Hi all,Is it normal for the head to have welded spots from factory? Well I have some at the top right hand corner of the head just below the bolt hole. I'm 99% sure the motor has never been cracked open since new. OEM casting defects? I've only seen a few evo heads in my life so I'm not sure if this is considered normal. Starting to get nervous...Thanks for reading.
Edit: I had trouble uploading pics for some reasons so here's the photobucket link:http://s1300.beta.photobucket.com/us...09459593810081

 

Post up a pic.

 

Cheers sparky, link to pics added. Not the best quality pics sorry.

 

are there black marks near the welds? that doesn't look factory if so.

 

Yes, there are. Some sort of demarcation lines over the intended welding area.

 

thats definitely interesting.

 

I have a feeling I got a motor which had been abused, cracked and then repaired. Well the truth is I got the car used but still in good condition and I know the previous owner personally.
Learning the history of the car is very depressing...

 

Who ever fixed it did a pretty good job, how far down does the weld go?

 

The weld is about 15mm x 30mm (metric, sorry) and it does not go far down. There are no traces of the head being pulled before but I'm not too sure.
That's what I thought 1997 GSX, it looks firm and 'embedded' which led me to believe it was prolly done by Mitsu engineers to pass a quality test or something idk. (the version I like to believe haha)

Thanks for attaching the pics. I still can't view them tho.

 

Don't worry, you're not the only person with a welded head. But unlike yours, I got my head fully built with new guides and all the fancy things. I don't remember seeing this at all before sending it out for machining so I'm guessing the machine shop caused it and fixed it up. I'm not worried about it though as it doesn't block any oil passages and it's not really a critical area to worry about.

 

I have it also, and I know for a fact my motor has never been damaged or touched.

 

Looks like a Factory repair.

Due to the cast flashing, just below the oil galley, there may have been a leak at that point.

Or due to the oil galley being machined it may had a break thu.

 

I'm just so glad I'm not the only one! It's such a relief reading your posts guys.
I get paranoid if I don't know what has been done to the motor. Oh well the joy of owning evo.Piro Fyre, I thought you were reposting my pics because the location / size of the weld is exactly the same as mine except your head has shiny bits on it!
BogusSVO, what is a cast flashing? Sorry for my ignorance, not too familiar with technical jargons.

Anyone else with similar issue? Seems like this is not a one off thing from Mitsu.

 

Cast fashing is the ugly looking excess material that is left behind when the factory fuses the parts of the casting together.

I have seen simular repairs on heads, blocks from about every manufacture.

Insted of junking and casting another head, they just do the minor repair to put in into service.

 

Thanks for the helpful explanation BogusSVO!