Honda Intake Manifold (TIG Weld) Modification

A customer was working on some sort of Honda engine swap, and brought in this intake manifold, asking me to TIG weld closed these small, about 1/8" diameter holes in the cylinder head mounting surface. The customer claimed the holes were related to the original cold starting/running design he wished to eliminate. The holes connected to machined openings for fuel injectors, appearing to supply (or drain) the fuel pressure to those injectors.

The customer had previously attempted plugging the holes with JB weld (metal powdered expoxy), but the JB weld had failed. I prepped the holes by fileing their ID's clean with a small jewelers file, (shining a flashlight from behind to inspect), and proceeded to TIG weld the holes closed near the mounting surface. As shown in the last picture, I fed a filler rod through from the back side of the hole, to attempt to provide a less protruding weld bead (as the customer had expressed interest in not having to resurface the manifold mounting surface afterwards.) It work *just about* perfectly. As can be expected, the filler rod got stuck from the cooling weld bead, and sheared off neatly by twisting it, and in the front face there was left a recessed "dimple" where the hole had been.

Customer was happy. :)