last year i blew up my 350 on a 350 shot and not pulling enough timming out. but the steel crank and h-beam rods were good. i had a 400 engine that i had pulled out of a truck a few years back laying around. it turned out to be a 76 passanger car block that was 30 over. had the machine shop tank it and ck for cracks .it all cked ok .we short filled it then fitted it with billit 4 bolt caps on 2,3,4 and straps on 1,5 , line bored it and bored it with tork plates to 40 over . i new it needed 1 hole sleved , ok done but then 2 more did not quit clean up at 40 so we sleved 2 more holes . had deck plugs in it and decked it . every thing looked great , went together great and was running great. changed the oil after 30 min. cam break in, changed oil at 100 miles . then took it to a track and ran 11.68 @129.77. running better by the day ...... until last sunday. it had always had a little blow by but i figured it was the .028" ring gap , it was getting better . but i went out last sunday and made just a carburated pass to try out the new 28x12.5 tires , it ran good but did not want to idle right after that, had droped the idle 200 rpm . figure no biggie . then tried a nitrous pass on the g-tech ran 11.33@129.87. monday i figured i would go through a valve adj. there was coolant coming by a couple of head bolts????. pulled them out and resealed them .changed the oil , no sign of coolant in the pan , cool! then run it to ck timming and carb adjustments. it is blowing smoke out the breather a foot high . pull the pcv and it idles better but is blowing smoke out both valve covers a foot high , compression test easy side first #4, 100 psi uh o . did a cyld leak down test 100psi going in only holding 30psi. ****!!!! and a few other cuss words. this only has 250 miles on it . pulled the heads off and the block is cracked from the headbolt holes between the cyld.'s to the steam holes , bolt holes to 2 of the deck plugs and 1 from bolt hole to a sleve!!!!!!!!! this block is junk. machine shop thinks it must just of been a thin cast block and i put to much power to it
any way i just needed to vent

mike

 

Man, that SUCKS. I wanted to see that car in action! Any plans on the future motor? I have been pondering between a 350, 383 and 400 setups... 400s scare me; probably because I don't really understand enough about them and the steam holes, etc.

Anyway, sorry about the bad luck. Certainly does suck when the unexpected garbage happens.

 

umm ya it will be back togeather in 3 to 4 weeks with a dart little m block and a trans braked th-400

mike