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Question about my block

R

rsalway

Member
I am trying to clean up my motor and I noticed this. Is this normal (boxed off with the red line)? I bought the motor years ago off a guy when I was in high school. I may have been ripped off. I am wondering if the motor had been repaired at one time and I didn't know it. If it has do you guys suggest getting a different block?

motor.jpg
 
It looks like a crack. Is it seen on the other side? I'd get a wire wheel, clean it up, and take another picture.
 
Looks like the outer water jacket area for the #5 cyl.
Clean area and inspect, I use a high inten work light up against the block.
With a darkened work space look thru the water ports on the block.
If you see any faint glowing, It may be a crack or weak spot.
 
"rsalway" said:
I am trying to clean up my motor and I noticed this.
Click to expand...

Are you doing all the work yourself? Wouldn't a machine shop be able to tell you for sure if you took it in for the normal workup?
 
I've seen casting marks like that where the different components of the sand mold (core) come together. Err on the side of caution anyway. Make sure it's not a crack. You could have the block magna-fluxed to check for any potential flaws.
 
Thanks guys. I think I will take it off the stand and continue to clean it and see where that leads me. I like the light idea. I found a rebuilt 302 a couple of weeks ago for a good price. If I still have doubts I may see if he still has it for sale.
 
I wouldn't give up on it just yet. McMaster sells a Magnaflux kit for $10, so you could find out for sure. Looks like a casting line to me though.
 
Yeah, nice! Get me all excited. No seriously, thanks for that link. That may be the way to go just for the peace of mind. :)
 
I've bought a lot of used blocks and heads over the years. The one lessen learned is to ALWAYS have them cleaned and inspected by a reputable shop. The small cost to magnaflux is nothing compared to the wasted time and annoyance of having to yank the engine or pull the heads because of a problem that this simple step could have helped to avoid. Unless you witnessed the engine running in a car prior to being pulled...consider it mandatory to tear into it and do a thorough inspection. Murphy tends to follow us car guys around, you know.

The other reason to go this way is that the engine has been sitting around a few years. Unless steps were taken prior to its long term storage(and during storage), there are lots of other things that could give you problems as well. A quick tear-down, clean-up, inspection and reassembly will give you good piece of mind for years to come.

All that said, nothing about that "line" looks worrisome to me.
 
Thanks, I did run it for about 2,000 miles before my frame couldn't take any more and the car was parked (for a long time). The motor is tore down now. I may just see how much to just magnaflux this one by the machine shop in town.
 
I too recommend taking it to a machine shop. If anything they can mic it and let you know if it needs honed/bored as well as getting the block magnafluxed. My shop mic'd my block for free, but obviously the magnaflux isn't free.
 
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