I finally got around to disassemble my 292 I bought a while back.
During disassembly a few questions came up.
Is it normal for the top rings to crack when removing the pistons from the block? 5 were cracked.
The water hole next to one of the front head bolts is the block is plugged. Not sure yet if cast or epoxied at a later time? Should I leave it closed?

Did you use a ridge reamer to remove the ridge around the tops of the bores? With worn bores rings will often break if the ridge is not removed.

How are the ring grooves? If the rings are not snug in the grooves then they were probably broken as a result of ring land pound-in. Possibly caused by detonation.

The blocked hole is the heater outlet by-pass. It can be plugged if no heater is used.

X2

MBHD

Thanks for the answer. I almost figured that I broke them during disassembly, even though I was able to push the pistons out without any significant force. Will check for carbon deposits on the crack to verify.
What do you guys recommend to remove the rust powder deposits in the water jackets? I have not been able to find a place that does specifically block cleaning over here only a place that could drop the block into a ultrasonic bath.
...same with checking for cracks, seems like it is a non-existing issue, have not been able to find a shop that would do that....

I've read on stovebolt.com were some have Draino (sewer cleaner or unblocker) to clean blocks. I don't remember whether heat was used or not. Do a search on stovebolt.

Larry

An ultrasonic bath would do an excellent job of cleaning depending if they used a caustic bath as opposed to a petroleum based alcohol bath solution.

Although I haven't tried this stuff, it is used by the Navy to do all their rust busting on the repair of the engines on the boats. I've considered buying some and figuring a way to flush the water jacket/passages by blocking all but a couple of holes needed to circulate the stuff. Could mount the head as well using FormAGasket to seal the head/block interface. Maybe mount a water pump & drive it with an electric motor. Just something I've thought about. Any other ideas on this??
Anyway... here's the site: http://www.orisonmarketing.com/corrosion/evaporust/evapo-rust.html

I think you are talking about naval jelly (phosphoric acid) you can buy it at lowes a whole lot cheaper. I use it to clean out gas tanks --works great

If you go to the site for the Evaporust, you'll see that it isn't Naval Jelly.

thanks, I will give it a try next time and see how it works.