I've completed dissembly of my short block 350, and upon inspection, I've noticed that one of the corners of the main journals is chipped off (see picture). Will some machine work fix this problem or is my block useless now?

 

I'd ask a good machine shop but that doesn't look so bad as to be unusable to me. Make sure it doesn't have any sharp edges left on it before you install the new bearings in it, though.

My only real question mark would be- why did it chip off in the first place? Could the block have a problem with it that goes beyond what you can see with your eye? Have it magnafluxed to make sure there aren't any cracks around it or other signs that the block is on it's last legs.

 

From what I can tell with my eyes and inexistant experiance, the rest of the block looks flawless. I hate to admit it, but it was probably something I did when I was taking it apart, I just don't remember doing something like that. Thanks for the reassurance though!

 

Just make sure that there isn't any high spots that put pressure on the bearing. A little filing would take care of that. Make sure you get all the filings out of the engine.

 

I agree, it's nothing. Grind or file it so that there's no burr in either the saddle area or the surface that the crank counterweight could contact if it stuck out far enough, and there will be no problem.

Doesn't look like a chip in that pic. Looks more like a hammer ding or something like that.

 

Looks like a hammer ding to me too cause it looks shiny, if it was cracked it would have a dull look to it, so if that's the case it's going to have some rasied areas that need to be carefully filed down.

 

Alright, thanks everyone. I was fearing for the worst and now I feel much better. Looks like a little filing is in order