Cast Iron Block Welding - 427FE

[Unit 5302]

Originally Posted by andy669

If the cracks are just hairlines and theres no heaving or chunking, I have a hard time believing its cracked into the cam tunnel. Its possible, but you'd think if it was cracked bad enough to get in the cam tunnel there'd be alot more visible damage. How far is the cam tunnel away from any water jackets anyway? Do you know what type of magnetic particle inspection they used? The shop I am from has 1 system for doing blocks, and another system for heads and cranks. Magnufluxing a block is not cut and dry and certainly leaves an inexperienced user room for error.

Andy

The cracks are hairline, but quite long. You can follow the crack up close to the cam tunnel at the back of the engine, but the builder wanted to pull out the bearings to be sure it didn't go through. He said that cracks like that sometimes do crazy things. The crack on the outside of the block is not really visible with the naked eye at a glance. There is definitely not heaving anywhere. You have to know where you're looking and what you're looking for to see it.

We're taking the block to Crow now. Leaving the block unprotected after hot tanking it really pissed my dad off, and it was a seriously inexcusable move for a professional engine shop. The 427 was bored .020 when my dad got it back in the 60s (it had quite a ridgeline that needed to be taken out and he didn't think .010 would do it) and the block is only good for another .010 or so. If the block has to be bored out again to eliminate rust, I'll be ready to strangle the guy.