Been racing Hemis for over 50 years, Tony. We've got 4 Hemi Nostalgia cars. A few years ago we had one go that bad when one of the old iron heads rusted out from the inside, and water does not compress. Even damaged the lifter valley. We DID fix it! We filled the block, machined it up, put new Eddie heads on it, used a 4.15 crank, it recently went 10.40s in a 68 RR with a crossram. Looking forward to seeing your progress! STILL a Hemi guy!!! Have been since 1964!!
426 dog rated at 425 Horsepower at 5,000 -- only 350 net at 5,000 rpm. 6,000 rpm 475 GROSS but only 380 NET...a 2023 5.7 in a RAM is 385 net and good for 150,000 miles better than the 426 that blew bearings before 10K. Get with the 21st century Gomer
@@bigstevesnostalgiadragraci4240 Been doing this as long as you Goober and my numbers are 100% fact----so instead of talking shit why dont you show us how my facts are wrong--you can't but we will wait anyway. I suspect for a long time.
oh shit! Tony will have an altered funny car with a Hemi called "Boogered Up" upon a closer look you will see blobs of booger welds with a lot of hammering and grinding done to it. I've heard that some Australian shops will buy blown up shrapnel blocks and they will piece and patch them right back into full blown race engines! The 426 hemis are rare engines and known for melting the pistons. I knew this guy in central Alberta who had 3 of these engines still shrink wrapped on shipping skids. Thieves broke into his shop and stole those Hemi engines. He called the police and all they did was put the case on the back burner for several months. They had no idea where to go and those engines were long gone! The guy who purchased these engines stayed diligent and kept searching classified ads and online ads for used Hemi engines. Sure enough his actual engines popped up in an ad and the guy called up his biker buddies and the whole group went down to take a look at these engines for sale. "Hey those are my engines!! still had the shipping tags with the guy's name all over them!" out came baseball bats, duct tape and tire irons. these poor crackheads got beaten and barely had their lives spared. The engine owner and his buddies carted all 3 engines out to the truck. two of those Hemi engines were bought as whole runners and one was a core engine still buildable all 426 Hemis. Sadly a few years back, the guy suddenly passed away and his family had no idea how to run the autowrecking business plus he was a custom harley builder. I had the priveledge and pleasure of meeting this guy only a couple of times before he passed away. His name is still well known and remembered all over Alberta. His name was Tim Lynch at Heavy Metal Auto Wrecking in Trochu Alberta. Tim was an extreme mopar nut!
One of my old neighbors had a pro streeted charger with a windowed top fueler block he repaired. I guess he said he did it back in the late 80s and its still working. Edit: 3:55 maybe that's why he repaired it
The dowels are to adjust bellhousing when using a stick the are offset dowels that’s why they have a screwdriver slot to turn them and adjust bellhousing with dial indicator and set screw is used to lock the dowel from moving after it’s where they want it
This suggests that the dowels are eccentric. Is that true? And that further suggests that there's some "slop" in the bell housing mounting holes. Also true? Finally, is this to insure that the tranny input shaft is precisely concentric with the crank?
@seabulls69 Using offset dowels is a common practice even on street builds. My first HotRod was a 74 Duster My Dad helped me swap a 340 and a 4spd in place of the original 318 auto. It ran great but there was a constant, minor driveline vibration. First time I had to put a clutch in it I indexed the bellhousing with the Direct Connection ofset dowel kit he made me buy that I was too lazy to put in the first time. The vibration went away and the new(used) clutch lasted way longer than the first NEW(but cheap) clutch
It was cool meeting you Uncle Tony after watching your videos for years. I am really excited to see how well your repair on this old block works out. She did look a lot better before the monsoon hit while it was in my truck bed. I enjoyed the postmortem on it. Keep up the good work and fingers crossed the cold welding works.
I always heard the LB in general was thicker . From what I heard it got thinner when they Raised the block height. Also heard the 400 had slightly bigger bore than the 440 RB? I had the LB 400 in my 1973 charger that was a fun car at least till I had to pull the starter and at least one of the plugs was kinda a cuss fest?
@@tonypace2009The 400 does have the biggest bore out of the B& RB blocks I just finished up a 451 stroker 2 going on 3 years ago that went into a 69 Plymouth road runner a mild build but with the good parts inside that made over 500 HP and 560+ ft lbs torque on pump gas with some worked iron 906 heads . My buddy is very happy with it but complains about the fuel mileage which he says is about 5-6 mpg lol .
@@peteloomis8456 5-6 miles a gallon sounds like he is having fun. I myself was told they are traffic lights not timing tree lights.LOL My favorite is Its a yellow light not a amber light . Of corse followed by green is not the trigger to release the trans brake I totaly agree with this every one knows if you wait for green you lose the 60 foot advantage. LOL
Blue Demon makes a "no-preheat" cast iron repair tig welding rod. Very high nickel content. I welded my SBC 186 heads with this rod. It worked great, and Im an amateur welder
If you're interested in that sort of thing, Steve Morris did an hour long video about a month ago with one of the more knowledgeable people I've seen on the matter. I'm a welder and I got a lot out of it.
@dannymitchell6131 I saw that video. It was great! Im a power plant operator and am exposed to alot of that type of stuff, I jusy don't do it myself professionally. Just for fun
The set screws are to hold offset dowels in the correct clocked position to maintain bellhousing alignment after dialling in, like compensating for a line bore on the main saddles. My guess is that it's been line bored in a past life.
Yes, even when a block hasn't been line bored to repair damaged mains, one will often find a bit of misalignment between the main centerline and the bellhousing pilot bore centerline. call it "stackup of tolerances" , courtesy of the less than perfect production line machining of 50+ years ago. This also affects automatic transmission alignment the same way, and is what usually causes cracked / broken flex plates with those. @@tonypace2009
I worked in the Chrysler Engineering transmission lab and we would always measure the automatic transmission pump bore to the crankshaft centerline. Tests were run on the flex plates to make sure they could handle worse case offsets.
I have had people tell me and argue with me that engine blocks can not be repaired. And yet, during World War 2, the British were taking Merlin engines made of aluminum, from badly damaged Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters and repairing bullet holes and cracked/broken blocks. If the damage was not too bad, well then it flew again. If the block was pretty bad but salvaged, it went un-supercharged into a tank as the Meteor engine. It saved the country A LOT of money, it meant that less engines needed to be built as spares, and it meant that the factories did not have to place too much focus on the Meteor tank engines when aircraft engine production was the priority. And I made a point of mentioning the fact Merlin/Meteor engines were aluminum, as back in that time aluminum welding was a rare, and a HIGHLY skilled practice. There are pictures of Merlin/Meteor engines that have patches applied to them, and they were not welded into place, yet the engines would either fly again or make a tank move.
It’s usually more that they’re not worth the time and money to repair them. I’ve seen some amazing repairs done to high end blocks and heads. The value of the parts is high enough it’s worth fixing them. With most stuff it doesn’t make sense to spend a few thousand to repair something that costs a few hundred to buy another one. With things like the Merlin during wartime production was critical and they were using them as fast as they could make them. So, repairing damaged ones was worth it since it could keep something going. And, those would be expensive enough the cost of repair is generally justified.
While correct, there's a world of difference between the service life of a tank or war plane engine vs a civilian car engine. Many repaired marlins likely only garnered a few dozen more hours before being lost anyway, they were subject to regular maintenance and scrutiny, the labor to do the work was government subsidized etc. That's different than a guy finding someone with the knowhow, paying out the ass for the privilege, then expecting to just drive the car until the end of days without having to think about the repair ever again. Constant maintenance was the expected norm in ww2, even for a racing team where you could argue the same, that extra question mark is worth avoiding as soon as possible. Hence nobody really bothers with repairs like that if they have to option of buying a replacement part.
I have repaired one 27 liter Merlin Meteor block in 2020 which has a huge connrod failure. Need to cast some aluminium pieces to it before welding. Cylinders also heavily rusted and some pistons stuck. I made some picturevideos about rebuilt in my channel. (”Bluebird Meteor”, Part1)
If you can bake the block to burn off all the oils, and use a nickel 55 rod that has been the best luck I've had welding a block. Finding a replacement for the 8L v10 block is beyond impossible.... So I've welded my 2 a few times.
Tony I'm a few years older than you. Sometimes you have to do repairs that get you through the current situation. I had a governor fall apart on a 904 torqueflight and It blew a quarter size hole in the tailshaft. I took some aluminum sheet metal and JB Weld and made a patch. It lasted over a year till the trans needed a complete repair. Hey I was only 19 at the time. No welder available either. Great video! Keep them coming!
Ryan Brutt has a pair of 426 Hemi heads with more cracks than I have ever seen on one set of heads. You might contact him, they would match that block nicely.
Thanks for sharing this with us. i recently got the bug like you, and started doing things for FUN. Not because it's a faster or more affordable way, but because i want to enjoy myself and work at a leisure pace
That was first thought also. But some one else commented about posiable aligned bore adjustment to trans and seeing one cylinder sleeves and block resets around cylinder for copper gasket? There is a possibility offset dowls were for realigning trans to new crank centerline ?
Have you ever heard of lock-n-stitch. It's a fascinating way to repair cast iron blocks. It's drilling and taping holes evenly using a spacer to follow the crack or repair. You lock Tight a stud in the drilled and tapped hole. Followed by grinding the stud flat. When you have gone down the Length of the repair. You off set the spacing, so you drill and tap over lapping the Previous stud. Makes for a very strong repair.
I worked at a place called Classic auto limousine service during the early 90s and the owner had 30 cars in the limousine service and some sports cars and muscle cars you could rent to limousines from a 35 Rolls Royce with a couple ghosts and a couple Bentleys & a bunch of other limousines but to get to the point he was a huge Packard guy and we had quite a few Packard coach built limousines that got rented out with a chauffeur for special occasions weddings anniversaries ect and the owner would buy extra Packard engines for spares mainly those Straight 8 Packard engines and he bought one from a guy that supposedly was sitting in a car that had sat in a swamp for years that he had me tear down to do a full rebuild on the engine that was going to go into one of his Packard limousines that he had just got the car completely restored and when I got down to striping the block it had some minor cracks in the block because it sat for years in a swamp with no antifreeze but obviously had partially filled with swamp water and froze and cracked part of this engine block I was tearing down . This thing even had dirt & grass weeds stuck into some of the intake and exhaust ports in the head because the intake and exhaust manifold was gone . So I get this engine torn down and cleaning up the block I see these cracks and show this to my boss and he said he know a person that could fix this block using this same method you are talking about here in this post . So I loaded up the block and drove out to this guy's shop and we pulled the block out of the back of our shop truck and he starts looking it over real good and says I'm pretty sure I can fix this so I told him call our shop when it's done and I will come pick the block up and he did a great job on it . Once that was done it was sent to the machine shop to have the bores machined for new pistons and the main caps for the crank resized and the crank shaft turned & cylinder head completely done & set up for unleaded piss water gas . Well when all said & done the engine ran beautifully and no external water jack leaks from the cracked block repair this guy did thank God & the engine went into this Packard limousine & was put into service with the rest of the fleet . Working for this company was one of the best jobs I ever had if not the best because of all the different antique cars I got to work on & test drive for the limousine service along with the sports cars and muscle cars he had that could be rented out by the hour or day which wasn't cheap. The limousines you couldn't rent to drive personally because they all came with a chauffeured driver but we were also sponsored by the MSRA Minnesota Street Roders Association so we had a lot of old hot rods street rods and muscle cars coming in to be worked on besides the fleet of cars we had at classic at the time that me and my boss had to keep serviced and running . I just subscribed to UTG because I'm also a Mopar guy besides most anything muscle car related as well as drag cars being when I worked at classic you couldn't be 1 brand specific and closed minded like some people are because once you work on as many cars and old trucks as I did at this place for all those years you get to see how each different make model vehicles you worked on how they were designed engineered built & that each make models all were different & how these manufacturers did things differently from one to another while trying to do the same things which was to try to build a car or truck to drive somewhat reliable for the everyday Joe schmoe yet everyone was unique and different with the approach they each used to accomplish the same thing which was transportation for the masses be it cheap transportation or the high end limousines for the rich & famous people who often times would buy these coach built bodied Packers limousines.
Those are used to fix water jackets in 100 HP flathead Fords. You can't install a plug that will separate a crack in a hole in the bottom of a cylinder or in a block rail that holds main caps in.
Hi Tony, thanks for your videos, I really appreciate your presentations. I have a little story and a question. When I was 17, in 1964, I bought a very nice ‘53 Chevy two door hardtop. It had an unusual engine in it. The seller said it was a 313. It had a dual 4 barrel cast iron intake manifold on it, and a cast iron Torqflite, 3 speed auto behind it. The seller had let it sit over the winter without antifreeze and everything was cracked, the block, heads and intake. I bought a 318 short block, he agreed to replace the heads, and he also performed a cold stitching process on the intake. It was cracked all the way across the front and from front to back on the underside. He drilled holes all the way along the crack, about an eighth of an inch, threaded them, screwed ready-rod into them, and then peaned them with a hammer, to mix the molecules, to seal the crack! I’m wondering if you might know from what car and what year that 313, with a factory dual 4 manifold might have come from? For some reason Plymouth in Canada installed poly V8 engines of 313 cubic inches in their full size cars, where US engines were 318 cubic inches. I believe Plymouth produced a car around 1959 or so, with the 313 of about 290 horsepower, but my memory of the details is sketchy now. I thought you might know something about them. Thanks, I appreciate your view on things, especially modern electric cars.
I really enjoy these rambling type of video's. You're clearly a Mopar expert, and the fact that you're also a Jeep Cherokee enjoyer, is icing on the cake. I would like to ask you, considering you're knee deep in the jeep's 4.0L, do you have any similar insights into that motor?
Tony my guess thats a sprint car motor oringing the block was common in the 70's for 16.5 compression methanol and the set screws are to hold in the dowel pins as the mid plate is part of the chassis and the holes are threw not like a blind hole in trans and shakes like hell and the oil pick up is blocked because its dry sump and the those two rods left the chat about 9k rpms removing the side of the block as u said it has no numbers because it was sold as bare block were it got built a sprint car motor
Nice idea with using weld beads on the block, would be really fun if it worked out and you could make an actual street running engine out of it. Keep these ideas coming and always enjoy hearing the stories that come along with the projects.
UTG I was remembering some outfit was making or going to be making hemi Head's for 440 blocks, maybe it was the 80s or 90s? It was a while ago, what ever became of it? You must have heard about it?
It was stage v engineering. The same stage v that makes hemi heads, rockers, and valve covers. Mopar re- released hemi blocks and it kind of made this option short lived. Before I found my hemi block I called them and inquired about them (in the early 2000's) and they were still selling them.
@@jamessheets9205 thanks 👍 watching Tony talking about the difference between the hemi and wedge made that memory Pop back from my memory. They were talking about putting the hemi head's on 440s and 383s right? I remember thinking a 440hemi would be pretty Cool 🤔
@@dionrau5580 Yes. They were hemi heads that fit wedge blocks. They had external oil drain backs on the corners of each head. I feel like the rockers might have been specific to these heads as well but don't quote me on it as it has been 20 years.
I've welded engine blocks, mostly from marine applications that froze up in the winters and had good success with them. It is a bit of a learning curve and castings don't weld like plate steel but it isn't that hard. Go for it.
Are those dowels offset at all? I could imagine having the set screws to keep offset dowels straight to keep the input shaft concentric with the bell housing.
Best of luck tony. By the time you finish the job you’ll have a sentimental connection with the engine. And if you build on it, you’ll treat that engine like your own flesh and blood. Because you are going to invest your time into it. And time is all we have.
The set screws in dowels tell me it was a test mule engine for a dyno shop, using it to test set ups and dyno combinations and that was just a step they didn’t need to take, I know old school guys that would use a bell housing on a dyno to protect from that little slip yoke hook up for extra protection incase of a problem
In addition to your flux core wire, I'd like to see some of those cracks welded with Muggy Rod. Been around a while, but it seems ideal for some of this 🤫
Loving your new shop, Tony. It is bright, clean, has better acoustics, and just looks more professional and less chaotic than the old shop. Congrats on making the move, it’s a nice place. Thank you, and your crew for offering up all this endless old school knowledge for the masses to enjoy and learn from. Always enjoy that NYC dialect, too- best wishes from your neighbor in Little Rock, AR who is a Detroit area transplant, may we always get funny looks for “talking funny” down here in the mid-south 😆🤦🤷♂️
Tony, Go for it!!! Years ago I picked up a 1968, 340 block with a cracked & bent lifter bore. I've been waiting for the right time to fix it. I'm gonna do the same thing you did with the Harbor Freight welder and put a lifter sleeve for reinforcement in the damaged lifter bore. I'm not sure what I'm going to put the motor in. But I do have a 1981 Diplomat cop car. that has a factory 727 tranny and a limited slip rear end. That might be a fun build.
The dolphins on the back of the engine there are offset A dowel pins to correct the center line of the crank to the center line of the tranny with the offset dowel pins so the bell housing gets shift it a little bit to get it centered again so I suppose they locked them in so they wouldn't rotate with the screws locking them from rotating absolutely great video there Tony I have a hemi and you showed me a quite a few things different from what I knew so thank you
A 30 min long vid is not long and it is a treat by a real door slammer/Mopar/mustache/pistol grip guy like yourself Tony. See if you can throw one together with what you have and simply make it run. Almost certain a series based on a classic 426 concave chamber Chrysler motor of old would definitely get you views and subs
He has fantastic content, anybody that does repairs of their own to anything metal. Should watch his channel, lots of the methods he practices can be used by anyone with a good mechanical inclination. Or at the very least, you learn some of the limitations of a machine shop.
First off awesome video. I think this is doable based off of what I have seen and known in the past. All the magic and everything happens when you are way the hell outside the box! And your thought process is there. Good luck in this project. Looking forward to it.
Well the only thing you missed was the build info on the pan rail and on my block the car info is stamped into the pan rail. Mine lost #1 rod and broke off the lifter bores and put a knotch in the bottom of the cylinder which the lifter bore were welded back on and the cylinder should be sleeved but could run it. I am going to sleeve it anyway. Would love to talk with you and get your spin on that repair too. I may do that. Your a hard guy to get a hold of lol. Also do you know ron kirkpatrick from PA he was going to help me with some parts. He has tons of hemis.
Glad to see you get back into a Hemi after practically swearing them off for life. Hope you can really fix it and do something cool with it! Looking forward to following this series... 😁
Fingers crossed this works out, would love to see more hemi stuff. I've been trying to learn everything I can about old race hemis so I can get my old 426 back to it's late 1970s prime.
I talked to wj a long time ago about that it was either english town mopar parts nationals or gator nationals can't remember the exact track but i do remember he used a 6.5 detroit diesel from a chevy truck those are known for internally cracking he then pre built the internals so the block would slip down on top of the skeleton it was an interesting story he was pretty detailed. used the same system to attach it as id use to do repairs to this hemi
That should be a interesting side project.....like you don't have enough stuff to do!!! Good luck, Tony. I'm thinking you might have a video of it someday.
I admit from the start I was waiting for you to address the "elephant in the shop" when I first saw that side wall hole...hope your ideas work to affirm it can be done!
Did you check your id pad ? ive got a 1967 383 and they put dowel pins in the back and set screws they also put set screws in my main caps to stop the main studs from loosening up the shop that built it was Dick Landys DLI it has super stock on the opposite side of the id pad
Almost bought a 440 with a nasty crack in the cam bearing area, wasn't sure It could be fixed, I thought at least masage out enough bearing to get the cam back in throw it back together with as little money spent as possible and see how it would do
The trickiest part is probably going to be avoiding any inclusions or cavities in the weld. I've seen this sort of thing attempted before - albeit on a much smaller scale - and there's almost always little gaps and pock marks that show up after you machine to finished size. Presumably they can then be filled in and the part re-machined...we'll have to see how it goes. I'm game to keep up with this run of videos. 👍
I definitely want to see how you weld on this block! I have a Hemi block that was freeze broke on both sidewalls (came out of a real Hemi Challenger convertible) and it is a stock bore, worth saving!
Sidewall can be simple, heck could even get away without welding. I think there was even a video here on this channel. Would be best to find the ends of the crack, drill holes to stop cracking further. Then either run a bead around the crack, without touching the crack itself, then another bead on previous bead just making the gap smaller, then weld to close it. This method is easy and probably more reliable than the next method but it takes more time and welding rods. Next method is to drill the same way, then slowly weld the crack while hammering down the molten metal. So like you weld 1/4 inch of crack, then immediately hammer it down, continue.
was just asking someone who ran a hemi in a front engine dragster and asked him if he had heard of that type of dowel pin he said hell yeah we used removable dowel pins on mid mounts depending on where we ran it was .495 -.500 size pin the mid mount he had was used to adapt a shorty powerglide
I remember seeing at the motel Sox's and Martin on the trawler the block looked like the hole side on both sides was replaced with bolt in fabricated plate
as i recall the hemi also had a super weak link in the connecting rod bearing as well most guys would pop em out and replace them with 383 connecting rod bearings
Been following you since my timing was all over the place and watching one of your distributor videos September last year, while a completely different type of distributor and engine I found your style of video very helpful and now want to ask when you might do a book. "Tips for Old school tuning and fighting furniture makers for good performance on the track and in life"
Hey Tony, I have a quick question. I have an original 70 Rallye gauge cluster in great shape. I’m just wondering what that would be worth in todays market. I’m a Pontiac guy so I have no idea what they go for. Thanks for your time and I love your vids👍🏼
Hey unkie, could it be those dowels on the bellhousing flange are offset and the builder used setscrews to prevent em turning and having to redial in said bellhousing?
UT this video is really you at peak UTness. You really know how to talk to people and have a considerate amount of charisma that is perfect for Car Stuff. I bet Aunt Kathy would agree.
You can get small sheets/ blocks of cast iron and braze them in. That is what i have done for fixing cast parts like your block, but im very interested in your plans and how they work out.
Damn....I thought the 426 HEMI was going in the Cherokee for a Tow&Drag Jeep..It could be quicker than the test cars it is supposed to tow,Oh well...Maybe you can repair it (never give up) lol.. *I am tired just did 12 hour road trip non stop for another old Mopar..
Now this is a T.B. Weld. Project, aka, Tony's Big Weld project. When there's a Will, There's a Tony's way. Wouldn't it be faster and stronger to weld stripes of 1/4" square shape metal blocks or bolts drilled trough the block skirt and walls between the cylinders to create a spider web inside the engine. It would look a bit like the marbles game with straws wich is called ker-plunk. But instead on inside the cylinders, it would be outside. This new shop place is getting great inspiration exactly as I expected. That skirt hole looks just like a ghost mouth. I expect as much time as the swiss cheese frame job. Little by Little. 100h?, 200h? and 50 pounds of wire or rods later, It will run.
It's amazing there was a 340 X block for the Super Speedway and Prostock guys, and those had a heap of lifter pocket reinforcement webs in the valley. I think there was an R block 340 too. But the Hemi was a Heavier Duty engine, yet never received those upgrades is my point.
Been racing Hemis for over 50 years, Tony. We've got 4 Hemi Nostalgia cars. A few years ago we had one go that bad when one of the old iron heads rusted out from the inside, and water does not compress. Even damaged the lifter valley. We DID fix it! We filled the block, machined it up, put new Eddie heads on it, used a 4.15 crank, it recently went 10.40s in a 68 RR with a crossram. Looking forward to seeing your progress! STILL a Hemi guy!!! Have been since 1964!!
Look up
Stitch Pin process, requires machining a piece out of a broken 440 block, mind you mine was not broke into water jacket.
426 dog rated at 425 Horsepower at 5,000 -- only 350 net at 5,000 rpm. 6,000 rpm 475 GROSS but only 380 NET...a 2023 5.7 in a RAM is 385 net and good for 150,000 miles better than the 426 that blew bearings before 10K. Get with the 21st century Gomer
@@chadhaire1711 Another know nothing, do nothing millenial yuppie who doesn't know a piston from a spark plug goving racing advice. Grow up, kid.
@@bigstevesnostalgiadragraci4240 Been doing this as long as you Goober and my numbers are 100% fact----so instead of talking shit why dont you show us how my facts are wrong--you can't but we will wait anyway. I suspect for a long time.
@@bigstevesnostalgiadragraci4240 that is what I thought
oh shit! Tony will have an altered funny car with a Hemi called "Boogered Up" upon a closer look you will see blobs of booger welds with a lot of hammering and grinding done to it. I've heard that some Australian shops will buy blown up shrapnel blocks and they will piece and patch them right back into full blown race engines! The 426 hemis are rare engines and known for melting the pistons. I knew this guy in central Alberta who had 3 of these engines still shrink wrapped on shipping skids. Thieves broke into his shop and stole those Hemi engines. He called the police and all they did was put the case on the back burner for several months. They had no idea where to go and those engines were long gone! The guy who purchased these engines stayed diligent and kept searching classified ads and online ads for used Hemi engines. Sure enough his actual engines popped up in an ad and the guy called up his biker buddies and the whole group went down to take a look at these engines for sale. "Hey those are my engines!! still had the shipping tags with the guy's name all over them!" out came baseball bats, duct tape and tire irons. these poor crackheads got beaten and barely had their lives spared. The engine owner and his buddies carted all 3 engines out to the truck. two of those Hemi engines were bought as whole runners and one was a core engine still buildable all 426 Hemis. Sadly a few years back, the guy suddenly passed away and his family had no idea how to run the autowrecking business plus he was a custom harley builder. I had the priveledge and pleasure of meeting this guy only a couple of times before he passed away. His name is still well known and remembered all over Alberta. His name was Tim Lynch at Heavy Metal Auto Wrecking in Trochu Alberta. Tim was an extreme mopar nut!
What a story…make a good movie. Thanks for sharing 👍
Nah 😏 get some butter and jam. Because that Hemi is toast
One of my old neighbors had a pro streeted charger with a windowed top fueler block he repaired.
I guess he said he did it back in the late 80s and its still working.
Edit: 3:55 maybe that's why he repaired it
Tony did buy $25 worth of scrap metal as a $400 coffee table to try experimenting with
The dowels are to adjust bellhousing when using a stick the are offset dowels that’s why they have a screwdriver slot to turn them and adjust bellhousing with dial indicator and set screw is used to lock the dowel from moving after it’s where they want it
I was going to tell him that you beat me to the punch
This suggests that the dowels are eccentric. Is that true? And that further suggests that there's some "slop" in the bell housing mounting holes. Also true? Finally, is this to insure that the tranny input shaft is precisely concentric with the crank?
@@seabulls69,yes.
@seabulls69 Using offset dowels is a common practice even on street builds. My first HotRod was a 74 Duster My Dad helped me swap a 340 and a 4spd in place of the original 318 auto. It ran great but there was a constant, minor driveline vibration. First time I had to put a clutch in it I indexed the bellhousing with the Direct Connection ofset dowel kit he made me buy that I was too lazy to put in the first time. The vibration went away and the new(used) clutch lasted way longer than the first NEW(but cheap) clutch
Yes sir everything you said is true
It was cool meeting you Uncle Tony after watching your videos for years. I am really excited to see how well your repair on this old block works out. She did look a lot better before the monsoon hit while it was in my truck bed. I enjoyed the postmortem on it. Keep up the good work and fingers crossed the cold welding works.
Let's not forget the "230" 71 400 block with the thick main saddles. Sometimes reffered to as the cold weather block. I've got a couple of them.
I believe Tony said in 76-78 they all had strengthened sadels would this be the same as the cold weather 400?
I always heard the LB in general was thicker . From what I heard it got thinner when they Raised the block height. Also heard the 400 had slightly bigger bore than the 440 RB? I had the LB 400 in my 1973 charger that was a fun car at least till I had to pull the starter and at least one of the plugs was kinda a cuss fest?
@@tonypace2009The 400 does have the biggest bore out of the B& RB blocks I just finished up a 451 stroker 2 going on 3 years ago that went into a 69 Plymouth road runner a mild build but with the good parts inside that made over 500 HP and 560+ ft lbs torque on pump gas with some worked iron 906 heads . My buddy is very happy with it but complains about the fuel mileage which he says is about 5-6 mpg lol .
@@peteloomis8456Tell your buddy that u gotta pay to play. He could be driving an old Honda Civic ha ha!
@@peteloomis8456 5-6 miles a gallon sounds like he is having fun.
I myself was told they are traffic lights not timing tree lights.LOL
My favorite is Its a yellow light not a amber light . Of corse followed by green is not the trigger to release the trans brake I totaly agree with this every one knows if you wait for green you lose the 60 foot advantage. LOL
Blue Demon makes a "no-preheat" cast iron repair tig welding rod. Very high nickel content. I welded my SBC 186 heads with this rod. It worked great, and Im an amateur welder
If you're interested in that sort of thing, Steve Morris did an hour long video about a month ago with one of the more knowledgeable people I've seen on the matter.
I'm a welder and I got a lot out of it.
@dannymitchell6131 I saw that video. It was great! Im a power plant operator and am exposed to alot of that type of stuff, I jusy don't do it myself professionally. Just for fun
The set screws are to hold offset dowels in the correct clocked position to maintain bellhousing alignment after dialling in, like compensating for a line bore on the main saddles. My guess is that it's been line bored in a past life.
That's on my line of thinking ?
Except my thought was for belhousing on a clutch belhousing versus a auto?
Yes, even when a block hasn't been line bored to repair damaged mains, one will often find a bit of misalignment between the main centerline and the bellhousing pilot bore centerline. call it "stackup of tolerances" , courtesy of the less than perfect production line machining of 50+ years ago. This also affects automatic transmission alignment the same way, and is what usually causes cracked / broken flex plates with those. @@tonypace2009
I worked in the Chrysler Engineering transmission lab and we would always measure the automatic transmission pump bore to the crankshaft centerline. Tests were run on the flex plates to make sure they could handle worse case offsets.
I have had people tell me and argue with me that engine blocks can not be repaired. And yet, during World War 2, the British were taking Merlin engines made of aluminum, from badly damaged Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters and repairing bullet holes and cracked/broken blocks. If the damage was not too bad, well then it flew again. If the block was pretty bad but salvaged, it went un-supercharged into a tank as the Meteor engine. It saved the country A LOT of money, it meant that less engines needed to be built as spares, and it meant that the factories did not have to place too much focus on the Meteor tank engines when aircraft engine production was the priority. And I made a point of mentioning the fact Merlin/Meteor engines were aluminum, as back in that time aluminum welding was a rare, and a HIGHLY skilled practice. There are pictures of Merlin/Meteor engines that have patches applied to them, and they were not welded into place, yet the engines would either fly again or make a tank move.
It’s usually more that they’re not worth the time and money to repair them. I’ve seen some amazing repairs done to high end blocks and heads. The value of the parts is high enough it’s worth fixing them.
With most stuff it doesn’t make sense to spend a few thousand to repair something that costs a few hundred to buy another one.
With things like the Merlin during wartime production was critical and they were using them as fast as they could make them. So, repairing damaged ones was worth it since it could keep something going. And, those would be expensive enough the cost of repair is generally justified.
While correct, there's a world of difference between the service life of a tank or war plane engine vs a civilian car engine. Many repaired marlins likely only garnered a few dozen more hours before being lost anyway, they were subject to regular maintenance and scrutiny, the labor to do the work was government subsidized etc.
That's different than a guy finding someone with the knowhow, paying out the ass for the privilege, then expecting to just drive the car until the end of days without having to think about the repair ever again.
Constant maintenance was the expected norm in ww2, even for a racing team where you could argue the same, that extra question mark is worth avoiding as soon as possible. Hence nobody really bothers with repairs like that if they have to option of buying a replacement part.
I have repaired one 27 liter Merlin Meteor block in 2020 which has a huge connrod failure. Need to cast some aluminium pieces to it before welding. Cylinders also heavily rusted and some pistons stuck.
I made some picturevideos about rebuilt in my channel. (”Bluebird Meteor”, Part1)
Steve Morris repairs his smx blocks all the time. He has videos of it.
Pakistani roadside repairs has entered the chat 😂
They fix 💩 that we said was played out 40yrs ago and they keep it limping along.
Hemi shaped scrap metal. Adds some value. Screwing around with it & learning something adds the balance.
If you can bake the block to burn off all the oils, and use a nickel 55 rod that has been the best luck I've had welding a block. Finding a replacement for the 8L v10 block is beyond impossible.... So I've welded my 2 a few times.
I love the long rambling videos as well as carburetor videos. We need more slant six stuff. Lol utg is my favorite channel's
I've said it before. Uncle Tony is the Paul Harrell of Hemi engines.
Tony I'm a few years older than you. Sometimes you have to do repairs that get you through the current situation. I had a governor fall apart on a 904 torqueflight and It blew a quarter size hole in the tailshaft. I took some aluminum sheet metal and JB Weld and made a patch. It lasted over a year till the trans needed a complete repair. Hey I was only 19 at the time. No welder available either. Great video! Keep them coming!
Ryan Brutt has a pair of 426 Hemi heads with more cracks than I have ever seen on one set of heads. You might contact him, they would match that block nicely.
Thanks for sharing this with us. i recently got the bug like you, and started doing things for FUN. Not because it's a faster or more affordable way, but because i want to enjoy myself and work at a leisure pace
Wouldn't the set screwed dowels be for fine tuning the alignment of the clutch/transmission?
That was first thought also. But some one else commented about posiable aligned bore adjustment to trans and seeing one cylinder sleeves and block resets around cylinder for copper gasket? There is a possibility offset dowls were for realigning trans to new crank centerline ?
Yes, for offset dowels to dial in input shaft alignment to crank after being line bored.
Have you ever heard of lock-n-stitch. It's a fascinating way to repair cast iron blocks. It's drilling and taping holes evenly using a spacer to follow the crack or repair. You lock Tight a stud in the drilled and tapped hole. Followed by grinding the stud flat. When you have gone down the Length of the repair. You off set the spacing, so you drill and tap over lapping the Previous stud. Makes for a very strong repair.
I worked at a place called Classic auto limousine service during the early 90s and the owner had 30 cars in the limousine service and some sports cars and muscle cars you could rent to limousines from a 35 Rolls Royce with a couple ghosts and a couple Bentleys & a bunch of other limousines but to get to the point he was a huge Packard guy and we had quite a few Packard coach built limousines that got rented out with a chauffeur for special occasions weddings anniversaries ect and the owner would buy extra Packard engines for spares mainly those Straight 8 Packard engines and he bought one from a guy that supposedly was sitting in a car that had sat in a swamp for years that he had me tear down to do a full rebuild on the engine that was going to go into one of his Packard limousines that he had just got the car completely restored and when I got down to striping the block it had some minor cracks in the block because it sat for years in a swamp with no antifreeze but obviously had partially filled with swamp water and froze and cracked part of this engine block I was tearing down . This thing even had dirt & grass weeds stuck into some of the intake and exhaust ports in the head because the intake and exhaust manifold was gone . So I get this engine torn down and cleaning up the block I see these cracks and show this to my boss and he said he know a person that could fix this block using this same method you are talking about here in this post . So I loaded up the block and drove out to this guy's shop and we pulled the block out of the back of our shop truck and he starts looking it over real good and says I'm pretty sure I can fix this so I told him call our shop when it's done and I will come pick the block up and he did a great job on it . Once that was done it was sent to the machine shop to have the bores machined for new pistons and the main caps for the crank resized and the crank shaft turned & cylinder head completely done & set up for unleaded piss water gas . Well when all said & done the engine ran beautifully and no external water jack leaks from the cracked block repair this guy did thank God & the engine went into this Packard limousine & was put into service with the rest of the fleet . Working for this company was one of the best jobs I ever had if not the best because of all the different antique cars I got to work on & test drive for the limousine service along with the sports cars and muscle cars he had that could be rented out by the hour or day which wasn't cheap. The limousines you couldn't rent to drive personally because they all came with a chauffeured driver but we were also sponsored by the MSRA Minnesota Street Roders Association so we had a lot of old hot rods street rods and muscle cars coming in to be worked on besides the fleet of cars we had at classic at the time that me and my boss had to keep serviced and running . I just subscribed to UTG because I'm also a Mopar guy besides most anything muscle car related as well as drag cars being when I worked at classic you couldn't be 1 brand specific and closed minded like some people are because once you work on as many cars and old trucks as I did at this place for all those years you get to see how each different make model vehicles you worked on how they were designed engineered built & that each make models all were different & how these manufacturers did things differently from one to another while trying to do the same things which was to try to build a car or truck to drive somewhat reliable for the everyday Joe schmoe yet everyone was unique and different with the approach they each used to accomplish the same thing which was transportation for the masses be it cheap transportation or the high end limousines for the rich & famous people who often times would buy these coach built bodied Packers limousines.
Those are used to fix water jackets in 100 HP flathead Fords. You can't install a plug that will separate a crack in a hole in the bottom of a cylinder or in a block rail that holds main caps in.
Hi Tony, thanks for your videos, I really appreciate your presentations. I have a little story and a question.
When I was 17, in 1964, I bought a very nice ‘53 Chevy two door hardtop. It had an unusual engine in it. The seller said it was a 313. It had a dual 4 barrel cast iron intake manifold on it, and a cast iron Torqflite, 3 speed auto behind it. The seller had let it sit over the winter without antifreeze and everything was cracked, the block, heads and intake. I bought a 318 short block, he agreed to replace the heads, and he also performed a cold stitching process on the intake. It was cracked all the way across the front and from front to back on the underside. He drilled holes all the way along the crack, about an eighth of an inch, threaded them, screwed ready-rod into them, and then peaned them with a hammer, to mix the molecules, to seal the crack! I’m wondering if you might know from what car and what year that 313, with a factory dual 4 manifold might have come from? For some reason Plymouth in Canada installed poly V8 engines of 313 cubic inches in their full size cars, where US engines were 318 cubic inches. I believe Plymouth produced a car around 1959 or so, with the 313 of about 290 horsepower, but my memory of the details is sketchy now. I thought you might know something about them.
Thanks, I appreciate your view on things, especially modern electric cars.
I really enjoy these rambling type of video's. You're clearly a Mopar expert, and the fact that you're also a Jeep Cherokee enjoyer, is icing on the cake. I would like to ask you, considering you're knee deep in the jeep's 4.0L, do you have any similar insights into that motor?
He said he has some more XJ stuff coming even teasing about a stroker motor. That white XJ looks pretty clean doesnt it?
Mate I just love listening to tou rambling Tony!
I can't wait to follow this series
Tony my guess thats a sprint car motor oringing the block was common in the 70's for 16.5 compression methanol and the set screws are to hold in the dowel pins as the mid plate is part of the chassis and the holes are threw not like a blind hole in trans and shakes like hell and the oil pick up is blocked because its dry sump and the those two rods left the chat about 9k rpms removing the side of the block as u said it has no numbers because it was sold as bare block were it got built a sprint car motor
Nice idea with using weld beads on the block, would be really fun if it worked out and you could make an actual street running engine out of it. Keep these ideas coming and always enjoy hearing the stories that come along with the projects.
Hemi for the WIN!
UTG I was remembering some outfit was making or going to be making hemi Head's for 440 blocks, maybe it was the 80s or 90s? It was a while ago, what ever became of it? You must have heard about it?
It was stage v engineering. The same stage v that makes hemi heads, rockers, and valve covers. Mopar re- released hemi blocks and it kind of made this option short lived. Before I found my hemi block I called them and inquired about them (in the early 2000's) and they were still selling them.
@@jamessheets9205 thanks 👍 watching Tony talking about the difference between the hemi and wedge made that memory Pop back from my memory. They were talking about putting the hemi head's on 440s and 383s right? I remember thinking a 440hemi would be pretty Cool 🤔
@@dionrau5580 Yes. They were hemi heads that fit wedge blocks. They had external oil drain backs on the corners of each head. I feel like the rockers might have been specific to these heads as well but don't quote me on it as it has been 20 years.
I've welded engine blocks, mostly from marine applications that froze up in the winters and had good success with them. It is a bit of a learning curve and castings don't weld like plate steel but it isn't that hard. Go for it.
On the set screws on the bell housing dowels, potential use case is off set dowel pins to center a scatter shield.
Are those dowels offset at all? I could imagine having the set screws to keep offset dowels straight to keep the input shaft concentric with the bell housing.
I absolutely love your long and rambling videos because you have such great stories to tell!
Always appreciate the history lesson, UT. “Rambling” history lessons are the best. 👍💪😎
Best of luck tony. By the time you finish the job you’ll have a sentimental connection with the engine. And if you build on it, you’ll treat that engine like your own flesh and blood. Because you are going to invest your time into it. And time is all we have.
The set screws in dowels tell me it was a test mule engine for a dyno shop, using it to test set ups and dyno combinations and that was just a step they didn’t need to take, I know old school guys that would use a bell housing on a dyno to protect from that little slip yoke hook up for extra protection incase of a problem
Yup, more of these type vids. luv ya knowledge. Cant believe how much of ur stuff i read back in the day without knowin it was urs .
In addition to your flux core wire, I'd like to see some of those cracks welded with Muggy Rod. Been around a while, but it seems ideal for some of this 🤫
Look into Muggy Weld it's a 2 stage cold weld process . Iron is always a challenge .
I look forward to following this series 😅😅😅
Love it, UTG, do your Thang, Brother.
Tony, I believe those dowels are OFFSET type dowels... So someone LOCKED them into position after dial indicating them in.
Loving your new shop, Tony. It is bright, clean, has better acoustics, and just looks more professional and less chaotic than the old shop.
Congrats on making the move, it’s a nice place. Thank you, and your crew for offering up all this endless old school knowledge for the masses to enjoy and learn from.
Always enjoy that NYC dialect, too- best wishes from your neighbor in Little Rock, AR who is a Detroit area transplant, may we always get funny looks for “talking funny” down here in the mid-south 😆🤦🤷♂️
Nice! Sometimes a man has to test himself, satisfy his curiosity. Good to see you enjoying this Tony.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom Uncle Tony.
Tony, Go for it!!! Years ago I picked up a 1968, 340 block with a cracked & bent lifter bore. I've been waiting for the right time to fix it. I'm gonna do the same thing you did with the Harbor Freight welder and put a lifter sleeve for reinforcement in the damaged lifter bore. I'm not sure what I'm going to put the motor in. But I do have a 1981 Diplomat cop car. that has a factory 727 tranny and a limited slip rear end. That might be a fun build.
The dolphins on the back of the engine there are offset A dowel pins to correct the center line of the crank to the center line of the tranny with the offset dowel pins so the bell housing gets shift it a little bit to get it centered again so I suppose they locked them in so they wouldn't rotate with the screws locking them from rotating absolutely great video there Tony I have a hemi and you showed me a quite a few things different from what I knew so thank you
I have a 73 iron hemi block and two KB aluminum blocks (I repaired). Great video, I passed it on to my Brother.
🌵🤠👍
A 30 min long vid is not long and it is a treat by a real door slammer/Mopar/mustache/pistol grip guy like yourself Tony.
See if you can throw one together with what you have and simply make it run. Almost certain a series based on a classic 426 concave chamber Chrysler motor of old would definitely get you views and subs
Hemi stuff !!!
machine shops like Cutting edge Engineering in Aus. regularly weld up the eyes on lifting cylinders then hone them back to spec
He has fantastic content, anybody that does repairs of their own to anything metal. Should watch his channel, lots of the methods he practices can be used by anyone with a good mechanical inclination. Or at the very least, you learn some of the limitations of a machine shop.
Enjoy watching. Always learn something.👍
First off awesome video. I think this is doable based off of what I have seen and known in the past. All the magic and everything happens when you are way the hell outside the box! And your thought process is there. Good luck in this project. Looking forward to it.
Well the only thing you missed was the build info on the pan rail and on my block the car info is stamped into the pan rail. Mine lost #1 rod and broke off the lifter bores and put a knotch in the bottom of the cylinder which the lifter bore were welded back on and the cylinder should be sleeved but could run it. I am going to sleeve it anyway. Would love to talk with you and get your spin on that repair too. I may do that. Your a hard guy to get a hold of lol. Also do you know ron kirkpatrick from PA he was going to help me with some parts. He has tons of hemis.
Wowsers, big damage 😵
These are the kinds of videos i watch this channel for
As always, great stuff Uncle Tony, very enjoyable.
Glad to see you get back into a Hemi after practically swearing them off for life. Hope you can really fix it and do something cool with it! Looking forward to following this series... 😁
Thanks for the Coffee table Idea Tony, now I want one !
I'm All for HEMI talk Tony
Fingers crossed this works out, would love to see more hemi stuff. I've been trying to learn everything I can about old race hemis so I can get my old 426 back to it's late 1970s prime.
I talked to wj a long time ago about that it was either english town mopar parts nationals or gator nationals can't remember the exact track but i do remember he used a 6.5 detroit diesel from a chevy truck those are known for internally cracking he then pre built the internals so the block would slip down on top of the skeleton it was an interesting story he was pretty detailed. used the same system to attach it as id use to do repairs to this hemi
Great project idea.
Great vid Tony!
Love the details.
That should be a interesting side project.....like you don't have enough stuff to do!!! Good luck, Tony. I'm thinking you might have a video of it someday.
I would guess the set screws in the dowels is to locate/lock offset dowels for centering bellhousing and 4 speed input shaft to crank centerline.
Check out what Neil and Parks Racing Enterprises did with the internal block of a 392 hemi. Over the top, but very cool.
Very cool project!
That 2000 dollar hemi build was YOU?! Legendary
Just a great wealth of knowledge !!!
I'm fascintated by this project! Please go into more detail about what you mean by "cold welding" and how you plan to do it.
This is riveting video.
I admit from the start I was waiting for you to address the "elephant in the shop" when I first saw that side wall hole...hope your ideas work to affirm it can be done!
Did you check your id pad ? ive got a 1967 383 and they put dowel pins in the back and set screws they also put set screws in my main caps to stop the main studs from loosening up the shop that built it was Dick Landys DLI it has super stock on the opposite side of the id pad
Awesome video. I got 3 440’s, waiting for an informational on the blocks as well!
Almost bought a 440 with a nasty crack in the cam bearing area, wasn't sure It could be fixed, I thought at least masage out enough bearing to get the cam back in throw it back together with as little money spent as possible and see how it would do
Good Luck my brother.
I'd be curious to learn what kind of rod you are welding with. On the railroad we welded broken cast parts with nickel rod with good results.
He's been playing with flux-core MIG for cast iron repair...
The trickiest part is probably going to be avoiding any inclusions or cavities in the weld. I've seen this sort of thing attempted before - albeit on a much smaller scale - and there's almost always little gaps and pock marks that show up after you machine to finished size. Presumably they can then be filled in and the part re-machined...we'll have to see how it goes. I'm game to keep up with this run of videos. 👍
Liking the new shop. Tidy.
I definitely want to see how you weld on this block! I have a Hemi block that was freeze broke on both sidewalls (came out of a real Hemi Challenger convertible) and it is a stock bore, worth saving!
Sidewall can be simple, heck could even get away without welding. I think there was even a video here on this channel. Would be best to find the ends of the crack, drill holes to stop cracking further. Then either run a bead around the crack, without touching the crack itself, then another bead on previous bead just making the gap smaller, then weld to close it. This method is easy and probably more reliable than the next method but it takes more time and welding rods. Next method is to drill the same way, then slowly weld the crack while hammering down the molten metal. So like you weld 1/4 inch of crack, then immediately hammer it down, continue.
was just asking someone who ran a hemi in a front engine dragster and asked him if he had heard of that type of dowel pin he said hell yeah we used removable dowel pins on mid mounts depending on where we ran it was .495 -.500 size pin the mid mount he had was used to adapt a shorty powerglide
Great class on Hemi blocks Tony, Thanks
lock n stitch put 75 in a hemi cracked on lower drivers side rear old timer machine shop.
Thank you Sir
A long, rambling video, you say? Just the kind I like!
Interesting project.
I remember seeing at the motel Sox's and Martin on the trawler the block looked like the hole side on both sides was replaced with bolt in fabricated plate
Great ramble!
I'm sensing that this may be the foundation of Uncle Tony's new hoard 😂
as i recall the hemi also had a super weak link in the connecting rod bearing as well most guys would pop em out and replace them with 383 connecting rod bearings
Give me this block and some JB Weld,... (Looking forward to the series)!
Fascinating stuff!!
So...what is cold welding with Flexcore?
Been following you since my timing was all over the place and watching one of your distributor videos September last year, while a completely different type of distributor and engine I found your style of video very helpful and now want to ask when you might do a book.
"Tips for Old school tuning and fighting furniture makers for good performance on the track and in life"
Hey Tony, I have a quick question. I have an original 70 Rallye gauge cluster in great shape. I’m just wondering what that would be worth in todays market. I’m a Pontiac guy so I have no idea what they go for. Thanks for your time and I love your vids👍🏼
Hey unkie, could it be those dowels on the bellhousing flange are offset and the builder used setscrews to prevent em turning and having to redial in said bellhousing?
UT this video is really you at peak UTness. You really know how to talk to people and have a considerate amount of charisma that is perfect for Car Stuff. I bet Aunt Kathy would agree.
You can get small sheets/ blocks of cast iron and braze them in. That is what i have done for fixing cast parts like your block, but im very interested in your plans and how they work out.
Damn....I thought the 426 HEMI was going in the Cherokee for a Tow&Drag Jeep..It could be quicker than the test cars it is supposed to tow,Oh well...Maybe you can repair it (never give up) lol..
*I am tired just did 12 hour road trip non stop for another old Mopar..
Now this is a T.B. Weld. Project, aka,
Tony's Big Weld project.
When there's a Will,
There's a Tony's way.
Wouldn't it be faster and stronger to weld stripes of 1/4" square shape metal blocks or bolts drilled trough the block skirt and walls between the cylinders to create a spider web inside the engine. It would look a bit like the marbles game with straws wich is called ker-plunk. But instead on inside the cylinders, it would be outside.
This new shop place is getting great inspiration exactly as I expected.
That skirt hole looks just like a ghost mouth. I expect as much time as the swiss cheese frame job. Little by Little. 100h?, 200h? and 50 pounds of wire or rods later, It will run.
It's amazing there was a 340 X block for the Super Speedway and Prostock guys, and those had a heap of lifter pocket reinforcement webs in the valley. I think there was an R block 340 too. But the Hemi was a Heavier Duty engine, yet never received those upgrades is my point.
Hey! What about the Desoto hemi?
Set screws on the dowls ? Do they have a offset oosiably for belhousing alighnment for a clutch car?
Wow, I'll be watching if or when!~
The later 400 block were also cast super heavy to resist cracking.