Technical Another cracked Flatty...

I just had this 8BA dropped off from a guy cleaning house etc. So I decided to tear into it. Got it unstuck only to find this crack in a cylinder wall. Honestly I have never seen a crack like this. I am guessing a freeze crack from water in the cylinder? So I must ask, is this a candidate for a sleeve job? Or a done and salvage the parts?

 

If all else checks out put a sleeve in it, they aren’t making anymore of them.

 

I'm with Fargo, sleeve, rings, and bearings.

 

Of course, I'm with the rest of the guys; try to save it if you can.

My worry is that you've just uncovered the first of a lot of problems.

 

It's pretty plain to see the whole thing has been sitting under water. It can be sleeved and sleeves are readily available. Before you spend any money on it, though, get it cleaned up to see if there are more cracks. Carefully check the oil pan rails at the bottom of the water jackets. They tend to split open first if there was water frozen in there. Usually not repairable.

 

It's got an 80 over piston in it already, if I'm reading that right. I know some flatheads can go to .125 but an 80 over cut is pretty uncommon just for regular daily driver rebuilder use I would think. Maybe that's what helped crack it, thinned the walls out a bit too much?

If you get it all apart and checked and there's no other issues, it probably could be sleeved. But unless it checks out good for another 30 over cut (or more, looks rusty inside), you might end up sleeving every cylinder to keep the walls from getting too thin by the time you're done.

 

Mebbee they uncovered a thin spot/shift in the casting with that .080 overbore?

 

A crack like that would lead me right to the pan rails. They're usually first to go from freezing...in my experience
Good luck!

 

8BA's usually can go to .125 with no problem. I have done three at 3 5/16" myself. The only problem I ran into was a pit exposed by the overbore in one cylinder. My machinist said it could be used as is, but I had him sleeve it anyway for $100 just to be sure. Back in the day, 296 ci flatheads were the way to go (the famous 3/8 X 3/8). A lot of guys have gone to .030 over 3 3/8 or even 3 7/16. Of course core shift or rust can get you, but Ford's quality control was very good in those days.

 

Had me curious also... Here we are, weird deformation by the oil pump area on the oil pan rail. Rest of the rails are solid it looks like.

Few pics... Yalls guess is as good as mine on this little bump out area.

 

That looks like it has been welded and ground down on the pan rail. Weird.

Dave

 

Ah...the stories that block could tell...

 

Fingers crossed, its not like I needed this motor but it found its way here by fate.. haha

Figured I may tear it down completely and have it tanked and fluxed...

 

Weird area for a repair for sure .... build it, would look sweet in that lil dodge truck.

I have a 8BA ..... a Dodge ...... a imagination

 

If I didnt have a good bulletproof 318 in there I may think about it.

Yeah deff a weird area for repair, really makes no sense where its at unless water was in the oil jacket and cracked it there?

 

I really have no idea, the pan rail cracks are deadly .... they run length wise where the pan bolts on.
With the research I have done while inspecting my engine.
Thats not the same as your past repair. ...... Just the fact it is bored .080 over is interesting.
Makes me wonder if it is just a well worn engine, or was it a Hot Rod? What cam is in it?

For comparison, my engine is very boring. Came out of a Ranchers 51 Ford truck.
Stock bore & pistons, crank is ground .010-.010 ...... My engine is boring. Sat it's whole life in a barn.
Your engine did not sit in a barn for 50 years.

I agree 100% here ....

 

Probably leave you with a better story than throwing the same amount of money at lottery tickets.

Go for it.

 

My original block had a crack like that. It was already .060 over and was going to be .125 over and 2 sleeves. The machine shop had one that would go .030 and no sleeves so I traded mine in on it. He kept them all, as said above-they are not making new ones. He died last year. I don't know what happened to all the flathead parts he had.

 

Well, pulled it the rest of the way down. Everything looks good, bearings and other areas. So may load it up and bring it to the machine shop and see how it fluxes out.

 

Off to the machine shop to be checked out...

 

Man,,,,that’s a sweet looking Dodge pickup right there !
Are you sure you really want to put an 8BA in there ?

Mopar made a lot of really interesting mills that will fit right in there !

Tommy

 

Good luck, guys! If this turns out well, it's a good sign. (I generally don't even consider weathered engines.)

Keep us informed.

 

I don't think he plans to use this flatty in his pickup... What I gathered from the thread is he got it for free and just wants to see if it's worth building for a future project.

 

Yessir. Nailed it.

 

If it wasn't for getting it for free I wouldn't have entertained it either... I will definitely report the findings with photos.

I was searching Ebay and laughed seeing banger motor cores for 450 and up... astounding. Makes me want to tear my coupes A banger down and insert bearing it to have it ready for another project.

 

The verdict is in.

2 cracks at valve seats and the one cylinder that needs a sleeve, thats all.. So I think I will get it all sleeved to standard unless someone has some .030 pistons that are good and cheap. They said they could sleeve the 1 and cut everything else to .125 without issue but that's deff a large oversize bore.

Thankfully its a good core.

 

I have been struggling with the idea of building this motor for my Coupe, or building it to sell...

Everything looks like its checking out good, just hard to give up the banger life, but the vibrations of the banger do wear ya down a bit when driving... HP for HP, I think its almost a wash but a slight edge on drivable RPM range on the flatty.

If I build to sell, Id just do a stock build and let whoever gets it cam and head it. But if I did it for me, Isky 400 cam, and some other fun things would deff be involved.

Still torn if I want to get all the valve seat replaced or just get em all ground.... Tough call... Either way it needs the deck cut probably also, so needs another round at the machine shop before I can start putting it together.

 

Just a reminder : .125" overbore is usually is generally not a problem with an 8BA. I think the best idea is to balance the cost of 8 sleeves and standard pistons vs. 1 sleeve and a set of .125" oversize pistons. I think there will be a BIG difference. When I did my last one, the oversize pistons were $109.95 (with pins and rings on closeout from Speedway), and the sleeve was $100; my decision was easy. Also, what about the valve seat cracks? Will they need to be pinned? That will also add to the cost.

 

Looks like he has already sleeved it,,,,I think he’s done with that part .

Tommy

 

Yeah, I threw $ at it and had em all sleeved. Yeah its a big difference but a few of the holes were still not 100% at .125 when they cut it so I made the decision. The cracks were drilled and pinned then stitched. They replaced the two valve seats that the cracks were by so I have 14 old seats and 2 new...