OM603 #22 head condition question
The mighty '87 300SDL has cracks. The context here is that I can't afford the going rate of $1000 to $2000 for a good re-manufactured head or a good core & rebuild. A good custom racing head shop here (JMS in El Monte) would TIG weld and rebuild it, but one crack is way up in a prechamber that would take them so many hours to do, it wouldn't be worth it, and they wouldn't want to do this one anyway because they don't like to weld aluminum heads that they can't guarantee.
SO. There's this #22 head for sale locally with some kind of small hole in the #5 prechamber, what looks like a half-inch up from the bottom, per the attached pic. It looks like a candidate for a drill/grinder to come straight up into the wall between the prechamber hole and the valve seat, then a TIG-weld build-up of material to fill, etc. The head owner has 3 OM306 engine cars, a masochist apparently, and doesn't need this head, knows it has the hole(he advertises it this way), and wants $400 for it.
Any opinions about this repair on this head, besides "get a better job and buy a new head?"
thanks!
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