Sigh, I had a spare block stashed away, got it a long time ago for nada. I decided to build it out and took it to the shop for bore ETC. The first thing they did was vat it, it was a lump of oily dirt. Then they called me.

It has a crack in to upper left corner from the upper water pump boss back about 2 or three inches. It leaked coolant from the area, so it's all the way through.

Now, I know you ain't supposed to weld cast iron, anyone have any suggestions, other than send it off to be made into Toyotas?

 

Well it aint looking good. You should be able to fine a replacement block from a bone yard or an engine supply. You can allways us it as a core.


There are some shops that can weld it ford use to weld cast iron in production engines to repare bad castings. I would do so reserch before i did it since a rebuild is a costly investment i would hate to have it fail shortly down the road.

 

Where are you located?

 

I am in the process of restoring an old Walker-Turner cast iron bandsaw. The monster weighs over 600 pounds. It appears that there were a few breaks in mounting lugs etc. and they were brazed. It appears to be done well and it appears to work. I am sure any "professional" welder could lead you in the right direction if you are determined to try and save the block.
Gene Johnson

 

Don't do it. Not with the risk. I bought a whole engine a while back that was running, but burning oil. For $20. You won't get that good a deal, but a rebuildable block cannot cost much over $100. Not worth the hell you will experience after a $1500 rebuild and then it leaks, or fails completely -- heat crystalinizes cast iron. Down the road a year or so, on some hot day a whole chunk of cast might just decide to pop out in that area. Just not worth the risk.

Now, if you are rebuilding something like the band saw, where parts are probably very expensive or impossible to obtain, and where failure doesn't have a "domino effet" of ruining another $1000 of work, then it makes sense to weld cast.

 

I agree with you that he shouldn't try to salvage it. I just wanted to give him a cost effective way if he was determined. I also would get a used block to replace it then he can have more peace of mind with the rebuild.

Gene Johnson

 

It went to the scrap yard, I simply didn't want to take the chance on it. Finding a rebuildible 300 in this area is difficult. By the time they hit the boneyard here (SE Ok) they're totally shot. The last one I looked at had been bored 40 over already. Most of the rest have been severely overheated or some other terminal event has sent them to the great parking lot in the sky.
Now 351's, 302's are plentiful, but I-6's are harder to come by.
Thanks for the advice folks, down deep I knew it, but just hated letting that block go, it came out of my grandfather's 83 150. To all things comes and end.

 

RNE, I'm north of you in colorado. The reason I wasn wondering is I have 2 extra 300s, ones a '78 (?) short block (dissassembled) & the other is a '84 complete engine. Both would need rebuilding. There's also a small wrecking yard near me with several 300 cores. Are you looking for a motor? If so, contact me: edwins63@yahoo.com

 

Ah, well, guess I missed the e-mail thing. Just click on the link it'll tell you how to get ahold of me. Sigh, I'll get this stuff figured out eventually.

 

Sorry to hear about the block. You might try contacting a few boneyards and see if they will inport something from another state. A lot of them are linked up these days and can get something that heavy in a lot cheaper than what YOU would have to pay for freight. There's a Pull-A-Part that recently opened here in Nashville and ANY six cylinder engine is $153. I also found one in this area that has several decent 300's for $425 guaranteed. If they were as plentiful in your area, I'd never recommend welding it, but I've seen some successful jobs of it. A place I used to work had a Perkins Diesel that launched a rod through the side of the block leaving a fist-sized hole. It was in the crankcase area and missed the water jacket. Our welder brazed a chunk of steel over it. We rebuilt it and ran it for years without trouble. I've also seen successful cast iron welding on other engine blocks using nickel rods. The worst problem with cast is that cracks tend to spread just like a crack in a windshield. Drilling a small hole at the end of the crack prior to welding will almost always stop it from spreading. It would be a shame to spend the money building just to end up a statistic, but a pro can do it with a reasonable success rate.

 

It isn't a pressing matter, I was going to rebuild it for an 84 SNB 150 I had my eye on (for 400 bucks ) , the 300 in it is totally shot, the C-6 is solid as a rock.

Same old story, teen had it, drove the crap out of it until it tossed a rod, Daddy took it away from him, (way too late as usual).

Nice truck, straight body, good paint, interior decent. I'll catch my bud, (the dad) on his next turnaround off the gulf and buy it.

I can find a rebuilder engine, no hurry, mine runs fine ... now.