Found a '66 GTO engine at a junk yard in Georgia that had thrown a rod through the inside portion of the water jacket. The hole was about 1 1/2" by 1" and the "chunk" was still in the pan. Bought the engine for $75.00 with the proviso that if I couldn't get it fixed I could bring it back and get my money back. Went to a local shop, where the owner was a welder for the local nuclear power plant. He basically said nickle-rod. His statement was that it will either crack immediately upon welding or it will hold forever. He has fixed several 6 cyl diesel semi engines that had cracked the full lenght along the pan rail because of freezing that had upwards of 200,000 miles on them after the fix with no problems. I had him try on my block and the weld came out OK, with no cracks. Realize there isn't a lot of stress in the water jacket, but it seems to be a somewhat proven technique.
Ed
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