Options to fix 327 cylinder leaking radiator fluid - NCRS Discussion Boards

Options to fix 327 cylinder leaking radiator fluid

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  • Craig S.
    Extremely Frequent Poster
    • June 30, 1997
    • 2471

    #16
    Re: Web site on ceramic sealers

    Tony and JR - I agree that using a sealer in the bottom of the case is a good bet to give a shot. Tony - there are block cement options that harden and will not flow through the radiator, and hence wouldn't cause issue with that. There is another rebuild option however, I used on my 66 427/425 block. There had been a sleeve in the number 5 hole in it's past live, all other cylinders were STD bore still. As JR points out, not all rebuilders in the past used step sleeving techniques to provide a postive anchor for the liner, and relied upon press fit friction to do the deed. Sometimes, worked, sometimes not, depending on the engine and conditions, plus degree of press fit. Well, my block had sleeve crawl of about 3/16" downward of the first sleeve. It was a 0.093" wall thickness sleeve...regular sleeve. I deceided to resleeve with a .125 wall Darton top step sleeve, a very high quality and not cheap sleeve company in CA that build many sleeves for high performance applications and are OEM in many aluminum engine blocks. I felt this was superior to bottom stepping the remaining material in that bore. We bored out the original sleeve, and peeled the remainder, and the original block was intact save for two 1.5" cracks on the thrust faces (probably from a snapped rod). The advantage of the top step sleeve was providing a postive lock and retention of the sleeve, as well as gasket seating surface. I sonic checked the wall thickness, and on the old 942 427 block there was still a lot of meat left behind the sleeve, other than one thin spot near the bottom between cylinders 3 and 5. One tiny thin spot in the casting cut through the size of a pencil lead, and we used JB weld to seal that area during sleeve installation. Anyway, you can use this option for a resleeve too, but the meat on a SB is not as great as a BB so I am not sure you can overbore this much, however, Darton does offer SB step sleeves too, and they will custom machine a sleeve OD for you as well such that your machinist could only slightly overbore the hole from where it stands. The Darton step sleeve was about $70 as I recall, vs the usual $20 or so, the custom process will kick the sleeve cost to about $200. They did cut to length also for an additional $25 which I used. Anyway, these sleeves are first rate and if you do end up rebuilding the block, I am confident you could use this option to fix your block. Machine costs are more since there is step boring involved, but my machinist did an exceptional job of fit and work, since he specializes in performance engine work and racing blueprinting.......here is the Darton website.......Craig




    Darton International

    Comment

    • Craig S.
      Extremely Frequent Poster
      • June 30, 1997
      • 2471

      #17
      Re: Web site on ceramic sealers

      Tony and JR - I agree that using a sealer in the bottom of the case is a good bet to give a shot. Tony - there are block cement options that harden and will not flow through the radiator, and hence wouldn't cause issue with that. There is another rebuild option however, I used on my 66 427/425 block. There had been a sleeve in the number 5 hole in it's past live, all other cylinders were STD bore still. As JR points out, not all rebuilders in the past used step sleeving techniques to provide a postive anchor for the liner, and relied upon press fit friction to do the deed. Sometimes, worked, sometimes not, depending on the engine and conditions, plus degree of press fit. Well, my block had sleeve crawl of about 3/16" downward of the first sleeve. It was a 0.093" wall thickness sleeve...regular sleeve. I deceided to resleeve with a .125 wall Darton top step sleeve, a very high quality and not cheap sleeve company in CA that build many sleeves for high performance applications and are OEM in many aluminum engine blocks. I felt this was superior to bottom stepping the remaining material in that bore. We bored out the original sleeve, and peeled the remainder, and the original block was intact save for two 1.5" cracks on the thrust faces (probably from a snapped rod). The advantage of the top step sleeve was providing a postive lock and retention of the sleeve, as well as gasket seating surface. I sonic checked the wall thickness, and on the old 942 427 block there was still a lot of meat left behind the sleeve, other than one thin spot near the bottom between cylinders 3 and 5. One tiny thin spot in the casting cut through the size of a pencil lead, and we used JB weld to seal that area during sleeve installation. Anyway, you can use this option for a resleeve too, but the meat on a SB is not as great as a BB so I am not sure you can overbore this much, however, Darton does offer SB step sleeves too, and they will custom machine a sleeve OD for you as well such that your machinist could only slightly overbore the hole from where it stands. The Darton step sleeve was about $70 as I recall, vs the usual $20 or so, the custom process will kick the sleeve cost to about $200. They did cut to length also for an additional $25 which I used. Anyway, these sleeves are first rate and if you do end up rebuilding the block, I am confident you could use this option to fix your block. Machine costs are more since there is step boring involved, but my machinist did an exceptional job of fit and work, since he specializes in performance engine work and racing blueprinting.......here is the Darton website.......Craig




      Darton International

      Comment

      • Craig S.
        Extremely Frequent Poster
        • June 30, 1997
        • 2471

        #18
        Re: Correction to post

        Len - Sonic checking will show for sure. Note my post on Darton sleeves above. They offer sleeves that are wet and can withstand cylinder pressure on their own due to sleeve materials and construction, so I believe there are several possible options from Darton to fix this block. My machinist has fixed blocks with sleeves that literally had large chunks of the cylinder missing. What matters most is the integrity of the deck area and the lower block at the bottom area where the water jackets reside. Cracks down there are not a good thing.....Craig

        Comment

        • Craig S.
          Extremely Frequent Poster
          • June 30, 1997
          • 2471

          #19
          Re: Correction to post

          Len - Sonic checking will show for sure. Note my post on Darton sleeves above. They offer sleeves that are wet and can withstand cylinder pressure on their own due to sleeve materials and construction, so I believe there are several possible options from Darton to fix this block. My machinist has fixed blocks with sleeves that literally had large chunks of the cylinder missing. What matters most is the integrity of the deck area and the lower block at the bottom area where the water jackets reside. Cracks down there are not a good thing.....Craig

          Comment

          • Clem Z.
            Expired
            • January 1, 2006
            • 9427

            #20
            the block sealers work but

            make sure you follow the instructions as some need to be drained after a certain length of time. also if the sleeve is "droping" you will have head gasket leakage as the sleeve falls away from the head gasket.

            Comment

            • Clem Z.
              Expired
              • January 1, 2006
              • 9427

              #21
              the block sealers work but

              make sure you follow the instructions as some need to be drained after a certain length of time. also if the sleeve is "droping" you will have head gasket leakage as the sleeve falls away from the head gasket.

              Comment

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