Picked this up today - was in an old ice cream truck in a junk yard they did not know what it was Has a small crack - what do you guys think
In a junkyard? I wish I could find 392's in junk yards around here. The crack looks like the block froze at one point. Might be fixable. Crank looks good. Very, very good find.
I think any time the seller doesn't recognize it's a hemi, and you don't get the marked up price because of it, its a good find.
The crack no doubt goes all the way through but the block is worth repairing. I'd see about getting the crack repaired before doing anything else on the block though. Good find even if you have to hunt down a block for it in the end.
May depend on where the crack is at. High stress area? Have your machine shop tank the block and mag the crack to see how deep it gous. Probably worth the peace of mind of doing right and welding it upprior to ***embly.
I want to see pictures of this ice cream truck! Radiused wheel Lips? Big and little ones? Slicks? Show us man! Show us! Dashman's Hot Rod & Speed Parts www.dashman.net
I believe out here they fix stuff like that with roll pins that are threaded into the crack and then ground flat. Freezing water made that crack...I have always thought that water/antifreeze under normal operating pressure 10-15 lbs or so wouldnt affect those kind of cracks anyway...but it might weep coolant if you dont fix it..a machine shop can fix that no problem...
Yep!!!! Have that block hot tanked and inspected for cracks... Where there's one might be another that you don't see.. Have that done before any machine work.. I thought the only hemi powered ice-cream trucks came in model kits...
Consider this:http://www.muggyweld.com/castiron.html I've used his stuff to repair diecast and it worked surprisingly well. Usual rules apply. Clean the surrounding area down to bare metal and V-notch the crack. Nice score,by the way!
I think, the procedure is referred to a "s***ching", and uses threaded,( drilled and tapped holes), repair fillers.
They are NOT "roll pins", but tapered, threaded screws that, as stated above, are screwed into threaded holes until very tight, at which point they either twist off or are cut off and ground flat. Then another hole is drilled, overlapping the previous pin, tapped, screw installed, etc, etc, until the crack is completely "s***ched". It is an old style process, but it does work. Personally, I would investigate the cleaning, magnaflux and welding as the first choice of repair. This engine is, or will be, too valuable to do a less than ideal repair. If it was a 216 chevy, anything that would stop the leak might do......but it ain't a 216 chevy. Ray edit: as for the "found in an ice cream truck".....I think what the OP meant is that it was found INSIDE the ice cream truck rear compartment, dis***embled.........not under the hood. Common practice in old salvage yards to store parts inside in that manner.
My brother had a 331 industrial that was cracked from freezing. My Dad, a lifelong welder, had us clean it down and grind into the cracks to create bevelled edges and then we drilled 1/8' holes at the ends of the cracks to keep them from spreading. We heated it with an oxy-acetylene (took a long time to build up heat in the iron) and then Dad took stainless rod on the Miller 224 stick welder and laid in some nice beads, peening them with a hammer as they cooled. Worked pretty well. We had a couple of weeps which kind of rusted over after a short time, but it ran for a long time like that. Dad said NiRod would have worked as well, but he liked the stainless better. He had fixed some pretty gnarley stuff in his day and said a cracked block on the outside like that was a pretty easy job.
A weed burner on a 20 lb propane cylinder will heat the block up faster and put the heat in more evenly. You're less likely to get hot spots with them, too. Someone on each end of the block with a weedburner (wave them around for even heat) can have a block up to 400 degrees in just a few minutes. Y'all have a good day, Keith
Thanks guys with all the help - feel blessd by the Hemi Gods I have only had one 392 in my coupe - very cool motor - very forgiving and easy to build - not very cheap though
Congrats, I guess that ice cream didn't get a chance to melt........... What are you waiting for? That should be together by now............
There's a 331 or 354 sitting in the back of a box truck at Friendship junkyard in Tabernackle, NJ. It's way out back.
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