Guest Posted August 12, 2002 Share Posted August 12, 2002 Years ago there was a product called WATERGLASS. Many ol' time mechanics say it was a common product. It was a temp fix for blown head gaskets or small cracks in a water jacket, especially good for the older cars. Does anyone know if this material is still available or have another name. Not to be confused with Stop Leak.<BR>Thanks<BR>Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 Water glass was mostly used for dipping eggs, so a farm store might carry it.<P>There is a company called "Irontite" from CA that makes crack repair plugs and sells block sealer. Also try the racing supply company "Morroso" (sp).<P>There are probably other places that sell it as well.<P>If you are patching up one of your cars to drive until proper repairs can be made OK. If you are plugging a leak so the car can be sold, shame on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 The use with eggs is a new one, need it for a very old backhoe. Need to keep it running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 Water Glass was availabe a few years ago at my local True Value Hardware, might still be. It comes as a powder, I believe, and was indeed used to seal and preserve eggs. Knew a well respected engine rebuilder who used it routinely as insurance against coolant leaks in RR Silver Ghost and other early engines. Sodium silicate ????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 Just checked, it is indeed Sodium Silicate and is available online from The Chemical Store....$10/gallon...guess my memory isn't as foggy as I thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest De Soto Frank Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 Dan,<P>I needed some the other year to secure the insulating blanket to the fire box of my Weil-McClain oil-fired steam boiler.<P>The boiler manual stated "water-glass", and most supply houses kept trying to sell me a "gauge glass" instead (which is the sight glass that tells water level in the boiler).<BR>Finally, a greybeard figured out what I ways talking about, and came back with a plastic bottle of sodium silicate solution ("water glass").<P>So, perhaps a local plumbing/heating supplier might have some on the shelf.<P>Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 waterglass was a preservative for eggs. neighbor kid used to experiment with a lot of things in high school. he said you can really get stoked drinking this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Thanks for the information. Only on a forum such a this can one get old time auto repair info, and also help the egg industry, and it was also good enough for an RR. Then it must be great for my old backhoe!!!!!<BR>Thanks again<BR>Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Good to hear you are keeping a old backhoe running. I have a ~1960 Leroi Tract air that Iv'e adapted a front loader atachment to many years ago. The tract air is a 4 cylinder engine( looks like a Buda or Allis Chalmers WC) with a two cylinder compressor all cast in one block. The trans axle was from the "Centaur" tractor. These were mostly used in the road building industry as a self propeled compressor with atachments. Front rotating sweeper brooms were popular.<P>As for the block sealer, try a local machine shop that repairs aluminum cylinder heads. Some shops have a heated pump system to seal heads after welding repairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 of course you'll have to turn the backhoe over to slosh around that waterglass solution.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 As I have made futher inquiries about water glass. Many of the local "greybeards" say it was a very common practice to use it in all new and rebuilt engines, many years ago.<BR>Dan<BR>in Michigan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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