8ba nightmare

captaintaytay

captaintaytay

Member
I was drilling out a frozen rusted broken distributor bolt and went to far with the drill bit and now I have water coming from the distributor mounting hole.
$#&*@ Is my block toast?
 
I'm sure a Ford Barner' here has an easy solution, but can't resist - "You just invented a water cooled/heated distributor.
 
....no big drama,once the fountain dries up, clean up the thread and instal a carby threaded stud in the hole with some sealant on it,then just use a nut on top to secure the distributor.....if you've mangled the thread,go to the next size up and tap the hole to suit.
 
Took a crude picture of hole on block. Red arrow.


Click here
Snapshot_20150422_2.JPG
 
captaintaytay said:
Doesn't look good threads are gone.
Click to expand...

There is not supposed to be any hole in the block threaded or otherwise.
The threaded hole is supposed to be in the head only.
Suggest you tap the hole for an allen type pipe plug to set in as deep as possible with the appropriate sealer then grind the plug down to appox. .040 above deck if required (the head gasket will hold the head .055+ above deck)
Repair threaded hole in head as required.
 
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If that's all I had to worry about I'd be a million air. Plug the hole in the block, repair the thread in the head. Piece of cake. Walt
 
Working from memory here...possibility of DUH moment.
I believe that when I received my new GM modified distributor from "Bubba's" it came with a suggestion to replace the stock dist. bolt with a threaded stud. I found this to be a lot easier to work with then the old bolt system.
I would tap it out, install a stud and if need be drill the hole on the hold down tab to fit the stud...done deal.
We all understand the initial panic when we "oops" a project. Take a deep breath and enjoy making it work.
 
chap52 said:
Working from memory here...possibility of DUH moment.
I believe that when I received my new GM modified distributor from "Bubba's" it came with a suggestion to replace the stock dist. bolt with a threaded stud. I found this to be a lot easier to work with then the old bolt system.
I would tap it out, install a stud and if need be drill the hole on the hold down tab to fit the stud...done deal.
We all understand the initial panic when we "oops" a project. Take a deep breath and enjoy making it work.
Click to expand...

Obviously you have a flawed memory. The threaded hole is supposed to be in the head and not the block.
 
Thank you gentlemen I appreciate all the information.
I'm going to plug the hole, just was concerned about metal shavings when drilling and tapping getting inside block. The head is the easy part.
 
Could be worse... when I snapped off my dizzy bolt I removed the head to make the repair and snapped off 3 head bolts =(
I was able to fix that with the engine still in the car thanks to a link I found on Reds Heads Web site. Good luck
Randy
 
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