Is this worth trying to repair (block crack)?

zedbyers

zedbyers

Junior Member
I like the photos where you can see them, hope you don't mind Zed.
 

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I say it's not worth repairing. I always thought those type cracks were the death knell to a flatty.
 
19Fordy said:
I say it's not worth repairing. I always thought those type cracks were the death knell to a flatty.
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That is my understanding as well, but wonder what a "girdle" would do? Never messed with one, but it might take the load off of the center main. I have a 41 block that looks about the same, freeze damage I believe. There are stacks of these type of damaged blocks around if someone could come up with a fix.
 
I wonder how hard and what kinda crazy $ it would be to take the bottom off one of these blocks and machine a new one, making it a 2 piece block.

All I do know is it is some depressing, to get the oil pan off and find cracks.....
 
I am a wild guy. I let a 307 olds block freeze up and it split the block from pan to head right in the middle on both sides. I never took anything off the motor. I V'd the cracks some with a 4" grinder and made one shot continuous passes with nickle rod. It never gave me a problem. Ran fine and no leaks. I would V those cracks and weld it up. Whats to lose?
 
Those are frezze up cracks. I seen a few in my days . If you haven't got big bucks in the engine I'd drill a 1/8 or 3/16 hole at the end of each crack, V the crack with a die grinder and fill it with JB weld. I've got by with that fix alot. Walt
 
If it worked for Walt, give it a spin. If you want to have it pinned, call Frank Casey in Millbury MA, who will give you the straight dope on whether or not those types of cracks can be pinned.
 
Not a lot of money in it at all. Just some time. I like the way you guys think. Will tear it down the rest of the way and either I will go at it with a dremel tool/drill and some JB weld if it is only as bad as the pictures show. Damn thing is the top end of it looks wonderful! Any contact details on Frank? I did a Google search on him, lots of mentions in various forums but no contact details.....
 
You know with the flathead blocks becoming more scarce, I can see alot more being saved when they would have never been looked at twice before. Almost Anything is repairable, it's just a matter of time and money.
Which is more cost effective , buying ten blocks at $200 a piece(if your lucky) and finding one good one, or taking the time and money to fix one block?
 
RalphM said:
You know with the flathead blocks becoming more scarce, I can see alot more being saved when they would have never been looked at twice before. Almost Anything is repairable, it's just a matter of time and money.
Which is more cost effective , buying ten blocks at $200 a piece(if your lucky) and finding one good one, or taking the time and money to fix one block?
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I built an engine for a guy in Alaska a few years ago, I think is was a 39 pickup, he lived on the west side right on the water, the weather was warmer where he lived. He wanted me to come up and go fishing, Walt
 
Zed, are you absolutely certain that is a crack and not a casting flaw? What is giving me pause is that in the pictures the crack starts and ends in the middle of the flange, it doesn't go through the bolt hole and it turns away from the radius at both sides of the bearing support. Normally cracks start at a hole, edge or radius.
 
It looks like one of those cracks goes into the web. That would make me nervous. If it was just the pan rail I'd drill each end and braze it up with an oxy/acetylene torch. A person can't do that with the one that extends into the web.
 
rotorwrench said:
It looks like one of those cracks goes into the web. That would make me nervous. If it was just the pan rail I'd drill each end and braze it up with an oxy/acetylene torch. A person can't do that with the one that extends into the web.
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That's why I was wondering about a girdle. Do you think a girdle would relieve the load on the web?
 
I was also wondering if it was flaw or fold as well. if it was mine and I wanted to fool with it I would mill .010 off the rail surface to clean it and flatten the rail see what it looked like,then put it in a oven at 400 degrees for a few hours like 4 and braze the block holding the heat below the surface and let the silver solder flow into the cracks put a girdle on it and run it. I think it would be fine.
 
To determine the fate of that block, I would investigate the extent of the crack further. Careful exam by magniflux to investigate further into the web area is paramount. If the only perceptable crack is on the pan rail surface, and your build will be stock for a simple driver, I'd go ahead and use it after brazing or JB repair as others have suggested. I would avoid trying to weld it, you may end up with a worse situation. Just what I would do for what its worth.
 
Come on up Walt! I'll take you dip netting. Not really fishing, but you can catch a lot of salmon in a short time when they are running good.
 
If you´re going to use heat for the repair i would tigweld it.
Brazing it puts a lot more heat into the block then a cold welding.
I´ve repaired lots of cast iron with the tigwelder and so far it´s what gives you best control, if it´s not very dirty cast iron.
Stitching is timeconsuming to so when its something that big welding becomes an option.
You could heat it up and do a real nice repair spraywelding it but you will probably get a lot of warpage in the block and machining to do.
 
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