My Cleveland engine block came out of the soak tank and revealed its problems . The worst problem being where the cylinder head bolts thread into the deck's bolt hole threads . Awfully bad after setting with no bolts screwed into them .


Any one else encountered this ? Could a shop drill and tap threads into the water jackets and use sealer on the head stud bolts if a person could go this route ? Don't think there is enough meat left for a heli coil to hold onto .


After googling inserts there might yet be hope , Inserts start out light duty and can work up to some heavy duty threaded bushing type .

 

It might be cheaper and better to get another block. Try (Car-Part.com) and set the search for distance. Remember those engines were in Mustangs, Torino's and big Ford cars. There are still plenty of 2 bolt blocks out there. Also sometimes they turn up on Craigslist.

 

if the machinist at the repair shop shakes his head at the idea of repair inserts in the deck I will probably give way to defeat . Its the idea of all those threads holding combustion pressure .
But if new threads could be cut for a threaded bushing and it works ,,,,, just never went down this road .

 

There is nothing wrong with Helicoiling head bolt holes, I've done it before. One thing though, do it on a mill to keep it straight.

 

A heli coil is fine if the threads are in condition yet with no rust or maybe just pulled out of condition , mine are worse . Probably the threaded bushing repair job needed .

 

A heli coil is stronger than the original. The hole is bigger than the original and stonger when it's properly done.

 

Quite right .

 

Are they ALL bad?

Either way you go, you'll have to clean and chase the threads first. THEN do your head scratchin'.

If your favorite shop says, "Uhh...don't think so.....", time for another shop.

You could go with ARP studs instead of bolts......

 

Are you sure the cylinders will clean up at say .030. I've never ran across a block with corrosion as bad as you say it is and have the cylinders not be just as bad. If you have to have even one of the cylinders sleeved plus 20 heli-coils you will have way more invested in that block than it's worth. Not to mention having it decked and bored.

 

no repair started yet . waiting for a estimate .