There was no sign of rust in the exhaust port or cylinder. Moving on with tear down. We will see what he says.

 

Took the block to a well respected flathead builder here in Atlanta today. He inspected it and came to the conclusion that the pin repair was good but that it needed to be sleeved. He said it was a risky sleeve, might not hold on pressure test, and if it failed, I would be out money spent to get it that far. Also that it needed to be bored 125 over, and that would likely be the last bore on it and it would be done.

Then he showed me a block he had in the back, that had the same crack under the seat but not into the cylinder or deck. He said that was an easier repair and had a good likelihood of good longevity. Offered it to me for not much more than I was going to spend on mine. It was also standard bore and he thought it would clean up at 20 or 40 over. So I would have more life assuming the pins held.

Thoughts on the 2nd better repair block? I have searched all week for a crack free block and I think I can find one but I am going to have a lot more into it, like $1000 instead of $500 because of shipping, etc. anything local is a roll of the dice and I can see myself going through more $$$ and stacking up a lot junk blocks/parts in the process.

Not sure which way to go.

JB