flex scopes are fine for going down a header or tube but because they use an image bundle these scopes are very costly in relationship to resolution. Bronchoscopes which are used to view down the bronchial system not the sinus are usually about 10 inches long and 9 to 12 mm in diameter mostly with a 90 degree view off axis. OK for looking down a spark plug holes. All of these medical devices require a fiber optic light source and cable to provide LOTS of light and ideally a video camera system which cost a fair amount even on the used market. Industrial bore scopes are another animal, their resolution is not as good and the light through put is much lower. They do however make some excellent flexible scopes and at a fraction of the cost of an Olympus endoscope (the best IMO). You might check out Titan Tool Supply in Buffalo NY titantoosupply.com. I supplied them with rigid industrial and medical grade scopes for many years and they are a first class operation. They offer several flex scopes some with their own light source and can be viewed directly. Using the eye cup on a rigid scope can create some odd body postures that being said the chip on a stick systems are very cost effective tools. Personally I have several scopes but seldom use them to check out my car.

 

""usually about 10 inches long and 9 to 12 mm in diameter mostly with a 90 degree view off axis.""

I ended with a 6 x 24" with slightly over 90 degree and then the light source. I had a 7 ft one that came out of the USAF but one of my employees decided to submerse it in antifreeze, an expensive lesson! One day I will get a new fiber optics shaft if I can ever find someone to fix it

""video camera system which cost a fair amount even on the used market.""

True THAT! Now to find a monitor to put it all together as a package. Advise is gratefully accepted as I foind myself in the positions you mention often. A bitter pill making the purchase but one I have never regretted once in hand.

To date the most valuable attachment has been the flexible forceps to run through the fiber optic shaft. Those new spring clips on the end of the plug extenders have a way of finding an empty spark plug hole. A number of cars have been towed in for exactly that.

 

Are you describing a flexible scope at 24 inches? As for repair there are several good shops that do flexible repairs, what brand of scope is it? If it is rigid scope with an operating channel it has rod lenses in it I can get that repaired for you if its not trashed i.e. lots of broken rods. If the fiber optic light fibers are damaged that is another story.
In regard to the camera system I have used a digital camera on occasion to view through the eye cup, a low pixel camera works pretty good. In most cases the diopter is set about right for the camera to focus about a -1.5 or so. I have thought though never tried it but there are several small Video cameras for next to nothing on the market that might well work given the right coupling, most couplers use a small achromatic lens to focus the image on the chip.
Don't break the forceps!