why did they do this ???

C

cas3

Well-known member
here's my new 37ish motor bought at the little dearborn auction last week. first glance said WOW!! shes a runner !, however, now cleaned up a little i see some one stamped FC exactly on the fire ring surface at the bottom of each cylinder. i repeat, all 8 cyls. look close, i hope it shows in the photo. why would you do that? it will never seal the head gasket without cutting the deck, and some are pretty deep. what the heck is FC? possible examples, effin cracked, effin crap, forget completion, any other guesses? further examination shows that perhaps it was a back yard overhaul that failed. its .015 pistons, cant feel ANY ring ridge with a fingernail, i can still see hone marks but... there are shiny spots... like it was hit with a rigid hone with out being bored. there are few miles on the "overhaul" but lots of oily soot on the pistons, oil burner i'd guess, but WHY STAMP THE DECK ??? also, navy grey paint job, navy trainer motor? ol pete at lil dearborn drug home lots of stuff in his shopping days, so who knows. good thing it was cheap. i sure needed another dead motor in the shop!!
 

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Ford custom???

No idea why and pointless. depending on what your doing with it... jb weld and a razor blade will make it work. Cylinder issues aside.

bummer :(
 
Don't know why but whoever did that was a F****** C***.

Sorry about that.

It's one of those, isn't it? Bolt it up and keep your fingers crossed. probably not worth fixing unless it does reveal itself as a problem. It does not look like the stampings have caused a blow-through in that area, at least on the two shown in detail.

Can't say why they did it, but it seems not to have caused a problem and hopefully it shouldn't cause a problem for you.

Mart.
 
When metal is stamped it not only indents the metal but raises it in other areas. I would make sure the raised areas are at least flush. I like Devcon for a repair like this because it will expand and contract as the similar metal it is adhered to.
 
That's a good point about the stamping displacing metal. If it were me and I could detect raised parts I'd (carefully) hammer them down again and hopefully displace at least some metal back into the below surface area.

Clutching at straws, maybe but it might work.

Mart.
 
Wasn´t grey engine paint canada...so perhaps FC is ford canada...wild guess.
Really not a well thought out place to stamp a block...was it stamped before boring or why stamp it half readable ??
 
cas3,
Call VanPelt and get a set of BEST 21 stud Graphite head gaskets, then
like Terry says 'massage' the upset iron back into place. All will be well, besides it's
only a Flathead.
Chasrlie ny
 
"Final Cut".......I agree with tap with a hammer and new gaskets. Maybe the soot is too much fuel?..... Mark
 
Hi; Good post. My Canadian V8 was gray. About Devcon ... what is it? I have an *ba block that has a tiny grinder nick on the edge of a cyl { cutting off a valve head oops]. Newc
 
During my two trips to pick up newly purchased treasures from Little Dearborn, I become more bewildered about their business practices. Practices like separating good from bad, used from new, and any sense of usability regardless of outward condition. After my first visit, I assumed that anything used was flawed in some way - hence the stockroom exile. My guess is that any knowledge about your flathead long ago evaporated into the mists of time. Buyer beware and all that - it still blows.

It is unfortunate. I hope there is some way to recover. Good luck.
 
19Fordy said:
Do you think you could just touch it with a MIG welder and then file it down smooth?
Click to expand...

Any heat to castiron without preheat/postheat will give you crackzones and hardspots even with nickelbased material i wouldn´t try to coldweld it in that spot. Chemical filler seems like a good candidate for repair.
 
I may be FOS with this comment but I'm not seeing a huge problem. When I first saw the pics, I thought to take a sharp flat file and rub the high metal off, new gasket and run it. It's obviously been run with those stampings and there's no indication of a compression leak. Head gaskets compress under the torque of a head and the fire ring and gasket material will tend to fill those stampings. Some good high temp sealer smeared on those areas plus the gasket filling them...I personally wouldn't worry about it. Why trash an otherwise good rebuildable engine? Different story if it's heading to the salt flats. Run it and if those stampings create a problem then deal with it at that time...there's no indication that there was a problem at this point with however many miles are on it. Again, I've been known to be FOS.
 
I echo Capt Kirk's sentiments; try it. I think you'll find it'll work. By way of illustration I can relay the following story:
I have a frugal client that has a 46 Mercury. Some years ago it developed a knock, which I diagnosed as a broken centre main bearing cap. Transpires, it was the front bearing cap, which I subsequently fixed by fitting another cap [I tried many, and ended up finding one within .0004" which was 'near enough'. But I digress.....
This engine had a massive perpendicular crack running down between #3 & #4 cylinders; the engine was just about cracked in half! Further to this, and of more relevance to this thread, there was a bit chunk missing out of the deck on #4 between the ex valve and the stud closest to it. Right where the fire ring sits. How that gasket ever sealed I don't know. This engine ran on all eight! I removed the stud and welded up the crater in situ, dressed it down with a file.
That engine has done several thousand more miles. I am amazed! In my opinion it is F#&^%(*d, but just shows two things; these engines are amazingly forgiving, and some owners of these things [the ones that are not in the least mechanically minded], remain blissfully unaware of what's under the hood. Ignorance is bliss!
cas3, try it man, I reckon it'll work. What if it doesn't? What's it gonna do? leak water into cyl? Then you try what all the 8BA owners attempt to seal up their cracked blocks. lol It's a 21 stud, in my opinion, the finest of the flatheads.
Good luck, Brian
 
NewC,
Devcon is a blood brother to welding. We have used it ,esp the Titanium one,to build up intake ports.Several of our race engines, on alky, when rules didn't allow aftermarket/performance replacements heads had the port and valve bowl area "treated" with the stuff. Applied, correctly, it would fix the problem of the stamping.
 
thanks for the ideas. the devcon sounds like a good thing, i'll check in to that. currently i have a 59a in my engine stand thats getting all my attention, but as soon as thats done i will mount the 21 studder and check the bottom end to see if there is any other reason they removed it. i did not mention, there is some material peeling off the deck that looks to me like shalac. perhaps they used that for a sealer, with or without success well never know. thanks again all the smart folks on the barn, i will update when i know more
 
FortyNiner said:
During my two trips to pick up newly purchased treasures from Little Dearborn, I become more bewildered about their business practices. Practices like separating good from bad, used from new, and any sense of usability regardless of outward condition. After my first visit, I assumed that anything used was flawed in some way - hence the stockroom exile. My guess is that any knowledge about your flathead long ago evaporated into the mists of time. Buyer beware and all that - it still blows.

It is unfortunate. I hope there is some way to recover. Good luck.
Click to expand...

You must be the guy from Wisconsin that Tim kept talking about (nothing bad, just talking, you know Tim - he will talk your ear off).

I noticed that too - boxes of what appear to be NOS parts, with some NOS parts, some used parts, some used parts in NOS boxes, etc. Just have to be careful and inspect it. I spent three days last month going through every piston set making sure all the pistons were the same and matched what was on the box. Most were not.

I have learned not to take anything at face value. I think most of the engines are going to be well used. Anything in good shape is either long gone or being held out for a special auction or sale.

The good news is most of it was so cheap it simply doesn't matter.
 
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