The elusive 224/3.7 MerCruiser banger

Epoxy by itself is too flexible. Additives will stiffen it. I was instructed to use glass microballoons.
When I tried to mix them in the mixture became stiff and not sticky. i had added only a fraction
of what was to go in. Epoxy wets glass well but it did not work well for me so in aircraft construction, I much prefer straight epoxy resin. Our automotive use is different as weight matters much less.
JB weld is epoxy loaded with limestone. It shows increased heat resistance over straight epoxy. High temperature epoxies exist as specialty products for industry at very high prices and the company I spoke with has absolutely no interest in selling their product to individuals.
The coefficient maby microballoons of expansion of the material added to the block should be close to that of aluminum.
epoxy expands much more than aluminum so an epoxy plug would tightening in the water jacket. The size of the plug matters because the expansion is proportional to the dimensions of the plug and proportional to the temperature change of the plug.

How well the filler works depends on how easily the epoxy wets it. a powder could present wetting problems so perhaps sand would work better. aluminum grit, if it exists, would be lighter and micro-balloons would be lighter yet. cement is commonly use to fill the bottom of a water jacket. I do not remember if for aluminum or cast iron engines.

I glued aluminum blocks around mercruiser cylinders. I have no
t done an autopsy on the engine ,but it burned immense amounts of oil..

 

You guys are over thinking it. There are people who are tapping these sorts of deck plates into blocks with a mallet, decking them and then going on to build something double the horsepower in 60% the dis

Welding, brazing, soldering. All will work. It just has to fill the space. The thickness of filler will be so tiny that differential expansion/contraction will be a non issue. Heck, you could clay the back side and pour lead in if you wanted. Epoxy would be just fine too. If rated for ~500deg one of the green family of loctite products or a shaft keyway repair type product should be sufficient. The goal here isn't to prevent all movement. It's to increase resistance to movement such that the deck and cylinders move sufficiently less that other things in the engine become the weak link.

Waterjet vs plasma vs dull ax doesn't matter. There will be enough variation from block to block that hand fitment will be required making precision beyond that point irrelevant.

Oh, and I still haven't touched my engine build since whatever my last update is. It's hanging from a crane while my DIY oil pan waits around to be leak tested before paint.

 

Good stuff,
Materials are part of my daily life... too much actually. All plastics are not created equal. The epoxies we are talking about are in a family of plastics called "thermoset" this means they harden with heat, the other family is thermoplasic which means they soften and melt with heat. These families cover a really huge number of plastics and are a bit of a generalization but two part epoxies stay solid with minimal softening when heated. Big issue to keep in mind is the max temperature they can take varies a lot. Thermosets degrade PDQ when over heated and then they just fall apart on a molecular level. JB weld says it is good for a continuous max of 500f. that sounds good enough to me. If you want to mix your own, resins come in all sorts and some wet our better than others, but if you find something that can take 500f then it isn't home hardware grade and is going to be pretty good. As for a good filler. Calcium carbonate or chalk is very solid and cheap, micro balloons have their place but I am not fond of them, they are insulative (hollow) and light weight, the resin flows around them. The calcium carbonate soaks up resin like a sponge, making a tight matrix along the lines of JBweld.

Arse sideways commented "The goal here isn't to prevent all movement. It's to increase resistance to movement" and that sums it up very well. Everything in an engine is flexing to some degree or another when it is running, its just when it does it too much things unravel. So like the Honda guys if we can stabilize the liners that may be enough and to be honest - anything is going to be better than what it has now.... which is nothing.

I have to apologise as yes, I am a precision freak, my company makes CNC equipment, when you make things to make accurate things it you make things really really accurate. It is just a habit.

 

Arse sideways, you did well to point out that the concern over coefficient of expansion is not an issue if using a thin layer of epoxy. I used epoxy in a very thin layer between aluminum blocks and the aluminum engine block and its cylinders for that exact reason.

When I brought it up, I was thinking of someone pouring in a filler layer entirely of epoxy. Even then, the dimensions are not great but after seeing shrinkage and separation in casting polyester resin blocks, I worried. Some materials might even stretch a little. Others like cement have a desirable coefficient of thermal expansion although it shrinks as it cures. Also the water will help keep the filler layer at an even temperature so thermal induced dimension change is reduced for much of the filler layer. As you said, it is best not to over think it.

Resistance to movement of the cylinders with something other than the cylinder head and headgasket will help with the headgasket sealing problem that our engines are said to have as engine time increases.

great comments from both of you.

 

If anyone is interested, I have a Chevy to C4 bellhousing from Flat-O Products that needs a home. I also have Gene's C4 shortie kit and other C4 aftermarket bolt ons. I bought this stuff to put a Boss Four/C4 combo in my dragster, but have decided to put a Chrysler back in it. PM me if interested, as I do not watch this thread much anymore. (FYI - The engine is my Dad's and the valve cover and head have already been sold.)

 

I started to make a manifold but fell into a opportunity to have one cast, so I went with that. I bought these carbs back in '76 new in the box and they have been laying on the self all these years. So I start to make a manifold. This is what I got now. Not sure about dist clearance yet. But I have started to make a offset dist drive in case.

 

Stunning build.

 

Oh, MY!!!!!!!

 

Yep, that is my intake!

 

Wow. Wow. Wow. That is just....wow. Eye candy.


That lost foam casting is cool.

 

At least it's something light.

 

Yes at least for one of them! I have 3 new in the boxes. All of the manifolds I had for them were magnesium and keep rotting away, so I sold all of them, put the carbs on the self! I am looking forward to running one. All are the big carbs at 1425 cfm. This will be a spare engine bigger and hopefully better then the one in the car!

 

Im changing direction on my build completely. went from a 32 Ford to a Fiat Topolino running a modern aluminum IFS/IRS. the Merc 470 is too big for the plans both in terms of height and length..... so that being stated
Anyone need 2 running 470's. these are complete running 2-barrel motors.

Motors are located in Richmond VA. $600 for the pair or $350 each.

 

No

 

I was actually going to make casting patterns for a Weber dual side draft intake for this engine....just never got a good feel for which cylinder head the majority were using....

 

Just amazing work! I had a Dave Gingery charcoal foundry years ago that produced a lot of really cool stuff, but it pales in comparison to your setup! Just did sand castings, never got into the lost foam method.

 

Nice foam cast. I am slowly picking away at my practice engine and need to find someone that can do lost wax or lost PLA castings as my intake manifold and thermostat housing are going that route. Anyone know of someone? I have the 3D printed test fits done and will make the patterns the same way (shrinkage adjusted).

I know the speedmaster head is nothing outrageous but compared to the iron heads it is a huge improvement. The aluminum is soooo easy to work so I lightly ported the exhausts, worked on the bowls and in the chambers did a bunch of un-shrouding and then polished them - which came out at 90cc's with the valves I am using. I like this engine - only one head to port. Alberta Cylinder head services will deck the head 0.055in for $120 (A good deal in Canada) that will bring the compression up to 10:1. Don't freak out at that, the whole province is on a plateau or is mountains 3200ft or higher. Upping one point more compression just makes up for what we lose in air density, it will still run on regular at that.

 

What throttle bodies are you using for your manifolds? The themostat housing is the best idea ive seen so far

 

Probably the Jenvey 54mm throttle body. Unless I can find something more reasonably priced. Thanks on the thermostat, it uses a Ford 306-192 thermostat which is small but should flow plenty. I figured modifying the head just didn't make sense and since I have to get the intake cast anyway just use the normal outlet in the head.

 

Just picked up a rebuilt motor today. Owner was going to put it in a Ford Cortina here in Australia. He was struck down with MS so he let the motor go for a bargin price for my Project. Aus$100 or $65 US dollars.. Motor has been rebuilt, zero hours on it, been turned over every few months. Alloy sump. Not sure what year it is.

 

Later year as earlier had script Mercruiser valve cover

 

@Thomo5150,
Now you've gone and done it. Where did the alloy sump come from?
I'm a sucker for anything aluminum, especially if it has fins on it!

 

Correction not an alloy sump.. owner said it was, closer look its sheetmetal..

 

Thanx, You had me worried thee for a moment. I thought I missed an aluminum part. Guess I'll have to make my own.

 

Looking at newer tech for the gearbox. Adaptors to the original flywheel and bellousing for a 8 speed 8HP45 trans. Off to do some measuring this week. Boxes are cheap and reliable. The TCM controller is the expensive piece. LS / Chevy V8 adaptors are avaliable but expensive too..

 

Hey gentlemen,
I've decided to move on to a different source of power for my off road project, and have parts I would like to pass on to someone who might be able to use them. Donations accepted.
One complete motor with a blown head gasket, has alternator and petronix. and a parts motor as well.
I have not done a for sale post, as this is pretty specific to you guys on this thread this thread.
Located in Grand Rapids, MI

 

bttt...

 

Picked up a cheap Aussie BTR 4 speed Auto to check bellhousing pattern. From a Ford Barra 6 cylinder. Will use some mdf to make an adaptor and see how it fits. These are common and cheap here, this one cost me a carton of beer.. I have a feeling the flex plate is the bolt pattern as the 3.7. Motor was based off the old 60's Ford straight 6. Bonus with this box they have a Aus $200 full manual standalone TCM controller.

 

I don't know how prevalent SBC engines are there, but that is the bell housing of choice here. Only one bolt does not align. Most guys just leave it out. Being a bit OCD, I put both holes in my engine plate.

It would be cool if you had a BH that would bolt up to the engine directly and matched the transmission you have.

Flywheel is later Ford 6 etc.