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| | | | Joined: May 2008 Posts: 114 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: May 2008 Posts: 114 | I have several 409 truck short blocks with major pitting/corrosion on the top of the block and rusty and weak bolt hole threads. These blocks were usually run out and tossed into the junk pile without having been bored out. My father had some sleeved and bored back in the mid 1960's but they never worked out so once they started using alot of oil he replaced the entire block with a new factory shortblock. Now-a-days these 409 engines are somewhat rare and in demand. I know that these blocks can be bored out to some degree but can the top deck area be repaired if there is heavy pitting and the head bolt holes rethreaded? If not I have some good scrap metal to sell. JAMES | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,795 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,795 | It's an expensive fix, but you can HeliCoil the threads. An oversize thread is tapped into the block, and a spring steel insert is threaded into the hole, restoring the thread to its original size. It's actually stronger than original. The downside is the cost, probably 25 bucks a hole or more, unless you buy the tap and the thread inserts and do it yourself. I use a home-brewed drill & tap fixture to make sure the thread stays square with the top of the block whem I'm doing that job.
I put HeliCoils in all the head bolt threads on a Chevy 350 round track block after one of my competitors over-torqued all his head bolts. He stripped at least a third of them when he tried to build the engine with a bad case of Budweiser fever in progress, and set his torque wrench 30 Ft. lbs. too high. I would have stopped after the first stripped thread, but I don't build engines drunk!
Pits on the deck area- - - - -mill the top of the block, unless they're really deep. If it won't clean up, you've got a boat anchor!
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: May 2008 Posts: 114 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: May 2008 Posts: 114 | Jerry, I appreciate the advice on the 409 truck engine blocks. I'm almost sure the pits are too deep on most of the blocks, perhaps 2 of them are worth holding on to. The bad blocks do have standard cranks which I will pull along with some other parts (main caps, timing covers, etc.) so something maybe salvaged there. Thanks for the help!!! JAMES | | |
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