Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines MY 235 HAS A CRACK!!

Well
I took a better look at the ole 49 yesterday and it has a crack about 6" long in the block.Man that sux bad.What does a 235 cost?I wonder if the head is still good?
Later Matt

Bummer about the crack. but on the bright side, you wanted to replace it anyhow, didn't you??? 235's are pretty common, so you should be able to find one in the $200-300 range. Keep all your parts off the other engine - you never know what you will need off it. good luck

Matt, all may not be lost. I've had a stovebolt chevy and a flathead Dodge engines that got a little too cold and cracked in the water jacket. In both cases, I cleaned the block, applied a couple coats of epoxy and they both ran fine for YEARS! The Dodge was in a dump truck that had a HARD life after this 'repair'. Today, I'd use JB Weld instead of epoxy. Run a low pressure radiator cap and don't let her get hot and I bet you can get a bunch more miles out of her.

I have a 270 GMC, that I got with a pile of stuff, that has a J B Weld repair to the driver side water jacket. The guy I got it from said he drove it that way for many years. It doesn't appear to have leaked. Someday I'll sand blast the J B away and see what it looks like. Maybe I'll leave it alone,it's just parts.

I have a 40 Buick Roadmaster with the big straight 8. On the drivers side just above the oil pan flange is a plate bolted to the block. It's kind of hard to see with the engine in the car but it looks 'factory'. I restored this car 25 years ago and pulled the engine. There is a hole in the side of the block that I literally can put my fist through. It's not in the water jacket and the repair was a piece of 1/8" plate with about 30 1/4" bolts tapped into the block. VERY precisely and nicely done!

When I got into the car I learned that the passenger side front suspension was from a 41 Buick, the passenger front fender was obviously a replacement from the different color primer under the black paint. I've often wondered if the rod coming through the block caused the wreck.

The car obviously has had many miles on it since the repair to the block and it showed no sign of ever leaking or causing any problems.

When someone comments on it, I tell them it was a very rare experimental factory inspection plate. The motor ran so smooth the engineers wanted to make sure the crankshaft was rotating That's my story and I'm sticking to it.