[Kurt in NJ]

The wire spring is a piston expander, it was used to make a worn piston larger.

Glue the crack and run it ---stay away from trying to weld it ---good chance of doing more damage --it might not leak at all now, the "A" doesn't have pressure in the cooling system --even stop leak can work ---if you keep running it without coolant you can crack it at a valve seat-that is much harder to repair