rebuilt '33 21 stud...a cherry or a lemon

Willit Stop

Willit Stop

Well-known member
I picked up this rebuilt '33 engine and transmission from a club member who has no use for it.I don't either but someone may need it.I pulled the heads and intake.Everything looked great.New domed aluminum pistons,sleeved to standard, ,adjustable lifters,valves,seats etc. Not even a spec of rust in the cylinders. It was rebuilt in the 60' but never installed.Before I put it up for sale, I thought I'd take the scale out of the water jackets with a skinny magnet. I fished out the scale and a few nickle sized pieces of the original cylinder (?). I'm guessing they broke off when the sleeve was driven into bore.Is this common? Will there be problems later?I can't sell it unless I know it's a good engine. Do I have a 500 lb. anchor? Thanks guys.
 
I might be interested in that for my 32 Fordor...but curious about the cylinder wall issue as well.
 
can you post a picture of the chunk that came out? That would tell alot.
I think it would be in best interest to pressure test the block and make sure nothing is leaking past the sleeve. Worse case rob the internals and put into another block.
 
Posting pictures is a bit of a challenge for me.But I'll try.The pieces that came out are curved and the concave side has machined scratches.The convex sides are rusty.I THINK I can see a small piece of curled up cast iron about 4 1/2" down the water jacket side of #8. That is also where the pieces came out of.
 
The cylinder walls on the early V8 engines were kind of thin. They may have broken through while boring it for sleeves. If they did a good job of installation, it should hold its mud. A person would find out pretty quick after getting it running in a car or on a stand that has a radiator. They should have tried to get all the shavings out after boring it. You could also get it pressure checked to see if it leaks.
 
Actually, domed pistons were released, along with required cylinder heads, for partial production use during the 1935 model year.
 
How thick are the sleeves? Having a hole in the cylinder wall means that in that area the sleeve has no support. Possibly ultimately leading to failure. I speak from experience. I had a 36 LB that broke a piston, leaving a hole in cylinder wall. Got that cylinder sleeved with a thin wall sleeve and ran well for a few years until it started using water/ overheating. The sleeve had actually distorted and cracked because it had no support. Admittedly, it was a thin wall sleeve.
A while back I posted about a C69A I was boring out big. Discovered a pinhole at bottom of #4 cylinder. Bugger!! My machinist refused to sleeve it back to std, and that would have required sleeves with substantial thickness, because he claimed it would ultimately fail. I sold that block [cheaply] to another fellow who has had it sleeved back to std [different machinist obviously]

Getting back to your engine, sounds like possibly the cyl wall got broken whilst the sleeve was being fitted. I think it prudent to get block pressure tested as others have suggested, and if it checks out, by all means sell it, just point out the issue of the broken cyl wall. It will run for a period without giving grief.
 
Are all cylinders sleeved - or just one of them? I don't have any problems with a few sleeves - but I do not like engines where all cylinders have been sleeved (with thick-wall sleeves - not the Ford 'tin-can' ones). When you have 8 thick-wall sleeves, too much of the internal block support structure has been removed - it weakens the block too much and the deck doesn't have the support that it used to have.
 
Thanks all.The sleeves are 3/32 and the puzzle pieces that I retrieved added up to about the size of a quarter.I'm not sure but I think they broke off of the lower portion of the cylinder.There is a local guy around here that used to have a shop that did only flatheads.I'll try to get in touch with him soon.Meanwhile,I'll seal off the water inlet, fill the jacket with water to the lowest jacket hole and see if it drops.
 
I sealed the water inlet and filled the jacket with water.It's been in there for a few hours and the level has not dropped.I understand that it's not pressurized.But at least the water wasn't pouring out. A question: Is a 3/32 sleeve considered a thin sleeve? Or a thick sleeve? Thanks
 
Where are you measuring the 3/32"? Some sleeves are made with a step at the top, and the block is counterbored accordingly.
 
I wasn't aware of that. Thanks Brian. 3/32 is what I can see at the top of the block. Beyond that, I haven't a clue.
 
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