8BA Heartbreak
- Thread starter Shootinok
- Start date
I hear you and share your pain. I went through 5 blocks recently. One engine, also ran prior to my purchase, was cracked and two of the rod bearing throws on the crank were so out of round, you can see they were egg shaped. Floating bearings were split in two on both. Motor ran quite and cool. Amazing.
If the crack in your block is accessible (looks like it is), it can be pinned and the bore sleeved, but the folks who do this type of work are getting few and far between.
The cracks between bolts and water holes are no issue and quite common. The "deadly"
crack on your block is the valve seat to bore. From what I've found and read, they normally crack in the exhaust seat area due to lean mixture and a overheated charge.
Don't panic yet and do a little research to see if you can find someone who can repair it.
Heavy machine repair/machine shops would be a good place to start since those type of motors are very expensive and they try to fix them before replacing them.
Good luck. It absolutely stinks when you get this news.
If the crack in your block is accessible (looks like it is), it can be pinned and the bore sleeved, but the folks who do this type of work are getting few and far between.
The cracks between bolts and water holes are no issue and quite common. The "deadly"
crack on your block is the valve seat to bore. From what I've found and read, they normally crack in the exhaust seat area due to lean mixture and a overheated charge.
Don't panic yet and do a little research to see if you can find someone who can repair it.
Heavy machine repair/machine shops would be a good place to start since those type of motors are very expensive and they try to fix them before replacing them.
Good luck. It absolutely stinks when you get this news.
Last edited:
flatheadmurre
Well-known member
If the machineshop was worried about the cracks going from stud to water jacket they ain´t used to flatheads...
If only one valvepocket is cracked and not to far down the valvepocket repair it !
If only one valvepocket is cracked and not to far down the valvepocket repair it !
supereal
Well-known member
Those cracks are repairable if the machine shop knows their stuff. We drill the cracks and install threaded pins before resurfacing the deck. In all rebuilds we install new valve seats as a part of the rebuilding process. Over the years we have found that virtually all old Ford blocks have cracks. When we visited the Rouge plant years ago, we saw a mountain of rejected blocks. It is true some cracks cannot be fixed if they are directly into the water jacket or at the bottom of a cylinder, but only disassembly and Magnafluxing can tell.
Frank Miller
Well-known member
Braintree Ma, so I'm thinking if he had J&M do the block then Frank casey stitched it.
https://www.jandm-machine.com/metalStitching.html
https://www.jandm-machine.com/metalStitching.html