Thread: fixing iron blocks

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here is some photos of me putting a lifter bore back on a 10.200 dart block just need to put in a lifter bushing now . will get it ready to sleeve all 8 holes back down to 4.500 bore she now past 4.625 i have had good luck fixing the dart and world blocks not something i do a lot of but i do. the dart is a great block for busting the pan rails out of and had to do some fixing there to and have fix more then one there .before i started on this block i check it with a good cam to see if it still turn free in the cam bearing and check all the mains webs for cracks well here the photos

i will not get in to all the steps but if you want to know anything just ask here is a photo of the block up on the mill i make up a center pin that helps me find the lifter bore thats in the mill head then lock it all down take out the pin put in the end mill and mill out the lifter hole

Very nice work Pat!!! Must of been one heck of a grenade when that one came apart!!!!! That valve train stuff does a lot of damage when it turns sideways, huh?????

Pat Nice Job on Repairing that Block . You do good work indeed .

Pat - Your work is truly amazing.

I will be in Michigan later this year (August) for business and would certainly appreciate the opportunity to come by your shop to put a face to the name and shake the hand of a master craftsman. Can I contact you closer to the time?

Glenn

Pat, Excellent work, but can you tell us about the welding step?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally Posted by glennsexton

Pat - Your work is truly amazing.

I will be in Michigan later this year (August) for business and would certainly appreciate the opportunity to come by your shop to put a face to the name and shake the hand of a master craftsman. Can I contact you closer to the time?

Glenn

yes you can

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

Pat, Excellent work, but can you tell us about the welding step?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

thanks don there is a few some i will tell some i like to keep under my hat the rod i use is weld mold rod 700 and weld mold 702rod i pre heat and i peen and let cool slow i U groove and thats about it here is a one more this was a rod that made a hole small chunk of iron stuck on a tig rod pull up thru the back side the hole was open up to good iron with a die grinder

Pat that is some excellent work. Very impressive!! Do you weld on and fix old Ford blocks?

Originally Posted by FFR428

Pat that is some excellent work. Very impressive!! Do you weld on and fix old Ford blocks?

thanks i will weld any iron that will weld with the rod i use . i have welded up old T bird ex mainafolds

What you fill in all the missing metal with? Looks good!

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

What you fill in all the missing metal with? Looks good!

thanks i keep iron from scrap cranks and cut out what i need with my band saw i do not like to fill with just rod it can be machined but the iron machines better

Nice.....

here is some more stuff to look at if you never seen a block get all 8 holes sleeved i bore them with a step in the bottom of old bore this keeps the sleeve form moveing down at the bottom i put some 620 locktite in the step then i freeze the sleeves they go in much better cold.then when warm i cut the tops down on the sleeves there up off the deck by .010 at this point i will put the block in the mill and deck the block till dead flat. if it just one or two sleeves i cut them to 005 up of the deck and file them flat to the deck of the block.this block was out to 4.627 and hurt in 3 holes so it could not go out to a bigger bore so now we can start over again to 4.530 and go to 4.625 bore with no problems by using thick wall sleeves

Man, Pat, You are an artist!

I gave away a Chrysler 383 high-performance block because the ear (or whatever you want to call it) on the side of the block that the long alternator mounting bolt goes through was broken off and missing.

I figured it could probably be repaired but I also figured it was way beyond my capabilities to fix it.

Thanks for an interesting thread.


Jim