crack in block / HELP

E

ed s.

Junior Member
HELP !!!!! I purchased a 29 Sport coupe in San Diego in April and had it shipped to Myrtle Beach S.C. .. Recently have been getting alot of sweet smelling white exhaust that clears after about a minute . I know you are all thinking , sounds like a blown head gasket or worse .. Well , its the worse of two .. I removed the head and found the copper head gasket to be in perfect shape , unfortunately , found a crack in cylinder wall of # 2 and surface crack leading to intake valve ,same cylinder..I do have coolant in oil . The engine has 7,820 miles since rebuild in 2006 . My options are to spend a couple thousand for a reman. short block or look into some sealants such as Irontite ceramic seal , Permatech two part epoxy , or JB weld high heat epoxy . My research on Fordbarn shows that some have used these products for this purpose with great success .. Thru your experience please let me know if any of these may be the solution to my problem ... THANK YOU in advance for your help in this matter and see you in Hershey.. ED S.
 
It would have been nice if you had posted a photo. If you can see a cylinder crack sealants are not a prudent type of repair. Expect a teardown to have the crack stitched and the cylinder sleeved. If you could pull the engine and do the teardown yourself, you could fix it for reasonable money. After repair be sure they pressure test it for potential unseen issues.
 
I, personally, would NEVER pour money into a cracked block. I've seen TOO MANY failures over the years.
I feel that the reliability of stitched repairs is GREATLY over exagerated.. One known company said & showed a stitched crack across a cast iron valve seat, then dressed down with a Dremel & then refaced the seat & assembled the valve. NO, they DIDN'T cut & install a new valve seat!!! Anybody with common HORSE SENSE would know that repair wouldn't last!!!
ONCE A CRACK, ALWAYS A CRACK!!!!
I feel that stitching just helps plug up the gap enough that you "MIGHT" run awhile if you load it up with some "SUPER-DUPER" stopleak or sealer.
A friend WASTED over $5,000.00 on a modified "A" engine with a "QUALITY" stitch repaired block! Bill W.
 
the only block seal i have ever use is sodium silicate (water glass) that worked, if you go that way FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY, it works with heat and air, will plug anything open to the air and heat, its about $10 a bottle but it works, will seal a crack that you can put the edge of a knife blade it, nothing to lose if you think you want to rebuild motor later
 
ford3 said:
the only block seal i have ever use is sodium silicate (water glass) that worked, if you go that way FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY, it works with heat and air, will plug anything open to the air and heat, its about $10 a bottle but it works, will seal a crack that you can put the edge of a knife blade it, nothing to lose if you think you want to rebuild motor later
Click to expand...

I agree with you TOTALLY, ford3! That stuff's been used forever & it's form hasn't changed. Good old water glass, also known as sodium silicate, or egg preservative. But do FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY!! Like ford3 said, 'cause ford3 KNOWS HIS STUFF!! Bill W.
 
Thanks Bill, that stuff does work, i put some in a cracked block,49 ford, when i was in hi school, no money to get another engine, i drove that car for over a year and a half and never leaked any warter, may not work for all engines but it will help most of them
 
No amount of JB weld is going to fix a crack from valve seat to cylinder.
Since the combination of heat and cylinder pressure and stress are working the crack it will keep on getting bigger.

Seems someone didn't magnaflux the block before they rebuilt it.
Best option would be to save block is sleeve the one hole and do the crack repairs.
That would be cheaper than buying another block.
www.jandm-machine.com
 
THANKS to all that responded .. Looks like I'm going to look into a reman. short block or possibly long block depending on price and what's available in Hershey ...Ed
 
I think replacement of the engine would be best in the long run. Antifreeze in the crankcase will destroy the babbit. If you went to the expense of resleeving and stiching, the babbit will more than likely fail within a thousand miles or less. That is one reason that I never put antifreeze in my model A.
 
Last edited:
Purdy Swoft said:
I think replacement of the engine would be best in the long run. Antifreeze in the crankcase will destroy the babbit. If you went to the expense of resleeving and stiching, the babbit will more than likely fail within a thousand miles or less. That is one reason that I never put antifreeze in my model A.
Click to expand...

But not using antifreeze is probably what caused the crack in the first place.:eek:
 
ed s. said:
THANKS to all that responded .. Looks like I'm going to look into a reman. short block or possibly long block depending on price and what's available in Hershey ...Ed
Click to expand...

ed good move,
your best bet is to call and figure things out now and then have the motor delivered to hershey.
 
CarlG said:
Of course we almost never send any freezing weather down your way! :D

A few of my Alabama friends have accused me of that once in a while, but not often.
Click to expand...

Every now and then it probably gets cold enough to crack a block down here. I don't run the risk of freezing, I drain em
 
Everyone has to make their own decisions but last year I had a bad crack in head visible in the valve chamber area, there is a thread on it somewhere on the barn. I decided to replace the engine installed a rebuilt long block with a 5.5 head. I could have tried a repair but as I work alone and not as young as I used to be. I took the simple route and just removed the old engine and put in a new one I went with the long block because it comes basically complete so its just a engine swap which was more then enough fun for me.
 
The jury is in and the rebuilt short block with a high compression head is what I will be looking for in Hershey ..Their are a number of builders out there that offer this ... Can anyone recommend a good one ? Thanks , Ed
 
There are some rebuilders out there I got mine from
Antique engine rebuilders had it delivered to my house but they are in Illinois No complaint happy with the engine and the service . There is a builder that is on the ford barn James Rogers who I think is down you way you may want to check with him
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top