getting burned on a buy

Bought a 235 out of a 57 chev for my engine swap of craigslist. $200 got me the complete engine, and the powerglide. But the block on the engine is cracked at least i think it is what you guys think?

 

Its cracked but can be fixed.

 

I once J-B Welded a 4cyl. willys jeep engine years ago . It had a 2" crack in the water jacket area and its still going strong. Just "v" it with a pencil grinder and filled it . Presto!???

 

Definetely cracked. I'd get my $$$ back.

 

that's pretty obvious, you do have to look at what you're buying before handing over your $$$.

And I've gotten too many 235s for free to pay 200 for one unless it's in a nice running vehicle

 

at what cost? would it be worth it?

 

if you get stuck with this block it can be repaired. drill an 1/8 or so hole at the end of the crack to stop it from going any farther. vee the crack and jb weld the crack .

 

that crack is very long. I'd junk the block. They're not that scarce yet are they?

 

Yes Its Cracked ....
You Bought it off Craigslist .....
You didnt inspect it well enough .....

When you buy off Craigslist its an "AS IS" Deal in my opinion.

Get another Block & Build it to your needs.

****s ...... But Press on ..... No need to worry about the small things.

 

yea it ****ed it was late and diddnt even think of looking for a crack. they are not that rare but people want an arm and a leg for them. i took a chance with this one and obviously lost.

 

Yes this is why you have to look everything over real good before buying. Its not the sellers fault... its your fault.

 

yup

 

Look at it this way, what would you spend on a powerglide?
What about the other components?
If you had a good block but needed a crank (still don't know if this one is good), what would it cost?
It went from an okay deal to a not so good deal, but it's a cheap lesson in inspecting before you buy.

 

Well said, sad but true, it really is a cheap lesson in the grand scheme of things.

 

as long as their is no oil and water mixing fix it! drill the ends of crack to control the crack and the clean it really well after that you can braise it up or even epoxy it because the 2 part epoxy we have today will work. the cooling system psi is low. i can't tell you how many 235 engines i have repaired in the past 30 years (20+) and that crack i hate to say is a common one when they break. i would do compression check and start it to see wha the ccondition was, "it was running fine" always makes me laugh

 

I bet he didn't save his receipt.

Craigslist is a real stickler on having a receipt on returns.

 

The crack appears to run across three major structural ribs. It looks like a freeze crack. If there is one that obvious, there are probably others inside. Trash it.

 

Fix it. Have a good compotent repair shop...a real repair shop weld it. Look for a place that does old tractor restorations & repairs. Grind crack out & weld it up with stick welder & nickel, (soft) rods. Not a big deal. I have a good friend that welded in a hole in a John Deere block where a rod went through. Used as patch material a piece out of an old International tractor block. The patch piece had the IHC logo cast into it. Never heard what the owner thought about that.

My eyes aren't so good anymore, or maybe it is my monitor, where is the crack? Is it around the screw in the side?

Worken2much

 

its $ 200 , not $2000.
we all buy junk some times.

use it for all its guts, and as a mock block.
heck , better than one of those plastic -$$ mock blocks.??

 

Not a total loss.......you'd probably be able to get $30-$40 for s**** metal out of it.

 

So is the purpose of this thread to have help in identifing an obvious crack .. or to get re-enforcement that you got "burned" on craigslist?

If the latter then personally I dont think you got burned, you just need to know what your looking at ... lesson learned, keep looking and now you can even consider short blocks. Good luck

 

Yep.