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Just curious if the deck on this SBC can be repaired. During the decking process, the deck was damaged pretty good due to a freak mishap, which is unfortunate, because all cylinders are freshly sleeved and bored to .040 over. Would be a shame if such a fresh block had to be retired into a table base. Is there any hope of saving this for use?
Last edited by Corvette-ZL1; May 31, 2022 at 10:36 AM.
I would let your machinist make the call, since it obviously happened on the head decking machine. A significant amount of deck material has been removed but no water jacket or cylinder bores or oil holes seem to be affected and there looks to be sufficient material around each of those areas for proper sealing. I would place a head gasket on it and see. It is possible it could still be used. Maybe even as-is.
I'm definitely not a machinist, but just looking at the second photo, the hole nearest to the damage toward the bottom... Isn't that the spot for the locating pin for the cylinder head? If so, it sure looks as if you have plenty of sealing surface on the block deck for the water passages. I would think that you would still be able to use this block.
I would let your machinist make the call, since it obviously happened on the head decking machine. A significant amount of deck material has been removed but no water jacket or cylinder bores or oil holes seem to be affected and there looks to be sufficient material around each of those areas for proper sealing. I would place a head gasket on it and see. It is possible it could still be used. Maybe even as-is.
I would try to save it. You already sleeved #6 so it must have been worth saving for some reason???
To make a long and frustrating story short, the machine shop I used went through a series of missteps along the way with regard to this engine block, culminating in the replacement of the engine block (by the machine shop, of course) due to the machine shop causing the damage on the deck during the decking process (as pictured above). Communication was very poor on their end, as I had requested they call me before doing any work that was unplanned, so that I could make the appropriate decision. I had to be the one to call at least once a week for several weeks to get status updates, and in some cases, it was too late, they had already done something that they should have called me first to discuss before proceeding. Then there were scenarios where I had to remind them to do something that they forgot (because they were generally rushing me off the phone and probably didn't take down any notes). Just an overall unpleasant experience that I hope none of you have (or had) to go through.
Despite being instructed to bore all cylinders to .040 to match my rotating assembly, they bored to .060, to make all match cylinder 2 which was rusted from a previous head gasket failure and water/coolant allowed to sit in the cylinder for a few years, where .040 wasn't enough to clean it up. So instead of re-sleeving #2, boring to .040 and then boring the remaining 7 cylinders to .040 to match (the other bores were in pretty good shape), they just did .060 all around. So, the correction plan was to resleeve all cylinders (on their dime, of course) and then bore to .040. Although #6 is obvious that it is a sleeve, the decking process may have made the other 7 less obvious, because there is also a faint ring, much like #6 around each cylinder bore - I've never had a resleeve, so I don't know what they look like after decking.
I'll have to get a dial bore and measure to be sure, as they'll all either be .040 or .060, or perhaps the standard bore, and only a honing. I do not know where they were in that process, and frankly, I don't feel like talking to them again. All be told, I spent $1200+ for the privilege of having my block destroyed, and having to wait approximately 7 weeks for the replacement with the requested work performed. Not even a discount.....
I was able to get the block that they damaged back from them, so that's why I have this one and the replacement. I'm just thankful I didn't go through this with the original motor that's in the 69 now, or I would have been really upset.
I have enough parts to build another sbc if I want to, which could be the silver lining out of this. That is why my initial question... All I need are new pistons to match the bore, and bearings, and some basic odds and ends everyone needs for rebuilding a motor. Then possibly some minor machining (from another machine shop of course) in the event the bores are inconsistent. I have another pair of aluminum heads, stainless roller rockers, rods, a crank in good condition, almost new XE284 cam, aluminum intake, etc..
Last edited by Corvette-ZL1; Jun 1, 2022 at 09:20 AM.
Ok I get it now. Some machine shops have very junior people doing the work. Where low cost is the object, not high quality.
You need to talk to some drag racers and see what shops they use. They do frequent builds. You'll start hearing the same place. That's the high quality one.
Place a head gasket on it and take a pic. I'll bet it can still seal and can be used. I hung around my best friends top notch one man machine shop for like 40 years. Did some of the jobs. Learned a few things from the "master".
Ok I get it now. Some machine shops have very junior people doing the work. Where low cost is the object, not high quality.
You need to talk to some drag racers and see what shops they use. They do frequent builds. You'll start hearing the same place. That's the high quality one.
Place a head gasket on it and take a pic. I'll bet it can still seal and can be used. I hung around my best friends top notch one man machine shop for like 40 years. Did some of the jobs. Learned a few things from the "master".
Here they are. Just used the old head gaskets for mock up purposes. Still seems to be plenty of meat on where the gasket lays. The machine shop never got around to hot tanking it, so the water ports/jackets have surface rust on 'em, but other than that, what do you think?
It's a shame what the shop did, and as you said - if they did this to a number matching block being used in a high level restoration - it would be enough to make one physically ill.
From: Arizona - If you don’t know CFI, STOP proliferating the myths around it...
I would let your machine shop make the call like mentioned, but with the stipulation in writing, that if it doesn't work properly, they foot the bill for another block. The second pic doesn't look right to me, but it is probably the angle. Take a pic across the deck with a straight edge as a gauge. If there's a dip, I wouldn't go with it.
Plenty of meat left where it meets the gasket! That'll work fine.
Most of the material they removed is a "ledge" that never touches the gasket anyway.
You got real lucky!
Go build that extra engine!
apparently they have already footed (feet?) the bill for a replacement block. this one looks fine as-is. sounds like they screwed the pooch multiple times with this block. since it is not a numbers block i would have just had them get another used block and bore it 40 over instead of sleeveing all 8 cylinders. instead of waiting until they screwed it up again!
Just another example of service that is now more common than not. My 406 build was done by a ? well respected C4 forum engine builder, and I now have a long list of his failures resulting in the engine having to be completely rebuilt by VortecPro. All of which is costing me lots of money and most likely I will not get to drive the car this year. See my posting for the story and the ongoing saga.
I just wanted the OP to know he is not alone in this new world of poor service. Welcome to 2022.
Is the block salvageable?
