MTFCA Forum

What is the best was to ship a cast iron engine head?
I'm looking to get one from Portland, Oregon to an address in Richmond, California.
A cardboard box would be a joke. Even double boxed would be a joke.
Maybe build a wooden crate?

: ^ )

I would bolt a piece of 1/4” plywood to the gasket surface. Probably a layer of tape on the gasket Surface first. Then double layer box it in cardboard with LOTS of tape.

My Z head from Lang's fared just fine in a thick wall cardboard box.
I am with Les. Cut a piece of masonite to protect the surface, slip it in a tight box. It will ship fine.

The left thread boss/ear of the water outlet is fragile on a cast head, get that knocked in postage and can break off, wood box would be my first choice.

Keith- bolt it on an oversize piece of plywood. Then get a big piece of carboard and roll the head and plywood up in the cardboard with the cardboard hanging over the two ends of the head by several inches. then tape the roll up, stuff the ends of the roll with folded cardboard, tape that and drop the whole mess in a larger box. Appliance boxes work real well for the donor cardboard because you need a long strip for the roll. Place the head length wise parallel to the cardboard corrugations and it will roll up quite nicely. If you have a local engine rebuilder or machine shop you might check with them for a crankshaft shipping box- they are double wall and long enough to fit the head in.

Ever think of wrapping it in plastic and embedding it in a box full of spray-in foam?

Keith, Back in September, if I remember correctly, I shipped a Waukesha-Ricardo head from San Antonio to Michigan. I put it inside a double wall cardboard box (actually one box that fit snugly inside another) with styrofoam packing on all sides. Box weighed some 40+ pounds and I shipped by UPS. If someone buys something from you and pays by Paypal, you can get special shipping rates from UPS through Paypal. I didn't do this at first and was shocked by the rates. Then I went through Paypal to get UPS shipping rates and the rate was ONE THIRD of the regular UPS rate!! The box and head arrived to buyer in Michigan in undamaged condition and he was very pleased. He's a member on this forum.

Tim's idea is pretty noteworthy. Brass works basically ships their radiators that way. Foam 'em in a good sturdy cardboard box! Oughta work.
It'll just cost a fortune! Probly on average $65 depending on the distance.

I'd just wrap about 3 layers of cardboard tightly around the head and tape it well. Ive done this many times with no problems.

Whatever you do, don't use any of those foam packing peanuts. They will get shredded and ground up into little pieces and will get into all of the ports and water passages.

CudaMan wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 11, 2020 8:35 pm

Whatever you do, don't use any of those foam packing peanuts. They will get shredded and ground up into little pieces and will get into all of the ports and water passages.

10-4 on the Styrofoam peanuts. They are great if your shipping glass headlamp lens, but little else, particularly if its heavy and has places to get into that you'd rather not have to clean.

Put a tag on it. Take it to the post office and they will charge you $2.90 for a non machinable item. They will print a tag, put it in a sack, put the tag on the sack and insure it for whatever you want. I've done everything from fenders to tires to an engine block that way.

The post office will mail just about anything. Baby Chicks, Rabbits, live plants, tires, you name it -- as long as it is not hazardous or illegal and does not need care along the way. . There are also size limitations.

Murry McMurray ships a semi load of baby chicks three times a week from their hatchery all over the US. Baby chicks -- for you city people -- live on their yoke sack the first three days as they continue to grow and develop. So they don't need food or water for three days. Big box, ship 'em. Several years ago some city woman who took over the post office was going to end the shipping of baby chicks, I think the congressmen got more calls about that than anything else that year. You can still ship baby chicks.

One of my nephews was a supervisor over the small post office in the state he lives. A big part of his job was explaining to small town postmasters that they didn't make the rules, the Post Office made the rules. A few of them were relieved of their position due to their refusal to follow those rules.

When shipping anything heavy I want to protect it form being banged around conveyors - people handling too. I always consider how someone would pick it up to read the address and make sure its balanced end to end as bast as possible.
Two layers of heavy cardboard should be enough to protect the gasket face, wrapping (not boxing) it with two more layers of cardboard with some extra card board on the ends as a bumper. Tape the ends with dict tape. The top doesn't need to be flat, just tight and that's where the address label needs to be.

Speaking of shipping, if you insure an item for $1000 at UPS, it is hand carried, and never sees a conveyor.
I ship stereo equipment that way.

I once shipped something and thought spray in foam a good idea. I don’t think the recipient ever forgot or forgave me. He implied that it was an idea that he would think twice about before he did it to his worst enemy

I believe if one utilizes "spray" foam for a packing material, you would put the part in a plastic bag prior to spraying !

I just purchased an 1910 open valve block in New Mexico and had it shipped to Seattle via UPS. The UPS store double boxed it. It arrived with no problems and the outer box was not even torn or damaged. 70 pounds boxed @$450 dollars, a lot less expensive than driving down there and quicker I might add.

frontyboy

If you go the spray foam route... it’ll work great! The foam will fill all the space in the box and so reinforce the box from all sides. It will also allow full support of the part from all angles so it can’t “slide” out of the packing material and poke a hole thru the end of the box.

However, the spray foam is amazingly sticky! And so everything will have to be wrapped in plastic. But the foam is activated via the air, and if the foam is encapsulated in plastic... you get a plastic bag full of liquid foam that won’t kick off! Don’t ask how I know this...

I ship everything with expanding foam (not aerosol) anymore. It’s well worth the effort and cost, as I never worry about my products being damaged during shipment.

Ideally, you want to bag the head, evacuate the air out of it (with a vacuum) and seal it off. Then put that in a second bag, evacuate the air out of IT, and seal it. THEN you apply the yellow goo foam of death between the inside of the box and the outside of the head. It will hold the head secure and tight, make it (somewhat) easy to cut the foam off, and with the double bag, will not stick to the head - even if one of the 2 bags fail, you still have a barrier between your fragile bits and that expanding adhesive from Hades.

By the way - any time I deal with *that* stuff, I wear 2 pair of rubber gloves UNDER a third pair of dishwashing gloves. The one time I relied on just regular nitriles - well, this IS a family website!

I actually thought about using foam...
Since this head is going halfway around the world, I chose an all-wood construction.
The head is attached to bottom of the crate and there is 1/4" clearance on all surrounding points.
Thank you for all the suggestions and input.

: ^ )

Keith

Before I started using the foam to pack my new Buffalo wheels... I had to ship a wheel to Australia. I spent half a day building a crate to support the wheel and prevent damage under the worst of circumstances. Was not an efficient use of time, and there had to be a better way! No doubt it was the most robust and reliable way to pack something delicate... but it was time my customers didn’t want to afford. The expanding foam has delivered several dozen wheels (and countless other products) since with no damage so far. It’s a pain in the neck to get started using the foam, but if you ship a bunch of delicate stuff... there’s no other way