Ok first of all, I am a beginner at the engine tear down deal. I was just trying to take the piston out of my 302 and something very bad happened. Keep in mind it was a junk yard engine and when I took the heads off a few cylinders had some rust and corrosion in them (which explains the engine being stuck) which as far as I could see was just a gasket or head problem, any ways, I had soaked the cylinders in oil and penetrating oil to loosen things up. I started to hit the piston with a hammer and steel rod ( fond out I wasnt suppose to use a steel rod to do this with). While I was hitting the rod it became wedged, without me knowing, and "cracked" the bottom of the cylinder bore...you know the part of the cylinder wall that extends in to the engine towards the crank. It made a rainbow crack that went about an inch horizontally and a little over a half an inch vertical of the cylinder wall....at the very bottom of the cylinder wall. I was devistated to see what I had done to say the vary least. If I had a picture of it I would put it on here but my camera is at work so I couldn't take one. Does anybody think this engine is worth messing with now or can it be fixed some how? I know what I did was stupid but I just wish I could fix it some how cause it was a 69 block and thoughs blocks are suppose to be stronger than the 5.0 roller blocks plus it had't even been bored or anything. Now I know I'll just let an experienced builder mess with my engine.

 

If you are going to take it to a good builder thay can sleve that cyl or all of them and everthing should be fine. If it was rusted that bad it might need that anyway.

 

Are sleeves reliable? I know they cost almost a 100 bucks, but hey, if they work like they origional cylinder wall would have then why not put one in that cylinder. I talked to my dad and he was against them, saying "I wouldn't have one (an engine) with a sleeve in it." I didn't get to ask him why, but he was just totally against it. Do sleeves have a bad reputation or something? I think the other cylinders would be ok if they were bored .030 over I would think. Plus, I mean I could always go with the .040 over too but of coarse that would be all I could go.

 

Sleeving is a common way to save an otherwise junk valuable block. I'm not sure the block you have is really worth the expense of sleeving as it's still a pretty common block. Now if were a Boss 302 block, no question, it would be worth it.

Oh, and next time, use a block of wood...

 

yeah I know that now, man this stinks, I was just doing what the book said on taping the piston out but it didn't say to use a peice of wood, it had an illustration but it was in black and white and did not realise the guy was using a wooden rod to help nock the piston out, I thought it was a metal one. Is there a place that sells just bare blocks besides the really expensive ones like dart, world, dss and so on. I just want a clean stock block you know

 

You just have to check around. Look in our own classifieds here, maybe someone near you has something, maybe put a want-ad in there and one on craigslist as well. I think the Nashville craigslist is pretty active.

Check the wrecking yards. You may find a bare block or a complete rebuildable core motor, hopefully one that's never been bored out. And it never hurts to ask around, like at your favorite parts store. Those guys usually know who the regular customers are who are into Fords. If you were to ask at the local NAPA store here, they'd point you to me and one other guy, for example.

 

Ok guys I think it might actually be ok because from the top of the crack there is still a little more than a 1/2 inch of cylinder wall to the oil rings when the piston is totally at the bottom of the stroke. I'm thinking this might be enough cylinder wall to support the piston skirt. But tell me what you guys think...do you think it would be ok if the machine shop just worked on the spot and make it a notch like they do for stroker kits....or would I still have to put in 125 bucks plus tax to fix that one cylinder(I called around and got about the same price at different shops)

 

[img]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Frank%20Reed/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/100_9732.jpg[/img]
here it is...my screw up

 

Well I don't see a picture, (that URL isn't going to work, do you have the pic on an image hosting site?) but what it really depends on is whether or not there's enough cylinder wall left in that area to support the piston skirt. If it's just a small area that can be notched, you could even do it yourself with a die grinder. But you might want to see what the machine shop says.

 

crap, pics didn't work, sorry guys i'm going to work on that.

Yeah that is what I am thinking about doing is just taking it out to a machine shop and let them take a look at it. I was just wanting to get some pics on here to see what you guys thought but of course my luck they didn't work. But I'm still tryin

 

If you have the pic on your harddrive, go to your User CP and select "Edit Gallery" from the control panel at the left. Click on "Edit" when the gallery page opens, and when that page opens scroll down a little and you will see a pic of two black F150s, just follow the directions for uploading the pic to your gallery. Shoot me a PM or Email if you have any problems.

 

For Sale stuff removed.

Please don't use the forums for selling. If you want to discuss buying/selling, use FTE's email/PM system. Also, we have a good classifed ad section here.

 

Sorry about that

 

my dad wa saying he would be worring about the piston "skirt slaping" if we did just grind a notch (like an over size stroker notch) where the cylinder wall cracked. I read something about piston skirt supports or somthing that can be put into the pistons to help stop the skirt slaping, but I can'tseem to find anything on them.

 

Yeah, I have to agree with your dad, that's pretty much what I was saying back in post #9. Like I said, see what the machine shop says, and lookmaround for a another block if they say no way, There were millions of those blocks made and you can use anything up to 1980 to be compatible with your crank and rotating assembly.