Flathead question?

My friend has a flathead block that is in nice shape except that the lifter valleys are pitted. He was thinking that a brake hone would maybe fix it but he and I have no clue what the correct way or if there even is a way to fix this. Thanks for the help! The Duke

 

I've seen them bored & sleeved with bronze & honed to fit, but it ain't cheap...having said that, if the block is crack free otherwise, might be a worthwhile investment...

 

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My friend has a flathead block that is in nice shape except that the lifter valleys are pitted. He was thinking that a brake hone would maybe fix it but he and I have no clue what the correct way or if there even is a way to fix this. Thanks for the help! The Duke

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I'll****ume you mean the "lifter BORES."
If the pits are not too deep/big then a quick pass with a hone would probably clean them up.

But don't get too carried away.

 

If the pits are at all deep, you can't just remove them by heavy honing--that'll leave them oversize and you'll have slop and rapid wear, probably. I'd say give them a light pass with a hone, then see how much original surface is left (the shiny part) between the pits. If there's a good deal of surface left, and no concentrated area where the surface is all gone, you can probably run them. They are not pressure fed, and the whole valvetrain in a flathead is very lightly loaded compared to those silly modern engines. Boring them out and sleeving them would be an excellent fix, but would likely cost more than a block that didn't need fixing.